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diff --git a/old/2370.txt b/old/2370.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8daaf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2370.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20397 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Gibbie, by George MacDonald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sir Gibbie + +Author: George MacDonald + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2370] +Release Date: October, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR GIBBIE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bechard. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + +Note from electronic text creator: I have compiled a word list with +definitions of most of the Scottish words found in this work at the +end of the book. This list does not belong to the original work, +but is designed to help with the conversations in Broad Scots found +in this work. A further explanation of this list can be found +towards the end of this document, preceding the word list. + +There are three footnotes in this book which have been renumbered +and placed at the end of the work. + +Any notes that I have made within the text (e.g. relating to Greek words +in the text) have been enclosed in {} brackets. + + + + +SIR GIBBIE. + + +BY + +GEORGE MACDONALD, LL.D. + + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE EARRING. + II. SIR GEORGE. + III. MISTRESS CROALE. + IV. THE PARLOUR. + V. GIBBIE'S CALLING. + VI. A SUNDAY AT HOME. + VII. THE TOWN-SPARROW. + VIII. SAMBO. + IX. ADRIFT. + X. THE BARN. + XI. JANET. + XII. GLASHGAR. + XIII. THE CEILING. + XIV. HORNIE. + XV. DONAL GRANT. + XVI. APPRENTICESHIP. + XVII. SECRET SERVICE. + XVIII. THE BROONIE. + XIX. THE LAIRD. + XX. THE AMBUSH. + XXI. THE PUNISHMENT. + XXII. REFUGE. + XXIII. MORE SCHOOLING. + XXIV. THE SLATE. + XXV. RUMOURS. + XXVI. THE GAMEKEEPER + XXVII. A VOICE. + XXVIII. THE WISDOM OF THE WISE. + XXIX. THE BEAST-BOY. + XXX. THE LORRIE MEADOW. + XXXI. THEIR REWARD. + XXXII. PROLOGUE. + XXXIII. THE MAINS. + XXXIV. GLASHRUACH. + XXXV. THE WHELP. + XXXVI. THE BRANDER. + XXXVII. MR. SCLATER. + XXXVIII. THE MUCKLE HOOSE. + XXXIX. DAUR STREET. + XL. MRS. SCLATER. + XLI. INITIATION. + XLII. DONAL'S LODGING. + XLIII. THE MINISTER'S DEFEAT. + XLIV. THE SINNER. + XLV. SHOALS AHEAD. + XLVI. THE GIRLS. + XLVII. A LESSON OF WISDOM. + XLVIII. NEEDFULL ODDS AND ENDS. + XLIX. THE HOUSELESS. + L. A WALK. + LI. THE NORTH CHURCH. + LII. THE QUARRY. + LIII. A NIGHT-WATCH. + LIV. OF AGE. + LV. TEN AULD HOOSE O' GALBRAITH. + LVI. THE LAIRD AND THE PREACHER. + LVII. A HIDING-PLACE FROM THE WIND. + LVIII. THE CONFESSION. + LIX. CATASTROPHE. + LX. ARRANGEMENT AND PREPARATION. + LXI. THE WEDDING. + LXII. THE BURN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE EARRING. + +"Come oot o' the gutter, ye nickum!" cried, in harsh, half-masculine +voice, a woman standing on the curbstone of a short, narrow, dirty +lane, at right angles to an important thoroughfare, itself none of +the widest or cleanest. She was dressed in dark petticoat and print +wrapper. One of her shoes was down at the heel, and discovered a +great hole in her stocking. Had her black hair been brushed and +displayed, it would have revealed a thready glitter of grey, but all +that was now visible of it was only two or three untidy tresses that +dropped from under a cap of black net and green ribbons, which +looked as if she had slept in it. Her face must have been handsome +when it was young and fresh; but was now beginning to look tattooed, +though whether the colour was from without or from within, it would +have been hard to determine. Her black eyes looked resolute, almost +fierce, above her straight, well-formed nose. Yet evidently +circumstance clave fast to her. She had never risen above it, and +was now plainly subjected to it. + +About thirty yards from her, on the farther side of the main street, +and just opposite the mouth of the lane, a child, apparently about +six, but in reality about eight, was down on his knees raking with +both hands in the grey dirt of the kennel. At the woman's cry he +lifted his head, ceased his search, raised himself, but without +getting up, and looked at her. They were notable eyes out of which +he looked--of such a deep blue were they, and having such long +lashes; but more notable far from their expression, the nature of +which, although a certain witchery of confidence was at once +discoverable, was not to be determined without the help of the whole +face, whose diffused meaning seemed in them to deepen almost to +speech. Whatever was at the heart of that expression, it was +something that enticed question and might want investigation. The +face as well as the eyes was lovely--not very clean, and not too +regular for hope of a fine development, but chiefly remarkable from +a general effect of something I can only call luminosity. The hair, +which stuck out from his head in every direction, like a round fur +cap, would have been of the red-gold kind, had it not been sunburned +into a sort of human hay. An odd creature altogether the child +appeared, as, shaking the gutter-drops from his little dirty hands, +he gazed from his bare knees on the curbstone at the woman of +rebuke. It was but for a moment. The next he was down, raking in +the gutter again. + +The woman looked angry, and took a step forward; but the sound of a +sharp imperative little bell behind her, made her turn at once, and +re-enter the shop from which she had just issued, following a man +whose pushing the door wider had set the bell ringing. Above the +door was a small board, nearly square, upon which was painted in +lead-colour on a black ground the words, "Licensed to sell beer, +spirits, and tobacco to be drunk on the premises." There was no +other sign. "Them 'at likes my whusky 'ill no aye be speerin' my +name," said Mistress Croale. As the day went on she would have more +and more customers, and in the evening on to midnight, her parlour +would be well filled. Then she would be always at hand, and the +spring of the bell would be turned aside from the impact of the +opening door. Now the bell was needful to recall her from house +affairs. + +"The likin' 'at craturs his for clean dirt! He's been at it this +hale half-hoor!" she murmured to herself as she poured from a black +bottle into a pewter measure a gill of whisky for the pale-faced +toper who stood on the other side of the counter: far gone in +consumption, he could not get through the forenoon without his +morning. "I wad like," she went on, as she replaced the bottle +without having spoken a word to her customer, whose departure was +now announced with the same boisterous alacrity as his arrival by +the shrill-toned bell--"I wad like, for's father's sake, honest man! +to thraw Gibbie's lug. That likin' for dirt I canna fathom nor +bide." + +Meantime the boys attention seemed entirely absorbed in the gutter. +Whatever vehicle passed before him, whatever footsteps behind, he +never lifted his head, but went creeping slowly on his knees along +the curb still searching down the flow of the sluggish, nearly +motionless current. + +It was a grey morning towards the close of autumn. The days began +and ended with a fog, but often between, as golden a sunshine +glorified the streets of the grey city as any that ripened purple +grapes. To-day the mist had lasted longer than usual--had risen +instead of dispersing; but now it was thinning, and at length, like +a slow blossoming of the sky-flower, the sun came melting through +the cloud. Between the gables of two houses, a ray fell upon the +pavement and the gutter. It lay there a very type of purity, so +pure that, rest where it might, it destroyed every shadow of +defilement that sought to mingle with it. Suddenly the boy made a +dart upon all fours, and pounced like a creature of prey upon +something in the kennel. He had found what he had been looking for +so long. He sprang to his feet and bounded with it into the sun, +rubbing it as he ran upon what he had for trousers, of which there +was nothing below the knees but a few streamers, and nothing above +the knees but the body of the garment, which had been--I will not +say made for, but last worn by a boy three times his size. His +feet, of course, were bare as well as his knees and legs. But +though they were dirty, red, and rough, they were nicely shaped +little legs, and the feet were dainty. + +The sunbeams he sought came down through the smoky air like a +Jacob's ladder, and he stood at the foot of it like a little +prodigal angel that wanted to go home again, but feared it was too +much inclined for him to manage the ascent in the present condition +of his wings. But all he did want was to see in the light of heaven +what the gutter had yielded him. He held up his find in the +radiance and regarded it admiringly. It was a little earring of +amethyst-coloured glass, and in the sun looked lovely. The boy was +in an ecstasy over it. He rubbed it on his sleeve, sucked it to +clear it from the last of the gutter, and held it up once more in +the sun, where, for a few blissful moments, he contemplated it +speechless. He then caused it to disappear somewhere about his +garments--I will not venture to say in a pocket--and ran off, his +little bare feet sounding thud, thud, thud on the pavement, and the +collar of his jacket sticking halfway up the back of his head, and +threatening to rub it bare as he ran. Through street after street +he sped--all built of granite, all with flagged footways, and all +paved with granite blocks--a hard, severe city, not beautiful or +stately with its thick, grey, sparkling walls, for the houses were +not high, and the windows were small, yet in the better parts, +nevertheless, handsome as well as massive and strong. + +To the boy the great city was but a house of many rooms, all for his +use, his sport, his life. He did not know much of what lay within +the houses; but that only added the joy of mystery to possession: +they were jewel-closets, treasure-caves, indeed, with secret +fountains of life; and every street was a channel into which they +overflowed. + +It was in one of quite a third-rate sort that the urchin at length +ceased his trot, and drew up at the door of a baker's shop--a +divided door, opening in the middle by a latch of bright brass. But +the child did not lift the latch--only raised himself on tiptoe by +the help of its handle, to look through the upper half of the door, +which was of glass, into the beautiful shop. The floor was of +flags, fresh sanded; the counter was of deal, scrubbed as white +almost as flour; on the shelves were heaped the loaves of the +morning's baking, along with a large store of scones and rolls and +baps--the last, the best bread in the world--biscuits hard and soft, +and those brown discs of delicate flaky piecrust, known as buns. +And the smell that came through the very glass, it seemed to the +child, was as that of the tree of life in the Paradise of which he +had never heard. But most enticing of all to the eyes of the little +wanderer of the street were the penny-loaves, hot smoking from the +oven--which fact is our first window into the ordered nature of the +child. For the main point which made them more attractive than all +the rest to him was, that sometimes he did have a penny, and that a +penny loaf was the largest thing that could be had for a penny in +the shop. So that, lawless as he looked, the desires of the child +were moderate, and his imagination wrought within the bounds of +reason. But no one who has never been blessed with only a penny to +spend and a mighty hunger behind it, can understand the interest +with which he stood there and through the glass watched the bread, +having no penny and only the hunger. There is at least one powerful +bond, though it may not always awake sympathy, between mudlark and +monarch--that of hunger. No one has yet written the poetry of +hunger--has built up in verse its stairs of grand ascent--from such +hunger as Gibbie's for a penny-loaf up--no, no, not to an alderman's +feast; that is the way down the mouldy cellar-stair--but up the +white marble scale to the hunger after righteousness whose very +longings are bliss. + +Behind the counter sat the baker's wife, a stout, fresh-coloured +woman, looking rather dull, but simple and honest. She was +knitting, and if not dreaming, at least dozing over her work, for +she never saw the forehead and eyes which, like a young ascending +moon, gazed at her over the horizon of the opaque half of her door. +There was no greed in those eyes--only much quiet interest. He did +not want to get in; had to wait, and while waiting beguiled the time +by beholding. He knew that Mysie, the baker's daughter, was at +school, and that she would be home within half an hour. He had seen +her with tear-filled eyes as she went, had learned from her the +cause, and had in consequence unwittingly roused Mrs. Croale's +anger, and braved it when aroused. But though he was waiting for +her, such was the absorbing power of the spectacle before him that +he never heard her approaching footsteps. + +"Lat me in," said Mysie, with conscious dignity and a touch of +indignation at being impeded on the very threshold of her father's +shop. + +The boy started and turned, but instead of moving out of the way, +began searching in some mysterious receptacle hid in the recesses of +his rags. A look of anxiety once appeared, but the same moment it +vanished, and he held out in his hand the little drop of amethystine +splendour. Mysie's face changed, and she clutched it eagerly. + +"That's rale guid o' ye, wee Gibbie!" she cried. "Whaur did ye get +it?" + +He pointed to the kennel, and drew back from the door. + +"I thank ye," she said heartily, and pressing down the thumbstall of +the latch, went in. + +"Wha's that ye're colloguin' wi', Mysie?" asked her mother, somewhat +severely, but without lifting her eyes from her wires. "Ye maunna be +speykin' to loons i' the street." + +"It's only wee Gibbie, mither," answered the girl in a tone of +confidence. + +"Ou weel!" returned the mother, "he's no like the lave o' loons." + +"But what had ye to say till him?" she resumed, as if afraid her +leniency might be taken advantage of. "He's no fit company for the +likes o' you, 'at his a father an' mither, an' a chop (shop). Ye +maun hae little to say to sic rintheroot laddies." + +"Gibbie has a father, though they say he never hid nae mither," said +the child. + +"Troth, a fine father!" rejoined the mother, with a small scornful +laugh. "Na, but he's something to mak mention o'! Sic a father, +lassie, as it wad be tellin' him he had nane! What said ye till +'im?" + +"I bit thankit 'im, 'cause I tint my drop as I gaed to the schuil i' +the mornin', an' he fan't till me, an' was at the chopdoor waitin' +to gie me't back. They say he's aye fin'in' things." + +"He's a guid-hertit cratur!" said the mother,--"for ane, that is, +'at's been sae ill broucht up." + +She rose, took from the shelf a large piece of bread, composed of +many adhering penny-loaves, detached one, and went to the door. + +"Here, Gibbie!" she cried as she opened it; "here's a fine piece to +ye." + +But no Gibbie was there. Up and down the street not a child was to +be seen. A sandboy with a donkey cart was the sole human +arrangement in it. The baker's wife drew back, shut the door and +resumed her knitting. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SIR GEORGE. + +The sun was hot for an hour or two in the middle of the day, but +even then in the shadow dwelt a cold breath--of the winter, or of +death--of something that humanity felt unfriendly. To Gibbie, +however, bare-legged, bare-footed, almost bare-bodied as he was, sun +or shadow made small difference, except as one of the musical +intervals of life that make the melody of existence. His bare feet +knew the difference on the flags, and his heart recognized +unconsciously the secret as it were of a meaning and a symbol, in +the change from the one to the other, but he was almost as happy in +the dull as in the bright day. Hardy through hardship, he knew +nothing better than a constant good-humoured sparring with nature +and circumstance for the privilege of being, enjoyed what came to +him thoroughly, never mourned over what he had not, and, like the +animals, was at peace. For the bliss of the animals lies in this, +that, on their lower level, they shadow the bliss of those--few at +any moment on the earth--who do not "look before and after, and pine +for what is not," but live in the holy carelessness of the eternal +now. Gibbie by no means belonged to the higher order, was as yet, +indeed, not much better than a very blessed little animal. + +To him the city was all a show. He knew many of the people--some of +them who thought no small things of themselves--better than they +would have chosen he or any one else should know them. He knew all +the peripatetic vendors, most of the bakers, most of the small +grocers and tradespeople. Animal as he was, he was laying in a +great stock for the time when he would be something more, for the +time of reflection, whenever that might come. Chiefly, his +experience was a wonderful provision for the future perception of +character; for now he knew to a nicety how any one of his large +acquaintance would behave to him in circumstances within the scope +of that experience. If any such little vagabond rises in the scale +of creation, he carries with him from the street an amount of +material serving to the knowledge of human nature, human need, human +aims, human relations in the business of life, such as hardly +another can possess. Even the poet, greatly wise in virtue of his +sympathy, will scarcely understand a given human condition so well +as the man whose vital tentacles have been in contact with it for +years. + +When Gibbie was not looking in at a shop-window, or turning on one +heel to take in all at a sweep, he was oftenest seen trotting. +Seldom he walked. A gentle trot was one of his natural modes of +being. And though this day he had been on the trot all the sunshine +through, nevertheless, when the sun was going down there was wee +Gibbie upon the trot in the chilling and darkening streets. He had +not had much to eat. He had been very near having a penny loaf. +Half a cookie, which a stormy child had thrown away to ease his +temper, had done further and perhaps better service in easing +Gibbie's hunger. The green-grocer woman at the entrance of the +court where his father lived, a good way down the same street in +which he had found the lost earring, had given him a small yellow +turnip--to Gibbie nearly as welcome as an apple. A fishwife from +Finstone with a creel on her back, had given him all his hands could +hold of the sea-weed called dulse, presumably not from its +sweetness, although it is good eating. She had added to the gift a +small crab, but that he had carried to the seashore and set free, +because it was alive. These, the half-cookie, the turnip, and the +dulse, with the smell of the baker's bread, was all he had had. It +had been rather one of his meagre days. But it is wonderful upon +how little those rare natures capable of making the most of things +will live and thrive. There is a great deal more to be got out of +things than is generally got out of them, whether the thing be a +chapter of the Bible or a yellow turnip, and the marvel is that +those who use the most material should so often be those that show +the least result in strength or character. A superstitious +priest-ridden Catholic may, in the kingdom of heaven, be high beyond +sight of one who counts himself the broadest of English churchmen. +Truly Gibbie got no fat out of his food, but he got what was far +better. What he carried--I can hardly say under or in, but along +with those rags of his, was all muscle--small, but hard, and +healthy, and knotting up like whipcord. There are all degrees of +health in poverty as well as in riches, and Gibbie's health was +splendid. His senses also were marvellously acute. I have already +hinted at his gift for finding things. His eyes were sharp, quick, +and roving, and then they went near the ground, he was such a little +fellow. His success, however, not all these considerations could +well account for, and he was regarded as born with a special luck in +finding. I doubt if sufficient weight was given to the fact that, +even when he was not so turning his mind it strayed in that +direction, whence, if any object cast its reflected rays on his +retina, those rays never failed to reach his mind also. On one +occasion he picked up the pocket-book a gentleman had just dropped, +and, in mingled fun and delight, was trying to put it in its owner's +pocket unseen, when he collared him, and, had it not been for the +testimony of a young woman who, coming behind, had seen the whole, +would have handed him over to the police. After all, he remained in +doubt, the thing seemed so incredible. He did give him a penny, +however, which Gibbie at once spent upon a loaf. + +It was not from any notions of honesty--he knew nothing about +it--that he always did what he could to restore the things he found; +the habit came from quite another cause. When he had no clue to the +owner, he carried the thing found to his father, who generally let +it lie a while, and at length, if it was of nature convertible, +turned it into drink. + +While Gibbie thus lived in the streets like a townsparrow--as like a +human bird without storehouse or barn as boy could well be--the +human father of him would all day be sitting in a certain dark +court, as hard at work as an aching head and a bloodless system +would afford. The said court was off the narrowest part of a long, +poverty-stricken street, bearing a name of evil omen, for it was +called the Widdiehill--the place of the gallows. It was entered by +a low archway in the middle of an old house, around which yet clung +a musty fame of departed grandeur and ancient note. In the court, +against a wing of the same house, rose an outside stair, leading to +the first floor; under the stair was a rickety wooden shed; and in +the shed sat the father of Gibbie, and cobbled boots and shoes as +long as, at this time of the year, the light lasted. Up that stair, +and two more inside the house, he went to his lodging, for he slept +in the garret. But when or how he got to bed, George Galbraith +never knew, for then, invariably, he was drunk. In the morning, +however, he always found himself in it--generally with an aching +head, and always with a mingled disgust at and desire for drink. +During the day, alas! the disgust departed, while the desire +remained, and strengthened with the approach of evening. All day he +worked with might and main, such might and main as he had--worked as +if for his life, and all to procure the means of death. No one ever +sought to treat him, and from no one would he accept drink. He was +a man of such inborn honesty, that the usurping demon of a vile +thirst had not even yet, at the age of forty, been able to cast it +out. The last little glory-cloud of his origin was trailing behind +him--but yet it trailed. Doubtless it needs but time to make of a +drunkard a thief, but not yet, even when longing was at the highest, +would he have stolen a forgotten glass of whisky; and still, often +in spite of sickness and aches innumerable, George laboured that he +might have wherewith to make himself drunk honestly. Strange +honesty! Wee Gibbie was his only child, but about him or his +well-being he gave himself almost as little trouble as Gibbie caused +him! Not that he was hard-hearted; if he had seen the child in +want, he would, at the drunkest, have shared his whisky with him; if +he had fancied him cold, he would have put his last garment upon +him; but to his whisky-dimmed eyes the child scarcely seemed to want +anything, and the thought never entered his mind that, while Gibbie +always looked smiling and contented, his father did so little to +make him so. He had at the same time a very low opinion of himself +and his deservings, and justly, for his consciousness had dwindled +into little more than a live thirst. He did not do well for +himself, neither did men praise him; and he shamefully neglected his +child; but in one respect, and that a most important one, he did +well by his neighbours: he gave the best of work, and made the +lowest of charges. In no other way was he for much good. And yet I +would rather be that drunken cobbler than many a "fair professor," +as Bunyan calls him. A grasping merchant ranks infinitely lower +than such a drunken cobbler. Thank God, the Son of Man is the +judge, and to him will we plead the cause of such--yea, and of worse +than they--for He will do right. It may be well for drunkards that +they are social outcasts, but is there no intercession to be made +for them--no excuse to be pleaded? Alas! the poor wretches would +storm the kingdom of peace by the inspiration of the enemy. Let us +try to understand George Galbraith. His very existence the sense of +a sunless, dreary, cold-winded desert, he was evermore confronted, +in all his resolves after betterment, by the knowledge that with the +first eager mouthful of the strange element, a rosy dawn would begin +to flush the sky, a mist of green to cover the arid waste, a wind of +song to ripple the air, and at length the misery of the day would +vanish utterly, and the night throb with dreams. For George was by +nature no common man. At heart he was a poet--weak enough, but +capable of endless delight. The time had been when now and then he +read a good book and dreamed noble dreams. Even yet the stuff of +which such dreams are made, fluttered in particoloured rags about +his life; and colour is colour even on a scarecrow. + +He had had a good mother, and his father was a man of some +character, both intellectually and socially. Now and then, it is +too true, he had terrible bouts of drinking; but all the time +between he was perfectly sober. He had given his son more than a +fair education; and George, for his part, had trotted through the +curriculum of Elphinstone College not altogether without +distinction. But beyond this his father had entirely neglected his +future, not even revealing to him the fact--of which, indeed, he was +himself but dimly aware--that from wilful oversight on his part and +design on that of others, his property had all but entirely slipped +from his possession. + +While his father was yet alive, George married the daughter of a +small laird in a neighbouring county--a woman of some education, and +great natural refinement. He took her home to the ancient family +house in the city--the same in which he now occupied a garret, and +under whose outer stair he now cobbled shoes. There, during his +father's life, they lived in peace and tolerable comfort, though in +a poor enough way. It was all, even then, that the wife could do to +make both ends meet; nor would her relations, whom she had +grievously offended by her marriage, afford her the smallest +assistance. Even then, too, her husband was on the slippery +incline; but as long as she lived she managed to keep him within the +bounds of what is called respectability. She died, however, soon +after Gibbie was born; and then George began to lose himself +altogether. The next year his father died, and creditors appeared +who claimed everything. Mortgaged land and houses, with all upon +and in them, were sold, and George left without a penny or any means +of winning a livelihood, while already he had lost the reputation +that might have introduced him to employment. For heavy work he was +altogether unfit; and had it not been for a bottle companion--a +merry, hard-drinking shoemaker--he would have died of starvation or +sunk into beggary. + +This man taught him his trade, and George was glad enough to work at +it, both to deaden the stings of conscience and memory, and to +procure the means of deadening them still further. But even here +was something in the way of improvement, for hitherto he had applied +himself to nothing, his being one of those dreamful natures capable +of busy exertion for a time, but ready to collapse into disgust with +every kind of effort. + +How Gibbie had got thus far alive was a puzzle not a creature could +have solved. It must have been by charity and ministration of more +than one humble woman, but no one now claimed any particular +interest in him--except Mrs. Croale, and hers was not very tender. +It was a sad sight to some eyes to see him roving the streets, but +an infinitely sadder sight was his father, even when bent over his +work, with his hands and arms and knees going as if for very +salvation. What thoughts might then be visiting his poor worn-out +brain I cannot tell; but he looked the pale picture of misery. +Doing his best to restore to service the nearly shapeless boots of +carter or beggar, he was himself fast losing the very idea of his +making, consumed heart and soul with a hellish thirst. For the +thirst of the drunkard is even more of the soul than of the body. +When the poor fellow sat with his drinking companions in Mistress +Croale's parlour, seldom a flash broke from the reverie in which he +seemed sunk, to show in what region of fancy his spirit wandered, or +to lighten the dulness that would not unfrequently invade that +forecourt of hell. For even the damned must at times become aware +of what they are, and then surely a terrible though momentary hush +must fall upon the forsaken region. Yet those drinking companions +would have missed George Galbraith, silent as he was, and but poorly +responsive to the wit and humour of the rest; for he was always +courteous, always ready to share what he had, never looking beyond +the present tumbler--altogether a genial, kindly, honest nature. +Sometimes, when two or three of them happened to meet elsewhere, +they would fall to wondering why the silent man sought their +company, seeing he both contributed so little to the hilarity of the +evening, and seemed to derive so little enjoyment from it. But I +believe their company was necessary as well as the drink to enable +him to elude his conscience and feast with his imagination. Was it +that he knew they also fought misery by investments in her +bonds--that they also were of those who by Beelzebub would cast out +Beelzebub--therefore felt at home, and with his own? + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MISTRESS CROALE. + +The house at which they met had yet not a little character +remaining. Mistress Croale had come in for a derived worthiness, in +the memory, yet lingering about the place, of a worthy aunt +deceased, and always encouraged in herself a vague idea of +obligation to live up to it. Hence she had made it a rule to supply +drink only so long as her customers kept decent--that is, so long as +they did not quarrel aloud, and put her in danger of a visit from +the police; tell such tales as offended her modesty; utter oaths of +any peculiarly atrocious quality; or defame the Sabbath Day, the +Kirk, or the Bible. On these terms, and so long as they paid for +what they had, they might get as drunk as they pleased, without the +smallest offence to Mistress Croale. But if the least unquestionable +infringement of her rules occurred, she would pounce upon the +shameless one with sudden and sharp reproof. I doubt not that, +so doing, she cherished a hope of recommending herself above, +and making deposits in view of a coming balance-sheet. The result +for this life so far was, that, by these claims to respectability, +she had gathered a clientele of douce, well-disposed drunkards, who +rarely gave her any trouble so long as they were in the house though +sometimes she had reason to be anxious about the fate of individuals +of them after they left it. + +Another peculiarity in her government was that she would rarely give +drink to a woman. "Na, na," she would say, "what has a wuman to dee +wi' strong drink! Lat the men dee as they like, we canna help +them." She made exception in behalf of her personal friends; and, +for herself, was in the way of sipping--only sipping, privately, on +account of her "trouble," she said--by which she meant some +complaint, speaking of it as if it were generally known, although of +the nature of it nobody had an idea. The truth was that, like her +customers, she also was going down the hill, justifying to herself +every step of her descent. Until lately, she had been in the way of +going regularly to church, and she did go occasionally yet, and +always took the yearly sacrament; but the only result seemed to be +that she abounded the more in finding justifications, or, where they +were not to be had, excuses, for all she did. Probably the stirring +of her conscience made this the more necessary to her peace. + +If the Lord were to appear in person amongst us, how much would the +sight of him do for the sinners of our day? I am not sure that many +like Mistress Croale would not go to him. She was not a bad woman, +but slowly and surely growing worse. + +That morning, as soon as the customer whose entrance had withdrawn +her from her descent on Gibbie, had gulped down his dram, wiped his +mouth with his blue cotton handkerchief, settled his face into the +expression of a drink of water, gone demurely out, and crossed to +the other side of the street, she would have returned to the charge, +but was prevented by the immediately following entrance of the Rev. +Clement Sclater--the minister of her parish, recently appointed. He +was a man between young and middle-aged, an honest fellow, zealous +to perform the duties of his office, but with notions of religion +very beggarly. How could it be otherwise when he knew far more of +what he called the Divine decrees than he did of his own heart, or +the needs and miseries of human nature? At the moment, Mistress +Croale was standing with her back to the door, reaching up to +replace the black bottle on its shelf, and did not see the man she +heard enter. + +"What's yer wull?" she said indifferently. + +Mr. Sclater made no answer, waiting for her to turn and face him, +which she did the sooner for his silence. Then she saw a man +unknown to her, evidently, from his white neckcloth and funereal +garments, a minister, standing solemn, with wide-spread legs, and +round eyes of displeasure, expecting her attention. + +"What's yer wull, sir?" she repeated, with more respect, but less +cordiality than at first. + +"If you ask my will," he replied, with some pomposity, for who that +has just gained an object of ambition can be humble?--"it is that +you shut up this whisky shop, and betake yourself to a more decent +way of life in my parish." + +"My certie! but ye're no blate (over-modest) to craw sae lood i' my +hoose, an' that's a nearer fit nor a perris!" she cried, flaring up +in wrath both at the nature and rudeness of the address. "Alloo me +to tell ye, sir, ye're the first 'at ever daured threep my hoose was +no a dacent ane." + +"I said nothing about your house. It was your shop I spoke of," +said the minister, not guiltless of subterfuge. + +"An' what's my chop but my hoose? Haith! my hoose wad be o' fell +sma' consideration wantin' the chop. Tak ye heed o' beirin' fause +witness, sir." + +"I said nothing, and know nothing, against yours more than any other +shop for the sale of drink in my parish." + +"The Lord's my shepherd! Wad ye even (compare) my hoose to Jock +Thamson's or Jeemie Deuk's, baith i' this perris?" + +"My good woman,--" + +"Naither better nor waur nor my neepers," interrupted Mistress +Croale, forgetting what she had just implied: "a body maun live." + +"There are limits even to that most generally accepted of all +principles," returned Mr. Sclater; "and I give you fair warning that +I mean to do what I can to shut up all such houses as yours in my +parish. I tell you of it, not from the least hope that you will +anticipate me by closing, but merely that no one may say I did +anything in an underhand fashion." + +The calmness with which he uttered the threat alarmed Mistress +Croale. He might rouse unmerited suspicion, and cause her much +trouble by vexatious complaint, even to the peril of her license. +She must take heed, and not irritate her enemy. Instantly, +therefore, she changed her tone to one of expostulation. + +"It's a sair peety, doobtless," she said, "'at there sud be sae mony +drouthie thrapples i' the kingdom, sir; but drouth maun drink, an' +ye ken, sir, gien it war hauden frae them, they wad but see deils +an' cut their throts." + +"They're like to see deils ony gait er' lang," retorted the +minister, relapsing into the vernacular for a moment. + +"Ow, deed maybe, sir! but e'en the deils themsels war justifeed i' +their objection to bein' committed to their ain company afore their +time." + +Mr. Sclater could not help smiling at the woman's readiness, and +that was a point gained by her. An acquaintance with Scripture goes +far with a Scotch ecclesiastic. Besides, the man had a redeeming +sense of humour, though he did not know how to prize it, not +believing it a gift of God. + +"It's true, my woman," he answered. "Ay! it said something for them, +deils 'at they war, 'at they preferred the swine. But even the +swine cudna bide them!" + +Encouraged by the condescension of the remark, but disinclined to +follow the path of reflection it indicated, Mistress Croale ventured +a little farther upon her own. + +"Ye see, sir," she said, "as lang's there's whusky, it wull tak the +throt-ro'd. It's the naitral w'y o' 't, ye see, to rin doon, an' +it's no mainner o' use gangin' again natur. Sae, allooin' the thing +maun be, ye'll hae till alloo likewise, an' it's a trouth I'm +tellin' ye, sir, 'at it's o' nae sma' consequence to the toon 'at +the drucken craturs sud fill themsels wi' dacency--an' that's what I +see till. Gang na to the magistrate, sir; but as sune's ye hae +gotten testimony--guid testimony though, sir--'at there's been +disorder or immorawlity i' my hoose, come ye to me, an' I'll gie ye +my han' to paper on't this meenute, 'at I'll gie up my chop, an' +lea' yer perris--an' may ye sune get a better i' my place. Sir, I'm +like a mither to the puir bodies! An' gin ye drive them to Jock +Thamson's, or Jeemie Deuk's, it'll be just like--savin' the word, I +dinna inten' 't for sweirin', guid kens!--I say it'll just be +dammin' them afore their time, like the puir deils. Hech! but it'll +come sune eneuch, an' they're muckle to be peetied!" + +"And when those victims of your vile ministrations," said the +clergyman, again mounting his wooden horse, and setting it rocking, +"find themselves where there will be no whisky to refresh them, +where do you think you will be, Mistress Croale?" + +"Whaur the Lord wulls," answered the woman. "Whaur that may be, I +confess I'm whiles laith to think. Only gien I was you, Maister +Sclater, I wad think twise afore I made ill waur." + +"But hear me, Mistress Croale: it's not your besotted customers only +I have to care for. Your soul is as precious in my sight as any of +which I shall have to render an account." + +"As Mistress Bonniman's, for enstance?" suggested Mrs. Croale, +interrogatively, and with just the least trace of pawkiness in the +tone. + +The city, large as it was, was yet not large enough to prevent a +portion of the private affairs of individuals from coming to be +treated as public property, and Mrs. Bonniman was a handsome and +rich young widow, the rumour of whose acceptableness to Mr. Sclater +had reached Mistress Croale's ear before ever she had seen the +minister himself. An unmistakable shadow of confusion crossed his +countenance; whereupon with consideration both for herself and him, +the woman made haste to go on, as if she had but chosen her instance +at merest random. + +"Na, na, sir! what my sowl may be in the eyes o' my Maker, I hae ill +tellin'," she said, "but dinna ye threip upo' me 'at it's o' the +same vailue i' your eyes as the sowl o' sic a fine bonny, winsome +leddy as yon. In trouth," she added, and shook her head mournfully, +"I haena had sae mony preevileeges; an' maybe it'll be seen till, +an' me passed ower a wheen easier nor some fowk." + +"I wouldn't have you build too much upon that, Mistress Croale," +said Mr. Sclater, glad to follow the talk down another turning, but +considerably more afraid of rousing the woman than he had been +before. + +The remark drove her behind the categorical stockade of her +religious merits. + +"I pey my w'y," she said, with modest firmness. "I put my penny, and +whiles my saxpence, intil the plate at the door when I gang to the +kirk--an' I was jist thinkin' I wad win there the morn's nicht at +farest, whan I turnt an' saw ye stan'in there, sir; an' little I +thoucht--but that's neither here nor there, I'm thinkin'. I tell as +feow lees as I can; I never sweir, nor tak the name o' the Lord in +vain, anger me 'at likes; I sell naething but the best whusky; I +never hae but broth to my denner upo' the Lord's day, an' broth +canna brak the Sawbath, simmerin' awa' upo' the bar o' the grate, +an' haudin' no lass frae the kirk; I confess, gien ye wull be +speirin', 'at I dinna read my buik sae aften as maybe I sud; but, +'deed, sir, tho' I says't 'at sud haud my tongue, ye hae waur folk +i' yer perris nor Benjie Croale's widow; an' gien ye wunna hae a +drap to weet yer ain whustle for the holy wark ye hae afore ye the +morn's mornin', I maun gang an' mak my bed, for the lass is laid up +wi' a bealt thoom, an' I maunna lat a' thing gang to dirt an' green +bree; though I'm sure it's rale kin' o' ye to come to luik efter me, +an' that's mair nor Maister Rennie, honest gentleman, ever did me +the fawvour o', a' the time he ministered the perris. I haena an +ill name wi' them 'at kens me, sir; that I can say wi' a clean +conscience; an' ye may ken me weel gien ye wull. An' there's jist +ae thing mair, sir: I gie ye my Bible-word, 'at never, gien I saw +sign o' repentance or turnin' upo' ane o' them 'at pits their legs +'aneth my table--Wad ye luik intil the parlour, sir? No!--as I was +sayin', never did I, sin' I keepit hoose, an' never wad I set mysel' +to quench the smokin' flax; I wad hae no man's deith, sowl or body, +lie at my door." + +"Well, well, Mistress Croale," said the minister, somewhat dazed by +the cataract he had brought upon his brain, and rather perplexed +what to say in reply with any hope of reaching her, "I don't doubt a +word of what you tell me; but you know works cannot save us; our +best righteousness is but as filthy rags." + +"It's weel I ken that, Mr. Sclater. An' I'm sure I'll be glaid to +see ye, sir, ony time ye wad dee me the fawvour to luik in as ye're +passin' by. It'll be none to yer shame, sir, for mine's an honest +hoose." + +"I'll do that, Mistress Croale," answered the minister, glad to +escape. "But mind," he added, "I don't give up my point for all +that; and I hope you will think over what I have been saying to +you--and that seriously." + +With these words he left the shop rather hurriedly, in evident dread +of a reply. + +Mistress Croale turned to the shelves behind her, took again the +bottle she had replaced, poured out a large half-glass of whisky, +and tossed it off. She had been compelled to think and talk of +things unpleasant, and it had put her, as she said, a' in a trim'le. +She was but one of the many who get the fuel of their life in at +the wrong door, their comfort from the world-side of the universe. +I cannot tell whether Mr. Sclater or she was the farther from the +central heat. The woman had the advantage in this, that she had to +expend all her force on mere self-justification, and had no energy +left for vain-glory. It was with a sad sigh she set about the work +of the house. Nor would it have comforted her much to assure her +that hers was a better defence than any distiller in the country +could make. Even the whisky itself gave her little relief; it +seemed to scald both stomach and conscience, and she vowed never to +take it again. But alas! this time is never the time for +self-denial; it is always the next time. Abstinence is so much more +pleasant to contemplate upon the other side of indulgence! Yet the +struggles after betterment that many a drunkard has made in vain, +would, had his aim been high enough, have saved his soul from death, +and turned the charnel of his life into a temple. Abject as he is, +foiled and despised, such a one may not yet be half so contemptible +as many a so-counted respectable member of society, who looks down +on him from a height too lofty even for scorn. It is not the first +and the last only, of whom many will have to change places; but +those as well that come everywhere between. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE PARLOUR. + +The day went on, and went out, its short autumnal brightness +quenched in a chilly fog. All along the Widdiehill, the gas was +alight in the low-browed dingy shops. To the well-to-do citizen +hastening home to the topmost business of the day, his dinner, these +looked the abodes of unlovely poverty and mean struggle. Even to +those behind their counters, in their back parlours, and in their +rooms above, everything about them looked common, to most of them, +save the owners, wearisome. But to yon pale-faced student, gliding +in the glow of his red gown, through the grey mist back to his +lodging, and peeping in at every open door as he passes, they are so +full of mystery, that gladly would he yield all he has gathered from +books, for one genuine glance of insight into the vital movement of +the hearts and households of which those open shops are the sole +outward and visible signs. Each house is to him a nest of human +birds, over which brood the eternal wings of love and purpose. Only +such different birds are hatched from the same nest! And what a +nest was then the city itself!--with its university, its schools, +its churches, its hospitals, its missions; its homes, its +lodging-houses, its hotels, its drinking shops, its houses viler +still; its factories, its ships, its great steamers; and the same +humanity busy in all!--here the sickly lady walking in the panoply +of love unharmed through the horrors of vicious suffering; there the +strong mother cursing her own child along half a street with an +intensity and vileness of execration unheard elsewhere! The will of +the brooding spirit must be a grand one, indeed, to enclose so much +of what cannot be its will, and turn all to its purpose of eternal +good! Our knowledge of humanity, how much more our knowledge of the +Father of it, is moving as yet but in the first elements. + +In his shed under the stair it had been dark for some time--too dark +for work, that is, and George Galbraith had lighted a candle: he +never felt at liberty to leave off so long as a man was recognizable +in the street by daylight. But now at last, with a sigh of relief, +he rose. The hour of his redemption was come, the moment of it at +hand. Outwardly calm, he was within eager as a lover to reach Lucky +Croale's back parlour. His hand trembled with expectation as he +laid from it the awl, took from between his knees the great boot on +the toe of which he had been stitching a patch, lifted the yoke of +his leather apron over his head, and threw it aside. With one hasty +glance around, as if he feared some enemy lurking near to prevent +his escape, he caught up a hat which looked as if it had been +brushed with grease, pulled it on his head with both hands, stepped +out quickly, closed the door behind him, turned the key, left it in +the lock, and made straight for his earthly paradise--but with +chastened step. All Mistress Croale's customers made a point of +looking decent in the street--strove, in their very consciousness, +to carry the expression of being on their way to their tea, not +their toddy--or if their toddy, then not that they desired it, but +merely that it was their custom always of an afternoon: man had no +choice--he must fill space, he must occupy himself; and if so, why +not Mistress Croale's the place, and the consumption of whisky the +occupation? But alas for their would-be seeming indifference! +Everybody in the lane, almost in the Widdiehill, knew every one of +them, and knew him for what he was; knew that every drop of toddy he +drank was to him as to a miser his counted sovereign; knew that, as +the hart for the water-brooks, so thirsted his soul ever after +another tumbler; that he made haste to swallow the last drops of the +present, that he might behold the plenitude of the next steaming +before him; that, like the miser, he always understated the amount +of the treasure he had secured, because the less he acknowledged, +the more he thought he could claim. + +George was a tall man, of good figure, loosened and bowed. His face +was well favoured, but not a little wronged by the beard and dirt of +a week, through which it gloomed haggard and white. Beneath his +projecting black brows, his eyes gleamed doubtful, as a wood-fire +where white ash dims the glow. He looked neither to right nor left, +but walked on with moveless dull gaze, noting nothing. + +"Yon's his ain warst enemy," said the kindly grocer-wife, as he +passed her door. + +"Ay," responded her customer, who kept a shop near by for old +furniture, or anything that had been already once possessed--"ay, I +daursay. But eh! to see that puir negleckit bairn o' his rin +scoorin' aboot the toon yon gait--wi' little o' a jacket but the +collar, an' naething o' the breeks but the doup--eh, wuman! it maks +a mither's hert sair to luik upo' 't. It's a providence 'at his +mither's weel awa' an' canna see't; it wad gar her turn in her +grave." + +George was the first arrival at Mistress Croale's that night. He +opened the door of the shop like a thief, and glided softly into the +dim parlour, where the candles were not yet lit. There was light +enough, however, from the busy little fire in the grate to show the +clean sanded floor which it crossed with flickering shadows, the +coloured prints and cases of stuffed birds on the walls, the +full-rigged barque suspended from the centre of the ceiling, and, +chief of all shows of heaven or earth, the black bottle on the +table, with the tumblers, each holding its ladle, and its wine glass +turned bottom upwards. Nor must I omit a part without which the +rest could not have been a whole--the kettle of water that sat on +the hob, softly crooning. Compared with the place where George had +been at work all day, this was indeed an earthly paradise. Nor was +the presence and appearance of Mistress Croale an insignificant +element in the paradisial character of the place. She was now in a +clean white cap with blue ribbons. Her hair was neatly divided, and +drawn back from her forehead. Every trace of dirt and untidiness +had disappeared from her person, which was one of importance both in +size and in bearing. She wore a gown of some dark stuff with bright +flowers on it, and a black silk apron. Her face was composed, +almost to sadness, and throughout the evening, during which she +waited in person upon her customers, she comported herself with such +dignity, that her slow step and stately carriage seemed rather to +belong to the assistant at some religious ceremony than to one who +ministered at the orgies of a few drunken tradespeople. + +She was seated on the horsehair sofa in the fire-twilight, waiting +for customers, when the face of Galbraith came peering round the +door-cheek. + +"Come awa' ben," she said, hospitably, and rose. But as she did so, +she added with a little change of tone, "But I'm thinkin' ye maun +hae forgotten, Sir George. This is Setterday nicht, ye ken; an' +gien it war to be Sunday mornin' afore ye wan to yer bed, it wadna +be the first time, an' ye michtna be up ear eneuch to get yersel +shaved afore kirk time." + +She knew as well as George himself that never by any chance did he +go to church; but it was her custom, as I fancy it is that of some +other bulwarks of society and pillars of the church, "for the sake +of example," I presume, to make not unfrequent allusion to certain +observances, moral, religious, or sanatory as if they were laws that +everybody kept. + +Galbraith lifted his hand, black, and embossed with cobbler's wax, +and rubbed it thoughtfully over his chin: he accepted the fiction +offered him; it was but the well-known prologue to a hebdomadal +passage between them. What if he did not intend going to church the +next day? Was that any reason why he should not look a little +tidier when his hard week's-work was over, and his nightly habit was +turned into the comparatively harmless indulgence of a Saturday, in +sure hope of the day of rest behind. + +"Troth, I didna min' 'at it was Setterday," he answered. "I wuss I +had pitten on a clean sark, an' washen my face. But I s' jist gang +ower to the barber's an' get a scrape, an' maybe some o' them 'ill +be here or I come back." + +Mistress Croale knew perfectly that there was no clean shirt in +George's garret. She knew also that the shirt he then wore, which +probably, in consideration of her maid's festered hand, she would +wash for him herself, was one of her late husband's which she had +given him. But George's speech was one of those forms of sound +words held fast by all who frequented Mistress Croale's parlour, and +by herself estimated at more than their worth. + +The woman had a genuine regard for Galbraith. Neither the character +nor fate of one of the rest gave her a moment's trouble; but in her +secret mind she deplored that George should drink so inordinately, +and so utterly neglect his child as to let him spend his life in the +streets. She comforted herself, however, with the reflection, that +seeing he would drink, he drank with no bad companions--drank at all +events where what natural wickedness might be in them, was +suppressed by the sternness of her rule. Were he to leave her +fold--for a fold in very truth, and not a sty, it appeared to +her--and wander away to Jock Thamson's or Jeemie Deuk's, he would be +drawn into loud and indecorous talk, probably into quarrel and +uproar. + +In a few minutes George returned, an odd contrast visible between +the upper and lower halves of his face. Hearing his approach she +met him at the door. + +"Noo, Sir George," she said, "jist gang up to my room an' hae a +wash, an' pit on the sark ye'll see lyin' upo' the bed; syne come +doon an' hae yer tum'ler comfortable." + +George's whole soul was bent upon his drink, but he obeyed as if she +had been twice his mother. By the time he had finished his toilet, +the usual company was assembled, and he appeared amongst them in all +the respectability of a clean shirt and what purity besides the +general adhesiveness of his trade-material would yield to a single +ablution long delayed. They welcomed him all, with nod, or grin, or +merry word, in individual fashion, as each sat measuring out his +whisky, or pounding at the slow-dissolving sugar, or tasting the +mixture with critical soul seated between tongue and palate. + +The conversation was for some time very dull, with a strong tendency +to the censorious. For in their circle, not only were the claims of +respectability silently admitted, but the conduct of this and that +man of their acquaintance, or of public note, was pronounced upon +with understood reference to those claims--now with smile of +incredulity or pity, now with headshake regretful or +condemnatory--and this all the time that each was doing his best to +reduce himself to a condition in which the word conduct could no +longer have meaning in reference to him. + +All of them, as did their hostess, addressed Galbraith as Sir +George, and he accepted the title with a certain unassuming dignity. +For, if it was not universally known in the city, it was known to +the best lawyers in it, that he was a baronet by direct derivation +from the hand of King James the Sixth. + +The fire burned cheerfully, and the kettle making many journeys +between it and the table, things gradually grew more lively. +Stories were told, often without any point, but not therefore +without effect; reminiscences, sorely pulpy and broken at the edges, +were offered and accepted with a laughter in which sober ears might +have detected a strangely alien sound; and adventures were related +in which truth was no necessary element to reception. In the case +of the postman, for instance, who had been dismissed for losing a +bag of letters the week before, not one of those present believed a +word he said; yet as he happened to be endowed with a small stock of +genuine humour, his stories were regarded with much the same favour +as if they had been authentic. But the revival scarcely reached Sir +George. He said little or nothing, but, between his slow gulps of +toddy, sat looking vacantly into his glass. It is true he smiled +absently now and then when the others laughed, but that was only for +manners. Doubtless he was seeing somewhere the saddest of all +visions--the things that might have been. The wretched craving of +the lower organs stilled, and something spared for his brain, I +believe the chief joy his drink gave him lay in the power once more +to feel himself a gentleman. The washed hands, the shaven face, the +clean shirt, had something to do with it, no doubt, but the +necromantic whisky had far more. + +What faded ghosts of ancestral dignity and worth and story the evil +potion called up in the mind of Sir George!--who himself hung ready +to fall, the last, or all but the last, mildewed fruit of the tree +of Galbraith! Ah! if this one and that of his ancestors had but +lived to his conscience, and with some thought of those that were to +come after him, he would not have transmitted to poor Sir George, in +horrible addition to moral weakness, that physical proclivity which +had now grown to such a hideous craving. To the miserable wretch +himself it seemed that he could no more keep from drinking whisky +than he could from breathing air. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +GIBBIE'S CALLING. + +I am not sure that his father's neglect was not on the whole better +for Gibbie than would have been the kindness of such a father +persistently embodying itself. But the picture of Sir George, by +the help of whisky and the mild hatching oven of Mistress Croale's +parlour, softly breaking from the shell of the cobbler, and floating +a mild gentleman in the air of his lukewarm imagination, and poor +wee Gibbie trotting outside in the frosty dark of the autumn night, +through which the moon keeps staring down, vague and disconsolate, +is hardly therefore the less pathetic. Under the window of the +parlour where the light of revel shone radiant through a red +curtain, he would stand listening for a moment, then, darting off a +few yards suddenly and swiftly like a scared bird, fall at once into +his own steady trot--up the lane and down, till he reached the +window again, where again he would stand and listen. Whether he +made this departure and return twenty or a hundred times in a night, +he nor any one else could have told. Sometimes he would for a +change extend his trot along the Widdiehill, sometimes along the +parallel Vennel, but never far from Jink Lane and its glowing +window. Never moth haunted lamp so persistently. Ever as he ran, +up this pavement and down that, on the soft-sounding soles of his +bare feet, the smile on the boy's face grew more and more sleepy, +but still he smiled and still he trotted, still paused at the +window, and still started afresh. + +He was not so much to be pitied as my reader may think. Never in +his life had he yet pitied himself. The thought of hardship or +wrong had not occurred to him. It would have been +difficult--impossible, I believe--to get the idea into his head that +existence bore to him any other shape than it ought. Things were +with him as they had always been, and whence was he to take a fresh +start, and question what had been from the beginning? Had any +authority interfered, with a decree that Gibbie should no more scour +the midnight streets, no more pass and repass that far-shining +splendour of red, then indeed would bitter, though inarticulate, +complaint have burst from his bosom. But there was no evil power to +issue such a command, and Gibbie's peace was not invaded. + +It was now late, and those streets were empty; neither carriage nor +cart, wheelbarrow nor truck, went any more bumping and clattering +over their stones. They were well lighted with gas, but most of the +bordering houses were dark. Now and then a single foot-farer passed +with loud, hollow-sounding boots along the pavement; or two girls +would come laughing along, their merriment echoing rude in the wide +stillness. A cold wind, a small, forsaken, solitary wind, moist +with a thin fog, seemed, as well as wee Gibbie, to be roaming the +night, for it met him at various corners, and from all directions. +But it had nothing to do, and nowhere to go, and there it was not +like Gibbie, the business of whose life was even now upon him, the +mightiest hope of whose conscious being was now awake. + +All he expected, or ever desired to discover, by listening at the +window, was simply whether there were yet signs of the company's +breaking up; and his conclusions on that point were never mistaken: +how he arrived at them it would be hard to say. Seldom had he there +heard the voice of his father, still seldomer anything beyond its +tone. This night, however, as the time drew near when they must go, +lest the Sabbath should be broken in Mistress Croale's decent house, +and Gibbie stood once more on tiptoe, with his head just on the +level of the windowsill, he heard his father utter two words: "Up +Daurside" came to him through the window, in the voice he loved, +plain and distinct. The words conveyed to him nothing at all; the +mere hearing of them made them memorable. For the time, however, he +forgot them, for, by indications best known to himself, he perceived +that the company was on the point of separating, and from that +moment did not take his eyes off the door until he heard the first +sounds of its opening. As, however, it was always hard for Gibbie +to stand still, and especially hard on a midnight so cold that his +feet threatened to grow indistinguishable from the slabs of the +pavement, he was driven, in order not to lose sight of it, to +practise the art, already cultivated by him to a crab-like +perfection, of running first backwards, then forwards with scarcely +superior speed. But it was not long ere the much expected sound of +Mistress Croale's voice heralded the hour for patience to blossom +into possession. The voice was neither loud nor harsh, but clear +and firm; the noise that followed was both loud and strident. +Voices had a part in it, but the movement of chairs and feet and +the sudden contact of different portions of the body with walls and +tables, had a larger. The guests were obeying the voice of their +hostess all in one like a flock of sheep, but it was poor +shepherd-work to turn them out of the fold at midnight. Gibbie +bounded up and stood still as a statue at the very door-cheek, until +he heard Mistress Croale's hand upon the lock, when he bolted, +trembling with eagerness, into the entry of a court a few houses +nearer to the Widdiehill. + +One after one the pitiable company issued from its paradise, and +each stumbled away, too far gone for leave-taking. Most of them +passed Gibbie where he stood, but he took no heed; his father was +always the last--and the least capable. But, often as he left her +door, never did it close behind him until with her own eyes Mistress +Croale had seen Gibbie dart like an imp out of the court--to take +him in charge, and, all the weary way home, hover, not very like a +guardian angel, but not the less one in truth, around the unstable +equilibrium of his father's tall and swaying form. And thereupon +commenced a series of marvellous gymnastics on the part of wee +Gibbie. Imagine a small boy with a gigantic top, which, six times +his own size, he keeps erect on its peg, not by whipping it round, +but by running round it himself, unfailingly applying, at the very +spot and at the very moment, the precise measure of impact necessary +to counterbalance its perpetual tendency to fall in one direction or +another, so that the two have all the air of a single +invention--such an invention as one might meet with in an ancient +clock, contrived when men had time to mingle play with earnest--and +you will have in your mind's eye a real likeness of Sir George +attended, any midnight in the week, by his son Gilbert. Home the +big one staggered, reeled, gyrated, and tumbled; round and round him +went the little one, now behind, now before, now on this side, now +on that, his feet never more than touching the ground but dancing +about like those of a prize-fighter, his little arms up and his +hands well forward, like flying buttresses. And such indeed they +were--buttresses which flew and flew all about a universally leaning +tower. They propped it here, they propped it there; with wonderful +judgment and skill and graduation of force they applied themselves, +and with perfect success. Not once, for the last year and a half, +during which time wee Gibbie had been the nightly guide of Sir +George's homeward steps, had the self-disabled mass fallen prostrate +in the gutter, there to snore out the night. + +The first special difficulty, that of turning the corner of Jink +Lane and the Widdiehill, successfully overcome, the twain went +reeling and revolving along the street, much like a whirlwind that +had half forgotten the laws of gyration, until at length it spun +into the court, and up to the foot of the outside stair over the +baronet's workshop. Then commenced the real struggle of the evening +for Gibbie--and for his father too, though the latter was aware of +it only in the momentary and evanescent flashes of such +enlightenment as made him just capable of yielding to the pushes and +pulls of the former. All up the outside and the two inside stairs, +his waking and sleeping were as the alternate tictac of a pendulum; +but Gibbie stuck to his business like a man, and his resolution and +perseverance were at length, as always, crowned with victory. + +The house in which lords and ladies had often reposed was now filled +with very humble folk, who were all asleep when Gibbie and his +father entered; but the noise they made in ascending caused no great +disturbance of their rest; for, if any of them were roused for a +moment, it was but to recognize at once the cause of the tumult, and +with the remark, "It's only wee Gibbie luggin' hame Sir George," to +turn on the other side and fall asleep again. + +Arrived at last at the garret door, which stood wide open, Gibbie +had small need of light in the nearly pitch darkness of the place, +for there was positively nothing to stumble over or against between +the door and the ancient four-post bed, which was all of his +father's house that remained to Sir George. With heavy shuffling +feet the drunkard lumbered laboriously bedward; and the bare posts +and crazy frame groaned and creaked as he fell upon the oat-chaff +that lay waiting him in place of the vanished luxury of feathers. +Wee Gibbie flew at his legs, nor rested until, the one after the +other, he had got them on the bed; if then they were not very +comfortably deposited, he knew that, in his first turn, their owner +would get them all right. + +And now rose the culmen of Gibbie's day! its cycle, rounded through +regions of banishment, returned to its nodus of bliss. In triumph +he spread over his sleeping father his dead mother's old plaid of +Gordon tartan, all the bedding they had, and without a moment's +further delay--no shoes even to put off--crept under it, and nestled +close upon the bosom of his unconscious parent. A victory more! +another day ended with success! his father safe, and all his own! +the canopy of the darkness and the plaid over them, as if they were +the one only two in the universe! his father unable to leave +him--his for whole dark hours to come! It was Gibbie's paradise +now! His heaven was his father's bosom, to which he clung as no +infant yet ever clung to his mother's. He never thought to pity +himself that the embrace was all on his side, that no answering +pressure came back from the prostrate form. He never said to +himself, "My father is a drunkard, but I must make the best of it; +he is all I have!" He clung to his one possession--only clung: this +was his father--all in all to him. What must be the bliss of such a +heart--of any heart, when it comes to know that there is a father of +fathers, yea, a father of fatherhood! a father who never slumbers +nor sleeps, but holds all the sleeping in his ever waking bosom--a +bosom whose wakefulness is the sole fountain of their slumber! + +The conscious bliss of the child was of short duration, for in a few +minutes he was fast asleep; but for the gain of those few minutes +only, the day had been well spent. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A SUNDAY AT HOME. + +Such were the events of every night, and such had they been since +Gibbie first assumed this office of guardian--a time so long in +proportion to his life that it seemed to him as one of the laws of +existence that fathers got drunk and Gibbies took care of them. But +Saturday night was always one of special bliss; for then the joy to +come spread its arms beneath and around the present delight: all +Sunday his father would be his. On that happiest day of all the +week, he never set his foot out of doors, except to run twice to +Mistress Croale's, once to fetch the dinner which she supplied from +her own table, and for which Sir George regularly paid in advance on +Saturday before commencing his potations. + +But indeed the streets were not attractive to the child on Sundays: +there were no shops open, and the people in their Sunday clothes, +many of them with their faces studiously settled into masks intended +to express righteousness, were far less interesting, because less +alive, than the same people in their work-day attire, in their +shops, or seated at their stalls, or driving their carts, and +looking thoroughly human. As to going to church himself, such an +idea had never entered his head. He had not once for a moment +imagined that anybody would like him to go to church, that such as +he ever went to church, that church was at all a place to which +Gibbies with fathers to look after should have any desire to go. As +to what church going meant, he had not the vaguest idea; it had not +even waked the glimmer of a question in his mind. All he knew was +that people went to church on Sundays. It was another of the laws +of existence, the reason of which he knew no more than why his +father went every night to Jink Lane and got drunk. George, +however, although he had taught his son nothing, was not without +religion, and had notions of duty in respect of the Sabbath. Not +even with the prize of whisky in view, would he have consented to +earn a sovereign on that day by the lightest of work. + +Gibbie was awake some time before his father, and lay revelling in +love's bliss of proximity. At length Sir George, the merest bubble +of nature, awoke, and pushed him from him. + +The child got up at once, but only to stand by the bed-side. He +said no word, did not even think an impatient thought, yet his +father seemed to feel that he was waiting for him. After two or +three huge yawns, he spread out his arms, but, unable to stretch +himself, yawned again, rolled himself off the bed, and crept feebly +across the room to an empty chest that stood under the skylight. +There he seated himself, and for half an hour sat motionless, a +perfect type of dilapidation, moral and physical, while a little way +off stood Gibbie, looking on, like one awaiting a resurrection. At +length he seemed to come to himself--the expected sign of which was +that he reached down his hand towards the meeting of roof and floor, +and took up a tiny last with a half-made boot upon it. At sight of +it in his father's hands, Gibbie clapped his with delight--an old +delight, renewed every Sunday since he could remember. That boot +was for him! and this being the second, the pair would be finished +before night! By slow degrees of revival, with many pauses between, +George got to work. He wanted no breakfast, and made no inquiry of +Gibbie whether he had had any. But what cared Gibbie about +breakfast! With his father all to himself, and that father working +away at a new boot for him--for him who had never had a pair of any +sort upon his feet since the woollen ones he wore in his mother's +lap, breakfast or no breakfast was much the same to him. It could +never have occurred to him that it was his father's part to provide +him with breakfast. If he was to have none, it was Sunday that was +to blame: there was no use in going to look for any when the shops +were all shut, and everybody either at church, or closed in domestic +penetralia, or out for a walk. More than contented, therefore, +while busily his father wedded welt and sole with stitches +infrangible, Gibbie sat on the floor, preparing waxed ends, +carefully sticking in the hog's bristle, and rolling the +combination, with quite professional aptitude, between the flat of +his hand and what of trouser-leg he had left, gazing eagerly between +at the advancing masterpiece. Occasionally the triumph of +expectation would exceed his control, when he would spring from the +floor, and caper and strut about like a pigeon--soft as a shadow, +for he knew his father could not bear noise in the morning--or +behind his back execute a pantomimic dumb show of delight, in which +he seemed with difficulty to restrain himself from jumping upon him, +and hugging him in his ecstasy. Oh, best of parents! working thus +even on a Sunday for his Gibbie, when everybody else was at church +enjoying himself! But Gibbie never dared hug his father except when +he was drunk--why, he could hardly have told. Relieved by his dumb +show, he would return, quite as an aged grimalkin, and again deposit +himself on the floor near his father where he could see his busy +hands. + +All this time Sir George never spoke a word. Incredible as it may +seem, however, he was continually, off and on, trying his hardest to +think of some Sunday lesson to give his child. Many of those that +knew the boy, regarded him as a sort of idiot, drawing the +conclusion from Gibbie's practical honesty and his too evident love +for his kind: it was incredible that a child should be poor, +unselfish, loving, and not deficient in intellect! His father knew +him better, yet he often quieted his conscience in regard to his +education, with the reflection that not much could be done for him. +Still, every now and then he would think perhaps he ought to do +something: who could tell but the child might be damned for not +understanding the plan of salvation? and brooding over the matter +this morning, as well as his headache would permit, he came to the +resolution, as he had often done before, to buy a Shorter Catechism; +the boy could not learn it, but he would keep reading it to him, and +something might stick. Even now perhaps he could begin the course +by recalling some of the questions and answers that had been the +plague of his life every Saturday at school. He set his +recollection to work, therefore, in the lumber-room of his memory, +and again and again sent it back to the task, but could find nothing +belonging to the catechism except the first question with its +answer, and a few incoherent fragments of others. Moreover, he +found his mind so confused and incapable of continuous or +concentrated effort, that he could not even keep "man's chief end" +and the rosined end between his fingers from twisting up together in +the most extraordinary manner. Yet if the child but "had the +question," he might get some good of it. The hour might come when +he would say, "My father taught me that!"--who could tell? And he +knew he had the words correct, wherever he had dropped their +meaning. For the sake of Gibbie's immortal part, therefore, he +would repeat the answer to that first, most momentous of questions, +over and over as he worked, in the hope of insinuating something--he +could not say what--into the small mental pocket of the innocent. +The first, therefore, and almost the only words which Gibbie heard +from his father's lips that morning, were these, dozens of times +repeated--"Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for +ever." But so far was Gibbie from perceiving in them any meaning, +that even with his father's pronunciation of chief end as chifenn, +they roused in his mind no sense or suspicion of obscurity. The +word stuck there, notwithstanding; but Gibbie was years a man before +he found out what a chifenn was. Where was the great matter? How +many who have learned their catechism and deplore the ignorance of +others, make the least effort to place their chief end even in the +direction of that of their creation? Is it not the constant +thwarting of their aims, the rendering of their desires futile, and +their ends a mockery, that alone prevents them and their lives from +proving an absolute failure? Sir George, with his inveterate, +consuming thirst for whisky, was but the type of all who would gain +their bliss after the scheme of their own fancies, instead of the +scheme of their existence; who would build their house after their +own childish wilfulness instead of the ground-plan of their being. +How was Sir George to glorify the God whom he could honestly thank +for nothing but whisky, the sole of his gifts that he prized? Over +and over that day he repeated the words, "Man's chief end is to +glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever," and all the time his +imagination, his desire, his hope, were centred on the bottle, which +with his very back he felt where it stood behind him, away on the +floor at the head of his bed. Nevertheless when he had gone over +them a score of times or so, and Gibbie had begun, by a merry look +and nodding of his head, to manifest that he knew what was coming +next, the father felt more content with himself than for years past; +and when he was satisfied that Gibbie knew all the words, though, +indeed, they were hardly more than sounds to him, he sent him, with +a great sense of relief, to fetch the broth and beef and potatoes +from Mistress Croale's. + +Eating a real dinner in his father's house, though without a table +to set it upon, Gibbie felt himself a most privileged person. The +only thing that troubled him was that his father ate so little. Not +until the twilight began to show did Sir George really begin to +revive, but the darker it grew without, the brighter his spirit +burned. For, amongst not a few others, there was this strange +remnant of righteousness in the man, that he never would taste drink +before it was dark in winter, or in summer before the regular hour +for ceasing work had arrived; and to this rule he kept, and that +under far greater difficulties, on the Sunday as well. For Mistress +Croale would not sell a drop of drink, not even on the sly, on the +Sabbath-day: she would fain have some stake in the hidden kingdom; +and George, who had not a Sunday stomach he could assume for the day +any more than a Sunday coat, was thereby driven to provide his +whisky and that day drink it at home; when, with the bottle so near +him, and the sense that he had not to go out to find his relief, his +resolution was indeed sorely tried; but he felt that to yield would +be to cut his last cable and be swept on the lee-shore of utter +ruin. + +Breathless with eager interest, Gibbie watched his father's hands, +and just as the darkness closed in, the boot was finished. His +father rose, and Gibbie, glowing with delight, sprang upon the seat +he had left, while his father knelt upon the floor to try upon the +unaccustomed foot the result from which he had just drawn the last. +Ah, pity! pity! But even Gibbie might by this time have learned to +foresee it! three times already had the same thing happened: the +boot would not go on the foot. The real cause of the failure it +were useless to inquire. Sir George said that, Sunday being the +only day he could give to the boots, before he could finish them, +Gibbie's feet had always outgrown the measure. But it may be Sir +George was not so good a maker as cobbler. That he meant honestly +by the boy I am sure, and not the less sure for the confession I am +forced to make, that on each occasion when he thus failed to fit +him, he sold the boots the next day at a fair price to a ready-made +shop, and drank the proceeds. A stranger thing still was, that, +although Gibbie had never yet worn boot or shoe, his father's +conscience was greatly relieved by the knowledge that he spent his +Sundays in making boots for him. Had he been an ordinary child, and +given him trouble, he would possibly have hated him; as it was, he +had a great though sadly inoperative affection for the boy, which +was an endless good to them both. + +After many bootless trials, bootless the feet must remain, and +George, laying the failure down in despair, rose from his knees, and +left Gibbie seated on the chest more like a king discrowned, than a +beggar unshod. And like a king the little beggar bore his pain. He +heaved one sigh, and a slow moisture gathered in his eyes, but it +did not overflow. One minute only he sat and hugged his +desolation--then, missing his father, jumped off the box to find +him. + +He sat on the edge of the bed, looking infinitely more disconsolate +than Gibbie felt, his head and hands hanging down, a picture of +utter dejection. Gibbie bounded to him, climbed on the bed, and +nearly strangled him in the sharp embrace of his little arms. Sir +George took him on his knees and kissed him, and the tears rose in +his dull eyes. He got up with him, carried him to the box, placed +him on it once more, and fetched a piece of brown paper from under +the bed. From this he tore carefully several slips, with which he +then proceeded to take a most thoughtful measurement of the baffling +foot. He was far more to be pitied than Gibbie, who would not have +worn the boots an hour had they been the best fit in shoedom. The +soles of his feet were very nearly equal in resistance to leather, +and at least until the snow and hard frost came, he was better +without boots. + +But now the darkness had fallen, and his joy was at the door. But +he was always too much ashamed to begin to drink before the child: +he hated to uncork the bottle before him. What followed was in +regular Sunday routine. + +"Gang ower to Mistress Croale's, Gibbie," he said, "wi' my +compliments." + +Away ran Gibbie, nothing loath, and at his knock was admitted. +Mistress Croale sat in the parlour, taking her tea, and expecting +him. She was always kind to the child. She could not help feeling +that no small part of what ought to be spent on him came to her; and +on Sundays, therefore, partly for his sake, partly for her own, she +always gave him his tea--nominally tea, really blue city-milk--with +as much dry bread as he could eat, and a bit of buttered toast from +her plate to finish off with. As he ate, he stood at the other side +of the table; he looked so miserable in her eyes that, even before +her servant, she was ashamed to have him sit with her; but Gibbie +was quite content, never thought of sitting, and ate in gladness, +every now and then looking up with loving, grateful eyes, which must +have gone right to the woman's heart, had it not been for a vague +sense she had of being all the time his enemy--and that although she +spent much time in persuading herself that she did her best both for +his father and him. + +When he returned, greatly refreshed, and the boots all but +forgotten, he found his father, as he knew he would, already started +on the business of the evening. He had drawn the chest, the only +seat in the room, to the side of the bed, against which he leaned +his back. A penny candle was burning in a stone blacking bottle on +the chimney piece, and on the floor beside the chest stood the +bottle of whisky, a jug of water, a stoneware mug, and a wineglass. + +There was no fire and no kettle, whence his drinking was sad, as +became the Scotch Sabbath in distinction from the Jewish. There, +however, was the drink, and thereby his soul could live--yea, expand +her mouldy wings! Gibbie was far from shocked; it was all right, +all in the order of things, and he went up to his father with +radiant countenance. Sir George put forth his hands and took him +between his knees. An evil wind now swelled his sails, but the +cargo of the crazy human hull was not therefore evil. + +"Gibbie," he said, solemnly, "never ye drink a drap o' whusky. +Never ye rax oot the han' to the boatle. Never ye drink anything +but watter, caller watter, my man." + +As he said the words, he stretched out his own hand to the mug, +lifted it to his lips, and swallowed a great gulp. + +"Dinna do't, I tell ye, Gibbie," he repeated. + +Gibbie shook his head with positive repudiation. + +"That's richt, my man," responded his father with satisfaction. +"Gien ever I see ye pree (taste) the boatle, I'll warstle frae my +grave an' fleg ye oot o' the sma' wuts ye hae, my man." + +Here followed another gulp from the mug. + +The threat had conveyed nothing to Gibbie. Even had he understood, +it would have carried anything but terror to his father-worshipping +heart. + +"Gibbie," resumed Sir George, after a brief pause, "div ye ken what +fowk'll ca' ye whan I'm deid?" + +Gibbie again shook his head--with expression this time of mere +ignorance. + +"They'll ca' ye Sir Gibbie Galbraith, my man," said his father, "an' +richtly, for it'll be no nickname, though some may lauch 'cause yer +father was a sutor, an' mair 'at, for a' that, ye haena a shee to +yer fut yersel', puir fallow! Heedna ye what they say, Gibbie. +Min' 'at ye're Sir Gibbie, an' hae the honour o' the faimily to +haud up, my man--an' that ye can not dee an' drink. This cursit +drink's been the ruin o' a' the Galbraiths as far back as I ken. +'Maist the only thing I can min' o' my gran'father--a big bonny man, +wi' lang white hair--twise as big's me, Gibbie--is seein' him deid +drunk i' the gutter o' the pump. He drank 'maist a' thing there +was, Gibbie--lan's an' lordship, till there was hardly an accre left +upo' haill Daurside to come to my father--'maist naething but a +wheen sma' hooses. He was a guid man, my father; but his father +learnt him to drink afore he was 'maist oot o' 's coaties, an' gae +him nae schuilin'; an' gien he red himsel' o' a' 'at was left, it +was sma' won'er--only, ye see, Gibbie, what was to come o' me? I +pit it till ye, Gibbie--what was to come o' me?--Gien a kin' neiper, +'at kent what it was to drink, an' sae had a fallow-feelin', hadna +ta'en an' learnt me my trade, the Lord kens what wad hae come o' you +an' me, Gibbie, my man!--Gang to yer bed, noo, an' lea' me to my ain +thouchts; no' 'at they're aye the best o' company, laddie.--But +whiles they're no that ill," he concluded, with a weak smile, as +some reflex of himself not quite unsatisfactory gloomed faintly in +the besmeared mirror of his uncertain consciousness. + +Gibbie obeyed, and getting under the Gordon tartan, lay and looked +out, like a weasel from its hole, at his father's back. For half an +hour or so Sir George went on drinking. All at once he started to +his feet, and turning towards the bed a white face distorted with +agony, kneeled down on the box and groaned out: + +"O God, the pains o' hell hae gotten haud upo' me. O Lord, I'm i' +the grup o' Sawtan. The deevil o' drink has me by the hause. I +doobt, O Lord, ye're gauin' to damn me dreidfu'. What guid that'll +do ye, O Lord, I dinna ken, but I doobtna ye'll dee what's richt, +only I wuss I hed never crossed ye i' yer wull. I kenna what I'm to +dee, or what's to be deene wi' me, or whaur ony help's to come frae. +I hae tried an' tried to maister the drink, but I was aye whumled. +For ye see, Lord, kennin' a' thing as ye dee, 'at until I hae a +drap i' my skin, I canna even think; I canna min' the sangs I used +to sing, or the prayers my mither learnt me sittin' upo' her lap. +Till I hae swallowed a mou'fu' or twa, things luik sae awfu'-like +'at I'm fit to cut my thro't; an' syne ance I'm begun, there's nae +mair thoucht o' endeevourin' to behaud (withhold) till I canna drink +a drap mair. O God, what garred ye mak things 'at wad mak whusky, +whan ye kenned it wad mak sic a beast o' me?" + +He paused, stretched down his hand to the floor, lifted the mug, and +drank a huge mouthful; then with a cough that sounded apologetic, +set it down, and recommenced: + +"O Lord, I doobt there's nae houp for me, for the verra river o' the +watter o' life wadna be guid to me wantin' a drap frae the boatle +intil 't. It's the w'y wi' a' hiz 'at drinks. It's no 'at we're +drunkards, Lord--ow na! it's no that, Lord; it's only 'at we canna +dee wantin' the drink. We're sair drinkers, I maun confess, but no +jist drunkards, Lord. I'm no drunk the noo; I ken what I'm sayin', +an' it's sair trowth, but I cudna hae prayt a word to yer lordship +gien I hadna had a jooggy or twa first. O Lord, deliver me frae the +pooer o' Sawtan.--O Lord! O Lord! I canna help mysel'. Dinna sen' +me to the ill place. Ye loot the deils gang intil the swine, lat me +tee." + +With this frightful petition, his utterance began to grow +indistinct. Then he fell forward upon the bed, groaning, and his +voice died gradually away. Gibbie had listened to all he said, but +the awe of hearing his father talk to one unseen, made his soul very +still, and when he ceased he fell asleep. + +Alas for the human soul inhabiting a drink-fouled brain! It is a +human soul still, and wretched in the midst of all that whisky can +do for it. From the pit of hell it cries out. So long as there is +that which can sin, it is a man. And the prayer of misery carries +its own justification, when the sober petitions of the self-righteous +and the unkind are rejected. He who forgives not is not forgiven, +and the prayer of the Pharisee is as the weary beating of the +surf of hell, while the cry of a soul out of its fire sets the +heart-strings of love trembling. There are sins which men must +leave behind them, and sins which they must carry with them. +Society scouts the drunkard because he is loathsome, and it matters +nothing whether society be right or wrong, while it cherishes in its +very bosom vices which are, to the God-born thing we call the soul, +yet worse poisons. Drunkards and sinners, hard as it may be for +them to enter into the kingdom of heaven, must yet be easier to save +than the man whose position, reputation, money, engross his heart +and his care, who seeks the praise of men and not the praise of God. +When I am more of a Christian, I shall have learnt to be sorrier for +the man whose end is money or social standing than for the drunkard. +But now my heart, recoiling from the one, is sore for the +other--for the agony, the helplessness, the degradation, the +nightmare struggle, the wrongs and cruelties committed, the duties +neglected, the sickening ruin of mind and heart. So often, too, the +drunkard is originally a style of man immeasurably nobler than the +money-maker! Compare a Coleridge, Samuel Taylor or Hartley, +with--no; that man has not yet passed to his account. God has in +his universe furnaces for the refining of gold, as well as for the +burning of chaff and tares and fruitless branches; and, however they +may have offended, it is the elder brother who is the judge of all +the younger ones. + +Gibbie slept some time. When he woke, it was pitch dark, and he was +not lying on his father's bosom, He felt about with his hands till +he found his father's head. Then he got up and tried to rouse him, +and failing to get him on to the bed. But in that too he was sadly +unsuccessful: what with the darkness and the weight of him, the +result of the boy's best endeavour was, that Sir George half +slipped, half rolled down upon the box, and from that to the floor. +Assured then of his own helplessness, wee Gibbie dragged the +miserable bolster from the bed, and got it under his father's head; +then covered him with the plaid, and creeping under it, laid himself +on his father's bosom, where soon he slept again. + +He woke very cold, and getting up, turned heels-over-head several +times to warm himself, but quietly, for his father was still asleep. +The room was no longer dark, for the moon was shining through the +skylight. When he had got himself a little warmer, he turned to +have a look at his father. The pale light shone full upon his face, +and it was that, Gibbie thought, which made him look so strange. He +darted to him, and stared aghast: he had never seen him look like +that before, even when most drunk! He threw himself upon him: his +face was dreadfully cold. He pulled and shook him in fear--he could +not have told of what, but he would not wake. He was gone to see +what God could do for him there, for whom nothing more could be done +here. + +But Gibbie did not know anything about death, and went on trying to +wake him. At last he observed that, although his mouth was wide +open, the breath did not come from it. Thereupon his heart began to +fail him. But when he lifted an eyelid, and saw what was under it, +the house rang with the despairing shriek of the little orphan. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE TOWN-SPARROW. + +"This, too, will pass," is a Persian word: I should like it better +if it were "This, too, shall pass." + +Gibbie's agony passed, for God is not the God of the dead but of the +living. Through the immortal essence in him, life became again +life, and he ran about the streets as before. Some may think that +wee Sir Gibbie--as many now called him, some knowing the truth, and +others in kindly mockery--would get on all the better for the loss +of such a father; but it was not so. In his father he had lost his +Paradise, and was now a creature expelled. He was not so much to be +pitied as many a child dismissed by sudden decree from a home to a +school; but the streets and the people and the shops, the horses and +the dogs, even the penny-loaves though he was hungry, had lost half +their precious delight, when his father was no longer in the +accessible background, the heart of the blissful city. As to food +and clothing, he did neither much better nor any worse than before: +people were kind as usual, and kindness was to Gibbie the very milk +of mother Nature. Whose the hand that proffered it, or what the +form it took, he cared no more than a stray kitten cares whether the +milk set down to it be in a blue saucer or a white. But he always +made the right return. The first thing a kindness deserves is +acceptance, the next is transmission: Gibbie gave both, without +thinking much about either. For he never had taken, and indeed +never learned to take, a thought about what he should eat or what he +should drink, or wherewithal he should be clothed--a fault rendering +him, in the eyes of the economist of this world, utterly unworthy of +a place in it. There is a world, however, and one pretty closely +mixed up with this, though it never shows itself to one who has no +place in it, the birds of whose air have neither storehouse nor +barn, but are just such thoughtless cherubs--thoughtless for +themselves, that is--as wee Sir Gibbie. It would be useless to +attempt convincing the mere economist that this great city was a +little better, a little happier, a little merrier, for the presence +in it of the child, because he would not, even if convinced of the +fact, recognize the gain; but I venture the assertion to him, that +the conduct of not one of its inhabitants was the worse for the +example of Gibbie's apparent idleness; and that not one of the poor +women who now and then presented the small baronet with a penny, or +a bit of bread, or a scrap of meat, or a pair of old trousers--shoes +nobody gave him, and he neither desired nor needed any--ever felt +the poorer for the gift, or complained that she should be so taxed. + +Positively or negatively, then, everybody was good to him, and +Gibbie felt it; but what could make up for the loss of his Paradise, +the bosom of a father? Drunken father as he was, I know of nothing +that can or ought to make up for such a loss, except that which can +restore it--the bosom of the Father of fathers. + +He roamed the streets, as all his life before, the whole of the day, +and part of the night; he took what was given him, and picked up +what he found. There were some who would gladly have brought him +within the bounds of an ordered life; he soon drove them to despair, +however, for the streets had been his nursery, and nothing could +keep him out of them. But the sparrow and the rook are just as +respectable in reality, though not in the eyes of the hen-wife, as +the egg-laying fowl, or the dirt-gobbling duck; and, however +Gibbie's habits might shock the ladies of Mr. Sclater's congregation +who sought to civilize him, the boy was no more about mischief in +the streets at midnight, than they were in their beds. They +collected enough for his behoof to board him for a year with an old +woman who kept a school, and they did get him to sleep one night in +her house. But in the morning, when she would not let him run out, +brought him into the school-room, her kitchen, and began to teach +him to write, Gibbie failed to see the good of it. He must have +space, change, adventure, air, or life was not worth the name to +him. Above all he must see friendly faces, and that of the old dame +was not such. But he desired to be friendly with her, and once, as +she leaned over him, put up his hand--not a very clean one, I am +bound to give her the advantage of my confessing--to stroke her +cheek: she pushed him roughly away, rose in indignation upon her +crutch, and lifted her cane to chastise him for the insult. A class +of urchins, to Gibbie's eyes at least looking unhappy, were at the +moment blundering through the twenty-third psalm. Ever after, even +when now Sir Gilbert more than understood the great song, the words, +"thy rod and thy staff," like the spell of a necromancer would still +call up the figure of the dame irate, in her horn spectacles and her +black-ribboned cap, leaning with one arm on her crutch, and with the +other uplifting what was with her no mere symbol of authority. Like +a shell from a mortar, he departed from the house. She hobbled to +the door after him, but his diminutive figure many yards away, his +little bare legs misty with swiftness as he ran, was the last she +ever saw of him, and her pupils had a bad time of it the rest of the +day. He never even entered the street again in which she lived. +Thus, after one night's brief interval of respectability, he was +again a rover of the city, a flitting insect that lighted here and +there, and spread wings of departure the moment a fresh desire +awoke. + +It would be difficult to say where he slept. In summer anywhere; in +winter where he could find warmth. Like animals better clad than +he, yet like him able to endure cold, he revelled in mere heat when +he could come by it. Sometimes he stood at the back of a baker's +oven, for he knew all the haunts of heat about the city; sometimes +he buried himself in the sids (husks of oats) lying ready to feed +the kiln of a meal-mill; sometimes he lay by the furnace of the +steam-engine of the water-works. One man employed there, when his +time was at night, always made a bed for Gibbie: he had lost his own +only child, and this one of nobody's was a comfort to him. + +Even those who looked upon wandering as wicked, only scolded into +the sweet upturned face, pouring gall into a cup of wine too full to +receive a drop of it--and did not hand him over to the police. +Useless verily that would have been, for the police would as soon +have thought of taking up a town sparrow as Gibbie, and would only +have laughed at the idea. They knew Gibbie's merits better than any +of those good people imagined his faults. It requires either wisdom +or large experience to know that a child is not necessarily wicked +even if born and brought up in a far viler entourage than was +Gibbie. + +The merits the police recognized in him were mainly two--neither of +small consequence in their eyes; the first, the negative, yet more +important one, that of utter harmlessness; the second, and positive +one--a passion and power for rendering help, taking notable shape +chiefly in two ways, upon both of which I have already more than +touched. The first was the peculiar faculty now pretty generally +known--his great gift, some, his great luck, others called it--for +finding things lost. It was no wonder the town crier had sought his +acquaintance, and when secured, had cultivated it--neither a +difficult task; for the boy, ever since he could remember, had been +in the habit, as often as he saw the crier, or heard his tuck of +drum in the distance, of joining him and following, until he had +acquainted himself with all particulars concerning everything +proclaimed as missing. The moment he had mastered the facts +announced, he would dart away to search, and not unfrequently to +return with the thing sought. But it was not by any means only +things sought that he found. He continued to come upon things of +which he had no simulacrum in his phantasy. These, having no longer +a father to carry them to, he now, their owners unknown, took to the +crier, who always pretended to receive them with a suspicion which +Gibbie understood as little as the other really felt, and at once +advertised them by drum and cry. What became of them after that, +Gibbie never knew. If they did not find their owners, neither did +they find their way back to Gibbie; if their owners were found, the +crier never communicated with him on the subject. Plainly he +regarded Gibbie as the favoured jackal, whose privilege it was to +hunt for the crier, the royal lion of the city forest. But he spoke +kindly to him, as well he might, and now and then gave him a penny. + +The second of the positive merits by which Gibbie found acceptance +in the eyes of the police, was a yet more peculiar one, growing out +of his love for his father, and his experience in the exercise of +that love. It was, however, unintelligible to them, and so +remained, except on the theory commonly adopted with regard to +Gibbie, namely, that he wasna a' there. Not the less was it to them +a satisfactory whim of his, seeing it mitigated their trouble as +guardians of the nightly peace and safety. It was indeed the main +cause of his being, like themselves, so much in the street at night: +seldom did Gibbie seek his lair--I cannot call it couch--before the +lengthening hours of the morning. If the finding of things was a +gift, this other peculiarity was a passion--and a right human +passion--absolutely possessing the child: it was, to play the +guardian angel to drunk folk. If such a distressed human craft hove +in sight, he would instantly bear down upon and hover about him, +until resolved as to his real condition. If he was in such distress +as to require assistance, he never left him till he saw him safe +within his own door. The police asserted that wee Sir Gibbie not +only knew every drunkard in the city, and where he lived, but where +he generally got drunk as well. That one was in no danger of taking +the wrong turning, upon whom Gibbie was in attendance, to determine, +by a shove on this side or that, the direction in which the +hesitating, uncertain mass of stultified humanity was to go. He +seemed a visible embodiment of that special providence which is said +to watch over drunk people and children, only here a child was the +guardian of the drunkard, and in this branch of his mission, was +well known to all who, without qualifying themselves for coming +under his cherubic cognizance, were in the habit of now and then +returning home late. He was least known to those to whom he +rendered most assistance. Rarely had he thanks for it, never +halfpence, but not unfrequently blows and abuse. For the last he +cared nothing; the former, owing to his great agility, seldom +visited him with any directness. A certain reporter of humorous +scandal, after his third tumbler, would occasionally give a graphic +description of what, coming from a supper-party, he once saw about +two o'clock in the morning. In the great street of the city, he +overhauled a huge galleon, which proved, he declared, to be the +provost himself, not exactly water-logged, and yet not very buoyant, +but carrying a good deal of sail. He might possibly have escaped +very particular notice, he said, but for the assiduous attendance +upon him of an absurd little cock-boat, in the person of wee +Gibbie--the two reminding him right ludicrously of the story of the +Spanish Armada. Round and round the bulky provost gyrated the tiny +baronet, like a little hero of the ring, pitching into him, only +with open-handed pushes, not with blows, now on this side and now on +that--not after such fashion of sustentation as might have sufficed +with a man of ordinary size, but throwing all his force now against +the provost's bulging bows, now against his over-leaning quarter, +encountering him now as he lurched, now as he heeled, until at +length he landed him high, though certainly not dry, on the top of +his own steps. The moment the butler opened the door, and the heavy +hulk rolled into dock, Gibbie darted off as if he had been the +wicked one tormenting the righteous, and in danger of being caught +by a pair of holy tongs. Whether the tale was true or not, I do not +know: with after-dinner humourists there is reason for caution. +Gibbie was not offered the post of henchman to the provost, and +rarely could have had the chance of claiming salvage for so +distinguished a vessel, seeing he generally cruised in waters where +such craft seldom sailed. Though almost nothing could now have +induced him to go down Jink Lane, yet about the time the company at +Mistress Croale's would be breaking up, he would on most nights be +lying in wait a short distance down the Widdiehill, ready to +minister to that one of his father's old comrades who might prove +most in need of his assistance; and if he showed him no gratitude, +Gibbie had not been trained in a school where he was taught to +expect or even to wish for any. + +I could now give a whole chapter to the setting forth of the +pleasures the summer brought him, city summer as it was, but I must +content myself with saying that first of these, and not least, was +the mere absence of the cold of the other seasons, bringing with it +many privileges. He could lie down anywhere and sleep when he +would; or spend, if he pleased, whole nights awake, in a churchyard, +or on the deck of some vessel discharging her cargo at the quay, or +running about the still, sleeping streets. Thus he got to know the +shapes of some of the constellations, and not a few of the aspects +of the heavens. But even then he never felt alone, for he gazed at +the vista from the midst of a cityful of his fellows. Then there +were the scents of the laylocks and the roses and the carnations and +the sweet-peas, that came floating out from the gardens, contending +sometimes with those of the grocers' and chemists' shops. Now and +then too he came in for a small feed of strawberries, which were +very plentiful in their season. Sitting then on a hospitable +doorstep, with the feet and faces of friends passing him in both +directions, and love embodied in the warmth of summer all about him, +he would eat his strawberries, and inherit the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SAMBO. + +No one was so sorry for the death of Sir George, or had so many kind +words to say in memory of him, as Mistress Croale. Neither was her +sorrow only because she had lost so good a customer, or even because +she had liked the man: I believe it was much enhanced by a vague +doubt that after all she was to blame for his death. In vain she +said to herself, and said truly, that it would have been far worse +for him, and Gibbie too, had he gone elsewhere for his drink; she +could not get the account settled with her conscience. She tried to +relieve herself by being kinder than before to the boy; but she was +greatly hindered in this by the fact that, after his father's death, +she could not get him inside her door. That his father was not +there--would not be there at night, made the place dreadful to him. +This addition to the trouble of mind she already had on account of +the nature of her business, was the cause, I believe, why, after Sir +George's death, she went down the hill with accelerated speed. She +sipped more frequently from her own bottle, soon came to "tasting +with" her customers, and after that her descent was rapid. She no +longer refused drink to women, though for a time she always gave it +under protest; she winked at card-playing; she grew generally more +lax in her administration; and by degrees a mist of evil fame began +to gather about her house. Thereupon her enemy, as she considered +him, the Rev. Clement Sclater, felt himself justified in moving more +energetically for the withdrawal of her license, which, with the +support of outraged neighbours, he found no difficulty in effecting. +She therefore flitted to another parish, and opened a worse house +in a worse region of the city--on the river-bank, namely, some +little distance above the quay, not too far to be within easy range +of sailors, and the people employed about the vessels loading or +discharging cargo. It pretended to be only a lodging-house, and had +no license for the sale of strong drink, but nevertheless, one way +and another, a great deal was drunk in the house, and, as always +card-playing, and sometimes worse things were going on, getting more +vigorous ever as the daylight waned, frequent quarrels and +occasional bloodshed was the consequence. For some time, however, +nothing very serious brought the place immediately within the +conscious ken of the magistrates. + +In the second winter after his father's death, Gibbie, wandering +everywhere about the city, encountered Lucky Croale in the +neighbourhood of her new abode; down there she was Mistress no +longer, but, with a familiarity scarcely removed from contempt, was +both mentioned and addressed as Lucky Croale. The repugnance which +had hitherto kept Gibbie from her having been altogether to her +place and not to herself, he at once accompanied her home, and after +that went often to the house. He was considerably surprised when +first he heard words from her mouth for using which she had formerly +been in the habit of severely reproving her guests; but he always +took things as he found them, and when ere long he had to hear such +occasionally addressed to himself, when she happened to be more out +of temper than usual, he never therefore questioned her friendship. +What more than anything else attracted him to her house, however, +was the jolly manners and open-hearted kindness of most of the +sailors who frequented it, with almost all of whom he was a +favourite; and it soon came about that, when his ministrations to +the incapable were over, he would spend the rest of the night more +frequently there than anywhere else; until at last he gave up, in a +great measure, his guardianship of the drunk in the streets for that +of those who were certainly in much more danger of mishap at Lucky +Croale's. Scarcely a night passed when he was not present at one or +more of the quarrels of which the place was a hot-bed; and as he +never by any chance took a part, or favoured one side more than +another, but confined himself to an impartial distribution of such +peace-making blandishments as the ever-springing fountain of his +affection took instinctive shape in, the wee baronet came to be +regarded, by the better sort of the rough fellows, almost as the +very identical sweet little cherub, sitting perched up aloft, whose +department in the saving business of the universe it was, to take +care of the life of poor Jack. I do not say that he was always +successful in his endeavours at atonement, but beyond a doubt Lucky +Croale's house was a good deal less of a hell through the haunting +presence of the child. He was not shocked by the things he saw, +even when he liked them least. He regarded the doing of them much +as he had looked upon his father's drunkenness--as a pitiful +necessity that overtook men--one from which there was no escape, and +which caused a great need for Gibbies. Evil language and coarse +behaviour alike passed over him, without leaving the smallest stain +upon heart or conscience, desire or will. No one could doubt it who +considered the clarity of his face and eyes, in which the occasional +but not frequent expression of keenness and promptitude scarcely +even ruffled the prevailing look of unclouded heavenly babyhood. + +If any one thinks I am unfaithful to human fact, and overcharge the +description of this child, I on my side doubt the extent of the +experience of that man or woman. I admit the child a rarity, but a +rarity in the right direction, and therefore a being with whom +humanity has the greater need to be made acquainted. I admit that +the best things are the commonest, but the highest types and the +best combinations of them are the rarest. There is more love in the +world than anything else, for instance; but the best love and the +individual in whom love is supreme are the rarest of all things. +That for which humanity has the strongest claim upon its workmen, +is the representation of its own best; but the loudest demand of the +present day is for the representation of that grade of humanity of +which men see the most--that type of things which could never have +been but that it might pass. The demand marks the commonness, +narrowness, low-levelled satisfaction of the age. It loves its +own--not that which might be, and ought to be its own--not its +better self, infinitely higher than its present, for the sake of +whose approach it exists. I do not think that the age is worse in +this respect than those which have preceded it, but that vulgarity, +and a certain vile contentment swelling to self-admiration, have +become more vocal than hitherto; just as unbelief, which I think in +reality less prevailing than in former ages, has become largely more +articulate, and thereby more loud and peremptory. But whatever the +demand of the age, I insist that that which ought to be presented to +its beholding, is the common good uncommonly developed, and that not +because of its rarity, but because it is truer to humanity. Shall I +admit those conditions, those facts, to be true exponents of +humanity, which, except they be changed, purified, or abandoned, +must soon cause that humanity to cease from its very name, must +destroy its very being? To make the admission would be to assert +that a house may be divided against itself, and yet stand. It is +the noble, not the failure from the noble, that is the true human; +and if I must show the failure, let it ever be with an eye to the +final possible, yea, imperative, success. But in our day, a man who +will accept any oddity of idiosyncratic development in manners, +tastes, or habits, will refuse, not only as improbable, but as +inconsistent with human nature, the representation of a man trying +to be merely as noble as is absolutely essential to his +being--except, indeed, he be at the same time represented as failing +utterly in the attempt, and compelled to fall back upon the +imperfections of humanity, and acknowledge them as its laws. Its +improbability, judged by the experience of most men I admit; its +unreality in fact I deny; and its absolute unity with the true idea +of humanity, I believe and assert. + +It is hardly necessary for me now to remark, seeing my narrative +must already have suggested it, that what kept Gibbie pure and +honest was the rarely-developed, ever-active love of his kind. The +human face was the one attraction to him in the universe. In deep +fact, it is so to everyone; I state but the commonest reality in +creation; only in Gibbie the fact had come to the surface; the +common thing was his in uncommon degree and potency. Gibbie knew no +music except the voice of man and woman; at least no other had as +yet affected him. To be sure he had never heard much. Drunken +sea-songs he heard every night almost; and now and then on Sundays +he ran through a zone of psalm-singing; but neither of those could +well be called music. There hung a caged bird here and there at a +door in the poorer streets; but Gibbie's love embraced the lower +creation also, and too tenderly for the enjoyment of its melody. +The human bird loved liberty too dearly to gather anything but pain +from the song of the little feathered brother who had lost it, and +to whom he could not minister as to the drunkard. In general he ran +from the presence of such a prisoner. But sometimes he would stop +and try to comfort the naked little Freedom, disrobed of its space; +and on one occasion was caught in the very act of delivering a +canary that hung outside a little shop. Any other than wee Gibbie +would have been heartily cuffed for the offence, but the owner of +the bird only smiled at the would-be liberator, and hung the cage a +couple of feet higher on the wall. With such a passion of +affection, then, finding vent in constant action, is it any wonder +Gibbie's heart and hands should be too full for evil to occupy them +even a little? + +One night in the spring, entering Lucky Croale's common room, he saw +there for the first time a negro sailor, whom the rest called Sambo, +and was at once taken with his big, dark, radiant eyes, and his +white teeth continually uncovering themselves in good-humoured +smiles. Sambo had left the vessel in which he had arrived, was +waiting for another, and had taken up his quarters at Lucky +Croale's. Gibbie's advances he met instantly, and in a few days a +strong mutual affection had sprung up between them. To Gibbie Sambo +speedily became absolutely loving and tender, and Gibbie made him +full return of devotion. + +The negro was a man of immense muscular power, like not a few of his +race, and, like most of them, not easily provoked, inheriting not a +little of their hard-learned long-suffering. He bore even with +those who treated him with far worse than the ordinary superciliousness +of white to black; and when the rudest of city boys mocked him, +only showed his teeth by way of smile. The ill-conditioned among +Lucky Croale's customers and lodgers were constantly taking advantage +of his good nature, and presuming upon his forbearance; but so long +as they confined themselves to mere insolence, or even bare-faced +cheating, he endured with marvellous temper. It was possible, however, +to go too far even with him. + +One night Sambo was looking on at a game of cards, in which all the +rest in the room were engaged. Happening to laugh at some turn it +took, one of them, a Malay, who was losing, was offended, and abused +him. Others objected to his having fun without risking money, and +required him to join in the game. This for some reason or other he +declined, and when the whole party at length insisted, positively +refused. Thereupon they all took umbrage, nor did most of them make +many steps of the ascent from displeasure to indignation, wrath, +revenge; and then ensued a row. Gibbie had been sitting all the +time on his friend's knee, every now and then stroking his black +face, in which, as insult followed insult, the sunny blood kept +slowly rising, making the balls of his eyes and his teeth look still +whiter. At length a savage from Greenock threw a tumbler at him. +Sambo, quick as a lizard, covered his face with his arm. The +tumbler falling from it, struck Gibbie on the head--not severely, +but hard enough to make him utter a little cry. At that sound, the +latent fierceness came wide awake in Sambo. Gently as a nursing +mother he set Gibbie down in a corner behind him, then with one rush +sent every Jack of the company sprawling on the floor, with the +table and bottles and glasses atop of them. At the vision of their +plight his good humour instantly returned, he burst into a great +hearty laugh, and proceeded at once to lift the table from off them. +That effected, he caught up Gibbie in his arms, and carried him +with him to bed. + +In the middle of the night Gibbie half woke, and, finding himself +alone, sought his father's bosom; then, in the confusion between +sleeping and waking, imagined his father's death come again. +Presently he remembered it was in Sambo's arms he fell asleep, but +where he was now he could not tell: certainly he was not in bed. +Groping, he pushed a door, and a glimmer of light came in. He was +in a closet of the room in which Sambo slept--and something was to +do about his bed. He rose softly and peeped out, There stood +several men, and a struggle was going on--nearly noiseless. Gibbie +was half-dazed, and could not understand; but he had little anxiety +about Sambo, in whose prowess he had a triumphant confidence. +Suddenly came the sound of a great gush, and the group parted from +the bed and vanished. Gibbie darted towards it. The words, "O Lord +Jesus!" came to his ears, and he heard no more: they were poor +Sambo's last in this world. The light of a street lamp fell upon +the bed: the blood was welling, in great thick throbs, out of his +huge black throat. They had bent his head back, and the gash gaped +wide. + +For some moments Gibbie stood in ghastly terror. No sound except a +low gurgle came to his ears, and the horror of the stillness +overmastered him. He never could recall what came next. When he +knew himself again, he was in the street, running like the wind, he +knew not whither. It was not that he dreaded any hurt to himself; +horror, not fear, was behind him. + +His next recollection of himself was in the first of the morning, on +the lofty chain-bridge over the river Daur. Before him lay he knew +not what, only escape from what was behind. His faith in men seemed +ruined. The city, his home, was frightful to him. Quarrels and +curses and blows he had been used to, and amidst them life could be +lived. If he did not consciously weave them into his theories, he +unconsciously wrapped them up in his confidence, and was at peace. +But the last night had revealed something unknown before. It was +as if the darkness had been cloven, and through the cleft he saw +into hell. A thing had been done that could not be undone, and he +thought it must be what people called murder. And Sambo was such a +good man! He was almost as good a man as Gibbie's father, and now +he would not breathe any more! Was he gone where Gibbie's father +was gone? Was it the good men that stopped breathing and grew cold? +But it was those wicked men that had deaded Sambo! And with that +his first vague perception of evil and wrong in the world began to +dawn. + +He lifted his head from gazing down on the dark river. A man was +approaching the bridge. He came from the awful city! Perhaps he +wanted him! He fled along the bridge like a low-flying water-bird. +If another man had appeared at the other end, he would have got +through between the rods, and thrown himself into the river. But +there was no one to oppose his escape; and after following the road +a little way up the river, he turned aside into a thicket of shrubs +on the nearly precipitous bank, and sat down to recover the breath +he had lost more from dismay than exertion. + +The light grew. All at once he descried, far down the river, the +steeples of the city. Alas! alas! there lay poor black Sambo, so +dear to wee Sir Gibbie, motionless and covered with blood! He had +two red mouths now, but was not able to speak a word with either! +They would carry him to a churchyard and lay him in a hole to lie +there for ever and ever. Would all the good people be laid into +holes and leave Gibbie quite alone? Sitting and brooding thus, he +fell into a dreamy state, in which, brokenly, from here and there, +pictures of his former life grew out upon his memory. Suddenly, +plainer than all the rest, came the last time he stood under +Mistress Croale's window, waiting to help his father home. The same +instant, back to the ear of his mind came his father's two words, as +he had heard them through the window--"Up Daurside." + +"Up Daurside!"--Here he was upon Daurside--a little way up too: he +would go farther up. He rose and went on, while the great river +kept flowing the other way, dark and terrible, down to the very door +inside which lay Sambo with the huge gape in his big throat. + +Meantime the murder came to the knowledge of the police, Mistress +Croale herself giving the information, and all in the house were +arrested. In the course of their examination, it came out that wee +Sir Gibbie had gone to bed with the murdered man, and was now +nowhere to be found. Either they had murdered him too, or carried +him off. The news spread, and the whole city was in commotion about +his fate. It was credible enough that persons capable of committing +such a crime on such an inoffensive person as the testimony showed +poor Sambo, would be capable also of throwing the life of a child +after that of the man to protect their own. The city was searched +from end to end, from side to side, and from cellar to garret. Not +a trace of him was to be found--but indeed Gibbie had always been +easier to find than to trace, for he had no belongings of any sort +to betray him. No one dreamed of his having fled straight to the +country, and search was confined to the city. + +The murderers were at length discovered, tried, and executed. They +protested their innocence with regard to the child, and therein +nothing appeared against them beyond the fact that he was missing. +The result, so far as concerned Gibbie, was, that the talk of the +city, where almost everyone knew him, was turned, in his absence, +upon his history; and from the confused mass of hearsay that reached +him, Mr. Sclater set himself to discover and verify the facts. For +this purpose he burrowed about in the neighbourhoods Gibbie had +chiefly frequented, and was so far successful as to satisfy himself +that Gibbie, if he was alive, was Sir Gilbert Galbraith, Baronet; +but his own lawyer was able to assure him that not an inch of +property remained anywhere attached to the title. There were indeed +relations of the boy's mother, who were of some small consequence in +a neighbouring county, also one in business in Glasgow, or its +neighbourhood, reported wealthy; but these had entirely disowned her +because of her marriage. All Mr. Sclater discovered besides was, in +a lumber-room next the garret in which Sir George died, a box of +papers--a glance at whose contents showed that they must at least +prove a great deal of which he was already certain from other +sources. A few of them had to do with the house in which they were +found, still known as the Auld Hoose o' Galbraith; but most of them +referred to property in land, and many were of ancient date. If the +property were in the hands of descendants of the original stock, the +papers would be of value in their eyes; and, in any case, it would +be well to see to their safety. Mr. Sclater therefore had the chest +removed to the garret of the manse, where it stood thereafter, +little regarded, but able to answer for more than itself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ADRIFT. + +Gibbie was now without a home. He had had a whole city for his +dwelling, every street of which had been to him as another hall in +his own house, every lane as a passage from one set of rooms to +another, every court as a closet, every house as a safe, guarding +the only possessions he had, the only possessions he knew how to +value--his fellow-mortals, radiant with faces, and friendly with +hands and tongues. Great as was his delight in freedom, a delight +he revelled in from morning to night, and sometimes from night to +morning, he had never had a notion of it that reached beyond the +city, he never longed for larger space, for wider outlook. Space +and outlook he had skyward--and seaward when he would, but even into +these regions he had never yet desired to go. His world was the +world of men; the presence of many was his greater room; his people +themselves were his world. He had no idea of freedom in +dissociation with human faces and voices and eyes. But now he had +left all these, and as he ran from them a red pall seemed settling +down behind him, wrapping up and hiding away his country, his home. +For the first time in his life, the fatherless, motherless, +brotherless, sisterless stray of the streets felt himself alone. +The sensation was an awful one. He had lost so many, and had not +one left! That gash in Sambo's black throat had slain "a whole +cityful." His loneliness grew upon him, until again he darted aside +from the road into the bush, this time to hide from the Spectre of +the Desert--the No Man. Deprived of human countenances, the face of +creation was a mask without eyes, and liberty a mere negation. Not +that Gibbie had ever thought about liberty; he had only enjoyed: not +that he had ever thought about human faces; he had only loved them, +and lived upon their smiles. "Gibbie wadna need to gang to h'aven," +said Mysie, the baker's daughter, to her mother, one night, as they +walked home from a merry-making. "What for that, lassie?" returned +her mother. "Cause he wad be meeserable whaur there was nae drunk +fowk," answered Mysie. And now it seemed to the poor, shocked, +heart-wounded creature, as if the human face were just the one thing +he could no more look upon. One haunted him, the black one, with +the white, staring eyes, the mouth in its throat, and the white +grinning teeth. + +It was a cold, fresh morning, cloudy and changeful, towards the end +of April. It had rained, and would rain again; it might snow. +Heavy undefined clouds, with saffron breaks and borders, hung about +the east, but what was going to happen there--at least he did not +think; he did not know east from west, and I doubt whether, although +he had often seen the sun set, he had ever seen him rise. Yet even +to him, city-creature as he was, it was plain something was going to +happen there. And happen it did presently, and that with a +splendour that for a moment blinded Gibbie. For just at the horizon +there was a long horizontal slip of blue sky, and through that crack +the topmost arc of the rising sun shot suddenly a thousand arrows of +radiance into the brain of the boy. But the too-much light scorched +there a blackness instantly; and to the soul of Gibbie it was the +blackness of the room from which he had fled, and upon it out came +the white eyeballs and the brilliant teeth of his dead Sambo, and +the red burst from his throat that answered the knife of the Malay. +He shrieked, and struck with his hands against the sun from which +came the terrible vision. Had he been a common child, his reason +would have given way; but one result of the overflow of his love +was, that he had never yet known fear for himself. His sweet +confident face, innocent eyes, and caressing ways, had almost always +drawn a response more or less in kind; and that certain some should +not repel him, was a fuller response from them than gifts from +others. Except now and then, rarely, a street boy a little bigger +than himself, no one had ever hurt him, and the hurt upon these +occasions had not gone very deep, for the child was brave and hardy. +So now it was not fear, but the loss of old confidence, a sickness +coming over the heart and brain of his love, that unnerved him. It +was not the horrid cruelty to his friend, and his own grievous loss +thereby, but the recoil of his loving endeavour that, jarring him +out of every groove of thought, every socket of habit, every joint +of action, cast him from the city, and made of him a wanderer +indeed, not a wanderer in a strange country, but a wanderer in a +strange world. + +To no traveller could one land well be so different from another, as +to Gibbie the country was from the town. He had seen bushes and +trees before, but only over garden walls, or in one or two of the +churchyards. He had looked from the quay across to the bare shore +on the other side, with its sandy hills, and its tall lighthouse on +the top of the great rocks that bordered the sea; but, so looking, +he had beheld space as one looking from this world into the face of +the moon, as a child looks upon vastness and possible dangers from +his nurse's arms where it cannot come near him; for houses backed +the quay all along; the city was behind him, and spread forth her +protecting arms. He had, once or twice, run out along the pier, +which shot far into the immensity of the sea, like a causeway to +another world--a stormy thread of granite, beaten upon both sides by +the waves of the German Ocean; but it was with the sea and not the +country he then made the small acquaintance--and that not without +terror. The sea was as different from the city as the air into +which he had looked up at night--too different to compare against it +and feel the contrast; on neither could he set foot; in neither +could he be required to live and act--as now in this waste of +enterable and pervious extent. + +Its own horror drove the vision away, and Gibbie saw the world +again--saw, but did not love it. The sun seemed but to have looked +up to mock him and go down again, for he had crossed the crack, and +was behind a thick mass of cloud; a cold damp wind, spotted with +sparkles of rain, blew fitfully from the east; the low bushes among +which he sat, sent forth a chill sighing all about him, as they +sifted the wind into sound; the smell of the damp earth was strange +to him--he did not know the freshness, the new birth of which it +breathed; below him the gloomy river, here deep, smooth, moody, +sullen, there puckered with the grey ripples of a shallow laughter +under the cold breeze, went flowing heedless to the city. There +only was--or had been, friendliness, comfort, home! This was +emptiness--the abode of things, not beings. Yet never once did +Gibbie think of returning to the city. He rose and wandered up the +wide road along the river bank, farther and farther from it--his +only guide the words of his father, "Up Daurside;" his sole comfort +the feeling of having once more to do with his father so long +departed, some relation still with the paradise of his old world. +Along cultivated fields and copses on the one side, and on the +other a steep descent to the river, covered here and there with +trees, but mostly with rough grass and bushes and stones, he +followed the king's highway. There were buttercups and plenty of +daisies within his sight--primroses, too, on the slope beneath; but +he did not know flowers, and his was not now the mood for +discovering what they were. The exercise revived him, and he began +to be hungry. But how could there be anything to eat in the desert, +inhospitable succession of trees and fields and hedges, through +which the road wound endlessly along, like a dead street, having +neither houses nor paving stones? Hunger, however, was far less +enfeebling to Gibbie than to one accustomed to regular meals, and he +was in no anxiety about either when or what he should eat. + +The morning advanced, and by-and-by he began to meet a +fellow-creature now and then upon the road; but at sight of everyone +a feeling rose in him such as he had never had towards human being +before: they seemed somehow of a different kind from those in the +town, and they did not look friendly as they passed. He did not +know that he presented to them a very different countenance from +that which his fellow-citizens had always seen him wear; for the +mingled and conflicting emotions of his spirit had sent out upon it +an expression which, accompanied by the misery of his garments, +might well, to the superficial or inexperienced observer, convey the +idea that he was a fugitive and guilty. He was so uncomfortable at +length from the way the people he met scrutinized him that, when he +saw anyone coming, he would instantly turn aside and take the covert +of thicket, or hedge, or stone wall, until the bearer of eyes had +passed. His accustomed trot, which he kept up for several hours, +made him look the more suspicious; but his feet, hardened from very +infancy as they were, soon found the difference between the smooth +flags and the sharp stones of the road, and before noon he was +walking at quite a sober, although still active, pace. Doubtless it +slackened the sooner that he knew no goal, no end to his wandering. +Up Daurside was the one vague notion he had of his calling, his +destiny, and with his short, quick step, his progress was +considerable; he passed house after house, farm after farm; but, +never in the way of asking for anything, though as little in the way +of refusing, he went nearer none of them than the road led him. +Besides, the houses were very unlike those in the city, and not at +all attractive to him. He came at length to a field, sloping to the +road, which was covered with leaves like some he had often seen in +the market. They drew him; and as there was but a low and imperfect +hedge between, he got over, and found it was a crop of small yellow +turnips. He gathered as many as he could carry, and ate them as he +went along. Happily no agricultural person encountered him for some +distance, though Gibbie knew no special cause to congratulate +himself upon that, having not the slightest conscience of offence in +what he did. His notions of property were all associated with +well-known visible or neighbouring owners, and in the city he would +never have dreamed of touching anything that was not given him, +except it lay plainly a lost thing. But here, where everything was +so different, and he saw none of the signs of ownership to which he +was accustomed, the idea of property did not come to him; here +everything looked lost, or on the same category with the chips and +parings and crusts that were thrown out in the city, and became +common property. Besides, the love which had hitherto rendered +covetousness impossible, had here no object whose presence might +have suggested a doubt, to supply in a measure the lack of +knowledge; hunger, instead, was busy in his world. I trust there +were few farmers along the road who would have found fault with him +for taking one or two; but none, I suspect, would have liked to see +him with all the turnips he could carry, eating them like a very +rabbit: they were too near a city to look upon such a spectacle with +indifference. Gibbie made no attempt to hide his spoil; whatever +could have given birth to the sense that caution would be necessary, +would have prevented him from taking it. While yet busy he came +upon a little girl feeding a cow by the roadside. She saw how he +ate the turnips, and offered him a bit of oatmeal bannock. He +received it gladly, and with beaming eyes offered her a turnip. She +refused it with some indignation. Gibbie, disappointed, but not +ungrateful, resumed his tramp, eating his bannock. He came soon +after to a little stream that ran into the great river. For a few +moments he eyed it very doubtfully, thinking it must, like the +kennels along the sides of the streets, be far too dirty to drink +of; but the way it sparkled and sang--most unscientific +reasons--soon satisfied him, and he drank and was refreshed. He had +still two turnips left, but, after the bannock, he did not seem to +want them, and stowed them in the ends of the sleeves of his jacket, +folded back into great cuffs. + +All day the cold spring weather continued, with more of the past +winter in it than of the coming summer. The sun would shine out for +a few moments, with a grey, weary, old light, then retreat as if he +had tried, but really could not. Once came a slight fall of snow, +which, however, melted the moment it touched the earth. The wind +kept blowing cheerlessly by fits, and the world seemed growing tired +of the same thing over again so often. At length the air began to +grow dusk: then, first, fears of the darkness, to Gibbie utterly +unknown before, and only born of the preceding night, began to make +him aware of their existence in the human world. They seemed to +rise up from his lonely heart; they seemed to descend upon him out +of the thickening air; they seemed to catch at his breath, and +gather behind him as he went. But, happily, before it was quite +dark, and while yet he could distinguish between objects, he came to +the gate of a farmyard; it waked in him the hope of finding some +place where he could sleep warmer than in the road, and he clambered +over it. Nearest of the buildings to the gate, stood an open shed, +and he could see the shafts of carts projecting from it: perhaps in +one of those carts, or under it, he might find a place that would +serve him to sleep in: he did not yet know what facilities for +repose the country affords. But just as he entered the shed, he +spied at the farther corner of it, outside, a wooden structure, like +a small house, and through the arched door of it saw the floor +covered with nice-looking straw. He suspected it to be a dog's +kennel; and presently the chain lying beside it, with a collar at +the end, satisfied him it was. The dog was absent, and it looked +altogether enticing! He crept in, got under as much of the straw as +he could heap over him, and fell fast asleep. + +In a few minutes, as it seemed to him, he was roused by the great +voice of a dog in conversation with a boy: the boy seemed, by the +sound of the chain, to be fastening the collar on the dog's neck, +and presently left him. The dog, which had been on the rampage the +whole afternoon, immediately turned to creep in and rest till supper +time, presenting to Gibbie, who had drawn himself up at the back of +the kennel, the intelligent countenance of a large Newfoundland. +Now Gibbie had been honoured with the acquaintance of many dogs, +and the friendship of most of them, for a lover of humanity can +hardly fail to be a lover of caninity. Even among dogs, however, +there are ungracious individuals, and Gibbie had once or twice been +bitten by quadrupedal worshippers of the respectable. Hence, with +the sight of the owner of the dwelling, it dawned upon him that he +must be startled to find a stranger in his house, and might, +regarding him as an intruder rather than a guest, worry him before +he had time to explain himself. He darted forward therefore to get +out, but had scarcely reached the door, when the dog put in his +nose, ready to follow with all he was and had. Gibbie, thereupon, +began a loud barking, as much as to say--"Here I am: please do +nothing without reflection." The dog started back in extreme +astonishment, his ears erect, and a keen look of question on his +sagacious visage: what strange animal, speaking like, and yet so +unlike, an orthodox dog, could have got into his very chamber? +Gibbie, amused at the dog's fright, and assured by his looks that +he was both a good-natured and reasonable animal, burst into a fit +of merry laughter as loud as his previous barking, and a good deal +more musical. The dog evidently liked it better, and took it as a +challenge to play: after a series of sharp bursts of barking, his +eyes flashing straight in at the door, and his ears lifted up like +two plumes on the top of them, he darted into the kennel, and began +poking his nose into his visitor. Gibbie fell to patting and +kissing and hugging him as if he had been a human--as who can tell +but he was?--glad of any companion that belonged to the region of +the light; and they were friends at once. Mankind had disappointed +him, but here was a dog! Gibbie was not the one to refuse mercies +which yet he would not have been content to pray for. Both were +tired, however, for both had been active that day, and a few minutes +of mingled wrestling and endearment, to which, perhaps, the +narrowness of their play-ground gave a speedier conclusion, +contented both, after which they lay side by side in peace, Gibbie +with his head on the dog's back, and the dog every now and then +turning his head over his shoulder to lick Gibbie's face. + +Again he was waked by approaching steps, and the same moment the dog +darted from under him, and with much rattle out of the kennel, in +front of which he stood and whined expectant. It was not quite +dark, for the clouds had drifted away, and the stars were shining, +so that, when he put out his head, he was able to see the dim form +of a woman setting down something before the dog--into which he +instantly plunged his nose, and began gobbling. The sound stirred +up all the latent hunger in Gibbie, and he leaped out, eager to have +a share. A large wooden bowl was on the ground, and the half of its +contents of porridge and milk was already gone; for the poor dog had +not yet had experience enough to be perfect in hospitality, and had +forgotten his guest's wants in his own: it was plain that, if Gibbie +was to have any, he must lose no time in considering the means. Had +he had a long nose and mouth all in one like him, he would have +plunged them in beside the dog's; but the flatness of his mouth +causing the necessity, in the case of such an attempt, of bringing +the whole of his face into contact with the food, there was not room +in the dish for the two to feed together after the same fashion, so +that he was driven to the sole other possible expedient, that of +making a spoon of his hand. The dog neither growled nor pushed away +the spoon, but instantly began to gobble twice as fast as before, +and presently was licking the bottom of the dish. Gibbie's hand, +therefore, made but few journeys to his mouth, but what it carried +him was good food--better than any he had had that day. When all +was gone he crept again into the kennel; the dog followed, and soon +they were both fast asleep in each other's arms and legs. + +Gibbie woke at sunrise and went out. His host came after him, and +stood wagging his tail and looking wistfully up in his face. Gibbie +understood him, and, as the sole return he could make for his +hospitality, undid his collar. Instantly he rushed off, his back +going like a serpent, cleared the gate at a bound, and scouring +madly across a field, vanished from his sight; whereupon Gibbie too +set out to continue his journey up Daurside. + +This day was warmer; the spring had come a step nearer; the dog had +been a comforter to him, and the horror had begun to assuage; he +began to grow aware of the things about him, and to open his eyes to +them. Once he saw a primrose in a little dell, and left the road to +look at it. But as he went, he set his foot in the water of a +chalybeate spring, which was trickling through the grass, and dyeing +the ground red about it: filled with horror he fled, and for some +time dared never go near a primrose. And still upon his right hand +was the great river, flowing down towards the home he had left; now +through low meadows, now through upshouldered fields of wheat and +oats, now through rocky heights covered with the graceful +silver-barked birch, the mountain ash, and the fir. Every time +Gibbie, having lost sight of it by some turn of the road or some +interposing eminence, caught its gleam afresh, his first feeling was +that it was hurrying to the city, where the dead man lay, to tell +where Gibbie was. Why he, who had from infancy done just as he +pleased, should now have begun to dread interference with his +liberty, he could not himself have told. Perhaps the fear was but +the shadow of his new-born aversion to the place where he had seen +those best-loved countenances change so suddenly and terribly--cease +to smile, but not cease to stare. + +That second day he fared better, too, than the first; for he came on +a family of mongrel gipsies, who fed him well out of their kettle, +and, taken with his looks, thought to keep him for begging purposes. +But now that Gibbie's confidence in human nature had been so rudely +shaken, he had already begun, with analysis unconscious, to read the +human countenance, questioning it; and he thought he saw something +that would hurt, in the eyes of two of the men and one of the women. +Therefore, in the middle of the night, he slipped silently out of +the tent of rags, in which he had lain down with the gipsy children, +and ere the mothers woke, was a mile up the river. + +But I must not attempt the detail of this part of his journey. It +is enough that he got through it. He met with some adventures, and +suffered a good deal from hunger and cold. Had he not been hardy as +well as fearless he must have died. But, now from this quarter, now +from that, he got all that was needful for one of God's birds. Once +he found in a hedge the nest of an errant and secretive hen, and +recognizing the eggs as food authorized by the shop windows and +market of the city, soon qualified himself to have an opinion of +their worth. Another time he came upon a girl milking a cow in a +shed, and his astonishment at the marvels of the process was such, +that he forgot even the hunger that was rendering him faint. He had +often seen cows in the city, but had never suspected what they were +capable of. When the girl caught sight of him, staring with open +mouth, she was taken with such a fit of laughter, that the cow, +which was ill-tempered, kicked out, and overturned the pail. Now +because of her troublesomeness this cow was not milked beside the +rest, and the shed where she stood was used for farm-implements +only. The floor of it was the earth, beaten hard, and worn into +hollows. When the milk settled in one of these, Gibbie saw that it +was lost to the girl, and found to him: undeterred by the astounding +nature of the spring from which he had just seen it flow, he threw +himself down, and drank like a calf. Her laughter ended, the girl +was troubled: she would be scolded for her clumsiness in allowing +Hawkie to kick over the pail, but the eagerness of the boy after the +milk troubled her more. She told him to wait, and running to the +house, returned with two large pieces of oatcake, which she gave +him. + +Thus, one way and another, food came to Gibbie. Drink was to be had +in almost any hollow. Sleep was scattered everywhere over the +world. For warmth, only motion and a seasoned skin were necessary: +the latter Gibbie had; the former, already a habit learned in the +streets, had now become almost a passion. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BARN. + +By this time Gibbie had got well up towards the roots of the hills +of Gormgarnet, and the river had dwindled greatly. He was no longer +afraid of it, but would lie for hours listening to its murmurs over +its pebbly bed, and sometimes even sleep in the hollows of its +banks, or below the willows that overhung it. Every here and there, +a brown rivulet from some peat-bog on a hill--brown and clear, like +smoke-crystals molten together, flowed into it, and when he had lost +it, guided him back to his guide. Farm after farm he passed, here +one widely bordering a valley stream, there another stretching its +skirts up the hillsides till they were lost in mere heather, where +the sheep wandered about, cropping what stray grass-blades and other +eatables they could find. Lower down he had passed through small +towns and large villages: here farms and cottages, with an +occasional country-seat and little village of low thatched houses, +made up the abodes of men. By this time he had become greatly +reconciled to the loneliness of Nature, and no more was afraid in +her solitary presence. + +At the same time his heart had begun to ache and long after the +communion of his kind. For not once since he set out--and that +seemed months where it was only weeks, had he had an opportunity of +doing anything for anybody--except, indeed, unfastening the dog's +collar; and not to be able to help was to Gibbie like being dead. +Everybody, down to the dogs, had been doing for him, and what was +to become of him! It was a state altogether of servitude into which +he had fallen. + +May had now set in, but up here among the hills she was May by +courtesy only: or if she was May, she would never be Might. She +was, indeed, only April, with her showers and sunshine, her tearful, +childish laughter, and again the frown, and the despair +irremediable. Nay, as if she still kept up a secret correspondence +with her cousin March, banished for his rudeness, she would not very +seldom shake from her skirts a snow storm, and oftener the dancing +hail. Then out would come the sun behind her, and laugh, and +say--"I could not help that; but here I am all the same, coming to +you as fast as I can!" The green crops were growing darker, and the +trees were all getting out their nets to catch carbon. The lambs +were frolicking, and in sheltered places the flowers were turning +the earth into a firmament. And now a mere daisy was enough to +delight the heart of Gibbie. His joy in humanity so suddenly +checked, and his thirst for it left unslaked, he had begun to see +the human look in the face of the commonest flowers, to love the +trusting stare of the daisy, that gold-hearted boy, and the gentle +despondency of the girl harebell, dreaming of her mother, the azure. +The wind, of which he had scarce thought as he met it roaming the +streets like himself, was now a friend of his solitude, bringing him +sweet odours, alive with the souls of bees, and cooling with bliss +the heat of the long walk. Even when it blew cold along the waste +moss, waving the heads of the cotton-grass, the only live thing +visible, it was a lover, and kissed him on the forehead. Not that +Gibbie knew what a kiss was, any more than he knew about the souls +of bees. He did not remember ever having been kissed. In that +granite city, the women were not much given to kissing children, +even their own, but if they had been, who of them would have thought +of kissing Gibbie! The baker's wife, kind as she always was to him, +would have thought it defilement to press her lips to those of the +beggar child. And how is any child to thrive without kisses! The +first caresses Gibbie ever knew as such, were given him by Mother +Nature herself. It was only, however, by degrees, though indeed +rapid degrees, that he became capable of them. In the first part of +his journey he was stunned, stupid, lost in change, distracted +between a suddenly vanished past, and a future slow dawning in the +present. He felt little beyond hunger, and that vague urging up +Daurside, with occasional shoots of pleasure from kindness, mostly +of woman and dog. He was less shy of the country people by this +time, but he did not care to seek them. He thought them not nearly +so friendly and good as the town-people, forgetting that these knew +him and those did not. To Gibbie an introduction was the last thing +necessary for any one who wore a face, and he could not understand +why they looked at him so. + +Whatever is capable of aspiring, must be troubled that it may wake +and aspire--then troubled still, that it may hold fast, be itself, +and aspire still. + +One evening his path vanished between twilight and moonrise, and +just as it became dark he found himself at a rough gate, through +which he saw a field. There was a pretty tall hedge on each side of +the gate, and he was now a sufficiently experienced traveller to +conclude that he was not far from some human abode. He climbed the +gate and found himself in a field of clover. It was a splendid big +bed, and even had the night not been warm, he would not have +hesitated to sleep in it. He had never had a cold, and had as +little fear for his health as for his life. He was hungry, it is +true; but although food was doubtless more delicious to such hunger +as his--that of the whole body, than it can be to the mere palate +and culinary imagination of an epicure, it was not so necessary to +him that he could not go to sleep without it. So down he lay in the +clover, and was at once unconscious. + +When he woke, the moon was high in the heavens, and had melted the +veil of the darkness from the scene of still, well-ordered comfort. +A short distance from his couch, stood a little army of ricks, +between twenty and thirty of them, constructed perfectly--smooth and +upright and round and large, each with its conical top netted in +with straw-rope, and finished off with what the herd-boy called a +toupican--a neatly tied and trim tuft of the straw with which it was +thatched, answering to the stone-ball on the top of a gable. Like +triangles their summits stood out against the pale blue, +moon-diluted air. They were treasure-caves, hollowed out of space, +and stored with the best of ammunition against the armies of hunger +and want; but Gibbie, though he had seen many of them, did not know +what they were. He had seen straw used for the bedding of cattle +and horses, and supposed that the chief end of such ricks. Nor had +he any clear idea that the cattle themselves were kept for any other +object than to make them comfortable and happy. He had stood behind +their houses in the dark, and heard them munching and grinding away +even in the night. Probably the country was for the cattle, as the +towns for the men; and that would explain why the country-people +were so inferior. While he stood gazing, a wind arose behind the +hills, and came blowing down some glen that opened northwards; +Gibbie felt it cold, and sought the shelter of the ricks. + +Great and solemn they looked as he drew nigh--near each other, yet +enough apart for plenty of air to flow and eddy between. Over a low +wall of unmortared stones, he entered their ranks: above him, as he +looked up from their broad base, they ascended huge as pyramids, and +peopled the waste air with giant forms. How warm it was in the +round-winding paths amongst the fruitful piles--tombs these, no +cenotaphs! He wandered about them, now in a dusky yellow gloom, and +now in the cold blue moonlight, which they seemed to warm. At +length he discovered that the huge things were flanked on one side +by a long low house, in which there was a door, horizontally divided +into two parts. Gibbie would fain have got in, to try whether the +place was good for sleep; but he found both halves fast. In the +lower half, however, he spied a hole, which, though not so large, +reminded him of the entrance to the kennel of his dog host; but +alas! it had a door too, shut from the inside. There might be some +way of opening it. He felt about, and soon discovered that it was a +sliding valve, which he could push to either side. It was, in fact, +the cat's door, specially constructed for her convenience of +entrance and exit. For the cat is the guardian of the barn; the +grain which tempts the rats and mice is no temptation to her; the +rats and mice themselves are; upon them she executes justice, and +remains herself an incorruptible, because untempted, therefore a +respectable member of the farm-community--only the dairy door must +be kept shut; that has no cat-wicket in it. + +The hole was a small one, but tempting to the wee baronet; he might +perhaps be able to squeeze himself through. He tried and succeeded, +though with some little difficulty. The moon was there before him, +shining through a pane or two of glass over the door, and by her +light on the hard brown clay floor, Gibbie saw where he was, though +if he had been told he was in the barn, he would neither have felt +nor been at all the wiser. It was a very old-fashioned barn. About +a third of it was floored with wood--dark with age--almost as brown +as the clay--for threshing upon with flails. At that labour two men +had been busy during the most of the preceding day, and that was +how, in the same end of the barn, rose a great heap of oat-straw, +showing in the light of the moon like a mound of pale gold. Had +Gibbie had any education in the marvellous, he might now, in the +midnight and moonlight, have well imagined himself in some +treasure-house of the gnomes. What he saw in the other corner was +still liker gold, and was indeed greater than gold, for it was +life--the heap, namely, of corn threshed from the straw: Gibbie +recognized this as what he had seen given to horses. But now the +temptation to sleep, with such facilities presented, was +overpowering, and took from him all desire to examine further: he +shot into the middle of the loose heap of straw, and vanished from +the glimpses of the moon, burrowing like a mole. In the heart of +the golden warmth, he lay so dry and comfortable that, +notwithstanding his hunger had waked with him, he was presently in a +faster sleep than before. And indeed what more luxurious bed, or +what bed conducive to softer slumber was there in the world to find! + +"The moving moon went down the sky," the cold wind softened and grew +still; the stars swelled out larger; the rats came, and then came +puss, and the rats went with a scuffle and patter; the pagan grey +came in like a sleep-walker, and made the barn dreary as a dull +dream; then the horses began to fidget with their big feet, the +cattle to low with their great trombone throats, and the cocks to +crow as if to give warning for the last time against the devil, the +world, and the flesh; the men in the adjoining chamber woke, yawned, +stretched themselves mightily, and rose; the god-like sun rose after +them, and, entering the barn with them, drove out the grey; and +through it all the orphan lay warm in God's keeping and his nest of +straw, like the butterfly of a huge chrysalis. + +When at length Gibbie became once more aware of existence, it was +through a stormy invasion of the still realm of sleep; the blows of +two flails fell persistent and quick-following, first on the thick +head of the sheaf of oats untied and cast down before them, then +grew louder and more deafening as the oats flew and the chaff +fluttered, and the straw flattened and broke and thinned and +spread--until at last they thundered in great hard blows on the +wooden floor. It was the first of these last blows that shook +Gibbie awake. What they were or indicated he could not tell. He +wormed himself softly round in the straw to look out and see. + +Now whether it was that sleep was yet heavy upon him, and bewildered +his eyes, or that his imagination had in dreams been busy with +foregone horrors, I cannot tell; but, as he peered through the +meshes of the crossing and blinding straws, what he seemed to see +was the body of an old man with dishevelled hair, whom, prostrate on +the ground, they were beating to death with great sticks. His +tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, not a sound could he utter, +not a finger could he move; he had no choice but to lie still, and +witness the fierce enormity. But it is good that we are compelled +to see some things, life amongst the rest, to what we call the end +of them. By degrees Gibbie's sight cleared; the old man faded away; +and what was left of him he could see to be only an armful of straw. +The next sheaf they threw down, he perceived, under their blows, +the corn flying out of it, and began to understand a little. When +it was finished, the corn that had flown dancing from its home, like +hail from its cloud, was swept aside to the common heap, and the +straw tossed up on the mound that harboured Gibbie. It was well +that the man with the pitchfork did not spy his eyes peering out +from the midst of the straw: he might have taken him for some wild +creature, and driven the prongs into him. As it was, Gibbie did not +altogether like the look of him, and lay still as a stone. Then +another sheaf was unbound and cast on the floor, and the blows of +the flails began again. It went on thus for an hour and a half, and +Gibbie although he dropped asleep several times, was nearly stupid +with the noise. The men at length, however, swept up the corn and +tossed up the straw for the last time, and went out. Gibbie, +judging by his own desires, thought they must have gone to eat, but +did not follow them, having generally been ordered away the moment +he was seen in a farmyard. He crept out, however, and began to look +about him--first of all for something he could eat. The oats looked +the most likely, and he took a mouthful for a trial. He ground at +them severely, but, hungry as he was, he failed to find oats good +for food. Their hard husks, their dryness, their instability, all +slipping past each other at every attempt to crush them with his +teeth, together foiled him utterly. He must search farther. +Looking round him afresh, he saw an open loft, and climbing on the +heap in which he had slept, managed to reach it. It was at the +height of the walls, and the couples of the roof rose immediately +from it. At the farther end was a heap of hay, which he took for +another kind of straw. Then he spied something he knew; a row of +cheeses lay on a shelf suspended from the rafters, ripening. Gibbie +knew them well from the shop windows--knew they were cheeses, and +good to eat, though whence and how they came he did not know, his +impression being that they grew in the fields like the turnips. He +had still the notion uncorrected, that things in the country +belonged to nobody in particular, and were mostly for the use of +animals, with which, since he became a wanderer, he had almost come +to class himself. He was very hungry. He pounced upon a cheese and +lifted it between his two hands; it smelled good, but felt very +hard. That was no matter: what else were teeth made strong and +sharp for? He tried them on one of the round edges, and, nibbling +actively, soon got through to the softer body of the cheese. But he +had not got much farther when he heard the men returning, and +desisted, afraid of being discovered by the noise he made. The +readiest way to conceal himself was to lie down flat on the loft, +and he did so just where he could see the threshing-floor over the +edge of it by lifting his head. This, however, he scarcely ventured +to do; and all he could see as he lay was the tip of the swing-bar +of one of the flails, ever as it reached the highest point of its +ascent. But to watch for it very soon ceased to be interesting; and +although he had eaten so little of the cheese, it had yet been +enough to make him dreadfully thirsty, therefore he greatly desired +to get away. But he dared not go down: with their sticks those men +might knock him over in a moment! So he lay there thinking of the +poor little hedgehog he had seen on the road as he came; how he +stood watching it, and wishing he had a suit made all of great pins, +which he could set up when he pleased; and how the driver of a cart, +catching sight of him at the foot of the hedge, gave him a blow with +his whip, and, poor fellow! notwithstanding his clothes of pins, +that one blow of a whip was too much for him! There seemed nothing +in the world but killing! + +At length he could, unoccupied with something else, bear his thirst +no longer, and, squirming round on the floor, crept softly towards +the other end of the loft, to see what was to be seen there. + +He found that the heap of hay was not in the loft at all. It filled +a small chamber in the stable, in fact; and when Gibbie clambered +upon it, what should he see below him on the other side, but a +beautiful white horse, eating some of the same sort of stuff he was +now lying upon! Beyond he could see the backs of more horses, but +they were very different--big and clumsy, and not white. They were +all eating, and this was their food on which he lay! He wished he +too could eat it--and tried, but found it even less satisfactory +than the oats, for it nearly choked him, and set him coughing so +that he was in considerable danger of betraying his presence to the +men in the barn. How did the horses manage to get such dry stuff +down their throats? But the cheese was dry too, and he could eat +that! No doubt the cheese, as well as the fine straw, was there for +the horses! He would like to see the beautiful white creature down +there eat a bit of it; but with all his big teeth he did not think +he could manage a whole cheese, and how to get a piece broken off +for him, with those men there, he could not devise. It would want a +long-handled hammer like those with which he had seen men breaking +stones on the road. + +A door opened beyond, and a man came in and led two of the horses +out, leaving the door open. Gibbie clambered down from the top of +the hay into the stall beside the white horse, and ran out. He was +almost in the fields, had not even a fence to cross. + +He cast a glance around, and went straight for a neighbouring +hollow, where, taught by experience, he hoped to find water. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JANET. + +Once away, Gibbie had no thought of returning. Up Daurside was the +sole propulsive force whose existence he recognized. But when he +lifted his head from drinking at the stream, which was one of some +size, and, greatly refreshed, looked up its channel, a longing +seized him to know whence came the water of life which had thus +restored him to bliss--how a burn first appears upon the earth. He +thought it might come from the foot of a great conical mountain +which seemed but a little way off. He would follow it up and see. +So away he went, yielding at once, as was his wont, to the first +desire that came. He had not trotted far along the bank, however, +before, at a sharp turn it took, he saw that its course was a much +longer one than he had imagined, for it turned from the mountain, +and led up among the roots of other hills; while here in front of +him, direct from the mountain, as it seemed, came down a smaller +stream, and tumbled noisily into this. The larger burn would lead +him too far from the Daur; he would follow the smaller one. He +found a wide shallow place, crossed the larger, and went up the side +of the smaller. + +Doubly free after his imprisonment of the morning, Gibbie sped +joyously along. Already nature, her largeness, her openness, her +loveliness, her changefulness, her oneness in change, had begun to +heal the child's heart, and comfort him in his disappointment with +his kind. The stream he was now ascending ran along a claw of the +mountain, which claw was covered with almost a forest of pine, +protecting little colonies of less hardy timber. Its heavy green +was varied with the pale delicate fringes of the fresh foliage of +the larches, filling the air with aromatic breath. In the midst of +their soft tufts, each tuft buttoned with a brown spot, hung the +rich brown knobs and tassels of last year's cones. But the trees +were all on the opposite side of the stream, and appeared to be +mostly on the other side of a wall. Where Gibbie was, the +mountain-root was chiefly of rock, interspersed with heather. + +A little way up the stream, he came to a bridge over it, closed at +the farther end by iron gates between pillars, each surmounted by a +wolf's head in stone. Over the gate on each side leaned a +rowan-tree, with trunk and branches aged and gnarled amidst their +fresh foliage. He crossed the burn to look through the gate, and +pressed his face between the bars to get a better sight of a tame +rabbit that had got out of its hutch. It sat, like a Druid white +with age, in the midst of a gravel drive, much overgrown with moss, +that led through a young larch wood, with here and there an ancient +tree, lonely amidst the youth of its companions. Suddenly from the +wood a large spaniel came bounding upon the rabbit. Gibbie gave a +shriek, and the rabbit made one white flash into the wood, with the +dog after him. He turned away sad at heart. + +"Ilka cratur 'at can," he said to himself, "ates ilka cratur 'at +canna!" + +It was his first generalization, but not many years passed before he +supplemented it with a conclusion: + +"But the man 'at wad be a man, he maunna." + +Resuming his journey of investigation, he trotted along the bank of +the burn, farther and farther up, until he could trot no more, but +must go clambering over great stones, or sinking to the knees in +bog, patches of it red with iron, from which he would turn away with +a shudder. Sometimes he walked in the water, along the bed of the +burn itself; sometimes he had to scramble up its steep side, to pass +one of the many little cataracts of its descent. Here and there a +small silver birch, or a mountain-ash, or a stunted fir-tree, +looking like a wizard child, hung over the stream. Its banks were +mainly of rock and heather, but now and then a small patch of +cultivation intervened. Gibbie had no thought that he was gradually +leaving the abodes of men behind him; he knew no reason why in +ascending things should change, and be no longer as in plainer ways. +For what he knew, there might be farm after farm, up and up for +ever, to the gates of heaven. But it would no longer have troubled +him greatly to leave all houses behind him for a season. A great +purple foxglove could do much now--just at this phase of his story, +to make him forget--not the human face divine, but the loss of it. +A lark aloft in the blue, from whose heart, as from a fountain +whose roots were lost in the air, its natural source, issued, not a +stream, but an ever spreading lake of song, was now more to him than +the memory of any human voice he had ever heard, except his father's +and Sambo's. But he was not yet quite out and away from the +dwellings of his kind. + +I may as well now make the attempt to give some idea of Gibbie's +appearance, as he showed after so long wandering. Of dress he had +hardly enough left to carry the name. Shoes, of course, he had +none. Of the shape of trousers there remained nothing, except the +division before and behind in the short petticoat to which they were +reduced; and those rudimentary divisions were lost in the multitude +of rents of equal apparent significance. He had never, so far as he +knew, had a shirt upon his body; and his sole other garment was a +jacket, so much too large for him, that to retain the use of his +hands he had folded back the sleeves quite to his elbows. Thus +reversed they became pockets, the only ones he had, and in them he +stowed whatever provisions were given him of which he could not make +immediate use--porridge and sowens and mashed potatoes included: +they served him, in fact, like the first of the stomachs of those +animals which have more than one--concerning which animals, by the +way, I should much like to know what they were in "Pythagoras' +time." His head had plentiful protection in his own natural +crop--had never either had or required any other. That would have +been of the gold order, had not a great part of its colour been +sunburnt, rained, and frozen out of it. All ways it pointed, as if +surcharged with electric fluid, crowning him with a wildness which +was in amusing contrast with the placidity of his countenance. +Perhaps the resulting queerness in the expression of the little +vagrant, a look as if he had been hunted till his body and soul were +nearly ruffled asunder, and had already parted company in aim and +interest, might have been the first thing to strike a careless +observer. But if the heart was not a careless one, the eye would +look again and discover a stronger stillness than mere placidity--a +sort of live peace abiding in that weather-beaten little face under +its wild crown of human herbage. The features of it were +well-shaped, and not smaller than proportioned to the small whole of +his person. His eyes--partly, perhaps, because there was so little +flesh upon his bones--were large, and in repose had much of a soft +animal expression: there was not in them the look of You and I know. +Frequently, too, when occasion roused the needful instinct, they +had a sharp expression of outlook and readiness, which, without a +trace of fierceness or greed, was yet equally animal. Only all the +time there was present something else, beyond characterization: +behind them something seemed to lie asleep. His hands and feet were +small and childishly dainty, his whole body well-shaped and well put +together--of which the style of his dress rather quashed the +evidence. + +Such was Gibbie to the eye, as he rose from Daurside to the last +cultivated ground on the borders of the burn, and the highest +dwelling on the mountain. It was the abode of a cottar, and was a +dependency of the farm he had just left. The cottar was an old man +of seventy; his wife was nearly sixty. They had reared stalwart +sons and shapely daughters, now at service here and there in the +valleys below--all ready to see God in nature, and recognize Him in +providence. They belong to a class now, I fear, extinct, but once, +if my love prejudice not my judgment too far, the glory and strength +of Scotland: their little acres are now swallowed up in the larger +farms. + +It was a very humble dwelling, built of turf upon a foundation of +stones, and roofed with turf and straw--warm, and nearly impervious +to the searching airs of the mountain-side. One little window of a +foot and a half square looked out on the universe. At one end stood +a stack of peat, half as big as the cottage itself, All around it +were huge rocks, some of them peaks whose masses went down to the +very central fires, others only fragments that had rolled from +above. Here and there a thin crop was growing in patches amongst +them, the red grey stone lifting its baldness in spots numberless +through the soft waving green. A few of the commonest flowers grew +about the door, but there was no garden. The door-step was live +rock, and a huge projecting rock behind formed the back and a +portion of one of the end walls. This latter rock had been the +attraction to the site, because of a hollow in it, which now served +as a dairy. For up there with them lived the last cow of the +valley--the cow that breathed the loftiest air on all Daurside--a +good cow, and gifted in feeding well upon little. Facing the broad +south, and leaning against the hill, as against the bosom of God, +sheltering it from the north and east, the cottage looked so +high-humble, so still, so confident, that it drew Gibbie with the +spell of heart-likeness. He knocked at the old, weather-beaten, +shrunk and rent, but well patched door. A voice, alive with the +soft vibrations of thought and feeling, answered, + +"Come yer wa's in, whae'er ye be." + +Gibbie pulled the string that came through a hole in the door, so +lifting the latch, and entered. + +A woman sat on a creepie, her face turned over her shoulder to see +who came. It was a grey face, with good simple features and clear +grey eyes. The plentiful hair that grew low on her forehead, was +half grey, mostly covered by a white cap with frills. A clean +wrapper and apron, both of blue print, over a blue winsey petticoat, +blue stockings, and strong shoes completed her dress. A book lay on +her lap: always when she had finished her morning's work, and made +her house tidy, she sat down to have her comfort, as she called it. +The moment she saw Gibbie she rose. Had he been the angel Gabriel, +come to tell her she was wanted at the throne, her attention could +not have been more immediate or thorough. She was rather a little +woman, and carried herself straight and light. + +"Eh, ye puir ootcast!" she said, in the pitying voice of a mother, +"hoo cam ye here sic a hicht? Cratur, ye hae left the warl' ahin' +ye. What wad ye hae here? I hae naething." + +Receiving no answer but one of the child's betwitching smiles, she +stood for a moment regarding him, not in mere silence, but with a +look of dumbness. She was a mother. One who is mother only to her +own children is not a mother; she is only a woman who has borne +children. But here was one of God's mothers. + +Loneliness and silence, and constant homely familiarity with the +vast simplicities of nature, assist much in the development of the +deeper and more wonderful faculties of perception. The perceptions +themselves may take this or that shape according to the +education--may even embody themselves fantastically, yet be no less +perceptions. Now the very moment before Gibbie entered, she had +been reading the words of the Lord: "Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto +me"; and with her heart full of them, she lifted her eyes and saw +Gibbie. For one moment, with the quick flashing response of the +childlike imagination of the Celt, she fancied she saw the Lord +himself. Another woman might have made a more serious mistake, and +seen there only a child. Often had Janet pondered, as she sat alone +on the great mountain, while Robert was with the sheep, or she lay +awake by his side at night, with the wind howling about the cottage, +whether the Lord might not sometimes take a lonely walk to look +after such solitary sheep of his flock as they, and let them know he +had not lost sight of them, for all the ups and downs of the hills. +There stood the child, and whether he was the Lord or not, he was +evidently hungry. Ah! who could tell but the Lord was actually +hungry in every one of his hungering little ones! + +In the mean time--only it was but thought-time, not +clock-time--Gibbie stood motionless in the middle of the floor, +smiling his innocent smile, asking for nothing, hinting at nothing, +but resting his wild calm eyes, with a sense of safety and +mother-presence, upon the grey thoughtful face of the gazing woman. +Her awe deepened; it seemed to descend upon her and fold her in as +with a mantle. Involuntarily she bowed her head, and stepping to +him took him by the hand, and led him to the stool she had left. +There she made him sit, while she brought forward her table, white +with scrubbing, took from a hole in the wall and set upon it a +platter of oatcakes, carried a wooden bowl to her dairy in the rock +through a whitewashed door, and bringing it back filled, half with +cream half with milk, set that also on the table. Then she placed a +chair before it, and said-- + +"Sit ye doon, an' tak. Gin ye war the Lord himsel', my bonny man, +an' ye may be for oucht I ken, for ye luik puir an' despised eneuch, +I cud gie nae better, for it's a' I hae to offer ye--'cep it micht +be an egg," she added, correcting herself, and turned and went out. + +Presently she came back with a look of success, carrying two eggs, +which, having raked out a quantity, she buried in the hot ashes of +the peats, and left in front of the hearth to roast, while Gibbie +went on eating the thick oatcake, sweet and substantial, and +drinking such milk as the wildest imagination of town-boy could +never suggest. It was indeed angels' food--food such as would have +pleased the Lord himself after a hard day with axe and saw and +plane, so good and simple and strong was it. Janet resumed her seat +on the low three-legged stool, and took her knitting that he might +feel neither that he was watched as he ate, nor that she was waiting +for him to finish. Every other moment she gave a glance at the +stranger she had taken in; but never a word he spoke, and the sense +of mystery grew upon her. + +Presently came a great bounce and scramble; the latch jumped up, the +door flew open, and after a moment's pause, in came a sheep dog--a +splendid thorough-bred collie, carrying in his mouth a tiny, +long-legged lamb, which he dropped half dead in the woman's lap. It +was a late lamb, born of a mother which had been sold from the hill, +but had found her way back from a great distance, in order that her +coming young one might have the privilege of being yeaned on the +same spot where she had herself awaked to existence. Another +moment, and her mba-a was heard approaching the door. She trotted +in, and going up to Janet, stood contemplating the consequences of +her maternal ambition. Her udder was full, but the lamb was too +weak to suck. Janet rose, and going to the side of the room, opened +the door of what might have seemed an old press, but was a bed. +Folding back the counterpane, she laid the lamb in the bed, and +covered it over. Then she got a caup, a wooden dish like a large +saucer, and into it milked the ewe. Next she carried the caup to +the bed; but what means she there used to enable the lamb to drink, +the boy could not see, though his busy eyes and loving heart would +gladly have taken in all. + +In the mean time the collie, having done his duty by the lamb, and +perhaps forgotten it, sat on his tail, and stared with his two brave +trusting eyes at the little beggar that sat in the master's chair, +and ate of the fat of the land. Oscar was a gentleman, and had +never gone to school, therefore neither fancied nor had been taught +that rags make an essential distinction, and ought to be barked at. +Gibbie was a stranger, and therefore as a stranger Oscar gave him +welcome--now and then stooping to lick the little brown feet that +had wandered so far. + +Like all wild creatures, Gibbie ate fast, and had finished +everything set before him ere the woman had done feeding the lamb. +Without a notion of the rudeness of it, his heart full of gentle +gratitude, he rose and left the cottage. When Janet turned from her +shepherding, there sat Oscar looking up at the empty chair. + +"What's come o' the laddie?" she said to the dog, who answered with +a low whine, half-regretful, half-interrogative. It may be he was +only asking, like Esau, if there was no residuum of blessing for him +also; but perhaps he too was puzzled what to conclude about the boy. +Janet hastened to the door, but already Gibbie's nimble feet +refreshed to the point of every toe with the food he had just +swallowed, had borne him far up the hill, behind the cottage, so +that she could not get a glimpse of him. Thoughtfully she returned, +and thoughtfully removed the remnants of the meal. She would then +have resumed her Bible, but her hospitality had rendered it +necessary that she should put on her girdle--not a cincture of +leather upon her body, but a disc of iron on the fire, to bake +thereon cakes ere her husband's return. It was a simple enough +process, for the oat-meal wanted nothing but water and fire; but her +joints had not yet got rid of the winter's rheumatism, and the +labour of the baking was the hardest part of the sacrifice of her +hospitality. To many it is easy to give what they have, but the +offering of weariness and pain is never easy. They are indeed a +true salt to salt sacrifices withal. That it was the last of her +meal till her youngest boy should bring her a bag on his back from +the mill the next Saturday, made no point in her trouble. + +When at last she had done, and put the things away, and swept up the +hearth, she milked the ewe, sent her out to nibble, took her Bible, +and sat down once more to read. The lamb lay at her feet, with his +little head projecting from the folds of her new flannel petticoat; +and every time her eye fell from the book upon the lamb, she felt as +if somehow the lamb was the boy that had eaten of her bread and +drunk of her milk. After she had read a while, there came a change, +and the lamb seemed the Lord himself, both lamb and shepherd, who +had come to claim her hospitality. Then, divinely invaded with the +dread lest in the fancy she should forget the reality, she kneeled +down and prayed to the friend of Martha and Mary and Lazarus, to +come as he had said, and sup with her indeed. + +Not for years and years had Janet been to church; she had long been +unable to walk so far; and having no book but the best, and no help +to understand it but the highest, her faith was simple, strong, +real, all-pervading. Day by day she pored over the great gospel--I +mean just the good news according to Matthew and Mark and Luke and +John--until she had grown to be one of the noble ladies of the +kingdom of heaven--one of those who inherit the earth, and are +ripening to see God. For the Master, and his mind in hers, was her +teacher. She had little or no theology save what he taught her, or +rather, what he is. And of any other than that, the less the +better; for no theology, except the Theou logos, {compilers +note: spelled in Greek: Theta, Epsilon, Omicron, Upsilon; +Lambda, Omicron with stress, Gamma, Omicron, Sigma} is worth the +learning, no other being true. To know him is to know God. And he +only who obeys him, does or can know him; he who obeys him cannot +fail to know him. To Janet, Jesus Christ was no object of so-called +theological speculation, but a living man, who somehow or other +heard her when she called to him, and sent her the help she needed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GLASHGAR. + +Up and up the hill went Gibbie. The path ceased altogether; but +when up is the word in one's mind--and up had grown almost a fixed +idea with Gibbie--he can seldom be in doubt whether he is going +right, even where there is no track. Indeed in all more arduous +ways, men leave no track behind them, no finger-post--there is +always but the steepness. He climbed and climbed. The mountain +grew steeper and barer as he went, and he became absorbed in his +climbing. All at once he discovered that he had lost the stream, +where or when he could not tell. All below and around him was red +granite rock, scattered over with the chips and splinters detached +by air and wind, water and stream, light and heat and cold. +Glashgar was only about three thousand feet in height, but it was +the steepest of its group--a huge rock that, even in the midst of +masses, suggested solidity. + +Not once while he ascended had the idea come to him that by and by +he should be able to climb no farther. For aught he knew there were +oat-cakes and milk and sheep and collie dogs ever higher and higher +still. Not until he actually stood upon the peak did he know that +there was the earthly hitherto--the final obstacle of unobstancy, +the everywhere which, from excess of perviousness, was to human foot +impervious. The sun was about two hours towards the west, when +Gibbie, his little legs almost as active as ever, surmounted the +final slope. Running up like a child that would scale heaven he +stood on the bare round, the head of the mountain, and saw, with an +invading shock of amazement, and at first of disappointment, that +there was no going higher: in every direction the slope was +downward. He had never been on the top of anything before. He had +always been in the hollows of things. Now the whole world lay +beneath him. It was cold; in some of the shadows lay snow--weary +exile from both the sky and the sea and the ways of them--captive in +the fetters of the cold--prisoner to the mountain top; but Gibbie +felt no cold. In a glow with the climb, which at the last had been +hard, his lungs filled with the heavenly air, and his soul with the +feeling that he was above everything that was, uplifted on the very +crown of the earth, he stood in his rags, a fluttering scarecrow, +the conqueror of height, the discoverer of immensity, the monarch of +space. Nobody knew of such marvel but him! Gibbie had never even +heard the word poetry, but none the less was he the very stuff out +of which poems grow, and now all the latent poetry in him was set a +swaying and heaving--an ocean inarticulate because unobstructed--a +might that could make no music, no thunder of waves, because it had +no shore, no rocks of thought against which to break in speech. He +sat down on the topmost point; and slowly, in the silence and the +loneliness, from the unknown fountains of the eternal consciousness, +the heart of the child filled. Above him towered infinitude, +immensity, potent on his mind through shape to his eye in a soaring +dome of blue--the one visible symbol informed and insouled of the +eternal, to reveal itself thereby. In it, centre and life, lorded +the great sun, beginning to cast shadows to the south and east from +the endless heaps of the world, that lifted themselves in all +directions. Down their sides ran the streams, down busily, hasting +away through every valley to the Daur, which bore them back to the +ocean-heart--through woods and meadows, park and waste, rocks and +willowy marsh. Behind the valleys rose mountains; and behind the +mountains, other mountains, more and more, each swathed in its own +mystery; and beyond all hung the curtain-depth of the sky-gulf. +Gibbie sat and gazed, and dreamed and gazed. The mighty city that +had been to him the universe, was dropped and lost, like a thing +that was now nobody's, in far indistinguishable distance; and he who +had lost it had climbed upon the throne of the world. The air was +still; when a breath awoke, it but touched his cheek like the down +of a feather, and the stillness was there again. The stillness grew +great, and slowly descended upon him. It deepened and deepened. +Surely it would deepen to a voice!--it was about to speak! It was +as if a great single thought was the substance of the silence, and +was all over and around him, and closer to him than his clothes, +than his body, than his hands. I am describing the indescribable, +and compelled to make it too definite for belief. In colder speech, +an experience had come to the child; a link in the chain of his +development glided over the windlass of his uplifting; a change +passed upon him. In after years, when Gibbie had the idea of God, +when he had learned to think about him, to desire his presence, to +believe that a will of love enveloped his will, as the brooding hen +spreads her wings over her eggs--as often as the thought of God came +to him, it came in the shape of the silence on the top of Glashgar. + +As he sat, with his eyes on the peak he had just chosen from the +rest as the loftiest of all within his sight, he saw a cloud begin +to grow upon it. The cloud grew, and gathered, and descended, +covering its sides as it went, until the whole was hidden. Then +swiftly, as he gazed, the cloud opened as it were a round window in +the heart of it, and through that he saw the peak again. The next +moment a flash of blue lightning darted across the opening, and +whether Gibbie really saw what follows, he never could be sure, but +always after, as often as the vision returned, in the flash he saw a +rock rolling down the peak. The clouds swept together, and the +window closed. The next thing which in after years he remembered +was, that the earth, mountains, meadows, and streams, had vanished; +everything was gone from his sight, except a few yards around him of +the rock upon which he sat, and the cloud that hid world and heaven. +Then again burst forth the lightning. He saw no flash, but an +intense cloud-illumination, accompanied by the deafening crack, and +followed by the appalling roar and roll of the thunder. Nor was it +noise alone that surrounded him, for, as if he were in the heart and +nest of the storm, the very wind-waves that made the thunder rushed +in driven bellowing over him, and had nearly swept him away. He +clung to the rock with hands and feet. The cloud writhed and +wrought and billowed and eddied, with all the shapes of the wind, +and seemed itself to be the furnace-womb in which the thunder was +created. Was this then the voice into which the silence had been +all the time deepening?--had the Presence thus taken form and +declared itself? Gibbie had yet to learn that there is a deeper +voice still into which such a silence may grow--and the silence not +be broken. He was not dismayed. He had no conscience of wrong, and +scarcely knew fear. It was an awful delight that filled his spirit. +Mount Sinai was not to him a terror. To him there was no wrath in +the thunder any more than in the greeting of the dog that found him +in his kennel. To him there was no being in the sky so righteous as +to be more displeased than pitiful over the wrongness of the +children whom he had not yet got taught their childhood. Gibbie sat +calm, awe-ful, but, I imagine, with a clear forehead and +smile-haunted mouth, while the storm roared and beat and flashed and +ran about him. It was the very fountain of tempest. From the bare +crest of the mountain the water poured down its sides, as if its +springs were in the rock itself, and not in the bosom of the cloud +above. The tumult at last seized Gibbie like an intoxication; he +jumped to his feet, and danced and flung his arms about, as if he +himself were the storm. But the uproar did not last long. Almost +suddenly it was gone, as if, like a bird that had been flapping the +ground in agony, it had at last recovered itself, and taken to its +great wings and flown. The sun shone out clear, and in all the blue +abyss not a cloud was to be seen, except far away to leeward, where +one was spread like a banner in the lonely air, fleeting away, the +ensign of the charging storm--bearing for its device a segment of +the many-coloured bow. + +And now that its fierceness was over, the jubilation in the softer +voices of the storm became audible. As the soul gives thanks for +the sufferings that are overpast, offering the love and faith and +hope which the pain has stung into fresh life, so from the sides of +the mountain ascended the noise of the waters the cloud had left +behind. The sun had kept on his journey; the storm had been no +disaster to him; and now he was a long way down the west, and +Twilight, in her grey cloak, would soon be tracking him from the +east, like sorrow dogging delight. Gibbie, wet and cold, began to +think of the cottage where he had been so kindly received, of the +friendly face of its mistress, and her care of the lamb. It was not +that he wanted to eat. He did not even imagine more eating, for +never in his life had he eaten twice of the same charity in the same +day. What he wanted was to find some dry hole in the mountain, and +sleep as near the cottage as he could. So he rose and set out. But +he lost his way; came upon one precipice after another, down which +only a creeping thing could have gone; was repeatedly turned aside +by torrents and swampy places; and when the twilight came, was still +wandering upon the mountain. At length he found, as he thought, the +burn along whose bank he had ascended in the morning, and followed +it towards the valley, looking out for the friendly cottage. But +the first indication of abode he saw, was the wall of the grounds of +the house through whose gate he had looked in the morning. He was +then a long way from the cottage, and not far from the farm; and the +best thing he could do was to find again the barn where he had slept +so well the night before. This was not very difficult even in the +dusky night. He skirted the wall, came to his first guide, found +and crossed the valley-stream, and descended it until he thought he +recognized the slope of clover down which he had run in the morning. +He ran up the brae, and there were the solemn cones of the +corn-ricks between him and the sky! A minute more and he had crept +through the cat-hole, and was feeling about in the dark barn. +Happily the heap of straw was not yet removed. Gibbie shot into it +like a mole, and burrowed to the very centre, there coiled himself +up, and imagined himself lying in the heart of the rock on which he +sat during the storm, and listening to the thunder winds over his +head. The fancy enticed the sleep which before was ready enough to +come, and he was soon far stiller than Ariel in the cloven pine of +Sycorax. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE CEILING. + +He might have slept longer the next morning, for there was no +threshing to wake him, in spite of the cocks in the yard that made +it their business to rouse sleepers to their work, had it not been +for another kind of cock inside him, which bore the same relation to +food that the others bore to light. He peeped first, then crept +out. All was still except the voices of those same prophet cocks, +crying in the wilderness of the yet sunless world; a moo now and +then from the byres; and the occasional stamp of a great hoof in the +stable. Gibbie clambered up into the loft, and turning the cheeses +about until he came upon the one he had gnawed before, again +attacked it, and enlarged considerably the hole he had already made +in it. Rather dangerous food it was, perhaps, eaten in that +unmitigated way, for it was made of skimmed milk, and was very dry +and hard; but Gibbie was a powerful little animal, all bones and +sinews, small hard muscle, and faultless digestion. The next idea +naturally rising was the burn; he tumbled down over the straw heap +to the floor of the barn, and made for the cat-hole. But the moment +he put his head out, he saw the legs of a man: the farmer was +walking through his ricks, speculating on the money they held. He +drew back, and looked round to see where best he could betake +himself should he come in. He spied thereupon a ladder leaning +against the end-wall of the barn, opposite the loft and the stables, +and near it in the wall a wooden shutter, like the door of a little +cupboard. He got up the ladder, and opening the shutter, which was +fastened only with a button, found a hole in the wall, through which +popping his head too carelessly, he knocked from a shelf some piece +of pottery, which fell with a great crash on a paved floor. Looking +after it, Gibbie beheld below him a rich prospect of yellow-white +pools ranged in order on shelves. They reminded him of milk, but +were of a different colour. As he gazed, a door opened hastily, +with sharp clicking latch, and a woman entered, ejaculating, "Care +what set that cat!" Gibbie drew back, lest in her search for the +cat she might find the culprit. She looked all round, muttering +such truncated imprecations as befitted the mouth of a Scotchwoman; +but as none of her milk was touched, her wrath gradually abated: she +picked up the fragments and withdrew. + +Thereupon Gibbie ventured to reconnoitre a little farther, and +popping in his head again, saw that the dairy was open to the roof, +but the door was in a partition which did not run so high. The +place from which the woman entered, was ceiled, and the ceiling +rested on the partition between it and the dairy; so that, from a +shelf level with the hole, he could easily enough get on the top of +the ceiling. This, urged by the instinct of the homeless to +understand their surroundings, he presently effected, by creeping +like a cat along the top shelf. + +The ceiling was that of the kitchen, and was merely of boards, +which, being old and shrunken, had here and there a considerable +crack between two, and Gibbie, peeping through one after another of +these cracks, soon saw several things he did not understand. Of +such was a barrel-churn, which he took for a barrel-organ, and +welcomed as a sign of civilization. The woman was sweeping the room +towards the hearth, where the peat fire was already burning, with a +great pot hanging over it, covered with a wooden lid. When the +water in it was hot, she poured it into a large wooden dish, in +which she began to wash other dishes, thus giving the observant +Gibbie his first notion of housekeeping. Then she scoured the deal +table, dusted the bench and the chairs, arranged the dishes on +shelves and rack, except a few which she placed on the table, put +more water on the fire, and disappeared in the dairy. Thence +presently she returned, carrying a great jar, which, to Gibbie's +astonishment, having lifted a lid in the top of the churn, she +emptied into it; he was not, therefore, any farther astonished, when +she began to turn the handle vigorously, that no music issued. As +to what else might be expected, Gibbie had not even a mistaken idea. +But the butter came quickly that morning, and then he did have +another astonishment, for he saw a great mass of something +half-solid tumbled out where he had seen a liquid poured in--nor +that alone, for the liquid came out again too! But when at length +he saw the mass, after being well washed, moulded into certain +shapes, he recognized it as butter, such as he had seen in the +shops, and had now and then tasted on the piece given him by some +more than usually generous housekeeper. Surely he had wandered into +a region of plenty! Only now, when he saw the woman busy and +careful, the idea of things in the country being a sort of common +property began to fade from his mind, and the perception to wake +that they were as the things in the shops, which must not be touched +without first paying money for them over a counter. + +The butter-making, brought to a successful close, the woman +proceeded to make porridge for the men's breakfast, and with hungry +eyes Gibbie watched that process next. The water in the great pot +boiling like a wild volcano, she took handful after handful of meal +from a great wooden dish, called a bossie, and threw it into the +pot, stirring as she threw, until the mess was presently so thick +that she could no more move the spurtle in it; and scarcely had she +emptied it into another great wooden bowl, called a bicker, when +Gibbie heard the heavy tramp of the men crossing the yard to consume +it. + +For the last few minutes, Gibbie's nostrils--alas! not Gibbie--had +been regaled with the delicious odour of the boiling meal; and now +his eyes had their turn--but still, alas, not Gibbie! Prostrate on +the ceiling he lay and watched the splendid spoonfuls tumble out of +sight into the capacious throats of four men; all took their +spoonfuls from the same dish, but each dipped his spoonful into his +private caup of milk, ere he carried it to his mouth. A little +apart sat a boy, whom the woman seemed to favour, having provided +him with a plateful of porridge by himself, but the fact was, four +were as many as could bicker comfortably, or with any chance of fair +play. The boy's countenance greatly attracted Gibbie. It was a +long, solemn face, but the eyes were bright-blue and sparkling; and +when he smiled, which was not very often, it was a good and +meaningful smile. + +When the meal was over, and he saw the little that was left, with +all the drops of milk from the caups, tumbled into a common +receptacle, to be kept, he thought, for the next meal, poor Gibbie +felt very empty and forsaken. He crawled away sad at heart, with +nothing before him except a drink of water at the burn. He might +have gone to the door of the house, in the hope of a bit of cake, +but now that he had seen something of the doings in the house and of +the people who lived in it--as soon, that is, as he had looked +embodied ownership in the face--he began to be aware of its claims, +and the cheese he had eaten to lie heavy upon his spiritual stomach; +he had done that which he would not have done before leaving the +city. Carefully he crept across the ceiling, his head hanging, like +a dog scolded of his master, carefully along the shelf of the dairy, +and through the opening in the wall, quickly down the ladder, and +through the cat-hole in the barn door. There was no one in the +corn-yard now, and he wandered about among the ricks looking, with +little hope, for something to eat. Turning a corner he came upon a +hen-house--and there was a crowd of hens and half-grown chickens +about the very dish into which he had seen the remnants of the +breakfast thrown, all pecking billfuls out of it. As I may have +said before, he always felt at liberty to share with the animals, +partly, I suppose, because he saw they had no scrupulosity or +ceremony amongst themselves; so he dipped his hand into the dish: +why should not the bird of the air now and then peck with the more +respectable of the barn-door, if only to learn his inferiority? +Greatly refreshed, he got up from among the hens, scrambled over +the dry stone-wall, and trotted away to the burn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +HORNIE. + +It was now time he should resume his journey up Daurside, and he set +out to follow the burn that he might regain the river. It led him +into a fine meadow, where a number of cattle were feeding. The +meadow was not fenced--little more than marked off, indeed, upon one +side, from a field of growing corn, by a low wall of earth, covered +with moss and grass and flowers. The cattle were therefore herded +by a boy, whom Gibbie recognized even in the distance as him by +whose countenance he had been so much attracted when, like an old +deity on a cloud, he lay spying through the crack in the ceiling. +The boy was reading a book, from which every now and then he lifted +his eyes to glance around him, and see whether any of the cows or +heifers or stirks were wandering beyond their pasture of rye-grass +and clover. Having them all before him, therefore no occasion to +look behind, he did not see Gibbie approaching. But as soon as he +seemed thoroughly occupied, a certain black cow, with short sharp +horns and a wicked look, which had been gradually, as was her wont, +edging nearer and nearer to the corn, turned suddenly and ran for +it, jumped the dyke, and plunging into a mad revelry of greed, tore +and devoured with all the haste not merely of one insecure, but of +one that knew she was stealing. Now Gibbie had been observant +enough during his travels to learn that this was against the law and +custom of the country--that it was not permitted to a cow to go into +a field where there were no others--and like a shot he was after the +black marauder. The same instant the herd boy too, lifting his eyes +from his book, saw her, and springing to his feet, caught up his +great stick, and ran also: he had more than one reason to run, for +he understood only too well the dangerous temper of the cow, and saw +that Gibbie was a mere child, and unarmed--an object most +provocative of attack to Hornie--so named, indeed, because of her +readiness to use the weapons with which Nature had provided her. +She was in fact a malicious cow, and but that she was a splendid +milker, would have been long ago fatted up and sent to the butcher. +The boy as he ran full speed to the rescue, kept shouting to warn +Gibbie from his purpose, but Gibbie was too intent to understand the +sounds he uttered, and supposed them addressed to the cow. With the +fearless service that belonged to his very being, he ran straight at +Hornie, and, having nothing to strike her with, flung himself +against her with a great shove towards the dyke. Hornie, absorbed +in her delicious robbery, neither heard nor saw before she felt him, +and, startled by the sudden attack, turned tail. It was but for a +moment. In turning, she caught sight of her ruler, sceptre in hand, +at some little distance, and turned again, either to have another +mouthful, or in the mere instinct to escape him. Then she caught +sight of the insignificant object that had scared her, and in +contemptuous indignation lowered her head between her forefeet, and +was just making a rush at Gibbie, when a stone struck her on a horn, +and the next moment the herd came up, and with a storm of fiercest +blows, delivered with the full might of his arm, drove her in +absolute rout back into the meadow. Drawing himself up in the +unconscious majesty of success, Donal Grant looked down upon Gibbie, +but with eyes of admiration. + +"Haith, cratur!" he said, "ye're mair o' a man nor ye'll luik this +saven year! What garred ye rin upo' the deevil's verra horns that +gait?" + +Gibbie stood smiling. + +"Gien't hadna been for my club we wad baith be owre the mune 'gain +this time. What ca' they ye, man?" + +Still Gibbie only smiled. + +"Whaur come ye frae?--Wha's yer fowk?--Whaur div ye bide?--Haena ye +a tongue i' yer heid, ye rascal?" + +Gibbie burst out laughing, and his eyes sparkled and shone: he was +delighted with the herd-boy, and it was so long since he had heard +human speech addressed to himself! + +"The cratur's feel (foolish)!" concluded Donal to himself pityingly. +"Puir thing! puir thing!" he added aloud, and laid his hand on +Gibbie's head. + +It was but the second touch of kindness Gibbie had received since he +was the dog's guest: had he been acquainted with the bastard emotion +of self-pity, he would have wept; as he was unaware of hardship in +his lot, discontent in his heart, or discord in his feeling, his +emotion was one of unmingled delight, and embodied itself in a +perfect smile. + +"Come, cratur, an' I'll gie ye a piece: ye'll aiblins un'erstan' +that!" said Donal, as he turned to leave the corn for the grass, +where Hornie was eating with the rest like the most innocent of +hum'le (hornless) animals. Gibbie obeyed, and followed, as, with +slow step and downbent face, Donal led the way. For he had tucked +his club under his arm, and already his greedy eyes were fixed on +the book he had carried all the time, nor did he take them from it +until, followed in full and patient content by Gibbie, he had almost +reached the middle of the field, some distance from Hornie and her +companions, when, stopping abruptly short, he began without lifting +his head to cast glances on this side and that. + +"I houp nane o' them's swallowed my nepkin!" he said musingly. "I'm +no sure whaur I was sittin'. I hae my place i' the beuk, but I +doobt I hae tint my place i' the gerse." + +Long before he had ended, for he spoke with utter deliberation, +Gibbie was yards away, flitting hither and thither like a butterfly. +A minute more and Donal saw him pounce upon his bundle, which he +brought to him in triumph. + +"Fegs! ye're no the gowk I took ye for," said Donal meditatively. + +Whether Gibbie took the remark for a compliment, or merely was +gratified that Donal was pleased, the result was a merry laugh. + +The bundle had in it a piece of hard cheese, such as Gibbie had +already made acquaintance with, and a few quarters of cakes. One of +these Donal broke in two, gave Gibbie the half, replaced the other, +and sat down again to his book--this time with his back against the +fell-dyke dividing the grass from the corn. Gibbie seated himself, +like a Turk, with his bare legs crossed under him, a few yards off, +where, in silence and absolute content, he ate his piece, and +gravely regarded him. His human soul had of late been starved, even +more than his body--and that from no fastidiousness; and it was +paradise again to be in such company. Never since his father's +death had he looked on a face that drew him as Donal's. It was fair +of complexion by nature, but the sun had burned it brown, and it was +covered with freckles. Its forehead was high, with a mass of foxy +hair over it, and under it two keen hazel eyes, in which the green +predominated over the brown. Its nose was long and solemn, over his +well-made mouth, which rarely smiled, but not unfrequently trembled +with emotion--over his book. For age, Donal was getting towards +fifteen, and was strongly built, and well grown. A general look of +honesty, and an attractive expression of reposeful friendliness +pervaded his whole appearance. Conscientious in regard to his work, +he was yet in danger of forgetting his duty for minutes together in +his book. The chief evil that resulted from it was such an +occasional inroad on the corn as had that morning taken place; and +many were Donal's self-reproaches ere he got to sleep when that had +fallen out during the day. He knew his master would threaten him +with dismissal if he came upon him reading in the field, but he knew +also his master was well aware that he did read, and that it was +possible to read and yet herd well. It was easy enough in this same +meadow: on one side ran the Lorrie; on another was a stone wall; and +on the third a ditch; only the cornfield lay virtually unprotected, +and there he had to be himself the boundary. And now he sat leaning +against the dyke, as if he held so a position of special defence; +but he knew well enough that the dullest calf could outflank him, +and invade, for a few moments at the least, the forbidden +pleasure-ground. He had gained an ally, however, whose faculty and +faithfulness he little knew yet. For Gibbie had begun to comprehend +the situation. He could not comprehend why or how anyone should be +absorbed in a book, for all he knew of books was from his one +morning of dame-schooling; but he could comprehend that, if one's +attention were so occupied, it must be a great vex to be interrupted +continually by the ever-waking desires of his charge after dainties. +Therefore, as Donal watched his book, Gibbie for Donal's sake +watched the herd, and, as he did so, gently possessed himself of +Donal's club. Nor had many minutes passed before Donal, raising his +head to look, saw the curst cow again in the green corn, and Gibbie +manfully encountering her with the club, hitting her hard upon head +and horns, and deftly avoiding every rush she made at him. + +"Gie her't upo' the nose," Donal shouted in terror, as he ran full +speed to his aid, abusing Hornie in terms of fiercest vituperation. + +But he needed not have been so apprehensive. Gibbie heard and +obeyed, and the next moment Hornie had turned tail and was fleeing +back to the safety of the lawful meadow. + +"Hech, cratur! but ye maun be come o' fechtin' fowk!" said Donal, +regarding him with fresh admiration. + +Gibbie laughed; but he had been sorely put to it, and the big drops +were coursing fast down his sweet face. Donal took the club from +him, and rushing at Hornie, belaboured her well, and drove her quite +to the other side of the field. He then returned and resumed his +book, while Gibbie again sat down near by, and watched both Donal +and his charge--the keeper of both herd and cattle. Surely Gibbie +had at last found his vocation on Daurside, with both man and beast +for his special care! + +By and by Donal raised his head once more, but this time it was to +regard Gibbie and not the nowt. It had gradually sunk into him that +the appearance and character of the cratur were peculiar. He had +regarded him as a little tramp, whose people were not far off, and +who would soon get tired of herding and rejoin his companions; but +while he read, a strange feeling of the presence of the boy had, in +spite of the witchery of his book, been growing upon him. He seemed +to feel his eyes without seeing them; and when Gibbie rose to look +how the cattle were distributed, he became vaguely uneasy lest the +boy should be going away. For already he had begun to feel him a +humble kind of guardian angel. He had already that day, through +him, enjoyed a longer spell of his book, than any day since he had +been herd at the Mains of Glashruach. And now the desire had come +to regard him more closely. + +For a minute or two he sat and gazed at him. Gibbie gazed at him in +return, and in his eyes the herd-boy looked the very type of power +and gentleness. How he admired even his suit of small-ribbed, +greenish-coloured corduroy, the ribs much rubbed and obliterated! +Then his jacket had round brass buttons! his trousers had patches +instead of holes at the knees! their short legs revealed warm +woollen stockings! and his shoes had their soles full of great +broad-headed iron tacks! while on his head he had a small round blue +bonnet with a red tuft! The little outcast, on the other hand, with +his loving face and pure clear eyes, bidding fair to be naked +altogether before long, woke in Donal a divine pity, a tenderness +like that nestling at the heart of womanhood. The neglected +creature could surely have no mother to shield him from frost and +wind and rain. But a strange thing was, that out of this pitiful +tenderness seemed to grow, like its blossom, another unlike +feeling--namely, that he was in the presence of a being of some +order superior to his own, one to whom he would have to listen if he +spoke, who knew more than he would tell. But then Donal was a Celt, +and might be a poet, and the sweet stillness of the child's +atmosphere made things bud in his imagination. + +My reader must think how vastly, in all his poverty, Donal was +Gibbie's superior in the social scale. He earned his own food and +shelter, and nearly four pounds a year besides; lived as well as he +could wish, dressed warm, was able for his work, and imagined it no +hardship. Then he had a father and mother whom he went to see every +Saturday, and of whom he was as proud as son could be--a father who +was the priest of the family, and fed sheep; a mother who was the +prophetess, and kept the house ever an open refuge for her children. +Poor Gibbie earned nothing--never had earned more than a penny at a +time in his life, and had never dreamed of having a claim to such +penny. Nobody seemed to care for him, give him anything, do +anything for him. Yet there he sat before Donal's eyes, full of +service, of smiles, of contentment. + +Donal took up his book, but laid it down again and gazed at Gibbie. +Several times he tried to return to his reading, but as often +resumed his contemplation of the boy. At length it struck him as +something more than shyness would account for, that he had not yet +heard a word from the lips of the child, even when running after the +cows. He must watch him more closely. + +By this it was his dinner time. Again he untied his handkerchief, +and gave Gibbie what he judged a fair share for his bulk--namely +about a third of the whole. Philosopher as he was, however, he +could not help sighing a little when he got to the end of his +diminished portion. But he was better than comforted when Gibbie +offered him all that yet remained to him; and the smile with which +he refused it made Gibbie as happy as a prince would like to be. +What a day it had been for Gibbie! A whole human being, and some +five and twenty four-legged creatures besides, to take care of! + +After their dinner, Donal gravitated to his book, and Gibbie resumed +the executive. Some time had passed when Donal, glancing up, saw +Gibbie lying flat on his chest, staring at something in the grass. +He slid himself quietly nearer, and discovered it was a daisy--one +by itself alone; there were not many in the field. Like a mother +leaning over her child, he was gazing at it. The daisy was not a +cold white one, neither was it a red one; it was just a perfect +daisy: it looked as if some gentle hand had taken it, while it slept +and its star points were all folded together, and dipped them--just +a tiny touchy dip, in a molten ruby, so that, when it opened again, +there was its crown of silver pointed with rubies all about its +golden sun-heart. + +"He's been readin' Burns!" said Donal. He forgot that the daisies +were before Burns, and that he himself had loved them before ever he +heard of him. Now, he had not heard of Chaucer, who made love to +the daisies four hundred years before Burns.--God only knows what +gospellers they have been on his middle-earth. All its days his +daisies have been coming and going, and they are not old yet, nor +have worn out yet their lovely garments, though they patch and darn +just as little as they toil and spin. + +"Can ye read, cratur?" asked Donal. + +Gibbie shook his head. + +"Canna ye speyk, man?" + +Again Gibbie shook his head. + +"Can ye hear?" + +Gibbie burst out laughing. He knew that he heard better than other +people. + +"Hearken till this than," said Donal. + +He took his book from the grass, and read, in a chant, or rather in +a lilt, the Danish ballad of Chyld Dyring, as translated by Sir +Walter Scott. Gibbie's eyes grew wider and wider as he listened; +their pupils dilated, and his lips parted: it seemed as if his soul +were looking out of door and windows at once--but a puzzled soul +that understood nothing of what it saw. Yet plainly, either the +sounds, or the thought-matter vaguely operative beyond the line +where intelligence begins, or, it may be, the sparkle of individual +word or phrase islanded in a chaos of rhythmic motion, wrought +somehow upon him, for his attention was fixed as by a spell. When +Donal ceased, he remained open-mouthed and motionless for a time; +then, drawing himself slidingly over the grass to Donal's feet, he +raised his head and peeped above his knees at the book. A moment +only he gazed, and drew back with a hungry sigh: he had seen nothing +in the book like what Donal had been drawing from it--as if one +should look into the well of which he had just drunk, and see there +nothing but dry pebbles and sand! The wind blew gentle, the sun +shone bright, all nature closed softly round the two, and the soul +whose children they were was nearer than the one to the other, +nearer than sun or wind or daisy or Chyld Dyring. To his amazement, +Donal saw the tears gathering in Gibbie's eyes. He was as one who +gazes into the abyss of God's will--sees only the abyss, cannot see +the will, and weeps. The child in whom neither cold nor hunger nor +nakedness nor loneliness could move a throb of self-pity, was moved +to tears that a loveliness, to him strange and unintelligible, had +passed away, and he had no power to call it back. + +"Wad ye like to hear't again?" asked Donal, more than half +understanding him instinctively. + +Gibbie's face answered with a flash, and Donal read the poem again, +and Gibbie's delight returned greater than before, for now something +like a dawn began to appear among the cloudy words. Donal read it a +third time, and closed the book, for it was almost the hour for +driving the cattle home. He had never yet seen, and perhaps never +again did see, such a look of thankful devotion on human countenance +as met his lifted eyes. + +How much Gibbie even then understood of the lovely eerie old ballad, +it is impossible for me to say. Had he a glimmer of the return of +the buried mother? Did he think of his own? I doubt if he had ever +thought that he had a mother; but he may have associated the tale +with his father, and the boots he was always making for him. +Certainly it was the beginning of much. But the waking up of a +human soul to know itself in the mirror of its thoughts and +feelings, its loves and delights, oppresses me with so heavy a sense +of marvel and inexplicable mystery, that when I imagine myself such +as Gibbie then was, I cannot imagine myself coming awake. I can +hardly believe that, from being such as Gibbie was the hour before +he heard the ballad, I should ever have come awake. Yet here I am, +capable of pleasure unspeakable from that and many another ballad, +old and new! somehow, at one time or another, or at many times in +one, I have at last come awake! When, by slow filmy unveilings, +life grew clearer to Gibbie, and he not only knew, but knew that he +knew, his thoughts always went back to that day in the meadow with +Donal Grant as the beginning of his knowledge of beautiful things in +the world of man. Then first he saw nature reflected, +Narcissus-like, in the mirror of her humanity, her highest self. +But when or how the change in him began, the turn of the balance, +the first push towards life of the evermore invisible germ--of that +he remained, much as he wondered, often as he searched his +consciousness, as ignorant to the last as I am now. Sometimes he +was inclined to think the glory of the new experience must have +struck him dazed, and that was why he could not recall what went on +in him at the time. + +Donal rose and went driving the cattle home, and Gibbie lay where he +had again thrown himself upon the grass. When he lifted his head, +Donal and the cows had vanished. + +Donal had looked all round as he left the meadow, and seeing the boy +nowhere, had concluded he had gone to his people. The impression he +had made upon him faded a little during the evening. For when he +reached home, and had watered them, he had to tie up the animals, +each in its stall, and make it comfortable for the night; next, eat +his own supper; then learn a proposition of Euclid, and go to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DONAL GRANT. + +Hungering minds come of peasant people as often as of any, and have +appeared in Scotland as often, I fancy, as in any nation; not every +Scotsman, therefore, who may not himself have known one like Donal, +will refuse to believe in such a herd-laddie. Besides, there are +still those in Scotland, as well as in other nations, to whom the +simple and noble, not the commonplace and selfish, is the true type +of humanity. Of such as Donal, whether English or Scotch, is the +class coming up to preserve the honour and truth of our Britain, to +be the oil of the lamp of her life, when those who place her glory +in knowledge, or in riches, shall have passed from her history as +the smoke from her chimneys. + +Cheap as education then was in Scotland, the parents of Donal Grant +had never dreamed of sending a son to college. It was difficult for +them to save even the few quarterly shillings that paid the fees of +the parish schoolmaster: for Donal, indeed, they would have failed +even in this, but for the help his brothers and sisters afforded. +After he left school, however, and got a place as herd, he fared +better than any of the rest, for at the Mains he found a friend and +helper in Fergus Duff, his master's second son, who was then at home +from college, which he had now attended two winters. Partly that he +was delicate in health, partly that he was something of a fine +gentleman, he took no share with his father and elder brother in the +work of the farm, although he was at the Mains from the beginning of +April to the end of October. He was a human kind of soul +notwithstanding, and would have been much more of a man if he had +thought less of being a gentleman. He had taken a liking to Donal, +and having found in him a strong desire after every kind of +knowledge of which he himself had any share, had sought to enliven +the tedium of an existence rendered not a little flabby from want of +sufficient work, by imparting to him of the treasures he had +gathered. They were not great, and he could never have carried him +far, for he was himself only a respectable student, not a little +lacking in perseverance, and given to dreaming dreams of which he +was himself the hero. Happily, however, Donal was of another sort, +and from the first needed but to have the outermost shell of a thing +broken for him, and that Fergus could do: by and by Donal would +break a shell for himself. + +But perhaps the best thing Fergus did for him was the lending him +books. Donal had an altogether unappeasable hunger after every form +of literature with which he had as yet made acquaintance, and this +hunger Fergus fed with the books of the house, and many besides of +such as he purchased or borrowed for his own reading--these last +chiefly poetry. But Fergus Duff, while he revelled in the writings +of certain of the poets of the age, was incapable of finding poetry +for himself in the things around him: Donal Grant, on the other +hand, while he seized on the poems Fergus lent him, with an avidity +even greater than his, received from the nature around him +influences similar to those which exhaled from the words of the +poet. In some sense, then, Donal was original; that is, he received +at first hand what Fergus required to have "put on" him, to quote +Celia, in As you like it, "as pigeons feed their young." Therefore, +fiercely as it would have harrowed the pride of Fergus to be +informed of the fact, he was in the kingdom of art only as one who +ate of what fell from the table, while his father's herd-boy was one +of the family. This was as far from Donal's thought, however, as +from that of Fergus; the condescension, therefore, of the latter did +not impair the gratitude for which the former had such large reason; +and Donal looked up to Fergus as to one of the lords of the world. + +To find himself now in the reversed relation of superior and teacher +to the little outcast, whose whole worldly having might be summed in +the statement that he was not absolutely naked, woke in Donal an +altogether new and strange feeling; yet gratitude to his master had +but turned itself round, and become tenderness to his pupil. + +After Donal left him in the field, and while he was ministering, +first to his beasts and then to himself, Gibbie lay on the grass, as +happy as child could well be. A loving hand laid on his feet or +legs would have found them like ice; but where was the matter so +long as he never thought of them? He could have supped a huge +bicker of sowens, and eaten a dozen potatoes; but of what mighty +consequence is hunger, so long as it neither absorbs the thought, +nor causes faintness? The sun, however, was going down behind a +great mountain, and its huge shadow, made of darkness, and haunted +with cold, came sliding across the river, and over valley and field, +nothing staying its silent wave, until it covered Gibbie with the +blanket of the dark, under which he could not long forget that he +was in a body to which cold is unfriendly. At the first breath of +the night-wind that came after the shadow, he shivered, and starting +to his feet, began to trot, increasing his speed until he was +scudding up and down the field like a wild thing of the night, whose +time was at hand, waiting until the world should lie open to him. +Suddenly he perceived that the daisies, which all day long had been +full-facing the sun, like true souls confessing to the father of +them, had folded their petals together to points, and held them like +spear-heads tipped with threatening crimson, against the onset of +the night and her shadows, while within its white cone each folded +in the golden heart of its life, until the great father should +return, and, shaking the wicked out of the folds of the night, +render the world once more safe with another glorious day. Gibbie +gazed and wondered; and while he gazed--slowly, glidingly, back to +his mind came the ghost-mother of the ballad, and in every daisy he +saw her folding her neglected orphans to her bosom, while the +darkness and the misery rolled by defeated. He wished he knew a +ghost that would put her arms round him. He must have had a mother +once, he supposed, but he could not remember her, and of course she +must have forgotten him. He did not know that about him were folded +the everlasting arms of the great, the one Ghost, which is the Death +of death--the life and soul of all things and all thoughts. The +Presence, indeed, was with him, and he felt it, but he knew it only +as the wind and shadow, the sky and closed daisies: in all these +things and the rest it took shape that it might come near him. Yea, +the Presence was in his very soul, else he could never have rejoiced +in friend, or desired ghost to mother him: still he knew not the +Presence. But it was drawing nearer and nearer to his +knowledge--even in sun and air and night and cloud, in beast and +flower and herd-boy, until at last it would reveal itself to him, in +him, as Life Himself. Then the man would know that in which the +child had rejoiced. The stars came out, to Gibbie the heavenly +herd, feeding at night, and gathering gold in the blue pastures. He +saw them, looking up from the grass where he had thrown himself to +gaze more closely at the daisies; and the sleep that pressed down +his eyelids seemed to descend from the spaces between the stars. +But it was too cold that night to sleep in the fields, when he knew +where to find warmth. Like a fox into his hole, the child would +creep into the corner where God had stored sleep for him: back he +went to the barn, gently trotting, and wormed himself through the +cat-hole. + +The straw was gone! But he remembered the hay. And happily, for he +was tired, there stood the ladder against the loft. Up he went, nor +turned aside to the cheese; but sleep was common property still. He +groped his way forward through the dark loft until he found the hay, +when at once he burrowed into it like a sand-fish into the wet sand. +All night the white horse, a glory vanished in the dark, would be +close to him, behind the thin partition of boards. He could hear +his very breath as he slept, and to the music of it, audible sign of +companionship, he fell fast asleep, and slept until the waking +horses woke him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +APPRENTICESHIP. + +He scrambled out on the top of the hay, and looked down on the +beautiful creature below him, dawning radiant again with the +morning, as it issued undimmed from the black bosom of the night. +He was not, perhaps, just so well groomed as white steed might be; +it was not a stable where they kept a blue-bag for their grey +horses; but to Gibbie's eyes he was so pure, that he began, for the +first time in his life, to doubt whether he was himself quite as +clean as he ought to be. He did not know, but he would make an +experiment for information when he got down to the burn. Meantime +was there nothing he could do for the splendid creature? From +above, leaning over, he filled his rack with hay; but he had eaten +so much grass the night before, that he would not look at it, and +Gibbie was disappointed. What should he do next? The thing he +would like best would be to look through the ceiling again, and +watch the woman at her work. Then, too, he would again smell the +boiling porridge, and the burning of the little sprinkles of meal +that fell into the fire. He dragged, therefore, the ladder to the +opposite end of the barn, and gradually, with no little effort, +raised it against the wall. Carefully he crept through the hole, +and softly round the shelf, the dangerous part of the pass, and so +on to the ceiling, whence he peeped once more down into the kitchen. +His precautions had been so far unnecessary, for as yet it lay +unvisited, as witnessed by its disorder. Suddenly came to Gibbie +the thought that here was a chance for him--here a path back to the +world. Rendered daring by the eagerness of his hope, he got again +upon the shelf, and with every precaution lest he should even touch +a milkpan, descended by the lower shelves to the floor. There +finding the door only latched, he entered the kitchen, and proceeded +to do everything he had seen the woman do, as nearly in her style as +he could. He swept the floor, and dusted the seats, the window +sill, the table, with an apron he found left on a chair, then +arranged everything tidily, roused the rested fire, and had just +concluded that the only way to get the great pot full of water upon +it, would be to hang first the pot on the chain, and then fill it +with the water, when his sharp ears caught sounds and then heard +approaching feet. He darted into the dairy, and in a few seconds, +for he was getting used to the thing now, had clambered upon the +ceiling, and was lying flat across the joists, with his eyes to the +most commanding crack he had discovered: he was anxious to know how +his service would be received. When Jean Mavor--she was the +farmer's half-sister--opened the door, she stopped short and stared; +the kitchen was not as she had left it the night before! She +concluded she must be mistaken, for who could have touched it? and +entered. Then it became plain beyond dispute that the floor had +been swept, the table wiped, the place redd up, and the fire roused. + +"Hoot! I maun hae been walkin' i' my sleep!" said Jean to herself +aloud. "Or maybe that guid laddie Donal Grant's been wullin' to gie +me a helpin' han' for's mither's sake, honest wuman! The laddie's +guid eneuch for onything!--ay, gien 'twar to mak' a minister o'!" + +Eagerly, greedily, Gibbie now watched her every motion, and, bent +upon learning, nothing escaped him: he would do much better next +morning!--At length the men came in to breakfast, and he thought to +enjoy the sight; but, alas! it wrought so with his hunger as to make +him feel sick, and he crept away to the barn. He would gladly have +lain down in the hay for a while, but that would require the ladder, +and he did not now feel able to move it. On the floor of the barn +he was not safe, and he got out of it into the cornyard, where he +sought the henhouse. But there was no food there yet, and he must +not linger near; for, if he were discovered, they would drive him +away, and he would lose Donal Grant. He had not seen him at +breakfast, for indeed he seldom, during the summer, had a meal +except supper in the house. Gibbie, therefore, as he could not eat, +ran to the burn and drank--but had no heart that morning for his +projected inquiry into the state of his person. He must go to +Donal. The sight of him would help him to bear his hunger. + +The first indication Donal had of his proximity was the rush of +Hornie past him in flight out of the corn. Gibbie was pursuing her +with stones for lack of a stick. Thoroughly ashamed of himself, +Donal threw his book from him, and ran to meet Gibbie. + +"Ye maunna fling stanes, cratur," he said. "Haith! it's no for me to +fin' fau't, though," he added, "sittin' readin' buiks like a gowk +'at I am, an' lattin' the beasts rin wull amo' the corn, 'at's weel +peyed to haud them oot o' 't! I'm clean affrontit wi' mysel', +cratur." + +Gibbie's response was to set off at full speed for the place where +Donal had been sitting. He was back in a moment with the book, +which he pressed into Donal's hand, while from the other he withdrew +his club. This he brandished aloft once or twice, then starting at +a steady trot, speedily circled the herd, and returned to his +adopted master--only to start again, however, and attack Hornie, +whom he drove from the corn-side of the meadow right over to the +other: she was already afraid of him. After watching him for a +time, Donal came to the conclusion that he could not do more than +the cratur if he had as many eyes as Argus, and gave not even one of +them to his book. He therefore left all to Gibbie, and did not once +look up for a whole hour. Everything went just as it should; and +not once, all that day, did Hornie again get a mouthful of the +grain. It was rather a heavy morning for Gibbie, though, who had +eaten nothing, and every time he came near Donal, saw the +handkerchief bulging in the grass, which a little girl had brought +and left for him. But he was a rare one both at waiting and at +going without. + +At last, however, Donal either grew hungry of himself, or was moved +by certain understood relations between the sun and the necessities +of his mortal frame; for he laid down his book, called out to +Gibbie, "Cratur, it's denner-time," and took his bundle. Gibbie +drew near with sparkling eyes. There was no selfishness in his +hunger, for, at the worst pass he had ever reached, he would have +shared what he had with another, but he looked so eager, that Donal, +who himself knew nothing of want, perceived that he was ravenous, +and made haste to undo the knots of the handkerchief, which Mistress +Jean appeared that day to have tied with more than ordinary vigour, +ere she intrusted the bundle to the foreman's daughter. When the +last knot yielded, he gazed with astonishment at the amount and +variety of provision disclosed. + +"Losh!" he exclaimed, "the mistress maun hae kenned there was two o' +'s." + +He little thought that what she had given him beyond the usual +supply was an acknowledgment of services rendered by those same +hands into which he now delivered a share, on the ground of other +service altogether. It is not always, even where there is no +mistake as to the person who has deserved it, that the reward +reaches the doer so directly. + +Before the day was over, Donal gave his helper more and other pay +for his service. Choosing a fit time, when the cattle were well +together and in good position, Hornie away at the stone dyke, he +took from his pocket a somewhat wasted volume of ballads--ballants, +he called them--and said, "Sit ye doon, cratur. Never min' the +nowt. I'm gaein' to read till ye." + +Gibbie dropped on his crossed legs like a lark to the ground, and +sat motionless. Donal, after deliberate search, began to read, and +Gibbie to listen; and it would be hard to determine which found the +more pleasure in his part. For Donal had seldom had a listener--and +never one so utterly absorbed. + +When the hour came for the cattle to go home, Gibbie again remained +behind, waiting until all should be still at the farm. He lay on +the dyke, brooding over what he had heard, and wondering how it was +that Donal got all those strange beautiful words and sounds and +stories out of the book. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +SECRET SERVICE. + +I must not linger over degrees and phases. Every morning, Gibbie +got into the kitchen in good time; and not only did more and more of +the work, but did it more and more to the satisfaction of Jean, +until, short of the actual making of the porridge, he did everything +antecedent to the men's breakfast. When Jean came in, she had but +to take the lid from the pot, put in the salt, assume the spurtle, +and, grasping the first handful of the meal, which stood ready +waiting in the bossie on the stone cheek of the fire, throw it in, +thus commencing the simple cookery of the best of all dishes to a +true-hearted and healthy Scotsman. Without further question she +attributed all the aid she received to the goodness, "enough for +anything," of Donal Grant, and continued to make acknowledgment of +the same in both sort and quantity of victuals, whence, as has been +shown, the real labourer received his due reward. + +Until he had thoroughly mastered his work, Gibbie persisted in +regarding matters economic "from his loophole in the ceiling;" and +having at length learned the art of making butter, soon arrived at +some degree of perfection in it. But when at last one morning he +not only churned, but washed and made it up entirely to Jean's +satisfaction, she did begin to wonder how a mere boy could both have +such perseverance, and be so clever at a woman's work. For now she +entered the kitchen every morning without a question of finding the +fire burning, the water boiling, the place clean and tidy, the +supper dishes well washed and disposed on shelf and rack: her own +part was merely to see that proper cloths were handy to so thorough +a user of them. She took no one into her confidence on the matter: +it was enough, she judged, that she and Donal understood each other. + +And now if Gibbie had contented himself with rendering this +house-service in return for the shelter of the barn and its hay, he +might have enjoyed both longer; but from the position of his +night-quarters, he came gradually to understand the work of the +stable also; and before long, the men, who were quite ignorant of +anything similar taking place in the house, began to observe, more +to their wonder than satisfaction, that one or other of their horses +was generally groomed before his man came to him; that often there +was hay in their racks which they had not given them; and that the +master's white horse every morning showed signs of having had some +attention paid him that could not be accounted for. The result was +much talk and speculation, suspicion and offence; for all were +jealous of their rights, their duty, and their dignity, in relation +to their horses: no man was at liberty to do a thing to or for any +but his own pair. Even the brightening of the harness-brass, in +which Gibbie sometimes indulged, was an offence; for did it not +imply a reproach? Many were the useless traps laid for the +offender, many the futile attempts to surprise him: as Gibbie never +did anything except for half an hour or so while the men were sound +asleep or at breakfast, he escaped discovery. + +But he could not hold continued intercourse with the splendour of +the white horse, and neglect carrying out the experiment on which he +had resolved with regard to the effect of water upon his own skin; +and having found the result a little surprising, he soon got into +the habit of daily and thorough ablution. But many animals that +never wash are yet cleaner than some that do; and, what with the +scantiness of his clothing, his constant exposure to the atmosphere, +and his generally lying in a fresh lair, Gibbie had always been +comparatively clean. Besides, being nice in his mind, he was +naturally nice in his body. + +The new personal regard thus roused by the presence of Snowball, had +its development greatly assisted by the scrupulosity with which most +things in the kitchen, and chief of all in this respect, the churn, +were kept. It required much effort to come up to the nicety +considered by Jean indispensable in the churn; and the croucher on +the ceiling, when he saw the long nose advance to prosecute inquiry +into its condition, mentally trembled lest the next movement should +condemn his endeavour as a failure. With his clothes he could do +nothing, alas! but he bathed every night in the Lorrie as soon as +Donal had gone home with the cattle. Once he got into a deep hole, +but managed to get out again, and so learned that he could swim. + +All day he was with Donal, and took from him by much the greater +part of his labour: Donal had never had such time for reading. In +return he gave him his dinner, and Gibbie could do very well upon +one meal a day. He paid him also in poetry. It never came into his +head, seeing he never spoke, to teach him to read. He soon gave up +attempting to learn anything from him as to his place or people or +history, for to all questions in that direction Gibbie only looked +grave and shook his head. As often, on the other hand, as he tried +to learn where he spent the night, he received for answer only one +of his merriest laughs. + +Nor was larger time for reading the sole benefit Gibbie conferred +upon Donal. Such was the avidity and growing intelligence with +which the little naked town-savage listened to what Donal read to +him, that his presence was just so much added to Donal's own live +soul of thought and feeling. From listening to his own lips through +Gibbie's ears, he not only understood many things better, but, +perceiving what things must puzzle Gibbie, came sometimes, rather to +his astonishment, to see that in fact he did not understand them +himself. Thus the bond between the boy and the child grew +closer--far closer, indeed than Donal imagined; for, although still, +now and then, he had a return of the fancy that Gibbie might be a +creature of some speechless race other than human, of whom he was +never to know whence he came or whither he went--a messenger, +perhaps, come to unveil to him the depths of his own spirit, and +make up for the human teaching denied him, this was only in his more +poetic moods, and his ordinary mental position towards him was one +of kind condescension. + +It was not all fine weather up there among the mountains in the +beginning of summer. In the first week of June even, there was +sleet and snow in the wind--the tears of the vanquished Winter, +blown, as he fled, across the sea, from Norway or Iceland. Then +would Donal's heart be sore for Gibbie, when he saw his poor rags +blown about like streamers in the wind, and the white spots melting +on his bare skin. His own condition would then to many have +appeared pitiful enough, but such an idea Donal would have laughed +to scorn, and justly. Then most, perhaps then only, does the truly +generous nature feel poverty, when he sees another in need and can +do little or nothing to help him. Donal had neither greatcoat, +plaid, nor umbrella, wherewith to shield Gibbie's looped and +windowed raggedness. Once, in great pity, he pulled off his jacket, +and threw it on Gibbie's shoulders. But the shout of laughter that +burst from the boy, as he flung the jacket from him, and rushed away +into the middle of the feeding herd, a shout that came from no cave +of rudeness, but from the very depths of delight, stirred by the +loving kindness of the act, startled Donal out of his pity into +brief anger, and he rushed after him in indignation, with full +purpose to teach him proper behaviour by a box on each ear. But +Gibbie dived under the belly of a favourite cow, and peering out +sideways from under her neck and between her forelegs, his arms +grasping each a leg, while the cow went on twisting her long tongue +round the grass and plucking it undisturbed, showed such an innocent +countenance of holy merriment, that the pride of Donal's hurt +benevolence melted away, and his laughter emulated Gibbie's. That +sort of day was in truth drearier for Donal than for Gibbie, for the +books he had were not his own, and he dared not expose them to the +rain; some of them indeed came from Glashruach--the Muckle Hoose, +they generally called it! When he left him, it was to wander +disconsolately about the field; while Gibbie, sheltered under a +whole cow, defied the chill and the sleet, and had no books of which +to miss the use. He could not, it is true, shield his legs from the +insidious attacks of such sneaking blasts as will always find out +the undefended spots; but his great heart was so well-to-do in the +inside of him, that, unlike Touchstone, his spirits not being weary, +he cared not for his legs. The worst storm in the world could not +have made that heart quail. For, think! there had just been the +strong, the well-dressed, the learned, the wise, the altogether +mighty and considerable Donal, the cowherd, actually desiring him, +wee Sir Gibbie Galbraith, the cinder of the city furnace, the naked, +and generally the hungry little tramp, to wear his jacket to cover +him from the storm! The idea was one of eternal triumph; and +Gibbie, exulting in the unheard-of devotion and condescension of the +thing, kept on laughing like a blessed cherub under the cow's belly. +Nor was there in his delight the smallest admixture of pride that +he should have drawn forth such kindness; it was simple glorying in +the beauteous fact. As to the cold and the sleet, so far as he knew +they never hurt anybody. They were not altogether pleasant +creatures, but they could not help themselves, and would soon give +over their teasing. By to-morrow they would have wandered away into +other fields, and left the sun free to come back to Donal and the +cattle, when Gibbie, at present shielded like any lord by the +friendliest of cows, would come in for a share of the light and the +warmth. Gibbie was so confident with the animals, that they were +already even more friendly with him than with Donal--all except +Hornie, who, being of a low spirit, therefore incapable of +obedience, was friendliest with the one who gave her the hardest +blows. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE BROONIE. + +Things had gone on in this way for several weeks--if Gibbie had not +been such a small creature, I hardly see how they could for so +long--when one morning the men came in to breakfast all out of +temper together, complaining loudly of the person unknown who would +persist in interfering with their work. They were the louder that +their suspicions fluttered about Fergus, who was rather overbearing +with them, and therefore not a favourite. He was in reality not at +all a likely person to bend back or defile hands over such labour, +and their pitching upon him for the object of their suspicion, +showed how much at a loss they were. Their only ground for +suspecting him, beyond the fact that there was no other whom by any +violence of imagination they could suspect, was, that, whatever else +was done or left undone in the stable, Snowball, whom Fergus was +fond of, and rode almost every day, was, as already mentioned, sure +to have something done for him. Had he been in good odour with +them, they would have thought no harm of most of the things they +thought he did, especially as they eased their work; but he carried +himself high, they said, doing nothing but ride over the farm and +pick out every fault he could find--to show how sharp he was, and +look as if he could do better than any of them; and they fancied +that he carried their evil report to his father, and that this +underhand work in the stable must be part of some sly scheme for +bringing them into disgrace. And now at last had come the worst +thing of all: Gibbie had discovered the corn-bin, and having no +notion but that everything in the stable was for the delectation of +the horses, had been feeding them largely with oats--a delicacy with +which, in the plenty of other provisions, they were very sparingly +supplied; and the consequences had begun to show themselves in the +increased unruliness of the more wayward amongst them. Gibbie had +long given up resorting to the ceiling, and remained in utter +ignorance of the storm that was brewing because of him. + +The same day brought things nearly to a crisis; for the overfed +Snowball, proving too much for Fergus's horsemanship, came rushing +home at a fierce gallop without him, having indeed left him in a +ditch by the roadside. The remark thereupon made by the men in his +hearing, that it was his own fault, led him to ask questions, when +he came gradually to know what they attributed to him, and was +indignant at the imputation of such an employment of his mornings to +one who had his studies to attend to--scarcely a wise line of +defence where the truth would have been more credible as well as +convincing--namely, that at the time when those works of +supererogation could alone be effected, he lay as lost a creature as +ever sleep could make of a man. + +In the evening, Jean sought a word with Donal, and expressed her +surprise that he should be able to do everybody's work about the +place, warning him it would be said he did it at the expense of his +own. But what could he mean, she said, by wasting the good corn to +put devilry into the horses? Donal stared in utter bewilderment. +He knew perfectly that to the men suspicion of him was as +impossible as of one of themselves. Did he not sleep in the same +chamber with them? Could it be allusion to the way he spent his +time when out with the cattle that Mistress Jean intended? He was +so confused, looked so guilty as well as astray, and answered so far +from any point in Jean's mind, that she at last became altogether +bewildered also, out of which chaos of common void gradually dawned +on her mind the conviction that she had been wasting both thanks and +material recognition of service, where she was under no obligation. +Her first feeling thereupon was, not unnaturally however +unreasonably, one of resentment--as if Donal, in not doing her the +kindness her fancy had been attributing to him, had all the time +been doing her an injury; but the boy's honest bearing and her own +good sense made her, almost at once, dismiss the absurdity. + +Then came anew the question, utterly unanswerable now--who could it +be that did not only all her morning work, but, with a passion for +labour insatiable, part of that of the men also? She knew her +nephew better than to imagine for a moment, with the men, it could +be he. A good enough lad she judged him, but not good enough for +that. He was too fond of his own comfort to dream of helping other +people! But now, having betrayed herself to Donal, she wisely went +farther, and secured herself by placing full confidence in him. She +laid open the whole matter, confessing that she had imagined her +ministering angel to be Donal himself: now she had not even a +conjecture to throw at random after the person of her secret +servant. Donal, being a Celt, and a poet, would have been a brute +if he had failed of being a gentleman, and answered that he was +ashamed it should be another and not himself who had been her +servant and gained her commendation; but he feared, if he had made +any such attempt, he would but have fared like the husband in the +old ballad who insisted that his wife's work was much easier to do +than his own. But as he spoke, he saw a sudden change come over +Jean's countenance. Was it fear? or what was it? She gazed with +big eyes fixed on his face, heeding neither him nor his words, and +Donal, struck silent, gazed in return. At length, after a pause of +strange import, her soul seemed to return into her deep-set grey +eyes, and in a broken voice, low, and solemn, and fraught with +mystery, she said, + +"Donal, it's the broonie!" + +Donal's mouth opened wide at the word, but the tenor of his thought +it would have been hard for him to determine. Celtic in kindred and +education, he had listened in his time to a multitude of strange +tales, both indigenous and exotic, and, Celtic in blood, had been +inclined to believe every one of them for which he could find the +least _raison d'etre_. But at school he had been taught that such +stories deserved nothing better than mockery, that to believe them +was contrary to religion, and a mark of such weakness as involved +blame. Nevertheless, when he heard the word broonie issue from a +face with such an expression as Jean's then wore, his heart seemed +to give a gape in his bosom, and it rushed back upon his memory how +he had heard certain old people talk of the brownie that used, when +their mothers and grandmothers were young, to haunt the Mains of +Glashruach. His mother did not believe such things, but she +believed nothing but her New Testament!--and what if there should be +something in them? The idea of service rendered by the hand of a +being too clumsy, awkward, ugly, to consent to be seen by the more +finished race of his fellow-creatures, whom yet he surpassed in +strength and endurance and longevity, had at least in it for Donal +the attraction of a certain grotesque yet homely poetic element. He +remembered too the honour such a type of creature had had in being +lapt around for ever in the airy folds of L'Allegro. And to think +that Mistress Jean, for whom everybody had such a respect, should +speak of the creature in such a tone!--it sent a thrill of horrific +wonder and delight through the whole frame of the boy: might, could +there be such creatures? And thereupon began to open to his +imagination vista after vista into the realms of might-be +possibility--where dwelt whole clans and kins of creatures, +differing from us and our kin, yet occasionally, at the cross-roads +of creation, coming into contact with us, and influencing us not +greatly, perhaps, yet strangely and notably. Not once did the real +brownie occur to him--the small, naked Gibbie, far more marvellous +and admirable than any brownie of legendary fable or fact, whether +celebrated in rude old Scots ballad for his taeless feet, or +designated in noble English poem of perfect art, as lubber fiend of +hairy length. + +Jean Mavor came from a valley far withdrawn in the folds of the +Gormgarnet mountains, where in her youth she had heard yet stranger +tales than had ever come to Donal's ears, of which some had perhaps +kept their hold the more firmly that she had never heard them even +alluded to since she left her home. Her brother, a hard-headed +highlander, as canny as any lowland Scot, would have laughed to +scorn the most passing reference to such an existence; and Fergus, +who had had a lowland mother--and nowhere is there less of so-called +superstition than in most parts of the lowlands of Scotland--would +have joined heartily in his mockery. For the cowherd, however, as I +say, the idea had no small attraction, and his stare was the +reflection of Mistress Jean's own--for the soul is a live mirror, at +once receiving into its centre, and reflecting from its surface. + +"Div ye railly think it, mem?" said Donal at last. + +"Think what?" retorted Jean, sharply, jealous instantly of being +compromised, and perhaps not certain that she had spoken aloud. + +"Div ye railly think 'at there is sic craturs as broonies, Mistress +Jean?" said Donal. + +"Wha kens what there is an' what there isna?" returned Jean: she was +not going to commit herself either way. Even had she imagined +herself above believing such things, she would not have dared to say +so; for there was a time still near in her memory, though unknown to +any now upon the farm except her brother, when the Mains of +Glashruach was the talk of Daurside because of certain inexplicable +nightly disorders that fell out there; the slang rows, or the Scotch +remishs (a form of the English romage), would perhaps come nearest +to a designation of them, consisting as they did of confused noises, +rumblings, ejaculations; and the fact itself was a reason for +silence, seeing a word might bring the place again into men's mouths +in like fashion, and seriously affect the service of the farm; such +a rumour would certainly be made in the market a ground for +demanding more wages to fee to the Mains. "Ye haud yer tongue, +laddie," she went on; "it's the least ye can efter a' 'at's come an' +gane; an' least said's sunest mendit, Gang to yer wark." + +But either Mistress Jean's influx of caution came too late, and +someone had overheard her suggestion, or the idea was already abroad +in the mind bucolic and georgic, for that very night it began to be +reported upon the nearer farms, that the Mains of Glashruach was +haunted by a brownie who did all the work for both men and maids--a +circumstance productive of different opinions with regard to the +desirableness of a situation there, some asserting they would not +fee to it for any amount of wages, and others averring they could +desire nothing better than a place where the work was all done for +them. + +Quick at disappearing as Gibbie was, a very little cunning on the +part of Jean might soon have entrapped the brownie; but a +considerable touch of fear was now added to her other motives for +continuing to spend a couple of hours longer in bed than had +formerly been her custom. So that for yet a few days things went on +much as usual; Gibbie saw no sign that his presence was suspected, +or that his doings were offensive; and life being to him a constant +present, he never troubled himself about anything before it was +there to answer for itself. + +One morning the long thick mane of Snowball was found carefully +plaited up in innumerable locks. This was properly elf-work, but no +fairies had been heard of on Daurside for many a long year. The +brownie, on the other hand, was already in every one's mouth--only a +stray one, probably, that had wandered from some old valley away in +the mountains, where they were still believed in--but not the less a +brownie; and if it was not the brownie who plaited Snowball's mane, +who or what was it? A phenomenon must be accounted for, and he who +will not accept a theory offered, or even a word applied, is +indebted in a full explanation. The rumour spread in long slow +ripples, till at last one of them struck the membrana tympani of the +laird, where he sat at luncheon in the House of Glashruach. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE LAIRD. + +Thomas Galbraith was by birth Thomas Durrant, but had married an +heiress by whom he came into possession of Glashruach, and had, +according to previous agreement, taken her name. When she died he +mourned her loss as well as he could, but was consoled by feeling +himself now first master of both position and possession, when the +ladder by which he had attained them was removed. It was not that +she had ever given him occasion to feel that marriage and not +inheritance was the source of his distinction in the land, but that +having a soul as keenly sensitive to small material rights as it was +obtuse to great spiritual ones, he never felt the property quite his +own until his wife was no longer within sight. Had he been a little +more sensitive still, he would have felt that the property was then +his daughter's, and his only through her; but this he failed to +consider. + +Mrs. Galbraith was a gentle sweet woman, who loved her husband, but +was capable of loving a greater man better. Had she lived long +enough to allow of their opinions confronting in the matter of their +child's education, serious differences would probably have arisen +between them; as it was, they had never quarrelled except about the +name she should bear. The father, having for her sake--so he said +to himself--sacrificed his patronymic, was anxious that in order to +her retaining some rudimentary trace of himself in the ears of men, +she should be overshadowed with his Christian name, and called +Thomasina. But the mother was herein all the mother, and obdurate +for her daughter's future; and, as was right between the two, she +had her way, and her child a pretty name. Being more sentimental +than artistic, however, she did not perceive how imperfectly the +sweet Italian Ginevra concorded with the strong Scotch Galbraith. +Her father hated the name, therefore invariably abbreviated it +after such fashion as rendered it inoffensive to the most +conservative of Scotish ears; and for his own part, at length, never +said Ginny, without seeing and hearing and meaning Jenny. As Jenny, +indeed, he addressed her in the one or two letters which were all he +ever wrote to her; and thus he perpetuated the one matrimonial +difference across the grave. + +Having no natural bent to literature, but having in his youth +studied for and practised at the Scotish bar, he had brought with +him into the country a taste for certain kinds of dry reading, +judged pre-eminently respectable, and for its indulgence had brought +also a not insufficient store of such provender as his soul mildly +hungered after, in the shape of books bound mostly in +yellow-calf--books of law, history, and divinity. What the books of +law were, I would not foolhardily add to my many risks of blundering +by presuming to recall; the history was mostly Scotish, or connected +with Scotish affairs; the theology was entirely of the New England +type of corrupted Calvinism, with which in Scotland they saddle the +memory of great-souled, hard-hearted Calvin himself. Thoroughly +respectable, and a little devout, Mr. Galbraith was a good deal more +of a Scotchman than a Christian; growth was a doctrine unembodied in +his creed; he turned from everything new, no matter how harmonious +with the old, in freezing disapprobation; he recognized no element +in God or nature which could not be reasoned about after the forms +of the Scotch philosophy. He would not have said an Episcopalian +could not be saved, for at the bar he had known more than one good +lawyer of the episcopal party; but to say a Roman Catholic would not +necessarily be damned, would to his judgment have revealed at once +the impending fate of the rash asserter. In religion he regarded +everything not only as settled but as understood; but seemed aware +of no call in relation to truth, but to bark at anyone who showed +the least anxiety to discover it. What truth he held himself, he +held as a sack holds corn--not even as a worm holds earth. + +To his servants and tenants he was what he thought just--never +condescending to talk over a thing with any of the former but the +game-keeper, and never making any allowance to the latter for +misfortune. In general expression he looked displeased, but meant +to look dignified. No one had ever seen him wrathful; nor did he +care enough for his fellow-mortals ever to be greatly vexed--at +least he never manifested vexation otherwise than by a silence that +showed more of contempt than suffering. + +In person, he was very tall and very thin, with a head much too +small for his height; a narrow forehead, above which the brown hair +looked like a wig; pale-blue, ill-set eyes, that seemed too large +for their sockets, consequently tumbled about a little, and were +never at once brought to focus; a large, but soft-looking nose; a +loose-lipped mouth, and very little chin. He always looked as if +consciously trying to keep himself together. He wore his +shirt-collar unusually high, yet out of it far shot his long neck, +notwithstanding the smallness of which, his words always seemed to +come from a throat much too big for them. He had greatly the look +of a hen, proud of her maternal experiences, and silent from conceit +of what she could say if she would. So much better would he have +done as an underling than as a ruler--as a journeyman even, than a +master, that to know him was almost to disbelieve in the good of +what is generally called education. His learning seemed to have +taken the wrong fermentation, and turned to folly instead of wisdom. +But he did not do much harm, for he had a great respect for his +respectability. Perhaps if he had been a craftsman, he might even +have done more harm--making rickety wheelbarrows, asthmatic pumps, +ill-fitting window-frames, or boots with a lurking divorce in each +welt. He had no turn for farming, and therefore let all his land, +yet liked to interfere, and as much as possible kept a personal +jurisdiction. + +There was one thing, however, which, if it did not throw the laird +into a passion--nothing, as I have said, did that--brought him +nearer to the outer verge of displeasure than any other, and that +was, anything whatever to which he could affix the name of +superstition. The indignation of better men than the laird with +even a confessedly harmless superstition, is sometimes very amusing; +and it was a point of Mr. Galbraith's poverty-stricken religion to +denounce all superstitions, however diverse in character, with equal +severity. To believe in the second sight, for instance, or in any +form of life as having the slightest relation to this world, except +that of men, that of animals, and that of vegetables, was with him +wicked, antagonistic to the Church of Scotland, and inconsistent +with her perfect doctrine. The very word ghost would bring upon his +face an expression he meant for withering scorn, and indeed it +withered his face, rendering it yet more unpleasant to behold. +Coming to the benighted country, then, with all the gathered wisdom +of Edinburgh in his gallinaceous cranium, and what he counted a vast +experience of worldly affairs besides, he brought with him also the +firm resolve to be the death of superstition, at least upon his own +property. He was not only unaware, but incapable of becoming aware, +that he professed to believe a number of things, any one of which +was infinitely more hostile to the truth of the universe, than all +the fancies and fables of a countryside, handed down from +grandmother to grandchild. When, therefore, within a year of his +settling at Glashruach, there arose a loud talk of the Mains, his +best farm, as haunted by presences making all kinds of tumultuous +noises, and even throwing utensils bodily about, he was nearer the +borders of a rage, although he kept, as became a gentleman, a calm +exterior, than ever he had been in his life. For were not ignorant +clodhoppers asserting as facts what he knew never could take place! +At once he set himself, with all his experience as a lawyer to aid +him, to discover the buffooning authors of the mischief; where there +were deeds there were doers, and where there were doers they were +discoverable. But his endeavours, uninterrmitted for the space of +three weeks, after which the disturbances ceased, proved so utterly +without result, that he could never bear the smallest allusion to +the hateful business. For he had not only been unhorsed, but by his +dearest hobby. + +He was seated with a game pie in front of him, over the top of which +Ginevra was visible. The girl never sat nearer her father at meals +than the whole length of the table, where she occupied her mother's +place. She was a solemn-looking child, of eight or nine, dressed in +a brown merino frock of the plainest description. Her hair, which +was nearly of the same colour as her frock, was done up in two +triple plaits, which hung down her back, and were tied at the tips +with black ribbon. To the first glance she did not look a very +interesting or attractive child; but looked at twice, she was sure +to draw the eyes a third time. She was undeniably like her father, +and that was much against her at first sight; but it required only a +little acquaintance with her face to remove the prejudice; for in +its composed, almost resigned expression, every feature of her +father's seemed comparatively finished, and settled into harmony +with the rest; its chaos was subdued, and not a little of the +original underlying design brought out. The nose was firm, the +mouth modelled, the chin larger, the eyes a little smaller, and full +of life and feeling. The longer it was regarded by any seeing eye, +the child's countenance showed fuller of promise, or at least of +hope. Gradually the look would appear in it of a latent sensitive +anxiety--then would dawn a glimmer of longing question; and then, +all at once, it would slip back into the original ordinary look, +which, without seeming attractive, had yet attracted. Her father +was never harsh to her, yet she looked rather frightened at him; but +then he was cold, very cold, and most children would rather be +struck and kissed alternately than neither. And the bond cannot be +very close between father and child, when the father has forsaken +his childhood. The bond between any two is the one in the other; it +is the father in the child, and the child in the father, that reach +to each other eternal hands. It troubled Ginevra greatly that, when +she asked herself whether she loved her father better than anybody +else, as she believed she ought, she became immediately doubtful +whether she loved him at all. + +She was eating porridge and milk: with spoon arrested in +mid-passage, she stopped suddenly, and said:-- + +"Papa, what's a broonie?" + +"I have told you, Jenny, that you are never to talk broad Scotch in +my presence," returned her father. "I would lay severer commands +upon you, were it not that I fear tempting you to disobey me, but I +will have no vulgarity in the dining-room." + +His words came out slowly, and sounded as if each was a bullet +wrapped round with cotton wool to make it fit the barrel. Ginevra +looked perplexed for a moment. + +"Should I say brownie, papa?" she asked. + +"How can I tell you what you should call a creature that has no +existence?" rejoined her father. + +"If it be a creature, papa, it must have a name!" retorted the +little logician, with great solemnity. + +Mr. Galbraith was not pleased, for although the logic was good, it +was against him. + +"What foolish person has been insinuating such contemptible +superstition into your silly head?" he asked. "Tell me, child," he +continued, "that I may put a stop to it at once." + +He was rising to ring the bell, that he might give the orders +consequent on the information he expected: he would have asked +Mammon to dinner in black clothes and a white tie, but on +Superstition in the loveliest garb would have loosed all the dogs of +Glashruach, to hunt her from the property. Her next words, however, +arrested him, and just as she ended, the butler came in with fresh +toast. + +"They say," said Ginevra, anxious to avoid the forbidden Scotch, +therefore stumbling sadly in her utterance, "there's a +broonie--brownie--at the Mains, who dis a'--does all the work." + +"What is the meaning of this, Joseph?" said Mr. Galbraith, turning +from her to the butler, with the air of rebuke, which was almost +habitual to him, a good deal heightened. + +"The meanin' o' what, sir?" returned Joseph, nowise abashed, for to +him his master was not the greatest man in the world, or even in the +highlands. "He's no a Galbraith," he used to say, when more than +commonly provoked with him. + +"I ask you, Joseph," answered the laird, "what this--this outbreak +of superstition imports? You must be aware that nothing in the +world could annoy me more than that Miss Galbraith should learn +folly in her father's house. That staid servants, such as I had +supposed mine to be, should use their tongues as if their heads had +no more in them than so many bells hung in a steeple, is to me a +mortifying reflection." + +"Tongues as weel's clappers was made to wag, sir; an, wag they wull, +sir, sae lang's the tow (string) hings oot at baith lugs," answered +Joseph. The forms of speech he employed were not unfrequently +obscure to his master, and in that obscurity lay more of Joseph's +impunity than he knew. "Forby (besides), sir," he went on, "gien +tongues didna wag, what w'y wad you, 'at has to set a' thing richt, +come to ken what was wrang?" + +"That is not a bad remark, Joseph," replied the laird, with woolly +condescension. "Pray acquaint me with the whole matter." + +"I hae naething till acquaint yer honour wi', sir, but the +ting-a-ling o' tongues," replied Joseph; "an' ye'll hae till +arreenge't like, till yer ain settisfaction." + +Therewith he proceeded to report what he had heard reported, which +was in the main the truth, considerably exaggerated--that the work +of the house was done over night by invisible hands--and the work of +the stables, too; but that in the latter, cantrips were played as +well; that some of the men talked of leaving the place; and that Mr. +Duff's own horse, Snowball, was nearly out of his mind with fear. + +The laird clenched his teeth, and for a whole minute said nothing. +Here were either his old enemies again, or some who had heard the +old story, and in their turn were beating the drum of consternation +in the ears of superstition. + +"It is one of the men themselves," he said at last, with outward +frigidity. "Or some ill-designed neighbour," he added. "But I shall +soon be at the bottom of it. Go to the Mains at once, Joseph, and +ask young Fergus Duff to be so good as step over, as soon as he +conveniently can." + +Fergus was pleased enough to be sent for by the laird, and soon told +him all he knew from his aunt and the men, confessing that he had +himself been too lazy of a morning to take any steps towards +personal acquaintance with the facts, but adding that, as Mr. +Galbraith took an interest in the matter, "he would be only too +happy to carry out any suggestion he might think proper to make on +the subject. + +"Fergus," returned the laird, "do you imagine things inanimate can +of themselves change their relations in space? In other words, are +the utensils in your kitchen endowed with powers of locomotion? Can +they take to themselves wings and fly? Or to use a figure more to +the point, are they provided with members necessary to the washing +of their own--persons, shall I say? Answer me those points, +Fergus." + +"Certainly not, sir," answered Fergus solemnly, for the laird's face +was solemn, and his speech was very solemn. + +"Then, Fergus, let me assure you, that to discover by what agency +these apparent wonders are effected, you have merely to watch. If +you fail, I will myself come to your assistance. Depend upon it, +the thing when explained will prove simplicity itself." + +Fergus at once undertook to watch, but went home not quite so +comfortable as he had gone; for he did not altogether, +notwithstanding his unbelief in the so-called supernatural, relish +the approaching situation. Belief and unbelief are not always quite +plainly distinguishable from each other, and Fear is not always +certain which of them is his mother. He was not the less resolved, +however, to carry out what he had undertaken--that was, to sit up +all night, if necessary, in order to have an interview with the +extravagant and erring--spirit, surely, whether embodied or not, +that dared thus wrong "domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood," +by doing people's work for them unbidden. Not even to himself did +he confess that he felt frightened, for he was a youth of nearly +eighteen; but he could not quite hide from himself the fact that he +anticipated no pleasure in the duty which lay before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE AMBUSH. + +For more reasons than one, Fergus judged it prudent to tell not even +auntie Jean of his intention; but, waiting until the house was +quiet, stole softly from his room and repaired to the kitchen--at +the other end of the long straggling house, where he sat down, and +taking his book, an annual of the beginning of the century, began to +read the story of Kathed and Eurelia. Having finished it, he read +another. He read and read, but no brownie came. His candle burned +into the socket. He lighted another, and read again. Still no +brownie appeared, and, hard and straight as was the wooden chair on +which he sat, he began to doze. Presently he started wide awake, +fancying he heard a noise; but nothing was there. He raised his +book once more, and read until he had finished the stories in it: +for the verse he had no inclination that night. As soon as they +were all consumed, he began to feel very eerie: his courage had been +sheltering itself behind his thoughts, which the tales he had been +reading had kept turned away from the object of dread. Still deeper +and deeper grew the night around him, until the bare, soulless waste +of it came at last, when a brave man might welcome any ghost for the +life it would bring. And ever as it came, the tide of fear flowed +more rapidly, until at last it rose over his heart, and threatened +to stifle him. The direst foe of courage is the fear itself, not +the object of it; and the man who can overcome his own terror is a +hero and more. In this Fergus had not yet deserved to be +successful. That kind of victory comes only of faith. Still, he +did not fly the field; he was no coward. At the same time, prizing +courage, scorning fear, and indeed disbelieving in every nocturnal +object of terror except robbers, he came at last to such an all but +abandonment of dread, that he dared not look over his shoulder, lest +he should see the brownie standing at his back; he would rather be +seized from behind and strangled in his hairy grasp, than turn and +die of the seeing. The night was dark--no moon and many clouds. +Not a sound came from the close. The cattle, the horses, the pigs, +the cocks and hens, the very cats and rats seemed asleep. There was +not a rustle in the thatch, a creak in the couples. It was well, +for the slightest noise would have brought his heart into his mouth, +and he would have been in great danger of scaring the household, and +for ever disgracing himself, with a shriek. Yet he longed to hear +something stir. Oh! for the stamp of a horse from the stable or the +low of a cow from the byre! But they were all under the brownie's +spell, and he was coming--toeless feet, and thumbed but fingerless +hands! as if he was made with stockings, and hum'le mittens! Was it +the want of toes that made him able to come and go so +quietly?--Another hour crept by; when lo, a mighty sun-trumpet blew +in the throat of the black cock! Fergus sprang to his feet with the +start it gave him--but the next moment gladness rushed up in his +heart: the morning was on its way! and, foe to superstition as he +was, and much as he had mocked at Donal for what he counted some of +his tendencies in that direction, he began instantly to comfort +himself with the old belief that all things of the darkness flee +from the crowing of the cock. The same moment his courage began to +return, and the next he was laughing at his terrors, more foolish +than when he felt them, seeing he was the same man of fear as +before, and the same circumstances would wrap him in the same +garment of dire apprehension. In his folly he imagined himself +quite ready to watch the next night without even repugnance--for it +was the morning, not the night, that came first! + +When the grey of the dawn appeared, he said to himself he would lie +down on the bench a while, he was so tired of sitting; he would not +sleep. He lay down, and in a moment was asleep. The light grew and +grew, and the brownie came--a different brownie indeed from the one +he had pictured--with the daintiest-shaped hands and feet coming out +of the midst of rags, and with no hair except roughly parted curls +over the face of a cherub--for the combing of Snowball's mane and +tail had taught Gibbie to use the same comb upon his own thatch. +But as soon as he opened the door of the dairy, he was warned by +the loud breathing of the sleeper, and looking about, espied him on +the bench behind the table, and swiftly retreated. The same instant +Fergus woke, stretched himself, saw it was broad daylight, and, with +his brain muddled by fatigue and sleep combined, crawled shivering +to bed. Then in came the brownie again; and when Jean Mavor +entered, there was her work done as usual. + +Fergus was hours late for breakfast, and when he went into the +common room, found his aunt alone there. + +"Weel, auntie." he said, "I think I fleggit yer broonie!" + +"Did ye that, man? Ay!--An' syne ye set tee, an' did the wark +yersel to save yer auntie Jean's auld banes?" + +"Na, na! I was o'er tiret for that. Sae wad ye hae been yersel', +gien ye had sitten up a' nicht." + +"Wha did it, than?" + +"Ow, jist yersel', I'm thinkin', auntie." + +"Never a finger o' mine was laid till't, Fergus. Gien ye fleggit ae +broonie, anither cam; for there's the wark done, the same's ever." + +"Damn the cratur!" cried Fergus. + +"Whisht, whisht, laddie! he's maybe hearin' ye this meenute. An' +gien he binna, there's ane 'at is, an' likesna sweirin'." + +"I beg yer pardon, auntie, but it's jist provokin'!" returned +Fergus, and therewith recounted the tale of his night's watch, +omitting mention only of his feelings throughout the vigil. + +As soon as he had had his breakfast, he went to carry his report to +Glashruach. + +The laird was vexed, and told him he must sleep well before night, +and watch to better purpose. + +The next night, Fergus's terror returned in full force; but he +watched thoroughly notwithstanding, and when his aunt entered, she +found him there, and her kitchen in a mess. He had caught no +brownie, it was true, but neither had a stroke of her work been +done. The floor was unswept; not a dish had been washed; it was +churning-day, but the cream stood in the jar in the dairy, not the +butter in the pan on the kitchen-dresser. Jean could not quite see +the good or the gain of it. She had begun to feel like a lady, she +said to herself, and now she must tuck up her sleeves and set to +work as before. It was a come-down in the world, and she did not +like it. She conned her nephew little thanks, and not being in the +habit of dissembling, let him feel the same. He crept to bed rather +mortified. When he woke from a long sleep, he found no meal waiting +him, and had to content himself with cakes[1] and milk before setting +out for "the Muckle Hoose." + +"You must add cunning to courage, my young friend," said Mr. +Galbraith; and the result of their conference was that Fergus went +home resolved on yet another attempt. + +He felt much inclined to associate Donal with him in his watch this +time, but was too desirous of proving his courage both to himself +and to the world, to yield to the suggestion of his fear. He went +to bed with a book immediately after the noon-day meal and rose in +time for supper. + +There was a large wooden press in the kitchen, standing out from the +wall; this with the next wall made a little recess, in which there +was just room for a chair; and in that recess Fergus seated himself, +in the easiest chair he could get into it. He then opened wide the +door of the press, and it covered him entirely. + +This night would have been the dreariest of all for him, the laird +having insisted that he should watch in the dark, had he not +speedily fallen fast asleep, and slept all night--so well that he +woke at the first noise Gibbie made. + +It was broad clear morning, but his heart beat so loud and fast with +apprehension and curiosity mingled, that for a few moments Fergus +dare not stir, but sat listening breathless to the movement beside +him, none the less appalling that it was so quiet. Recovering +himself a little he cautiously moved the door of the press, and +peeped out. + +He saw nothing so frightful as he had, in spite of himself, +anticipated, but was not therefore, perhaps, the less astonished. +The dread brownie of his idea shrunk to a tiny ragged urchin, with +a wonderful head of hair, azure eyes, and deft hands, noiselessly +bustling about on bare feet. He watched him at his leisure, watched +him keenly, assured that any moment he could spring upon him. + +As he watched, his wonder sank, and he grew disappointed at the +collapsing of the lubber-fiend into a poor half-naked child upon +whom both his courage and his fear had been wasted. As he continued +to watch, an evil cloud of anger at the presumption of the unknown +minimus began to gather in his mental atmosphere, and was probably +the cause of some movement by which his chair gave a loud creak. +Without even looking round, Gibbie darted into the dairy, and shut +the door. Instantly Fergus was after him, but only in time to see +the vanishing of his last heel through the hole in the wall, and +that way Fergus was much too large to follow him. He rushed from +the house, and across the corner of the yard to the barn-door. +Gibbie, who did not believe he had been seen, stood laughing on the +floor, when suddenly he heard the key entering the lock. He bolted +through the cat-hole--but again just one moment too late, leaving +behind him on Fergus's retina the light from the soles of two bare +feet. The key of the door to the rick-yard was inside, and Fergus +was after him in a moment, but the ricks came close to the +barn-door, and the next he saw of him was the fluttering of his rags +in the wind, and the flashing of his white skin in the sun, as he +fled across the clover field; and before Fergus was over the wall, +Gibbie was a good way ahead towards the Lorrie. Gibbie was a better +runner for his size than Fergus, and in better training too; but, +alas! Fergus's legs were nearly twice as long as Gibbie's. The +little one reached the Lorrie, first, and dashing across it, ran up +the side of the Glashburn, with a vague idea of Glashgar in his +head. Fergus behind him was growing more and more angry as he +gained upon him but felt his breath failing him. Just at the bridge +to the iron gate to Glashruach, he caught him at last, and sunk on +the parapet exhausted. The smile with which Gibbie, too much out of +breath to laugh, confessed himself vanquished, would have disarmed +one harder-hearted than Fergus, had he not lost his temper in the +dread of losing his labour; and the answer Gibbie received to his +smile was a box on the ear that bewildered him. He looked pitifully +in his captor's face, the smile not yet faded from his, only to +receive a box on the other ear, which, though a contrary and similar +both at once, was not a cure, and the water gathered in his eyes. +Fergus, a little eased in his temper by the infliction, and in his +breath by the wall of the bridge, began to ply him with questions; +but no answer following, his wrath rose again, and again he boxed +both his ears--without better result. + +Then came the question what was he to do with the redoubted brownie, +now that he had him. He was ashamed to show himself as the captor +of such a miserable culprit, but the little rascal deserved +punishment, and the laird would require him at his hands. He turned +upon his prisoner and told him he was an impudent rascal. Gibbie +had recovered again, and was able once more to smile a little. He +had been guilty of burglary, said Fergus; and Gibbie smiled. He +could be sent to prison for it, said Fergus; and Gibbie smiled--but +this time a very grave smile. Fergus took him by the collar, which +amounted to nearly a third part of the jacket, and shook him till he +had half torn that third from the other two; then opened the gate, +and, holding him by the back of the neck, walked him up the drive, +every now and then giving him a fierce shake that jarred his teeth. +Thus, over the old gravel, mossy and damp and grassy, and cool to +his little bare feet, between rowan and birk and pine and larch, +like a malefactor, and looking every inch the outcast he was, did +Sir Gilbert Galbraith approach the house of his ancestors for the +first time. Individually, wee Gibbie was anything but a prodigal; +it had never been possible to him to be one; but none the less was +he the type and result and representative of his prodigal race, in +him now once more looking upon the house they had lost by their +vices and weaknesses, and in him now beginning to reap the benefits +of punishment. But of vice and loss, of house and fathers and +punishment, Gibbie had no smallest cognition. His history was about +him and in him, yet of it all he suspected nothing. It would have +made little difference to him if he had known it all; he would none +the less have accepted everything that came, just as part of the +story in which he found himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE PUNISHMENT. + +The house he was approaching, had a little the look of a prison. Of +the more ancient portion the windows were very small, and every +corner had a turret with a conical cap-roof. That part was all +rough-cast, therefore grey, as if with age. The more modern part +was built of all kinds of hard stone, roughly cloven or blasted from +the mountain and its boulders. Granite red and grey, blue +whinstone, yellow ironstone, were all mingled anyhow, fitness of +size and shape alone regarded in their conjunctions; but the result +as to colour was rather pleasing than otherwise, and Gibbie regarded +it with some admiration. Nor, although he had received from Fergus +such convincing proof that he was regarded as a culprit, had he any +dread of evil awaiting him. The highest embodiment of the law with +which he had acquaintance was the police, and from not one of them +in all the city had he ever had a harsh word; his conscience was as +void of offence as ever it had been, and the law consequently, +notwithstanding the threats of Fergus, had for him no terrors. + +The laird was an early riser, and therefore regarded the mere +getting up early as a virtue, altogether irrespective of how the +time, thus redeemed, as he called it, was spent. This morning, as +it turned out, it would have been better spent in sleep. He was +talking to his gamekeeper, a heavy-browed man, by the coach-house +door, when Fergus appeared holding the dwindled brownie by the huge +collar of his tatters. A more innocent-looking malefactor sure +never appeared before awful Justice! Only he was in rags, and there +are others besides dogs whose judgments go by appearance. Mr. +Galbraith was one of them, and smiled a grim, an ugly smile. + +"So this is your vaunted brownie, Mr. Duff!" he said, and stood +looking down upon Gibbie, as if in his small person he saw +superstition at the point of death, mocked thither by the arrows of +his contemptuous wit. + +"It's all the brownie I could lay hands on, sir," answered Fergus. +"I took him in the act." + +"Boy," said the laird, rolling his eyes, more unsteady than usual +with indignation, in the direction of Gibbie, "what have you to say +for yourself?" + +Gibbie had no say--and nothing to say that his questioner could +either have understood or believed; the truth from his lips would +but have presented him a lying hypocrite to the wisdom of his judge. +As it was, he smiled, looking up fearless in the face of the +magistrate, so awful in his own esteem. + +"What is your name?" asked the laird, speaking yet more sternly. + +Gibbie still smiled and was silent, looking straight in his +questioner's eyes. He dreaded nothing from the laird. Fergus had +beaten him, but Fergus he classed with the bigger boys who had +occasionally treated him roughly; this was a man, and men, except +they were foreign sailors, or drunk, were never unkind. He had no +idea of his silence causing annoyance. Everybody in the city had +known he could not answer; and now when Fergus and the laird +persisted in questioning him, he thought they were making kindly +game of him, and smiled the more. Nor was there much about Mr. +Galbraith to rouse a suspicion of the contrary; for he made a great +virtue of keeping his temper when most he caused other people to +lose theirs. + +"I see the young vagabond is as impertinent as he is vicious," he +said at last, finding that to no interrogation could he draw forth +any other response than a smile. "Here Angus,"--and he turned to the +gamekeeper--"take him into the coach-house, and teach him a little +behaviour. A touch or two of the whip will find his tongue for him." + +Angus seized the little gentleman by the neck, as if he had been a +polecat, and at arm's length walked him unresistingly into the +coach-house. There, with one vigorous tug, he tore the jacket from +his back, and his only other garment, dependent thereupon by some +device known only to Gibbie, fell from him, and he stood in helpless +nakedness, smiling still: he had never done anything shameful, +therefore had no acquaintance with shame. But when the scowling +keeper, to whom poverty was first cousin to poaching, and who hated +tramps as he hated vermin, approached him with a heavy cart whip in +his hand, he cast his eyes down at his white sides, very white +between his brown arms and brown legs, and then lifted them in a +mute appeal, which somehow looked as if it were for somebody else, +against what he could no longer fail to perceive the man's intent. +But he had no notion of what the thing threatened amounted to. He +had had few hard blows in his time, and had never felt a whip. + +"Ye deil's glaur!" cried the fellow, clenching the cruel teeth of +one who loved not his brother, "I s' lat ye ken what comes o' +brakin' into honest hooses, an' takin' what's no yer ain!" + +A vision of the gnawed cheese, which he had never touched since the +idea of its being property awoke in him, rose before Gibbie's mental +eyes, and inwardly he bowed to the punishment. But the look he had +fixed on Angus was not without effect, for the man was a father, +though a severe one, and was not all a brute: he turned and changed +the cart whip for a gig one with a broken shaft, which lay near. It +was well for himself that he did so, for the other would probably +have killed Gibbie. When the blow fell the child shivered all over, +his face turned white, and without uttering even a moan, he doubled +up and dropped senseless. A swollen cincture, like a red snake, had +risen all round his waist, and from one spot in it the blood was +oozing. It looked as if the lash had cut him in two. + +The blow had stung his heart and it had ceased to beat. But the +gamekeeper understood vagrants! the young blackguard was only +shamming! + +"Up wi' ye, ye deevil! or I s' gar ye," he said from between his +teeth, lifting the whip for a second blow. + +Just as the stroke fell, marking him from the nape all down the +spine, so that he now bore upon his back in red the sign the ass +carries in black, a piercing shriek assailed Angus's ears, and his +arm, which had mechanically raised itself for a third blow, hung +arrested. + +The same moment, in at the coach-house door shot Ginevra, as white +as Gibbie. She darted to where he lay, and there stood over him, +arms rigid and hands clenched hard, shivering as he had shivered, +and sending from her body shriek after shriek, as if her very soul +were the breath of which her cries were fashioned. It was as if the +woman's heart in her felt its roots torn from their home in the +bosom of God, and quivering in agony, and confronted by the stare of +an eternal impossibility, shrieked against Satan. + +"Gang awa, missie," cried Angus, who had respect to this child, +though he had not yet learned to respect childhood; "he's a coorse +cratur, an' maun hae's whups." + +But Ginevra was deaf to his evil charming. She stopped her cries, +however, to help Gibbie up, and took one of his hands to raise him. +But his arm hung limp and motionless; she let it go; it dropped +like a stick, and again she began to shriek. Angus laid his hand on +her shoulder. She turned on him, and opening her mouth wide, +screamed at him like a wild animal, with all the hatred of mingled +love and fear; then threw herself on the boy, and covered his body +with her own. Angus, stooping to remove her, saw Gibbie's face, and +became uncomfortable. + +"He's deid! he's deid! Ye've killt him, Angus! Ye're an ill man!" +she cried fiercely. "I hate ye. I'll tell on ye. I'll tell my +papa." + +"Hoot! whisht, missie!" said Angus. "It was by yer papa's ain orders +I gae him the whup, an' he weel deserved it forby. An' gien ye +dinna gang awa, an' be a guid yoong leddy, I'll gie 'im mair yet." + +"I'll tell God," shrieked Ginevra with fresh energy of defensive +love and wrath. + +Again he sought to remove her, but she clung so, with both legs and +arms, to the insensible Gibbie, that he could but lift both +together, and had to leave her alone. + +"Gien ye daur to touch 'im again, Angus, I'll bite ye--bite ye--BITE +YE," she screamed, in a passage wildly crescendo. + +The laird and Fergus had walked away together, perhaps neither of +them quite comfortable at the orders given, but the one too +self-sufficient to recall them, and the other too submissive to +interfere. They heard the cries, nevertheless, and had they known +them for Ginevra's, would have rushed to the spot; but fierce +emotion had so utterly changed her voice--and indeed she had never +in her life cried out before--that they took them for Gibbie's and +supposed the whip had had the desired effect and loosed his tongue. +As to the rest of the household, which would by this time have been +all gathered in the coach-house, the laird had taken his stand where +he could intercept them: he would not have the execution of the +decrees of justice interfered with. + +But Ginevra's shrieks brought Gibbie to himself. Faintly he opened +his eyes, and stared, stupid with growing pain, at the tear-blurred +face beside him. In the confusion of his thoughts he fancied the +pain he felt was Ginevra's, not his, and sought to comfort her, +stroking her cheek with feeble hand, and putting up his mouth to +kiss her. But Angus, utterly scandalized at the proceeding, and +restored to energy by seeing that the boy was alive, caught her up +suddenly and carried her off--struggling, writhing, and scratching +like a cat. Indeed she bit his arm, and that severely, but the man +never even told his wife. Little Missie was a queen, and little +Gibbie was a vermin, but he was ashamed to let the mother of his +children know that the former had bitten him for the sake of the +latter. + +The moment she thus disappeared, Gibbie began to apprehend that she +was suffering for him, not he for her. His whole body bore +testimony to frightful abuse. This was some horrible place +inhabited by men such as those that killed Sambo! He must fly. But +would they hurt the little girl? He thought not--she was at home. +He started to spring to his feet, but fell back almost powerless; +then tried more cautiously and got up wearily, for the pain and the +terrible shock seemed to have taken the strength out of every limb. +Once on his feet, he could scarcely stoop to pick up his remnant of +trowsers without again falling, and the effort made him groan with +distress. He was in the act of trying in vain to stand on one foot, +so as to get the other into the garment, when he fancied he heard +the step of his executioner, returning doubtless to resume his +torture. He dropped the rag, and darted out of the door, forgetting +aches and stiffness and agony. All naked as he was, he fled like +the wind, unseen, or at least unrecognized, of any eye. Fergus did +catch a glimpse of something white that flashed across a vista +through the neighbouring wood, but he took it for a white peacock, +of which there were two or three about the place. The three men +were disgusted with the little wretch when they found that he had +actually fled into the open day without his clothes. Poor Gibbie! +it was such a small difference! It needed as little change to make +a savage as an angel of him. All depended on the eyes that saw him. + +He ran he knew not whither, feeling nothing but the desire first to +get into some covert, and then to run farther. His first rush was +for the shubbery, his next across the little park to the wood +beyond. He did not feel the wind of his running on his bare skin. +He did not feel the hunger that had made him so unable to bear the +lash. On and on he ran, fancying ever he heard the cruel Angus +behind him. If a dry twig snapped, he thought it was the crack of +the whip; and a small wind that rose suddenly in the top of a pine, +seemed the hiss with which it was about to descend upon him. He ran +and ran, but still there seemed nothing between him and his +persecutors. He felt no safety. At length he came where a high +wall joining some water, formed a boundary. The water was a brook +from the mountain, here widened and deepened into a still pool. He +had been once out of his depth before: he threw himself in, and swam +straight across: ever after that, swimming seemed to him as natural +as walking. + +Then first awoke a faint sense of safety; for on the other side he +was knee deep in heather. He was on the wild hill, with miles on +miles of cover! Here the unman could not catch him. It must be the +same that Donal pointed out to him one day at a distance; he had a +gun, and Donal said he had once shot a poacher and killed him. He +did not know what a poacher was: perhaps he was one himself, and the +man would shoot him. They could see him quite well from the other +side! he must cross the knoll first, and then he might lie down and +rest. He would get right into the heather, and lie with it all +around and over him till the night came. Where he would go then, he +did not know. But it was all one; he could go anywhere. Donal must +mind his cows, and the men must mind the horses, and Mistress Jean +must mind her kitchen, but Sir Gibbie could go where he pleased. He +would go up Daurside; but he would not go just at once; that man +might be on the outlook for him, and he wouldn't like to be shot. +People who were shot lay still, and were put into holes in the +earth, and covered up, and he would not like that. + +Thus he communed with himself as he went over the knoll. On the +other side he chose a tall patch of heather, and crept under. How +nice and warm and kind the heather felt, though it did hurt the +weals dreadfully sometimes. If he only had something to cover just +them! There seemed to be one down his back as well as round his +waist! + +And now Sir Gibbie, though not much poorer than he had been, really +possessed nothing separable, except his hair and his nails--nothing +therefore that he could call his, as distinguished from him. His +sole other possession was a negative quantity--his hunger, namely, +for he had not even a meal in his body: he had eaten nothing since +the preceding noon. I am wrong--he had one possession besides, +though hardly a separable one--a ballad about a fair lady and her +page, which Donal had taught him. That he now began to repeat to +himself, but was disappointed to find it a good deal withered. He +was not nearly reduced to extremity yet though--this little heir of +the world: in his body he had splendid health, in his heart a great +courage, and in his soul an ever-throbbing love. It was his love to +the very image of man, that made the horror of the treatment he had +received. Angus was and was not a man! After all, Gibbie was still +one to be regarded with holy envy. + +Poor Ginny was sent to bed for interfering with her father's orders; +and what with rage and horror and pity, an inexplicable feeling of +hopelessness took possession of her, while her affection for her +father was greatly, perhaps for this world irretrievably, injured by +that morning's experience; a something remained that never passed +from her, and that something, as often as it stirred, rose between +him and her. + +Fergus told his aunt what had taken place, and made much game of her +brownie. But the more Jean thought about the affair, the less she +liked it. It was she upon whom it all came! What did it matter who +or what her brownie was? And what had they whipped the creature +for? What harm had he done? If indeed he was a little ragged +urchin, the thing was only the more inexplicable! He had taken +nothing! She had never missed so much as a barley scon! The cream +had always brought her the right quantity of butter! Not even a +bannock, so far as she knew, was ever gone from the press, or an egg +from the bossie where they lay heaped! There was more in it than +she could understand! Her nephew's mighty feat, so far from +explaining anything, had only sealed up the mystery. She could not +help cherishing a shadowy hope that, when things had grown quiet, he +would again reveal his presence by his work, if not by his visible +person. It was mortifying to think that he had gone as he came, and +she had never set eyes upon him. But Fergus's account of his +disappearance had also, in her judgment, a decided element of the +marvellous in it. She was strongly inclined to believe that the +brownie had cast a glamour over him and the laird and Angus, all +three, and had been making game of them for his own amusement. +Indeed Daurside generally refused the explanation of the brownie +presented for its acceptance, and the laird scored nothing against +the arch-enemy Superstition. + +Donal Grant, missing his "cratur" that day for the first time, heard +enough when he came home to satisfy him that he had been acting the +brownie in the house and the stable as well as in the field, +incredible as it might well appear that such a child should have had +even mere strength for what he did. Then first also, after he had +thus lost him, he began to understand his worth, and to see how much +he owed him. While he had imagined himself kind to the urchin, the +urchin had been laying him under endless obligation. For he left +him with ever so much more in his brains than when he came. This +book and that, through his aid, he had read thoroughly; and a score +or so of propositions had been added to his stock in Euclid. His +first feeling about the child revived as he pondered--namely, that +he was not of this world. But even then Donal did not know the best +Gibbie had done for him. He did not know of what far deeper and +better things he had, through his gentleness, his trust, his loving +service, his absolute unselfishness, sown the seeds in his mind. On +the other hand, Donal had in return done more for Gibbie than he +knew, though what he had done for him, namely, shared his dinners +with him, had been less of a gift than he thought, and Donal had +rather been sharing in Gibbie's dinner, than Gibbie in Donal's. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +REFUGE. + +It was a lovely Saturday evening on Glashgar. The few flowers about +the small turf cottage scented the air in the hot western sun. The +heather was not in bloom yet, and there were no trees; but there +were rocks, and stones, and a brawling burn that half surrounded a +little field of oats, one of potatoes, and a small spot with a few +stocks of cabbage and kail, on the borders of which grew some bushes +of double daisies, and primroses, and carnations. These Janet +tended as part of her household, while her husband saw to the oats +and potatoes. Robert had charge of the few sheep on the mountain +which belonged to the farmer at the Mains, and for his trouble had +the cottage and the land, most of which he had himself reclaimed. +He had also a certain allowance of meal, which was paid in +portions, as corn went from the farm to the mill. If they happened +to fall short, the miller would always advance them as much as they +needed, repaying himself--and not very strictly--the next time the +corn was sent from the Mains. They were never in any want, and +never had any money, except what their children brought them out of +their small wages. But that was plenty for their every need, nor +had they the faintest feeling that they were persons to be pitied. +It was very cold up there in winter, to be sure, and they both +suffered from rheumatism; but they had no debt, no fear, much love, +and between them, this being mostly Janet's, a large hope for what +lay on the other side of death: as to the rheumatism, that was +necessary, Janet said, to teach them patience, for they had no other +trouble. They were indeed growing old, but neither had begun to +feel age a burden yet, and when it should prove such, they had a +daughter prepared to give up service and go home to help them. +Their thoughts about themselves were nearly lost in their thoughts +about each other, their children, and their friends. Janet's main +care was her old man, and Robert turned to Janet as the one stay of +his life, next to the God in whom he trusted. He did not think so +much about God as she: he was not able; nor did he read so much of +his Bible; but she often read to him; and when any of his children +were there of an evening, he always "took the book." While Janet +prayed at home, his closet was the mountain-side, where he would +kneel in the heather, and pray to Him who saw unseen, the King +eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. The sheep took no +heed of him, but sometimes when he rose from his knees and saw Oscar +gazing at him with deepest regard, he would feel a little as if he +had not quite entered enough into his closet, and would wonder what +the dog was thinking. All day, from the mountain and sky and +preaching burns, from the sheep and his dog, from winter storms, +spring sun and winds, or summer warmth and glow, but more than all, +when he went home, from the presence and influence of his wife, came +to him somehow--who can explain how!--spiritual nourishment and +vital growth. One great thing in it was, that he kept growing wiser +and better without knowing it. If St. Paul had to give up judging +his own self, perhaps Robert Grant might get through without ever +beginning it. He loved life, but if he had been asked why, he might +not have found a ready answer. He loved his wife--just because she +was Janet. Blithely he left his cottage in the morning, deep +breathing the mountain air, as if it were his first in the blissful +world; and all day the essential bliss of being was his; but the +immediate hope of his heart was not the heavenly city; it was his +home and his old woman, and her talk of what she had found in her +Bible that day. Strangely mingled--mingled even to confusion with +his faith in God, was his absolute trust in his wife--a confidence +not very different in kind from the faith which so many Christians +place in the mother of our Lord. To Robert, Janet was one who +knew--one who was far ben??? with the Father of lights. She perceived +his intentions, understood his words, did his will, dwelt in the +secret place of the Most High. When Janet entered into the kingdom +of her Father, she would see that he was not left outside. He was +as sure of her love to himself, as he was of God's love to her, and +was certain she could never be content without her old man. He was +himself a dull soul, he thought, and could not expect the great God +to take much notice of him, but he would allow Janet to look after +him. He had a vague conviction that he would not be very hard to +save, for he knew himself ready to do whatever was required of him. +None of all this was plain to his consciousness, however, or I +daresay he would have begun at once to combat the feeling. + +His sole anxiety, on the other hand, was neither about life nor +death, about this world nor the next, but that his children should +be honest and honourable, fear God and keep his commandments. +Around them, all and each, the thoughts of father and mother were +constantly hovering--as if to watch them, and ward off evil. + +Almost from the day, now many years ago, when, because of distance +and difficulty, she ceased to go to church, Janet had taken to her +New Testament in a new fashion. + +She possessed an instinctive power of discriminating character, +which had its root and growth in the simplicity of her own; she had +always been a student of those phases of humanity that came within +her ken; she had a large share of that interest in her fellows and +their affairs which is the very bloom upon ripe humanity: with these +qualifications, and the interpretative light afforded by her own +calm practical way of living, she came to understand men and their +actions, especially where the latter differed from what might +ordinarily have been expected, in a marvellous way: her faculty +amounted almost to sympathetic contact with the very humanity. +When, therefore, she found herself in this remote spot, where she +could see so little of her kind, she began, she hardly knew by what +initiation, to turn her study upon the story of our Lord's life. +Nor was it long before it possessed her utterly, so that she +concentrated upon it all the light and power of vision she had +gathered from her experience of humanity. It ought not therefore to +be wonderful how much she now understood of the true humanity--with +what simple directness she knew what many of the words of the Son of +Man meant, and perceived many of the germs of his individual +actions. Hence it followed naturally that the thought of him, and +the hope of one day seeing him, became her one informing idea. She +was now such another as those women who ministered to him on the +earth. + +A certain gentle indifference she allowed to things considered +important, the neighbours attributed to weakness of character, and +called softness; while the honesty, energy, and directness with +which she acted upon insights they did not possess, they attributed +to intellectual derangement. She was "ower easy," they said, when +the talk had been of prudence or worldly prospect; she was "ower +hard," they said, when the question had been of right and wrong. + +The same afternoon, a neighbour, on her way over the shoulder of the +hill to the next village, had called upon her and found her brushing +the rafters of her cottage with a broom at the end of a long stick. + +"Save 's a', Janet! what are ye efter? I never saw sic a thing!" +she exclaimed. + +"I kenna hoo I never thoucht o' sic a thing afore," answered Janet, +leaning her broom against the wall, and dusting a chair for her +visitor; "but this mornin', whan my man an' me was sittin' at oor +brakfast, there cam' sic a clap o' thunner, 'at it jist garred the +bit hoosie trim'le; an' doon fell a snot o' soot intil the very +spune 'at my man was cairryin' till's honest moo. That cudna be as +things war inten'it, ye ken; sae what was to be said but set them +richt?" + +"Ow, weel! but ye micht hae waitit till Donal cam' hame; he wad hae +dune 't in half the time, an' no raxed his jints." + +"I cudna pit it aff," answered Janet. "Wha kenned whan the Lord +micht come?--He canna come at cock-crawin' the day, but he may be +here afore nicht." + +"Weel, I's awa," said her visitor rising. "I'm gauin' ower to the +toon to buy a feow hanks o' worset to weyve a pair o' stockins to my +man. Guid day to ye, Janet.--What neist, I won'er?" she added to +herself as she left the house. "The wuman's clean dementit!" + +The moment she was gone, Janet caught up her broom again, and went +spying about over the roof--ceiling there was none--after long +tangles of agglomerated cobweb and smoke. + +"Ay!" she said to herself, "wha kens whan he may be at the door? an' +I wadna like to hear him say--'Janet, ye micht hae had yer hoose a +bit cleaner, whan ye kenned I micht be at han'!'" + +With all the cleaning she could give it, her cottage would have +looked but a place of misery to many a benevolent woman, who, if she +had lived there, would not have been so benevolent as Janet, or have +kept the place half so clean. For her soul was alive and rich, and +out of her soul, not education or habit, came the smallest of her +virtues.--Having finished at last, she took her besom to the door, +and beat it against a stone. That done, she stood looking along the +path down the hill. It was that by which her sons and daughters, +every Saturday, came climbing, one after the other, to her bosom, +from their various labours in the valley below, through the sunset, +through the long twilight, through the moonlight, each urged by a +heart eager to look again upon father and mother. + +The sun was now far down his western arc, and nearly on a level with +her eyes; and as she gazed into the darkness of the too much light, +suddenly emerged from it, rose upward, staggered towards her--was it +an angel? was it a spectre? Did her old eyes deceive her? or was +the second sight born in her now first in her old age?--It seemed a +child--reeling, and spreading out hands that groped. She covered +her eyes for a moment, for it might be a vision in the sun, not on +the earth--and looked again. It was indeed a naked child! and--was +she still so dazzled by the red sun as to see red where red was +none?--or were those indeed blood-red streaks on his white skin? +Straight now, though slow, he came towards her. It was the same +child who had come and gone so strangely before! He held out his +hands to her, and fell on his face at her feet like one dead. Then, +with a horror of pitiful amazement, she saw a great cross marked in +two cruel stripes on his back; and the thoughts that thereupon went +coursing through her loving imagination, it would be hard to set +forth. Could it be that the Lord was still, child and man, +suffering for his race, to deliver his brothers and sisters from +their sins?--wandering, enduring, beaten, blessing still? accepting +the evil, slaying it, and returning none? his patience the one rock +where the evil word finds no echo; his heart the one gulf into which +the dead-sea wave rushes with no recoil--from which ever flows back +only purest water, sweet and cool; the one abyss of destroying love, +into which all wrong tumbles, and finding no reaction, is lost, +ceases for evermore? there, in its own cradle, the primal order is +still nursed, still restored; thence is still sent forth afresh, to +leaven with new life the world ever ageing! Shadowy and vague they +were--but vaguely shadowed were thoughts like these in Janet's mind, +as she stood half-stunned, regarding for one moment motionless the +prostrate child and his wrongs. The next she lifted him in her +arms, and holding him tenderly to her mother-heart, carried him into +the house, murmuring over him dove-like sounds of pity and +endearment mingled with indignation. There she laid him on his side +in her bed, covered him gently over, and hastened to the little byre +at the end of the cottage, to get him some warm milk. When she +returned, he had already lifted his heavy eyelids, and was looking +wearily about the place. But when he saw her, did ever so bright a +sun shine as that smile of his! Eyes and mouth and whole face +flashed upon Janet! She set down the milk, and went to the bedside. +Gibbie put up his arms, threw them round her neck, and clung to her +as if she had been his mother. And from that moment she was his +mother: her heart was big enough to mother all the children of +humanity. She was like Charity herself, with her babes innumerable. + +"What have they done to ye, my bairn?" she said, in tones pitiful +with the pity of the Shepherd of the sheep himself. + +No reply came back--only another heavenly smile, a smile of absolute +content. For what were stripes and nakedness and hunger to Gibbie, +now that he had a woman to love! Gibbie's necessity was to love; +but here was more; here was Love offering herself to him! Except in +black Sambo he had scarcely caught a good sight of her before. He +had never before been kissed by that might of God's grace, a true +woman. She was an old woman who kissed him; but none who have drunk +of the old wine of love, straightway desire the new, for they know +that the old is better. Match such as hers with thy love, maiden of +twenty, and where wilt thou find the man I say not worthy, but fit +to mate with thee? For hers was love indeed--not the love of +love--but the love of Life. Already Gibbie's faintness was gone--and +all his ills with it. She raised him with one arm, and held the +bowl to his mouth, and he drank; but all the time he drank, his eyes +were fixed upon hers. When she laid him down again, he turned on +his side, off his scored back, and in a moment was fast asleep. She +stood gazing at him. So still was he, that she began to fear he was +dead, and laid her hand on his heart. It was beating steadily, and +she left him, to make some gruel for him against his waking. Her +soul was glad, for she was ministering to her Master, not the less +in his own self, that it was in the person of one of his little +ones. Gruel, as such a one makes it, is no common fare, but +delicate enough for a queen. She set it down by the fire, and +proceeded to lay the supper for her expected children. The clean +yellow-white table of soft smooth fir, needed no cloth--only horn +spoons and wooden caups. + +At length a hand came to the latch, and mother and daughter greeted +as mother and daughter only can; then came a son, and mother and son +greeted as mother and son only can. They kept on arriving singly to +the number of six--two daughters and four sons, the youngest some +little time after the rest. Each, as he or she came, Janet took to +the bed, and showed her seventh child where he slept. Each time she +showed him, to secure like pity with her own, she turned down the +bedclothes, and revealed the little back, smitten with the eternal +memorial of the divine perfection. The women wept. The young men +were furious, each after his fashion. + +"God damn the rascal 'at did it!" cried one of them, clenching his +teeth, and forgetting himself quite in the rage of the moment. + +"Laddie, tak back the word," said his mother calmly. "Gien ye dinna +forgie yer enemies, ye'll no be forgi'en yersel'." + +"That's some hard, mither," answered the offender, with an attempted +smile. + +"Hard!" she echoed; "it may weel be hard, for it canna be helpit. +What wad be the use o' forgiein' ye, or hoo cud it win at ye, or +what wad ye care for't, or mak o't, cairryin' a hell o' hate i' yer +verra hert? For gien God be love, hell maun be hate. My bairn, +them 'at winna forgie their enemies, cairries sic a nest o' deevilry +i' their ain boasoms, 'at the verra speerit o' God himsel' canna win +in till't for bein' scomfished wi' smell an' reik. Muckle guid wad +ony pardon dee to sic! But ance lat them un'erstan' 'at he canna +forgie them, an' maybe they'll be fleyt, an' turn again' the Sawtan +'at's i' them." + +"Weel, but he's no my enemy," said the youth. + +"No your enemy!" returned his mother; "--no your enemy, an' sair +(serve) a bairn like that! My certy! but he's the enemy o' the +haill race o' mankin'. He trespasses unco sair against me, I'm weel +sure o' that! An' I'm glaid o' 't. I'm glaid 'at he has me for ane +o' 's enemies, for I forgie him for ane; an' wuss him sae affrontit +wi' himsel' er' a' be dune, 'at he wad fain hide his heid in a +midden." + +"Noo, noo, mither!" said the eldest son, who had not yet spoken, but +whose countenance had been showing a mighty indignation, "that's +surely as sair a bannin' as yon 'at Jock said." + +"What, laddie! Wad ye hae a fellow-cratur live to a' eternity ohn +been ashamed o' sic a thing 's that? Wad that be to wuss him weel? +Kenna ye 'at the mair shame the mair grace? My word was the best +beginnin' o' better 'at I cud wuss him. Na, na, laddie! frae my +verra hert, I wuss he may be that affrontit wi' himsel' 'at he canna +sae muckle as lift up's een to h'aven, but maun smite upo' 's breist +an' say, 'God be mercifu' to me a sinner!' That's my curse upo' +him, for I wadna hae 'im a deevil. Whan he comes to think that +shame o' himsel', I'll tak him to my hert, as I tak the bairn he +misguidit. Only I doobt I'll be lang awa afore that, for it taks +time to fess a man like that till's holy senses." + +The sixth of the family now entered, and his mother led him up to +the bed. + +"The Lord preserve's!" cried Donal Grant, "it's the cratur!--An' is +that the gait they hae guidit him! The quaietest cratur an' the +willin'est!" + +Donal began to choke. + +"Ye ken him than, laddie?" said his mother. + +"Weel that," answered Donal. "He's been wi' me an' the nowt ilka day +for weeks till the day." + +With that he hurried into the story of his acquaintance with Gibbie; +and the fable of the brownie would soon have disappeared from +Daurside, had it not been that Janet desired them to say nothing +about the boy, but let him be forgotten by his enemies, till he grew +able to take care of himself. Besides, she said, their father might +get into trouble with the master and the laird, if it were known +they had him. + +Donal vowed to himself, that, if Fergus had had a hand in the abuse, +he would never speak civil word to him again. + +He turned towards the bed, and there were Gibbie's azure eyes wide +open and fixed upon him. + +"Eh, ye cratur!" he cried; and darting to the bed, he took Gibbie's +face between his hands, and said, in a voice to which pity and +sympathy gave a tone like his mother's, + +"Whaten a deevil was't 'at lickit ye like that? Eh! I wuss I had +the trimmin' o' him!" + +Gibbie smiled. + +"Has the ill-guideship ta'en the tongue frae 'im, think ye?" asked +the mother. + +"Na, na," answered Donal; "he's been like that sin' ever I kenned +him. I never h'ard word frae the moo' o' 'im." + +"He'll be ane o' the deif an' dumb," said Janet. + +"He's no deif, mither; that I ken weel; but dumb he maun be, I'm +thinkin'.--Cratur," he continued, stooping over the boy, "gien ye +hear what I'm sayin', tak haud o' my nose." + +Thereupon, with a laugh like that of an amused infant, Gibbie raised +his hand, and with thumb and forefinger gently pinched Donal's large +nose, at which they all burst out laughing with joy. It was as if +they had found an angel's baby in the bushes, and been afraid he was +an idiot, but were now relieved. Away went Janet, and brought him +his gruel. It was with no small difficulty and not without a moan +or two, that Gibbie sat up in the bed to take it. There was +something very pathetic in the full content with which he sat there +in his nakedness, and looked smiling at them all. It was more than +content--it was bliss that shone in his countenance. He took the +wooden bowl, and began to eat; and the look he cast on Janet seemed +to say he had never tasted such delicious food. Indeed he never +had; and the poor cottage, where once more he was a stranger and +taken in, appeared to Gibbie a place of wondrous wealth. And so it +was--not only in the best treasures, those of loving kindness, but +in all homely plenty as well for the needs of the body--a very +temple of the God of simplicity and comfort--rich in warmth and rest +and food. + +Janet went to her kist, whence she brought out a garment of her own, +and aired it at the fire. It had no lace at the neck or cuffs, no +embroidery down the front; but when she put it on him, amid the +tearful laughter of the women, and had tied it round his waist with +a piece of list that had served as a garter, it made a dress most +becoming in their eyes, and gave Gibbie indescribable pleasure from +its whiteness, and its coolness to his inflamed skin. + +They had just finished clothing him thus, when the goodman came +home, and the mother's narration had to be given afresh, with +Donal's notes explanatory and completive. As the latter reported +the doings of the imagined brownie, and the commotion they had +caused at the Mains and along Daurside, Gibbie's countenance flashed +with pleasure and fun; and at last he broke into such a peal of +laughter as had never, for pure merriment, been heard before so high +on Glashgar. All joined involuntarily in the laugh--even the old +man, who had been listening with his grey eyebrows knit, and hanging +like bosky precipices over the tarns of his deepset eyes, taking in +every word, but uttering not one. When at last his wife showed him +the child's back, he lifted his two hands, and moved them slowly up +and down, as in pitiful appeal for man against man to the sire of +the race. But still he said not a word. As to utterance of what +lay in the deep soul of him, the old man, except sometimes to his +wife, was nearly as dumb as Gibbie himself. + +They sat down to their homely meal. Simplest things will carry the +result of honest attention as plainly as more elaborate dishes; and, +which it might be well to consider, they will carry no more than +they are worth: of Janet's supper it is enough to say that it was +such as became her heart. In the judgment of all her guests, the +porridge was such as none could make but mother, the milk such as +none but mother's cow could yield, the cakes such as she only could +bake. + +Gibbie sat in the bed like a king on his throne, gazing on his +kingdom. For he that loves has, as no one else has. It is the +divine possession. Picture the delight of the child, in his passion +for his kind, looking out upon this company of true hearts, honest +faces, human forms--all strong and healthy, loving each other and +generous to the taking in of the world's outcast! Gibbie could not, +at that period of his history, have invented a heaven more to his +mind, and as often as one of them turned eyes towards the bed, his +face shone up with love and merry gratitude, like a better sun. + +It was now almost time for the sons and daughters to go down the +hill again, and leave the cottage and the blessed old parents and +the harboured child to the night, the mountain-silence, and the +living God. The sun had long been down; but far away in the north, +the faint thin fringe of his light-garment was still visible, moving +with the unseen body of his glory softly eastward, dreaming along +the horizon, growing fainter and fainter as it went, but at the +faintest then beginning to revive and grow. Of the northern lands +in summer, it may be said, as of the heaven of heavens, that there +is no night there. And by and by the moon also would attend the +steps of the returning children of labour. + +"Noo, lads an' lasses, afore we hae worship, rin, ilk ane o' ye," +said the mother, "an' pu' heather to mak a bed to the wee man--i' +the neuk there, at the heid o' oors. He'll sleep there bonny, an' +no ill 'ill come near 'im." + +She was obeyed instantly. The heather was pulled, and set together +upright as it grew, only much closer, so that the tops made a dense +surface, and the many stalks, each weak, a strong upbearing whole. +They boxed them in below with a board or two for the purpose, and +bound them together above with a blanket over the top, and a white +sheet over that--a linen sheet it was, and large enough to be +doubled, and receive Gibbie between its folds. Then another blanket +was added, and the bed, a perfect one, was ready. The eldest of the +daughters took Gibbie in her arms, and, tenderly careful over his +hurts, lifted him from the old folks' bed, and placed him in his +own--one more luxurious, for heather makes a still better stratum +for repose than oat-chaff--and Gibbie sank into it with a sigh that +was but a smile grown vocal. + +Then Donal, as the youngest, got down the big Bible, and having laid +it before his father, lighted the rush-pith-wick projecting from the +beak of the little iron lamp that hung against the wall, its shape +descended from Roman times. The old man put on his spectacles, took +the book, and found the passage that fell, in continuous process, to +that evening. + +Now he was not a very good reader, and, what with blindness and +spectacles, and poor light, would sometimes lose his place. But it +never troubled him, for he always knew the sense of what was coming, +and being no idolater of the letter, used the word that first +suggested itself, and so recovered his place without pausing. It +reminded his sons and daughters of the time when he used to tell +them Bible stories as they crowded about his knees; and sounding +therefore merely like the substitution of a more familiar word to +assist their comprehension, woke no surprise. And even now, the +word supplied, being in the vernacular, was rather to the benefit +than the disadvantage of his hearers. The word of Christ is spirit +and life, and where the heart is aglow, the tongue will follow that +spirit and life fearlessly, and will not err. + +On this occasion he was reading of our Lord's cure of the leper; and +having read, "put forth his hand," lost his place, and went straight +on without it, from his memory of the facts. + +"He put forth his han'--an' grippit him, and said, Aw wull--be +clean." + +After the reading followed a prayer, very solemn and devout. It was +then only, when before God, with his wife by his side, and his +family around him, that the old man became articulate. He would +scarcely have been so then, and would have floundered greatly in the +marshes of his mental chaos, but for the stepping-stones of certain +theological forms and phrases, which were of endless service to him +in that they helped him to utter what in him was far better, and so +realise more to himself his own feelings. Those forms and phrases +would have shocked any devout Christian who had not been brought up +in the same school; but they did him little harm, for he saw only +the good that was in them, and indeed did not understand them save +in so far as they worded that lifting up of the heart after which he +was ever striving. + +By the time the prayer was over, Gibbie was fast asleep again. What +it all meant he had not an idea; and the sound lulled him--a service +often so rendered in lieu of that intended. When he woke next, from +the aching of his stripes, the cottage was dark. The old people +were fast asleep. A hairy thing lay by his side, which, without the +least fear, he examined by palpation, and found to be a dog, +whereupon he fell fast asleep again, if possible happier than ever. +And while the cottage was thus quiet, the brothers and sisters were +still tramping along the moonlight paths of Daurside. They had all +set out together, but at one point after another there had been a +parting, and now they were on six different roads, each drawing +nearer to the labour of the new week. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MORE SCHOOLING. + +The first opportunity Donal had, he questioned Fergus as to his +share in the ill-usage of Gibbie. Fergus treated the inquiry as an +impertinent interference, and mounted his high horse at once. What +right had his father's herd-boy to question him as to his conduct? +He put it so to him and in nearly just as many words. Thereupon +answered Donal-- + +"It's this, ye see, Fergus: ye hae been unco guid to me, an' I'm +mair obligatit till ye nor I can say. But it wad be a scunnerfu' +thing to tak the len' o' buiks frae ye, an' spier quest'ons at ye +'at I canna mak oot mysel', an' syne gang awa despisin' ye i' my +hert for cruelty an' wrang. What was the cratur punished for? Tell +me that. Accordin' till yer aunt's ain accoont, he had taen +naething, an' had dune naething but guid." + +"Why didn't he speak up then, and defend himself, and not be so +damned obstinate?" returned Fergus. "He wouldn't open his mouth to +tell his name, or where he came from even. I couldn't get him to +utter a single word. As for his punishment, it was by the laird's +orders that Angus Mac Pholp took the whip to him. I had nothing to +do with it.--" Fergus did not consider the punishment he had himself +given him as worth mentioning--as indeed, except for honesty's sake, +it was not, beside the other. + +"Weel, I'll be a man some day, an' Angus 'll hae to sattle wi' me!" +said Donal through his clenched teeth. "Man, Fergus! the cratur's as +dumb's a worum. I dinna believe 'at ever he spak a word in's life." + +This cut Fergus to the heart, for he was far from being without +generosity or pity. How many things a man who is not awake to side +strenuously with the good in him against the evil, who is not on his +guard lest himself should mislead himself, may do, of which he will +one day be bitterly ashamed!--a trite remark, it may be, but, +reader, that will make the thing itself no easier to bear, should +you ever come to know you have done a thing of the sort. I fear, +however, from what I know of Fergus afterwards, that he now, instead +of seeking about to make some amends, turned the strength that +should have gone in that direction, to the justifying of himself to +himself in what he had done. Anyhow, he was far too proud to +confess to Donal that he had done wrong--too much offended at being +rebuked by one he counted so immeasurably his inferior, to do the +right thing his rebuke set before him. What did the mighty business +matter! The little rascal was nothing but a tramp; and if he didn't +deserve his punishment this time, he had deserved it a hundred times +without having it, and would ten thousand times again. So reasoned +Fergus, while the feeling grew upon Donal that the cratur was of +some superior race--came from some other and nobler world. I would +remind my reader that Donal was a Celt, with a nature open to every +fancy of love or awe--one of the same breed with the foolish +Galatians, and like them ready to be bewitched; but bearing a heart +that welcomed the light with glad rebound--loved the lovely, nor +loved it only, but turned towards it with desire to become like it. +Fergus too was a Celt in the main, but was spoiled by the paltry +ambition of being distinguished. He was not in love with +loveliness, but in love with praise. He saw not a little of what +was good and noble, and would fain be such, but mainly that men +might regard him for his goodness and nobility; hence his practical +notion of the good was weak, and of the noble, paltry. His one +desire in doing anything, was to be approved of or admired in the +same--approved of in the opinions he held, in the plans he pursued, +in the doctrines he taught; admired in the poems in which he went +halting after Byron, and in the eloquence with which he meant one +day to astonish great congregations. There was nothing original as +yet discoverable in him; nothing to deliver him from the poor +imitative apery in which he imagined himself a poet. He did possess +one invaluable gift--that of perceiving and admiring more than a +little, certain forms of the beautiful; but it was rendered merely +ridiculous by being conjoined with the miserable ambition--poor as +that of any mountebank emperor--to be himself admired for that +admiration. He mistook also sensibility for faculty, nor perceived +that it was at best but a probable sign that he might be able to do +something or other with pleasure, perhaps with success. If any one +judge it hard that men should be made with ambitions to whose +objects they can never attain, I answer, ambition is but the evil +shadow of aspiration; and no man ever followed the truth, which is +the one path of aspiration, and in the end complained that he had +been made this way or that. Man is made to be that which he is made +most capable of desiring--but it goes without saying that he must +desire the thing itself and not its shadow. Man is of the truth, +and while he follows a lie, no indication his nature yields will +hold, except the fear, the discontent, the sickness of soul, that +tell him he is wrong. If he say, "I care not for what you call the +substance--it is to me the shadow; I want what you call the shadow," +the only answer is, that, to all eternity, he can never have it: a +shadow can never be had. + +Ginevra was hardly the same child after the experience of that +terrible morning. At no time very much at home with her father, +something had now come between them, to remove which all her +struggles to love him as before were unavailing. The father was too +stupid, too unsympathetic, to take note of the look of fear that +crossed her face if ever he addressed her suddenly; and when she was +absorbed in fighting the thoughts that would come, he took her +constraint for sullenness. + +With a cold spot in his heart where once had dwelt some genuine +regard for Donal, Fergus went back to college. Donal went on +herding the cattle, cudgeling Hornie, and reading what books he +could lay his hands on: there was no supply through Fergus any more, +alas! The year before, ere he took his leave, he had been careful +to see Donal provided with at least books for study; but this time +he left him to shift for himself. He was small because he was +proud, spiteful because he was conceited. He would let Donal know +what it was to have lost his favour! But Donal did not suffer much, +except in the loss of the friendship itself. He managed to get the +loan of a copy of Burns--better meat for a strong spirit than the +poetry of Byron or even Scott. An innate cleanliness of soul +rendered the occasional coarseness to him harmless, and the mighty +torrent of the man's life, broken by occasional pools reflecting the +stars; its headlong hatred of hypocrisy and false religion; its +generosity, and struggling conscientiousness; its failures and its +repentances, roused much in the heart of Donal. Happily the copy he +had borrowed, had in it a tolerable biography; and that, read along +with the man's work, enabled him, young as he was, to see something +of where and how he had failed, and to shadow out to himself, not +altogether vaguely, the perils to which the greatest must be exposed +who cannot rule his own spirit, but, like a mere child, reels from +one mood into another--at the will of--what? + +From reading Burns, Donal learned also not a little of the +capabilities of his own language; for, Celt as he was by birth and +country and mental character, he could not speak the Gaelic: that +language, soft as the speech of streams from rugged mountains, and +wild as that of the wind in the tops of fir-trees, the language at +once of bards and fighting men, had so far ebbed from the region, +lingering only here and there in the hollow pools of old memories, +that Donal had never learned it; and the lowland Scotch, an ancient +branch of English, dry and gnarled, but still flourishing in its old +age, had become instead, his mother-tongue; and the man who loves +the antique speech, or even the mere patois, of his childhood, and +knows how to use it, possesses therein a certain kind of power over +the hearts of men, which the most refined and perfect of languages +cannot give, inasmuch as it has travelled farther from the original +sources of laughter and tears. But the old Scotish itself is, alas! +rapidly vanishing before a poor, shabby imitation of modern +English--itself a weaker language in sound, however enriched in +words, since the days of Shakspere, when it was far more like Scotch +in its utterance than it is now. + +My mother-tongue, how sweet thy tone! +How near to good allied! +Were even my heart of steel or stone, +Thou wouldst drive out the pride. + +So sings Klaus Groth, in and concerning his own Plattdeutsch--so +nearly akin to the English. + +To a poet especially is it an inestimable advantage to be able to +employ such a language for his purposes. Not only was it the speech +of his childhood, when he saw everything with fresh, true eyes, but +it is itself a child-speech; and the child way of saying must always +lie nearer the child way of seeing, which is the poetic way. +Therefore, as the poetic faculty was now slowly asserting itself in +Donal, it was of vast importance that he should know what the genius +of Scotland had been able to do with his homely mother-tongue, for +through that tongue alone, could what poetry he had in him have +thoroughly fair play, and in turn do its best towards his +development--which is the first and greatest use of poetry. It is a +ruinous misjudgment--too contemptible to be asserted, but not too +contemptible to be acted upon, that the end of poetry is +publication. Its true end is to help first the man who makes it +along the path to the truth: help for other people may or may not be +in it; that, if it become a question at all, must be an after one. +To the man who has it, the gift is invaluable; and, in proportion +as it helps him to be a better man, it is of value to the whole +world; but it may, in itself, be so nearly worthless, that the +publishing of it would be more for harm than good. Ask any one who +has had to perform the unenviable duty of editor to a magazine: he +will corroborate what I say--that the quantity of verse good enough +to be its own reward, but without the smallest claim to be uttered +to the world, is enormous. + +Not yet, however, had Donal written a single stanza. A line, or at +most two, would now and then come into his head with a buzz, like a +wandering honey-bee that had mistaken its hive--generally in the +shape of a humorous malediction on Hornie--but that was all. + +In the mean time Gibbie slept and waked and slept again, night after +night--with the loveliest days between, at the cottage on Glashgar. +The morning after his arrival, the first thing he was aware of was +Janet's face beaming over him, with a look in its eyes more like +worship then benevolence. Her husband was gone, and she was about +to milk the cow, and was anxious lest, while she was away, he should +disappear as before. But the light that rushed into his eyes was in +full response to that which kindled the light in hers, and her +misgiving vanished; he could not love her like that and leave her. +She gave him his breakfast of porridge and milk, and went to her +cow. + +When she came back, she found everything tidy in the cottage, the +floor swept, every dish washed and set aside; and Gibbie was +examining an old shoe of Robert's, to see whether he could not mend +it. Janet, having therefore leisure, proceeded at once with joy to +the construction of a garment she had been devising for him. The +design was simple, and its execution easy. Taking a blue winsey +petticoat of her own, drawing it in round his waist, and tying it +over the chemise which was his only garment, she found, as she had +expected, that its hem reached his feet: she partly divided it up +the middle, before and behind, and had but to backstitch two short +seams, and there was a pair of sailor-like trousers, as tidy as +comfortable! Gibbie was delighted with them. True, they had no +pockets, but then he had nothing to put in pockets, and one might +come to think of that as an advantage. Gibbie indeed had never had +pockets, for the pockets of the garments he had had were always worn +out before they reached him. Then Janet thought about a cap; but +considering him a moment critically, and seeing how his hair stood +out like thatch-eaves round his head, she concluded with herself +"There maun be some men as weel's women fowk, I'm thinkin', whause +hair's gien them for a coverin'," and betook herself instead to her +New Testament. + +Gibbie stood by as she read in silence, gazing with delight, for he +thought it must be a book of ballads like Donal's that she was +reading. But Janet found his presence, his unresting attitude, and +his gaze, discomposing. To worship freely, one must be alone, or +else with fellow-worshippers. And reading and worshipping were +often so mingled with Janet, as to form but one mental consciousness. +She looked up therefore from her book, and said-- + +"Can ye read, laddie?" + +Gibbie shook his head. + +"Sit ye doon than, an' I s' read till ye." + +Gibbie obeyed more than willingly, expecting to hear some ancient +Scots tale of love or chivalry. Instead, it was one of those +love-awful, glory-sad chapters in the end of the Gospel of John, +over which hangs the darkest cloud of human sorrow, shot through and +through with the radiance of light eternal, essential, invincible. +Whether it was the uncertain response to Janet's tone merely, or to +truth too loud to be heard, save as a thrill, of some chord in his +own spirit, having its one end indeed twisted around an earthly peg, +but the other looped to a tail-piece far in the unknown--I cannot +tell; it may have been that the name now and then recurring brought +to his mind the last words of poor Sambo; anyhow, when Janet looked +up, she saw the tears rolling down the child's face. At the same +time, from the expression of his countenance, she judged that his +understanding had grasped nothing. She turned therefore to the +parable of the prodigal son, and read it. Even that had not a few +words and phrases unknown to Gibbie, but he did not fail to catch +the drift of the perfect story. For had not Gibbie himself had a +father, to whose bosom he went home every night? Let but love be +the interpreter, and what most wretched type will not serve the turn +for the carriage of profoundest truth! The prodigal's lowest +degradation, Gibbie did not understand; but Janet saw the expression +of the boy's face alter with every tone of the tale, through all the +gamut between the swine's trough and the arms of the father. Then +at last he burst--not into tears--Gibbie was not much acquainted +with weeping--but into a laugh of loud triumph. He clapped his +hands, and in a shiver of ecstasy, stood like a stork upon one leg, +as if so much of him was all that could be spared for this lower +world, and screwed himself together. + +Janet was well satisfied with her experiment. Most Scotch women, +and more than most Scotch men, would have rebuked him for laughing, +but Janet knew in herself a certain tension of delight which nothing +served to relieve but a wild laughter of holiest gladness; and never +in tears of deepest emotion did her heart appeal more directly to +its God. It is the heart that is not yet sure of its God, that is +afraid to laugh in his presence. + +Thus had Gibbie his first lesson in the only thing worth learning, +in that which, to be learned at all, demands the united energy of +heart and soul and strength and mind; and from that day he went on +learning it. I cannot tell how, or what were the slow stages by +which his mind budded and swelled until it burst into the flower of +humanity, the knowledge of God. I cannot tell the shape of the door +by which the Lord entered into that house, and took everlasting +possession of it. I cannot even tell in what shape he appeared +himself in Gibbie's thoughts--for the Lord can take any shape that +is human. I only know it was not any unhuman shape of earthly +theology that he bore to Gibbie, when he saw him with "that inward +eye, which is the bliss of solitude." For happily Janet never +suspected how utter was Gibbie's ignorance. She never dreamed that +he did not know what was generally said about Jesus Christ. She +thought he must know as well as she the outlines of his story, and +the purpose of his life and death, as commonly taught, and therefore +never attempted explanations for the sake of which she would +probably have found herself driven to use terms and phrases which +merely substitute that which is intelligible because it appeals to +what in us is low, and is itself both low and false, for that which, +if unintelligible, is so because of its grandeur and truth. +Gibbie's ideas of God he got all from the mouth of Theology +himself, the Word of God; and to the theologian who will not be +content with his teaching, the disciple of Jesus must just turn his +back, that his face may be to his Master. + +So, teaching him only that which she loved, not that which she had +been taught, Janet read to Gibbie of Jesus, talked to him of Jesus, +dreamed to him about Jesus; until at length--Gibbie did not think to +watch, and knew nothing of the process by which it came about--his +whole soul was full of the man, of his doings, of his words, of his +thoughts, of his life. Jesus Christ was in him--he was possessed by +him. Almost before he knew, he was trying to fashion his life after +that of his Master. + +Between the two, it was a sweet teaching, a sweet learning. Under +Janet, Gibbie was saved the thousand agonies that befall the +conscientious disciple, from the forcing upon him, as the thoughts +and will of the eternal Father of our spirits, of the ill expressed +and worse understood experiences, the crude conjectures, the vulgar +imaginations of would-be teachers of the multitude. Containing +truth enough to save those of sufficiently low development to +receive such teaching without disgust, it contains falsehood enough, +but for the Spirit of God, to ruin all nobler--I mean all childlike +natures, utterly; and many such it has gone far to ruin, driving +them even to a madness in which they have died. Jesus alone knows +the Father, and can reveal him. Janet studied only Jesus, and as a +man knows his friend, so she, only infinitely better, knew her more +than friend--her Lord and her God. Do I speak of a poor Scotch +peasant woman too largely for the reader whose test of truth is the +notion of probability he draws from his own experience? Let me put +one question to make the real probability clearer. Should it be any +wonder, if Christ be indeed the natural Lord of every man, woman, +and child, that a simple, capable nature, laying itself entirely +open to him and his influences, should understand him? How should +he be the Lord of that nature if such a thing were not possible, or +were at all improbable--nay, if such a thing did not necessarily +follow? Among women, was it not always to peasant women that +heavenly messages came? See revelation culminate in Elizabeth and +Mary, the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus. Think how much +fitter that it should be so;--that they to whom the word of God +comes should be women bred in the dignity of a natural life, and +familiarity with the large ways of the earth; women of simple and +few wants, without distraction, and with time for +reflection--compelled to reflection, indeed, from the enduring +presence of an unsullied consciousness: for wherever there is a +humble, thoughtful nature, into that nature the divine +consciousness, that is, the Spirit of God, presses as into its own +place. Holy women are to be found everywhere, but the prophetess is +not so likely to be found in the city as in the hill-country. + +Whatever Janet, then, might, perhaps--I do not know--have imagined +it her duty to say to Gibbie had she surmised his ignorance, having +long ceased to trouble her own head, she had now no inclination to +trouble Gibbie's heart with what men call the plan of salvation. It +was enough to her to find that he followed her Master. Being in the +light she understood the light, and had no need of system, either +true or false, to explain it to her. She lived by the word +proceeding out of the mouth of God. When life begins to speculate +upon itself, I suspect it has begun to die. And seldom has there +been a fitter soul, one clearer from evil, from folly, from human +device--a purer cistern for such water of life as rose in the heart +of Janet Grant to pour itself into, than the soul of Sir Gibbie. +But I must not call any true soul a cistern: wherever the water of +life is received, it sinks and softens and hollows, until it +reaches, far down, the springs of life there also, that come +straight from the eternal hills, and thenceforth there is in that +soul a well of water springing up into everlasting life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE SLATE. + +From that very next day, then, after he was received into the +cottage on Glashgar, Gibbie, as a matter of course, took upon him +the work his hand could find to do, and Janet averred to her husband +that never had any of her daughters been more useful to her. At the +same time, however, she insisted that Robert should take the boy out +with him. She would not have him do woman's work, especially work +for which she was herself perfectly able. She had not come to her +years, she said, to learn idleset; and the boy would save Robert +many a weary step among the hills. + +"He canna speyk to the dog," objected Robert, giving utterance to +the first difficulty that suggested itself. + +"The dog canna speyk himsel'," returned Janet, "an' the won'er is he +can un'erstan': wha kens but he may come full nigher ane 'at's +speechless like himsel'! Ye gie the cratur the chance, an' I s' +warran' he'll mak himsel' plain to the dog. Ye jist try 'im. Tell +ye him to tell the dog sae and sae, an' see what 'll come o' 't." + +Robert made the experiment, and it proved satisfactory. As soon as +he had received Robert's orders, Gibbie claimed Oscar's attention. +The dog looked up in his face, noted every glance and gesture, and, +partly from sympathetic instinct, that gift lying so near the very +essence of life, partly from observation of the state of affairs in +respect of the sheep, divined with certainty what the duty required +of him was, and was off like a shot. + +"The twa dumb craturs un'erstan' ane anither better nor I un'erstan' +aither o' them," said Robert to his wife when they came home. + +And now indeed it was a blessed time for Gibbie. It had been +pleasant down in the valley, with the cattle and Donal, and foul +weather sometimes; but now it was the full glow of summer; the sweet +keen air of the mountain bathed him as he ran, entered into him, +filled him with life like the new wine of the kingdom of God, and +the whole world rose in its glory around him. Surely it is not the +outspread sea, however the sight of its storms and its labouring +ships may enhance the sense of safety to the onlooker, but the +outspread land of peace and plenty, with its nestling houses, its +well-stocked yards, its cattle feeding in the meadows, and its men +and horses at labour in the fields, that gives the deepest delight +to the heart of the poet! Gibbie was one of the meek, and inherited +the earth. Throned on the mountain, he beheld the multiform "goings +on of life," and in love possessed the whole. He was of the +poet-kind also, and now that he was a shepherd, saw everything with +shepherd-eyes. One moment, to his fancy, the great sun above played +the shepherd to the world, the winds were the dogs, and the men and +women the sheep. The next, in higher mood, he would remember the +good shepherd of whom Janet had read to him, and pat the head of the +collie that lay beside him: Oscar too was a shepherd and no +hireling; he fed the sheep; he turned them from danger and +barrenness; and he barked well. + +"I'm the dumb dog!" said Gibbie to himself, not knowing that he was +really a copy in small of the good shepherd; "but maybe there may be +mair nor ae gait o' barkin'." + +Then what a joy it was to the heaven-born obedience of the child, to +hearken to every word, watch every look, divine every wish of the +old man! Child Hercules could not have waited on mighty old Saturn +as Gibbie waited on Robert. For he was to him the embodiment of all +that was reverend and worthy, a very gulf of wisdom, a mountain of +rectitude. Gibbie was one of those few elect natures to whom +obedience is a delight--a creature so different from the vulgar that +they have but one tentacle they can reach such with--that of +contempt. + +"I jist lo'e the bairn as the verra aipple o' my ee." said Robert. +"I can scarce consaive a wuss, but there's the cratur wi' a grip o' +'t! He seems to ken what's risin' i' my min', an' in a moment he's +up like the dog to be ready, an' luiks at me waitin'." + +Nor was it long before the town-bred child grew to love the heavens +almost as dearly as the earth. He would gaze and gaze at the clouds +as they came and went, and watching them and the wind, weighing the +heat and the cold, and marking many indications, known some of them +perhaps only to himself, understood the signs of the earthly times +at length nearly as well as an insect or a swallow, and far better +than long-experienced old Robert. The mountain was Gibbie's very +home; yet to see him far up on it, in the red glow of the setting +sun, with his dog, as obedient as himself, hanging upon his every +signal, one could have fancied him a shepherd boy come down from the +plains of heaven to look after a lost lamb. Often, when the two old +people were in bed and asleep, Gibbie would be out watching the moon +rise--seated, still as ruined god of Egypt, on a stone of the +mountain-side, islanded in space, nothing alive and visible near +him, perhaps not even a solitary night-wind blowing and ceasing like +the breath of a man's life, and the awfully silent moon sliding up +from the hollow of a valley below. If there be indeed a one spirit, +ever awake and aware, should it be hard to believe that that spirit +should then hold common thought with a little spirit of its own? If +the nightly mountain was the prayer-closet of him who said he would +be with his disciples to the end of the world, can it be folly to +think he would hold talk with such a child, alone under the heaven, +in the presence of the father of both? Gibbie never thought about +himself, therefore was there wide room for the entrance of the +spirit. Does the questioning thought arise to any reader: How could +a man be conscious of bliss without the thought of himself? I +answer the doubt: When a man turns to look at himself, that moment +the glow of the loftiest bliss begins to fade; the pulsing +fire-flies throb paler in the passionate night; an unseen vapour +steams up from the marsh and dims the star-crowded sky and the azure +sea; and the next moment the very bliss itself looks as if it had +never been more than a phosphorescent gleam--the summer lightning of +the brain. For then the man sees himself but in his own dim mirror, +whereas ere he turned to look in that, he knew himself in the +absolute clarity of God's present thought out-bodying him. The +shoots of glad consciousness that come to the obedient man, surpass +in bliss whole days and years of such ravined rapture as he gains +whose weariness is ever spurring the sides of his intent towards the +ever retreating goal of his desires. I am a traitor even to myself +if I would live without my life. + +But I withhold my pen; for vain were the fancy, by treatise or +sermon or poem or tale, to persuade a man to forget himself. He +cannot if he would. Sooner will he forget the presence of a raging +tooth. There is no forgetting of ourselves but in the finding of +our deeper, our true self--God's idea of us when he devised us--the +Christ in us. Nothing but that self can displace the false, greedy, +whining self, of which, most of us are so fond and proud. And that +self no man can find for himself; seeing of himself he does not even +know what to search for. "But as many as received him, to them gave +he power to become the sons of God." + +Then there was the delight, fresh every week, of the Saturday +gathering of the brothers and sisters, whom Gibbie could hardly have +loved more, had they been of his own immediate kin. Dearest of all +was Donal, whose greeting--"Weel, cratur," was heavenly in Gibbie's +ears. Donal would have had him go down and spend a day, every now +and then, with him and the nowt, as in old times--so soon the times +grow old to the young!--but Janet would not hear of it, until the +foolish tale of the brownie should have quite blown over. + +"Eh, but I wuss," she added, as she said so, "I cud win at something +aboot his fowk, or aiven whaur he cam frae, or what they ca'd him! +Never ae word has the cratur spoken!" + +"Ye sud learn him to read, mither," said Donal. + +"Hoo wad I du that, laddie? I wad hae to learn him to speyk first," +returned Janet. + +"Lat him come doon to me, an' I'll try my han'," said Donal. + +Janet, notwithstanding, persisted in her refusal--for the present. +By Donal's words set thinking of the matter, however, she now +pondered the question day after day, how she might teach him to +read; and at last the idea dawned upon her to substitute writing for +speech. + +She took the Shorter Catechism, which, in those days, had always an +alphabet as janitor to the gates of its mysteries--who, with the +catechism as a consequence even dimly foreboded, would even have +learned it?--and showed Gibbie the letters, naming each several +times, and going over them repeatedly. Then she gave him Donal's +school-slate, with a sklet-pike, and said, "Noo, mak a muckle A, +cratur." + +Gibbie did so, and well too: she found that already he knew about +half the letters. + +"He 's no fule!" she said to herself in triumph. + +The other half soon followed; and she then began to show him +words--not in the Catechism, but in the New Testament. Having told +him what any word was, and led him to consider the letters composing +it, she would desire him to make it on the slate, and he would do so +with tolerable accuracy: she was not very severe about the spelling, +if only it was plain he knew the word. Ere long he began to devise +short ways of making the letters, and soon wrote with remarkable +facility in a character modified from the printed letters. When at +length Janet saw him take the book by himself, and sit pondering +over it, she had not a doubt he was understanding it, and her heart +leapt for joy. He had to ask her a good many words at first, and +often the meaning of one and another; but he seldom asked a question +twice; and as his understanding was far ahead of his reading, he was +able to test a conjectured meaning by the sense or nonsense it made +of the passage. + +One day she turned him to the paraphrases.[2] At once, to his +astonishment, he found there, all silent, yet still the same delight +which Donal used to divide to him from the book of ballants. His +joy was unbounded. He jumped from his seat; he danced, and laughed, +and finally stood upon one leg: no other mode of expression but +this, the expression of utter failure to express, was of avail to +the relief of his feeling. + +One day, a few weeks after Gibbie had begun to read by himself, +Janet became aware that he was sitting on his stool, in what had +come to be called the cratur's corner, more than usually absorbed in +some attempt with slate and pencil--now ceasing, lost in thought, +and now commencing anew. She went near and peeped over his +shoulder. At the top of the slate he had written the word give, +then the word giving, and below them, gib, then gibing; upon these +followed gib again, and he was now plainly meditating something +further. Suddenly he seemed to find what he wanted, for in haste, +almost as if he feared it might escape him, he added a y, making the +word giby--then first lifted his head, and looked round, evidently +seeking her. She laid her hand on his head. He jumped up with one +of his most radiant smiles, and holding out the slate to her, +pointed with his pencil to the word he had just completed. She did +not know it for a word, but sounded it as it seemed to stand, making +the g soft, as I daresay some of my readers, not recognizing in +Gibbie the diminutive of Gilbert, may have treated its more accurate +form. He shook his head sharply, and laid the point of his pencil +upon the g of the give written above. Janet had been his teacher +too long not to see what he meant, and immediately pronounced the +word as he would have it. Upon this he began a wild dance, but +sobering suddenly, sat down, and was instantly again absorbed in +further attempt. It lasted so long that Janet resumed her previous +household occupation. At length he rose, and with thoughtful, +doubtful contemplation of what he had done, brought her the slate. +There, under the fore-gone success, he had written the words +galatians and breath, and under them, galbreath. She read them all, +and at the last, which, witnessing to his success, she pronounced to +his satisfaction, he began another dance, which again he ended +abruptly, to draw her attention once more to the slate. He pointed +to the giby first, and the galbreath next, and she read them +together. This time he did not dance, but seemed waiting some +result. Upon Janet the idea was dawning that he meant himself, but +she was thrown out by the cognomen's correspondence with that of the +laird, which suggested that the boy had been merely attempting the +name of the great man of the district. With this in her mind, and +doubtfully feeling her way, she essayed the tentative of setting him +right in the Christian name, and said: "Thomas--Thomas Galbraith." +Gibbie shook his head as before, and again resumed his seat. +Presently he brought her the slate, with all the rest rubbed out, +and these words standing alone--sir giby galbreath. Janet read them +aloud, whereupon Gibbie began stabbing his forehead with the point +of his slate-pencil, and dancing once more in triumph: he had, he +hoped, for the first time in his life, conveyed a fact through +words. + +"That's what they ca' ye, is't?" said Janet, looking motherly at +him: "--Sir Gibbie Galbraith?" + +Gibbie nodded vehemently. + +"It'll be some nickname the bairns hae gien him," said Janet to +herself, but continued to gaze at him, in questioning doubt of her +own solution. She could not recall having ever heard of a Sir in +the family; but ghosts of things forgotten kept rising formless and +thin in the sky of her memory: had she never heard of a Sir Somebody +Galbraith somewhere? And still she stared at the child, trying to +grasp what she could not even see. By this time Gibbie was standing +quite still, staring at her in return: he could not think what made +her stare so at him. + +"Wha ca'd ye that?" said Janet at length, pointing to the slate. + +Gibbie took the slate, dropped upon his seat, and after considerable +cogitation and effort, brought her the words, gibyse fapher. Janet +for a moment was puzzled, but when she thought of correcting the p +with a t, Gibbie entirely approved. + +"What was yer father, cratur?" she asked. + +Gibbie, after a longer pause, and more evident labour than hitherto, +brought her the enigmatical word, asootr, which, the Sir running +about in her head, quite defeated Janet. Perceiving his failure, he +jumped upon a chair, and reaching after one of Robert's Sunday shoes +on the crap o' the wa', the natural shelf running all round the +cottage, formed by the top of the wall where the rafters rested, +caught hold of it, tumbled with it upon his creepie, took it between +his knees, and began a pantomime of the making or mending of the +same with such verisimilitude of imitation, that it was clear to +Janet he must have been familiar with the processes collectively +called shoemaking; and therewith she recognized the word on the +slate--a sutor. She smiled to herself at the association of name +and trade, and concluded that the Sir at least was a nickname. And +yet--and yet--whether from the presence of some rudiment of an old +memory, or from something about the boy that belonged to a higher +style than his present showing, her mind kept swaying in an +uncertainty whose very object eluded her. + +"What is 't yer wull 'at we ca' ye, than, cratur?" she asked, +anxious to meet the child's own idea of himself. + +He pointed to the giby. + +"Weel, Gibbie," responded Janet,--and at the word, now for the first +time addressed by her to himself, he began dancing more wildly than +ever, and ended with standing motionless on one leg: now first and +at last he was fully recognized for what he was!--"Weel, Gibbie, I +s' ca' ye what ye think fit," said Janet. "An' noo gang yer wa's, +Gibbie, an' see 'at Crummie's no ower far oot o' sicht." + +From that hour Gibbie had his name from the whole family--his +Christian name only, however, Robert and Janet having agreed it +would be wise to avoid whatever might possibly bring the boy again +under the notice of the laird. The latter half of his name they +laid aside for him, as parents do a dangerous or over-valuable gift +to a child. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +RUMOURS. + +Almost from the first moment of his being domiciled on Glashgar, +what with the good food, the fine exercise, the exquisite air, and +his great happiness, Gibbie began to grow; and he took to growing so +fast that his legs soon shot far out of his winsey garment. But, of +all places, that was a small matter in Gormgarnet, where the kilt +was as common as trowsers. His wiry limbs grew larger without +losing their firmness or elasticity; his chest, the effort in +running up hill constantly alternated with the relief of running, +down, rapidly expanded, and his lungs grew hardy as well as +powerful; till he became at length such in wind and muscle, that he +could run down a wayward sheep almost as well as Oscar. And his +nerve grew also with his body and strength, till his coolness and +courage were splendid. Never, when the tide of his affairs ran most +in the shallows, had Gibbie had much acquaintance with fears, but +now he had forgotten the taste of them, and would have encountered a +wild highland bull alone on the mountain, as readily as tie Crummie +up in her byre. + +One afternoon, Donal, having got a half-holiday, by the help of a +friend and the favour of Mistress Jean, came home to see his mother, +and having greeted her, set out to find Gibbie. He had gone a long +way, looking and calling without success, and had come in sight of a +certain tiny loch, or tarn, that filled a hollow of the mountain. +It was called the Deid Pot; and the old awe, amounting nearly to +terror, with which in his childhood he had regarded it, returned +upon him, the moment he saw the dark gleam of it, nearly as strong +as ever--an awe indescribable, arising from mingled feelings of +depth, and darkness, and lateral recesses, and unknown serpent-like +fishes. The pot, though small in surface, was truly of unknown +depth, and had elements of dread about it telling upon far less +active imaginations than Donal's. While he stood gazing at it, +almost afraid to go nearer, a great splash that echoed from the +steep rocks surrounding it, brought his heart into his mouth, and +immediately followed a loud barking, in which he recognized the +voice of Oscar. Before he had well begun to think what it could +mean, Gibbie appeared on the opposite side of the loch, high above +its level, on the top of the rocks forming its basin. He began +instantly a rapid descent towards the water, where the rocks were so +steep, and the footing so precarious, that Oscar wisely remained at +the top, nor attempted to follow him. Presently the dog caught +sight of Donal, where he stood on a lower level, whence the water +was comparatively easy of access, and starting off at full speed, +joined him, with much demonstration of welcome. But he received +little notice from Donal, whose gaze was fixed, with much wonder and +more fear, on the descending Gibbie. Some twenty feet from the +surface of the loch, he reached a point whence clearly, in Donal's +judgment, there was no possibility of farther descent. But Donal +was never more mistaken; for that instant Gibbie flashed from the +face of the rock head foremost, like a fishing bird, into the lake. +Donal gave a cry, and ran to the edge of the water, accompanied by +Oscar, who, all the time, had showed no anxiety, but had stood +wagging his tail, and uttering now and then a little +half-disappointed whine; neither now were his motions as he ran +other than those of frolic and expectancy. When they reached the +loch, there was Gibbie already but a few yards from the only +possible landing-place, swimming with one hand, while in the other +arm he held a baby lamb, its head lying quite still on his shoulder: +it had been stunned by the fall, but might come round again. Then +first Donal began to perceive that the cratur was growing an +athlete. When he landed, he gave Donal a merry laugh of welcome, +but without stopping flew up the hill to take the lamb to its +mother. Fresh from the icy water, he ran so fast that it was all +Donal could do to keep up with him. + +The Deid Pot, then, taught Gibbie what swimming it could, which was +not much, and what diving it could, which was more; but the nights +of the following summer, when everybody on mountain and valley were +asleep, and the moon shone, he would often go down to the Daur, and +throwing himself into its deepest reaches, spend hours in lonely +sport with water and wind and moon. He had by that time learned +things knowing which a man can never be lonesome. + +The few goats on the mountain were for a time very inimical to him. +So often did they butt him over, causing him sometimes severe +bruises, that at last he resolved to try conclusions with them; and +when next a goat made a rush at him, he seized him by the horns and +wrestled with him mightily. This exercise once begun, he provoked +engagements, until his strength and aptitude were such and so well +known, that not a billy-goat on Glashgar would have to do with him. +But when he saw that every one of them ran at his approach, Gibbie, +who could not bear to be in discord with any creature, changed his +behaviour towards them, and took equal pains to reconcile them to +him--nor rested before he had entirely succeeded. + +Every time Donal came home, he would bring some book of verse with +him, and, leading Gibbie to some hollow, shady or sheltered as the +time required, would there read to him ballads, or songs, or verse +more stately, as mood or provision might suggest. The music, the +melody and the cadence and the harmony, the tone and the rhythm and +the time and the rhyme, instead of growing common to him, rejoiced +Gibbie more and more every feast, and with ever-growing reverence he +looked up to Donal as a mighty master-magician. But if Donal could +have looked down into Gibbie's bosom, he would have seen something +there beyond his comprehension. For Gibbie was already in the +kingdom of heaven, and Donal would have to suffer, before he would +begin even to look about for the door by which a man may enter into +it. + +I wonder how much Gibbie was indebted to his constrained silence +during all these years. That he lost by it, no one will doubt; that +he gained also, a few will admit: though I should find it hard to +say what and how great, I cannot doubt it bore an important part in +the fostering of such thoughts and feelings and actions as were +beyond the vision of Donal, poet as he was growing to be. While +Donal read, rejoicing in the music both of sound and sense, Gibbie +was doing something besides: he was listening with the same ears, +and trying to see with the same eyes, which he brought to bear upon +the things Janet taught him out of the book. Already those first +weekly issues, lately commenced, of a popular literature had +penetrated into the mountains of Gormgarnet; but whether Donal read +Blind Harry from a thumbed old modern edition, or some new tale or +neat poem from the Edinburgh press, Gibbie was always placing what +he heard by the side, as it were, of what he knew; asking himself, +in this case and that, what Jesus Christ would have done, or what he +would require of a disciple. There must be one right way, he +argued. Sometimes his innocence failed to see that no disciple of +the Son of Man could, save by fearful failure, be in such +circumstances as the tale or ballad represented. But, whether +successful or not in the individual inquiry, the boy's mind and +heart and spirit, in this silent, unembarrassed brooding, as +energetic as it was peaceful, expanded upwards when it failed to +widen, and the widening would come after. Gifted, from the first of +his being, with such a rare drawing to his kind, he saw his utmost +affection dwarfed by the words and deeds of Jesus--beheld more and +more grand the requirements made of a man who would love his fellows +as Christ loved them. When he sank foiled from any endeavour to +understand how a man was to behave in certain circumstances, these +or those, he always took refuge in doing something--and doing it +better than before; leaped the more eagerly if Robert called him, +spoke the more gently to Oscar, turned the sheep more careful not to +scare them--as if by instinct he perceived that the only hope of +understanding lies in doing. He would cleave to the skirt when the +hand seemed withdrawn; he would run to do the thing he had learned +yesterday, when as yet he could find no answer to the question of +to-day. Thus, as the weeks of solitude and love and thought and +obedience glided by, the reality of Christ grew upon him, till he +saw the very rocks and heather and the faces of the sheep like him, +and felt his presence everywhere, and ever coming nearer. Nor did +his imagination aid only a little in the growth of his being. He +would dream waking dreams about Jesus, gloriously childlike. He +fancied he came down every now and then to see how things were going +in the lower part of his kingdom; and that when he did so, he made +use of Glashgar and its rocks for his stair, coming down its granite +scale in the morning, and again, when he had ended his visit, going +up in the evening by the same steps. Then high and fast would his +heart beat at the thought that some day he might come upon his path +just when he had passed, see the heather lifting its head from the +trail of his garment, or more slowly out of the prints left by his +feet, as he walked up the stairs of heaven, going back to his +Father. Sometimes, when a sheep stopped feeding and looked up +suddenly, he would fancy that Jesus had laid his hand on its head, +and was now telling it that it must not mind being killed; for he +had been killed, and it was all right. + +Although he could read the New Testament for himself now, he always +preferred making acquaintance with any new portion of it first from +the mouth of Janet. Her voice made the word more of a word to him. +But the next time he read, it was sure to be what she had then +read. She was his priestess; the opening of her Bible was the +opening of a window in heaven; her cottage was the porter's lodge to +the temple; his very sheep were feeding on the temple-stairs. Smile +at such fancies if you will, but think also whether they may not be +within sight of the greatest of facts. Of all teachings that which +presents a far distant God is the nearest to absurdity. Either +there is none, or he is nearer to every one of us than our nearest +consciousness of self. An unapproachable divinity is the veriest of +monsters, the most horrible of human imaginations. + +When the winter came, with its frost and snow, Gibbie saved Robert +much suffering. At first Robert was unwilling to let him go out +alone in stormy weather; but Janet believed that the child doing the +old man's work would be specially protected. All through the hard +time, therefore, Gibbie went and came, and no evil befell him. +Neither did he suffer from the cold; for, a sheep having died +towards the end of the first autumn, Robert, in view of Gibbie's +coming necessity, had begged of his master the skin, and dressed it +with the wool upon it; and of this, between the three of them, they +made a coat for him; so that he roamed the hill like a savage, in a +garment of skin. + +It became, of course, before very long, well known about the country +that Mr. Duff's crofters upon Glashgar had taken in and were +bringing up a foundling--some said an innocent, some said a wild +boy--who helped Robert with his sheep, and Janet with her cow, but +could not speak a word of either Gaelic or English. By and by, +strange stories came to be told of his exploits, representing him as +gifted with bodily powers as much surpassing the common, as his +mental faculties were assumed to be under the ordinary standard. +The rumour concerning him swelled as well as spread, mainly from +the love of the marvellous common in the region, I suppose, until, +towards the end of his second year on Glashgar, the notion of Gibbie +in the imaginations of the children of Daurside, was that of an +almost supernatural being, who had dwelt upon, or rather who had +haunted, Glashgar from time immemorial, and of whom they had been +hearing all their lives; and, although they had never heard anything +bad of him--that he was wild, that he wore a hairy skin, that he +could do more than any other boy dared attempt, that he was dumb, +and that yet (for this also was said) sheep and dogs and cattle, and +even the wild creatures of the mountain, could understand him +perfectly--these statements were more than enough, acting on the +suspicion and fear belonging to the savage in their own bosoms, to +envelope the idea of him in a mist of dread, deepening to such +horror in the case of the more timid and imaginative of them, that +when the twilight began to gather about the cottages and farmhouses, +the very mention of "the beast-loon o' Glashgar" was enough, and +that for miles up and down the river, to send many of the children +scouring like startled hares into the house. Gibbie, in his +atmosphere of human grace and tenderness, little thought what clouds +of foolish fancies, rising from the valleys below, had, by their +distorting vapours, made of him an object of terror to those whom at +the very first sight he would have loved and served. Amongst these, +perhaps the most afraid of him were the children of the gamekeeper, +for they lived on the very foot of the haunted hill, near the bridge +and gate of Glashruach; and the laird himself happened one day to be +witness of their fear. He inquired the cause, and yet again was his +enlightened soul vexed by the persistency with which the shadows of +superstition still hung about his lands. Had he been half as +philosophical as he fancied himself, he might have seen that there +was not necessarily a single film of superstition involved in the +belief that a savage roamed a mountain--which was all that Mistress +Mac Pholp, depriving the rumour of its richer colouring, ventured to +impart as the cause of her children's perturbation; but anything a +hair's-breadth out of the common, was a thing hated of Thomas +Galbraith's soul, and whatever another believed which he did not +choose to believe, he set down at once as superstition. He held +therefore immediate communication with his gamekeeper on the +subject, who in his turn was scandalized that his children should +have thus proved themselves unworthy of the privileges of their +position, and given annoyance to the liberal soul of their master, +and took care that both they and his wife should suffer in +consequence. The expression of the man's face as he listened to the +laird's complaint, would not have been a pleasant sight to any lover +of Gibbie; but it had not occurred either to master or man that the +offensive being whose doubtful existence caused the scandal, was the +same towards whom they had once been guilty of such brutality; nor +would their knowledge of the fact have been favourable to Gibbie. +The same afternoon, the laird questioned his tenant of the Mains +concerning his cottars; and was assured that better or more +respectable people were not in all the region of Gormgarnet. + +When Robert became aware, chiefly through the representations of his +wife and Donal, of Gibbie's gifts of other kinds than those revealed +to himself by his good shepherding, he began to turn it over in his +mind, and by and by referred the question to his wife whether they +ought not to send the boy to school, that he might learn the things +he was so much more than ordinarily capable of learning. Janet would +give no immediate opinion. She must think, she said; and she took +three days to turn the matter over in her mind. Her questioning +cogitation was to this effect: "What need has a man to know anything +but what the New Testament teaches him? Life was little to me +before I began to understand its good news; now it is more than +good--it is grand. But then, man is to live by every word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God; and everything came out of his +mouth, when he said, Let there be this, and Let there be that. +Whatever is true is his making, and the more we know of it the +better. Besides, how much less of the New Testament would I +understand now, if it were not for things I had gone through and +learned before!" + +"Ay, Robert," she answered, without preface, the third day, "I'm +thinkin' there's a heap o' things, gien I hed them, 'at wad help me +to ken what the Maister spak till. It wad be a sin no to lat the +laddie learn. But wha'll tak the trible needfu' to the learnin' o' +a puir dummie?" + +"Lat him gang doon to the Mains, an' herd wi' Donal," answered +Robert. "He kens a hantle mair nor you or me or Gibbie aither; an' +whan he's learnt a' 'at Donal can shaw him it'll be time to think +what neist." + +"Weel," answered Janet, "nane can say but that's sense, Robert; an' +though I'm laith, for your sake mair nor my ain, to lat the laddie +gang, let him gang to Donal. I houp, atween the twa, they winna lat +the nowt amo' the corn." + +"The corn's 'maist cuttit noo," replied Robert; "an' for the maitter +o' that, twa guid consciences winna blaw ane anither oot.--But he +needna gang ilka day. He can gie ae day to the learnin', an' the +neist to thinkin' aboot it amo' the sheep. An' ony day 'at ye want +to keep him, ye can keep him; for it winna be as gien he gaed to the +schuil." + +Gibbie was delighted with the proposal. + +"Only," said Robert, in final warning, "dinna ye lat them tak ye, +Gibbie, an' score yer back again, my cratur; an' dinna ye answer +naebody, whan they speir what ye're ca'd, onything mair nor jist +Gibbie." + +The boy laughed and nodded, and, as Janet said, the bairn's nick was +guid 's the best man's word. + +Now came a happy time for the two boys. Donal began at once to +teach Gibbie Euclid and arithmetic. When they had had enough of +that for a day, he read Scotish history to him; and when they had +done what seemed their duty by that, then came the best of the +feast--whatever tales or poetry Donal had laid his hands upon. + +Somewhere about this time it was that he first got hold of a copy of +the Paradise Lost. He found that he could not make much of it. But +he found also that, as before with the ballads, when he read from it +aloud to Gibbie, his mere listening presence sent back a spiritual +echo that helped him to the meaning; and when neither of them +understood it, the grand organ roll of it, losing nothing in the +Scotch voweling, delighted them both. + +Once they were startled by seeing the gamekeeper enter the field. +The moment he saw him, Gibbie laid himself flat on the ground, but +ready to spring to his feet and run. The man, however, did not come +near them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE GAMEKEEPER + +The second winter came, and with the first frost Gibbie resumed his +sheepskin coat and the brogues and leggings which he had made for +himself of deer-hide tanned with the hair. It pleased the two old +people to see him so warmly clad. It pleased them also that, thus +dressed, he always reminded them of some sacred personage +undetermined--Jacob, or John the Baptist, or the man who went to +meet the lion and be killed by him--in Robert's big Bible, that is, +in one or other of the woodcuts of the same. Very soon the stories +about him were all stirred up afresh, and new rumours added. This +one and that of the children declared they had caught sight of the +beast-loon, running about the rocks like a goat; and one day a boy +of Angus's own, who had been a good way up the mountain, came home +nearly dead with terror, saying the beast-loon had chased him a long +way. He did not add that he had been throwing stones at the sheep, +not perceiving any one in charge of them. So, one fine morning in +December, having nothing particular to attend to, Angus shouldered +his double-barrelled gun, and set out for a walk over Glashgar, in +the hope of coming upon the savage that terrified the children. He +must be off. That was settled. Where Angus was in authority, the +outlandish was not to be suffered. The sun shone bright, and a keen +wind was blowing. + +About noon he came in sight of a few sheep, in a sheltered spot, +where were little patches of coarse grass among the heather. On a +stone, a few yards above them, sat Gibbie, not reading, as he would +be half the time now, but busied with a Pan's-pipes--which, under +Donal's direction, he had made for himself--drawing from them +experimental sounds, and feeling after the possibility of a melody. +He was so much occupied that he did not see Angus approach, who now +stood for a moment or two regarding him. He was hirsute as Esau, +his head crowned with its own plentiful crop--even in winter he wore +no cap--his body covered with the wool of the sheep, and his legs +and feet with the hide of the deer--the hair, as in nature, outward. +The deer-skin Angus knew for what it was from afar, and concluding +it the spoil of the only crime of which he recognized the enormity, +whereas it was in truth part of a skin he had himself sold to a +saddler in the next village, to make sporrans of, boiled over with +wrath, and strode nearer, grinding his teeth. Gibbie looked up, +knew him, and starting to his feet, turned to the hill. Angus, +levelling his gun, shouted to him to stop, but Gibbie only ran the +harder, nor once looked round. Idiotic with rage, Angus fired. One +of his barrels was loaded with shot, the other with ball: meaning to +use the shot barrel, he pulled the wrong trigger, and liberated the +bullet. It went through the calf of Gibbie's right leg, and he +fell. It had, however, passed between two muscles without injuring +either greatly, and had severed no artery. The next moment he was +on his feet again and running, nor did he yet feel pain. Happily he +was not very far from home, and he made for it as fast as he +could--preceded by Oscar, who, having once by accident been shot +himself, had a mortal terror of guns. Maimed as Gibbie was, he +could yet run a good deal faster up hill than the rascal who +followed him. But long before he reached the cottage, the pain had +arrived, and the nearer he got to it the worse it grew. In spite of +the anguish, however, he held on with determination; to be seized by +Angus and dragged down to Glashruach, would be far worse. + +Robert Grant was at home that day, suffering from rheumatism. He +was seated in the ingle-neuk, with his pipe in his mouth, and Janet +was just taking the potatoes for their dinner off the fire, when the +door flew open, and in stumbled Gibbie, and fell on the floor. The +old man threw his pipe from him, and rose trembling, but Janet was +before him. She dropt down on her knees beside the boy, and put her +arm under his head. He was white and motionless. + +"Eh, Robert Grant!" she cried, "he's bleedin'." + +The same moment they heard quick yet heavy steps approaching. At +once Robert divined the truth, and a great wrath banished rheumatism +and age together. Like a boy he sprang to the crap o' the wa', +whence his yet powerful hand came back armed with a huge rusty old +broad-sword that had seen service in its day. Two or three fierce +tugs at the hilt proving the blade immovable in the sheath, and the +steps being now almost at the door, he clubbed the weapon, grasping +it by the sheathed blade, and holding it with the edge downward, so +that the blow he meant to deal should fall from the round of the +basket hilt. As he heaved it aloft, the gray old shepherd seemed +inspired by the god of battles; the rage of a hundred ancestors was +welling up in his peaceful breast. His red eye flashed, and the few +hairs that were left him stood erect on his head like the mane of a +roused lion. Ere Angus had his second foot over the threshold, down +came the helmet-like hilt with a dull crash on his head, and he +staggered against the wall. + +"Tak ye that, Angus Mac Pholp!" panted Robert through his clenched +teeth, following the blow with another from his fist, that +prostrated the enemy. Again he heaved his weapon, and standing over +him where he lay, more than half-stunned, said in a hoarse voice, + +"By the great God my maker, Angus Mac Pholp, gien ye seek to rise, +I'll come doon on ye again as ye lie!--Here, Oscar!--He's no ane to +haud ony fair play wi', mair nor a brute beast.--Watch him, Oscar, +and tak him by the thro't gien he muv a finger." + +The gun had dropped from Angus's hand, and Robert, keeping his eye +on him, secured it. + +"She's lodd," muttered Angus. + +"Lie still than," returned Robert, pointing the weapon at his head. + +"It'll be murder," said Angus, and made a movement to lay hold of +the barrel. + +"Haud him doon, Oscar," cried Robert. The dog's paws were instantly +on his chest, and his teeth grinning within an inch of his face. +Angus vowed in his heart he would kill the beast on the first +chance. "It wad be but blude for blude, Angus Mac Pholp," he went +on. "Yer hoor's come, my man. That bairn's is no the first blude o' +man ye hae shed, an' it's time the Scripture was fulfillt, an' the +han' o' man shed yours." + +"Ye're no gauin to kill me, Rob Grant?" growled the fellow in +growing fright. + +"I'm gauin to see whether the shirra winna be perswaudit to hang +ye," answered the shepherd. "This maun be putten a stap +till.--Quaiet! or I'll brain ye, an' save him the trouble.--Here, +Janet, fess yer pot o' pitawtas. I'm gauin to toom the man's gun. +Gien he daur to muv, jist gie him the haill bilin', bree an a', i' +the ill face o' 'm; gien ye lat him up he'll kill's a'; only tak +care an' haud aff o' the dog, puir fallow!--I wad lay the stock o' +yer murderin' gun i' the fire gien 'twarna 'at I reckon it's the +laird's an' no yours. Ye're no fit to be trustit wi' a gun. Ye're +waur nor a weyver." + +So saying he carried the weapon to the door, and, in terror lest he +might, through wrath or the pressure of dire necessity, use it +against his foe, emptied its second barrel into the earth, and +leaned it up against the wall outside. + +Janet obeyed her husband so far as to stand over Angus with the +potato-pot: how far she would have carried her obedience had he +attempted to rise may remain a question. Doubtless a brave man +doing his duty would have scorned to yield himself thus; but right +and wrong had met face to face, and the wrong had a righteous +traitor in his citadel. + +When Robert returned and relieved her guard, Janet went back to +Gibbie, whom she had drawn towards the fire. He lay almost +insensible, but in vain Janet attempted to get a teaspoonful of +whisky between his lips. For as he grew older, his horror of it +increased; and now, even when he was faint and but half conscious, +his physical nature seemed to recoil from contact with it. It was +with signs of disgust, rubbing his mouth with the back of each hand +alternately, that he first showed returning vitality. In a minute +or two more he was able to crawl to his bed in the corner, and then +Janet proceeded to examine his wound. + +By this time his leg was much swollen, but the wound had almost +stopped bleeding, and it was plain there was no bullet in it, for +there were the two orifices. She washed it carefully and bound it +up. Then Gibbie raised his head and looked somewhat anxiously round +the room. + +"Ye're luikin' efter Angus?" said Janet; "he's yon'er upo' the +flure, a twa yairds frae ye. Dinna be fleyt; yer father an' Oscar +has him safe eneuch, I s' warran'." + +"Here, Janet!" cried her husband; "gien ye be throu' wi' the bairn, +I maun be gauin'." + +"Hoot, Robert! ye're no surely gauin' to lea' me an' puir Gibbie, +'at maunna stir, i' the hoose oor lanes wi' the murderin' man!" +returned Janet. + +"'Deed am I, lass! Jist rin and fess the bit tow 'at ye hing yer +duds upo' at the washin', an' we'll bin' the feet an' the han's o' +'im." + +Janet obeyed and went. Angus, who had been quiet enough for the +last ten minutes, meditating and watching, began to swear furiously, +but Robert paid no more heed than if he had not heard him--stood +calm and grim at his head, with the clubbed sword heaved over his +shoulder. When she came back, by her husband's directions, she +passed the rope repeatedly round the keeper's ankles, then several +times between them, drawing the bouts tightly together, so that, +instead of the two sharing one ring, each ankle had now, as it were, +a close-fitting one for itself. Again and again, as she tied it, +did Angus meditate a sudden spring, but the determined look of +Robert, and his feeling memory of the blows he had so unsparingly +delivered upon him, as well as the weakening effect of that he had +received on his head, caused him to hesitate until it was altogether +too late. When they began to bind his hands, however, he turned +desperate, and struck at both, cursing and raging. + +"Gien ye binna quaiet, ye s' taste the dog's teeth," said +Robert.--Angus reflected that he would have a better chance when he +was left alone with Janet, and yielded.--"Troth!" Robert went on, +as he continued his task, "I hae no pity left for ye, Angus Mac +Pholp; an' gien ye tyauve ony mair, I'll lat at ye. I wad care no +more to caw oot yer harns nor I wad to kill a tod (fox). To be +hangt for't, I wad be but prood. It's a fine thing to be hangt for +a guid cause, but ye'll be hangt for an ill ane.--Noo, Janet, fess a +bun'le o' brackens frae the byre, an' lay aneth's heid. We maunna +be sairer upo' him, nor the needcessity laid upo' hiz. I s' jist +trail him aff o' the door, an' a bit on to the fire, for he'll be +cauld whan he's quaitet doon, an' syne I'll awa' an' get word o' the +shirra'. Scotlan's come till a pretty pass, whan they shot men wi' +guns, as gien they war wull craturs to be peelt an' aiten. Care +what set him! He may weel be a keeper o' ghem, for he's as ill a +keeper o' 's brither as auld Cain himsel'. But," he concluded, +tying the last knot hard, "we'll e'en dee what we can to keep the +keeper." + +It was seldom Robert spoke at such length, but the provocation, the +wrath, the conflict, and the victory, had sent the blood rushing +through his brain, and loosed his tongue like strong drink. + +"Ye'll tak yer denner afore ye gang, Robert," said his wife. + +"Na, I can ait naething; I'll tak a bannock i' my pooch. Ye can gie +my denner to Angus: he'll want hertenin' for the wuddie (gallows)." + +So saying he put the bannock in his pocket, flung his broad blue +bonnet upon his head, took his stick, and ordering Oscar to remain +at home and watch the prisoner, set out for a walk of five miles, as +if he had never known such a thing as rheumatism. He must find +another magistrate than the laird; he would not trust him where his +own gamekeeper, Angus Mac Pholp, was concerned. + +"Keep yer ee upon him, Janet," he said, turning in the doorway. +"Dinna lowse sicht o' him afore I come back wi' the constable. +Dinna lippen. I s' be back in three hoors like." + +With these words he turned finally, and disappeared. + +The mortification of Angus as he lay thus trapped in the den of the +beast-loon, at being taken and bound by an old man, a woman, and a +collie dog, was extreme. He went over the whole affair again and +again in his mind, ever with a fresh burst of fury. It was in vain +he excused himself on the ground that the attack had been so sudden +and treacherous, and the precautions taken so complete. He had +proved himself an ass, and the whole country would ring with mockery +of him! He had sense enough, too, to know that he was in a serious +as well as ludicrous predicament: he had scarcely courage enough to +contemplate the possible result. If he could but get his hands +free, it would be easy to kill Oscar and disable Janet. For the +idiot, he counted him nothing. He had better wait, however, until +there should be no boiling liquid ready to her hand. + +Janet set out the dinner, peeled some potatoes, and approaching +Angus, would have fed him. In place of accepting her ministration, +he fell to abusing her with the worst language he could find. She +withdrew without a word, and sat down to her own dinner; but, +finding the torrent of vituperation kept flowing, rose again, and +going to the door, fetched a great jug of cold water from the pail +that always stood there, and coming behind her prisoner, emptied it +over his face. He gave a horrid yell taking the douche for a +boiling one. + +"Ye needna cry oot like that at guid cauld watter," said Janet. "But +ye'll jist absteen frae ony mair sic words i' my hearin', or ye s' +get the like ilka time ye brak oot." As she spoke, she knelt, and +wiped his face and head with her apron. + +A fresh oath rushed to Angus's lips, but the fear of a second jugful +made him suppress it, and Janet sat down again to her dinner. She +could scarcely eat a mouthful, however, for pity of the rascal +beside her, at whom she kept looking wistfully without daring again +to offer him anything. + +While she sat thus, she caught a swift investigating look he cast on +the cords that bound his hands, and then at the fire. She perceived +at once what was passing in his mind. Rising, she went quickly to +the byre, and returned immediately with a chain they used for +tethering the cow. The end of it she slipt deftly round his neck, +and made it fast, putting the little bar through a link. + +"Ir ye gauin' to hang me, ye she-deevil?" he cried, making a futile +attempt to grasp the chain with his bound hands. + +"Ye'll be wantin' a drappy mair cauld watter, I'm thinkin'," said +Janet. + +She stretched the chain to its length, and with a great stone drove +the sharp iron stake at the other end of it, into the clay-floor. +Fearing next that, bound as his hands were, he might get a hold of +the chain and drag out the stake, or might even contrive to remove +the rope from his feet with them, or that he might indeed with his +teeth undo the knot that confined his hands themselves--she got a +piece of rope, and made a loop at the end of it, then watching her +opportunity passed the loop between his hands, noosed the other end +through it, and drew the noose tight. The free end of the rope she +put through the staple that received the bolt of the cottage-door, +and gradually, as he grew weary in pulling against her, tightened +the rope until she had his arms at their stretch beyond his head. +Not quite satisfied yet, she lastly contrived, in part by setting +Oscar to occupy his attention, to do the same with his feet, +securing them to a heavy chest in the corner opposite the door, upon +which chest she heaped a pile of stones. If it pleased the Lord to +deliver them from this man, she would have her honest part in the +salvation! And now at last she believed she had him safe. + +Gibbie had fallen asleep, but he now woke and she gave him his +dinner; then redd up, and took her Bible. Gibbie had lain down +again, and she thought he was asleep. + +Angus grew more and more uncomfortable, both in body and in mind. +He knew he was hated throughout the country, and had hitherto +rather enjoyed the knowledge; but now he judged that the popular +feeling, by no means a mere prejudice, would tell against him +committed for trial. He knew also that the magistrate to whom +Robert had betaken himself, was not over friendly with his master, +and certainly would not listen to any intercession from him. At +length, what with pain, hunger, and fear, his pride began to yield, +and, after an hour had passed in utter silence, he condescended to +parley. + +"Janet Grant," he said, "lat me gang, an' I'll trouble you or yours +no more." + +"Wadna ye think me some fule to hearken till ye?" suggested Janet. + +"I'll sweir ony lawfu' aith 'at ye like to lay upo' me," protested +Angus, "'at I'll dee whatever ye please to require o' me." + +"I dinna doobt ye wad sweir; but what neist?" said Janet. + +"What neist but ye'll lowse my han's?" rejoined Angus. + +"It's no mainner o' use mentionin' 't," replied Janet; "for, as ye +ken, I'm un'er authority, an' yersel' h'ard my man tell me to tak +unco percaution no to lat ye gang; for verily, Angus, ye hae +conduckit yersel' this day more like ane possessed wi' a legion, +than the douce faimily man 'at ye're supposit by the laird, yer +maister, to be." + +"Was ever man," protested Angus "made sic a fule o', an' sae +misguidit, by a pair o' auld cottars like you an' Robert Grant!" + +"Wi' the help o' the Lord, by means o' the dog," supplemented Janet. +"I wuss frae my hert I hed the great reid draigon i' yer place, an' +I wad watch him bonny, I can tell ye, Angus Mac Pholp. I wadna be +clear aboot giein him his denner, Angus." + +"Let me gang, wuman, wi' yer reid draigons! I'll hairm naebody. +The puir idiot's no muckle the waur, an' I'll tak mair tent whan I +fire anither time." + +"Wiser fowk nor me maun see to that," answered Janet. + +"Hoots, wuman! it was naething but an accident." + +"I kenna; but it'll be seen what Gibbie says." + +"Awva! his word's guid for naething." + +"For a penny, or a thoosan' poun'." + +"My wife 'll be oot o' her wuts," pleaded Angus. + +"Wad ye like a drink o' milk?" asked Janet, rising. + +"I wad that," he answered. + +She filled her little teapot with milk, and he drank it from the +spout, hoping she was on the point of giving way. + +"Noo," she said, when he had finished his draught, "ye maun jist mak +the best o' it, Angus. Ony gait, it's a guid lesson in patience to +ye, an' that ye haena had ower aften, I'm thinkin'--Robert'll be +here er lang." + +With these words she set down the teapot, and went out: it was time +to milk her cow. + +In a little while Gibbie rose, tried to walk, but failed, and +getting down on his hands and knees, crawled out after her. Angus +caught a glimpse of his face as he crept past him, and then first +recognized the boy he had lashed. Not compunction, but an +occasional pang of dread lest he should have been the cause of his +death, and might come upon his body in one of his walks, had served +so to fix his face in his memory, that, now he had a near view of +him, pale with suffering and loss of blood and therefore more like +his former self, he knew him beyond a doubt. With a great shoot of +terror he concluded that the idiot had been lying there silently +gloating over his revenge, waiting only till Janet should be out of +sight, and was now gone after some instrument wherewith to take it. +He pulled and tugged at his bonds, but only to find escape +absolutely hopeless. In gathering horror, he lay moveless at last, +but strained his hearing towards every sound. + +Not only did Janet often pray with Gibbie, but sometimes as she +read, her heart would grow so full, her soul be so pervaded with the +conviction, perhaps the consciousness, of the presence of the man +who had said he would be always with his friends, that, sitting +there on her stool, she would begin talking to him out of the very +depth of her life, just as if she saw him in Robert's chair in the +ingle-neuk, at home in her cottage as in the house where Mary sat at +his feet and heard his word. Then would Gibbie listen indeed, awed +by very gladness. He never doubted that Jesus was there, or that +Janet saw him all the time although he could not. + +This custom of praying aloud, she had grown into so long before +Gibbie came to her, and he was so much and such a child, that his +presence was no check upon the habit. It came in part from the +intense reality of her belief, and was in part a willed fostering of +its intensity. She never imagined that words were necessary; she +believed that God knew her every thought, and that the moment she +lifted up her heart, it entered into communion with him; but the +very sound of the words she spoke seemed to make her feel nearer to +the man who, being the eternal Son of the Father, yet had ears to +hear and lips to speak, like herself. To talk to him aloud, also +kept her thoughts together, helped her to feel the fact of the +things she contemplated, as well as the reality of his presence. + +Now the byre was just on the other side of the turf wall against +which was the head of Gibbie's bed, and through the wall Gibbie had +heard her voice, with that something in the tone of it which let him +understand she was not talking to Crummie, but to Crummie's maker; +and it was therefore he had got up and gone after her. For there +was no reason, so far as he knew or imagined, why he should not +hear, as so many times before, what she was saying to the Master. +He supposed that as she could not well speak to him in the presence +of a man like Angus, she had gone out to the byre to have her talk +with him there. He crawled to the end of the cottage so silently +that she heard no sound of his approach. He would not go into the +byre, for that might disturb her, for she would have to look up to +know that it was only Gibbie; he would listen at the door. He found +it wide open, and peeping in, saw Crummie chewing away, and Janet on +her knees with her forehead leaning against the cow and her hands +thrown up over her shoulder. She spoke in such a voice of troubled +entreaty as he had never heard from her before, but which yet woke a +strange vibration of memory in his deepest heart.--Yes, it was his +father's voice it reminded him of! So had he cried in prayer the +last time he ever heard him speak. What she said was nearly this: + +"O Lord, gin ye wad but say what ye wad hae deen! Whan a body disna +ken yer wull, she's jist driven to distraction. Thoo knows, my +Maister, as weel's I can tell ye, 'at gien ye said till me, 'That +man's gauin' to cut yer thro't: tak the tows frae him, an' lat him +up,' I wad rin to dee't. It's no revenge, Lord; it's jist 'at I +dinna ken. The man's dune me no ill, 'cep' as he's sair hurtit yer +bonnie Gibbie. It's Gibbie 'at has to forgie 'im an' syne me. But +my man tellt me no to lat him up, an' hoo am I to be a wife sic as +ye wad hae, O Lord, gien I dinna dee as my man tellt me! It wad ill +befit me to lat my auld Robert gang sae far wantin' his denner, a' +for naething. What wad he think whan he cam hame! Of coorse, Lord, +gien ye tellt me, that wad mak a' the differ, for ye're Robert's +maister as weel's mine, an' your wull wad saitisfee him jist as +weel's me. I wad fain lat him gang, puir chiel! but I daurna. +Lord, convert him to the trowth. Lord, lat him ken what hate +is.--But eh, Lord! I wuss ye wad tell me what to du. Thy wull's +the beginnin' an' mids an' en' o' a' thing to me. I'm wullin' +eneuch to lat him gang, but he's Robert's pris'ner an' Gibbie's +enemy; he's no my pris'ner an' no my enemy, an' I dinna think I hae +the richt. An' wha kens but he micht gang shottin' mair fowk yet, +'cause I loot him gang!--But he canna shot a hare wantin' thy wull, +O Jesus, the Saviour o' man an' beast; an' ill wad I like to hae a +han' i' the hangin' o' 'm. He may deserve 't, Lord, I dinna ken; +but I'm thinkin' ye made him no sae weel tempered--as my Robert, for +enstance." + +Here her voice ceased, and she fell a moaning. + +Her trouble was echoed in dim pain from Gibbie's soul. That the +prophetess who knew everything, the priestess who was at home in the +very treasure-house of the great king, should be thus abandoned to +dire perplexity, was a dreadful, a bewildering fact. But now first +he understood the real state of the affair in the purport of the old +man's absence; also how he was himself potently concerned in the +business: if the offence had been committed against Gibbie, then +with Gibbie lay the power, therefore the duty of forgiveness. But +verily Gibbie's merit and his grace were in inverse ratio. Few +things were easier to him than to love his enemies, and his merit in +obeying the commandment was small indeed. No enemy had as yet done +him, in his immediate person, the wrong he could even imagine it +hard to forgive. No sooner had Janet ceased than he was on his way +back to the cottage: on its floor lay one who had to be waited upon +with forgiveness. + +Wearied with futile struggles, Angus found himself compelled to +abide his fate, and was lying quite still when Gibbie re-entered. +The boy thought he was asleep, but on the contrary he was watching +his every motion, full of dread. Gibbie went hopping upon one foot +to the hole in the wall where Janet kept the only knife she had. It +was not there. He glanced round, but could not see it. There was +no time to lose. Robert's returning steps might be heard any +moment, and poor Angus might be hanged--only for shooting Gibbie! +He hopped up to him and examined the knots that tied his hands: +they were drawn so tight--in great measure by his own struggles--and +so difficult to reach from their position, that he saw it would take +him a long time to undo them. Angus thought, with fresh horror, he +was examining them to make sure they would hold, and was so absorbed +in watching his movements that he even forgot to curse, which was +the only thing left him. Gibbie looked round again for a moment, as +if in doubt, then darted upon the tongs--there was no poker--and +thrust them into the fire, caught up the asthmatic old bellows, and +began to blow the peats. Angus saw the first action, heard the +second, and a hideous dismay clutched his very heart: the savage +fool was about to take his revenge in pinches with the red hot +tongs! He looked for no mercy--perhaps felt that he deserved none. +Manhood held him silent until he saw him take the implement of +torture from the fire, glowing, not red but white hot, when he +uttered such a terrific yell, that Gibbie dropped the tongs--happily +not the hot ends--on his own bare foot, but caught them up again +instantly, and made a great hop to Angus: if Janet had heard that +yell and came in, all would be spoilt. But the faithless keeper +began to struggle so fiercely, writhing with every contortion, and +kicking with every inch, left possible to him, that Gibbie hardly +dared attempt anything for dread of burning him, while he sent yell +after yell "as fast as mill-wheels strike." With a sudden thought +Gibbie sprang to the door and locked it, so that Janet should not +get in, and Angus, hearing the bolt, was the more convinced that his +purpose was cruel, and struggled and yelled, with his eyes fixed on +the glowing tongs, now fast cooling in Gibbie's hand. If instead of +glowering at the tongs, he had but lent one steadfast regard to the +face of the boy whom he took for a demoniacal idiot, he would have +seen his supposed devil smile the sweetest of human, troubled, +pitiful smiles. Even then, I suspect, however, his eye being evil, +he would have beheld in the smile only the joy of malice in the near +prospect of a glut of revenge. + +In the mean time Janet, in her perplexity, had, quite forgetful of +the poor cow's necessities, abandoned Crummie, and wandered down the +path as far as the shoulder her husband must cross ascending from +the other side: thither, a great rock intervening, so little of +Angus's cries reached, that she heard nothing through the deafness +of her absorbing appeal for direction to her shepherd, the master of +men. + +Gibbie thrust the tongs again into the fire, and while blowing it, +bethought him that it might give Angus confidence if he removed the +chain from his neck. He laid down the bellows, and did so. But to +Angus the action seemed only preparatory to taking him by the throat +with the horrible implement. In his agony and wild endeavour to +frustrate the supposed intent, he struggled harder than ever. But +now Gibbie was undoing the rope fastened round the chest. This +Angus did not perceive, and when it came suddenly loose in the midst +of one of his fierce straining contortions, the result was that he +threw his body right over his head, and lay on his face for a moment +confused. Gibbie saw his advantage. He snatched his clumsy tool +out of the fire, seated himself on the corresponding part of Angus's +person, and seizing with the tongs the rope between his feet, held +on to both, in spite of his heaves and kicks. In the few moments +that passed while Gibbie burned through a round of the rope, Angus +imagined a considerable number of pangs; but when Gibbie rose and +hopped away, he discovered that his feet were at liberty, and +scrambled up, his head dizzy, and his body reeling. But such was +then the sunshine of delight in Gibbie's countenance that even Angus +stared at him for a moment--only, however, with a vague reflection +on the inconsequentiality of idiots, to which succeeded the impulse +to take vengeance upon him for his sufferings. But Gibbie still had +the tongs, and Angus's hands were still tied. He held them out to +him. Gibbie pounced upon the knots with hands and teeth. They +occupied him some little time, during which Angus was almost +compelled to take better cognizance of the face of the savage; and +dull as he was to the good things of human nature, he was yet in a +measure subdued by what he there looked upon rather than perceive; +while he could scarcely mistake the hearty ministration of his teeth +and nails! The moment his hands were free, Gibbie looked up at him +with a smile, and Angus did not even box his ears. Holding by the +wall, Gibbie limped to the door and opened it. With a nod meant for +thanks, the gamekeeper stepped out, took up his gun from where it +leaned against the wall, and hurried away down the hill. A moment +sooner and he would have met Janet; but she had just entered the +byre again to milk poor Crummie. + +When she came into the cottage, she stared with astonishment to see +no Angus on the floor. Gibbie, who had lain down again in much +pain, made signs that he had let him go: whereupon such a look of +relief came over her countenance that he was filled with fresh +gladness, and was if possible more satisfied still with what he had +done. + +It was late before Robert returned--alone, weary, and disappointed. +The magistrate was from home; he had waited for him as long as he +dared; but at length, both because of his wife's unpleasant +position, and the danger to himself if he longer delayed his journey +across the mountain, seeing it threatened a storm, and there was no +moon, he set out. That he too was relieved to find no Angus there, +he did not attempt to conceal. The next day he went to see him, and +told him that, to please Gibbie, he had consented to say nothing +more about the affair. Angus could not help being sullen, but he +judged it wise to behave as well as he could, kept his temper +therefore, and said he was sorry he had been so hasty, but that +Robert had punished him pretty well, for it would be weeks before he +recovered the blow on the head he had given him. So they parted on +tolerable terms, and there was no further persecution of Gibbie from +that quarter. + +It was some time before he was able to be out again, but no hour +spent with Janet was lost. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A VOICE. + +That winter the old people were greatly tried with rheumatism; for +not only were the frosts severe, but there was much rain between. +Their children did all in their power to minister to their wants, +and Gibbie was nurse as well as shepherd. He who when a child had +sought his place in the live universe by attending on drunk people +and helping them home through the midnight streets, might have felt +himself promoted considerably in having the necessities of such as +Robert and Janet to minister to, but he never thought of that. It +made him a little mournful sometimes to think that he could not read +to them. Janet, however, was generally able to read aloud. Robert, +being also asthmatic, suffered more than she, and was at times a +little impatient. + +Gibbie still occupied his heather-bed on the floor, and it was part +of his business, as nurse, to keep up a good fire on the hearth: +peats, happily, were plentiful. Awake for this cause, he heard in +the middle of one night, the following dialogue between the husband +and wife. + +"I'm growin' terrible auld, Janet," said Robert. "It's a sair thing +this auld age, an' I canna bring mysel' content wi' 't. Ye see I +haena been used till't." + +"That's true, Robert," answered Janet. "Gien we had been born auld, +we micht by this time hae been at hame wi't. But syne what wad hae +come o' the gran' delicht o' seein' auld age rin hirplin awa' frae +the face o' the Auncient o' Days?" + +"I wad fain be contentit wi' my lot, thouch," persisted Robert; "but +whan I fin' mysel' sae helpless like, I canna get it oot o' my heid +'at the Lord has forsaken me, an' left me to mak an ill best o' 't +wantin' him." + +"I wadna lat sic a thoucht come intil my heid, Robert, sae lang as I +kenned I cudna draw breath nor wag tongue wantin' him, for in him we +leeve an' muv an' hae oor bein'. Gien he be the life o' me, what +for sud I trible mysel' aboot that life?" + +"Ay, lass! but gien ye hed this ashmy, makin' a' yer breist as gien +'twar lined wi' the san' paper 'at they hed been lichtin' a thoosan' +or twa lucifer spunks upo'--ye micht be driven to forget 'at the +Lord was yer life--for I can tell ye it's no like haein his breith +i' yer nostrils." + +"Eh, my bonny laad!" returned Janet with infinite tenderness, "I +micht weel forget it! I doobt I wadna be half sae patient as +yersel'; but jist to help to haud ye up, I s' tell ye what I think I +wad ettle efter. I wad say to mysel' Gien he be the life o' me, I +hae no business wi' ony mair o' 't nor he gies me. I hae but to tak +ae breath, be 't hard, be 't easy, ane at a time, an' lat him see to +the neist himsel'. Here I am, an' here's him; an' 'at he winna +lat's ain wark come to ill, that I'm weel sure o'. An' ye micht +jist think to yersel', Robert, 'at as ye are born intil the warl', +an' here ye are auld intil't--ye may jist think, I say, 'at hoo +ye're jist new-born an auld man, an' beginnin' to grow yoong, an' +'at that's yer business. For naither you nor me can be that far +frae hame, Robert, an' whan we win there we'll be yoong eneuch, I'm +thinkin'; an' no ower yoong, for we'll hae what they say ye canna +get doon here--a pair o' auld heids upo' yoong shoothers." + +"Eh! but I wuss I may hae ye there, Janet, for I kenna what I wad do +wantin' ye. I wad be unco stray up yon'er, gien I had to gang my +lane, an' no you to refar till, 'at kens the w'ys o' the place." + +"I ken no more about the w'ys o' the place nor yersel', Robert, +though I'm thinkin' they'll be unco quaiet an' sensible, seein' 'at +a' there maun be gentle fowk. It's eneuch to me 'at I'll be i' the +hoose o' my Maister's father; an' my Maister was weel content to +gang to that hoose; an' it maun be something by ordinar' 'at was fit +for him. But puir simple fowk like oorsel's 'ill hae no need to +hing down the heid an' luik like gowks 'at disna ken mainners. +Bairns are no expeckit to ken a' the w'ys o' a muckle hoose 'at +they hae never been intil i' their lives afore." + +"It's no that a'thegither 'at tribles me, Janet; it's mair 'at I'll +be expeckit to sing an' luik pleased-like, an' I div not ken hoo +it'll be poassible, an' you naegait 'ithin my sicht or my cry, or +the hearin' o' my ears." + +"Div ye believe this, Robert'--at we're a' ane, jist ane, in Christ +Jesus?" + +"I canna weel say. I'm no denyin' naething 'at the buik tells me; +ye ken me better nor that, Janet; but there's mony a thing it says +'at I dinna ken whether I believe't 'at my ain han', or whether it +be only at a' thing 'at ye believe, Janet, 's jist to me as gien I +believet it mysel'; an' that's a sair thought, for a man canna be +savet e'en by the proxy o' 's ain wife." + +"Weel, ye're just muckle whaur I fin' mysel' whiles, Robert; an' I +comfort mysel' wi' the houp 'at we'll ken the thing there, 'at maybe +we're but tryin' to believe here. But ony gait ye hae pruv't weel +'at you an' me's ane, Robert. Noo we ken frae Scriptur' 'at the +Maister cam to mak aye ane o' them 'at was at twa; an' we ken also +'at he conquered Deith; sae he wad never lat Deith mak the ane 'at +he had made ane, intil twa again: it's no rizon to think it. For +oucht I ken, what luiks like a gangin' awa may be a comin' nearer. +An' there may be w'ys o' comin' nearer till ane anither up yon'er +'at we ken naething aboot doon here. There's that laddie, Gibbie: I +canna but think 'at gien he hed the tongue to speyk, or aiven gien +he cud mak' ony soon' wi' sense intil't, like singin', say, he wad +fin' himsel' nearer till's nor he can i' the noo. Wha kens but them +'at's singin' up there afore the throne, may sing so bonny, 'at, i' +the pooer o' their braw thouchts, their verra sangs may be like +laidders for them to come doon upo', an' hing aboot them 'at they +hae left ahin' them, till the time comes for them to gang an' jine +them i' the green pasturs aboot the tree o' life." + +More of like talk followed, but these words concerning +appropinquation in song, although their meaning was not very clear, +took such a hold of Gibbie that he heard nothing after, but fell +asleep thinking about them. + +In the middle of the following night, Janet woke her husband. + +"Robert! Robert!" she whispered in his ear, "hearken. I'm thinkin' +yon maun be some wee angel come doon to say, 'I ken ye, puir fowk.'" + +Robert, scarce daring to draw his breath listened with his heart in +his mouth. From somewhere, apparently within the four walls of the +cottage, came a low lovely sweet song--something like the piping of +a big bird, something like a small human voice. + +"It canna be an angel," said Robert at length, "for it's singin' 'My +Nannie's Awa'.'" + +"An' what for no an angel?" returned Janet. "Isna that jist what ye +micht be singin' yersel', efter what ye was sayin' last nicht? I'm +thinkin' there maun be a heap o' yoong angels up there, new deid, +singin', 'My Nannie's Awa'.'" + +"Hoot, Janet! ye ken there's naither merryin' nor giein' in merriage +there." + +"Wha was sayin' onything aboot merryin' or giein' in merriage, +Robert? Is that to say 'at you an' me's to be no more to ane +anither nor ither fowk? Nor it's no to say 'at, 'cause merriage is +no the w'y o' the country, 'at there's to be naething better i' the +place o' 't." + +"What garred the Maister say onything aboot it than?" + +"Jist 'cause they plaguit him wi' speirin'. He wad never hae opened +his moo' anent it--it wasna ane o' his subjec's--gien it hadna been +'at a wheen pride-prankit beuk-fowk 'at didna believe there was ony +angels, or speerits o' ony kin', but said 'at a man ance deid was +aye an' a'thegither deid, an' yet preten'it to believe in God +himsel' for a' that, thoucht to bleck (nonplus) the Maister wi' +speirin' whilk o' saiven a puir body 'at had been garred merry them +a', wad be the wife o' whan they gat up again." + +"A body micht think it wad be left to hersel' to say," suggested +Robert. "She had come throu' eneuch to hae some claim to be +considert." + +"She maun hae been a richt guid ane," said Janet, "gien ilk ane o' +the saiven wad be wantin' her again. But I s' warran' she kenned +weel eneuch whilk o' them was her ain. But, Robert, man, this is +jokin'--no 'at it's your wyte (blame)--an' it's no becomin', I +doobt, upo' sic a sarious subjec'. An' I'm feart--ay! there!--I +thoucht as muckle!--the wee sangie's drappit itsel' a'thegither, +jist as gien the laverock had fa'ntit intil 'ts nest. I doobt we'll +hear nae mair o' 't." + +As soon as he could hear what they were saying, Gibbie had stopped +to listen; and now they had stopped also, and there was an end. + +For weeks he had been picking out tunes on his Pan's-pipes, also, he +had lately discovered that, although he could not articulate, he +could produce tones, and had taught himself to imitate the pipes. +Now, to his delight, he had found that the noises he made were +recognized as song by his father and mother. From that time he was +often heard crooning to himself. Before long he began to look about +the heavens for airs--to suit this or that song he came upon, or +heard from Donal. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE WISDOM OF THE WISE. + +Change, meantime, was in progress elsewhere, and as well upon the +foot as high on the side of Glashgar--change which seemed all +important to those who felt the grind of the glacier as it slipped. +Thomas Galbraith, of Glashruach, Esquire, whom no more than any +other could negation save, was not enfranchised from folly, or +lifted above belief in a lie, by his hatred to what he called +superstition: he had long fallen into what will ultimately prove the +most degrading superstition of all--the worship of Mammon, and was +rapidly sinking from deep to lower deep. First of all, this was the +superstition of placing hope and trust in that which, from age to +age, and on the testimony of all sorts of persons who have tried it, +has been proved to fail utterly; next, such was the folly of the man +whose wisdom was indignant with the harmless imagination of simple +people for daring flutter its wings upon his land, that he risked +what he loved best in the world, even better than Mammon, the +approbation of fellow worshippers, by investing in Welsh gold mines. + +The property of Glashruach was a good one, but not nearly so large +as it had been, and he was anxious to restore it to its former +dimensions. The rents were low, and it could but tardily widen its +own borders, while of money he had little and no will to mortgage. +To increase his money, that he might increase his property, he took +to speculation, but had never had much success until that same year, +when he disposed of certain shares at a large profit--nothing +troubled by the conviction that the man who bought them--in +ignorance of many a fact which the laird knew--must in all +probability be ruined by them. He counted this success, and it gave +him confidence to speculate further. In the mean time, with what he +had thus secured, he reannexed to the property a small farm which +had been for some time in the market, but whose sale he had managed +to delay. The purchase gave him particular pleasure, because the +farm not only marched with his home-grounds, but filled up a great +notch in the map of the property between Glashruach and the Mains, +with which also it marched. It was good land, and he let it at +once, on his own terms, to Mr. Duff. + +In the spring, affairs looked rather bad for him, and in the month +of May, he considered himself compelled to go to London: he had a +faith in his own business-faculty quite as foolish as any +superstition in Gormgarnet. There he fell into the hands of a +certain man, whose true place would have been in the swell mob, and +not in the House of Commons--a fellow who used his influence and +facilities as member of Parliament in promoting bubble companies. +He was intimate with an elder brother of the laird, himself member +for a not unimportant borough--a man, likewise, of principles that +love the shade; and between them they had no difficulty in making a +tool of Thomas Galbraith, as chairman of a certain aggregate of +iniquity, whose designation will not, in some families, be forgotten +for a century or so. During the summer, therefore, the laird was +from home, working up the company, hoping much from it, and trying +hard to believe in it--whipping up its cream, and perhaps himself +taking the froth, certainly doing his best to make others take it, +for an increase of genuine substance. He devoted the chamber of his +imagination to the service of Mammon, and the brownie he kept there +played him fine pranks. + +A smaller change, though of really greater importance in the end, +was, that in the course of the winter, one of Donal's sisters was +engaged by the housekeeper at Glashruach, chiefly to wait upon Miss +Galbraith. Ginevra was still a silent, simple, unconsciously +retiring, and therewith dignified girl, in whom childhood and +womanhood had begun to interchange hues, as it were with the play of +colours in a dove's neck. Happy they in whom neither has a final +victory! Happy also all who have such women to love! At one moment +Ginevra would draw herself up--bridle her grandmother would have +called it--with involuntary recoil from doubtful approach; the next, +Ginny would burst out in a merry laugh at something in which only a +child could have perceived the mirth-causing element; then again the +woman would seem suddenly to re-enter and rebuke the child, for the +sparkle would fade from her eyes, and she would look solemn, and +even a little sad. The people about the place loved her, but from +the stillness on the general surface of her behaviour, the far away +feeling she gave them, and the impossibility of divining how she was +thinking except she chose to unbosom herself, they were all a little +afraid of her as well. They did not acknowledge, even to +themselves, that her evident conscientiousness bore no small part in +causing that slight uneasiness of which they were aware in her +presence. Possibly it roused in some of them such a dissatisfaction +with themselves as gave the initiative to dislike of her. + +In the mind of her new maid, however, there was no strife, therefore +no tendency to dislike. She was thoroughly well-meaning, like the +rest of her family, and finding her little mistress dwell in the +same atmosphere, the desire to be acceptable to her awoke at once, +and grew rapidly in her heart. She was the youngest of Janet's +girls, about four years older than Donal, not clever, but as sweet +as honest, and full of divine service. Always ready to think others +better than herself, the moment she saw the still face of Ginevra, +she took her for a little saint, and accepted her as a queen, whose +will to her should be law. Ginevra, on her part, was taken with the +healthy hue and honest eyes of the girl, and neither felt any +dislike to her touching her hair, nor lost her temper when she was +awkward and pulled it. Before the winter was over, the bond between +them was strong. + +One principal duty required of Nicie--her parents had named her +after the mother of St. Paul's Timothy--was to accompany her +mistress every fine day to the manse, a mile and a half from +Glashruach. For some time Ginevra had been under the care of Miss +Machar, the daughter of the parish clergyman, an old gentleman of +sober aspirations, to whom the last century was the Augustan age of +English literature. He was genial, gentle, and a lover of his race, +with much reverence for, and some faith in, a Scotch God, whose +nature was summed up in a series of words beginning with omni. +Partly that the living was a poor one, and her father old and +infirm, Miss Marchar, herself middle-aged, had undertaken the +instruction of the little heiress, never doubting herself mistress +of all it was necessary a lady should know. By nature she was +romantic, but her romance had faded a good deal. Possibly had she +read the new poets of her age, the vital flame of wonder and hope +might have kept not a little of its original brightness in her +heart; but under her father's guidance, she had never got beyond the +Night Thoughts, and the Course of Time. Both intellectually and +emotionally, therefore, Miss Machar had withered instead of +ripening. As to her spiritual carriage, she thought too much about +being a lady to be thoroughly one. The utter graciousness of the +ideal lady would blush to regard itself. She was both gentle and +dignified; but would have done a nature inferior to Ginevra's injury +by the way she talked of things right and wrong as becoming or not +becoming in a lady of position such as Ginevra would one day find +herself. What lessons she taught her she taught her well. Her +music was old-fashioned, of course; but I have a fancy that perhaps +the older the music one learns first, the better; for the deeper is +thereby the rooting of that which will have the atmosphere of the +age to blossom in. But then to every lover of the truth, a true +thing is dearer because it is old-fashioned, and dearer because it +is new-fashioned: and true music, like true love, like all truth, +laughs at the god Fashion, because it knows him to be but an ape. + +Every day, then, except Saturday and Sunday, Miss Machar had for two +years been in the habit of walking or driving to Glashruach, and +there spending the morning hours; but of late her father had been +ailing, and as he was so old that she could not without anxiety +leave him when suffering from the smallest indisposition, she had +found herself compelled either to give up teaching Ginevra, or to +ask Mr. Galbraith to allow her to go, when such occasion should +render it necessary, to the manse. She did the latter; the laird +had consented; and thence arose the duty required of Nicie. Mr. +Machar's health did not improve as the spring advanced, and by the +time Mr. Galbraith left for London, he was confined to his room, and +Ginevra's walk to the manse for lessons had settled into a custom. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE BEAST-BOY. + +One morning they found, on reaching the manse, that the minister was +very unwell, and that in consequence Miss Machar could not attend to +Ginevra; they turned, therefore, to walk home again. Now the manse, +upon another root of Glashgar, was nearer than Glashruach to Nicie's +home, and many a time as she went and came, did she lift longing +eyes to the ridge that hid it from her view. This morning, Ginevra +observed that, every other moment, Nicie was looking up the side of +the mountain, as if she saw something unusual upon it--occasionally, +indeed, when the winding of the road turned their backs to it, +stopping and turning round to gaze. + +"What is the matter with you, Nicie?" she asked. "What are you +looking at up there?" + +"I'm won'erin' what my mother'll be deein'," answered Nicie: "she's +up there." + +"Up there!" exclaimed Ginny, and, turning, stared at the mountain +too, expecting to perceive Nicie's mother somewhere upon the face of +it. + +"Na, na, missie! ye canna see her," said the girl; "she's no in +sicht. She's ower ayont there. Only gien we war up whaur ye see +yon twa three sheep again' the lift (sky), we cud see the bit hoosie +whaur her an' my father bides." + +"How I should like to see your father and mother, Nicie!" exclaimed +Ginevra. + +"Weel, I'm sure they wad be richt glaid to see yersel', missie, ony +time 'at ye likit to gang an' see them." + +"Why shouldn't we go now, Nicie? It's not a dangerous place, is +it?" + +"No, missie. Glashgar's as quaiet an' weel-behaved a hill as ony in +a' the cweentry," answered Nicie, laughing. "She's some puir, like +the lave o' 's, an' hasna muckle to spare, but the sheep get a feow +nibbles upon her, here an' there; an' my mither manages to keep a +coo, an' get plenty o' milk frae her tee." + +"Come, then, Nicie. We have plenty of time. Nobody wants either +you or me, and we shall get home before any one misses us." + +Nicie was glad enough to consent; they turned at once to the hill, +and began climbing. But Nicie did not know this part of it nearly +so well as that which lay between Glashruach and the cottage, and +after they had climbed some distance, often stopping and turning to +look down on the valley below, the prospect of which, with its +streams and river, kept still widening and changing as they +ascended, they arrived at a place where the path grew very doubtful, +and she could not tell in which of two directions they ought to go. + +"I'll take this way, and you take that, Nicie," said Ginevra, "and +if I find there is no path my way, I will come back to yours; and if +you find there is no path your way, you will come back to mine." + +It was a childish proposal, and one to which Nicie should not have +consented, but she was little more than a child herself. Advancing +a short distance in doubt, and the path re-appearing quite plainly, +she sat down, expecting her little mistress to return directly. No +thought of anxiety crossed her mind: how should one, in broad +sunlight, on a mountain-side, in the first of summer, and with the +long day before them? So, there sitting in peace, Nicie fell into a +maidenly reverie, and so there Nicie sat for a long time, half +dreaming in the great light, without once really thinking about +anything. All at once she came to herself: some latent fear had +exploded in her heart: yes! what could have become of her little +mistress? She jumped to her feet, and shouted "Missie! Missie +Galbraith! Ginny!" but no answer came back. The mountain was as +still as at midnight. She ran to the spot where they had parted, +and along the other path: it was plainer than that where she had +been so idly forgetting herself. She hurried on, wildly calling as +she ran. + +In the mean time Ginevra, having found the path indubitable, and +imagining it led straight to the door of Nicie's mother's cottage, +and that Nicie would be after her in a moment, thinking also to have +a bit of fun with her, set off dancing and running so fast, that by +the time Nicie came to herself, she was a good mile from her. What +a delight it was to be thus alone upon the grand mountain! with the +earth banished so far below, and the great rocky heap climbing and +leading and climbing up and up towards the sky! + +Ginny was not in the way of thinking much about God. Little had been +taught her concerning him, and nothing almost that was pleasant to +meditate upon--nothing that she could hide in her heart, and be +dreadfully glad about when she lay alone in her little bed, +listening to the sound of the burn that ran under her window. But +there was in her soul a large wilderness ready for the voice that +should come crying to prepare the way of the king. + +The path was after all a mere sheep-track, and led her at length +into a lonely hollow in the hill-side, with a swampy peat-bog at the +bottom of it. She stopped. The place looked unpleasant, reminding +her of how she always felt when she came unexpectedly upon Angus Mac +Pholp. She would go no further alone; she would wait till Nicie +overtook her. It must have been just in such places that the people +possessed with devils--only Miss Machar always made her read the +word, demons--ran about! As she thought thus, a lone-hearted bird +uttered a single, wailing cry, strange to her ear. The cry remained +solitary, unanswered, and then first suddenly she felt that there +was nobody there but herself, and the feeling had in it a pang of +uneasiness. But she was a brave child; nothing frightened her much +except her father; she turned and went slowly back to the edge of +the hollow: Nicie must by this time be visible. + +In her haste and anxiety, however, Nicie had struck into another +sheep-track, and was now higher up the hill; so that Ginny could see +no living thing nearer than in the valley below: far down there--and +it was some comfort, in the desolation that now began to invade +her--she saw upon the road, so distant that it seemed motionless, a +cart with a man in it, drawn by a white horse. Never in her life +before had she felt that she was alone. She had often felt lonely, +but she had always known where to find the bodily presence of +somebody. Now she might cry and scream the whole day, and nobody +answer! Her heart swelled into her throat, then sank away, leaving +a wide hollow. It was so eerie! But Nicie would soon come, and +then all would be well. + +She sat down on a stone, where she could see the path she had come a +long way back. But "never and never" did any Nicie appear. At last +she began to cry. This process with Ginny was a very slow one, and +never brought her much relief. The tears would mount into her eyes, +and remain there, little pools of Baca, a long time before the +crying went any further. But with time the pools would grow deeper, +and swell larger, and at last, when they had become two huge little +lakes, the larger from the slowness of their gathering, two mighty +tears would tumble over the edges of their embankments, and roll +down her white mournful cheeks. This time many more followed, and +her eyes were fast becoming fountains, when all at once a verse she +had heard the Sunday before at church seemed to come of itself into +her head: "Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will answer +thee." It must mean that she was to ask God to help her: was that +the same as saying prayers? But she wasn't good, and he wouldn't +hear anybody that wasn't good. Then, if he was only the God of the +good people, what was to become of the rest when they were lost on +mountains? She had better try; it could not do much harm. Even if +he would not hear her, he would not surely be angry with her for +calling upon him when she was in such trouble. So thinking, she +began to pray to what dim distorted reflection of God there was in +her mind. They alone pray to the real God, the maker of the heart +that prays, who know his son Jesus. If our prayers were heard only +in accordance with the idea of God to which we seem to ourselves to +pray, how miserably would our infinite wants be met! But every +honest cry, even if sent into the deaf ear of an idol, passes on to +the ears of the unknown God, the heart of the unknown Father. + +"O God, help me home again," cried Ginevra, and stood up in her +great loneliness to return. + +The same instant she spied, seated upon a stone, a little way off, +but close to her path, the beast-boy. There could be no mistake. +He was just as she had heard him described by the children at the +gamekeeper's cottage. That was his hair sticking all out from his +head, though the sun in it made it look like a crown of gold or a +shining mist. Those were his bare arms, and that was dreadful +indeed! Bare legs and feet she was used to; but bare arms! Worst +of all, making it absolutely certain he was the beast-boy, he was +playing upon a curious kind of whistling thing, making dreadfully +sweet music to entice her nearer that he might catch her and tear +her to pieces! Was this the answer God sent to the prayer she had +offered in her sore need--the beast-boy? She asked him for +protection and deliverance, and here was the beast-boy! She asked +him to help her home, and there, right in the middle of her path, +sat the beast-boy, waiting for her! Well, it was just like what +they said about him on Sundays in the churches, and in the books +Miss Machar made her read! But the horrid creature's music should +not have any power over her! She would rather run down to the black +water, glooming in those holes, and be drowned, than the beast-boy +should have her to eat! + +Most girls would have screamed, but such was not Ginny's natural +mode of meeting a difficulty. With fear, she was far more likely to +choke than to cry out. So she sat down again and stared at him. +Perhaps he would go away when he found he could not entice her. He +did not move, but kept playing on his curious instrument. Perhaps, +by returning into the hollow, she could make a circuit, and so pass +him, lower down the hill. She rose at once and ran. + +Now Gibbie had seen her long before she saw him, but, from +experience, was afraid of frightening her. He had therefore drawn +gradually near, and sat as if unaware of her presence. Treating her +as he would a bird with which he wanted to make better acquaintance, +he would have her get accustomed to the look of him before he made +advances. But when he saw her run in the direction of the swamp, +knowing what a dangerous place it was, he was terrified, sprung to +his feet, and darted off to get between her and the danger. She +heard him coming like the wind at her back, and, whether from +bewilderment, or that she did intend throwing herself into the water +to escape him, instead of pursuing her former design, she made +straight for the swamp. But was the beast-boy ubiquitous? As she +approached the place, there he was, on the edge of a great hole half +full of water, as if he had been sitting there for an hour! Was he +going to drown her in that hole? She turned again, and ran towards +the descent of the mountain. But there Gibbie feared a certain +precipitous spot; and, besides, there was no path in that direction. +So Ginevra had not run far before again she saw him right in her +way. She threw herself on the ground in despair, and hid her face. +After thus hunting her as a cat might a mouse, or a lion a man, +what could she look for but that he would pounce upon her, and tear +her to pieces? Fearfully expectant of the horrible grasp, she lay +breathless. But nothing came. Still she lay, and still nothing +came. Could it be that she was dreaming? In dreams generally the +hideous thing never arrived. But she dared not look up. She lay +and lay, weary and still, with the terror slowly ebbing away out of +her. At length to her ears came a strange sweet voice of +singing--such a sound as she had never heard before. It seemed to +come from far away: what if it should be an angel God was sending, +in answer after all to her prayer, to deliver her from the +beast-boy! He would of course want some time to come, and certainly +no harm had happened to her yet. The sound grew and grew, and came +nearer and nearer. But although it was song, she could distinguish +no vowel-melody in it, nothing but a tone-melody, a crooning, as it +were, ever upon one vowel in a minor key. It came quite near at +length, and yet even then had something of the far away sound left +in it. It was like the wind of a summer night inside a great church +bell in a deserted tower. It came close, and ceased suddenly, as +if, like a lark, the angel ceased to sing the moment he lighted. +She opened her eyes and looked up. Over her stood the beast-boy, +gazing down upon her! Could it really be the beast-boy? If so, +then he was fascinating her, to devour her the more easily, as she +had read of snakes doing to birds; but she could not believe it. +Still--she could not take her eyes off him--that was certain. But +no marvel! From under a great crown of reddish gold, looked out two +eyes of heaven's own blue, and through the eyes looked out something +that dwells behind the sky and every blue thing. What if the angel, +to try her, had taken to himself the form of the beast-boy? No +beast-boy could sing like what she had heard, or look like what she +now saw! She lay motionless, flat on the ground, her face turned +sideways upon her hands, and her eyes fixed on the heavenly vision. +Then a curious feeling began to wake in her of having seen him +before--somewhere, ever so long ago--and that sight of him as well +as this had to do with misery--with something that made a stain that +would not come out. Yes--it was the very face, only larger, and +still sweeter, of the little naked child whom Angus had so cruelly +lashed! That was ages ago, but she had not forgotten, and never +could forget either the child's back, or the lovely innocent white +face that he turned round upon her. If it was indeed he, perhaps he +would remember her. In any case, she was now certain he would not +hurt her. + +While she looked at him thus, Gibbie's face grew grave: seldom was +his grave when fronting the face of a fellow-creature, but now he +too was remembering, and trying to recollect; as through a dream of +sickness and pain he saw a face like the one before him, yet not the +same. + +Ginevra recollected first, and a sweet slow diffident smile crept +like a dawn up from the depth of her under-world to the sky of her +face, but settled in her eyes, and made two stars of them. Then +rose the very sun himself in Gibbie's, and flashed a full response +of daylight--a smile that no woman, girl, or matron, could mistrust. + +From brow to chin his face was radiant. The sun of this world had +made his nest in his hair, but the smile below it seemed to dim the +aureole he wore. Timidly yet trustingly Ginevra took one hand from +under her cheek, and stretched it up to him. He clasped it gently. +She moved, and he helped her to rise. + +"I've lost Nicie," she said. + +Gibbie nodded, but did not look concerned, + +"Nicie is my maid," said Ginevra. + +Gibbie nodded several times. He knew who Nicie was rather better +than her mistress. + +"I left her away back there, a long, long time ago, and she has +never come to me," she said. + +Gibbie gave a shrill loud whistle that startled her. In a few +seconds, from somewhere unseen, a dog came bounding to him over +stones and heather. How he spoke to the dog, or what he told him to +do, she had not an idea; but the next instant Oscar was rushing +along the path she had come, and was presently out of sight. So +full of life was Gibbie, so quick and decided was his every motion, +so full of expression his every glance and smile, that she had not +yet begun to wonder he had not spoken; indeed she was hardly yet +aware of the fact. She knew him now for a mortal, but, just as it +had been with Donal and his mother, he continued to affect her as a +creature of some higher world, come down on a mission of good-will +to men. At the same time she had, oddly enough, a feeling as if the +beast-boy were still somewhere not far off, held aloof only by the +presence of the angel who had assumed his shape. + +Gibbie took her hand, and led her towards the path she had left; she +yielded without a movement of question. But he did not lead her far +in that direction; he turned to the left up the mountain. It grew +wilder as they ascended. But the air was so thin and invigorating, +the changes so curious and interesting, as now they skirted the edge +of a precipitous rock, now scrambled up the steepest of paths by the +help of the heather that nearly closed over it, and the reaction of +relief from the terror she had suffered so exciting, that she never +for a moment felt tired. Then they went down the side of a little +burn--a torrent when the snow was dissolving, and even now a good +stream, whose dance and song delighted her: it was the same, as she +learned afterwards, to whose song under her window she listened +every night in bed, trying in vain to make out the melted tune. +Ever after she knew this, it seemed, as she listened, to come +straight from the mountain to her window, with news of the stars and +the heather and the sheep. They crossed the burn and climbed the +opposite bank. Then Gibbie pointed, and there was the cottage, and +there was Nicie coming up the path to it, with Oscar bounding before +her! The dog was merry, but Nicie was weeping bitterly. They were +a good way off, with another larger burn between; but Gibbie +whistled, and Oscar came flying to him. Nicie looked up, gave a +cry, and like a sheep to her lost lamb came running. + +"Oh, missie!" she said, breathless, as she reached the opposite bank +of the burn, and her tone had more than a touch of sorrowful +reproach in it, "what garred ye rin awa'?" + +"There was a road, Nicie, and I thought you would come after me." + +"I was a muckle geese, missie; but eh! I'm glaid I hae gotten ye. +Come awa' an' see my mother." + +"Yes, Nicie. We'll tell her all about it. You see I haven't got a +mother to tell, so I will tell yours." + +From that hour Nicie's mother was a mother to Ginny as well. + +"Anither o' 's lambs to feed!" she said to herself. + +If a woman be a mother she may have plenty of children. + +Never before had Ginny spent such a happy day, drunk such milk as +Crummie's, or eaten such cakes as Janet's. She saw no more of +Gibbie: the moment she was safe, he and Oscar were off again to the +sheep, for Robert was busy cutting peats that day, and Gibbie was in +sole charge. Eager to know about him, Ginevra gathered all that +Janet could tell of his story, and in return told the little she had +seen of it, which was the one dreadful point. + +"Is he a good boy, Mistress Grant?" she asked. + +"The best boy ever I kenned--better nor my ain Donal, an' he was the +best afore him," answered Janet. + +Ginny gave a little sigh, and wished she were good. + +"Whan saw ye Donal?" asked Janet of Nicie. + +"No this lang time--no sin' I was here last," answered Nicie, who +did not now get home so often as the rest. + +"I was thinkin'," returned her mother, "ye sud 'maist see him noo +frae the back o' the muckle hoose; for he was tellin' me he was wi' +the nowt' i' the new meadow upo' the Lorrie bank, 'at missie's papa +boucht frae Jeames Glass." + +"Ow, is he there?" said Nicie. "I'll maybe get sicht, gien I dinna +get word o' him. He cam ance to the kitchen-door to see me, but +Mistress Mac Farlane wadna lat him in. She wad hae nae loons comin' +aboot the place she said. I said 'at hoo he was my brither. She +said, says she, that was naething to her, an' she wad hae no +brithers. My sister micht come whiles, she said, gien she camna +ower aften; but lasses had naething to dee wi' brithers. Wha was to +tell wha was or wha wasna my brither? I tellt her 'at a' my +brithers was weel kenned for douce laads; an' she tellt me to haud +my tongue, an' no speyk up; an' I cud hae jist gien her a guid cloot +o' the lug--I was that angert wi' her." + +"She'll be soary for't some day," said Janet, with a quiet smile; +"an' what a body's sure to be soary for, ye may as weel forgie them +at ance." + +"Hoo ken ye, mither, she'll be soary for't?" asked Nicie, not very +willing to forgive Mistress Mac Farlane. + +"'Cause the Maister says 'at we'll hae to pey the uttermost fardin'. +There's naebody 'ill be latten aff. We maun dee oor neiper richt." + +"But michtna the Maister himsel' forgie her?" suggested Nicie, a +little puzzled. + +"Lassie," said her mother solemnly, "ye dinna surely think 'at the +Lord's forgifness is to lat fowk aff ohn repentit? That wad be a +strange fawvour to grant them! He winna hurt mair nor he can help; +but the grue (horror) maun mak w'y for the grace. I'm sure it was +sae whan I gied you yer whups, lass. I'll no say aboot some o' the +first o' ye, for at that time I didna ken sae weel what I was aboot, +an' was mair angert whiles nor there was ony occasion for--tuik my +beam to dang their motes. I hae been sair tribled aboot it, mony's +the time." + +"Eh, mither!" said Nicie, shocked at the idea of her reproaching +herself about anything concerning her children, "I'm weel sure +there's no ane o' them wad think, no to say say, sic a thing." + +"I daursay ye're richt there, lass. I think whiles a woman's bairns +are like the God they cam frae--aye ready to forgie her onything." + +Ginevra went home with a good many things to think about. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE LORRIE MEADOW. + +It was high time, according to agricultural economics, that Donal +Grant should be promoted a step in the ranks of labour. A youth +like him was fit for horses and their work, and looked idle in a +field with cattle. But Donal was not ambitious, at least in that +direction. He was more and more in love with books, and learning +and the music of thought and word; and he knew well that no one +doing a man's work upon a farm could have much time left for +study--certainly not a quarter of what the herd-boy could command. +Therefore, with his parents approval, he continued to fill the +humbler office, and receive the scantier wages belonging to it. + +The day following their adventure on Glashgar, in the afternoon, +Nicie being in the grounds with her little mistress, proposed that +they should look whether they could see her brother down in the +meadow of which her mother had spoken. Ginevra willingly agreed, +and they took their way through the shrubbery to a certain tall +hedge which divided the grounds from a little grove of larches on +the slope of a steep bank descending to the Lorrie, on the other +side of which lay the meadow. It was a hawthorn hedge, very old, +and near the ground very thin, so that they easily found a place to +creep through. But they were no better on the other side, for the +larches hid the meadow. They went down through them, therefore, to +the bank of the little river--the largest tributary of the Daur from +the roots of Glashgar. + +"There he is!" cried Nicie. + +"I see him," responded Ginny, "--with his cows all about the +meadow." + +Donal sat a little way from the river, reading. + +"He's aye at 's buik!" said Nicie. + +"I wonder what book it is," said Ginny. + +"That wad be ill to say," answered Nicie. "Donal reads a hantle o' +buiks--mair, his mither says, nor she doobts he can weel get the +guid o'." + +"Do you think it's Latin, Nicie?" + +"Ow! I daursay. But no; it canna be Laitin--for, leuk! he's +lauchin', an' he cudna dee that gien 'twar Laitin. I'm thinkin' +it'll be a story: there's a heap o' them prentit noo, they tell me. +Or 'deed maybe it may be a sang. He thinks a heap o' sangs. I +h'ard my mither ance say she was some feared Donal micht hae ta'en +to makin' sangs himsel'; no 'at there was ony ill i' that, she said, +gien there wasna ony ill i' the sangs themsel's; but it was jist +some trifflin' like, she said, an' they luikit for better frae +Donal, wi' a' his buik lear, an' his Euclid--or what ca' +they't?--nor makin' sangs." + +"What's Euclid, Nicie?" + +"Ye may weel speir, missie! but I hae ill tellin' ye. It's a +keerious name till a buik, an' min's me o' naething but whan the lid +o' yer e'e yeuks (itches); an' as to what lies atween the twa brods +o' 't, I ken no more nor the man i' the meen." + +"I should like to ask Donal what book he has got," said Ginny. + +"I'll cry till 'im, an' ye can speir," said Nicie.--"Donal!--Donal!" + +Donal looked up, and seeing his sister, came running to the bank of +the stream. + +"Canna ye come ower, Donal?" said Nicie. "Here's Miss Galbraith +wants to spier ye a question." + +Donal was across in a moment, for here the water was nowhere over a +foot or two in depth. + +"Oh, Donal! you've wet your feet!" cried Ginevra. + +Donal laughed. + +"What ill 'ill that dee me, mem?" + +"None, I hope," said Ginny; "but it might, you know." + +"I micht hae been droont," said Donal. + +"Nicie," said Ginny, with dignity, "your brother is laughing at me." + +"Na, na, mem," said Donal, apologetically. "I was only so glaid to +see you an' Nicie 'at I forgot my mainners." + +"Then," returned Ginny, quite satisfied, "would you mind telling me +what book you were reading?" + +"It's a buik o' ballants," answered Donal. "I'll read ane o' them +till ye, gien ye like, mem." + +"I should like very much," responded Ginny. "I've read all my own +books till I'm tired of them, and I don't like papa's books.--And, +do you know, Donal!"--Here the child-woman's voice grew solemn +sad--"--I'm very sorry, and I'm frightened to say it; and if you +weren't Nicie's brother, I couldn't say it to you;--but I am very +tired of the Bible too." + +"That's a peety, mem," replied Donal. "I wad hae ye no tell onybody +that; for them 'at likes 't no a hair better themsel's, 'ill tak ye +for waur nor a haithen for sayin' 't. Jist gang ye up to my mither, +an' tell her a' aboot it. She's aye fair to a' body, an' never +thinks ill o' onybody 'at says the trowth--whan it's no for +contrariness. She says 'at a heap o' ill comes o' fowk no speykin' +oot what they ken, or what they're thinkin', but aye guissin' at +what they dinna ken, an' what ither fowk's thinkin'." + +"Ay!" said Nicie, "it wad be a gey cheenged warl' gien fowk gaed to +my mither, an' did as she wad hae them. She says fowk sud never +tell but the ill they ken o' themsel's, an' the guid they ken o' +ither fowk; an' that's jist the contrar', ye ken, missie, to what +fowk maistly dis dee." + +A pause naturally followed, which Ginny broke. + +"I don't think you told me the name of the book you were reading, +Donal," she said. + +"Gien ye wad sit doon a meenute, mem," returned Donal, "--here's a +bonnie gowany spot--I wad read a bit till ye, an' see gien ye likit +it, afore I tellt ye the name o' 't." + +She dropped at once on the little gowany bed, gathered her frock +about her ankles, and said, + +"Sit down, Nicie. It's so kind of Donal to read something to us! I +wonder what it's going to be." + +She uttered everything in a deliberate, old-fashioned way, with +precise articulation, and a certain manner that an English mother +would have called priggish, but which was only the outcome of Scotch +stiffness, her father's rebukes, and her own sense of propriety. + +Donal read the ballad of Kemp Owen. + +"I think--I think--I don't think I understand it," said Ginevra. "It +is very dreadful, and--and--I don't know what to think. Tell me +about it, Donal.--Do you know what it means, Nicie?" + +"No ae glimp, missie," answered Nicie. + +Donal proceeded at once to an exposition. He told them that the +serpent was a lady, enchanted by a wicked witch, who, after she had +changed her, twisted her three times round the tree, so that she +could not undo herself, and laid the spell upon her that she should +never have the shape of a woman, until a knight kissed her as often +as she was twisted round the tree. Then, when the knight did come, +at every kiss a coil of her body unwound itself, until, at the last +kiss, she stood before him the beautiful lady she really was. + +"What a good, kind, brave knight!" said Ginevra. + +"But it's no true, ye ken, missie," said Nicie, anxious that she +should not be misled. "It's naething but Donal's nonsense." + +"Nonsense here, nonsense there!" said Donal, "I see a heap o' sense +intil 't. But nonsense or no, Nicie, its nane o' my nonsense: I +wuss it war. It's hun'ers o' years auld, that ballant, I s' +warran'." + +"It's beautiful," said Ginevra, with decision and dignity. "I hope +he married the lady, and they lived happy ever after." + +"I dinna ken, mem. The man 'at made the ballant, I daursay, thoucht +him weel payed gien the bonny leddy said thank ye till him." + +"Oh! but, Donal, that wouldn't be enough!--Would it, Nicie?" + +"Weel, ye see, missie," answered Nicie, "he but gae her three +kisses--that wasna sae muckle to wur (lay out) upon a body." + +"But a serpent!--a serpent's mouth, Nicie!" + +Here, unhappily, Donal had to rush through the burn without +leave-taking, for Hornie was attempting a trespass; and the two +girls, thinking it was time to go home, rose, and climbed to the +house at their leisure. + +The rest of the day Ginevra talked of little else than the serpent +lady and the brave knight, saying now and then what a nice boy that +Donal of Nicie's was. Nor was more than the gentlest hint necessary +to make Nicie remark, the next morning, that perhaps, if they went +down again to the Lorrie, Donal might come, and bring the book. But +when they reached the bank and looked across, they saw him occupied +with Gibbie. They had their heads close together over a slate, upon +which now the one, now the other, seemed to be drawing. This went +on and on, and they never looked up. Ginny would have gone home, +and come again in the afternoon, but Nicie instantly called Donal. +He sprang to his feet and came to them, followed by Gibbie. Donal +crossed the burn, but Gibbie remained on the other side, and when +presently Donal took his "buik o' ballants" from his pocket, and the +little company seated themselves, stood with his back to them, and +his eyes on the nowt. That morning they were not interrupted. + +Donal read to them for a whole hour, concerning which reading, and +Ginevra's reception of it, Nicie declared she could not see what for +they made sic a wark aboot a wheen auld ballants, ane efter +anither.--"They're no half sae bonnie as the paraphrases, Donal," +she said. + +After this, Ginevra went frequently with Nicie to see her mother, +and learned much of the best from her. Often also they went down to +the Lorrie, and had an interview with Donal, which was longer or +shorter as Gibbie was there or not to release him. + +Ginny's life was now far happier than it had ever been. New +channels of thought and feeling were opened, new questions were +started, new interests awaked; so that, instead of losing by Miss +Machar's continued inability to teach her, she was learning far more +than she could give her, learning it, too, with the pleasure which +invariably accompanies true learning. + +Little more than child as she was, Donal felt from the first the +charm of her society; and she by no means received without giving, +for his mental development was greatly expedited thereby. Few weeks +passed before he was her humble squire, devoted to her with all the +chivalry of a youth for a girl whom he supposes as much his superior +in kind as she is in worldly position; his sole advantage, in his +own judgment, and that which alone procured him the privilege of her +society, being, that he was older, and therefore knew a little more. +So potent and genial was her influence on his imagination, that, +without once thinking of her as their object, he now first found +himself capable of making verses--such as they were; and one day, +with his book before him--it was Burns, and he had been reading the +Gowan poem to Ginevra and his sister--he ventured to repeat, as if +he read them from the book, the following: they halted a little, no +doubt, in rhythm, neither were perfectly rimed, but for a beginning, +they had promise. Gibbie, who had thrown himself down on the other +bank, and lay listening, at once detected the change in the tone of +his utterance, and before he ceased had concluded that he was not +reading them, and that they were his own. + + Rin, burnie! clatter; + To the sea win: + Gien I was a watter, + Sae wad I rin. + + Blaw, win', caller, clean! + Here an' hyne awa': + Gien I was a win', + Wadna I blaw! + + Shine, auld sun, + Shine strang an' fine: + Gien I was the sun's son, + Herty I wad shine. + +Hardly had he ended, when Gibbie's pipes began from the opposite +side of the water, and, true to time and cadence and feeling, +followed with just the one air to suit the song--from which Donal, +to his no small comfort, understood that one at least of his +audience had received his lilt. If the poorest nature in the world +responds with the tune to the mightiest master's song, he knows, if +not another echo should come back, that he has uttered a true cry. +But Ginevra had not received it, and being therefore of her own +mind, and not of the song's, was critical. It is of the true things +it does not, perhaps cannot receive, that human nature is most +critical. + +"That one is nonsense, Donal," she said. "Isn't it now? How could a +man be a burn, or a wind, or the sun? But poets are silly. Papa +says so." + +In his mind Donal did not know which way to look; physically, he +regarded the ground. Happily at that very moment Hornie caused a +diversion, and Gibbie understood what Donal was feeling too well to +make even a pretence of going after her. I must, to his praise, +record the fact that, instead of wreaking his mortification upon the +cow, Donal spared her several blows out of gratitude for the +deliverance her misbehaviour had wrought him. He was in no haste to +return to his audience. To have his first poem thus rejected was +killing. She was but a child who had so unkindly criticized it, but +she was the child he wanted to please; and for a few moments life +itself seemed scarcely worth having. He called himself a fool, and +resolved never to read another poem to a girl so long as he lived. +By the time he had again walked through the burn, however, he was +calm and comparatively wise, and knew what to say. + +"Div ye hear yon burn efter ye gang to yer bed, mem?" he asked +Genevra, as he climbed the bank, pointing a little lower down the +stream to the mountain brook which there joined it. + +"Always," she answered. "It runs right under my window." + +"What kin' o' a din dis't mak'?" he asked again. + +"It is different at different times," she answered. "It sings and +chatters in summer, and growls and cries and grumbles in winter, or +after rain up in Glashgar." + +"Div ye think the burn's ony happier i' the summer, mem?" + +"No, Donal; the burn has no life in it, and therefore can't be +happier one time than another." + +"Weel, mem, I wad jist like to speir what waur it is to fancy +yersel' a burn, than to fancy the burn a body, ae time singin' an' +chatterin', an' the neist growlin' an' grum'lin'." + +"Well, but, Donal, can a man be a burn?" + +"Weel, mem, no--at least no i' this warl', an' at 'is ain wull. But +whan ye're lyin' hearkenin' to the burn, did ye never imagine +yersel' rinnin' doon wi' 't--doon to the sea?" + +"No, Donal; I always fancy myself going up the mountain where it +comes from, and running about wild there in the wind, when all the +time I know I'm safe and warm in bed." + +"Weel, maybe that's better yet--I wadna say," answered Donal; "but +jist the nicht, for a cheenge like, ye turn an' gang doon wi' 't--i' +yer thouchts, I mean. Lie an' hearken he'rty till 't the nicht, +whan ye're i' yer bed; hearken an' hearken till the soon' rins awa' +wi' ye like, an' ye forget a' aboot yersel', an' think yersel' awa' +wi' the burn, rinnin', rinnin', throu' this an' throu' that, throu' +stanes an' birks an' bracken, throu' heather, an' plooed lan' an' +corn, an' wuds an' gairdens, aye singin', an' aye cheengin' yer tune +accordin', till it wins to the muckle roarin' sea, an' 's a' tint. +An' the first nicht 'at the win' 's up an' awa', dee the same, mem, +wi' the win'. Get up upo' the back o' 't, like, as gien it was yer +muckle horse, an' jist ride him to the deith; an' efter that, gien +ye dinna maybe jist wuss 'at ye was a burn or a blawin' win'--aither +wad be a sair loss to the universe--ye wunna, I'm thinkin', be sae +ready to fin' fau't wi' the chield 'at made yon bit sangy." + +"Are you vexed with me, Donal?--I'm so sorry!" said Ginevra, taking +the earnestness of his tone for displeasure. + +"Na, na, mem. Ye're ower guid an' ower bonny," answered Donal, "to +be a vex to onybody; but it wad be a vex to hear sic a cratur as you +speykin' like ane o' the fules o' the warl', 'at believe i' naething +but what comes in at the holes i' their heid." + +Ginevra was silent. She could not quite understand Donal, but she +felt she must be wrong somehow; and of this she was the more +convinced when she saw the beautiful eyes of Gibbie fixed in +admiration, and brimful of love, upon Donal. + +The way Donal kept his vow never to read another poem of his own to +a girl, was to proceed that very night to make another for the +express purpose, as he lay awake in the darkness. + +The last one he ever read to her in that meadow was this: + + What gars ye sing, said the herd laddie, + What gars ye sing sae lood? + To tice them oot o' the yerd, laddie, + The worms, for my daily food. + + An' aye he sang, an' better he sang, + An' the worms creepit in an' oot; + An' ane he tuik, an' twa he loot gang, + But still he carolled stoot. + + It's no for the worms, sir, said the herd, + They comena for yer sang. + Think ye sae, sir? answered the bird, + Maybe ye're no i' the wrang. + But aye &c. + + Sing ye yoong sorrow to beguile + Or to gie auld fear the flegs? + Na, quo' the mavis; it's but to wile + My wee things oot o' her eggs. + An' aye &c. + + The mistress is plenty for that same gear, + Though ye sangna ear' nor late. + It's to draw the deid frae the moul' sae drear, + An' open the kirkyard gate. + An' aye &c. + + Na, na; it's a better sang nor yer ain, + Though ye hae o' notes a feck, + 'At wad mak auld Barebanes there sae fain + As to lift the muckle sneck! + But aye &c. + + Better ye sing nor a burn i' the mune, + Nor a wave ower san' that flows, + Nor a win' wi' the glintin' stars abune, + An' aneth the roses in rows; + An' aye &c. + + But I'll speir ye nae mair, sir, said the herd. + I fear what ye micht say neist. + Ye wad but won'er the mair, said the bird, + To see the thouchts i' my breist. + + And aye he sang, an' better he sang, + An' the worms creepit in an' oot; + An' ane he tuik, an' twa he loot gang, + But still he carolled stoot. + +I doubt whether Ginevra understood this song better than the first, +but she was now more careful of criticizing; and when by degrees it +dawned upon her that he was the maker of these and other verses he +read, she grew half afraid of Donal, and began to regard him with +big eyes; he became, from a herd-boy, an unintelligible person, +therefore a wonder. For, brought thus face to face with the maker +of verses, she could not help trying to think how he did the thing; +and as she felt no possibility of making verses herself, it remained +a mystery and an astonishment, causing a great respect for the poet +to mingle with the kindness she felt towards Nicie's brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THEIR REWARD. + +By degrees Gibbie had come to be well known about the Mains and +Glashruach. Angus's only recognition of him was a scowl in return +for his smile; but, as I have said, he gave him no farther +annoyance, and the tales about the beast-loon were dying out from +Daurside. Jean Mavor was a special friend to him: for she knew now +well enough who had been her brownie, and made him welcome as often +as he showed himself with Donal. Fergus was sometimes at home; +sometimes away; but he was now quite a fine gentleman, a student of +theology, and only condescendingly cognizant of the existence of +Donal Grant. All he said to him when he came home a master of arts, +was, that he had expected better of him: he ought to be something +more than herd by this time. Donal smiled and said nothing. He had +just finished a little song that pleased him, and could afford to be +patronized. I am afraid, however, he was not contented with that, +but in his mind's eye measured Fergus from top to toe. + +In the autumn, Mr. Galbraith returned to Glashruach, but did not +remain long. His schemes were promising well, and his +self-importance was screwed yet a little higher in consequence. But +he was kinder than usual to Ginevra. Before he went he said to her +that, as Mr. Machar had sunk into a condition requiring his +daughter's constant attention, he would find her an English +governess as soon as he reached London; meantime she must keep up +her studies by herself as well as she could. Probably he forgot all +about it, for the governess was not heard of at Glashruach, and +things fell into their old way. There was no spiritual traffic +between the father and daughter, consequently Ginevra never said +anything about Donal or Gibbie, or her friendship for Nicie. He had +himself to blame altogether; he had made it impossible for her to +talk to him. But it was well he remained in ignorance, and so did +not put a stop to the best education she could at this time of her +life have been having--such as neither he nor any friend of his +could have given her. + +It was interrupted, however, by the arrival of the winter--a wild +time in that region, fierce storm alternating with the calm of +death. After howling nights, in which it seemed as if all the +polter-geister of the universe must be out on a disembodied lark, +the mountains stood there in the morning solemn still, each with his +white turban of snow unrumpled on his head, in the profoundest +silence of blue air, as if he had never in his life passed a more +thoughtful, peaceful time than the very last night of all. To such +feet as Ginevra's the cottage on Glashgar was for months almost as +inaccessible as if it had been in Sirius. More than once the Daur +was frozen thick; for weeks every beast was an absolute prisoner to +the byre, and for months was fed with straw and turnips and potatoes +and oilcake. Then was the time for stories; and often in the long +dark, while yet it was hours too early for bed, would Ginevra go +with Nicie, who was not much of a raconteuse, to the kitchen, to get +one of the other servants to tell her an old tale. For even in his +own daughter and his own kitchen, the great laird could not +extinguish the accursed superstition. Not a glimpse did Ginevra get +all this time of Donal or of Gibbie. + +At last, like one of its own flowers in its own bosom, the spring +began again to wake in God's thought of his world; and the snow, +like all other deaths, had to melt and run, leaving room for hope; +then the summer woke smiling, as if she knew she had been asleep; +and the two youths and the two maidens met yet again on Lorrie bank, +with the brown water falling over the stones, the gold nuggets of +the broom hanging over the water, and the young larch-wood scenting +the air all up the brae side between them and the house, which the +tall hedge hid from their view. The four were a year older, a year +nearer trouble, and a year nearer getting out of it. Ginevra was +more of a woman, Donal more of a poet, Nicie as nice and much the +same, and Gibbie, if possible, more a foundling of the universe than +ever. He was growing steadily, and showed such freedom and ease, +and his motions were all so rapid and direct, that it was plain at a +glance the beauty of his countenance was in no manner or measure +associated with weakness. The mountain was a grand nursery for him, +and the result, both physical and spiritual, corresponded. Janet, +who, better than anyone else, knew what was in the mind of the boy, +revered him as much as he revered her; the first impression he made +upon her had never worn off--had only changed its colour a little. +More even than a knowledge of the truth, is a readiness to receive +it; and Janet saw from the first that Gibbie's ignorance at its +worst was but room vacant for the truth: when it came it found bolt +nor bar on door or window, but had immediate entrance. The secret +of this power of reception was, that to see a truth and to do it was +one and the same thing with Gibbie. To know and not do would have +seemed to him an impossibility, as it is in vital idea a +monstrosity. + +This unity of vision and action was the main cause also of a certain +daring simplicity in the exercise of the imagination, which so far +from misleading him reacted only in obedience--which is the truth of +the will--the truth, therefore, of the whole being. He did not do +the less well for his sheep, that he fancied they knew when Jesus +Christ was on the mountain, and always at such times both fed better +and were more frolicsome. He thought Oscar knew it also, and +interpreted a certain look of the dog by the supposition that he had +caught a sign of the bodily presence of his Maker. The direction in +which his imagination ran forward, was always that in which his +reason pointed; and so long as Gibbie's fancies were bud-blooms upon +his obedience, his imagination could not be otherwise than in +harmony with his reason. Imagination is a poor root, but a worthy +blossom, and in a nature like Gibbie's its flowers cannot fail to be +lovely. For no outcome of a man's nature is so like himself as his +imaginations, except it be his fancies, indeed. Perhaps his +imaginations show what he is meant to be, his fancies what he is +making of himself. + +In the summer, Mr. Galbraith, all unannounced, reappeared at +Glashruach, but so changed that, startled at the sight of him, +Ginevra stopped midway in her advance to greet him. The long thin +man was now haggard and worn; he looked sourer too, and more +suspicious--either that experience had made him so, or that he was +less equal to the veiling of his feelings in dignified indifference. +He was annoyed that his daughter should recognize an alteration in +him, and, turning away, leaned his head on the hand whose arm was +already supported by the mantelpiece, and took no further notice of +her presence; but perhaps conscience also had something to do with +this behaviour. Ginevra knew from experience that the sight of +tears would enrage him, and with all her might repressed those she +felt beginning to rise. She went up to him timidly, and took the +hand that hung by his side. He did not repel her--that is, he did +not push her away, or even withdraw his hand, but he left it hanging +lifeless, and returned with it no pressure upon hers--which was much +worse. + +"Is anything the matter, papa?" she asked with trembling voice. + +"I am not aware that I have been in the habit of communicating with +you on the subject of my affairs," he answered; "nor am I likely to +begin to do so, where my return after so long an absence seems to +give so little satisfaction." + +"Oh, papa! I was frightened to see you looking so ill." + +"Such a remark upon my personal appearance is but a poor recognition +of my labours for your benefit, I venture to think, Jenny," he said. + +He was at the moment contemplating, as a necessity, the sale of +every foot of the property her mother had brought him. Nothing less +would serve to keep up his credit, and gain time to disguise more +than one failing scheme. Everything had of late been going so +badly, that he had lost a good deal of his confidence and +self-satisfaction; but he had gained no humility instead. It had +not dawned upon him yet that he was not unfortunate, but unworthy. +The gain of such a conviction is to a man enough to outweigh +infinitely any loss that even his unworthiness can have caused him; +for it involves some perception of the worthiness of the truth, and +makes way for the utter consolation which the birth of that truth in +himself will bring. As yet Mr. Galbraith was but overwhelmed with +care for a self which, so far as he had to do with the making of it, +was of small value indeed, although in the possibility, which is the +birthright of every creature, it was, not less than that of the +wretchedest of dog-licked Lazaruses, of a value by himself +unsuspected and inappreciable. That he should behave so cruelly to +his one child, was not unnatural to that self with which he was so +much occupied: failure had weakened that command of behaviour which +so frequently gains the credit belonging only to justice and +kindness, and a temper which never was good, but always feeling the +chain, was ready at once to show its ugly teeth. He was a proud +man, whose pride was always catching cold from his heart. He might +have lived a hundred years in the same house with a child that was +not his own, without feeling for her a single movement of affection. + +The servants found more change in him than Ginevra did; his +relations with them, if not better conceived than his paternal ones, +had been less evidently defective. Now he found fault with every +one, so that even Joseph dared hardly open his mouth, and said he +must give warning. The day after his arrival, having spent the +morning with Angus walking over certain fields, much desired, he +knew, of a neighbouring proprietor, inwardly calculating the utmost +he could venture to ask for them with a chance of selling, he +scolded Ginevra severely on his return because she had not had +lunch, but had waited for him; whereas a little reflection might +have shown him she dared not take it without him. Naturally, +therefore, she could not now eat, because of a certain sensation in +her throat. The instant he saw she was not eating, he ordered her +out of the room: he would have no such airs in his family! By the +end of the week--he arrived on the Tuesday--such a sense of +estrangement possessed Ginevra, that she would turn on the stair and +run up again, if she heard her father's voice below. Her aversion +to meeting him, he became aware of, and felt relieved in regard to +the wrong he was doing his wife, by reflecting upon her daughter's +behaviour towards him; for he had a strong constitutional sense of +what was fair, and a conscience disobeyed becomes a cancer. + +In this evil mood he received from some one--all his life Donal +believed it was Fergus--a hint concerning the relations between his +daughter and his tenant's herd-boy. To describe his feelings at the +bare fact that such a hint was possible, would be more labour than +the result would repay.--What! his own flesh and blood, the heiress +of Glashruach, derive pleasure from the boorish talk of such a +companion! It could not be true, when the mere thought, without the +belief of it, filled him with such indignation! He was overwhelmed +with a righteous disgust. He did himself the justice of making +himself certain before he took measures; but he never thought of +doing them the justice of acquainting himself first with the nature +of the intercourse they held. But it mattered little; for he would +have found nothing in that to give him satisfaction, even if the +thing itself had not been outrageous. He watched and waited, and +more than once pretended to go from home: at last one morning, from +the larch-wood, he saw the unnatural girl seated with her maid on +the bank of the river, the cow-herd reading to them, and on the +other side the dumb idiot lying listening. He was almost beside +himself--with what, I can hardly define. In a loud voice of bare +command he called to her to come to him. With a glance of terror at +Nicie she rose, and they went up through the larches together. + +I will not spend my labour upon a reproduction of the verbal torrent +of wrath, wounded dignity, disgust, and contempt, with which the +father assailed his shrinking, delicate, honest-minded woman-child. +For Nicie, he dismissed her on the spot. Not another night would +he endure her in the house, after her abominable breach of +confidence! She had to depart without even a good-bye from Ginevra, +and went home weeping in great dread of what her mother would say. + +"Lassie," said Janet, when she heard her story, "gien onybody be to +blame it's mysel'; for ye loot me ken ye gaed whiles wi' yer bonnie +missie to hae a news wi' Donal, an' I saw an' see noucht 'at's wrang +intill't. But the fowk o' this warl' has ither w'ys o' jeedgin' o' +things, an' I maun bethink mysel' what lesson o' the serpent's +wisdom I hae to learn frae 't. Ye're walcome hame, my bonnie lass. +Ye ken I aye keep the wee closet ready for ony o' ye 'at micht come +ohn expeckit." + +Nicie, however, had not long to occupy the closet, for those of her +breed were in demand in the country. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +PROLOGUE. + +Ever since he became a dweller in the air of Glashgar, Gibbie, +mindful of his first visit thereto, and of his grand experience on +that occasion, had been in the habit, as often as he saw reason to +expect a thunder-storm, and his duties would permit, of ascending +the mountain, and there on the crest of the granite peak, awaiting +the arrival of the tumult. Everything antagonistic in the boy, +everything that could naturally find relief, or pleasure, or simple +outcome, in resistance or contention, debarred as it was by the +exuberance of his loving kindness from obtaining satisfaction or +alleviation in strife with his fellows, found it wherever he could +encounter the forces of Nature, in personal wrestle with them where +possible, and always in wildest sympathy with any uproar of the +elements. The absence of personality in them allowed the +co-existence of sympathy and antagonism in respect of them. Except +those truths awaking delight at once calm and profound, of which so +few know the power, and the direct influence of human relation, +Gibbie's emotional joy was more stirred by storm than by anything +else; and with all forms of it he was so familiar that, young as he +was, he had unconsciously begun to generalize on its phases. + +Towards the evening of a wondrously fine day in the beginning of +August--a perfect day of summer in her matronly beauty, it began to +rain. All the next day the slopes and stairs of Glashgar were +alternately glowing in sunshine, and swept with heavy showers, +driven slanting in strong gusts of wind from the northwest. How +often he was wet through and dried again that day, Gibbie could not +have told. He wore so little that either took but a few moments, +and he was always ready for a change. The wind and the rain +together were cold, but that only served to let the sunshine deeper +into him when it returned. + +In the afternoon there was less sun, more rain, and more wind; and +at last the sun seemed to give it up; the wind grew to a hurricane, +and the rain strove with it which should inhabit the space. The +whole upper region was like a huge mortar, in which the wind was the +pestle, and, with innumerable gyres, vainly ground at the rain. +Gibbie drove his sheep to the refuge of a pen on the lower slope of +a valley that ran at right angles to the wind, where they were +sheltered by a rock behind, forming one side of the enclosure, and +dykes of loose stones, forming the others, at a height there was no +tradition of any flood having reached. He then went home, and +having told Robert what he had done, and had his supper, set out in +the early-failing light, to ascend the mountain. A great +thunder-storm was at hand, and was calling him. It was almost dark +before he reached the top, but he knew the surface of Glashgar +nearly as well as the floor of the cottage. Just as he had fought +his way to the crest of the peak in the face of one of the fiercest +of the blasts abroad that night, a sudden rush of fire made the +heavens like the smoke-filled vault of an oven, and at once the +thunder followed, in a succession of single sharp explosions without +any roll between. The mountain shook with the windy shocks, but the +first of the thunder-storm was the worst, and it soon passed. The +wind and the rain continued, and the darkness was filled with the +rush of the water everywhere wildly tearing down the sides of the +mountain. Thus heaven and earth held communication in torrents all +the night. Down the steeps of the limpid air they ran to the hard +sides of the hills, where at once, as if they were no longer at +home, and did not like the change, they began to work mischief. To +the ears and heart of Gibbie their noises were a mass of broken +music. Every spring and autumn the floods came, and he knew them, +and they were welcome to him in their seasons. + +It required some care to find his way down through the darkness and +the waters to the cottage, but as he was neither in fear nor in +haste, he was in little danger, and his hands and feet could pick +out the path where his eyes were useless. When at length he reached +his bed, it was not for a long time to sleep, but to lie awake and +listen to the raging of the wind all about and above and below the +cottage, and the rushing of the streams down past it on every side. +To his imagination it was as if he lay in the very bed of the +channel by which the waters of heaven were shooting to the valleys +of the earth; and when he fell asleep at last, his dream was of the +rush of the river of the water of life from under the throne of God; +and he saw men drink thereof, and everyone as he drank straightway +knew that he was one with the Father, and one with every child of +his throughout the infinite universe. + +He woke, and what remained of his dream was love in his heart, and +in his ears the sound of many waters. It was morning. He rose, +and, dressing hastily, opened the door. What a picture of grey +storm rose outspread before him! The wind fiercely invaded the +cottage, thick charged with water-drops, and stepping out he shut +the door in haste, lest it should blow upon the old people in bed +and wake them. He could not see far on any side, for the rain that +fell, and the mist and steam that rose, upon which the wind seemed +to have no power; but wherever he did see, there water was running +down. Up the mountain he went--he could hardly have told why. +Once, for a moment, as he ascended, the veil of the vapour either +rose, or was torn asunder, and he saw the great wet gleam of the +world below. By the time he reached the top, it was as light as it +was all the day; but it was with a dull yellow glare, as if the sun +were obscured by the smoke and vaporous fumes of a burning world +which the rain had been sent to quench. It was a wild, hopeless +scene--as if God had turned his face away from the world, and all +Nature was therefore drowned in tears--no Rachel weeping for her +children, but the whole creation crying for the Father, and refusing +to be comforted. Gibbie stood gazing and thinking. Did God like to +look at the storm he made? If Jesus did, would he have left it all +and gone to sleep, when the wind and waves were howling, and +flinging the boat about like a toy between them? He must have been +tired, surely! With what? Then first Gibbie saw that perhaps it +tired Jesus to heal people; that every time what cured man or woman +was life that went out of him, and that he missed it, perhaps--not +from his heart, but from his body; and if it were so, then it was no +wonder if he slept in the midst of a right splendid storm. And upon +that Gibbie remembered what St. Matthew says just before he tells +about the storm--that "he cast out the spirits with his word, and +healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was +spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, +and bare our sicknesses." + +That moment it seemed as if he must be himself in some wave-tossed +boat, and not upon a mountain of stone, for Glashgar gave a great +heave under him, then rocked and shook from side to side a little, +and settled down so still and steady, that motion and the mountain +seemed again two ideas that never could be present together in any +mind. The next instant came an explosion, followed by a frightful +roaring and hurling, as of mingled water and stones; and on the side +of the mountain beneath him he saw what, through the mist, looked +like a cloud of smoke or dust rising to a height. He darted towards +it. As he drew nearer, the cloud seemed to condense, and presently +he saw plainly enough that it was a great column of water shooting +up and out from the face of the mountain. It sank and rose again, +with the alternation of a huge pulse: the mountain was cracked, and +through the crack, with every throb of its heart, the life-blood of +the great hull of the world seemed beating out. Already it had +scattered masses of gravel on all sides, and down the hill a river +was shooting in sheer cataract, raving and tearing, and carrying +stones and rocks with it like foam. Still and still it pulsed and +rushed and ran, born, like another Xanthus, a river full-grown, from +the heart of the mountain. + +Suddenly Gibbie, in the midst of his astonishment and awful delight, +noted the path of the new stream, and from his knowledge of the face +of the mountain, perceived that its course was direct for the +cottage. Down the hill he shot after it, as if it were a wild beast +that his fault had freed from its cage. He was not terrified. One +believing like him in the perfect Love and perfect Will of a Father +of men, as the fact of facts, fears nothing. Fear is faithlessness. +But there is so little that is worthy the name of faith, that such +a confidence will appear to most not merely incredible but +heartless. The Lord himself seems not to have been very hopeful +about us, for he said, When the Son of man cometh, shall he find +faith on the earth? A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above +fear. It is in the cracks, crannies, and gulfy faults of our +belief, the gaps that are not faith, that the snow of apprehension +settles, and the ice of unkindness forms. + +The torrent had already worn for itself a channel: what earth there +was, it had swept clean away to the rock, and the loose stones it +had thrown up aside, or hurled with it in its headlong course. But +as Gibbie bounded along, following it with a speed almost equal to +its own, he was checked in the midst of his hearty haste by the +sight, a few yards away, of another like terror--another torrent +issuing from the side of the hill, and rushing to swell the valley +stream. Another and another he saw, with growing wonder, as he ran; +before he reached home he passed some six or eight, and had begun to +think whether a second deluge of the whole world might not be at +hand, commencing this time with Scotland. Two of them joined the +one he was following, and he had to cross them as he could; the +others he saw near and farther off--one foaming deliverance after +another, issuing from the entrails of the mountain, like imprisoned +demons, that, broken from their bonds, ran to ravage the world with +the accumulated hate of dreariest centuries. Now and then a huge +boulder, loosened from its bed by the trail of this or that watery +serpent, would go rolling, leaping, bounding down the hill before +him, and just in time he escaped one that came springing after him +as if it were a living thing that wanted to devour him. Nor was +Glashgar the only torrent-bearing mountain of Gormgarnet that day, +though the rain prevented Gibbie from seeing anything of what the +rest of them were doing. The fountains of the great deep were +broken up, and seemed rushing together to drown the world. And +still the wind was raging, and the rain tumbling to the earth, +rather in sheets than in streams. + +Gibbie at length forsook the bank of the new torrent to take the +nearest way home, and soon reached the point whence first, returning +in that direction, he always looked to see the cottage. For a +moment he was utterly bewildered: no cottage was to be seen. From +the top of the rock against which it was built, shot the whole mass +of the water he had been pursuing, now dark with stones and gravel, +now grey with foam, or glassy in the lurid light. + +"O Jesus Christ!" he cried, and darted to the place. When he came +near, to his amazement there stood the little house unharmed, the +very centre of the cataract! For a few yards on the top of the +rock, the torrent had a nearly horizontal channel, along which it +rushed with unabated speed to the edge, and thence shot clean over +the cottage, dropping only a dribble of rain on the roof from the +underside of its half-arch. The garden ground was gone, swept clean +from the bare rock, which made a fine smooth shoot for the water a +long distance in front. He darted through the drizzle and spray, +reached the door, and lifted the hatch. The same moment he heard +Janet's voice in joyful greeting. + +"Noo, noo! come awa', laddie," she said. "Wha wad hae thoucht we wad +hae to lea' the rock to win oot o' the water? We're but waitin' you +to gang.--Come, Robert, we'll awa' doon the hill." + +She stood in the middle of the room in her best gown, as if she had +been going to church, her Bible, a good-sized octavo, under her arm, +with a white handkerchief folded round it, and her umbrella in her +hand. + +"He that believeth shall not make haste," she said, "but he maunna +tempt the Lord, aither. Drink that milk, Gibbie, an' pit a bannock +i' yer pooch, an' come awa'." + +Robert rose from the edge of the bed, staff in hand, ready too. He +also was in his Sunday clothes. Oscar, who could make no change of +attire, but was always ready, and had been standing looking up in +his face for the last ten minutes, wagged his tail when he saw him +rise, and got out of his way. On the table were the remains of +their breakfast of oat-cake and milk--the fire Janet had left on the +hearth was a spongy mass of peat, as wet as the winter before it was +dug from the bog, so they had had no porridge. The water kept +coming in splashes down the lum, the hillocks of the floor were +slimy, and in the hollows little lakes were gathering: the lowest +film of the torrent-water ran down the rock behind, and making its +way between rock and roof, threatened soon to render the place +uninhabitable. + +"What's the eese o' lo'denin' yersel' wi' the umbrell?" said Robert. +"Ye'll get it a' drookit (drenched)." + +"Ow, I'll jist tak it," replied Janet, with a laugh in +acknowledgment of her husband's fun; "it'll haud the rain ohn blin't +me." + +"That's gien ye be able to haud it up. I doobt the win' 'll be ower +sair upo' 't. I'm thinkin', though, it'll be mair to haud yer beuk +dry!" + +Janet smiled and made no denial. + +"Noo, Gibbie," she said, "ye gang an' lowse Crummie. But ye'll hae +to lead her. She winna be to caw in sic a win' 's this, an' no +plain ro'd afore her." + +"Whaur div ye think o' gauin'?" asked Robert, who, satisfied as +usual with whatever might be in his wife's mind, had not till this +moment thought of asking her where she meant to take refuge. + +"Ow, we'll jist mak for the Mains, gien ye be agreeable, Robert," +she answered. "It's there we belang till, an' in wather like this +naebody wad refeese bield till a beggar, no to say Mistress Jean +till her ain fowk." + +With that she led the way to the door and opened it. + +"His v'ice was like the soon' o' mony watters," she said to herself +softly, as the liquid thunder of the torrent came in the louder. + +Gibbie shot round the corner to the byre, whence through all the +roar, every now and then they had heard the cavernous mooing of +Crummie, piteous and low. He found a stream a foot deep running +between her fore and hind legs, and did not wonder that she wanted +to be on the move. Speedily he loosed her, and fastening the +chain-tether to her halter, led her out. She was terrified at sight +of the falling water, and they had some trouble in getting her +through behind it, but presently after, she was making the descent +as carefully and successfully as any of them. + +It was a heavy undertaking for the two old folk to walk all the way +to the Mains, and in such a state of the elements; but where there +is no choice, we do well to make no difficulty. Janet was half +troubled that her mountain, and her foundation on the rock, should +have failed her; but consoled herself that they were but shadows of +heavenly things and figures of the true; and that a mountain or a +rock was in itself no more to be trusted than a horse or a prince or +the legs of a man. Robert plodded on in contented silence, and +Gibbie was in great glee, singing, after his fashion, all the way, +though now and then half-choked by the fierceness of the wind round +some corner of rock, filled with rain-drops that stung like +hailstones. + +By and by Janet stopped and began looking about her. This naturally +seemed to her husband rather odd in the circumstances. + +"What are ye efter, Janet?" he said, shouting through the wind from +a few yards off, by no means sorry to stand for a moment, although +any recovering of his breath seemed almost hopeless in such a +tempest. + +"I want to lay my umbrell in safity," answered Janet, "--gien I cud +but perceive a shuitable spot. Ye was richt, Robert, it's mair +w'alth nor I can get the guid o'." + +"Hoots! fling't frae ye, than, lass," he returned. "Is this a day to +be thinkin' o' warl' 's gear?" + +"What for no, Robert?" she rejoined. "Ae day's as guid's anither for +thinkin' aboot onything the richt gait." + +"What!" retorted Robert, "--whan we hae ta'en oor lives in oor han', +an' can no more than houp we may cairry them throu' safe!" + +"What's that 'at ye ca' oor lives, Robert? The Maister never made +muckle o' the savin' o' sic like's them. It seems to me they're +naething but a kin' o' warl' 's gear themsel's." + +"An' yet," argued Robert, "ye'll tak thoucht aboot an auld umbrell? +Whaur's yer consistency, lass?" + +"Gien I war tribled aboot my life," said Janet, "I cud ill spare +thoucht for an auld umbrell. But they baith trible me sae little, +'at I may jist as weel luik efter them baith. It's auld an' casten +an' bow-ribbit, it's true, but it wad ill become me to drap it +wi'oot a thoucht, whan him 'at could mak haill loaves, said, 'Gether +up the fragments 'at naething be lost.'--Na," she continued, still +looking about her, "I maun jist dee my duty by the auld umbrell; +syne come o' 't 'at likes, I carena." + +So saying she walked to the lee side of a rock, and laid the +umbrella close under it, then a few large stones upon it to keep it +down. + +I may add, that the same umbrella, recovered, and with two new ribs, +served Janet to the day of her death. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE MAINS. + +They reached at length the valley road. The water that ran in the +bottom was the Lorrie. Three days ago it was a lively little +stream, winding and changing within its grassy banks--here resting +silent in a deep pool, there running and singing over its pebbles. +Now it had filled and far overflowed its banks, and was a swift +river. It had not yet, so far up the valley, encroached on the +road; but the torrents on the mountain had already in places much +injured it, and with considerable difficulty they crossed some of +the new-made gullies. When they approached the bridge, however, by +which they must cross the Lorrie to reach the Mains, their worst +trouble lay before them. For the enemy, with whose reinforcements +they had all the time been descending, showed himself ever in +greater strength the farther they advanced; and here the road was +flooded for a long way on both sides of the bridge. There was +therefore a good deal of wading to be done; but the road was an +embankment, there was little current, and in safety at last they +ascended the rising ground on which the farm-building stood. When +they reached the yard, they sent Gibbie to find shelter for Crummie, +and themselves went up to the house. + +"The Lord preserve 's!" cried Jean Mavor, with uplifted hands, when +she saw them enter the kitchen. + +"He'll dee that, mem," returned Janet, with a smile. + +"But what can he dee? Gien ye be droont oot o' the hills, what's to +come o' hiz i' the how? I wad ken that!" said Jean. + +"The watter's no up to yer door yet," remarked Janet. + +"God forbid!" retorted Jean, as if the very mention of such a state +of things was too dreadful to be polite. "--But, eh, ye're weet!" + +"Weet's no the word," said Robert, trying to laugh, but failing from +sheer exhaustion, and the beginnings of an asthmatic attack. + +The farmer, hearing their voices, came into the kitchen--a +middle-sized and middle-aged, rather coarse-looking man, with keen +eyes, who took snuff amazingly. His manner was free, with a touch +of satire. He was proud of driving a hard bargain, but was +thoroughly hospitable. He had little respect for person or thing, +but showed an occasional touch of tenderness. + +"Hoot, Rob!" he said roughly as he entered, "I thoucht ye had mair +sense! What's broucht ye here at sic a time?" + +But as he spoke he held out his snuff-box to the old man. + +"Fell needcessity, sir," answered Robert, taking a good pinch. + +"Necessity!" retorted the farmer. "Was ye oot o' meal?" + +"Oot o' dry meal, I doobt, by this time, sir," replied Robert. + +"Hoots! I wuss we war a' in like necessity--weel up upo' the hill +i'stead o' doon here upo' the haugh (river-meadow). It's jist clean +ridic'lous. Ye sud hae kenned better at your age, Rob. Ye sud hae +thoucht twise, man." + +"'Deed, sir," answered Robert, quietly finishing his pinch of snuff, +"there was sma' need, an' less time to think, an' Glashgar bursten, +an' the watter comin' ower the tap o' the bit hoosie as gien 'twar a +muckle owershot wheel, an' no a place for fowk to bide in. Ye dinna +think Janet an' me wad be twa sic auld fules as pit on oor Sunday +claes to sweem in, gien we thoucht to see things as we left them +whan we gaed back! Ye see, sir, though the hoose be fun't upo' a +rock, it's maist biggit o' fells, an' the foundation's a' I luik +even to see o' 't again. Whan the force o' the watter grows less, +it'll come down upo' the riggin' wi' the haill weicht o' 't." + +"Ay!" said Janet, in a low voice, "the live stanes maun come to the +live rock to bigg the hoose 'at'll stan." + +"What think ye, Maister Fergus, you 'at's gauin' to be a minister?" +said Robert, referring to his wife's words, as the young man looked +in at the door of the kitchen. + +"Lat him be," interposed his father, blowing his nose with +unnecessary violence; "setna him preachin' afore's time. Fess the +whusky, Fergus, an' gie auld Robert a dram. Haith! gien the watter +be rinnin' ower the tap o' yer hoose, man, it was time to flit. +Fess twa or three glaisses, Fergus; we hae a' need o' something +'at's no watter. It's perfeckly ridic'lous!" + +Having taken a little of the whisky, the old people went to change +their clothes for some Jean had provided, and in the mean time she +made up her fire, and prepared some breakfast for them. + +"An' whaur's yer dummie?" she asked, as they re-entered the kitchen. + +"He had puir Crummie to luik efter," answered Janet; "but he micht +hae been in or this time." + +"He'll be wi' Donal i' the byre, nae doobt," said Jean: "he's aye +some shy o' comin' in wantin' an inveet." She went to the door, and +called with a loud voice across the yard, through the wind and the +clashing torrents, "Donal, sen' Dummie in till's brakfast." + +"He's awa' till's sheep," cried Donal in reply. + +"Preserve 's!--the cratur 'll be lost!" said Jean. + +"Less likly nor ony man aboot the place," bawled Donal, half angry +with his mistress for calling his friend dummie. "Gibbie kens better +what he's aboot nor ony twa 'at thinks him a fule 'cause he canna +lat oot sic stuff an' nonsense as they canna haud in." + +Jean went back to the kitchen, only half reassured concerning her +brownie, and far from contented with his absence. But she was glad +to find that neither Janet nor Robert appeared alarmed at the news. + +"I wuss the cratur had had some brakfast," she said. + +"He has a piece in 's pooch," answered Janet. "He's no oonprovidit +wi' what can be made mair o'." + +"I dinna richtly un'erstan' ye there," said Jean. + +"Ye canna hae failt to remark, mem," answered Janet, "'at whan the +Maister set himsel' to feed the hungerin' thoosan's, he teuk intil's +han' what there was, an' vroucht upo' that to mak mair o' 't. I hae +wussed sometimes 'at the laddie wi' the five barley loaves an' the +twa sma' fishes, hadna been there that day. I wad fain ken hoo the +Maister wad hae managed wantin' onything to begin upo'. As it was, +he aye hang what he did upo' something his Father had dune afore +him." + +"Hoots!" returned Jean, who looked upon Janet as a lover of +conundrums, "ye're aye warstlin' wi' run k-nots an' teuch moo'fu's." + +"Ow na, no aye," answered Janet; "--only whiles, whan the speerit o' +speirin' gets the upper han' o' me for a sizon." + +"I doobt that same speerit 'll lead ye far frae the still watters +some day, Janet," said Jean, stirring the porridge vehemently. + +"Ow, I think not," answered Janet very calmly. "Whan the Maister +says--what's that to thee?--I tak care he hasna to say't twise, but +jist get up an' follow him." + +This was beyond Jean, but she held her peace, for, though she feared +for Janet's orthodoxy, and had a strong opinion of the superiority +of her own common sense--in which, as in the case of all who pride +themselves in the same, there was a good deal more of the common +than of the sense--she had the deepest conviction of Janet's +goodness, and regarded her as a sort of heaven-favoured idiot, whose +utterances were somewhat privileged. Janet, for her part, looked +upon Jean as "an honest wuman, wha 'll get a heap o' licht some +day." + +When they had eaten their breakfast, Robert took his pipe to the +barn, saying there was not much danger of fire that day; Janet +washed up the dishes, and sat down to her Book; and Jean went out +and in, attending to many things. + +Mean time the rain fell, the wind blew, the water rose. Little +could be done beyond feeding the animals, threshing a little corn in +the barn, and twisting straw ropes for the thatch of the ricks of +the coming harvest--if indeed there was a harvest on the road, for, +as the day went on, it seemed almost to grow doubtful whether any +ropes would be wanted; while already not a few of last year's ricks, +from farther up the country, were floating past the Mains, down the +Daur to the sea. The sight was a dreadful one--had an air of the +day of judgment about it to farmers' eyes. From the Mains, to right +and left beyond the rising ground on which the farm buildings stood, +everywhere as far as the bases of the hills, instead of fields was +water, yellow brown, here in still expanse or slow progress, there +sweeping along in fierce current. The quieter parts of it were +dotted with trees, divided by hedges, shaded with ears of corn; upon +the swifter parts floated objects of all kinds. + +Mr. Duff went wandering restlessly from one spot to another, finding +nothing to do. In the gloaming, which fell the sooner that a +rain-blanket miles thick wrapt the earth up from the sun, he came +across from the barn, and, entering the kitchen, dropped, weary with +hopelessness, on a chair. + +"I can weel un'erstan'," he said, "what for the Lord sud set doon +Bony an' set up Louy, but what for he sud gar corn grow, an' syne +sen' a spate to sweem awa' wi' 't, that's mair nor mortal man can +see the sense o'.--Haud yer tongue, Janet. I'm no sayin' there's +onything wrang; I'm sayin' naething but the sair trowth, 'at I canna +see the what-for o' 't. I canna see the guid o' 't till onybody. +A'thing 's on the ro'd to the German Ocean. The lan' 's jist +miltin' awa' intill the sea!" + +Janet sat silent, knitting hard at a stocking she had got hold of, +that Jean had begun for her brother. She knew argument concerning +the uses of adversity was vain with a man who knew of no life but +that which consisted in eating and drinking, sleeping and rising, +working and getting on in the world: as to such things existing only +that they may subserve a real life, he was almost as ignorant, +notwithstanding he was an elder of the church, as any heathen. + +From being nearly in the centre of its own land, the farm-steading +of the Mains was at a considerable distance from any other; but +there were two or three cottages upon the land, and as the evening +drew on, another aged pair, who lived in one only a few hundred +yards from the house, made their appearance, and were soon followed +by the wife of the foreman with her children, who lived farther off. +Quickly the night closed in, and Gibbie was not come. Robert was +growing very uneasy; Janet kept comforting and reassuring him. + +"There's ae thing," said the old man: "Oscar's wi' 'im." + +"Ay," responded Janet, unwilling, in the hearing of others, to say a +word that might seem to savour of rebuke to her husband, yet pained +that he should go to the dog for comfort--"Ay; he's a well-made +animal, Oscar! There's been a fowth o' sheep-care pitten intil 'im. +Ye see him 'at made 'im, bein' a shepherd himsel', kens what's +wantit o' the dog."--None but her husband understood what lay behind +the words. + +"Oscar's no wi' im," said Donal. "The dog cam to me i' the byre, +lang efter Gibbie was awa', greitin' like, an' luikin' for 'im." + +Robert gave a great sigh, but said nothing. + +Janet did not sleep a wink that night: she had so many to pray for. +Not Gibbie only, but every one of her family was in perils of +waters, all being employed along the valley of the Daur. It was not, +she said, confessing to her husband her sleeplessness, that she was +afraid. She was only "keepin' them company, an' haudin' the yett +open," she said. The latter phrase was her picture-periphrase for +praying. She never said she prayed; she held the gate open. The +wonder is but small that Donal should have turned out a poet. + +The dawn appeared--but the farm had vanished. Not even heads of +growing corn were anywhere more to be seen. The loss would be +severe, and John Duff's heart sank within him. The sheep which had +been in the mown clover-field that sloped to the burn, were now all +in the corn-yard, and the water was there with them. If the rise +did not soon cease, every rick would be afloat. There was little +current, however, and not half the danger there would have been had +the houses stood a few hundred yards in any direction from where +they were. + +"Tak yer brakfast, John," said his sister. + +"Lat them tak 'at hungers," he answered. + +"Tak, or ye'll no hae the wut to save," said Jean. + +Thereupon he fell to, and ate, if not with appetite, then with a +will that was wondrous. + +The flood still grew, and still the rain poured, and Gibbie did not +come. Indeed no one any longer expected him, whatever might have +become of him: except by boat the Mains was inaccessible now, they +thought. Soon after breakfast, notwithstanding, a strange woman +came to the door. Jean, who opened it to her knock, stood and +stared speechless. It was a greyhaired woman, with a more +disreputable look than her weather-flouted condition would account +for. + +"Gran' wither for the deuks!" she said. + +"Whaur come ye frae?" returned Jean, who did not relish the freedom +of her address. + +"Frae ower by," she answered. + +"An' hoo wan ye here?" + +"Upo' my twa legs." + +Jean looked this way and that over the watery waste, and again +stared at the woman in growing bewilderment.--They came afterwards +to the conclusion that she had arrived, probably half-drunk, the +night before, and passed it in one of the outhouses. + +"Yer legs maun be langer nor they luik than, wuman," said Jean, +glancing at the lower part of the stranger's person. + +The woman only laughed--a laugh without any laughter in it. + +"What's yer wull, noo 'at ye are here?" continued Jean with +severity. "Ye camna to the Mains to tell them there what kin' o' +wather it wis!" + +"I cam whaur I cud win," answered the woman; "an' for my wull, +that's naething to naebody noo--it's no as it was ance--though, gien +I cud get it, there micht be mair nor me the better for't. An' sae +as ye wad gang the len'th o' a glaiss o' whusky--" + +"Ye s' get nae whusky here," interrupted Jean, with determination. + +The woman gave a sigh, and half turned away as if she would depart. +But however she might have come, it was plainly impossible she +should depart and live. + +"Wuman," said Jean, "ken an' I care naething aboot ye, an' mair, I +dinna like ye, nor the luik o' ye; and gien 't war a fine simmer +nicht 'at a body cud lie thereoot, or gang the farther, I wad steek +the door i' yer face; but that I daurna dee the day again' my +neebour's soo; sae ye can come in an' sit doon' an', my min' spoken, +ye s' get what'll haud the life i' ye, an' a puckle strae i' the +barn. Only ye maun jist hae a quaiet sough, for the gudeman disna +like tramps." + +"Tramps here, tramps there!" exclaimed the woman, starting into high +displeasure; "I wad hae ye ken I'm an honest wuman, an' no tramp!" + +"Ye sudna luik sae like ane than," said Jean coolly. "But come yer +wa's in, an' I s' say naething sae lang as ye behave." + +The woman followed her, took the seat pointed out to her by the +fire, and sullenly ate, without a word of thanks, the cakes and milk +handed her, but seemed to grow better tempered as she ate, though +her black eyes glowed at the food with something of disgust and more +of contempt: she would rather have had a gill of whisky than all the +milk on the Mains. On the other side of the fire sat Janet, +knitting away busily, with a look of ease and leisure. She said +nothing, but now and then cast a kindly glance out of her grey eyes +at the woman: there was an air of the lost sheep about the stranger, +which, in whomsoever she might see it, always drew her affection. +"She maun be ane o' them the Maister cam' to ca'," she said to +herself. But she was careful to suggest no approach, for she knew +the sheep that has left the flock has grown wild, and is more +suspicious and easily startled than one in the midst of its +brethren. + +With the first of the light, some of the men on the farm had set out +to look for Gibbie, well knowing it would be a hard matter to touch +Glashgar. About nine they returned, having found it impossible. +One of them, caught in a current and swept into a hole, had barely +escaped with his life. But they were unanimous that the dummie was +better off in any cave on Glashgar than he would be in the best +bed-room at the Mains, if things went on as they threatened. + +Robert had kept on going to the barn, and back again to the kitchen, +all the morning, consumed with anxiety about the son of his old age; +but the barn began to be flooded, and he had to limit his +prayer-walk to the space between the door of the house and the chair +where Janet sat--knitting busily, and praying with countenance +untroubled, amidst the rush of the seaward torrents, the mad howling +and screeching of the wind, and the lowing of the imprisoned cattle. + +"O Lord," she said in her great trusting heart, "gien my bonny man +be droonin' i' the watter, or deein' o' cauld on the hill-side, haud +'s han'. Binna far frae him, O Lord; dinna lat him be fleyt." + +To Janet, what we call life and death were comparatively small +matters, but she was very tender over suffering and fear. She did +not pray half so much for Gibbie's life as for the presence with him +of him who is at the deathbed of every sparrow. She went on +waiting, and refused to be troubled. True, she was not his bodily +mother, but she loved him far better than the mother who, in such a +dread for her child, would have been mad with terror. The +difference was, that Janet loved up as well as down, loved down so +widely, so intensely, because the Lord of life, who gives his own to +us, was more to her than any child can be to any mother, and she +knew he could not forsake her Gibbie, and that his presence was more +and better than life. She was unnatural, was she?--inhuman?--Yes, +if there be no such heart and source of humanity as she believed in; +if there be, then such calmness and courage and content as hers are +the mere human and natural condition to be hungered after by every +aspiring soul. Not until such condition is mine shall I be able to +regard life as a godlike gift, except in the hope that it is drawing +nigh. Let him who understands, understand better; let him not say +the good is less than perfect, or excuse his supineness and +spiritual sloth by saying to himself that a man can go too far in +his search after the divine, can sell too much of what he has to buy +the field of the treasure. Either there is no Christ of God, or my +all is his. + +Robert seemed at length to have ceased his caged wandering. For a +quarter of an hour he had been sitting with his face buried in his +hands. Janet rose, went softly to him, and said in a whisper: + +"Is Gibbie waur aff, Robert, i' this watter upo' Glashgar, nor the +dissiples i' the boat upo' yon loch o' Galilee, an' the Maister no +come to them? Robert, my ain man! dinna gar the Maister say to you, +O ye o' little faith! Wharfor did ye doobt? Tak hert, man; the +Maister wadna hae his men be cooards." + +"Ye're richt, Janet; ye're aye richt," answered Robert, and rose. + +She followed him into the passage. + +"Whaur are ye gauin', Robert?" she said. + +"I wuss I cud tell ye," he answered. "I'm jist hungerin' to be my +lane. I wuss I had never left Glashgar. There's aye room there. +Or gien I cud win oot amo' the rigs! There's nane o' them left, +but there's the rucks--they're no soomin' yet! I want to gang to +the Lord, but I maunna weet Willie Mackay's claes." + +"It's a sair peety," said Janet, "'at the men fowk disna learn to +weyve stockin's, or dee something or ither wi' their han's. Mony's +the time my stockin' 's been maist as guid's a cloaset to me, though +I cudna jist gang intil't. But what maitters 't! A prayer i' the +hert 's sure to fin' the ro'd oot. The hert's the last place 'at +can haud ane in. A prayin' hert has nae reef (roof) till't." + +She turned and left him. Comforted by her words, he followed her +back into the kitchen, and sat down beside her. + +"Gibbie 'ill be here mayhap whan least ye luik for him," said Janet. + +Neither of them caught the wild eager gleam that lighted the face of +the strange woman at those last words of Janet. She looked up at +her with the sharpest of glances, but the same instant compelled her +countenance to resume its former expression of fierce indifference, +and under that became watchful of everything said and done. + +Still the rain fell and the wind blew; the torrents came tearing +down from the hills, and shot madly into the rivers; the rivers ran +into the valleys, and deepened the lakes that filled them. On every +side of the Mains, from the foot of Glashgar to Gormdhu, all was one +yellow and red sea, with roaring currents and vortices numberless. +It burrowed holes, it opened long-deserted channels and +water-courses; here it deposited inches of rich mould, there yards +of sand and gravel; here it was carrying away fertile ground, +leaving behind only bare rock or shingle where the corn had been +waving; there it was scooping out the bed of a new lake. Many a +thick soft lawn, of loveliest grass, dotted with fragrant shrubs and +rare trees, vanished, and nothing was there when the waters subsided +but a stony waste, or a gravelly precipice. Woods and copses were +undermined, and trees and soil together swept into the wash: +sometimes the very place was hardly there to say it knew its +children no more. Houses were torn to pieces, and their contents, +as from broken boxes, sent wandering on the brown waste, through the +grey air, to the discoloured sea, whose saltness for a long way out +had vanished with its hue. Haymows were buried to the very top in +sand; others went sailing bodily down the mighty stream--some of +them followed or surrounded, like big ducks, by a great brood of +ricks for their ducklings. Huge trees went past as if shot down an +Alpine slide, cottages, and bridges of stone, giving way before +them. Wooden mills, thatched roofs, great mill-wheels, went dipping +and swaying and hobbling down. From the upper windows of the Mains, +looking towards the chief current, they saw a drift of everything +belonging to farms and dwelling-houses that would float. Chairs and +tables, chests, carts, saddles, chests of drawers, tubs of linen, +beds and blankets, workbenches, harrows, girnels, planes, cheeses, +churns, spinning-wheels, cradles, iron pots, wheel-barrows--all +these and many other things hurried past as they gazed. Everybody +was looking, and for a time all had been silent. + +"Lord save us!" cried Mr. Duff, with a great start, and ran for his +telescope. + +A four-post bed came rocking down the river, now shooting straight +for a short distance, now slowly wheeling, now shivering, struck by +some swifter thing, now whirling giddily round in some vortex. The +soaked curtains were flacking and flying in the great +wind--and--yes, the telescope revealed it!--there was a figure in +it! dead or alive the farmer could not tell, but it lay still!--A +cry burst from them all; but on swept the strange boat, bound for +the world beyond the flood, and none could stay its course. + +The water was now in the stable and cow-houses and barn. A few +minutes more and it would be creeping into the kitchen. The Daur +and its tributary the Lorrie were about to merge their last +difference on the floor of Jean's parlour. Worst of all, a rapid +current had set in across the farther end of the stable, which no +one had as yet observed. + +Jean bustled about her work as usual, nor, although it was so much +augmented, would accept help from any of her guests until it came to +preparing dinner, when she allowed Janet and the foreman's wife to +lend her a hand. "The tramp-wife" she would not permit to touch +plate or spoon, knife or potato. The woman rose in anger at her +exclusion, and leaving the house waded to the barn. There she went +up the ladder to the loft where she had slept, and threw herself on +her straw-bed. + +As there was no doing any work, Donal was out with two of the men, +wading here and there where the water was not too deep, enjoying the +wonder of the strange looks and curious conjunctions of things. +None of them felt much of dismay at the havoc around them: beyond +their chests with their Sunday clothes and at most two clean shirts, +neither of the men had anything to lose worth mentioning; and for +Donal, he would gladly have given even his books for such a ploy. + +"There's ae thing, mither," he said, entering the kitchen, covered +with mud, a rabbit in one hand and a large salmon in the other, +"we're no like to sterve, wi' sawmon i' the hedges, an' mappies i' +the trees!" + +His master questioned him with no little incredulity. It was easy +to believe in salmon anywhere, but rabbits in trees! + +"I catched it i' the brainches o' a lairick (larch)," Donal +answered, "easy eneuch, for it cudna rin far, an' was mair fleyt at +the watter nor at me; but for the sawmon, haith I was ower an' ower +wi' hit i' the watter, efter I gruppit it, er' I cud ca' 't my ain." + +Before the flood subsided, not a few rabbits were caught in trees, +mostly spruce-firs and larches. For salmon, they were taken +everywhere--among grass, corn, and potatoes, in bushes, and hedges, +and cottages. One was caught on a lawn with an umbrella; one was +reported to have been found in a press-bed; another, coiled round in +a pot hanging from the crook--ready to be boiled, only that he was +alive and undressed. + +Donal was still being cross-questioned by his master when the +strange woman re-entered. Lying upon her straw, she had seen, +through the fanlight over the stable door, the swiftness of the +current there passing, and understood the danger. + +"I doobt," she said, addressing no one in particular, "the ga'le o' +the stable winna stan' abune anither half-hoor." + +"It maun fa' than," said the farmer, taking a pinch of snuff in +hopeless serenity, and turning away. + +"Hoots!" said the woman, "dinna speyk that gait, sir. It's no +wice-like. Tak a dram, an' tak hert, an' dinna fling the calf efter +the coo. Whaur's yer boatle, sir?" + +John paid no heed to her suggestion, but Jean took it up. + +"The boatle's whaur ye s' no lay han' upo' 't," she said. + +"Weel, gien ye hae nae mercy upo' yer whusky, ye sud hae some upo' +yer horse-beasts, ony gait," said the woman indignantly. + +"What mean ye by that?" returned Jean, with hard voice, and eye of +blame. + +"Ye might at the leest gie the puir things a chance," the woman +rejoined. + +"Hoo wad ye dee that?" said Jean. "Gien ye lowsed them they wad but +tak to the watter wi' fear, an' droon the seener." + +"Na, na, Jean," interposed the farmer, "they wad tak care o' +themsel's to the last, an' aye haud to the dryest, jist as ye wad +yersel'." + +"Allooin'," said the stranger, replying to Jean, yet speaking rather +as if to herself, while she thought about something else, "I wad +raither droon soomin' nor tied by the heid.--But what's the guid o' +doctrine whaur there's onything to be dune?--Ye hae whaur to put +them.--What kin' 's the fleers (floors) up the stair, sir?" she +asked abruptly, turning full on her host, with a flash in her +deep-set black eyes. + +"Ow, guid dale fleers--what ither?" answered the farmer. "--It's the +wa's, wuman, no the fleers we hae to be concernt aboot i' this +wather." + +"Gien the j'ists be strang, an' weel set intil the wa's, what for +sudna ye tak the horse up the stair intil yer bedrooms? It'll be a' +to the guid o' the wa's, for the weicht o' the beasts 'll be upo' +them to haud them doon, an' the haill hoose again' the watter. An' +gien I was you, I wad pit the best o' the kye an' the nowt intil the +parlour an' the kitchen here. I'm thinkin' we'll lowse them a' +else; for the byre wa's 'ill gang afore the hoose." + +Mr. Duff broke into a strange laughter. + +"Wad ye no tak up the carpets first, wuman?" he said. + +"I wad," she answered; "that gangs ohn speirt--gien there was time; +but I tell ye there's nane; an' ye'll buy twa or three carpets for +the price o' ae horse." + +"Haith! the wuman's i' the richt," he cried, suddenly waking up to +the sense of the proposal, and shot from the house. + +All the women, Jean making no exception to any help now, rushed to +carry the beds and blankets to the garret. + +Just as Mr. Duff entered the stable from the nearer end, the +opposite gable fell out with a great splash, letting in the wide +level vision of turbidly raging waters, fading into the obscurity of +the wind-driven rain. While he stared aghast, a great tree struck +the wall like a battering-ram, so that the stable shook. The +horses, which had been for some time moving uneasily, were now quite +scared. There was not a moment to be lost. Duff shouted for his +men; one or two came running; and in less than a minute more those +in the house heard the iron-shod feet splashing and stamping through +the water, as, one after another, the horses were brought across the +yard to the door of the house. Mr. Duff led by the halter his +favourite Snowball, who was a good deal excited, plunging and +rearing so that it was all he could do to hold him. He had ordered +the men to take the others first, thinking he would follow more +quietly. But the moment Snowball heard the first thundering of +hoofs on the stair, he went out of his senses with terror, broke +from his master, and went plunging back to the stable. Duff darted +after him, but was only in time to see him rush from the further end +into the swift current, where he was at once out of his depth, and +was instantly caught and hurried, rolling over and over, from his +master's sight. He ran back into the house, and up to the highest +window. From that he caught sight of him a long way down, swimming. +Once or twice he saw him turned heels over head--only to get his +neck up again presently, and swim as well as before. But alas! it +was in the direction of the Daur, which would soon, his master did +not doubt, sweep his carcase into the North Sea. With troubled heart +he strained his sight after him as long as he could distinguish his +lessening head, but it got amongst some wreck, and unable to tell +any more whether he saw it or not, he returned to his men with his +eyes full of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +GLASHRUACH. + +As soon as Gibbie had found a stall for Crummie, and thrown a great +dinner before her, he turned and sped back the way he had come: +there was no time to lose if he would have the bridge to cross the +Lorrie by; and his was indeed the last foot that ever touched it. +Guiding himself by well-known points yet salient, for he knew the +country perhaps better than any man born and bred in it, he made +straight for Glashgar, itself hid in the rain. Now wading, now +swimming, now walking along the top of a wall, now caught and +baffled in a hedge, Gibbie held stoutly on. Again and again he got +into a current, and was swept from his direction, but he soon made +his lee way good, and at length clear of the level water, and with +only the torrents to mind, seated himself on a stone under a rock a +little way up the mountain. There he drew from his pocket the +putty-like mass to which the water had reduced the cakes with which +it was filled, and ate it gladly, eyeing from his shelter the +slanting lines of the rain, and the rushing sea from which he had +just emerged. So lost was the land beneath the water, that he had +to think to be certain under which of the roofs, looking like so +many foundered Noah's arks, he had left his father and mother. Ah! +yonder were cattle!--a score of heads, listlessly drifting down, all +the swim out of them, their long horns, like bits of dry branches, +knocking together! There was a pig, and there another! And, alas! +yonder floated half a dozen helpless sponges of sheep! + +At sight of these last he started to his feet, and set off up the +hill. It was not so hard a struggle as to cross the water, but he +had still to get to the other side of several torrents far more +dangerous than any current he had been in. Again and again he had +to ascend a long distance before he found a possible place to cross +at; but he reached the fold at last. + +It was in a little valley opening on that where lay the tarn. +Swollen to a lake, the waters of it were now at the very gate of +the pen. For a moment he regretted he had not brought Oscar, but +the next he saw that not much could with any help have been done for +the sheep, beyond what they could, if at liberty, do for themselves. +Left where they were they would probably be drowned; if not they +would be starved; but if he let them go, they would keep out of the +water, and find for themselves what food and shelter were to be had. +He opened the gate, drove them out, and a little way up the hill +and left them. + +By this time it was about two o'clock, and Gibbie was very hungry. +He had had enough of the water for one day, however, and was not +inclined to return to the Mains. Where could he get something to +eat? If the cottage were still standing--and it might be--he would +find plenty there. He turned towards it. Great was his pleasure +when, after another long struggle, he perceived that not only was +the cottage there, but the torrent gone: either the flow from the +mountain had ceased, or the course of the water had been diverted. +When he reached the Glashburn, which lay between him and the +cottage, he saw that the torrent had found its way into it, probably +along with others of the same brood, for it was frightfully swollen, +and went shooting down to Glashruach like one long cataract. He had +to go a great way up before he could cross it. + +When at length he reached home, he discovered that the overshooting +stream must have turned aside very soon after they left, for the +place was not much worse than then. He swept out the water that lay +on the floor, took the dryest peats he could find, succeeded with +the tinder-box and sulphur-match at the first attempt, lighted a +large fire, and made himself some water-brose--which is not only the +most easily cooked of dishes, but is as good as any for a youth of +capacity for strong food. + +His hunger appeased, he sat resting in Robert's chair, gradually +drying; and falling asleep, slept for an hour or so. When he woke, +he took his New Testament from the crap o' the wa', and began to +read. + +Of late he had made a few attempts upon one and another of the +Epistles, but, not understanding what he read, had not found profit, +and was on the point of turning finally from them for the present, +when his eye falling on some of the words of St. John, his attention +was at once caught, and he had soon satisfied himself, to his wonder +and gladness, that his First Epistle was no sealed book any more +than his Gospel. To the third chapter of that Epistle he now +turned, and read until he came to these words: "Hereby perceive we +the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought +to lay down our lives for the brethren." + +"What learned him that?" said Gibbie to himself; Janet had taught +him to search the teaching of the apostles for what the Master had +taught them. He thought and thought, and at last remembered "This +is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." + +"And here am I," said Gibbie to himself, "sittin' here in idleseat, +wi' my fire, an' my brose, an' my Bible, and a' the warl' aneath +Glashgar lyin' in a speat (flood)! I canna lay doon my life to save +their sowls; I maun save for them what I can--it may be but a hen or +a calf. I maun dee the warks o' him 'at sent me--he's aye savin' at +men." + +The Bible was back in its place, and Gibbie out of the door the same +moment. He had not an idea what he was going to do. All he yet +understood was, that he must go down the hill, to be where things +might have to be done--and that before the darkness fell. He must +go where there were people. As he went his heart was full of joy, +as if he had already achieved some deliverance. Down the hill he +went singing and dancing. If mere battle with storm was a delight +to the boy, what would not a mortal tussle with the elements for the +love of men be? The thought itself was a heavenly felicity, and +made him "happy as a lover." + +His first definitely directive thought was, that his nearest +neighbours were likely enough to be in trouble--"the fowk at the +muckle hoose." He would go thither straight. + +Glashruach, as I have already said, stood on one of the roots of +Glashgar, where the mountain settles down into the valley of the +Daur. Immediately outside its principal gate ran the Glashburn; on +the other side of the house, within the grounds, ran a smaller +hill-stream, already mentioned as passing close under Ginevra's +window. Both these fell into the Lorrie. Between them the mountain +sloped gently up for some little distance, clothed with forest. On +the side of the smaller burn, however, the side opposite the house, +the ground rose abruptly. There also grew firs, but the soil was +shallow, with rock immediately below, and they had not come to much. +Straight from the mountain, between the two streams, Gibbie +approached the house, through larches and pines, raving and roaring +in the wind. As he drew nearer, and saw how high the house stood +above the valley and its waters, he began to think he had been +foolish in coming there to find work; but when he reached a certain +point whence the approach from the gate was visible, he started, +stopped and stared. He rubbed his eyes. No; he was not asleep and +dreaming by the cottage fire; the wind was about him, and the firs +were howling and hissing; there was the cloudy mountain, with the +Glashburn, fifty times its usual size, darting like brown lightning +from it; but where was the iron gate with its two stone pillars, +crested with wolf's-heads? where was the bridge? where was the wall, +and the gravelled road to the house? Had he mistaken his bearings? +was he looking in a wrong direction? Below him was a wide, swift, +fiercely rushing river, where water was none before! No; he made no +mistake: there was the rest of the road, the end of it next the +house! That was a great piece of it that fell frothing into the +river and vanished! Bridge and gate and wall were gone utterly. +The burn had swallowed them, and now, foaming with madness, was +roaring along, a great way within the grounds, and rapidly drawing +nearer to the house, tearing to pieces and devouring all that +defended it. There! what a mouthful of the shrubbery it gobbled up! +Slowly, graciously, the tall trees bowed their heads and sank into +the torrent, but the moment they touched it, shot away like arrows. +Would the foundations of the house outstand it? Were they as +strong as the walls of Babylon, yet if the water undermined them, +down they must! Did the laird know that the enemy was within his +gates? Not with all he had that day seen and gone through, had +Gibbie until now gathered any notion of the force of rushing water. + +Rousing himself from his bewildered amazement, he darted down the +hill. If the other burn was behaving in like fashion, then indeed +the fate of the house was sealed. But no; huge and wild as that was +also, it was not able to tear down its banks of rock. From that +side the house did not seem in danger. + +Mr. Galbraith had gone again, leaving Ginevra to the care of +Mistress Mac Farlane, with a strict order to both, and full +authority to the latter to enforce it, that she should not set foot +across the threshold on any pretext, or on the smallest expedition, +without the housekeeper's attendance. He must take Joseph with him, +he said, as he was going to the Duke's, but she could send for Angus +upon any emergency. + +The laird had of late been so little at home, that the establishment +had been much reduced; Mistress Mac Farlane did most of the cooking +herself; had quarrelled with the housemaid and not yet got another; +and, Nicie dismissed, and the kitchen maid gone to visit her mother, +was left alone in the house with her Mistress, if such we can call +her who was really her prisoner. At this moment, however, she was +not alone, for on the other side of the fire sat Angus, not thither +attracted by any friendship for the housekeeper, but by the glass of +whisky of which he sipped as he talked. Many a flood had Angus +seen, and some that had done frightful damage, but never one that +had caused him anxiety; and although this was worse than any of the +rest, he had not yet a notion how bad it really was. For, as there +was nothing to be done out of doors, and he was not fond of being +idle, he had been busy all the morning in the woodhouse, sawing and +splitting for the winter-store, and working the better that he knew +what honorarium awaited his appearance in the kitchen. In the +woodhouse he only heard the wind and the rain and the roar, he saw +nothing of the flood; when he entered the kitchen, it was by the +back door, and he sat there without the smallest suspicion of what +was going on in front. + +Ginevra had had no companion since Nicie left her, and her days had +been very dreary, but this day had been the dreariest in her life. +Mistress Mac Farlane made herself so disagreeable that she kept +away from her as much as she could, spending most of her time in her +own room, with her needlework and some books of poetry she had found +in the library. But the poetry had turned out very dull--not at all +like what Donal read, and throwing one of them aside for the tenth +time that day, she wandered listlessly to the window, and stood +there gazing out on the wild confusion--the burn roaring below, the +trees opposite ready to be torn to pieces by the wind, and the +valley beneath covered with stormy water. The tumult was so loud, +that she did not hear a gentle knock at her door: as she turned +away, weary of everything, she saw it softly open--and there to her +astonishment stood Gibbie--come, she imagined, to seek shelter, +because their cottage had been blown down.--Calculating the position +of her room from what he knew of its windows, he had, with the +experienced judgment of a mountaineer, gone to it almost direct. + +"You mustn't come here, Gibbie," she said, advancing. "Go down to +the kitchen, to Mistress Mac Farlane. She will see to what you +want." + +Gibbie made eager signs to her to go with him. She concluded that +he wanted her to accompany him to the kitchen and speak for him; but +knowing that would only enrage her keeper with them both, she shook +her head, and went back to the window. She thought, as she +approached it, there seemed a lull in the storm, but the moment she +looked out, she gave a cry of astonishment, and stood staring. +Gibbie had followed her as softly as swiftly, and looking out also, +saw good cause indeed for her astonishment: the channel of the +raging burn was all but dry! Instantly he understood what it meant. +In his impotence to persuade, he caught the girl in his arms, and +rushed with her from the room. She had faith enough in him by this +time not to struggle or scream. He shot down the stair with her, +and out of the front door. Her weight was nothing to his excited +strength. The moment they issued, and she saw the Glashburn raving +along through the lawn, with little more than the breadth of the +drive between it and the house, she saw the necessity of escape, +though she did not perceive half the dire necessity for haste. +Every few moments, a great gush would dash out twelve or fifteen +yards over the gravel and sink again, carrying many feet of the bank +with it, and widening by so much the raging channel. + +"Put me down, Gibbie," she said; "I will run as fast as you like." + +He obeyed at once. + +"Oh!" she cried, "Mistress Mac Farlane!--I wonder if she knows. Run +and knock at the kitchen window." + +Gibbie darted off, gave three loud hurried taps on the window, came +flying back, took Ginevra's hand in his, drew her on till she was at +her full speed, turned sharp to the left round the corner of the +house, and shot down to the empty channel of the burn. As they +crossed it, even to the inexperienced eyes of the girl it was plain +what had caused the phenomenon. A short distance up the stream, the +whole facing of its lofty right bank had slipped down into its +channel. Not a tree, not a shrub, not a bed of moss was to be seen; +all was bare wet rock. A confused heap of mould, with branches and +roots sticking out of it in all directions, lay at its foot, closing +the view upward. The other side of the heap was beaten by the +raging burn. They could hear, though they could not see it. Any +moment the barrier might give way, and the water resume its course. +They made haste, therefore, to climb the opposite bank. In places +it was very steep, and the soil slipped so that often it seemed on +its way with them to the bottom, while the wind threatened to uproot +the trees to which they clung, and carry them off through the air. +It was with a fierce scramble they gained the top. Then the sight +was a grand one. The arrested water swirled and beat and foamed +against the landslip, then rushed to the left, through the wood, +over bushes and stones, a ragging river, the wind tearing off the +tops of its waves, to the Glashburn, into which it plunged, swelling +yet higher its huge volume. Rapidly it cut for itself a new +channel. Every moment a tree fell and shot with it like a rocket. +Looking up its course, they saw it come down the hillside a white +streak, and burst into boiling brown and roar at their feet. The +wind nearly swept them from their place; but they clung to the great +stones, and saw the airy torrent, as if emulating that below it, +fill itself with branches and leaves and lumps of foam. Then first +Ginevra became fully aware of the danger in which the house was, and +from which Gibbie had rescued her. Augmented in volume and rapidity +by the junction of its neighbour, the Glashburn was now within a +yard--so it seemed from that height at least--of the door. But they +must not linger. The nearest accessible shelter was the cottage, +and Gibbie knew it would need all Ginevra's strength to reach it. +Again he took her by the hand. + +"But where's Mistress Mac Farlane?" she said. "Oh, Gibbie! we +mustn't leave her." + +He replied by pointing down to the bed of the stream: there were she +and Angus crossing. Ginevra, was satisfied when she saw the +gamekeeper with her, and they set out, as fast as they could go, +ascending the mountain, Gibbie eager to have her in warmth and +safety before it was dark. + +Both burns were now between them and the cottage, which greatly +added to their difficulties. The smaller burn came from the tarn, +and round that they must go, else Ginevra would never get to the +other side of it; and then there was the Glashburn to cross. It was +an undertaking hard for any girl, especially such for one +unaccustomed to exertion; and what made it far worse was that she +had only house-shoes, which were continually coming off as she +climbed. But the excitement of battling with the storm, the joy of +adventure, and the pleasure of feeling her own strength, sustained +her well for a long time; and in such wind and rain, the absence of +bonnet and cloak was an advantage, so long as exertion kept her +warm. Gibbie did his best to tie her shoes on with strips of her +pocket handkerchief; but when at last they were of no more use, he +pulled off his corduroy jacket, tore out the sleeves, and with +strips from the back tied them about her feet and ankles. Her hair +also was a trouble: it would keep blowing in her eyes, and in +Gibbie's too, and that sometimes with quite a sharp lash. But she +never lost her courage, and Gibbie, though he could not hearten her +with words, was so ready with smile and laugh, was so cheerful--even +merry, so fearless, so free from doubt and anxiety, while doing +everything he could think of to lessen her toil and pain, that she +hardly felt in his silence any lack; while often, to rest her body, +and withdraw her mind from her sufferings, he made her stop and look +back on the strange scene behind them. It was getting dark when +they reached the only spot where he judged it possible to cross the +Glashburn. He carried her over, and then it was all down-hill to +the cottage. Once inside it, Ginevra threw herself into Robert's +chair, and laughed, and cried, and laughed again. Gibbie blew up +the peats, made a good fire, and put on water to boil; then opened +Janet's drawers, and having signified to his companion to take what +she could find, went to the cow house, threw himself on a heap of +wet straw, worn out, and had enough to do to keep himself from +falling asleep. A little rested, he rose and re-entered the +cottage, when a merry laugh from both of them went ringing out into +the storm: the little lady was dressed in Janet's workday garments, +and making porridge. She looked very funny. Gibbie found plenty of +milk in the dairy under the rock, and they ate their supper together +in gladness. Then Gibbie prepared the bed in the little closet for +his guest and she slept as if she had not slept for a week. + +Gibbie woke with the first of the dawn. The rain still +fell--descending in spoonfuls rather than drops; the wind kept +shaping itself into long hopeless howls, rising to shrill yells that +went drifting away over the land; and then the howling rose again. +Nature seemed in despair. There must be more for Gibbie to do! He +must go again to the foot of the mountain, and see if there was +anybody to help. They might even be in trouble at the Mains, who +could tell! + +Ginevra woke, rose, made herself as tidy as she could, and left her +closet. Gibbie was not in the cottage. She blew up the fire, and, +finding the pot ready beside it, with clean water, set it on to +boil. Gibbie did not come. The water boiled. She took it off, but +being hungry, put it on again. Several times she took it off and +put it on again. Gibbie never came. She made herself some porridge +at last. Everything necessary was upon the table, and as she poured +it into the wooden dish for the purpose, she took notice of a slate +beside it, with something written upon it. The words were, "I will +cum back as soon as I cann." + +She was alone, then! It was dreadful; but she was too hungry to +think about it. She ate her porridge, and then began to cry. It +was very unkind of Gibbie to leave her, she said to herself, But +then he was a sort of angel, and doubtless had to go and help +somebody else. There was a little pile of books on the table, which +he must have left for her. She began examining them, and soon found +something to interest her, so that an hour or two passed quickly. +But Gibbie did not return, and the day went wearily. She cried now +and then, made great efforts to be patient, succeeded pretty well +for a while, and cried again. She read and grew tired a dozen +times; ate cakes and milk, cried afresh, and ate again. Still +Gibbie did not come. Before the day was over, she had had a good +lesson in praying. For here she was, one who had never yet acted on +her own responsibility, alone on a bare mountain-side, in the heart +of a storm which seemed as if it would never cease, and not a +creature knew where she was but the dumb boy, and he had left her! +If he should never come back, what would become of her? She could +not find her way down the mountain; and if she could, where was she +to go, with all Daurside under water? She would soon have eaten up +all the food in the cottage, and the storm might go on for ever, who +could tell? Or who could tell whether, when it was over, and she +got down to the valley below, she should not find it a lifeless +desert, everybody drowned, and herself the only person left alive in +the world? + +Then the noises were terrible. She seemed to inhabit noise. +Through the general roar of wind and water and rain every now then +came a sharper sound, like a report or crack, followed by a strange +low thunder, as it seemed. They were the noises of stones carried +down by the streams, grinding against each other, and dashed stone +against stone; and of rocks falling and rolling, and bounding +against their fast-rooted neighbours. When it began to grow dark, +her misery seemed more than she could bear; but then, happily, she +grew sleepy, and slept the darkness away. + +With the new light came new promise and fresh hope. What should we +poor humans do without our God's nights and mornings? Our ills are +all easier to help than we know--except the one ill of a central +self, which God himself finds it hard to help.--It no longer rained +so fiercely; the wind had fallen; and the streams did not run so +furious a race down the sides of the mountain. She ran to the burn, +got some water to wash herself--she could not spare the clear water, +of which there was some still left in Janet's pails--and put on her +own clothes, which were now quite dry. Then she got herself some +breakfast, and after that tried to say her prayers, but found it +very difficult, for, do what she might to model her slippery +thoughts, she could not help, as often as she turned herself towards +him, seeing God like her father, the laird. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE WHELP. + +Gibbie sped down the hill through a worse rain than ever. The +morning was close, and the vapours that filled it were like smoke +burned to the hue of the flames whence it issued. Many a man that +morning believed another great deluge begun, and all measures +relating to things of this world lost labour. Going down his own +side of the Glashburn, the nearest path to the valley, the +gamekeeper's cottage was the first dwelling on his way. It stood a +little distance from the bank of the burn, opposite the bridge and +gate, while such things were. + +It had been with great difficulty, for even Angus did not know the +mountain so well as Gibbie, that the gamekeeper reached it with the +housekeeper the night before. It was within two gunshots of the +house of Glashruach, yet to get to it they had to walk miles up and +down Glashgar. A mountain in storm is as hard to cross as a sea. +Arrived, they did not therefore feel safe. The tendency of the +Glashburn was indeed away from the cottage, as the grounds of +Glashruach sadly witnessed; but a torrent is double-edged, and who +could tell? The yielding of one stone in its channel might send it +to them. All night Angus watched, peering out ever again into the +darkness, but seeing nothing save three lights that burned above the +water--one of them, he thought, at the Mains. The other two went +out in the darkness, but that only in the dawn. When the morning +came, there was the Glashburn meeting the Lorrie in his garden. But +the cottage was well built, and fit to stand a good siege, while any +moment the waters might have reached their height. By breakfast +time, however, they were round it from behind. There is nothing +like a flood for revealing the variations of surface, the dips and +swells of a country. In a few minutes they were isolated, with the +current of the Glashburn on one side, and that of the Lorrie in +front. When he saw the water come in at front and back doors at +once, Angus ordered his family up the stair: the cottage had a large +attic, with dormer windows, where they slept. He himself remained +below for some time longer, in that end of the house where he kept +his guns and fishing-tackle; there he sat on a table, preparing nets +for the fish that would be left in the pools; and not until he found +himself afloat did he take his work to the attic. + +There the room was hot, and they had the window open. Mistress Mac +Pholp stood at it, looking out on the awful prospect, with her +youngest child, a sickly boy, in her arms. He had in his a little +terrier-pup, greatly valued of the gamekeeper. In a sudden outbreak +of peevish wilfulness, he threw the creature out of the window. It +fell on the slooping roof, and before it could recover itself, being +too young to have the full command of four legs, rolled off. + +"Eh! the doggie's i' the watter!" cried Mistress Mac Pholp in +dismay. + +Angus threw down everything with an ugly oath, for he had given +strict orders not one of the children should handle the whelp, +jumped up, and got out on the roof. From there he might have +managed to reach it, so high now was the water, had the little thing +remained where it fell, but already it had swam a yard or two from +the house. Angus, who was a fair swimmer and an angry man, threw +off his coat, and plunged after it, greatly to the delight of the +little one, caught the pup with his teeth by the back of the neck, +and turned to make for the house. Just then a shrub, swept from the +hill, caught him in the face, and so bewildered him, that, before he +got rid of it, he had blundered into the edge of the current, which +seized and bore him rapidly away. He dropped the pup, and struck +out for home with all his strength. But he soon found the most he +could do was to keep his head above water, and gave himself up for +lost. His wife screamed in agony. Gibbie heard her as he came down +the hill, and ran at full speed towards the cottage. + +About a hundred yards from the house, the current bore Angus +straight into a large elder tree. He got into the middle of it, and +there remained trembling, the weak branches breaking with every +motion he made, while the stream worked at the roots, and the wind +laid hold of him with fierce leverage. In terror, seeming still to +sink as he sat, he watched the trees dart by like battering-rams in +the swiftest of the current: the least of them diverging would tear +the elder tree with it. Brave enough in dealing with poachers, +Angus was not the man to gaze with composure in the face of a sure +slow death, against which no assault could be made. Many a man is +courageous because he has not conscience enough to make a coward of +him, but Angus had not quite reached that condition, and from the +branches of the elder tree showed a pale, terror-stricken visage. +Amidst the many objects on the face of the water, Gibbie, however, +did not distinguish it, and plunging in swam round to the front of +the cottage to learn what was the matter. There the wife's +gesticulations directed his eyes to her drowning husband. + +But what was he to do? He could swim to the tree well enough, and, +he thought, back again, but how was that to be made of service to +Angus? He could not save him by main force--there was not enough of +that between them. If he had a line, and there must be plenty of +lines in the cottage, he would carry him the end of it to haul +upon--that would do. If he could send it to him that would be +better still, for then he could help at the other end, and would be +in the right position, up stream, to help farther, if necessary, for +down the current alone was the path of communication open. He +caught hold of the eaves, and scrambled on to the roof. But in the +folly and faithlessness of her despair, the woman would not let him +enter. With a curse caught from her husband, she struck him from +the window, crying, + +"Ye s' no come in here, an' my man droonin' yon'er! Gang till 'im, +ye cooard!" + +Never had poor Gibbie so much missed the use of speech. On the +slope of the roof he could do little to force an entrance, therefore +threw himself off it to seek another, and betook himself to the +windows below. Through that of Angus's room, he caught sight of a +floating anker cask. It was the very thing!--and there on the walls +hung a quantity of nets and cordage! But how to get in? It was a +sash-window, and of course swollen with the wet, therefore not to be +opened; and there was not a square in it large enough to let him +through. He swam to the other side, and crept softly on to the +roof, and over the ridge. But a broken slate betrayed him. The +woman saw him, rushed to the fire-place, caught up the poker, and +darted back to defend the window. + +"Ye s' no come in here, I tell ye," she screeched, "an' my man +stickin' i' yon boortree buss!" + +Gibbie advanced. She made a blow at him with the poker. He caught +it, wrenched it from her grasp, and threw himself from the roof. +The next moment they heard the poker at work, smashing the window. + +"He'll be in an' murder's a'!" cried the mother, and ran to the +stair, while the children screamed and danced with terror. + +But the water was far too deep for her, She returned to the attic, +barricaded the door, and went again to the window to watch her +drowning husband. + +Gibbie was inside in a moment, and seizing the cask, proceeded to +attach to it a strong line. He broke a bit from a fishing-rod, +secured the line round the middle of it with a notch, put the stick +through the bunghole in the bilge, and corked up the hole with a +net-float. Happily he had a knife in his pocket. He then joined +strong lines together until he thought he had length enough, secured +the last end to a bar of the grate, and knocked out both sashes of +the window with an axe. A passage thus cleared, he floated out +first a chair, then a creepie, and one thing after another, to learn +from what point to start the barrel. Seeing and recognizing them +from above, Mistress Mac Pholp raised a terrible outcry. In the +very presence of her drowning husband, such a wanton dissipation of +her property roused her to fiercest wrath, for she imagined Gibbie +was emptying her house with leisurely revenge. Satisfied at length, +he floated out his barrel, and followed with the line in his hand, +to aid its direction if necessary. It struck the tree. With a yell +of joy Angus laid hold of it, and hauling the line taut, and feeling +it secure, committed himself at once to the water, holding by the +barrel, and swimming with his legs, while Gibbie, away to the side +with a hold of the rope, was swimming his hardest to draw him out of +the current. But a weary man was Angus, when at length he reached +the house. It was all he could do to get himself in at the window, +and crawl up the stair. At the top of it he fell benumbed on the +floor. + +By the time that, repentant and grateful, Mistress Mac Pholp +bethought herself of Gibbie, not a trace of him was to be seen; and +Angus, contemplating his present experience in connection with that +of Robert Grant's cottage, came to the conclusion that he must be an +emissary of Satan who on two such occasions had so unexpectedly +rescued him. Perhaps the idea was not quite so illogical as it must +seem; for how should such a man imagine any other sort of messenger +taking an interest in his life? He was confirmed in the notion when +he found that a yard of the line remained attached to the grate, but +the rest of it with the anker was gone--fit bark for the angel he +imagined Gibbie, to ride the stormy waters withal. While they +looked for him in the water and on the land, Gibbie was again in the +room below, carrying out a fresh thought. With the help of the +table, he emptied the cask, into which a good deal of water had got. +Then he took out the stick, corked the bunghole tight, laced the +cask up in a piece of net, attached the line to the net, and wound +it about the cask by rolling the latter round and round, took the +cask between his hands, and pushed from the window straight into the +current of the Glashburn. In a moment it had swept him to the +Lorrie. By the greater rapidity of the former he got easily across +the heavier current of the latter, and was presently in water +comparatively still, swimming quietly towards the Mains, and +enjoying his trip none the less that he had to keep a sharp +look-out: if he should have to dive, to avoid any drifting object, +he might lose his barrel. Quickly now, had he been so minded, he +could have returned to the city--changing vessel for vessel, as one +after another went to pieces. Many a house-roof offered itself for +the voyage; now and then a great water-wheel, horizontal and +helpless, devoured of its element. Once he saw a cradle come +gyrating along, and, urging all his might, intercepted it, but +hardly knew whether he was more sorry or relieved to find it empty. +When he was about half-way to the Mains, a whole fleet of ricks +bore down upon him. He boarded one, and scrambled to the top of it, +keeping fast hold of the end of his line, which unrolled from the +barrel as he ascended. From its peak he surveyed the wild scene. +All was running water. Not a human being was visible, and but a +few house-roofs, of which for a moment it was hard to say whether or +not they were of those that were afloat. Here and there were the +tops of trees, showing like low bushes. Nothing was uplifted except +the mountains. He drew near the Mains. All the ricks in the yard +were bobbing about, as if amusing themselves with a slow +contradance; but they were as yet kept in by the barn, and a huge +old hedge of hawthorn. What was that cry from far away? Surely it +was that of a horse in danger! It brought a lusty equine response +from the farm. Where could horses be with such a depth of water +about the place? Then began a great lowing of cattle. But again +came the cry of the horse from afar, and Gibbie, this time +recognizing the voice as Snowball's, forgot the rest. He stood up +on the very top of the rick and sent his keen glance round on all +sides. The cry came again and again, so that he was satisfied in +what direction he must look. The rain had abated a little, but the +air was so thick with vapour that he could not tell whether it was +really an object he seemed to see white against the brown water, far +away to the left, or a fancy of his excited hope: it might be +Snowball on the turn-pike road, which thereabout ran along the top +of a high embankment. He tumbled from the rick, rolled the line +about the barrel, and pushed vigorously for what might be the horse. + +It took him a weary hour--in so many currents was he caught, one +after the other, all straining to carry him far below the object he +wanted to reach: an object it plainly was before he had got half-way +across, and by and by as plainly it was Snowball--testified to ears +and eyes together. When at length he scrambled on the embankment +beside him, the poor, shivering, perishing creature gave a low neigh +of delight: he did not know Gibbie, but he was a human being. He +was quite cowed and submissive, and Gibbie at once set about his +rescue. He had reasoned as he came along that, if there were beasts +at the Mains, there must be room for Snowball, and thither he would +endeavour to take him. He tied the end of the line to the remnant +of the halter on his head, the other end being still fast to the +barrel, and took to the water again. Encouraged by the power upon +his head, the pressure, namely, of the halter, the horse followed, +and they made for the Mains. It was a long journey, and Gibbie had +not breath enough to sing to Snowball, but he made what noise he +could, and they got slowly along. He found the difficulties far +greater now that he had to look out for the horse as well as for +himself. None but one much used to the water could have succeeded +in the attempt, or could indeed have stood out against its weakening +influence and the strain of the continued exertion together so long. +At length his barrel got water-logged, and he sent it adrift. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE BRANDER. + +Mistress Croale was not, after all, the last who arrived at the +Mains. But that the next arrival was accounted for, scarcely +rendered it less marvellous than hers.--Just after the loss of +Snowball, came floating into the farmyard, over the top of the gate, +with such astonishment of all who beheld that each seemed to place +more confidence in his neighbour's eyes than in his own, a woman on +a raft, with her four little children seated around her, holding the +skirt of her gown above her head and out between her hands for a +sail. She had made the raft herself, by tying some bars of a paling +together, and crossing them with what other bits of wood she could +find--a brander she called it, which is Scotch for a gridiron, and +thence for a grating. Nobody knew her. She had come down the +Lorrie. The farmer was so struck with admiration of her invention, +daring, and success, that he vowed he would keep the brander as long +as it would stick together; and as it could not be taken into the +house, he secured it with a rope to one of the windows. + +When they had the horses safe on the first floor, they brought the +cattle into the lower rooms; but it became evident that if they were +to have a chance, they also must be got up to the same level. +Thereupon followed a greater tumult than before--such a banging of +heads and hind quarters, of horns and shoulders, against walls and +partitions, such a rushing and thundering, that the house seemed in +more danger from within than from without; for the cattle were worse +to manage than the horses, and one moment stubborn as a milestone, +would the next moment start into a frantic rush. One poor wretch +broke both her horns clean off against the wall, at a sharp turn of +the passage; and after two or three more accidents, partly caused by +over-haste in the human mortals, Donal begged that the business +should be left to him and his mother. His master consented, and it +was wonderful what Janet contrived to effect by gentleness, coaxing, +and suggestion. When Hornie's turn came, Donal began to tie ropes +to her hind hoofs. Mr. Duff objected. + +"Ye dinna ken her sae weel as I dee, sir," answered Donal. "She wad +caw her horns intil a man-o-war 'at angert her. An' up yon'er ye +cudna get a whack at her, for hurtin' ane 'at didna deserve 't. I +s' dee her no mischeef, I s' warran'. Ye jist lea' her to me, sir." + +His master yielded. Donal tied a piece of rope round each hind +pastern--if cows have pasterns--and made a loop at the end. The +moment she was at the top of the stair, he and his mother dropped +each a loop over a horn. + +"Noo, she'll naither stick nor fling (gore nor kick)," said Donal: +she could but bellow, and paw with her fore-feet. + +The strangers were mostly in Fergus's bedroom; the horses were all +in their owner's; and the cattle were in the remaining rooms. +Bursts of talk amongst the women were followed by fits of silence: +who could tell how long the flood might last!--or indeed whether the +house might not be undermined before morning, or be struck by one of +those big things of which so many floated by, and give way with one +terrible crash! Mr. Duff, while preserving a tolerably calm +exterior, was nearly at his wits' end. He would stand for half an +hour together, with his hands in his pockets, looking motionless out +of a window, murmuring now and then to himself, "This is clean +ridic'lous!" But when anything had to be done he was active enough. +Mistress Croale sat in a corner, very quiet, and looking not a +little cowed. There was altogether more water than she liked. Now +and then she lifted her lurid black eyes to Janet, who stood at one +of the windows, knitting away at her master's stocking, and casting +many a calm glance at the brown waters and the strange drift that +covered them; but if Janet turned her head and made a remark to her, +she never gave back other than curt if not rude reply. In the +afternoon Jean brought the whisky bottle. At sight of it, Mistress +Croale's eyes shot flame. Jean poured out a glassful, took a sip, +and offered it to Janet. Janet declining it, Jean, invaded possibly +by some pity of her miserable aspect, offered it to Mistress Croale. +She took it with affected coolness, tossed it off at a gulp, and +presented the glass--not to the hand from which she had taken it, +but to Jean's other hand, in which was the bottle. Jean cast a +piercing look into her greedy eyes, and taking the glass from her, +filled it, and presented it to the woman who had built and navigated +the brander. Mistress Croale muttered something that sounded like a +curse upon scrimp measure, and drew herself farther back into the +corner, where she had seated herself on Fergus's portmanteau. + +"I doobt we hae an Ahchan i' the camp--a Jonah intil the ship!" said +Jean to Janet, as she turned, bottle and glass in her hands, to +carry them from the room. + +"Na, na; naither sae guid nor sae ill," replied Janet. "Fowk 'at's +been ill-guidit, no kennin' whaur their help lies, whiles taks to +the boatle. But this is but a day o' punishment, no a day o' +judgment yet, an' I'm thinkin' the warst's near han' ower.--Gien +only Gibbie war here!" + +Jean left the room, shaking her head, and Janet stood alone at the +window as before. A hand was laid on her arm. She looked up. The +black eyes were close to hers, and the glow that was in them gave +the lie to the tone of indifference with which Mistress Croale +spoke. + +"Ye hae mair nor ance made mention o' ane conneckit wi' ye, by the +name o' Gibbie," she said. + +"Ay," answered Janet, sending for the serpent to aid the dove; "an' +what may be yer wull wi' him?" + +"Ow, naething," returned Mistress Croale. "I kenned ane o' the name +lang syne 'at was lost sicht o'." + +"There's Gibbies here an' Gibbies there," remarked Janet, probing +her. + +"Weel I wat!" she answered peevishly, for she had had whisky enough +only to make her cross, and turned away, muttering however in an +undertone, but not too low for Janet to hear, "but there's nae mony +wee Sir Gibbies, or the warl' wadna be sae dooms like hell." + +Janet was arrested in her turn: could the fierce, repellent, +whisky-craving woman be the mother of her gracious Gibbie? Could +she be, and look so lost? But the loss of him had lost her perhaps. +Anyhow God was his Father, whoever was the mother of him. + +"Hoo cam ye to tyne yer bairn, wuman?" she asked. + +But Mistress Croale was careful also, and had her reasons. + +"He ran frae the bluidy han'," she said enigmatically. + +Janet recalled how Gibbie came to her, scored by the hand of +cruelty. Were there always innocents in the world, who in their own +persons, by the will of God, unknown to themselves, carried on the +work of Christ, filling up that which was left behind of the +sufferings of their Master--women, children, infants, +idiots--creatures of sufferance, with souls open to the world to +receive wrong, that it might pass and cease? little furnaces they, +of the consuming fire, to swallow up and destroy by uncomplaining +endurance--the divine destruction! + +"Hoo cam he by the bonnie nickname?" she asked at length. + +"Nickname!" retorted Mistress Croale fiercely; "I think I hear ye! +His ain name an' teetle by law an' richt, as sure's ever there was +a King Jeames 'at first pat his han' to the makin' o' baronets!--as +it's aften I hae h'ard Sir George, the father o' 'im, tell the +same." + +She ceased abruptly, annoyed with herself, as it seemed, for having +said so much. + +"Ye wadna be my lady yersel', wad ye, mem?" suggested Janet in her +gentlest voice. + +Mistress Croale made her no answer. Perhaps she thought of the days +when she alone of women did the simplest of woman's offices for Sir +George. Anyhow, it was one thing to rush of herself to the verge of +her secret, and quite another to be fooled over it. + +"Is't lang sin' ye lost him?" asked Janet, after a bootless pause. + +"Ay," she answered, gruffly and discourteously, in a tone intended +to quench interrogation. + +But Janet persisted. + +"Wad ye ken 'im again gien ye saw 'im?" + +"Ken 'im? I wad ken 'im gien he had grown a gran'father. Ken 'im, +quo' she! Wha ever kenned 'im as I did, bairn 'at he was, an' wadna +ken 'im gien he war deid an' an angel made o' 'im!--But weel I wat, +it's little differ that wad mak!" + +She rose in her excitement, and going to the other window, stood +gazing vacantly out upon the rushing sea. To Janet it was plain she +knew more about Gibbie than she was inclined to tell, and it gave +her a momentary sting of apprehension. + +"What was aboot him ye wad ken sae weel?" she asked in a tone of +indifference, as if speaking only through the meshes of her work. + +"I'll ken them 'at speirs afore I tell," she replied sullenly.--But +the next instant she screamed aloud, "Lord God Almichty! yon's him! +yon's himsel'!" and, stretching out her arms, dashed a hand through +a pane, letting in an eddying swirl of wind and water, while the +blood streamed unheeded from her wrist. + +The same moment Jean entered the room. She heard both the cry and +the sound of the breaking glass. + +"Care what set the beggar-wife!" she exclaimed. "Gang frae the +window, ye randy." + +Mistress Croale took no heed. She stood now staring from the window +still as a statue except for the panting motion of her sides. At +the other window stood Janet, gazing also, with blessed face. For +there, like a triton on a sea-horse, came Gibbie through the water +on Snowball, swimming wearily. + +He caught sight of Janet at the window, and straightway his +countenance was radiant with smiles. Mistress Croale gave a +shuddering sigh, drew back from her window, and betook herself again +to her dark corner. Jean went to Janet's window, and there beheld +the triumphal approach of her brownie, saving from the waters the +lost and lamented Snowball. She shouted to her brother. + +"John! John! here's yer Snawba'; here's yer Snawba'." + +John ran to her call, and, beside himself with joy when he saw his +favourite come swimming along, threw the window wide, and began to +bawl the most unnecessary directions and encouragements, as if the +exploit had been brought thus far towards a happy issue solely +through him, while from all the windows Gibbie was welcomed with +shouts and cheers and congratulations. + +"Lord preserve 's!" cried Mr. Duff, recognizing the rider at last, +"it's Rob Grant's innocent! Wha wad hae thoucht it?" + +"The Lord's babes an' sucklin's are gey cawpable whiles," remarked +Janet to herself.--She believed Gibbie had more faculty than any of +her own, Donal included, nor did she share the prevalent prejudice +of the city that heart and brains are mutually antagonistic; for in +her own case she had found that her brains were never worth much to +her until her heart took up the education of them. But the +intellect is, so much oftener than by love, seen and felt to be +sharpened by necessity and greed, that it is not surprising such a +prejudice should exist. + +"Tak 'im roon' to the door."--"Whaur got ye 'im?"--"Ye wad best get +'im in at the window upo' the stair."--"He'll be maist +hungert."--"Ye'll be some weet, I'm thinkin'!"--"Come awa' up the +stair, an' tell's a' aboot it."--A score of such conflicting shouts +assailed Gibbie as he approached, and he replied to them all with +the light of his countenance. + +When they arrived at the door, they found a difficulty waiting them: +the water was now so high that Snowball's head rose above the +lintel; and, though all animals can swim, they do not all know how +to dive. A tumult of suggestions immediately broke out. But Donal +had already thrown himself from a window with a rope, and swum to +Gibbie's assistance; the two understood each other, and heeding +nothing the rest were saying, held their own communications. In a +minute the rope was fastened round Snow-ball's body, and the end of +it drawn between his fore-legs and through the ring of his +head-stall, when Donal swam with it to his mother who stood on the +stair, with the request that, as soon as she saw Snowball's head +under the water, she would pull with all her might, and draw him in +at the door. Donal then swam back, and threw his arms round +Snowball's neck from below, while the same moment Gibbie cast his +whole weight of it from above: the horse was over head and ears in +an instant, and through the door in another. With snorting nostrils +and blazing eyes his head rose in the passage, and in terror he +struck out for the stair. As he scrambled heavily up from the +water, his master and Robert seized him, and with much petting and +patting and gentling, though there was little enough difficulty in +managing him now, conducted him into the bedroom to the rest of the +horses. There he was welcomed by his companions, and immediately +began devouring the hay upon his master's bedstead. Gibbie came +close behind him, was seized by Janet at the top of the stair, +embraced like one come alive from the grave, and led, all dripping +as he was, into the room where the women were. The farmer followed +soon after with the whisky, the universal medicine in those parts, +of which he offered a glass to Gibbie, but the innocent turned from +it with a curious look of mingled disgust and gratefulness: his +father's life had not been all a failure; he had done what parents +so rarely effect--handed the general results of his experience to +his son. The sight and smell of whisky were to Gibbie a loathing +flavoured with horror. + +The farmer looked back from the door as he was leaving the room: +Gibbie was performing a wild circular dance of which Janet was the +centre, throwing his limbs about like the toy the children call a +jumping Jack, which ended suddenly in a motionless ecstasy upon one +leg. Having regarded for a moment the rescuer of Snowball with +astonishment, John Duff turned away with the reflection, how easy it +was and natural for those who had nothing, and therefore could lose +nothing, to make merry in others' adversity. It did not once occur +to him that it was the joy of having saved that caused Gibbie's +merriment thus to overflow. + +"The cratur's a born idiot!" he said afterwards to Jean; "an' it's +jist a mervel what he's cawpable o'!--But, 'deed, there's little to +cheese atween Janet an' him! They're baith tarred wi' the same +stick." He paused a moment, then added, "They'll dee weel eneuch i' +the ither warl', I doobtna, whaur naebody has to haud aff o' +themsel's." + +That day, however, Gibbie had proved that a man may well afford both +to have nothing, and to take no care of himself, seeing he had, +since he rose in the morning, rescued a friend, a foe, and a beast +of the earth. Verily, he might stand on one leg! + +But when he told Janet that he had been home, and had found the +cottage uninjured and out of danger, she grew very sober in the +midst of her gladness. She could say nothing there amongst +strangers, but the dread arose in her bosom that, if indeed she had +not like Peter denied her Master before men, she had like Peter +yielded homage to the might of the elements in his ruling presence; +and she justly saw the same faithlessness in the two failures. + +"Eh!" she said to herself, "gien only I had been prayin' i'stead o' +rinnin' awa', I wad hae been there whan he turnt the watter aside! +I wad hae seen the mirricle! O my Maister! what think ye o' me +noo?" + +For all the excitement Mistress Croale had shown at first view of +Gibbie, she sat still in her dusky corner, made no movement towards +him, nor did anything to attract his attention, only kept her eyes +fixed upon him; and Janet in her mingled joy and pain forgot her +altogether. When at length it recurred to her that she was in the +room, she cast a somewhat anxious glance towards the place she had +occupied all day. It was empty; and Janet was perplexed to think +how she had gone unseen. She had crept out after Mr. Duff, and +probably Janet saw her, but as one of those who seeing see not, and +immediately forget. + +Just as the farmer left the room, a great noise arose among the +cattle in that adjoining; he set down the bottle on a chair that +happened to be in the passage, and ran to protect the partitions. +Exultation would be a poor word wherewith to represent the madness +of the delight that shot its fires into Mistress Croale's eyes when +she saw the bottle actually abandoned within her reach. It was to +her as the very key of the universe. She darted upon it, put it to +her lips, and drank. Yet she took heed, thought while she drank, +and did not go beyond what she could carry. Little time such an +appropriation required. Noiselessly she set the bottle down, darted +into a closet containing a solitary calf, and there stood looking +from the open window in right innocent fashion, curiously +contemplating the raft attached to it, upon which she had seen the +highland woman arrive with her children. + +At supper-time she was missing altogether. Nobody could with +certainty say when he had last seen her. The house was searched +from top to bottom, and the conclusion arrived at was, that she must +have fallen from some window and been drowned--only, surely she +would at least have uttered one cry! Examining certain of the +windows to know whether she might not have left some sign of such an +exit, the farmer discovered that the brander was gone. + +"Losh!" cried the orra man, with a face bewildered to shapelessness, +like that of an old moon rising in a fog, "yon'll be her I saw an +hoor ago, hyne doon the water!" + +"Ye muckle gowk!" said his master, "hoo cud she win sae far ohn gane +to the boddom?" + +"Upo' the bran'er, sir," answered the orra man. "I tuik her for a +muckle dog upon a door. The wife maun be a witch!" + +John Duff stared at the man with his mouth open, and for half a +minute all were dumb. The thing was incredible, yet hardly to be +controverted. The woman was gone, the raft was gone, and something +strange that might be the two together had been observed about the +time, as near as they could judge, when she ceased to be observed in +the house. Had the farmer noted the change in the level of the +whisky in his bottle, he might have been surer of it--except indeed +the doubt had then arisen whether they might not rather find her at +the foot of the stair when the water subsided. + +Mr. Duff said the luck changed with the return of Snowball; his +sister said, with the departure of the beggar-wife. Before dark the +rain had ceased, and it became evident that the water had not risen +for the last half-hour. In two hours more it had sunk a quarter of +an inch. + +Gibbie threw himself on the floor beside his mother's chair, she +covered him with her grey cloak, and he fell fast asleep. At dawn, +he woke with a start. He had dreamed that Ginevra was in trouble. +He made Janet understand that he would return to guide them home as +soon as the way was practicable, and set out at once. + +The water fell rapidly. Almost as soon as it was morning, the +people at the Mains could begin doing a little towards restoration. +But from that day forth, for about a year, instead of the waters of +the Daur and the Lorrie, the house was filled with the gradually +subsiding flood of Jean's lamentations over her house-gear--one +thing after another, and twenty things together. There was scarcely +an article she did not, over and over, proclaim utterly ruined, in a +tone apparently indicating ground of serious complaint against some +one who did not appear, though most of the things, to other eyes +than hers, remained seemingly about as useful as before. In vain +her brother sought to comfort her with the assurance that there were +worse losses at Culloden; she answered, that if he had not himself +been specially favoured in the recovery of Snowball, he would have +made a much worse complaint about him alone than she did about all +her losses; whereupon, being an honest man, and not certain that she +spoke other than the truth, he held his peace. But he never made +the smallest acknowledgment to Gibbie for the saving of the said +Snowball: what could an idiot understand about gratitude? and what +use was money to a boy who did not set his life at a pin's fee? But +he always spoke kindly to him thereafter, which was more to Gibbie +than anything he could have given him; and when a man is content, +his friends may hold their peace. + +The next day Jean had her dinner strangely provided. As her brother +wrote to a friend in Glasgow, she "found at the back of the house, +and all lying in a heap, a handsome dish of trout, a pike, a hare, a +partridge, and a turkey, with a dish of potatoes, and a dish of +turnips, all brought down by the burn, and deposited there for the +good of the house, except the turkey, which, alas! was one of her +own favourite flock."[3] + +In the afternoon, Gibbie re-appeared at the Mains, and Robert and +Janet set out at once to go home with him. It was a long journey +for them--he had to take them so many rounds. They rested at +several houses, and saw much misery on their way. It was night +before they arrived at the cottage. They found it warm and clean +and tidy: Ginevra had, like a true lady, swept the house that gave +her shelter: that ladies often do; and perhaps it is yet more their +work in the world than they fully understand. For Ginevra, it was +heavenly bliss to her to hear their approaching footsteps; and +before she left them she had thoroughly learned that the poorest +place where the atmosphere is love, is more homely, and by +consequence more heavenly, than the most beautiful even, where law +and order are elements supreme. + +"Eh, gien I had only had faith an' bidden!" said Janet to herself as +she entered; and to the day of her death she never ceased to bemoan +her too hasty desertion of "the wee hoosie upo' the muckle rock." + +As to the strange woman's evident knowledge concerning Gibbie, she +could do nothing but wait--fearing rather than hoping; but she had +got so far above time and chance, that nothing really troubled her, +and she could wait quietly. At the same time it did not seem likely +they would hear anything more of the woman herself: no one believed +she could have gone very far without being whelmed, or whumled as +they said, in the fierce waters. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MR. SCLATER. + +It may be remembered that, upon Gibbie's disappearance from the +city, great interest was felt in his fate, and such questions +started about the boy himself as moved the Rev. Clement Sclater to +gather all the information at which he could arrive concerning his +family and history. That done, he proceeded to attempt interesting +in his unknown fortunes those relatives of his mother whose +existence and residences he had discovered. In this, however, he +had met with no success. At the house where she was born, there was +now no one but a second cousin, to whom her brother, dying +unmarried, had left the small estate of the Withrops, along with the +family contempt for her husband, and for her because of him, +inasmuch as, by marrying him, she had brought disgrace upon herself, +and upon all her people. So said the cousin to Mr. Sclater, but +seemed himself nowise humbled by the disgrace he recognized, indeed +almost claimed. As to the orphan, he said, to speak honestly (as he +did at least that once), the more entirely he disappeared, the +better he would consider it--not that personally he was the least +concerned in the matter; only if, according to the Scripture, there +were two more generations yet upon which had to be visited the sins +of Sir George and Lady Galbraith, the greater the obscurity in which +they remained, the less would be the scandal. The brother who had +taken to business, was the senior partner in a large ship-building +firm at Greenock. This man, William Fuller Withrop by name--Wilful +Withrop the neighbours had nicknamed him--was a bachelor, and +reputed rich. Mr. Sclater did not hear of him what roused very +brilliant hopes. He was one who would demand more reason than +reasonable for the most reasonable of actions that involved parting +with money; yet he had been known to do a liberal thing for a public +object. Waste was so wicked that any other moral risk was +preferable. Of the three, he would waste mind and body rather than +estate. Man was made neither to rejoice nor to mourn, but to +possess. To leave no stone unturned, however, Mr. Sclater wrote to +Mr. Withrop. The answer he received was, that, as the sister, +concerning whose child he had applied to him, had never been +anything but a trouble to the family; as he had no associations with +her memory save those of misery and disgrace; as, before he left +home, her name had long ceased to be mentioned among them; and as +her own father had deliberately and absolutely disowned her because +of her obstinate disobedience and wilfulness, it could hardly be +expected of him, and indeed would ill become him, to show any lively +interest in her offspring. Still, although he could not honestly +pretend to the smallest concern about him, he had, from pure +curiosity, made inquiry of correspondents with regard to the boy; +from which the resulting, knowledge was, that he was little better +than an idiot, whose character, education, and manners, had been +picked up in the streets. Nothing, he was satisfied, could be done +for such a child, which would not make him more miserable, as well +as more wicked, than he was already. Therefore, &c., &c., &c. + +Thus failing, Mr. Sclater said to himself he had done all that could +be required of him--and he had indeed taken trouble. Nor could +anything be asserted, he said further to himself, as his duty in +respect of this child, that was not equally his duty in respect of +every little wanderer in the streets of his parish. That a child's +ancestors had been favoured above others, and had so misused their +advantages that their last representative was left in abject +poverty, could hardly be a reason why that child, born, in more than +probability, with the same evil propensities which had ruined them, +should be made an elect object of favour. Who was he, Clement +Sclater, to intrude upon the divine prerogative, and presume to act +on the doctrine of election! Was a child with a Sir to his name, +anything more in the eyes of God than a child without a name at all? +Would any title--even that of Earl or Duke, be recognized in the +kingdom of heaven? His relatives ought to do something: they +failing, of whom could further requisition be made? There were +vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour: to which class this one +belonged, let God in his time reveal. A duty could not be passed +on. It could not become the duty of the minister of a parish, just +because those who ought and could, would not, to spend time and +money, to the neglect of his calling, in hunting up a boy whom he +would not know what to do with if he had him, a boy whose home had +been with the dregs of society. + +In justice to Mr. Sclater, it must be mentioned that he did not know +Gibbie, even by sight. There remains room, however, for the +question, whether, if Mr. Sclater had not been the man to change his +course as he did afterwards, he would not have acted differently +from the first. + +One morning, as he sat at breakfast with his wife, late Mrs. +Bonniman, and cast, as is, I fear, the rude habit of not a few +husbands, not a few stolen glances, as he ate, over the morning +paper, his eye fell upon a paragraph announcing the sudden death of +the well-known William Fuller Withrop, of the eminent ship-building +firm of Withrop and Playtell, of Greenock. Until he came to the end +of the paragraph, his cup of coffee hung suspended in mid air. Then +down it went untasted, he jumped from his seat, and hurried from the +room. For the said paragraph ended with the remark, that the not +unfrequent incapacity of the ablest of business men for looking the +inevitable in the face with coolness sufficient to the making of a +will, was not only a curious fact, but in the individual case a +pity, where two hundred thousand pounds was concerned. Had the +writer been a little more philosophical still, he might have seen +that the faculty for making money by no means involves judgment in +the destination of it, and that the money may do its part for good +and evil without, just as well as with, a will at the back of it. + +But though this was the occasion, it remains to ask what was the +cause of the minister's precipitancy. Why should Clement Sclater +thereupon spring from his chair in such a state of excitement that +he set his cup of coffee down upon its side instead of its bottom, +to the detriment of the tablecloth, and of something besides, more +unquestionably the personal property of his wife? Why was it that, +heedless of her questions, backed although they were both by just +anger and lawful curiosity, he ran straight from the room and the +house, nor stayed until, at one and the same moment, his foot was on +the top step of his lawyer's door, and his hand upon its bell? No +doubt it was somebody's business, and perhaps it might be Mr. +Sclater's, to find the heirs of men who died intestate; but what +made it so indubitably, so emphatically, so individually, so +pressingly Mr. Sclater's, that he forgot breakfast, tablecloth, +wife, and sermon, all together, that he might see to this boy's +rights? Surely if they were rights, they could be in no such +imminent danger as this haste seemed to signify. Was it only that +he might be the first in the race to right him?--and if so, then +again, why? Was it a certainty indisputable, that any boy, whether +such an idle tramp as the minister supposed this one to be or not, +would be redeemed by the heirship to the hugest of fortunes? Had +it, some time before this, become at length easier for a rich boy to +enter into the kingdom of heaven? Or was it that, with all his +honesty, all his religion, all his churchism, all his protestantism, +and his habitual appeal to the word of God, the minister was yet a +most reverential worshipper of Mammon,--not the old god mentioned in +the New Testament, of course, but a thoroughly respectable modern +Mammon, decently dressed, perusing a subscription list! No doubt +justice ought to be done, and the young man over at Roughrigs was +sure to be putting in a false claim, but where were the lawyers, +whose business it was? There was no need of a clergyman to remind +them of their duty where the picking of such a carcase was +concerned. Had Mr. Sclater ever conceived the smallest admiration +or love for the boy, I would not have made these reflections; but, +in his ignorance of him and indifference concerning him, he believed +there would at least be trouble in proving him of approximately +sound mind and decent intellect. What, then, I repeat and leave it, +did all this excitement on the part of one of the iron pillars of +the church indicate? + +From his lawyer he would have gone at once to Mistress +Croale--indeed I think he would have gone to her first, to warn her +against imparting what information concerning Gibbie she might +possess to any other than himself, but he had not an idea where she +might even be heard of. He had cleansed his own parish, as he +thought, by pulling up the tare, contrary to commandment, and +throwing it into his neighbours, where it had taken root, and grown +a worse tare than before; until at length, she who had been so +careful over the manners and morals of her drunkards, was a drunkard +herself and a wanderer, with the reputation of being a far worse +woman than she really was. For some years now she had made her +living, one poor enough, by hawking small household necessities; and +not unfrequently where she appeared, the housewives bought of her +because her eyes, and her nose, and an undefined sense of evil in +her presence, made them shrink from the danger of offending her. +But the real cause of the bad impression she made was, that she was +sorely troubled with what is, by huge discourtesy, called a bad +conscience--being in reality a conscience doing its duty so well +that it makes the whole house uncomfortable. + +On her next return to the Daurfoot, as the part of the city was +called where now she was most at home, she heard the astounding and +welcome news that Gibbie had fallen heir to a large property, and +that the reward of one hundred pounds--a modest sum indeed, but +where was the good of wasting money, thought Mr. Sclater--had been +proclaimed by tuck of drum, to any one giving such information as +should lead to the discovery of Sir Gilbert Galbraith, commonly +known as wee Sir Gibbie. A description of him was added, and the +stray was so kenspeckle, that Mistress Croale saw the necessity of +haste to any hope of advantage. She had nothing to guide her beyond +the fact of Sir George's habit, in his cups, of referring to the +property on Daurside, and the assurance that with the said habit +Gibbie must have been as familiar as herself. With this initiative, +as she must begin somewhere, and could prosecute her business +anywhere, she filled her basket and set out at once for Daurside. +There, after a good deal of wandering hither and thither, and a +search whose fruitlessness she probably owed to too great caution, +she made the desired discovery unexpectedly and marvellously, and +left behind her in the valley the reputation of having been on more +familiar terms with the flood and the causes of it, than was +possible to any but one who kept company worse than human. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE MUCKLE HOOSE. + +The next morning, Janet felt herself in duty bound to make inquiry +concerning those interested in Miss Galbraith. She made, therefore, +the best of her way with Gibbie to the Muckle Hoose, but, as the +latter expected, found it a ruin in a wilderness. Acres of trees +and shrubbery had disappeared, and a hollow waste of sand and gravel +was in their place. What was left of the house stood on the edge of +a red gravelly precipice of fifty feet in height, at whose foot lay +the stones of the kitchen-wing, in which had been the room whence +Gibbie carried Ginevra. The newer part of the house was gone from +its very roots; the ancient portion, all innovation wiped from it, +stood grim, desolated, marred, and defiant as of old. Not a sign of +life was about the place; the very birds had fled. Angus had been +there that same morning, and had locked or nailed up every possible +entrance: the place looked like a ruin of centuries. With +difficulty they got down into the gulf, with more difficulty crossed +the burn, clambered up the rocky bank on the opposite side, and +knocked at the door of the gamekeeper's cottage. But they saw only +a little girl, who told them her father had gone to find the laird, +that her mother was ill in bed, and Mistress Mac Farlane on her way +to her own people. + +It came out afterwards that when Angus and the housekeeper heard +Gibbie's taps at the window, and, looking out, saw nobody there, but +the burn within a few yards of the house, they took the warning for +a supernatural interference to the preservation of their lives, and +fled at once. Passing the foot of the stair, Mistress Mac Farlane +shrieked to Ginevra to come, but ran on without waiting a reply. +They told afterwards that she left the house with them, and that, +suddenly missing her, they went back to look for her, but could find +her nowhere, and were just able to make their second escape with +their lives, hearing the house fall into the burn behind them. +Mistress Mac Farlane had been severe as the law itself against +lying among the maids, but now, when it came to her own defence +where she knew her self wrong, she lied just like one of the wicked. + +"My dear missie," said Janet, when they got home, "ye maun write to +yer father, or he'll be oot o' 's wuts aboot ye." + +Ginevra wrote therefore to the duke's, and to the laird's usual +address in London as well; but he was on his way from the one place +to the other when Angus overtook him, and received neither letter. + +Now came to the girl a few such days of delight, of freedom, of +life, as she had never even dreamed of. She roamed Glashgar with +Gibbie, the gentlest, kindest, most interesting of companions. +Wherever his sheep went, she went too, and to many places +besides--some of them such strange, wild, terrible places, as would +have terrified her without him. How he startled her once by darting +off a rock like a seagull, straight, head-foremost, into the +Death-pot! She screamed with horror, but he had done it only to +amuse her; for, after what seemed to her a fearful time, he came +smiling up out of the terrible darkness. What a brave, beautiful +boy he was! He never hurt anything, and nothing ever seemed to hurt +him. And what a number of things he knew! He showed her things on +the mountain, things in the sky, things in the pools and streams +wherever they went. He did better than tell her about them; he made +her see them, and then the things themselves told her. She was not +always certain she saw just what he wanted her to see, but she +always saw something that made her glad with knowledge. He had a +New Testament Janet had given him, which he carried in his pocket, +and when she joined him, for he was always out with his sheep hours +before she was up, she would generally find him seated on a stone, +or lying in the heather, with the little book in his hand, looking +solemn and sweet. But the moment he saw her, he would spring +merrily up to welcome her. It were indeed an argument against +religion as strong as sad, if one of the children the kingdom +specially claims, could not be possessed by the life of the Son of +God without losing his simplicity and joyousness. Those of my +readers will be the least inclined to doubt the boy, who, by +obedience, have come to know its reward. For obedience alone holds +wide the door for the entrance of the spirit of wisdom. There was +as little to wonder at in Gibbie as there was much to love and +admire, for from the moment when, yet a mere child, he heard there +was such a one claiming his obedience, he began to turn to him the +hearing ear, the willing heart, the ready hand. The main thing +which rendered this devotion more easy and natural to him than to +others was, that, more than in most, the love of man had in him +prepared the way of the Lord. He who so loved the sons of men was +ready to love the Son of Man the moment he heard of him; love makes +obedience a joy; and of him who obeys all heaven is the +patrimony--he is fellow-heir with Christ. + +On the fourth day, the rain, which had been coming and going, +finally cleared off, the sun was again glorious, and the farmers +began to hope a little for the drying and ripening of some portion +of their crops. Then first Ginevra asked Gibbie to take her down to +Glashruach; she wanted to see the ruin they had described to her. +When she came near, and notions changed into visible facts, she +neither wept nor wailed. She felt very miserable, it is true, but +it was at finding that the evident impossibility of returning +thither for a long time, woke in her pleasure and not pain. So +utterly altered was the look of everything, that had she come upon +it unexpectedly, she would not have recognized either place or +house. They went up to a door. She seemed never to have seen it; +but when they entered, she knew it as one from the hall into a +passage, which, with what it led to, being gone, the inner had +become an outer door. A quantity of sand was heaped up in the hall, +and the wainscot was wet and swelled and bulging. They went into +the dining-room. It was a miserable sight--the very picture of the +soul of a drunkard. The thick carpet was sodden--spongy like a bed +of moss after heavy rains; the leather chairs looked diseased; the +colour was all gone from the table; the paper hung loose from the +walls; and everything lay where the water, after floating it about, +had let it drop as it ebbed. + +She ascended the old stone stair which led to her father's rooms +above, went into his study, in which not a hair was out of its +place, and walked towards the window to look across to where once +had been her own chamber. But as she approached it, there, behind +the curtain, she saw her father, motionless, looking out. She +turned pale, and stood. Even at such a time, had she known he was +in the house, she would not have dared set her foot in that room. +Gibbie, who had followed and entered behind her, preceived her +hesitation, saw and recognized the back of the laird, knew that she +was afraid of her father, and stood also waiting he know not what. + +"Eh!" he said to himself, "hers is no like mine! Nae mony has had +fathers sae guid's mine." + +Becoming aware of a presence, the laird half turned, and seeing +Gibbie, imagined he had entered in a prowling way, supposing the +place deserted. With stately offence he asked him what he wanted +there, and waved his dismissal. Then first he saw another, standing +white-faced, with eyes fixed upon him. He turned pale also, and +stood staring at her. The memory of that moment ever after +disgraced him in his own eyes: for one instant of unreasoning +weakness, he imagined he saw a ghost--believed what he said he knew +to be impossible. It was but one moment but it might have been +more, had not Ginevra walked slowly up to him, saying in a trembling +voice, as if she expected the blame of all that had happened, "I +couldn't help it, papa." He took her in his arms, and, for the +first time since the discovery of her atrocious familiarity with +Donal, kissed her. She clung to him, trembling now with pleasure as +well as apprehension. But, alas! there was no impiety in the +faithlessness that pronounced such a joy too good to endure, and the +end came yet sooner than she feared. For, when the father rose +erect from her embrace, and was again the laird, there, to his +amazement, still stood the odd-looking, outlandish intruder, smiling +with the most impertinent interest! Gibbie had forgotten himself +altogether, beholding what he took for a thorough reconciliation. + +"Go away, boy. You have nothing to do here," said the laird, anger +almost overwhelming his precious dignity. + +"Oh, papa!" cried Ginevra, clasping her hands, "that's Gibbie! He +saved my life. I should have been drowned but for him." + +The laird was both proud and stupid, therefore more than ordinarily +slow to understand what he was unprepared to hear. + +"I am much obliged to him," he said haughtily; "but there is no +occasion for him to wait." + +At this point his sluggish mind began to recall something:--why, +this was the very boy he saw in the meadow with her that +morning!--He turned fiercely upon him where he lingered, either +hoping for a word of adieu from Ginevra, or unwilling to go while +she was uncomfortable. + +"Leave the house instantly," he said, "or I will knock you down." + +"O papa!" moaned Ginevra wildly--it was the braver of her that she +was trembling from head to foot--"don't speak so to Gibbie. He is a +good boy. It was he that Angus whipped so cruelly--long ago: I have +never been able to forget it." + +Her father was confounded at her presumption: how dared she +expostulate with him! She had grown a bold, bad girl! Good +heavens! Evil communications! + +"If he does not get out of this directly," he cried, "I will have +him whipped again. Angus." + +He shouted the name, and its echo came back in a wild tone, +altogether strange to Ginevra. She seemed struggling in the meshes +of an evil dream. Involuntarily she uttered a cry of terror and +distress. Gibbie was at her side instantly, putting out his hand to +comfort her. She was just laying hers on his arm, scarcely knowing +what she did, when her father seized him, and dashed him to the +other side of the room. He went staggering backwards, vainly trying +to recover himself, and fell, his head striking against the wall. +The same instant Angus entered, saw nothing of Gibbie where he lay, +and approached his master. But when he caught sight of Ginevra, he +gave a gasp of terror that ended in a broken yell, and stared as if +he had come suddenly on the verge of the bottomless pit, while all +round his head his hair stood out as if he had been electrified. +Before he came to himself, Gibbie had recovered and risen. He saw +now that he could be of no service to Ginevra, and that his presence +only made things worse for her. But he saw also that she was +unhappy about him, and that must not be. He broke into such a merry +laugh--and it had need to be merry, for it had to do the work of +many words of reassurance--that she could scarcely refrain from a +half-hysterical response as he walked from the room. The moment he +was out of the house, he began to sing; and for many minutes, as he +walked up the gulf hollowed by the Glashburn, Ginevra could hear the +strange, other-world voice, and knew it was meant to hold communion +with her and comfort her. + +"What do you know of that fellow, Angus!" asked his master. + +"He's the verra deevil himsel', sir," muttered Angus, whom Gibbie's +laughter had in a measure brought to his senses. + +"You will see that he is sent off the property at once--and for +good, Angus," said the laird. "His insolence is insufferable. The +scoundrel!" + +On the pretext of following Gibbie, Angus was only too glad to leave +the room. Then Mr. Galbraith upon his daughter. + +"So, Jenny!" he said, with, his loose lips pulled out straight, +"that is the sort of companion you choose when left to yourself!--a +low, beggarly, insolent scamp!--scarcely the equal of the brutes he +has the charge of!" + +"They're sheep, papa!" pleaded Ginevra, in a wail that rose almost +to a scream. + +"I do believe the girl is an idiot!" said her father, and turned +from her contemptuously. + +"I think I am, papa," she sobbed. "Don't mind me. Let me go away, +and I will never trouble you any more." She would go to the +mountain, she thought, and be a shepherdess with Gibbie. + +Her father took her roughly by the arm, pushed her into a closet, +locked the door, went and had his luncheon, and in the afternoon, +having borrowed Snowball, took her just as she was, drove to meet +the mail coach, and in the middle of the night was set down with her +at the principal hotel in the city, whence the next morning he set +out early to find a school where he might leave her and his +responsibility with her. + +When Gibbie knew himself beyond the hearing of Ginevra, his song +died away, and he went home sad. The gentle girl had stepped at +once from the day into the dark, and he was troubled for her. But +he remembered that she had another father besides the laird, and +comforted himself. + +When he reached home, he found his mother in serious talk with a +stranger. The tears were in her eyes, and had been running down her +cheeks, but she was calm and dignified as usual. + +"Here he comes!" she said as he entered. "The will o' the Lord be +dene--noo an' for ever-mair! I'm at his biddin'.--An' sae's +Gibbie." + +It was Mr. Sclater. The witch had sailed her brander well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +DAUR STREET. + +One bright afternoon, towards the close of the autumn, the sun +shining straight down one of the wide clean stony streets of the +city, with a warmth which he had not been able to impart to the air, +a company of school-girls, two and two in long file, mostly with +innocent, and, for human beings, rather uninteresting faces, was +walking in orderly manner, a female grenadier at its head, along the +pavement, more than usually composed, from having the sun in their +eyes. Amongst the faces was one very different from the rest, a +countenance almost solemn and a little sad, of still, regular +features, in the eyes of which by loving eyes might have been read +uneasy thought patiently carried, and the lack of some essential to +conscious well-being. The other girls were looking on this side and +that, eager to catch sight of anything to trouble the monotony of +the daily walk; but the eyes of this one were cast down, except when +occasionally lifted in answer to words of the schoolmistress, the +grenadier, by whose side she was walking. They were lovely brown +eyes, trustful and sweet, and although, as I have said, a little +sad, they never rose, even in reply to the commonest remark, without +shining a little. Though younger than not a few of them, and very +plainly dressed, like all the others--I have a suspicion that Scotch +mothers dress their girls rather too plainly, which tends to the +growth of an undue and degrading love of dress--she was not so +girlish, was indeed, in some respects, more of a young woman than +even the governess who walked by the side of them. + +Suddenly came a rush, a confusion, a fluttering of the doves, whence +or how none seemed to know, a gentle shriek from several of the +girls, a general sense of question and no answer; but, as their +ruffled nerves composed themselves a little, there was the vision of +the schoolmistress poking the point of her parasol at a heedless +face, radiant with smiles, that of an odd-looking lad, as they +thought, who had got hold of one of the daintily gloved hands of her +companion, laid a hand which, considered conventionally, was not +that of a gentleman, upon her shoulder, and stood, without a word, +gazing in rapturous delight. + +"Go away, boy! What do you mean by such impertinence?" cried the +outraged Miss Kimble, changing her thrust, and poking in his chest +the parasol with which she had found it impossible actually to +assail his smiling countenance.--Such a strange looking creature! +He could not be in his sound senses, she thought. In the momentary +mean time, however, she had failed to observe that, after the first +start and following tremor, her companion stood quite still, and was +now looking in the lad's face with roseate cheeks and tear-filled +eyes, apparently forgetting to draw her hand from his, or to move +her shoulder from under his caress. The next moment, up, with hasty +yet dignified step, came the familiar form of their own minister, +the Rev. Clement Sclater, who, with reproof in his countenance, +which was red with annoyance and haste, laid his hands on the lad's +shoulders to draw him from the prey on which he had pounced. + +"Remember, you are not on a hill-side, but in a respectable street," +said the reverend gentleman, a little foolishly. + +The youth turned his head over his shoulder, not otherwise changing +his attitude, and looked at him with some bewilderment. Then, not +he, but the young lady spoke. + +"Gibbie and I are old friends," she said, and reaching up laid her +free hand in turn on his shoulder, as if to protect him--for, +needlessly, with such grace and strength before her, the vision of +an old horror came rushing back on the mind of Ginevra. + +Gibbie had darted from his companion's side some hundred yards off. +The cap which Mr. Sclater had insisted on his wearing had fallen as +he ran, and he had never missed it; his hair stood out on all sides +of his head, and the sun behind him shone in it like a glory, just +as when first he appeared to Ginevra in the peat-moss, like an angel +standing over her. Indeed, while to Miss Kimble and the girls he +was "a mad-like object" in his awkward ill-fitting clothes, made by +a village tailor in the height of the village fashion, to Ginevra he +looked hardly less angelic now than he did then. His appearance, +judged without prejudice, was rather that of a sailor boy on shore +than a shepherd boy from the hills. + +"Miss Galbraith!" said Miss Kimble, in the tone that indicates +nostrils distended, "I am astonished at you! What an example to the +school! I never knew you misbehave yourself before! Take your hand +from this--this--very strange looking person's shoulder directly." + +Ginevra obeyed, but Gibbie stood as before. + +"Remove your hand, boy, instantly," cried Miss Kimble, growing more +and more angry, and began knocking the hand on the girl's shoulder +with her parasol, which apparently Gibbie took for a joke, for he +laughed aloud. + +"Pray do not alarm yourself, ma'am," said Mr. Sclater, slowly +recovering his breath: he was not yet quite sure of Gibbie, or +confident how best he was to be managed; "this young--gentleman is +Sir Gilbert Galbraith, my ward.--Sir Gilbert, this lady is Miss +Kimble. You must have known her father well--the Rev. Matthew +Kimble of the next parish to your own?" + +Gibbie smiled. He did not nod, for that would have meant that he +did know him, and he did not remember having ever even heard the +name of the Rev. Matthew Kimble. + +"Oh!" said the lady, who had ceased her battery, and stood +bewildered and embarrassed--the more that by this time the girls had +all gathered round, staring and wondering. + +Ginevra's eyes too had filled with wonder; she cast them down, and a +strange smile began to play about her sweet strong mouth. All at +once she was in the middle of a fairy tale, and had not a notion +what was coming next. Her dumb shepherd boy a baronet!--and, more +wonderful still, a Galbraith! She must be dreaming in the wide +street! The last she had seen of him was as he was driven from the +house by her father, when he had just saved her life. That was but +a few weeks ago, and here he was, called Sir Gilbert Galbraith! It +was a delicious bit of wonderment. + +"Oh!" said Miss Kimble a second time, recovering herself a little, +"I see! A relative, Miss Galbraith! I did not understand. That of +course sets everything right--at least--even then--the open street, +you know!--You will understand, Mr. Sclater.--I beg your pardon, Sir +Gilbert. I hope I did not hurt you with my parasol!" + +Gibbie again laughed aloud. + +"Thank you," said Miss Kimble confused, and annoyed with herself for +being so, especially before her girls. "I should be sorry to have +hurt you.--Going to college, I presume, Sir Gilbert?" + +Gibbie looked at Mr. Sclater. + +"He is going to study with me for a while first," answered the +minister. + +"I am glad to hear it, He could not do better," said Miss Kimble. +"Come, girls." + +And with friendly farewells, she moved on, her train after her, +thinking with herself what a boor the young fellow was--the +young--baronet?--Yes, he must be a baronet; he was too young to have +been knighted already. But where ever could he have been brought +up? + +Mr. Sclater had behaved judiciously, and taken gentle pains to +satisfy the old couple that they must part with Gibbie. One of the +neighbouring clergy knew Mr. Sclater well, and with him paid the old +people a visit, to help them to dismiss any lingering doubt that he +was the boy's guardian legally appointed. To their own common sense +indeed it became plain that, except some such story was true, there +could be nothing to induce him to come after Gibbie, or desire to +take charge of the outcast; but they did not feel thoroughly +satisfied until Mr. Sclater brought Fergus Duff to the cottage, to +testify to him as being what he pretended. It was a sore trial, but +amongst the griefs of losing him, no fear of his forgetting them was +included. Mr. Sclater's main difficulty was with Gibbie himself. +At first he laughed at the absurdity of his going away from his +father and mother and the sheep. They told him he was Sir Gilbert +Galbraith. He answered on his slate, as well as by signs which +Janet at least understood perfectly, that he had told them so, and +had been so all the time, "and what differ dos that mak?" he added. +Mr. Sclater told him he was--or would be, at least, he took care to +add, when he came of age--a rich man as well as a baronet. + +"Writch men," wrote Gibbie, "dee as they like, and Ise bide." + +Mr. Sclater told him it was only poor boys who could do as they +pleased, for the law looked after boys like him, so that, when it +came into their hands, they might be capable of using their money +properly. Almost persuaded at length that he had no choice, that he +could no longer be his own master, until he was one and twenty, he +turned and looked at Janet, his eyes brimful of tears. She gave him +a little nod. He rose and went out, climbed the crest of Glashgar, +and did not return to the cottage till midnight. + +In the morning appeared on his countenance signs of unusual resolve. +Amid the many thoughts he had had the night before, had come the +question--what he would do with the money when he had it--first of +all what he could do for Janet and Robert and everyone of their +family; and naturally enough to a Scotch boy, the first thing that +occurred to him was, to give Donal money to go to college like +Fergus Duff. In that he know he made no mistake. It was not so easy +to think of things for the rest, but that was safe. Had not Donal +said twenty times he would not mind being a herd all his life, if +only he could go to college first? But then he began to think what +a long time it was before he would be one and twenty, and what a +number of things might come and go before then: Donal might by that +time have a wife and children, and he could not leave them to go to +college! Why should not Mr. Sclater manage somehow that Donal +should go at once? It was now the end almost of October, and the +college opened in November. Some other rich person would lend them +the money, and he would pay it, with compound interest, when he got +his. Before he went to bed, he got his slate, and wrote as follows: + +"my dear minister, If you will teak Donal too, and lett him go to +the kolledg, I will go with you as seens ye like; butt if ye will +not, I will runn away." + +When Mr. Sclater, who had a bed at the gamekeeper's, appeared the +next morning, anxious to conclude the business, and get things in +motion for their departure, Gibbie handed him the slate the moment +he entered the cottage, and while he read, stood watching him. + +Now Mr. Sclater was a prudent man, and always looked ahead, +therefore apparently took a long time to read Gibbie's very clear, +although unscholarly communication; before answering it, he must +settle the probability of what Mrs. Sclater would think of the +proposal to take two savages into her house together, where also +doubtless the presence of this Donal would greatly interfere with +the process of making a gentleman of Gibbie. Unable to satisfy +himself, he raised his head at length, unconsciously shaking it as +he did so. That instant Gibbie was out of the house. Mr. Sclater, +perceiving the blunder he had made, hurried after him, but he was +already out of sight. Returning in some dismay, he handed the slate +to Janet, who, with sad, resigned countenance, was baking. She +rubbed the oatmeal dough from her hands, took the slate, and read +with a smile. + +"Ye maunna tak Gibbie for a young cowt, Maister Sclater, an' think +to brak him in," she said, after a thoughtful pause, "or ye'll hae +to learn yer mistak. There's no eneuch o' himsel' in him for ye to +get a grip o' 'm by that han'le. He aye kens what he wad hae, an' +he'll aye get it, as sure's it'll aye be richt. As anent Donal, +Donal's my ain, an' I s' say naething. Sit ye doon, sir; ye'll no +see Gibbie the day again." + +"Is there no means of getting at him, my good woman?" said Mr. +Sclater, miserable at the prospect of a day utterly wasted. + +"I cud gie ye sicht o' 'im, I daursay, but what better wad ye be for +that? Gien ye hed a' the lawyers o' Embrough at yer back, ye wadna +touch Gibbie upo' Glashgar." + +"But you could persuade him, I am sure, Mistress Grant. You have +only to call him in your own way, and he will come at once." + +"What wad ye hae me perswaud him till, sir? To onything 'at's +richt, Gibbie wants nae perswaudin'; an' for this 'at's atween ye, +the laddies are jist verra brithers, an' I hae no richt to interfere +wi' what the tane wad for the tither, the thing seemin' to me rizon +eneuch." + +"What sort of lad is this son of yours? The boy seems much attached +to him!" + +"He's a laddie 'at's been gien ower till's buik sin' ever I learnt +him to read mysel'," Janet answered. "But he'll be here the nicht, +I'm thinkin', to see the last o' puir Gibbie, an' ye can jeedge for +yersel'." + +It required but a brief examination of Donal to satisfy Mr. Sclater +that he was more than prepared for the university. But I fear me +greatly the time is at hand when such as Donal will no more be able +to enter her courts. Unwise and unpatriotic are any who would +rather have a few prime scholars sitting about the wells of +learning, than see those fountains flow freely for the poor, who are +yet the strength of a country. It is better to have many upon the +high road of learning, than a few even at its goal, if that were +possible. + +As to Donal's going to Mr. Sclater's house, Janet soon relieved him. + +"Na, na, sir," she said; "it wad be to learn w'ys 'at wadna be +fittin' a puir lad like him." + +"It would be much safer for him." said Mr. Sclater, but +incidentally. + +"Gien I cudna lippen my Donal till's ain company an' the hunger for +better, I wad begin to doobt wha made the warl'," said his mother; +and Donal's face flushed with pleasure at her confidence. "Na, he +maun get a garret roomie some gait i' the toon, an' there haud +till's buik; an ye'll lat Gibbie gang an' see him whiles whan he can +be spared. There maun be many a dacent wuman 'at wad be pleased to +tak him in." + +Mr. Sclater seemed to himself to foresee no little trouble in his +new responsibility, but consoled himself that he would have more +money at his command, and in the end would sit, as it were, at the +fountain-head of large wealth. Already, with his wife's property, +he was a man of consideration; but he had a great respect for money, +and much overrated its value as a means of doing even what he called +good: religious people generally do--with a most unchristian +dulness. We are not told that the Master made the smallest use of +money for his end. When he paid the temple-rate, he did it to avoid +giving offence; and he defended the woman who divinely wasted it. +Ten times more grace and magnanimity would be needed, wisely and +lovingly to avoid making a fortune, than it takes to spend one for +what are called good objects when it is made. + +When they met Miss Kimble and her "young ladies," they were on their +way from the coach-office to the minister's house in Daur Street. +Gibbie knew every corner, and strange was the swift variety of +thoughts and sensations that went filing through his mind. Up this +same street he had tended the wavering steps of a well-known if not +highly respected town-councillor! that was the door, where, one cold +morning of winter, the cook gave him a cup of hot coffee and a roll! +What happy days they were, with their hunger and adventure! There +had always been food and warmth about the city, and he had come in +for his share! The Master was in its streets as certainly as on the +rocks of Glashgar. Not one sheep did he lose sight of, though he +could not do so much for those that would not follow, and had to +have the dog sent after them! + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +MRS. SCLATER. + +Gibbie was in a dream of mingled past and future delights, when his +conductor stopped at a large and important-looking house, with a +flight of granite steps up to the door. Gibbie had never been +inside such a house in his life, but when they entered, he was not +much impressed. He did look with a little surprise, it is true, but +it was down, not up: he felt his feet walking soft, and wondered for +a moment that there should be a field of grass in a house. Then he +gave a glance round, thought it was a big place, and followed Mr. +Sclater up the stair with the free mounting step of the Glashgar +shepherd. Forgetful and unconscious, he walked into the +drawing-room with his bonnet on his head. Mrs. Sclater rose when +they entered, and he approached her with a smile of welcome to the +house which he carried, always full of guests, in his bosom. He +never thought of looking to her to welcome him. She shook hands +with him in a doubtful kind of way. + +"How do you do, Sir Gilbert?" she said. "Only ladies are allowed to +wear their caps in the drawing-room, you know," she added, in a tone +of courteous and half-rallying rebuke, speaking from a flowery +height of conscious superiority. + +What she meant by the drawing-room, Gibbie had not an idea. He +looked at her head, and saw no cap; she had nothing upon it but a +quantity of beautiful black hair; then suddenly remembered his +bonnet; he knew well enough bonnets had to be taken off in house or +cottage: he had never done so because he never had worn a bonnet. +But it was with a smile of amusement only that he now took it off. +He was so free from selfishness that he knew nothing of shame. +Never a shadow of blush at his bad manners tinged his cheek. He +put the cap in his pocket, and catching sight of a footstool by the +corner of the chimney-piece, was so strongly reminded of his creepie +by the cottage-hearth, which, big lad as he now was, he had still +haunted, that he went at once and seated himself upon it. From this +coign of vantage he looked round the room with a gentle curiosity, +casting a glance of pleasure every now and then at Mrs. Sclater, to +whom her husband, in a manner somewhat constrained because of his +presence, was recounting some of the incidents of his journey, +making choice, after the manner of many, of the most commonplace and +uninteresting. + +Gibbie had not been educated in the relative grandeur of things of +this world, and he regarded the things he now saw just as things, +without the smallest notion of any power in them to confer +superiority by being possessed: can a slave knight his master? The +reverend but poor Mr. Sclater was not above the foolish +consciousness of importance accruing from the refined adjuncts of a +more needy corporeal existence; his wife would have felt out of her +proper sphere had she ceased to see them around her, and would have +lost some of her aplomb; but the divine idiot Gibbie was incapable +even of the notion that they mattered a straw to the life of any +man. Indeed, to compare man with man was no habit of his; hence it +cannot be wonderful that stone hearth and steel grate, clay floor +and Brussels carpet were much the same to him. Man was the one +sacred thing. Gibbie's unconscious creed was a powerful leveller, +but it was a leveller up, not down. The heart that revered the +beggar could afford to be incapable of homage to position. His was +not one of those contemptible natures which have no reverence +because they have no aspiration, which think themselves fine because +they acknowledge nothing superior to their own essential baseness. +To Gibbie every man was better than himself. It was for him a +sudden and strange descent--from the region of poetry and closest +intercourse with the strong and gracious and vital simplicities of +Nature, human and other, to the rich commonplaces, amongst them not +a few fashionable vulgarities, of an ordinary well-appointed house, +and ordinary well-appointed people; but, however bedizened, humanity +was there; and he who does not love human more than any other nature +has not life in himself, does not carry his poetry in him, as Gibbie +did, therefore cannot find it except where it has been shown to him. +Neither was a common house like this by any means devoid of any +things to please him. If there was not the lovely homeliness of the +cottage which at once gave all it had, there was a certain +stateliness which afforded its own reception; if there was little +harmony, there were individual colours that afforded him delight--as +for instance, afterwards, the crimson covering the walls of the +dining-room, whose colour was of that soft deep-penetrable character +which a flock paper alone can carry. Then there were pictures, bad +enough most of them, no doubt, in the eyes of the critic, but +endlessly suggestive, therefore endlessly delightful to Gibbie. It +is not the man who knows most about Nature that is hardest to +please, however he may be hardest to satisfy, with the attempt to +follow her. The accomplished poet will derive pleasure from verses +which are a mockery to the soul of the unhappy mortal whose business +is judgment--the most thankless of all labours, and justly so. +Certain fruits one is unable to like until he has eaten them in +their perfection; after that, the reminder in them of the perfect +will enable him to enjoy even the inferior a little, recognizing +their kind--always provided he be not one given to judgment--a +connoisseur, that is, one who cares less for the truth than for the +knowing comparison of one embodiment of it with another. Gibbie's +regard then, as it wandered round the room, lighting on this colour, +and that texture, in curtain, or carpet, or worked screen, found +interest and pleasure. Amidst the mere upholstery of houses and +hearts, amidst the common life of the common crowd, he was, and had +to be, what he had learned to be amongst the nobility and in the +palace of Glashgar. + +Mrs. Sclater, late Mrs. Bonniman, was the widow of a merchant who +had made his money in foreign trade, and to her house Mr. Sclater +had flitted when he married her. She was a well-bred woman, much +the superior of her second husband in the small duties and graces of +social life, and, already a sufferer in some of his not very serious +_grossieretes_, regarded with no small apprehension the arrival of one +in whom she expected the same kind of thing in largely exaggerated +degree. She did not much care to play the mother to a bear cub, she +said to her friends, with a good-humoured laugh. "Just think," she +added, "with such a childhood as the poor boy had, what a mass of +vulgarity must be lying in that uncultivated brain of his! It is no +small mercy, as Mr. Sclater says, that our ears at least are safe. +Poor boy!"--She was a woman of about forty, rather tall, of good +complexion tending to the ruddy, with black smooth shining hair +parted over a white forehead, black eyes, nose a little aquiline, +good mouth, and fine white teeth--altogether a handsome woman--some +notion of whose style may be gathered from the fact that, upon the +testimony of her cheval glass, she preferred satin to the richest of +silks, and almost always wore it. Now and then she would attempt a +change, but was always defeated and driven back into satin. She was +precise in her personal rules, but not stiff in the manners wherein +she embodied them: these were indeed just a little florid and wavy, +a trifle profuse in their grace. She kept an excellent table, and +every appointment about the house was in good style--a favourite +phrase with her. She was her own housekeeper, an exact mistress, +but considerate, so that her servants had no bad time of it. She +was sensible, kind, always responsive to appeal, had scarcely a +thread of poetry or art in her upper texture, loved fair play, was +seldom in the wrong, and never confessed it when she was. But when +she saw it, she took some pains to avoid being so in a similar way +again. She held hard by her own opinion; was capable of a mild +admiration of truth and righteousness in another; had one or two pet +commandments to which she paid more attention than to the rest; was +a safe member of society, never carrying tales; was kind with +condescension to the poor, and altogether a good wife for a minister +of Mr. Sclater's sort. She knew how to hold her own with any who +would have established superiority. A little more coldness, pride, +indifference, and careless restraint, with just a touch of rudeness, +would have given her the freedom of the best society, if she could +have got into it. Altogether it would not have been easy to find +one who could do more for Gibbie in respect for the social rapports +that seemed to await him. Even some who would gladly themselves +have undertaken the task, admitted that he might have fallen into +much less qualified hands. Her husband was confident that, if +anybody could, his wife would make a gentleman of Sir Gilbert; and +he ought to know, for she had done a good deal of polishing upon +him. + +She was now seated on a low chair at the other side of the fire, +leaning back at a large angle, slowly contemplating out of her black +eyes the lad on the footstool, whose blue eyes she saw wandering +about the room, in a manner neither vague nor unintelligent, but +showing more of interest than of either surprise or admiration. +Suddenly he turned them full upon her; they met hers, and the light +rushed into them like a torrent, breaking forth after its way in a +soulful smile. I hope my readers are not tired of the mention of +Gibbie's smiles: I can hardly avoid it; they were all Gibbie had for +the small coin of intercourse; and if my readers care to be just, +they will please to remember that they have been spared many a he +said and she said. Unhappily for me there is no way of giving the +delicate differences of those smiles. Much of what Gibbie perhaps +felt the more that he could not say it, had got into the place where +the smiles are made, and, like a variety of pollens, had impregnated +them with all shades and colours of expression, whose varied +significance those who had known him longest, dividing and +distinguishing, had gone far towards being able to interpret. In +that which now shone on Mrs. Sclater, there was something, she said +the next day to a friend, which no woman could resist, and which +must come of his gentle blood. If she could have seen a few of his +later ancestors at least, she would have doubted if they had +anything to do with that smile beyond its mere transmission from +"the first stock-father of gentleness." She responded, and from +that moment the lady and the shepherd lad were friends. + +Now that a real introduction had taken place between them, and in +her answering smile Gibbie had met the lady herself, he proceeded, +in most natural sequence, without the smallest shyness or suspicion +of rudeness, to make himself acquainted with the phenomena +presenting her. As he would have gazed upon a rainbow, trying +perhaps to distinguish the undistinguishable in the meeting and +parting of its colours, only that here behind was the all-powerful +love of his own, he began to examine the lady's face and form, +dwelling and contemplating with eyes innocent as any baby's. This +lasted; but did not last long before it began to produce in the lady +a certain uncertain embarrassment, a something she did not quite +understand, therefore could not account for, and did not like. Why +should she mind eyes such as those making acquaintance with what a +whole congregation might see any Sunday at church, or for that +matter, the whole city on Monday, if it pleased to look upon her as +she walked shopping in Pearl-street? Why indeed? Yet she began to +grow restless, and feel as if she wanted to let down her veil. She +could have risen and left the room, but she had "no notion" of being +thus put to flight by her bear-cub; she was ashamed that a woman of +her age and experience should be so foolish; and besides, she wanted +to come to an understanding with herself as to what herself meant by +it. She did not feel that the boy was rude; she was not angry with +him as with one taking a liberty; yet she did wish he would not look +at her like that; and presently she was relieved. + +Her hands, which had been lying all the time in her lap, white upon +black, had at length drawn and fixed Gibbie's attention. They were +very lady-like hands, long-fingered, and with the orthodox long-oval +nails, each with a quarter segment of a pale rising moon at the +root--hands nearly faultless, and, I suspect, considered by their +owner entirely such--but a really faultless hand, who has ever +seen?--To Gibbie's eyes they were such beautiful things, that, after +a moment or two spent in regarding them across the length of the +hairy hearthrug, he got up, took his footstool, crossed with it to +the other side of the fire, set it down by Mrs. Sclater, and +reseated himself. Without moving more than her fine neck, she +looked down on him curiously, wondering what would come next; and +what did come next was, that he laid one of his hands on one of +those that lay in the satin lap; then, struck with the contrast +between them, burst out laughing. But he neither withdrew his hand, +nor showed the least shame of the hard, brown, tarry-seamed, strong, +though rather small prehensile member, with its worn and blackened +nails, but let it calmly remain outspread, side by side with the +white, shapely, spotless, gracious and graceful thing, adorned, in +sign of the honour it possessed in being the hand of Mrs. +Sclater,--it was her favourite hand,--with a half hoop of fine +blue-green turkises, and a limpid activity of many diamonds. She +laughed also--who could have helped it? that laugh would have set +silver bells ringing in responsive sympathy!--and patted the lumpy +thing which, odd as the fact might be, was also called a hand, with +short little pecking pats; she did not altogether like touching so +painful a degeneracy from the ideal. But his very evident +admiration of hers, went far to reconcile her to his,--as was but +right, seeing a man's admirations go farther to denote him truly, +than the sort of hands or feet either he may happen to have received +from this or that vanished ancestor. Still she found his +presence--more than his proximity--discomposing, and was glad when +Mr. Sclater, who, I forgot to mention, had left the room, returned +and took Gibbie away to show him his, and instruct him what changes +he must make upon his person in preparation for dinner. + +When Mrs. Sclater went to bed that night she lay awake a good while +thinking, and her main thought was--what could be the nature of the +peculiar feeling which the stare of the boy had roused in her? Nor +was it long before she began to suspect that, unlike her hand beside +his, she showed to some kind of disadvantage beside the shepherd +lad. Was it dissatisfaction then with herself that his look had +waked? She was aware of nothing in which she had failed or been in +the wrong of late. She never did anything to be called wrong--by +herself, that is, or indeed by her neighbours. She had never done +anything very wrong, she thought; and anything wrong she had done, +was now a far away and so nearly forgotten, that it seemed to have +left her almost quite innocent; yet the look of those blue eyes, +searching, searching, without seeming to know it, made her feel +something like the discomfort of a dream of expected visitors, with +her house not quite in a condition to receive them. She must see to +her hidden house. She must take dust-pan and broom and go about a +little. For there are purifications in which king and cowboy must +each serve himself. The things that come out of a man are they that +defile him, and to get rid of them, a man must go into himself, be a +convict, and scrub the floor of his cell. Mrs. Sclater's cell was +very tidy and respectable for a cell, but no human consciousness can +be clean, until it lies wide open to the eternal sun, and the +all-potent wind; until, from a dim-lighted cellar it becomes a +mountain-top. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +INITIATION. + +Mrs. Sclater's first piece of business the following morning was to +take Gibbie to the most fashionable tailor in the city, and have him +measured for such clothes as she judged suitable for a gentleman's +son. As they went through the streets, going and returning, the +handsome lady walking with the youth in the queer country-made +clothes, attracted no little attention, and most of the inhabitants +who saw them, having by this time heard of the sudden importance of +their old acquaintance, wee Sir Gibbie, and the search after him, +were not long in divining the secret of the strange conjunction. +But although Gibbie seemed as much at home with the handsome lady +as if she had been his own mother, and walked by her side with a +step and air as free as the wind from Glashgar, he felt anything but +comfortable in his person. For here and there Tammy Breeks's seams +came too close to his skin, and there are certain kinds of hardship +which, though the sufferer be capable of the patience of Job, will +yet fret. Gibbie could endure cold or wet or hunger, and sing like +a mavis; he had borne pain upon occasion with at least complete +submission; but the tight arm-holes of his jacket could hardly be +such a decree of Providence as it was rebellion to interfere with; +and therefore I do not relate what follows, as a pure outcome of +that benevolence in him which was yet equal to the sacrifice of the +best fitting of garments. As they walked along Pearl-street, the +handsomest street of the city, he darted suddenly from Mrs. +Sclater's side, and crossed to the opposite pavement. She stood and +looked after him wondering, hitherto he had broken out in no +vagaries! As he ran, worse and worse! he began tugging at his +jacket, and had just succeeded in getting it off as he arrived at +the other side, in time to stop a lad of about his own size, who was +walking bare-footed and in his shirt sleeves--if shirt or sleeves be +a term applicable to anything visible upon him. With something of +the air of the tailor who had just been waiting upon himself, but +with as much kindness and attention as if the boy had been Donal +Grant instead of a stranger, he held the jacket for him to put on. +The lad lost no time in obeying, gave him one look and nod of +gratitude, and ran down a flight of steps to a street below, never +doubting his benefactor an idiot, and dreading some one to whom he +belonged would be after him presently to reclaim the gift. Mrs. +Sclater saw the proceeding with some amusement and a little +foreboding. She did not mourn the fate of the jacket; had it been +the one she had just ordered, or anything like it, the loss would +have been to her not insignificant: but was the boy altogether in +his right mind? She in her black satin on the opposite pavement, +and the lad scudding down the stair in the jacket, were of similar +mind concerning the boy, who, in shirt sleeves indubitable, now came +bounding back across the wide street. He took his place by her side +as if nothing had happened, only that he went along swinging his +arms as if he had just been delivered from manacles. Having for so +many years roamed the streets with scarcely any clothes at all, he +had no idea of looking peculiar, and thought nothing more of the +matter. + +But Mrs. Sclater soon began to find that even in regard to social +externals, she could never have had a readier pupil. He watched her +so closely, and with such an appreciation of the difference in +things of the kind between her and her husband, that for a short +period he was in danger of falling into habits of movement and +manipulation too dainty for a man, a fault happily none the less +objectionable in the eyes of his instructress, that she, on her own +part, carried the feminine a little beyond the limits of the +natural. But here also she found him so readily set right, that she +imagined she was going to do anything with him she pleased, and was +not a little proud of her conquest, and the power she had over the +young savage. She had yet to discover that Gibbie had his own ideas +too, that it was the general noble teachableness and affection of +his nature that had brought about so speedy an understanding between +them in everything wherein he saw she could show him the better way, +but that nowhere else would he feel bound or inclined to follow her +injunctions. Much and strongly as he was drawn to her by her +ladyhood, and the sense she gave him of refinement and familiarity +with the niceties, he had no feeling that she had authority over +him. So neglected in his childhood, so absolutely trusted by the +cottagers, who had never found in him the slightest occasion for the +exercise of authority, he had not an idea of owing obedience to any +but the One. Gifted from the first with a heart of devotion, the +will of the Master set the will of the boy upon the throne of +service, and what he had done from inclination he was now capable of +doing against it, and would most assuredly do against it if ever +occasion should arise: what other obedience was necessary to his +perfection? For his father and mother and Donal he had +reverence--profound and tender, and for no one else as yet among +men; but at the same time something far beyond respect for every +human shape and show. He would not, could not make any of the +social distinctions which to Mr. and Mrs. Sclater seemed to belong +to existence itself, and their recognition essential to the living +of their lives; whence it naturally resulted that upon occasion he +seemed to them devoid of the first rudiments of breeding, without +respect or any notion of subordination. + +Mr. Sclater was conscientious in his treatment of him. The very day +following that of their arrival, he set to work with him. He had +been a tutor, was a good scholar, and a sensible teacher, and soon +discovered how to make the most of Gibbie's facility in writing. He +was already possessed of a little Latin, and after having for some +time accustomed him to translate from each language into the other, +the minister began to think it might be of advantage to learning in +general, if at least half the boys and girls at school, and three +parts of every Sunday congregation, were as dumb as Sir Gilbert +Galbraith. When at length he set him to Greek, he was astonished at +the avidity with which he learned it! He had hardly got him over +tupto, {compilers note: spelled in Greek: Tau, Upsilon with stress, +Pi, Tau, Omega} when he found him one day so intent upon the +Greek Testament, that, exceptionally keen of hearing as he was, he +was quite unaware that anyone had entered the room. + +What Gibbie made of Mr. Sclater's prayers, either in congregational +or family devotion, I am at some loss to imagine. Beside his +memories of the direct fervid outpouring and appeal of Janet, in +which she seemed to talk face to face with God, they must have +seemed to him like the utterances of some curiously constructed +wooden automaton, doing its best to pray, without any soul to be +saved, any weakness to be made strong, any doubt to be cleared, any +hunger to be filled. What can be less like religion than the +prayers of a man whose religion is his profession, and who, if he +were not "in the church," would probably never pray at all? Gibbie, +however, being the reverse of critical, must, I can hardly doubt, +have seen in them a good deal more than was there--a pitiful faculty +to the man who cultivates that of seeing in everything less than is +there. + +To Mrs. Sclater, it was at first rather depressing, and for a time +grew more and more painful, to have a live silence by her side. But +when she came into rapport with the natural utterance of the boy, +his presence grew more like a constant speech, and that which was +best in her was not unfrequently able to say for the boy what he +would have said could he have spoken: the nobler part of her nature +was in secret alliance with the thoughts and feelings of Gibbie. +But this relation between them, though perceptible, did not become +at all plain to her until after she had established more definite +means of communication. Gibbie, for his part, full of the holy +simplicities of the cottage, had a good many things to meet which +disappointed, perplexed, and shocked him. Middling good people are +shocked at the wickedness of the wicked; Gibbie, who knew both so +well, and what ought to be expected, was shocked only at the +wickedness of the righteous. He never came quite to understand Mr. +Sclater: the inconsistent never can be understood. That only which +has absolute reason in it can be understood of man. There is a +bewilderment about the very nature of evil which only he who made us +capable of evil that we might be good, can comprehend. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +DONAL'S LODGING. + +Donal had not accompanied Mr. Sclater and his ward, as he generally +styled him, to the city, but continued at the Mains until another +herd-boy should be found to take his place. All were sorry to part +with him, but no one desired to stand in the way of his good fortune +by claiming his service to the end of his half-year. It was about a +fortnight after Gibbie's departure when he found himself free. His +last night he spent with his parents on Glashgar, and the next +morning set out in the moonlight to join the coach, with some cakes +and a bit of fresh butter tied up in a cotton handkerchief. He wept +at leaving them, nor was too much excited with the prospect before +him to lay up his mother's parting words in his heart. For it is +not every son that will not learn of his mother. He who will not +goes to the school of Gideon. Those last words of Janet to her +Donal were, "Noo, min' yer no a win'le strae (a straw dried on its +root), but a growin' stalk 'at maun luik till 'ts corn." + +When he reached the spot appointed, there already was the cart from +the Mains, with his kist containing all his earthly possessions. +They did not half fill it, and would have tumbled about in the +great chest, had not the bounty of Mistress Jean complemented its +space with provision--a cheese, a bag of oatmeal, some oatcakes, and +a pound or two of the best butter in the world; for now that he was +leaving them, a herd-boy no more, but a colliginer, and going to be +a gentleman, it was right to be liberal. The box, whose ponderosity +was unintelligible to its owner, having been hoisted, amid the +smiles of the passengers, to the mid region of the roof of the +coach, Donal clambered after it, and took, for the first time in his +life, his place behind four horses--to go softly rushing through the +air towards endless liberty. It was to the young poet an hour of +glorious birth--in which there seemed nothing too strange, nothing +but what should have come. I fancy, when they die, many will find +themselves more at home than ever they were in this world. But +Donal is not the subject of my story, and I must not spend upon him. +I will only say that his feelings on this grand occasion were the +less satisfactory to himself, that, not being poet merely, but +philosopher as well, he sought to understand them: the mere poet, +the man-bird, would have been content with them in themselves. But +if he who is both does not rise above both by learning obedience, he +will have a fine time of it between them. + +The streets of the city at length received them with noise and echo. +At the coach-office Mr. Sclater stood waiting, welcomed him with +dignity rather than kindness, hired a porter with his truck whom he +told where to take the chest, said Sir Gilbert would doubtless call +on him the next day, and left him with the porter. + +It was a cold afternoon, the air half mist, half twilight. Donal +followed the rattling, bumping truck over the stones, walking close +behind it, almost in the gutter. They made one turning, went a long +way through the narrow, sometimes crowded, Widdiehill, and stopped. +The man opened a door, returned to the truck, and began to pull the +box from it. Donal gave him effective assistance, and they entered +with it between them. There was just light enough from a tallow +candle with a wick like a red-hot mushroom, to see that they were in +what appeared to Donal a house in most appalling disorder, but was +in fact a furniture shop. The porter led the way up a dark stair, +and Donal followed with his end of the trunk. At the top was a +large room, into which the last of the day glimmered through windows +covered with the smoke and dust of years, showing this also full of +furniture, chiefly old. A lane through the furniture led along the +room to a door at the other end. To Donal's eyes it looked a dreary +place; but when the porter opened the other door, he saw a neat +little room with a curtained bed, a carpeted floor, a fire burning +in the grate, a kettle on the hob, and the table laid for tea: this +was like a bit of a palace, for he had never in his life even looked +into such a chamber. The porter set down his end of the chest, said +"Guid nicht to ye," and walked out, leaving the door open. + +Knowing nothing about towns and the ways of them, Donal was yet a +little surprised that there was nobody to receive him. He +approached the fire, and sat down to warm himself, taking care not +to set his hobnailed shoes on the grandeur of the little hearthrug. +A few moments and he was startled by a slight noise, as of +suppressed laughter. He jumped up. One of the curtains of his bed +was strangely agitated. Out leaped Gibbie from behind it, and threw +his arms about him. + +"Eh, cratur! ye gae me sic a fleg!" said Donal. "But, losh! they hae +made a gentleman o' ye a'ready!" he added, holding him at arms +length, and regarding him with wonder and admiration. + +A notable change had indeed passed upon Gibbie, mere externals +considered, in that fortnight. He was certainly not so picturesque +as before, yet the alteration was entirely delightful to Donal. +Perhaps he felt it gave a good hope for the future of his own +person. Mrs. Sclater had had his hair cut; his shirt was of the +whitest of linen, his necktie of the richest of black silk, his +clothes were of the newest cut and best possible fit, and his boots +perfect: the result was altogether even to her satisfaction. In one +thing only was she foiled: she could not get him to wear gloves. He +had put on a pair, but found them so miserably uncomfortable that, +in merry wrath, he pulled them off on the way home, and threw +them--"The best kid!" exclaimed Mrs. Sclater--over the Pearl Bridge. +Prudently fearful of over-straining her influence, she yielded for +the present, and let him go without. + +Mr. Sclater also had hitherto exercised prudence in his demands upon +Gibbie--not that he desired anything less than unlimited authority +with him, but, knowing it would be hard to enforce, he sought to +establish it by a gradual tightening of the rein, a slow +encroachment of law upon the realms of disordered license. He had +never yet refused to do anything he required of him, had executed +entirely the tasks he set him, was more than respectful, and always +ready; yet somehow Mr. Sclater could never feel that the lad was +exactly obeying him. He thought it over, but could not understand +it, and did not like it, for he was fond of authority. Gibbie in +fact did whatever was required of him from his own delight in +meeting the wish expressed, not from any sense of duty or of +obligation to obedience. The minister had no perception of what the +boy was, and but a very small capacity for appreciating what was +best in him, and had a foreboding suspicion that the time would come +when they would differ. + +He had not told him that he was going to meet the coach, but Gibbie +was glad to learn from Mrs. Sclater that such was his intention, for +he preferred meeting Donal at his lodging. He had recognized the +place at once from the minister's mention of it to his wife, having +known the shop and its owner since ever he could remember himself. +He loitered near until he saw Donal arrive, then crept after him +and the porter up the stair, and when Donal sat down by the fire, +got into the room and behind the curtain. + +The boys had then a jolly time of it. They made their tea, for +which everything was present, and ate as boys know how, Donal +enjoying the rarity of the white bread of the city, Gibbie, who had +not tasted oatmeal since he came, devouring "mother's cakes." When +they had done, Gibbie, who had learned much since he came, looked +about the room till he found a bell-rope, and pulled it, whereupon +the oddest-looking old woman, not a hair altered from what Gibbie +remembered her, entered, and, with friendly chatter, proceeded to +remove the tray. Suddenly something arrested her, and she began to +regard Gibbie with curious looks; in a moment she was sure of him, +and a torrent of exclamations and reminiscences and appeals +followed, which lasted, the two lads now laughing, now all but +crying for nearly an hour, while, all the time, the old woman kept +doing and undoing about the hearth and the tea table. Donal asked +many questions about his friend, and she answered freely, except as +often as one approached his family, when she would fall silent, and +bustle about as if she had not heard. Then Gibbie would look +thoughtful and strange and a little sad, and a far-away gaze would +come into his eyes, as if he were searching for his father in the +other world. + +When the good woman at length left them, they uncorded Donal's kist, +discovered the cause of its portentous weight, took out everything, +put the provisions in a cupboard, arranged the few books, and then +sat down by the fire for "a read" together. + +The hours slipped away; it was night; and still they sat and read. +It must have been after ten o' clock when they heard footsteps +coming through the adjoining room; the door opened swiftly; in +walked Mr. Sclater, and closed it behind him. His look was +angry--severe enough for boys caught card-playing, or drinking, or +reading something that was not divinity on a Sunday. Gibbie had +absented himself without permission, had stayed away for hours, had +not returned even when the hour of worship arrived; and these were +sins against the respectability of his house which no minister like +Mr. Sclater could pass by. It mattered nothing what they were +doing! it was all one when it got to midnight! then it became +revelling, and was sinful and dangerous, vulgar and ungentlemanly, +giving the worst possible example to those beneath them! What could +their landlady think?--the very first night?--and a lodger whom he +had recommended? Such was the sort of thing with which Mr. Sclater +overwhelmed the two boys. Donal would have pleaded in +justification, or at least excuse, but he silenced him peremptorily. +I suspect there had been some difference between Mrs. Sclater and +him just before he left: how otherwise could he have so entirely +forgotten his wise resolves anent Gibbie's gradual subjugation? + +When first he entered, Gibbie rose with his usual smile of greeting, +and got him a chair. But he waved aside the attention with +indignant indifference, and went on with his foolish +reproof--unworthy of record except for Gibbie's following behaviour. +Beaten down by the suddenness of the storm, Donal had never risen +from his chair, but sat glowering into the fire. He was annoyed, +vexed, half-ashamed; with that readiness of the poetic nature to fit +itself to any position, especially one suggested by an unjust +judgment, he felt, with the worthy parson thus storming at him, +almost as if guilty in everything laid to their joint charge. +Gibbie on his feet looked the minister straight in the face. His +smile of welcome, which had suddenly mingled itself with +bewilderment, gradually faded into one of concern, then of pity, and +by degrees died away altogether, leaving in its place a look of +question. More and more settled his countenance grew, while all the +time he never took his eyes off Mr. Sclater's, until its expression +at length was that of pitiful unconscious reproof, mingled with +sympathetic shame. He had never met anything like this before. +Nothing low like this--for all injustice, and especially all that +sort of thing which Janet called "dingin' the motes wi' the beam," +is eternally low--had Gibbie seen in the holy temple of Glashgar! +He had no way of understanding or interpreting it save by calling +to his aid the sad knowledge of evil, gathered in his earliest +years. Except in the laird and Fergus and the gamekeeper, he had +not, since fleeing from Lucky Croale's houff, seen a trace of +unreasonable anger in any one he knew. Robert or Janet had never +scolded him. He might go and come as he pleased. The night was +sacred as the day in that dear house. His father, even when most +overcome by the wicked thing, had never scolded him! + +The boys remaining absolutely silent, the minister had it all his +own way. But before he had begun to draw to a close, across the +blinding mists of his fog-breeding wrath he began to be aware of the +shining of two heavenly lights, the eyes, namely, of the dumb boy +fixed upon him. They jarred him a little in his onward course; they +shook him as if with a doubt; the feeling undefined slowly grew to a +notion, first obscure, then plain: they were eyes of reproof that +were fastened upon his! At the first suspicion, his anger flared up +more fierce than ever; but it was a flare of a doomed flame; slowly +the rebuke told, was telling; the self-satisfied in-the-rightness--a +very different thing from righteousness--of the man was sinking +before the innocent difference of the boy; he began to feel awkward, +he hesitated, he ceased: for the moment Gibbie, unconsciously, had +conquered; without knowing it, he was the superior of the two, and +Mr. Sclater had begun to learn that he could never exercise +authority over him. But the wordly-wise man will not seem to be +defeated even where he knows he is. If he do give in, he will make +it look as if it came of the proper motion of his own goodness. +After a slight pause, the minister spoke again, but with the +changed tone of one who has had an apology made to him, whose anger +is appeased, and who therefore acts the Neptune over the billows of +his own sea. That was the way he would slide out of it. + +"Donal Grant," he said, "you had better go to bed at once, and get +fit for your work to-morrow. I will go with you to call upon the +principal. Take care you are not out of the way when I come for +you.--Get your cap, Sir Gilbert, and come. Mrs. Sclater was already +very uneasy about you when I left her." + +Gibbie took from his pocket the little ivory tablets Mrs. Sclater +had given him, wrote the following words, and handed them to the +minister: + +"Dear sir, I am going to slepe this night with Donal. The bed is +bigg enuf for 2. Good night, sir." + +For a moment the minister's wrath seethed again. Like a volcano, +however, that has sent out a puff of steam, but holds back its lava, +he thought better of it: here was a chance of retiring with +grace--in well-conducted retreat, instead of headlong rout. + +"Then be sure you are home by lesson-time," he said. "Donal can come +with you. Good night. Mind you don't keep each other awake." + +Donal said "Good night, sir," and Gibbie gave him a serious and +respectful nod. He left the room, and the boys turned and looked at +each other. Donal's countenance expressed an indignant sense of +wrong, but Gibbie's revealed a more profound concern. He stood +motionless, intent on the receding steps of the minister. The +moment the sound of them ceased, he darted soundless after him. +Donal, who from Mr. Sclater's reply had understood what Gibbie had +written, was astonished, and starting to his feet followed him. By +the time he reached the door, Gibbie was past the second lamp, his +shadow describing a huge half-circle around him, as he stole from +lamp to lamp after the minister, keeping always a lamp-post still +between them. When the minister turned a corner, Gibbie made a +soundless dart to it, and peeped round, lingered a moment looking, +then followed again. On and on went Mr. Sclater, and on and on went +Gibbie, careful constantly not to be seen by him; and on and on went +Donal, careful to be seen of neither. They went a long way as he +thought, for to the country boy distance between houses seemed much +greater than between dykes or hedges. At last the minister went up +the steps of a handsome house, took a key from his pocket, and +opened the door. From some impulse or other, as he stepped in, he +turned sharp round, and saw Gibbie. + +"Come in," he said, in a loud authoritative tone, probably taking +the boy's appearance for the effect of repentance and a desire to +return to his own bed. + +Gibbie lifted his cap, and walked quietly on towards the other end +of Daur-street. Donal dared not follow, for Mr. Sclater stood +between, looking out. Presently however the door shut with a great +bang, and Donal was after Gibbie like a hound. But Gibbie had +turned a corner, and was gone from his sight. Donal turned a corner +too, but it was a wrong corner. Concluding that Gibbie had turned +another corner ahead of him, he ran on and on, in the vanishing hope +of catching sight of him again; but he was soon satisfied he had +lost him,--nor him only, but himself as well, for he had not the +smallest idea how to return, even as far as the minister's house. +It rendered the matter considerably worse that, having never heard +the name of the street where he lodged but once--when the minister +gave direction to the porter, he had utterly forgotten it. So there +he was, out in the night, astray in the streets of a city of many +tens of thousands, in which he had never till that day set +foot--never before having been in any larger abode of men than a +scattered village of thatched roofs. But he was not tired, and so +long as a man is not tired, he can do well, even in pain. But a +city is a dreary place at night, even to one who knows his way in +it--much drearier to one lost--in some respects drearier than a +heath--except there be old mine-shafts in it. + +"It's as gien a' the birds o' a country had creepit intil their bit +eggs again, an' the day was left bare o' sang!" said the poet to +himself as he walked. Night amongst houses was a new thing to him. +Night on the hillsides and in the fields he knew well; but this was +like a place of tombs--what else, when all were dead for the night? +The night is the world's graveyard, and the cities are its +catacombs. He repeated to himself all his own few ballads, then +repeated them aloud as he walked, indulging the fancy that he had a +long audience on each side of him; but he dropped into silence the +moment any night-wanderer appeared. Presently he found himself on +the shore of the river, and tried to get to the edge of the water; +but it was low tide, the lamps did not throw much light so far, the +moon was clouded, he got among logs and mud, and regained the street +bemired, and beginning to feel weary. He was saying to himself what +ever was he to do all the night long, when round a corner a little +way off came a woman. It was no use asking counsel of her, however, +or of anyone, he thought, so long as he did not know even the name +of the street he wanted--a street which as he walked along it had +seemed interminable. The woman drew near. She was rather tall, +erect in the back, but bowed in the shoulders, with fierce black +eyes, which were all that he could see of her face, for she had a +little tartan shawl over her head, which she held together with one +hand, while in the other she carried a basket. But those eyes were +enough to make him fancy he must have seen her before. They were +just passing each other, under a lamp, when she looked hard at him, +and stopped. + +"Man," she said, "I hae set e'en upo' your face afore!" + +"Gien that be the case," answered Donal, "ye set e'en upo' 't +again." + +"Whaur come ye frae?" she asked. + +"That's what I wad fain speir mysel'," he replied. "But, wuman," he +went on, "I fancy I hae set e'en upo' your e'en afore--I canna weel +say for yer face. Whaur come ye frae?" + +"Ken ye a place they ca'--Daurside?" she rejoined. + +"Daurside's a gey lang place," answered Donal; "an' this maun be +aboot the tae en' o' 't, I'm thinkin'." + +"Ye're no far wrang there," she returned; "an' ye hae a gey gleg +tongue i' yer heid for a laad frae Daurside." + +"I never h'ard 'at tongues war cuttit shorter there nor ither +gaits," said Donal; "but I didna mean ye ony offence." + +"There's nane ta'en, nor like to be," answered the woman.--"Ken ye a +place they ca' Mains o' Glashruach?" + +As she spoke she let go her shawl, and it opened from her face like +two curtains. + +"Lord! it's the witch-wife!" cried Donal, retreating a pace in his +astonishment. + +The woman burst into a great laugh, a hard, unmusical, but not +unmirthful laugh. + +"Ay!" she said, "was that hoo the fowk wad hae't o' me?" + +"It wasna muckle won'er, efter ye cam wydin' throu' watter yairds +deep, an' syne gaed doon the spate on a bran'er." + +"Weel, it was the maddest thing!" she returned, with another laugh +which stopped abruptly. "--I wadna dee the like again to save my +life. But the Michty cairried me throu'.--An' hoo's wee Sir +Gibbie?--Come in--I dinna ken yer name--but we're jist at the door +o' my bit garret. Come quaiet up the stair, an' tell me a' aboot +it." + +"Weel, I wadna be sorry to rist a bit, for I hae tint mysel +a'thegither, an' I'm some tiret," answered Donal. "I but left the +Mains thestreen." + +"Come in an' walcome; an whan ye're ristit, an' I'm rid o' my +basket, I'll sune pit ye i' the gait o' hame." + +Donal was too tired, and too glad to be once more in the company of +a human being, to pursue further explanation at present. He +followed her, as quietly as he could, up the dark stair. When she +struck a light, he saw a little garret-room--better than decently +furnished, it seemed to the youth from the hills, though his mother +would have thought it far from tidy. The moment the woman got a +candle lighted, she went to a cupboard, and brought thence a bottle +and a glass. When Donal declined the whisky she poured out, she +seemed disappointed, and setting down the glass, let it stand. But +when she had seated herself, and begun to relate her adventures in +quest of Gibbie, she drew it towards her, and sipped as she talked. +Some day she would tell him, she said, the whole story of her +voyage on the brander, which would make him laugh; it made her +laugh, even now, when it came back to her in her bed at night, +though she was far enough from laughing at the time. Then she told +him a great deal about Gibbie and his father. + +"An' noo," remarked Donal, "he'll be thinkin' 't a' ower again, as +he rins aboot the toon this verra meenute, luikin' for me!" + +"Dinna ye trible yersel' aboot him," said the woman. "He kens the +toon as weel's ony rottan kens the drains o' 't.--But whaur div ye +pit up?" she added, "for it's time dacent fowk was gauin' to their +beds." + +Donal explained that he knew neither the name of the street nor of +the people where he was lodging. + +"Tell me this or that--something--onything aboot the hoose or the +fowk, or what they're like, an' it may be 'at I'll ken them," she +said. + +But scarcely had he begun his description of the house when she +cried, + +"Hoot, man! it's at Lucky Murkison's ye are, i' the Wuddiehill. +Come awa', an' I s' tak ye hame in a jiffey." + +So saying, she rose, took the candle, showed him down the stair, and +followed. + +It was past midnight, and the moon was down, but the street-lamps +were not yet extinguished, and they walked along without anything to +interrupt their conversation--chiefly about Sir Gibbie and Sir +George. But perhaps if Donal had known the cause of Gibbie's escape +from the city, and that the dread thing had taken place in this +woman's house, he would not have walked quite so close to her. + +Poor Mistress Croale, however, had been nowise to blame for that, +and the shock it gave her had even done something to check the rate +of her downhill progress. It let her see, with a lightning flash +from the pit, how wide the rent now yawned between her and her +former respectability. She continued, as we know, to drink whisky, +and was not unfrequently overcome by it; but in her following life +as peddler, she measured her madness more; and, much in the open air +and walking a great deal, with a basket sometimes heavy, her +indulgence did her less physical harm; her temper recovered a +little, she regained a portion of her self-command; and at the close +of those years of wandering, she was less of a ruin, both mentally +and spiritually, than at their commencement. + +When she received her hundred pounds for the finding of Sir Gibbie, +she rented a little shop in the gallery of the market, where she +sold such things as she had carried about the country, adding to her +stock, upon the likelihood of demand, without respect to unity +either conventional or real, in the character of the wares she +associated. The interest and respectability of this new start in +life, made a little fresh opposition to the inroads of her besetting +sin; so that now she did not consume as much whisky in three days as +she did in one when she had her houff on the shore. Some people +seem to have been drinking all their lives, of necessity getting +more and more into the power of the enemy, but without succumbing at +a rapid rate, having even their times of uplifting and betterment. +Mistress Croale's complexion was a little clearer; her eyes were +less fierce; her expression was more composed; some of the women who +like her had shops in the market, had grown a little friendly with +her; and, which was of more valuable significance, she had come to +be not a little regarded by the poor women of the lower parts behind +the market, who were in the way of dealing with her. For the moment +a customer of this class, and she had but few of any other, appeared +at her shop, or covered stall, rather, she seemed in spirit to go +outside the counter and buy with her, giving her the best counsel +she had, now advising the cheaper, now the dearer of two articles; +while now and then one could tell of having been sent by her to +another shop, where, in the particular case, she could do better. A +love of affairs, no doubt, bore a part in this peculiarity, but +there is all the difference between the two ways of embodying +activity--to one's own advantage only, and--to the advantage of +one's neighbour as well. For my part, if I knew a woman behaved to +her neighbours as Mistress Croale did to hers, were she the worst of +drunkards in between, I could not help both respecting and loving +her. Alas that such virtue is so portentously scarce! There are so +many that are sober for one that is honest! Deep are the depths of +social degradation to which the clean, purifying light yet reaches, +and lofty are the heights of social honour where yet the light is +nothing but darkness. Any thoughtful person who knew Mistress +Croale's history, would have feared much for her, and hoped a +little: her so-called fate was still undecided. In the mean time +she made a living, did not get into debt, spent an inordinate +portion of her profits in drink, but had regained and was keeping up +a kind and measure of respectability. + +Before they reached the Widdiehill, Donal, with the open heart of +the poet, was full of friendliness to her, and rejoiced in the +mischance that had led him to make her acquaintance. + +"Ye ken, of coorse," he happened to say, "'at Gibbie's wi' Maister +Sclater?" + +"Weel eneuch," she answered. "I hae seen him tee; but he's a gran' +gentleman grown, an' I wadna like to be affrontit layin' claim +till's acquaintance,--walcome as he ance was to my hoose!" + +She had more reason for the doubt and hesitation she thus expressed +than Donal knew. But his answer was none the less the true one as +regarded his friend. + +"Ye little ken Gibbie," he said "gien ye think that gait o' 'im! +Gang ye to the minister's door and speir for 'im! He'll be doon +the stair like a shot.--But 'deed maybe he's come back, an' 's i' my +chaumer the noo! Ye'll come up the stair an' see?" + +"Na, I wunna dee that," said Mistress Croale, who did not wish to +face Mistress Murkison, well known to her in the days of her +comparative prosperity. + +She pointed out the door to him, but herself stood on the other side +of the way till she saw it opened by her old friend in her +night-cap, and heard her make jubilee over his return. + +Gibbie had come home and gone out again to look for him, she said. + +"Weel," remarked Donal, "there wad be sma' guid in my gaein' to luik +for him. It wad be but the sheep gaein' to luik for the shepherd." + +"Ye're richt there," said his landlady. "A tint bairn sud aye sit +doon an' sit still." + +"Weel, ye gang till yer bed, mem," returned Donal. "Lat me see hoo +yer door works, an' I'll lat him in whan he comes." + +Gibbie came within an hour, and all was well. They made their +communication, of which Donal's was far the more interesting, had +their laugh over the affair, and went to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE MINISTER'S DEFEAT. + +The minister's wrath, when he found he had been followed home by +Gibbie who yet would not enter the house, instantly rose in +redoubled strength. He was ashamed to report the affair to Mrs. +Sclater just as it had passed. He was but a married old bachelor, +and fancied he must keep up his dignity in the eyes of his wife, not +having yet learned that, if a man be true, his friends and lovers +will see to his dignity. So his anger went on smouldering all night +long, and all through his sleep, without a touch of cool +assuagement, and in the morning he rose with his temper very +feverish. During breakfast he was gloomy, but would confess to no +inward annoyance. What added to his unrest was, that, although he +felt insulted, he did not know what precisely the nature of the +insult was. Even in his wrath he could scarcely set down Gibbie's +following of him to a glorying mockery of his defeat. Doubtless, +for a man accustomed to deal with affairs, to rule over a +parish--for one who generally had his way in the kirk-session, and +to whom his wife showed becoming respect, it was scarcely fitting +that the rude behaviour of an ignorant country dummy should affect +him so much: he ought to have been above such injury. But the lad +whom he so regarded, had first with his mere looks lowered him in +his own eyes, then showed himself beyond the reach of his reproof by +calmly refusing to obey him, and then become unintelligible by +following him like a creature over whom surveillance was needful! +The more he thought of this last, the more inexplicable it seemed +to become, except on the notion of deliberate insult. And the worst +was, that henceforth he could expect to have no power at all over +the boy! If it was like this already, how would it be in the time +to come? If, on the other hand, he were to re-establish his +authority at the cost of making the boy hate him, then, the moment +he was of age, his behaviour would be that of a liberated enemy: he +would go straight to the dogs, and his money with him!--The man of +influence and scheme did well to be annoyed. + +Gibbie made his appearance at ten o'clock, and went straight to the +study, where at that hour the minister was always waiting him. He +entered with his own smile, bending his head in morning salutation. +The minister said "Good morning," but gruffly, and without raising +his eyes from the last publication of the Spalding Club. Gibbie +seated himself in his usual place, arranged his book and slate, and +was ready to commence--when the minister, having now summoned +resolution, lifted his head, fixed his eyes on him, and said +sternly-- + +"Sir Gilbert, what was your meaning in following me, after refusing +to accompany me?" + +Gibbie's face flushed. Mr. Sclater believed he saw him for the +first time ashamed of himself; his hope rose; his courage grew; he +augured victory and a re-established throne: he gathered himself up +in dignity, prepared to overwhelm him. But Gibbie showed no +hesitation; he took his slate instantly, found his pencil, wrote, +and handed the slate to the minister. There stood these words: + +"I thought you was drunnk." + +Mr. Sclater started to his feet, the hand which held the offending +document uplifted, his eyes flaming, his checks white with passion, +and with the flat of the slate came down a great blow on the top of +Gibbie's head. Happily the latter was the harder of the two, and +the former broke, flying mostly out of the frame. It took Gibbie +terribly by surprise. Half-stunned, he started to his feet, and for +one moment the wild beast which was in him, as it is in everybody, +rushed to the front of its cage. It would have gone ill then with +the minister, had not as sudden a change followed; the very same +instant, it was as if an invisible veil, woven of gracious air and +odour and dew, had descended upon him; the flame of his wrath went +out, quenched utterly; a smile of benignest compassion overspread +his countenance; in his offender he saw only a brother. But Mr. +Sclater saw no brother before him, for when Gibbie rose he drew back +to better his position, and so doing made it an awkard one indeed. +For it happened occasionally that, the study being a warm room, +Mrs. Sclater, on a winter evening, sat there with her husband, +whence it came that on the floor squatted a low foot-stool, subject +to not unfrequent clerical imprecation: when he stepped back, he +trod on the edge of it, stumbled, and fell. Gibbie darted forward. +A part of the minister's body rested upon the stool, and its +elevation, made the first movement necessary to rising rather +difficult, so that he could not at once get off his back. + +What followed was the strangest act for a Scotch boy, but it must be +kept in mind how limited were his means of expression. He jumped +over the prostrate minister, who the next moment seeing his face +bent over him from behind, and seized, like the gamekeeper, with +suspicion born of his violence, raised his hands to defend himself, +and made a blow at him. Gibbie avoided it, laid hold of his arms +inside each elbow, clamped them to the floor, kissed him on forehead +and cheek, and began to help him up like a child. + +Having regained his legs, the minister stood for a moment, confused +and half-blinded. The first thing he saw was a drop of blood +stealing down Gibbie's forehead. He was shocked at what he had +done. In truth he had been frightfully provoked, but it was not for +a clergyman so to avenge an insult, and as mere chastisement it was +brutal. What would Mrs. Sclater say to it? The rascal was sure to +make his complaint to her! And there too was his friend, the +herd-lad, in the drawing-room with her! + +"Go and wash your face," he said, "and come back again directly." + +Gibbie put his hand to his face, and feeling something wet, looked, +and burst into a merry laugh. + +"I am sorry I have hurt you," said the minister, not a little +relieved at the sound; "but how dared you write such a--such an +insolence? A clergyman never gets drunk." + +Gibbie picked up the frame which the minister had dropped in his +fall: a piece of the slate was still sticking in one side, and he +wrote upon it: + +I will kno better the next time. I thout it was alwais whisky that +made peeple like that. I begg your pardon, sir. + +He handed him the fragment, ran to his own room, returned presently, +looking all right, and when Mr. Sclater would have attended to his +wound, would not let him even look at it, laughing at the idea. +Still further relieved to find there was nothing to attract +observation to the injury, and yet more ashamed of himself, the +minister made haste to the refuge of their work; but it did not +require the gleam of the paper substituted for the slate, to keep +him that morning in remembrance of what he had done; indeed it +hovered about him long after the gray of the new slate had passed +into a dark blue. + +From that time, after luncheon, which followed immediately upon +lessons, Gibbie went and came as he pleased. Mrs. Sclater begged he +would never be out after ten o'clock without having let them know +that he meant to stay all night with his friend: not once did he +neglect this request, and they soon came to have perfect confidence +not only in any individual promise he might make, but in his general +punctuality. Mrs. Sclater never came to know anything of his +wounded head, and it gave the minister a sharp sting of compunction, +as well as increased his sense of moral inferiority, when he saw +that for a fortnight or so he never took his favourite place at her +feet, evidently that she should not look down on his head. + +The same evening they had friends to dinner. Already Gibbie was so +far civilized, as they called it, that he might have sat at any +dining-table without attracting the least attention, but that +evening he attracted a great deal. For he could scarcely eat his +own dinner for watching the needs of those at the table with him, +ready to spring from his chair and supply the least lack. This +behaviour naturally harassed the hostess, and at last, upon one of +those occasions, the servants happening to be out of the room, she +called him to her side, and said, + +"You were quite right to do that now, Gilbert, but please never do +such a thing when the servants are in the room. It confuses them, +and makes us all uncomfortable." + +Gibbie heard with obedient ear, but took the words as containing +express permission to wait upon the company in the absence of other +ministration. When therefore the servants finally disappeared, as +was the custom there in small households, immediately after placing +the dessert, Gibbie got up, and, much to the amusement of the +guests, waited on them as quite a matter of course. But they would +have wondered could they have looked into the heart of the boy, and +beheld the spirit in which the thing was done, the soil in which was +hid the root of the service; for to him the whole thing was sacred +as an altar-rite to the priest who ministers. Round and round the +table, deft and noiseless, he went, altogether aware of the pleasure +of the thing, not at all of its oddity--which, however, had he +understood it perfectly, he would not in the least have minded. + +All this may, both in Gibbie and the narrative, seem trifling, but I +more than doubt whether, until our small services are sweet with +divine affection, our great ones, if such we are capable of, will +ever have the true Christian flavour about them. And then such +eagerness to pounce upon every smallest opportunity of doing the +will of the Master, could not fail to further proficiency in the +service throughout. + +Presently the ladies rose, and when they had left the room, the host +asked Gibbie to ring the bell. He obeyed with alacrity, and a +servant appeared. She placed the utensils for making and drinking +toddy, after Scotch custom, upon the table. A shadow fell upon the +soul of Gibbie: for the first time since he ran from the city, he +saw the well-known appointments of midnight orgy, associated in his +mind with all the horrors from which he had fled. The memory of old +nights in the street, as he watched for his father, and then helped +him home; of his father's last prayer, drinking and imploring; of +his white, motionless face the next morning; of the row at Lucky +Croale's, and poor black Sambo's gaping throat--all these terrible +things came back upon him, as he stood staring at the tumblers and +the wine glasses and the steaming kettle. + +"What is the girl thinking of!" exclaimed the minister, who had been +talking to his next neighbour, when he heard the door close behind +the servant. "She has actually forgotten the whisky!--Sir Gilbert," +he went on, with a glance at the boy, "as you are so good, will you +oblige me by bringing the bottle from the sideboard?" + +Gibbie started at the sound of his name, but did not move from the +place. After a moment, the minister, who had resumed the +conversation, thinking he had not heard him, looked up. There, +between the foot of the table and the sideboard, stood Gibbie as if +fixed to the floor gazing out of his blue eyes at the +minister--those eyes filmy with gathering tears, the smile utterly +faded from his countenance.--Would the Master have drunk out of that +bottle? he was thinking with himself. Imagining some chance remark +had hurt the boy's pride, and not altogether sorry--it gave hope of +the gentleman he wanted to make him--Mr. Sclater spoke again: + +"It's just behind you, Sir Gilbert--the whisky bottle--that purple +one with the silver top." + +Gibbie never moved, but his eyes began to run over. A fearful +remembrance of the blow he had given him on the head rushed back on +Mr. Sclater: could it be the consequence of that? Was the boy +paralyzed? He was on the point of hurrying to him, but restrained +himself, and rising with deliberation, approached the sideboard. A +nearer sight of the boy's face reassured him. + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Gilbert," he said; "I thought you would not +mind waiting on us as well as on the ladies. It is your own fault, +you know.--There," he added, pointing to the table; "take your +place, and have a little toddy. It won't hurt you." + +The eyes of all the guests were by this time fixed on Gibbie. What +could be the matter with the curious creature? they wondered. His +gentle merriment and quiet delight in waiting upon them, had given a +pleasant concussion to the spirits of the party, which had at first +threatened to be rather a stiff and dull one; and there now was the +boy all at once looking as if he had received a blow, or some +cutting insult which he did not know how to resent! + +Between the agony of refusing to serve, and the impossibility of +putting his hand to unclean ministration, Gibbie had stood as if +spell-bound. He would have thought little of such horrors in Lucky +Croale's houff, but the sight of the things here terrified him. He +felt as a Corinthian Christian must, catching a sight of one of the +elders of the church feasting in a temple. But the last words of +the minister broke the painful charm. He burst into tears, and +darting from the room, not a little to his guardian's relief, +hurried to his own. + +The guests stared bewildered. + +"He'll be gone to the ladies," said their host. "He's an odd +creature. Mrs. Sclater understands him better than I do. He's more +at home with her." + +Therewith he proceeded to tell them his history, and whence the +interest he had in him, not bringing down his narrative beyond the +afternoon of the preceding day. + +The next morning, Mrs. Sclater had a talk with him concerning his +whim of waiting at table, telling him he must not do so again; it +was not the custom for gentlemen to do the things that servants were +paid to do; it was not fair to the servants, and so on--happening to +end with an utterance of mild wonder at his fancy for such a +peculiarity. This exclamation Gibbie took for a question, or at +least the expression of a desire to understand the reason of the +thing. He went to a side-table, and having stood there a moment or +two, returned with a New Testament, in which he pointed out the +words, "But I am among you as he that serveth." Giving her just +time to read them, he took the book again, and in addition presented +the words, "The disciple is not above his master, but every one that +is perfect shall be as his master." + +Mrs. Sclater was as much put out as if he had been guilty of another +and worse indiscretion. The idea of anybody ordering his common +doings, not to say his oddities, by principles drawn from a source +far too sacred to be practically regarded, was too preposterous to +have ever become even a notion to her. Henceforth, however, it was +a mote to trouble her mind's eye, a mote she did not get rid of +until it began to turn to a glimmer of light. I need hardly add +that Gibbie waited at her dinner-table no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE SINNER. + +No man can order his life, for it comes flowing over him from +behind. But if it lay before us, and we could watch its current +approaching from a long distance, what could we do with it before it +had reached the now? In like wise a man thinks foolishly who +imagines he could have done this and that with his own character and +development, if he had but known this and that in time. Were he as +good as he thinks himself wise he could but at best have produced a +fine cameo in very low relief: with a work in the round, which he is +meant to be, he could have done nothing. The one secret of life and +development, is not to devise and plan, but to fall in with the +forces at work--to do every moment's duty aright--that being the +part in the process allotted to us; and let come--not what will, for +there is no such thing--but what the eternal Thought wills for each +of us, has intended in each of us from the first. If men would but +believe that they are in process of creation, and consent to be +made--let the maker handle them as the potter his clay, yielding +themselves in respondent motion and submissive hopeful action with +the turning of his wheel, they would ere long find themselves able +to welcome every pressure of that hand upon them, even when it was +felt in pain, and sometimes not only to believe but to recognize the +divine end in view, the bringing of a son into glory; whereas, +behaving like children who struggle and scream while their mother +washes and dresses them, they find they have to be washed and +dressed, notwithstanding, and with the more discomfort: they may +even have to find themselves set half naked and but half dried in a +corner, to come to their right minds, and ask to be finished. + +At this time neither Gibbie nor Donal strove against his +creation--what the wise of this world call their fate. In truth +Gibbie never did; and for Donal, the process was at present in a +stage much too agreeable to rouse any inclination to resist. He +enjoyed his new phase of life immensely. If he did not distinguish +himself as a scholar, it was not because he neglected his work, but +because he was at the same time doing that by which alone the water +could ever rise in the well he was digging: he was himself growing. +Far too eager after knowledge to indulge in emulation, he gained no +prizes: what had he to do with how much or how little those around +him could eat as compared with himself? No work noble or lastingly +good can come of emulation any more than of greed: I think the +motives are spiritually the same. To excite it is worthy only of +the commonplace vulgar schoolmaster, whose ambition is to show what +fine scholars he can turn out, that he may get the more pupils. +Emulation is the devil-shadow of aspiration. The set of the +current in the schools is at present towards a boundless swamp, but +the wise among the scholars see it, and wisdom is the tortoise which +shall win the race. In the mean time how many, with the legs and +the brain of the hare, will think they are gaining it, while they +are losing things whose loss will make any prize unprized! The +result of Donal's work appeared but very partially in his +examinations, which were honest and honourable to him; it was hidden +in his thoughts, his aspirations, his growth, and his verse--all +which may be seen should I one day tell Donal's story. For Gibbie, +the minister had not been long teaching him, before he began to +desire to make a scholar of him. Partly from being compelled to +spend some labour upon it, the boy was gradually developing an +unusual facility in expression. His teacher, compact of +conventionalities, would have modelled the result upon some writer +imagined by him a master of style; but the hurtful folly never got +any hold of Gibbie: all he ever cared about was to say what he +meant, and avoid saying something else; to know when he had not said +what he meant, and to set the words right. It resulted that, when +people did not understand what he meant, the cause generally lay +with them not with him; and that, if they sometimes smiled over his +mode, it was because it lay closer to nature than theirs: they would +have found it a hard task to improve it. + +What the fault with his organs of speech was, I cannot tell. His +guardian lost no time in having them examined by a surgeon in high +repute, a professor of the university, but Dr. Skinner's opinion put +an end to question and hope together. Gibbie was not in the least +disappointed. He had got on very well as yet without speech. It +was not like sight or hearing. The only voice he could not hear was +his own, and that was just the one he had neither occasion nor +desire to hear. As to his friends, those who had known him the +longest minded his dumbness the least. But the moment the defect +was understood to be irreparable, Mrs. Sclater very wisely proceeded +to learn the finger-speech; and as she learned it, she taught it to +Gibbie. + +As to his manners, which had been and continued to be her chief +care, a certain disappointment followed her first rapid success: she +never could get them to take on the case-hardening needful for what +she counted the final polish. They always retained a certain +simplicity which she called childishness. It came in fact of +childlikeness, but the lady was not child enough to distinguish the +difference--as great as that between the back and the front of a +head. As, then, the minister found him incapable of forming a +style, though time soon proved him capable of producing one, so the +minister's wife found him as incapable of putting on company manners +of any sort, as most people are incapable of putting them +off--without being rude. It was disappointing to Mrs. Sclater, but +Gibbie was just as content to appear what he was, as he was +unwilling to remain what he was. Being dumb, she would say to +herself he would pass in any society; but if he had had his speech, +she never could have succeeded in making him a thorough gentleman: +he would have always been saying the right thing in the wrong place. +By the wrong place she meant the place where alone the thing could +have any pertinence. In after years, however, Gibbie's manners +were, whether pronounced such or not, almost universally felt to be +charming. But Gibbie knew nothing of his manners any more than of +the style in which he wrote. + +One night on their way home from an evening party, the minister and +his wife had a small difference, probably about something of as +little real consequence to them as the knowledge of it is to us, but +by the time they reached home, they had got to the very summit of +politeness with each other. Gibbie was in the drawing-room, as it +happened, waiting their return. At the first sound of their voices, +he knew, before a syllable reached him that something was wrong. +When they entered, they were too much engrossed in difference to +heed his presence, and went on disputing--with the utmost external +propriety of words and demeanour, but with both injury and a sense +of injury in every tone. Had they looked at Gibbie, I cannot think +they would have been silenced; but while neither of them dared turn +eyes the way of him, neither had moral strength sufficient to check +the words that rose to the lips. A discreet, socially wise boy +would have left the room, but how could Gibbie abandon his friends +to the fiery darts of the wicked one! He ran to the side-table +before mentioned. With a vague presentiment of what was coming, +Mrs. Sclater, feeling rather than seeing him move across the room +like a shadow, sat in dread expectation; and presently her fear +arrived, in the shape of a large New Testament, and a face of loving +sadness, and keen discomfort, such as she had never before seen +Gibbie wear. He held out the book to her, pointing with a finger to +the words--she could not refuse to let her eyes fall upon +them--"Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." +What Gibbie made of the salt, I do not know; and whether he +understood it or not was of little consequence, seeing he had it; +but the rest of the sentence he understood so well that he would +fain have the writhing yoke-fellows think of it. + +The lady's cheeks had been red before, but now they were redder. +She rose, cast an angry look at the dumb prophet, a look which +seemed to say "How dare you suggest such a thing?" and left the +room. + +"What have you got there?" asked the minister, turning sharply upon +him. Gibbie showed him the passage. + +"What have you got to do with it?" he retorted, throwing the book on +the table. "Go to bed." + +"A detestable prig!" you say, reader?--That is just what Mr. and +Mrs. Sclater thought him that night, but they never quarrelled again +before him. In truth, they were not given to quarrelling. Many +couples who love each other more, quarrel more, and with less +politeness. For Gibbie, he went to bed--puzzled, and afraid there +must be a beam in his eye. + +The very first time Donal and he could manage it, they set out +together to find Mistress Croale. Donal thought he had nothing to +do but walk straight from Mistress Murkison's door to hers, but, to +his own annoyance, and the disappointment of both, he soon found he +had not a notion left as to how the place lay, except that it was by +the river. So, as it was already rather late, they put off their +visit to another time, and took a walk instead. + +But Mistress Croale, haunted by old memories, most of them far from +pleasant, grew more and more desirous of looking upon the object of +perhaps the least disagreeable amongst them: she summoned resolution +at last, went to the market a little better dressed than usual, and +when business there was over, and she had shut up her little box of +a shop, walked to Daur-street to the minister's house. + +"He's aften eneuch crossed my door," she said to herself, speaking +of Mr. Sclater; "an' though, weel I wat, the sicht o' 'im never +bodit me onything but ill, I never loot him ken he was less nor +walcome; an' gien bein' a minister gies the freedom o' puir fowk's +hooses, it oucht in the niffer (exchange) to gie them the freedom o' +his." + +Therewith encouraging herself, she walked up the steps and rang the +bell. It was a cold, frosty winter evening and as she stood waiting +for the door to be opened, much the poor woman longed for her own +fireside and a dram. Her period of expectation was drawn out not a +little through the fact that the servant whose duty it was to answer +the bell was just then waiting at table: because of a public +engagement, the minister had to dine earlier than usual. They were +in the middle of their soup--cockie-leekie, nice and hot, when the +maid informed her master that a woman was at the door, wanting to +see Sir Gilbert. + +Gibbie looked up, put down his spoon, and was rising to go, when the +minister, laying his hand on his arm, pressed him gently back to his +chair, and Gibbie yielded, waiting. + +"What sort of a woman?" he asked the girl. + +"A decent-lookin' workin'-like body," she answered. "I couldna see +her verra weel, it's sae foggy the nicht aboot the door." + +"Tell her we're at dinner; she may call again in an hour. Or if she +likes to leave a message--Stay: tell her to come again to-morrow +morning.--I wonder who she is," he added, turning, he thought, to +Gibbie. + +But Gibbie was gone. He had passed behind his chair, and all he saw +of him was his back as he followed the girl from the room. In his +eagerness he left the door open, and they saw him dart to the +visitor, shake hands with her in evident delight, and begin pulling +her towards the room. + +Now Mistress Croale, though nowise inclined to quail before the +minister, would not willingly have intruded herself upon him, +especially while he sat at dinner with his rather formidable lady; +but she fancied, for she stood where she could not see into the +dining-room, that Gibbie was taking her where they might have a +quiet news together, and, occupied with her bonnet or some other +source of feminine disquiet, remained thus mistaken until she stood +on the threshold, when, looking up, she started, stopped, made an +obedience to the minister, and another to the minister's lady, and +stood doubtful, if not a little abashed. + +"Not here! my good woman," said Mr. Sclater, rising. "--Oh, it's +you, Mistress Croale!--I will speak to you in the hall." + +Mrs. Croale's face flushed, and she drew back a step. But Gibbie +still held her, and with a look to Mr. Sclater that should have sent +straight to his heart the fact that she was dear to his soul, kept +drawing her into the room; he wanted her to take his chair at the +table. It passed swiftly through her mind that one who had been so +intimate both with Sir George and Sir Gibbie in the old time, and +had given the latter his tea every Sunday night for so long, might +surely, even in such changed circumstances, be allowed to enter the +same room with him, however grand it might be; and involuntarily +almost she yielded half a doubtful step, while Mr. Sclater, afraid +of offending Sir Gilbert, hesitated on the advance to prevent her. +How friendly the warm air felt! how consoling the crimson walls +with the soft flicker of the great fire upon them! how delicious the +odour of the cockie-leekie! She could give up whisky a good deal +more easily, she thought, if she had the comforts of a minister to +fall back upon! And this was the same minister who had once told +her that her soul was as precious to him as that of any other in his +parish--and then driven her from respectable Jink Lane to the +disreputable Daurfoot! It all passed through her mind in a flash, +while yet Gibbie pulled and she resisted. + +"Gilbert, come here," called Mrs. Sclater. + +He went to her side, obedient and trusting as a child. + +"Really, Gilbert, you must not," she said, rather loud for a +whisper. "It won't do to turn things upside down this way. If you +are to be a gentleman, and an inmate of my house, you must behave +like other people. I cannot have a woman like that sitting at my +table.--Do you know what sort of a person she is?" + +Gibbie's face shone up. He raised his hands. He was already able +to talk a little. + +"Is she a sinner?" he asked on his fingers. + +Mrs. Sclater nodded. + +Gibbie wheeled round, and sprang back to the hall, whither the +minister had, coming down upon her, bows on, like a sea-shouldering +whale, in a manner ejected Mistress Croale, and where he was now +talking to her with an air of confidential condescension, willing to +wipe out any feeling of injury she might perhaps be inclined to +cherish at not being made more welcome: to his consternation, Gibbie +threw his arms round her neck, and gave her a great hug. + +"Sir Gilbert!" he exclaimed, very angry, and the more angry that he +knew he was in the right, "leave Mistress Croale alone, and go back +to your dinner immediately.--Jane, open the door." + +Jane opened the door, Gibbie let her go, and Mrs. Croale went. But +on the threshold she turned. + +"Weel, sir," she said, with more severity than pique, and a certain +sad injury not unmingled with dignity, "ye hae stappit ower my +door-sill mony's the time, an' that wi' sairer words i' yer moo' nor +I ever mintit at peyin' ye back; an' I never said to ye gang. Sae +first ye turnt me oot o' my ain hoose, an' noo ye turn me oot o' +yours; an' what's left ye to turn me oot o' but the hoose o' the +Lord? An', 'deed, sir, ye need never won'er gien the likes o' me +disna care aboot gangin' to hear a preacht gospel: we wad fain see a +practeesed ane! Gien ye had said to me noo the nicht, 'Come awa' +ben, Mistress Croale, an' tak a plet o' cockie-leekie wi' 's; it's a +cauld nicht;' it's mysel' wad hae been sae upliftit wi' yer +kin'ness, 'at I wad hae gane hame an' ta'en--I dinna ken--aiblins a +read at my Bible, an' been to be seen at the kirk upo' Sunday I +wad--o' that ye may be sure; for it's a heap easier to gang to the +kirk nor to read the buik yer lane, whaur ye canna help thinkin' +upo' what it says to ye. But noo, as 'tis, I'm awa' hame to the +whusky boatle, an' the sin o' 't, gien there be ony in sic a nicht +o' cauld an' fog, 'ill jist lie at your door." + +"You shall have a plate of soup, and welcome, Mistress Croale!" said +the minister, in a rather stagey tone of hospitality "--Jane, take +Mistress Croale to the kitchen with you, and--" + +"The deil's tail i' yer soup!--'At I sud say 't!" cried Mistress +Croale, drawing herself up suddenly, with a snort of anger: "whan +turnt I beggar? I wad fain be informt! Was't yer soup or yer grace +I soucht till, sir? The Lord be atween you an' me! There's first +'at 'll be last, an' last 'at 'll be first. But the tane's no me, +an' the tither's no you, sir." + +With that she turned and walked down the steps, holding her head +high. + +"Really, Sir Gilbert," said the minister, going back into the +dining-room--but no Gibbie was there!--nobody but his wife, sitting +in solitary discomposure at the head of her dinner-table. The same +instant, he heard a clatter of feet down the steps, and turned +quickly into the hall again, where Jane was in the act of shutting +the door. + +"Sir Gilbert's run oot efter the wuman, sir!" she said. + +"Hoot!" grunted the minister, greatly displeased, and went back to +his wife. + +"Take Sir Gilbert's plate away," said Mrs. Sclater to the servant. + +"That's his New Testament again!" she went on, when the girl had +left the room. + +"My dear! my dear! take care," said her husband. He had not much +notion of obedience to God, but he had some idea of respect to +religion. He was just an idolater of a Christian shade. + +"Really, Mr. Sclater," his wife continued, "I had no idea what I was +undertaking. But you gave me no choice. The creature is +incorrigible. But of course he must prefer the society of women +like that. They are the sort he was accustomed to when he received +his first impressions, and how could it be otherwise? You knew how +he had been brought up, and what you had to expect!" + +"Brought up!" cried the minister, and caused his spoonful of +cockie-leekie to rush into his mouth with the noise of the German +schluerfen, then burst into a loud laugh. "You should have seen him +about the streets!--with his trowsers--" + +"Mister Sclater! Then you ought to have known better!" said his +wife, and laying down her spoon, sat back into the embrace of her +chair. + +But in reality she was not the least sorry he had undertaken the +charge. She could not help loving the boy, and her words were +merely the foam of vexation, mingled with not a little jealousy, +that he had left her, and his nice hot dinner, to go with the woman. +Had she been a fine lady like herself, I doubt if she would have +liked it much better; but she specially recoiled from coming into +rivalry with one in whose house a horrible murder had been +committed, and who had been before the magistrates in consequence. + +Nothing further was said until the second course was on the table. +Then the lady spoke again: + +"You really must, Mr. Sclater, teach him the absurdity of attempting +to fit every point of his behaviour to--to--words which were of +course quite suitable to the time when they were spoken, but which +it is impossible to take literally now-a-days--as impossible as to +go about the streets with a great horn on your head and a veil +hanging across it.--Why!"--Here she laughed--a laugh the less +lady-like that, although it was both low and musical, it was +scornful, and a little shaken by doubt.--"You saw him throw his arms +round the horrid creature's neck!--Well, he had just asked me if she +was a sinner. I made no doubt she was. Off with the word goes my +gentleman to embrace her!" + +Here they laughed together. + +Dinner over, they went to a missionary meeting, where the one stood +and made a speech and the other sat and listened, while Gibbie was +having tea with Mistress Croale. + +From that day Gibbie's mind was much exercised as to what he could +do for Mistress Croale, and now first he began to wish he had his +money. As fast as he learned the finger-alphabet he had taught it +to Donal, and, as already they had a good many symbols in use +between them, so many indeed that Donal would often instead of +speaking make use of signs, they had now the means of intercourse +almost as free as if they had had between them two tongues instead +of one. It was easy therefore for Gibbie to impart to Donal his +anxiety concerning her, and his strong desire to help her, and doing +so, he lamented in a gentle way his present inability. This +communication Donal judged it wise to impart in his turn to Mistress +Croale. + +"Ye see, mem," he said in conclusion, "he's some w'y or anither +gotten 't intil's heid 'at ye're jist a wheen ower free wi' the +boatle. I kenna. Ye'll be the best jeedge o' that yersel'!" + +Mistress Croale was silent for a whole minute by the clock. From +the moment when Gibbie forsook his dinner and his grand new friends +to go with her, the woman's heart had begun to grow to the boy, and +her old memories fed the new crop of affection. + +"Weel," she replied at length, with no little honesty, "--I mayna be +sae ill 's he thinks me, for he had aye his puir father afore 's +e'en; but the bairn's richt i' the main, an' we maun luik till't, +an' see what can be dune; for eh! I wad be laith to disappint the +bonnie laad!--Maister Grant, gien ever there wis a Christi-an sowl +upo' the face o' this wickit warl', that Christi-an sowl's wee Sir +Gibbie!--an' wha cud hae thoucht it! But it's the Lord's doin', an' +mervellous in oor eyes!--Ow! ye needna luik like that; I ken my +Bible no that ill!" she added, catching a glimmer of surprise on +Donal's countenance. "But for that Maister Scletter--dod! I wadna +be sair upon 'im--but gien he be fit to caw a nail here an' a nail +there, an fix a sklet or twa, creepin' upo' the riggin' o' the kirk, +I'm weel sure he's nae wise maister-builder fit to lay ony +fundation.--Ay! I tellt ye I kent my beuk no that ill!" she added +with some triumph; then resumed: "What the waur wad he or she or Sir +Gibbie hae been though they hed inveetit me, as I was there, to sit +me doon, an' tak' a plet o' their cockie-leekie wi' them? There was +ane 'at thoucht them 'at was far waur nor me, guid eneuch company +for him; an' maybe I may sit doon wi' him efter a', wi' the help o' +my bonnie wee Sir Gibbie.--I canna help ca'in' him wee Sir +Gibbie--a' the toon ca'd 'im that, though haith! he'll be a big man +or he behaud. An' for 's teetle, I was aye ane to gie honour whaur +honour was due, an' never ance, weel as I kenned him, did I ca' his +honest father, for gien ever there was an honest man yon was +him!--never did I ca' him onything but Sir George, naither mair nor +less, an' that though he vroucht at the hardest at the cobblin' a' +the ook, an' upo' Setterdays was pleased to hae a guid wash i' my +ain bedroom, an' pit on a clean sark o' my deid man's, rist his +sowl!--no 'at I'm a papist, Maister Grant, an' aye kent better nor +think it was ony eese prayin' for them 'at's gane; for wha is there +to pey ony heed to sic haithenish prayers as that wad be? Na! we +maun pray for the livin' 'at it may dee some guid till, an' no for +them 'at its a' ower wi'--the Lord hae mercy upo' them!" + +My readers may suspect, one for one reason another for another, that +she had already, before Donal came that evening been holding +communion with the idol in the three-cornered temple of her cupboard; +and I confess that it was so. But it is equally true that before +the next year was gone, she was a shade better--and that not without +considerable struggle, and more failures than successes. + +Upon one occasion--let those who analyze the workings of the human +mind as they would the entrails of an eight-day clock, explain the +phenomenon I am about to relate, or decline to believe it, as they +choose--she became suddenly aware that she was getting perilously +near the brink of actual drunkenness. + +"I'll tak but this ae mou'fu' mair," she said to herself; "it's but +a mou'fu', an' it's the last i' the boatle, an' it wad be a peety +naebody to get the guid o' 't." + +She poured it out. It was nearly half a glass. She took it in one +large mouthful. But while she held it in her mouth to make the most +of it, even while it was between her teeth, something smote her with +the sudden sense that this very moment was the crisis of her fate, +that now the axe was laid to the root of her tree. She dropped on +her knees--not to pray like poor Sir George--but to spout the +mouthful of whisky into the fire. In roaring flame it rushed up the +chimney. She started back. + +"Eh!" she cried; "guid God! sic a deevil's I maun be, to cairry the +like o' that i' my inside!--Lord! I'm a perfec' byke o' deevils! +My name it maun be Legion. What is to become o' my puir sowl!" + +It was a week before she drank another drop--and then she took her +devils with circumspection, and the firm resolve to let no more of +them enter into her than she could manage to keep in order. + +Mr. and Mrs. Sclater got over their annoyance as well as they could, +and agreed that in this case no notice should be taken of Gibbie's +conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +SHOALS AHEAD. + +It had come to be the custom that Gibbie should go to Donal every +Friday afternoon about four o'clock, and remain with him till the +same time on Saturday, which was a holiday with both. One Friday, +just after he was gone, the temptation seized Mrs. Sclater to follow +him, and, paying the lads an unexpected visit, see what they were +about. + +It was a bright cold afternoon; and in fur tippet and muff, amidst +the snow that lay everywhere on roofs and window-sills and +pavements, and the wind that blew cold as it blows in few places +besides, she looked, with her bright colour and shining eyes, like +life itself laughing at death. But not many of those she met +carried the like victory in their countenances, for the cold was +bitter. As she approached the Widdiehill, she reflected that she +had followed Gibbie so quickly, and walked so fast, that the boys +could hardly have had time to settle to anything, and resolved +therefore to make a little round and spend a few more minutes upon +the way. But as, through a neighbouring street, she was again +approaching the Widdiehill, she caught sight of something which, as +she was passing a certain shop, that of a baker known to her as one +of her husband's parishioners, made her stop and look in through the +glass which formed the upper half of the door. There she saw +Gibbie, seated on the counter, dangling his legs, eating a penny +loaf, and looking as comfortable as possible.--"So soon after +luncheon, too!" said Mrs. Sclater to herself with indignation, +reading through the spectacles of her anger a reflection on her +housekeeping. But a second look revealed, as she had dreaded, far +weightier cause for displeasure: a very pretty girl stood behind the +counter, with whose company Gibbie was evidently much pleased. She +was fair of hue, with eyes of gray and green, and red lips whose +smile showed teeth whiter than the whitest of flour. At the moment +she was laughing merrily, and talking gaily to Gibbie. Clearly they +were on the best of terms, and the boy's bright countenance, +laughter, and eager motions, were making full response to the girl's +words. + +Gibbie had been in the shop two or three times before, but this was +the first time he had seen his old friend, Mysie, of the amethyst +ear-ring. And now one of them had reminded the other of that +episode in which their histories had run together; from that Mysie +had gone on to other reminiscences of her childhood in which wee +Gibbie bore a part, and he had, as well as he could, replied with +others, of his, in which she was concerned. Mysie was a simple, +well-behaved girl, and the entrance of neither father nor mother +would have made the least difference in her behaviour to Sir +Gilbert, though doubtless she was more pleased to have a chat with +him than with her father's apprentice, who could speak indeed, but +looked dull as the dough he worked in, whereas Gibbie, although +dumb, was radiant. But the faces of people talking often look more +meaningful to one outside the talk-circle than they really are, and +Mrs. Sclater, gazing through the glass, found, she imagined, large +justification of displeasure. She opened the door sharply, and +stepped in. Gibbie jumped from his seat on the counter, and, with a +smile of playful roguery, offered it to her; a vivid blush +overspread Mysie's fair countenance. + +"I thought you had gone to see Donal," said Mrs. Sclater, in the +tone of one deceived, and took no notice of the girl. + +Gibbie gave her to understand that Donal would arrive presently, and +they were then going to the point of the pier, that Donal might +learn what the sea was like in a nor'-easter. + +"But why did you make your appointment here?" asked the lady. + +"Because Mysie and I are old friends," answered the boy on his +fingers. + +Then first Mrs. Sclater turned to the girl: having got over her +first indignation, she spoke gently and with a frankness natural to +her. + +"Sir Gilbert tells me you are old friends," she said. + +Thereupon Mysie told her the story of the ear-ring, which had +introduced their present conversation, and added several other +little recollections, in one of which she was drawn into a +description, half pathetic, half humorous, of the forlorn appearance +of wee Gibbie, as he ran about in his truncated trousers. Mrs. +Slater was more annoyed, however, than interested, for, in view of +the young baronet's future, she would have had all such things +forgotten; but Gibbie was full of delight in the vivid recollections +thus brought him of some of the less painful portions of his past, +and appreciated every graphic word that fell from the girl's pretty +lips. + +Mrs. Sclater took good care not to leave until Donal came. Then the +boys, having asked her if she would not go with them, which +invitation she declined with smiling thanks, took their departure +and went to pay their visit to the German Ocean, leaving her with +Mysie--which they certainly would not have done, could they have +foreseen how the well-meaning lady--nine-tenths of the mischiefs in +the world are well-meant--would hurt the feelings of the +gentle-conditioned girl. For a long time after, as often as Gibbie +entered the shop, Mysie left it and her mother came--a result +altogether as Mrs. Sclater would have had it. But hardly anybody +was ever in less danger of falling in love than Gibbie; and the +thing would not have been worth recording, but for the new direction +it caused in Mrs. Sclater's thoughts: measures, she judged, must be +taken. + +Gladly as she would have centred Gibbie's boyish affections in +herself, she was too conscientious and experienced not to regard the +danger of any special effort in that direction, and began therefore +to cast about in her mind what could be done to protect him from one +at least of the natural consequences of his early familiarity with +things unseemly--exposure, namely, to the risk of forming low +alliances--the more imminent that it was much too late to attempt +any restriction of his liberty, so as to keep him from roaming the +city at his pleasure. Recalling what her husband had told her of +the odd meeting between the boy and a young lady at Miss Kimble's +school--some relation, she thought he had said--also the desire to +see her again which Gibbie, on more than one occasion, had shown, +she thought whether she could turn the acquaintance to account. She +did not much like Miss Kimble, chiefly because of her +affectations--which, by the way, were caricatures of her own; but +she knew her very well, and there was no reason why she should not +ask her to come and spend the evening, and bring two or three of the +elder girls with her: a little familiarity with the looks, manners, +and dress of refined girls of his own age, would be the best +antidote to his taste for low society, from that of bakers' +daughters downwards. + +It was Mrs. Sclater's own doing that Gibbie had not again spoken to +Ginevra. Nowise abashed at the thought of the grenadier or her +array of doves, he would have gone, the very next day after meeting +them in the street, to call upon her: it was some good, he thought, +of being a rich instead of a poor boy, that, having lost thereby +those whom he loved best, he had come where he could at least see +Miss Galbraith; but Mrs. Sclater had pretended not to understand +where he wanted to go, and used other artifices besides--well-meant, +of course--to keep him to herself until she should better understand +him. After that he had seen Ginevra more than once at church, but +had had no chance of speaking to her. For, in the sudden dispersion +of its agglomerate particles, a Scotch congregation is--or was in +Gibbie's time--very like the well-known vitreous drop called a +Prince Rupert's tear, in which the mutually repellent particles are +held together by a strongly contracted homogeneous layer--to +separate with explosion the instant the tough skin is broken and +vibration introduced; and as Mrs. Sclater generally sat in her +dignity to the last, and Gibbie sat with her, only once was he out +in time to catch a glimpse of the ultimate rank of the retreating +girls. He was just starting to pursue them, when Mrs. Sclater, +perceiving his intention, detained him by requesting the support of +his arm--a way she had, pretending to be weary, or to have given her +ankle a twist, when she wanted to keep him by her side. Another +time he had followed them close enough to see which turn they took +out of Daur-street; but that was all he had learned, and when the +severity of the winter arrived, and the snow lay deep, sometimes for +weeks together, the chances of meeting them were few. The first +time the boys went out together, that when they failed to find +Mistress Croale's garret, they made an excursion in search of the +girls' school, but had been equally unsuccessful in that; and +although they never after went for a walk without contriving to pass +through some part of the region in which they thought it must lie, +they had never yet even discovered a house upon which they could +agree as presenting probabilities. + +Mr. Galbraith did not take Miss Kimble into his confidence with +respect to his reasons for so hurriedly placing his daughter under +her care: he was far too reticent, too proud, and too much hurt for +that. Hence, when Mrs. Sclater's invitation arrived, the +schoolmistress was aware of no reason why Miss Galbraith should not +be one of the girls to go with her, especially as there was her +cousin, Sir Gilbert, whom she herself would like to meet again, in +the hope of removing the bad impression which, in the discharge of +her duty, she feared she must have made upon him. + +One day, then, at luncheon, Mrs. Sclater told Gibbie that some +ladies were coming to tea, and they were going to have supper +instead of dinner. He must put on his best clothes, she said. He +did as she desired, was duly inspected, approved on the whole, and +finished off by a few deft fingers at his necktie, and a gentle push +or two from the loveliest of hands against his hair-thatch, and was +seated in the drawing-room with Mrs. Sclater when the ladies +arrived. Ginevra and he shook hands, she with the sweetest of +rose-flushes, he with the radiance of delighted surprise. But, a +moment after, when Mrs. Sclater and her guests had seated +themselves, Gibbie, their only gentleman, for Mr. Sclater had not +yet made his appearance, had vanished from the room. Tea was not +brought until some time after, when Mr. Sclater came home, and then +Mrs. Sclater sent Jane to find Sir Gilbert; but she returned to say +he was not in the house. The lady's heart sank, her countenance +fell, and all was gloom: her project had miscarried! he was gone! +who could tell whither?--perhaps to the baker's daughter, or to the +horrid woman Croale! + +The case was however very much otherwise. The moment Gibbie ended +his greetings, he had darted off to tell Donal: it was not his +custom to enjoy alone anything sharable. + +The news that Ginevra was at that moment seated in Mrs. Sclater's +house, at that moment, as his eagerness had misunderstood Gibbie's, +expecting his arrival, raised such a commotion in Donal's +atmosphere, that for a time it was but a huddle of small whirlwinds. +His heart was beating like the trample of a trotting horse. He +never thought of inquiring whether Gibbie had been commissioned by +Mrs. Sclater to invite him, or reflected that his studies were not +half over for the night. An instant before the arrival of the +blessed fact, he had been absorbed in a rather abstruse +metaphysico-mathematical question; now not the metaphysics of the +universe would have appeared to him worth a moment's meditation. He +went pacing up and down the room, and seemed lost to everything. +Gibbie shook him at length, and told him, by two signs, that he +must put on his Sunday clothes. Then first shyness, like the shroud +of northern myth that lies in wait in a man's path, leaped up, and +wrapped itself around him. It was very well to receive ladies in a +meadow, quite another thing to walk into their company in a grand +room, such as, before entering Mrs. Sclater's, he had never beheld +even in Fairyland or the Arabian Nights. He knew the ways of the +one, and not the ways of the other. Chairs ornate were doubtless +poor things to daisied banks, yet the other day he had hardly +brought himself to sit on one of Mrs. Sclater's! It was a moment of +awful seeming. But what would he not face to see once more the +lovely lady-girl! He bethought himself that he was no longer a +cowherd but a student, and that such feelings were unworthy of one +who would walk level with his fellows. He rushed to the labours of +his toilette, performed severe ablutions, endued his best +shirt--coarse, but sweet from the fresh breezes of Glashgar, a pair +of trousers of buff-coloured fustian stamped over with a black +pattern, an olive-green waistcoat, a blue tailcoat with lappets +behind, and a pair of well-polished shoes, the soles of which in +honour of Sunday were studded with small instead of large knobs of +iron, set a tall beaver hat, which no brushing would make smooth, on +the back of his head, stuffed a silk hankerchief, crimson and +yellow, in his pocket, and declared himself ready. + +Now Gibbie, although he would not have looked so well in his woolly +coat in Mrs. Sclater's drawing-room as on the rocks of Glashgar, +would have looked better in almost any other than the evening dress, +now, alas! nearly European. Mr. Sclater, on the other hand, would +have looked worse in any other because being less commonplace, it +would have been less like himself; and so long as the commonplace +conventional so greatly outnumber the simply individual, it is +perhaps well the present fashion should hold. But Donal could +hardly have put on any clothes that would have made him look worse, +either in respect of himself or of the surroundings of social life, +than those he now wore. Neither of the boys, however, had begun to +think about dress in relation either to custom or to fitness, and it +was with complete satisfaction that Gibbie carried off Donal to +present to the guest of his guardians. + +Donal's preparations had taken a long time, and before they reached +the house, tea was over and gone. They had had some music; and Mrs. +Sclater was now talking kindly to two of the school-girls, who, +seated erect on the sofa, were looking upon her elegance with awe +and envy. Ginevra, was looking at the pictures of an annual. Mr. +Sclater was making Miss Kimble agreeable to herself. He had a +certain gift of talk--depending in a great measure on the assurance +of being listened to, an assurance which is, alas! nowise the less +hurtful to many a clergyman out of the pulpit, that he may be +equally aware no one heeds him in it. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE GIRLS. + +The door was opened. Donal spent fully a minute rubbing his shoes +on the mat, as diligently as if he had just come out of the +cattle-yard, and then Gibbie led him in triumph up the stair to the +drawing-room. Donal entered in that loose-jointed way which comes +of the brains being as yet all in the head, and stood, resisting +Gibbie's pull on his arm, his keen hazel eyes looking gently round +upon the company, until he caught sight of the face he sought, when, +with the stride of a sower of corn, he walked across the room to +Ginevra. Mrs. Sclater rose; Mr. Sclater threw himself back and +stared; the latter astounded at the presumption of the youths, the +former uneasy at the possible results of their ignorance. To the +astonishment of the company, Ginevra rose, respect and modesty in +every feature, as the youth, clownish rather than awkward, +approached her, and almost timidly held out her hand to him. He +took it in his horny palm, shook it hither and thither sideways, +like a leaf in a doubtful air, then held it like a precious thing he +was at once afraid of crushing by too tight a grasp, and of dropping +from too loose a hold, until Ginevra took charge of it herself +again. Gibbie danced about behind him, all but standing on one leg, +but, for Mrs. Sclater's sake, restraining himself. Ginevra sat +down, and Donal, feeling very large and clumsy, and wanting to "be +naught a while," looked about him for a chair, and then first +espying Mrs. Sclater, went up to her with the same rolling, clamping +stride, but without embarrassment, and said, holding out his hand, + +"Hoo are ye the nicht, mem? I sawna yer bonnie face whan I cam in. +A gran' hoose, like this o' yours--an' I'm sure, mem, it cudna be +ower gran' to fit yersel', but it's jist some perplexin' to plain +fowk like me, 'at's been used to mair room, an' less intill't." + +Donal was thinking of the meadow on the Lorrie bank. + +"I was sure of it!" remarked Mrs. Sclater to herself. "One of +nature's gentlemen! He would soon be taught." + +She was right; but he was more than a gentleman, and could have +taught her what she could have taught nobody in turn. + +"You will soon get accustomed to our town ways, Mr. Grant. But many +of the things we gather about us are far more trouble than use," she +replied, in her sweetest tones, and with a gentle pressure of the +hand, which went a long way to set him at his ease. "I am glad to +see you have friends here," she added. + +"Only ane, mem. Gibbie an' me--" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Grant, but would you oblige me--of course with me it +is of no consequence, but just for habit's sake, would you oblige me +by calling Gilbert by his own name--Sir Gilbert, please. I wish him +to get used to it." + +"Yer wull be't, mem.--Weel, as I was sayin', Sir Gibbie--Sir +Gilbert, that is, mem--an mysel', we hae kenned Miss Galbraith this +lang time, bein' o' the laird's ain fowk, as I may say." + +"Will you take a seat beside her, then," said Mrs. Sclater, and +rising, herself placed a chair for him near Ginevra, wondering how +any Scotch laird, the father of such a little lady as she, could +have allowed her such an acquaintance. + +To most of the company he must have looked very queer. Gibbie, +indeed, was the only one who saw the real Donal. Miss Kimble and +her pupils stared at the distorted reflexion of him in the +spoon-bowl of their own elongated narrowness; Mrs. Sclater saw the +possible gentleman through the loop-hole of a compliment he had paid +her; and Mr. Sclater beheld only the minimum which the reversed +telescope of his own enlarged importance, he having himself come of +sufficiently humble origin, made of him; while Ginevra looked up to +him more as one who marvelled at the grandly unintelligible, than +one who understood the relations and proportions of what she beheld. +Nor was it possible she could help feeling that he was a more +harmonious object to the eye both of body and mind when dressed in +his corduroys and blue bonnet, walking the green fields, with cattle +about him, his club under his arm, and a book in his hand. So seen, +his natural dignity was evident; now he looked undeniably odd. A +poet needs a fine house rather than a fine dress to set him off, and +Mrs. Sclater's drawing-room was neither large nor beautiful enough +to frame this one, especially with his Sunday clothes to get the +better of. To the school ladies, mistress and pupils, he was simply +a clodhopper, and from their report became a treasure of +poverty-stricken amusement to the school. Often did Ginevra's cheek +burn with indignation at the small insolences of her fellow-pupils. +At first she attempted to make them understand something of what +Donal really was, but finding them unworthy of the confidence, was +driven to betake herself to such a silence as put a stop to their +offensive remarks in her presence. + +"I thank ye, mem," said Donal, as he took the chair; "ye're verra +condescendin'." Then turning to Ginevra, and trying to cross one +knee over the other, but failing from the tightness of certain +garments, which, like David with Saul's not similarly faulty armour, +he had not hitherto proved, "Weel, mem," he said, "ye haena +forgotten Hornie, I houp." + +The other girls must be pardoned for tittering, offensive as is the +habit so common to their class, for the only being they knew by that +name was one to whom the merest reference sets pit and gallery in a +roar. Miss Kimble was shocked--disgusted, she said afterwards; +and until she learned that the clown was there uninvited, cherished +a grudge against Mrs. Sclater. + +Ginevra smiled him a satisfactory negative. + +"I never read the ballant aboot the worm lingelt roun' the tree," +said Donal, making rather a long link in the chain of association, +"ohn thoucht upo' that day, mem, whan first ye cam doon the brae wi' +my sister Nicie, an' I cam ower the burn till ye, an' ye garred me +lauch aboot weetin' o' my feet! Eh, mem! wi' you afore me there, I +see the blew lift again, an' the gerse jist lowin' (flaming) green, +an' the nowt at their busiest, the win' asleep, an' the burn sayin', +'Ye need nane o' ye speyk: I'm here, an' it's my business.' Eh, +mem! whan I think upo' 't a', it seems to me 'at the human hert +closed i' the mids o' sic a coffer o' cunnin' workmanship, maun be a +terrible precious-like thing." + +Gibbie, behind Donal's chair, seemed pulsing light at every pore, +but the rest of the company, understanding his words perfectly, yet +not comprehending a single sentence he uttered, began to wonder +whether he was out of his mind, and were perplexed to see Ginevra +listening to him with such respect. They saw a human offence where +she knew a poet. A word is a word, but its interpretations are +many, and the understanding of a man's words depends both on what +the hearer is, and on what is his idea of the speaker. As to the +pure all things are pure, because only purity can enter, so to the +vulgar all things are vulgar, because only the vulgar can enter. +Wherein then is the commonplace man to be blamed, for as he is, so +must he think? In this, that he consents to be commonplace, willing +to live after his own idea of himself, and not after God's idea of +him--the real idea, which, every now and then stirring in him, makes +him uneasy with silent rebuke. + +Ginevra said little in reply. She had not much to say. In her +world the streams were still, not vocal. But Donal meant to hold a +little communication with her which none of them, except indeed +Gibbie--he did not mind Gibbie--should understand. + +"I hed sic a queer dream the ither nicht, mem," he said, "an' I'll +jist tell ye't.--I thoucht I was doon in an awfu' kin' o' a weet +bog, wi' dry graivelly-like hills a' aboot it, an' naething upo' +them but a wheen short hunger-like gerse. An' oot o' the mids o' +the bog there grew jist ae tree--a saugh, I think it was, but unco +auld--'maist past kennin' wi' age;--an' roun' the rouch gnerlet +trunk o' 't was twistit three faulds o' the oogliest, ill-fauredest +cratur o' a serpent 'at ever was seen. It was jist laithly to luik +upo'. I cud describe it till ye, mem, but it wad only gar ye runkle +yer bonny broo, an' luik as I wadna hae ye luik, mem, 'cause ye +wadna luik freely sae bonny as ye div noo whan ye luik jist yersel'. +But ae queer thing was, 'at atween hit an' the tree it grippit a +buik, an' I kent it for the buik o' ballants. An' I gaed nearer, +luikin' an' luikin', an' some frichtit. But I wadna stan' for that, +for that wad be to be caitiff vile, an' no true man: I gaed nearer +an' nearer, till I had gotten within a yaird o' the tree, whan a' at +ance, wi' a swing an' a swirl, I was three-fauld aboot the tree, an' +the laithly worm was me mesel'; an' I was the laithly worm. The +verra hert gaed frae me for hoarible dreid, an' scunner at mysel'! +Sae there I was! But I wasna lang there i' my meesery, afore I +saw, oot o' my ain serpent e'en, maist blin't wi' greitin', ower the +tap o' the brae afore me, 'atween me an' the lift, as gien it reacht +up to the verra stars, for it wasna day but nicht by this time aboot +me, as weel it micht be,--I saw the bonny sicht come up o' a knicht +in airmour, helmet an' shield an' iron sheen an' a'; but somehoo I +kent by the gang an' the stan' an' the sway o' the bonny boady o' +the knicht, 'at it was nae man, but a wuman.--Ye see, mem, sin I cam +frae Daurside, I hae been able to get a grip o' buiks 'at I cudna +get up there; an' I hed been readin' Spenser's Fairy Queen the nicht +afore, a' yon aboot the lady 'at pat on the airmour o' a man, an' +foucht like a guid ane for the richt an' the trowth--an' that hed +putten 't i' my heid maybe; only whan I saw her, I kent her, an' her +name wasna Britomart. She had a twistit brainch o' blew berries +aboot her helmet, an' they ca'd her Juniper: wasna that queer, noo? +An' she cam doon the hill wi' bonny big strides, no ower big for a +stately wuman, but eh, sae different frae the nipperty mincin' +stippety-stap o' the leddies ye see upo' the streets here! An' sae +she cam doon the brae. An' I soucht sair to cry oot--first o' a' to +tell her gien she didna luik till her feet, she wad he lairt i' the +bog, an' syne to beg o' her for mercy's sake to draw her swoord, an' +caw the oogly heid aff o' me, an' lat me dee. Noo I maun confess +'at the ballant o' Kemp Owen was rinnin' i' the worm-heid o' me, an' +I cudna help thinkin' what, notwithstan'in' the cheenge o' han's i' +the story, lay still to the pairt o' the knicht; but hoo was ony +man, no to say a mere ugsome serpent, to mint at sic a thing till a +leddy, whether she was in steel beets an' spurs or in lang train an' +silver slippers? An' haith! I sune fan' 'at I cudna hae spoken the +word, gien I had daured ever sae stoot. For whan I opened my moo' +to cry till her, I cud dee naething but shot oot a forkit tongue, +an' cry sss. Mem, it was dreidfu'! Sae I had jist to tak in my +tongue again, an' say naething, for fear o' fleggin' awa' my bonny +leddy i' the steel claes. An' she cam an' cam, doon an' doon, an' +on to the bog; an' for a' the weicht o' her airmour she sankna a fit +intill 't. An' she cam, an' she stude, an' she luikit at me; an' I +hed seen her afore, an' kenned her weel. An' she luikit at me, an' +aye luikit; an' I winna say what was i' the puir worm's hert. But +at the last she gae a gret sich, an' a sab, like, an' stude jist as +gien she was tryin' sair, but could not mak up her bonny min' to yon +'at was i' the ballant. An' eh! hoo I grippit the buik atween me +an' the tree--for there it was--a' as I saw 't afore! An' sae at +last she gae a kin' o' a cry, an' turnt an' gaed awa', wi' her heid +hingin' doon, an' her swoord trailin', an' never turnt to luik ahint +her, but up the brae, an' ower the tap o' the hill, an' doon an' +awa'; an' the brainch wi' the blew berries was the last I saw o' her +gaein' doon like the meen ahint the hill. An' jist wi' the fell +greitin' I cam to mysel', an' my hert was gaein' like a pump 'at wad +fain pit oot a fire.--Noo wasna that a queer-like dream?--I'll no +say, mem, but I hae curriet an' kaimbt it up a wee, to gar't tell +better." + +Ginevra had from the first been absorbed in listening, and her brown +eyes seemed to keep growing larger and larger as he went on. Even +the girls listened and were silent, looking as if they saw a +peacock's feather in a turkey's tail. When he ended, the tears +rushed from Ginevra's eyes--for bare sympathy--she had no perception +of personal intent in the parable; it was long before she saw into +the name of the lady-knight, for she had never been told the English +of Ginevra; she was the simplest, sweetest of girls, and too young +to suspect anything in the heart of a man. + +"O Donal!" she said, "I am very sorry for the poor worm; but it was +naughty of you to dream such a dream." + +"Hoo's that, mem?" returned Donal, a little frightened. + +"It was not fair of you," she replied, "to dream a knight of a lady, +and then dream her doing such an unknightly thing. I am sure if +ladies went out in that way, they would do quite as well, on the +whole, as gentlemen." + +"I mak nae doobt o' 't, mem: h'aven forbid!" cried Donal; "but ye +see dreams is sic senseless things 'at they winna be helpit;--an' +that was hoo I dreemt it." + +"Well, well, Donal!" broke in the harsh pompous voice of Mr. +Sclater, who, unknown to the poet, had been standing behind him +almost the whole time, "you have given the ladies quite enough of +your romancing. That sort of thing, you know, my man, may do very +well round the fire in the farm kitchen, but it's not the sort of +thing for a drawing-room. Besides, the ladies don't understand your +word of mouth; they don't understand such broad Scotch.--Come with +me, and I'll show you something you would like to see." + +He thought Donal was boring his guests, and at the same time +preventing Gibbie from having the pleasure in their society for the +sake of which they had been invited. + +Donal rose, replying, + +"Think ye sae, sir? I thoucht I was in auld Scotlan' still--here as +weel's upo' Glashgar. But may be my jography buik's some +auld-fashioned.--Didna ye un'erstan' me, mem?" he added, turning to +Ginevra. + +"Every word, Donal," she answered. + +Donal followed his host contented. + +Gibbie took his place, and began to teach Ginevra the finger +alphabet. The other girls found him far more amusing than +Donal--first of all because he could not speak, which was much less +objectionable than speaking like Donal--and funny too, though not so +funny as Donal's clothes. And then he had such a romantic history! +and was a baronet! + +In a few minutes Ginevra knew the letters, and presently she and +Gibbie were having a little continuous talk together, a thing they +had never had before. It was so slow, however, as to be rather +tiring. It was mainly about Donal. But Mrs. Sclater opened the +piano, and made a diversion. She played something brilliant, and +then sang an Italian song in strillaceous style, revealing to +Donal's clownish ignorance a thorough mastery of caterwauling. Then +she asked Miss Kimble to play something, who declined, without +mentioning that she had neither voice nor ear nor love of music, but +said Miss Galbraith should sing--"for once in a way, as a +treat.--That little Scotch song you sing now and then, my dear," she +added. + +Ginevra rose timidly, but without hesitation, and going to the +piano, sang, to a simple old Scotch air, to which they had been +written, the following verses. Before she ended, the minister, the +late herd-boy, and the dumb baronet were grouped crescent-wise +behind the music-stool. + + I dinna ken what's come ower me! + There's a how whaur ance was a hert; (hollow) + I never luik oot afore me, + An' a cry winna gar me stert; + There's naething nae mair to come ower me, + Blaw the win' frae ony airt. (quarter) + + For i' yon kirkyaird there's a hillock, + A hert whaur ance was a how; + An' o' joy there's no left a mealock--(crumb) + Deid aiss whaur ance was a low; (ashes)(flame) + For i' you kirkyaird, i' the hillock, + Lies a seed 'at winna grow. + + It's my hert 'at hauds up the wee hillie-- + That's hoo there's a how i' my breist; + It's awa' doon there wi' my Willie, + Gaed wi' him whan he was releast; + It's doon i' the green-grown hillie, + But I s' be efter it neist. + + Come awa', nichts and mornin's, + Come ooks, years, a' time's clan; + Ye're walcome ayont a' scornin': + Tak me till him as fest as ye can. + Come awa', nichts an' mornin's, + Ye are wings o' a michty span! + + For I ken he's luikin' an' waitin', + Luikin' aye doon as I clim': + Wad I hae him see me sit greitin', + I'stead o' gaein' to him? + I'll step oot like ane sure o' a meetin', + I'll traivel an' rin to him. + +Three of them knew that the verses were Donal's. If the poet went +home feeling more like a fellow in blue coat and fustian trowsers, +or a winged genius of the tomb, I leave my reader to judge. Anyhow, +he felt he had had enough for one evening, and was able to encounter +his work again. Perhaps also, when supper was announced, he +reflected that his reception had hardly been such as to justify him +in partaking of their food, and that his mother's hospitality to Mr. +Sclater had not been in expectation of return. As they went down +the stair, he came last and alone, behind the two whispering +school-girls; and when they passed on into the dining-room, he spilt +out of the house, and ran home to the furniture-shop and his books. + +When the ladies took their leave, Gibbie walked with them. And now +at last he learned where to find Ginevra. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +A LESSON OF WISDOM. + +In obedience to the suggestion of his wife, Mr. Sclater did what he +could to show Sir Gilbert how mistaken he was in imagining he could +fit his actions to the words of our Lord. Shocked as even he would +probably have been at such a characterization of his attempt, it +amounted practically to this: Do not waste your powers in the +endeavour to keep the commandments of our Lord, for it cannot be +done, and he knew it could not be done, and never meant it should be +done. He pointed out to him, not altogether unfairly, the +difficulties, and the causes of mistake, with regard to his words; +but said nothing to reveal the spirit and the life of them. Showing +more of them to be figures than at first appeared, he made out the +meanings of them to be less, not more than the figures, his pictures +to be greater than their subjects, his parables larger and more +lovely than the truths they represented. In the whole of his +lecture, through which ran from beginning to end a tone of reproof, +there was not one flash of enthusiasm for our Lord, not a sign that, +to his so-called minister, he was a refuge, or a delight--that he +who is the joy of his Father's heart, the essential bliss of the +universe, was anything to the soul of his creature, who besides had +taken upon him to preach his good news, more than a name to call +himself by--that the story of the Son of God was to him anything +better than the soap and water wherewith to blow theological bubbles +with the tobacco-pipe of his speculative understanding. The +tendency of it was simply to the quelling of all true effort after +the knowing of him through obedience, the quenching of all devotion +to the central good. Doubtless Gibbie, as well as many a wiser man, +might now and then make a mistake in the embodiment of his +obedience, but even where the action misses the command, it may yet +be obedience to him who gave the command, and by obeying one learns +how to obey. I hardly know, however, where Gibbie blundered, except +it was in failing to recognize the animals before whom he ought not +to cast his pearls--in taking it for granted that, because his +guardian was a minister, and his wife a minister's wife, they must +therefore be the disciples of the Jewish carpenter, the eternal Son +of the Father of us all. Had he had more of the wisdom of the +serpent, he would not have carried them the New Testament as an +ending of strife, the words of the Lord as an enlightening law; he +would perhaps have known that to try too hard to make people good, +is one way to make them worse; that the only way to make them good +is to be good--remembering well the beam and the mote; that the time +for speaking comes rarely, the time for being never departs. + +But in talking thus to Gibbie, the minister but rippled the air: +Gibbie was all the time pondering with himself where he had met the +same kind of thing, the same sort of person before. Nothing he said +had the slightest effect upon him. He was too familiar with truth +to take the yeasty bunghole of a working barrel for a fountain of +its waters. The unseen Lord and his reported words were to Gibbie +realities, compared with which the very visible Mr. Sclater and his +assured utterance were as the merest seemings of a phantom mood. He +had never resolved to keep the words of the Lord: he just kept them; +but he knew amongst the rest the Lord's words about the keeping of +his words, and about being ashamed of him before men, and it was +with a pitiful indignation he heard the minister's wisdom drivel +past his ears. What he would have said, and withheld himself from +saying, had he been able to speak, I cannot tell; I only know that +in such circumstances the less said the better, for what can be more +unprofitable than a discussion where but one of the disputants +understands the question, and the other has all the knowledge? It +would have been the eloquence of the wise and the prudent against +the perfected praise of the suckling. + +The effect of it all upon Gibbie was to send him to his room to his +prayers, more eager than ever to keep the commandments of him who +had said, If ye love me. Comforted then and strengthened, he came +down to go to Donal--not to tell him, for to none but Janet could he +have made such a communication. But in the middle of his descent he +remembered suddenly of what and whom Mr. Sclater had all along been +reminding him, and turned aside to Mrs. Sclater to ask her to lend +him the Pilgrim's Progress. This, as a matter almost of course, was +one of the few books in the cottage on Glashgar--a book beloved of +Janet's soul--and he had read it again and again. Mrs. Sclater told +him where in her room to find a copy, and presently he had satisfied +himself that it was indeed Mr. Worldly Wiseman whom his imagination +had, in cloudy fashion, been placing side by side with the talking +minister. + +Finding his return delayed, Mrs. Sclater went after him, fearing he +might be indulging his curiosity amongst her personal possessions. +Peeping in, she saw him seated on the floor beside her little +bookcase, lost in reading: she stole behind, and found that what so +absorbed him was the conversation between Christian and Worldly--I +beg his pardon, he is nothing without his Mr.--between Christian and +Mr. Worldly Wiseman. + +In the evening, when her husband was telling her what he had said to +"the young Pharisee" in the morning, the picture of Gibbie on the +floor, with the Pilgrim's Progress and Mr. Worldly Wiseman, flashed +back on her mind, and she told him the thing. It stung him, not +that Gibbie should perhaps have so paralleled him, but that his wife +should so interpret Gibbie. To her, however, he said nothing. Had +he been a better man, he would have been convinced by the lesson; as +it was, he was only convicted, and instead of repenting was offended +grievously. For several days he kept expecting the religious gadfly +to come buzzing about him with his sting, that is, his forefinger, +stuck in the Pilgrim's Progress, and had a swashing blow ready for +him; but Gibbie was beginning to learn a lesson or two, and if he +was not yet so wise as some serpents, he had always been more +harmless than some doves. + +That he had gained nothing for the world was pretty evident to the +minister the following Sunday--from the lofty watchtower of the +pulpit where he sat throned, while the first psalm was being sung. +His own pew was near one of the side doors, and at that door some +who were late kept coming in. Amongst them were a stranger or two, +who were at once shown to seats. Before the psalm ended, an old man +came in and stood by the door--a poor man in mean garments, with the +air of a beggar who had contrived to give himself a Sunday look. +Perhaps he had come hoping to find it warmer in church than at +home. There he stood, motionless as the leech-gatherer, leaning on +his stick, disregarded of men--it may have been only by innocent +accident, I do not know. But just ere the minister must rise for +the first prayer, he saw Gibbie, who had heard a feeble cough, cast +a glance round, rise as swiftly as noiselessly, open the door of the +pew, get out into the passage, take the old man by the hand, and +lead him to his place beside the satin-robed and sable-muffed +ministerial consort. Obedient to Gibbie's will, the old man took +the seat, with an air both of humility and respect, while happily +for Mrs. Sclater's remnant of ruffled composure, there was plenty of +room in the pew, so that she could move higher up. The old man, it +is true, followed, to make a place for Gibbie, but there was still +an interval between them sufficient to afford space to the hope that +none of the evils she dreaded would fall upon her to devour her. +Flushed, angry, uncomfortable, notwithstanding, her face glowed +like a bale-fire to the eyes of her husband, and, I fear, spoiled +the prayer--but that did not matter much. + +While the two thus involuntarily signalled each other, the boy who +had brought discomposure into both pulpit and pew, sat peaceful as a +summer morning, with the old man beside him quiet in the reverence +of being himself revered. And the minister, while he preached from +the words, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, +for the first time in his life began to feel doubtful whether he +might not himself be a humbug. There was not much fear of his +falling, however, for he had not yet stood on his feet. + +Not a word was said to Gibbie concerning the liberty he had taken: +the minister and his wife were in too much dread--not of St. James +and the "poor man in vile raiment," for they were harmless enough in +themselves, but of Gibbie's pointing finger to back them. Three +distinct precautions, however, they took; the pew-opener on that +side was spoken to; Mrs. Sclater made Gibbie henceforth go into the +pew before her; and she removed the New Testament from the +drawing-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +NEEDFULL ODDS AND ENDS. + +It will be plain from what I have told, that Donal's imagination was +full of Ginevra, and his was not an economy whose imagination could +enjoy itself without calling the heart to share. At the same time, +his being in love, if already I may use concerning him that most +general and most indefinite of phrases, so far from obstructing his +study, was in reality an aid to his thinking and a spur to +excellence--not excellence over others, but over himself. There +were moments, doubtless, long moments too, in which he forgot Homer +and Cicero and differential calculus and chemistry, for "the bonnie +lady-lassie,"--that was what he called her to himself; but it was +only, on emerging from the reverie, to attack his work with fresh +vigour. She was so young, so plainly girlish, that as yet there was +no room for dread or jealousy; the feeling in his heart was a kind +of gentle angel-worship; and he would have turned from the idea of +marrying her, if indeed it had ever presented itself, as an +irreverent thought, which he dared not for a moment be guilty of +entertaining. It was besides, an idea too absurd to be indulged in +by one who, in his wildest imaginations, always, through every +Protean embodiment, sought and loved and clung to the real. His +chief thought was simply to find favour in the eyes of the girl. +His ideas hovered about her image, but it was continually to burn +themselves in incense to her sweet ladyhood. As often as a song +came fluttering its wings at his casement, the next thought was +Ginevra--and there would be something to give her! I wonder how +many loves of the poets have received their offerings in +correspondent fervour. I doubt if Ginevra, though she read them +with marvel, was capable of appreciating the worth of Donal's. She +was hardly yet woman enough to do them justice; for the heart of a +girl, in its very sweetness and vagueness, is ready to admire alike +the good and the indifferent, if their outer qualities be similar. +It would cause a collapse in many a swelling of poet's heart if, +while he heard lovely lips commending his verses, a voice were to +whisper in his ear what certain other verses the lady commended +also. + +On Saturday evenings, after Gibbie left him, Donal kept his own +private holiday, which consisted in making verses, or rather in +setting himself in the position for doing so, when sometimes verses +would be the result, sometimes not. When the moon was shining in at +the windows of the large room adjoining, he would put out his lamp, +open his door, and look from the little chamber, glowing with +fire-light, into the strange, eerie, silent waste, crowded with the +chaos of dis-created homes. There scores on scores of things, many +of them unco, that is uncouth, the first meaning of which is +unknown, to his eyes, stood huddled together in the dim light. The +light looked weary and faint, as if with having forced its way +through the dust of years on the windows; and Donal felt as if +gazing from a clear conscious present out into a faded dream. +Sometimes he would leave his nest, and walk up and down among +spider-legged tables, tall cabinets, secret-looking bureaus, worked +chairs--yielding himself to his fancies. He was one who needed no +opium, or such-like demon-help, to set him dreaming; he could dream +at his will--only his dreams were brief and of rapid +change--probably not more so, after the clock, than those other +artificial ones, in which, to speculate on the testimony, the +feeling of their length appears to be produced by an infinite and +continuous subdivision of the subjective time. Now he was a ghost +come back to flit, hovering and gliding about sad old scenes, that +had gathered a new and a worse sadness from the drying up of the +sorrow which was the heart of them--his doom, to live thus over +again the life he had made so little of in the body; his punishment, +to haunt the world and pace its streets, unable to influence by the +turn of a hair the goings on of its life,--so to learn what a +useless being he had been, and repent of his self-embraced +insignificance. Now he was a prisoner, pining and longing for life +and air and human companionship; that was the sun outside, whose +rays shone thus feebly into his dungeon by repeated reflections. +Now he was a prince in disguise, meditating how to appear again and +defeat the machinations of his foes, especially of the enchanter who +made him seem to the eyes of his subjects that which he was not. +But ever his thoughts would turn again to Ginevra, and ever the +poems he devised were devised as in her presence and for her +hearing. Sometimes a dread would seize him--as if the strange +things were all looking at him, and something was about to happen; +then he would stride hastily back to his own room, close the door +hurriedly, and sit down by the fire. Once or twice he was startled +by the soft entrance of his landlady's grand-daughter, come to +search for something in one of the cabinets they had made a +repository for small odds and ends of things. Once he told Gibbie +that something had looked at him, but he could not tell what or +whence or how, and laughed at himself, but persisted in his +statement. + +He had not yet begun to read his New Testament in the way Gibbie +did, but he thought in the direction of light and freedom, and +looked towards some goal dimly seen in vague grandeur of betterness. +His condition was rather that of eyeless hunger after growth, than +of any conscious aspiration towards less undefined good. He had a +large and increasing delight in all forms of the generous, and +shrunk instinctively from the base, but had not yet concentrated his +efforts towards becoming that which he acknowledged the best, so +that he was hardly yet on the straight path to the goal of such +oneness with good as alone is a man's peace. I mention these things +not with the intent of here developing the character of Donal, but +with the desire that my readers should know him such as he then was. + +Gibbie and he seldom talked about Ginevra. She was generally +understood between them--only referred to upon needful occasion: +they had no right to talk about her, any more than to intrude on her +presence unseasonably. + +Donal went to Mr. Sclater's church because Mr. Sclater required it, +in virtue of the position he assumed as his benefactor. Mr. Sclater +in the pulpit was a trial to Donal, but it consoled him to be near +Gibbie, also that he had found a seat in the opposite gallery, +whence he could see Ginevra when her place happened to be not far +from the door of one of the school-pews. He did not get much +benefit from Mr. Sclater's sermons: I confess he did not attend very +closely to his preaching--often directed against doctrinal errors of +which, except from himself, not one of his congregation had ever +heard, or was likely ever to hear. But I cannot say he would have +been better employed in listening, for there was generally something +going on in his mind that had to go on, and make way for more. I +have said generally, for I must except the times when his thoughts +turned upon the preacher himself, and took forms such as the +following. But it might be a lesson to some preachers to know that +a decent lad like Donal may be making some such verses about one of +them while he is preaching. I have known not a few humble men in +the pulpit of whom rather than write such a thing Donal would have +lost the writing hand. + +'Twas a sair sair day 'twas my hap till +Come under yer soon', Mr. Sclater; +But things maun he putten a tap till, +An' sae maun ye, seener or later! + +For to hear ye rowtin' an' scornin', +Is no to hark to the river; +An' to sit here till brak trowth's mornin', +Wad be to be lost for ever. + +I confess I have taken a liberty, and changed one word for another +in the last line. He did not show these verses to Gibbie; or indeed +ever find much fault with the preacher in his hearing; for he knew +that while he was himself more open-minded to the nonsense of the +professional gentleman, Gibbie was more open-hearted towards the +merits of the man, with whom he was far too closely associated on +week-days not to feel affection for him; while, on the other hand, +Gibbie made neither head nor tail of his sermons, not having been +instructed in the theological mess that goes with so many for a +theriac of the very essentials of religion; and therefore, for +anything he knew, they might be very wise and good. At first he +took refuge from the sermon in his New Testament; but when, for the +third time, the beautiful hand of the ministerial spouse appeared +between him and the book, and gently withdrew it, he saw that his +reading was an offence in her eyes, and contented himself thereafter +with thinking: listening to the absolutely unintelligible he found +impossible. What a delight it would have been to the boy to hear +Christ preached such as he showed himself, such as in no small +measure he had learned him--instead of such as Mr. Sclater saw him +reflected from the tenth or twentieth distorting mirror! They who +speak against the Son of Man oppose mere distortions and mistakes of +him, having never beheld, neither being now capable of beholding, +him; but those who have transmitted to them these false impressions, +those, namely, who preach him without being themselves devoted to +him, and those who preach him having derived their notions of him +from other scources than himself, have to bear the blame that they +have such excuses for not seeking to know him. He submits to be +mis-preached, as he submitted to be lied against while visibly +walking the world, but his truth will appear at length to all: until +then until he is known as he is, our salvation tarrieth. + +Mrs. Sclater showed herself sincere, after her kind, to Donal as +well as to Gibbie. She had by no means ceased to grow, and already +was slowly bettering under the influences of the New Testament in +Gibbie, notwithstanding she had removed the letter of it from her +public table. She told Gibbie that he must talk to Donal about his +dress and his speech. That he was a lad of no common gifts was +plain, she said, but were he ever so "talented" he could do little +in the world, certainly would never raise himself, so long as he +dressed and spoke ridiculously. The wisest and best of men would be +utterly disregarded, she said, if he did not look and speak like +other people. Gibbie thought with himself this could hardly hold, +for there was John the Baptist; he answered her, however, that Donal +could speak very good English if he chose, but that the affected +tone and would-be-fine pronunciation of Fergus Duff had given him +the notion that to speak anything but his mother-tongue would be +unmanly and false. As to his dress, Donal was poor, Gibbie said, +and could not give up wearing any clothes so long as there was any +wear in them. "If you had seen me once!" he added, with a merry +laugh to finish for his fingers. + +Mrs. Sclater spoke to her husband, who said to Gibbie that, if he +chose to provide Donal with suitable garments, he would advance him +the money:--that was the way he took credit for every little sum he +handed his ward, but in his accounts was correct to a farthing. + +Gibbie would thereupon have dragged Donal at once to the tailor; but +Donal was obstinate. + +"Na, na," he said; "the claes is guid eneuch for him 'at weirs them. +Ye dee eneuch for me, Sir Gilbert, a'ready; an' though I wad be +obleeged to you as I wad to my mither hersel', to cleed me gien I +warna dacent, I winna tak your siller nor naebody ither's to gang +fine. Na, na; I'll weir the claes oot, an' we s' dee better wi' the +neist. An' for that bonnie wuman, Mistress Scletter, ye can tell +her, 'at by the time I hae onything to say to the warl', it winna be +my claes 'at'll haud fowk ohn hearkent; an' gien she considers them +'at I hae noo, ower sair a disgrace till her gran' rooms, she maun +jist no inveet me, an' I'll no come; for I canna presently help +them. But the neist session, whan I hae better, for I'm sure to get +wark eneuch in atween, I'll come an' shaw mysel', an' syne she can +dee as she likes." + +This high tone of liberty, so free from offence either given or +taken, was thoroughly appreciated by both Mr. and Mrs. Sclater, and +they did not cease to invite him. A little talk with the latter +soon convinced him that there was neither assumption nor lack of +patriotism in speaking the language of the people among whom he +found himself; and as he made her his model in the pursuit of the +accomplishment, he very soon spoke a good deal better English than +Mr. Sclater. But with Gibbie, and even with the dainty Ginevra, he +could not yet bring himself to talk anything but his mother-tongue. + +"I cannot mak my moo'," he would say, "to speyk onything but the +nat'ral tongue o' poetry till sic a bonnie cratur as Miss Galbraith; +an' for yersel', Gibbie--man! I wad be ill willin' to bigg a stane +wa' atween me an' the bonnie days whan Angus Mac Pholp was the deil +we did fear, an' Hornie the deil we didna.--Losh, man! what wad come +o' me gien I hed to say my prayers in English! I doobt gien 't wad +come oot prayin' at a'!" + +I am well aware that most Scotch people of that date tried to say +their prayers in English, but not so Janet or Robert, and not so had +they taught their children. I fancy not a little unreality was thus +in their case avoided. + +"What will you do when you are a minister?" asked Gibbie on his +fingers. + +"Me a minnister?" echoed Donal. "Me a minnister!" he repeated. +"Losh, man! gien I can save my ain sowl, it'll be a' 'at I'm fit +for, ohn lo'dent it wi' a haill congregation o' ither fowk's. Na, +na; gien I can be a schuilmaister, an' help the bairnies to be guid, +as my mither taucht mysel', an' hae time to read, an' a feow +shillin's to buy buiks aboot Aigypt an' the Holy Lan', an' a full +an' complete edition o' Plato, an' a Greek Lexicon--a guid ane, an' +a Jamieson's Dictionar', haith, I'll be a hawpy man! An' gien I +dinna like the schuilmaisterin', I can jist tak to the wark again, +whilk I cudna dee sae weel gien I had tried the preachin': fowk wad +ca' me a stickit minister! Or maybe they'll gie me the sheep to +luik efter upo' Glashgar, whan they're ower muckle for my father, +an' that wad weel content me. Only I wad hae to bigg a bit mair to +the hoosie, to haud my buiks: I maun hae buiks. I wad get the +newspapers whiles, but no aften, for they're a sair loss o' precious +time. Ye see they tell ye things afore they're sure, an' ye hae to +spen' yer time the day readin' what ye'll hae to spen' yer time the +morn readin' oot again; an' ye may as weel bide till the thing's +sattled a wee. I wad jist lat them fecht things oot 'at thoucht +they saw hoo they oucht to gang; an' I wad gie them guid mutton to +haud them up to their dreary wark, an' maybe a sangy noo an' than +'at wad help them to drap it a'thegither." + +"But wouldn't you like to have a wife, Donal, and children, like +your father and mother?" spelt Gibbie. + +"Na, na; nae wife for me, Gibbie!" answered the philosopher. "Wha +wad hae aither a pure schuilmaister or a shepherd?--'cep' it was +maybe some lass like my sister Nicie, 'at wadna ken Euclid frae her +hose, or Burns frae a mill-dam, or conic sections frae the hole i' +the great peeramid." + +"I don't like to hear you talk like that, Donal," said Gibbie. "What +do you say to mother?" + +"The mither's no to be said aboot," answerd Donal. "She's ane by +hersel', no ane like ither fowk. Ye wadna think waur o' the angel +Gabriel 'at he hedna jist read Homer clean throu', wad ye?" + +"If I did," answered Gibbie, "he would only tell me there was time +enough for that." + +When they met on a Friday evening, and it was fine, they would rove +the streets, Gibbie taking Donal to the places he knew so well in +his childhood, and enjoying it the more that he could now tell him +so much better what he remembered. The only place he did not take +him to was Jink Lane, with the house that had been Mistress +Croale's. He did take him to the court in the Widdiehill, and show +him the Auld Hoose o' Galbraith, and the place under the stair where +his father had worked. The shed was now gone; the neighbours had by +degrees carried it away for firewood. The house was occupied still +as then by a number of poor people, and the door was never locked, +day or night, any more than when Gibbie used to bring his father +home. He took Donal to the garret where they had slept--one could +hardly say lived, and where his father died. The door stood open, +and the place was just as they had left it. A year or two after, +Gibbie learned how it came to be thus untenanted: it was said to be +haunted. Every Sunday Sir George was heard at work, making boots +for his wee Gibbie from morning to night; after which, when it was +dark, came dreadful sounds of supplication, as of a soul praying in +hell-fire. For a while the house was almost deserted in +consequence. + +"Gien I was you, Sir Gilbert," said Donal, who now and then +remembered Mrs. Sclater's request--they had come down, and looking +at the outside of the house, had espied a half-obliterated +stone-carving of the Galbraith arms--"Gien I was you, Sir Gilbert, I +wad gar Maister Scletter keep a sherp luik oot for the first chance +o' buyin' back this hoose. It wad be a great peety it sud gang to +waur afore ye get it. Eh! sic tales as this hoose cud tell!" + +"How am I to do that, Donal? Mr. Sclater would not mind me. The +money's not mine yet, you know," said Gibbie. + +"The siller is yours, Gibbie," answered Donal; "it's yours as the +kingdom o' h'aven's yours; it's only 'at ye canna jist lay yer han's +upo' 't yet. The seener ye lat that Maister Scletter ken 'at ye ken +what ye're aboot, the better. An' believe me, whan he comes to +un'erstan' 'at ye want that hoose koft, he'll no be a day ohn gane +to somebody or anither aboot it." + +Donal was right, for within a month the house was bought, and +certain necessary repairs commenced. + +Sometimes on those evenings they took tea with Mistress Croale, and +it was a proud time with her when they went. That night at least +the whisky bottle did not make its appearance. + +Mrs. Sclater continued to invite young ladies to the house for +Gibbie's sake, and when she gave a party, she took care there should +be a proportion of young people in it; but Gibbie, although of +course kind and polite to all, did not much enjoy these gatherings. +It began to trouble him a little that he seemed to care less for +his kind than before; but it was only a seeming, and the cause of it +was this: he was now capable of perceiving facts in nature and +character which prevented real contact, and must make advances +towards it appear as offensive as they were useless. But he did not +love the less that he had to content himself, until the kingdom +should come nearer, with loving at a more conscious distance; by +loving kindness and truth he continued doing all he could to bring +the kingdom whose end is unity. Hence he had come to restrain his +manner--nothing could have constrained his manners, which now from +the conventional point of view were irreproachable; but if he did +not so often execute a wild dance, or stand upon one leg, the glow +in his eyes had deepened, and his response to any advance was as +ready and thorough, as frank and sweet as ever; his eagerness was +replaced by a stillness from which his eyes took all coldness, and +his smile was as the sun breaking out in a gray day of summer, and +turning all from doves to peacocks. In this matter there was one +thing worthy of note common to Donal and him, who had had the same +divine teaching from Janet: their manners to all classes were the +same, they showed the same respect to the poor, the same ease with +the rich. + +I must confess, however, that before the session was over, Donal +found it required all his strength of mind to continue to go to Mrs. +Sclater's little parties--from kindness she never asked him to her +larger ones; and the more to his praise it was that he did not +refuse one of her invitations. The cause was this: one bright +Sunday morning in February, coming out of his room to go to church, +and walking down the path through the furniture in a dreamy mood, he +suddenly saw a person meeting him straight in the face. "Sic a +queer-like chield!" he remarked inwardly, stepped on one side to let +him pass--and perceived it was himself reflected from head to foot +in a large mirror, which had been placed while he was out the night +before. The courage with which he persisted, after such a painful +enlightenment, in going into company in those same garments, was +right admirable and enviable; but no one knew of it until its +exercise was long over. + +The little pocket-money Mr. Sclater allowed Gibbie, was chiefly +spent at the shop of a certain secondhand bookseller, nearly +opposite Mistress Murkison's. The books they bought were carried to +Donal's room, there to be considered by Gibbie Donal's, and by Donal +Gibbie's. Among the rest was a reprint of Marlow's Faust, the +daring in the one grand passage of which both awed and delighted +them; there were also some of the Ettrick Shepherd's eerie stories, +alone in their kind; and above all there was a miniature copy of +Shelley, whose verse did much for the music of Donal's, while yet he +could not quite appreciate the truth for the iridescence of it: he +said it seemed to him to have been all composed in a balloon. I +have mentioned only works of imagination, but it must not be +supposed they had not a relish for stronger food: the books more +severe came afterwards, when they had liberty to choose their own +labours; now they had plenty of the harder work provided for them. + +Somewhere about this time Fergus Duff received his license to +preach, and set himself to acquire what his soul thirsted after--a +reputation, namely, for eloquence. This was all the flood-mark that +remained of the waters of verse with which he had at one time so +plentifully inundated his soul. He was the same as man he had been +as youth--handsome, plausible, occupied with himself, determined to +succeed, not determined to labour. Praise was the very necessity of +his existence, but he had the instinct not to display his beggarly +hunger--which reached even to the approbation of such to whom he +held himself vastly superior. He seemed generous, and was +niggardly, by turns; cultivated suavity; indulged in floridity both +of manners and speech; and signed his name so as nobody could read +it, though his handwriting was plain enough. + +In the spring, summer, and autumn, Donal laboured all day with his +body, and in the evening as much as he could with his mind. Lover +of Nature as he was, however, more alive indeed than before to the +delights of the country, and the genial companionship of terrene +sights and sounds, scents and motions, he could not help longing for +the winter and the city, that his soul might be freer to follow its +paths. And yet what a season some of the labours of the field +afforded him for thought! To the student who cannot think without +books, the easiest of such labours are a dull burden, or a distress; +but for the man in whom the wells have been unsealed, in whom the +waters are flowing, the labour mingles gently and genially with the +thought, and the plough he holds with his hands lays open to the sun +and the air more soils than one. Mr. Sclater without his books +would speedily have sunk into the mere shrewd farmer; Donal, never +opening a book, would have followed theories and made verses to the +end of his days. + +Every Saturday, as before, he went to see his father and mother. +Janet kept fresh and lively, although age told on her, she said, +more rapidly since Gibbie went away. + +"But gien the Lord lat auld age wither me up," she said, "he'll luik +efter the cracks himsel'." + +Six weeks of every summer between Donal's sessions, while the +minister and his wife took their holiday, Gibbie spent with Robert +and Janet. It was a blessed time for them all. He led then just +the life of the former days, with Robert and Oscar and the sheep, +and Janet and her cow and the New Testament--only he had a good many +more things to think about now, and more ways of thinking about +them. With his own hands he built a neat little porch to the +cottage door, with close sides and a second door to keep the wind +off: Donal and he carried up the timber and the mortar. But +although he tried hard to make Janet say what he could do for her +more, he could not bring her to reveal any desire that belonged to +this world--except, indeed, for two or three trifles for her +husband's warmth and convenience. + +"The sicht o' my Lord's face," she said once, when he was pressing +her, "is a' 'at I want, Sir Gibbie. For this life it jist blecks me +to think o' onything I wad hae or wad lowse. This boady o' mine's +growin' some heavy-like, I maun confess, but I wadna hae't ta'en aff +o' me afore the time. It wad be an ill thing for the seed to be +shal't ower sune." + +They almost always called him Sir Gibbie, and he never objected, or +seemed either annoyed or amused at it; he took it just as the name +that was his, the same way as his hair or his hands were his; he had +been called wee Sir Gibbie for so long. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE HOUSELESS. + +The minister kept Gibbie hard at work, and by the time Donal's last +winter came, Gibbie was ready for college also. To please Mr. +Sclater he competed for a bursary, and gained a tolerably good one, +but declined accepting it. His guardian was annoyed, he could not +see why he should refuse what he had "earned." Gibbie asked him +whether it was the design of the founder of those bursaries that +rich boys should have them. Were they not for the like of Donal? +Whereupon Mr. Sclater could not help remembering what a difference +it would have made to him in his early struggles, if some rich +bursar above him had yielded a place--and held his peace. + +Daur-street being too far from Elphinstone College for a student to +live there, Mr. Sclater consented to Gibbie's lodging with Donal, +but would have insisted on their taking rooms in some part of the +town--more suitable to the young baronet's position, he said; but as +there was another room to be had at Mistress Murkison's, Gibbie +insisted that one who had shown them so much kindness must not be +forsaken; and by this time he seldom found difficulty in having his +way with his guardian. Both he and his wife had come to understand +him better, and nobody could understand Gibbie better without also +understanding better all that was good and true and right: although +they hardly knew the fact themselves, the standard of both of them +had been heightened by not a few degrees since Gibbie came to them; +and although he soon ceased to take direct notice of what in their +conduct distressed him, I cannot help thinking it was not amiss that +he uttered himself as he did at the first; knowing a little his ways +of thinking they came to feel his judgment unexpressed. For Mrs. +Sclater, when she bethought herself that she had said or done +something he must count worldly, the very silence of the dumb boy +was a reproof to her. + +One night the youths had been out for a long walk and came back to +the city late, after the shops were shut. Only here and there a +light glimmered in some low-browed little place, probably used in +part by the family. Not a soul was visible in the dingy region +through which they now approached their lodging, when round a +corner, moving like a shadow, came, soft-pacing, a ghostly woman in +rags, with a white, worn face, and the largest black eyes, it seemed +to the youths that they had ever seen--an apparition of awe and +grief and wonder. To compare a great thing to a small, she was to +their eyes as a ruined, desecrated shrine to the eyes of the saint's +own peculiar worshipper. I may compare her to what I please, great +or small--to a sapphire set in tin, to an angel with draggled +feathers; for far beyond all comparison is that temple of the holy +ghost in the desert--a woman in wretchedness and rags. She carried +her puny baby rolled hard in the corner of her scrap of black shawl. +To the youths a sea of trouble looked out of those wild eyes. As +she drew near them, she hesitated, half-stopped, and put out a hand +from under the shawl--stretched out no arm, held out only a hand +from the wrist, white against the night. Donal had no money. +Gibbie had a shilling. The hand closed upon it, a gleam crossed +the sad face, and a murmur of thanks fluttered from the thin lips as +she walked on her way. The youths breathed deep, and felt a little +relieved, but only a little. The thought of the woman wandering in +the dark and the fog and the night, was a sickness at their hearts. +Was it impossible to gather such under the wings of any +night-brooding hen? That Gibbie had gone through so much of the +same kind of thing himself, and had found it endurable enough, did +not make her case a whit the less pitiful in his eyes, and indeed it +was widely, sadly different from his. Along the deserted street, +which looked to Donal like a waterless canal banked by mounds of +death, and lighted by phosphorescent grave-damps, they followed her +with their eyes, the one living thing, fading away from lamp to +lamp; and when they could see her no farther, followed her with +their feet; they could not bear to lose sight of her. But they kept +just on the verge of vision, for they did not want her to know the +espial of their love. Suddenly she disappeared, and keeping their +eyes on the spot as well as they could, they found when they reached +it a little shop, with a red curtain, half torn down, across the +glass door of it. A dim oil lamp was burning within. It looked +like a rag-shop, dirty and dreadful. There she stood, while a woman +with a bloated face, looking to Donal like a feeder of hell-swine, +took from some secret hole underneath, a bottle which seemed to +Gibbie the very one his father used to drink from. He would have +rushed in and dashed it from her hand, but Donal withheld him. + +"Hoots!" he said, "we canna follow her a' nicht; an' gien we did, +what better wad she be i' the mornin'? Lat her be, puir thing!" + +She received the whisky in a broken tea-cup, swallowed some of it +eagerly, then, to the horror of the youths, put some of it into the +mouth of her child from her own. Draining the last drops from the +cup, she set it quietly down, turned, and without a word spoken, for +she had paid beforehand, came out, her face looking just as white +and thin as before, but having another expression in the eyes of it. +At the sight Donal's wisdom forsook him. + +"Eh, wuman," he cried, "yon wasna what ye hed the shillin' for!" + +"Ye said naething," answered the poor creature, humbly, and walked +on, hanging her head, and pressing her baby to her bosom. + +The boys looked at each other. + +"That wasna the gait yer shillin' sud hae gane, Gibbie," said Donal. +"It's clear it winna dee to gie shillin's to sic like as her. Wha +kens but the hunger an' the caul', an' the want o' whisky may be the +wuman's evil things here, 'at she may 'scape the hellfire o' the +Rich Man hereafter?" + +He stopped, for Gibbie was weeping. The woman and her child he +would have taken to his very heart, and could do nothing for them. +Love seemed helpless, for money was useless. It set him thinking +much, and the result appeared. From that hour the case of the +homeless haunted his heart and brain and imagination; and as his +natural affections found themselves repelled and chilled in what is +called Society, they took refuge more and more with the houseless +and hungry and shivering. Through them, also, he now, for the first +time, began to find grave and troublous questions mingling with his +faith and hope; so that already he began to be rewarded for his +love: to the true heart every doubt is a door. I will not follow +and describe the opening of these doors to Gibbie, but, as what he +discovered found always its first utterance in action, wait until I +can show the result. + +For the time the youths were again a little relieved about the +woman: following her still, to a yet more wretched part of the city, +they saw her knock at a door, pay something, and be admitted. It +looked a dreadful refuge, but she was at least under cover, and +shelter, in such a climate as ours in winter, must be the first +rudimentary notion of salvation. No longer haunted with the idea of +her wandering all night about the comfortless streets, "like a ghost +awake in Memphis," Donal said, they went home. But it was long +before they got to sleep, and in the morning their first words were +about the woman. + +"Gien only we hed my mither here!" said Donal. + +"Mightn't you try Mr. Sclater?" suggested Gibbie. + +Donal answered with a great roar of laughter. + +"He wad tell her she oucht to tak shame till hersel'," he said, "an' +I'm thinkin' she's lang brunt a' her stock o' that firin'. He wud +tell her she sud work for her livin', an' maybe there isna ae turn +the puir thing can dee 'at onybody wad gie her a bawbee for a day +o'!--But what say ye to takin' advice o' Miss Galbraith?" + +It was strange how, with the marked distinctions between them, Donal +and Gibbie would every now and then, like the daughters of the Vicar +of Wakefield, seem to change places and parts. + +"God can make praise-pipes of babes and sucklings," answered Gibbie; +"but it does not follow that they can give advice. Don't you +remember your mother saying that the stripling David was enough to +kill a braggart giant, but a sore-tried man was wanted to rule the +people?" + +It ended in their going to Mistress Croale. They did not lay bare +to her their perplexities, but they asked her to find out who the +woman was, and see if anything could be done for her. They said to +themselves she would know the condition of such a woman, and what +would be moving in her mind, after the experience she had herself +had, better at least than the minister or his lady-wife. Nor were +they disappointed. To be thus taken into counsel revived for +Mistress Croale the time of her dignity while yet she shepherded her +little flock of drunkards. She undertook the task with hearty good +will, and carried it out with some success. Its reaction on herself +to her own good was remarkable. There can be no better auxiliary +against our own sins than to help our neighbour in the encounter +with his. Merely to contemplate our neighbour will recoil upon us +in quite another way: we shall see his faults so black, that we will +not consent to believe ours so bad, and will immediately begin to +excuse, which is the same as to cherish them, instead of casting +them from us with abhorrence. + +One day early in the session, as the youths were approaching the +gate of Miss Kimble's school, a thin, care-worn man, in shabby +clothes, came out, and walked along meeting them. Every now and +then he bowed his shoulders, as if something invisible had leaped +upon them from behind, and as often seemed to throw it off and with +effort walk erect. It was the laird. They lifted their caps, but +in return he only stared, or rather tried to stare, for his eyes +seemed able to fix themselves on nothing. He was now at length a +thoroughly ruined man, and had come to the city to end his days in a +cottage belonging to his daughter. Already Mr. Sclater, who was +unweariedly on the watch over the material interests of his ward, +had, through his lawyer, and without permitting his name to appear, +purchased the whole of the Glashruach property. For the present, +however, he kept Sir Gilbert in ignorance of the fact. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +A WALK. + +The cottage to which Mr. Galbraith had taken Ginevra, stood in a +suburban street--one of those small, well-built stone houses common, +I fancy, throughout Scotland, with three rooms and a kitchen on its +one floor, and a large attic with dormer windows. It was low and +wide-roofed, and had a tiny garden between it and the quiet street. +This garden was full of flowers in summer and autumn, but the tops +of a few gaunt stems of hollyhocks, and the wiry straggling creepers +of the honeysuckle about the eaves, was all that now showed from the +pavement. It had a dwarf wall of granite, with an iron railing on +the top, through which, in the season, its glorious colours used to +attract many eyes, but Mr. Galbraith had had the railing and the +gate lined to the very spikes with boards: the first day of his +abode he had discovered that the passers-by--not to say those who +stood to stare admiringly at the flowers, came much too near his +faded but none the less conscious dignity. He had also put a lock +on the gate, and so made of the garden a sort of propylon to the +house. For he had of late developed a tendency towards taking to +earth, like the creatures that seem to have been created ashamed of +themselves, and are always burrowing. But it was not that the late +laird was ashamed of himself in any proper sense. Of the dishonesty +of his doings he was as yet scarcely half conscious, for the proud +man shrinks from repentance, regarding it as disgrace. To wash is +to acknowledge the need of washing. He avoided the eyes of men for +the mean reason that he could no longer appear in dignity as laird +of Glashruach and chairman of a grand company; while he felt as if +something must have gone wrong with the laws of nature that it had +become possible for Thomas Galbraith, of Glashruach, Esq., to live +in a dumpy cottage. He had thought seriously of resuming his +patronymic of Durrant, but reflected that he was too well known to +don that cloak of transparent darkness without giving currency to +the idea that he had soiled the other past longer wearing. It would +be imagined, he said, picking out one dishonesty of which he had not +been guilty, that he had settled money on his wife, and retired to +enjoy it. + +His condition was far more pitiful than his situation. Having no +faculty for mental occupation except with affairs, finding nothing +to do but cleave, like a spent sailor, with hands and feet to the +slippery rock of what was once his rectitude, such as it was, trying +to hold it still his own, he would sit for hours without moving--a +perfect creature, temple, god, and worshipper, all in one--only that +the worshipper was hardly content with his god, and that a worm was +gnawing on at the foundation of the temple. Nearly as motionless, +her hands excepted, would Ginevra sit opposite to him, not quieter +but more peaceful than when a girl, partly because now she was less +afraid of him. He called her, in his thoughts as he sat there, +heartless and cold, but not only was she not so, but it was his +fault that she appeared to him such. In his moral stupidity he +would rather have seen her manifest concern at the poverty to which +he had reduced her, than show the stillness of a contented mind. +She was not much given to books, but what she read was worth +reading, and such as turned into thought while she sat. They are +not the best students who are most dependent on books. What can be +got out of them is at best only material: a man must build his house +for himself. She would have read more, but with her father beside +her doing nothing, she felt that to take a book would be like going +into a warm house, and leaving him out in the cold. It was very sad +to her to see him thus shrunk and withered, and lost in thought that +plainly was not thinking. Nothing interested him; he never looked +at the papers, never cared to hear a word of news. His eyes more +unsteady, his lips looser, his neck thinner and longer, he looked +more than ever like a puppet whose strings hung slack. How often +would Ginevra have cast herself on his bosom if she could have even +hoped he would not repel her! Now and then his eyes did wander to +her in a dazed sort of animal-like appeal, but the moment she +attempted response, he turned into a corpse. Still, when it came, +that look was a comfort, for it seemed to witness some bond between +them after all. And another comfort was, that now, in his misery, +she was able, if not to forget those painful thoughts about him +which had all these years haunted her, at least to dismiss them when +they came, in the hope that, as already such a change had passed +upon him, further and better change might follow. + +She was still the same brown bird as of old--a bird of the twilight, +or rather a twilight itself, with a whole night of stars behind it, +of whose existence she scarcely knew, having but just started on the +voyage of discovery which life is. She had the sweetest, rarest +smile--not frequent and flashing like Gibbie's, but stealing up from +below, like the shadowy reflection of a greater light, gently +deepening, permeating her countenance until it reached her eyes, +thence issuing in soft flame. Always however, an soon as her eyes +began to glow duskily, down went their lids, and down dropt her head +like the frond of a sensitive plant, Her atmosphere was an embodied +stillness; she made a quiet wherever she entered; she was not +beautiful, but she was lovely; and her presence at once made a place +such as one would desire to be in. + +The most pleasant of her thoughts were of necessity those with which +the two youths were associated. How dreary but for them and theirs +would the retrospect of her life have been! Several times every +winter they had met at the minister's, and every summer she had +again and again seen Gibbie with Mrs. Sclater, and once or twice had +had a walk with them, and every time Gibbie had something of Donal's +to give her. Twice Gibbie had gone to see her at the school, but +the second time she asked him not to come again, as Miss Kimble did +not like it. He gave a big stare of wonder, and thought of Angus +and the laird; but followed the stare with a swift smile, for he saw +she was troubled, and asked no question, but waited for the +understanding of all things that must come. But now, when or where +was she ever to see them more? Gibbie was no longer at the +minister's, and perhaps she would never be invited to meet them +there again. She dared not ask Donal to call: her father would be +indignant; and for her father's sake she would not ask Gibbie; it +might give him pain; while the thought that he would of a certainty +behave so differently to him now that he was well-dressed, and +mannered like a gentleman, was almost more unendurable to her than +the memory of his past treatment of him. + +Mr. and Mrs. Sclater had called upon them the moment they were +settled in the cottage; but Mr. Galbraith would see nobody. When +the gate-bell rang, he always looked out, and if a visitor appeared, +withdrew to his bedroom. + +One brilliant Saturday morning, the second in the session, the +ground hard with an early frost, the filmy ice making fairy caverns +and grottos in the cart-ruts, and the air so condensed with cold +that every breath, to those who ate and slept well, had the life of +two, Mrs. Sclater rang the said bell. Mr. Galbraith peeping from +the window, saw a lady's bonnet, and went. She walked in, followed +by Gibbie, and would have Ginevra go with them for a long walk. +Pleased enough with the proposal, for the outsides of life had been +dull as well as painful of late, she went and asked her father. If +she did not tell him that Sir Gilbert was with Mrs. Sclater, perhaps +she ought to have told him; but I am not sure, and therefore am not +going to blame her. When parents are not fathers and mothers, but +something that has no name in the kingdom of heaven, they place the +purest and most honest of daughters in the midst of perplexities. + +"Why do you ask me?" returned her father. "My wishes are nothing to +any one now; to you they never were anything." + +"I will stay at home, if you wish it, papa,--with pleasure," she +replied, as cheerfully as she could after such a reproach. + +"By no means. If you do, I shall go and dine at the Red Hart," he +answered--not having money enough in his possession to pay for a +dinner there. + +I fancy he meant to be kind, but, like not a few, alas! took no +pains to look as kind as he was. There are many, however, who seem +to delight in planting a sting where conscience or heart will not +let them deny. It made her miserable for a while of course, but she +had got so used to his way of breaking a gift as he handed it, that +she answered only with a sigh. When she was a child, his +ungraciousness had power to darken the sunlight, but by repetition +it had lost force. In haste she put on her little brown-ribboned +bonnet, took the moth-eaten muff that had been her mother's, and +rejoined Mrs. Sclater and Gibbie, beaming with troubled pleasure. +Life in her was strong, and their society soon enabled her to +forget, not her father's sadness, but his treatment of her. + +At the end of the street, they found Donal waiting them--without +greatcoat or muffler, the picture of such health as suffices to its +own warmth, not a mark of the midnight student about him, and +looking very different, in town-made clothes, from the Donal of the +mirror. He approached and saluted her with such an air of homely +grace as one might imagine that of the Red Cross Knight, when, +having just put on the armour of a Christian man, from a clownish +fellow he straightway appeared the goodliest knight in the company. +Away they walked together westward, then turned southward. Mrs. +Sclater and Gibbie led, and Ginevra followed with Donal. And they +had not walked far, before something of the delight of old times on +Glashruach began to revive in the bosom of the too sober girl. In +vain she reminded herself that her father sat miserable at home, +thinking of her probably as the most heartless of girls; the sun, +and the bright air like wine in her veins, were too much for her, +Donal had soon made her cheerful, and now and then she answered his +talk with even a little flash of merriment. They crossed the +bridge, high-hung over the Daur, by which on that black morning +Gibbie fled; and here for the first time, with his three friends +about him, he told on his fingers the dire deed of the night, and +heard from Mrs. Sclater that the murderers had been hanged. Ginevra +grew white and faint as she read his fingers and gestures, but it +was more at the thought of what the child had come through, than +from the horror of his narrative. They then turned eastward to the +sea, and came to the top of the rock-border of the coast, with its +cliffs rent into gullies, eerie places to look down into, ending in +caverns into which the waves rushed with bellow and boom. Although +so nigh the city, this was always a solitary place, yet, rounding a +rock, they came upon a young man, who hurried a book into his +pocket, and would have gone by the other side, but perceiving +himself recognized, came to meet them, and saluted Mrs. Sclater, who +presented him to Ginevra as the Rev. Mr. Duff. + +"I have not had the pleasure of seeing you since you were quite a +little girl, Miss Galbraith," said Fergus. + +Ginevra said coldly she did not remember him. The youths greeted +him in careless student fashion: they had met now and then for a +moment about the college; and a little meaningless talk followed. + +He was to preach the next day--and for several Sundays following--at +a certain large church in the city, at the time without a minister; +and when they came upon him he was studying his sermon--I do not +mean the truths he intended to press upon his audience--those he had +mastered long ago--but his manuscript, studying it in the sense in +which actors use the word, learning it, that is, by heart +laboriously, that the words might come from his lips as much like an +extemporaneous utterance as possible, consistently with not being +mistaken for one, which, were it true as the Bible, would have no +merit in the ears of those who counted themselves judges of the +craft. The kind of thing suited Fergus, whose highest idea of life +was seeming. Naturally capable, he had already made of himself +rather a dull fellow; for when a man spends his energy on appearing +to have, he is all the time destroying what he has, and therein the +very means of becoming what he desires to seem. If he gains his end +his success is his punishment. + +Fergus never forgot that he was a clergyman, always carrying himself +according to his idea of the calling; therefore when the interchange +of commonplaces flagged, he began to look about him for some remark +sufficiently tinged with his profession to be suitable for him to +make, and for the ladies to hear as his. The wind was a thoroughly +wintry one from the north-east, and had been blowing all night, so +that the waves were shouldering the rocks with huge assault. Now +Fergus's sermon, which he meant to use as a spade for the casting of +the first turf of the first parallel in the siege of the pulpit of +the North parish, was upon the vanity of human ambition, his text +being the grand verse--And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come +and gone from the place of the holy; there was no small amount of +fine writing in the manuscript he had thrust into his pocket; and +his sermon was in his head when he remarked, with the wafture of a +neatly-gloved hand seawards-- + +"I was watching these waves when you found me: they seem to me such +a picture of the vanity of human endeavour! But just as little as +those waves would mind me, if I told them they were wasting their +labour on these rocks, will men mind me, when I tell them to-morrow +of the emptiness of their ambitions." + +"A present enstance o' the vainity o' human endeevour!" said Donal. +"What for sud ye, in that case, gang on preachin', sae settin' them +an ill exemple?" + +Duff gave him a high-lidded glance, vouchsafing no reply. + +"Just as those waves," he continued, "waste themselves in effort, as +often foiled as renewed, to tear down these rocks, so do the men of +this world go on and on, spending their strength for nought." + +"Hoots, Fergus!" said Donal again, in broadest speech, as if with +its bray he would rebuke not the madness but the silliness of the +prophet, "ye dinna mean to tell me yon jaws (billows) disna ken +their business better nor imaigine they hae to caw doon the rocks?" + +Duff cast a second glance of scorn at what he took for the prosaic +stupidity or poverty-stricken logomachy of Donal, while Ginevra +opened on him big brown eyes, as much as to say, "Donal, who was it +set me down for saying a man couldn't be a burn?" But Gibbie's face +was expectant: he knew Donal. Mrs. Sclater also looked interested: +she did not much like Duff, and by this time she suspected Donal of +genius. Donal turned to Ginevra with a smile, and said, in the best +English he could command-- + +"Bear with me a moment, Miss Galbraith. If Mr. Duff will oblige me +by answering my question, I trust I shall satisfy you I am no +turncoat." + +Fergus stared. What did his father's herd-boy mean by talking such +English to the ladies, and such vulgar Scotch to him? Although now +a magistrand--that is, one about to take his degree of Master of +Arts--Donal was still to Fergus the cleaner-out of his father's +byres--an upstart, whose former position was his real one--towards +him at least, who knew him. And did the fellow challenge him to a +discussion? Or did he presume on the familiarity of their boyhood, +and wish to sport his acquaintance with the popular preacher? On +either supposition, he was impertinent. + +"I spoke poetically," he said, with cold dignity. + +"Ye'll excuse me, Fergus," replied Donal, "--for the sake o' auld +langsyne, whan I was, as I ever will be, sair obligatit till ye--but +i' that ye say noo, ye're sair wrang: ye wasna speykin' poetically, +though I ken weel ye think it, or ye wadna say 't; an' that's what +garred me tak ye up. For the verra essence o' poetry is trowth, an' +as sune's a word's no true, it's no poetry, though it may hae on the +cast claes o' 't. It's nane but them 'at kens na what poetry is, +'at blethers aboot poetic license, an' that kin' o' hen-scraich, as +gien a poet was sic a gowk 'at naebody eedit hoo he lee'd, or +whether he gaed wi' 's cwite (coat) hin' side afore or no." + +"I am at a loss to understand you--Donal?--yes, Donal Grant. I +remember you very well; and from the trouble I used to take with you +to make you distinguish between the work of the poet and that of the +rhymester, I should have thought by this time you would have known a +little more about the nature of poetry. Personification is a figure +of speech in constant use by all poets." + +"Ow ay! but there's true and there's fause personification; an' it's +no ilka poet 'at kens the differ. Ow, I ken! ye'll be doon upo' me +wi' yer Byron,"--Fergus shook his head as at a false impeachment, +but Donal went on--"but even a poet canna mak lees poetry. An' a +man 'at in ane o' his gran'est verses cud haiver aboot the birth o' +a yoong airthquack!--losh! to think o' 't growin' an auld +airthquack!--haith, to me it's no up till a deuk-quack!--sic a poet +micht weel, I grant ye, be he ever sic a guid poet whan he tuik heed +to what he said, he micht weel, I say, blether nonsense aboot the +sea warrin' again' the rocks, an' sic stuff." + +"But don't you see them?" said Fergus, pointing to a great billow +that fell back at the moment, and lay churning in the gulf beneath +them. "Are they not in fact wasting the rocks away by slow degrees?" + +"What comes o' yer seemile than, anent the vainity o' their +endeevour? But that's no what I'm carin' aboot. What I mainteen +is, 'at though they div weir awa' the rocks, that's nae mair their +design nor it's the design o' a yewky owse to kill the tree whan he +rubs hit's skin an' his ain aff thegither." + +"Tut! nobody ever means, when he personifies the powers of nature, +that they know what they are about." + +"The mair necessar' till attreebute till them naething but their +rale design." + +"If they don't know what they are about, how can you be so foolish +as talk of their design?" + +"Ilka thing has a design,--an' gien it dinna ken't itsel', that's +jist whaur yer true an' lawfu' personification comes in. There's no +rizon 'at a poet sudna attreebute till a thing as a conscious design +that which lies at the verra heart o' 'ts bein', the design for +which it's there. That an' no ither sud determine the +personification ye gie a thing--for that's the trowth o' the thing. +Eh, man, Fergus! the jaws is fechtin' wi' nae rocks. They're jist +at their pairt in a gran' cleansin' hermony. They're at their +hoosemaid's wark, day an' nicht, to haud the warl' clean, an' gran' +an' bonnie they sing at it. Gien I was you, I wadna tell fowk any +sic nonsense as yon; I wad tell them 'at ilk ane 'at disna dee his +wark i' the warl', an' dee 't the richt gait, 's no the worth o' a +minnin, no to say a whaul, for ilk ane o' thae wee craturs dis the +wull o' him 'at made 'im wi' ilka whisk o' his bit tailie, fa'in' in +wi' a' the jabble o' the jaws again' the rocks, for it's a' ae +thing--an' a' to haud the muckle sea clean. An' sae whan I lie i' +my bed, an' a' at ance there comes a wee soughie o' win' i' my face, +an' I luik up an' see it was naething but the wings o' a flittin' +flee, I think wi' mysel' hoo a' the curses are but blessin's 'at ye +dinna see intill, an' hoo ilka midge, an' flee, an' muckle dronin' +thing 'at gangs aboot singin' bass, no to mention the doos an' the +mairtins an' the craws an' the kites an' the oolets an' the muckle +aigles an' the butterflees, is a' jist haudin' the air gauin' 'at +ilka defilin' thing may be weel turnt ower, an' brunt clean. That's +the best I got oot o' my cheemistry last session. An' fain wad I +haud air an' watter in motion aboot me, an' sae serve my +en'--whether by waggin' wi' my wings or whiskin' wi' my tail. Eh! +it's jist won'erfu'. Its a' ae gran' consortit confusion o' hermony +an' order; an' what maks the confusion is only jist 'at a' thing's +workin' an' naething sits idle. But awa! wi' the nonsense o' ae +thing worryin' an' fechtin' at anither!--no till ye come to beasts +an' fowk, an' syne ye hae eneuch o' 't." + +All the time Fergus had been poking the point of his stick into the +ground, a smile of superiority curling his lip. + +"I hope, ladies, our wits are not quite swept away in this flood of +Doric," he said. + +"You have a poor opinion of the stability of our brains, Mr. Duff," +said Mrs. Sclater. + +"I was only judging by myself," he replied, a little put out. "I +can't say I understood our friend here. Did you?" + +"Perfectly," answered Mrs. Sclater. + +At that moment came a thunderous wave with a great bowff into the +hollow at the end of the gully on whose edge they stood. + +"There's your housemaid's broom, Donal!" said Ginevra. + +They all laughed. + +"Everything depends on how you look at a thing," said Fergus, and +said no more--inwardly resolving, however, to omit from his sermon a +certain sentence about the idle waves dashing themselves to ruin on +the rocks they would destroy, and to work in something instead about +the winds of the winter tossing the snow. A pause followed. + +"Well, this is Saturday, and tomorrow is my work-day, you know, +ladies," he said. "If you would oblige me with your address, Miss +Galbraith, I should do myself the honour of calling on Mr. +Galbraith." + +Ginevra told him where they lived, but added she was afraid he must +not expect to see her father, for he had been out of health lately, +and would see nobody. + +"At all events I shall give myself the chance," he rejoined, and +bidding the ladies good-bye, and nodding to the youths, turned and +walked away. + +For some time there was silence. At length Donal spoke. + +"Poor Fergus!" he said with a little sigh. "He's a good-natured +creature, and was a great help to me; but when I think of him a +preacher, I seem to see an Egyptian priest standing on the threshold +of the great door at Ipsambul, blowing with all his might to keep +out the Libyan desert; and the four great stone gods, sitting behind +the altar, far back in the gloom, laughing at him." + +Then Ginevra asked him something which led to a good deal of talk +about the true and false in poetry, and made Mrs. Sclater feel it +was not for nothing she had befriended the lad from the hills in the +strange garments. And she began to think whether her husband might +not be brought to take a higher view of his calling. + +On Monday Fergus went to pay his visit to Mr. Galbraith. As Ginevra +had said, her father did not appear, but Fergus was far from +disappointed. He had taken it into his head that Miss Galbraith +sided with him when that ill-bred fellow made his rude, not to say +ungrateful, attack upon him, and was much pleased to have a talk +with her. Ginevra thought it would not be right to cherish against +him the memory of the one sin of his youth in her eyes, but she +could not like him. She did not know why, but the truth was, she +felt, without being able to identify, his unreality: she thought it +was because, both in manners and in dress, so far as the custom of +his calling would permit, he was that unpleasant phenomenon, a fine +gentleman. She had never heard him preach, or she would have liked +him still less; for he was an orator wilful and prepense, choice of +long words, fond of climaxes, and always aware of the points at +which he must wave his arm, throw forward his hands, wipe his eyes +with the finest of large cambric handkerchiefs. As it was, she was +heartily tired of him before he went, and when he was gone, found, +as she sat with her father, that she could not recall a word he had +said. As to what had made the fellow stay so long, she was +therefore positively unable to give her father an answer; the +consequence of which was, that, the next time he called, Mr. +Galbraith, much to her relief, stood the brunt of his approach, and +received him. The ice thus broken, his ingratiating manners, and +the full-blown respect he showed Mr. Galbraith, enabling the weak +man to feel himself, as of old, every inch a laird, so won upon him +that, when he took his leave, he gave him a cordial invitation to +repeat his visit. + +He did so, in the evening this time, and remembering a predilection +of the laird's, begged for a game of backgammon. The result of his +policy was, that, of many weeks that followed, every Monday evening +at least he spent with the laird. Ginevra was so grateful to him +for his attention to her father, and his efforts to draw him out of +his gloom, that she came gradually to let a little light of favour +shine upon him. And if the heart of Fergus Duff was drawn to her, +that is not to be counted to him a fault--neither that, his heart +thus drawn, he should wish to marry her. Had she been still heiress +of Glashruach, he dared not have dreamed of such a thing, but, +noting the humble condition to which they were reduced, the growing +familiarity of the father, and the friendliness of the daughter, he +grew very hopeful, and more anxious than ever to secure the +presentation to the North church, which was in the gift of the city. +He could easily have got a rich wife, but he was more greedy of +distinction than of money, and to marry the daughter of the man to +whom he had been accustomed in childhood to look up as the greatest +in the known world, was in his eyes like a patent of nobility, would +be a ratification of his fitness to mingle with the choice of the +land. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +THE NORTH CHURCH. + +It was a cold night in March, cloudy and blowing. Every human body +was turned into a fortress for bare defence of life. There was no +snow on the ground, but it seemed as if there must be snow +everywhere else. There was snow in the clouds overhead, and there +was snow in the mind of man beneath. The very air felt like the +quarry out of which the snow had been dug which was being ground +above. The wind felt black, the sky was black, and the lamps were +blowing about as if they wanted to escape for the darkness was after +them. It was the Sunday following the induction of Fergus, and this +was the meteoric condition through which Donal and Gibbie passed on +their way to the North church, to hear him preach in the pulpit that +was now his own. + +The people had been gathering since long before the hour, and the +youths could find only standing room near the door. Cold as was the +weather, and keen as blew the wind into the church every time a door +was opened, the instant it was shut again it was warm, for the place +was crowded from the very height of the great steep-sloping +galleries, at the back of which the people were standing on the +window sills, down to the double swing-doors, which were constantly +cracking open as if the house was literally too full to hold the +congregation. The aisles also were crowded with people standing, +all eager yet solemn, with granite faces and live eyes. One who did +not know better might well have imagined them gathered in hunger +after good tidings from the kingdom of truth and hope, whereby they +might hasten the coming of that kingdom in their souls and the souls +they loved. But it was hardly that; it was indeed a long way from +it, and no such thing: the eagerness was, in the mass, doubtless +with exceptions, to hear the new preacher, the pyrotechnist of human +logic and eloquence, who was about to burn his halfpenny blue lights +over the abyss of truth, and throw his yelping crackers into it. + +The eyes of the young men went wandering over the crowd, looking for +any of their few acquaintances, but below they mostly fell of course +on the backs of heads. There was, however, no mistaking either +Ginevra's bonnet or the occiput perched like a capital on the long +neck of her father. They sat a good way in front, about the middle +of the great church. At the sight of them Gibbie's face brightened, +Donal's turned pale as death. For, only the last week but one, he +had heard of the frequent visits of the young preacher to the +cottage, and of the favour in which he was held by both father and +daughter; and his state of mind since, had not, with all his +philosophy to rectify and support it, been an enviable one. That he +could not for a moment regard himself as a fit husband for the +lady-lass, or dream of exposing himself or her to the insult which +the offer of himself as a son-in-law would bring on them both from +the laird, was not a reflection to render the thought of such a bag +of wind as Fergus Duff marrying her, one whit the less horribly +unendurable. Had the laird been in the same social position as +before, Donal would have had no fear of his accepting Fergus; but +misfortune alters many relations. Fergus's father was a man of +considerable property, Fergus himself almost a man of influence, and +already in possession of a comfortable income: it was possible to +imagine that the impoverished Thomas Galbraith, late of Glashruach, +Esq., might contrive to swallow what annoyance there could not but +in any case be in wedding his daughter to the son of John Duff, late +his own tenant of the Mains. Altogether Donal's thoughts were not +of the kind to put him in fit mood--I do not say to gather benefit +from the prophesying of Fergus, but to give fair play to the peddler +who now rose to display his loaded calico and beggarly shoddy over +the book-board of the pulpit. But the congregation listened rapt. +I dare not say there was no divine reality concerned in his +utterance, for Gibbie saw many a glimmer through the rents in his +logic, and the thin-worn patches of his philosophy; but it was not +such glimmers that fettered the regards of the audience, but the +noisy flow and false eloquence of the preacher. In proportion to +the falsehood in us are we exposed to the falsehood in others. The +false plays upon the false without discord; comes to the false, and +is welcomed as the true; there is no jar, for the false to the false +look the true; darkness takes darkness for light, and great is the +darkness. I will not attempt an account of the sermon; even +admirably rendered, it would be worthless as the best of copies of a +bad wall-paper. There was in it, to be sure, such a glowing +description of the city of God as might have served to attract +thither all the diamond-merchants of Amsterdam; but why a Christian +should care to go to such a place, let him tell who knows; while, on +the other hand, the audience appeared equally interested in his +equiponderating description of the place of misery. Not once {did +he even} attempt to give, or indeed could have given, the feeblest +idea, to a single soul present, of the one terror of the +universe--the peril of being cast from the arms of essential Love +and Life into the bosom of living Death. For this teacher of men +knew nothing whatever but by hearsay, had not in himself experienced +one of the joys or one of the horrors he endeavoured to embody. + +Gibbie was not at home listening to such a sermon; he was +distressed, and said afterwards to Donal he would far rather be +subjected to Mr. Sclater's isms than Fergus's ations. It caused him +pain too to see Donal look so scornful, so contemptuous even; while +it added to Donal's unrest, and swelled his evil mood, to see Mr. +Galbraith absorbed. For Ginevra's bonnet, it did not once move--but +then it was not set at an angle to indicate either eyes upturned in +listening, or cast down in emotion. Donal would have sacrificed not +a few songs, the only wealth he possessed, for one peep round the +corner of that bonnet. He had become painfully aware, that, much as +he had seen of Ginevra, he knew scarcely anything of her thoughts; +he had always talked so much more to her than she to him, that now, +when he longed to know, he could not even guess what she might be +thinking, or what effect such "an arrangement" of red and yellow +would have upon her imagination and judgment. She could not think +or receive what was not true, he felt sure, but she might easily +enough attribute truth where it did not exist. + +At length the rockets, Roman candles, and squibs were all burnt out, +the would-be "eternal blazon" was over, and the preacher sunk back +exhausted in his seat. The people sang; a prayer, fit pendent to +such a sermon, followed, and the congregation was dismissed--it +could not be with much additional strength to meet the sorrows, +temptations, sophisms, commonplaces, disappointments, dulnesses, +stupidities, and general devilries of the week, although not a few +paid the preacher welcome compliments on his "gran' discoorse." + +The young men were out among the first, and going round to another +door, in the church-yard, by which they judged Ginevra and her +father must issue, there stood waiting. The night was utterly +changed. The wind had gone about, and the vapours were high in +heaven, broken all into cloud-masses of sombre grandeur. Now from +behind, now upon their sides, they were made glorious by the full +moon, while through their rents appeared the sky and the ever +marvellous stars. Gibbie's eyes went climbing up the spire that +shot skyward over their heads. Around its point the clouds and the +moon seemed to gather, grouping themselves in grand carelessness; +and he thought of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven; to +us mere heaps of watery vapour, ever ready to fall, drowning the +earth in rain, or burying it in snow, to angel-feet they might be +solid masses whereon to tread attendant upon him, who, although with +his word he ruled winds and seas, loved to be waited on by the +multitude of his own! He was yet gazing, forgetful of the human +tide about him, watching the glory dominant over storm, when his +companion pinched his arm: he looked, and was aware that Fergus, +muffled to the eyes, was standing beside them. He seemed not to see +them, and they were nowise inclined to attract his attention, but +gazed motionless on the church door, an unsealed fountain of souls. +What a curious thing it is to watch an issuing crowd of faces for +one loved one--all so unattractive, provoking, blamable, as they +come rolling round corners, dividing, and flowing away--not one of +them the right one! But at last out she did come--Ginevra, like a +daisy among mown grass! It was really she!--but with her father. +She saw Donal, glanced from him to Gibbie, cast down her sweet +eyes, and made no sign. Fergus had already advanced and addressed +the laird. + +"Ah, Mr. Duff!" said Mr. Galbraith; "excuse me, but would you oblige +me by giving your arm to my daughter? I see a friend waiting to +speak to me. I shall overtake you in a moment." + +Fergus murmured his pleasure, and Ginevra and he moved away +together. The youths for a moment watched the father. He +dawdled--evidently wanted to speak to no one. They then followed +the two, walking some yards behind them. Every other moment Fergus +would bend his head towards Ginevra; once or twice they saw the +little bonnet turn upwards in response or question. Poor Donal was +burning with lawless and foolish indignation: why should the +minister muffle himself up like an old woman in the crowd, and take +off the great handkerchief when talking with the lady? When the +youths reached the street where the cottage stood, they turned the +corner after them, and walked quickly up to them where they stood at +the gate waiting for it to be opened. + +"Sic a gran' nicht!" said Donal, after the usual greetings. "Sir +Gibbie an' me 's haein' a dauner wi' the mune. Ye wad think she had +licht eneuch to haud the cloods aff o' her, wad ye no, mem? But na! +they'll be upon her, an' I'm feart there's ae unco black ane +yon'er--dinna ye see 't--wi' a straik o' white, aboot the thrapple +o' 't?--There--dinna ye see 't?" he went on pointing to the clouds +about the moon, "--that ane, I'm doobtin', 'ill hae the better o' +her or lang--tak her intill 'ts airms, an' bray a' the licht oot o' +her. Guid nicht, mem.--Guid nicht, Fergus. You ministers sudna mak +yersels sae like cloods. Ye sud be cled in white an' gowd, an' a' +colours o' stanes, like the new Jerooslem ye tell sic tales aboot, +an' syne naebody wad mistak the news ye bring." + +Therewith Donal walked on, doubtless for the moment a little +relieved. But before they had walked far, he broke down altogether. + +"Gibbie," he said, "yon rascal's gauin' to merry the leddy-lass! an' +it drives me mad to think it. Gien I cud but ance see an' speyk +till her--ance--jist ance! Lord! what 'll come o' a' the gowans +upo' the Mains, an' the heather upo' Glashgar!" + +He burst out crying, but instantly dashed away his tears with +indignation at his weakness. + +"I maun dree my weird," (undergo my doom), he said, and said no +more. + +Gibbie's face had grown white in the moon-gleams, and his lips +trembled. He put his arm through Donal's and clung to him, and in +silence they went home. When they reached Donal's room, Donal +entering shut the door behind him and shut out Gibbie. He stood for +a moment like one dazed, then suddenly coming to himself, turned +away, left the house, and ran straight to Daur-street. + +When the minister's door was opened to him, he went to that of the +dining-room, knowing Mr. and Mrs. Sclater would then be at supper. +Happily for his intent, the minister was at the moment having his +tumbler of toddy after the labours of the day, an indulgence which, +so long as Gibbie was in the house, he had, ever since that first +dinner-party, taken in private, out of regard, as he pretended to +himself, for the boy's painful associations with it, but in reality, +to his credit be it told if it may, from a little shame of the thing +itself; and his wife therefore, when she saw Gibbie, rose, and, +meeting him, took him with her to her own little sitting-room, where +they had a long talk, of which the result appeared the next night in +a note from Mrs. Sclater to Gibbie, asking him and Donal to spend +the evening of Tuesday with her. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE QUARRY. + +Donal threw everything aside, careless of possible disgrace in the +class the next morning, and, trembling with hope, accompanied +Gibbie: she would be there--surely! It was one of those clear +nights in which a gleam of straw-colour in the west, with +light-thinned gray-green deepening into blue above it, is like the +very edge of the axe of the cold--the edge that reaches the soul. +But the youths were warm enough: they had health and hope. The +hospitable crimson room, with its round table set out for a Scotch +tea, and its fire blazing hugely, received them. And there sat +Ginevra by the fire! with her pretty feet on a footstool before it: +in those days ladies wore open shoes, and showed dainty stockings. +Her face looked rosy, but it was from the firelight, for when she +turned it towards them, it showed pale as usual. She received them, +as always, with the same simple sincerity that had been hers on the +bank of the Lorrie burn. But Gibbie read some trouble in her eyes, +for his soul was all touch, and, like a delicate spiritual +seismograph, responded at once to the least tremble of a +neighbouring soul. The minister was not present, and Mrs. Sclater +had both to be the blazing coal, and keep blowing herself, else, +however hot it might be at the smouldering hearth, the little +company would have sent up no flame of talk. + +When tea was over, Gibbie went to the window, got within the red +curtains, and peeped out. Returning presently, he spelled with +fingers and signed with hands to Ginevra that it was a glorious +night: would she not come for a walk? Ginevra looked to Mrs. +Sclater. + +"Gibbie wants me to go for a walk," she said. + +"Certainly, my dear--if you are well enough to go with him," replied +her friend. + +"I am always well," answered Ginevra. + +"I can't go with you," said Mrs. Sclater, "for I expect my husband +every moment; but what occasion is there, with two such knights to +protect you?" + +She was straining hard on the bit of propriety; but she knew them +all so well? she said to herself. Then first perceiving Gibbie's +design, Donal cast him a grateful glance, while Ginevra rose +hastily, and ran to put on her outer garments. Plainly to Donal, +she was pleased to go. + +When they stood on the pavement, there was the moon, the very cream +of light, ladying it in a blue heaven. It was not all her own, but +the clouds about her were white and attendant, and ever when they +came near her took on her livery--the poor paled-rainbow colours, +which are all her reflected light can divide into: that strange +brown we see so often on her cloudy people must, I suppose, be what +the red or the orange fades to. There was a majesty and peace about +her airy domination, which Donal himself would have found difficult, +had he known her state, to bring into harmony with her aeonian +death. Strange that the light of lovers should be the coldest of +all cold things within human ken--dead with cold, millions of years +before our first father and mother appeared each to the other on the +earth! The air was keen but dry. Nothing could fall but snow; and +of anything like it there was nothing but those few frozen vapours +that came softly out of the deeps to wait on the moon. Between them +and behind them lay depth absolute, expressed in the perfection of +nocturnal blues, deep as gentle, the very home of the dwelling +stars. The steps of the youths rang on the pavements, and Donal's +voice seemed to him so loud and clear that he muffled it all in +gentler meaning. He spoke low, and Ginevra answered him softly. +They walked close together, and Gibbie flitted to and fro, now on +this side, now on that, now in front of them, now behind. + +"Hoo likit ye the sermon, mem?" asked Donal. + +"Papa thought it a grand sermon," answered Ginevra. + +"An' yersel'?" persisted Donal. + +"Papa tells me I am no judge," she replied. + +"That's as muckle as to say ye didna like it sae weel as he did!" +returned Donal, in a tone expressing some relief. + +"Mr. Duff is very good to my father, Donal," she rejoined, "and I +don't like to say anything against his sermon; but all the time I +could not help thinking whether your mother would like this and +that; for you know, Donal, any good there is in me I have got from +her, and from Gibbie--and from you, Donal." + +The youth's heart beat with a pleasure that rose to physical pain. +Had he been a winged creature he would have flown straight up; but +being a sober wingless animal, he stumped on with his two happy +legs. Gladly would he have shown her the unreality of Fergus--that +he was a poor shallow creature, with only substance enough to carry +show and seeming, but he felt, just because he had reason to fear +him, that it would be unmanly to speak the truth of him behind his +back, except in the absolute necessity of rectitude. He felt also +that, if Ginevra owed her father's friend such delicacy, he owed him +at least a little silence; for was he not under more obligation to +this same shallow-pated orator, than to all eternity he could wipe +out, even if eternity carried in it the possibility of wiping out an +obligation? Few men understand, but Donal did, that he who would +cancel an obligation is a dishonest man. I cannot help it that many +a good man--good, that is, because he is growing better--must then +be reckoned in the list of the dishonest: he is in their number +until he leaves it. + +Donal remaining silent, Ginevra presently returned him his own +question: + +"How did you like the sermon, Donal?" + +"Div ye want me to say, mem?" he asked. + +"I do, Donal," she answered. + +"Weel, I wad jist say, in a general w'y, 'at I canna think muckle o' +ony sermon 'at micht gar a body think mair o' the precher nor o' him +'at he comes to prech aboot. I mean, 'at I dinna see hoo onybody +was to lo'e God or his neebour ae jot the mair for hearin' yon +sermon last nicht." + +"But might not some be frightened by it, and brought to repentance, +Donal?" suggested the girl. + +"Ou ay; I daur say; I dinna ken. But I canna help thinkin' 'at what +disna gie God onything like fair play, canna dee muckle guid to men, +an' may, I doobt, dee a heap o' ill. It's a pagan kin' o' a thing +yon." + +"That's just what I was feeling--I don't say thinking, you know--for +you say we must not say think when we have taken no trouble about +it. I am sorry for Mr. Duff, if he has taken to teaching where he +does not understand." + +They had left the city behind them, and were walking a wide open +road, with a great sky above it. On its borders were small fenced +fields, and a house here and there with a garden. It was a +plain-featured, slightly undulating country, with hardly any +trees--not at all beautiful, except as every place under the heaven +which man has not defiled is beautiful to him who can see what is +there. But this night the earth was nothing: what was in them and +over them was all. Donal felt--as so many will feel, before the +earth, like a hen set to hatch the eggs of a soaring bird, shall +have done rearing broods for heaven--that, with this essential love +and wonder by his side, to be doomed to go on walking to all +eternity would be a blissful fate, were the landscape turned to a +brick-field, and the sky to persistent gray. + +"Wad ye no tak my airm, mem?" he said at length, summoning courage. +"I jist fin' mysel' like a horse wi' a reyn brocken, gaein' by +mysel' throu' the air this gait." + +Before he had finished the sentence Ginevra had accepted the offer. +It was the first time. His arm trembled. He thought it was her +hand. + +"Ye're no cauld, are ye, mem?" he said. + +"Not the least," she answered. + +"Eh, mem! gien fowk was but a' made oot o' the same clay, like, 'at +ane micht say till anither--'Ye hae me as ye hae yersel''!" + +"Yes, Donal," rejoined Ginevra; "I wish we were all made of the +poet-clay like you! What it would be to have a well inside, out of +which to draw songs and ballads as I pleased! That's what you have, +Donal--or, rather, you're just a draw-well of music yourself." + +Donal laughed merrily. A moment more and he broke out singing: + +My thoughts are like fireflies, pulsing in moonlight; +My heart is a silver cup, full of red wine; +My soul a pale gleaming horizon, whence soon light +Will flood the gold earth with a torrent divine. + +"What's that, Donal?" cried Ginevra. + +"Ow, naething," answered Donal. "It was only my hert lauchin'." + +"Say the words," said Ginevra. + +"I canna--I dinna ken them noo," replied Donal. + +"Oh, Donal! are those lovely words gone--altogether--for ever? +Shall I not hear them again?" + +"I'll try to min' upo' them whan I gang hame," he said. "I canna the +noo. I can think o' naething but ae thing." + +"And what is that, Donal?" + +"Yersel'," answered Donal. + +Ginevra's hand lifted just a half of its weight from Donal's arm, +like a bird that had thought of flying, then settled again. + +"It is very pleasant to be together once more as in the old time, +Donal--though there are no daisies and green fields.--But what place +is that, Donal?" + +Instinctively, almost unconsciously, she wanted to turn the +conversation. The place she pointed to was an opening immediately +on the roadside, through a high bank--narrow and dark, with one side +half lighted by the moon. She had often passed it, walking with her +school-fellows, but had never thought of asking what it was. In the +shining dusk it looked strange and a little dreadful. + +"It's the muckle quarry, mem," answered Donal: "div ye no ken that? +That's whaur maist the haill toon cam oot o'. It's a some eerie +kin' o' a place to luik at i' this licht. I won'er at ye never +saw't." + +"I have seen the opening there, but never took much notice of it +before," said Ginevra. + +"Come an' I'll lat ye see't," rejoined Donal. "It's weel worth +luikin' intill. Ye hae nae notion sic a place as 'tis. It micht be +amo' the grenite muntains o' Aigypt, though they takna freely sic +fine blocks oot o' this ane as they tuik oot o' that at Syene. Ye +wadna be fleyt to come an' see what the meen maks o' 't, wad ye, +mem?" + +"No, Donal. I would not be frightened to go anywhere with you. +But--" + +"Eh, mem! it maks me richt prood to hear ye say that. Come awa' +than." + +So saying, he turned aside, and led her into the narrow passage, cut +through a friable sort of granite. Gibbie, thinking they had gone +to have but a peep and return, stood in the road, looking at the +clouds and the moon, and crooning to himself. By and by, when he +found they did not return, he followed them. + +When they reached the end of the cutting, Ginevra started at sight +of the vast gulf, the moon showing the one wall a ghastly gray, and +from the other throwing a shadow half across the bottom. But a +winding road went down into it, and Donal led her on. She shrunk at +first, drawing back from the profound, mysterious-looking abyss, so +awfully still; but when Donal looked at her, she was ashamed to +refuse to go farther, and indeed almost afraid to take her hand from +his arm; so he led her down the terrace road. The side of the +quarry was on one hand, and on the other she could see only into the +gulf. + +"Oh, Donal!" she said at length, almost in a whisper, "this is like +a dream I once had, of going down and down a long roundabout road, +inside the earth, down and down, to the heart of a place full of the +dead--the ground black with death, and between horrible walls." + +Donal looked at her; his face was in the light reflected from the +opposite gray precipice: she thought it looked white and strange, +and grew more frightened, but dared not speak. Presently Donal +again began to sing, and this is something like what he sang:-- + + "Death! whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" + "I bide in ilka breath," + Quo' Death. + "No i' the pyramids, + An' no the worms amids, + 'Neth coffin-lids; + I bidena whaur life has been, + An' whaur's nae mair to be dune." + + "Death! whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" + "Wi' the leevin', to dee 'at's laith," + Quo' Death. + "Wi' the man an' the wife + 'At lo'e like life, + But strife; (without) + Wi' the bairns 'at hing to their mither, + An' a' 'at lo'e ane anither." + + "Death! whaur do ye bide, auld Death?" + "Abune an' aboot an' aneath," + Quo' Death. + "But o' a' the airts, + An' o' a' the pairts, + In herts, + Whan the tane to the tither says na, + An' the north win' begins to blaw." + +"What a terrible song, Donal!" said Ginevra. + +He made no reply, but went on, leading her down into the pit: he had +been afraid she was going to draw back, and sang the first words her +words suggested, knowing she would not interrupt him. The aspect of +the place grew frightful to her. + +"Are you sure there are no holes--full of water, down there?" she +faltered. + +"Ay, there's ane or twa," replied Donal, "but we'll haud oot o' +them." + +Ginevra shuddered, but was determined to show no fear: Donal should +not reproach her with lack of faith! They stepped at last on the +level below, covered with granite chips and stones and great blocks. +In the middle rose a confused heap of all sorts. To this, and +round to the other side of it, Donal led her. There shone the moon +on the corner of a pool, the rest of which crept away in blackness +under an overhanging mass. She caught his arm with both hands. He +told her to look up. Steep granite rock was above them all round, +on one side dark, on the other mottled with the moon and the +thousand shadows of its own roughness; over the gulf hung vaulted +the blue, cloud-blotted sky, whence the moon seemed to look straight +down upon her, asking what they were about, away from their kind, in +such a place of terror. + +Suddenly Donal caught her hand. She looked in his face. It was not +the moon that could make it so white. + +"Ginevra!" he said, with trembling voice. + +"Yes, Donal," she answered. + +"Ye're no angry at me for ca'in ye by yer name? I never did it +afore." + +"I always call you Donal," she answered. + +"That's nait'ral. Ye're a gran' leddy, an' I'm naething abune a +herd-laddie." + +"You're a great poet, Donal, and that's much more than being a lady +or a gentleman." + +"Ay, maybe," answered Donal listlessly, as if he were thinking of +something far away; "but it winna mak up for the tither; they're no +upo' the same side o' the watter, like. A puir lad like me daurna +lift an ee till a gran' leddy like you, mem. A' the warl' wad but +scorn him, an' lauch at the verra notion. My time's near ower at +the college, an' I see naething for 't but gang hame an' fee (hire +myself). I'll be better workin' wi' my han's nor wi' my heid whan I +hae nae houp left o' ever seein' yer face again. I winna lowse a +day aboot it. Gien I lowse time I may lowse my rizon. Hae patience +wi' me ae meenute, mem; I'm jist driven to tell ye the trowth. It's +mony a lang sin' I hae kent mysel' wantin' you. Ye're the boady, +an' I'm the shaidow. I dinna mean nae hyperbolics--that's the w'y +the thing luiks to me i' my ain thouchts. Eh, mem, but ye're +bonnie! Ye dinna ken yersel' hoo bonnie ye are, nor what a +subversion you mak i' my hert an' my heid. I cud jist cut my heid +aff, an' lay 't aneth yer feet to haud them aff o' the cauld flure." + +Still she looked him in the eyes, like one bewildered, unable to +withdraw her eyes from his. Her face too had grown white. + +"Tell me to haud my tongue, mem, an' I'll haud it," he said. + +Her lips moved, but no sound came. + +"I ken weel," he went on, "ye can never luik upo' me as onything +mair nor a kin' o' a human bird, 'at ye wad hing in a cage, an' gie +seeds an' bits o' sugar till, an' hearken till whan he sang. I'll +never trouble ye nae mair, an' whether ye grant me my prayer or no, +ye'll never see me again. The only differ 'ill be 'at I'll aither +hing my heid or haud it up for the rest o' my days. I wad fain ken +'at I wasna despised, an' 'at maybe gien things had been +different,--but na, I dinna mean that; I mean naething 'at wad +fricht ye frae what I wad hae. It sudna mean a hair mair nor lies +in itsel'." + +"What is it, Donal?" said Ginevra, half inaudibly, and with effort: +she could scarcely speak for a fluttering in her throat. + +"I cud beseech ye upo' my k-nees," he went on, as if she had not +spoken, "to lat me kiss yer bonnie fut; but that ye micht grant for +bare peety, an' that wad dee me little guid; sae for ance an' for +a', till maybe efter we're a' ayont the muckle sea, I beseech at the +fauvour o' yer sweet sowl, to lay upo' me, as upo' the lips o' the +sowl 'at sang ye the sangs ye likit sae weel to hear whan ye was but +a leddy-lassie--ae solitary kiss. It shall be holy to me as the +licht; an' I sweir by the Trowth I'll think o' 't but as ye think, +an' man nor wuman nor bairn, no even Gibbie himsel', sall ken--" + +The last word broke the spell upon Ginevra. + +"But, Donal," she said, as quietly as when years ago they talked by +the Lorrie side, "would it be right?--a secret with you I could not +tell to any one?--not even if afterwards--" + +Donal's face grew so ghastly with utter despair that absolute terror +seized her; she turned from him and fled, calling "Gibbie! Gibbie!" + +He was not many yards off, approaching the mound as she came from +behind it. He ran to meet her. She darted to him like a dove +pursued by a hawk, threw herself into his arms, laid her head on his +shoulder, and wept. Gibbie held her fast, and with all the ways in +his poor power sought to comfort her. She raised her face at +length. It was all wet with tears which glistened in the moonlight. +Hurriedly Gibbie asked on his fingers: + +"Was Donal not good to you?" + +"He's beautiful," she sobbed; "but I couldn't, you know, Gibbie, I +couldn't. I don't care a straw about position and all that--who +would with a poet?--but I couldn't, you know, Gibbie. I couldn't +let him think I might have married him--in any case: could I now, +Gibbie?" + +She laid her head again on his shoulder and sobbed. Gibbie did not +well understand her. Donal, where he had thrown himself on a heap +of granite chips, heard and understood, felt and knew and resolved +all in one. The moon shone, and the clouds went flitting like +ice-floe about the sky, now gray in distance, now near the moon and +white, now in her very presence and adorned with her favour on their +bosoms, now drifting again into the gray; and still the two, Ginevra +and Gibbie, stood motionless--Gibbie with the tears in his eyes, and +Ginevra weeping as if her heart would break; and behind the granite +blocks lay Donal. + +Again Ginevra raised her head. + +"Gibbie, you must go and look after poor Donal," she said. + +Gibbie went, but Donal was nowhere to be seen. To escape the two he +loved so well, and be alone as he felt, he had crept away softly +into one of the many recesses of the place. Again and again Gibbie +made the noise with which he was accustomed to call him, but he gave +back no answer, and they understood that wherever he was he wanted +to be left to himself. They climbed again the winding way out of +the gulf, and left him the heart of its desolation. + +"Take me home, Gibbie," said Ginevra, when they reached the high +road. + +As they went, not a word more passed between them. Ginevra was as +dumb as Gibbie, and Gibbie was sadder than he had ever been in his +life--not only for Donal's sake, but because, in his inexperienced +heart, he feared that Ginevra would not listen to Donal because she +could not--because she had already promised herself to Fergus Duff; +and with all his love to his kind, he could not think it well that +Fergus should be made happy at such a price. He left her at her own +door, and went home, hoping to find Donal there before him. + +He was not there. Hour after hour passed, and he did not appear. +At eleven o'clock, Gibbie set out to look for him, but with little +hope of finding him. He went all the way back to the quarry, +thinking it possible he might be waiting there, expecting him to +return without Ginevra. The moon was now low, and her light reached +but a little way into it, so that the look of the place was quite +altered, and the bottom of it almost dark. But Gibbie had no fear. +He went down to the spot, almost feeling his way, where they had +stood, got upon the heap, and called and whistled many times. But +no answer came. Donal was away, he did not himself know where, +wandering wherever the feet in his spirit led him. Gibbie went home +again, and sat up all night, keeping the kettle boiling, ready to +make tea for him the moment he should come in. But even in the +morning Donal did not appear. Gibbie was anxious--for Donal was +unhappy. + +He might hear of him at the college, he thought, and went at the +usual hour. Sure enough, as he entered the quadrangle, there was +Donal going in at the door leading to the moral philosophy +class-room. For hours, neglecting his own class, he watched about +the court, but Donal never showed himself. Gibbie concluded he had +watched to avoid him, and had gone home by Crown-street, and himself +returned the usual and shorter way, sure almost of now finding him +in his room--although probably with the door locked. The room was +empty, and Mistress Murkison had not seen him. + +Donal's final examination, upon which alone his degree now depended, +came on the next day: Gibbie watched at a certain corner, and unseen +saw him pass--with a face pale but strong, eyes that seemed not to +have slept, and lips that looked the inexorable warders of many +sighs. After that he did not see him once till the last day of the +session arrived. Then in the public room he saw him go up to +receive his degree. Never before had he seen him look grand; and +Gibbie knew that there was not any evil in the world, except wrong. +But it had been the dreariest week he had ever passed. As they +came from the public room, he lay in wait for him once more, but +again in vain: he must have gone through the sacristan's garden +behind. + +When he reached his lodging, he found a note from Donal waiting him, +in which he bade him good-bye, said he was gone to his mother, and +asked him to pack up his things for him: he would write to Mistress +Murkison and tell her what to do with the chest. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +A NIGHT-WATCH. + +A sense of loneliness, such as in all his forsaken times he had +never felt, overshadowed Gibbie when he read this letter. He was +altogether perplexed by Donal's persistent avoidance of him. He had +done nothing to hurt him, and knew himself his friend in his sorrow +as well as in his joy. He sat down in the room that had been his, +and wrote to him. As often as he raised his eyes--for he had not +shut the door--he saw the dusty sunshine on the old furniture. It +was a bright day, one of the poursuivants of the yet distant summer, +but how dreary everything looked! how miserable and heartless now +Donal was gone, and would never regard those things any more! When +he had ended his letter, almost for the first time in his life, he +sat thinking what he should do next. It was as if he were suddenly +becalmed on the high seas; one wind had ceased to blow, and another +had not begun. It troubled him a little that he must now return to +Mr. Sclater, and once more feel the pressure of a nature not +homogeneous with his own. But it would not be for long. + +Mr. Sclater had thought of making a movement towards gaining an +extension of his tutelage beyond the ordinary legal period, on the +ground of unfitness in his ward for the management of his property; +but Gibbie's character and scholarship, and the opinion of the world +which would follow failure, had deterred him from the attempt. In +the month of May, therefore, when, according to the registry of his +birth in the parish book, he would be of age, he would also be, as +he expected, his own master, so far as other mortals were concerned. +As to what he would then do, he had thought much, and had plans, +but no one knew anything of them except Donal--who had forsaken him. + +He was in no haste to return to Daur-street. He packed Donal's +things, with all the books they had bought together, and committed +the chest to Mistress Murkison. He then told her he would rather +not give up his room just yet, but would like to keep it on for a +while, and come and go as he pleased; to which the old woman +replied, + +"As ye wull, Sir Gibbie. Come an' gang as free as the win'. Mak o' +my hoose as gien it war yer ain." + +He told her he would sleep there that night, and she got him his +dinner as usual; after which, putting a Greek book in his pocket, he +went out, thinking to go to the end of the pier and sit there a +while. He would gladly have gone to Ginevra, but she had prevented +him when she was at school, and had never asked him since she left +it. But Gibbie was not _ennuye_: the pleasure of his life came from +the very roots of his being, and would therefore run into any +channel of his consciousness; neither was he greatly troubled; +nothing could "put rancours in the vessel of" his "peace;" he was +only very hungry after the real presence of the human; and scarcely +had he set his foot on the pavement, when he resolved to go and see +Mistress Croale. The sun, still bright, was sinking towards the +west, and a cold wind was blowing. He walked to the market, up to +the gallery of it, and on to the farther end, greeting one and +another of the keepers of the little shops, until he reached that of +Mistress Croale. She was overjoyed at sight of him, and proud the +neighbours saw the terms they were on. She understood his signs and +finger-speech tolerably, and held her part of the conversation in +audible utterance. She told him that for the week past Donal had +occupied her garret--she did not know why, she said, and hoped +nothing had gone wrong between them. Gibbie signed that he could +not tell her about it there, but would go and take tea with her in +the evening. + +"I'm sorry I canna be hame sae ear'," she replied. "I promised to +tak my dish o' tay wi' auld Mistress Green--the kail-wife, ye ken, +Sir Gibbie."--Gibbie nodded and she resumed:--"But gien ye wad tak a +lug o' a Fin'on haddie wi' me at nine o'clock, I wad be prood." + +Gibbie nodded again, and left her. + +All this time he had not happened to discover that the lady who +stood at the next counter, not more than a couple of yards from him, +was Miss Kimble--which was the less surprising in that the lady took +some trouble to hide the fact. She extended her purchasing when she +saw who was shaking hands with the next stall-keeper, but kept her +face turned from him, heard all Mrs. Croale said to him, and went +away asking herself what possible relations except objectionable +ones could exist between such a pair. She knew little or nothing of +Gibbie's early history, for she had not been a dweller in the city +when Gibbie was known as well as the town-cross to almost every man, +woman, and child in it, else perhaps she might, but I doubt it, have +modified her conclusion. Her instinct was in the right, she said, +with self-gratulation; he was a lad of low character and tastes, +just what she had taken him for the first moment she saw him: his +friends could not know what he was; she was bound to acquaint them +with his conduct; and first of all, in duty to her old pupil, she +must let Mr. Galbraith know what sort of friendships this Sir +Gilbert, his nephew, cultivated. She went therefore straight to the +cottage. + +Fergus was there when she rang the bell. Mr. Galbraith looked out, +and seeing who it was, retreated--the more hurriedly that he owed +her money, and imagined she had come to dun him. But when she found +to her disappointment that she could not see him, Miss Kimble did +not therefore attempt to restrain a little longer the pent-up waters +of her secret. Mr. Duff was a minister, and the intimate friend of +the family: she would say what she had seen and heard. Having then +first abjured all love of gossip, she told her tale, appealing to +the minister whether she had not been right in desiring to let Sir +Gilbert's uncle know how he was going on. + +"I was not aware that Sir Gilbert was a cousin of yours, Miss +Galbraith," said Fergus. + +Ginevra's face was rosy red, but it was now dusk, and the fire-light +had friendly retainer-shadows about it. + +"He is not my cousin," she answered. + +"Why, Ginevra! you told me he was your cousin," said Miss Kimble, +with keen moral reproach. + +"I beg your pardon; I never did," said Ginevra. + +"I must see your father instantly," cried Miss Kimble, rising in +anger. "He must be informed at once how much he is mistaken in the +young gentleman he permits to be on such friendly terms with his +daughter." + +"My father does not know him," rejoined Ginevra; "and I should +prefer they were not brought together just at present." + +Her words sounded strange even in her own ears, but she knew no way +but the straight one. + +"You quite shock me, Ginevra!" said the school-mistress, resuming +her seat: "you cannot mean to say you cherish acquaintance with a +young man of whom your father knows nothing, and whom you dare not +introduce to him?" + +To explain would have been to expose her father to blame. + +"I have known Sir Gilbert from my childhood," she said. + +"Is it possible your duplicity reaches so far?" cried Miss Kimble, +assured in her own mind that Ginevra had said he was her cousin. + +Fergus thought it was time to interfere. + +"I know something of the circumstances that led to the acquaintance +of Miss Galbraith with Sir Gilbert," he said, "and I am sure it +would only annoy her father to have any allusion made to it by +one--excuse me, Miss Kimble--who is comparatively a stranger. I beg +you will leave the matter to me." + +Fergus regarded Gibbie as a half witted fellow, and had no fear of +him. He knew nothing of the commencement of his acquaintance with +Ginevra, but imagined it had come about through Donal; for, +studiously as Mr. Galbraith had avoided mention of his quarrel with +Ginevra because of the lads, something of it had crept out, and +reached the Mains; and in now venturing allusion to that old story, +Fergus was feeling after a nerve whose vibration, he thought, might +afford him some influence over Ginevra. + +He spoke authoritatively, and Miss Kimble, though convinced it was a +mere pretence of her graceless pupil that her father would not see +her, had to yield, and rose. Mr. Duff rose also, saying he would +walk with her. He returned to the cottage, dined with them, and +left about eight o'clock. + +Already well enough acquainted in the city to learn without +difficulty where Mistress Croale lived, and having nothing very +particular to do, he strolled in the direction of her lodging, and +saw Gibbie go into the house. Having seen him in, he was next +seized with the desire to see him out again; having lain in wait for +him as a beneficent brownie, he must now watch him as a profligate +baronet forsooth! To haunt the low street until he should issue was +a dreary prospect--in the east wind of a March night, which some +giant up above seemed sowing with great handfuls of rain-seed; but +having made up his mind, he stood his ground. For two hours he +walked, vaguely cherishing an idea that he was fulfilling a duty of +his calling, as a moral policeman. + +When at length Gibbie appeared, he had some difficulty in keeping +him in sight, for the sky was dark, the moon was not yet up, and +Gibbie walked like a swift shadow before him. Suddenly, as if some +old association had waked the old habit, he started off at a quick +trot. Fergus did his best to follow. As he ran, Gibbie caught +sight of a woman seated on a doorstep, almost under a lamp, a few +paces up a narrow passage, stopped, stepped within the passage, and +stood in a shadow watching her. She had turned the pocket of her +dress inside out, and seemed unable to satisfy herself that there +was nothing there but the hole, which she examined again and again, +as if for the last news of her last coin. Too thoroughly satisfied +at length, she put back the pocket, and laid her head on her hands. +Gibbie had not a farthing. Oh, how cold it was! and there sat his +own flesh and blood shivering in it! He went up to her. The same +moment Fergus passed the end of the court. Gibbie took her by the +hand. She started in terror, but his smile reassured her. He drew +her, and she rose. He laid her hand on his arm, and she went with +him. He had not yet begun to think about prudence, and perhaps, if +some of us thought more about right, we should have less occasion to +cultivate the inferior virtue. Perhaps also we should have more +belief that there is One to care that things do not go wrong. + +Fergus had given up the chase, and having met a policeman, was +talking to him, when Gibbie came up with the woman on his arm, and +passed them. Fergus again followed, sure of him now. Had not fear +of being recognized prevented him from passing them and looking, he +would have seen only a poor old thing, somewhere about sixty; but if +she had been beautiful as the morning, of course Gibbie would have +taken her all the same. He was the Gibbie that used to see the +drunk people home. Gibbies like him do not change; they grow. + +After following them through several streets, Fergus saw them stop +at a door. Gibbie opened it with a key which his spy imagined the +woman gave him. They entered, and shut it almost in Fergus's face, +as he hurried up determined to speak. Gibbie led the poor shivering +creature up the stair, across the chaos of furniture, and into his +room, in the other corner next to Donal's. To his joy he found the +fire was not out. He set her in the easiest chair he had, put the +kettle on, blew the fire to a blaze, made coffee, cut bread and +butter, got out a pot of marmalade, and ate and drank with his +guest. She seemed quite bewildered and altogether unsure. I +believe she took him at last, finding he never spoke, for +half-crazy, as not a few had done, and as many would yet do. She +smelt of drink, but was sober, and ready enough to eat. When she +had taken as much as she would, Gibbie turned down the bed-clothes, +made a sign to her she was to sleep there, took the key from the +outside of the door, and put it in the lock on the inside, nodded a +good-night, and left her, closing the door softly, which he heard +her lock behind him, and going to Donal's room, where he slept. + +In the morning he knocked at her door, but there was no answer, and +opening it, he found she was gone. + +When he told Mistress Murkison what he had done, he was considerably +astonished at the wrath and indignation which instantly developed +themselves in the good creature's atmosphere. That her respectable +house should be made a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from +the tempest, was infuriating. Without a moment's delay, she began a +sweeping and scrubbing, and general cleansing of the room, as if all +the devils had spent the night in it. And then for the first time +Gibbie reflected, that, when he ran about the streets, he had never +been taken home--except once, to be put under the rod and staff of +the old woman. If Janet had been like the rest of them, he would +have died upon Glashgar, or be now wandering about the country, +doing odd jobs for half-pence! He must not do like other +people--would not, could not, dared not be like them! He had had +such a thorough schooling in humanity as nobody else had had! He +had been to school in the streets, in dark places of revelry and +crime, and in the very house of light! + +When Mistress Murkison told him that if ever he did the like again, +she would give him notice to quit, he looked in her face: she stared +a moment in return, then threw her arms round his neck, and kissed +him. + +"Ye're the bonniest cratur o' a muckle idiot 'at ever man saw!" she +cried; "an' gien ye dinna tak the better care, ye'll be soopit aff +to haiven afore ye ken whaur ye are or what ye're aboot." + +Her feelings, if not her sentiments, experienced a relapse when she +discovered that one of her few silver tea-spoons was gone--which, +beyond a doubt, the woman had taken: she abused her, and again +scolded Gibbie, with much vigour. But Gibbie said to himself, "The +woman is not bad, for there were two more silver spoons on the +table." Even in the matter of stealing we must think of our own +beam before our neighbour's mote. It is not easy to be honest. +There is many a thief who is less of a thief than many a +respectable member of society. The thief must be punished, and +assuredly the other shall not come out until he has paid the +uttermost farthing. Gibbie, who would have died rather than cast a +shadow of injustice, was not shocked at the woman's depravity like +Mistress Murkison. I am afraid he smiled. He took no notice either +of her scoldings or her lamentations; but the first week after he +came of age, he carried her a present of a dozen spoons. + +Fergus could not tell Ginevra what he had seen; and if he told her +father, she would learn that he had been playing the spy. To go to +Mr. Sclater would have compromised him similarly. And what great +occasion was there? He was not the fellow's keeper! + +That same day Gibbie went back to his guardians. At his request +Mrs. Sclater asked Ginevra to spend the following evening with them: +he wanted to tell her about Donal. She accepted the invitation. +But in a village near the foot of Glashgar, Donal had that morning +done what was destined to prevent her from keeping her engagement: +he had posted a letter to her. In an interval of comparative quiet, +he had recalled the verses he sang to her as they walked that +evening, and now sent them--completed in a very different tone. Not +a word accompanied them. + + My thoughts are like fire-flies pulsing in moonlight; + My heart like a silver cup full of red wine; + My soul a pale gleaming horizon, whence soon light + Will flood the gold earth with a torrent divine. + + My thouchts are like worms in a starless gloamin'; + My hert like a sponge that's fillit wi' gall; + My sowl like a bodiless ghaist sent a roamin', + To bide i' the mirk till the great trumpet call. + + But peace be upo' ye, as deep as ye're lo'esome! + Brak na an hoor o' yer fair-dreamy sleep, + To think o' the lad wi' a weicht in his bosom, + 'At ance sent a cry till ye oot o' the deep. + + Some sharp rocky heicht, to catch a far mornin' + Ayont a' the nichts o' this warld, he'll clim'; + For nane shall say, Luik! he sank doon at her scornin', + Wha rase by the han' she hield frank oot to him. + +The letter was handed, with one or two more, to Mr. Galbraith, at +the breakfast table. He did not receive many letters now, and could +afford time to one that was for his daughter. He laid it with the +rest by his side, and after breakfast took it to his room and read +it. He could no more understand it than Fergus could the Epistle to +the Romans, and therefore the little he did understand of it was too +much. But he had begun to be afraid of his daughter: her still +dignity had begun to tell upon him in his humiliation. He laid the +letter aside, said nothing, and waited, inwardly angry and +contemptuous. After a while he began to flatter himself with the +hope that perhaps it was but a sort of impertinent valentine, the +writer of which was unknown to Ginevra. From the moment of its +arrival, however, he kept a stricter watch upon her, and that night +prevented her from going to Mrs. Sclater's. Gibbie, aware that +Fergus continued his visits, doubted less and less that she had +given herself to "The Bledder," as Donal called the popular +preacher. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +OF AGE. + +There were no rejoicings upon Gibbie's attainment of his +twenty-first year. His guardian, believing he alone had acquainted +himself with the date, and desiring in his wisdom to avoid giving +him a feeling of importance, made no allusion to the fact, as would +have been most natural, when they met at breakfast on the morning of +the day. But, urged thereto by Donal, Gibbie had learned the date +for himself, and finding nothing was said, fingered to Mrs. Sclater, +"This is my birthday." + +"I wish you many happy returns," she answered, with kind +empressement. "How old are you to-day?" + +"Twenty-one," he answered--by holding up all his fingers twice and +then a forefinger. + +She looked struck, and glanced at her husband, who thereupon, in his +turn, gave utterance to the usual formula of goodwill, and said no +more. Seeing he was about to leave the table, Gibbie, claiming his +attention, spelled on his fingers, very slowly, for Mr. Sclater was +slow at following this mode of communication: + +"If you please, sir, I want to be put in possession of my property +as soon as possible." + +"All in good time, Sir Gilbert," answered the minister, with a +superior smile, for he clung with hard reluctance to the last +vestige of his power. + +"But what is good time?" spelled Gibbie with a smile, which, none +the less that it was of genuine friendliness, indicated there might +be difference of opinion on the point. + +"Oh! we shall see," returned the minister coolly. "These are not +things to be done in a hurry," he added, as if he had been guardian +to twenty wards in chancery before, "We'll see in a few days what +Mr. Torrie proposes." + +"But I want my money at once," insisted Gibbie. "I have been waiting +for it, and now it is time, and why should I wait still?" + +"To learn patience, if for no other reason, Sir Gilbert," answered +the minister, with a hard laugh, meant to be jocular. "But indeed +such affairs cannot be managed in a moment. You will have plenty of +time to make a good use of your money, if you should have to wait +another year or two." + +So saying he pushed back his plate and cup, a trick he had, and rose +from the table. + +"When will you see Mr. Torrie?" asked Gibbie, rising too, and +working his telegraph with greater rapidity than before. + +"By and by," answered Mr. Sclater, and walked towards the door. But +Gibbie got between him and it. + +"Will you go with me to Mr. Torrie to-day?" he asked. + +The minister shook his head. Gibbie withdrew, seeming a little +disappointed. Mr. Sclater left the room. + +"You don't understand business, Gilbert," said Mrs. Sclater. + +Gibbie smiled, got his writing-case, and sitting down at the table, +wrote as follows:-- + +"Dear Mr. Sclater,--As you have never failed in your part, how can +you wish me to fail in mine? I am now the one accountable for this +money, which surely has been idle long enough, and if I leave it +still unused, I shall be doing wrong, and there are things I have to +do with it which ought to be set about immediately. I am sorry to +seem importunate, but if by twelve o'clock you have not gone with me +to Mr. Torrie, I will go to Messrs. Hope & Waver, who will tell me +what I ought to do next, in order to be put in possession. It makes +me unhappy to write like this, but I am not a child any longer, and +having a man's work to do, I cannot consent to be treated as a +child. I will do as I say. I am, dear Mr. Sclater, your +affectionate ward, Gilbert Galbraith." + +He took the letter to the study, and having given it to Mr. Sclater, +withdrew. The minister might have known by this time with what sort +of a youth he had to deal! He came down instantly, put the best +face on it he could, said that if Sir Gilbert was so eager to take +up the burden, he was ready enough to cast it off, and they would go +at once to Mr. Torrie. + +With the lawyer, Gibbie insisted on understanding everything, and +that all should be legally arranged as speedily as possible. Mr. +Torrie saw that, if he did not make things plain, or gave the least +cause for doubt, the youth would most likely apply elsewhere for +advice, and therefore took trouble to set the various points, both +as to the property and the proceedings necessary, before him in the +clearest manner. + +"Thank you," said Gibbie, through Mr. Sclater. "Please remember I am +more accountable for this money than you, and am compelled to +understand."--Janet's repeated exhortations on the necessity of +sending for the serpent to take care of the dove, had not been lost +upon him. + +The lawyer being then quite ready to make him an advance of money, +they went with him to the bank, where he wrote his name, and +received a cheque book. As they left the bank, he asked the +minister whether he would allow him to keep his place in his house +till the next session, and was almost startled at finding how his +manner to him was changed. He assured Sir Gilbert, with a deference +and respect both painful and amusing, that he hoped he would always +regard his house as one home, however many besides he might now +choose to have. + +So now at last Gibbie was free to set about realizing a +long-cherished scheme. + +The repairs upon the Auld Hoose o' Galbraith were now nearly +finished. In consequence of them, some of the tenants had had to +leave, and Gibbie now gave them all notice to quit at their earliest +convenience, taking care, however, to see them provided with fresh +quarters, towards which he could himself do not a little, for +several of the houses in the neighbourhood had been bought for him +at the same time with the old mansion. As soon as it was empty, he +set more men to work, and as its internal arrangements had never +been altered, speedily, out of squalid neglect, caused not a little +of old stateliness to reappear. He next proceeded to furnish at his +leisure certain of the rooms, chiefly from the accumulations of his +friend Mistress Murkison. By the time he had finished, his usual +day for going home had arrived: while Janet lived, the cottage on +Glashgar was home. Just as he was leaving, the minister told him +that Glashruach was his. Mrs. Sclater was present, and read in his +eyes what induced her instantly to make the remark: "How could that +man deprive his daughter of the property he had to take her mother's +name to get!" + +"He had misfortunes," indicated Gibbie, "and could not help it, I +suppose." + +"Yes indeed!" she returned, "--misfortunes so great that they +amounted to little less than swindling. I wonder how many he has +brought to grief besides himself! If he had Glashruach once more he +would begin it all over again." + +"Then I'll give it to Ginevra," said Gibbie. + +"And let her father coax her out of it, and do another world of +mischief with it!" she rejoined. + +Gibbie was silent. Mrs. Sclater was right! To give is not always +to bless. He must think of some way. With plenty to occupy his +powers of devising he set out. + +He would gladly have seen Ginevra before he left, but had no chance. +He had gone to the North church every Sunday for a long time now, +neither for love of Fergus, nor dislike to Mr. Sclater, but for the +sake of seeing his lost friend: had he not lost her when she turned +from Donal to Fergus? Did she not forsake him too when she forsook +his Donal? His heart would rise into his throat at the thought, but +only for a moment: he never pitied himself. Now and then he had +from her a sweet sad smile, but no sign that he might go and see +her. Whether he was to see Donal when he reached Daurside, he could +not tell; he had heard nothing of him since he went; his mother +never wrote letters. + +"Na, na; I canna," she would say. "It wad tak a' the pith oot o' me +to vreet letters. A' 'at I hae to say I sen' the up-road; it's sure +to win hame ear' or late." + +Notwithstanding his new power, it was hardly, therefore, with his +usual elation, that he took his seat on the coach. But his +reception was the same as ever. At his mother's persuasion, Donal, +he found, instead of betaking himself again to bodily labours as he +had purposed, had accepted a situation as tutor offered him by one +of the professors. He had told his mother all his trouble. + +"He'll be a' the better for 't i' the en'," she said, with a smile +of the deepest sympathy, "though, bein' my ain, I canna help bein' +wae for 'im. But the Lord was i' the airthquak, an' the fire, an' +the win' that rave the rocks, though the prophet couldna see 'im. +Donal 'ill come oot o' this wi' mair room in's hert an' mair licht +in's speerit." + +Gibbie took his slate from the crap o' the wa' and wrote. "If money +could do anything for him, I have plenty now." + +"I ken yer hert, my bairn," replied Janet; "but na; siller's but a +deid horse for onything 'at smacks o' salvation. Na; the puir +fallow maun warstle oot o' the thicket o' deid roses as best he +can--sair scrattit, nae doobt. Eh! it's a fearfu' an' won'erfu' +thing that drawin' o' hert to hert, an' syne a great snap, an' a +stert back, an' there's miles atween them! The Lord alane kens the +boddom o' 't; but I'm thinkin' there's mair intill't, an' a heap +mair to come oot o' 't ere a' be dune, than we hae ony guiss at." + +Gibbie told her that Glashruach was his. Then first the extent of +his wealth seemed to strike his old mother. + +"Eh! ye'll be the laird, wull ye, than? Eh, sirs! To think o' this +hoose an' a' bein' wee Gibbie's! Weel, it dings a'. The w'ys o' +the Lord are to be thoucht upon! He made Dawvid a king, an' Gibbie +he's made the laird! Blest be his name." + +"They tell me the mountain is mine," Gibbie wrote: "your husband +shall be laird of Glashgar if he likes." + +"Na, na," said Janet, with a loving look. "He's ower auld for that. +He micht na dee sae easy for't.--Eh! please the Lord, I wad fain +gang wi' him.--An' what better wad Robert be to be laird? We pey +nae rent as 'tis, an' he has as mony sheep to lo'e as he can weel +ken ane frae the ither, noo 'at he's growin' auld, I ken naething +'at he lacks, but Gibbie to gang wi' 'im aboot the hill. A +neebour's laddie comes an' gangs, to help him, but, eh, says Robert, +he's no Gibbie!--But gien Glashruach be yer ain, my bonnie man, ye +maun gang doon there this verra nicht, and gie a luik to the burn; +for the last time I was there, I thoucht it was creepin' in aneth +the bank some fearsome like for what's left o' the auld hoose, an' +the suner it's luikit efter maybe the better. Eh, Sir Gibbie, but +ye sud merry the bonnie leddy, an' tak her back till her ain hoose." + +Gibbie gave a great sigh to think of the girl that loved the hill +and the heather and the burns, shut up in the city, and every Sunday +going to the great church--with which in Gibbie's mind was +associated no sound of glad tidings. To him Glashgar was full of +God; the North church or Mr. Sclater's church--well, he had tried +hard, but had not succeeded in discovering temple-signs about +either. + +The next day he sent to the city for an architect; and within a week +masons and quarrymen were at work, some on the hill blasting blue +boulders and red granite, others roughly shaping the stones, and +others laying the foundation of a huge facing and buttressing wall, +which was to slope up from the bed of the Glashburn fifty feet to +the foot of the castle, there to culminate in a narrow terrace with +a parapet. Others again were clearing away what of the ruins stuck +to the old house, in order to leave it, as much as might be, in its +original form. There was no space left for rebuilding, neither was +there any between the two burns for adding afresh. The channel of +the second remained dry, the landslip continuing to choke it, and +the stream to fall into the Glashburn. But Gibbie would not consent +that the burn Ginevra had loved should sing no more as she had heard +it sing. Her chamber was gone, and could not be restored, but +another chamber should be built for her, beneath whose window it +should again run: when she was married to Fergus, and her father +could not touch it, the place should be hers. More masons were +gathered, and foundations blasted in the steep rock that formed the +other bank of the burn. The main point in the building was to be a +room for Ginevra. He planned it himself--with a windowed turret +projecting from the wall, making a recess in the room, and +overhanging the stream. The turret he carried a story higher than +the wall, and in the wall placed a stair leading to its top, whence, +over the roof of the ancient part of the house, might be seen the +great Glashgar, and its streams coming down from heaven, and singing +as they came. Then from the middle of the first stair in the old +house, the wall, a yard and a half thick, having been cut through, a +solid stone bridge, with a pointed arch, was to lead across the burn +to a like landing in the new house--a close passage, with an oriel +window on each side, looking up and down the stream, and a steep +roof. And while these works were going on below, two masons, high +on the mountain, were adding to the cottage a warm bedroom for Janet +and Robert. + +The architect was an honest man, and kept Gibbie's secret, so that, +although he was constantly about the place, nothing disturbed the +general belief that Glashruach had been bought, and was being made +habitable, by a certain magnate of the county adjoining. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +TEN AULD HOOSE O' GALBRAITH. + +One cold afternoon in the end of October, when Mistress Croale was +shutting up her shop in the market, and a tumbler of something hot +was haunting her imagination, Gibbie came walking up the long +gallery with the light hill-step which he never lost, and startled +her with a hand on her shoulder, making signs that she must come +with him. She made haste to lock her door, and they walked side by +side to the Widdiehill. As they crossed the end of it she cast a +look down Jink Lane, and thought of her altered condition with a +sigh. Then the memory of the awful time amongst the sailors, in +which poor Sambo's frightful death was ever prominent, came back +like a fog from hell. But so far gone were those times now, that, +seeing their events more as they really were, she looked upon them +with incredulous horror, as things in which she could hardly have +had any part or lot. Then returned her wanderings and homeless +miseries, when often a haystack or a heap of straw in a shed was her +only joy--whisky always excepted. Last of all came the dread +perils, the hairbreadth escapes of her too adventurous voyage on the +brander;--and after all these things, here she was, walking in peace +by the side of wee Sir Gibbie, a friend as strong now as he had +always been true! She asked herself, or some power within asked +her, whence came the troubles that had haunted her life. Why had +she been marked out for such misfortunes? Her conscience +answered--from her persistence in living by the sale of drink after +she had begun to feel it was wrong. Thence it was that she had +learned to drink, and that she was even now liable, if not to be +found drunk in the streets, yet to go to bed drunk as any of her +former customers. The cold crept into her bones; the air seemed +full of blue points and clear edges of cold, that stung and cut her. +She was a wretched, a low creature! What would her late aunt think +to see her now? What if this cold in her bones were the cold of +coming death? To lie for ages in her coffin, with her mouth full of +earth, longing for whisky! A verse from the end of the New +Testament with "nor drunkards" in it, came to her mind. She had +always had faith, she said to herself; but let them preach what they +liked about salvation by faith, she knew there was nothing but hell +for her if she were to die that night. There was Mistress Murkison +looking out of her shop-door! She was respected as much as ever! +Would Mistress Murkison be saved if she died that night? At least +nobody would want her damned; whereas not a few, and Mr. Sclater in +particular, would think it no fair play if Mistress Croale were not +damned! + +They turned into the close of the Auld Hoose o' Galbraith. + +"Wee Gibbie's plottin' to lead me to repentance!" she said to +herself. "He's gaein' to shaw me whaur his father dee'd, an' whaur +they leevit in sic meesery--a' throu' the drink I gae 'im, an' the +respectable hoose I keepit to 'tice him till't! He wad hae me +persuaudit to lea' aff the drink! Weel, I'm a heap better nor ance +I was, an' gie't up I wull a'thegither--afore it comes to the last +wi' me." + +By this time Gibbie was leading her up the dark stair. At the top, +on a wide hall-like landing, he opened a door. She drew back with +shy amaze. Her first thought was--"That prood madam, the minister's +wife, 'ill be there!" Was affront lying in wait for her again? She +looked round angrily at her conductor. But his smile re-assured +her, and she stepped in. + +It was almost a grand room, rich and sombre in colour, old-fashioned +in its somewhat stately furniture. A glorious fire was blazing and +candles were burning. The table was covered with a white cloth, and +laid for two. Gibbie shut the door, placed a chair for Mistress +Croale by the fire, seated himself, took out his tablets, wrote +"Will you be my housekeeper? I will give you L100 a year," and +handed them to her. + +"Lord, Sir Gibbie!" she cried, jumping to her feet, "hae ye tint yer +wuts? Hoo wad an auld wife like me luik in sic a place--an' in sic +duds as this? It wad gar Sawtan lauch, an' that he can but seldom." + +Gibbie rose, and taking her by the hand, led her to the door of an +adjoining room. It was a bedroom, as grand as the room they had +left, and if Mistress Croale was surprised before, she was +astonished now. A fire was burning here too, candles were alight on +the dressing-table, a hot bath stood ready, on the bed lay a dress +of rich black satin, with linen and everything down, or up, to +collars, cuffs, mittens, cap, and shoes. All these things Gibbie +had bought himself, using the knowledge he had gathered in shopping +with Mrs. Sclater, and the advice of her dressmaker, whom he had +taken into his confidence, and who had entered heartily into his +plan. He made signs to Mistress Croale that everything there was at +her service, and left her. + +Like one in a dream she yielded to the rush of events, not too much +bewildered to dress with care, and neither too old nor too wicked +nor too ugly to find pleasure in it. She might have been a born +lady just restored to the habits of her youth, to judge by her +delight over the ivory brushes and tortoise-shell comb, and great +mirror. In an hour or so she made her appearance--I can hardly say +reappeared, she was so altered. She entered the room neither +blushing nor smiling, but wiping the tears from her eyes like a too +blessed child. What Mrs. Sclater would have felt, I dare hardly +think; for there was "the horrid woman" arrayed as nearly after her +fashion as Gibbie had been able to get her up! A very good "get-up" +nevertheless it was, and satisfactory to both concerned. Mistress +Croale went out a decent-looking poor body, and entered a not +uncomely matron of the housekeeper class, rather agreeable to look +upon, who had just stood a nerve-shaking but not unpleasant +surprise, and was recovering. Gibbie was so satisfied with her +appearance that, come of age as he was, and vagrant no more, he +first danced round her several times with a candle in his hand, much +to the danger but nowise to the detriment of her finery, then set it +down, and executed his old lavolta of delight, which, as always, he +finished by standing on one leg. + +Then they sat down to a nice nondescript meal, also of Gibbie's own +providing. + +When their meal was ended, he went to a bureau, and brought thence a +paper, plainly written to this effect: + +"I agree to do whatever Sir Gilbert Galbraith may require of me, so +long as it shall not be against my conscience; and consent that, if +I taste whisky once, he shall send me away immediately, without +further reason given." + +He handed it to Mistress Croale; she read, and instantly looked +about for pen and ink: she dreaded seeming for a moment to hesitate. +He brought them to her, she signed, and they shook hands. + +He then conducted her all over the house--first to the rooms +prepared for his study and bedroom, and next to the room in the +garret, which he had left just as it was when his father died in it. +There he gave her a look by which he meant to say, "See what whisky +brings people to!" but which her conscience interpreted, "See what +you brought my father to!" Next, on the floor between, he showed +her a number of bedrooms, all newly repaired and +fresh-painted,--with double windows, the inside ones filled with +frosted glass. These rooms, he gave her to understand, he wished +her to furnish, getting as many things as she could from Mistress +Murkison. Going back then to the sitting-room, he proceeded to +explain his plans, telling her he had furnished the house that he +might not any longer be himself such a stranger as to have no place +to take a stranger to. Then he got a Bible there was in the room, +and showed her those words in the book of Exodus--"Also, thou shalt +not oppress a stranger; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing +ye were strangers in the land of Egypt;" and while she thought again +of her wanderings through the country, and her nights in the open +air, made her understand that whomsoever he should at any time bring +home she was to treat as his guest. She might get a servant to wait +upon herself, he said, but she must herself help him to wait upon +his guests, in the name of the Son of Man. + +She expressed hearty acquiescence, but would not hear of a servant: +the more work the better for her! she said. She would to-morrow +arrange for giving up her shop and disposing of her stock and the +furniture in her garret. But Gibbie requested the keys of both +those places. Next, he insisted that she should never utter a word +as to the use he intended making of his house; if the thing came +out, it would ruin his plans, and he must give them up +altogether--and thereupon he took her to the ground floor and showed +her a door in communication with a poor little house behind, by +which he intended to introduce and dismiss his guests, that they +should not know where they had spent the night. Then he made her +read to him the hundred and seventh Psalm; after which he left her, +saying he would come to the house as soon as the session began, +which would be in a week; until then he should be at Mr. Sclater's. + +Left alone in the great house--like one with whom the most +beneficent of fairies had been busy, the first thing Mistress Croale +did was to go and have a good look at herself--from head to foot--in +the same mirror that had enlightened Donal as to his outermost man. +Very different was the re-reflection it caused in Mistress Croale: +she was satisfied with everything she saw there, except her +complexion, and that she resolved should improve. She was almost +painfully happy. Out there was the Widdiehill, dark and dismal and +cold, through which she had come, sad and shivering and haunted with +miserable thoughts, into warmth and splendour and luxury and bliss! +Wee Sir Gibbie had made a lady of her! If only poor Sir George +were alive to see and share!--There was but one thing wanted to make +it Paradise indeed--a good tumbler of toddy by the fire before she +went to bed! + +Then first she thought of the vow she had made as she signed the +paper, and shuddered--not at the thought of breaking it, but at the +thought of having to keep it, and no help.--No help! it was the +easiest thing in the world to get a bottle of whisky. She had but +to run to Jink Lane at the farthest, to her own old house, which, +for all Mr. Sclater, was a whisky shop yet! She had emptied her +till, and had money in her pocket. Who was there to tell? She +would not have a chance when Sir Gibbie came home to her. She must +make use of what time was left her. She was safe now from going too +far, because she must give it up; and why not then have one farewell +night of pleasure, to bid a last good-bye to her old friend Whisky? +what should she have done without him, lying in the cold wind by a +dykeside, or going down the Daur like a shot on her brander?--Thus +the tempting passion; thus, for aught I know, a tempting devil at +the ear of her mind as well.--But with that came the face of Gibbie; +she thought how troubled that face would look if she failed him. +What a lost, irredeemable wretch was she about to make of herself +after all he had done for her! No; if whisky was heaven, and the +want of it was hell, she would not do it! She ran to the door, +locked it, brought away the key, and laid it under the Bible from +which she had been reading to Sir Gibbie. Perhaps she might have +done better than betake herself again to her finery, but it did help +her through the rest of the evening, and she went to her grand bed +not only sober, but undefiled of the enemy. When Gibbie came to her +a week after, he came to a true woman, one who had kept faith with +him. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +THE LAIRD AND THE PREACHER. + +Since he came to town, Gibbie had seen Ginevra but once--that was in +the North church. She looked so sad and white that his heart was +very heavy for her. Could it be that she repented?--She must have +done it to please her father! If she would marry Donal, he would +engage to give her Glashruach. She should have Glashruach all the +same whatever she did, only it might influence her father. He paced +up and down before the cottage once for a whole night, but no good +came of that. He paced before it from dusk to bedtime again and +again, in the poor hope of a chance of speaking to Ginevra, but he +never saw even her shadow on the white blind. He went up to the +door once, but in the dread of displeasing her lost his courage, and +paced the street the whole morning instead, but saw no one come out. + +Fergus had gradually become essential to the small remaining +happiness of which the laird was capable. He had gained his favour +chiefly through the respect and kindly attention he showed him. The +young preacher knew little of the laird's career, and looked upon +him as an unfortunate man, towards whom loyalty now required even a +greater show of respect than while he owned his father's farm. The +impulse transmitted to him from the devotion of ancestors to the +patriarchal head of the clan, had found blind vent in the direction +of the mere feudal superior, and both the impulse and its object +remained. He felt honoured, even now that he had reached the goal +of his lofty desires and was a popular preacher, in being permitted +to play backgammon with the great man, or to carve a chicken, when +the now trembling hands, enfeebled far more through anxiety and +disappointment than from age, found themselves unequal to the task: +the laird had begun to tell long stories, and drank twice as much as +he did a year ago; he was sinking in more ways than one. + +Fergus at length summoned courage to ask him if he might pay his +addresses to Miss Galbraith. The old man started, cast on him a +withering look, murmured "The heiress of Glashruach!" remembered, +threw himself back in his chair, and closed his eyes. Fergus, on +the other side of the table, sat erect, a dice-box in his hand, +waiting a reply. The father reflected that if he declined what he +could not call an honour, he must lose what was unquestionably a +comfort: how was he to pass all the evenings of the week without the +preacher? On the other hand, if he accepted him, he might leave the +miserable cottage, and go to the manse: from a moral point of +view--that was, from the point of other people's judgment of him--it +would be of consequence to have a clergyman for a son-in-law. +Slowly he raised himself in his chair, opened his unsteady eyes, +which rolled and pitched like boats on a choppy sea, and said +solemnly, + +"You have my permission, Mr. Duff." + +The young preacher hastened to find Ginevra, but only to meet a +refusal, gentle and sorrowful. He pleaded for permission to repeat +his request after an interval, but she distinctly refused. She did +not, however, succeed in making a man with such a large opinion of +himself hopeless. Disappointed and annoyed he was, but he sought +and fancied he found reasons for her decision which were not +unfavourable to himself, and continued to visit her father as +before, saying to him he had not quite succeeded in drawing from her +a favourable answer, but hoped to prevail. He nowise acted the +despairing lover, but made grander sermons than ever, and, as he +came to feel at home in his pulpit, delivered them with growing +force. But delay wrought desire in the laird; and at length, one +evening, having by cross-questioning satisfied himself that Fergus +made no progress, he rose, and going to his desk, handed him Donal's +verses. Fergus read them, and remarked he had read better, but the +first stanza had a slight flavour of Shelley. + +"I don't care a straw about their merit or demerit," said Mr. +Galbraith; "poetry is nothing but spoilt prose. What I want to know +is, whether they do not suggest a reason for your want of success +with Jenny. Do you know the writing?" + +"I cannot say I do. But I think it is very likely that of Donal +Grant; he sets up for the Burns of Daurside." + +"Insolent scoundrel!" cried the laird, bringing down his fist on the +table, and fluttering the wine glasses. "Next to superstition I hate +romance--with my whole heart I do!" And something like a flash of +cold moonlight on wintred water gleamed over, rather than shot from, +his poor focusless eyes. + +"But, my dear sir," said Fergus, "if I am to understand these +lines--" + +"Yes! if you are to understand where there is no sense whatever!" + +"I think I understand them--if you will excuse me for venturing to +say so; and what I read in them is, that, whoever the writer may be, +the lady, whoever she may be, had refused him." + +"You cannot believe that the wretch had the impudence to make my +daughter--the heiress of--at least--What! make my daughter an offer! +She would at once have acquainted me with the fact, that he might +receive suitable chastisement. Let me look at the stuff again." + +"It is quite possible," said Fergus, "it may be only a poem some +friend has copied for her from a newspaper." + +While he spoke, the laird was reading the lines, and persuading +himself he understood them. With sudden resolve, the paper held +torch-like in front of him, he strode into the next room, where +Ginevra sat. + +"Do you tell me," he said fiercely, "that you have so far forgotten +all dignity and propriety as to give a dirty cow-boy the +encouragement to make you an offer of marriage? The very notion +sets my blood boiling. You will make me hate you, +you--you--unworthy creature!" + +Ginevra had turned white, but looking him straight in the face, she +answered, + +"If that is a letter for me, you know I have not read it." + +"There! see for yourself.--Poetry!" He uttered the word with +contempt inexpressible. + +She took the verses from his hand and read them. Even with her +father standing there, watching her like an inquisitor, she could +not help the tears coming in her eyes as she read. + +"There is no such thing here, papa," she said. "They are only +verses--bidding me good-bye." + +"And what right has any such fellow to bid my daughter good-bye? +Explain that to me, if you please. Of course I have been for many +years aware of your love of low company, but I had hoped as you grew +older you would learn manners: modesty would have been too much to +look for.--If you had nothing to be ashamed of, why did you not tell +me of the unpleasant affair? Is not your father your best friend?" + +"Why should I make both him and you uncomfortable, papa--when there +was not going to be anything more of it?" + +"Why then do you go hankering after him still, and refusing Mr. +Duff? It is true he is not exactly a gentleman by birth, but he is +such by education, by manners, by position, by influence." + +"Papa, I have already told Mr. Duff, as plainly as I could without +being rude, that I would never let him talk to me so. What lady +would refuse Donal Grant and listen to him!" + +"You are a bold, insolent hussey!" cried her father in fresh rage +and leaving the room, rejoined Fergus. + +They sat silent both for a while--then the preacher spoke. + +"Other communications may have since reached her from the same +quarter," he said. + +"That is impossible," rejoined the laird. + +"I don't know that," insisted Fergus. "There is a foolish--a +half-silly companion of his about the town. They call him Sir +Gibbie Galbraith." + +"Jenny knows no such person." + +"Indeed she does. I have seen them together." + +"Oh! you mean the lad the minister adopted! the urchin he took off +the streets!--Sir Gibbie Galbraith!" he repeated sneeringly, but as +one reflecting. "--I do vaguely recall a slanderous rumour in which +a certain female connection of the family was hinted at.--Yes! +that's where the nickname comes from.--And you think she keeps up a +communication with the clown through him?" + +"I don't say that, sir. I merely think it possible she may see this +Gibbie occasionally; and I know he worships the cow-boy: it is a +positive feature of his foolishness, and I wish it were the worst." + +Therewith he told what he heard from Miss Kimble, and what he had +seen for himself on the night when he watched Gibbie. + +"Her very blood must be tainted!" said her father to himself, but +added, "--from her mother's side;" and his attacks upon her after +this were at least diurnal. It was a relief to his feeling of +having wronged her, to abuse her with justice. For a while she +tried hard to convince him now that this now that that notion of her +conduct, or of Gibbie's or Donal's, was mistaken: he would listen to +nothing she said, continually insisting that the only amends for her +past was to marry according to his wishes; to give up superstition, +and poetry, and cow-boys, and dumb rascals, and settle down into a +respectable matron, a comfort to the gray hairs she was now bringing +with sorrow to the grave. Then Ginevra became absolutely silent; he +had taught her that any reply was but a new start for his +objurgation, a knife wherewith to puncture a fresh gall-bladder of +abuse. He stormed at her for her sullenness, but she persisted in +her silence, sorely distressed to find how dead her heart seemed +growing under his treatment of her: what would at one time have made +her utterly miserable, now passed over her as one of the billows of +a trouble that had to be borne, as one of the throbs of a headache, +drawing from her scarcely a sigh. She did not understand that, her +heaven being dark, she could see no individual cloud against it, +that, her emotional nature untuned, discord itself had ceased to +jar. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +A HIDING-PLACE FROM THE WIND. + +Gibbie found everything at the Auld Hoose in complete order for his +reception: Mistress Croale had been very diligent, and promised well +for a housekeeper--looked well, too, in her black satin and lace, +with her complexion, she justly flattered herself, not a little +improved. She had a good meal ready for him, with every adjunct in +proper style, during the preparation of which she had revelled in +the thought that some day, when she had quite established her +fitness for her new position, Sir Gibbie would certainly invite the +minister and his lady to dine with him, when she, whom they were too +proud to ask to partake of their cockie-leekie, would show them she +knew both what a dinner ought to be, and how to preside at it; and +the soup it should be cockie-leekie. + +Everything went comfortably. Gibbie was so well up in mathematics, +thanks to Mr. Sclater, that, doing all requisite for honourable +studentship, but having no desire to distinguish himself, he had +plenty of time for more important duty. Now that he was by himself, +as if old habit had returned in the shape of new passion, he roamed +the streets every night. His custom was this: after dinner, which +he had when he came from college, about half-past four, he lay down, +fell asleep in a moment, as he always did, and slept till half-past +six; then he had tea, and after that, studied--not dawdled over his +books, till ten o'clock, when he took his Greek Testament. At +eleven he went out, seldom finally returning before half-past one, +sometimes not for an hour longer--during which time Mistress Croale +was in readiness to receive any guest he might bring home. + +The history of the special endeavour he had now commenced does not +belong to my narrative. Some nights, many nights together, he would +not meet a single wanderer; occasionally he would meet two or three +in the same night. When he found one, he would stand regarding him +until he spoke. If the man was drunk he would leave him: such were +not those for whom he could now do most. If he was sober, he made +him signs of invitation. If he would not go with him, he left him, +but kept him in view, and tried him again. If still he would not, +he gave him a piece of bread, and left him. If he called, he +stopped, and by circuitous ways brought him to the little house at +the back. It was purposely quite dark. If the man was too +apprehensive to enter, he left him; if he followed, he led him to +Mistress Croale. If anything suggested the possibility of helping +farther, a possibility turning entirely on the person's self, the +attempt was set on foot; but in general, after a good breakfast, +Gibbie led him through a dark passage into the darkened house, and +dismissed him from the door by which he had entered. He never gave +money, and never sought such guest except in the winter. Indeed, he +was never in the city in the summer. Before the session was over, +they had one woman and one girl in a fair way of honest livelihood, +and one small child, whose mother had an infant besides, and was +evidently dying, he had sent "in a present" to Janet, by the hand of +Mistress Murkison. Altogether it was a tolerable beginning, and +during the time not a word reached him indicating knowledge of his +proceedings, although within a week or two a rumour was rife in the +lower parts of the city, of a mysterious being who went about doing +this and that for poor folk, but, notwithstanding his gifts, was far +from canny. + +Mr. and Mrs. Sclater could not fail to be much annoyed when they +found he was no longer lodging with Mistress Murkison, but occupying +the Auld Hoose, with "that horrible woman" for a housekeeper; they +knew, however, that expostulation with one possessed by such a +headstrong sense of duty was utterly useless, and contented +themselves with predicting to each other some terrible check, the +result of his ridiculous theory concerning what was required of a +Christian--namely, that the disciple should be as his Master. At +the same time Mrs. Sclater had a sacred suspicion that no real ill +would ever befall God's innocent, Gilbert Galbraith. + +Fergus had now with his father's help established himself in the +manse of the North Church, and thither he invited Mr. and Miss +Galbraith to dine with him on a certain evening. Her father's +absolute desire compelled Ginevra's assent; she could not, while +with him, rebel absolutely. Fergus did his best to make the evening +a pleasant one, and had special satisfaction in showing the laird +that he could provide both a good dinner and a good bottle of port. +Two of his congregation, a young lawyer and his wife, were the only +other guests. The laird found the lawyer an agreeable companion, +chiefly from his readiness to listen to his old law stories, and +Fergus laid himself out to please the two ladies: secure of the +admiration of one, he hoped it might help to draw the favour of the +other. He had conceived the notion that Ginevra probably disliked +his profession, and took pains therefore to show how much he was a +man of the world--talked about Shakspere, and flaunted rags of +quotation in elocutionary style; got books from his study, and read +passages from Byron, Shelley, and Moore--chiefly from "The Loves of +the Angels" of the last, ecstasizing the lawyer's lady, and +interesting Ginevra, though all he read taken together seemed to her +unworthy of comparison with one of poor Donal's songs. + +It grew late. The dinner had been at a fashionable hour; they had +stayed an unfashionable time: it was nearly twelve o'clock when +guests and host left the house in company. The lawyer and his wife +went one way, and Fergus went the other with the laird and Ginevra. + +Hearing the pitiful wailing of a child and the cough of a woman, as +they went along a street bridge, they peeped over the parapet, and +saw, upon the stair leading to the lower street, a woman, with a +child asleep in her lap, trying to eat a piece of bread, and +coughing as if in the last stage of consumption. On the next step +below sat a man hushing in his bosom the baby whose cry they had +heard. They stood for a moment, the minister pondering whether his +profession required of him action, and Ginevra's gaze fixed on the +head and shoulders of the foreshortened figure of the man, who +vainly as patiently sought to soothe the child by gently rocking it +to and fro. But when he began a strange humming song to it, which +brought all Glashgar before her eyes, Ginevra knew beyond a doubt +that it was Gibbie. At the sound the child ceased to wail, and +presently the woman with difficulty rose, laying a hand for help on +Gibbie's shoulder. Then Gibbie rose also, cradling the infant on +his left arm, and making signs to the mother to place the child on +his right. She did so, and turning, went feebly up the stair. +Gibbie followed with the two children, one lying on his arm, the +other with his head on his shoulder, both wretched and pining, with +gray cheeks, and dark hollows under their eyes. From the top of the +stair they went slowly up the street, the poor woman coughing, and +Gibbie crooning to the baby, who cried no more, but now and then +moaned. Then Fergus said to the laird: + +"Did you see that young man, sir? That is the so-called Sir Gilbert +Galbraith we were talking of the other night. They say he has come +into a good property, but you may judge for yourself whether he +seems fit to manage it!" + +Ginevra withdrew her hand from his arm. + +"Good God, Jenny!" exclaimed the laird, "you do not mean to tell me +you have ever spoken to a young man like that?" + +"I know him very well, papa," replied Ginevra, collectedly. + +"You are incomprehensible, Jenny! If you know him, why do I not +know him? If you had not known good reason to be ashamed of him, +you would, one time or other, have mentioned his name in my +hearing.--I ask you, and I demand an answer,"--here he stopped, and +fronted her--"why have you concealed from me your acquaintance with +this--this--person?" + +"Because I thought it might be painful to you, papa," she answered, +looking in his face. + +"Painful to me! Why should it be painful to me--except indeed that +it breaks my heart as often as I see you betray your invincible +fondness for low company?" + +"Do you desire me to tell you, papa, why I thought it might be +painful to you to make that young man's acquaintance?" + +"I do distinctly. I command you." + +"Then I will: that young man, Sir Gilbert Galbraith,--" + +"Nonsense, girl! there is no such Galbraith. It is the merest of +scoffs." + +Ginevra did not care to argue with him this point. In truth she +knew little more about it than he. + +"Many years ago," she recommenced, "when I was a child,--Excuse me, +Mr. Duff, but it is quite time I told my father what has been +weighing upon my mind for so many years." + +"Sir Gilbert!" muttered her father contemptuously. + +"One day," again she began, "Mr. Fergus Duff brought a ragged little +boy to Glashruach--the most innocent and loving of creatures, who +had committed no crime but that of doing good in secret. I saw Mr. +Duff box his ears on the bridge; and you, papa, gave him over to +that wretch, Angus Mac Pholp, to whip him--so at least Angus told +me, after he had whipped him till he dropped senseless. I can +hardly keep from screaming now when I think of it." + +"All this, Jenny, is nothing less than cursed folly. Do you mean to +tell me you have all these years been cherishing resentment against +your own father, for the sake of a little thieving rascal, whom it +was a good deed to fright from the error of his ways? I have no +doubt Angus gave him merely what he deserved." + +"You must remember, Miss Galbraith, we did not know he was dumb," +said Fergus, humbly. + +"If you had had any heart," said Ginevra, "you would have seen in +his face that he was a perfect angelic child. He ran to the +mountain, without a rag to cover his bleeding body, and would have +died of cold and hunger, had not the Grants, the parents of your +father's herd-boy, Mr. Duff, taken him to their hearts, and been +father and mother to him."--Ginevra's mouth was opened at +last.--"After that," she went on, "Angus, that bad man, shot him +like a wild beast, when he was quietly herding Robert Grant's sheep. +In return Sir Gilbert saved his life in the flood. And just before +the house of Glashruach fell--the part in which my room was, he +caught me up, because he could not speak, and carried me out of it; +and when I told you that he had saved my life, you ordered him out +of the house, and when he was afraid to leave me alone with you, +dashed him against the wall, and sent for Angus to whip him again. +But I should have liked to see Angus try it then!" + +"I do remember an insolent fellow taking advantage of the ruinous +state the house was in to make his way into my study," said the +laird. + +"And now," Ginevra continued, "Mr. Duff makes question of his wits +because he finds him carrying a poor woman's children, going to get +them a bed somewhere! If Mr. Duff had run about the streets when he +was a child, like Sir Gilbert, he might not, perhaps, think it so +strange he should care about a houseless woman and her brats!" + +Therewith Ginevra burst into tears. + +"Abominably disagreeable!" muttered the laird. "I always thought she +was an idiot!--Hold your tongue, Jenny! you will wake the street. +All you say may or may not be quite true; I do not say you are +telling lies, or even exaggerating; but I see nothing in it to prove +the lad a fit companion for a young lady. Very much to the +contrary. I suppose he told you he was your injured, neglected, +ill-used cousin? He may be your cousin: you may have any number of +such cousins, if half the low tales concerning your mother's family +be true." + +Ginevra did not answer him--did not speak another word. When Fergus +left them at their own door, she neither shook hands with him nor +bade him good night. + +"Jenny," said her father, the moment he was gone, "if I hear of your +once speaking again to that low vagabond,--and now I think of it," +he cried, interrupting himself with a sudden recollection, "there +was a cobbler-fellow in the town here they used to call Sir Somebody +Galbraith!--that must be his father! Whether the Sir was title or +nickname, I neither know nor care. A title without money is as bad +as a saintship without grace. But this I tell you, that if I hear +of your speaking one word, good or bad, to the fellow again, I will, +I swear to Almighty God, I will turn you out of the house." + +To Ginevra's accumulated misery, she carried with her to her room a +feeling of contempt for her father, with which she lay struggling in +vain half the night. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +THE CONFESSION. + +Although Gibbie had taken no notice of the laird's party, he had +recognized each of the three as he came up the stair, and in +Ginevra's face read an appeal for deliverance. It seemed to say, +"You help everybody but me! Why do you not come and help me too? +Am I to have no pity because I am neither hungry nor cold?" He did +not, however, lie awake the most of the night, or indeed a single +hour of it, thinking what he should do; long before the poor woman +and her children were in bed, he had made up his mind. + +As soon as he came home from college the next day and had hastily +eaten his dinner, going upon his vague knowledge of law business +lately acquired, he bought a stamped paper, wrote upon it, and put +it in his pocket; then he took a card and wrote on it: Sir Gilbert +Galbraith, Baronet, of Glashruach, and put that in his pocket also. +Thus provided, and having said to Mistress Croale that he should +not be home that night--for he expected to set off almost +immediately in search of Donal, and had bespoken horses, he walked +deliberately along Pearl-street out into the suburb, and turning to +the right, rang the bell at the garden gate of the laird's cottage. +When the girl came, he gave her his card, and followed her into the +house. She carried it into the room where, dinner over, the laird +and the preacher were sitting, with a bottle of the same port which +had pleased the laird at the manse between them. Giving time, as he +judged, and no more, to read the card, Gibbie entered the room: he +would not risk a refusal to see him. + +It was a small room with a round table. The laird sat sideways to +the door; the preacher sat between the table and the fire. + +"What the devil does this mean? A vengeance take him!" cried the +laird. + +His big tumbling eyes had required more time than Gibbie had +allowed, so that, when with this exclamation he lifted them from the +card, they fell upon the object of his imprecation standing in the +middle of the room between him and the open door. The preacher, +snug behind the table, scarcely endeavoured to conceal the smile +with which he took no notice of Sir Gilbert. The laird rose in the +perturbation of mingled anger and unpreparedness. + +"Ah!" he said, but it was only a sound, not a word, "to what--may I +ask--have I--I have not the honour of your acquaintance, Mr.--Mr.--" +Here he looked again at the card he held, fumbled for and opened a +double eyeglass, then with deliberation examined the name upon it, +thus gaining time by rudeness, and gathering his force for more, +while Gibbie remained as unembarrassed as if he had been standing to +his tailor for his measure. "Mr.--ah, I see! Galbraith, you +say.--To what, Mr., Mr."--another look at the card--"Galbraith, do I +owe the honour of this unexpected--and--and--I must +say--un--looked-for visit--and at such an unusual hour for making a +business call--for business, I presume, it must be that brings you, +seeing I have not the honour of the slightest acquaintance with +you?" + +He dropped his eyeglass with a clatter against his waistcoat, threw +the card into his finger-glass, raised his pale eyes, and stared at +Sir Gilbert with all the fixedness they were capable of. He had +already drunk a good deal of wine, and it was plain he had, although +he was far from being overcome by it. Gibbie answered by drawing +from the breast-pocket of his coat the paper he had written, and +presenting it like a petition. Mr. Galbraith sneered, and would not +have touched it had not his eye caught the stamp, which from old +habit at once drew his hand. From similar habit, or perhaps to get +it nearer the light, he sat down. Gibbie stood, and Fergus stared +at him with insolent composure. The laird read, but not aloud: I, +Gilbert Galbraith, Baronet, hereby promise and undertake to transfer +to Miss Galbraith, only daughter of Thomas Galbraith, Esq., on the +day when she shall be married to Donal Grant, Master of Arts, the +whole of the title deeds of the house and lands of Glashruach, to +have and to hold as hers, with absolute power to dispose of the same +as she may see fit. Gilbert Galbraith, Old House of Galbraith, +Widdiehill, March, etc., etc. + +The laird stretched his neck like a turkeycock, and gobbled +inarticulately, threw the paper to Fergus, and turning on his chair, +glowered at Gibbie. Then suddenly starting to his feet, he cried, + +"What do you mean, you rascal, by daring to insult me in my own +house? Damn your insolent foolery!" + +"A trick! a most palpable trick! and an exceedingly silly one!" +pronounced Fergus, who had now read the paper; "quite as foolish as +unjustifiable! Everybody knows Glashruach is the property of Major +Culsalmon!"--Here the laird sought the relief of another oath or +two.--"I entreat you to moderate your anger, my dear sir," Fergus +resumed. "The thing is hardly worth so much indignation. Some +animal has been playing the poor fellow an ill-natured +trick--putting him up to it for the sake of a vile practical joke. +It is exceedingly provoking, but you must forgive him. He is +hardly to blame, scarcely accountable, under the natural +circumstances.--Get away with you," he added, addressing Gibbie +across the table. "Make haste before worse comes of it. You have +been made a fool of." + +When Fergus began to speak, the laird turned, and while he spoke +stared at him with lack-lustre yet gleaming eyes, until he addressed +Gibbie, when he turned on him again as fiercely as before. Poor +Gibbie stood shaking his head, smiling, and making eager signs with +hands and arms; but in the laird's condition of both heart and brain +he might well forget and fail to be reminded that Gibbie was dumb. + +"Why don't you speak, you fool?" he cried. "Get out and don't stand +making faces there. Be off with you, or I will knock you down with +a decanter." + +Gibbie pointed to the paper, which lay before Fergus, and placed a +hand first on his lips, then on his heart. + +"Damn your mummery!" said the laird, choking with rage. "Go away, +or, by God! I will break your head." + +Fergus at this rose and came round the table to get between them. +But the laird caught up a pair of nutcrackers, and threw it at +Gibbie. It struck him on the forehead, and the blood spirted from +the wound. He staggered backwards. Fergus seized the laird's arm, +and sought to pacify him. + +Her father's loud tones had reached Ginevra in her room; she ran +down, and that instant entered: Gibbie all but fell into her arms. +The moment's support she gave him, and the look of loving terror +she cast in his face, restored him; and he was again firm on his +feet, pressing her handkerchief to his forehead, when Fergus, +leaving the laird, advanced with the pacific intention of getting +him safe from the house. Ginevra stepped between them. Her +father's rage thereupon broke loose quite, and was madness. He +seized hold of her with violence, and dragged her from the room. +Fergus laid hands upon Gibbie more gently, and half would have +forced, half persuaded him to go. A cry came from Ginevra: refusing +to be sent to her room before Gibbie was in safety, her father +struck her. Gibbie would have darted to her help. Fergus held him +fast, but knew nothing of Gibbie's strength, and the next moment +found himself on his back upon the table, amidst the crash of +wineglasses and china. Having locked the door, Gibbie sprung to the +laird, who was trying to drag his daughter, now hardly resisting, up +the first steps of the stair, took him round the waist from behind, +swept him to the other room, and there locked him up also. He then +returned to Ginevra where she lay motionless on the stair, lifted +her in his arms, and carried her out of the house, nor stopped +until, having reached the farther end of the street, he turned the +corner of it into another equally quiet. + +The laird and Fergus, when they were released by the girl from their +respective prisons and found that the enemy was gone, imagined that +Ginevra had retired again to her room; and what they did after is +not interesting. + +Under a dull smoky oil-lamp Gibbie stopped. He knew by the +tightening of her arms that Ginevra was coming to herself. + +"Let me down," she said feebly. + +He did so, but kept his arm round her. She gave a deep sigh, and +gazed bewildered. When she saw him, she smiled. + +"With you, Gibbie!" she murmured. "--But they will be after us!" + +"They shall not touch you," signified Gibbie. + +"What was it all about?" she asked. + +Gibbie spelled on his fingers, + +"Because I offered to give you Glashruach, if your father would let +you marry Donal." + +"Gibbie! how could you?" she cried almost in a scream, and pushing +away his arm, turned from him and tried to run, but after two steps, +tottered to the lamp-post, and leaned against it--with such a scared +look! + +"Then come with me and be my sister, Ginevra, and I will take care +of you," spelled Gibbie. "I can do nothing to take care of you while +I can't get near you." + +"Oh, Gibbie! nobody does like that," returned Ginevra, "--else I +should be so glad!" + +"There is no other way then that I know. You won't marry anybody, +you see." + +"Won't I, Gibbie? What makes you think that?" + +"Because of course you would never refuse Donal and marry anybody +else; that is not possible." + +"Oh! don't tease me, Gibbie." + +"Ginevra, you don't mean you would?" + +In the dull light, and with the imperfect means of Gibbie for the +embodiment of his thoughts, Ginevra misunderstood him. + +"Yea, Gibbie," she said, "I would. I thought it was understood +between us, ever since that day you found me on Glashgar. In my +thoughts I have been yours all the time." + +She turned her face to the lamp-post. But Gibbie made her look. + +"You do not mean," he spelled very hurriedly, "that you would marry +me?--Me? I never dreamed of such a thing!" + +"You didn't mean it then!" said Ginevra, with a cry--bitter but +feeble with despair and ending in a stifled shriek. "What have I +been saying then! I thought I belonged to you! I thought you meant +to take me all the time!" She burst into an agony of sobbing. "Oh +me! me! I have been alone all the time, and did not know it!" + +She sank on the pavement at the foot of the lamp-post, weeping +sorely, and shaken with her sobs. Gibbie was in sad perplexity. +Heaven had opened before his gaze; its colours filled his eyes; its +sounds filled his ears and heart and brain; but the portress was +busy crying and would not open the door. Neither could he get at +her to comfort her, for, her eyes being wanted to cry with, his poor +signs were of no use. Dumbness is a drawback to the gift of +consolation. + +It was a calm night early in March, clear overhead, and the heaven +full of stars. The first faint think-odour of spring was in the +air. A crescent moon hung half-way between the zenith and the +horizon, clear as silver in firelight, and peaceful in the +consciousness that not much was required of her yet. Both +bareheaded, the one stood under the lamp, the other had fallen in a +heap at its foot; the one was in the seventh paradise, and knew it; +the other was weeping her heart out, yet was in the same paradise, +if she would but have opened her eyes. Gibbie held one of her hands +and stroked it. Then he pulled off his coat and laid it softly upon +her. She grew a little quieter. + +"Take me home, Gibbie," she said, in a gentle voice. All was over; +there was no use in crying or even in thinking any more. + +Gibbie put his arms round her, and helped her to her feet. She +looked at him, and saw a face glorious with bliss. Never, not even +on Glashgar, in the skin-coat of the beast-boy, had she seen him so +like an angel. And in his eyes was that which triumphed, not over +dumbness, but over speech. It brought the rose-fire rushing into +her wan cheeks; she hid her face on his bosom; and, under the dingy +red flame of the lamp in the stony street, they held each other, as +blessed as if they had been under an orange tree haunted with +fire-flies. For they knew each the heart of the other, and God is +infinite. + +How long they stood thus, neither of them knew. The lady would not +have spoken if she could, and the youth could not if he would. But +the lady shivered, and because she shivered, she would have the +youth take his coat. He mocked at cold; made her put her arms in +the sleeves, and buttoned it round her: both laughed to see how wide +it was. Then he took her by the hand, and led her away, obedient as +when first he found her and her heart upon Glashgar. Like two +children, holding each other fast, they hurried along, in dread of +pursuit. He brought her to Daur-street, and gave her into Mrs. +Sclater's arms. Ginevra told her everything except that her father +had struck her, and Gibbie begged her to keep his wife for him till +they could be married. Mrs. Sclater behaved like a mother to them, +sent Gibbie away, and Ginevra to a hot bath and to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +CATASTROPHE. + +Gibbie went home as if Pearl-street had been the stairs of Glashgar, +and the Auld Hoose a mansion in the heavens. He seemed to float +along the way as one floats in a happy dream, where motion is born +at once of the will, without the intermediating mechanics of nerve, +muscle, and fulcrum. Love had been gathering and ever storing +itself in his heart so many years for this brown dove! now at last +the rock was smitten, and its treasure rushed forth to her service. +In nothing was it changed as it issued, save as the dark, silent, +motionless water of the cavern changes into the sparkling, singing, +dancing rivulet. Gibbie's was love simple, unselfish, +undemanding--not merely asking for no return, but asking for no +recognition, requiring not even that its existence should be known. +He was a rare one, who did not make the common miserable blunder of +taking the shadow cast by love--the desire, namely, to be loved--for +love itself; his love was a vertical sun, and his own shadow was +under his feet. Silly youths and maidens count themselves martyrs +of love, when they are but the pining witnesses to a delicious and +entrancing selfishness. But do not mistake me through confounding, +on the other hand, the desire to be loved--which is neither wrong +nor noble, any more than hunger is either wrong or noble--and the +delight in being loved, to be devoid of which a man must be lost in +an immeasurably deeper, in an evil, ruinous, yea, a fiendish +selfishness. Not to care for love is the still worse reaction from +the self-foiled and outworn greed of love. Gibbie's love was a +diamond among gem-loves. There are men whose love to a friend is +less selfish than their love to the dearest woman; but Gibbie's was +not a love to be less divine towards a woman than towards a man. +One man's love is as different from another's as the one is himself +different from the other. The love that dwells in one man is an +angel, the love in another is a bird, that in another a hog. Some +would count worthless the love of a man who loved everybody. There +would be no distinction in being loved by such a man!--and +distinction, as a guarantee of their own great worth, is what such +seek. There are women who desire to be the sole object of a man's +affection, and are all their lives devoured by unlawful jealousies. +A love that had never gone forth upon human being but themselves, +would be to them the treasure to sell all that they might buy. And +the man who brought such a love might in truth be all-absorbed +therein himself: the poorest of creatures may well be absorbed in +the poorest of loves. A heart has to be taught to love, and its +first lesson, however well learnt, no more makes it perfect in love, +than the A B C makes a savant. The man who loves most will love +best. The man who throughly loves God and his neighbour is the only +man who will love a woman ideally--who can love her with the love +God thought of between them when he made man male and female. The +man, I repeat, who loves God with his very life, and his neighbour +as Christ loves him, is the man who alone is capable of grand, +perfect, glorious love to any woman. Because Gibbie's love was +towards everything human, he was able to love Ginevra as Donal, poet +and prophet, was not yet grown able to love her. To that of the +most passionate of unbelieving lovers, Gibbie's love was as the fire +of a sun to that of a forest. The fulness of a world of love-ways +and love-thoughts was Gibbie's. In sweet affairs of +loving-kindness, he was in his own kingdom, and sat upon its throne. +And it was this essential love, acknowledging and embracing, as a +necessity of its being, everything that could be loved, which now +concentrated its rays on the individual's individual. His love to +Ginevra stood like a growing thicket of aromatic shrubs, until her +confession set the fire of heaven to it, and the flame that consumes +not, but gives life, arose and shot homeward. He had never +imagined, never hoped, never desired she should love him like that. +She had refused his friend, the strong, the noble, the beautiful, +Donal the poet, and it never could but from her own lips have found +way to his belief that she had turned her regard upon wee Sir +Gibbie, a nobody, who to himself was a mere burning heart running +about in tattered garments. His devotion to her had forestalled +every pain with its antidote of perfect love, had negatived every +lack, had precluded every desire, had shut all avenues of entrance +against self. Even if "a little thought unsound" should have +chanced upon an entrance, it would have found no soil to root and +grow in: the soil for the harvest of pain is that brought down from +the peaks of pride by the torrents of desire. Immeasurably the +greater therefore was his delight, when the warmth and odour of the +love that had been from time to him immemorial passing out from him +in virtue of consolation and healing, came back upon him in the +softest and sweetest of flower-waking spring-winds. Then indeed was +his heart a bliss worth God's making. The sum of happiness in the +city, if gathered that night into one wave, could not have reached +half-way to the crest of the mighty billow tossing itself heavenward +as it rushed along the ocean of Gibbie's spirit. + +He entered the close of the Auld Hoose. But the excess of his joy +had not yet turned to light, was not yet passing from him in +physical flame: whence then the glow that illumined the court? He +looked up. The windows of Mistress Croale's bedroom were glaring +with light! He opened the door hurriedly and darted up. On the +stair he was met by the smell of burning, which grew stronger as he +ascended. He opened Mistress Croale's door. The chintz curtains of +her bed were flaming to the ceiling. He darted to it. Mistress +Croale was not in it. He jumped upon it, and tore down the curtains +and tester, trampling them under his feet upon the blankets. He had +almost finished, and, at the bottom of the bed, was reaching up and +pulling at the last of the flaming rags, when a groan came to his +ears. He looked down: there, at the foot of the bed, on her back +upon the floor, lay Mistress Croale in her satin gown, with red +swollen face, wide-open mouth, and half-open eyes, dead drunk, a +heap of ruin. A bit of glowing tinder fell on her forehead. She +opened her eyes, looked up, uttered a terrified cry, closed them, +and was again motionless, except for her breathing. On one side of +her lay a bottle, on the other a chamber-candlestick upset, with the +candle guttered into a mass. + +With the help of the water-jugs, and the bath which stood ready in +his room, he succeeded at last in putting out the fire, and then +turned his attention to Mistress Croale. Her breathing had grown so +stertorous that he was alarmed, and getting more water, bathed her +head, and laid a wet handkerchief on it, after which he sat down and +watched her. It would have made a strange picture: the middle of +the night, the fire-blasted bed, the painful, ugly carcase on the +floor, and the sad yet--I had almost said radiant youth, watching +near. The slow night passed. + +The gray of the morning came, chill and cheerless. Mistress Croale +stirred, moved, crept up rather than rose to a sitting position, and +stretched herself yawning. Gibbie had risen and stood over her. +She caught sight of him; absolute terror distorted her sodden face; +she stared at him, then stared about her, like one who had suddenly +waked in hell. He took her by the arm. She obeyed, rose, and +stood, fear conquering the remnants of drunkenness, with her +whisky-scorched eyes following his every movement, as he got her +cloak and bonnet. He put them on her. She submitted like a child +caught in wickedness, and cowed by the capture. He led her from the +house, out into the dark morning, made her take his arm, and away +they walked together, down to the riverside. She gave a reel now +and then, and sometimes her knees would double under her; but Gibbie +was no novice at the task, and brought her safe to the door of her +lodging--of which, in view of such a possibility, he had been paying +the rent all the time. He opened the door with her pass-key, led +her up the stair, unlocked the door of her garret, placed her in a +chair, and left her, closing the doors gently behind him. +Instinctively she sought her bed, fell upon it, and slept again. + +When she woke, her dim mind was haunted by a terrible vision of +resurrection and damnation, of which the only point she could +plainly recall, was an angel, as like Sir Gibbie as he could look, +hanging in the air above her, and sending out flames on all sides of +him, which burned her up, inside and out, shrivelling soul and body +together. As she lay thinking over it, with her eyes closed, +suddenly she remembered, with a pang of dismay, that she had got +drunk and broken her vow--that was the origin of the bad dream, and +the dreadful headache, and the burning at her heart! She must have +water! Painfully lifting herself upon one elbow, she opened her +eyes. Then what a bewilderment, and what a discovery, slow +unfolding itself, were hers! Like her first parents she had fallen; +her paradise was gone; she lay outside among the thorns and thistles +before the gate. From being the virtual mistress of a great house, +she was back in her dreary lonely garret! Re-exiled in shame from +her briefly regained respectability, from friendship and honourable +life and the holding forth of help to the world, she lay there a sow +that had been washed, and washed in vain! What a sight of disgrace +was her grand satin gown--wet, and scorched, and smeared with +candle! and ugh! how it smelt of smoke and burning and the dregs of +whisky! And her lace!--She gazed at her finery as an angel might on +his feathers which the enemy had burned while he slept on his watch. + +She must have water! She got out of bed with difficulty, then for a +whole hour sat on the edge of it motionless, unsure that she was not +in hell. At last she wept--acrid tears, for very misery. She rose, +took off her satin and lace, put on a cotton gown, and was once more +a decent-looking poor body--except as to her glowing face and +burning eyes, which to bathe she had nothing but tears. Again she +sat down, and for a space did nothing, only suffered in ignominy. +At last life began to revive a little. She rose and moved about +the room, staring at the things in it as a ghost might stare at the +grave-clothes on its abandoned body. There on the table lay her +keys; and what was that under them?--A letter addressed to her. She +opened it, and found five pound-notes, with these words: "I promise +to pay to Mrs. Croale five pounds monthly, for nine months to come. +Gilbert Galbraith." She wept again. He would never speak to her +more! She had lost him at last--her only friend!--her sole link to +God and goodness and the kingdom of heaven!--lost him for ever! + +The day went on, cold and foggy without, colder and drearier within. +Sick and faint and disgusted, the poor heart had no atmosphere to +beat in save an infinite sense of failure and lost opportunity. She +had fuel enough in the room to make a little fire, and at length had +summoned resolve sufficient for the fetching of water from the +street-pump. She went to the cupboard to get a jug: she could not +carry a pailful. There in the corner stood her demon-friend! her +own old familiar, the black bottle! as if he had been patiently +waiting for her all the long dreary time she had been away! With a +flash of fierce joy she remembered she had left it half-full. She +caught it up, and held it between her and the fading light of the +misty window: it was half-full still!--One glass--a hair of the +dog--would set her free from faintness and sickness, disgust and +misery! There was no one to find fault with her now! She could do +as she liked--there was no one to care!--nothing to take fire!--She +set the bottle on the table, because her hand shook, and went again +to the cupboard to get a glass. On the way--borne upward on some +heavenly current from the deeps of her soul, the face of Gibbie, +sorrowful because loving, like the face of the Son of Man, met her. +She turned, seized the bottle, and would have dashed it on the +hearthstone, but that a sudden resolve arrested her lifted arm: +Gibbie should see! She would be strong! That bottle should stand +on that shelf until the hour when she could show it him and say, +"See the proof of my victory!" She drove the cork fiercely in. +When its top was level with the neck, she set the bottle back in +its place, and from that hour it stood there, a temptation, a +ceaseless warning, the monument of a broken but reparable vow, a +pledge of hope. It may not have been a prudent measure. To a weak +nature it would have involved certain ruin. But there are natures +that do better under difficulty; there are many such. And with that +fiend-like shape in her cupboard the one ambition of Mistress +Croale's life was henceforth inextricably bound up: she would turn +that bottle into a witness for her against the judgment she had +deserved. Close by the cupboard door, like a kite or an owl nailed +up against a barn, she hung her soiled and dishonoured satin gown; +and the dusk having now gathered, took the jug, and fetched herself +water. Then, having set her kettle on the fire, she went out with +her basket, and bought bread, and butter. After a good cup of tea +and some nice toast, she went to bed again, much easier both in mind +and body, and slept. + +In the morning she went to the market, opened her shop, and waited +for customers. Pleasure and surprise at her reappearance brought +the old ones quickly back. She was friendly and helpful to them as +before; but the slightest approach to inquiry as to where she had +been or what she had been doing, she met with simple obstinate +silence. Gibbie's bounty and her faithful abstinence enabled her to +add to her stock and extend her trade. By and by she had the +command of a little money; and when in the late autumn there came a +time of scarcity and disease, she went about among the poor like a +disciple of Sir Gibbie. Some said that, from her knowledge of their +ways, from her judgment, and by her personal ministration of what, +for her means, she gave more bountifully than any, she did more to +hearten their endurance, than all the ladies together who +administered money subscribed. It came to Sir Gibbie's ears, and +rejoiced his heart: his old friend was on the King's highway still! +In the mean time she saw nothing of him. Not once did he pass her +shop, where often her mental, and not unfrequently her bodily, +attitude was that of a watching lover. The second day, indeed, she +saw him at a little distance, and sorely her heart smote her, for +one of his hands was in a sling; but he crossed to the other side, +plainly to avoid her. She was none the less sure, however, that +when she asked him he would forgive her; and ask him she would, as +soon as she had satisfactory proof of repentance to show him. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +ARRANGEMENT AND PREPARATION. + +The next morning, the first thing after breakfast, Mr. Sclater, +having reflected that Ginevra was under age and they must be +careful, resumed for the nonce, with considerable satisfaction, his +office of guardian, and holding no previous consultation with +Gibbie, walked to the cottage, and sought an interview with Mr. +Galbraith, which the latter accorded with a formality suitable to +his idea of his own inborn grandeur. But his assumption had no +effect on nut-headed Mr. Sclater, who, in this matter at all events, +was at peace with his conscience. + +"I have to inform you, Mr. Galbraith," he began, "that Miss +Galbraith--" + +"Oh!" said the laird, "I beg your pardon; I was not aware it was my +daughter you wished to see." + +He rose and rang the bell. Mr. Sclater, annoyed at his manner, held +his peace. + +"Tell your mistress," said the laird, "that the Rev. Mr. Sclater +wishes to see her." + +The girl returned with a scared face, and the news that her mistress +was not in her room. The laird's loose mouth dropped looser. + +"Miss Galbraith did us the honour to sleep at our house last night," +said Mr. Sclater deliberately. + +"The devil!" cried the laird, relieved. "Why!--What!--Are you aware +of what you are saying, sir?" + +"Perfectly; and of what I saw too. A blow looks bad on a lady's +face." + +"Good heavens! the little hussey dared to say I struck her?" + +"She did not say so; but no one could fail to see some one had. If +you do not know who did it, I do." + +"Send her home instantly, or I will come and fetch her," cried the +laird. + +"Come and dine with us if you want to see her. For the present she +remains where she is. You want her to marry Fergus Duff; she +prefers my ward, Gilbert Galbraith, and I shall do my best for +them." + +"She is under age," said the laird. + +"That fault will rectify itself as fast in my house as in yours," +returned the minister. "If you invite the publicity of a legal +action, I will employ counsel, and wait the result." + +Mr. Sclater was not at all anxious to hasten the marriage; he would +much rather, in fact, have it put off, at least until Gibbie should +have taken his degree. The laird started up in a rage, but the room +was so small that he sat down again. The minister leaned back in +his chair. He was too much displeased with the laird's behaviour to +lighten the matter for him by setting forth the advantages of having +Sir Gibbie for a son-in-law. + +"Mr. Sclater," said the laird at length, "I am shocked, unspeakably +shocked, at my daughter's conduct. To leave the shelter of her +father's roof, in the middle of the night, and--" + +"About seven o'clock in the evening," interjected Mr. Sclater. + +"--and take refuge with strangers!" continued the laird. + +"By no means strangers, Mr. Galbraith!" said the minister. "You +drive your daughter from your house, and are then shocked to find +she has taken refuge with friends!" + +"She is an unnatural child. She knows well enough what I think of +her, and what reason she has given me so to think." + +"When a man happens to be alone in any opinion," remarked the +minister, "even if the opinion should be of his own daughter, the +probabilities are he is wrong. Every one but yourself has the +deepest regard for Miss Galbraith." + +"She has always cultivated strangely objectionable friendships," +said the laird. + +"For my own part," said the minister, as if heedless of the laird's +last remark, "although I believe she has no dowry, and there are +reasons besides why the connection should not be desirable, I do not +know a lady I should prefer for a wife to my ward." + +The minister's plain speaking was not without effect upon the laird. +It made him uncomfortable. It is only when the conscience is wide +awake and regnant that it can be appealed to without giving a cry +for response. Again he sat silent a while. Then gathering all the +pomp and stiffness at his command, + +"Oblige me by informing my daughter," he said, "that I request her, +for the sake of avoiding scandal, to return to her father's house +until she is of age." + +"And in the mean time you undertake--" + +"I undertake nothing," shouted the laird, in his feeble, woolly, yet +harsh voice. + +"Then I refuse to carry your message. I will be no bearer of that +from which, as soon as delivered, I should dissuade." + +"Allow me to ask, are you a minister of the gospel, and stir up a +child against her own father?" + +"I am not here to bandy words with you, Mr. Galbraith. It is +nothing to me what you think of me. If you will engage not to urge +your choice upon Miss Galbraith, I think it probable she will at +once return to you. If not--" + +"I will not force her inclinations," said the laird. "She knows my +wish, and she ought to know the duty of a daughter." + +"I will tell her what you say," answered the minister, and took his +departure. + +When Gibbie heard, he was not at all satisfied with Mr. Sclater's +interference to such result. He wished to marry Ginevra at once, in +order to take her from under the tyranny of her father. But he was +readily convinced it would be better, now things were understood, +that she should go back to him, and try once more to gain him. The +same day she did go back, and Gibbie took up his quarters at the +minister's. + +Ginevra soon found that her father had not yielded the idea of +having his own way with her, but her spirits and courage were now so +good, that she was able not only to endure with less suffering, but +to carry herself quite differently. Much less afraid of him, she +was the more watchful to minister to his wants, dared a loving +liberty now and then in spite of his coldness, took his objurgations +with something of the gaiety of one who did not or would not believe +he meant them, and when he abused Gibbie, did not answer a word, +knowing events alone could set him right in his idea of him. +Rejoiced that he had not laid hold of the fact that Glashruach was +Gibbie's, she never mentioned the place to him; for she shrunk with +sharpest recoil from the humiliation of seeing him, upon conviction, +turn from Fergus to Gibbie: the kindest thing they could do for him +would be to marry against his will, and save him from open +tergiversation; for no one could then blame him, he would be +thoroughly pleased, and not having the opportunity of +self-degradation, would be saved the cause for self-contempt. + +For some time Fergus kept on hoping. The laird, blinded by his own +wishes, and expecting Gibbie would soon do something to bring public +disgrace upon himself, did not tell him of his daughter's +determination and self-engagement, while, for her part, Ginevra +believed she fulfilled her duty towards him in the endeavour to +convince him by her conduct that nothing could ever induce her to +marry him. So the remainder of the session passed--the laird urging +his objections against Gibbie, and growing extravagant in his +praises of Fergus, while Ginevra kept taking fresh courage, and +being of good cheer. Gibbie went to the cottage once or twice, but +the laird made it so uncomfortable for them, and Fergus was so rude, +that they agreed it would be better to content themselves with +meeting when they had the chance. + +At the end of the month Gibbie went home as usual, telling Ginevra +he must be present to superintend what was going on at Glashruach to +get the house ready for her, but saying nothing of what he was +building there. By the beginning of the winter, they had got the +buttress-wall finished and the coping on it, also the shell of the +new house roofed in, so that the carpenters had been at work all +through the frost and snow, and things had made great progress +without any hurry; and now, since the first day the weather had +permitted, the masons were at work again. The bridge was built, the +wall of the old house broken through, the turret carried aloft. The +channel of the little burn they had found completely blocked by a +great stone at the farther edge of the landslip; up to this stone +they opened the channel, protecting it by masonry against further +slip, and by Gibbie's directions left it so--after boring the stone, +which still turned every drop of the water aside into the Glashburn, +for a good charge of gunpowder. All the hollow where the latter +burn had carried away pine-wood and shrubbery, gravel drive and +lawn, had been planted, mostly with fir trees; and a weir of strong +masonry, a little way below the house, kept the water back, so that +it rose and spread, and formed a still pool just under the house, +reflecting it far beneath. If Ginevra pleased, Gibbie meant to +raise the weir, and have quite a little lake in the hollow. A new +approach had been contrived, and was nearly finished before Gibbie +returned to college. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +THE WEDDING. + +In the mean time Fergus, dull as he was to doubt his own importance +and success--for did not the public acknowledge both?--yet by +degrees lost heart and hope so far as concerned Ginevra, and at +length told the laird that, much as he valued his society, and was +indebted for his kindness, he must deny himself the pleasure of +visiting any more at the cottage--so plainly was his presence +unacceptable to Miss Galbraith. The laird blustered against his +daughter, and expostulated with the preacher, not forgetting to hint +at the ingratitude of forsaking him, after all he had done and borne +in the furthering of his interests: Jenny must at length come to see +what reason and good sense required of her! But Fergus had at last +learned his lesson, and was no longer to be blinded. Besides, there +had lately come to his church a certain shopkeeper, retired rich, +with one daughter; and as his hope of the dignity of being married +to Ginevra faded, he had come to feel the enticement of Miss +Lapraik's money and good looks--which gained in force considerably +when he began to understand the serious off-sets there were to the +honour of being son-in-law to Mr. Galbraith: a nobody as was old +Lapraik in himself and his position, he was at least looked upon +with respect, argued Fergus; and indeed the man was as honest as it +is possible for any worshipper of Mammon to be. Fergus therefore +received the laird's expostulations and encouragements with +composure, but when at length, in his growing acidity, Mr. Galbraith +reflected on his birth, and his own condescension in showing him +friendship, Fergus left the house, never to go near it again. +Within three months, for a second protracted courtship was not to +be thought of, he married Miss Lapraik, and lived respectable ever +after--took to writing hymns, became popular afresh through his +poetry, and exercised a double influence for the humiliation of +Christianity. But what matter, while he counted himself fortunate, +and thought himself happy! his fame spread; he had good health; his +wife worshipped him; and if he had had a valet, I have no doubt he +would have been a hero to him, thus climbing the topmost untrodden +peak of the world's greatness. + +When the next evening came, and Fergus did not appear, the laird +fidgeted, then stormed, then sank into a moody silence. When the +second night came, and Fergus did not come, the sequence was the +same, with exasperated symptoms. Night after night passed thus, and +Ginevra began to fear for her father's reason. She challenged him +to play backgammon with her, but he scorned the proposal. She +begged him to teach her chess, but he scouted the notion of her +having wit enough to learn. She offered to read to him, entreated +him to let her do something with him, but he repelled her every +advance with contempt and surliness, which now and then broke into +rage and vituperation. + +As soon as Gibbie returned, Ginevra let him know how badly things +were going with her father. They met, consulted, agreed that the +best thing was to be married at once, made their preparations, and +confident that, if asked, he would refuse his permission, proceeded, +for his sake, as if they had had it. + +One morning, as he sat at breakfast, Mr. Galbraith received from Mr. +Torrie, whom he knew as the agent in the purchase of Glashruach, and +whom he supposed to have bought it for Major Culsalmon, a letter, +more than respectful, stating that matters had come to light +regarding the property which rendered his presence on the spot +indispensable for their solution, especially as there might be +papers of consequence in view of the points in question, in some +drawer or cabinet of those he had left locked behind him. The +present owner, therefore, through Mr. Torrie, begged most +respectfully that Mr. Galbraith would sacrifice two days of his +valuable time, and visit Glashruach. The result, he did not doubt, +would be to the advantage of both parties. If Mr. Galbraith would +kindly signify to Mr. Torrie his assent, a carriage and four, with +postilions, that he might make the journey in all possible comfort, +should be at his house the next morning, at ten o'clock, if that +hour would be convenient. + +For weeks the laird had been an unmitigated bore to himself, and the +invitation laid hold upon him by the most projecting handle of his +being, namely, his self-importance. He wrote at once to signify his +gracious assent; and in the evening told his daughter he was going +to Glashruach on business, and had arranged for Miss Kimble to come +and stay with her till his return. + +At nine o'clock the schoolmistress came to breakfast, and at ten a +travelling-carriage with four horses drew up at the door, looking +nearly as big as the cottage. With monstrous stateliness, and a +fur-coat on his arm, the laird descended to his garden gate, and got +into the carriage, which instantly dashed away for the western road, +restoring Mr. Galbraith to the full consciousness of his inherent +grandeur: if he was not exactly laird of Glashruach again, he was +something quite as important. His carriage was just out of the +street, when a second, also with four horses, drew up, to the +astonishment of Miss Kimble, at the garden gate. Out of it stepped +Mr. and Mrs. Sclater! then a young gentleman, whom she thought very +graceful until she discovered it was that low-lived Sir Gilbert! and +Mr. Torrie, the lawyer! They came trooping into the little +drawing-room, shook hands with them both, and sat down, Sir Gilbert +beside Ginevra--but nobody spoke. What could it mean! A morning +call? It was too early. And four horses to a morning call! A +pastoral visitation? Four horses and a lawyer to a pastoral +visitation! A business call? There was Mrs. Sclater! and that Sir +Gilbert!--It must after all be a pastoral visitation, for there was +the minister commencing a religious service!--during which however +it suddenly revealed itself to the horrified spinster that she was +part and parcel of a clandestine wedding! An anxious father had +placed her in charge of his daughter, and this was how she was +fulfilling her trust! There was Ginevra being married in a brown +dress! and to that horrid lad, who called himself a baronet, and +hobnobbed with a low market-woman! But, alas! just as she was +recovering her presence of mind, Mr. Sclater pronounced them husband +and wife! She gave a shriek, and cried out, "I forbid the banns," +at which the company, bride and bridegroom included, broke into "a +loud smile." The ceremony over, Ginevra glided from the room, and +returned almost immediately in her little brown bonnet. Sir Gilbert +caught up his hat, and Ginevra held out her hand to Miss Kimble. +Then at length the abashed and aggrieved lady found words of her +own. + +"Ginevra!" she cried, "you are never going to leave me alone in the +house!--after inviting me to stay with you till your father +returned!" + +But the minister answered her. + +"It was her father who invited you, I believe, not Lady Galbraith," +he said; "and you understood perfectly that the invitation was not +meant to give her pleasure. You would doubtless have her postpone +her wedding-journey on your account, but my lady is under no +obligation to think of you."--He had heard of her tattle against Sir +Gilbert, and thus rudely showed his resentment. + +Miss Kimble burst into tears. Ginevra kissed her, and said, + +"Never mind, dear Miss Kimble. You could not help it. The whole +thing was arranged. We are going after my father, and we have the +best horses." + +Mr. Torrie laughed outright. + +"A new kind of runaway marriage!" he cried. "The happy couple +pursuing the obstinate parent with four horses! Ha! ha! ha!" + +"But after the ceremony!" said Mr. Sclater. + +Here the servant ran down the steps with a carpet-bag, and opened +the gate for her mistress. Lady Galbraith got into the carriage; +Sir Gilbert followed; there was kissing and tears at the door of it; +Mrs. Sclater drew back; the postilions spurred their horses; off +went the second carriage faster than the first; and the minister's +party walked quietly away, leaving Miss Kimble to declaim to the +maid of all work, who cried so that she did not hear a word she +said. The schoolmistress put on her bonnet, and full of indignation +carried her news of the treatment to which she had been subjected to +the Rev. Fergus Duff, who remarked to himself that it was sad to see +youth and beauty turn away from genius and influence to wed money +and idiocy, gave a sigh, and went to see Miss Lapraik. + +Between the second stage and the third, Gibbie and Ginevra came in +sight of their father's carriage. Having arranged with the +postilions that the two carriages should not change horses at the +same places, they easily passed unseen by him, while, thinking of +nothing so little as their proximity, he sat in state before the +door of a village inn. + +Just as Mr. Galbraith was beginning to hope the major had contrived +a new approach to the place, the carriage took an unexpected turn, +and he found presently they were climbing, by a zig-zag road, the +height over the Lorrie burn; but the place was no longer his, and to +avoid a sense of humiliation, he avoided taking any interest in the +change. + +A young woman--it was Donal's eldest sister, but he knew nothing of +her--opened the door to him, and showed him up the stair to his old +study. There a great fire was burning; but, beyond that, +everything, even to the trifles on his writing table, was just as +when last he left the house. His chair stood in its usual position +by the fire, and wine and biscuits were on a little table near. + +"Very considerate!" he said to himself. "I trust the major does not +mean to keep me waiting, though. Deuced hard to have to leave a +place like this!" + +Weary with his journey he fell into a doze, dreamed of his dead +wife, woke suddenly, and heard the door of the room open. There was +Major Culsalmon entering with outstretched hand! and there was a +lady--his wife doubtless! But how young the major was! he had +imagined him a man in middle age at least!--Bless his soul! was he +never to get rid of this impostor fellow! it was not the major! it +was the rascal calling himself Sir Gilbert Galbraith!--the +half-witted wretch his fool of a daughter insisted on marrying! +Here he was, ubiquitous as Satan! And--bless his soul again! there +was the minx, Jenny! looking as if the place was her own! The silly +tears in her eyes too!--It was all too absurd! He had just been +dreaming of his dead wife, and clearly that was it! he was not awake +yet! + +He tried hard to wake, but the dream mastered him. + +"Jenny!" he said, as the two stood for a moment regarding him, a +little doubtfully, but with smiles of welcome, "what is the meaning +of this? I did not know Major Culsalmon had invited you! And what +is this person doing here?" + +"Papa," replied Ginevra, with a curious smile, half merry, half +tearful, "this person is my husband, Sir Gilbert Galbraith of +Glashruach; and you are at home in your own study again." + +"Will you never have done masquerading, Jenny?" he returned. "Inform +Major Culsalmon that I request to see him immediately." + +He turned towards the fire, and took up a newspaper. They thought +it better to leave him. As he sat, by degrees the truth grew plain +to him. But not one other word on the matter did the man utter to +the day of his death. When dinner was announced, he walked straight +from the dining-room door to his former place at the foot of the +table. But Robina Grant was equal to the occasion. She caught up +the dish before him, and set it at the side. There Gibbie seated +himself; and, after a moment's hesitation, Ginevra placed herself +opposite her husband. + +The next day Gibbie provided him with something to do. He had the +chest of papers found in the Auld Hoose o' Galbraith carried into +his study, and the lawyer found both employment and interest for +weeks in deciphering and arranging them. Amongst many others +concerning the property, its tenures, and boundaries, appeared some +papers which, associated and compared, threw considerable doubt on +the way in which portions of it had changed hands, and passed from +those of Gibbie's ancestors into those of Ginevra's--who were +lawyers as well as Galbraiths; and the laird was keen of scent as +any nose-hound after dishonesty in other people. In the course of a +fortnight he found himself so much at home in his old quarters, and +so much interested in those papers and his books, that when Sir +Gilbert informed him Ginevra and he were going back to the city, he +pronounced it decidedly the better plan, seeing he was there himself +to look after affairs. + +For the rest of the winter, therefore, Mr. Galbraith played the +grand seigneur as before among the tenants of Glashruach. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +THE BURN. + +The moment they were settled in the Auld Hoose, Gibbie resumed the +habits of the former winter, which Mistress Croale's failure had +interrupted. And what a change it was to Ginevra--from imprisonment +to ministration! She found difficulties at first, as may readily be +believed. But presently came help. As soon as Mistress Croale +heard of their return, she went immediately to Lady Galbraith, one +morning while Sir Gibbie was at college, literally knelt at her +feet, and with tears told her the whole tale, beseeching her +intercession with Sir Gibbie. + +"I want naething," she insisted, "but his fawvour, an' the licht o' +his bonnie coontenance." + +The end of course was that she was gladly received again into the +house, where once more she attended to all the principal at least of +her former duties. Before she died, there was a great change and +growth in her: she was none of those before whom pearls must not be +cast. + +Every winter, for many years, Sir Gilbert and Lady Galbraith +occupied the Auld Hoose; which by degrees came at length to be known +as the refuge of all that were in honest distress, the salvation of +all in themselves such as could be helped, and a covert for the +night to all the houseless, of whatever sort, except those drunk at +the time. Caution had to be exercised, and judgment used; the +caution was tender and the judgment stern. The next year they built +a house in a sheltered spot on Glashgar, and thither from the city +they brought many invalids, to spend the summer months under the +care of Janet and her daughter Robina, whereby not a few were +restored sufficiently to earn their bread for a time thereafter. + +The very day the session was over, they returned to Glashruach, +where they were received by the laird, as he was still called, as if +they had been guests. They found Joseph, the old butler, +reinstated, and Angus again acting as gamekeeper. Ginevra welcomed +Joseph, but took the first opportunity of telling Angus that for her +father's sake Sir Gilbert allowed him to remain, but on the first +act of violence he should at once be dismissed, and probably +prosecuted as well. Donal's eldest brother was made bailiff. +Before long Gibbie got the other two also about him, and as soon +as, with justice, he was able, settled them together upon one of his +farms. Every Saturday, so long as Janet lived, they met, as in the +old times, at the cottage--only with Ginevra in the place of the +absent Donal. More to her own satisfaction, after all, than +Robert's, Janet went home first,--"to be at han'," she said, "to +open the door till him whan he chaps." Then Robert went to his sons +below on their farm, where he was well taken care of; but happily he +did not remain long behind his wife. That first summer, Nicie +returned to Glashruach to wait on Lady Galbraith, was more her +friend than her servant, and when she married, was settled on the +estate. + +For some little time Ginevra was fully occupied in getting her house +in order, and furnishing the new part of it. When that was done, +Sir Gilbert gave an entertainment to his tenants. The laird +preferred a trip to the city, "on business," to the humiliation of +being present as other than the greatest; though perhaps he would +have minded it less had he ever himself given a dinner to his +tenants. + +Robert and Janet declined the invitation. + +"We're ower auld for makin' merry 'cep' in oor ain herts," said +Janet. "But bide ye, my bonny Sir Gibbie, till we're a' up yon'er, +an' syne we'll see." + +The place of honour was therefore given to Jean Mavor, who was +beside herself with joy to see her broonie lord of the land, and be +seated beside him in respect and friendship. But her brother said +it was "clean ridic'lous;" and not to the last would consent to +regard the new laird as other than half-witted, insisting that +everything was done by his wife, and that the talk on his fingers +was a mere pretence. + +When the main part of the dinner was over, Sir Gilbert and his lady +stood at the head of the table, and, he speaking by signs and she +interpreting, made a little speech together. In the course of it +Sir Gibbie took occasion to apologize for having once disturbed the +peace of the country-side by acting the supposed part of a broonie, +and in relating his adventures of the time, accompanied his wife's +text with such graphic illustration of gesture, that his audience +laughed at the merry tale till the tears ran down their cheeks. +Then with a few allusions to his strange childhood, he thanked the +God who led him through thorny ways into the very arms of love and +peace in the cottage of Robert and Janet Grant, whence, and not from +the fortune he had since inherited, came all his peace. + +"He desires me to tell you," said Lady Galbraith, "that he was a +stranger, and you folk of Daurside took him in, and if ever he can +do a kindness to you or yours, he will.--He desires me also to say, +that you ought not to be left ignorant that you have a poet of your +own, born and bred among you--Donal Grant, the son of Robert and +Janet, the friend of Sir Gilbert's heart, and one of the noblest of +men. And he begs you to allow me to read you a poem he had from him +this very morning--probably just written. It is called The +Laverock. I will read it as well as I can. If any of you do not +like poetry, he says--I mean Sir Gilbert says--you can go to the +kitchen and light your pipes, and he will send your wine there to +you." + +She ceased. Not one stirred, and she read the verses--which, for +the sake of having Donal in at the last of my book, I will print. +Those who do not care for verse, may--metaphorically, I would not +be rude--go and smoke their pipes in the kitchen. + + +THE LAVEROCK. (lark) + + +THE MAN SAYS: + + Laverock i' the lift, (sky) + Hae ye nae sang-thrift, + 'At ye scatter't sae heigh, an' lat it a' drift? + Wasterfu' laverock! + + Dinna ye ken + 'At ye hing ower men + Wha haena a sang or a penny to spen'? + Hertless laverock! + + But up there, you, + I' the bow o' the blue, + Haud skirlin' on as gien a' war new! (keep shrilling) + Toom-heidit laverock! (empty-headed) + + Haith! ye're ower blythe: + I see a great scythe + Swing whaur yer nestie lies, doon i' the lythe, (shelter) + Liltin' laverock! + + Eh, sic a soon'! + Birdie, come doon-- + Ye're fey to sing sic a merry tune, (death-doomed) + Gowkit laverock! (silly) + + Come to yer nest; + Yer wife's sair prest; + She's clean worn oot wi' duin' her best, + Rovin' laverock! + + Winna ye haud? + Ye're surely mad! + Is there naebody there to gie ye a daud? (blow) + Menseless laverock! + + Come doon an' conform; + Pyke an honest worm, + An' hap yer bairns frae the muckle storm, + Spendrife laverock! + + +THE BIRD SINGS: + + My nestie it lieth + I' the how o' a han'; (hollow) + The swing o' the scythe + 'Ill miss 't by a span. + + The lift it's sae cheerie! + The win' it's sae free! + I hing ower my dearie, + An' sing 'cause I see. + + My wifie's wee breistie + Grows warm wi' my sang, + An' ilk crumpled-up beastie + Kens no to think lang. + + Up here the sun sings, but + He only shines there! + Ye haena nae wings, but + Come up on a prayer. + + +THE MAN SINGS: + + Ye wee daurin' cratur, + Ye rant an' ye sing + Like an oye o' auld Natur' (grandchild) + Ta'en hame by the King! + + Ye wee feathert priestie, + Yer bells i' yer thro't. + Yer altar yer breistie + Yer mitre forgot-- + + Offerin' an' Aaron, + Ye burn hert an' brain + An' dertin' an' daurin + Flee back to yer ain + + Ye wee minor prophet, + It's 'maist my belief + 'At I'm doon i' Tophet, + An' you abune grief! + + Ye've deavt me an' daudit, (deafened) (buffeted) + An' ca'd me a fule: + I'm nearhan' persuaudit + To gang to your schule! + + For, birdie, I'm thinkin' + Ye ken mair nor me-- + Gien ye haena been drinkin', + An' sing as ye see. + + Ye maun hae a sicht 'at + Sees geyan far ben; (considerably) (inwards) + An' a hert for the micht o' 't + Wad sair for nine men! (serve) + + Somebody's been till + Roun to ye wha (whisper) + Said birdies war seen till + E'en whan they fa'! + + +After the reading of the poem, Sir Gilbert and Lady Galbraith +withdrew, and went towards the new part of the house, where they had +their rooms. On the bridge, over which Ginevra scarcely ever passed +without stopping to look both up and down the dry channel in the +rock, she lingered as usual, and gazed from its windows. Below, the +waterless bed of the burn opened out on the great valley of the +Daur; above was the landslip, and beyond it the stream rushing down +the mountain. Gibbie pointed up to it. She gazed a while, and gave +a great sigh. He asked her--their communication was now more like +that between two spirits: even signs had become almost +unnecessary--what she wanted or missed. She looked in his face and +said, "Naething but the sang o' my burnie, Gibbie." He took a small +pistol from his pocket, and put it in her hand; then, opening the +window, signed to her to fire it. She had never fired a pistol, and +was a little frightened, but would have been utterly ashamed to +shrink from anything Gibbie would have her do. She held it out. Her +hand trembled. He laid his upon it, and it grew steady. She pulled +the trigger, and dropped the pistol with a little cry. He signed to +her to listen. A moment passed, and then, like a hugely magnified +echo, came a roar that rolled from mountain to mountain, like a +thunder drum. The next instant, the landslip seemed to come +hurrying down the channel, roaring and leaping: it was the mud-brown +waters of the burn, careering along as if mad with joy at having +regained their ancient course. Ginevra stared with parted lips, +delight growing to apprehension as the live thing momently neared +the bridge. With tossing mane of foam, the brown courser came +rushing on, and shot thundering under. They turned, and from the +other window saw it tumbling headlong down the steep descent to the +Lorrie. By quick gradations, even as they gazed, the mud melted +away; the water grew clearer and clearer, and in a few minutes a +small mountain-river, of a lovely lucid brown, transparent as a +smoke-crystal, was dancing along under the bridge. It had ceased +its roar and was sweetly singing. + +"Let us see it from my room, Gibbie," said Ginevra. + +They went up, and from the turret window looked down upon the water. +They gazed until, like the live germ of the gathered twilight, it +was scarce to be distinguished but by abstract motion. + +"It's my ain burnie," said Ginevra, "an' it's ain auld sang! I'll +warran' it hasna forgotten a note o' 't! Eh, Gibbie, ye gie me a' +thing!" + +"Gien I was a burnie, wadna I rin!" sang Gibbie, and Ginevra heard +the words, though Gibbie could utter only the air he had found for +them so long ago. She threw herself into his arms, and hiding her +face on his shoulder, clung silent to her silent husband. Over her +lovely bowed head, he gazed into the cool spring night, sparkling +with stars, and shadowy with mountains. His eyes climbed the stairs +of Glashgar to the lonely peak dwelling among the lights of God; and +if upon their way up the rocks they met no visible sentinels of +heaven, he needed neither ascending stairs nor descending angels, +for a better than the angels was with them. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] It amuses a Scotchman to find that the word cakes, as in "The Land +of Cakes," is taken, not only by foreigners, but by some English +people--as how, indeed, should it be otherwise?--to mean +compositions of flour, more or less enriched, and generally +appreciable; whereas, in fact, it stands for the dryest, simplest +preparation in the world. The genuine cakes is--(My grammar follows +usage: cakes is; broth are.)--literally nothing but oatmeal made +into a dough with cold water and dried over the fire--sometimes then +in front of it as well. + +[2] Metrical paraphrases of passages of Scripture, always to be found +at the end of the Bibles printed for Scotland. + +[3] See Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's account of the Morayshire Floods in +1829 (1st Ed., p. 181)--an enchanting book, especially to one whose +earliest memories are interwoven with water-floods. For details in +such kind here given, I am much indebted to it. Again and again, as +I have been writing, has it rendered me miserable--my tale showing +so flat and poor beside Sir Thomas's narrative. Known to me from +childhood, it wakes in me far more wonder and pleasure now, than it +did even in the days when the marvel of things came more to the +surface. + + + + +Note from John Bechard, creator of this Electronic text. + +The following is a list of Scottish words which are found in George +MacDonald's "Sir Gibbie". I have compiled this list myself and +worked out the definitions from context with the help of Margaret +West, from Leven in Fife, Scotland, and also by referring to a word +list found in a collection of poems by Robert Burns and "Chamber's +Scots Dialect Dictionary from the 17th century to the Present" c. +1911. I have tried to be as thorough as possible given the limited +resources and welcome any feedback on this list which may be wrong +(my e-mail address is JaBBechard@aol.com). This was never meant to +be a comprehensive list of the National Scottish Language, but +rather an aid to understanding some of the conversations in this +text which are carried out in the Broad Scots. I do apologise for +any mistakes or omissions. I aimed for my list to be very +comprehensive, and it often repeats the same word in a plural or +diminutive form. As well, it includes words that are quite obvious +to native English speakers, only spelled in such a way to +demonstrate the local pronunciation. + +There is a web site under construction which will feature the +Scottish language; and the National Scottish Dictionary can be +consulted if you have access to one. + +This list is a compressed form that consists of three columns for +'word', 'definition', and 'additional notes'. It is set up with +a comma between each item and a hard return at the end of each +definition. This means that this section could easily be cut and +pasted into its own text file and imported into a database or +spreadsheet as a comma separated variable file (.csv file). Failing +that, you could do a search and replace for commas in this section +(I have not used any commas in my words, definitions or notes) and +replace the commas with spaces or tabs. + + Word, Definition, Notes + a', all; every, also have + a' body, everyone; everybody, + a' thing, everything; anything, + aboot, about, + absteen, abstain, + abune, above; up, + accoont, account, + accordin', according, + accre, acre, + ae, one, + aff, off; away; past; beyond, + affrontit, affronted; disgraced, also ashamed; shamed + afore, before; in front of, + aften, often, + again, against; opposed to, also again + again', against, + agreeable, in agreement; willing, + Ahchan, Achan, reference to Joshua 7 + ahin', behind; after; at the back of, + ahint, behind; after; at the back of, + aiblins, perhaps; possibly, + aigles, eagles, + Aigypt, Egypt, + ain, own, also one + aipple, apple, + airm, arm, + airmour, armour, + airms, arms, also coat of arms; crest + airt, quarter; direction; compass point, + airthquack, earthquake, + airts, quarters; directions; compass points, + aiss, ashes, + ait, eat, + aiten, eaten, + aith, oath, + aither, either, + aiven, even, + alane, alone, + alloo, allow, + allooin', allowing, + Almichty, Almighty; God, + amids, amidst, + amo', among, + an', and, + ance, once, + ane, one, also a single person or thing + aneath, beneath; under, + anent, opposite to; in front of, also concerning + aneth, beneath; under, + 'aneth, beneath; under, + angert, angered; angry, also grieved + anither, another, + anker, liquid measure of 4 gallons, + a'ready, already, + arrenge, arrange, + as lang's, as long as, + as sune's, as soon as, + ashmy, asthma, + 'at, that, + at farest, at the farthest, also at the latest + ates, hates, + a'thegither, all together, + a'thing, everything; anything, + 'at'll, that will, + 'at's, that is, + attreebute, attribute, + atween, between, + 'atween, between, + auld, old, + auld langsyne, old days of long ago, also old friendship + auld-fashioned, old-fashioned, + auncient, ancient, + Aw, I, also all; owning + awa, away, + awa', away, + awfu', awful, + Awva!, At all!, exclamation of surprise; contempt + ay, yes; indeed, exclamation of surprise; wonder + aye, yes; indeed, + ayont, beyond; after, + bairn, child, + bairnies, little children, diminutive + bairns, children, + baith, both, + bale-fire, any large fire; bonfire, + ballant, ballad; song, + ballants, ballads; songs, + banes, bones, + bannin', cursing; swearing; abuse; scold, + bannock, round flat griddle-baked cake, + Barebanes, bare bones (i.e. death), + barkin', barking, + bawbee, half penny, + bealt, festered, + beastie, beast; animal, diminutive to express sympathy or affection + becomin', becoming, + beets, boots, + beginnin', beginning, + behaud, withhold; wait; delay, also behold + bein', being, + beirin', bearing; allowing, + belang, belong, + believet, believed, + believe't, believe it, + ben, in; inside; into; within; inwards, also inner room + be't, be it, + bethink (oneself), stop to think; reflect, + beuk, book, also Bible + Bible-word, word of honour, + bicker, wooden vessel, + bidden, abided; stayed, + biddin', bidding, + bide, endure; bear; remain; live, also desire; wish + bidena, do not bide; do not stay, + bides, endures; bears; remains; lives, also stays for + bield, protection; shelter; cover, + bigg, build, + biggit, built, + bilin', boiling, also the whole quantity + bin', bind, + binna, be not, + birdie, little bird, diminutive + birdies, little birds, diminutive + birk, birch tree, + birks, birch trees, + bit, but; bit, also little-diminutive + blate, over-modest; bashful; shy, + blaw, blow, + blawin', blowing, + bleck, black; smut, also nonplus; perplex + blecks, nonplusses; perplexes, + bledder, bleater; snipe, also foolish or idle talker + bleedin', bleeding, + blessin's, blessings, + blest, blessed, + blether, talk nonsense; babble; boast, + blethers, talks nonsense; babbles; boasts, + blew, blue, + blin't, blinded, + blude, blood, + bluidy, bloody, + boady, body, + boasoms, bosoms, + boatle, bottle (of whisky), + boddom, bottom, + bodies, people; fellows; folk, + bodit, boded, + body, person; fellow, also body + bonnie, good; beautiful; pretty; handsome, + bonniest, best; most beautiful; prettiest, + bonny, good; beautiful; pretty; handsome, + boortree, shrub elder, + bosky, wild; unfrequented, + bossie, large wooden bowl, serving bowl + boucht, bought, + bow-ribbit, bent in the ribs, + brackens, bracken; coarse fern, + brae, hill; hillside; high ground by a river, + brainch, branch, + brainches, branches, + braird, first sprouting of young grain, + brak, break, + brakfast, breakfast, + brakin', breaking, + brander, grating; gridiron; trestle, + bra'ner, grating; gridiron; trestle, + braw, beautiful; good; fine, also lovely (girl); handsome (boy) + bray, press; squeeze; push, + bree, brew; whisky; broth; gravy, + breeks, breeches; trousers, + breist, breast, + breistie, little breast, diminutive + breith, breath, + bridle, modify, + brither, brother, + brithers, brothers; fellows, + brocken, broken, + brods, boards; (book covers), + broo, brow, + broom, shrub with bright yellow flowers, + broonie, brownie; benevolent elf, + broonies, brownies; benevolent elves, + brose, water; soup; meal, + broucht, brought, + brunt, burned, + buik, book, also Bible + buiks, books, + bun'le, bundle, + burn, water; stream; brook, + burnie, little stream, diminutive + bursten, burst, + buss, bush, + butterflees, butterflies, + buyin', buying, + by ordinar', out of the ordinary; supernatural, + byke, hive; swarm; crowd, + byre, cowshed, + byres, cowsheds, + ca', call; name, + ca'd, called, + ca'in, calling, + ca'in', calling, + cairried, carried, + cairries, carries, + cairry, carry, + cairryin', carrying, + caitiff, coward; cowardly, more of an older English word than Scots + caller, fresh; refreshing; cool, + cam, came, + cam', came, + camna, did not come, + canna, cannot, + carena, do not care, + carin', caring, + carolled, sang (carols), + cast, thrown off; discarded (clothes), + casten, spoilt; worthless; thrown aside, + catched, caught, + caul', cold, + cauld, cold, + caup, small wooden bowl, + caups, small wooden bowls, + 'cause, because, + caw, drive; impel; hammer, + cawpable, capable, + 'cep, except; but, + 'cep', except; but, + certie, of a truth; certainly, + certy, of a truth; certainly, + chaps, knocks; hammers; strikes; raps, + chatterin', chattering, + chaumer, chamber; room, + cheek, side, + cheemistry, chemistry, + cheenge, change, + cheenged, changed, + cheengin', changing, + cheerie, cheery, + cheese, choose, + chiel, child; young person, term of fondness or intimacy + chield, child; young person, term of fondness or intimacy + chop, shop; store, + chopdoor, shop door, + claes, clothes; dress, + clan, group; class; coterie, + clappers, door knockers; rattles, + clean, altogether; entirely, also comely; shapely; empty; clean + cleansin', cleansing, + cled, clothed; clad, + cleed, clothe; shelter, + clim', climb, + cloaset, (prayer) closet, + cloods, clouds, + cloot, clout; box (ear); beat; slap, also patch; mend + closed, enclosed, + closet, room; bedroom, + coaties, children's coats or petticoats, + cobblin', cobbling; shoemaking, + cock-crawin', crowing of the cock, + coffer, legacy of wealth; fortune, + colliginer, college student, also college boy + colloguin', associating; conspiring; plotting, + Come awa' ben., Come on in., + Come yer wa's in., Come on in., + comena, do not come, + comin', coming, + concernt, concerned, + condescendin', condescending, + conduckit, conducted, + conneckit, connected, + consaive, conceive, + considert, considered, + consortit, consorted, + contentit, contented, + contrar', contrary, + coo, cow, + cooard, coward, + cooards, cowards, + coontenance, countenance, + coorse, coarse, also course + cottar, farm tenant; cottager, + cottars, farm tenants; cottagers, + couldna, could not, + couples, rafters, + coverin', covering, + cowt, colt, + crap o' the wa', natural shelf between wall and roof, + cratur, creature, + craturs, creatures, + craw, crow; rook (types of birds), + craws, crows, + creepie, (three legged) stool, a child's chair + creepin', creeping; crawling, + creepit, crept; crawled, + crook, hooked iron chain inside a chimney, for hanging cooking pots on + cry, call; summon, + cud, could, + cudna, could not, + cunnin', cunning, + curriet, curried; dressed, + cursit, cursed, + cuttit, cut; harvested, + cweentry, country, + cwite, coat, + dacency, decency, + dacent, decent, + dale, deal; fir- or pinewood plank, + dammin', damming; condemning, + damps, coal-pit gases, + dang, knock; bang; drive, + daud, blow; strike; abuse, + daudit, buffeted; struck, + dauner, stroll; saunter, + daur, dare; challenge, + daured, dared; challenged, + daurin, daring; challenging, + daurin', daring; challenging, + daurna, dare not; do not dare, + daursay, dare say, + Dawvid, David, + dearie, sweetheart; darling, + deavt, deafened, + dee, do, also die + deed, died, also deed; indeed + 'deed, indeed, + dee'd, died, + deein', doing, also dying + deen, done, + deene, done, + dee't, do it, + deevil, devil, + deevilry, devilry, + deevils, devils, + defilin', defiling, + deid, dead, + deif, deaf, + deil, devil, + deils, devils, + deith, death, + delicht, delight, + dementit, demented; mad; crazy, + dene, done, + denner, dinner, + denner-time, dinner time, + denyin', denying, + dertin', darting, + despisin', despising, + deuk-quack, duck quack, + deuks, ducks, + dictionar', dictionary, + didna, did not, + differ, difference, also differ + din, sound; din, + dingin', overcoming; wearying; vexing, + dings, overcomes; wearies; vexes, + dinna, do not, + dinna fling the calf efter the coo, don't give up, also baby/bathwater + dirt, worthless persons or things, term of contempt + dis, does, + disappint, disappoint, + discoorse, discourse, + disna, does not, + dissiples, disciples, + dis't, does it, + div, do, + dod!, God! (exclamation), + doggie, little dog, diminutive + doin', doing, + doobt, suspect; know; doubt, have an unpleasant conviction + doobtin', suspecting; knowing, also doubting + doobtless, doubtless, + doobtna, do not suspect; do not know, also does not doubt + doobts, suspects; knows, also doubts + dooms, extremely; exceedingly, + doon, down, + doon', down, + door-cheek, door-post; threshold, + door-sill, threshold, + doos, doves, + dos, does, + do't, do it, + douce, gentle; sensible; sober; prudent, + doup, bottom; backside; buttocks, + draigon, dragon, reference to Revelation 12-13 + draigons, dragons, + dram, glass of whisky, + drap, drop; small quantity of, + drappit, dropped, + drappy, little drop; a little (liquor), diminutive + drawin', drawing, + drear, dreary; dreariness; tedium, + dree, endure; undergo; suffer, + dree my weird, undergo my doom, + dreemt, dreamed, + dreid, dread, + dreidfu', dreadful; dreadfully, + drinkin', drinking, + dronin', droning, + drookit, drenched; soaked, + droon, drown, + droonin', drowning, + droont, drowned, + drop, drop-shaped earring, also drop + drouth, thirst; dryness, also drought + drouthie, thirsty; dry, + drucken, drunken; tipsy, + du, do, + duds, clothes; rags; tatters, + duin', doing, + dulse, type of seaweed, + dummie, little mute person, diminutive + dune, done, + dyke, wall of stone or turf, + dykes, walls of stone or turf, + ear, early, + ear', early, + ee, eye, + e'e, eye, + eedit, heeded, + een, eyes, + e'en, even; just; simply, also eyes; evening + eese, use, + efter, after; afterwards, + else, otherwise; at another time; already, + Embrough, Edinburgh, + en', end, + endeevour, endeavour, + endeevourin', endeavouring; trying, + eneuch, enough, + enstance, instance, + er, ere; before, + er', ere; before, + ettle, reach; intend; purpose; aim, + even, even; compare, + ever, before, also ever + ever-mair, ever more, + exemple, example, + expeckit, expected, + fa', fall; befall, + failt, failed, + faimily, family, + fain, eager; anxious; fond, also fondly + fa'in', falling, + fallow, fellow; chap, + fallow-feelin', mutual feeling, + fan', found, + fan't, found it, + fa'ntit, fainted, + fardin', farthing, + faulds, folds, + fause, false, + fau't, fault; blame, + fauvour, favour, + fawvour, favour, + feared, afraid; frightened; scared, + fearfu', fearful; easily frightened, + fearsome, terrifying; fearful; awful, + feart, afraid; frightened; scared, + feathert, feathered, + fecht, fight; struggle, + fechtin', fighting; struggling, + feck, value; worth; advantage; majority, + fee, hire oneself out, + feel, foolish, also fool + fegs, truly, mild oath; exclamation of surprise + fell, very; potent; keen; harsh; sharp, intensifies; also turf + fell-dyke, wall made of layers of sod, + fellow-cratur, fellow creature, + fells, sods, + feow, few, + fess, fetch, + fest, fast, + fey, doomed (to death), + fillit, filled, + fin', find; feel, + fin'in', finding; feeling, + Fin'on haddie, smoked haddock, + firin', firing; heating, + fit, foot; base, also fit; capable; able + fittin', fitting, + flax, flax; wick, + flee, fly (insect), + fleers, floors, + fleg, blow; kick; stroke, + fleggin', blowing; kicking; stroking, + fleggit, blew; kicked; stroked, + flegs, blows; kicks; strokes, + fleyt, terrified; frightened, + fling, kick; throw, + fling't, kick it; throw it, + flit, shift; remove; depart, + flitted, shifted; removed; departed, + flittin', shifting; removing; departing, + flure, floor, + forby, as well; as well as; besides, + forgie, forgive, + forgiein', forgiving, + forgi'en, forgiven, + forgifness, forgiveness, + forkit, forked, + for's, for his, + for't, for it, + foucht, fought, + fowk, folk, + fowth, plenty; abundance; full measure, + frae, from, + frank, generous; lavish, also generously + fricht, frighten; scare away, + frichtit, frightened; scared away, + fule, fool, + fules, fools, + fulfillt, fulfilled, + fundation, foundation, + fun't, founded, + fut, foot, + gae, gave, + gaed, went, + gaein', going, + 'gain, by; nearly; almost, + gairdens, gardens, + gait, way; fashion, also route; street + gaits, ways, also routes; streets + ga'le, gable, + gane, gone, + gang, go; goes; depart; walk, + gang yer wa's, go on, + gangin', going; walking, + gar, cause; make; compel, + garred, made; caused; compelled, + gars, makes; causes; compels, + gar't, made; caused; compelled, + gat, got, + gauin, going, + gauin', going, + gear, possessions; money; property, also livestock + geese, goose, + German Ocean, , old reference to the English Channel & North Sea + gerse, grass, + gether, gather, + gey, very; considerable, + geyan, considerably; somewhat; rather, + ghaist, ghost, + ghem, game (hunted animal), + gie, give, + gied, gave, + giein, giving, + giein', giving, + gien, if; as if; then; whether, also given + gien't, if it, + gies, gives, + gie't, give it, + gin, if; as if; then; whether, + girdle, griddle for baking scones, iron disc + girnels, granaries; meal-chests, + glaid, glad, + glaiss, glass, + glaisses, glasses, + glamour, spell; charm; enchantment, + glaur, mud; dirt; ooze, + gleg, quick; lively; smart; quick-witted, + glimp, glimpse; glance, also the least degree + glintin', twinkling; glittering, + gloamin', twilight; dusk, + gloaming, twilight; dusk, + gnerlet, gnarled, + goodman, master; husband; head of household, + gowans, daisies, + gowany, flowered with daisies, + gowd, gold, + gowk, cuckoo; fool; blockhead, + gowkit, foolish; silly, + gowks, cuckoos; fools; blockheads, + graivelly, gravely, + gran', grand; capital; first-rate, + gran'est, grandest, + gran'father, grandfather, + green bree, cesspool, also stagnant pool by a dunghill + greitin', crying; weeping, + grenite, granite, + gret, great, + grief, grieve, + grip, grasp; understand, + grippit, grasped; understood, + growin', growing, + growlin', growling, + grue, feeling of horror; tremor, + grum'lin', grumbling, + grup, grip; grasp, + gruppit, gripped; grabbed, + gudeman, master; husband; head of household, + guid, good, also God + guid-hertit, good-hearted, + guidit, treated; handled; managed, + guiss, guess, + guissin', guessing, + haddie, haddock, + hadna, had not, + hae, have; has, + hae a news, talk; gossip, + haein, having, + haein', having, + haena, have not, + hae's, have his, + hae't, have it, + haill, whole, + hairm, harm, + Haith!, Faith!, exclamation of surprise + haithen, heathen, + haithenish, heathenish, + haiven, heaven, + haiver, talk nonsense, + hale, whole, + half-hoor, half-hour, + hame, home, + han', hand, + hang, hanged, also made + hangin', hanging, + hangt, hanged, + hanks, rope; coil; skein of cotton, + han'le, handle, + han's, hands, + hantle, much; large quantity; far, + hap, cover; wrap; shield, + h'ard, heard, + hark, listen, + harns, brains, + hasna, does not have, + haud, hold; keep, + hauden, held; kept, + haudin', holding; keeping, + hauds, holds; keeps, + haugh, river-meadow, + hause, neck; throat, + h'aven, heaven, + hawpy, happy, + haymows, large haystacks, + heap, very much; heap, + hearin', hearing, + hearken, hearken; hear; listen to, + hearkenin', hearkening; listening to, + hearkent, hearkened; heard; listened to, + hear't, hear it, + hearten, encourage, + Hech!, Oh! strange!, a sighing exclamation + hed, had, + hedna, had not, + heedna, heed not; do not heed, + heicht, height, + heid, head; heading, + heids, heads; headings, + heigh, high, + he'll, he will, + helpin', helping, + helpit, helped, + hen-scraich, chicken cackle, lit. chicken scream + her, she, also her + herd, herd-boy; cow-boy, also herd + hermony, harmony, + hersel', herself, + hert, heart, + her't, it to her, + hertenin', enheartening; encouraging, + hertless, heartless, + herts, hearts, + herty, heartily; hearty, + he'rty, heartily; hearty, + hicht, height, + hid, had, also hid + hield, held, + hillie, little hill, diminutive + himsel', himself, + hin', hind; backside, + hin' side afore, back to front, + hing, hang, + hingin', hanging, + hings, hangs, + hirplin, limping; hobbling, + his, has, also his; us (emphatic) + hit, it, emphatic + hiz, us, emphatic + hoarible, horrible, + hoo, how, + hoor, hour, + hoors, hours, + hoose, house, + hoosemaid, housemaid, + hooses, houses, + hoosie, little house, diminutive + hoot, exclamation of doubt or contempt + hoots, exclamation of doubt or contempt + hose, stocking, + houff, haunt, + houp, hope, + how, hollow; valley; glen, + hum'le, hornless; fingerless, + hun'ers, hundreds, + hungerin', hungering; hungry, + hunger-like, shrivelled; lacking nutrients, + hungert, starved, + hurtin', hurting, + hurtit, hurt, + hyne, far (away), + i', in; into, + I doobt, I know; I suspect, + I wat, I know; I assure (you), + idleseat, idleness; frivolous amusement, + idleset, idleness; frivolous amusement, + ilk, every; each, also common; ordinary + ilka, every; each, also common; ordinary + ill, bad; evil; hard; harsh, also misfortune; harm + 'ill, will, + ill-fauredest, most unbecoming or unmannerly, + ill-guideship, mismanagement; ill-treatment, + ill-guidit, mismanaged; ill-treated, + 'im, him, + imaigine, imagine, + immorawlity, immorality, + in atween, in the meantime; between, + informt, informed, + ingle-neuk, chimney-corner or recess, + in's, in his, + inten', intend, + inten'it, intended, + intil, into; in; within, + intill, into; in; within, + intill't, into it, + intil's, into his; into us, + intil't, into it, + inveet, invite; invitation, + inveetit, invited, + ir, are, + 'is, his, + I's awa., I'm off.; I'd better go., + Ise, I shall, + isna, is not, + is't, is it, + i'stead, instead, + ither, other; another; further, + 'ithin, within, + it'll, it will, + itsel', itself, + jabble, ripple; small broken waves, + jaws, billows; splashes; surges, + Jeames, James, + jeedge, judge, + jeedgin', judging, + Jerooslem, Jerusalem, + jine, join, + jints, joints, + jist, just, + j'ists, joists, + jography, geography, + jokin', joking, + jooggy, jigger; shot (of whisky), + justifeed, justified, + kail-wife, woman who sells colewort, + kaimbt, combed, + keepin', keeping, + keepit, kept, + keerious, curious, + ken, know; be acquainted with; recognise, + kenna, do not know, + kenned, known; knew, + kennin', knowing, + kens, knows, + kenspeckle, conspicuous, easily recognised from some peculiarity + kent, known; knew, + ken't, know it, + killt, killed, + kin', kind; nature; sort; agreeable, also somewhat; in some degree + kin'ness, kindness, + kirk, church, + kirkyaird, churchyard, + kirkyard, churchyard, + kist, chest; coffer; box; chest of drawers, + knicht, knight, + koft, bought, + kye, cattle; cows, + laad, lad; boy, term of commendation or reverence + laads, lads; boys, term of commendation or reverence + laddie, boy, term of affection + laddies, boys, term of affection + lads, boys, term of commendation or reverence + laidders, ladders, + laird, landed proprietor; squire; lord, + lairick, larch (type of tree), + lairt, stuck fast (in mud or snow), + laith, loath; unwilling; reluctant, + laithly, loathsome; foul; repulsive, + Laitin, Latin, + lan', land; country; ground, + lane, lone; alone; lonely; solitary, + lanes, lone; alone, + lang, long; big; large, also slow; tedious + langer, longer, + lang's, long as, + langsyne, ancient; (old) times; long ago, + lan's, lands; estates, + lass, girl; young woman, term of address + lasses, girls; young women, + lassie, girl, term of endearment + lat, let; allow, + lat gang to dirt an' green bree, go to pot; go to ruin, + lat's, let's; let us; let his, + latten, let; allowed, + lattin', letting; allowing, + lauch, laugh, + lauchin', laughing, + lave, rest; remainder; others, also leave + laverock, lark (type of bird), + lawfu', lawful, + layin', laying, + lea', leave, + lear, learning; education; lore, also teach + learn, learn, also teach + learnin', learning, also teaching + learnt, learned, also taught + leddies, ladies, + leddy, boy; lad; laddy, also lady + lee, pasture; fallow ground, also shelter from wind or rain + lee'd, lied; told lies, + lees, lies, + leest, least, + leeve, live, + leevin', living; living being, + leevit, lived, + leeward, towards the grassland, also towards the sheltered side + len', lend; give; grant, also loan + len'th, length, + leuk, look; watch; appearance, + licht, light, + lichtin', lighting, + lickit, thrashed; punished; struck, + lift, load; boost; lift; helping hand, also sky; heavens + like, like; likely to; looking as if to, also as it were; as if + likesna, does not like, + likin', liking, + likit, liked, + liltin', singing softly; humming, + lingelt, fastened; fettered; hobbled, + lippen, trust; depend on, + livin', living, + 'll, will, + loch, loch; lake, + lodd, loaded, + lo'denin', loading, + lo'dent, loaded, + lo'e, love, + lo'esome, loveable; lovely; winsome, + lood, loud, + lookin', looking, + loon, rascal; rogue; ragamuffin, + loons, rascals; rogues; ragamuffins, + loot, let; allowed; permitted, + Losh!, corrupt form of 'Lord', exclamation of surprise or wonder + low, flame, + lowin', flaming, + lowse, loose; free, + lowsed, loosened; let loose; freed, + lucifer spunks, lucifer-matches, + lug, ear, also shallow wooden dish + luggin', lugging, + lugs, ears, + luik, look, + luikin', looking, + luikit, looked, + luiks, looks, + lum, chimney, + lyin', lying, + lythe, shelter, + 'm, him, + mainner, manner, + mainners, manners, + mainteen, maintain, + mair, more; greater, + mairtins, martins (type of bird), + maist, most; almost, + 'maist, almost, + maister, master; mister, + maistly, mostly; almost, + maitter, matter, + maitters, matters, + mak, make; do, + mak', make; do, + makin', making; doing, + maks, makes; does, + mankin', mankind, + mappies, young rabbits, diminutive + maun, must; have to, + maunna, must not; may not, + mavis, song-thrush (type of bird), + mayhap, perhaps; maybe, + mayna, may not, + mealock, crumb (of oatcake etc.), + meanin', meaning, + meen, moon, + meenute, minute, + meeserable, miserable, + meesery, misery, + meetin', meeting, + mem, Ma'am; Miss; Madam, + mendit, mended; healed, + menseless, ill-bred; boorish; unmannerly, + mentionin', mentioning, + mercifu', merciful; favourable, + merriage, marriage, + merry, marry, also merry + merryin', marrying, + mervel, marvel, + mervellous, marvellous, + mesel', myself, + me't, it to me, + micht, might, + michtna, might not, + michty, mighty; God, + midden, dunghill; manure pile, + midge, midge; gnat; mosquito, + mids, midst; middle, + miltin', melting, + min', mind; recollection, also recollect; remember + mincin', mincing, + minnin, minnow, + minnister, minister, + min's, minds; reminds; recollects, + mint, aimed at; intended to; attempted, + mintit, minded; remembered, + mirricle, miracle, + mischeef, mischief; injury; harm, + misguidit, wasted; mismanaged; ill-used, + mistak, mistake, + mither, mother, + mony, many, + moo, mouth, + moo', mouth, + moo'fu's, mouthfuls, + mornin', morning, + mornin's, mornings, + motes, motes; specks; crumbs, reference to Matthew 7:3-5 + mou'fu', mouthful, + moul', mould; loose earth; top soil, + mould, mould; loose earth; top soil, + muckle, huge; enormous; big; great; much, + mune, moon, + muntains, mountains, + murderin', murdering, + muv, move; affect, + My certie!, Take my word for it!, + My certy!, Take my word for it!, + my lane, on my own, + mysel, myself, + mysel', myself, + na, not; by no means, + nae, no; none; not, + nae wise, nowise; in no way, + naebody, nobody; no one, + naegait, in no wise; nowhere, + naething, nothing, + naither, neither, + naitral, natural, + nait'ral, natural, + nane, none, + nat'ral, natural, + natur, nature, + natur', nature, + near han', nearly; almost; near by, + nearhan', nearly; almost; near by, + necessar', necessary, + neebour, neighbour, + needcessity, necessity; state of need, + needfu', needful; necessary; needy, + needna, do not need; need not, + neepers, neighbours, + negleckit, neglected, + neiper, neighbour, + neist, next; nearest, + nepkin, large handkerchief, + nestie, little nest, diminutive + 'neth, beneath; under, + neuk, nook; recess; interior angle, + news, talk; gossip, + nicht, night; evening, + nichts, nights, + nick, score; mark (as signature), also cut + nickum, mischievous and tricky boy, + niffer, exchange; barter, + nigher, nearer; closer, + nipperty, mincing; affected, + no, not, + no', not, + noo, now, + nor, than; although; if, also nor + nor'-easter, northeast wind, + notwithstan'in', notwithstanding, + noucht, nothing; not, + nowt, cattle; oxen, + o', of; on, + obleeged, obliged, + obligatit, obligated; obliged, + o'er, over; upon; too, + offerin', offering, + ohn, without; un-, uses past participle not present progressive + ohn expeckit, unexpected, + on't, on it, + ony, any, + onybody, anybody; anyone, + onything, anything, + oogliest, ugliest, + oogly, ugly, + ook, week, + ooks, weeks, + oolets, owls, + oonprovidit, unprovided, + oor, our, + oor lanes, on our own, + oors, ours, + oorsel's, ourselves, + oot, out, + ootcast, outcast, + or, before; ere; until; by, also or + ordinar', ordinary; usual; natural, also custom; habit + orra, odd job (man), also idle; having no settled occupation + o't, of it, + ou, oh, + oucht, anything; all, also ought + ow, oh, exclamation of surprise + ower, over; upon; too, + owershot, very fast; racing; exploding, + owre, over; upon; too, + owse, ox, + oye, grandchild; grandson; nephew, + pairt, part, + pairts, parts, + pale, pointed piece of wood for fencing, + paling, fence of pales, + passin', passing; occasional, + pastern, ankle (between hoof and fetlock), + pasturs, pastures, + pat, put; made, + pawkiness, shrewdness; cunning, + peelt, skinned, + peeramid, pyramid, + peetied, pitied, + peety, pity, + percaution, precaution, + perfec', perfect; thorough; utter, + perfeckly, perfectly; thoroughly; utterly, + perplexin', perplexing, + perris, parish, + persuaudit, persuaded, + perswaud, persuade, + perswaudin', persuading, + perswaudit, persuaded, + pey, pay, + peyed, paid, + peyin', paying, + pit, put; make, + pitawtas, potatoes, + pits, puts; makes, + pitten, put; made, + plaguit, plagued; troubled, + plet, plate; dish, + plooed, ploughed, + plottin', plotting; planning, + ploy, amusement; sport; escapade, + poassible, possible, + pooch, pocket, + pooer, power, + poun', pound (sterling), + practeesed, practised, + prankit, played tricks on, also played fast and loose with + prayin', praying, + prayt, prayed, + preachin', preaching, + preacht, preached, + prech, preach, + precher, preacher, + pree, taste; try; prove; experience, + preevileeges, privileges, + prentit, printed, + press-bed, box-bed with doors, + prest, pressed, + preten'it, pretended, + priestie, little priest, diminutive + pris'ner, prisoner, + prood, proud, + provokin', provoking, + pruv, prove, + pruv't, proven; proved, + pu', pull, + puckle, small quantity, + puir, poor, + pump, beer-shop, also pump + putten, put, + pyke, pick; pluck, + quaiet, quiet, + quaiet sough, quiet tongue, + quaietest, quietest, + quaitet, quieted; silenced, + quest'ons, questions, + quo', swore; said; quoth, + railly, really, + raither, rather, + rale, real; true; very, + randy, rough; wild; riotous, also coarse-tongued; abusive + rant, make merry; revel, + rase, rose, + rave, tore, + rax, extend; overdo it; stretch, + raxed, extended; overdone it; stretched, + reacht, reached, + readin', reading, + red, rid; free, + redd, set in order; tidy; clean, + reef, roof, + refar, refer, + refeese, refuse, + reid, red, + reik, smoke, + releast, released, + repentit, repented, + reyn, rein, + richt, right; correct, also mend + richtly, certainly; positively, + ridic'lous, ridiculous; unseasonable (weather), + riggin', ridge; roof, + rigs, ridges (in a ploughed field), + rin, run, + rinnin', running, + rins, runs, + rintherroot, gadabout; homeless vagrant; tramp, + risin', rising, + rist, rest, + ristet, rested, + rizon, reason, + roamin', roaming, + roarin', roaring, + ro'd, road; course; way, + roomie, little room, diminutive + roon', around; round, + rottan, rat, + rouch, rough, + roun, whisper, + roun', around; round, + rovin', roving, + rowtin', bellowing; roaring; lowing, + rucks, ricks; stacks, + run k-nots, slip knots (that can not be untied), + runkle, wrinkle; crease, + 's, us; his; as; is, also has + s', shall, + sab, sob, + sae, so; as, + safe, safely, also safe + safity, safety, + sair, sore; sorely; sad; hard; very; greatly, also serve + sairer, harder; sadder; sorer, + saitisfee, satisfy, + saiven, seven, + sall, shall, + san', sand, + sang, song, + sangie, little song, diminutive + sangna, did not sing, + sangs, songs, + sangy, little song, diminutive + sankna, did not sink, + sarious, serious, + sark, shirt, + sattle, settle, + sattled, settled, + saugh, sallow; willow (type of tree), + saven, wise; knowledgeable, + savet, saved, + savin', saving, also except + Sawbath, Sabbath, + sawmon, salmon, + sawna, did not see, + saw't, saw it, + Sawtan, Satan, + saxpence, sixpence, + sayin', saying, + says't, says it, + say't, say it, + 'scape, escape, + scatter't, scattered, + schuil, school, + schuilin', schooling; education, + schuilmaister, schoolmaster, + schuilmaisterin', schoolmastering; teaching, + scomfished, suffocated; stifled; choked, + scoorin', scampering, + scornin', mocking; ridiculing, + Scotlan', Scotland, + scrape, scrape; shave, + scrattit, scratched; dug, + scrimp, stunted; sparing, also short in weight or measure + Scriptur', Scripture, + scunner, disgust; disgusting; revolting, + scunnerfu', disgusting; loathsome; sickening, + seein', seeing, + seemile, simile, + seemin', seeming, + seener, sooner, + see't, see it, + sen', send, + set, set out; start off; become, + set doon Bony an' set up Louy, lowers one; exalts another, Psalm 75:7 + setna, do not set, + Setterday, Saturday, + Setterdays, Saturdays, + settin', setting, + settisfaction, satisfaction, + shaidow, shadow, + shal't, shelled, + shaw, show; reveal, + shee, shoe, + sheen, shoes, + sherp, sharp, + shillin', shilling, + shillin's, shillings, + shirra, sheriff, + shirra', sheriff, + shoothers, shoulders, + shot, speed; blasting; heavy breakers (sea), also shoot + shottin', shooting, + shuitable, suitable, + sic, such; so, + sich, sigh, + sicht, sight, + sids, husks of oats, + siller, silver; money; wealth, + simmer, Summer, + simmerin', simmering, + sin, since; ago; since then, also sin; sun + sin', since; ago; since then, + singin', singing, + sitten, sat, + sittin', sitting, + sizon, season, + skirlin', screaming; singing shrilly, + sklet, (school) slate, also roofing slate + sklet-pike, slate pencil, + sma', small; little; slight; narrow; young, + smokin', smoking; smouldering, + smokin' flax, smouldering wick, reference to Matthew 12:20 + snap, sharp blow; sudden stumble, + snawba', snowball, + sneck, door-latch; catch (gate), + snot, small lump (of soot), + soary, sorry, + some, somewhat; rather; quite; very, also some + somehoo, somehow, + soo, ache; throb, + soomin', swimming; floating, + soon', sound, + soopit, swept, + soucht, sought, + sough, sigh; sound of wind; deep breath, + soughie, little sough, diminutive + sowens, sour pudding of oats and water, + sowl, soul, + sowls, souls, + spak, spoke, + spate, spate; flood, + speat, spate; flood, + speerin', asking about; enquiring; questioning, + speerit, spirit, + speerits, spirits, + speir, ask about; enquire; question, + speirin', asking about; enquiring; questioning, + speirs, asks about; enquires; questions, + speirt, asked about; enquired; questioned, + spen', spend, + spendrife, spendthrift, + speyk, speak, + speykin', speaking, + spier, ask about; enquire; question, + spune, spoon, + spunks, sparks; matches, + spurtle, porridge stick, also wooden rod for turning oatcakes + stair, stairs, + stan, stand, + stan', stand; stop, + stane, stone; measure of weight, 1 stone = 14 pounds + stanes, stones, + stan'in, standing, + stap, stop; stuff, also step + stappit, stopped; stuffed, also stepped + steek, shut; close; push, also stitch (as in clothing) + stert, start; jump with surprise, + sterve, starve, + stick, stick; gore; butt with horns, + stickin', sticking; goring, + stickit, stuck; gored, + stippety-stap, short mincing gait, + stirks, steers, + stockin', stocking, + stockins, stockings, + stockin's, stockings, + stoot, stout; healthy; strong; plucky, + strae, straw, + straik, streak; stroke; caress, + strang, strong, + stray, lost; not at home, + stude, stood, + subjec', subject, + subjec's, subjects, + sucklin's, sucklings, + sud, should, + sudna, should not, + sune, soon; early, + suner, sooner, + sune's, soon as, + sunest, soonest, + supposit, supposed, + sutor, shoemaker; cobbler, + sweem, swim; float, + sweir, swear, + sweirin', swearing, + swoord, sword, + syne, ago; since; then; at that time, also in (good) time + 't, it, + tae, toe, also the one + taeless, toeless, + taen, taken; seized, + ta'en, taken; seized, + tailie, little tail, diminutive + tak, take; seize, + tak a lug, have a dish, + tak tent, look out; pay attention, + takin', taking, + takna, do not take, + taks, takes; seizes, + tane, the one, + tap, top; tip; head, + tarn, mountain lake, + tarns, mountain lakes, + taucht, taught, + tay, tea, + tee, 'to ye' i.e. to you, also tea; too; also + teetle, title, + tellin', telling, + tellt, told, + tent, attention; care; heed; notice, + teuch, tough; hard, + teuk, took, + than, then, also than + thankit, thanked, + the day, today, + the morn, tomorrow, + the morn's, tomorrow is, + the nicht, tonight, + the noo, just now, + thegither, together, + themsels, themselves, + themsel's, themselves, + thereoot, outside; out there; out-of-doors, + thestreen, last night, + think, feel; experience; expect; wonder, + Think ye?, Do you think so?, + thinkin', thinking, + this lang time, for a long time, + tho', though, + thoo, thou; you (God), + thoom, thumb, + thoosan', thousand, + thoosan's, thousands, + thouch, though, + thoucht, thought, + thouchts, thoughts, + thrapple, windpipe; neck, + thrapples, windpipes; necks, + thraw, throw; turn; twist, + thraw one's lug, twist one's ear; punish, + three-fauld, threefold; three times, + threep, argue obstinately, also maintain by dint of assertion + threip, argue obstinately, also maintain by dint of assertion + thro't, throat, + throt-ro'd, throat, i.e. be drunk + throts, throats, + throu', through, + thunner, thunder, + tice, entice; coax, + 'tice, entice; coax, + till, to; till; until; about; at; before, + till's, to his; to us, + till't, to it, + ting-a-ling, sound of a small bell, + tint, lost; got lost, + tiret, tired, + 'tis, it is, + tither, the other, + tod, fox, + toom, empty; unload, + toom-heidit, empty headed, + toon, town; village, + tow, rope; string, + tows, ropes; strings, + trail, drag forcibly; haul along, + trailin', dragging forcibly; hauling along, + traivel, travel, + trible, trouble, + tribled, troubled, + tribles, troubles, + trifflin', trifling, + trim'le, tremble, + trimmin', beating; scolding, + troth, truth; indeed, also used as an exclamation + trouth, truth; indeed, also used as an exclamation + trowth, truth; indeed, also used as an exclamation + trustit, trusted, + tryin', trying, + 'ts, its, + tuck, beat (drum), + tuik, took, + tum'ler, tumbler; glass (of whisky), + turnin', turning, + turnt, turned, + twa, two; a few, + 'twar, it were, + 'twarna, it were not, + 'twas, it was, + twise, twice, + twistet, twisted, + tyauve, strive; struggle, + tyne, lose; get lost, + ugsome, disgusting; frightful; ghastly, + umbrell, umbrella, + unco, unknown; odd; strange; uncouth, also very great + un'er, under, + un'erstan', understand, + up the stair, upstairs, + upliftit, uplifted, + upo', upon; on to; at, + up-road, road (to heaven), + up's, up his, + vailue, value, + vainity, vanity, + verra, very; true; real, + v'ice, voice, + vreet, write, + vroucht, wrought; worked, + wa', wall, also way + wad, would, + wadna, would not, + wae, woe; sad; sorrowful, + waggin', wagging; nodding, + waitin', waiting, + waitit, waited, + walcome, welcome, + walkin', walking, + w'alth, wealth; abundance, + wan, reached; gained; got, + wantin', wanting; lacking; without; in want of, + wantit, wanted, + war, were, + wark, work; labour, + warks, works, + warl', world; worldly goods, also a large number + warl' 's gear, worldly substance, + warld, world, + warna, were not, + warran', warrant; guarantee, + warrin', warring, + warst, worst, + warstle, wrestle, + warstlin', wrestling, + wa's, walls, also ways + washen, washed, + washin', washing, + wasna, was not, + was't, was it, + wasterfu', wasteful; extravagant, + water-brose, oatmeal stirred into boiling, water until thick + wather, weather, + watter, water, + watters, waters, + waur, worse, also spend money + wee, small; little; bit, also short time; while + weel, well; fine, + weel-behaved, well-behaved, + weel's, well as, + weet, wet; dew; rain, + weetin', wetting; getting wet, + weicht, weight, + weir, wear, also hedge; fence; enclosure + weird, doom; disaster, + weirs, wears, + weyve, weave; knit, + weyver, weaver; knitter, also knitter of stockings; spider + wha, who, + whae'er, whoever, + wha'll, who will, + whan, when, + wharfor, what for; why; for what reason, + wha's, who is, also whose + What ca' they ye?, What is your name?, + What for no?, Why not?, + What for?, Why?, + whaten, (on; by) what; what kind of, + what-for, why; reason, also punishment; retribution + whaul, whale, + whaur, where, + whause, whose, + wheel, eddy; pool; deep still part of the river, + wheen, little; few; number; quantity, + whiles, sometimes; at times; now and then, + whilk, which, + Whisht!, Quiet! Silence! Hush!, + whiskin', whisking, + whumled, whelmed; overwhelmed; upset, + whup, whip, + whups, whipping, + whusky, whisky, + whustle, whistle, + wi', with, + wice-like, seem wise, + wicket, back-door of a barn, + wickit, wicked, + wifie, little woman, term of endearment + willin', willing, + willin'est, willingest, + win, reach; gain; get, + win', wind, + win'le strae, straw or grass dried on its root, weak; unhealthy + winna, will not, + wins, reaches; gains; gets, + winsome, large; comely, + wi'oot, without, + wires, knitting needles, + wis, was, + wi't, with it, + wither, weather, + won'er, wonder; marvel, + won'erfu', wonderful; great; large, + won'erin', wondering, + workin', working, + worryin', worrying, + worset, woollen fabric; wool; worsted, + worum, worm, + wrang, wrong; injured, + writch, rich, + wuddie, gallows, also willow + wuds, woods; forests, + wull, will; wish; desire, also astray; stray; wild + wullin', willing; wanting, + wulls, wills; wishes; desires, + wuman, woman, + wunna, would not; will not, + wur, lay out, + wuss, wish, + wussed, wished, + wut, wit; intelligence; sense, + wuts, wits; senses, + w'y, way, + wydin', wading, + w'ys, ways, + wyte, blame; reproach, + yaird, yard, + yairds, yards, + ye, you; yourself, + year, years, also year + ye'll, you will, + yer, your, + yer lane, on your own, + yerd, yard; garden, + ye're, you are, + yersel, yourself, + yersel', yourself, + ye't, it to you, + yett, gate, + yeuks, itches, + ye've, you have, + yewky, itchy, + yon, that; those; that there, + yon'er, yonder; over there; in that place, + yon'll, that will; that (thing) there will, + yon's, that is; that (thing) there is, + yoong, young, + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Gibbie, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR GIBBIE *** + +***** This file should be named 2370.txt or 2370.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/2370/ + +Produced by John Bechard. 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