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+Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+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: An Orkney Maid
+
+Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2009 [EBook #29752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ORKNEY MAID ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+AN ORKNEY MAID
+
+
+
+
+  By AMELIA E. BARR
+
+  An Orkney Maid
+  Christine
+  Joan
+  Profit and Loss
+  Three Score and Ten
+  The Measure of a Man
+  The Winning of Lucia
+  Playing with Fire
+  All the Days of My Life
+
+  D. APPLETON & COMPANY
+  Publishers
+  New York
+
+
+[Illustration: "Ian was utterly charmed with the picture she made----"
+[PAGE 60]]
+
+
+
+
+  AN ORKNEY MAID
+
+  BY
+  AMELIA E. BARR
+
+  AUTHOR OF "CHRISTINE," "JOAN," "PROFIT AND LOSS," ETC.
+
+
+  _"The pleasant habit of existence, the sweet fable of life."_
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+  NEW YORK
+  LONDON
+  1918
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
+  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+  Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+                     TO
+               MY DEAR FRIEND
+               DR. MARTIN BARR
+                     OF
+            ELWYNN, PENNSYLVANIA,
+            I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK.
+                          AMELIA E. BARR.
+
+  "_Honor and truth formed your will,
+  Your heart, fidelity._"
+
+
+
+
+_MOTTO_
+
+  _"You can glad your child, or grieve it,
+  You can help it, or deceive it,
+      When all is done,
+      Beneath God's sun,
+  You can only love, and leave it."_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+          Introduction                                               1
+       I. The House of Ragnor                                        7
+      II. Adam Vedder's Trouble                                     30
+     III. Aries the Ram                                             47
+      IV. Sunna and Her Grandfather                                 72
+       V. Sunna and Thora                                           98
+      VI. The Old, Old Trouble                                     129
+     VII. The Call of War                                          164
+    VIII. Thora's Problem                                          193
+      IX. The Bread of Bitterness                                  230
+       X. The One Remains, the Many Change and Pass                271
+      XI. Sequences                                                304
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Yesterday morning this thing happened to me: I was reading the _New
+York Times_ and my eyes suddenly fell upon one word, and that word
+rang a little bell in my memory, "Kirkwall!" The next moment I had
+closed my eyes in order to see backward more clearly, and slowly, but
+surely, the old, old town--standing boldly upon the very beach of the
+stormy North Sea--became clear in my mental vision. There was a whole
+fleet of fishing boats, and a few smart smuggling craft rocking gently
+in its wonderful harbour--a harbour so deep and safe, and so capacious
+that it appeared capable of sheltering the navies of the world.
+
+I was then eighteen years old, I am now over eighty-six; and the
+straits of Time have widened and widened with every year, so that many
+things appear to have been carried away into forgetfulness by the
+stress and flow of full waters. But not so! They are only lying in
+out-of-the-way corners of consciousness, and can easily be recalled by
+some word that has the potency of a spell over them.
+
+"Kirkwall!" I said softly, and then I began to read what the _Times_
+had to say about Kirkwall. The great point appeared to be that as a
+rendezvous for ships it had been placed fifty miles within the "made
+in Germany" danger zone, and was therefore useless to the British
+men-of-war. And I laughed inwardly a little, and began to consider if
+Kirkwall had ever been long outside of some danger zone or other.
+
+All its myths and traditions are of the fighting Picts and Scots, and
+when history began to notice the existence of the Orkneys it was to
+chronicle the struggle between Harold, King of Norway, and his
+rebellious subjects who had fled to the Orkneys to escape his
+tyrannical control. And of the danger zones of every kind which
+followed--of storm and battle and bloody death--does not the Saga of
+Eglis give us a full account?
+
+This fight for popular freedom was a failure. King Harold conquered
+his rebellious subjects, and incidentally took possession of the
+islands and the people who had sheltered them. Then their rulers
+became Norwegian jarls--or earls--and there is no question about
+the danger zones into which the Norwegian vikings carried the
+Orcadeans--quite in accord with their own desire and liking, no doubt.
+And the stirring story of these years--full of delightful dangers
+to the men who adventured them--may all be read today in the
+blood-stirring, blood-curdling Norwegian Sagas.
+
+In the middle of the fifteenth century, James the Third, King of
+Scotland, married Margaret of Denmark, and the Orcades were given to
+Scotland as a security for her dowry. The dowry was never paid, and
+after a lapse of a century and a half Denmark resigned all her
+Orcadean rights to Scotland. The later union of England and Scotland
+finally settled their destiny.
+
+But until the last century England cared very little about the
+Orcades. Indeed Colonel Balfour, writing of these islands in A. D.
+1861, says: "Orkney is a part of a British County, but probably
+there is no part of Europe which so few Englishmen visit." Colonel
+Balfour, of Balfour and Trenabie, possessed a noble estate on the
+little isle of Shapinsay. He enthused the Orcadeans with the modern
+spirit of improvement and progress; he introduced a proper system
+of agriculture, built mills of all kinds, got laws passed for
+reclaiming waste lands, and was in every respect a wise, generous,
+faithful father of his country. To Americans Shapinsay has a
+peculiar interest. In a little cottage there, called _Quholme_, the
+father and mother of Washington Irving lived, and their son
+Washington was born on board an American ship on its passage from
+Kirkwall to New York.
+
+However, it is only since A. D. 1830, one year before I was born, that
+the old Norse life has been changed in Orkney. Up to that date
+agriculture could hardly be said to exist. The sheep and cattle of all
+towns, or communities, grazed together; but this plan, though it saved
+the labour of herding, was at the cost of abandoning the lambs to the
+eagles who circled over the flocks and selected their victims at will.
+In the late autumn all stock was brought to the "infield," which was
+then crowded with horses, cattle and sheep. In A. D. 1830, the
+Norwegian system of weights was changed to the standard weights and
+measures, and money, instead of barter, began to be used generally.
+
+Then a great Scotch emigration set in, and brought careful methods of
+farming with it; and the Orcadean could not but notice results. The
+Scotch trader came also, and the slipshod Norse way of barter and
+bargaining had no chance with the Scotch steady prices and ready
+money. But even through all these domestic and civic changes Orkney
+was constantly in zones of danger. In the first half of the nineteenth
+century England was at war with France and Spain and Russia, and the
+Orcadeans have a fine inherited taste for a sea fight. The Vikings did
+not rule them through centuries for nothing: the Orcadean and his
+brother, the Shetlander, salt the British Navy, and they rather enjoy
+danger zones.
+
+A single generation, with the help of steam communications, changed
+Orkney entirely and in the course of the second generation the
+Orcadean became eager for improvements of all kinds, and ready to
+forward them generously with the careful hoardings of perhaps many
+generations. And as it is in this transient period of the last century
+that my hero and heroine lived, I have thought it well to say
+something of antecedents that Americans may well be excused for
+knowing nothing about. Also--
+
+  ... the past will always win
+      A glory from its being far;
+      And orb into the perfect star,
+  We saw not, when we walked therein.
+
+However, Orkney was far from being out of danger zones in the
+nineteenth century. In its first quarter French and Dutch privateers
+made frequent raids on the islands; and the second quarter gave her
+men their chance of danger in the Crimea. They were not strangers in
+the Russian Chersoneus; their fathers had been in southern seas
+centuries before them. During the last fifty years they have made
+danger zones of their own free will, quarreling with coast guards,
+tampering with smugglers, wandering off with would-be discoverers of
+the North Pole, or with any other doubtful and dangerous enterprise.
+
+And these reflections made me quite comfortable about the
+"made-in-Germany" danger zone. I think the Orcadeans will rather enjoy
+it; and I am quite sure if any Germans take to trafficking, or buying
+or selling, in Kirkwall, they will get the worst of it. In this
+direction it is rather pleasant to remember that even Scotchmen,
+disputing about money, will find the Orcadeans "too far north for
+them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE HOUSE OF RAGNOR
+
+  Kind were the voices I used to hear
+    Round such a fireside,
+  Speaking the mother tongue old and dear;
+    Making the heart beat,
+  With endless tales of wonder and fear,
+    Or plaintive singing.
+
+  Great were the marvellous stories told
+    Of Ossian heroes,
+  Giants, and witches and young men bold
+    Seeking adventures,
+  Winning Kings' daughters, and guarded gold
+    Only with valor.
+
+
+The House of Ragnor was a large and very picturesque edifice. It was
+built of red and white sandstone which Time had covered with a
+heathery lichen, softening the whole into a shade of greenish grey.
+Many minds and many hands had fashioned it, for above its central door
+was the date, 1688, which would presuppose that it had been built
+from revenues coming as a reward for opposition to the Stuarts. It had
+been altered and enlarged by nearly every occupant, was many-roomed,
+and surrounded by a large garden, full of such small fruits as could
+ripen in the short summers, and of such flowers and shrubs as could
+live through the long winters. In sheltered situations, there were
+even hardy roses, and a royal plenty of England's spring flowers
+sweetened many months of the year. A homely garden, where berries and
+roses grew together and privet hedges sheltered peas and lettuce, and
+tulips and wall-flowers did not disdain the proximity of household
+vegetables.
+
+Doubtless the Ragnors had been jarls in old Norwegian times, but in
+1853 such memories had been forgotten, and Conall Ragnor was quite
+content with his reputation of being the largest trader in Orkney, and
+a very wealthy man. Physically he was of towering stature. His hair
+was light brown, and rather curly; his eyes large and bright blue, his
+face broad and rosy. He had great bodily and mental vigor, he was
+blunt in speech, careless about his dress, and simple in all his ways.
+His Protestantism was of the most decided character, but he was not a
+Presbyterian. Presbyterianism was a new thing on the face of the
+earth; he had been "authoritatively told, the Apostles were
+Episcopalians."
+
+"My soul has received no orders to go to thy Presbyterian Church," he
+said to the young Calvinist minister who asked him to do so. "When the
+order comes, then that may happen which has never happened before."
+
+Yet in spite of his pronounced nationality, and his Episcopal faith,
+he married Rahal Gordon from the braes of Moray; a Highland Scotch
+woman and a strict Calvinist. What compact had been made between them
+no one knew, but it had been sufficient to prevent all religious
+disputes during a period of twenty-six years. If Rahal Ragnor had any
+respectable excuse, she did not go to the ritual service in the
+Cathedral. If she had no such excuse, she went there with her husband
+and family. Then doubtless her prayer was the prayer of Naaman, that
+when "she bowed herself in the House of Rimmon, the Lord would pardon
+her for it."
+
+No one could deny her beauty, though it was of the Highland Scotch
+type, and therefore a great contrast to the Orcadean blonde. She was
+slender and dark, with plentiful, glossy, black hair, and soft brown
+eyes. Her face was oval and richly coloured. Her temperament was frank
+and domestic; yet she had a romantic side, and a full appreciation of
+what she called "a proper man."
+
+They had had many children, but four were dead, and three daughters
+were married and living in Edinburgh and Lerwick, and two sons had
+emigrated to Canada; while the youngest of all, a boy of fifteen, was
+a midshipman on Her Majesty's man-of-war, _Vixen_, so that only one
+boy and one girl were with their parents. These were Boris, the eldest
+son, who was sailing his own ship on business ventures to French and
+Dutch ports, and Thora, the only unmarried daughter. And in 1853 these
+five persons lived happily enough together in the Ragnor House,
+Kirkwall.
+
+One day in the spring of 1853 Conall Ragnor was at the rear door of
+his warehouse. The sea was lippering against its foundation, and he
+stood with his hand on his left hip, as with a raised head and keen
+eyes, he searched the far horizon.
+
+In a few minutes he turned with a look of satisfaction. "Well and
+good!" he thought. "Now I will go home. I have the news I was watching
+for." Anon he looked at his watch and reflecting a moment assured
+himself that Boris and the _Sea Gull_ would be safely at anchor by
+five o'clock.
+
+So with an air of satisfaction he walked through the warehouse,
+looking critically at the men cleaning and packing feathers, or dried
+fish, or fresh eggs. There was no sign of slacking in this department,
+and he turned into the shop where men were weighing groceries and
+measuring cloth. All seemed well, and after a short delay in his own
+particular office he went comfortably home.
+
+Meanwhile his daughter Thora was talking of him, and wondering what
+news he would bring them, and Mistress Ragnor, in a very smart cap and
+a gown of dark violet silk, was knitting by the large window in the
+living room--a very comfortable room carpeted with a good Kilmarnock
+"three-ply" and curtained with red moreen. There were a few sea
+pictures on the walls, and there was a good fire of drift-wood and
+peat upon the snow-white hearth.
+
+Thora had just entered the room with a clean table-cloth in her hands.
+Her mother gave her a quick glance of admiration and then said:
+
+"I thought thou wert looking for Boris home tonight."
+
+"Well, then, Mother, that is so. He said we must give him a little
+dance tonight, and I have asked the girls he likes best to come here.
+I thought this was known to thee. To call my words back now, will give
+great disappointment."
+
+"No need is there to call any word back. Because of thy dress I feared
+there had been some word of delay. If likelihood rule, Maren and Helga
+Torrie will wear the best they have."
+
+"That is most certain, but I am not minded to outdress the Torrie
+girls. Very hard it is for them to get a pretty frock, and it will
+make them happy to see themselves smarter than Thora Ragnor."
+
+"Thou should think of thyself."
+
+"Well, I am generally uppermost in my own mind. Also, in Edinburgh I
+was told that the hostess must not outdress her guests."
+
+"Edinburgh and Kirkwall are not in the same latitude. Keep mind of
+that. Step forward and let me look at thee."
+
+So Thora stood up before her mother, and the light from the window
+fell all over her, and she was beautiful from head to feet. Tall and
+slender, with a great quantity of soft brown hair very loosely
+arranged on the crown of her head; a forehead broad and white;
+eyebrows, plentiful and well arched; starlike blue eyes, with a large,
+earnest gaze and an oval face tinted like a rose. Oh! why try to
+describe a girl so lovely? It is like pulling a rose to pieces. It is
+easier to say that she was fleshly perfect and that, being yet in her
+eighteenth year, she had all the bloom of opening flowers, and all
+their softness and sweetness.
+
+Apparently she owed little to her dress, and yet it would have
+been difficult to choose anything more befitting her, for though it
+was only of wine-coloured cashmere, it was made with a plain
+picturesqueness that rendered it most effective. The short sleeves
+then worn gave to her white arms the dark background that made them
+a fascination; the high waist, cut open in front to a point, was
+filled in with white satin, over which it was laced together with a
+thin silk cord of the same colour as the dress. A small lace collar
+completed the toilet, and for the occasion, it was perfect;
+anything added to it would have made it imperfect.
+
+This was the girl who, standing before her mother, asked for her
+approval. And Rahal Ragnor's eyes were filled with her beauty, and she
+could only say:
+
+"Dear thing! There is no need to change! Just as thou art pleases
+me!"
+
+Then with a face full of love Thora stooped and kissed her mother and
+anon began to set the table for the expected guests. With sandalled
+feet and smiling face, she walked about the room with the composure of
+a goddess. There was no hesitation concerning what she had to do; all
+had been arranged and settled in her mind previously, though now and
+then, the discussion of a point appeared to be pleasant and
+satisfying. Thus she thoughtfully said:
+
+"Mother, there will be thyself and father and Boris, that is three,
+and Sunna Vedder, and Helga and Maren Torrie, that makes six, and Gath
+Peterson, and Wolf Baikie and his sisters Sheila and Maren make ten,
+and myself, eleven--that is all and it is enough."
+
+"Why not make it twelve?"
+
+"There is luck in odd numbers. I am the eleventh. I like it."
+
+"Thou might have made it ten. There is one girl on thy list it would
+be better without."
+
+"Art thou thinking of Sunna Vedder, Mother?"
+
+"Yes, I am thinking of Sunna Vedder."
+
+"Well and good. But if Sunna is not here, Boris would feel as if
+there was no one present. It is Sunna he wants to see. It is Sunna he
+wants to please. He says he is so sorry for her."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because she has to live with old Vedder who is nothing but a
+bookworm."
+
+"Vedder is a very clever man. The Bishop was saying that."
+
+"Yes, in a way he was saying it, but----"
+
+"The Bishop was not liking the books he was studying. He said they did
+men and women no good. Thy father was telling me many things. Yes, so
+it is! The Vedders are counted queer--they are different from thee and
+me, and--the Bishop."
+
+"And the Dominie?"
+
+"That may well be. Thy father has a will for Boris to marry Andrina
+Thorkel."
+
+"Boris will never marry Andrina. It would be great bad luck if he did.
+Many speak ill of her. She has a temper to please the devil. I was
+hearing she would marry Scot Keppoch. That would do; for then they
+would not spoil two houses."
+
+"Tell thy father thy thought, and he will give thee thy answer;--but
+why talk of the Future and the Maybe? The Now is the hour of the wise,
+so I will go upstairs and lay out some proper clothing and do thou
+get thy father to dress himself, as Conall Ragnor ought to do."
+
+"That may not be easy to manage."
+
+"Few things are beyond thy say-so." Then she lifted her work-bag and
+left the room.
+
+During this conversation Conall Ragnor had been slowly making his way
+home, after leaving his warehouse when the work of the day was done.
+Generally he liked his walk through the town to his homestead, which
+was just outside the town limits. It was often pleasant and
+flattering. The women came to their doors to watch him, or to speak to
+him, and their admiration and friendliness was welcome. For many years
+he had been used to it, but he had not in the least outgrown the
+thrill of satisfaction it gave him. And often he wondered if his wife
+noticed the good opinion that the ladies of Kirkwall had for her
+husband.
+
+"Of course she does," he commented, "but a great wonder it would be if
+my Rahal should speak of it. In that hour she would be out of the
+commodity of pride, or she would have forgotten herself entirely."
+
+This day he had received many good-natured greetings--Jenny Torrie had
+told him that the _Sea Gull_ was just coming into harbour, and so
+heavy with cargo that the sea was worrying at her gunwale; then Mary
+Inkster--from the other side of the street--added, "Both hands--seen
+and unseen--are full, Captain, I'll warrant that!"
+
+"Don't thee warrant beyond thy knowledge, Mary," answered Ragnor, with
+a laugh. "The _Sea Gull_ may have hands; she has no tongue."
+
+"All that touches the _Sea Gull_ is a thing by itself," cried pretty
+Astar Graff, whose husband was one of the _Sea Gull's_ crew.
+
+"So, then, Astar, she takes her own at point and edge. That is her
+way, and her right," replied Ragnor.
+
+Thus up the narrow street, from one side or the other, Conall Ragnor
+was greeted. Good wishes and good advice, with now and then a careful
+innuendo, were freely given and cheerfully taken; and certainly the
+recipient of so much friendly notice was well pleased with its freedom
+and good will. He came into his own house with the smiling amiability
+of a man who has had all the wrinkles of the day's business smoothed
+and soothed out of him.
+
+Looking round the room, he was rather glad his wife was not there. She
+was generally cool about such attentions, and secretly offended by
+their familiarity. For she was not only a reader and a thinker, she
+was also a great observer, and she had seen and considered the slow
+but sure coming of that spirit of progress, which would break up their
+isolation and, with it, the social privileges of her class. However,
+she kept all her fears on this subject in her heart. Not even to Thora
+would she talk of them lest she might be an inciter of thoughts that
+would raise up a class who would degrade her own: "Few people can be
+trusted with a dangerous thought, and who can tell where spoken words
+go to." And this idea, she knit, or stitched, into every garment her
+fingers fashioned.
+
+So, then, it was quite in keeping with her character to pass by
+Conall's little social enthusiasms with a chilling indifference, and
+if any wonder or complaint was made of this attitude, to reply:
+
+"When men and women of thine own worth and station bow down to thee,
+Conall, then thou will find Rahal Ragnor among them; but I do not
+mingle my words with those of the men and women who sort goose
+feathers, and pack eggs and gut fish for the salting. Thy wife,
+Conall, looks up, and not down."
+
+Well, then, as Rahal knew that the safe return of Boris with the _Sea
+Gull_ would possibly be an occasion for these friendly familiarities,
+she wisely took herself out of the way of hearing anything about it.
+And it is a great achievement when we learn the limit of our power to
+please. Conall Ragnor had not quite mastered the lesson in twenty-six
+years. Very often, yet, he had a half-alive hope that these small
+triumphs of his daily life might at length awaken in his wife's breast
+a sympathetic pleasure. Today it was allied with the return of Boris
+and his ship, and he thought this event might atone for whatever was
+repugnant.
+
+And yet, after all, when he saw no one but Thora present, he had a
+sense of relief. He told her all that had been said and done, and
+added such incidents of Boris and the ship as he thought would please
+her. She laughed and chatted with him, and listened with unabated
+pleasure to the very end, indeed, until he said: "Now, then, I must
+stop talking. I dare say there are many things to look after, for
+Boris told me he would be home for dinner at six o'clock. Till that
+hour I will take a little nap on the sofa."
+
+"But first, my Father, thou wilt go and dress. Everything is ready for
+thee, and mother is dressed, and as for Thora, is she not pretty
+tonight?"
+
+"Thou art the fairest of all women here, if I know anything about
+beauty. Wolf Baikie will be asking the first dance with thee."
+
+"That dance is thine. Mother has given thee to me for that dance."
+
+"To me? That is very agreeable. I am proud to be thy father."
+
+"Then go and dress thyself. I am particular about my partners."
+
+"Dress! What is wrong with my dress?"
+
+"Everything! Not an article in it is worthy of thee and the
+occasion."
+
+"I tell thee, all is as it should be. I am not minded to change it in
+any way."
+
+"Yes; to please Thora, thou wilt make some changes. Do, my Father. I
+love thee so! I am so proud of thy figure, and thou can show even Wolf
+Baikie how he ought to dance."
+
+"Well, then, just for thee--I will wash and put on fresh linen."
+
+"And comb thy beautiful hair. If thou but wet it, then it curls so
+that any girl would envy thee. And all the women would say that it was
+from thee, Thora got her bright, brown, curly hair."
+
+"To comb my hair? That is but a trifle. I will do it to please thee."
+
+"And thou wilt wet it, to make it curl?"
+
+"That I will do also--to please thee."
+
+"Then, as we are to dance together, thou wilt put on thy fine white
+socks, and thy Spanish leather shoes--the pair that have the bright
+buckles on the instep. Yes, thou wilt do me that great favour."
+
+"Thou art going too far; I will not do that."
+
+"Not for thy daughter Thora?" and she laid her cheek against his
+cheek, and whispered with a kiss, "Yes, thou wilt wear the buckled
+shoes for Thora. They will look so pretty in the dance: and Wolf
+Baikie cannot toss his head at thy boots, as he did at Aunt Brodie's
+Christmas dinner."
+
+"Did he do that thing?"
+
+"I saw him, and I would not dance with him because of it."
+
+"Thou did right. Thy Aunt Barbara----"
+
+"Is my aunt, and thy eldest sister. All she does is square and
+upright; what she says, it were well for the rest of the town to take
+heed to. It would please Aunt if thou showed Wolf Baikie thou had
+dancing shoes and also knew right well how to step in them."
+
+"Well, then, thou shalt have thy way. I will wash, I will comb my
+hair, I will put on clean linen and white socks and my buckled shoes.
+That is all I will do! I will not change my suit--no, I will not!"
+
+"Father!"
+
+"Well, then, what call for 'Father' now?"
+
+"I want thee to wear thy kirk suit."
+
+"I will not! No, I will not! The flannel suit is good enough for any
+man."
+
+"Yes, if it were clean and sweet, and had no fish scales on it, and no
+fish smell in it. And even here--at the very end of the world--thy
+friend, the good Bishop, wears black broadcloth and all gentlemen copy
+him. If Thora was thy sweetheart, instead of thy own dear daughter,
+she would not dance with thee in anything but thy best suit."
+
+"It seems to me, my own dear daughter, that very common people wear
+kirk toggery. When I go to the hotels in Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, or
+Inverness, I find all the men who wait on other men are in kirk
+clothes; and if I go to a theatre, the men who wait on the crowd there
+wear kirk clothes, and----"
+
+"Thy Bishop also wears black broadcloth."
+
+"That will be because of his piety and humility. I am not as pious
+and humble as I might be. No, indeed! Not in everything can I humour
+thee, and trouble myself; but this thing is what I will do--I have a
+new suit of fine blue flannel; last night I brought it home. At
+McVittie's it was made, and well it fits me. For thy sake I will wear
+it. This is the end of our talk. No more will I do."
+
+"Thou dear father! It is enough! With a thousand kisses I thank
+thee."
+
+"Too many kisses! Too many kisses! Thou shalt give me five when we
+finish our dance; one for my curled hair, and one for my white, fresh
+linen, and one for my socks, and one for my buckled shoes, and the
+last for my new blue suit. And in that bargain thou wilt get the best
+of me, so one favour in return from thee I must have."
+
+"Dear Father, thy will is my will. What is thy wish?"
+
+"I want thy promise not to dance with Wolf Baikie. Because of his
+sneer I am coaxed to dress as I do not want to dress. Well, then, I
+will take his place with thee, and every dance he asks from thee is to
+be given to me."
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Thora replied: "That agreement does not
+trouble me. It will be to my great satisfaction. So, then, thou art
+no nearer to getting the best of the bargain."
+
+"Thou art a clever, handsome little baggage. But my promises I will
+keep, and it is well for me to be about them. Time flies talking to
+thee," and he looked at his watch and said, "It is now five minutes
+past five."
+
+"Then thou must make some haste. Dinner is set for six o'clock."
+
+"Dost thou think I will fiddle-faddle about myself like a woman?"
+
+"But thou must wash----"
+
+"In the North Sea I wash me every morning. Before thou hast opened thy
+eyes I have had my bath and my swim in the salt water."
+
+"There is rain water in thy room; try it for a change." And he
+answered her with a roar of laughter far beyond Thora's power to
+imitate. But with it ringing in her heart and ears she saw him go to a
+spare room to keep his promises. Then she hastened to her mother.
+
+"Whatever is the matter with thy father, Thora?"
+
+"He has promised to wash and dress. I got all I asked for."
+
+"Will he change his suit?"
+
+"He has a fine new suit. It was hid away in Aunt's room."
+
+"What made him do such a childish thing?"
+
+"To please thee, it was done. It was to be a surprise, I think."
+
+"I will go to him."
+
+"No, no, Mother! Let father have the pleasure he planned. To thee he
+will come, as soon as he is dressed."
+
+"Am I right? From top to toe?"
+
+"From top to toe just as thou should be. The white roses in thy cap
+look lovely with the violet silk gown. Very pretty art thou, dear
+Mother."
+
+"I can still wear roses, but they are white roses now. I used to wear
+pink, Thora."
+
+"Pink and crimson and yellow roses thou may wear yet. Because white
+roses go best with violet I put that colour in thy cap for tonight.
+Think of what my aunt said when thou complained to her of growing old,
+'Rahal, the mother of twelve sons and daughters is always young.' Now
+I will run away, for my father does everything quickly."
+
+In about ten or fifteen minutes, Rahal Ragnor heard him coming. Then
+she stood up and watched the swift throwing open of the door, and the
+entrance of her husband. With a cry of pleasure she clapped her hands
+and said joyfully:
+
+"Oh, Coll! Oh, my dear Coll!" and the next moment Coll kissed her.
+
+"Thou hast made thyself so handsome--just to please me!"
+
+"Yes, for thee! Who else is there? Do I please thee now?"
+
+"Always thou pleases me! But tonight, I have fallen in love with thee
+over again!"
+
+"And yet Thora wanted me to wear my kirk suit," and he walked to the
+glass and looked with great satisfaction at himself. "I think this
+suit is more becoming."
+
+"My dear Coll, thou art right. A good blue flannel suit is a man's
+natural garment. To everyone, rich and poor, it is becoming. If thou
+always dressed as thou art now dressed, I should never have the heart
+or spirit to contradict thee. Thou could have thy own way, year in and
+year out."
+
+"Is that the truth, my dear Rahal? Or is it a compliment?"
+
+"It is the very truth, dear one!"
+
+"From this hour, then, I will dress to thy wish and pleasure."
+
+She stepped quickly to his side and whispered: "In that case, there
+will not be in all Scotland a more distinguished and proper man than
+Conall Ragnor!"
+
+And in a large degree Conall Ragnor was worthy of all the fine things
+his wife said to him. The new clothes fell gracefully over his grand
+figure; he stepped out freely in the light easy shoes he was wearing;
+there was not a single thing stiff or tight or uncomfortable about
+him. Even his shirt collar fell softly round his throat, and the
+bright crimson necktie passed under it was unrestrained by anything
+but a handsome pin, which left his throat bare and gave the scarf
+permission to hang as loosely as a sailor's.
+
+At length Rahal said, "I see that Boris and the ship are safely home
+again."
+
+"Ship and cargo safe in port, and every man on board well and hearty.
+On the stroke of six he will be here. He said so, and Boris keeps his
+word. I hear the sound of talking and laughing. Let us go to meet
+them."
+
+They came in a merry company, Boris, with Sunna Vedder on his arm
+leading them. They came joyously; singing, laughing, chattering,
+making all the noise that youth seems to think is essential to
+pleasure. However, I shall not describe this evening. A dinner-dance
+is pretty much alike in all civilized and semi-civilized communities.
+It will really be more descriptive to indicate a few aspects in which
+this function of amusement differed from one of the same kind given
+last night in a fashionable home or hotel in New York.
+
+First, the guests came all together from some agreed-upon rendezvous.
+They walked, for private carriages were very rare and there were none
+for hire. However, this walking party was generally a very pleasant
+introduction to a more pleasant and intimate evening. The women were
+wrapped up in their red or blue cloaks, and the men carried their
+dancing slippers, fans, bouquets, and other small necessities of the
+ballroom.
+
+Second, the old and the young had an equal share in any entertainment,
+and if there was a difference, it was in favour of the old. On this
+very night Conall Ragnor danced in every figure called, except a
+saraband, which he said was too slow and formal to be worth calling a
+dance. Even old Adam Vedder who had come on his own invitation--but
+welcome all the same--went through the Orkney Quickstep with the two
+prettiest girls present, Thora Ragnor and Maren Torrie. For honourable
+age was much respected and every young person wished to share his
+happiness with it.
+
+A very marked characteristic was the evident pleasure old and young
+had in the gratification of their sense of taste, in the purely animal
+pleasure of eating good things. No one had a bad appetite, and if
+anyone wished for more of a dish they liked, they asked for it. Indeed
+they had an easy consciousness of paying their hostess a compliment,
+and of giving themselves a little more pleasure.
+
+Finally, they made the day, day; and the night, night. Such gatherings
+broke up about eleven o'clock; then the girls went home unwearied, to
+sleep, and morning found them rosy and happy, already wondering who
+would give them the next dance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ADAM VEDDER'S TROUBLE
+
+  ... they do not trust their tongues alone
+  But speak a language of their own;
+  Convey a libel in a frown,
+  And wink a reputation down;
+  Or by the tossing of a fan,
+  Describe the lady and the man.--SWIFT
+
+  It is good to be merry and wise,
+    It is good to be honest and true,
+  It is well to be off with the old love
+    Before you are on with the new.
+
+
+Boris did not remain long in the home port. It was drawing near to
+Lent, and this was a sacred term very highly regarded by the citizens
+of this ancient cathedral town. Of course in the Great Disruption the
+National Episcopal Church had suffered heavy loss, but Lent was a
+circumstance of the Soul, so near and dear to its memory, that even
+those disloyal to their Mother Church could not forget or ignore it.
+In some cases it was secretly more faithfully observed than ever
+before; then its penitential prayers became intensely pathetic in
+their loneliness. For these self-bereft souls could not help
+remembering the days when they went up with the multitude to keep the
+Holy Fast in the House of their God.
+
+Rahal Ragnor had never kept it. It had been only a remnant of popery
+to her. Long before the Free Kirk had been born, she and all her
+family had been Dissenters of some kind or other. And yet her life and
+her home were affected by this Episcopal "In Memoriam" in a great
+number of small, dominating ways, so that in the course of years she
+had learned to respect a ceremonial that she did not endorse. For she
+knew that no one kept Lent with a truer heart than Conall Ragnor, and
+that the Lenten services in the cathedral interfered with his business
+to an extent nothing purely temporal would have been permitted to do.
+
+So, after the little dance given to Boris, there was a period of
+marked quietness in Kirkwall. It was as if some mighty Hand had been
+laid across the strings of Life and softened and subdued all their
+reverberations. There was no special human influence exerted for this
+purpose, yet no one could deny the presence of some unseen, unusual
+element.
+
+"Every day seems like Sabbath Day," said Thora.
+
+"It is Lent," answered Rahal.
+
+"And after Lent comes Easter, dear Mother."
+
+"That is the truth."
+
+In the meantime Boris had gone to Edinburgh on the bark _Sea Gull_ to
+complete his cargo of Scotch ginghams and sewed muslins, native
+jewelry and table delicacies. Perhaps, indeed, the minimum notice
+accorded Lent in the metropolitan city had something to do with this
+journey, which was not a usual one; but after the departure of the
+_Sea Gull_ the Ragnor household had settled down to a period of
+domestic quiet. The Master had to make up the hours spent in the
+cathedral by a longer stay in the store, and the women at this time
+generally avoided visiting; they felt--though they did not speak of
+it--the old prohibition of unkind speech, and the theological quarrel
+was yet so new and raw that to touch it was to provoke controversy,
+instead of conversation.
+
+It was at such vacant times that old Adam Vedder's visits were doubly
+welcome. One day in mid-Lent he came to the Ragnor house, when it was
+raining with that steady deliberation that gives no hope of anything
+better. Throwing off his waterproof outer garments, he left them to
+drip dry in the kitchen. An old woman, watching him, observed:
+
+"Thou art wetting the clean floor, Master Vedder," and he briskly
+answered: "That is thy business, Helga, not mine. Is thy mistress in
+the house?"
+
+"Would she be out, if she had any good sense left?"
+
+"How can a man tell what a woman will do? Where is thy mistress?" and
+he spoke in a tone so imperative, that she answered with shrinking
+humility:
+
+"I ask thy favour. Mistress Ragnor is in the right-hand parlour. I
+will look after thy cloak."
+
+"It will be well for thee to do that."
+
+Then Adam went to the right-hand parlour and found Rahal sitting by
+the fire sewing.
+
+"I am glad to see thee, Rahal," he said.
+
+"I am glad to see thee always--more at this time than at any other."
+
+"Well, that is good, but why at this time more than at any other?"
+
+"The town is depressed; business goes on, but in a silent fashion.
+There is no social pleasure--surely the reason is known to thee!"
+
+"So it is, and the reason is good. When people are confessing their
+sins, and asking pardon for the same, they cannot feel it to be a
+cheerful entertainment; and, as thou observed, it affects even their
+business, which I myself notice is done without the usual joking or
+quarrelling or drinking of good healths. Well, then, that also is
+right. Where is Thora?"
+
+"She is going to a lecture this afternoon to be given by the
+Archdeacon Spens to the young girls, and she is preparing for it." And
+as these words were uttered, Thora entered the room. She was dressed
+for the storm outside, and wore the hood of her cloak drawn well over
+her hair; in her hands were a pair of her father's slippers.
+
+"For thee I brought them," she said, as she held them out to Vedder.
+"I heard thy voice, and I was sure thy feet would be wet. See, then, I
+have brought thee my father's slippers. He would like thee to wear
+them--so would I."
+
+"I will not wear them, Thora. I will not stand in any man's shoes but
+my own. It is an unchancy, unlucky thing to do. Thanks be to thee, but
+I will keep my own standing, wet or dry. Look to that rule for
+thyself, and remember what I say. Let me see if thou art well shod."
+
+Thora laughed, stood straight up, and drew her dress taut, and put
+forward two small feet, trigly protected by high-laced boots. Then,
+looking at her mother, she asked: "Are the boots sufficient, or shall
+I wear over them my French clogs?"
+
+Vedder answered her question. "The clogs are not necessary," he said.
+"The rain runs off as fast as it falls. Thy boots are all such
+trifling feet can carry. What can women do on this hard world-road
+with such impediments as French clogs over English boots?"
+
+"Mr. Vedder, they will do whatever they want to do; and they will go
+wherever they want to go; and they will walk in their own shoes, and
+work in their own shoes, and be well satisfied with them."
+
+"Thora, I am sorry I was born in the last century. If I had waited for
+about fifty years I would have been in proper time to marry thee."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Yes; for I would not have let a woman so fair and good as thou art go
+out of my family. We should have been man and wife. That would
+certainly have happened."
+
+"If two had been willing, it might have been. Now our talk must end;
+the Archdeacon likes not a late comer;" and with this remark, and a
+beaming smile, she went away.
+
+Then there was a silence, full of words longing to be spoken; but
+Rahal Ragnor was a prudent woman, and she sighed and sewed and left
+Vedder to open the conversation. He looked at her a little impatiently
+for a few moments, then he asked:
+
+"To what port has thy son Boris sailed?"
+
+"Boris intends to go to Leith, if wind and water let him do so."
+
+"Boris is not asking wind and water about his affairs. There is a
+question I know not how to answer. I am wanting thy help."
+
+"If that be so, speak thy mind to me."
+
+"I want a few words of advice about a woman."
+
+"Is that woman thy granddaughter, Sunna?"
+
+"A right guess thou hast made."
+
+"Then I would rather not speak of her."
+
+"Thy reason? What is it?"
+
+"She is too clever for a simple woman like me. I have not two faces. I
+cannot make the same words mean two distinct and separate things.
+Sunna has all thy self-wisdom, but she has not thy true heart and thy
+wise tongue."
+
+"Listen to me! Things have come to this--Boris has made love to Sunna
+in the face of all Kirkwall. He has done this for more than a year.
+Then for two weeks before he left for Leith he came not near my house,
+and if he met Sunna in any friend's house he was no longer her lover.
+What is the meaning of this? My girl is unhappy and angry, and I
+myself am far from being satisfied; thou tell, what is wrong between
+them?"
+
+"I would prefer neither to help nor hinder thee in this matter. There
+is a broad way between these two ways, that I am minded to take. It
+will be better for me to do so, and perhaps better for thee also."
+
+"I thought I could count on thee for my friend. Bare is a man's back
+without friends behind it! In thee I trusted. While I feared and
+doubted, I thought, 'If worse comes I will go at once to Rahal
+Ragnor'--_Thou hast failed me_."
+
+"Say not that--my old, dear friend! It is beyond truth. What I know I
+told to my husband; and I asked him if it would be kind and well to
+tell thee, and he said to me: 'Be not a bearer of ill news to Vedder.
+Little can thou trust any evil report; few people are spoken of better
+than they deserve.' Then I gave counsel to myself, thus: Conall has
+four dear daughters, _he knows_. Conall loves his old friend Vedder;
+if he thought to interfere was right, he would advise Vedder to
+interfere or he would interfere for him, and my wish was to spare thee
+the sorrow that comes from women's tongues. I was also sure that if
+the news was true, it would find thee out--if not true, why should
+Rahal Ragnor sow seeds of suspicion and ill-will? Is Sunna disobedient
+to thee?"
+
+"She is something worse--she deceives me. Her name is mixed up with
+some report--I know not what. No one loves me well enough to tell me
+what is wrong."
+
+"Well, then, thou art more feared than loved. Few know thee well
+enough to risk thy anger and all know that Norsemen are bitter
+cruel to those who dare to say that one hair of their women is out
+of its place. Who, then, would dare to say this or that about thy
+granddaughter?"
+
+"Rahal Ragnor could speak safely to me."
+
+Then there was silence for a few moments and Rahal sat with her
+doubled-up left hand against her lips, gazing out of the window.
+Vedder did not disturb her. He waited patiently until she said:
+
+"If I tell thee what was told me, wilt thou visit the story upon my
+husband, or myself, or any of my children?"
+
+Vedder took a signet ring from his finger and kissed it. "Rahal," he
+said, "I have kissed this ring of my fathers to seal the promise I
+shall make thee. If thou wilt give me thy confidence in this matter of
+Sunna Vedder, it shall be for thy good, and for the good of thy
+husband, and for the good of all thy children, as far as Adam Vedder
+can make it so."
+
+"I ask a special promise for my son Boris, for he is concerned in this
+matter."
+
+"Boris can take good care of Boris: nevertheless, I promise thee that
+I will not say or look or do, with hands or tongue, anything that will
+injure, or even annoy, Boris Ragnor. Unto the end of my life, I
+promise this. What may come after, I know not. If there should be a
+wrong done, we will fight it out elsewhere."
+
+"Thy words are sufficient. Listen, then! There is a family, in the
+newest and best part of the town, called McLeod. They are yet strange
+here. They are Highland Scotch. Many say they are Roman Catholics.
+They sing Jacobite songs, and they go not to any church. They have
+opened a great trading route; and they have brought many new customs
+and new ideas with them. A certain class of our people make much of
+them; others are barely civil to them; the best of our citizens do not
+notice them at all. But they have plenty of money, and live
+extravagantly, and the garrison's officers are constantly seen there.
+Do you know them?"
+
+"I have heard of them."
+
+"McLeod has a large trading fleet, and he has interfered with the
+business of Boris in many ways."
+
+"Hast thou ever seen him? Tell me what he is like."
+
+"I have seen him many times. He is a complete Highlander; tall,
+broad-shouldered and apparently very strong, also very graceful. He
+has high cheekbones, and a red beard, but all talk about him, and many
+think him altogether handsome."
+
+"And thou? What dost thou think?"
+
+"When I saw him, he was in earnest discussion with one of his men, and
+he was not using English but sputtering a torrent of shrill Gaelic,
+shrugging his shoulders, throwing his arms about, thrilling with
+excitement--but for all that, he was the picture of a man that most
+women would find irresistible."
+
+"I have heard that he wears the Highland dress."
+
+"Not on the street. They have many entertainments; he may wear it in
+some of them; but I think he is too wise to wear it in public. The
+Norseman is much indebted to the Scot--but it would not do to flaunt
+the feathered cap and philabeg too much--on Kirkwall streets."
+
+"You ought to know."
+
+"Yes, I am Highland Scotch, thank God! I understand this man, though I
+have never spoken to him. I know little about the Lowland Scot. He is
+a different race, and is quite a different man. You would not like
+him, Adam."
+
+"I know him. He is a fine fellow; quiet, cool-blooded, has little to
+say, and wastes no strength in emotion. There's wisdom for you--but go
+on with thy talk, woman; it hurts me, but I must hear it to the end."
+
+"Well, then, Kenneth McLeod has the appearance of a gentleman, though
+he is only a trader."
+
+"Say _smuggler_, Rahal, and you might call him by a truer name."
+
+"Many whisper the same word. Of a smuggler, a large proportion of our
+people think no wrong. That you know. He is a kind of hero to some
+girls. Many grand parties these McLeods give--music and dancing, and
+eating and drinking, and the young officers of the garrison are there,
+as well as our own gay young men; and where these temptations are,
+young women are sure to go. His aunt is mistress of his house.
+
+"Now, then, this thing happened when Boris was last here. One night he
+heard two men talking as they went down the street before him. The
+rain was pattering on the flagged walk and he did not well understand
+their conversation, but it was altogether of the McLeods and their
+entertainments. Suddenly he heard the name of Sunna Vedder. Thrice he
+heard it, and he followed the men to the public house, called for
+whiskey, sat down at a table near them and pretended to be writing.
+But he grew more and more angry as he heard the free and easy talk of
+the men; and when again they named Sunna, he put himself into their
+conversation and so learned they were going to McLeod's as soon as the
+hour was struck for the dance. Boris permitted them to go, laughing
+and boastful; an hour afterwards he followed."
+
+"With whom did he go?"
+
+"Alone he went. The dance was then in progress, and men and women were
+constantly going in and out. He followed a party of four, and went in
+with them. There was a crowd on the waxed floor. They were dancing a
+new measure called the polka; and conspicuous, both for her beauty and
+her dress, he saw Sunna among them. Her partner was Kenneth McLeod,
+and he was in full McLeod tartans. No doubt have I that Sunna and her
+handsome partner made a romantic and lovely picture."
+
+"What must be the end of all this? What the devil am I to think?"
+
+"Think no worse than needs be."
+
+"What did Boris do--or say?"
+
+"He walked rapidly to Sunna, and he said, 'Miss Vedder, thou art
+wanted at thy home--at once thou art wanted. Get thy cloak, and I will
+walk with thee.'"
+
+"Then?"
+
+"She was angry, and yet terrified; but she left the room. Boris feared
+she would try and escape him, so he went to the door to meet her.
+Judge for thyself what passed between them as Boris took her home. At
+first she was angry, afterwards, she cried and begged Boris not to
+tell thee. I am sure Boris was kind to her, though he told her frankly
+she was on a dangerous road. All this I had from Boris, and it is the
+truth; as for what reports have grown from it, I give them no heed.
+Sunna was deceitful and imprudent. I would not think worse of her than
+she deserves."
+
+"Rahal, I am much thy debtor. This affair I will now take into my own
+hands. To thee, my promise stands good for all my life days--and thou
+may tell Boris, it may be worth his while to forgive Sunna. There is
+some fault with him also; he has made love to Sunna for a long time,
+but never yet has he said to me--'I wish to make Sunna my wife!' What
+is the reason of that?"
+
+"Well, then, Adam, a young man wishes to make sure of himself. Boris
+is much from home----"
+
+"There it is! For that very cause, he should have made a straight
+clear road between us. I do not excuse Sunna, but I say that wherever
+there is a cross purpose, there has likely never been a straight one.
+Thou hast treated me well, and I am thy debtor; but it shall be ill
+with all those who have led my child wrong--the more so, because the
+time chosen for their sinful deed makes it immeasurably more sinful."
+
+"The time? What is thy meaning? The time was the usual hour of all
+entertainments. Even two hours after the midnight is quite respectable
+if all else is correct."
+
+"Art thou so forgetful of the God-Man, who at this time carried the
+burden of all our sins?"
+
+"Oh! You mean it is Lent, Adam?"
+
+"Yes! It is Lent!"
+
+"I was never taught to regard it."
+
+"Yet none keep Lent more strictly than Conall Ragnor."
+
+"A wife does not always adopt her husband's ideas. I had a father,
+Adam, uncles and cousins and friends. None of them kept Lent. Dost
+thou expect me to be wiser than all my kindred?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Let us cease this talk. It will come to nothing."
+
+"Then good-bye."
+
+"Be not hard on Sunna. One side only, has been heard."
+
+"As kindly as may be, I will do right."
+
+Then Adam went away, but he left Rahal very unhappy. She had disobeyed
+her husband's advice and she could not help asking herself if she
+would have been as easily persuaded to tell a similar story about her
+own child. "Thora is a school girl yet," she thought, "but she is just
+entering the zone of temptation."
+
+In the midst of this reflection Thora came into the room. Her mother
+looked into her lovely face with a swift pang of fear. It was radiant
+with a joy not of this world. A light from an interior source
+illumined it; a light that wreathed with smiles the pure, childlike
+lips. "Oh, if she could always remain so young, and so innocent! Oh,
+if she never had to learn the sorrowful lessons that love always
+teaches!"
+
+Thus Rahal thought and wished. She forgot, as she did so, that women
+come into this world to learn the very lessons love teaches, and that
+unless these lessons are learned, the soul can make no progress, but
+must remain undeveloped and uninstructed, even until the very end of
+this session of its existence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ARIES THE RAM
+
+  O Christ whose Cross began to bloom
+    With peaceful lilies long ago;
+  Each year above Thy empty tomb
+    More thick the Easter garlands grow.
+  O'er all the wounds of this sad strife
+    Bright wreathes the new immortal life.
+
+  Thus came the word: Proclaim the year of the Lord!
+    And so he sang in peace;
+  Under the yoke he sang, in the shadow of the sword,
+  Sang of glory and release.
+  The heart may sigh with pain for the people pressed and slain,
+  The soul may faint and fall:
+  The flesh may melt and die--but the Voice saith, Cry!
+  And the Voice is more than all.--CARL SPENCER.
+
+
+It was Saturday morning and the next day was Easter Sunday. The little
+town of Kirkwall was in a state of happy, busy excitement, for though
+the particular house cleaning of the great occasion was finished,
+every housewife was full laden with the heavy responsibility of
+feeding the guests sure to arrive for the Easter service. Even Rahal
+Ragnor had both hands full. She was expecting her sister-in-law,
+Madame Barbara Brodie by that day's boat, and nobody ever knew how
+many guests Aunt Barbara would bring with her. Then if her own home
+was not fully prepared to afford them every comfort, she would be sure
+to leave them at the Ragnor house until all was in order. Certainly
+she had said in her last letter that she was not "going to be imposed
+upon, by anyone this spring"--and Thora reminded her mother of this
+fact.
+
+"Dost thou indeed believe thy aunt's assurances?" asked Rahal. "Hast
+thou not seen her break them year after year? She will either ask some
+Edinburgh friend to come back to Kirkwall with her, or she will pick
+up someone on the way home. Is it not so?"
+
+"Aunt generally leaves Edinburgh alone. It is the people she picks up
+on her way home that are so uncertain. Dear Mother, can I go now to
+the cathedral? The flowers are calling me."
+
+"Are there many flowers this year?"
+
+"More than we expected. The Balfour greenhouse has been stripped and
+they have such a lovely company of violets and primroses and white
+hyacinths with plenty of green moss and ivy. The Baikies have a
+hothouse and have such roses and plumes of curled parsley to put
+behind them, and lilies-of-the-valley; and I have robbed thy
+greenhouse, Mother, and taken all thy fairest auriculas and
+cyclamens."
+
+"They are for God's altar. All I have is His. Take what vases thou
+wants, but Helga must carry them for thee."
+
+"And, Mother, can I have the beautiful white Wedgewood basket for the
+altar? It looked so exquisite last Easter."
+
+"It now belongs to the altar. I gave it freely last Easter. I promised
+then that it should never hold flowers again for any meaner festival.
+Take whatever thou wants for thy purpose, and delay me no longer. I
+have this day to put two days' work into one day." Then she lifted her
+eyes from the pastry she was making and looking at Thora, asked: "Art
+thou not too lightly clothed?"
+
+"I have warm underclothing on. Thou would not like me to dress God's
+altar in anything but pure white linen? All that I wear has been made
+spotless for this day's work."
+
+"That is right, but now thou must make some haste. There is no
+certainty about Aunt Barbie. She may be at her home this very
+minute."
+
+"The boat is not due until ten o'clock."
+
+"Not unless Barbara Brodie wanted to land at seven. Then, if she
+wished, winds and waves would have her here at seven. Her wishes
+follow her like a shadow. Go thy way now. Thou art troubling me. I
+believe I have put too much sugar in the custard."
+
+"But that would be a thing incredible." Then Thora took a hasty kiss,
+and went her way. A large scarlet cloak covered her white linen dress,
+and its hood was drawn partially over her head. In her hands she
+carried the precious Wedgewood basket, and Helga and her daughter had
+charge of the flowers and of several glass vases for their reception.
+In an hour all Thora required had been brought safely to the vestry of
+Saint Magnus, and then she found herself quite alone in this grand,
+dim, silent House of God.
+
+In the meantime Aunt Barbara Brodie had done exactly as Rahal Ragnor
+anticipated. The boat had made the journey in an abnormally short
+time. A full sea, and strong, favourable winds, had carried her
+through the stormiest Firth in Scotland, at a racer's speed; and she
+was at her dock, and had delivered all her passengers when Conall
+Ragnor arrived at his warehouse. Then he had sent word to Rahal, and
+consequently she ventured on the prediction that "Aunt Barbara might
+already be at her home."
+
+However, it had not been told the Mistress of Ragnor, that her
+sister-in-law had actually "picked up someone on the way"; and that
+for this reason she had gone directly to her own residence. For on
+this occasion, her hospitality had been stimulated by a remarkably
+handsome young man, who had proved to be the son of Dr. John Macrae, a
+somewhat celebrated preacher of the most extreme Calvinist type. She
+heartily disapproved of the minister, but she instantly acknowledged
+the charm of his son; but without her brother's permission she thought
+it best not to hazard his influence over the inexperienced Thora.
+
+"I am fifty-two years old," she thought, "and I know the measure of a
+man's deceitfulness, so I can take care of myself, but Thora is a
+childlike lassie. It would not be fair to put her in danger without
+word or warning. The lad has a wonderful winning way with women."
+
+So she took her fascinating guest to her own residence, and when he
+had been refreshed by a good breakfast, he frankly said to her:
+
+"I came here on special business. I have a large sum of money to
+deliver, and I think I will attend to that matter at once."
+
+"I will not hinder thee," said Mrs. Brodie, "I'm no way troubled to
+take care of my own money, but it is just an aggravation to take care
+of other folks' siller. And who may thou be going to give a 'large sum
+of money' to, in Kirkwall town? I wouldn't wonder if the party isn't
+my own brother, Captain Conall Ragnor?"
+
+"No, Mistress," the young man replied. "It belongs to a young
+gentleman called McLeod."
+
+"Humph! A trading man is whiles very little of a gentleman. What do
+you think of McLeod?"
+
+"I am the manager of his Edinburgh business, so I cannot discuss his
+personality."
+
+"That's right, laddie! Folks seldom see any good thing in their
+employer; and it is quite fair for them to be just as blind to any bad
+thing in him--but I'll tell you frankly that your employer has not a
+first rate reputation here."
+
+"All right, Mistress Brodie! His reputation is not in my charge--only
+his money. I do not think the quality of his reputation can hurt
+mine."
+
+"Your father's reputation will stand bail for yours. Well now, run
+away and get business off your mind, and be back here for one o'clock
+dinner. I will not wait a minute after the clock chaps one. This
+afternoon I am going to my brother's house, and I sent him a message
+which asks for permission to bring you with me."
+
+"Thanks!" but he said the word in an unthankful tone, and then he
+looked into Mistress Brodie's face, and she laughed and imitated his
+expression, as she assured him "she had no girl with matrimonial
+intentions in view."
+
+"You see, Mistress," he said, "I do not intend to remain longer than a
+week. Why should I run into danger? I am ready to take heartaches. Can
+you tell me how best to find McLeod's warehouse?"
+
+"Speir at any man you meet, and any man will show you the place. I,
+myself, am not carin' to send folk an ill road."
+
+So Ian Macrae went into the town and easily found his friend and
+employer. Then their business was easily settled and it appeared to be
+every way gratifying to both men.
+
+"You have taken a business I hate off my hands, Ian," said McLeod,
+"and I am grateful to you. Where shall we go today? What would you
+like to do with yourself?"
+
+"Why, Kenneth, I would like first of all to see the inside of your
+grand cathedral. I would say, it must be very ancient."
+
+"Began in A. D., 1138. Is that old?"
+
+"Seven hundred years! That will do for age. They were good builders
+then. I have a strange love for these old shrines where multitudes
+have prayed for centuries. They are full of _Presence_ to me."
+
+"_Presence._ What do you mean?"
+
+"Souls."
+
+"You are a creepy kind of mortal. I think, Ian, if you were not such a
+godless man, you might have been a saint."
+
+Macrae drew his lips tight, and then said in detached words--"My
+father is--sure--I--was--born--at--the--other--end--of--the--measure."
+
+Then they were in the interior of the cathedral. The light was dim,
+the silence intense, and both men were profoundly affected by
+influences unknown and unseen. As they moved slowly forward into the
+nave, the altar became visible, and in this sacred place of Communion
+Thora was moving slowly about, leaving beauty and sweetness wherever
+she lingered.
+
+Her appearance gave both men a shock and both expressed it by a
+spasmodic breath. They spoke not; they watched her slim, white figure
+pass to-and-fro with soft and reverent steps, arranging violets and
+white hyacinths with green moss in the exquisite white Wedgewood. Then
+with a face full of innocent joy she placed it upon the altar, and for
+a few moments stood with clasped hands, looking at it.
+
+As she did so, the organist began to practice his Easter music, and
+she turned her face towards the organ. Then they saw fully a
+beautiful, almost childlike face transfigured with celestial
+emotions.
+
+"Let us get out of this," whispered McLeod. "What business have we
+here? It is a kind of sacrilege." And Ian bowed his head and followed
+him. But it was some minutes ere the every-day world became present to
+their senses. McLeod was the first to speak:--
+
+"What an experience!" he sighed. "I should not dare to try it often.
+It would send me into a monastery."
+
+"Are you a Roman Catholic?"
+
+"What else would I be? When I was a lad, I used to dream of being a
+monk. It was power I wanted. I thought then, that priests had more
+power than any other men; as I grew older I found out that it was
+money that owned the earth."
+
+"Not so!" said Ian sharply, "'the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
+thereof.' I promised to be at Mistress Brodie's for dinner at one
+o'clock. What is the time?"
+
+McLeod took out his watch:--"You have twenty minutes," he said. "I was
+just going to tell you that the girl we saw in the cathedral is her
+niece."
+
+Ian had taken a step or two in the direction of the Brodie house, but
+he turned his head, and with a bright smile said, "Thank you, Ken!"
+and McLeod watched him a moment and then with a sigh softly
+ejaculated: "What a courteous chap he is--when he is in the mood to be
+courteous--and what a ---- when he is not in the mood."
+
+Ian was at the Brodie house five minutes before one, and he found
+Mistress Brodie waiting for him. "I am glad that you have kept your
+tryst," she said. "We will just have a modest bite now, and we can
+make up all that is wanting here, at my brother Coll's, a little
+later. I have a pleasant invite for yourself. My good sister-in-law
+has read some of your father's sermons in the Sunday papers and
+magazines, and for their sake she will be glad to see you. I just
+promised for you."
+
+"Thank you, I shall be glad to go with you," and it was difficult for
+him to disguise how more than glad he was to have this opportunity.
+
+"So then, you will put on the best you have with you--the best is none
+too good to meet Thora in."
+
+"Thora?"
+
+"Thora Ragnor, my own niece. She is the bonniest and the best girl in
+Scotland, if you will take me as a judge of girls. 'Good beyond the
+lave of girls,' and so Bishop Hadley asked her special to dress the
+altar for Easter. He knew there would be no laughing and daffing about
+the work, if Thora Ragnor had the doing of it."
+
+"Is there any reason to refrain from laughing and daffing while at
+that work?"
+
+"At God's altar there should be nothing but prayer and praise. You
+know what girls talk and laugh about. If they have not some poor lad
+to bring to worship, or to scorn, they have no heart to help their
+hands; and the work is done silent and snappy. They are wishing they
+were at home, and could get their straight, yellow hair on to
+crimping pins, because Laurie or Johnny would be coming to see them,
+it being Saturday night."
+
+"Then the Bishop thought your niece would be more reverent?"
+
+"He knew she would. He knew also, that she would not be afraid to be
+in the cathedral by herself, she would do the work with her own hands,
+and that there would be no giggling and gossiping and no young lads
+needed to hold vases and scissors and little balls of twine."
+
+Their "moderate bite" was a pleasant lingering one. They talked of
+people in Edinburgh with whom they had some kind of a mutual
+acquaintance, and Mistress Brodie did the most of the talking. She was
+a charming story-teller, and she knew all the good stories about the
+University and its great professors. This day she spent the time
+illustrating John Stuart Blackie taking his ease in a dressing gown
+and an old straw hat. She made you see the man, and Ian felt refreshed
+and cheered by the mental vision. As for Lord Roseberry, he really sat
+at their "modest bite" with them. "You know, laddie," she said,
+"Scotsmen take their politics as if they were the Highland fling; and
+Roseberry was Scotland's idol. He was an orator who carried every soul
+with him, whether they wanted to go or not; and I was told by J. M.
+Barrie, that once when he had fired an audience to the delirium point,
+an old man in the hall shouted out:--'I dinna hear a word; but it's
+grand; it's grand!'"
+
+They barely touched on Scottish religion. Mistress Brodie easily saw
+it was a subject her guest did not wish to discuss, and she shut it
+off from conversation, with the finality of her remark that "some
+people never understood Scotch religion, except as outsiders
+misunderstood it. Well, Ian, I will be ready for our visit in about
+two hours; one hour to rest after eating and a whole hour to dress
+myself and lecture the lasses anent behaving themselves when they are
+left to their own idle wishes and wasteful work."
+
+"Then in two hours I will be ready to accompany you; and in the
+meantime I will walk over the moor and smoke a cigar."
+
+"No, no, better go down to the beach and watch the puffins flying over
+the sea, and the terns fishing about the low lying land. Or you might
+get a sight of an Arctic skua going north, or a black guillemot with a
+fish in its mouth flying fast to feed its young. The seaside is the
+place, laddie! There is something going on there constantly."
+
+So Ian went to the seaside and found plenty of amusement there in
+watching a family quarrel among the eider ducks, who were feeding on
+the young mussels attached to the rocks which a low tide had
+uncovered.
+
+It was a pleasant walk to the Ragnor home, and Rahal and Thora were
+expecting them. The sitting room was cheery with sunshine and fire
+glow, Rahal was in afternoon dress and Thora was sitting near the
+window spinning on the little wheel the marvellously fine threads of
+wool made from the dwarfish breed of Shetland sheep, and used
+generally for the knitting of those delicate shawls which rivalled the
+finest linen laces. On the entrance of her aunt and Ian Macrae she
+rose and stood by her wheel, until the effusive greetings of the two
+elder ladies were complete; and Ian was utterly charmed with the
+picture she made--it was completely different from anything he had
+ever seen or dreamed about.
+
+The wheel was a pretty one, and was inlaid with some bright metal, and
+when Thora rose from her chair she was still holding a handful of fine
+snowy wool. Her blue-robed and blue-eyed loveliness appeared to fill
+the room as she stood erect and smiling, watching her mother and
+aunt. But when her aunt stepped forward to introduce Ian to her, she
+turned the full light of her lovely countenance upon him. Then both
+wondered where they had met before. Was it in dreams only?
+
+Mother and aunt were soon deep in the fascinating gossip of an
+Edinburgh winter season, and Thora and Ian went into the greenhouse
+and the garden and found plenty to talk about until Conall Ragnor
+came home from business and supper was served. And the wonder was,
+that Conall bent to the young man's charm as readily as Thora had
+done. He was amazed at his shrewd knowledge of business methods
+and opportunities; and listened to him with grave attention, though
+laughing heartily at some of his plans and propositions.
+
+"Mr. Macrae," he said, "thou art too far north for me. I do know a few
+Shetlanders that could pare the skin off thy teeth, but we Orcadeans
+are simple honest folk that just live, and let live." At which remark
+Ian laughed, and reminded Conall Ragnor of certain transactions in
+railway stock which had nonplussed the Perth directors at the time.
+Then Ragnor asked how he happened to know what was generally
+considered "private information," and Ian answered, "Private
+information is the most valuable, sir. It is what I look for." Then
+Ragnor rose from the table and said, "Let us have a smoke and a little
+music."
+
+"Take thy smoke, Coll," said Mrs. Ragnor, "and Mr. Macrae will give us
+the music. Barbara says he sings better than Harrison. Come, Mr.
+Macrae, we are waiting to hear thee."
+
+Ian made no excuses. He sat down and sang with delightful charm and
+spirit "A Life on the Ocean Wave" and "The Bay of Biscay." Then these
+were followed by the fresh and then popular songs, "We May Be Happy
+Yet," "Then You'll Remember Me" and "The Land of Our Birth." No one
+spoke or interrupted him, even to praise; but he was well repaid by
+the look on every face and the kindness that flowed out to him. He
+could see it in the eyes, and hear it in the voices, and feel it in
+the manner of all present.
+
+The silence was broken by the sound of quick, firm footsteps. Ragnor
+listened a moment and then went with alacrity to open the door. "I
+knew it was thee!" he cried. "O sir, I am glad to see thee! Come in,
+come in! None can be more welcome!" And it was good to hear the
+strong, sweet modulations of the voice that answered him.
+
+"It is Bishop Hedley!" said Rahal.
+
+"Then I am going," said Aunt Barbara.
+
+"No, no, Aunt!" cried Thora, and the next moment she was at her aunt's
+side coaxing her to resume her chair. Then the Bishop and Ragnor
+entered the room, and the moment the Bishop's face shone upon them,
+all talk about leaving the room ceased. For Bishop Hedley carried his
+Great Commission in his face and his life was a living sermon. His
+soul loved all mankind; and he had with it an heroic mind and a
+strong-sinewed body, which refused to recognise the fact that it died
+daily. For the Bishop's business was with the souls of men, and he
+lived and moved and did his daily work in a spiritual and eternal
+element.
+
+And if constant commerce with the physical world weakens and ages the
+man who lives and works in it, surely the life passed amid spiritual
+thoughts and desires is thereby fortified and strengthened to resist
+the cares and worries which fret the physical body to decay. Then
+vainly the flesh fades, the soul makes all things new. This is a great
+truth--"it is only by the supernatural we are strong."
+
+The Bishop came in bringing with him, not only the moral tonic of his
+presence, but also the very breath of the sea; its refreshing "tang,"
+and good salt flavour. His smile and blessing was a spiritual sunshine
+that warmed and cheered and brightened the room. He was affectionate
+to all, but to Mistress Brodie and Ian Macrae, he was even more kindly
+than to the Ragnors. They were not of his flock but he longed to take
+care of them.
+
+"I heard singing as I came through the garden," he said, "and it was
+not your voice, Conall."
+
+"It was Ian Macrae singing," Conall answered, "and he will gladly sing
+for thee, sir." This promise Macrae ratified at once, and that with
+such power and sweetness that every one was amazed and the Bishop
+requested him to sing, during the next day's service, a fine "Gloria"
+he had just given them in the cathedral choir. And Ian said he would
+see the organist, and if it could be done, he would be delighted to
+obey his request.
+
+"See the organist!" exclaimed Mistress Brodie. "What are you talking
+about? The organist is Sandy Odd, the barber's son! How can the like
+of him hinder the Bishop's wish?" Then the Bishop wrote a few words in
+his pocket book, tore out the leaf, and gave it to Macrae, saying:
+"Mr. Odd will manage all I wish, no doubt. Now, sir, for my great
+pleasure, play us 'Home, Sweet Home.' I have not been here for four
+months, and it is good to be with friends again." And they all sang it
+together, and were perfectly at home with each other after it. So much
+so, that the Bishop asked Rahal to give him a cup of tea and a little
+bread; "I have come from Fair Island today," he said, "and have not
+eaten since noon."
+
+Then all the women went out together to prepare and serve the
+requested meal, so that it came with wonderful swiftness, and beaming
+smiles, and charming words of laughing pleasure. And when he saw a
+little table drawn to the hearth for him and quickly spread with the
+food he needed and smelled the refreshing odour of the young Hyson,
+and heard the pleasant tinkle of china and glass and silver as Thora
+placed them before the large chair he was to occupy, he sat down
+happily to eat and drink, while Thora served him, and Conall smoked
+and watched them with a now-and-then smile or word or two, while Rahal
+and Barbara talked, and Ian played charmingly--with soft pedal
+down--quotations from Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" and "Hark, 'Tis
+the Linnet!" from the oratorio, "Joshua."
+
+It was a delightful interlude in which every one was happy in their
+own way, and so healed by it of all the day's disappointments and
+weariness. But the wise never prolong such perfect moments. Even while
+yielding their first satisfactions, they permit them to depart. It is
+a great deal to _have been happy_. Every such memory sweetens after
+life.
+
+The Bishop did not linger over his meal, and while servants were
+clearing away cups and plates, he said, "Come, all of you, outside,
+for a few minutes. Come and look at the Moon of Moons! The Easter
+Moon! She has begun to fill her horns; and she is throwing over the
+mystery and majesty of earth and sea a soft silvery veil as she
+watches for the dawn. The Easter dawn! that in a few hours will come
+streaming up, full of light and warmth for all."
+
+But there was not much warmth in an Orcadean April evening and the
+party soon returned to the cheerful, comfortable hearth blaze. "It is
+not so beautiful as the moonlight," said Rahal, "but it is very
+good."
+
+"True," said the Bishop, "and we must not belittle the good we have,
+because we look for something better. Let us be thankful for our feet,
+though they are not wings."
+
+Then one of those sudden, inexplicable "arrests" which seem to seal
+up speech fell over every one, and for a minute or more no one could
+speak. Rahal broke the spell. "Some angel has passed through the room.
+Please God he left a blessing! Or perhaps the moonlight has thrown a
+spell over us. What were you thinking of, Bishop?"
+
+"I will tell you. I was thinking of the first Good Friday in Old
+Jerusalem. I was thinking of the sun hiding his face at noonday.
+Thora, have you an almanac?"
+
+Thora took one from a nail on which it was hanging and gave it to
+him.
+
+"I was thinking that the sun, which hid his face at noonday, must at
+that time have been in Aries, the Ram. Find me the signs of the
+Zodiac." Thora did so. "Now look well at Aries the Ram. What month of
+our year is signed thus?"
+
+"The month of March, sir."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I do not know. Tell me, sir."
+
+"I believe that in a long forgotten age, some priest or good man
+received a promise or prophecy revealing the Great Sacrifice that
+would be offered up for man's salvation once and for all time. And I
+think they knew that this plenary sacrament would occur in the vernal
+season, in the month of March, whose sign or symbol was Aries, the
+Ram."
+
+"But why under that sign, sir?"
+
+"The ram, to the ancient world, was the sacrificial animal. We have
+only to open our Bibles and be amazed at the prominence given to the
+ram and his congeners. From the time of Abraham until the time of
+Christ the ram is constantly present in sacrificial and religious
+ceremonies. Do you remember, Thora, any incident depending upon a
+ram?"
+
+"When Isaac was to be sacrificed, a ram caught in a thicket was
+accepted by God in Isaac's place, as a burnt offering."
+
+"More than once Abraham offered a ram in sacrifice. In Exodus, Chapter
+Twenty-ninth, special directions are given for the offering of a ram
+as a burnt offering to the Lord. In Leviticus, the Eighth Chapter, a
+bullock is sacrificed for a sin offering but a ram for a burnt
+offering. In Numbers we are told of _the ram of atonement_ which a man
+is to offer, when he has done his neighbour an injury. In Ezra, the
+Tenth, the ram is offered for a trespass because of an unlawful
+marriage. On the accession of Solomon to the throne one thousand rams
+with bullocks and lambs were 'offered up with great gladness.' In the
+Old Testament there are few books in which the sacrificial ram is not
+mentioned. Even the horn of the ram was constantly in evidence, for it
+called together all religious and solemn services.
+
+"A little circumstance," continued the Bishop, "that pleases me to
+remember occurred in Glasgow five weeks ago. I saw a crowd entering a
+large church, and I asked a workingman, who was eating his lunch
+outside the building, the name of the church; and he answered,--'It's
+just the auld Ram's Horn Kirk. They are putting a new minister in the
+pulpit today and they seem weel pleased wi' their choice.'
+
+"Now I am going to leave this subject with you. I have only indicated
+it. Those who wish to do so, can finish the list, for the half has not
+been told, and indeed I have left the most significant ceremony until
+the last. It is that wonderful service in the Sixteenth Chapter of
+Leviticus, where the priest, after making a sin offering of young
+bullocks and a burnt offering of a ram, casts lots upon two goats for
+a sin offering, and the goat upon which the lot falls is 'presented
+alive before the Lord to make an atonement; and to let him go for a
+scapegoat into the wilderness.'"
+
+Then he took from his pocket a little book and said, "Listen to the
+end of this service, 'And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head
+of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the
+Children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,
+putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away, by
+the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.
+
+"'And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land
+not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.'
+
+"My friends, this night let all read the Fifty-third of Isaiah, and
+they will understand how fitting it was that Christ should be 'offered
+up' in Aries the Ram, the sacrificial month representing the shadows
+and types of which He was the glorious arch-type."
+
+Then there was silence, too deeply charged with feeling, for words.
+The Bishop himself felt that he could speak on no lesser subject, and
+his small audience were lost in wonder at the vast panorama of
+centuries, day by day, century after century, through all of which God
+had remembered that He had promised He would provide the Great and
+Final Sacrifice for mankind's justification. Then Aries the Ram would
+no longer be a promise. It would be a voucher forever that the Promise
+had been redeemed, and a memorial that His Truth and His mercy
+endureth forever!
+
+At the door the Bishop said to Ragnor, "In a few hours, Friend Conall,
+it will be Easter Morning. Then we can tell each other '_Christ has
+risen_!'" And Conall's eyes were full of tears, he could not find his
+voice, he looked upward and bowed his head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SUNNA AND HER GRANDFATHER
+
+  Love is rich in his own right,
+    He is heir of all the spheres,
+  In his service day and night,
+    Swing the tides and roll the years.
+  What has he to ask of fate?
+    Crown him; glad or desolate.
+
+  Time puts out all other flames,
+    But the glory of his eyes;
+  His are all the sacred names,
+    His are all the mysteries.
+  Crown him! In his darkest day
+    He has Heaven to give away!
+                            --CARL SPENCER.
+
+                Arms are fair,
+  When the intent for bearing them is just.
+
+
+In the meantime Sunna was spending the evening with her grandfather.
+The old gentleman was reading, but she did not ask him to read aloud,
+she knew by the look and size of the book that it would not be
+interesting; and she was well pleased when one of her maids desired
+to speak with her.
+
+"Well then, Vera, what is thy wish?"
+
+"My sister was here and she was bringing me some strange news. About
+Mistress Brodie she was talking."
+
+"Yes, I heard she had come home. Did she bring Thora Ragnor a new
+Easter gown?"
+
+"Of a gown I heard nothing. It was a young man she brought! O so
+beautiful is he! And like an angel he sings! The Bishop was very
+friendly with him, and the Ragnors, also; but they, indeed! they are
+friendly with all kinds of people."
+
+"This beautiful young man, is he staying with the Ragnors?"
+
+"With Mistress Brodie he is staying, and with her he went to dinner at
+the Ragnors'. And the Bishop was there and the young man was singing,
+and a great deal was made of his singing, also they were speaking of
+his father who is a famous preacher in some Edinburgh kirk, and----"
+
+"These things may be so, but how came thy sister to know them?"
+
+"This morning my sister took work with Mistress Ragnor and she was
+waiting on them as they eat; and in and out of the room until nine
+o'clock. Then, as she went to her own home, she called on me and we
+talked of the matter, and it seemed to my thought that more might come
+of it."
+
+"Yes, no doubt. I shall see that more does come of it. I am well
+pleased with thee for telling me."
+
+Then she went back to her grandfather and resumed her knitting. Anon,
+she began to sing. Her face was flushed and her nixie eyes were
+dancing to the mischief she contemplated. In a few minutes the old
+gentleman lifted his head, and looked at her. "Sunna," he said, "thy
+song and thy singing are charming, but they fit not the book I am
+reading."
+
+"Then I will stop singing and thou must talk to me. There has come
+news, and I want thy opinion on it. The Ragnors had a dinner party
+today, and we were not asked."
+
+"A great lie is that! Conall Ragnor would not give Queen Victoria a
+party in Lent. Who told thee such foolishness?"
+
+Then Sunna retailed the information given her and asked, "What hast
+thou done to Conall Ragnor? Always before he bid thee to dinner when
+the Bishop was at his house? Or perhaps the offence is with Rahal
+Ragnor? Not long ago thou spent an afternoon with her and black and
+dangerous as a thunder storm thou came home."
+
+"This day the dinner was an accidental gathering. Rahal knows well
+that I have no will to dine with Mistress Brodie. Dost thou want her
+here, as thy stepmother?"
+
+"If Mistress Brodie is not tired of an easy life, she will turn her
+feet away from this house. If Sunna cannot please thee, thou art in
+danger of worse happening. Yes, many are guessing who it is thou wilt
+marry."
+
+"And which way runs the guessing?"
+
+"Not all one way. For thee, that is not a respectable thing. Thou
+should not be named with so many old women."
+
+"I am of thy opinion. An old woman is little to my mind. If I trust
+marriage again, I will choose a young girl for my wife--such an one as
+Treddie Fae, or Thora Ragnor."
+
+"Thora Ragnor! Dreaming thou art! I am sure Barbara Brodie has brought
+this young man here for Thora's approval. Can thou stand against a
+young man?"
+
+"Yes. Adam Vedder and fifty thousand pounds can hand any young man his
+hat and gloves. Thy father's father is not for thee to make a jest
+about. So here our talk shall come to an end on this subject. Go to
+thy bed! Sleep, and the Good Being bless thee!"
+
+Sunna was not yet inclined to sleep. She sat down before her mirror,
+uncoiled her plentiful hair, and carefully brushed and braided it for
+the night, as she considered the news that had come to her.
+
+"This beautiful young man, this singing man, is one of Barbara
+Brodie's 'finds.' Not much do I think of any of them! That handsome
+scholar she brought here turned out an unbearable encumbrance. I
+believe she paid him to go back to Edinburgh. That Aberdeen man, who
+wanted to invest money in Kirkwall had to borrow two pounds from
+grandfather to take him back to where he came from. That witty,
+good-looking Irishman left a big bill at the Castle Hotel for some one
+to pay; and the woman who wanted to begin a dressmaking business, on
+the good will of people like Barbara Brodie, knew nothing about
+dressmaking. This beautiful young man, I'll warrant, is a fish out of
+the same net. As for the Bishop being taken with his beauty, that is
+nothing! The poorer a man is, the better Bishop Hedley will like him.
+So it goes! I wish I knew where Boris Ragnor is--I wish----
+
+"Pshaw! I wonder what kind of a dress Mistress Barbara Brodie brought
+Thora. Not much taste in either men or clothes has she! Too large
+will the pattern be, or too strong the colours, and too heavy, or
+too light, will be the material. I know! And it will not fit her.
+Too big, or too little it is sure to be! With my own dress I am
+satisfied. And if grandfather asks no questions about it, I shall
+count it a lucky dress and save it till Boris comes home. I am
+going to forgive him when he comes home--perhaps----Now I will put
+the hopes and worries of this world under my pillow and be off to
+the Land of Dreams----Tomorrow is Sunday, Easter Sunday--I shall
+sing the solo in my new dress--that is good, I like a religious
+feeling in a new dress--I think I am rather a religious girl."
+
+Alas for the hopes of all who wanted to dress for Easter. It was an
+uncompromising, wet day. It was oil skin and rubber for the men; it
+was cloaks and pattens and umbrellas for the women. Yet, aside from
+the rain, it was a day full of good things. The cathedral was crowded,
+there was full cathedral service, and the Bishop preached a
+transfiguring sermon. The music was good, the home choir did well, and
+Sunna's solo was effectively sung; but after she had heard Ian
+Macrae's "Gloria," she was sorry she had sung at all.
+
+"Grandfather!" she commented, "No private person has a right to sing
+as that man sings! After him, non-professionals make a show of
+themselves."
+
+"Thou sang well--better than usual, I thought."
+
+"I was told he was such a handsome young man! And he has black hair
+and black eyes! Even his skin is dark. He looks like a Celt. I don't
+like Celts. None of our people like them. When they come to the
+fishing they are not respected."
+
+"Thou art much mistaken. Our men like them."
+
+"Boris Ragnor says they are poor traders."
+
+"Well then, it is to fish they come."
+
+"What they come for is no care of mine. Boris is ten times more of a
+man than the best of them. No notice shall I take of this Celt."
+
+"Through thy scorn he may live, and even enjoy his life. The English
+officers do that."
+
+"This chicken is better than might be. Wilt thou have a little more of
+it?"
+
+"Enough is plenty. I have had enough. At Conall Ragnor's there is
+always good eating and I am going there for my supper. Wilt thou go
+with me? Then with Thora thou can talk. This beautiful young man is
+likely at Ragnor's. It was too stormy for Mistress Brodie to go to her
+own house at the noonday. Dost thou see then, how it will be?"
+
+"I will go with thee, I want to see Thora's new dress. I need not
+notice the young man."
+
+"His name? Already I have forgotten it."
+
+"Odd was calling him 'Macrae.'"
+
+"Macrae! That is Highland Scotch. The Macraes are a good family. There
+is a famous minister in Edinburgh of that name. The Calvinists all
+swear by him."
+
+"This man sang in a full cathedral service. Dost thou believe a
+Calvinist would do that? He would be sure it was a disguised mass, and
+nothing better."
+
+Adam laughed as he said, "Well, then, go with me this night to
+Ragnor's and between us we will find something out. A mystery is not
+pleasant to thee."
+
+"There is something wrong in a mystery, that is what I feel."
+
+"Thou can ask Thora all about him."
+
+"I shall not ask her. She will tell me."
+
+Adam laughed again. "That is the best way," he said. "It was thy
+father's way. Well then, five minutes ago, the wind changed. By four
+o'clock it will be fair."
+
+"Then I will be ready to go with thee. If I am left alone, I am sad;
+and that is not good for my health."
+
+"But thou must behave well, even to the Celt."
+
+"Unless it is worth my while, I do not quarrel with any one."
+
+"Was it worth thy while to quarrel with Boris Ragnor?"
+
+"Yes--or I had not quarrelled with him."
+
+"Here comes the sunshine! Gleam upon gloom! Cheery and good it is!"
+
+"They say an Easter dress should be christened with a few drops of
+rain. That is not my opinion. I like the Easter sunshine on it. Now I
+shall leave thee and go and rest and dress myself. Very good is thy
+talk and thy company to me, but to thee, I am foolishness. As I shut
+the door, the big book thou art reading, thou wilt say to it: 'Now,
+friend of my soul, some sensible talk we will have together, for that
+foolish girl has gone to her foolishness at her looking glass.'"
+
+"Run away! I am in a hurry for my big book."
+
+Sunna shut the door with a kiss--and as she took the stairs with
+hurrying steps, the sunshine came dancing through the long window, and
+her feet trod on it and it fell all over her.
+
+At four o'clock she was ready for her evening's inquest and she found
+her grandfather waiting for her. He had put on a light vest and a
+white tie, and he had that clean, healthy, good-tempered look that
+pleases all women. He smiled and bowed to Sunna and she deserved the
+compliment; for she was beautiful and had dressed her beauty most
+becomingly. Her gown was of Saxony cloth, the exact colour of her
+hair, with a collar, stomacher and high cuffs of pale green velvet.
+The collar was tied with cord and small tassels of gold braid; the
+stomacher laced with gold braid over small gilt buttons, and the high
+cuffs were trimmed to match. Very handsome gilt combs held up her
+rippled hair, and a large red-riding-hood cloak covered her from the
+crowning bow of her hair to the little French pattens that protected
+her black satin slippers. She expected to make a conquest, and her
+thoughts were usually the factors of success.
+
+A little disappointment awaited her. She was usually shown into the
+right-hand parlour at once, and she relied on the bit of colour
+afforded by her scarlet cloak to give life to the modest shades of her
+spring colours of pale fawn and tender green. But servants were
+setting the dinner table in the right-hand parlour; and Conall and
+Rahal and Aunt Barbara had taken themselves to Conall's little
+business room where there was a bright fire burning. There, in his big
+chair, Conall was next door to sleeping; and Barbara and Rahal were
+talking in a sleepy, mysterious way about something that did not
+appear to interest them.
+
+At the sound of Adam Vedder's voice, Conall became wide awake; and
+Barbara's face lighted up with a fresh interest. If there was nothing
+else, there was a chronic quarrel between them, which Barbara was
+ready to lift at a moment's notice. But Sunna was not dissatisfied.
+Conall's quick look of admiration, and Rahal's and Barbara's glances
+of surprise, were excellent in their way. She knew she had given them
+a subject of interest sufficient to make even the hour before dinner
+appear short.
+
+"Where is Thora?" she asked, as she turned every way, apparently to
+look for Thora, but really to allow her admirers to convince
+themselves that her dress was trimmed as handsomely at the back as the
+front--that if the stomacher was perfect in front, the sash of green
+velvet at the back was quite as stylish and elaborate.
+
+"Where _is_ Thora?" she asked again.
+
+"In the drawing room thou wilt find Thora with Ian Macrae," said
+Rahal. "Go to them. They will be glad of thy company."
+
+"Doubtful is their gladness. Two are company, three are a crowd. Yet
+so it is! I must run into danger, like the rest of women."
+
+"Is that thy Easter gown, Sunna?" asked Mistress Brodie.
+
+"It is. Dost thou like it?"
+
+"Who would not like it? The rumour goes abroad that thy grandfather
+sent to Inverness for it. Others say it came to thee from Edinburgh."
+
+"Wrong are both stories. I am happy to say that Sunna Vedder gave
+herself a dress so pretty and so suitable."
+
+With these smiling words she left the room and the elder women
+shrugged their shoulders and looked expressively at each other. "What
+can a sensible man like Boris Ragnor see in such a harum-scarum girl!"
+was Rahal Ragnor's question, and Barbara Brodie thought it was all
+Adam Vedder's fault. "He ought to have married some sensible woman who
+would have brought up the girl as girls ought to be brought up," she
+answered; adding, "We may as well remember that the management of
+women, at any age, is a business clean beyond Adam Vedder's
+capabilities."
+
+"Adam is a clever man, Barbie."
+
+"Book clever! What is the use of book wisdom when you have a live
+girl, full of her own way, to deal with?"
+
+"Conall chose the husbands for his daughters. They were quite suitable
+to the girls and they have been very happy with them."
+
+"Thora will choose for herself."
+
+"Perhaps, that may be so. Thora has been spoiled. Her marriage need
+not yet be thought of. In two or three years, we will consider it. The
+little one has not yet any dreams of that kind."
+
+"Such dreams come in a moment--when you are not thinking of them."
+
+In fact, at that very moment Thora was learning the mystery of
+"falling in love"; and there is hardly a more vital thing in life than
+this act. For it is something taking place in the subconscious self;
+it is a revolution, and a growth. It happened that after dinner,
+Conall wished to hear Ian sing again that loveliest of all metrical
+Collects, "Lord of All Power and Might," and Thora went with Ian to do
+her part as accompanist on the piano. As they sang Conall appeared to
+fall asleep, and no more music was asked for.
+
+Then Ian lifted a book full of illustrations of the English lake
+district, and they sat down on the sofa to examine it. Ian had once
+been at Keswick and Ambleside, and he began to tell her about Lake
+Windemere and these lovely villages. He was holding Thora's hand and
+glancing constantly into her face, and before he recognised what he
+was saying, Ambleside and Windemere were quite forgotten, and he was
+telling Thora that he loved her with an everlasting love. He vowed
+that he had loved her in his past lives, and would love her, and only
+her, forever. And he looked so handsome and spoke in words of the
+sweetest tenderness, and indeed was amazed at his own passionate
+eloquence, but knew in his soul that every word he said was true.
+
+And Thora, the innocent little one, was equally sure of his truth. She
+blushed and listened, while he drew her closer to his side calling her
+"his own, his very own!" and begging her to promise that she would
+"marry him, and no other man, in the whole earth."
+
+And Thora promised him what he wished and for one-half hour they were
+in Paradise.
+
+Now, how could this love affair have come to perfection so rapidly?
+Because it was the natural and the proper way. True love dates its
+birth from the first glance. It is the coming together of two souls,
+and in their first contact love flashes forth like flame. And then
+their influence over each other is like that gravitation which one
+star exerts over another star.
+
+But much that passes for love is not love. It is only a prepossession,
+pleasant and profitable, promising many every-day advantages. True
+love is a deep and elemental thing, a secret incredible glory, in a
+way, it is even a spiritual triumph. And we should have another name
+for love like this. For it is the long, long love, that has followed
+us through ages, the healing love, the Comforter! In the soul of a
+young, innocent girl like Thora, it is a kind of piety, and ought to
+be taken with a wondering thankfulness.
+
+An emotion so spiritual and profound was beyond Sunna's understanding.
+She divined that there had been some sort of love-making, but she was
+unfamiliar with its present indications. Her opinion, however, was
+that Ian had offered himself to Thora, and been rejected; in no other
+way could she account for the far-offness of both parties. Thora
+indeed was inexplicable. She not only refused to show Sunna her Easter
+dress, she would not enter into any description of it.
+
+"That is a very remarkable thing," she said to her grandfather, as
+they walked home together. "I think the young man made love to Thora
+and even asked her to marry him, and Thora was frightened and said
+'No!' and she is likely sorry now that she did not say 'Yes.'"
+
+"To say 'No!' would not have frightened thee, I suppose?"
+
+"That is one of the disagreeable things women have to get used to."
+
+"How often must a woman say 'No!' in order to get used to it?"
+
+"That depends on several small things; for instance I am very
+sympathetic. I have a tender heart! Yes, and so I suffer."
+
+"I am glad to know of thy sympathy. If I asked thee to marry a young
+man whom I wished thee to marry, would thou do it--just to please
+me?"
+
+"It would depend--on my mood that day."
+
+"Say, it was thy sympathetic mood?"
+
+"That would be unfavourable. Of the others I should think, and I
+should feel that I was cruel; if I took all hope from them."
+
+"Thou wilt not be reasonable. I am not joking. Would thou marry Boris
+to please me?"
+
+"Boris has offended me. He must come to me, and say, 'I am sorry.' He
+must take what punishment I choose for his rudeness to me. Then, I may
+forgive him."
+
+"And marry him?"
+
+"Only my angel knows, if it is so written. Men do not like to do as
+their women say they must do. Is there any man in the Orcades who
+dares to say 'No,' to his wife's 'Yes?'"
+
+"What of Sandy Stark?"
+
+"Sandy is a Scot! I do not use a Scotch measure for a Norseman. Thou
+art not a perfect Norseman, but yet, even in Edinburgh, there is no
+Scot that could be thy measure. I should have to say--'thou art five
+inches taller than the Scot at thy side, and forty pounds heavier, and
+nearly twice as strong.' That would not be correct to an ounce, but it
+is as near as it is possible to come between Norse and Scot."
+
+"Thou art romancing!"
+
+"As for the Norse women----"
+
+"About Norse women there is no need for thee to teach thy grandfather.
+I know what Norse women are like. If I did not know, I should have
+married again."
+
+"Well then, Barbara Brodie is a good specimen of a capable Norse woman
+and I have noticed one thing about them, that I feel ought to be
+better understood."
+
+"Chut! What hast thou understood? Talk about it, and let thy wisdom be
+known."
+
+"Well then, it is this thing--Norse women always outlive their
+husbands. Thou may count by tens and hundreds the widows in this town.
+The 'maidens of blushing fifteen' have no opportunities; the widow of
+fifty asks a young man into her beautiful home and makes him
+acquainted with the burden of her rents and dividends and her share
+in half a dozen trading boats, and he takes to the golden lure and
+marries himself like the rest of the world. Thou would have been
+re-married long ago but for my protection. I have had a very
+disagreeable day and----"
+
+"Then go to thy bed and put an end to it."
+
+"My new dress is crushed and some way or other I have got a spot on
+the front breadth. Is it that Darwin book thou art looking for?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Would thou like to read a chapter to me?"
+
+"No, I would not."
+
+"Grandfather, I can understand it. I like clever men. Can thou
+introduce me to him--to Darwin?"
+
+"He would not care to see thee. Clever men do not want clever wives;
+so if thou art thinking of a clever husband keep thy 'blue stockings'
+well under thy petticoats."
+
+"And grandfather, do thou keep out of the way of the widows of Orkney
+or thou wilt find thyself inside of a marriage ring."
+
+"Not while thou remains unmarried. Few women would care to look after
+thy welfare. I am used to it, long before thou had been short-coated,
+I had to walk thee to sleep in my arms."
+
+"Yes," laughed Sunna, "I remember that. I felt myself safest with
+thee."
+
+"Thou remembers nothing of the kind. At six months old, thou could
+neither compare nor remember."
+
+"But thou art mistaken. I was born with perfect senses. Ere I was
+twenty-four hours old, I had selected thee as the most suitable person
+to walk me to sleep. I think that was a proof of my perfect
+intelligence. One thing more, and then I will let thee read. I am
+going to marry Boris Ragnor, and then the widow Brodie would--take
+charge of thee." She shut the door to these words and Adam heard her
+laughing all the way to her own room. Then he rubbed his hand slowly
+over and over his mouth and said to himself--"She shall have her
+say-so; Boris is the only man on the Islands who can manage her."
+
+After the departure of the Vedders, Rahal and her sister Brodie went
+upstairs, taking Thora with them. She went cheerfully though a little
+reluctantly. She liked to hear Ian talk. She had thought of asking him
+to sing; but she was satisfied with the one straight, long look which
+flashed between them, as Ian bid her "good night"; for--
+
+  He looked at her as a lover can;
+  She looked at him as one who awakes,
+  The past was a sleep and her life began.
+
+Then she went to her room, and thought of Ian until she fell asleep
+and dreamed of him.
+
+For nearly two hours Ian remained with Conall Ragnor. The Railway
+Mania was then at its height in England, and the older man was
+delighted with Ian's daring stories of its mad excitement. Ian had
+seen and talked with Hudson, the draper's clerk, who had just
+purchased a fine ducal residence and estate from the results of his
+reckless speculations. Ian knew all the Scotch lines, he had even full
+faith in the _Caledonian_ when it was first proposed and could hardly
+win any attention. "Every one said a railway between England and
+Scotland would not pay, Mr. Ragnor," said Ian.
+
+"I would have said very different," replied Conall. "It would be
+certain to pay. Why not?"
+
+"Because there would be _no returns_," laughed Ian, and then Conall
+laughed also, and wished that Boris had been there to learn whatever
+Ian might teach him.
+
+"Hast thou speculated in railway stock yet," he asked.
+
+"No, sir. I have not had the money to do so."
+
+"How would thou buy if thou had?"
+
+"I would buy when no one else was buying, and when everyone else was
+buying, I would keep cool, and sell. A very old and clever speculator
+gave me that advice as a steady rule, saying it was 'his only
+guide.'"
+
+This was the tenor of the men's conversation until near midnight, and
+then Ragnor went with Ian to the door of his room and bid him a frank
+and friendly good night. And as he stood a moment handfast with the
+youth, his conscience troubled him a little and he said: "Ian, Ian,
+thou art a wise lad about this world's business, but thou must not be
+forgetting that there is another world after this."
+
+"I do not forget that, sir."
+
+"Bishop Hedley is a greater and wiser man than all the railway nabobs
+thou hast spoken of."
+
+"I think so, sir! I do indeed!" and the mutual smile and nod that
+followed required no further "good night."
+
+It was a lovely, silent night. The very houses looked as if they were
+asleep; and there was not a sound either in the town on the brown pier
+or the moonlit sea. It was a night full of the tranquillity of God.
+Men and women looked into its peace, and carried its charm into their
+dreams. For most fine spirits that dwell by the sea have an elemental
+sympathy with strange oracles and dreams and old Night. In the
+morning, Conall Ragnor was the first to awaken. He went at once to
+fling open his window. Then he cried out in amazement and wonder, and
+awakened his wife:--
+
+"Rahal! Rahal!" he shouted. "Come here! Come quick! Look at the town!
+It is hung with flags. The ships in the harbour--flying are their
+flags also! And there is a ship just entering the harbour and her
+colours are flying! And there are the guns! They are saluting her from
+the garrison! It must be a man-of-war! I wonder if the Queen is coming
+to see us at last! If thou art ready, call Thora and Barbara.
+Something is up! Thou may hear the town now, all tip-on-top with
+excitement!"
+
+"Why did not thou call us sooner, Coll?"
+
+"I slept late and long."
+
+"But thou must have heard the town noises?"
+
+"A confused noise passed through my ears, a noise full of hurry like a
+morning dream, that was all. Now, I am going for my swim and I will
+bring the news home with me."
+
+But long before it was within expectation of Ragnor's return, the
+three women standing at the open door saw Ian coming rapidly to the
+house from the town. His walk was swift and full of excitement. His
+head was thrown upward, and he kept striking himself on the right
+side, just over the place where his ancestors had worn their dirks or
+broadswords. As soon as he saw the three women he flung his Glengarry
+skyward and shouted a ringing "Hurrah!"
+
+As he approached them, all were struck with his remarkable beauty, his
+manly figure, his swift graceful movements and his handsome face
+suffused with the brightness of fiery youth. Through their long black
+lashes his eyes were shining and glowing and full of spirit, and
+indeed his whole personality was instinct with verve and fire. Anyone
+watching his approach would have said--"Here comes a youth made to
+lead a rattling charge of cavalry."
+
+"Whatever is the matter with you, Ian?" cried Mistress Brodie. "You
+are surely gone daft."
+
+"No indeed!" he answered. "I seem at this very hour to have just found
+myself and my senses."
+
+"What is all the fuss about, Ian?" asked Rahal.
+
+"England has gone to war at the long last with the cruel, crafty black
+Bear of the North."
+
+"Well then, it is full time she did so, there are none will say
+different."
+
+"And," continued Ian, "there is a ship now in harbour carrying
+enlisting officers--you may see her; she is to call at the Orkney and
+Shetland Islands for recruits for the navy, and Great Scot! she will
+get them! All she wants! She could take every man out of Kirkwall!"
+
+"The Mayor and Captain Ragnor will not permit her to do so. She will
+have to leave men to manage the fishing," said Rahal.
+
+"I thought the women could do that," said Ian.
+
+"You do not know what you are talking about. It takes two or three men
+to lift a net full of fish out of the water, and they are about done
+up if they manage it. Come in and get your breakfast. If your news be
+true, there is no saying when Ragnor will get home. He will have some
+reasoning with his men to do, he cannot spare many of them."
+
+"I have a good idea," said Mistress Brodie. "I will give a dance on
+Friday night for the enlisting officers, and we will invite all the
+presentable young men, and all the prettiest girls, to meet them."
+
+"But you will be too late on Friday. The cutter and her crew will
+leave Thursday morning early," said Ian.
+
+"Then say Wednesday night."
+
+"That might do. I could tell the men freshly enlisted to wear a white
+ribbon in their coats----"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Rahal. "What are you saying, Ian? A white favour
+is a Stuart favour. You would set the men fighting in the very dance
+room. There is no excuse in the Orkneys for a Stuart memory."
+
+"I was not thinking of the Stuarts. Have they not done bothering
+yet?"
+
+"In the Scotch heart the Stuart lives forever," said Rahal, with a
+sigh.
+
+But the dance was decided on and some preparations made for it as soon
+as breakfast was over. Ian was enthusiastic on the matter and Thora
+caught his enthusiasm very readily, and before night, all Kirkwall was
+preparing to feast and rejoice because England was going to make the
+great Northern Bear--"the Bear that walks like a man"--stay in the
+North where he belonged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SUNNA AND THORA
+
+  Love, the old, old troubler of the world.
+
+  Love has reasons, of which reason knows nothing.
+
+  Alas, how easily things go wrong!
+  A sigh too much, or a kiss too long,
+  And there follows a mist and a weeping rain
+  And life is never the same again.
+
+
+No sooner was Mrs. Brodie's intention known, than all her friends were
+eager to help her. There was truly but little time between Monday
+morning and Wednesday night; but many hands make light work, and old
+and young offered their services in arranging for what it pleased all
+to consider as a kind of national thanksgiving.
+
+The unanimity of this kindness gave Rahal a slight attack of a certain
+form of jealousy, to which she had been subject for many years, and
+she asked her husband, as she had done often before, "Why is it, Coll,
+that every woman in the town is eager to help and encourage Barbara
+if she only speaks of having a dance or dinner; but if I, thy wife, am
+the giver of pleasure, I am left to do all without help or any show of
+interest. It troubles me, Coll."
+
+And Coll answered as he always did answer--"It is thy superiority,
+Rahal. Is there any woman we know, who would presume to give thee
+advice or counsel? And it is well understood by all of them that thou
+cannot thole an obligation. Thou, and thy daughter, and thy servants
+are sufficient for all thy social plans; and why should thou be
+bothered with a lot of old and young women? Thy sister Brodie loves a
+crowd about her, and she says 'thank thee' to all and sundry, as
+easily as she takes a drink of water. It chokes thee to say 'thanks'
+to any one."
+
+So Rahal was satisfied, and went with the rest to help Mistress Brodie
+prepare for her dance. There were women in the kitchen making pies and
+custards and jellies, and women in her parlours cleaning and
+decorating them, and women in the great hall taking up carpets because
+it was a favourite place for reels, and women washing China and
+trimming lamps. Thora was doing the shopping, Ian was carrying the
+invitations; and every one who had been favoured with one had not
+only said "Yes," but had also asked if there was anything they could
+loan, or do, to help the impromptu festival. Thus, Mrs. Harold Baikie
+sent her best service of China, and the Faes sent several extra large
+lamps, and the bride of Luke Serge loaned her whole supply of
+glassware, and Rahal took over her stock of table silver; and Mistress
+Brodie received every loan--useful or not--with the utmost delight and
+satisfaction.
+
+On Wednesday afternoon, however, she was faced by a condition she did
+not know how to manage. Ian came to her in a hurry, saying, "My
+friend, McLeod, is longing for an invitation from you, and he has
+asked me to request one. Surely you will send him the favour! Yes, I
+know you will."
+
+"You are knowing too much, Ian. What can I do? You know well, laddie,
+he is not popular with the best set here."
+
+"I would not mind the 'best set' if I were you. What makes them 'the
+best'? Just their own opinion of themselves. McLeod is of gentle
+birth, he is handsome and good-hearted, you will like him as soon as
+you speak to him. There is another 'best set' beside the one Adam
+Vedder leads; I would like some one to take down that old man's
+conceit of himself--there is nothing wrong with McLeod! Yes, he is
+Highland Scotch----"
+
+"There! that is enough, Ian! Go your ways and bid the young man. Ask
+him in your own name."
+
+"No, Mistress, I will not do that. The invitation carries neither
+honour nor good will without your name."
+
+"Well then, my name be it. My name has been so much used lately, I
+think I will change it."
+
+"Take my name then. I will be proud indeed if you will."
+
+"You are aye daffing, Ian; I am o'er busy for nonsense the now. Give
+the Mac a hint that tartans are not necessary."
+
+"But I cannot do that. I am going to wear the Macrae tartan."
+
+"You can let that intent go by."
+
+"No, I can not! A certain 'yes' may depend on my wearing the Macrae
+tartan."
+
+"Well, checked cloth is bonnier than black broadcloth to some people.
+I don't think Thora Ragnor is among that silly crowd. There is not a
+more quarrelsome dress than a tartan kilt--and I'm thinking the
+Brodies were ill friends with the Macraes in the old days."
+
+"The Brodies are not Highlanders."
+
+"You are a shamefully ignorant man, Ian Macrae. The Brodies came from
+Moray, and are the only true lineal descendants of Malcolm Thane of
+Brodie in the reign of Alexander the Third, lawful King of Scotland.
+What do you think of the Brodies now?"
+
+"The Macrae doffs his bonnet to them; but----"
+
+"If you say another word, the McLeod will be out of it--sure and
+final."
+
+So Ian laughingly left the room, and Mistress Brodie walked to the
+window and watched him speeding towards the town. "He is a wonderful
+lad!" she said to herself. "And I wish he was my lad! Oh why were all
+my bairns lasses? They just married common bodies and left me! Oh for
+a lad like Ian Macrae!" Then with a great sigh, she added: "It is all
+right. I would doubtless have spoiled and mismanaged him!"
+
+It is not to be supposed that Sunna Vedder kept away from all this
+social stir and preparation. She was first and foremost in everything
+during Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday she reserved herself
+altogether for the evening. No one saw her until the noon hour; then
+she came to the dinner table, for she had an entirely fresh request to
+make, one which she was sure would require all her personal influence
+to compass.
+
+She prefaced it with the intelligence that Boris had arrived during
+the night, and that Elga had met him in the street--"looking more
+handsome than any man ought to look, except upon his wedding day."
+
+"And on that day," said Adam, gloomily, "a man has generally good
+cause to look ugly."
+
+"But if he was going to marry me, Grandfather, how then?"
+
+"He would doubtless look handsome. Men usually do when they are on the
+road of destruction."
+
+"Grandfather! I have made up my mind to marry Boris, and lead him the
+way I want him to go. That will always be the way thou chooseth."
+
+"How comes that?"
+
+"I loved thee first of all. I shall always love thee first. Boris
+played me false, I must pay him back. I must make him suffer. Those
+Ragnors--all of them--put on such airs! They make me sick."
+
+"What art thou after? What favour art thou seeking?"
+
+"Thou knows how the girls will try to outdress each other at this
+Brodie affair----"
+
+"It is too late for a new dress--what is it thou wants now?"
+
+"I want thee to go to the bank and get me my mother's necklace to wear
+just this one night."
+
+"I will not. I gave thy dead mother a promise."
+
+"Break it, for a few hours. My Easter dress is not a dancing dress. I
+have no dancing dress but the pretty white silk thou gave me last
+Christmas--and I have no ornaments at all--none whatever, fit to wear
+with it."
+
+"There are always flowers----"
+
+"Flowers! There is not a flower in Kirkwall. Easter and old Mistress
+Brodie have used up every daisy--besides, white silk ought to have
+jewels."
+
+Adam shook his head positively.
+
+"My mother wishes me to have what I want. Thou ought not to keep it
+from me."
+
+"She told me to give thee her necklace on thy twenty-first birthday--not
+before."
+
+"That is so silly! What better is my twenty-first birthday than any
+other day? Grandfather, I cannot love thee more, because my love for
+thee is already a perfect love; but I will be such a good girl if thou
+wilt give me what I want, O so much I want it! I will be so obedient!
+I will do everything thou desires! I will even marry Boris Ragnor."
+And this urgent request was punctuated with kisses and little fondling
+strokes of her hand, and Adam finally asked--
+
+"How shall I answer thy mother when she accuses me of breaking my
+promise to her?"
+
+"I will answer for thee. O dear! It is growing late! If thou dost not
+hurry, the bank will be closed, and then I shall be sick with
+disappointment, and it will be thy fault."
+
+Then Adam rose and left the house and Sunna, having seen that he took
+the proper turn in the road, called for a cup of tea and having
+refreshed herself with it, went upstairs to lay out and prepare
+everything for her toilet. And as she went about this business she
+continually justified herself:--
+
+"It is only natural I should have my necklace," she thought. "Norse
+women have always adored gold and silver and gems, and in the old days
+their husbands sailed long journeys and fought battles for what their
+women wanted. My great Aunt Christabelle often told me that many of
+the old Shetland and Orkney families had gold ornaments and uncut
+gems, hundreds of years old, hid away. I would not wonder if
+Grandfather has some! I dare say the bank's safe is full of them! I do
+not care for them but I do want my mother's wedding necklace--and I am
+going to have it. Right and proper it is, I should have it now. Mother
+would say so if she were here. Girls are women earlier than they were
+in her day. Twenty-one, indeed! I expect to be married long before I
+am twenty-one."
+
+In less than an hour she began to watch the road for her grandfather's
+return. Very soon she saw him coming and he had a small parcel in his
+hand. Her heart gave a throb of satisfaction and she began to unplait
+her manifold small braids: "I shall not require to go to bed," she
+murmured. "Grandfather has my necklace. He will want to take it back
+to the bank tomorrow--I shall see about that--I promised--yes, I know!
+But there are ways--out of a promise."
+
+She was, of course, delightfully grateful to receive the necklace, and
+Vedder could not help noticing how beautiful her loosened hair
+looked. Its length and thickness and waves of light colour gave to
+her stately, blonde beauty a magical grace, and Vedder was one of
+those men who admire the charms of his own family as something
+naturally greater than the same charms in any other family. "The
+Vedders carry their beauty with an air," he said, and he was right.
+The Vedders during the course of a few centuries of social prominence
+had acquired that air of superiority which impresses, and also
+frequently offends.
+
+Certainly, Sunna Vedder in white silk and a handsome necklace of
+rubies and diamonds was an imposing picture; and Adam Vedder, in spite
+of his sixty-two years, was an imposing escort. It would be difficult
+to say why, for he was a small man in comparison with the towering
+Norsemen by whom he was surrounded. Yet he dominated and directed any
+company he chose to favour with his presence; and every man in
+Kirkwall either feared or honoured him. Sunna had much of his natural
+temperament, but she had not the driving power of his cultivated
+intellect. She relied on her personal beauty and the many natural arts
+with which Nature has made women a match for any antagonist. Had she
+not heard her grandfather frequently say "a beautiful woman is the
+best armed creature that God has made! She is as invincible as a
+rhinoceros!"
+
+This night he had paid great attention to his own toilet. He was
+fashionably attired, neat as a new pin, and if not amiable, at least
+exceedingly polite. He had leaning on his arm what he considered the
+most beautiful creature in Scotland, and he assumed the manners of her
+guardian with punctilious courtesy.
+
+There was a large company present when the Vedders reached Mrs.
+Brodie's--military men, a couple of naval officers, gentlemen of
+influence, and traders of wealth and enterprise; with a full
+complement of women "divinely tall and fair." Sunna made the sensation
+among them she expected to make. There was a sudden pause in
+conversation and every eye filled itself with her beauty. For just a
+moment, it seemed as if there was no other person present.
+
+Then Mrs. Brodie and Colonel Belton came to meet them, and Sunna was
+left in the latter's charge. "Will you now dance, Miss Vedder?" he
+asked.
+
+"Let us first walk about a little, Colonel. I want to find my friend,
+Thora Ragnor."
+
+"I have long desired an introduction to Miss Ragnor. Is she not
+lovely?"
+
+"Yes, but now only for one man. A stranger came here last week, and
+she was captured at once."
+
+"How remarkable! I thought that kind of irresponsible love had gone
+quite out of favour and fashion."
+
+"Not so! This youth came, saw, and conquered."
+
+"Is it the youth I see with Ken McLeod?"
+
+"The same. Look! There they are, together as usual."
+
+"She is very sweet and attractive."
+
+Sunna answered this remark by asking Thora to honour Colonel Belton
+with her company for a short time, saying: "In the interval I will
+take care of Ian Macrae." Then Thora stood up in her innocence and
+loveliness and she was like some creature of more ethereal nature than
+goes with flesh and blood. For the eye took her in as a whole, and at
+first noticed neither her face nor her dress in particular. Her dress
+was only of white tarlatan, a thin, gauze-like material long out of
+fashion. It is doubtful if any woman yet remembers its airy, fairy
+sway, and graceful folds. The filmy robe, however, was plentifully
+trimmed with white satin ribbon, and the waist was entirely of satin
+trimmed with tarlatan. The whole effect was girlish and simple, and
+Thora needed no other ornament but the pink and white daisies at her
+belt.
+
+However, if Sunna expected Thora's manner and conversation to match
+the simplicity of her dress, she was disappointed. In Love's school
+women learn with marvellous rapidity, and Thora astonished her by
+falling readily into a conversation of the most up-to-date social
+character. She had caught the trick from Ian, a little playful fencing
+round the most alluring of subjects, yet it brought out the simplicity
+of her character, while it also revealed its purity and intelligence.
+
+Dancing had commenced when Mrs. Ragnor entered the room on the arm of
+her son Boris. Boris instantly looked around for Sunna and she was
+dancing with McLeod. All the evening afterwards Boris danced, but
+never once with Sunna, and Adam Vedder watched the young man with
+scorn. He was the most desirable party in the room for any girl and he
+quite neglected the handsome Sunna Vedder. That was not his only
+annoyance. McLeod was dancing far too often with Sunna, and even the
+beautiful youth Ian Macrae had only asked her hand once; and Adam was
+sure that Thora Ragnor had been the suggester of that act of
+politeness. Girls far inferior to Sunna in every respect had received
+more attention than his granddaughter. He was greatly offended, but he
+appeared to turn his back on the whole affair and to be entirely
+occupied in conversation with Conall Ragnor and Colonel Belton
+concerning the war with Russia.
+
+Every way the evening was to Sunna a great disappointment, in many
+respects she felt it to be a great humiliation; and the latter feeling
+troubled her more for her grandfather than for herself. She knew he
+was mortified, for he did not speak to her as they walked through the
+chill, damp midnight to their home. Mrs. Brodie had urged Adam and
+Sunna to put the night past at her house, but Adam had been proof
+against all her suggestions, and even against his own desires. So he
+satisfied his temper by walking home and insisting on Sunna doing
+likewise.
+
+It was a silent, unhappy walk. Adam said not a word to Sunna and she
+would not open the way for his anger to relieve itself. When they
+reached home they found a good fire in the room full of books which
+Adam called his own, and there they went. Then Sunna let her long
+dress fall down, and put out her sandalled feet to the warmth of the
+fire. Adam glanced into her face and saw that it was full of trouble.
+
+"Go to thy bed, Sunna," he said. "Of this night thou must have had
+enough."
+
+"I have had too much, by far. If only thou loved me!"
+
+"Who else do I love? There is none but thee."
+
+"Then with some one thou ought to be angry."
+
+"Is it with Boris Ragnor I should be angry?"
+
+"Yes! It is with Boris Ragnor. Not once did he ask me to dance.
+Watching him and me were all the girls. They saw how he slighted me,
+and made little nods and laughs about it."
+
+"It was thy own fault. When Boris came into the room, he looked for
+thee. With McLeod thou wert dancing. With that Scot thou wert dancing!
+The black look on his face, I saw it, thou should have seen it and
+have given him a smile--Pshaw! Women know so much--and do so little.
+By storm thou ought to have taken the whole affair for thy own. I am
+disappointed in thee--yes, I am disappointed."
+
+"Why, Grandfather?"
+
+"An emergency thou had to face, and thou shirked it. When Boris
+entered the room, straight up to him thou should have gone; with an
+outstretched hand and a glad smile thou should have said: 'I am
+waiting for thee, Boris!' Then thou had put all straight that was
+crooked, and carried the evening in thy own hands."
+
+"I will pay Boris for this insult. Yes, I will, and thou must help
+me."
+
+"To quarrel with Boris? To injure him in any way? No! that I will not
+do. It would be to quarrel also with my old friend Conall. Not thee!
+Not man or woman living, could make me do that! Sit down and I will
+tell thee a better way."
+
+"No, I will not sit down till thou say 'yes' to what I ask"; for some
+womanly instinct told her that while Adam was cowering over the hearth
+blaze and she stood in all her beauty and splendour above him, she
+controlled the situation. "Thou must help me!"
+
+"To what or whom?"
+
+"I want to marry Boris."
+
+"Dost thou love him?"
+
+"Better than might be. When mine he is all mine, then I will love
+him."
+
+"That is little to trust to."
+
+"Thou art wrong. It is of reasons one of the best and surest. Not
+three months ago, a little dog followed thee home, an ugly,
+half-starved little mongrel, not worth a shilling; but it was
+determined to have thee for its master, and thou called it thy dog,
+and now it is petted and pampered and lies at thy feet, and barks at
+every other dog, and thou says it is the best dog on the Island. It is
+the same way with husbands. Thou hast seen how Mary Minorie goes on
+about her bald, scrimpy husband; yet she burst out crying when he put
+the ring on her finger. Now she tells all the girls that marriage is
+'Paradise Regained.' When Boris is my husband it will be well with me,
+and not bad for him. He will be mine, and we love what is our own."
+
+"Why wilt thou marry any man? Thou wilt be rich."
+
+"One must do as the rest of the world does--and the world has the
+fashion of marrying."
+
+"Money rules love."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes! Bolon Flett had only scorn for his poor little wife until her
+uncle left her two thousand pounds. Since then, no word is long enough
+or good enough for her excellencies. Money opens the eyes as well as
+the heart. What then, if I make Boris rich?"
+
+"Boris is too proud to take money from thee and I will not be sold to
+any man!"
+
+"Wilt thou wait until my meaning is given thee--flying off in a temper
+like a foolish woman!"
+
+"I am sorry--speak thy meaning."
+
+"Sit down. Thou art not begging anything."
+
+"Not from thee. I have thy love."
+
+"And thine is mine. This is my plan. Above all things Boris loves a
+stirring, money-making business. I am going to ask him to take me as
+his partner. Tired am I of living on my past. How many boats has
+Boris?"
+
+"Thou knowest he has but one, but she is large and swift, and does as
+much business as McLeod's three little sloops."
+
+"Schooners."
+
+"Schooners, then--little ones!"
+
+"Well then, there is a new kind of boat which thou hast never seen.
+She is driven by steam, not wind, she goes swiftly, all winds are fair
+to her, and she cares little for storms."
+
+"I saw a ship like that when I was in Edinburgh. She lay in Leith
+harbour, and the whole school went to Leith to see her come in."
+
+"If Boris will be my partner, I will lay my luck to his, and I will
+buy a steam ship, a large coaster--dost thou see?"
+
+Then with a laugh she cried: "I see, I see! Then thou can easily beat
+the sloops or schooners, that have nothing but sails. Good is that,
+very good!"
+
+"Just so. We can make two trips for their one. No one can trade
+against us."
+
+"McLeod may buy steam ships."
+
+"I have learned all about him. His fortune is in real estate, mostly
+in Edinburgh. It takes a lifetime to sell property in Edinburgh. We
+shall have got all there is to get before McLeod could compete with
+Vedder and Ragnor."
+
+"That scheme would please Boris, I know."
+
+"A boat could be built on the Clyde in about four months, I think.
+Shall I speak to Boris?"
+
+"Yes, Boris will not fly in the face of good fortune; but mind
+this--it is easier to begin that reel than it will be to end it. One
+thing I do not like--thou wert angry with Boris, now thou wilt take
+him for a partner."
+
+"At any time I can put my anger under my purse--but my anger was
+mostly against thee. Now shall I do as I am minded?"
+
+"That way is more likely than not! I think this affair will grow with
+thee--but thou may change thy mind----"
+
+"I do not call my words back. Go now to thy bed and forget everything.
+This is the time when sleep will be better than either words or deeds.
+Of my intent speak to _no one_. In thy thoughts let it be still until
+its hour arrives."
+
+"In the morning, very early, I am going to see Thora. When the
+enlisting ship sails northward, there will be a crowd to see her off.
+Boris and Thora and Macrae will be among it. I also intend to be
+there. Dost thou know at what hour she will leave?"
+
+"At ten o'clock the tide is full."
+
+"Then at ten, she will sail."
+
+"Likely enough, is that. Our talk is now ended. Let it be, as if it
+had not been."
+
+"I have forgotten it."
+
+Vedder laughed, and added: "Go then to thy bed, I am tired."
+
+"Not tired of Sunna?"
+
+"Well then, yes, of thee I have had enough at present."
+
+She went away as he spoke, and then he was worried. "Now I am
+unhappy!" he ejaculated. "What provokers to the wrong way are women!
+Her mother was like her--my beloved Adriana!" And his old eyes filled
+with sorrowful tears as he recalled the daughter he had lost in the
+first days of her motherhood. Very soon Sunna and Adriana became one
+and he was fast asleep in his chair.
+
+In the morning Sunna kept her intention. She poured out her
+grandfather's coffee, and talked of everything but the thing in her
+heart and purpose. After breakfast she said: "I shall put the day past
+with Thora Ragnor. Thy dinner will be served for thee by Elga."
+
+"Talking thou wilt be----"
+
+"Of nothing that ought to be kept quiet. Do not come for me if I am
+late; I intend that Boris shall bring me home."
+
+Sunna dressed herself in a pretty lilac lawn frock, trimmed with the
+then new and fashionable Scotch open work, and fresh lilac ribbons.
+Her hair was arranged as Boris liked it best, and it was shielded by
+one of those fine, large Tuscan hats that have never, even yet, gone
+out of fashion.
+
+"Why, Sunna!" cried Thora, as she hastened to meet her friend, "how
+glad am I to see thee!"
+
+"Thou wert in my heart this morning, and I said to it 'Be content, in
+an hour I will take thee to thy desire.'" And they clasped hands, and
+walked thus into the house. "Art thou not tired after the dance?"
+
+"No," replied Thora, "I was very happy. Do happy people get tired?"
+
+"Yes--one can only bear so much happiness, then it is weariness--sometimes
+crossness. Too much of any good thing is a bad thing."
+
+"How wise thou art, Sunna."
+
+"I live with wisdom."
+
+"With Adam Vedder?"
+
+"Yes, and thou hast been living with Love, with Mr. Macrae. Very
+handsome and good-natured he is. I am sure that thou art in love with
+him! Is that not the case?"
+
+"Very much in love with me he is, Sunna. It is a great happiness. I do
+not weary of it, no, indeed! To believe in love, to feel it all around
+you! It is wonderful! You know, Sunna--surely you know?"
+
+"Yes, I, too, have been in love."
+
+"With Boris--I know. And also Boris is in love with thee."
+
+"That is wrong. No longer does Boris love me."
+
+"But that is impossible. Love for one hour is love forever. He did
+love thee, then he could not forget. Never could he forget."
+
+"He did not notice me last night. Thou must have seen?"
+
+"I did not notice--but I heard some talk about it. The first time thou
+art alone with him, he will tell thee his trouble. It is only a little
+cloud--it will pass."
+
+"I suppose the enlisting ship sails northaway first?"
+
+"Yes, to Lerwick, though they may stop at Fair Island on the way.
+Boris says they could get many men there--and Boris knows."
+
+"Art thou going to the pier to see them leave? I suppose every one
+goes. Shall we go together?"
+
+"Why, Sunna! They left this morning about four o'clock. Father went
+down to the pier with Boris. Boris sailed with them."
+
+"Thora! Thora! I thought Boris was to remain here until the naval
+party returned from Shetland?"
+
+"The lieutenant in command thought Boris could help the enlisting, for
+in Lerwick Boris has many friends. Thou knows my sisters Anna and
+Nenie live in Lerwick. Boris was fain to go and see them."
+
+"But they will return here when their business is finished in
+Lerwick?"
+
+"They spoke of doing so, but mother is not believing they will return.
+They took with them all the men enlisted here and the men are wanted
+very much. Boris did not bid us a short 'good-bye.' Mother was crying,
+and when he kissed me his tears wet my cheeks."
+
+Sunna did not answer. For a few minutes she felt as if her heart had
+suddenly died. At last she blundered out:
+
+"I suppose the officer was afraid that--Boris might slip off while he
+was away."
+
+"Well, then, thou supposes what is wrong. When a fight is the
+question, Boris needs no one either to watch him or to egg him on."
+
+"Is that youngster, Macrae, going to join? Or has he already taken the
+Queen's shilling? I think I heard such a report."
+
+"No one could have told that story. Macrae is bound by a contract to
+McLeod for this year and indeed, just yet, he does not wish to go."
+
+"He does not wish to leave thee."
+
+"That is not out of likelihood."
+
+"Many are saying that England is in great stress, and my grandfather
+thinks that so she is."
+
+"My father says 'not so.' If indeed it were so, my father would have
+gone with Boris. Mother is cross about it."
+
+"About what then is she cross?" asked Sunna.
+
+"People are saying that England is in stress. Mother says such words
+are nothing but men's 'fear talk.' England's sons are many, and if few
+they were, she has millions of daughters who would gladly fight for
+her!" said Thora.
+
+"Well, then, for heroics there is no present need! I surely thought
+Boris loved his business and would not leave his money-making."
+
+"Could thou tell me what incalculable sum of money a man would take
+for his honour and patriotism?" asked Thora.
+
+"What has honour to do with it?"
+
+"Everything; a man without honour is not a man--he is just 'a body';
+he has no soul. Robert Burns told Andrew Horner how such men were
+made!" replied Thora.
+
+"How was that? Tell me! A Burns' anecdote will put grandfather in his
+finest temper, and I want him in that condition for I have a great
+favour to ask from him."
+
+"The tale tells that when Burns was beginning to write, he had a rival
+in a man called Andrew Horner. One day they met at the same club
+dinner, and they were challenged to each write a verse within five
+minutes. The gentlemen guests took out their watches, the poets were
+furnished with pencils and paper. When time was up Andrew Horner had
+not written the first line but Burns handed to the chairman his verse
+complete."
+
+"Tell me. If you know it, tell me, Thora!"
+
+"Yes, I know it. If you hear it once you do not forget it."
+
+"Well then?"
+
+"It runs thus:
+
+  "'Once on a time
+  The Deil gat stuff to mak' a swine
+  And put it in a corner;
+  But afterward he changed his plan
+  And made it summat like a man,
+  And ca'ed it Andrew Horner.'"
+
+"That is good! It will delight grandfather."
+
+"No doubt he already knows it."
+
+"No, I should have heard it a thousand times, if he knew it."
+
+"Well, then, I believe it has been suppressed. Many think it too
+ill-natured for Burns to have written; but my father says it has the
+true Burns ring and is Robert Burns' writing without doubt."
+
+"It will give grandfather a nice long job of investigation. That is
+one of his favourite amusements, and all Sunna has to do is to be sure
+he is right and everybody else wrong. Now I will go home."
+
+"Stay with me today."
+
+"No. Macrae will be here soon."
+
+"Uncertain is that."
+
+"Every hair on thy head, Thora, every article of thy dress, from the
+lace at thy throat to the sandals on thy feet, say to me that this is
+a time when my absence will be better than my company."
+
+"Well, then, do as thou art minded."
+
+"It is best I do so. A happy morning to thee! What more is in my heart
+shall lie quiet at this time."
+
+Sunna went away with the air of a happy, careless girl, but she said
+many angry words to herself as she hasted on the homeward road. "Most
+of the tales tell how women are made to suffer by the men they
+love--but no tale shall be made about Sunna Vedder! _No!_ _No!_ It is
+Boris Ragnor I shall turn into laughter--he has mocked my very
+heart--I will never forgive him--that is the foolish way all women
+take--all but Sunna Vedder--she will neither forgive nor forget--she
+will follow up this affair--yes!"
+
+By such promises to herself she gradually regained her usual
+reasonable poise, and with a smiling face sought her grandfather. She
+found him in his own little room sitting at a table covered with
+papers. He looked up as she entered and, in spite of his intention,
+answered her smile and greeting with an equal plentitude of good will
+and good temper.
+
+"But I thought then, that thou would stay with thy friend all day, and
+for that reason I took out work not to be chattered over."
+
+"I will go away now. I came to thee because things have not gone as I
+wanted them. Thy counsel at such ill times is the best that can
+happen."
+
+Then Vedder threw down his pencil and turned to her. "Who has given
+thee wrong or despite or put thee out of the way thou wanted to
+take?"
+
+"It is Boris Ragnor. He has sailed north with the recruiting
+company--without a word to me he has gone. He has thrown my love back
+in my face. Should thy grandchild forgive him? I am both Vedder and
+Fae. How can I forgive?"
+
+Vedder took out his watch and looked at the time. "We have an hour
+before dinner. Sit down and I will talk to thee. First thou shalt tell
+me the very truth anent thy quarrel with Boris. What did thou do, or
+say, that has so far grieved him? Now, then, all of it. Then I can
+judge if it be Boris or Sunna, that is wrong in this matter."
+
+"Listen then. Boris heard some men talking about me--that made his
+temper rise--then he heard from these men that I was dancing at
+McLeod's and he went there to see, and as it happened I was dancing
+with McLeod when he entered the room, and he walked up to me in the
+dance and said thou wanted me, and he made me come home with him and
+scolded me all the time we were together. I asked him not to tell
+thee, and he promised he would not--if I went there no more. I have
+not danced with McLeod since, except at Mrs. Brodie's. Thou saw me
+then."
+
+"Thou should not have entered McLeod's house--what excuse hast thou
+for that fault?"
+
+"Many have talked of the fault, none but thou have asked me why or how
+it came that I was so foolish. I will tell thee the very truth. I
+went to spend the day with Nana Bork--with thy consent I went--and
+towards afternoon there came an invitation from McLeod to Nana to join
+an informal dance that night at eight o'clock. And Nana told me so
+many pleasant things about these little dances I could not resist her
+talk and I thought if I stayed with Nana all night thou would never
+know. I have heard that I stole away out of thy house to go to
+McLeod's. I did not! I went with Nana Bork whose guest I was."
+
+"Why did thou not tell me this before?"
+
+"I knew no one in Kirkwall would dare to say to thee this or that
+about thy grandchild, and I hoped thou would never know. I am sorry
+for my disobedience; it has always hurt me--if thou forgive it now, so
+much happier I will be."
+
+Then Adam drew her to his side and kissed her, and words would have
+been of all things the most unnecessary. But he moved a chair close to
+him, and she sat down in it and laid her hand upon his knee and he
+clasped and covered it with his own.
+
+"Very unkindly Boris has treated thee."
+
+"He has mocked at my love before all Kirkwall. Well, then, it is Thora
+Ragnor's complacency that affronts me most. If she would put her
+boasting into words, I could answer her; but who can answer looks?"
+
+"She is in the heaven of her first love. Thou should understand that
+condition."
+
+"It is beyond my understanding; nor would I try to understand such a
+lover as Ian Macrae. I believe that he is a hypocrite--Thora is so
+easily deceived----"
+
+"And thou?"
+
+"I am not deceived. I see Boris just as he is, rude and jealous and
+hateful, but I think him a far finer man than Ian Macrae ever has
+been, or ever will be."
+
+"Yes! Thou art right. Now then, let this affair lie still in thy
+heart. I think that he will come to see thee when the boats return
+from Shetland--if not, then I shall have something to say in the
+matter. I shall want my dinner very soon, and some other thing we will
+talk about. Let it go until there is a word to say or a movement to
+make."
+
+"I will be ready for thee at twelve o'clock." With a feeling of
+content in her heart, Sunna went away. Had she not the Burns story to
+tell? Yet she felt quite capable of restraining the incident until she
+got to a point where its relation would serve her purpose or her
+desire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE OLD, OLD TROUBLE
+
+  From reef and rock and skerry, over headland, ness and roe,
+  The coastwise lights of England watch the ships of England go.
+
+  ... a girl with sudden ebullitions,
+    Flashes of fun, and little bursts of song;
+  Petulant, pains, and fleeting pale contritions,
+    Mute little moods of misery and wrong.
+  Only a girl of Nature's rarest making,
+  Wistful and sweet--and with a heart for breaking.
+
+
+The following two weeks were a time of anxiety concerning Boris. The
+recruiting party with whom he had gone away had said positively they
+must return with whatever luck they had in two weeks; and this
+interval appeared to Sunna to be of interminable length. She spent a
+good deal of the time with Thora affecting to console her for the loss
+of Ian Macrae, who had left Kirkwall for Edinburgh a few days after
+the departure of Boris.
+
+"We are 'a couple of maidens all forlorn,'" she sang, and though Thora
+disclaimed the situation, she could not prevent her companion
+insisting on the fact.
+
+Thora, however, did not feel that she had any reason for being
+forlorn. Ian's love for her had been confessed, not only to herself,
+but also to her father and mother, and the marriage agreed to with a
+few reservations, whose wisdom the lovers fully acknowledged. She was
+receiving the most ardent love letters by every mail and she had not
+one doubt of her lover in any respect. Indeed, her happiness so
+pervaded her whole person and conduct that Sunna felt it sometimes to
+be both depressing and irritating.
+
+Thora, however, was the sister of Boris, she could not quarrel with
+her. She had great influence over Boris, and Sunna loved Boris--loved
+him in spite of her anger and of his neglect. Very slowly went the two
+weeks the enlisting ships had fixed as the length of their absence,
+but the news of their great success made their earlier return most
+likely, and after the tenth day every one was watching for them and
+planning a great patriotic reception.
+
+Still the two weeks went slowly away and it was a full day past this
+fixed time, and the ships were not in port nor even in sight, nor had
+any late news come from them. In the one letter which Rahal had
+received from her son he said: "The enlistment has been very
+satisfactory; our return may be even a day earlier than we expected."
+So Sunna had begun to watch for the party three days before the set
+time, and when it was two days after it she was very unhappy.
+
+"Why do they not come, Thora?" she asked in a voice trembling with
+fear. "Do you think they have been wrecked?"
+
+"Oh, no! Nothing of the kind! They may have sailed westward to Harris.
+My father thinks so." But she appeared so little interested that Sunna
+turned to Mistress Ragnor and asked her opinion.
+
+"Well, then," answered Rahal, "they _are_ staying longer than was
+expected, but who can tell what men in a ship will do?"
+
+"They will surely keep their word and promise."
+
+"Perhaps--if it seem a good thing to them. Can thou not see? They are
+masters on board ship. Once out of Lerwick Bay, the whole world is
+before them. Know this, they might go East or West, and say to no man
+'I ask thy leave.' As changeable as the sea is a sailor's promise."
+
+"But Boris is thy son--he promised thee to be home in two weeks. Men
+do not break a promise made on their mother's lips. How soon dost thou
+expect him?"
+
+"At the harbour mouth he might be, even this very minute. I want to
+see my boy. I love him. May the good God send those together who would
+fain be loved!"
+
+"Boris is in command of his own ship. He was under no man's orders. He
+ought not to break his promise."
+
+"With my will, he would never do that."
+
+"Dost thou think he will go to the war with the other men?"
+
+"That he might do. What woman is there who can read a man's heart?"
+
+"His mother!"
+
+"She might, a little way--no further--just as well 'no further.' Only
+God is wise enough, and patient enough, to read a human heart. This is
+a great mercy." And Rahal lifted her face from her sewing a moment and
+then dropped it again.
+
+Almost in a whisper Sunna said "Good-bye!" and then went her way home.
+She walked rapidly; she was in a passion of grief and mortification,
+but she sang some lilting song along the highway. As soon, however, as
+she passed inside the Vedder garden gates, the singing was changed
+into a scornful, angry monologue:
+
+"These Ragnor women! Oh, their intolerable good sense! So easy it is
+to talk sweetly and properly when you have no great trouble and all
+your little troubles are well arranged! Women cannot comfort women.
+No, they can not! They don't want to, if they could. Like women, I do
+not! Trust them, I do not! I wish that God had made me a man! I will
+go to my dear old grandad!--He will do something--so sorry I am that I
+let Thora see I loved her brother--when I go there again, I shall
+consider his name as the bringer-on of yawns and boredom!"
+
+An angry woman carries her heart in her mouth; but Sunna had been
+trained by a wise old man, and no one knew better than Sunna Vedder
+did, when to speak and when to be silent. She went first to her room
+in order to repair those disturbances to her appearance which had been
+induced by her inward heat and by her hurried walk home so near the
+noontide; and half an hour later she came down to dinner fresh and
+cool as a rose washed in the dew of the morning. Her frock of muslin
+was white as snow, there was a bow of blue ribbon at her throat, her
+whole appearance was delightfully satisfying. She opened her
+grandfather's parlour and found him sitting at a table covered with
+papers and little piles of gold and silver coin.
+
+"Suppose I was a thief, Grandfather?" she said.
+
+"Well then, what would thou take first?"
+
+"I would take a kiss!" and she laid her face against his face, and
+gave him one.
+
+"Now, thou could take all there is. What dost thou want?"
+
+"I want thee! Dinner is ready."
+
+"I will come. In ten minutes, I will come----" and in less than ten
+minutes he was at the dinner table, and apparently a quite different
+man from the one Sunna had invited there. He had changed his coat, his
+face was happy and careless, and he had quite forgotten the papers and
+the little piles of silver and gold.
+
+Sunna had said some things to Thora she was sorry for saying; she did
+not intend to repeat this fault with her grandfather. Even the subject
+of Boris could lie still until a convenient hour. She appeared,
+indeed, to have thrown off her anger and her disappointment with the
+unlucky clothing she had worn in her visit to Thora. She had even
+assured herself of this change, for when it fell to her feet she
+lifted it reluctantly between her finger and thumb and threw it aside,
+remarking as she did so, "I will have them all washed over again! Soda
+and soap may make them more agreeable and more fortunate."
+
+And perhaps if we take the trouble to notice the fact, clothing does
+seem to have some sort of sympathy or antagonism with its wearers.
+Also, it appears to take on the mood or feeling predominant, looking
+at one time crisp and perfectly proper, at another time limp and
+careless, as if the wearer informed the garment or the garment
+explained the wearer. It is well known that "Fashions are the external
+expression of the mental states of a country, and that if its men and
+women degenerate in their character, their fashions become absurd."
+Surely then, a sympathy which can affect a nation has some influence
+upon the individual. Sunna had noticed even in her childhood that her
+dresses were lucky and unlucky, but the why or the wherefore of the
+circumstance had never troubled her. She had also noticed that her
+grandfather liked and disliked certain colours and modes, but she
+laid all their differences to difference in age.
+
+This day, however, they were in perfect accord. He looked at her and
+nodded his head, and then smilingly asked: "How did thou find thy
+friend this morning?"
+
+"So much in love that she had not one regret for Boris."
+
+"Well, then, there is no reason for regret. Boris has taken the path
+of honour."
+
+"That may be so, but for the time to come I shall put little trust in
+him. Going such a dubious way, he might well have stopped for a God
+Bless Thee!"
+
+"Would thou have said that?"
+
+"Why should we ask about things impossible? Dost thou know,
+Grandfather, at what time the recruiting party passed Kirkwall?"
+
+"Nobody knows. I heard music out at sea three nights ago, just after
+midnight. There are no Shetland boats carrying music. It is more
+likely than not to have been the recruiting party saluting us with
+music as they went by."
+
+"Yes! I think thou art right. Grandfather, I want thee to tell me what
+we are fighting about."
+
+"Many times thou hast said 'it made no matter to thee.'"
+
+"Now then, it is different. Since Boris and so many of our men went
+away, Mistress Ragnor and Thora talk of the war and of nothing but the
+war. They know all about it. They wanted to tell me all about it. I
+said thou had told me all that was proper for me to know, and now
+then, thou must make my words true. What is England quarrelling about?
+It seems to me, that somebody is always looking at her in a way she
+does not think respectful enough."
+
+"This war is not England's fault. She has done all she could to avoid
+it. It is the Great Bear of Russia who wants Turkey put out of
+Europe."
+
+"Well, then, I heard the Bishop say the Turks were a disgrace to
+Europe, and that the Book of Common Prayer had once contained a
+petition for delivery from the Devil, the Turks, and the comet, then
+flaming in the sky and believed to be threatening destruction to the
+earth."
+
+"Listen, and I will tell thee the truth. The Greek population of
+Turkey, its Syrians and Armenians, are the oldest Christians in the
+world. They are also the most numerous and important class of the
+Sultan's subjects. Russia also has a large number of Russian
+Christians in Turkey over whom she wants a protectorate, but these two
+influences would be thorns in the side of Turkey. England has bought
+favour for the Christians she protects, by immense loans of money and
+other political advantages, but neither the Turk nor the English want
+Russia's power inside of Turkey."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Turkey is in a bad way. A few weeks ago the Czar said to England, 'We
+have on our hands a sick man, a very sick man. I tell you frankly, it
+will be a great misfortune if one of these days he should slip away
+from us, especially if it were before all necessary arrangements were
+made. The Czar wants Turkey out of his way. He wants Constantinople
+for his own southern capital, he wants the Black Sea for a Russian
+lake, and the Danube for a Russian river. He wants many other
+unreasonable things, which England cannot listen to."
+
+"Well then, I think the Russian would be better than the Turk in
+Europe."
+
+"One thing is sure; in the hour that England joins Russia, Turkey will
+slay every Christian in her territories. Dost thou think England will
+inaugurate a huge massacre of Christians?"
+
+"That is not thinkable. Is there nothing more?"
+
+"Well then, there is India. The safety of our Indian Empire would be
+endangered over the whole line between East and West if Russia was in
+Constantinople. Turkey lies across Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and
+Armenia, and above all at Constantinople and the Straits. Dost thou
+think England would ask Russia's permission every time she wished to
+go to India?"
+
+"No indeed! That, itself, is a good reason for fighting."
+
+"Yes, but the Englishman always wants a moral backbone for his
+quarrel."
+
+"That is as it should be. The Armenian Christians supply that."
+
+"But, Sunna, try and imagine to thyself a great military despotic
+Power seating itself at Constantinople, throwing its right hand over
+Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt; and its left holding in an iron grip the
+whole north of two continents; keeping the Dardanelles and the
+Bosphorus closed whenever it was pleased to do so, and building fleets
+in Egypt; and in Armenia, commanding the desirable road to India by
+the Euphrates."
+
+"Oh, that could not be suffered! Impossible! All the women in Kirkwall
+would fight against such a condition."
+
+"Well, so matters stand, and we had been at sword points a year ago
+but for Lord Aberdeen's cowardly, pernicious love of peace. But he is
+always whining about 'war destroying wealth and commerce'--as if
+wealth and commerce were of greater worth than national honour and
+justice and mercy."
+
+"Yet, one thing is sure, Grandad; war is wasteful and destructive----"
+
+"And one thing is truer still--it is this--_that national wealth is
+created by peace for the very purpose of defending the nation in war_.
+Bear this in mind. Now, it seems to me we have had enough of war. I
+see Elga coming with a dish of good Scotch collops, and I give thee my
+word that I will not spoil their savour by any unpleasant talk." Then
+he poured a little fine Glenlivet into a good deal of water and said:
+"Here's first to the glory of God! and then to the honour of England!"
+And Sunna touched his glass with her glass and the little ceremony put
+both in a very happy mood.
+
+Then Sunna saw that the moment she had waited for had arrived and she
+said: "I will tell thee a good story of Robert Burns to flavour thy
+collops. Will that be to thy wish?"
+
+"It is beyond my wish. Thou can not tell me one I do not know."
+
+"I heard one today from Thora Ragnor that I never heard thee tell."
+
+"Then it cannot be fit for thee and Thora Ragnor to repeat."
+
+"Wilt thou hear it?"
+
+"Is it about some girl he loved?"
+
+"No, it is about a man he scorned. Thou must have heard of Andrew
+Horner?"
+
+"Never heard the creature's name before."
+
+"Then the story will be fresh to thee. Will thou hear it now?"
+
+"As well now, as later." For Adam really had no expectation of hearing
+anything he had not already heard and judged; and he certainly
+expected nothing unusual from the proper and commonplace Thora Ragnor.
+But Sunna exerted all her facial skill and eloquence, and told the
+clever incident with wonderful spirit and delightful mimicry. Adam was
+enchanted; he threw down his knife and fork and made the room ring
+with laughter and triumph so genuine that Sunna--much against her
+will--was compelled to laugh with him. They heard the happy thunder in
+the kitchen, and wondered whatever was the matter with the Master.
+
+"It is Robert Burns, his own self, and no other man. It is the best
+thing I have heard from 'the lad that was born in Kyle!'" Vedder
+cried. "Ill-natured! Not a bit of it! Just what the Horner man
+deserved!" Then he took some more collops and a fresh taste of
+Glenlivet, and anon broke into laughter again.
+
+"Oh! but I wish I was in Edinburgh tonight! There's men there I would
+go to see and have my laugh out with them."
+
+"Grandfather, why should we not go to Edinburgh next winter? You could
+board me with Mistress Brodie, and come every day to sort our quarrels
+and see that I was properly treated. Then you could have your crow
+over the ignoramuses who did not know such a patent Burns story; and I
+could take lessons in music and singing, and be learning something or
+seeing something, every hour of my life."
+
+"And what about Boris?"
+
+"The very name of Boris tires my tongue! I can do without Boris."
+
+"Well, then, that is good! Thou art learning 'the grand habit of doing
+without.'"
+
+"Wilt thou take me to Edinburgh? My mother would like thee to do that.
+I think I deserve it, Grandfather; yes, and so I ask thee."
+
+"If I was going, I should have no mind to go without thee. One thing I
+wish to know--in what way hast thou deserved it?"
+
+"I did not expect thee to ask me a question like that. Have I fretted
+and pined, and forgot to eat and sleep, and gone dowdy and slovenly,
+because my lover has been fool enough to desert me? Well, then, that
+is what any other girl would have done. But because I am of thy blood
+and stock, I take what comes to me as part of my day's work, and make
+no more grumble on the matter than one does about bad weather. Is that
+not the truth?"
+
+"One thing is sure--thou art the finest all round girl in the
+Orcades."
+
+"Then it seems to me thou should take me to Edinburgh. I want that
+something, that polish, only great cities can give me."
+
+"Blessings on thee! All Edinburgh can give, thou shalt have! But it is
+my advice to thee to remain here until Mrs. Brodie goes back, then go
+thou with her."
+
+"That will be what it should be. Mrs. Brodie, I feel, will be my
+stepmother; and----"
+
+"She will never step past thee. Fear not!"
+
+"Nor will any one--man or woman--step between thee and me! Doubt me
+not!"
+
+"Well, then, have thy way. I give thee my word to take thee to
+Edinburgh in the autumn. Thou shalt either stay with Mrs. Brodie or at
+the Queen's Hotel on Prince's Street, with old Adam Vedder."
+
+"Best of all is thy last offer. I will stay with thee. I am used to
+men's society. Women bore me."
+
+"Women bore me also."
+
+"Know this, there are three women who do not bore thee. Shall I speak
+their names?"
+
+"I will not hinder thee."
+
+"Sunna Vedder?"
+
+"I love her. She cannot bore me."
+
+"Rahal Ragnor?"
+
+"I respect her. She does not bore me--often."
+
+"Yes, that is so; it is but seldom thou sees her. Well, then, Barbara
+Brodie?"
+
+"I once loved her. She can never be indifferent to me."
+
+"Thou hast told me the truth and I will not follow up this catechism."
+
+"For that favour, I am thy debtor. I might not always have been so
+truthful. Now, then, be honest with me. What wilt thou do all the
+summer, with no lover to wait on thy whims and fancies?"
+
+"On thee I shall rely. Where thou goes, I will go, and if thou stay at
+home, with thee I will stay. Thou can read to me. I have never heard
+any of our great Sagas and that is a shame. I complain of that neglect
+in my education! I heard Maximus Grant recite from 'The Banded Men and
+Haakon the Good,' when I was in Edinburgh, and I said to myself, 'how
+much finer is this, than opera songs, sung with a Scotch burr, in the
+Italian; or than English songs, sung by Scotch people who pronounce
+English after the Scotch fashion!' Then I made up my mind that this
+coming winter I would let Edinburgh drawing-rooms hear the songs of
+Norse warriors; the songs in which the armour rattles and the swords
+shine!"
+
+"That, indeed, will befit thee! Now, then, for the summer, keep
+thyself well in hand. Say nothing of thy plans, for if but once the
+wind catches them, they will soon be for every one to talk to death."
+
+Adam was finishing his plate of rice pudding and cream when he gave
+this advice; and with it, he moved his chair from the table and said:
+"Come into the garden. I want to smoke. Thou knows a good dinner
+deserves a pipe, and a bad one demands it."
+
+Then they went into the garden and talked of the flowers and the young
+vegetables, and said not a word of Edinburgh and the Sagas that the
+winds could catch and carry round to human folk for clash and gossip.
+And when the pipe was out, Adam said: "Now I am going into the town.
+That Burns story is on my lips, my teeth cannot keep my tongue behind
+them much longer."
+
+"A good time will be thine. I wish that I could go with thee."
+
+"What wilt thou do?"
+
+"Braid my hair and dress myself. Then I shall take out thy Saga of
+'The Banded Men' and study the men who were banded, and find them
+out, in all their clever ways. Then I can show them to others. If I
+get tired of them--and I do get tired of men very quickly--I will
+put on my bonnet and tippet, and go and carry Mrs. Brodie thy
+respectful----"
+
+"Take care, Sunna!"
+
+"Good wishes! I can surely go so far."
+
+"Know this--every step on that road may lead to danger--and thou
+cannot turn back and tread them the other way. There now, be off! I
+will talk with thee no longer."
+
+Sunna said something about Burns in reply, but Vedder heard her not.
+He was satisfying his vocal impatience by whistling softly and very
+musically "The Garb of Old Gaul," and Sunna watched and listened a
+moment, and then in something of a hurry went to her room. A new
+thought had come to her--one which pleased her very much; and she
+proceeded to dress herself accordingly.
+
+"None too good is my Easter gown," she said pleasantly to herself;
+"and I can take Eric a basket of the oranges grandfather brought home
+today. A treat to the dear little lad they will be. Before me is a
+long afternoon, and I shall find the proper moment to ask the advice
+of Maximus about 'The Banded Men.'" So with inward smiles she dressed
+herself, and then took the highway in a direction not very often taken
+by her.
+
+It led her to a handsome mansion overlooking the Venice of the
+Orcades, the village and the wonderful Bay of Kirkwall, into which
+
+                      ... by night and day,
+  The great sea water finds its way
+  Through long, long windings of the hills.
+
+The house had a silent look, and its enclosure was strangely quiet,
+though kept in exquisite order and beauty. As she approached, a lady
+about fifty years old came to the top of the long, white steps to meet
+her, appearing to be greatly pleased with her visit.
+
+"Only at dinner time Max was speaking of thee! And Eric said his
+sweetheart had forgotten him, and wondering we all were, what had kept
+thee so long away."
+
+"Well, then, thou knowest about the war and the enlisting--everyone,
+in some way, has been touched by the changes made."
+
+"True is that! Quickly thou must come in, for Eric has both
+second-sight and hearing, and no doubt he knows already that here thou
+art----" and talking thus as she went, Mrs. Beaton led the way up a
+wide, light stairway. Even as Mrs. Beaton was speaking a thin, eager
+voice called Sunna's name, a door flew open, and a man, beautiful as
+a dream-man, stood in the entrance to welcome them. And here the word
+"beautiful" need not to be erased; it was the very word that sprang
+naturally from the heart to the lips of every one when they met
+Maximus Grant. No Greek sculptor ever dreamed of a more perfect form
+and face; the latter illumined by noticeable grey eyes, contemplative
+and mystical, a face, thoughtful and winning, and constantly breaking
+into kind smiles.
+
+He took Sunna's hand, and they went quickly forward to a boy of about
+eleven years old, whom Sunna kissed and petted. The little lad was in
+a passion of delight. He called her "his sweetheart! his wife! his
+Queen!" and made her take off her bonnet and cloak and sit down beside
+him. He was half lying in a softly cushioned chair; there was a large
+globe at his side, and an equally large atlas, with other books on a
+small table near by, and Max's chair was close to the whole
+arrangement. He was a fair, lovely boy, with the seraphic eyes that
+sufferers from spinal diseases so frequently possess--eyes with the
+look in them of a Conqueror of Pain. But also, on his young face there
+was the solemn Trophonean pallor which signs those who daily dare "to
+look at death in the cave."
+
+"Max and I have been to the Greek islands," he said, "and Sunna, as
+soon as I am grown up, and am quite well, I shall ask thee to marry
+me, and then we will go to one of the loveliest of them and live
+there. Max thinks that would be just right."
+
+"Thou little darling," answered Sunna, "when thou art a man, if thou
+ask me to marry thee, I shall say 'yes!'"
+
+"Of course thou wilt. Sunna loves Eric?"
+
+"I do, indeed, Eric! I think we should be very happy. We should never
+quarrel or be cross with each other."
+
+"Oh! I would not like that! If we did not quarrel, there would be no
+making-up. I remember papa and mamma making-up their little tiffs, and
+they seemed to be very happy about it--and to love each other ever so
+much better for the tiff and the make-up. I think we must have little
+quarrels, Sunna; and then, long, long, happy makings-up."
+
+"Very well, Eric; only, thou must make the quarrel. With thee I could
+not quarrel."
+
+"I should begin it in this way: 'Sunna, I do not approve of thy
+dancing with--say--Ken McLeod.' Then thou wilt say: 'I shall dance
+with whom I like, Eric'; and I will reply: 'thou art my wife and I
+will not allow thee to dance with McLeod'; and then thou wilt be
+naughty and saucy and proud, and I shall have to be angry and
+masterful; and as thou art going out of the room in a terrible temper,
+I shall say, 'Sunna!' in a sweet voice, and look at thee, and thou
+wilt look at me, with those heavenly eyes, and then I shall open my
+arms and thou wilt fly to my embrace, and the making-up will begin."
+
+"Well, then, that will be delightful, Eric, but thou must not accuse
+me of anything so bad as dancing with Mr. McLeod."
+
+"Would that be bad to thee?"
+
+"Very bad, indeed! I fear I would never try to have a 'make-up' with
+any one who thought I would dance with him."
+
+"Dost thou dislike him?"
+
+"That is neither here nor there. He is a Scot. I may marry like the
+rest of the world, but while my life days last, Sunna Vedder will not
+marry a Scot."
+
+"Yes--but there was some talk that way. My aunt heard it. My aunt
+hears everything."
+
+"I will tell thee, talk that way was all lies. No one will Sunna
+Vedder marry, that is not of her race." Then she put her arms round
+Eric, and kissed his wan face, calling him "her own little Norseman!"
+
+"Tell me, Sunna, what is happening in the town?" said he.
+
+"Well, then, not much now. Men are talking of the war, and going to
+the war, and empty is the town. About the war, art thou sorry?"
+
+"No, I am glad----
+
+  "How glorious the valiant, sword in hand,
+  In front of battle for their native land!"
+
+And he raised his small, thin hands, and his face glowed, and he
+looked like a young St. Michael.
+
+Then Max lifted the globe and books aside and put his chair close to
+his brother's. "Eric has the soul of a soldier," he said, "and the
+sound of drums and trumpets stirs him like the cry of fire."
+
+"And so it happens, Mr. Grant, that we have much noise lately from the
+trumpets and the fife and drums."
+
+"Yes, man is a military animal, he loves parade," answered Max.
+
+"But in this war, there is much more than parade."
+
+"You are right, Miss Vedder. It was prompted by that gigantic
+heart-throb with which, even across oceans, we feel each other's
+rights and wrongs. And in this way we learn best that we are men and
+brothers. Can a man do more for a wrong than give his life to right
+it?"
+
+Then Eric cried out with hysterical passion: "I wish only that I might
+have my way with Aberdeen! Oh, the skulking cowards who follow him!
+Max! Max! If you would mount our father's big war horse and hold me in
+front of you and ride into the thick of the battle, and let me look on
+the cold light of the lifted swords! Oh, the shining swords! They
+shake! They cry out! The lives of men are in them! Max! Max! I want to
+die--on a--battlefield!"
+
+And Max held the weeping boy in his arms, and bowed his head over him
+and whispered words too tender and sacred to be written down.
+
+For a while Eric was exhausted; he lay still watching his brother and
+Sunna, and listening to their conversation. They were talking of the
+excitement in London, and of the pressure of the clergy putting down
+the reluctancies and falterings of the peace men.
+
+"Have you heard, Miss Vedder," said Grant, "that one of the bishops
+decided England's call to war by a wonderful sermon in St. Paul's?"
+
+"I am sorry to be ignorant. Tell me."
+
+"He preached from Jeremiah, Fourth Chapter and Sixth Verse; and his
+closing cry was from Nahum, Second Chapter and First Verse, 'Set up
+the standard toward Zion. Stay not, for I will bring evil from the
+north and a great destruction,' and he closed with Nahum's advice, 'He
+that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face, keep the munition,
+watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.'"
+
+"Well, then, how went the advice?"
+
+"I know not exactly. It is hard to convince commerce and cowardice
+that at certain times war is the highest of all duties. Neither of
+them understand patriotism; and yet every trembling pacifist in time
+of war is a misfortune to his country."
+
+"And the country will give them--what?" asked Sunna.
+
+"The cold, dead damnation of a disgrace they will never outlive,"
+answered Max.
+
+There was a sharp cry from Eric at these words, and then a passionate
+childish exclamation--"Not bad enough! Not bad enough!" he screamed.
+"Oh, if I had a sword and a strong hand! I would cut them up in
+slices!" Then with an hysterical cry the boy fell backward.
+
+In an instant Max had him in his arms and was whispering words of
+promise and consolation, and just then, fortunately, Mrs. Beaton
+entered with a servant who was carrying a service of tea and muffins.
+It was a welcome diversion and both Max and Sunna were glad of it. Max
+gently unloosed Eric's hand from Sunna's clasp and then they both
+looked at the child. He had fallen into a sleep of exhaustion and Max
+said, "It is well. When he is worn out with feeling, such sleeps alone
+save his life. I am weary, also. Let us have a cup of tea." So they
+sat down and talked of everything but the war--"He would hear us in
+his sleep," said Max, "and he has borne all he is able to bear today."
+Then Sunna said:
+
+"Right glad am I to put a stop to such a trouble-raising subject. War
+is a thing by itself, and all that touches it makes people bereft of
+their senses or some other good thing. Here has come news of Thora
+Ragnor's hurried marriage, but no one knows or cares about the
+strange things happening at our doorstep. Such haste is not good I
+fear."
+
+"Does Ragnor approve of it?" asked Mrs. Beaton.
+
+"Thora's marriage is all right. They fell in love with each other the
+moment they met. No other marriage is possible for either. It is this,
+or none at all," answered Sunna.
+
+"I heard the man was the son of a great Edinburgh preacher."
+
+"Yes, the Rev. Dr. Macrae, of St. Mark's."
+
+"That is what I heard. He is a good man, but a very hard one."
+
+"If he is hard, he is not good."
+
+"Thou must not say that, little Miss; it may be the Episcopalian
+belief, but we Calvinists have a stronger faith--a faith fit for men
+and soldiers of the Lord."
+
+"There! Mrs. Beaton, you are naming soldiers. That is against our
+agreement to drop war talk. About Macrae I know nothing. He is not
+aware that anyone but Thora Ragnor lives; and I was not in the least
+attracted by him--his black hair and black eyes repelled me--I dislike
+such men."
+
+"Will they live in Edinburgh?"
+
+"I believe they will live in Kirkwall. Mrs. Ragnor owns a pretty
+house, which she will give them. She is going to put it in order and
+furnish it from the roof to the foundation. Thora is busy about her
+napery--the finest of Irish linen and damask. Now then, I must hurry
+home. My grandfather will be waiting his tea."
+
+Max rose with her. He looked at his little brother and said: "Aunt, he
+will sleep now for a few hours, will you watch him till I return?"
+
+"Will I not? You know he is as safe with me as yourself, Max."
+
+So with an acknowledging smile of content, he took Sunna's hand and
+led her slowly down the stairway. There was a box running all across
+the sill of the long window, lighting the stairs, and it was full and
+running over with the delicious muck plant. Sunna laid her face upon
+its leaves for a moment, and the whole place was thrilled with its
+heavenly perfume. Then she smiled at Max and his heart trembled with
+joy; yet he said a little abruptly--"Let us make haste. The night
+grows cloudy."
+
+Their way took them through the village, and Sunna knew that she
+would, in all likelihood, be the first woman ever seen in Maximus
+Grant's company. The circumstance was pleasant to her, and she carried
+herself with an air and manner that she readily caught and copied from
+him. She knew that there was a face at every window, but she did not
+turn her head one way or the other. Max was talking to her about the
+Sagas and she had a personal interest in the Sagas, and any ambition
+she had to be socially popular was as yet quite undeveloped.
+
+At the point where the Vedder and Ragnor roads crossed each other, two
+men were standing, talking. They were Ragnor and Vedder, and Ragnor
+was at once aware of the identity of the couple approaching; but
+Vedder appeared so unaware, that Ragnor remarked: "I see Sunna,
+Vedder, coming up the road, and with her is Colonel Max Grant."
+
+"But why 'Colonel,' Ragnor?"
+
+"When General Grant died his son was a colonel in the Life Guards. He
+left the army to care for his brother. I heard that the Queen praised
+him for doing so."
+
+Then the couple were so close, that it was impossible to affect
+ignorance of their presence any longer; and the old men turned and
+saluted the young couple. "I thank thee, Colonel," said Vedder, as he
+"changed hats" with the Colonel, "but now I can relieve thee of the
+charge thou hast taken. I am going home and Sunna will go with me; but
+if thou could call on an old man about some business, there is a
+matter I would like to arrange with thee."
+
+"I could go home with you now, Vedder, if that would be suitable."
+
+"Nay, it would be too much for me tonight. It is concerning that waste
+land on the Stromness road, near the little bridge. I would like to
+build a factory there."
+
+"That would be to my pleasure and advantage. I will call on you and
+talk over the matter, at any time you desire."
+
+"Well and good! Say tomorrow at two o'clock."
+
+"Three o'clock would be better for me."
+
+"So, let it be." Then he took Sunna's hand and she understood that her
+walk with Grant was over. She thanked Max for his courtesy, sent a
+message to Eric, and then said her good night with a look into his
+eyes which dirled in his heart for hours afterwards. Some compliments
+passed between the men and then she found herself walking home with
+her grandfather.
+
+"Thou ought not to have seen me, Grandfather," she said a little
+crossly, "I was having such a lovely walk."
+
+"I did not want to see thee, and have I not arranged for thee
+something a great deal better on tomorrow's afternoon?"
+
+"One never knows----"
+
+"Listen; he is to come at three o'clock, it will be thy fault if he
+leaves at four. Thou can make tea for him--thou can walk in the
+greenhouse and the garden with him, thou can sing for him--no,
+let him sing for thee--thou can ask him to help thee with 'The
+Banded Men'--and if he goes away before eight o'clock I will say
+to thee--'take the first man that asks thee for thou hast no
+woman-witchery with which to pick and choose!' Grant is a fine man.
+If thou can win him, thou wins something worth while. He has always
+held himself apart. His father was much like him. All of them
+soldiers and proud as men are made, these confounded, democratic
+days."
+
+"And what of Boris?" asked Sunna.
+
+"May Boris rest wherever he is! Thou could not compare Boris with
+Maximus Grant."
+
+"That is the truth. In many ways they are not comparable. Boris is a
+rough, passionate man. Grant is a gentleman. Always I thought there
+was something common in me; that must be the reason why I prefer
+Boris."
+
+"To vex me, thou art saying such untruthful words. I know thy
+contradictions! Go now and inquire after my tea. I am in want of it."
+
+During tea, nothing further was said of Maximus Grant; but Sunna was
+in a very merry mood, and Adam watched her, and listened to her in a
+philosophical way;--that is, he tried to make out amid all her
+persiflage and bantering talk what was her ruling motive and intent--a
+thing no one could have been sure of, unless they had heard her
+talking to herself--that mysterious confidence in which we all
+indulge, and in which we all tell ourselves the truth. Sunna was
+undressing her hair and folding away her clothing as she visited this
+confessional, but her revelations were certainly honest, even if
+fragmentary, and full of doubt and uncertainty.
+
+"Grant, indeed!" she exclaimed, "I am not ready for Grant--I believe I
+am afraid of the man--he would make me over--make me like himself--in
+a month he would do it--I like Boris best! I should quarrel with
+Boris, of course, and we should say words neither polite nor kind to
+each other; but then Boris would do as that blessed child said, 'Look
+at me'; and I should look at him, and the making-up would begin.
+Heigh-ho! I wish it could begin tonight!" She was silent then for a
+few minutes, and in a sadder voice added--"with Max I should become an
+angel--and I should have a life without a ripple--I would hate it,
+just as I hate the sea when it lies like a mirror under the
+sunshine--then I always want to scream out for a great north wind and
+the sea in a passion, shattering everything in its way. If I got into
+that mood with Max, we should have a most unpleasant time----" and she
+laughed and tossed her pillows about, and then having found a
+comfortable niche in one of them, she tucked her handsome head into it
+and in a few moments the sleep of youth and perfect health lulled her
+into a secret garden in the Land of Dreams.
+
+The next day Sunna appeared to be quite oblivious regarding Grant's
+visit and Vedder was too well acquainted with his granddaughter to
+speak of it. He only noticed that she was dressed with a peculiar
+simplicity and neatness. At three o'clock Grant was promptly at the
+Vedder House, and at half-past four the land in question had been
+visited and subsequently bought and sold. Then the cup of tea came in,
+and the walk in the garden followed, and at six there was an ample
+meal, and during the singing that followed it, Vedder fell fast
+asleep, as was his custom, and when he awoke Grant was just going and
+the clock was striking ten. Vedder looked at Sunna and there was no
+need for him to speak.
+
+"It was 'The Banded Men,'" said Sunna with a straight look at her
+grandfather.
+
+"Well, then, I know a woman who is a match for any number of 'banded
+men.'"
+
+"And in all likelihood that woman will be a Vedder. Good night,
+Grandfather."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CALL OF WAR
+
+  I came not to send peace but a sword.
+                                --_Matt. x, 34._
+
+  For when I note how noble Nature's form
+    Under the war's red pain, I deem it true
+  That He who made the earthquake and the storm,
+    Perchance made battles too.
+
+
+The summer passed rapidly away for it was full of new interests.
+Thora's wedding was to take place about Christmas or New Year, and
+there were no ready-made garments in those days; so all of her girl
+friends were eager to help her needle. Sunna spent half the day with
+her and all their small frets and jealousies were forgotten. Early in
+the morning the work was lifted, and all day long it went happily on,
+to their light-hearted hopes and dreams. Then in June and September
+Ian came to Kirkwall to settle his account with McLeod, and at the
+same time, he remained a week as the Ragnors' guest. There was also
+Sunna's intended visit to Edinburgh to talk about, and there was
+never a day in which the war and its preparations did not make itself
+prominent.
+
+One of the pleasantest episodes of this period occurred early and
+related to Sunna. One morning she received a small box from London,
+and she was so amazed at the circumstance, that she kept examining the
+address and wondering "who could have sent it," instead of opening the
+box. However, when this necessity had been observed, it revealed to
+her a square leather case, almost like those used for jewelry, and her
+heart leaped high with expectation. It was something, however, that
+pleased her much more than jewelry; it was a likeness of Boris, a
+daguerreotype--the first that had ever reached Kirkwall. A narrow
+scrap of paper was within the clasp, on which Boris had written, "I am
+all thine! Forget me not!"
+
+Sunna usually made a pretense of despising anything sentimental but
+this example filled her heart with joy and satisfaction. And after it,
+she took far greater pleasure in all the circumstances relating to
+Thora's marriage; for she had gained a personal interest in them. Even
+the details of the ceremony were now discussed and arranged in accord
+with Sunna's taste and suggestions.
+
+"The altar and nave must be decorated with flags and evergreens and
+all the late flowers we can secure," she said.
+
+"There will not be many flowers, I fear," answered Mistress Ragnor.
+
+"The Grants have a large greenhouse. I shall ask them to save all they
+possibly can. Maximus Grant delights in doing a kindness."
+
+"Then thou must ask him, Sunna. He is thy friend--perhaps thy lover.
+So the talk goes."
+
+"Let them talk! My lover is far away. God save him!"
+
+"Where then?"
+
+"Where all good and fit men are gone--to the trenches. For my lover is
+much of a man, strong and brave-hearted. He adores his country, his
+home, and his kindred. He counts honour far above money; and liberty,
+more than life. My lover will earn the right to marry the girl he
+loves, and become the father of free men and women!" And Rahal
+answered proudly and tenderly:
+
+"Thou art surely meaning my son Boris."
+
+"Indeed, thou art near to the truth."
+
+Then Rahal put her arm round Sunna and kissed her. "Thou hast made me
+happy," she said, and Sunna made her still more happy, when she took
+out of the little bag fastened to her belt the daguerreotype and
+showed her the strong, handsome face of her soldier-sailor boy.
+
+During all this summer Sunna was busy and regular. She was at the
+Ragnors' every day until the noon hour. Then she ate dinner with her
+grandfather, who was as eager to discuss the news and gossip Sunna had
+heard, as any old woman in Kirkwall. He said: "Pooh! Pooh!" and
+"Nonsense!" but he listened to it, and it often served his purpose
+better than words of weight and wisdom.
+
+In the afternoons Mistress Brodie was to visit, and the winter in
+Edinburgh to talk over. Coming home in time to take tea with her
+grandfather, she devoted the first hour after the meal to practising
+her best songs, and these lullabyed the old man to a sleep which often
+lasted until "The Banded Men" were attended to. It might then be ten
+o'clock and she was ready to sleep.
+
+All through these long summer days, Thora was the natural source of
+interest and the inciting element of all the work and chatter that
+turned the Ragnor house upside down and inside out; but Thora was
+naturally shy and quiet, and Sunna naturally expressive and
+presuming; and it was difficult for their companions to keep Thora and
+Sunna in their proper places. Every one found it difficult. Only when
+Ian was present, did Sunna take her proper secondary place and Ian,
+though the most faithful and attentive of lovers by mail, had only
+been able to pay Thora one personal visit. This visit had occurred at
+the end of June and he was expected again at the end of September. The
+year was now approaching that time and the Ragnor household was in a
+state of happy expectation.
+
+It was an unusual condition and Sunna said irritably: "They go on
+about this stranger as if he were the son of Jupiter--and poor Boris!
+They never mention him, though there has been a big battle and Boris
+may have been in it. If Boris were killed, it is easy to see that this
+Ian Macrae would step into his place!"
+
+"Nothing of that kind could happen! In thy own heart keep such foolish
+thoughts," replied Vedder.
+
+So the last days of September were restless and not very happy, for
+there was a great storm prevailing, and the winds roared and the rain
+fell in torrents and the sea looked as if it had gone mad. Before the
+storm there was a report of a big battle, but no details of it had
+reached them. For the Pentland Firth had been in its worst equinoctial
+temper and the proviso added to all Orkney sailing notices, "weather
+permitting," had been in full force for nearly a week.
+
+But at length the storm was over and everyone was on the lookout for
+the delayed shipping. Thora was pale with intense excitement but all
+things were in beautiful readiness for the expected guest. And Ian did
+not disappoint the happy hopes which called him. He was on the first
+ship that arrived and it was Conall Ragnor's hand he clasped as his
+feet touched the dry land.
+
+Such a home-coming as awaited him--the cheerful room, the bountifully
+spread table, the warm welcome, the beauty and love, mingling with
+that sense of peace and rest and warm affection which completely
+satisfies the heart. Would such a blissful hour ever come again to him
+in this life?
+
+His pockets were full of newspapers, and they were all shouting over
+the glorious opening of the war. The battle of Alma had been fought
+and won; and the troops were ready and waiting for Inkerman. England's
+usual calm placidity had vanished in exultant rejoicing. "An English
+gentleman told me," said Ian, "that you could not escape the chimes of
+joyful bells in any part of the ringing island.'"
+
+Vedder had just entered the room and he stood still to listen to these
+words. Then he said: "Men differ. For the first victory let all the
+bells of England ring if they want to. We Norsemen like to keep our
+bell-ringing until the fight is over and they can chime _Peace_. And
+how do you suppose, Ian Macrae, that the English and French will like
+to fight together?"
+
+"Well enough, sir, no doubt. Why not?"
+
+"Of Waterloo I was thinking. Have the French forgotten it? Ian, it is
+the very first time in all the history we have, that Frenchmen ever
+fought with Englishmen in a common cause. Natural enemies they have
+been for centuries, fighting each other with a very good will whenever
+they got a chance. Have they suddenly become friends? Have they forgot
+Waterloo?" and he shook his wise old head doubtfully.
+
+"Who can tell, sir, but when the English conquer any nation, they feel
+kindly to them and usually give them many favours?"
+
+"Well, then, every one knows that the same is both her pleasure and
+her folly; and dearly she pays for it."
+
+"Ian," said Mistress Ragnor, "are the English ships now in the Black
+Sea? And if so, do you think Boris is with them?"
+
+"About Boris, I do not know. He told me he was carrying 'material of
+war.' The gentleman of whom I spoke went down to Spithead to see them
+off. Her Majesty, in the royal yacht, _Fairy_, suddenly appeared. Then
+the flagship hauled home every rope by the silent 'all-at-once' action
+of one hundred men. Immediately the rigging of the ships was black
+with sailors, but there was not a sound heard except an occasional
+command--sharp, short and imperative--or the shrill order of the
+boatswain's whistle. The next moment, the Queen's yacht shot past the
+fleet and literally led it out to sea. Near the Nab, the royal yacht
+hove to and the whole fleet sailed past her, carried swiftly out by a
+fine westerly breeze. Her Majesty waved her handkerchief as they
+passed and it is said she wept. If she had not wept she would have
+been less than a woman and a queen."
+
+While Vedder and Ragnor were discussing this incident, and comparing
+it with Cleopatra at the head of her fleet and Boadicea at the head
+of her British army and Queen Elizabeth at Tewksbury reviewing her
+army, Mrs. Ragnor and Thora left the room. Ian quickly followed. There
+was a bright fire in the parlour, and the piano was open. Ian
+naturally drifted there and then Thora's voice was wanted in the song.
+When it was finished, Mrs. Ragnor had been called out and they were
+alone. And though Mrs. Ragnor came back at intervals, they were
+practically alone during the rest of the evening.
+
+What do lovers talk about when they are alone? Ah! their conversation
+is not to be written down. How unwritable it is! How wise it is! How
+foolish when written down! How supremely satisfying to the lovers
+themselves! Surely it is only the "baby-talk" of the wisdom not yet
+comprehensible to human hearts! We often say of certain events; "I
+have no words to describe what I felt"--and who will find out or
+invent the heavenly syllables that can adequately describe the divine
+passion of two souls, that suddenly find their real mate--find the
+soul that halves their soul, created for them, created with them,
+often lost or missed through diverse reincarnations; but sooner or
+later found again and known as soon as found to both. No wooing is
+necessary in such a case--they meet, they look, they love, and
+naturally and immediately take up their old, but unforgotten love
+patois. They do not need to learn its sweet, broken syllables, its
+hand clasps and sighs, its glances and kisses; they are more natural
+to them than was the grammared language they learned through years of
+painful study.
+
+Ian and Thora hardly knew how the week went. Every one respected their
+position and left them very much to their own inclinations. It led
+them to long, solitary walks, and to the little green skiff on the
+moonlit bay, and to short visits to Sunna, in order, mainly, that they
+might afterwards tell each other how far sweeter and happier they were
+alone.
+
+They never tired of each other, and every day they recounted the
+number of days that had to pass ere Ian could call himself free from
+the McLeod contract. They were to marry immediately and Ian would go
+into Ragnor's business as bookkeeper. Their future home was growing
+more beautiful every day. It was going to be the prettiest little home
+on the island. There was a good garden attached to it and a small
+greenhouse to save the potted plants in the winter. Ragnor had
+ordered its furniture from a famous maker in Aberdeen, and Rahal was
+attending with love and skill to all those incidentals of modern
+housekeeping, usually included in such words as silver, china, napery,
+ornaments, and kitchen-utensils. They were much interested in it and
+went every fine day to observe its progress. Yet their interest in the
+house was far inferior to their interest in each other, and Sunna may
+well be excused for saying to her grandfather:
+
+"They are the most conceited couple in the world! In fact, the world
+belongs to them and all the men and women in it--the sun and the moon
+are made new for them, and they have the only bit of wisdom going. I
+hope I may be able to say 'yes' to all they claim until Saturday
+comes."
+
+"These are the ways of love, Sunna."
+
+"Then I shall not walk in them."
+
+"Thou wilt walk in the way appointed thee."
+
+"Pure Calvinism is that, Grandfather."
+
+"So be it. I am a Calvinist about birth, death and marriage. They are
+the events in life about which God interferes. His will and design is
+generally evident."
+
+"And quite as evident, Grandfather, is the fact that a great many
+people interfere with His will and design."
+
+"Yes, Sunna, because our will is free. Yet if our will crosses God's
+will, crucifixion of some kind is sure to follow."
+
+"Well, then, today is Friday. The week has got itself over nearly; and
+tomorrow will be partly free, for Ian goes to Edinburgh at ten
+o'clock. Very proper is that! Such an admirable young man ought only
+to live in a capitol city."
+
+"If these are thy opinions, keep them to thyself. Very popular is the
+young man."
+
+"Grandfather, dost thou think that I am walking in ankle-tights yet? I
+can talk as the crowd talks, and I can talk to a sensible man like
+thee. Tomorrow brings release. I am glad, for Thora has forgotten me.
+I feel that very much."
+
+"Thou art jealous."
+
+Vedder's assertion was near the truth, for undeniably Ian and Thora
+had been careless of any one but themselves. Yet their love was so
+vital and primitive, so unaffected and sincere, that it touched the
+sympathies of all. In this cold, far-northern island, it had all the
+glow and warmth of some rose-crowned garden of a tropical paradise.
+But such special days are like days set apart; they do not fit into
+ordinary life and cannot be continued long under any circumstances. So
+the last day came and Thora said:
+
+"Mother, dear, it is a day in a thousand for beauty, and we are going
+to get Aunt Brodie's carriage to ride over to Stromness and see the
+queer, old town, and the Stones of Stenness."
+
+"Go not near them. If you go into the cathedral you go expecting some
+good to come to you; for angels may be resting in its holy aisles,
+ready and glad to bless you. What will you ask of the ghosts among the
+Stones of Stenness? Is there any favour you would take from the Baal
+and Moloch worshipped with fire and blood among them?"
+
+"Why, Mother," said Thora, "I have known many girls who went with
+their lovers to Stenness purposely to join their hands through the
+hole in Woden's Stone and thus take oath to love each other forever."
+
+"Thou and Ian will take that oath in the holy church of St. Magnus."
+
+"That is what we wish, Mother," said Ian. "We wish nothing less than
+that."
+
+"Well, then, go and see the queer, old, old town, and go to the
+Mason's Arms, and you will get there a good dinner. After it ride
+slowly back. Father will be home before six and must have his meal at
+once."
+
+"That is the thing we shall do, Mother. Ian thought it would be so
+romantic to take a lunch with us and eat it among the Stones of
+Stenness. But the Mason's Arms will be better. The Masons are good
+men, Mother?"
+
+"In all their generations, good men. Thy father is a Mason in high
+standing."
+
+"Yes, that is so! Then the Mason's Arms may be lucky to us?"
+
+"We make things lucky or unlucky by our willing and doing; but even
+so, it is not lucky to defy or deny what the dead have once held to be
+good or bad."
+
+"Well, then, why, Mother?"
+
+"Not now, will we talk of whys and wherefores. It is easier to believe
+than to think. Take, in this last day of Love's seven days, the full
+joy of your lives and ask not why of anyone."
+
+So the lovers went off gaily to see the land-locked bay and the
+strange old town of Stromness; and the house was silent and lonely
+without them and Rahal wished that her husband would come home and
+talk with her, for her soul was under a cloud of presentiments and
+she said to herself after a morning of fretful, inefficient work: "Oh,
+how much easier it is to love God than it is to trust Him. Are not my
+dear ones in His care? Yet about them I am constantly worrying; though
+perfectly well I know that in any deluge that may come, God will find
+an ark for those who love and trust Him. Boris knows--Boris knows--I
+have told him."
+
+About three o'clock she went to the window and looked towards the
+town. Much to her astonishment she saw her husband coming home at a
+speed far beyond his ordinary walk. He appeared also to be disturbed,
+even angry, and she watched him anxiously until he reached the house.
+Then she was at the open door and his face frightened her.
+
+"Conall! My dear one! Art thou ill?" she asked.
+
+"I am ill with anger and pity and shame!"
+
+"What is thy meaning? Speak to me plainly."
+
+"Oh, Rahal! the shame and the cruelty of it! I am beside myself!"
+
+"Come to my room, then thou shalt tell thy sorrow and I will halve it
+with thee."
+
+"No! I want to cry out! I want to shout the shameful wrong from the
+house-tops! Indeed, it is flying all over England and Scotland--over
+all the civilized world! And yet--my God! the guilty ones are still
+living!"
+
+"Coll, my dear one, what is it thou most needs--cold water?"
+
+"No! No! Get me a pot of hot tea.[*] My brain burns. My heart is like
+to break! Our poor brave soldiers! They are dying of hunger and of
+every form of shameful neglect. The barest necessities of life are
+denied them."
+
+  [*] The Norsemen of Shetland and Orkney drank tea in every kind of
+      need or crisis. No meal without it, no pleasure without it; and
+      it was equally indispensable in every kind of trouble or
+      fatigue.
+
+"By whom? By whom, Coll?"
+
+"Pacifists in power and office everywhere! Give me a drink! Give me a
+drink! I am ill--get me tea--and I will tell thee."
+
+There was boiling water on the kitchen hob, and the tea was ready in
+five minutes. "Drink, dear Coll," said Rahal, "and then share thy
+trouble and anger with me. The mail packet brought the bad news, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes, about an hour ago. The town is in a tumult. Men are cursing
+and women are doing nothing less. Some whose sons are at the front
+are in a distraction. If Aberdeen were within our reach we would
+give him five minutes to say his prayers and then send him to the
+judgment of God. Englishmen and Norsemen will not lie down and rot
+under Russian tyranny. To die fighting against it sends them joyfully
+to the battlefield! But oh, Rahal! to be left alone to die on the
+battlefield, without help, without care, without even a drink of
+cold water! It is damnable cruelty! What I say is this: let England
+stop her bell-ringing and shouts of victory until she has comforted
+and helped her wounded and dying soldiers!"
+
+"And Aberdeen? He is a Scotch nobleman--the Scotch are not cowards--what
+has he done, Coll?"
+
+"Because he hates fighting for our rights, he persuades all whom his
+power and patronage can reach to lie down or he says they will be
+knocked down. So it may be, but every man that has a particle of the
+Divine in him would rather be knocked down than lie down--if down it
+had to be--but there is no question of down in it! Aberdeen! He is
+'England's worst enemy'--and he holds the power given him by England
+to rule and ruin England! I wish he would die and go to judgment this
+night! I do! I do! and my soul says to me, 'Thou art right.'"
+
+"Coll, no man knoweth the will of the Almighty."
+
+"Then they ought to! The question has now been up to England for a
+two-years' discussion, and they have only to open His Word and find it
+out"; then he straightened himself and in a mighty burst of joyful
+pride and enthusiasm cried out:
+
+"'Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and
+my fingers to fight.
+
+"'My goodness, and my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer, my
+shield, and He in whom I trust, who subdueth the people under me.'"
+
+Anon he began to pace the floor as he continued: "'Rid us and deliver
+us, from the hands of strange children--whose mouth speaketh vanity,
+and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.' Rahal, could there
+be a better description of Russia--'her right hand of falsehood, her
+mouth speaking vanity?' David put the very words needed in our mouths
+when he taught us to say, 'rid us of such an enemy, and of all who
+strike hands with him!' Yes, rid us. We want to be rid of all such
+dead souls! Rid us."
+
+Then Rahal reminded her husband that only recently his physician had
+warned him against all excitement, especially of anger, and so finally
+induced him to take a sedative and go to sleep. But sleep was far from
+her. She sat down in her own room and closed her eyes against all
+worldly sights and sounds. Her soul was trying to reach her son's soul
+and impress upon it her own trust in the love and mercy of the "God of
+battles." She had hoped that some word or thought of Boris would come
+back to her in such a personal manner that she would feel that he was
+thinking of her and of the many sweet spiritual confidences they had
+had together.
+
+But nothing came, no sign, no word, no sudden, flashing memory of some
+special promise. All was void and still until she heard the voices of
+Thora and Ian. Then she went down to them and found that the evil news
+had met them on their way home. She asked Ian if he had any knowledge
+of the whereabouts of Boris. Ian thought he might be at sea, as his
+ship was at Spithead among the carrying ships of the navy. "If he had
+been in Alma's fight, you might have heard from him," he added. "It
+would be his first battle and he would want to write to you about it.
+That would be only natural."
+
+"Well, then, I will look for good news. If bad news is coming, I will
+not pay it the compliment of going to meet it. Have you had a pleasant
+day? Where first did you go?"
+
+"To the land-locked Bay of Stromness which was full of ships of all
+sizes, of schooners, and of little skiffs painted a light green colour
+like the pleasure skiffs of Kirkwall."
+
+"And the town?"
+
+"Was very busy while we were there. It has but one long street, with
+steep branches running directly up the big granite hill which shelters
+it from the Atlantic. What I noticed particularly was, that the houses
+on the main street all had their gables seaward; and are so built that
+the people can step from their doors into their boats. I liked that
+arrangement. Stromness is really an Orcadean Venice. The town is a
+queer old place, with a non-English and non-Scotch look. The houses
+have an old-world appearance and the names over the doorways carry you
+back to Norseland. Only one street is flagged and little bays run up
+into the street through its whole length. But the place appeared to be
+very busy and happy. I noticed few Scotch there, the people seemed to
+be purely Norse. All were busy--men, women and children."
+
+"It used to be the last port for the Hudson Bay Company," said Rahal,
+"and the big whaling fleets, and in days of war and convoys there were
+hundreds of big ships in its wonderful harbour. I suppose that you had
+no time to visit any of the ancient monuments there?" Rahal asked.
+
+"No; Thora told me her grandmother Ragnor was buried in its cemetery
+and that her grave was near the church door and had a white pillar at
+the head of it. So we walked there."
+
+"Well, then?"
+
+"I cannot describe to you the savage, lonely grandeur of its
+situation. It frightened me."
+
+"The men and women who chose it were not afraid of it."
+
+"Thora says its memory frightened her for years."
+
+"Thora was only eight years old when her father placed the pillar at
+the head of his mother's grave. It was then she saw it--but at eight
+years many people are often more sensitive than at eighty. Yes,
+indeed! They may see, then, what eyes dimmed by earthly vision cannot
+see, and feel what hearts hardened by earth's experiences cannot
+feel. Thora's spiritual sight was very keen in childhood and is not
+dimmed yet."
+
+At these words Thora entered the room, wearing the little frock of
+white barége she had saved for this last day of Ian's visit. Her face
+had been bathed, her hair brushed and loosened but yet dressed with
+the easiest simplicity. She was in trouble but she knew when to speak
+of trouble, and when to be silent. Her mother was talking of
+Stromness; when her father came, he would know all, and say all. So
+she went softly about the room, putting on the dinner table those last
+final accessories that it was her duty to supply.
+
+Yet the conversation was careless and indifferent. Rahal talked of
+Stromness but her heart was far away from Stromness, and Thora would
+have liked to tell her mother how beautifully their future home had
+been papered, and all three were eager to discuss the news that had
+come. But all knew well that it would be better not to open the
+discussion till Ragnor was present to inform and direct their
+ignorance of events.
+
+On the stroke of six, Ragnor entered. He had slept and washed and was
+apparently calm, but in some way his face had altered, for his heart
+had mastered his brain and its usual expression of intellectual
+strength was exchanged for one of intense feeling. His eyes shone and
+he had the look of a man who had just come from the presence of God.
+
+"We are waiting for you, dear Coll," said Rahal; and he answered
+softly: "Well, then, I am here." For a moment his eyes rested on
+the table which Rahal had set with extra care and with the delicacies
+Ian liked best. Was it not the last dinner he would eat with them
+for three months? She thought it only kind to give it a little
+distinction. But this elaboration of the usual home blessings did not
+produce the expected results. Every one was anxious, the atmosphere
+of the room was tense and was not relieved until Ragnor had said a
+grace full of meaning and had sat down and asked Ian if he "had heard
+the news brought by that day's packet?"
+
+"Very brokenly, Father," was the answer. "Two men, whom we met on the
+Stromness road, told us that it was 'bad with the army,' but they were
+excited and in a great hurry and would not stand to answer our
+questions."
+
+"No wonder! No wonder!"
+
+"Whatever is the matter, Father?"
+
+"I cannot tell you. The words stumble in my throat, and my heart
+burns and bleeds. Here is the _London Times_! Read aloud from it what
+William Howard Russell has witnessed--I cannot read the words--I would
+be using my own words--listen, Rahal! Listen, Thora! and oh, may God
+enter into judgment at once with the men responsible for the misery
+that Russell tells us of."
+
+At this point, Adam Vedder entered the room. He was in a passion that
+was relieving itself by a torrent of low voiced curses--curses only
+just audible but intensely thrilling in their half-whispered tones of
+passion. In the hall he had taken off his hat but on entering the room
+he found it too warm for his top-coat, and he began to remove it,
+muttering to himself while so doing. There was an effort to hear what
+he was saying but very quickly Ragnor stopped the monologue by
+calling:
+
+"Adam! Thee! Thou art the one wanted. Ian is just going to read what
+the _London Times_ says of this dreadful mismanagement."
+
+"'Mismanagement!' Is that what thou calls the crime? Go on, Ian! More
+light on this subject is wanted here."
+
+So Ian stood up and read from the _Times'_ correspondent's letter the
+following sentences:
+
+  "The skies are black as ink, the wind is howling over the
+  staggering tents, the water is sometimes a foot deep, our men have
+  neither warm nor waterproof clothing and we are twelve hours at a
+  time in the trenches--and not a soul seems to care for their
+  comfort or even their lives; the most wretched beggar who wanders
+  about the streets of London in the rain leads the life of a prince
+  compared with the British soldiers now fighting out here for their
+  country.
+
+  ... "The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there
+  is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness, the
+  stench is appalling, the fetid air can barely struggle out through
+  chinks in the walls and roofs, and for all I can observe the men
+  die without the least effort being made to save them. They lie
+  just as they were let down on the ground by the poor fellows,
+  their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp with
+  the greatest tenderness but who are not allowed to remain with
+  them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by
+  the dying. There are no nurses--and men are literally dying
+  hourly, because the medical staff of the British army has
+  forgotten that old rags of linen are necessary for the dressing of
+  wounds."
+
+"My God!" cried Ian, as he let the paper fall from the hands he
+clasped passionately together, "My God! How can Thou permit this?"
+
+"Well, then, young man," said Adam, "thou must remember that God
+permits what He does not will. And Conall," he continued, "millions
+have been voted and spent for war and hospital materials, where are
+the goods?"
+
+"The captain of the packet told me no one could get their hands on
+them. Some are in the holds of vessels and other things so piled on
+the top of them that they cannot be got at till the hold is regularly
+emptied. Some are stored in warehouses which no one has authority to
+open--some are actually rotting on the open wharves, because the
+precise order to remove them to the hospital cannot be found. The
+surgeons have no bandages, the doctors no medicine, and as I said
+there are no nurses but a few rough military orderlies. The situation
+paralyses those who see it!"
+
+"Paralyses! Pure nonsense!" cried Vedder, whose face was wet with
+passionate tears, though he did not know it. "Paralyses! No, no! It
+must make them work miracles. I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow. I am
+going to buy all the luxuries and medicines I can afford for the lads
+fighting and suffering. Sunna is going to spend a week in gathering
+old linen in Kirkwall and then Mistress Brodie and she will bring it
+with them. Rahal, Thora, you must do your best. And thou, Conall?"
+
+"Adam, thou can open my purse and take all thou thinks is right. My
+Boris may be among those dear lads; his mother will have something to
+send him. Wilt thou see it is set on a fair way to reach his hand?"
+
+"I will take it to him. If he be in London with his vessel, I will
+find him; if he be at the front, I will find him. If he be in Scutari
+hospital, I will find him!"
+
+"Oh, Adam, Adam!" cried Rahal, "thou art the good man that God loves,
+the man after His own heart." Her face was set and stern and white as
+snow, and Thora's was a duplicate of it; but Ragnor, during his short
+interval of rest, had arrived at that heighth and depth of confidence
+in God's wisdom which made him sure that in the end the folly and
+wickedness of men would "praise Him"; so he was ready to help, and
+calm and strong in his sorrow.
+
+At this point, Rahal rose and a servant came in and began to clear the
+table and carry away the remains of the meal. Then Rahal rose and took
+Thora's hand and Ian went with them to the parlour. She spoke kindly
+to Ian who at her first words burst into bitter weeping, into an
+almost womanly burst of uncontrollable distress. So she kissed and
+left him with the only woman who had the power to soothe, in any
+degree, the sense of utter helplessness which oppressed him.
+
+"I want to go to the Crimea!" he said, "I would gladly go there. It
+would give me a chance to die happily. It would repay me for all my
+miserable life. I want to go, Thora. You want me to go, Thora! Yes,
+you do, dear one!"
+
+"No, I do not want you to go. I want you here. Oh, what a selfish
+coward I am. Go, Ian, if you wish--if you feel it right to go, then
+go."
+
+This subject was sufficient to induce a long and strange conversation
+during which Thora was led to understand that some great and cruel
+circumstances had ruined and in some measure yet controlled her
+lover's life. She was begging him to go and talk to her father and
+tell him all that troubled him so cruelly when Rahal entered the room
+again.
+
+"Dear ones," she said, "the house is cold and the lamps nearly out.
+Say good night, now. Ian must be up early--and tomorrow we shall have
+a busy day collecting all the old linen we can." She was yet as white
+as the long dressing gown she wore but there was a smile on her face
+that made it lovely as she recited slowly:
+
+  "Watching, wondering, yearning, knowing
+  Whence the stream, and where 'tis going
+  Seems all mystery--by and by
+  He will speak, and tell us why."
+
+And the simple words had a charm in them, and though they said "Good
+night," in a mist of tears, the sunshine of hope turned them into that
+wonderful bow which God 'bended with his hands' and placed in the
+heavens as a token of His covenant with man, that He would always
+remember man's weakness and give him help in time of trouble. Now let
+every good man and woman say "I'll warrant it! I never yet found a
+deluge of any kind but I found also that God had provided an ark for
+my refuge and my comfort."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THORA'S PROBLEM
+
+  There is a tear for all who die,
+    A mourner o'er the humblest grave;
+  But nations swell the funeral cry,
+    And triumph weeps above the brave.
+  For them is Sorrow's purest sigh,
+    O'er Ocean's heaving bosom sent
+  In vain their bones unburied lie,
+    All earth becomes their monument.
+
+  Born to the War of 1854 on October 21, 1854,
+      a Daughter, called Red Cross.
+
+
+The next night Vedder went away. His purposes were necessarily rather
+vague, but it was certain he would go to the front if he thought he
+could do any good there. He talked earnestly and long with Ragnor but
+when it came to parting, both men were strangely silent. They clasped
+hands and looked long and steadily into each other's eyes. No words
+could interpret that look. It was a conversation for eternity.
+
+In the meantime, the whole town was eager to do something but what
+could they do that would give the immediate relief that was needed?
+There were no sewing machines then, women's fingers and needles could
+not cope with the difficulty, even regarding the Orkney men who were
+suffering. To gather from every one the very necessary old linen
+seemed to be the very extent of their usefulness.
+
+In these first days of the trouble, Rahal and Thora were serious and
+quiet. A dull, inexplicable melancholy shrouded the girl like a
+garment. The pretty home preparing for Ian and herself lost its
+interest. She refused to look forward and lived only in the unhappy
+present. The few words Ian has said about some wrong or trouble in the
+past years of his life overshadowed her. She was naturally very
+prescient and her higher self dwelt much in
+
+    ... that finer atmosphere,
+  Where footfalls of appointed things,
+  Reverberent of days to be,
+  Are heard in forecast echoings,
+  Like wave beats from a viewless sea.
+
+However, if trouble lasts through the night, joy, or at least hope and
+expectation, comes in the morning; and certainly the first shock of
+grief settled down into patient hoping and waiting. Vedder and Ian
+were both good correspondents and the silence and loneliness were
+constantly broken by their interesting letters. And joyful or
+sorrowful, Time goes by.
+
+Sunna wrote occasionally but she said she found Edinburgh dull, and
+that she would gladly return to Kirkwall if it was not for the
+Pentland Firth and its winter tempers and tantrums.
+
+  The war [she added] has stopped all balls and even house parties.
+  There is no dancing and no sports of any kind, and I believe
+  skating and golf have been forbidden. Love-making is the only
+  recreation allowed and I am not tempted to sin in this direction.
+  The churches are always open and their bells clatter all day long.
+  I have no lovers. Every man will talk of the war, and then they
+  get offended if you ask them why they are not gone. I have had the
+  pleasure of saying a few painful truths to these feather-bed
+  patriots, and they tell each other, no doubt, that I am impossible
+  and impertinent. One of them said to me, myself: "Wait a wee, Miss
+  Vedder, I wouldna wonder but some crippled war lad will fa' to
+  your lot, when the puir fellows come marching home again." The
+  Edinburgh men are just city flunkeys, they would do fine to wait
+  on our Norse men. I would like well to see a little dandy advocate
+  I know here, trotting after Boris.
+
+So days came and went, and the passion of shame and sorrow died down
+and people did not talk of the war. But the doors of St. Magnus stood
+open all day long and there were always women praying there. They had
+begun to carry their anxieties and griefs to God; and that was well
+for God did not weary of their complaining. Women have the very heart
+of sympathy for a man's griefs. God is the only refuge for a sorrowful
+woman.
+
+Steadily the preparations for Thora's marriage went on, but the spirit
+that animated their first beginnings had cooled down into that calm
+necessity, which always has to attend to all "finishings off." Early
+in December, Thora's future home was quite finished, and this last
+word expresses its beauty and completeness. Then Ragnor kissed his
+daughter, and put into her hand the key of the house and the deed of
+gift which made it her own forever. And in this same hour they decided
+that the first day of the New Year should be the wedding day; for
+Bishop Hedley would then be in Kirkwall and who else could marry the
+little Thora whom he had baptised and confirmed and welcomed into the
+fold of the church.
+
+Nothing is more remarkable than the variety of moods in which women
+take the solemn initiatory rite ushering them into their real life
+and their great and honourable duties. Thora was joyful as a bird in
+spring and never weary of examining the lovely home, the perfect
+wardrobe, and the great variety of beautiful presents that had been
+given her.
+
+Very soon it was the twentieth of December, and Ian was expected on
+the twenty-third. Christmas preparations had now taken the place of
+marriage preparations for every item was ready for the latter event.
+There had been a little anxiety about the dress and veil, but they
+arrived on the morning of the twentieth and were beautiful and fitting
+in every respect. The dress was of the orthodox white satin and the
+veil fell from a wreath of orange flowers and myrtle leaves. And oh,
+how proud and happy Thora was in their possession. Several times that
+wonderful day she had run secretly to her room to examine and admire
+them.
+
+On the morning of the twenty-first she reminded herself that in two
+days Ian would be with her and that in nine days she would be his
+wife. She was genuine and happy about the event. She made no pretences
+or reluctances. She loved Ian with all her heart, she was glad she was
+going to be always with him. Life would then be full and she would be
+the happiest woman in the world. She asked her father at the breakfast
+table to send her, at once, any letters that might come for her in his
+mail. "I am sure there will be one from Ian," she said, "and, dear
+Father, it hurts me to keep it waiting."
+
+About ten o'clock, Mrs. Beaton called and brought Thora a very
+handsome ring from Maximus Grant and a bracelet from herself. She
+stayed to lunch with the Ragnors and after the meal was over, they
+went upstairs to look at the wedding dress. "I want to see it on you,
+Thora," said Mrs. Beaton, "I shall have a wedding dress to buy for my
+niece soon and I would like to know what kind of a fit Mrs. Scott
+achieves." So Thora put on the dress, and Mrs. Beaton admitted that it
+"fit like a glove" and that she should insist on her niece Helen going
+to Mrs. Scott.
+
+With many scattering, delaying remarks and good wishes, the lady
+finally bid Thora good-bye and Mrs. Ragnor went downstairs with her.
+Then Thora eagerly lifted two letters that had come in her father's
+mail and been sent home to her. One was from Ian. "The last he will
+write to Thora Ragnor," she said with a smile. "I will put it with
+his first letter and keep them all my life long. So loving is he, so
+good, so handsome! There is no one like my Ian." Twice over she read
+his loving letter and then laid it down and lifted the one which had
+come with it.
+
+"Jean Hay," she repeated, "who is Jean Hay?" Then she remembered the
+writer--an orphan girl living with a married brother who did not
+always treat her as kindly as he should have done. Hearing and
+believing this story, Rahal Ragnor hired the girl, taught her how to
+sew, how to mend and darn and in many ways use her needle. Then
+discovering that she had a genius for dressmaking, she placed her with
+a first-class modiste in Edinburgh to be properly instructed and
+liberally attended to all financial requisites; for Rahal Ragnor could
+not do anything unless it was wholly and perfectly done. Then Thora
+had dressed Jean from her own wardrobe and asked her father to send
+their protegée to Edinburgh on one of the vessels he controlled. And
+Jean had been heartily grateful, had done well, and risen to a place
+of trust in her employer's business; and a few times every year she
+wrote to Mrs. Ragnor or Thora. All these circumstances were remembered
+by Thora in a moment. "Jean Hay!" she exclaimed. "Well, Jean, you
+must wait a few minutes, until I have taken off my wedding dress. I am
+sorry I had to put it on--it was not very kind or thoughtful of Mrs.
+Beaton to ask me--I don't believe mother liked her doing so--mother
+has a superstition or fret about everything. Well, then, it is no way
+spoiled----" and she lifted it and the white silk petticoat belonging
+to the dress and carefully put them in the place Rahal had selected as
+the safest for their keeping. It was a large closet in the spare room
+and she went there with them. As she returned to her own room she
+heard her mother welcoming a favourite visitor and it pleased her.
+"Now I need not hurry," she thought. "Mistress Vorn will stay an hour
+at least, and I can take my own time."
+
+"Taking her own time" evidently meant to Thora the reading of Ian's
+letter over again. And also a little musing on what Ian had said.
+There was, however, no hurry about Jean Hay's letter and it was so
+pleasant to drift among the happy thoughts that crowded into her
+consideration. So for half an hour Jean's letter lay at her side
+untouched--Jean was so far outside her dreams and hopes that
+afternoon--but at length she lifted it and these were the words she
+read:
+
+  DEAR MISS THORA:
+
+  I was hearing since last spring that thou wert going to be married
+  on the son of the Rev. Dr. Macrae--on the young man called John
+  Calvin Macrae. Very often I was hearing this, and always I was
+  answering, "There will be no word of truth in that story. Miss
+  Ragnor will not be noticing such a young man as that. No,
+  indeed!"
+
+Here Thora threw down the letter and sat looking at it upon the floor
+as if she would any moment tear it to pieces. But she did not, she
+finally lifted it and forced herself to continue reading:
+
+  I was hating to tell thee some things I knew, and I was often
+  writing and then tearing up my letter, for it made me sick to be
+  thy true friend in such a cruel way. But often I have heard the
+  wise tell "when the knife is needed, the salve pot will be of no
+  use." Now then, this day, I tell myself with a sad heart, "Jean,
+  thou must take the knife. The full time has come."
+
+"Why won't the woman tell what she has got to tell," said Thora in a
+voice of impatient anguish, and in a few minutes she whispered, "I am
+cold." Then she threw a knitted cape over her shoulders and lifted the
+letter again, oh, so reluctantly, and read:
+
+  The young man will have told your father, that he is McLeod's
+  agent and a sort of steward of his large properties. This does
+  not sound like anything wrong, but often I have been told
+  different. Old McLeod left to his son many houses. Three of them
+  are not good houses, they are really fashionable gambling houses.
+  Macrae has the management of them as well as of many others in
+  various parts of the city. Of these others I have heard no wrong.
+  I suppose they may be quite respectable.
+
+  This story has more to it. Whenever there is a great horse race
+  there Macrae will be, and I saw myself in the daily newspapers
+  that his name was among the winners on the horse Sergius. It was
+  only a small sum he won, but sin is not counted in pounds and
+  shillings. No, indeed! So there is no wonder his good father is
+  feeling the shame of it.
+
+  Moreover, though he calls himself Ian, that is not his name. His
+  name is John Calvin and his denial of his baptismal name, given to
+  him at the Sabbath service, in the house of God, at the very altar
+  of the same, is thought by some to be a denial of God's grace and
+  mercy. And he has been reasoned with on this matter by the ruling
+  elder in his father's kirk, but no reason would he listen to, and
+  saying many things about Calvin I do not care to write.
+
+  Many stories go about young men and young women, and there is this
+  and that said about Macrae. I have myself met him on Prince's
+  Street in the afternoon very often, parading there with various
+  gayly dressed women. I do not blame him much for that. The
+  Edinburgh girls are very forward, not like the Norse girls, who
+  are modest and retiring in their ways. I am forced to say that
+  Macrae is a very gay young man, and of course you know all that
+  means without more words about it. He dresses in the highest
+  fashion, goes constantly to theatres with some lady or other, and
+  I do not wonder that people ask, "Where does he get the money?
+  Does he gamble for it?" For he does not go to any kirk on the
+  Sabbath unless he is paid to go there and sing, which he does very
+  well, people say. In his own rooms he is often heard playing the
+  piano and singing music that is not sacred or fit for the holy
+  day. And his father is the most religious man in Edinburgh. It is
+  just awful! I fear you will never forgive me, Miss Thora, but I
+  have still more and worse to tell you, because it is, as I may
+  say, personally heard and not this or that body's clash-ma-claver.
+  Nor did I seek the same, it came to me through my daily work and
+  in a way special and unlooked-for, so that after hearing it, my
+  conscience would no longer be satisfied and I was forced, as it
+  were, to the writing of this letter to you.
+
+  I dare say Macrae may have spoken to you anent his friendship with
+  Agnes and Willie Henderson, indeed Willie Henderson and John
+  Macrae have been finger and thumb ever since they played together.
+  Now Willie's father is an elder in Dr. Macrae's kirk and if all
+  you hear anent him be true--which I cannot vouch for--he is a man
+  well regarded both in kirk and market place--that is, he was so
+  regarded until he married again about two years ago. For who,
+  think you, should he marry but a proud upsetting Englishwoman, who
+  was bound to be master and mistress both o'er the hale household?
+
+  Then Miss Henderson showed fight and her brother Willie stood by
+  her. And Miss Henderson is a spunky girl and thought bonnie by
+  some people, and has a tongue so well furnished with words to
+  defend what she thinks her rights, that it leaves nobody uncertain
+  as to what thae rights may be. Weel, there has been nothing but
+  quarreling in the elder's house ever since the unlucky wedding;
+  and in the first year of the trial Willie Henderson borrowed
+  money--I suppose of John Macrae--and took himself off to America,
+  and some said the elder was glad of it and others said he was sair
+  down-hearted and disappointed.
+
+  After that, Miss Agnes was never friends with her stepmother. It
+  seems the woman wanted her to marry a nephew of her ain kith and
+  kin, and in this matter her father was of the same mind. The old
+  man doubtless wanted a sough of peace in his own home. That was
+  how things stood a couple of weeks syne, but yestreen I heard what
+  may make the change wanted. This is how it happened.
+
+  Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Baird came to Madame David's to have a
+  black velvet gown fitted. Madame called on Jean Hay to attend her
+  in the fitting and to hang the long skirt properly--for it is a
+  difficult job to hang a velvet skirt, and Jean Hay is thought to
+  be very expert anent the set and swing of silk velvet, which has a
+  certain contrariness of its own. Let that pass. I was kneeling on
+  the floor, setting the train, when Mrs. Baird said: "I suppose you
+  have heard, Madame, the last escapade of that wild son of the
+  great Dr. Macrae?" Then I was all ears, the more so when I heard
+  Madam say: "I heard a whisper of something, but I was not heeding
+  it. Folks never seem to weary of finding fault with the handsome
+  lad."
+
+  "Well, Madame," said Mrs. Baird, "I happen to know about this
+  story. Seeing with your own eyes is believing, surely!"
+
+  "What did you see?" Madame asked.
+
+  "I saw enough to satisfy me. You know my house is opposite to the
+  West End Hotel, and last Friday I saw Macrae go there and he was
+  dressed up to the nines. He went in and I felt sure he had gone to
+  call on some lady staying there. So I watched, and better watched,
+  for he did not come out for two hours, and I concluded they had
+  lunched together! For when Macrae came out of the hotel, he spoke
+  to a cabman, and then waited until a young lady and her maid
+  appeared. He put the young lady into the cab, had a few minutes'
+  earnest conversation with her, then the maid joined her mistress
+  and they two drove away."
+
+  "Well, now, Mrs. Baird," said Madame, "there was nothing in that
+  but just a courteous luncheon together."
+
+  "Wait, Madame! I felt there was more, so I took a book and sat
+  down by my window. And just on the edge of the dark I saw the two
+  women return, and a little later a waiter put lights in an upper
+  parlour and he spread a table for dinner there and Macrae and the
+  young lady ate it together. Afterwards they went away in a cab
+  together." Then Madame asked if the maid was with them, and Mrs.
+  Baird said she thought she was but had not paid particular
+  attention.
+
+  Madame said something to me about the length of the train and then
+  Mrs. Baird seemed annoyed at her inattention, and she added:
+  "Macrae was advertised to sing in the City Hall the next night at
+  a mass meeting of citizens about abrogating slavery in the United
+  States, and he was not there--broke his engagement! What do you
+  think of that? The next night, Sabbath, he did the same to Dr.
+  Fraser's kirk, where he had promised to sing a pro-Christmas
+  canticle. And this morning I heard that he is going to the Orkneys
+  to marry a rich and beautiful girl who lives there. Now what do
+  you think of your handsome Macrae? I can tell you he is on every
+  one's tongue." And Madame said, "I have no doubt of it and I'll
+  warrant nobody knows what they are talking about."
+
+  After this the fitting on was not pleasant and I finished my part
+  of it as quickly as possible. Indeed, Miss Thora, I was miserable
+  about you and so pressed in spirit to tell you these things that I
+  could hardly finish my day's work. For my conscience kept urging
+  me to do my duty to you, for it is many favours you have done me
+  in the past. Kindly pardon me now, and believe me,
+
+    Your humble but sincere friend,
+                              JEAN HAY.
+
+This letter Thora read to the last word but she was nearly blind when
+she reached it. All her senses rang inward. "I am dying!" she thought,
+and she tried to reach the bed but only succeeded in stumbling against
+a small table full of books, knocking it down and falling with it.
+
+Mistress Ragnor and her visitor heard the fall and they were suddenly
+silent. Immediately, however, they went to the foot of the stairway
+and called, "Thora." There was no answer, and the mother's heart sank
+like lead, as she hastened to her daughter's room and threw open the
+door. Then she saw her stricken child, lying as if dead upon the
+floor. Cries and calls and hurrying feet followed, and the unconscious
+girl was quickly freed from all physical restraints and laid at the
+open window. But all the ordinary household methods of restoring
+consciousness were tried without avail and the case began to assume a
+dangerous aspect.
+
+At this moment Ragnor arrived. He knelt at his child's side and drew
+her closer and closer, whispering her name with the name of the Divine
+One; and surely it was in response to his heart-breaking entreaties
+the passing soul listened and returned. "Father," was the first
+whisper she uttered; and with a glowing, grateful heart, the father
+lifted her in his arms and laid her on her bed.
+
+Then Rahal gave him the two letters and sent him away. Thora was still
+"far off," or she would have remembered her letters but it was near
+the noon of the next day when she asked her mother where they were.
+
+"Thy father has them."
+
+"I am sorry, so sorry!"
+
+That was all she said but the subject appeared to distress her for she
+closed her eyes, and Rahal kissed away the tears that slowly found
+their way down the white, stricken face. However, from this hour she
+rallied and towards night fell into a deep sleep which lasted for
+fourteen hours; and it was during this anxious period of waiting that
+Ragnor talked to his wife about the letters which were, presumably,
+the cause of the trouble.
+
+"Those letters I gave thee, Coll, did thou read both of them?"
+
+"Both of them I read. Ian's was the happy letter of an expectant
+bridegroom. Only joy and hope was in it. It was the other one that was
+a death blow. Yes, indeed, it was a bad, cruel letter!"
+
+"And the name? Who wrote it?"
+
+"Jean Hay."
+
+"Jean Hay! What could Jean have to do with Thora's affairs?"
+
+"Well, then, her conscience made her interfere. She had heard some
+evil reports about Ian's life and she thought it her duty, after yours
+and Thora's kindness to her, to report these stories."
+
+"A miserable return for our kindness! This is what I notice--when
+people want to say cruel things, they always blame their conscience or
+their duty for making them do it."
+
+"Here is Jean's letter. Thou, thyself, must read it."
+
+Rahal read it with constantly increasing anger and finally threw it on
+the table with passionate scorn. "Not one word of this stuff do I
+believe, Coll! Envy and jealousy sent that news, not gratitude and
+good will! No, indeed! But I will tell thee, Coll, one thing I have
+always found sure, it is this; that often, much evil comes to the good
+from taking people out of their poverty and misfortunes. They are
+paying a debt they owe from the past and if we assume that debt we
+have it to pay in some wise. That is the wisdom of the old, the wisdom
+learned by sad experience. I wish, then, that I had let the girl pay
+her own debt and carry her own burden. She is envious of Thora. Yet
+was Thora very good to her. Do I believe in her gratitude? Not I! Had
+she done this cruel thing out of a kind heart, she would have sent
+this letter to me and left the telling or the not telling to my love
+and best judgment. I will not believe anything against Ian Macrae!
+Nothing at all!"
+
+"Much truth is in thy words, Rahal, and it is not on Jean Hay's letter
+I will do anything. I will take only Ian's 'yes,' or 'no' on any
+accusation."
+
+"You may do that safely, Coll, I know it."
+
+"And I will go back to Edinburgh with him and see his father. Perhaps
+we have all taken the youth too far on his handsome person and his
+sweet amiability."
+
+"Thou wrote to his father when Thora was engaged to him, with thy
+permission."
+
+"Well, then, I did."
+
+"What said his father?"
+
+"Too little! He was cursed short about all I named. I told him Thora
+was good and fair and well educated; and that she would have her full
+share in my estate. I told him all that I intended to do for them
+about their home and the place which I intended for Ian in my
+business, and referred him to Bishop Hedley as to my religious,
+financial, social and domestic standing."
+
+"Why did thou name Bishop Hedley to him? They are as far apart as
+Leviticus and St. John. And what did he say to thee in reply?"
+
+"That my kindness was more than his son deserved, etc. In response to
+our invitation to be present at the marriage ceremony, he said it was
+quite impossible, the journey was too long and doubtful, especially in
+the winter; that he was subject to sea-sickness and did not like to
+leave his congregation over Sunday. Rahal, I felt the paper on which
+his letter was written crinkling and crackling in my hand, it was that
+stiff with ecclesiastic pomp and spiritual pride. I would not show
+thee the letter, I put it in the fire."
+
+"Poor Ian! I think then, that he has had many things to suffer."
+
+"Rahal, this is what I will do. I will meet the packet on Saturday and
+we will go first to my office and talk the Hay letter over together.
+If I bring Ian home with me, then something is possible, but if I come
+home alone, then Thora must understand that all is over--that the
+young man is not to be thought of."
+
+"That would kill her."
+
+"So it might be. But better is death than a living misery. If Ian is
+what Jean Hay says he is, could we think of our child living with him?
+Impossible! Rahal, dear wife, whatever can be done I will do, and that
+with wisdom and loving kindness. Thy part is harder, it must be with
+our dear Thora."
+
+"That is so. And if there has to be parting, it will be almost
+impossible to spread the plaster as far as the sore."
+
+"There is the Great Physician----"
+
+"I know."
+
+"Tell her what I have said."
+
+"I will do that; but just yet, she is not minding much what any one
+says."
+
+However, on Saturday afternoon Thora left her bed and dressed herself
+in the gown she had prepared for her bridegroom's arrival. The nervous
+shock had been severe and she looked woefully like, and yet unlike,
+herself. Her eyes were full of tears, she trembled, she could hardly
+support herself. If one should take a fresh green leaf and pass over
+it a hot iron, the change it made might represent the change in Thora.
+Jean Hay's letter had been the hot iron passed over her. She had been
+told of her father's decision, but she clung passionately to her faith
+in Ian and her claim on her father's love and mercy.
+
+"Father will do right," she said, "and if he does, Ian will come home
+with him."
+
+The position was a cruel one to Conall Ragnor and he went to meet the
+packet with a heavy heart. Then Ian's joyful face and his impatience
+to land made it more so, and Ragnor found it impossible to connect
+wrong-doing with the open, handsome countenance of the youth. On the
+contrary, he found himself without intention declaring:
+
+"Well, then, I never found anything the least zig-zaggery about what
+he said or did. His words and ways were all straight. That is the
+truth."
+
+Yet Ian's happy mood was instantly dashed by Ragnor's manner. He did
+not take his offered hand and he said in a formal tone: "Ian, we will
+go to my office before we go to the house. I must ask thee some
+questions."
+
+"Very well, sir. Thora, I hope, is all right?"
+
+"No. She has been very ill."
+
+"Then let me go to her, sir, at once."
+
+"Later, I will see about that."
+
+"Later is too late, let us go at once. If Thora is sick----"
+
+"Be patient. It is not well to talk of women on the street. No wise
+man, who loves his womenkin, does that."
+
+Then Ian was silent; and the walk through the busy streets was like a
+walk in a bad dream. The place and circumstances felt unreal and he
+was conscious of the sure presence of a force closing about him, even
+to his finger tips. Vainly he tried to think. He felt the trouble
+coming nearer and nearer, but what was it? What had he done? What had
+he failed to do? What was he to be questioned about?
+
+Young as he was his experiences had taught him to expect only injury
+and wrong. The Ragnor home and its love and truth had been the miracle
+that had for nine months turned his brackish water of life into wine.
+Was it going to fail him, as everything else had done? He laughed
+inwardly at the cruel thought and whispered to himself: "This, too,
+can be borne, but oh, Thora, Thora!" and the two words shattered his
+pride and made him ready to weep when he sat down in Ragnor's office
+and saw the kind, pitiful face of the elder man looking at him. It
+gave him the power he needed and he asked bluntly what questions he
+was required to answer.
+
+Ragnor gave him the unhappy letter and he read it with a look of anger
+and astonishment. "Father," he said, "all this woman writes is true
+and not true; and of all accusations, these are the worst to defend. I
+must go back to my very earliest remembrances in order to fairly state
+my case, and if you will permit me to do this, in the presence of
+your wife and Thora, I will then accept whatever decision you make."
+
+For at least three minutes Ragnor made no answer. He sat with closed
+eyes and his face held in the clasp of his left hand. Ian was bending
+forward, eagerly watching him. There was not a movement, not a sound;
+it seemed as if both men hardly breathed. But when Ragnor moved, he
+stood up. "Let us be going," he said, "they are anxious. They are
+watching. You shall do as you say, Ian."
+
+Rahal saw them first. Thora was lying back in her mother's chair with
+closed eyes. She could not bear to look into the empty road watching
+for one who might be gone forever. Then in a blessed moment, Rahal
+whispered, "They are coming!"
+
+"Both? Both, Mother?"
+
+"Both!"
+
+"Thank God!" And she would have cried out her thanks and bathed them
+in joyful tears if she had been alone. But Ian must not see her
+weeping. Now, especially, he must be met with smiles. And then, when
+she felt herself in Ian's embrace, they were both weeping. But oh, how
+great, how blessed, how sacramental are those joys that we baptise
+with tears!
+
+During the serving of dinner there was no conversation but such
+as referred to the war and other public events. Many great ones
+had transpired since they parted, and there was plenty to talk
+about: the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman had been fought; the
+never-to-be-forgotten splendour of Scarlett's Charge with the
+Heavy Brigade, and the still more tragically splendid one of the
+Light Brigade, had both passed into history.
+
+More splendid and permanent than these had been the trumpet "call" of
+Russell in the _Times_, asking the women of England who among them
+were ready to go to Scutari Hospital and comfort and help the men
+dying for England? "Now," he cried,
+
+  "The Son of God goes forth to war!
+  Who follows in His train?"
+
+Florence Nightingale and her band of trained nurses, mainly from the
+Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy, and St. John's Protestant House, was
+the instant answer. In six days they were ready and without any
+flourish of trumpets, at the dark, quiet midnight, they left England
+for Scutari and in that hour the Red Cross Society was born.
+
+"How long is it since they sailed?" asked Rahal.
+
+"A month," answered Ian, "but the controversy about it is still raging
+in the English papers."
+
+"What has anyone to say against it?" asked Rahal. "The need was
+desperate, the answer quick. What, then, do they say?"
+
+"The prudery of the English middle class was shocked at the idea of
+young women nursing in military hospitals. They considered it 'highly
+improper.' Others were sure women would be more trouble than help.
+Many expect their health to fail, and think they will be sent back to
+English hospitals in a month."
+
+"I thought," said Ragnor, "that the objections were chiefly
+religious."
+
+"You are right," replied Ian. "The Calvinists are afraid Miss
+Nightingale's intention is to make the men Catholics in their dying
+hour. Others feel sure Miss Nightingale is an Universalist, or an
+Unitarian, or a Wesleyan Methodist. The fact is, Florence Nightingale
+is a devout Episcopalian."
+
+A pleasant little smile parted Ragnor's lips, and he said with an
+Episcopalian suavity: "The Wesleyans and the Episcopalians, in
+doctrine, are much alike. We regard them as brethren;" and just while
+he spoke, Ragnor looked like some ecclesiastical prelate.
+
+"There is little to wonder at in the churches disagreeing about Miss
+Nightingale," said Rahal, "it is not to be expected that they would
+believe in her, when they do not believe in each other." As she spoke
+she stepped to the fireside and touched the bell rope, and a servant
+entered and began to clear the table and put more wood on the fire,
+and to turn out one of the lamps at Rahal's order. Ragnor had gone out
+to have a quiet smoke in the fresh air while Rahal was sending off all
+the servants to a dance at the Fisherman's Hall. Ian and Thora were
+not interested in these things; they sat close together, talking
+softly of their own affairs.
+
+Without special request, they drew closer to the hearth and to each
+other. Then Ragnor took out a letter and handed it to Ian. He was
+sitting at Thora's side and her hand was in his hand. He let it fall
+and took the letter offered him.
+
+"I cannot explain this letter," he said, "unless I preface it with
+some facts regarding my unhappy childhood and youth. I am, as you
+know, the son of Dr. Macrae, but I have been a disinherited son ever
+since I can remember. I suppose that in my earliest years I was loved
+and kindly treated, but I have no remembrance of that time. I know
+only that before I was five years old, my father had accepted the
+solemn conviction that I was without election to God's grace.
+Personally I was a beautiful child, but I was received and considered,
+body and soul, as unredeemable. Father then regarded me as a Divine
+decree which it was his duty to receive with a pious acquiescence. My
+mother pitied and, in her way, loved me, and suffered much with me. I
+have a little sister also, who would like to love me, but there is in
+all her efforts just that touch of Phariseeism which destroys love."
+
+"But, Ian, there must have been some reason for your father's
+remarkable conviction?"
+
+"That is most likely. If so, he never explained the fact to me or even
+to my mother. She told me once that he did not suspect that I had
+missed God's election until I was between five and six years old. I
+suppose that about that age I began to strengthen his cruel fear by my
+antipathy to the kirk services and my real and unfortunate inability
+to learn the Shorter Catechism. This was a natural short-coming. I
+could neither spell or pronounce the words I was told to learn and to
+memorise them was an impossible thing."
+
+"Could not your mother help you?"
+
+"She tried. She wept over me as she tried, and I made an almost
+superhuman effort to comprehend and remember. I could not. I was
+flogged, I was denied food and even water. I was put in dark rooms. I
+was forbid all play and recreation. I went through this martyrdom year
+after year and I finally became stubborn and would try no longer. In
+the years that followed, until I was sixteen, my daily sufferings were
+great, but I remember them mainly for my mother's sake, who suffered
+with me in all I suffered. Nor am I without pity for my father. He
+honestly believed that in punishing me he was doing all he could to
+save me from everlasting punishment. Yes, sir! Do not shake your head!
+I have heard him praying, pleading with God, for some token of my
+election to His mercy. You see it was John Calvin."
+
+"John Calvin!" ejaculated Ragnor, "how is that?"
+
+"It was his awful tenets I had to learn; and when I was young I could
+not learn them, and when I grew older I would not learn them. My
+father had called me John Calvin and I detested the name. On my
+eighteenth birthday I asked him to have it changed. He was very angry
+at my request. I begged him passionately to do so. I said it ruined my
+life, that I could do nothing under that name. 'Give me your own name,
+Father,' I entreated, 'and I will try and be a good man!'
+
+"He said something to me, I never knew exactly what, but the last word
+was more than I could bear and my reply was an oath. Then he lifted
+the whip at his side and struck me."
+
+Rahal and Thora were sobbing. Ragnor looked in the youth's face with
+shining eyes and asked, almost in a whisper, "What did thou do?"
+
+"I had been struck often enough before to have made me indifferent,
+but at this moment some new strength and feeling sprang up in my
+heart. I seized his arms and the whip fell to the floor. I lifted it
+and said, 'Sir, if you ever again use a whip in place of decent words
+to me, I will see you no more until we meet for the judgment of God.
+Then I will pity you for the life-long mistake you have made.' My
+father looked at me with eyes I shall never forget, no, not in all
+eternity! He burst into agonizing prayer and weeping and I went and
+told mother to go to him. I left the house there and then. I had not
+a halfpenny, and I was hungry and cold and sick with an intolerable
+sense of wrong."
+
+"Father!" said Thora, in a voice broken with weeping. "Is not this
+enough?" And Ragnor leaned forward and took Thora's hand but he did
+not speak. Neither did he answer Rahal's look of entreaty. On the
+contrary he asked:
+
+"Then, Ian? Then, what did thou do?"
+
+"I felt so ill I went to see Dr. Finlay, our family physician. He knew
+the family trouble, because he had often attended mother when she was
+ill in consequence of it. I did not need to make a complaint. He saw
+my condition and took me to his wife and told her to feed and comfort
+me. I remained in her care four days, and then he offered to take me
+into his office and set me to reading medical text books, while I did
+the office work."
+
+"What was this work?"
+
+"I was taught how to prepare ordinary medicines, to see callers when
+the doctor was out, and make notes of, and on, their cases. I helped
+the doctor in operations, I took the prescriptions to patients and
+explained their use, etc. In three years I became very useful and
+helpful and I was quite happy. Then Dr. Finlay was appointed to some
+exceptionally fine post in India, private physician to some great
+Rajah, and the Finlay family hastily prepared for their journey to
+Delhi. I longed to go with them but I had not the money requisite.
+With Dr. Finlay I had had a home but only money enough to clothe me
+decently. I had not a pound left and mother could not help me, and
+Uncle Ian was in the Madeira Isles with his sick wife. So the Finlays
+went without me; and I can feel yet the sense of loneliness and
+poverty that assailed me, when I shut their door behind me and walked
+into the cold street and knew not what to do or where to go."
+
+"How old were you then, Ian?" asked Ragnor.
+
+"I was twenty years old within a few days, and I had one pound,
+sixteen shillings in my pocket. Five pounds from an Episcopal church
+would be due in two weeks for my solo and part singing in their
+services; but they were never very prompt in their payment and that
+was nothing to rely on in my present need. I took to answering
+advertisements, and did some of the weariest tramping looking for work
+that poor humanity can do. When I met Kenneth McLeod, I had broken my
+last shilling. I was like a hungry, lost child, and the thought of my
+mother came to me and I felt as if my heart would break.
+
+"The next moment I saw Kenneth McLeod coming up Prince's Street. It
+was nearly four years since we had seen each other, but he knew me at
+once and called me in his old kind way. Then he looked keenly at me,
+and asked: 'What is the matter, Ian? The old trouble?'
+
+"I was so heartless and hungry I could hardly keep back tears as I
+answered: 'It is that and everything else! Ken, help me, if you can.'
+'Come with me!' he answered, and I went with him into the Queen's
+Hotel and he ordered dinner, and while we were eating I told him my
+situation. Then he said, 'I can help you, Ian, if you will help me.
+You know that all my happiness is on the sea and father kept me on one
+or another of his trading boats as much as possible from my boyhood,
+so that I am now a clever enough navigator. Two years ago my father
+died and I am in a lot of trouble about managing the property he left
+me. Now, if you will take the oversight of my Edinburgh property, I
+can take my favourite boat and look after the coast trade of the
+Northern Islands.'
+
+"What could I say? I was dumb with surprise and gratitude. I never
+thought there was anything wrong in our contract. I believed the work
+had come in answer to my prayer for help and I thanked God and Kenneth
+McLeod for it."
+
+Here Mrs. Ragnor rose, saying, "Coll, my dear one, Thora and I will
+now leave thee. I am sure Ian has done as well as he could do and we
+hope thou wilt judge him kindly." Then the women went upstairs and
+Ragnor remained silent until Ian said:
+
+"I am very anxious, sir."
+
+Then Ragnor stood up and slowly answered, "Ian, now is the time to
+take council of my pillow. What I have to say I will say later. This
+is not a thing to be settled by a yes or no. I must think over what
+thou hast told me. I must have some words with my wife and daughter.
+Sleep one night at least over thy trouble, there are many things to
+consider; especially this question of the young lady who is made
+the last count of Jean Hay's letter. What hast thou to say about her?
+She seems to have had some strong claim upon thy--shall we say
+friendship?"
+
+"You might say much more than friendship, sir, and yet wrong neither
+man nor woman by it. Why, the young lady was Agnes Henderson, the
+sister of Willie Henderson, who is my soul's brother and my second
+self. Thora must have heard all about Agnes!"
+
+"Is she Deacon Scot Henderson's daughter?"
+
+"Of course she is! Who else would I have left two engagements to
+serve? But Agnes is dear to me, perhaps dearer than my own sister.
+Since she was nine years old, we have studied and played together.
+Willie and Agnes were the only loves and only friends of my desolate
+boyhood. You have doubtless heard how unhappy the deacon's second
+marriage has been. Both Willie and Agnes refused the stepmother he
+gave them, and last year Willie went to New York, where he is doing
+very well. But Agnes has been more and more wretched, and a recent
+proposal of marriage between herself and the stepmother's nephew has
+made her life intolerable. Two weeks ago I had a letter from Willie,
+telling me he had just written her, advising an immediate 'give-up' of
+the whole situation. He told her to take the first good steamer and
+come to him. He also urged her to send for me and take my help and
+advice about the voyage. Two weeks ago last Friday she did so and I
+went at once to the West End Hotel to see her. She had disguised
+herself so cleverly that it was difficult to recognise her. I went
+with her to her sitting room and there I found the woman who had
+waited on her all her life long. I knew her well for she had often
+scolded me for leading Agnes into danger.
+
+"I ate lunch with Agnes and during it I told her to transfer all her
+money not required for travelling expenses to the Bank of New York;
+and I promised to go at once and secure a passage for herself and
+maid--for seeing that the _Atlantic_ would leave her dock for New York
+about the noon hour of the next day, haste was necessary. I did not
+wish to go to Liverpool because of my two engagements, but Agnes was
+so insistent on my presence I could not refuse her. Well, perhaps I
+was wrong to yield to her entreaties."
+
+"No, hardly," said Ragnor. "Going on board a big steamer at Liverpool
+must be a muddling business--not fit for two simple women like Agnes
+Henderson and her maid."
+
+"I don't remember thinking of that but I could hear my friend Willie
+telling me, 'See her safe on board, Ian. Don't leave her till she is
+in the captain's care. Do this for me, Ian!' And I did it for both
+Agnes' and Willie's sake but mainly for Willie's, for I love him. He
+is my right-hand friend, always. Perhaps I did wrong."
+
+"It is a pity there was any mystification about it. Was it necessary
+for Agnes Henderson to disguise herself?"
+
+"Perhaps not, but it prevented trouble and disappointment. Her father
+supposed her to be at her uncle's home. On Saturday afternoon he went
+to see her and found she had not been there at all. He returned to
+Edinburgh and could get no trace of her, nor was she located until I
+returned and informed him that she was on the _Atlantic_."
+
+There was a few moments of silence and then Ian said, "Have I done
+anything unpardonable? Surely you will not let that jealous, envious
+letter stand between Thora and myself?"
+
+Then Ragnor answered, "Tonight I will say neither this nor that on the
+matter. I will sleep over the subject and take counsel of One wiser
+than myself. Thou had better do likewise. Many things are to
+consider."
+
+And Ian went away without a word. There was anger in his heart, and as
+he sat gloomily in his dimly lit room and felt the damp chill of the
+midnight, he told himself that he had been hardly judged. "I have done
+nothing wrong," he whispered passionately. "Old McLeod collected his
+own rents and looked after his own property and no one thought he did
+wrong. He was an elder in one of the largest Edinburgh kirks and the
+favourite chairman in missionary meetings, but because I did not go to
+kirk, what was business in him was sin in me.
+
+"As to the gambling houses, I had nothing to do with them but to
+collect lawful money, due the McLeod estate; and as far as I can see,
+men who gamble for money are quite respectable if they get what they
+gamble for. There was that old reprobate Lord Sinclair. He redeemed
+the Sinclair estates by gambling and he married the beautiful daughter
+of the noble Seaforths. Nobody blamed him. Pshaw! It is all a matter
+of money--or it is my ill luck." And to such irritating reflections he
+finally fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BREAD OF BITTERNESS
+
+
+Sorrow develops the mind. It seems as if a soul was given us to suffer
+with--
+
+  Dust to dust, but the pure spirit shall flow
+  Back to the burning fountain whence it came
+  A portion of the Eternal which must glow
+  Through time and change unalterably the same.
+
+  Our endless need is met by God's endless help.
+
+At her room door Thora bid her mother good night. Rahal desired to
+talk with her, but the girl shook her head and said wearily, "I want
+to think, Mother. I have no heart to speak yet." And Rahal turned
+sadly away. She knew that hour, that her child had come to a door for
+which she had no key and she left her alone with the situation she had
+to face. Nor did Thora just then realize that within the past hour her
+girlhood had vanished, and that she had suddenly become a woman with a
+woman's fate upon her and a woman's heart-rending problem to solve.
+
+How it came she did not enquire, yet she did recognise some change in
+herself. Hitherto, all her troubles had been borne by her father or
+mother. This trouble was her very own. No one could carry it for her
+but without any hesitation she accepted it. "I must find out the very
+root of this matter," she said to herself, "and I will not go to bed
+until I do. Nor is it half-asleep I will be over the question. I will
+sit up and be wide awake."
+
+So she put more peat and coal on her fire and lit a fresh candle;
+removed her day clothing and wrapped herself in a large down cloak.
+And the night was not cold for there was a southerly wind, and the
+gulf stream embraces the Orkneys, giving them an abnormally warm
+climate for their far-north latitude. And she had a passing wonder at
+herself for these precautions. A year ago, a week ago, she would have
+thrown herself upon her bed in passionate weeping or clung to her
+mother and talked her sorrow away in her loving sympathy and advice.
+
+But at this supreme hour of her life, she wanted to be alone. She
+did not wish to talk about Ian with any one. She was wide awake,
+quite sensible of the pain and grief at her heart, yet tearless
+and calm. Never before had she felt that dignity of soul, which
+looks straight into the face of its sorrow and feels itself equal
+to the bearing of it. She had as yet no idea that during that
+evening she had passed through that wonderful heart-experience,
+which suddenly ripens girlhood into womanhood. Indeed, they will
+be thoughtless girls--whatever their age--who can read this
+sentence and not pause and recall that marvellous transition in their
+own lives. To some it comes with a great joy, to others with a great
+sorrow but it is always a fateful event, and girls should be ready
+to meet and salute it.
+
+As soon as Thora had made herself and her room comfortable, she sat
+down and closed her eyes. All her life she had noticed that her mother
+shut her eyes when she wanted to think. Now she did the same, and then
+softly called Ian Macrae to the judgment of her heart and her inner
+senses, but she did it as naturally as women equally ignorant have
+done it in all ages, taking or refusing their advice or verdict as
+directed by their dominant desire, or their reason or unreason.
+
+With almost supernatural clearness she recalled his beautiful, yet
+troubled face, his hesitating manner, his restlessness in his chair,
+his nervous trifling with his watch chain or his finger ring. She
+recalled the fact that his voice had in it a strange tone and that his
+eyes reflected a soul fearful and angry. It was an unfamiliar Ian she
+called up, but oh! if it could ever become a familiar one.
+
+The first subject that pressed her for consideration was the suspicion
+of gambling. Certainly Ian had promptly denied the charge. He had even
+said that he never was in the gambling parlours but once, when he went
+into them very early with the porter, to assure himself that some new
+carpets asked for were really wanted. "Then," he added, "I found out
+that the demand was made by one of the club members, who had a friend
+who was a carpet manufacturer and expected to supply what was
+considered necessary."
+
+It must be recalled here that Norsemen, though sharp and keen in
+business matters, have no gambling fever in their blood. To get money
+and give nothing for it! That goes too far beyond their idea of fair
+business, and as for pleasure, they have never connected it with the
+paper kings and queens. They find in the sea and their ships, in
+adventure, in music and song, in dancing and story telling, all of
+pleasure they require. A common name for a pack of cards is "the
+devil's books," and in Orkney they have but few readers.
+
+Thora had partially exonerated Ian from the charge of gambling
+when she remembered Jean Hay's assertion that "wherever horses were
+racing, there Ian was sure to be and that he had been named in the
+newspapers as a winner on the horse Sergius." Ian had passed by
+this circumstance, and her father had either intentionally or
+unintentionally done the same. Once she had heard Vedder say that
+"horse racing produced finer and faster horses"; and she remembered
+well, that her father asked in reply, "If it was well to produce
+finer and faster horses, at the cost of making horsier men?" And he
+had further said that he did not know of any uglier type of man than a
+"betting book in breeches." She thought a little on this subject
+and then decided Ian ought to be talked to about it.
+
+Her lover's neglect of the Sabbath was the next question, for Thora
+was a true and loving daughter of the Church of England. Episcopacy
+was the kernel of her faith. She believed all bishops were just like
+Bishop Hedley and that the most perfect happiness was found in the
+Episcopal Communion. And she said positively to her heart--"It is
+through the church door we will reach the Home door, and I am sure Ian
+will go with me to keep the Sabbath in the cathedral. Every one goes
+to church in Kirkwall. He could not resist such a powerful public
+example, and then he would begin to like to go of his own inclination.
+I could trust him on this point, I feel sure."
+
+When she took up the next doubt her brow clouded and a shadow of
+annoyance blended itself with her anxious, questioning expression.
+"His name!" she muttered. "His name! Why did he woo me under a false
+name? Mother says my marriage to him under the name of Ian Macrae
+would not be lawful. Of course he intended to marry me with his proper
+name. He would have been sure to tell us all before the marriage
+day--but I saw father was angry and troubled at the circumstance. He
+ought to have told us long ago. Why didn't he do so? I should have
+loved him under any name. I should have loved him better under John
+than Ian. John is a strong, straight name. Great and good men in all
+ages have made John honourable. It has no diminutive. It can't be made
+less than John. Englishmen and lowland Scotch all say the four
+sensible letters with a firm, strong voice; only the Celt turns John
+into Ian. I will not call him Ian again. Not once will I do it."
+
+Then she covered her eyes with her hand and a sharp, chagrined catch
+of her breath broke the hush of the still room. And her voice, though
+little stronger than a whisper, was full of painful wonder. "What will
+people say? What shall we say? Oh, the shame! Oh, the mortification!
+Who will now live in my pretty home? Who will eat my wedding cake?
+What will become of my wedding dress? Oh, Thora! Thora! Love has led
+thee a shameful, cruel road! What wilt thou do? What can thou do?"
+
+Then a singular thing happened. A powerful thought from some forgotten
+life came with irresistible strength into her mind, and though she did
+not speak the words suggested, she prayed them--if prayer be that
+hidden, never-dying imploration that goes with the soul from one
+incarnation to another--for the words that sprang to her memory must
+have been learned centuries before, "Oh, Mary! Mary! Mother of Jesus
+Christ! Thou that drank the cup of all a woman's griefs and wrongs,
+pray for me!"
+
+And she was still and silent as the words passed through her
+consciousness. She thought every one of them, they seemed at the
+moment so real and satisfying. Then she began to wonder and ask
+herself, "Where did those words come from? When did I hear them? Where
+did I say them before? How do they come to be in my memory? From what
+strange depth of Life did they come? Did I ever have a Roman Catholic
+nurse? Did she whisper them to my soul, when I was sick and suffering?
+I must ask mother--oh, how tired and sleepy I feel--I will go to
+bed--I have done no good, come to no decision. I will sleep--I will
+tell mother in the morning--I wish I had let her stop with me--mother
+always knows--what is the best way----" And thus the heart-breaking
+session ended in that blessed hostel, The Inn of Dreamless Sleep.
+
+There was, however, little sleep in the House of Ragnor that night,
+and very early in the morning Ragnor, fully dressed, spoke to his
+wife. "Art thou waking yet, Rahal?" he asked, and Rahal answered, "I
+have slept little. I have been long awake."
+
+"Well then, what dost thou think now of Ian Macrae, so-called?"
+
+"I think little amiss of him--some youthful follies--nothing to make a
+fuss about."
+
+"Hast thou considered that the follies of youth may become the follies
+of manhood, and of age? What then?"
+
+"We are not told to worry about what may be."
+
+"Ian has evidently been living and spending with people far above his
+means and his class."
+
+"The Lowland Scotch regard a minister as socially equal to any peer.
+Are not the servants of God equal, and more than equal, to the
+servants of the queen? No society is above either they or their
+children. That I have seen always. And young men of fine appearance
+and charming manners, like Ian, are welcome in every home, high or
+low. Yes, indeed!"
+
+"Yet girls, as a rule, should not marry handsome men with charming
+manners, unless there is something better behind to rely on."
+
+"If thou had not been a handsome man with a charming manner, Rahal
+would not have married thee. What then?"
+
+"I would have been a ruined man. I cared for nothing but thee."
+
+"I believe that a girl of moral strength and good intelligence should
+be trusted with the choice of her destiny. It is not always that
+parents have a right to thrust a destiny they choose upon their
+daughter. If a man is not as good and as rich as they think she ought
+to marry they can point this out, and if they convince their child,
+very well; and if they do not convince her, also very well. Perhaps
+the girl's character requires just the treatment it will evolve from a
+life of struggle."
+
+"Thou art talking nonsense, Rahal. Thy liking for the young man has
+got the better of thy good sense. I cannot trust thee in this
+matter."
+
+"Well then, Coll, the road to better counsel than mine, is well known
+to thee."
+
+"I think Bishop Hedley arrived about an hour ago. There were moving
+lights on the pier, and as soon as the morning breaks I am going to
+see him."
+
+"Have thy own way. When a man's wife has not the wisdom wanted, it is
+well that he go to his Bishop, for Bishops are full of good counsel,
+even for the ruling of seven churches, so I have heard."
+
+"It is not hearsay between thee and Bishop Hedley. Thou art well
+acquainted with him."
+
+"Well then, in the end thou wilt take thy own way."
+
+"Dost thou want me to say 'yes' today, and rue it tomorrow? I have no
+mind for any such foolishness."
+
+"Coll, this is a time when deeds will be better than words."
+
+"I see that. Well then, the day breaks, and I will go"--he lingered a
+minute or two fumbling about his knitted gloves but Rahal was dressing
+her hair and took no further notice. So he went away in an affected
+hurry and both dissatisfied and uncertain. "What a woman she is!" he
+sighed. "She has said only good words, but I feel as if I had broken
+every commandment at once."
+
+He went away full of trouble and anxiety, and Rahal watched him down
+the garden path and along the first stretch of the road. She knew by
+his hurried steps and the nervous play of his walking stick that he
+was both angry and troubled and she was not very sorry.
+
+"If it was his business standing and his good name, instead of Thora's
+happiness and good repute that was the question, oh, how careful and
+conciliatory he would be! How anxious to keep his affairs from public
+discussion! It would be anything rather than that! I have the same
+feeling about Thora's good name. The marriage ought to go on for
+Thora's sake. I do not want the women of Kirkwall wondering who was
+to blame. I do not want them coming to see me with solemn looks and
+tearful voices. I could not endure their pitying of 'poor Miss Thora!'
+They would not dare go to Coll with their sympathetic curiosity, but
+there are such women as Astar Gager, and Lala Snackoll, and Thyra
+Peterson, and Jorunna Flett. No one can keep them away from a house in
+trouble. Thora must marry. I see no endurable way to prevent it."
+
+Then being dressed she went to Thora's room, and gently opened the
+door. Thora was standing at her mirror and she turned to her mother
+with a smiling face. Rahal was astonished and she said almost with a
+tone of disapproval, "I am glad to see thee able to smile. I expected
+to find thee weeping, and ill with weeping."
+
+"For a long time, for many hours, I was broken-hearted but there came
+to me, Mother, a strange consolation." Then she told her mother about
+the prayer she heard her soul say for her. "Not one word did I speak,
+Mother. But someone prayed for me. I heard them. And I was made strong
+and satisfied, and fell into a sweet sleep, though I had yet not
+solved the problem I had proposed to solve before I slept."
+
+"What was that problem?"
+
+"First, whether I should marry John just as he was, and trust the
+consequences to my influence over him; or whether I should refuse him
+altogether and forever; or whether I should wait and see what he can
+do with my father and the good Bishop, to help and strengthen him."
+And as Thora talked, Rahal's face grew light and sweet as she
+listened, and she answered--"Yes, my dear one, that is the wonderful
+way! Some soul that loved thee long, long ago, knew that thou wert in
+great trouble. Some woman's soul, perhaps, that had lived and died for
+love. The kinship of our souls far exceeds that of our bodies, and
+their help is swift and sure. Be patient with Ian. That is what I
+say."
+
+"But why that prayer? I never heard it before."
+
+"How little thou knowest of what thou hast heard before! Two hundred
+years ago, all sorrowful, unhappy women went to Mary with their
+troubles."
+
+"They should not have done so. They could have gone to Christ."
+
+"They thought Mary had suffered just what they were suffering, and
+they thought that Christ had never known any of the griefs that break
+a woman's heart. Mary knew them, had felt them, had wept and prayed
+over them. When my little lad Eric died, I thought of Mary. My family
+have only been one hundred years Protestants. All of them must have
+loved thee well enough to come and pray for thee. Thou had a great
+honour, as well as a great comfort."
+
+"At any rate I did no wrong! I am glad, Mother."
+
+"Wrong! Thou wilt see the Bishop today. Ask him. He will tell thee
+that the English Church and the English women gave up very reluctantly
+their homage to Mary. Are not their grand churches called after Peter
+and Paul and other male saints? Dost thou think that Christ loved
+Peter and Paul more than his mother? I know better. Please God thou
+wilt know better some day."
+
+"Churches are often called after Mary, as well as the saints."
+
+"Not in Scotland."
+
+"There is one in Glasgow. Vedder told me he used to hear Bishop Hedley
+preach there."
+
+"It is an Episcopal Church. Ask him about thy dream. No, I mean thy
+soul's experience."
+
+"Thou said _dream_, Mother. It was not a dream. I saw no one. I only
+heard a voice. It is what we see in dreams that is important."
+
+"Now wilt thou come to thy breakfast?"
+
+"Is _he_ downstairs yet?"
+
+"I will go and call him."
+
+Rahal, however, came to the table alone. She said, "Ian asked that he
+might lie still and sleep an hour or two. He has not slept all night
+long, I think," she added. "His voice sounded full of trouble."
+
+So the two women ate their breakfast alone for Ragnor did not return
+in time to join them. And Rahal's hopefulness left her, and she was
+silent and her face had a grey, fearful expression that Thora could
+not help noticing. "You look ill, Mother!" she said, "and you were
+looking so well when we came downstairs. What is it?"
+
+"I know not. I feel as if I was going into a black cloud. I wish that
+thy father would come home. He is in trouble. I wonder then what is
+the matter!"
+
+In about an hour they saw Ragnor and the Bishop coming towards the
+house together.
+
+"They are in trouble, Thora, both of them are in trouble."
+
+"About Thora they need not to be in trouble. She will do what they
+advise her to do."
+
+"It is not thee."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"I will not name my fear, lest I call it to me."
+
+Then she rose and went to the door and Thora followed her, and by this
+time, Ragnor and the Bishop were at the garden gate. Very soon the
+Bishop was holding their hands, and Rahal found when he released her
+hand that he had left a letter in it. Yet for a moment she hardly
+noticed the fact, so shocked was she at the expression of her
+husband's face. He looked so much older, his eyes were two wells of
+sorrow, his distress had passed beyond words, and when she asked,
+"What is thy trouble, Coll?" he looked at her pitifully and pointed to
+the letter. Then she took Thora's hand and they went to her room
+together.
+
+Sitting on the side of her bed, she broke the seal and looked at the
+superscription. "It is from Adam Vedder," she said, as she began to
+read it. No other word escaped her lips until she came to the end of
+the long epistle. Then she laid it down on the bed beside her and
+shivered out the words, "Boris is dying. Perhaps dead. Oh, Boris! My
+son Boris! Read for thyself."
+
+So Thora read the letter. It contained a vivid description of the
+taking of a certain small battery, which was pouring death and
+destruction on the little British company, who had gone as a forlorn
+hope to silence its fire. They were picked volunteers and they were
+led by Boris Ragnor. He had made a breach in its defences and carried
+his men over the cannon to victory. At the last moment he was shot in
+the throat and received a deadly wound in the side, as he tore from
+the hands of the Ensign the flag of his regiment, wrote Vedder.
+
+  I saw the fight between the men. I was carrying water to the
+  wounded on the hillside. I, and several others, rushed to the side
+  of Boris. He held the flag so tightly that no hand could remove
+  it, and we carried it with him to the hospital. For two days he
+  remained there, then he was carefully removed to my house, not
+  very far away, and now he has not only one of Miss Nightingale's
+  nurses always with him but also myself. As for Sunna, she hardly
+  ever leaves him. He talks constantly of thee and his father and
+  sister. He sends all his undying love, and if indeed these wounds
+  mean his death, he is dying gloriously and happily, trusting God
+  implicitly, and loving even his enemies--a thing Adam Vedder
+  cannot understand. He found out before he was twenty years old
+  that loving his enemies was beyond his power and that nothing
+  could make him forgive them. Our dear Boris! Oh, Rahal! Rahal!
+  Poor stricken mother! God comfort thee, and tell thyself every
+  minute "My boy has won a glorious death and he is going the way of
+  all flesh, honoured and loved by all who ever knew him."
+
+  Thy true friend,
+              ADAM VEDDER.
+
+[Illustration: He made a breach in its defences and carried his men over
+cannon to victory.]
+
+This letter upset all other considerations, and when Ian came
+downstairs at the dinner hour, he found no one interested enough in
+his case to take it up with the proper sense of its importance. Ragnor
+was steeped in silent grief. Rahal had shut up her sorrow behind dry
+eyes and a closed mouth. The Bishop had taken the seat next to Thora.
+He felt as if no one had missed or even thought of him. And such
+conversation as there was related entirely to the war. Thora smiled at
+him across the table, but he was not pleased at Thora being able to
+smile; and he only returned the courtesy with a doleful shake of the
+head.
+
+After dinner Ian said something about going to see McLeod, and then
+the Bishop interfered--"No, Ian," he replied, "I want you to walk as
+far as the cathedral with me. Will you do that?"
+
+"With pleasure, sir."
+
+"Then let us be going, while there is yet a little sunshine."
+
+The cathedral doors stood open, but there was no one present except a
+very old woman, who at their approach rose from her knees and
+painfully walked away. The Bishop altered his course, so as to greet
+her--"Good afternoon, Sister Odd! Art thou suffering yet?"
+
+"Only the pain that comes with many years, sir. God makes it easy for
+me. Wilt thou bless me?"
+
+"Thou hast God's blessing. Who can add to it? God be with thee to the
+very end!"
+
+"Enough is that. Thy hand a moment, sir."
+
+For a moment they, stood silently hand clasped, then parted, and the
+Bishop walked straight to the vestry and taking a key from his pocket,
+opened the door. There was a fire laid ready for the match and he
+stooped and lit it, and Ian placed his chair near by.
+
+"That is good!" he said. "Bring your own chair near to me, Ian, I have
+something to say to you."
+
+"I am glad of that, Bishop. No one seemed to care for my sorrow. I was
+made to feel this day the difference between a son and a son-in-law."
+
+"There is a difference, a natural one, but you have been treated as a
+son always. Ragnor has told me all about those charges. You may speak
+freely to me. It is better that you should do so."
+
+"I explained the charges to the whole family. Do they not believe
+me?"
+
+"The explanation was only partial and one-sided. I think the charge of
+gambling may be put aside, with your promise to abstain from the
+appearance of evil for the future. I understand your position about
+the Sabbath. You should have gone on singing in some church. Supposing
+you got no spiritual help from it, you were at least lifting the souls
+of others on the wings of holy song, and you need not have mocked at
+the devout feelings of others by music unfit for the day."
+
+"It was a bit of boyish folly."
+
+"It was something far more than that. I had a letter from Jean Hay
+more than two months ago and I investigated every charge she made
+against you."
+
+"Well, Bishop?"
+
+"I find that, examined separately, they do not indicate any settled
+sinfulness; but taken together they indicate a variable temper, a
+perfectly untrained nature, and a weak, unresisting will. Now, Ian, a
+weak, good man is a dangerous type of a bad man. They readily become
+the tools of wicked men of powerful intellect and determined
+character. I have met with many such cases. Your change of name----"
+
+"Oh, sir, I could not endure Calvin tacked on to me! If you knew what
+I have suffered!"
+
+"I know it all. Why did you not tell the Ragnors on your first
+acquaintance with them?"
+
+"Mrs. Ragnor liked Ian because it is the Highland form for John, and
+Thora loved the name and I did not like, while they knew so little of
+me, to tell them I had only assumed it. I watched for a good
+opportunity to speak concerning it and none came. Then I thought I
+would consult you at this time, before the wedding day."
+
+"I could not have married you under the name of Ian. Discard it at
+once. Take it as a pet name between Thora and yourself, if you choose.
+No doubt you thought Ian was prettier and more romantic and suitable
+for your really handsome person."
+
+"Oh, Bishop, do not humiliate me! I----"
+
+"I have no doubt I am correct. I have known young men wreck their
+lives for some equally foolish idea."
+
+"I will cast it off today. I will tell Thora the truth tonight. Before
+we are married, I will advertise it in next week's _News_."
+
+"Before you are married, I trust you will have made the name of John
+Macrae so famous that you will need no such advertising."
+
+"What do you mean, Bishop?"
+
+"I want you to go to the trenches at Redan or to fight your way into
+Sebastopol. You have been left too much to your own direction and your
+own way. Obedience is the first round of the ladder of Success. You
+must learn it. You can only be a subordinate till you manage this
+lesson. Your ideas of life are crude and provincial. You need to see
+men making their way upward, in some other places than in shops and
+offices. Above all, you must learn to conquer yourself and your
+indiscreet will. You are not a man, until you are master in your own
+house and fear no mutiny against your Will to act nobly. You have had
+no opportunities for such education. Now take one year to begin it."
+
+"You mean that I must put off my marriage for a year."
+
+"Exactly. Under present circumstances----"
+
+"Oh, sir, that is not thinkable! It would be too mortifying! I could
+not go back to Edinburgh. I could not put off my marriage!"
+
+"You will be obliged to do so. Do you imagine the Ragnors will hold
+wedding festivities, while their eldest son is dying, or his broken
+body on its way home for burial?"
+
+"I thought the ceremony would be entirely religious and the
+festivities could be abandoned."
+
+"Is that what you wish?"
+
+"Yes, Bishop."
+
+"Then you will not get it. A year's strict mourning is due the dead,
+and the Ragnors will give every hour of it. Boris is their eldest
+son."
+
+"They should remember also their living daughter Thora will suffer as
+well as myself."
+
+"You are not putting yourself in a good light, John Macrae. Thora
+loves her brother with a great affection. Do you think she can comfort
+her grief for his loss, by giving you any loving honour that belongs
+to him? You do not know Thora Ragnor. She has her mother's just,
+strong character below all her gentle ways, and what her father and
+mother say she will endorse, without question or reluctance. Now I
+know that Ragnor had resolved on a year's separation and discipline,
+before he heard of his son's dangerous condition."
+
+"Boris was not dead when that Vedder letter was written. He may not be
+dead now. He may not be going to die."
+
+"It is only his wonderful physical strength that has kept him alive so
+long. Vedder said to me, they looked for his death at any hour. He
+cannot recover. His wound is a fatal one. It is beyond hope. Vedder
+wrote while he was yet alive, so that he might perhaps break the blow
+to his family."
+
+"What then do you advise me to do?"
+
+"Ragnor intends to go back with you and myself to Edinburgh. He will
+see your father and offer to buy you a commission as ensign in a good
+infantry regiment. We will ask your father if he will join in the
+plan."
+
+"My father will not join in anything to help me. How much will an
+ensign's commission cost?"
+
+"I think four or five hundred pounds. Ragnor would pay half, if your
+father would pay half."
+
+Then Ian rose to his feet, and his eyes blazed with a fire no one had
+ever seen there before. "Bishop," he said, "I thank you for all you
+propose, but if I go to the trenches at Redan or the camp at
+Sebastopol, I will go on John Macrae's authority and personality. I
+have one hundred pounds, that is sufficient. I can learn all the great
+things you expect me to learn there better among the rankers than the
+officers. I have known the officers at Edinburgh Castle. They were not
+fit candidates for a bishopric."
+
+The good man looked sadly at the angry youth and answered, "Go and
+talk the matter over with Thora."
+
+"I will. Surely she will be less cruel."
+
+"What do you wish, considering present circumstances?"
+
+"I want the marriage carried out, devoid of all but its religious
+ceremony. I want to spend one month in the home prepared for us, and
+then I will submit to the punishment and schooling proposed."
+
+"No, you will not. Do not throw away this opportunity to retrieve your
+so far neglected, misguided life. There is a great man in you, if you
+will give him space and opportunity to develop, John. This is the wide
+open door of Opportunity; go through, and go up to where it will lead
+you. At any rate do whatever Thora advises. I can trust you as far as
+Thora can." Then he held out his hand, and Ian, too deeply moved to
+speak, took it and left the cathedral without a word.
+
+He found Thora alone in the parlour. She had evidently been weeping
+but that fact did not much soothe his sense of wrong and injustice. He
+felt that he had been put aside in some measure. He was not sure that
+even now Thora had been weeping for his loss. He told himself, she was
+just as likely to have been mourning for Boris. He felt that he was
+unjustly angry but, oh, he was so hopeless! Every one was ready to
+give him advice, no one had said to him those little words of loving
+sympathy for which his heart was hungry. He had felt it to be his duty
+to try and console Thora, and Thora had wept in his arms and he had
+kissed her tears away. She was now weary with weeping and suffering
+with headache. She knew also that talking against any decision of her
+father's was useless. When he had said the word, the man or woman that
+could move him did not live. Acceptance of the will of others was a
+duty she had learned to observe all her life, it was just the duty
+that Ian had thought it right to resist. So amid all his love and
+disappointment, there was a cruel sense of being of secondary
+interest and importance, just at the very time he had expected to be
+first in everyone's love and consideration.
+
+Finally he said, "Dear Thora, I can feel no longer. My heart has
+become hopeless. I suffer too much. I will go to my room and try and
+submit to this last cruel wrong."
+
+Then Thora was offended. "There is no one to blame for this last cruel
+wrong but thyself," she answered. "The death of Boris was a nearer
+thing to my father and mother than my marriage. Thy marriage can take
+place at some other time, but for my dear brother there is no future
+in this life."
+
+"Are you even sure of his death?"
+
+"My mother has seen him."
+
+"That is nonsense."
+
+"To you, I dare say it is. Mother sees more than any one else can see.
+She has spiritual vision. We are not yet able for it, nor worthy of
+it."
+
+"Then why did she not see our wedding catastrophe? She might have
+averted it by changing the date."
+
+"Ask her;" and as Thora said these words and wearily closed her eyes,
+Rahal entered the room. She went straight to Ian, put her arms round
+him and kissed him tenderly. Then Ian could bear no more. He sobbed
+like a boy of seven years old and she wept with him.
+
+"Thou poor unloved laddie!" she said. "If thou had gone wrong, it
+would have been little wonder and little blame to thyself. I think
+thou did all that could be done, with neither love nor wisdom to help
+thee. Rahal does not blame thee. Rahal pities and loves thee. Thou
+hast been cowed and frightened and punished for nothing, all the days
+of thy sad life. Poor lad! Poor, disappointed laddie! With all my
+heart and soul I pity thee!"
+
+For a few moments there was not a word spoken and the sound of Ian's
+bitter weeping filled the room. Ian had been flogged many a time when
+but a youth, and had then disdained to utter a cry, but no child in
+its first great sorrow, ever wept so heart-brokenly as Ian now wept in
+Rahal's arms. And a man weeping is a fearsome, pitiful sound. It goes
+to a woman's heart like a sword, and Thora rose and went to her lover
+and drew him to the sofa and sat down at his side and, with promises
+wet with tears, tried to comfort him. A strange silence that the
+weeping did not disturb was in the house and room, and in the kitchen
+the servants paused in their work and looked at each other with faces
+full of pity.
+
+"The Wise One has put trouble on their heads," said a woman who was
+dressing a goose to roast for dinner and her helper answered, "And
+there is no use striving against it. What must be, is sure to happen.
+That is Right."
+
+"All that we have done, is no good. Fate rules in this thing. I see
+that."
+
+"The trouble came on them unawares. And if Death is at the beginning,
+no course that can be taken is any good."
+
+"What is the Master's will? For in the end, that will orders all
+things."
+
+"The mistress said the marriage would be put off for a year. The young
+man goes to the war."
+
+"No wonder then he cries out. It is surely a great disappointment."
+
+"Tom Snackoll had the same ill luck. He made no crying about it. He
+hoisted sail at midnight and stole his wife Vestein out of her window,
+and when her father caught them, they were man and wife. And Snackoll
+went out to speak to his father-in-law and he said to him, 'My wife
+can not see thee today, for she is weary and I think it best for her
+to be still and quiet'; and home the father went and no good of his
+journey. Snackoll got praise for his daring."
+
+"Well then," said a young man who had just entered, "it is well known
+that Vestein and her father and mother were all fully willing. The
+girl could as easily have gone out of the door as the window. Snackoll
+is a boaster. He is as great in his talk as a fox in his tail."
+
+Thus the household of Ragnor talked in the kitchen, and in the parlour
+Rahal comforted the lovers, and cheered and encouraged Ian so greatly
+that she was finally able to say to them:
+
+"The wedding day was not lucky. Let it pass. There is another, only a
+year away, that will bring lasting joy. Now we have wept over our
+mischance, we will bury it and look to the future. We will go and wash
+away sorrow and put on fresh clothes, and look forward to the far
+better marriage a year hence."
+
+And her voice and manner were so persuasive, that they willingly
+obeyed her advice and, as they passed her, she kissed them both and
+told Ian to put his head in cold water and get rid of its aching
+fever, for she said, "The Bishop will want thee to sing some of thy
+Collects and Hymns and thou wilt like to please him. He is thy good
+friend."
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"He is. Thou may take that, on my word."
+
+The evening brought a braver spirit. They talked of Boris and of his
+open-hearted, open-air life, and the Bishop read aloud several letters
+from young men then at the front. They were full of enthusiasm. They
+might have been read to an accompaniment of fife and drums. Ian was
+visibly affected and made no further demur about joining them. One of
+them spoke of Boris "leading his volunteers up the hill like a lion";
+and another letter described his tenderness to the wounded and
+convalescents, saying "he spent his money freely, to procure them
+little comforts they could not get for themselves."
+
+They talked plainly and from their hearts, hesitating not to call his
+name, and so they brought comfort to their heavy sorrow. For it is a
+selfish thing to shut up a sorrow in the heart, far better to look at
+it full in the face, speak of it, discuss its why and wherefore and
+break up that false sanctity which is very often inspired by purely
+selfish sentiments. And when this point was reached, the Bishop took
+from his pocket a small copy of the Apocrypha and said, "Now I will
+tell you what the wisest of men said of such an early death as that
+of our dear Boris:
+
+  "'He pleased God, and he was beloved of him, so that living among
+  sinners, he was translated.
+
+  "'Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should
+  alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
+
+  "'He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time.
+
+  "'For his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he to take him
+  away from among the wicked.'"
+
+And these words fell like heavenly dew on every heart. There was no
+comfort and honour greater than this to offer even a mother's heart. A
+happy sigh greeted the blessed verses, and there was no occasion to
+speak. There was no word that could be added to it.
+
+Then Ian had a happy thought for before a spell-breaking word could be
+said, he stepped softly to the piano and the next moment the room was
+ringing with some noble lines from the "Men of Harlech" set to notes
+equally stirring:
+
+  "Men of Harlech, young or hoary,
+  Would you win a name in story,
+  Strike for home, for life, for glory,
+  Freedom, God and Right!
+
+  "Onward! 'Tis our country needs us,
+  He is bravest, he who leads us,
+  Honour's self now proudly leads us,
+  Freedom! God and Right!
+      Loose the folds asunder!
+      Flag we conquer under!
+      Death is glory now."
+
+The words were splendidly sung and the room was filled with patriotic
+fervour. Then the Bishop gave Ragnor and Thora a comforting look, as
+he asked, "Who wrote that song, Ian?"
+
+"Ah, sir, it was never written! It sprang from the heart of some old
+Druid priest as he was urging on the Welsh to drive the Romans from
+their country. It is two verses from 'The Song of the Men of
+Harlech.'"
+
+"In olden times, Ian, the bards went to the battlefield with the
+soldiers. We ought to send our singers to the trenches. Ian, go and
+sing to the men of England and of France 'The Song of the Men of
+Harlech.' Your song will be stronger than your sword."
+
+"I will sing it to my sword, sir. It will make it sharper." Then Rahal
+said, "You are a brave boy, Ian," and Thora lifted her lovely face and
+kissed him.
+
+Every heart was uplifted, and the atmosphere of the room was sensitive
+with that exalted feeling which finds no relief in speech. Humanity
+soon reacts against such tension. There was a slight movement, every
+one breathed heavily, like people awakening from sleep, and the Bishop
+said in a slow, soft voice:
+
+"I was thinking of Boris. After all, the dear lad may return to us.
+Surgeons are very clever now, they can almost work miracles."
+
+"Boris will not return," said Rahal.
+
+"How can you know that, Rahal?"
+
+"He told me so."
+
+"Have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When?"
+
+"On the afternoon of the eleventh of this month."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, Bishop, I was making the cap I am wearing and I was selecting
+from some white roses on my lap the ones I thought best. Suddenly
+Boris stood at my side."
+
+"You saw him?"
+
+"Yes, Bishop. I saw him plainly, though I do not remember lifting my
+head."
+
+"How did he look?"
+
+"Like one who had just won a victory. He was much taller and grander
+in appearance. Oh, he looked like one who had realized God's promise
+that we should be satisfied. A kind of radiance was around him and the
+air of a conquering soldier. And he was my boy still! He called me
+'Mother,' he sent such a wonderful message to his father." And at the
+last word, Ragnor uttered just such a sharp, short gasp as might have
+come from the rift of a broken heart.
+
+"Did you ask him any question, Rahal?"
+
+"I could not speak, but my soul longed to know what he was doing and
+the longing was immediately answered. 'I am doing the will of the Lord
+of Hosts,' he said. 'I was needed here.' Then I felt his kiss on my
+cheek, and I lifted my head and looked at the clock. It had struck
+three just as I was conscious of the presence of Boris. It was only
+two minutes past three, but I seemed to have lived hours in that two
+minutes."
+
+"Do you think, Bishop, that God loves a soldier? He may employ them
+and yet not love them?"
+
+Then the Bishop straightened himself and lifted his head, and his face
+glowed and his eyes shone as he answered, "I will give you one
+example, it could be multiplied indefinitely. Paul of Tarsus, a pale,
+beardless young man, dressed as a Roman soldier, is bringing prisoners
+to Damascus. Christ meets him on the road and Paul knows instantly
+that he has met the Captain of his soul. Hence forward, he is beloved
+and honoured and employed for Christ, and at the end of life he is
+joyful because he has fought a good fight and knows that his reward is
+waiting for him.
+
+"God has given us the names of many soldiers beloved of Him--Abraham,
+Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, etc. What care he took of them! What a
+friend in all extremities he was to them! All men who fight for their
+Faith, Home and Country, for Freedom, Justice and Liberty, are God's
+armed servants. They do His will on the battlefield, as priests do it
+at the altar. So then,
+
+  "In the world's broad field of battle,
+    In the bivouac of life,
+  Be not like dumb driven cattle,
+    Be a hero in the strife!"
+
+"We were speaking of the bards going to the battlefield with the
+soldiers, and as I was quoting that verse of Longfellow's a few lines
+from the old bard we call Ossian came into my mind."
+
+"Tell us, then," said Thora, "wilt thou not say the words to us, our
+dear Bishop?"
+
+"I will do that gladly:
+
+  "Father of Heroes, high dweller of eddying winds,
+  Where the dark, red thunder marks the troubled cloud,
+  Open Thou thy stormy hall!
+  Let the bards of old be near.
+  Father of heroes! the people bend before thee.
+  Thou turnest the battle in the field of the brave,
+  Thy terrors pour the blasts of death,
+  Thy tempests are before thy face,
+  But thy dwelling is calm above the clouds,
+  The fields of thy rest are pleasant."
+
+"When I was a young man," he continued, "I used to read Ossian a good
+deal. I liked its vast, shadowy images, its visionary incompleteness,
+just because we have not yet invented the precise words to describe
+the indescribable."
+
+So they talked, until the frugal Orcadian supper of oatmeal and milk,
+and bread and cheese, appeared. Then the night closed and sealed what
+the day had done, and there was no more speculation about Ian's
+future. The idea of a military life as a school for the youth had
+sprung up strong and rapidly, and he was now waiting, almost
+impatiently, for it to be translated into action.
+
+A few restful, pleasant days followed. Ragnor was preparing to leave
+his business for a week, the Bishop was settling some parish
+difficulties, and Ian and Thora were permitted to spend their time as
+they desired. They paid one farewell visit to their future home and
+found an old woman who had nursed Thora in charge of the place.
+
+"Thou wilt find everything just so, when you two come home together,
+my baby," she said. "Not a pin will be out of its place, not a speck
+of dust on anything. Eva will always be ready, and please God you may
+call her far sooner than you think for."
+
+The Sabbath, the last Sabbath of the old year, was to be their last
+day together, and the Bishop desired Ian to make it memorable with
+song. Ian was delighted to do so and together they chose for his two
+solos, "O for the Wings of a Dove," and the heavenly octaves of "He
+Hath Ascended Up on High and Led Captivity Captive." The old
+cathedral's great spaces were crowded, the Bishop was grandly in the
+spirit, and he easily led his people to that solemn line where life
+verges on death and death touches Immortality. It was Christ the
+beginning, and the end; Christ the victim on the cross, and Christ the
+God of the Ascension! And he sent every one home with the promise of
+Immortality in their souls and the light of it on their faces. His
+theme had touched largely on the Christ of the Resurrection, and the
+mystery and beauty of this Christ was made familiar to them in a way
+they had not before considered.
+
+Ragnor was afraid it had perhaps been brought too close to their own
+conception of a soul, who was seen on earth after the death of the
+body. "You told the events of Christ's forty days on earth after His
+crucifixion so simply, Bishop," he said, "and yet with much of the air
+that our people tell a ghost story."
+
+"Well then, dear Conall, I was telling them the most sacred ghost
+story of the world, and yet it is the most literal reality in history.
+If it were only a dream, it would be the most dynamic event in human
+destiny."
+
+"You see, Bishop, there is so much in your way of preaching. It has
+that kind of good comradeship which I think was so remarkable in
+Christ. His style was not the ten commandments' style--thou shalt and
+thou shalt not--but that reasoning, brotherly way of 'What man is
+there among you that would not do the kind and right thing?' You used
+it this very morning when you cried out, 'If our dear England needed
+your help to save her Liberty and Life, what man is there among you
+that would not rise up like lions to save her?' And the men could
+hardly sit still. It was so real, so brotherly, so unlike preaching."
+
+"Conall, nothing is so wonderful and beautiful in Christ's life as its
+almost incredible approachableness."
+
+This sermon had been preached on the Sabbath morning and it
+spiritualized the whole day. Ian's singing also had proved a wonderful
+service, for when the young men of that day became old men, they could
+be heard leading their crews in the melodious, longing strains of 'O
+for the Wings of a Dove,' as they sat casting their lines into the
+restless water.
+
+In the evening a cold, northwesterly wind sprang up and Thora and Ian
+retreated to the parlour, where a good fire had been built; but the
+Bishop and Ragnor and Rahal drew closer round the hearth in the living
+room and talked, and were silent, as their hearts moved them. Rahal
+had little to say. She was thinking of Ian and of the new life he was
+going to, and of the long, lonely days that might be the fate of
+Thora. "The woeful laddie!" she whispered, "he has had but small
+chances of any kind. What can a lad do for himself and no mother able
+to help him!"
+
+The Bishop heard or divined her last words and he said, "Be content,
+Rahal. Not one, but many lives we hold, and our hail to every new work
+we begin is our farewell to the old work. Ian is going to give a
+Future to his Past."
+
+"I fear, Bishop----"
+
+"Fear is from the earthward side, Rahal. Above the clouds of Fear,
+there is the certain knowledge of Heaven. Fear is nothing, Faith is
+everything!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ONE REMAINS, THE MANY CHANGE AND PASS
+
+  You Scotsmen are a pertinacious brood;
+  Fitly you wear the thistle in your cap,
+  As in your grim theology.
+  O we're not all so fierce! God knows you'll find,
+  Well-combed and smooth-licked gentlemen enough,
+  Who will rejoice with you
+  To sneer at Calvin's close-wedged creed.
+                                         --BLACKIE.
+
+  Sow not in Sorrow,
+    Fling your seed abroad, and know
+  God sends tomorrow,
+    The rain to make it grow.
+                              --BLACKIE.
+
+
+There are epochs in every life that cut it sharply asunder, its
+continuity is broken and things can never be the same again. This was
+the dominant feeling that came to Thora Ragnor, as she sat with her
+mother one afternoon in early January. It was a day of Orkney's most
+uncomfortable and depressing kind, the whole island being swept by
+drifting clouds of vapour, which not only filled the atmosphere but
+also the houses, so that everything was to the touch damp and
+uncomfortable. Nothing could escape its miserable contact, even
+sitting on the hearthstone its power was felt; and until a good
+northwester came to dissipate the damp moisture, nobody expected much
+from any one's temper.
+
+Thora was restless and unhappy. Her life appeared to have been
+suddenly deprived of all joy and sunshine. She felt as if everything
+was at an end, or might as well be, and her mother's placid, peaceful
+face irritated her. How could she sit knitting mufflers for the
+soldiers in the trenches, and not think of Boris and also of Ian, whom
+they had all conspired to send to the same danger and perhaps death?
+She could not understand her mother's serenity. It occurred to her
+this afternoon, that she might have run away with Ian to Shetland and
+there her sisters would have seen her married; and she did not do
+this, she obeyed her parents, and what did she get for it? Loneliness
+and misery and her lover sent far away from her. Oh, those moments
+when Virtue has failed to reward us and we regret having served her!
+To the young, they are sometimes very bitter.
+
+And her mother's calmness! It not only astonished, it angered her. How
+could she sit still and not talk of Boris and Ian? It was a necessary
+relief to Thora, their names were at her lips all day long. But Thora
+had yet to learn that it is the middle-aged and the old who have the
+power of hoping through everything, because they have the knowledge
+that the soul survives all its adventures. This is the great
+inspiration, it is the good wine which God keeps to the last. The old,
+the way-worn, the faint and weary, they know this as the young can
+never know it.
+
+However, we may say to bad weather, as to all other bad things, "this,
+too, will pass," and in a couple of days the sky was blue, the sun
+shining, and the atmosphere fresh and clear and full of life-giving
+energy. Ships of all kinds were hastening into the harbour and the
+mail boat, broad-bottomed and strongly built, was in sight. Then there
+was a little real anxiety. There was sure to be letters, what news
+would they bring? Some people say there is no romance in these days.
+Very far wrong are they. These sealed bits of white paper hold very
+often more wonderful romances than any in the Thousand Nights of story
+telling.
+
+Rahal's and Thora's anxiety was soon relieved. A messenger from the
+warehouse came quickly to the house, with a letter from Ragnor to
+Rahal and a letter from Ian to Thora. Ragnor's letter said they had
+had a rough voyage southward, the storm being in their faces all the
+way to Leith. There they left the boat and took a train for London,
+from which place they went as quickly as possible to Spithead, fearing
+to miss the ship sailing for the Crimea on the eleventh. Ragnor said
+he had seen Ian safely away to Sebastopol and observed that he was
+remarkably cheerful and satisfied. He spoke then of his own delight
+with London and regretted that he had not made arrangements which
+would permit him to stay a week or two longer there.
+
+Thora's letter was a genuine love letter, for Ian was deeply in love
+and everything he said was in the superlative mood. Lovers like such
+letters. They are to them the sacred writings. It did not seem
+ridiculous to Thora to be called "an angel of beauty and goodness, the
+rose of womanhood, the lily on his heart, his star of hope, the
+sunshine of his life," and many other extravagant impossibilities. She
+would have been disappointed if Ian had been more matter-of-fact and
+reasonable.
+
+So there was now comparative happiness in the house of Ragnor, for
+though the master's letters were never much more than plain statements
+of doings or circumstances, they satisfied Rahal. It is not every man
+that knows how to write to a woman, even if he loves her; but women
+have a special divinity in reading love letters, and they know beyond
+all doubting the worth of words as affected by those who use them.
+
+Ragnor gave himself a whole week in London and before leaving that
+city for Edinburgh he wrote a few lines home, saying he intended to
+stay in London over the following Sabbath and hear Canon Liddon
+preach. On Monday he would reach Edinburgh and on Tuesday have an
+interview with Dr. Macrae and then take the first boat for home. They
+could now wait easily, the silence had been broken, the weather was
+good, they had "The History of Pendennis" and "David Copperfield" to
+read, their little duties and little cares to attend to, and they were
+not at all unhappy.
+
+At length, the master was to be home _that_ day. If the wind was
+favourable, he might arrive about two o'clock, but Rahal thought the
+boat would hardly manage it before three with the wind in her teeth,
+or it might be nearer four. The house was all ready for him, spick and
+span from roof to cellar and a dinner of the good things he
+particularly liked in careful preparation. And, after all, he came a
+little earlier than was expected.
+
+"Dear Conall," said Rahal, "I have been watching for thee, but I
+thought it would be four o'clock, ere thou made Kirkwall."
+
+"Not with Donald Farquar sailing the boat. The way he manages a boat
+is beyond reason."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"He talks to her, as if she was human. He scolds and coaxes her and
+this morning he promised to paint and gild her figurehead, if she got
+into Kirkwall before three. Then every sailor on board helped her and
+the wind changed a point or two and that helped her, and now and then
+Farquar pushed her on, with a good or bad word, and she saved herself
+by just eleven minutes."
+
+"And how well thou art looking! Never have I seen thee so handsome
+before, never! What hast thou been doing to Conall Ragnor?"
+
+"I will tell thee. When I had bid Ian good-bye, I resolved to take a
+week's holiday in London and as I walked down the Strand, I noticed
+that every one looked at me, not unkindly but curiously, and when I
+looked at the men who looked at me, I saw we were different. I went
+into a barber's first, and had my hair cut like Londoners wear it,
+short and smart, and not thick and bushy, like mine was."
+
+"Well then, thy hair was far too long but they have cut off all thy
+curls."
+
+"I like the wanting of them. They looked very womanish. I'm a deal
+more purpose-like without them. Then I went to a first-class
+tailor-man and he fit me out with the suit I'm wearing. He said it was
+'the correct thing for land or water.' What dost thou think of it?"
+
+"Nothing could be more becoming to thee."
+
+"Nay then, I got a Sabbath Day suit that shames this one. And I bought
+a church hat and a soft hat that beats all, and kid gloves, and a good
+walking stick with a fancy knob."
+
+"Thou art not needing a walking stick for twenty years yet."
+
+"Well then, the English gentlemen always carries a walking stick. I
+think they wouldn't know the way they were going without one. At last,
+I went to the shoemakers, and he made me take off my 'Wellingtons.' He
+said no one wore them now, and he shod me, as thou sees, very
+comfortably. I like the change."
+
+Then they heard Thora calling them, and Ragnor taking Rahal's hand
+hastened to answer the call. She was standing at the foot of the
+stairway, and her father kissed her and as he did so whispered--"All
+is well, dear one. After dinner, I will tell thee." Then he took her
+hand, and the three in one went together to the round table, set so
+pleasantly near to the comfortable fireside. Standing there,
+hand-clasped, the master said those few words of adoration and
+gratitude that turned the white-spread board into a household altar.
+Dinner was on the table and its delicious odours filled the room and
+quickly set Ragnor talking.
+
+"I will tell you now, what I saw in London," he said. "Ian is a story
+good enough to keep until after dinner. I saw him sail away from
+Spithead, and he went full of hope and pluck and sure of success. Then
+I took the first train back to London. I got lodgings in a nice little
+hotel in Norfolk Street, just off the Strand, and London was calling
+me all night long."
+
+"Thou could not see much, Father, in one week," said Thora.
+
+"I saw the Queen and the Houses of Parliament, and I saw the Tower of
+London and Westminster Abbey and the Crystal Palace. And I have heard
+an oratorio, with a chorus of five hundred voices and Sims Reeves as
+soloist. I have been to Drury Lane, and the Strand Theatres, to a big
+picture gallery, and a hippodrome. My dear ones, the end of one
+pleasure was just the beginning of another; in one week, I have lived
+fifty years."
+
+Any one can understand how a new flavour was added to the food they
+were eating by such conversation. Not all the sauces in Christendom
+could have made it so piquant and appetizing. Ragnor carved and ate
+and talked, and Rahal and Thora listened and laughed and asked endless
+questions, and when the mind enters into a meal, it not only prolongs,
+it also sweetens and brightens it. I suppose there may be in every
+life two or three festivals, that stand out from all others--small,
+unlooked-for meetings, perhaps--where love, hope, wonder and happy
+looking-forward, made the food taste as if it had been cooked in
+Paradise. Where, at least for a few hours, a mortal might feel that
+man had been made only a little lower than the angels.
+
+Now, if any of my readers have such a memory, let them close the
+book, shut their eyes and live it over again. It was probably a
+foretaste of a future existence, where we shall have faculties capable
+of fuller and higher pleasures; faculties that without doubt "will be
+satisfied." For in all hearts that have suffered, there must abide the
+conviction that the Future holds Compensation, not Punishment.
+
+But without forecast or remembrance, the Ragnors that night enjoyed
+their highly mentalised meal, and after it was over and the table set
+backward, and the white hearth brushed free of ashes, they drew around
+the fire, and Ragnor laid down his pipe, and said:
+
+"I left London last Monday, and I was in Edinburgh until Wednesday
+morning. On Tuesday I called on Dr. Macrae. I had a letter to give him
+from Ian."
+
+"Why should Ian have written to him?" asked Rahal, in a tone of
+disapproval.
+
+"Because Ian has a good heart, he wrote to his father. I read the
+letter. It was all right."
+
+"What then did he say to him?"
+
+"Well, Rahal, he told his father that he was leaving for the
+front, and he wished to leave with his forgiveness and blessing, if he
+would give it to him. He said that he was sure that in their
+life-long dispute he must often have been in the wrong, and he
+asked forgiveness for all such lapses of his duty. He told his father
+that he had a clear plan of success before him, but said that in
+all cases--fortunate or unfortunate--he would always remember the
+name he bore and do nothing to bring it shame or dishonour. A very
+good, brave letter, dear ones. I give Ian credit for it."
+
+"Did thou advise him to write it?" asked Rahal.
+
+"No, it sprang from his own heart."
+
+"Thou should not have sanctioned it."
+
+"Ian did right, Rahal. I did right to sanction it."
+
+"Father, if Ian has a clear plan of success before him, what is it? He
+ought to have told us."
+
+"He thought it out while we were at sea, he asked me to explain the
+matter to you. It is, indeed, a plan so simple and manifest, that I
+wonder we did not propose it at the very first. You must recollect
+that Ian was in the employ of Dr. Finlay of Edinburgh for three years
+and a half, and that during that period he acquired both a large
+amount of medical knowledge and also of medical experience. Now we all
+know that Ian has a special gift for this science, especially for its
+surgical side, and he is not going to the trenches or the cavalry, he
+is going to offer himself to the Surgical and Medical Corps. He will
+go to the battlefield, carry off the wounded, give them first help, or
+see them to the hospital. In this way he will be doing constant good
+to others and yet be forwarding the career which is to make his future
+happy and honourable."
+
+"Then Ian has decided to be a surgeon, Father?"
+
+"Yes, and I can tell thee, Thora, he has not set himself a task beyond
+his power. I think very highly of Ian, no one could help doing so; and
+see here, Thora! I have a letter in my pocket for thee! He gave it to
+me as I bid him good-bye at Spithead."
+
+"I am so happy, Father! So happy!"
+
+"Thou hast good reason to be happy. We shall all be proud of Ian in
+good time."
+
+"Did thou give Ian's letter to his father's hands, or did thou mail
+it, Coll?"
+
+"I gave it to him, personally."
+
+"What was thy first impression of him?"
+
+"He gave me first of all an ecclesiastical impression. I just
+naturally looked for a gown or surplice. He wanted something without
+one. He met me coldly but courteously, and taking Ian's letter from
+me, placed it deliberately upon a pile of letters lying on his desk. I
+said, 'It is from thy son, Doctor, perhaps thou had better read it at
+once. It is a good letter, sir, read it.'
+
+"He bowed, and asked if Ian was with me. I said, 'No, sir, he is
+on his way to Scutari.' Then he was silent. After a few moments he
+asked me if I had been in Edinburgh during the past Sabbath. 'You
+should have been here,' he added, 'then you could have heard the
+great Dr. Chalmers preach.' I told him that I had spent that
+never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath under the blessed dome of St. Paul's in
+London. I said something about the transcending beauty of the
+wonderful music of the cathedral service, and spoke with delight of
+the majestic nave, filled with mediæval rush-bottomed chairs for the
+worshippers, and I told him how much more fitting they were in the
+House of God than pews." And Ragnor uttered the last word with a
+new-found emphasis. "He asked, quite scornfully, in what sense I
+found them more fitting, and I answered rather warmly--'Why, sir,
+sitting together in chairs, we felt so much more at home. We were
+like one great family in our Father's house.'"
+
+"Are the chairs rented?" asked Rahal.
+
+"Rented!" cried Ragnor scornfully. "No, indeed! There are no dear
+chairs and no cheap chairs, all are equal and all are free. I never
+felt so like worshipping in a church before. The religious spirit had
+free way in our midst."
+
+"What did Macrae say?"
+
+"He said, he supposed the rush chairs were an 'Armenian innovation';
+and I answered, 'The pews, sir, they are the innovation.'"
+
+"Did thou have any argument with him? I have often heard Ian say he
+plunged into religious argument with every one he met."
+
+"Well, Rahal, I don't know how it happened, but I quickly found myself
+in a good atmosphere of contradictions. I do not remember either what
+I had been saying, but I heard him distinctly assert, that 'it was the
+Armenians who had described the Calvinists, and they had not wasted
+their opportunities.' Then I found myself telling him that Armenianism
+had ruled the religious world ever since the birth of Christianity;
+but that Calvinism was a thing of yesterday, a mere Geneva opinion.
+Rahal, the man has a dogma for a soul, and yet through this hard
+veil, I could see that he was full of a longing for love; but he has
+not found out the way to love, his heart is ice-bound. He made me say
+things I did not want to say, he stirred my soul round and round until
+it boiled over, and then the words would come. Really, Rahal, I did
+not know the words were in my mind, till his aggravating questions
+made me say them."
+
+"What words? Art thou troubled about them?"
+
+"A little. He was talking of faith and doubt, especially as it
+referred to the Bible, and I listened until I could bear it no longer.
+He was asking what proof there was for this, and that, and the other,
+and as I said, he got me stirred up beyond myself and I told him I
+cared nothing about proofs. I said proofs were for sceptics and not
+for good men who _knew_ in whom they had believed."
+
+"Well then, Coll, that was enough, was it not?"
+
+"Not for Macrae. He said immediately, 'Suppose there was no divine
+authority for the scheme of morals and divinity laid down in this
+Book,' and he laid his hand reverently on the Bible, 'where should we
+be?' And I told him, we should be just where we were, because God's
+commands were written on every conscience and that these commands
+would stand firm even if creeds became dust, and Matthew, Mark, Luke,
+John and Paul, all failed and passed away. 'Power of God!' I cried, as
+I struck the table with my fist, 'it takes God's tireless, patient,
+eternal love to put up with puny men, always doubting Him. I believe
+in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth!' I said,
+'and I want no proofs about Him in whom I believe.' By this time,
+Rahal, he had me on fire. I was ready to deny anything he asserted,
+especially about hell, for thou knows, Rahal, that there are hells in
+this world and no worse needed. So when he asked if I believed in the
+Calvinistic idea of hell, I answered, 'I deny it! My soul denies
+it--utterly!' I reminded him that God spoke to Dives in hell and
+called him son and that Dives, even there, clung to the fatherhood of
+God. And I told him this world was a hell to those who deserved hell,
+and a place of much trial to most men and women, and I thought it was
+poor comfort to preach to such, that the next world was worse. There
+now! I have told you enough. He asked me to lunch with him, and I did;
+and I told him as we ate, what a fine fellow Ian was, and he listened
+and was silent."
+
+"Then you saw Ian's mother and sister?" asked Thora.
+
+"No, I did not. They had gone for the winter to the Bridge of Allan.
+Mrs. Macrae is sick, her husband seemed unhappy about her."
+
+Rahal hoped now that her home would settle itself into its usual calm,
+methodical order. She strove to give to every hour its long accustomed
+duty, and to infuse an atmosphere of rest and of "use and wont" into
+every day's affairs. It was impossible. The master of the house had
+suffered a world change. He had tasted of strange pleasures and
+enthusiasms, and was secretly planning a life totally at variance with
+his long accustomed routine and responsibilities. He did not speak of
+the things in his heart but nevertheless they escaped him.
+
+Very soon he began to have much more regular communication with his
+sons in Shetland, and finally he told Rahal that he intended taking
+his son Robert into partnership. Such changes grew slowly in Ragnor's
+mind, and much more slowly in practice, but Rahal knew that they were
+steadily working to some ultimate, and already definite and determined
+end in her husband's will.
+
+The absent also exerted a far greater power upon the home than any
+one believed. Ian's letters came with persistent regularity, and the
+influence of one was hardly spent, when another arrived of quite a
+different character. Ian was rapidly realizing his hopes. He had been
+gladly taken into a surgical corps, under the charge of a Doctor
+Frazer, and his life was a continual drama of stirring events.
+Generally he wrote between actions, and then he described the gallant
+young men resting on the slopes of the beleaguered hill, with their
+weapons at their finger tips, but always cheerful. Sometimes he spoke
+of them under terrible fire in their life-or-death push forward,
+followed by the surgeons and stretcher-bearers. Sometimes, he had been
+to the trenches to dress a wound that would not stop bleeding, but
+always he wondered at seeing the resolute grit and calmness of these
+young men, who had been the dandies in London drawing-rooms a year ago
+and who were now smoking placidly in the trenches at Redan.
+
+"What is it?" he asked an old surgeon, on whom he was waiting. "Is it
+recklessness?"
+
+"No, sir!" was the answer. "It is straight courage. Courage in the
+blood. Courage nourished on their mother's milk. Courage educated into
+them at Eton or Rugby, in many a fight and scuffle. Courage that
+lived with them night and day at Oxford or Cambridge, and that made
+them choose danger and death rather than be known for one moment as a
+cad or a coward. It was dancing last year. It is fighting in a proper
+quarrel this year. Different duties, that is all."
+
+Every now and then Sunna dropped them letters about which there was
+much pleasant speculating, for as the summer came forward, she began
+to accept the disappointments made by the death of Boris, and to
+consider what possibilities of life were still within her power. She
+said in May that "she was sick and weary of everything about
+Sebastopol, and that she wanted to go back to Scotland, far more
+frantically than she ever wanted to leave it." In June, she said, she
+had got her grandfather to listen to reason, but had been forced to
+cry for what she wanted, a humiliation beyond all apologies.
+
+Her next letter was written in Edinburgh, where she declared she
+intended to stay for some time. Maximus Grant was in Edinburgh with
+his little brother, who was under the care and treatment of an eminent
+surgeon living there. "The poor little laddie is dying," she said,
+"but I am able to help him over many bad hours, and Max is not
+half-bad, that is, he might be worse if left to himself. Heigh-ho!
+What varieties of men, and varieties of their trials, poor women have
+to put up with!"
+
+As the year advanced Sunna's letters grew bright and more and more
+like her, and she described with admirable imitative piquancy the
+literary atmosphere and conversation which is Edinburgh's native air.
+In the month of November, little Eric went away suddenly, in a
+paroxysm of military enthusiasm, dying literally the death of a
+soldier "with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the
+trumpets," in his soul's hearing.
+
+"We adored him," wrote Sunna, in her most fervent religious mood,
+which was just as sincere as any other mood. "He was such a loving,
+clever little soul, and he lay so long within the hollow of Death's
+sickle. There he heard and saw wonderful things, that I would not dare
+to speak of. Max has wept very sincerely. It is my lot apparently, to
+administer drops of comfort to him. In this world, I find that women
+can neither hide nor run away from men and their troubles, the moment
+anything goes wrong with them, they fly to some woman and throw their
+calamity on her."
+
+"It is easy to see which way Sunna is drifting," said Rahal, after
+this letter had been read. "She will marry Maximus Grant, of course."
+
+"Mother, her grandfather wishes that marriage. It is very suitable.
+His silent, masterful way will cure Sunna's faults."
+
+"It will do nothing of the kind. What the cradle rocks, the spade
+buries. If Sunna lives to be one hundred years old--a thing not
+unlikely--she will be Sunna. Just Sunna."
+
+During all this summer, Ragnor was deeply engrossed in his business,
+and the Vedders remained in Edinburgh, as did also Mistress Brodie,
+though she had had all the best rooms in her Kirkwall house
+redecorated. "It is her hesitation about grandfather. She will, and
+she won't," wrote Sunna, "and she keeps grandfather hanging by a
+hair." Then she made a few scornful remarks about "the hesitating
+_liaisons_ of old women" and concluded that it all depended upon the
+marriage ceremony.
+
+  Grandfather [she wrote] wants to sneak into some out of the way
+  little church, and get the business over as quickly and quietly as
+  possible; and Mistress Brodie has dreams of a peach-bloom satin
+  gown, and a white lace bonnet. She thought "that was enough for a
+  second affair"; and when I gently hoped that it was at least an
+  affair of the heart, she said with a distinct snap, "Don't be
+  impertinent, Miss!" However, all this is but the overture to the
+  great matrimonial drama, and it is rather interesting.
+
+  I saw by a late London paper that Thora's lover has gone and got
+  himself decorated, or crossed, for doing some dare-devil sort of
+  thing about wounded men. I wonder how Thora will like to walk on
+  Pall Mall with a man who wears a star or a medal on his breast.
+  Such things make women feel small. For, of course, we could win
+  stars and medals if we had the chance. Max considers Ian "highly
+  praise-worthy." Max lately has a way of talking in two or three
+  syllables. I am trying to remember where I left my last spelling
+  book; I fear I shall have to get up my orthography.
+
+The whole of this year A. D. 1855 was one of commonplaces stirred by
+tragic events. It is this conjunction that makes the most prosaic of
+lives always a story. It only taught Thora and Rahal to make the most
+of such pleasures as were within their reach. In the evening Ragnor
+was always ready to share what they had to offer, but in the daytime
+he was getting his business into such perfect condition that he could
+leave it safely in charge of his son Robert for a year, or more, if
+that was his wish.
+
+On the second of March, the Czar Nicholas died, and there was good
+hope in that removal. In June, General Raglan died of cholera, and on
+the following fifth of September, the Russians, finding they could no
+longer defend Sebastopol, blew up its defences and also its two
+immense magazines of munitions. This explosion was terrific, the very
+earth appeared to reel. The town they deliberately set on fire. Then
+on Sunday morning, September the ninth, the English and French took
+possession of the great fortress, though it was not until the last day
+of February, A. D. 1856, that the treaty of peace was signed.
+
+After the occupation of Sebastopol, however, there was a cessation of
+hostilities, and the hospitals rapidly began to empty and the
+physicians and surgeons to return home. Dr. Frazer remained at his
+post till near Christmas, and was then able to leave the few cases
+remaining in the charge of competent nurses. Ian remained at his side
+and they returned to England together. It was then within a few days
+of Christmas, and Ian hastened northward without delay.
+
+There was no hesitating welcome for him now; he was met by the truest
+and warmest affection, he was cheerfully given the honour which he had
+faithfully won. And the wedding day was no longer delayed, it was
+joyfully hastened forward. Bishop Hedley, the Vedders and Maximus
+Grant had already arrived and the little town was all agog and eager
+for the delayed ceremony. Sunna had brought with her Thora's new
+wedding dress and the day had been finally set for the first of
+January.
+
+"Thou will begin a fresh life with a fresh year," said Rahal to her
+daughter. "A year on which, as yet, no tears have fallen; and which
+has not known care or crossed purpose. On its first page thou will
+write thy marriage joy and thy new hopes, and the light of a perfect
+love will be over it."
+
+In the meantime life was full of new delights to Thora. Wonderful
+things were happening to her every day. The wedding dress was here.
+Adam Vedder had brought her a pretty silver tea service, Aunt
+Barbie--now Madame Vedder--had remembered her in many of those
+womanwise ways, that delight the heart of youth. Even Dominie Macrae
+had sent her a gold watch, and the little sister-in-law had chosen for
+her gift some very pretty laces. Rich and poor alike brought her their
+good-will offerings, and many old Norse awmries were ransacked in the
+search for jewels or ornaments of the jade stone, which all held as
+"luck beyond breaking."
+
+The present which pleased Thora most of all was a new wedding-dress,
+the gift of her mother. The rich ivory satin was perfect and peerless
+in its exquisite fit and simplicity; jewels, nor yet lace, could have
+added nothing to it. Sunna had brought it with her own toilet. In
+fact, she was ready to make a special sensation with it on the first
+of January, for her wedding garment as Thora's bridesmaid was nothing
+less than a robe of gold and white shot silk, worn over a hoop. She
+had been wearing a hoop all winter in Edinburgh, but she was quite
+sure she would be the first "hooped lady" to appear in Kirkwall town.
+Thora might wear the bride veil, with its wreath of myrtle and
+rosemary, but she had a pleasant little laugh, as she mentally saw
+herself in the balloon of white and gold shot silk, walking
+majestically up the nave of St. Magnus. It was so long since hoops had
+been worn. None of the present generation of Kirkwall women could ever
+have seen a lady in a hoop, and behind the present generation there
+was no likelihood of any hooped ladies in Kirkwall.
+
+Thora had no hoop. Her orders had been positively against it and
+unless Madame Vedder had slipped inside "the bell" she could not
+imagine any rival. As she made this reflection, she smiled, and then
+translated the smile into the thought, "If she has, she will look like
+a haystack."
+
+Now Ian's military suit in his department had been of white duff or
+linen, plentifully adorned with gilt buttons and bands representing
+some distinctive service. It was the secret desire of Ian to wear this
+suit, and he rather felt that Thora or his mother-in-law should ask
+him to do so. For he knew that its whiteness and gilt, and tiny knots
+of ribbon, gave to the wearer that military air, which all men yearn a
+little after. He wished to wear it on his wedding day but Thora had
+not thought of it, neither had Sunna. However, on the 29th, Rahal,
+that kind, wise woman, asked him as a special favour, to wear his
+medical uniform. She said, "the townsfolk would be so disappointed
+with black broadcloth and a pearl-grey waistcoat. They longed to see
+him as he went onto the battlefield, to save or succour the wounded."
+
+"But, Mother," he answered, "I went in the plainest linen suit to
+bring in the wounded and dying."
+
+"I know, dear one, but they do not know, and it is not worth while
+destroying an innocent illusion, we have so few of them as we grow
+old."
+
+"Very well, Mother, it shall be as you wish."
+
+"Of course Ian wished to wear it," said Sunna.
+
+"Oh, Sunna, you must not judge all men from Max."
+
+"I am far from that folly. Your father has been watching the winds and
+the clouds all day. So have I. Conall Ragnor is always picturesque,
+even poetical. I feel safe if I follow him. He says it will be fine
+tomorrow. I hope so!"
+
+This hope was more than justified. It was a day of sunshine and little
+wandering south winds, and the procession was a fact. Now Ragnor knew
+that this marriage procession, as a national custom, was passing away,
+but it had added its friendliness to his own and all his sons' and
+daughters' weddings and he wanted Thora's marriage ceremonial to
+include it. "When thou art an old woman, Thora," he said to her, "then
+thou wilt be glad to have remembered it."
+
+At length the New Year dawned and the day arrived. All was ready for
+it. There was no hurry, no fret, no uncertainty. Thora rode to the
+cathedral in the Vedder's closed carriage with her father and mother.
+Ian was with Maximus and Sunna in the Galt landeau. Adam Vedder and
+his bride rode together in their open Victoria and all were ready as
+the clock struck ten. Then a little band of stringed instruments and
+young men took their place as leaders of the procession, and when they
+started joyfully "Room for the Bride!" the carriages took the places
+assigned them and about two hundred men and women, who had gathered at
+the Ragnor House, followed in procession, many joining in the
+singing.
+
+The cathedral was crowded when they reached it, and Dr. Hedley in
+white robes came forward to meet the bride and, with smiles and loving
+good will, to unite her forever to the choice of her soul.
+
+It was almost a musical marriage. Melody began and followed and closed
+the whole ceremonial. About twenty returned with the bridal party to
+the Ragnor House to eat the bridal dinner, but the general townsfolk
+were to have their feast and dance in the Town Hall about seven in the
+evening. The Bishop stayed only to bless the meal, for the boat was
+waiting that was to carry him to a Convocation of the Church then
+sitting in Edinburgh. But he wore his sprig of rosemary on his vest,
+and he stood at Ragnor's right hand and watched him mix the Bride
+Cup, watched him mingle in one large silver bowl of pre-Christian age
+the pale, delicious sherry and fine sugar and spices and stir the
+whole with a strip of rosemary. Then every guest stood up and was
+served with a cup, most of them having in their hand a strip of
+rosemary to stir it with. And after the Bishop had blessed the bride
+and blessed the bridegroom, he said, "I will quote for you a passage
+from an old sermon and after it, you will stir your cup again with
+rosemary and grow it still more plentifully in your gardens.
+
+"The rosemary is for married men and man challengeth it, as belonging
+properly to himself. It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memory,
+and affects kindly the heart. Let this flower of man ensign your
+wisdom, love and loyalty, and carry it, not only in your hands, but in
+your heads and hearts." Then he lifted his glass and stirred the wine
+with his strip of rosemary, and as he did so all followed his example,
+while he repeated from an old romance the following lines:
+
+  ... "Before we divide,
+  Let us dip our rosemaries
+  In one rich bowl of wine, to this brave girl
+  And to the gentleman."
+
+With these words he departed, and the utmost and happiest interchange
+of all kinds of good fellowship followed. Every man and woman was at
+perfect ease and ready to give of the best they had. Even Adam Vedder
+delighted all, and especially his happy-looking bride, by his clever
+condensation of Sunna's favourite story of "The Banded Men." No
+finished actor could have made it, in its own way, a finer model of
+dramatic narrative, especially in its quaint reversal of the parts
+usually played by father and son, into those of the prodigal father
+and the money-loving, prudent son. Then a little whisper went round
+the table and it sprang from Sunna, and people smiled and remembered
+that Adam had won his wife from three younger men than himself and, as
+if by a single, solid impulse, they stirred their wine cups once more
+and called for a cheer for the old bridegroom, who had been faithful
+for forty years to his first love and had then walked off with her,
+from Provost, Lawyer and Minister; all of them twenty years younger
+than himself.
+
+Getting near to three o'clock, they began to sing and Rahal was
+pleased to hear that sound of peace, for several guests were just from
+the battlefield and quite as ready for a quarrel as a song. Also
+during the little confusion of removing fruit and cake and glasses,
+and the substitution of the cups and saucers and the strong, hot,
+sweet tea that every Norseman loves, Ian and Thora slipped away
+without notice. Max Grant's carriage put them in half-an-hour on the
+threshold of their own home. They crossed it hand and hand and Ian
+kissed the hand he held and Thora raised her face in answer; but words
+have not yet been invented that can speak for such perfect happiness.
+
+  Love is rich in his own right,
+    He is heir of all the spheres,
+  In his service day and night
+    Swing the tides and roll the years.
+  What has he to ask of fate?
+    Crown him, glad or desolate.
+
+  Time puts out all other flames
+    But the glory of his eyes;
+  His are all the sacred names,
+    His the solemn mysteries.
+  Crown him! In his darkest day
+    He has Heaven to give away!
+
+Ian's business arrangements curtailed the length of any festivity in
+relation to the marriage. He had already signed an agreement with Dr.
+Frazer to return to him as soon as possible after the twelfth day and
+remain as his assistant until he was fully authenticated a surgeon by
+the proper schools. In the meantime he would enter the London School
+of Medicine and Surgery and give to Dr. Frazer all the time not
+demanded by its hours and exercises. For this attention Ian was to
+receive from Dr. Frazer one hundred pounds a year. Furthermore, when
+Ian had received the proper authority to call himself Dr. John Macrae,
+he was to have the offer of a partnership with Dr. Frazer, on what
+were considered very favourable terms.
+
+So their little romance was at last happily over. Ian was an
+infinitely finer and nobler man. He had dwelt amid great acts and
+great suffering for a year and had not visited the House of Mourning
+in vain. All that was light and trifling had fallen away from him. He
+regarded his life and talents now as a great and solemn charge and was
+resolved to make them of use to his fellows. And Thora was lovelier
+than she had ever been. She had learned self-restraint and she had
+hoped through evil days, till good days came; so then, she knew how to
+look for good when all appeared wrong and by faith and will, bring
+good out of evil.
+
+After Thora and her husband left for London a great change took place
+in the Ragnor home. Ragnor had been preparing for it ever since his
+visit to London and, within a month, Robert Ragnor and his wife and
+family came from Shetland and took possession. It gave Rahal a little
+pain to see any woman in her place but that was nothing, she was going
+to give her dear Coll the dream of his life. She was going to travel
+with him, and see all the civilized countries in the world! She was
+going to London first, and last, of all!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SEQUENCES
+
+
+Not long ago I found in a list of Orkney and Shetland literature
+several volumes by a Conall Ragnor, two of them poetry. But that just
+tended to certify a suspicion. Sixty years ago I had heard him repeat
+some Gallic poems and had known instinctively, though only a girl of
+eighteen, that the man was a poet.
+
+It roused in me a curiosity I felt it would be pleasant to gratify,
+and so a little while after I began this story, I wrote to a London
+newspaper man and asked him to send me some of his Orkney exchanges. I
+have a habit of trusting newspaper editors and I found this one as I
+expected, willing and obliging. He sent me two Orkney papers and the
+first thing I noticed was the prevalence of the old names. Among them
+I saw Mrs. Max Grant, and I thought I would write to her and take my
+chance of the lady turning out to be the old Sunna Vedder. It was
+quite a possibility, as we were apparently about the same age when I
+saw her. It was only for an hour or two in the evening we met, at the
+Ragnor house, but girls see a deal in an hour or two and if I
+remembered her, she had doubtless chronicled an opinion of me.
+
+In about five weeks Mrs. Grant's letter in answer to mine arrived. She
+began it by saying she remembered me, because I wore a hat, a sailor's
+hat, and she said it was the first hat she ever saw on a woman's head.
+She said also, that I told her women were beginning to wear them for
+shopping and walking and driving, or out at sea, but never for church
+or visiting. All of which I doubtless said, for it was my first hat.
+And I do not remember women wearing hats at all until about this
+time.
+
+  I suppose [she continued] thou wants to know first of all about
+  the Vedders. They were _the_ people then, and they have not grown
+  a bit smaller, nor do they think any less of themselves yet. My
+  grandfather married again and was not sorry for it. I don't know
+  whether his wife was sorry or not. I took Maximus Grant for a
+  husband for, after Boris Ragnor died, I did not care who I took,
+  provided he had plenty of good qualities and plenty of gold. We
+  lived together thirty years very respectably. I took my way and I
+  usually expected him to do the same. We had four sons, and they
+  have nine sons among them, and all of the nine are now fighting
+  the vipers they have been coddling for forty or fifty years. Some
+  are in the regular army, some in the navy, and some in the plucky,
+  fighting little navy, patrolling England and her brood of
+  coastwise islands. They are a tough, rough, hard lot, but I love
+  them all better than anything else in this world. There are a good
+  many Vedder houses in Orkney, and they are all full of little
+  squabbling, fighting, never clean, and never properly dressed
+  little brats, from four to eleven years old. So I don't worry
+  about there being Vedders enough to run things the way they want
+  them run.
+
+  The Ragnors are here in plenty. All the men are at the war, all
+  the women running fishing boats or keeping general shops, to which
+  I like to see the Germans going. They are told what kind of people
+  they are as they walk up to the shops; and they get what they want
+  at an impoverishing price. Serve them right! Men, however, will
+  pay any money for a thing they want.
+
+  There has not been such good times in Orkney since I was born, as
+  there is now. We have an enemy to beat in trade and an enemy to
+  beat in fight at our very doors, and our men are neither to hold
+  nor to bind, they are that top-lofty. War is a man's native air.
+  My sons and grandsons are all two inches taller than they were and
+  they defy Nature to contradict them. I never attempt it. Well,
+  then, they are proper men in all things, a little hard to deal
+  with and masterful, but just as I wish them. My grandfather died
+  fifty years ago, he might have lived longer if he had not
+  married. His widow wept in the deepest black and people thought
+  she was sorry.
+
+  The Ragnors are mostly here and in Shetland. Conall Ragnor never
+  really settled down again. Rahal and he lived in Edinburgh or
+  London, when not travelling. I heard that Conall wrote books and
+  really got money for them. I cannot believe that. Rahal died
+  first. Conall lived a month after her. They were laid in earth in
+  Stromness Church-yard. My grandfather wanted to bring the body of
+  Boris home and bury it in Stromness, and I would not let him. He
+  is all mine where he sleeps in the Crimea. I don't want him among
+  a congregation of his brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  I suppose thou must have heard of Thora's husband. He really
+  did become famous, and I was told his father forgave him all his
+  youthful follies. It was said Thora managed that in some clever
+  way; but I'm sure I don't know what to say. Thora never seemed
+  at all clever to me. She had many children, but she died long
+  ago, though she did live long enough to see her husband
+  knighted and her eldest boy marry the daughter of a lord. I have
+  no doubt she was happy in her own way, only she never did dress
+  herself as a person in the best society ought to have done. I
+  once told her so. "Well, then," she said, "I dress to please my
+  husband." Imagine such simplicity! As to myself I am getting
+  near to ninety, but I live a good life and God helps me. I have
+  kept my fine hair and complexion and I run around on my little
+  errands quite comfortably. Indeed I am sunwise able for
+  everything I want. I shall be glad to hear from thee again, and if
+  thou wilt send me occasionally some of those delightful American
+  papers, thou wilt make me much thy debtor. Also, I want thee
+  to tell all the brave young Americans thou knows that if they
+  would like a real life on the ocean wave, they ought to join
+  our wonderful patrol round the English coast. They will learn
+  more and see more and feel more in a month, in this little
+  interfering navy, than they'd learn in a lifetime in a first-class
+  man-of-war.
+
+  Write to me again and then we shall have tied our friendship with
+  a three-fold letter. Thine, with all good will and wishes,
+
+  SUNNA VEDDER GRANT.
+
+This is a woman's letter and it must have a postscript. It is only two
+lines of John Stuart Blackie's, and it should have been at the
+beginning, but it will touch your heart at the end as well as at the
+beginning.
+
+  "Oh, for a breath of the great North Sea,
+  Girdling the mountains!"
+                                   S. V. G.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber Notes
+
+Fixed probable typos.
+
+Hyphenation standardized.
+
+Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.
+
+Author's punctuation style is preserved, except quote marks, which
+have been standardized.
+
+Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Orkney Maid, by Amelia E. Barr.</title>
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+
+Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+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: An Orkney Maid
+
+Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2009 [EBook #29752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ORKNEY MAID ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
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+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>AN ORKNEY MAID</h1>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div class='center padtop adbox'>
+<p><span class="larger center">By AMELIA E. BARR</span></p>
+<p class='lalign'>An Orkney Maid<br />
+Christine<br />
+Joan<br />
+Profit and Loss<br />
+Three Score and Ten<br />
+The Measure of a Man<br />
+The Winning of Lucia<br />
+Playing with Fire<br />
+All the Days of My Life</p>
+<p class='section'><span class='smcap'>D. Appleton &amp; Company</span><br />
+Publishers<br />
+New York</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a>
+</div>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/img1.jpg' alt='' title='' width='310' height='500' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+&#8220;Ian was utterly charmed with the picture she made&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;<br />
+[<span class='smcap'>Page</span> <a href='#page_60'>60</a>]<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class="center">
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='muchlarger'>AN ORKNEY MAID</p>
+<p class='larger padtop center'>BY<br />
+AMELIA E. BARR</p>
+<p>AUTHOR OF &#8220;CHRISTINE,&#8221; &#8220;JOAN,&#8221; &#8220;PROFIT AND LOSS,&#8221; ETC.</p>
+<p class='padtop'><i>&#8220;The pleasant habit of existence, the sweet
+fable of life.&#8221;</i></p>
+<p class='padtop'>ILLUSTRATED</p>
+<p class='padtop'>D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br />
+NEW YORK<br />
+LONDON<br />
+1918</p>
+<p class='padtop'><span class='smcap'>Copyright, 1918, BY</span><br />
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</p>
+<p class='smaller padtop'>Printed in the United States of America</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='center cg'><span class='smcaplc'>TO</span></p>
+<p class='center cg'><span class='smcaplc'>MY DEAR FRIEND</span></p>
+<p class='center cg'>DR. MARTIN BARR</p>
+<p class='center cg'><span class='smcaplc'>OF</span></p>
+<p class='center cg'><span class='smcaplc'>ELWYNN, PENNSYLVANIA,</span></p>
+<p class='center cg'><span class='smcaplc'>I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK.</span></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'><span class='smcap'>Amelia E. Barr.</span></p>
+<p class='cg'><br />
+&#8220;<i>Honor and truth formed your will,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+Your heart, fidelity.</i>&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center larger'><i><b>MOTTO</b></i></p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'><i>&#8220;You can glad your child, or grieve it,<br />
+You can help it, or deceive it,<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>When all is done,<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Beneath God&#8217;s sun,<br />
+You can only love, and leave it.&#8221;</i></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'><p class="smaller">CHAPTER</p></td>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='right'><p class="smaller ralign">PAGE</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td />
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Introduction</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#INTRODUCTION'>1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>I.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The House of Ragnor</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_I_THE_HOUSE_OF_RAGNOR'>7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>II.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Adam Vedder&#8217;s Trouble</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_II_ADAM_VEDDERS_TROUBLE'>30</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>III.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Aries the Ram</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_III_ARIES_THE_RAM'>47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IV.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Sunna and Her Grandfather</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IV_SUNNA_AND_HER_GRANDFATHER'>72</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>V.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Sunna and Thora</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_V_SUNNA_AND_THORA'>98</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Old, Old Trouble</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VI_THE_OLD_OLD_TROUBLE'>129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Call of War</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VII_THE_CALL_OF_WAR'>164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>VIII.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Thora&#8217;s Problem</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_VIII_THORAS_PROBLEM'>193</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>IX.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The Bread of Bitterness</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_IX_THE_BREAD_OF_BITTERNESS'>230</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>X.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>The One Remains, the Many Change and Pass</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_X_THE_ONE_REMAINS_THE_MANY_CHANGE_AND_PASS'>271</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' class='chalgn'>XI.</td>
+  <td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span class='smcap'>Sequences</span></td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#CHAPTER_XI_SEQUENCES'>304</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div class='chsp' style='padding-top:0'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span>
+<a name='INTRODUCTION' id='INTRODUCTION'></a>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Yesterday</span> morning this thing happened
+to me: I was reading the <i>New York Times</i>
+and my eyes suddenly fell upon one word, and
+that word rang a little bell in my memory, &#8220;Kirkwall!&#8221;
+The next moment I had closed my eyes
+in order to see backward more clearly, and slowly,
+but surely, the old, old town&ndash;&ndash;standing boldly
+upon the very beach of the stormy North Sea&ndash;&ndash;became
+clear in my mental vision. There was a
+whole fleet of fishing boats, and a few smart smuggling
+craft rocking gently in its wonderful harbour&ndash;&ndash;a
+harbour so deep and safe, and so capacious
+that it appeared capable of sheltering the
+navies of the world.</p>
+<p>I was then eighteen years old, I am now over
+eighty-six; and the straits of Time have widened
+and widened with every year, so that many things
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span>
+appear to have been carried away into forgetfulness
+by the stress and flow of full waters. But not
+so! They are only lying in out-of-the-way corners
+of consciousness, and can easily be recalled by
+some word that has the potency of a spell over
+them.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Kirkwall!&#8221; I said softly, and then I began to
+read what the <i>Times</i> had to say about Kirkwall.
+The great point appeared to be that as a rendezvous
+for ships it had been placed fifty miles within
+the &#8220;made in Germany&#8221; danger zone, and was
+therefore useless to the British men-of-war. And
+I laughed inwardly a little, and began to consider
+if Kirkwall had ever been long outside of some
+danger zone or other.</p>
+<p>All its myths and traditions are of the fighting
+Picts and Scots, and when history began to notice
+the existence of the Orkneys it was to chronicle
+the struggle between Harold, King of Norway,
+and his rebellious subjects who had fled to the
+Orkneys to escape his tyrannical control. And of
+the danger zones of every kind which followed&ndash;&ndash;of
+storm and battle and bloody death&ndash;&ndash;does not
+the Saga of Eglis give us a full account?</p>
+<p>This fight for popular freedom was a failure.
+King Harold conquered his rebellious subjects, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+incidentally took possession of the islands and the
+people who had sheltered them. Then their rulers
+became Norwegian jarls&ndash;&ndash;or earls&ndash;&ndash;and there is
+no question about the danger zones into which the
+Norwegian vikings carried the Orcadeans&ndash;&ndash;quite
+in accord with their own desire and liking, no
+doubt. And the stirring story of these years&ndash;&ndash;full
+of delightful dangers to the men who adventured
+them&ndash;&ndash;may all be read today in the blood-stirring,
+blood-curdling Norwegian Sagas.</p>
+<p>In the middle of the fifteenth century, James
+the Third, King of Scotland, married Margaret
+of Denmark, and the Orcades were given to Scotland
+as a security for her dowry. The dowry was
+never paid, and after a lapse of a century and a
+half Denmark resigned all her Orcadean rights to
+Scotland. The later union of England and Scotland
+finally settled their destiny.</p>
+<p>But until the last century England cared very
+little about the Orcades. Indeed Colonel Balfour,
+writing of these islands in A. D. 1861, says:
+&#8220;Orkney is a part of a British County, but probably
+there is no part of Europe which so few
+Englishmen visit.&#8221; Colonel Balfour, of Balfour
+and Trenabie, possessed a noble estate on the little
+isle of Shapinsay. He enthused the Orcadeans
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span>
+with the modern spirit of improvement and progress;
+he introduced a proper system of agriculture,
+built mills of all kinds, got laws passed for reclaiming
+waste lands, and was in every respect a
+wise, generous, faithful father of his country. To
+Americans Shapinsay has a peculiar interest. In a
+little cottage there, called <i>Quholme</i>, the father and
+mother of Washington Irving lived, and their son
+Washington was born on board an American ship
+on its passage from Kirkwall to New York.</p>
+<p>However, it is only since A. D. 1830, one year
+before I was born, that the old Norse life has
+been changed in Orkney. Up to that date agriculture
+could hardly be said to exist. The sheep
+and cattle of all towns, or communities, grazed
+together; but this plan, though it saved the labour
+of herding, was at the cost of abandoning the
+lambs to the eagles who circled over the flocks
+and selected their victims at will. In the late
+autumn all stock was brought to the &#8220;infield,&#8221;
+which was then crowded with horses, cattle and
+sheep. In A. D. 1830, the Norwegian system of
+weights was changed to the standard weights and
+measures, and money, instead of barter, began to
+be used generally.</p>
+<p>Then a great Scotch emigration set in, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span>
+brought careful methods of farming with it; and
+the Orcadean could not but notice results. The
+Scotch trader came also, and the slipshod Norse
+way of barter and bargaining had no chance with
+the Scotch steady prices and ready money. But
+even through all these domestic and civic changes
+Orkney was constantly in zones of danger. In the
+first half of the nineteenth century England was
+at war with France and Spain and Russia, and
+the Orcadeans have a fine inherited taste for a sea
+fight. The Vikings did not rule them through centuries
+for nothing: the Orcadean and his brother,
+the Shetlander, salt the British Navy, and they
+rather enjoy danger zones.</p>
+<p>A single generation, with the help of steam communications,
+changed Orkney entirely and in the
+course of the second generation the Orcadean became
+eager for improvements of all kinds, and
+ready to forward them generously with the careful
+hoardings of perhaps many generations. And
+as it is in this transient period of the last century
+that my hero and heroine lived, I have thought it
+well to say something of antecedents that Americans
+may well be excused for knowing nothing
+about. Also&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>... the past will always win<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>A glory from its being far;<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>And orb into the perfect star,<br />
+We saw not, when we walked therein.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>However, Orkney was far from being out of
+danger zones in the nineteenth century. In its
+first quarter French and Dutch privateers made
+frequent raids on the islands; and the second quarter
+gave her men their chance of danger in the
+Crimea. They were not strangers in the Russian
+Chersoneus; their fathers had been in southern
+seas centuries before them. During the last fifty
+years they have made danger zones of their own
+free will, quarreling with coast guards, tampering
+with smugglers, wandering off with would-be discoverers
+of the North Pole, or with any other
+doubtful and dangerous enterprise.</p>
+<p>And these reflections made me quite comfortable
+about the &#8220;made-in-Germany&#8221; danger zone. I
+think the Orcadeans will rather enjoy it; and I am
+quite sure if any Germans take to trafficking, or
+buying or selling, in Kirkwall, they will get the
+worst of it. In this direction it is rather pleasant
+to remember that even Scotchmen, disputing about
+money, will find the Orcadeans &#8220;too far north for
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_I_THE_HOUSE_OF_RAGNOR' id='CHAPTER_I_THE_HOUSE_OF_RAGNOR'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h3>THE HOUSE OF RAGNOR</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Kind were the voices I used to hear<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Round such a fireside,<br />
+Speaking the mother tongue old and dear;<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Making the heart beat,<br />
+With endless tales of wonder and fear,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Or plaintive singing.<br />
+<br />
+Great were the marvellous stories told<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Of Ossian heroes,<br />
+Giants, and witches and young men bold<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Seeking adventures,<br />
+Winning Kings&#8217; daughters, and guarded gold<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Only with valor.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> House of Ragnor was a large and very
+picturesque edifice. It was built of red and
+white sandstone which Time had covered with a
+heathery lichen, softening the whole into a shade
+of greenish grey. Many minds and many hands
+had fashioned it, for above its central door was
+the date, 1688, which would presuppose that it had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span>
+been built from revenues coming as a reward for
+opposition to the Stuarts. It had been altered and
+enlarged by nearly every occupant, was many-roomed,
+and surrounded by a large garden, full of
+such small fruits as could ripen in the short summers,
+and of such flowers and shrubs as could live
+through the long winters. In sheltered situations,
+there were even hardy roses, and a royal plenty
+of England&#8217;s spring flowers sweetened many
+months of the year. A homely garden, where
+berries and roses grew together and privet hedges
+sheltered peas and lettuce, and tulips and wall-flowers
+did not disdain the proximity of household
+vegetables.</p>
+<p>Doubtless the Ragnors had been jarls in old
+Norwegian times, but in 1853 such memories
+had been forgotten, and Conall Ragnor was quite
+content with his reputation of being the largest
+trader in Orkney, and a very wealthy man. Physically
+he was of towering stature. His hair was
+light brown, and rather curly; his eyes large and
+bright blue, his face broad and rosy. He had
+great bodily and mental vigor, he was blunt in
+speech, careless about his dress, and simple in all
+his ways. His Protestantism was of the most
+decided character, but he was not a Presbyterian.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span>
+Presbyterianism was a new thing on the face of
+the earth; he had been &#8220;authoritatively told, the
+Apostles were Episcopalians.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My soul has received no orders to go to thy
+Presbyterian Church,&#8221; he said to the young Calvinist
+minister who asked him to do so. &#8220;When
+the order comes, then that may happen which has
+never happened before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Yet in spite of his pronounced nationality, and
+his Episcopal faith, he married Rahal Gordon
+from the braes of Moray; a Highland Scotch
+woman and a strict Calvinist. What compact had
+been made between them no one knew, but it had
+been sufficient to prevent all religious disputes
+during a period of twenty-six years. If Rahal
+Ragnor had any respectable excuse, she did not go
+to the ritual service in the Cathedral. If she had
+no such excuse, she went there with her husband
+and family. Then doubtless her prayer was the
+prayer of Naaman, that when &#8220;she bowed herself
+in the House of Rimmon, the Lord would pardon
+her for it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>No one could deny her beauty, though it was
+of the Highland Scotch type, and therefore a great
+contrast to the Orcadean blonde. She was slender
+and dark, with plentiful, glossy, black hair, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span>
+soft brown eyes. Her face was oval and richly
+coloured. Her temperament was frank and domestic;
+yet she had a romantic side, and a full appreciation
+of what she called &#8220;a proper man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They had had many children, but four were
+dead, and three daughters were married and living
+in Edinburgh and Lerwick, and two sons had
+emigrated to Canada; while the youngest of all,
+a boy of fifteen, was a midshipman on Her Majesty&#8217;s
+man-of-war, <i>Vixen</i>, so that only one boy
+and one girl were with their parents. These were
+Boris, the eldest son, who was sailing his own ship
+on business ventures to French and Dutch ports,
+and Thora, the only unmarried daughter. And in
+1853 these five persons lived happily enough together
+in the Ragnor House, Kirkwall.</p>
+<p>One day in the spring of 1853 Conall Ragnor
+was at the rear door of his warehouse. The sea
+was lippering against its foundation, and he
+stood with his hand on his left hip, as with a
+raised head and keen eyes, he searched the far
+horizon.</p>
+<p>In a few minutes he turned with a look of satisfaction.
+&#8220;Well and good!&#8221; he thought. &#8220;Now
+I will go home. I have the news I was watching
+for.&#8221; Anon he looked at his watch and reflecting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+a moment assured himself that Boris and
+the <i>Sea Gull</i> would be safely at anchor by five
+o&#8217;clock.</p>
+<p>So with an air of satisfaction he walked through
+the warehouse, looking critically at the men cleaning
+and packing feathers, or dried fish, or fresh
+eggs. There was no sign of slacking in this department,
+and he turned into the shop where men
+were weighing groceries and measuring cloth. All
+seemed well, and after a short delay in his own particular
+office he went comfortably home.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile his daughter Thora was talking of
+him, and wondering what news he would bring
+them, and Mistress Ragnor, in a very smart cap
+and a gown of dark violet silk, was knitting by
+the large window in the living room&ndash;&ndash;a very comfortable
+room carpeted with a good Kilmarnock
+&#8220;three-ply&#8221; and curtained with red moreen. There
+were a few sea pictures on the walls, and there was
+a good fire of drift-wood and peat upon the snow-white
+hearth.</p>
+<p>Thora had just entered the room with a clean
+table-cloth in her hands. Her mother gave her a
+quick glance of admiration and then said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought thou wert looking for Boris home
+tonight.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, Mother, that is so. He said we
+must give him a little dance tonight, and I have
+asked the girls he likes best to come here. I
+thought this was known to thee. To call my words
+back now, will give great disappointment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No need is there to call any word back. Because
+of thy dress I feared there had been some
+word of delay. If likelihood rule, Maren and
+Helga Torrie will wear the best they have.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is most certain, but I am not minded to
+outdress the Torrie girls. Very hard it is for
+them to get a pretty frock, and it will make them
+happy to see themselves smarter than Thora
+Ragnor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou should think of thyself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I am generally uppermost in my own
+mind. Also, in Edinburgh I was told that the
+hostess must not outdress her guests.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Edinburgh and Kirkwall are not in the same
+latitude. Keep mind of that. Step forward and
+let me look at thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So Thora stood up before her mother, and the
+light from the window fell all over her, and she
+was beautiful from head to feet. Tall and slender,
+with a great quantity of soft brown hair very
+loosely arranged on the crown of her head; a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+forehead broad and white; eyebrows, plentiful and
+well arched; starlike blue eyes, with a large, earnest
+gaze and an oval face tinted like a rose. Oh!
+why try to describe a girl so lovely? It is like
+pulling a rose to pieces. It is easier to say that
+she was fleshly perfect and that, being yet in her
+eighteenth year, she had all the bloom of opening
+flowers, and all their softness and sweetness.</p>
+<p>Apparently she owed little to her dress, and
+yet it would have been difficult to choose anything
+more befitting her, for though it was only of wine-coloured
+cashmere, it was made with a plain picturesqueness
+that rendered it most effective. The
+short sleeves then worn gave to her white arms
+the dark background that made them a fascination;
+the high waist, cut open in front to a point,
+was filled in with white satin, over which it was
+laced together with a thin silk cord of the same
+colour as the dress. A small lace collar completed
+the toilet, and for the occasion, it was perfect;
+anything added to it would have made it imperfect.</p>
+<p>This was the girl who, standing before her
+mother, asked for her approval. And Rahal Ragnor&#8217;s
+eyes were filled with her beauty, and she
+could only say:</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Dear thing! There is no need to change!
+Just as thou art pleases me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then with a face full of love Thora stooped and
+kissed her mother and anon began to set the table
+for the expected guests. With sandalled feet and
+smiling face, she walked about the room with the
+composure of a goddess. There was no hesitation
+concerning what she had to do; all had been
+arranged and settled in her mind previously,
+though now and then, the discussion of a point
+appeared to be pleasant and satisfying. Thus she
+thoughtfully said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mother, there will be thyself and father and
+Boris, that is three, and Sunna Vedder, and Helga
+and Maren Torrie, that makes six, and Gath
+Peterson, and Wolf Baikie and his sisters Sheila
+and Maren make ten, and myself, eleven&ndash;&ndash;that is
+all and it is enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why not make it twelve?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is luck in odd numbers. I am the
+eleventh. I like it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou might have made it ten. There is one
+girl on thy list it would be better without.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Art thou thinking of Sunna Vedder, Mother?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I am thinking of Sunna Vedder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well and good. But if Sunna is not here,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+Boris would feel as if there was no one present.
+It is Sunna he wants to see. It is Sunna he wants
+to please. He says he is so sorry for her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because she has to live with old Vedder who
+is nothing but a bookworm.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Vedder is a very clever man. The Bishop was
+saying that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, in a way he was saying it, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Bishop was not liking the books he was
+studying. He said they did men and women no
+good. Thy father was telling me many things.
+Yes, so it is! The Vedders are counted queer&ndash;&ndash;they
+are different from thee and me, and&ndash;&ndash;the
+Bishop.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the Dominie?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That may well be. Thy father has a will for
+Boris to marry Andrina Thorkel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris will never marry Andrina. It would be
+great bad luck if he did. Many speak ill of her.
+She has a temper to please the devil. I was hearing
+she would marry Scot Keppoch. That would
+do; for then they would not spoil two houses.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell thy father thy thought, and he will give
+thee thy answer;&ndash;&ndash;but why talk of the Future and
+the Maybe? The Now is the hour of the wise, so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+I will go upstairs and lay out some proper clothing
+and do thou get thy father to dress himself,
+as Conall Ragnor ought to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That may not be easy to manage.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Few things are beyond thy say-so.&#8221; Then she
+lifted her work-bag and left the room.</p>
+<p>During this conversation Conall Ragnor had
+been slowly making his way home, after leaving
+his warehouse when the work of the day was
+done. Generally he liked his walk through the
+town to his homestead, which was just outside the
+town limits. It was often pleasant and flattering.
+The women came to their doors to watch him, or
+to speak to him, and their admiration and friendliness
+was welcome. For many years he had been
+used to it, but he had not in the least outgrown
+the thrill of satisfaction it gave him. And often
+he wondered if his wife noticed the good opinion
+that the ladies of Kirkwall had for her husband.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course she does,&#8221; he commented, &#8220;but a
+great wonder it would be if my Rahal should speak
+of it. In that hour she would be out of the commodity
+of pride, or she would have forgotten herself
+entirely.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This day he had received many good-natured
+greetings&ndash;&ndash;Jenny Torrie had told him that the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+<i>Sea Gull</i> was just coming into harbour, and so
+heavy with cargo that the sea was worrying at her
+gunwale; then Mary Inkster&ndash;&ndash;from the other side
+of the street&ndash;&ndash;added, &#8220;Both hands&ndash;&ndash;seen and unseen&ndash;&ndash;are
+full, Captain, I&#8217;ll warrant that!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t thee warrant beyond thy knowledge,
+Mary,&#8221; answered Ragnor, with a laugh. &#8220;The
+<i>Sea Gull</i> may have hands; she has no tongue.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All that touches the <i>Sea Gull</i> is a thing by itself,&#8221;
+cried pretty Astar Graff, whose husband was
+one of the <i>Sea Gull&#8217;s</i> crew.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So, then, Astar, she takes her own at point and
+edge. That is her way, and her right,&#8221; replied
+Ragnor.</p>
+<p>Thus up the narrow street, from one side or the
+other, Conall Ragnor was greeted. Good wishes
+and good advice, with now and then a careful innuendo,
+were freely given and cheerfully taken;
+and certainly the recipient of so much friendly notice
+was well pleased with its freedom and good
+will. He came into his own house with the smiling
+amiability of a man who has had all the wrinkles
+of the day&#8217;s business smoothed and soothed out of
+him.</p>
+<p>Looking round the room, he was rather glad his
+wife was not there. She was generally cool about
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+such attentions, and secretly offended by their familiarity.
+For she was not only a reader and a
+thinker, she was also a great observer, and she had
+seen and considered the slow but sure coming of
+that spirit of progress, which would break up their
+isolation and, with it, the social privileges of her
+class. However, she kept all her fears on this
+subject in her heart. Not even to Thora would
+she talk of them lest she might be an inciter of
+thoughts that would raise up a class who would
+degrade her own: &#8220;Few people can be trusted with
+a dangerous thought, and who can tell where
+spoken words go to.&#8221; And this idea, she knit, or
+stitched, into every garment her fingers fashioned.</p>
+<p>So, then, it was quite in keeping with her character
+to pass by Conall&#8217;s little social enthusiasms
+with a chilling indifference, and if any wonder or
+complaint was made of this attitude, to reply:</p>
+<p>&#8220;When men and women of thine own worth
+and station bow down to thee, Conall, then thou
+will find Rahal Ragnor among them; but I do not
+mingle my words with those of the men and
+women who sort goose feathers, and pack eggs and
+gut fish for the salting. Thy wife, Conall, looks
+up, and not down.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Well, then, as Rahal knew that the safe return
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+of Boris with the <i>Sea Gull</i> would possibly be an occasion
+for these friendly familiarities, she wisely
+took herself out of the way of hearing anything
+about it. And it is a great achievement when we
+learn the limit of our power to please. Conall
+Ragnor had not quite mastered the lesson in
+twenty-six years. Very often, yet, he had a half-alive
+hope that these small triumphs of his daily
+life might at length awaken in his wife&#8217;s breast a
+sympathetic pleasure. Today it was allied with
+the return of Boris and his ship, and he thought
+this event might atone for whatever was repugnant.</p>
+<p>And yet, after all, when he saw no one but
+Thora present, he had a sense of relief. He told
+her all that had been said and done, and added such
+incidents of Boris and the ship as he thought would
+please her. She laughed and chatted with him, and
+listened with unabated pleasure to the very end,
+indeed, until he said: &#8220;Now, then, I must stop talking.
+I dare say there are many things to look
+after, for Boris told me he would be home for
+dinner at six o&#8217;clock. Till that hour I will take a
+little nap on the sofa.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But first, my Father, thou wilt go and dress.
+Everything is ready for thee, and mother is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span>
+dressed, and as for Thora, is she not pretty tonight?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art the fairest of all women here, if I
+know anything about beauty. Wolf Baikie will be
+asking the first dance with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That dance is thine. Mother has given thee
+to me for that dance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To me? That is very agreeable. I am proud
+to be thy father.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then go and dress thyself. I am particular
+about my partners.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dress! What is wrong with my dress?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Everything! Not an article in it is worthy
+of thee and the occasion.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I tell thee, all is as it should be. I am not
+minded to change it in any way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; to please Thora, thou wilt make some
+changes. Do, my Father. I love thee so! I am
+so proud of thy figure, and thou can show even
+Wolf Baikie how he ought to dance.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, just for thee&ndash;&ndash;I will wash and put
+on fresh linen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And comb thy beautiful hair. If thou but wet
+it, then it curls so that any girl would envy thee.
+And all the women would say that it was from
+thee, Thora got her bright, brown, curly hair.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;To comb my hair? That is but a trifle. I will
+do it to please thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And thou wilt wet it, to make it curl?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That I will do also&ndash;&ndash;to please thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then, as we are to dance together, thou wilt
+put on thy fine white socks, and thy Spanish leather
+shoes&ndash;&ndash;the pair that have the bright buckles on
+the instep. Yes, thou wilt do me that great favour.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art going too far; I will not do that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not for thy daughter Thora?&#8221; and she laid
+her cheek against his cheek, and whispered with a
+kiss, &#8220;Yes, thou wilt wear the buckled shoes for
+Thora. They will look so pretty in the dance:
+and Wolf Baikie cannot toss his head at thy boots,
+as he did at Aunt Brodie&#8217;s Christmas dinner.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did he do that thing?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I saw him, and I would not dance with him because
+of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou did right. Thy Aunt Barbara&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is my aunt, and thy eldest sister. All she does
+is square and upright; what she says, it were well
+for the rest of the town to take heed to. It would
+please Aunt if thou showed Wolf Baikie thou
+had dancing shoes and also knew right well
+how to step in them.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, thou shalt have thy way. I will
+wash, I will comb my hair, I will put on clean
+linen and white socks and my buckled shoes. That
+is all I will do! I will not change my suit&ndash;&ndash;no,
+I will not!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Father!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, what call for &#8216;Father&#8217; now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want thee to wear thy kirk suit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not! No, I will not! The flannel suit
+is good enough for any man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, if it were clean and sweet, and had no fish
+scales on it, and no fish smell in it. And even here&ndash;&ndash;at
+the very end of the world&ndash;&ndash;thy friend, the
+good Bishop, wears black broadcloth and all gentlemen
+copy him. If Thora was thy sweetheart,
+instead of thy own dear daughter, she would not
+dance with thee in anything but thy best suit.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It seems to me, my own dear daughter, that
+very common people wear kirk toggery. When I
+go to the hotels in Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, or Inverness,
+I find all the men who wait on other men
+are in kirk clothes; and if I go to a theatre, the
+men who wait on the crowd there wear kirk
+clothes, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thy Bishop also wears black broadcloth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That will be because of his piety and humility.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+I am not as pious and humble as I might be. No,
+indeed! Not in everything can I humour thee,
+and trouble myself; but this thing is what I will
+do&ndash;&ndash;I have a new suit of fine blue flannel; last
+night I brought it home. At McVittie&#8217;s it was
+made, and well it fits me. For thy sake I will
+wear it. This is the end of our talk. No more
+will I do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou dear father! It is enough! With a
+thousand kisses I thank thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Too many kisses! Too many kisses! Thou
+shalt give me five when we finish our dance; one
+for my curled hair, and one for my white, fresh
+linen, and one for my socks, and one for my buckled
+shoes, and the last for my new blue suit. And
+in that bargain thou wilt get the best of me, so one
+favour in return from thee I must have.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dear Father, thy will is my will. What is thy
+wish?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want thy promise not to dance with Wolf
+Baikie. Because of his sneer I am coaxed to dress
+as I do not want to dress. Well, then, I will take
+his place with thee, and every dance he asks from
+thee is to be given to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Without a moment&#8217;s hesitation Thora replied:
+&#8220;That agreement does not trouble me. It will be
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+to my great satisfaction. So, then, thou art no
+nearer to getting the best of the bargain.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art a clever, handsome little baggage.
+But my promises I will keep, and it is well for me
+to be about them. Time flies talking to thee,&#8221;
+and he looked at his watch and said, &#8220;It is now
+five minutes past five.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then thou must make some haste. Dinner is
+set for six o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou think I will fiddle-faddle about myself
+like a woman?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But thou must wash&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the North Sea I wash me every morning.
+Before thou hast opened thy eyes I have had my
+bath and my swim in the salt water.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is rain water in thy room; try it for
+a change.&#8221; And he answered her with a roar of
+laughter far beyond Thora&#8217;s power to imitate.
+But with it ringing in her heart and ears she saw
+him go to a spare room to keep his promises.
+Then she hastened to her mother.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whatever is the matter with thy father,
+Thora?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He has promised to wash and dress. I got all
+I asked for.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will he change his suit?&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;He has a fine new suit. It was hid away in
+Aunt&#8217;s room.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What made him do such a childish thing?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To please thee, it was done. It was to be a
+surprise, I think.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will go to him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no, Mother! Let father have the pleasure
+he planned. To thee he will come, as soon as
+he is dressed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Am I right? From top to toe?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From top to toe just as thou should be. The
+white roses in thy cap look lovely with the violet
+silk gown. Very pretty art thou, dear Mother.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can still wear roses, but they are white roses
+now. I used to wear pink, Thora.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pink and crimson and yellow roses thou may
+wear yet. Because white roses go best with violet
+I put that colour in thy cap for tonight. Think
+of what my aunt said when thou complained to her
+of growing old, &#8216;Rahal, the mother of twelve sons
+and daughters is always young.&#8217; Now I will run
+away, for my father does everything quickly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In about ten or fifteen minutes, Rahal Ragnor
+heard him coming. Then she stood up and
+watched the swift throwing open of the door, and
+the entrance of her husband. With a cry of pleasure
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+she clapped her hands and said joyfully:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Coll! Oh, my dear Coll!&#8221; and the next
+moment Coll kissed her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou hast made thyself so handsome&ndash;&ndash;just
+to please me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, for thee! Who else is there? Do I
+please thee now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Always thou pleases me! But tonight, I have
+fallen in love with thee over again!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And yet Thora wanted me to wear my kirk
+suit,&#8221; and he walked to the glass and looked with
+great satisfaction at himself. &#8220;I think this suit
+is more becoming.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My dear Coll, thou art right. A good blue
+flannel suit is a man&#8217;s natural garment. To everyone,
+rich and poor, it is becoming. If thou always
+dressed as thou art now dressed, I should never
+have the heart or spirit to contradict thee. Thou
+could have thy own way, year in and year out.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that the truth, my dear Rahal? Or is it a
+compliment?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is the very truth, dear one!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;From this hour, then, I will dress to thy wish
+and pleasure.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She stepped quickly to his side and whispered:
+&#8220;In that case, there will not be in all Scotland a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span>
+more distinguished and proper man than Conall
+Ragnor!&#8221;</p>
+<p>And in a large degree Conall Ragnor was
+worthy of all the fine things his wife said to him.
+The new clothes fell gracefully over his grand
+figure; he stepped out freely in the light easy shoes
+he was wearing; there was not a single thing stiff
+or tight or uncomfortable about him. Even his
+shirt collar fell softly round his throat, and the
+bright crimson necktie passed under it was unrestrained
+by anything but a handsome pin, which
+left his throat bare and gave the scarf permission
+to hang as loosely as a sailor&#8217;s.</p>
+<p>At length Rahal said, &#8220;I see that Boris and the
+ship are safely home again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ship and cargo safe in port, and every man on
+board well and hearty. On the stroke of six he
+will be here. He said so, and Boris keeps his
+word. I hear the sound of talking and laughing.
+Let us go to meet them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They came in a merry company, Boris, with
+Sunna Vedder on his arm leading them. They
+came joyously; singing, laughing, chattering, making
+all the noise that youth seems to think is essential
+to pleasure. However, I shall not describe
+this evening. A dinner-dance is pretty much alike
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span>
+in all civilized and semi-civilized communities. It
+will really be more descriptive to indicate a few
+aspects in which this function of amusement differed
+from one of the same kind given last night
+in a fashionable home or hotel in New York.</p>
+<p>First, the guests came all together from some
+agreed-upon rendezvous. They walked, for private
+carriages were very rare and there were none
+for hire. However, this walking party was generally
+a very pleasant introduction to a more pleasant
+and intimate evening. The women were wrapped
+up in their red or blue cloaks, and the men carried
+their dancing slippers, fans, bouquets, and
+other small necessities of the ballroom.</p>
+<p>Second, the old and the young had an equal
+share in any entertainment, and if there was a difference,
+it was in favour of the old. On this very
+night Conall Ragnor danced in every figure called,
+except a saraband, which he said was too slow and
+formal to be worth calling a dance. Even old
+Adam Vedder who had come on his own invitation&ndash;&ndash;but
+welcome all the same&ndash;&ndash;went through the
+Orkney Quickstep with the two prettiest girls present,
+Thora Ragnor and Maren Torrie. For honourable
+age was much respected and every young
+person wished to share his happiness with it.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span></div>
+<p>A very marked characteristic was the evident
+pleasure old and young had in the gratification of
+their sense of taste, in the purely animal pleasure
+of eating good things. No one had a bad appetite,
+and if anyone wished for more of a dish they
+liked, they asked for it. Indeed they had an easy
+consciousness of paying their hostess a compliment,
+and of giving themselves a little more pleasure.</p>
+<p>Finally, they made the day, day; and the night,
+night. Such gatherings broke up about eleven
+o&#8217;clock; then the girls went home unwearied, to
+sleep, and morning found them rosy and happy,
+already wondering who would give them the next
+dance.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_II_ADAM_VEDDERS_TROUBLE' id='CHAPTER_II_ADAM_VEDDERS_TROUBLE'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>ADAM VEDDER&#8217;S TROUBLE</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>... they do not trust their tongues alone<br />
+But speak a language of their own;<br />
+Convey a libel in a frown,<br />
+And wink a reputation down;<br />
+Or by the tossing of a fan,<br />
+Describe the lady and the man.&ndash;&ndash;<span class='smcap'>Swift</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>It is good to be merry and wise,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>It is good to be honest and true,<br />
+It is well to be off with the old love<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Before you are on with the new.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Boris</span> did not remain long in the home port.
+It was drawing near to Lent, and this was a
+sacred term very highly regarded by the citizens
+of this ancient cathedral town. Of course in the
+Great Disruption the National Episcopal Church
+had suffered heavy loss, but Lent was a circumstance
+of the Soul, so near and dear to its memory,
+that even those disloyal to their Mother Church
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+could not forget or ignore it. In some cases it was
+secretly more faithfully observed than ever before;
+then its penitential prayers became intensely pathetic
+in their loneliness. For these self-bereft
+souls could not help remembering the days when
+they went up with the multitude to keep the Holy
+Fast in the House of their God.</p>
+<p>Rahal Ragnor had never kept it. It had been
+only a remnant of popery to her. Long before the
+Free Kirk had been born, she and all her family
+had been Dissenters of some kind or other. And
+yet her life and her home were affected by this
+Episcopal &#8220;In Memoriam&#8221; in a great number of
+small, dominating ways, so that in the course of
+years she had learned to respect a ceremonial that
+she did not endorse. For she knew that no one
+kept Lent with a truer heart than Conall Ragnor,
+and that the Lenten services in the cathedral interfered
+with his business to an extent nothing
+purely temporal would have been permitted to do.</p>
+<p>So, after the little dance given to Boris, there
+was a period of marked quietness in Kirkwall. It
+was as if some mighty Hand had been laid across
+the strings of Life and softened and subdued all
+their reverberations. There was no special human
+influence exerted for this purpose, yet no one could
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span>
+deny the presence of some unseen, unusual element.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Every day seems like Sabbath Day,&#8221; said
+Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Lent,&#8221; answered Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;And after Lent comes Easter, dear Mother.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the truth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the meantime Boris had gone to Edinburgh
+on the bark <i>Sea Gull</i> to complete his cargo of
+Scotch ginghams and sewed muslins, native jewelry
+and table delicacies. Perhaps, indeed, the minimum
+notice accorded Lent in the metropolitan city
+had something to do with this journey, which was
+not a usual one; but after the departure of the
+<i>Sea Gull</i> the Ragnor household had settled down
+to a period of domestic quiet. The Master had
+to make up the hours spent in the cathedral by a
+longer stay in the store, and the women at this
+time generally avoided visiting; they felt&ndash;&ndash;though
+they did not speak of it&ndash;&ndash;the old prohibition of
+unkind speech, and the theological quarrel was yet
+so new and raw that to touch it was to provoke
+controversy, instead of conversation.</p>
+<p>It was at such vacant times that old Adam Vedder&#8217;s
+visits were doubly welcome. One day in
+mid-Lent he came to the Ragnor house, when it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+was raining with that steady deliberation that gives
+no hope of anything better. Throwing off his
+waterproof outer garments, he left them to drip
+dry in the kitchen. An old woman, watching him,
+observed:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art wetting the clean floor, Master Vedder,&#8221;
+and he briskly answered: &#8220;That is thy business,
+Helga, not mine. Is thy mistress in the
+house?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would she be out, if she had any good sense
+left?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How can a man tell what a woman will do?
+Where is thy mistress?&#8221; and he spoke in a tone so
+imperative, that she answered with shrinking humility:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I ask thy favour. Mistress Ragnor is in the
+right-hand parlour. I will look after thy cloak.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will be well for thee to do that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Adam went to the right-hand parlour and
+found Rahal sitting by the fire sewing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am glad to see thee, Rahal,&#8221; he said.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am glad to see thee always&ndash;&ndash;more at this
+time than at any other.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, that is good, but why at this time more
+than at any other?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The town is depressed; business goes on, but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span>
+in a silent fashion. There is no social pleasure&ndash;&ndash;surely
+the reason is known to thee!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So it is, and the reason is good. When people
+are confessing their sins, and asking pardon for
+the same, they cannot feel it to be a cheerful entertainment;
+and, as thou observed, it affects even
+their business, which I myself notice is done without
+the usual joking or quarrelling or drinking of
+good healths. Well, then, that also is right.
+Where is Thora?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is going to a lecture this afternoon to be
+given by the Archdeacon Spens to the young girls,
+and she is preparing for it.&#8221; And as these words
+were uttered, Thora entered the room. She was
+dressed for the storm outside, and wore the hood
+of her cloak drawn well over her hair; in her hands
+were a pair of her father&#8217;s slippers.</p>
+<p>&#8220;For thee I brought them,&#8221; she said, as she
+held them out to Vedder. &#8220;I heard thy voice, and
+I was sure thy feet would be wet. See, then, I
+have brought thee my father&#8217;s slippers. He would
+like thee to wear them&ndash;&ndash;so would I.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not wear them, Thora. I will not stand
+in any man&#8217;s shoes but my own. It is an unchancy,
+unlucky thing to do. Thanks be to thee, but I will
+keep my own standing, wet or dry. Look to that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+rule for thyself, and remember what I say. Let
+me see if thou art well shod.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thora laughed, stood straight up, and drew her
+dress taut, and put forward two small feet, trigly
+protected by high-laced boots. Then, looking at
+her mother, she asked: &#8220;Are the boots sufficient,
+or shall I wear over them my French clogs?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder answered her question. &#8220;The clogs are
+not necessary,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The rain runs off as
+fast as it falls. Thy boots are all such trifling feet
+can carry. What can women do on this hard
+world-road with such impediments as French clogs
+over English boots?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Vedder, they will do whatever they want
+to do; and they will go wherever they want to go;
+and they will walk in their own shoes, and work
+in their own shoes, and be well satisfied with
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora, I am sorry I was born in the last century.
+If I had waited for about fifty years I would
+have been in proper time to marry thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes; for I would not have let a woman so fair
+and good as thou art go out of my family. We
+should have been man and wife. That would certainly
+have happened.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;If two had been willing, it might have been.
+Now our talk must end; the Archdeacon likes not
+a late comer;&#8221; and with this remark, and a beaming
+smile, she went away.</p>
+<p>Then there was a silence, full of words longing
+to be spoken; but Rahal Ragnor was a prudent
+woman, and she sighed and sewed and left Vedder
+to open the conversation. He looked at her
+a little impatiently for a few moments, then he
+asked:</p>
+<p>&#8220;To what port has thy son Boris sailed?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris intends to go to Leith, if wind and water
+let him do so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris is not asking wind and water about his
+affairs. There is a question I know not how to
+answer. I am wanting thy help.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If that be so, speak thy mind to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want a few words of advice about a woman.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that woman thy granddaughter, Sunna?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A right guess thou hast made.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I would rather not speak of her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thy reason? What is it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is too clever for a simple woman like me.
+I have not two faces. I cannot make the same
+words mean two distinct and separate things.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+Sunna has all thy self-wisdom, but she has not thy
+true heart and thy wise tongue.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen to me! Things have come to this&ndash;&ndash;Boris
+has made love to Sunna in the face of all
+Kirkwall. He has done this for more than a
+year. Then for two weeks before he left for
+Leith he came not near my house, and if he met
+Sunna in any friend&#8217;s house he was no longer her
+lover. What is the meaning of this? My girl is
+unhappy and angry, and I myself am far from being
+satisfied; thou tell, what is wrong between
+them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would prefer neither to help nor hinder thee
+in this matter. There is a broad way between
+these two ways, that I am minded to take. It will
+be better for me to do so, and perhaps better for
+thee also.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought I could count on thee for my friend.
+Bare is a man&#8217;s back without friends behind it!
+In thee I trusted. While I feared and doubted, I
+thought, &#8216;If worse comes I will go at once to Rahal
+Ragnor&#8217;&ndash;&ndash;<i>Thou hast failed me</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say not that&ndash;&ndash;my old, dear friend! It is beyond
+truth. What I know I told to my husband;
+and I asked him if it would be kind and well to
+tell thee, and he said to me: &#8216;Be not a bearer of ill
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span>
+news to Vedder. Little can thou trust any evil
+report; few people are spoken of better than they
+deserve.&#8217; Then I gave counsel to myself, thus:
+Conall has four dear daughters, <i>he knows</i>. Conall
+loves his old friend Vedder; if he thought to interfere
+was right, he would advise Vedder to interfere
+or he would interfere for him, and my
+wish was to spare thee the sorrow that comes from
+women&#8217;s tongues. I was also sure that if the
+news was true, it would find thee out&ndash;&ndash;if not true,
+why should Rahal Ragnor sow seeds of suspicion
+and ill-will? Is Sunna disobedient to thee?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is something worse&ndash;&ndash;she deceives me.
+Her name is mixed up with some report&ndash;&ndash;I know
+not what. No one loves me well enough to tell
+me what is wrong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, thou art more feared than loved.
+Few know thee well enough to risk thy anger and
+all know that Norsemen are bitter cruel to those
+who dare to say that one hair of their women is
+out of its place. Who, then, would dare to say
+this or that about thy granddaughter?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rahal Ragnor could speak safely to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then there was silence for a few moments and
+Rahal sat with her doubled-up left hand against
+her lips, gazing out of the window. Vedder did
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+not disturb her. He waited patiently until she
+said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I tell thee what was told me, wilt thou visit
+the story upon my husband, or myself, or any of
+my children?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder took a signet ring from his finger and
+kissed it. &#8220;Rahal,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I have kissed this
+ring of my fathers to seal the promise I shall make
+thee. If thou wilt give me thy confidence in this
+matter of Sunna Vedder, it shall be for thy good,
+and for the good of thy husband, and for the good
+of all thy children, as far as Adam Vedder can
+make it so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I ask a special promise for my son Boris, for
+he is concerned in this matter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris can take good care of Boris: nevertheless,
+I promise thee that I will not say or look or
+do, with hands or tongue, anything that will injure,
+or even annoy, Boris Ragnor. Unto the end of
+my life, I promise this. What may come after, I
+know not. If there should be a wrong done, we
+will fight it out elsewhere.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thy words are sufficient. Listen, then!
+There is a family, in the newest and best part of
+the town, called McLeod. They are yet strange
+here. They are Highland Scotch. Many say
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+they are Roman Catholics. They sing Jacobite
+songs, and they go not to any church. They have
+opened a great trading route; and they have
+brought many new customs and new ideas with
+them. A certain class of our people make much
+of them; others are barely civil to them; the best
+of our citizens do not notice them at all. But
+they have plenty of money, and live extravagantly,
+and the garrison&#8217;s officers are constantly seen
+there. Do you know them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have heard of them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;McLeod has a large trading fleet, and he has
+interfered with the business of Boris in many
+ways.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hast thou ever seen him? Tell me what he is
+like.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have seen him many times. He is a complete
+Highlander; tall, broad-shouldered and apparently
+very strong, also very graceful. He has high
+cheekbones, and a red beard, but all talk about
+him, and many think him altogether handsome.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And thou? What dost thou think?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When I saw him, he was in earnest discussion
+with one of his men, and he was not using English
+but sputtering a torrent of shrill Gaelic, shrugging
+his shoulders, throwing his arms about, thrilling
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+with excitement&ndash;&ndash;but for all that, he was the
+picture of a man that most women would find irresistible.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have heard that he wears the Highland
+dress.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not on the street. They have many entertainments;
+he may wear it in some of them; but I
+think he is too wise to wear it in public. The
+Norseman is much indebted to the Scot&ndash;&ndash;but it
+would not do to flaunt the feathered cap and philabeg
+too much&ndash;&ndash;on Kirkwall streets.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You ought to know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I am Highland Scotch, thank God! I
+understand this man, though I have never spoken
+to him. I know little about the Lowland Scot. He
+is a different race, and is quite a different man.
+You would not like him, Adam.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know him. He is a fine fellow; quiet, cool-blooded,
+has little to say, and wastes no strength
+in emotion. There&#8217;s wisdom for you&ndash;&ndash;but go on
+with thy talk, woman; it hurts me, but I must hear
+it to the end.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, Kenneth McLeod has the appearance
+of a gentleman, though he is only a trader.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say <i>smuggler</i>, Rahal, and you might call him
+by a truer name.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Many whisper the same word. Of a smuggler,
+a large proportion of our people think no
+wrong. That you know. He is a kind of hero to
+some girls. Many grand parties these McLeods
+give&ndash;&ndash;music and dancing, and eating and drinking,
+and the young officers of the garrison are there, as
+well as our own gay young men; and where these
+temptations are, young women are sure to go.
+His aunt is mistress of his house.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, then, this thing happened when Boris
+was last here. One night he heard two men talking
+as they went down the street before him. The
+rain was pattering on the flagged walk and he
+did not well understand their conversation, but it
+was altogether of the McLeods and their entertainments.
+Suddenly he heard the name of Sunna
+Vedder. Thrice he heard it, and he followed the
+men to the public house, called for whiskey, sat
+down at a table near them and pretended to be
+writing. But he grew more and more angry as
+he heard the free and easy talk of the men; and
+when again they named Sunna, he put himself into
+their conversation and so learned they were going
+to McLeod&#8217;s as soon as the hour was struck for
+the dance. Boris permitted them to go, laughing
+and boastful; an hour afterwards he followed.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;With whom did he go?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Alone he went. The dance was then in progress,
+and men and women were constantly going
+in and out. He followed a party of four, and
+went in with them. There was a crowd on the
+waxed floor. They were dancing a new measure
+called the polka; and conspicuous, both for her
+beauty and her dress, he saw Sunna among them.
+Her partner was Kenneth McLeod, and he was in
+full McLeod tartans. No doubt have I that
+Sunna and her handsome partner made a romantic
+and lovely picture.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What must be the end of all this? What the
+devil am I to think?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Think no worse than needs be.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What did Boris do&ndash;&ndash;or say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He walked rapidly to Sunna, and he said,
+&#8216;Miss Vedder, thou art wanted at thy home&ndash;&ndash;at
+once thou art wanted. Get thy cloak, and I will
+walk with thee.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She was angry, and yet terrified; but she left
+the room. Boris feared she would try and escape
+him, so he went to the door to meet her. Judge
+for thyself what passed between them as Boris
+took her home. At first she was angry, afterwards,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+she cried and begged Boris not to tell thee.
+I am sure Boris was kind to her, though he told
+her frankly she was on a dangerous road. All
+this I had from Boris, and it is the truth; as for
+what reports have grown from it, I give them no
+heed. Sunna was deceitful and imprudent. I
+would not think worse of her than she deserves.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rahal, I am much thy debtor. This affair I
+will now take into my own hands. To thee, my
+promise stands good for all my life days&ndash;&ndash;and
+thou may tell Boris, it may be worth his while to
+forgive Sunna. There is some fault with him
+also; he has made love to Sunna for a long time,
+but never yet has he said to me&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;I wish to make
+Sunna my wife!&#8217; What is the reason of that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, Adam, a young man wishes to
+make sure of himself. Boris is much from
+home&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There it is! For that very cause, he should
+have made a straight clear road between us. I do
+not excuse Sunna, but I say that wherever there is
+a cross purpose, there has likely never been a
+straight one. Thou hast treated me well, and I
+am thy debtor; but it shall be ill with all those who
+have led my child wrong&ndash;&ndash;the more so, because
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+the time chosen for their sinful deed makes it immeasurably
+more sinful.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The time? What is thy meaning? The time
+was the usual hour of all entertainments. Even
+two hours after the midnight is quite respectable
+if all else is correct.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Art thou so forgetful of the God-Man, who
+at this time carried the burden of all our sins?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! You mean it is Lent, Adam?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes! It is Lent!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was never taught to regard it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yet none keep Lent more strictly than Conall
+Ragnor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A wife does not always adopt her husband&#8217;s
+ideas. I had a father, Adam, uncles and cousins
+and friends. None of them kept Lent. Dost
+thou expect me to be wiser than all my kindred?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let us cease this talk. It will come to nothing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then good-bye.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Be not hard on Sunna. One side only, has
+been heard.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As kindly as may be, I will do right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Adam went away, but he left Rahal very
+unhappy. She had disobeyed her husband&#8217;s advice
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+and she could not help asking herself if she
+would have been as easily persuaded to tell a similar
+story about her own child. &#8220;Thora is a school
+girl yet,&#8221; she thought, &#8220;but she is just entering the
+zone of temptation.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the midst of this reflection Thora came into
+the room. Her mother looked into her lovely
+face with a swift pang of fear. It was radiant
+with a joy not of this world. A light from an interior
+source illumined it; a light that wreathed
+with smiles the pure, childlike lips. &#8220;Oh, if she
+could always remain so young, and so innocent!
+Oh, if she never had to learn the sorrowful lessons
+that love always teaches!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thus Rahal thought and wished. She forgot,
+as she did so, that women come into this world
+to learn the very lessons love teaches, and that
+unless these lessons are learned, the soul can make
+no progress, but must remain undeveloped and uninstructed,
+even until the very end of this session
+of its existence.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_III_ARIES_THE_RAM' id='CHAPTER_III_ARIES_THE_RAM'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>ARIES THE RAM</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>O Christ whose Cross began to bloom<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>With peaceful lilies long ago;<br />
+Each year above Thy empty tomb<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>More thick the Easter garlands grow.<br />
+O&#8217;er all the wounds of this sad strife<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Bright wreathes the new immortal life.<br />
+<br />
+Thus came the word: Proclaim the year of the Lord!<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>And so he sang in peace;<br />
+Under the yoke he sang, in the shadow of the sword,<br />
+Sang of glory and release.<br />
+The heart may sigh with pain for the people pressed and slain,<br />
+The soul may faint and fall:<br />
+The flesh may melt and die&ndash;&ndash;but the Voice saith, Cry!<br />
+And the Voice is more than all.&ndash;&ndash;<span class='smcap'>Carl Spencer</span>.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">It</span> was Saturday morning and the next day was
+Easter Sunday. The little town of Kirkwall
+was in a state of happy, busy excitement, for
+though the particular house cleaning of the great
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+occasion was finished, every housewife was full
+laden with the heavy responsibility of feeding the
+guests sure to arrive for the Easter service. Even
+Rahal Ragnor had both hands full. She was expecting
+her sister-in-law, Madame Barbara Brodie
+by that day&#8217;s boat, and nobody ever knew how
+many guests Aunt Barbara would bring with her.
+Then if her own home was not fully prepared to
+afford them every comfort, she would be sure to
+leave them at the Ragnor house until all was in
+order. Certainly she had said in her last letter
+that she was not &#8220;going to be imposed upon, by
+anyone this spring&#8221;&ndash;&ndash;and Thora reminded her
+mother of this fact.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou indeed believe thy aunt&#8217;s assurances?&#8221;
+asked Rahal. &#8220;Hast thou not seen her
+break them year after year? She will either ask
+some Edinburgh friend to come back to Kirkwall
+with her, or she will pick up someone on the way
+home. Is it not so?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Aunt generally leaves Edinburgh alone. It is
+the people she picks up on her way home that are
+so uncertain. Dear Mother, can I go now to the
+cathedral? The flowers are calling me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are there many flowers this year?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;More than we expected. The Balfour greenhouse
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+has been stripped and they have such a
+lovely company of violets and primroses and white
+hyacinths with plenty of green moss and ivy. The
+Baikies have a hothouse and have such roses and
+plumes of curled parsley to put behind them, and
+lilies-of-the-valley; and I have robbed thy greenhouse,
+Mother, and taken all thy fairest auriculas
+and cyclamens.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are for God&#8217;s altar. All I have is His.
+Take what vases thou wants, but Helga must
+carry them for thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And, Mother, can I have the beautiful white
+Wedgewood basket for the altar? It looked so
+exquisite last Easter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It now belongs to the altar. I gave it freely
+last Easter. I promised then that it should never
+hold flowers again for any meaner festival. Take
+whatever thou wants for thy purpose, and delay
+me no longer. I have this day to put two days&#8217;
+work into one day.&#8221; Then she lifted her eyes
+from the pastry she was making and looking at
+Thora, asked: &#8220;Art thou not too lightly clothed?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have warm underclothing on. Thou would
+not like me to dress God&#8217;s altar in anything but
+pure white linen? All that I wear has been made
+spotless for this day&#8217;s work.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That is right, but now thou must make some
+haste. There is no certainty about Aunt Barbie.
+She may be at her home this very minute.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The boat is not due until ten o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not unless Barbara Brodie wanted to land at
+seven. Then, if she wished, winds and waves
+would have her here at seven. Her wishes follow
+her like a shadow. Go thy way now. Thou art
+troubling me. I believe I have put too much
+sugar in the custard.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But that would be a thing incredible.&#8221; Then
+Thora took a hasty kiss, and went her way. A
+large scarlet cloak covered her white linen dress,
+and its hood was drawn partially over her head.
+In her hands she carried the precious Wedgewood
+basket, and Helga and her daughter had charge
+of the flowers and of several glass vases for their
+reception. In an hour all Thora required had
+been brought safely to the vestry of Saint Magnus,
+and then she found herself quite alone in this
+grand, dim, silent House of God.</p>
+<p>In the meantime Aunt Barbara Brodie had done
+exactly as Rahal Ragnor anticipated. The boat
+had made the journey in an abnormally short
+time. A full sea, and strong, favourable winds,
+had carried her through the stormiest Firth in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+Scotland, at a racer&#8217;s speed; and she was at her
+dock, and had delivered all her passengers when
+Conall Ragnor arrived at his warehouse. Then
+he had sent word to Rahal, and consequently she
+ventured on the prediction that &#8220;Aunt Barbara
+might already be at her home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>However, it had not been told the Mistress of
+Ragnor, that her sister-in-law had actually &#8220;picked
+up someone on the way&#8221;; and that for this reason
+she had gone directly to her own residence.
+For on this occasion, her hospitality had been
+stimulated by a remarkably handsome young man,
+who had proved to be the son of Dr. John Macrae,
+a somewhat celebrated preacher of the most
+extreme Calvinist type. She heartily disapproved
+of the minister, but she instantly acknowledged
+the charm of his son; but without her brother&#8217;s
+permission she thought it best not to hazard
+his influence over the inexperienced Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am fifty-two years old,&#8221; she thought, &#8220;and I
+know the measure of a man&#8217;s deceitfulness, so I
+can take care of myself, but Thora is a childlike
+lassie. It would not be fair to put her in danger
+without word or warning. The lad has a wonderful
+winning way with women.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So she took her fascinating guest to her own
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+residence, and when he had been refreshed by a
+good breakfast, he frankly said to her:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I came here on special business. I have a
+large sum of money to deliver, and I think I will
+attend to that matter at once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not hinder thee,&#8221; said Mrs. Brodie, &#8220;I&#8217;m
+no way troubled to take care of my own money,
+but it is just an aggravation to take care of other
+folks&#8217; siller. And who may thou be going to give
+a &#8216;large sum of money&#8217; to, in Kirkwall town? I
+wouldn&#8217;t wonder if the party isn&#8217;t my own brother,
+Captain Conall Ragnor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, Mistress,&#8221; the young man replied. &#8220;It
+belongs to a young gentleman called McLeod.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Humph! A trading man is whiles very little
+of a gentleman. What do you think of McLeod?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am the manager of his Edinburgh business,
+so I cannot discuss his personality.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s right, laddie! Folks seldom see any
+good thing in their employer; and it is quite fair
+for them to be just as blind to any bad thing in
+him&ndash;&ndash;but I&#8217;ll tell you frankly that your employer
+has not a first rate reputation here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All right, Mistress Brodie! His reputation is
+not in my charge&ndash;&ndash;only his money. I do not
+think the quality of his reputation can hurt mine.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Your father&#8217;s reputation will stand bail for
+yours. Well now, run away and get business off
+your mind, and be back here for one o&#8217;clock dinner.
+I will not wait a minute after the clock chaps
+one. This afternoon I am going to my brother&#8217;s
+house, and I sent him a message which asks for
+permission to bring you with me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thanks!&#8221; but he said the word in an unthankful
+tone, and then he looked into Mistress Brodie&#8217;s
+face, and she laughed and imitated his expression,
+as she assured him &#8220;she had no girl with
+matrimonial intentions in view.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You see, Mistress,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I do not intend
+to remain longer than a week. Why should I run
+into danger? I am ready to take heartaches.
+Can you tell me how best to find McLeod&#8217;s warehouse?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Speir at any man you meet, and any man will
+show you the place. I, myself, am not carin&#8217; to
+send folk an ill road.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So Ian Macrae went into the town and easily
+found his friend and employer. Then their business
+was easily settled and it appeared to be every
+way gratifying to both men.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have taken a business I hate off my hands,
+Ian,&#8221; said McLeod, &#8220;and I am grateful to you.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+Where shall we go today? What would you like
+to do with yourself?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Kenneth, I would like first of all to see
+the inside of your grand cathedral. I would say,
+it must be very ancient.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Began in A. D., 1138. Is that old?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Seven hundred years! That will do for age.
+They were good builders then. I have a strange
+love for these old shrines where multitudes have
+prayed for centuries. They are full of <i>Presence</i>
+to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;<i>Presence.</i> What do you mean?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Souls.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are a creepy kind of mortal. I think, Ian,
+if you were not such a godless man, you might
+have been a saint.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Macrae drew his lips tight, and then said in
+detached words&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;My father is&ndash;&ndash;sure&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;was&ndash;&ndash;born&ndash;&ndash;at&ndash;&ndash;the&ndash;&ndash;other&ndash;&ndash;end&ndash;&ndash;of&ndash;&ndash;the&ndash;&ndash;measure.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then they were in the interior of the cathedral.
+The light was dim, the silence intense, and both
+men were profoundly affected by influences unknown
+and unseen. As they moved slowly forward
+into the nave, the altar became visible, and
+in this sacred place of Communion Thora was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+moving slowly about, leaving beauty and sweetness
+wherever she lingered.</p>
+<p>Her appearance gave both men a shock and
+both expressed it by a spasmodic breath. They
+spoke not; they watched her slim, white figure
+pass to-and-fro with soft and reverent steps, arranging
+violets and white hyacinths with green
+moss in the exquisite white Wedgewood. Then
+with a face full of innocent joy she placed it upon
+the altar, and for a few moments stood with
+clasped hands, looking at it.</p>
+<p>As she did so, the organist began to practice his
+Easter music, and she turned her face towards the
+organ. Then they saw fully a beautiful, almost
+childlike face transfigured with celestial emotions.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let us get out of this,&#8221; whispered McLeod.
+&#8220;What business have we here? It is a kind of
+sacrilege.&#8221; And Ian bowed his head and followed
+him. But it was some minutes ere the every-day
+world became present to their senses.
+McLeod was the first to speak:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What an experience!&#8221; he sighed. &#8220;I should
+not dare to try it often. It would send me into a
+monastery.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you a Roman Catholic?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What else would I be? When I was a lad,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+I used to dream of being a monk. It was power I
+wanted. I thought then, that priests had more
+power than any other men; as I grew older I
+found out that it was money that owned the
+earth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not so!&#8221; said Ian sharply, &#8220;&#8216;the earth is the
+Lord&#8217;s, and the fulness thereof.&#8217; I promised to be
+at Mistress Brodie&#8217;s for dinner at one o&#8217;clock.
+What is the time?&#8221;</p>
+<p>McLeod took out his watch:&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;You have
+twenty minutes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was just going to
+tell you that the girl we saw in the cathedral is
+her niece.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Ian had taken a step or two in the direction of
+the Brodie house, but he turned his head, and
+with a bright smile said, &#8220;Thank you, Ken!&#8221; and
+McLeod watched him a moment and then with a
+sigh softly ejaculated: &#8220;What a courteous chap
+he is&ndash;&ndash;when he is in the mood to be courteous&ndash;&ndash;and
+what a &ndash;&ndash;&ndash; when he is not in the mood.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Ian was at the Brodie house five minutes before
+one, and he found Mistress Brodie waiting for
+him. &#8220;I am glad that you have kept your tryst,&#8221;
+she said. &#8220;We will just have a modest bite now,
+and we can make up all that is wanting here, at
+my brother Coll&#8217;s, a little later. I have a pleasant
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span>
+invite for yourself. My good sister-in-law has
+read some of your father&#8217;s sermons in the Sunday
+papers and magazines, and for their sake she will
+be glad to see you. I just promised for you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, I shall be glad to go with you,&#8221;
+and it was difficult for him to disguise how more
+than glad he was to have this opportunity.</p>
+<p>&#8220;So then, you will put on the best you have with
+you&ndash;&ndash;the best is none too good to meet Thora in.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora Ragnor, my own niece. She is the bonniest
+and the best girl in Scotland, if you will take
+me as a judge of girls. &#8216;Good beyond the lave of
+girls,&#8217; and so Bishop Hadley asked her special
+to dress the altar for Easter. He knew there
+would be no laughing and daffing about the work,
+if Thora Ragnor had the doing of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is there any reason to refrain from laughing
+and daffing while at that work?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At God&#8217;s altar there should be nothing but
+prayer and praise. You know what girls talk
+and laugh about. If they have not some poor
+lad to bring to worship, or to scorn, they have no
+heart to help their hands; and the work is done
+silent and snappy. They are wishing they were at
+home, and could get their straight, yellow hair on
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+to crimping pins, because Laurie or Johnny would
+be coming to see them, it being Saturday night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then the Bishop thought your niece would be
+more reverent?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He knew she would. He knew also, that she
+would not be afraid to be in the cathedral by herself,
+she would do the work with her own hands,
+and that there would be no giggling and gossiping
+and no young lads needed to hold vases and scissors
+and little balls of twine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Their &#8220;moderate bite&#8221; was a pleasant lingering
+one. They talked of people in Edinburgh with
+whom they had some kind of a mutual acquaintance,
+and Mistress Brodie did the most of the
+talking. She was a charming story-teller, and she
+knew all the good stories about the University
+and its great professors. This day she spent the
+time illustrating John Stuart Blackie taking his
+ease in a dressing gown and an old straw hat. She
+made you see the man, and Ian felt refreshed and
+cheered by the mental vision. As for Lord Roseberry,
+he really sat at their &#8220;modest bite&#8221; with
+them. &#8220;You know, laddie,&#8221; she said, &#8220;Scotsmen
+take their politics as if they were the Highland
+fling; and Roseberry was Scotland&#8217;s idol. He was
+an orator who carried every soul with him,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+whether they wanted to go or not; and I was
+told by J. M. Barrie, that once when he had fired
+an audience to the delirium point, an old man in
+the hall shouted out:&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;I dinna hear a word; but
+it&#8217;s grand; it&#8217;s grand!&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>They barely touched on Scottish religion. Mistress
+Brodie easily saw it was a subject her guest
+did not wish to discuss, and she shut it off from
+conversation, with the finality of her remark that
+&#8220;some people never understood Scotch religion,
+except as outsiders misunderstood it. Well, Ian,
+I will be ready for our visit in about two hours;
+one hour to rest after eating and a whole hour to
+dress myself and lecture the lasses anent behaving
+themselves when they are left to their own idle
+wishes and wasteful work.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then in two hours I will be ready to accompany
+you; and in the meantime I will walk over
+the moor and smoke a cigar.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no, better go down to the beach and watch
+the puffins flying over the sea, and the terns fishing
+about the low lying land. Or you might get
+a sight of an Arctic skua going north, or a black
+guillemot with a fish in its mouth flying fast to
+feed its young. The seaside is the place, laddie!
+There is something going on there constantly.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span></div>
+<p>So Ian went to the seaside and found plenty of
+amusement there in watching a family quarrel
+among the eider ducks, who were feeding on the
+young mussels attached to the rocks which a low
+tide had uncovered.</p>
+<p>It was a pleasant walk to the Ragnor home,
+and Rahal and Thora were expecting them. The
+sitting room was cheery with sunshine and fire
+glow, Rahal was in afternoon dress and Thora
+was sitting near the window spinning on the little
+wheel the marvellously fine threads of wool made
+from the dwarfish breed of Shetland sheep, and
+used generally for the knitting of those delicate
+shawls which rivalled the finest linen laces. On
+the entrance of her aunt and Ian Macrae she rose
+and stood by her wheel, until the effusive greetings
+of the two elder ladies were complete; and
+Ian was utterly charmed with the picture she made&ndash;&ndash;it
+was completely different from anything he had
+ever seen or dreamed about.</p>
+<p>The wheel was a pretty one, and was inlaid
+with some bright metal, and when Thora rose
+from her chair she was still holding a handful of
+fine snowy wool. Her blue-robed and blue-eyed
+loveliness appeared to fill the room as she stood
+erect and smiling, watching her mother and aunt.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+But when her aunt stepped forward to introduce
+Ian to her, she turned the full light of her lovely
+countenance upon him. Then both wondered
+where they had met before. Was it in dreams
+only?</p>
+<p>Mother and aunt were soon deep in the fascinating
+gossip of an Edinburgh winter season, and
+Thora and Ian went into the greenhouse and the
+garden and found plenty to talk about until Conall
+Ragnor came home from business and supper was
+served. And the wonder was, that Conall bent to
+the young man&#8217;s charm as readily as Thora had
+done. He was amazed at his shrewd knowledge
+of business methods and opportunities; and listened
+to him with grave attention, though laughing
+heartily at some of his plans and propositions.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mr. Macrae,&#8221; he said, &#8220;thou art too far north
+for me. I do know a few Shetlanders that could
+pare the skin off thy teeth, but we Orcadeans are
+simple honest folk that just live, and let live.&#8221;
+At which remark Ian laughed, and reminded
+Conall Ragnor of certain transactions in railway
+stock which had nonplussed the Perth directors at
+the time. Then Ragnor asked how he happened
+to know what was generally considered &#8220;private
+information,&#8221; and Ian answered, &#8220;Private information
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+is the most valuable, sir. It is what I
+look for.&#8221; Then Ragnor rose from the table and
+said, &#8220;Let us have a smoke and a little music.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Take thy smoke, Coll,&#8221; said Mrs. Ragnor,
+&#8220;and Mr. Macrae will give us the music. Barbara
+says he sings better than Harrison. Come,
+Mr. Macrae, we are waiting to hear thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Ian made no excuses. He sat down and sang
+with delightful charm and spirit &#8220;A Life on the
+Ocean Wave&#8221; and &#8220;The Bay of Biscay.&#8221; Then
+these were followed by the fresh and then popular
+songs, &#8220;We May Be Happy Yet,&#8221; &#8220;Then You&#8217;ll
+Remember Me&#8221; and &#8220;The Land of Our Birth.&#8221;
+No one spoke or interrupted him, even to praise;
+but he was well repaid by the look on every face
+and the kindness that flowed out to him. He could
+see it in the eyes, and hear it in the voices, and
+feel it in the manner of all present.</p>
+<p>The silence was broken by the sound of quick,
+firm footsteps. Ragnor listened a moment and
+then went with alacrity to open the door. &#8220;I knew
+it was thee!&#8221; he cried. &#8220;O sir, I am glad to see
+thee! Come in, come in! None can be more
+welcome!&#8221; And it was good to hear the strong,
+sweet modulations of the voice that answered him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Bishop Hedley!&#8221; said Rahal.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Then I am going,&#8221; said Aunt Barbara.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no, Aunt!&#8221; cried Thora, and the next
+moment she was at her aunt&#8217;s side coaxing her to
+resume her chair. Then the Bishop and Ragnor
+entered the room, and the moment the Bishop&#8217;s
+face shone upon them, all talk about leaving the
+room ceased. For Bishop Hedley carried his
+Great Commission in his face and his life was a
+living sermon. His soul loved all mankind; and
+he had with it an heroic mind and a strong-sinewed
+body, which refused to recognise the fact
+that it died daily. For the Bishop&#8217;s business was
+with the souls of men, and he lived and moved
+and did his daily work in a spiritual and eternal
+element.</p>
+<p>And if constant commerce with the physical
+world weakens and ages the man who lives and
+works in it, surely the life passed amid spiritual
+thoughts and desires is thereby fortified and
+strengthened to resist the cares and worries which
+fret the physical body to decay. Then vainly the
+flesh fades, the soul makes all things new. This
+is a great truth&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;it is only by the supernatural
+we are strong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Bishop came in bringing with him, not only
+the moral tonic of his presence, but also the very
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
+breath of the sea; its refreshing &#8220;tang,&#8221; and good
+salt flavour. His smile and blessing was a spiritual
+sunshine that warmed and cheered and brightened
+the room. He was affectionate to all, but to
+Mistress Brodie and Ian Macrae, he was even
+more kindly than to the Ragnors. They were not
+of his flock but he longed to take care of them.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I heard singing as I came through the garden,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;and it was not your voice, Conall.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was Ian Macrae singing,&#8221; Conall answered,
+&#8220;and he will gladly sing for thee, sir.&#8221; This
+promise Macrae ratified at once, and that with
+such power and sweetness that every one was
+amazed and the Bishop requested him to sing,
+during the next day&#8217;s service, a fine &#8220;Gloria&#8221; he
+had just given them in the cathedral choir. And
+Ian said he would see the organist, and if it could
+be done, he would be delighted to obey his request.</p>
+<p>&#8220;See the organist!&#8221; exclaimed Mistress Brodie.
+&#8220;What are you talking about? The organist is
+Sandy Odd, the barber&#8217;s son! How can the like
+of him hinder the Bishop&#8217;s wish?&#8221; Then the
+Bishop wrote a few words in his pocket book, tore
+out the leaf, and gave it to Macrae, saying: &#8220;Mr.
+Odd will manage all I wish, no doubt. Now, sir,
+for my great pleasure, play us &#8216;Home, Sweet
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+Home.&#8217; I have not been here for four months,
+and it is good to be with friends again.&#8221; And they
+all sang it together, and were perfectly at home
+with each other after it. So much so, that the
+Bishop asked Rahal to give him a cup of tea and
+a little bread; &#8220;I have come from Fair Island today,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;and have not eaten since noon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then all the women went out together to prepare
+and serve the requested meal, so that it came
+with wonderful swiftness, and beaming smiles, and
+charming words of laughing pleasure. And when
+he saw a little table drawn to the hearth for him
+and quickly spread with the food he needed and
+smelled the refreshing odour of the young Hyson,
+and heard the pleasant tinkle of china and glass
+and silver as Thora placed them before the large
+chair he was to occupy, he sat down happily to
+eat and drink, while Thora served him, and Conall
+smoked and watched them with a now-and-then
+smile or word or two, while Rahal and Barbara
+talked, and Ian played charmingly&ndash;&ndash;with soft
+pedal down&ndash;&ndash;quotations from Beethoven&#8217;s &#8220;Pastoral
+Symphony&#8221; and &#8220;Hark, &#8217;Tis the Linnet!&#8221;
+from the oratorio, &#8220;Joshua.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was a delightful interlude in which every one
+was happy in their own way, and so healed by it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+of all the day&#8217;s disappointments and weariness.
+But the wise never prolong such perfect moments.
+Even while yielding their first satisfactions, they
+permit them to depart. It is a great deal to
+<i>have been happy</i>. Every such memory sweetens
+after life.</p>
+<p>The Bishop did not linger over his meal, and
+while servants were clearing away cups and plates,
+he said, &#8220;Come, all of you, outside, for a few
+minutes. Come and look at the Moon of Moons!
+The Easter Moon! She has begun to fill her
+horns; and she is throwing over the mystery and
+majesty of earth and sea a soft silvery veil as
+she watches for the dawn. The Easter dawn!
+that in a few hours will come streaming up, full
+of light and warmth for all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>But there was not much warmth in an Orcadean
+April evening and the party soon returned to the
+cheerful, comfortable hearth blaze. &#8220;It is not so
+beautiful as the moonlight,&#8221; said Rahal, &#8220;but it is
+very good.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;True,&#8221; said the Bishop, &#8220;and we must not belittle
+the good we have, because we look for
+something better. Let us be thankful for our
+feet, though they are not wings.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then one of those sudden, inexplicable &#8220;arrests&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span>
+which seem to seal up speech fell over every
+one, and for a minute or more no one could speak.
+Rahal broke the spell. &#8220;Some angel has passed
+through the room. Please God he left a blessing!
+Or perhaps the moonlight has thrown a
+spell over us. What were you thinking of,
+Bishop?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will tell you. I was thinking of the first
+Good Friday in Old Jerusalem. I was thinking
+of the sun hiding his face at noonday. Thora,
+have you an almanac?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thora took one from a nail on which it was
+hanging and gave it to him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was thinking that the sun, which hid his face
+at noonday, must at that time have been in Aries,
+the Ram. Find me the signs of the Zodiac.&#8221;
+Thora did so. &#8220;Now look well at Aries the Ram.
+What month of our year is signed thus?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The month of March, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not know. Tell me, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe that in a long forgotten age, some
+priest or good man received a promise or prophecy
+revealing the Great Sacrifice that would be
+offered up for man&#8217;s salvation once and for all
+time. And I think they knew that this plenary
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+sacrament would occur in the vernal season, in
+the month of March, whose sign or symbol was
+Aries, the Ram.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But why under that sign, sir?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The ram, to the ancient world, was the sacrificial
+animal. We have only to open our Bibles
+and be amazed at the prominence given to the
+ram and his congeners. From the time of Abraham
+until the time of Christ the ram is constantly
+present in sacrificial and religious ceremonies.
+Do you remember, Thora, any incident depending
+upon a ram?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When Isaac was to be sacrificed, a ram caught
+in a thicket was accepted by God in Isaac&#8217;s place,
+as a burnt offering.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;More than once Abraham offered a ram in
+sacrifice. In Exodus, Chapter Twenty-ninth, special
+directions are given for the offering of a ram
+as a burnt offering to the Lord. In Leviticus, the
+Eighth Chapter, a bullock is sacrificed for a sin
+offering but a ram for a burnt offering. In Numbers
+we are told of <i>the ram of atonement</i> which a
+man is to offer, when he has done his neighbour
+an injury. In Ezra, the Tenth, the ram is offered
+for a trespass because of an unlawful marriage.
+On the accession of Solomon to the throne one
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+thousand rams with bullocks and lambs were
+&#8216;offered up with great gladness.&#8217; In the Old
+Testament there are few books in which the sacrificial
+ram is not mentioned. Even the horn of
+the ram was constantly in evidence, for it called
+together all religious and solemn services.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A little circumstance,&#8221; continued the Bishop,
+&#8220;that pleases me to remember occurred in Glasgow
+five weeks ago. I saw a crowd entering a large
+church, and I asked a workingman, who was eating
+his lunch outside the building, the name of the
+church; and he answered,&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;It&#8217;s just the auld
+Ram&#8217;s Horn Kirk. They are putting a new minister
+in the pulpit today and they seem weel
+pleased wi&#8217; their choice.&#8217;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now I am going to leave this subject with
+you. I have only indicated it. Those who wish
+to do so, can finish the list, for the half has not
+been told, and indeed I have left the most significant
+ceremony until the last. It is that wonderful
+service in the Sixteenth Chapter of Leviticus,
+where the priest, after making a sin offering
+of young bullocks and a burnt offering of a ram,
+casts lots upon two goats for a sin offering, and
+the goat upon which the lot falls is &#8216;presented alive
+before the Lord to make an atonement; and to let
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span>
+him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then he took from his pocket a little book and
+said, &#8220;Listen to the end of this service, &#8216;And
+Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of
+the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities
+of the Children of Israel, and all their transgressions
+in all their sins, putting them upon the
+head of the goat, and shall send him away, by
+the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;And the goat shall bear upon him all their
+iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall
+let go the goat in the wilderness.&#8217;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My friends, this night let all read the Fifty-third
+of Isaiah, and they will understand how fitting
+it was that Christ should be &#8216;offered up&#8217; in
+Aries the Ram, the sacrificial month representing
+the shadows and types of which He was the glorious
+arch-type.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then there was silence, too deeply charged with
+feeling, for words. The Bishop himself felt that
+he could speak on no lesser subject, and his small
+audience were lost in wonder at the vast panorama
+of centuries, day by day, century after century,
+through all of which God had remembered that
+He had promised He would provide the Great
+and Final Sacrifice for mankind&#8217;s justification.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+Then Aries the Ram would no longer be a promise.
+It would be a voucher forever that the
+Promise had been redeemed, and a memorial that
+His Truth and His mercy endureth forever!</p>
+<p>At the door the Bishop said to Ragnor, &#8220;In a
+few hours, Friend Conall, it will be Easter
+Morning. Then we can tell each other &#8216;<i>Christ has
+risen</i>!&#8217;&#8221; And Conall&#8217;s eyes were full of tears,
+he could not find his voice, he looked upward and
+bowed his head.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV_SUNNA_AND_HER_GRANDFATHER' id='CHAPTER_IV_SUNNA_AND_HER_GRANDFATHER'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>SUNNA AND HER GRANDFATHER</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Love is rich in his own right,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>He is heir of all the spheres,<br />
+In his service day and night,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Swing the tides and roll the years.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+What has he to ask of fate?<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Crown him; glad or desolate.<br />
+<br />
+Time puts out all other flames,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>But the glory of his eyes;<br />
+His are all the sacred names,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>His are all the mysteries.<br />
+Crown him! In his darkest day<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>He has Heaven to give away!<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'>&ndash;&ndash;<span class='smcap'>Carl Spencer.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='center cg'>Arms are fair,</p>
+<p class='cg'>When the intent for bearing them is just.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">In</span> the meantime Sunna was spending the evening
+with her grandfather. The old gentleman
+was reading, but she did not ask him to read
+aloud, she knew by the look and size of the book
+that it would not be interesting; and she was well
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+pleased when one of her maids desired to speak
+with her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, Vera, what is thy wish?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My sister was here and she was bringing me
+some strange news. About Mistress Brodie she
+was talking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I heard she had come home. Did she
+bring Thora Ragnor a new Easter gown?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of a gown I heard nothing. It was a young
+man she brought! O so beautiful is he! And
+like an angel he sings! The Bishop was very
+friendly with him, and the Ragnors, also; but they,
+indeed! they are friendly with all kinds of people.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This beautiful young man, is he staying with
+the Ragnors?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With Mistress Brodie he is staying, and with
+her he went to dinner at the Ragnors&#8217;. And the
+Bishop was there and the young man was singing,
+and a great deal was made of his singing, also
+they were speaking of his father who is a famous
+preacher in some Edinburgh kirk, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;These things may be so, but how came thy
+sister to know them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This morning my sister took work with Mistress
+Ragnor and she was waiting on them as they
+eat; and in and out of the room until nine o&#8217;clock.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
+Then, as she went to her own home, she called
+on me and we talked of the matter, and it seemed
+to my thought that more might come of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, no doubt. I shall see that more does
+come of it. I am well pleased with thee for telling
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then she went back to her grandfather and
+resumed her knitting. Anon, she began to sing.
+Her face was flushed and her nixie eyes were dancing
+to the mischief she contemplated. In a few
+minutes the old gentleman lifted his head, and
+looked at her. &#8220;Sunna,&#8221; he said, &#8220;thy song and
+thy singing are charming, but they fit not the book
+I am reading.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I will stop singing and thou must talk
+to me. There has come news, and I want thy
+opinion on it. The Ragnors had a dinner party
+today, and we were not asked.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A great lie is that! Conall Ragnor would not
+give Queen Victoria a party in Lent. Who told
+thee such foolishness?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Sunna retailed the information given her
+and asked, &#8220;What hast thou done to Conall
+Ragnor? Always before he bid thee to dinner
+when the Bishop was at his house? Or perhaps
+the offence is with Rahal Ragnor? Not long ago
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+thou spent an afternoon with her and black
+and dangerous as a thunder storm thou came
+home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This day the dinner was an accidental gathering.
+Rahal knows well that I have no will to
+dine with Mistress Brodie. Dost thou want her
+here, as thy stepmother?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If Mistress Brodie is not tired of an easy life,
+she will turn her feet away from this house. If
+Sunna cannot please thee, thou art in danger of
+worse happening. Yes, many are guessing who
+it is thou wilt marry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And which way runs the guessing?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not all one way. For thee, that is not a respectable
+thing. Thou should not be named with
+so many old women.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am of thy opinion. An old woman is little
+to my mind. If I trust marriage again, I will
+choose a young girl for my wife&ndash;&ndash;such an one as
+Treddie Fae, or Thora Ragnor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora Ragnor! Dreaming thou art! I am
+sure Barbara Brodie has brought this young man
+here for Thora&#8217;s approval. Can thou stand
+against a young man?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Adam Vedder and fifty thousand pounds
+can hand any young man his hat and gloves. Thy
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
+father&#8217;s father is not for thee to make a jest about.
+So here our talk shall come to an end on this
+subject. Go to thy bed! Sleep, and the Good
+Being bless thee!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna was not yet inclined to sleep. She sat
+down before her mirror, uncoiled her plentiful
+hair, and carefully brushed and braided it for the
+night, as she considered the news that had come
+to her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;This beautiful young man, this singing man, is
+one of Barbara Brodie&#8217;s &#8216;finds.&#8217; Not much do I
+think of any of them! That handsome scholar she
+brought here turned out an unbearable encumbrance.
+I believe she paid him to go back to Edinburgh.
+That Aberdeen man, who wanted to invest
+money in Kirkwall had to borrow two pounds from
+grandfather to take him back to where he came
+from. That witty, good-looking Irishman left a
+big bill at the Castle Hotel for some one to pay;
+and the woman who wanted to begin a dressmaking
+business, on the good will of people like
+Barbara Brodie, knew nothing about dressmaking.
+This beautiful young man, I&#8217;ll warrant, is a fish
+out of the same net. As for the Bishop being
+taken with his beauty, that is nothing! The poorer
+a man is, the better Bishop Hedley will like him.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+So it goes! I wish I knew where Boris Ragnor
+is&ndash;&ndash;I wish&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pshaw! I wonder what kind of a dress Mistress
+Barbara Brodie brought Thora. Not much
+taste in either men or clothes has she! Too large
+will the pattern be, or too strong the colours, and
+too heavy, or too light, will be the material. I
+know! And it will not fit her. Too big, or too
+little it is sure to be! With my own dress I am
+satisfied. And if grandfather asks no questions
+about it, I shall count it a lucky dress and save it
+till Boris comes home. I am going to forgive him
+when he comes home&ndash;&ndash;perhaps&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;Now I will
+put the hopes and worries of this world under my
+pillow and be off to the Land of Dreams&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;Tomorrow
+is Sunday, Easter Sunday&ndash;&ndash;I shall
+sing the solo in my new dress&ndash;&ndash;that is good, I like
+a religious feeling in a new dress&ndash;&ndash;I think I am
+rather a religious girl.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Alas for the hopes of all who wanted to dress
+for Easter. It was an uncompromising, wet day.
+It was oil skin and rubber for the men; it was
+cloaks and pattens and umbrellas for the women.
+Yet, aside from the rain, it was a day full of good
+things. The cathedral was crowded, there was
+full cathedral service, and the Bishop preached a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+transfiguring sermon. The music was good, the
+home choir did well, and Sunna&#8217;s solo was
+effectively sung; but after she had heard Ian
+Macrae&#8217;s &#8220;Gloria,&#8221; she was sorry she had sung
+at all.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grandfather!&#8221; she commented, &#8220;No private
+person has a right to sing as that man sings!
+After him, non-professionals make a show of
+themselves.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou sang well&ndash;&ndash;better than usual, I
+thought.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was told he was such a handsome young
+man! And he has black hair and black eyes!
+Even his skin is dark. He looks like a Celt. I
+don&#8217;t like Celts. None of our people like them.
+When they come to the fishing they are not respected.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art much mistaken. Our men like
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris Ragnor says they are poor traders.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, it is to fish they come.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What they come for is no care of mine. Boris
+is ten times more of a man than the best of them.
+No notice shall I take of this Celt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Through thy scorn he may live, and even enjoy
+his life. The English officers do that.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;This chicken is better than might be. Wilt
+thou have a little more of it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Enough is plenty. I have had enough. At
+Conall Ragnor&#8217;s there is always good eating and
+I am going there for my supper. Wilt thou go
+with me? Then with Thora thou can talk. This
+beautiful young man is likely at Ragnor&#8217;s. It was
+too stormy for Mistress Brodie to go to her own
+house at the noonday. Dost thou see then, how it
+will be?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will go with thee, I want to see Thora&#8217;s new
+dress. I need not notice the young man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;His name? Already I have forgotten it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Odd was calling him &#8216;Macrae.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Macrae! That is Highland Scotch. The
+Macraes are a good family. There is a famous
+minister in Edinburgh of that name. The Calvinists
+all swear by him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This man sang in a full cathedral service.
+Dost thou believe a Calvinist would do that? He
+would be sure it was a disguised mass, and nothing
+better.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Adam laughed as he said, &#8220;Well, then, go with
+me this night to Ragnor&#8217;s and between us we will
+find something out. A mystery is not pleasant to
+thee.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;There is something wrong in a mystery, that is
+what I feel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou can ask Thora all about him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I shall not ask her. She will tell me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Adam laughed again. &#8220;That is the best way,&#8221;
+he said. &#8220;It was thy father&#8217;s way. Well then,
+five minutes ago, the wind changed. By four
+o&#8217;clock it will be fair.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I will be ready to go with thee. If I
+am left alone, I am sad; and that is not good for
+my health.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But thou must behave well, even to the Celt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Unless it is worth my while, I do not quarrel
+with any one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Was it worth thy while to quarrel with Boris
+Ragnor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes&ndash;&ndash;or I had not quarrelled with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here comes the sunshine! Gleam upon
+gloom! Cheery and good it is!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They say an Easter dress should be christened
+with a few drops of rain. That is not my opinion.
+I like the Easter sunshine on it. Now I shall
+leave thee and go and rest and dress myself. Very
+good is thy talk and thy company to me, but to
+thee, I am foolishness. As I shut the door, the
+big book thou art reading, thou wilt say to it:
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+&#8216;Now, friend of my soul, some sensible talk we
+will have together, for that foolish girl has gone
+to her foolishness at her looking glass.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Run away! I am in a hurry for my big
+book.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna shut the door with a kiss&ndash;&ndash;and as she
+took the stairs with hurrying steps, the sunshine
+came dancing through the long window, and her
+feet trod on it and it fell all over her.</p>
+<p>At four o&#8217;clock she was ready for her evening&#8217;s
+inquest and she found her grandfather waiting
+for her. He had put on a light vest and a white
+tie, and he had that clean, healthy, good-tempered
+look that pleases all women. He smiled and
+bowed to Sunna and she deserved the compliment;
+for she was beautiful and had dressed her beauty
+most becomingly. Her gown was of Saxony cloth,
+the exact colour of her hair, with a collar, stomacher
+and high cuffs of pale green velvet. The
+collar was tied with cord and small tassels of gold
+braid; the stomacher laced with gold braid over
+small gilt buttons, and the high cuffs were trimmed
+to match. Very handsome gilt combs held up her
+rippled hair, and a large red-riding-hood cloak
+covered her from the crowning bow of her hair to
+the little French pattens that protected her black
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+satin slippers. She expected to make a conquest,
+and her thoughts were usually the factors of
+success.</p>
+<p>A little disappointment awaited her. She was
+usually shown into the right-hand parlour at once,
+and she relied on the bit of colour afforded by her
+scarlet cloak to give life to the modest shades of
+her spring colours of pale fawn and tender green.
+But servants were setting the dinner table in the
+right-hand parlour; and Conall and Rahal and
+Aunt Barbara had taken themselves to Conall&#8217;s
+little business room where there was a bright fire
+burning. There, in his big chair, Conall was next
+door to sleeping; and Barbara and Rahal
+were talking in a sleepy, mysterious way about
+something that did not appear to interest
+them.</p>
+<p>At the sound of Adam Vedder&#8217;s voice, Conall
+became wide awake; and Barbara&#8217;s face lighted
+up with a fresh interest. If there was nothing else,
+there was a chronic quarrel between them, which
+Barbara was ready to lift at a moment&#8217;s notice.
+But Sunna was not dissatisfied. Conall&#8217;s quick
+look of admiration, and Rahal&#8217;s and Barbara&#8217;s
+glances of surprise, were excellent in their way.
+She knew she had given them a subject of interest
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+sufficient to make even the hour before dinner
+appear short.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where is Thora?&#8221; she asked, as she turned
+every way, apparently to look for Thora, but
+really to allow her admirers to convince themselves
+that her dress was trimmed as handsomely
+at the back as the front&ndash;&ndash;that if the stomacher
+was perfect in front, the sash of green velvet at
+the back was quite as stylish and elaborate.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where <i>is</i> Thora?&#8221; she asked again.</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the drawing room thou wilt find Thora with
+Ian Macrae,&#8221; said Rahal. &#8220;Go to them. They
+will be glad of thy company.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Doubtful is their gladness. Two are company,
+three are a crowd. Yet so it is! I must run into
+danger, like the rest of women.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that thy Easter gown, Sunna?&#8221; asked Mistress
+Brodie.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is. Dost thou like it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who would not like it? The rumour goes
+abroad that thy grandfather sent to Inverness
+for it. Others say it came to thee from Edinburgh.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wrong are both stories. I am happy to say
+that Sunna Vedder gave herself a dress so pretty
+and so suitable.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span></div>
+<p>With these smiling words she left the room and
+the elder women shrugged their shoulders and
+looked expressively at each other. &#8220;What can a
+sensible man like Boris Ragnor see in such a
+harum-scarum girl!&#8221; was Rahal Ragnor&#8217;s question,
+and Barbara Brodie thought it was all Adam
+Vedder&#8217;s fault. &#8220;He ought to have married some
+sensible woman who would have brought up the
+girl as girls ought to be brought up,&#8221; she answered;
+adding, &#8220;We may as well remember that
+the management of women, at any age, is a
+business clean beyond Adam Vedder&#8217;s capabilities.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Adam is a clever man, Barbie.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Book clever! What is the use of book wisdom
+when you have a live girl, full of her own
+way, to deal with?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Conall chose the husbands for his daughters.
+They were quite suitable to the girls and they have
+been very happy with them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora will choose for herself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps, that may be so. Thora has been
+spoiled. Her marriage need not yet be thought
+of. In two or three years, we will consider it.
+The little one has not yet any dreams of that
+kind.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Such dreams come in a moment&ndash;&ndash;when you
+are not thinking of them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In fact, at that very moment Thora was learning
+the mystery of &#8220;falling in love&#8221;; and there is
+hardly a more vital thing in life than this act.
+For it is something taking place in the subconscious
+self; it is a revolution, and a growth. It
+happened that after dinner, Conall wished to hear
+Ian sing again that loveliest of all metrical Collects,
+&#8220;Lord of All Power and Might,&#8221; and Thora
+went with Ian to do her part as accompanist on
+the piano. As they sang Conall appeared to fall
+asleep, and no more music was asked for.</p>
+<p>Then Ian lifted a book full of illustrations of
+the English lake district, and they sat down on the
+sofa to examine it. Ian had once been at Keswick
+and Ambleside, and he began to tell her about
+Lake Windemere and these lovely villages. He
+was holding Thora&#8217;s hand and glancing constantly
+into her face, and before he recognised what he
+was saying, Ambleside and Windemere were quite
+forgotten, and he was telling Thora that he loved
+her with an everlasting love. He vowed that he
+had loved her in his past lives, and would love her,
+and only her, forever. And he looked so handsome
+and spoke in words of the sweetest tenderness,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+and indeed was amazed at his own passionate
+eloquence, but knew in his soul that every word he
+said was true.</p>
+<p>And Thora, the innocent little one, was equally
+sure of his truth. She blushed and listened, while
+he drew her closer to his side calling her &#8220;his own,
+his very own!&#8221; and begging her to promise that
+she would &#8220;marry him, and no other man, in the
+whole earth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And Thora promised him what he wished and
+for one-half hour they were in Paradise.</p>
+<p>Now, how could this love affair have come to
+perfection so rapidly? Because it was the natural
+and the proper way. True love dates its birth
+from the first glance. It is the coming together
+of two souls, and in their first contact love flashes
+forth like flame. And then their influence over
+each other is like that gravitation which one star
+exerts over another star.</p>
+<p>But much that passes for love is not love. It is
+only a prepossession, pleasant and profitable,
+promising many every-day advantages. True love
+is a deep and elemental thing, a secret incredible
+glory, in a way, it is even a spiritual triumph.
+And we should have another name for love like
+this. For it is the long, long love, that has followed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+us through ages, the healing love, the Comforter!
+In the soul of a young, innocent girl like
+Thora, it is a kind of piety, and ought to be taken
+with a wondering thankfulness.</p>
+<p>An emotion so spiritual and profound was
+beyond Sunna&#8217;s understanding. She divined that
+there had been some sort of love-making, but she
+was unfamiliar with its present indications. Her
+opinion, however, was that Ian had offered himself
+to Thora, and been rejected; in no other way
+could she account for the far-offness of both parties.
+Thora indeed was inexplicable. She not only
+refused to show Sunna her Easter dress, she would
+not enter into any description of it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is a very remarkable thing,&#8221; she said to
+her grandfather, as they walked home together.
+&#8220;I think the young man made love to Thora and
+even asked her to marry him, and Thora was
+frightened and said &#8216;No!&#8217; and she is likely sorry
+now that she did not say &#8216;Yes.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To say &#8216;No!&#8217; would not have frightened thee,
+I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is one of the disagreeable things women
+have to get used to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How often must a woman say &#8216;No!&#8217; in order
+to get used to it?&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That depends on several small things; for instance
+I am very sympathetic. I have a tender
+heart! Yes, and so I suffer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am glad to know of thy sympathy. If I
+asked thee to marry a young man whom I wished
+thee to marry, would thou do it&ndash;&ndash;just to please
+me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It would depend&ndash;&ndash;on my mood that day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Say, it was thy sympathetic mood?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That would be unfavourable. Of the others
+I should think, and I should feel that I was cruel;
+if I took all hope from them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou wilt not be reasonable. I am not joking.
+Would thou marry Boris to please me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris has offended me. He must come to me,
+and say, &#8216;I am sorry.&#8217; He must take what punishment
+I choose for his rudeness to me. Then, I
+may forgive him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And marry him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Only my angel knows, if it is so written. Men
+do not like to do as their women say they must
+do. Is there any man in the Orcades who dares
+to say &#8216;No,&#8217; to his wife&#8217;s &#8216;Yes?&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What of Sandy Stark?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sandy is a Scot! I do not use a Scotch measure
+for a Norseman. Thou art not a perfect
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+Norseman, but yet, even in Edinburgh, there is
+no Scot that could be thy measure. I should have
+to say&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;thou art five inches taller than the Scot
+at thy side, and forty pounds heavier, and nearly
+twice as strong.&#8217; That would not be correct to
+an ounce, but it is as near as it is possible to come
+between Norse and Scot.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art romancing!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As for the Norse women&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;About Norse women there is no need for thee
+to teach thy grandfather. I know what Norse
+women are like. If I did not know, I should have
+married again.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, Barbara Brodie is a good specimen
+of a capable Norse woman and I have noticed one
+thing about them, that I feel ought to be better
+understood.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Chut! What hast thou understood? Talk
+about it, and let thy wisdom be known.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, it is this thing&ndash;&ndash;Norse women
+always outlive their husbands. Thou may count
+by tens and hundreds the widows in this town.
+The &#8216;maidens of blushing fifteen&#8217; have no opportunities;
+the widow of fifty asks a young man into
+her beautiful home and makes him acquainted
+with the burden of her rents and dividends and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+her share in half a dozen trading boats, and he
+takes to the golden lure and marries himself like
+the rest of the world. Thou would have been
+re-married long ago but for my protection. I
+have had a very disagreeable day and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then go to thy bed and put an end to it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My new dress is crushed and some way or
+other I have got a spot on the front breadth. Is
+it that Darwin book thou art looking for?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would thou like to read a chapter to me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I would not.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grandfather, I can understand it. I like clever
+men. Can thou introduce me to him&ndash;&ndash;to Darwin?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He would not care to see thee. Clever men
+do not want clever wives; so if thou art thinking
+of a clever husband keep thy &#8216;blue stockings&#8217; well
+under thy petticoats.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And grandfather, do thou keep out of the way
+of the widows of Orkney or thou wilt find thyself
+inside of a marriage ring.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not while thou remains unmarried. Few
+women would care to look after thy welfare. I
+am used to it, long before thou had been short-coated,
+I had to walk thee to sleep in my arms.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; laughed Sunna, &#8220;I remember that. I
+felt myself safest with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou remembers nothing of the kind. At six
+months old, thou could neither compare nor
+remember.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But thou art mistaken. I was born with perfect
+senses. Ere I was twenty-four hours old, I
+had selected thee as the most suitable person to
+walk me to sleep. I think that was a proof of my
+perfect intelligence. One thing more, and then I
+will let thee read. I am going to marry Boris
+Ragnor, and then the widow Brodie would&ndash;&ndash;take
+charge of thee.&#8221; She shut the door to these words
+and Adam heard her laughing all the way to her
+own room. Then he rubbed his hand slowly over
+and over his mouth and said to himself&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;She
+shall have her say-so; Boris is the only man on
+the Islands who can manage her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>After the departure of the Vedders, Rahal and
+her sister Brodie went upstairs, taking Thora with
+them. She went cheerfully though a little reluctantly.
+She liked to hear Ian talk. She had
+thought of asking him to sing; but she was satisfied
+with the one straight, long look which flashed
+between them, as Ian bid her &#8220;good night&#8221;;
+for&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+<p class='cg'>He looked at her as a lover can;<br />
+She looked at him as one who awakes,<br />
+The past was a sleep and her life began.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>Then she went to her room, and thought of Ian
+until she fell asleep and dreamed of him.</p>
+<p>For nearly two hours Ian remained with Conall
+Ragnor. The Railway Mania was then at its
+height in England, and the older man was delighted
+with Ian&#8217;s daring stories of its mad excitement.
+Ian had seen and talked with Hudson, the
+draper&#8217;s clerk, who had just purchased a fine ducal
+residence and estate from the results of his reckless
+speculations. Ian knew all the Scotch lines, he
+had even full faith in the <i>Caledonian</i> when it was
+first proposed and could hardly win any attention.
+&#8220;Every one said a railway between England and
+Scotland would not pay, Mr. Ragnor,&#8221; said Ian.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would have said very different,&#8221; replied
+Conall. &#8220;It would be certain to pay. Why not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because there would be <i>no returns</i>,&#8221; laughed
+Ian, and then Conall laughed also, and wished that
+Boris had been there to learn whatever Ian might
+teach him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Hast thou speculated in railway stock yet,&#8221; he
+asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. I have not had the money to do so.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;How would thou buy if thou had?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would buy when no one else was buying, and
+when everyone else was buying, I would keep cool,
+and sell. A very old and clever speculator gave
+me that advice as a steady rule, saying it was &#8216;his
+only guide.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>This was the tenor of the men&#8217;s conversation
+until near midnight, and then Ragnor went with
+Ian to the door of his room and bid him a frank
+and friendly good night. And as he stood a moment
+handfast with the youth, his conscience troubled
+him a little and he said: &#8220;Ian, Ian, thou art a
+wise lad about this world&#8217;s business, but thou must
+not be forgetting that there is another world after
+this.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not forget that, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Bishop Hedley is a greater and wiser man
+than all the railway nabobs thou hast spoken of.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think so, sir! I do indeed!&#8221; and the mutual
+smile and nod that followed required no further
+&#8220;good night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It was a lovely, silent night. The very houses
+looked as if they were asleep; and there was not
+a sound either in the town on the brown pier or
+the moonlit sea. It was a night full of the tranquillity
+of God. Men and women looked into
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+its peace, and carried its charm into their dreams.
+For most fine spirits that dwell by the sea have an
+elemental sympathy with strange oracles and
+dreams and old Night. In the morning, Conall
+Ragnor was the first to awaken. He went at
+once to fling open his window. Then he cried
+out in amazement and wonder, and awakened his
+wife:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rahal! Rahal!&#8221; he shouted. &#8220;Come here!
+Come quick! Look at the town! It is hung with
+flags. The ships in the harbour&ndash;&ndash;flying are their
+flags also! And there is a ship just entering the
+harbour and her colours are flying! And there
+are the guns! They are saluting her from the
+garrison! It must be a man-of-war! I wonder
+if the Queen is coming to see us at last! If thou
+art ready, call Thora and Barbara. Something
+is up! Thou may hear the town now, all tip-on-top
+with excitement!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why did not thou call us sooner, Coll?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I slept late and long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But thou must have heard the town noises?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A confused noise passed through my ears, a
+noise full of hurry like a morning dream, that was
+all. Now, I am going for my swim and I will
+bring the news home with me.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></div>
+<p>But long before it was within expectation of
+Ragnor&#8217;s return, the three women standing at the
+open door saw Ian coming rapidly to the house
+from the town. His walk was swift and full of
+excitement. His head was thrown upward, and
+he kept striking himself on the right side, just over
+the place where his ancestors had worn their dirks
+or broadswords. As soon as he saw the three
+women he flung his Glengarry skyward and
+shouted a ringing &#8220;Hurrah!&#8221;</p>
+<p>As he approached them, all were struck with
+his remarkable beauty, his manly figure, his swift
+graceful movements and his handsome face suffused
+with the brightness of fiery youth. Through
+their long black lashes his eyes were shining and
+glowing and full of spirit, and indeed his whole
+personality was instinct with verve and fire. Anyone
+watching his approach would have said&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;Here
+comes a youth made to lead a rattling
+charge of cavalry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whatever is the matter with you, Ian?&#8221;
+cried Mistress Brodie. &#8220;You are surely gone
+daft.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No indeed!&#8221; he answered. &#8220;I seem at this
+very hour to have just found myself and my
+senses.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;What is all the fuss about, Ian?&#8221; asked
+Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;England has gone to war at the long last with
+the cruel, crafty black Bear of the North.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, it is full time she did so, there are
+none will say different.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And,&#8221; continued Ian, &#8220;there is a ship now in
+harbour carrying enlisting officers&ndash;&ndash;you may see
+her; she is to call at the Orkney and Shetland
+Islands for recruits for the navy, and Great Scot!
+she will get them! All she wants! She could take
+every man out of Kirkwall!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Mayor and Captain Ragnor will not permit
+her to do so. She will have to leave men to
+manage the fishing,&#8221; said Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought the women could do that,&#8221; said Ian.</p>
+<p>&#8220;You do not know what you are talking about.
+It takes two or three men to lift a net full of fish
+out of the water, and they are about done up if
+they manage it. Come in and get your breakfast.
+If your news be true, there is no saying when
+Ragnor will get home. He will have some reasoning
+with his men to do, he cannot spare many of
+them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have a good idea,&#8221; said Mistress Brodie.
+&#8220;I will give a dance on Friday night for the enlisting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+officers, and we will invite all the presentable
+young men, and all the prettiest girls, to
+meet them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But you will be too late on Friday. The
+cutter and her crew will leave Thursday morning
+early,&#8221; said Ian.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then say Wednesday night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That might do. I could tell the men freshly
+enlisted to wear a white ribbon in their coats&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, no, no!&#8221; cried Rahal. &#8220;What are you
+saying, Ian? A white favour is a Stuart favour.
+You would set the men fighting in the very dance
+room. There is no excuse in the Orkneys for a
+Stuart memory.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was not thinking of the Stuarts. Have they
+not done bothering yet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the Scotch heart the Stuart lives forever,&#8221;
+said Rahal, with a sigh.</p>
+<p>But the dance was decided on and some preparations
+made for it as soon as breakfast was over.
+Ian was enthusiastic on the matter and Thora
+caught his enthusiasm very readily, and before
+night, all Kirkwall was preparing to feast and
+rejoice because England was going to make the
+great Northern Bear&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;the Bear that walks like
+a man&#8221;&ndash;&ndash;stay in the North where he belonged.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_V_SUNNA_AND_THORA' id='CHAPTER_V_SUNNA_AND_THORA'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h3>SUNNA AND THORA</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Love, the old, old troubler of the world.<br />
+<br />
+Love has reasons, of which reason knows nothing.<br />
+<br />
+Alas, how easily things go wrong!<br />
+A sigh too much, or a kiss too long,<br />
+And there follows a mist and a weeping rain<br />
+And life is never the same again.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">No</span> sooner was Mrs. Brodie&#8217;s intention known,
+than all her friends were eager to help her.
+There was truly but little time between Monday
+morning and Wednesday night; but many hands
+make light work, and old and young offered their
+services in arranging for what it pleased all to
+consider as a kind of national thanksgiving.</p>
+<p>The unanimity of this kindness gave Rahal a
+slight attack of a certain form of jealousy, to
+which she had been subject for many years, and
+she asked her husband, as she had done often
+before, &#8220;Why is it, Coll, that every woman in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+town is eager to help and encourage Barbara if
+she only speaks of having a dance or dinner; but
+if I, thy wife, am the giver of pleasure, I am
+left to do all without help or any show of interest.
+It troubles me, Coll.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And Coll answered as he always did answer&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;It
+is thy superiority, Rahal. Is there any woman
+we know, who would presume to give thee advice
+or counsel? And it is well understood by all of
+them that thou cannot thole an obligation. Thou,
+and thy daughter, and thy servants are sufficient
+for all thy social plans; and why should thou be
+bothered with a lot of old and young women?
+Thy sister Brodie loves a crowd about her, and
+she says &#8216;thank thee&#8217; to all and sundry, as easily
+as she takes a drink of water. It chokes thee to
+say &#8216;thanks&#8217; to any one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So Rahal was satisfied, and went with the rest
+to help Mistress Brodie prepare for her dance.
+There were women in the kitchen making pies and
+custards and jellies, and women in her parlours
+cleaning and decorating them, and women in the
+great hall taking up carpets because it was a favourite
+place for reels, and women washing China
+and trimming lamps. Thora was doing the shopping,
+Ian was carrying the invitations; and every
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span>
+one who had been favoured with one had not only
+said &#8220;Yes,&#8221; but had also asked if there was anything
+they could loan, or do, to help the impromptu
+festival. Thus, Mrs. Harold Baikie sent her best
+service of China, and the Faes sent several extra
+large lamps, and the bride of Luke Serge loaned
+her whole supply of glassware, and Rahal took
+over her stock of table silver; and Mistress
+Brodie received every loan&ndash;&ndash;useful or not&ndash;&ndash;with
+the utmost delight and satisfaction.</p>
+<p>On Wednesday afternoon, however, she was
+faced by a condition she did not know how to
+manage. Ian came to her in a hurry, saying,
+&#8220;My friend, McLeod, is longing for an invitation
+from you, and he has asked me to request one.
+Surely you will send him the favour! Yes, I
+know you will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are knowing too much, Ian. What can I
+do? You know well, laddie, he is not popular
+with the best set here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would not mind the &#8216;best set&#8217; if I were you.
+What makes them &#8216;the best&#8217;? Just their own
+opinion of themselves. McLeod is of gentle
+birth, he is handsome and good-hearted, you will
+like him as soon as you speak to him. There is
+another &#8216;best set&#8217; beside the one Adam Vedder
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+leads; I would like some one to take down that
+old man&#8217;s conceit of himself&ndash;&ndash;there is nothing
+wrong with McLeod! Yes, he is Highland
+Scotch&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There! that is enough, Ian! Go your ways
+and bid the young man. Ask him in your own
+name.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, Mistress, I will not do that. The invitation
+carries neither honour nor good will without
+your name.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, my name be it. My name has been
+so much used lately, I think I will change it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Take my name then. I will be proud indeed
+if you will.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are aye daffing, Ian; I am o&#8217;er busy for
+nonsense the now. Give the Mac a hint that tartans
+are not necessary.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I cannot do that. I am going to wear the
+Macrae tartan.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You can let that intent go by.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I can not! A certain &#8216;yes&#8217; may depend
+on my wearing the Macrae tartan.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, checked cloth is bonnier than black
+broadcloth to some people. I don&#8217;t think Thora
+Ragnor is among that silly crowd. There is not
+a more quarrelsome dress than a tartan kilt&ndash;&ndash;and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+I&#8217;m thinking the Brodies were ill friends with the
+Macraes in the old days.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Brodies are not Highlanders.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are a shamefully ignorant man, Ian
+Macrae. The Brodies came from Moray, and
+are the only true lineal descendants of Malcolm
+Thane of Brodie in the reign of Alexander the
+Third, lawful King of Scotland. What do you
+think of the Brodies now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Macrae doffs his bonnet to them;
+but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you say another word, the McLeod will be
+out of it&ndash;&ndash;sure and final.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So Ian laughingly left the room, and Mistress
+Brodie walked to the window and watched him
+speeding towards the town. &#8220;He is a wonderful
+lad!&#8221; she said to herself. &#8220;And I wish he was
+my lad! Oh why were all my bairns lasses? They
+just married common bodies and left me! Oh for
+a lad like Ian Macrae!&#8221; Then with a great sigh,
+she added: &#8220;It is all right. I would doubtless
+have spoiled and mismanaged him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>It is not to be supposed that Sunna Vedder kept
+away from all this social stir and preparation.
+She was first and foremost in everything during
+Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday she reserved
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span>
+herself altogether for the evening. No
+one saw her until the noon hour; then she came to
+the dinner table, for she had an entirely fresh
+request to make, one which she was sure would
+require all her personal influence to compass.</p>
+<p>She prefaced it with the intelligence that Boris
+had arrived during the night, and that Elga had
+met him in the street&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;looking more handsome
+than any man ought to look, except upon his
+wedding day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And on that day,&#8221; said Adam, gloomily, &#8220;a
+man has generally good cause to look ugly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But if he was going to marry me, Grandfather,
+how then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He would doubtless look handsome. Men
+usually do when they are on the road of destruction.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grandfather! I have made up my mind to
+marry Boris, and lead him the way I want him to
+go. That will always be the way thou chooseth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How comes that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I loved thee first of all. I shall always love
+thee first. Boris played me false, I must pay him
+back. I must make him suffer. Those Ragnors&ndash;&ndash;all
+of them&ndash;&ndash;put on such airs! They make me
+sick.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;What art thou after? What favour art thou
+seeking?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou knows how the girls will try to outdress
+each other at this Brodie affair&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is too late for a new dress&ndash;&ndash;what is it thou
+wants now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want thee to go to the bank and get me my
+mother&#8217;s necklace to wear just this one night.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not. I gave thy dead mother a
+promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Break it, for a few hours. My Easter dress
+is not a dancing dress. I have no dancing dress
+but the pretty white silk thou gave me last Christmas&ndash;&ndash;and
+I have no ornaments at all&ndash;&ndash;none whatever,
+fit to wear with it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There are always flowers&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Flowers! There is not a flower in Kirkwall.
+Easter and old Mistress Brodie have used up
+every daisy&ndash;&ndash;besides, white silk ought to have
+jewels.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Adam shook his head positively.</p>
+<p>&#8220;My mother wishes me to have what I want.
+Thou ought not to keep it from me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She told me to give thee her necklace on thy
+twenty-first birthday&ndash;&ndash;not before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is so silly! What better is my twenty-first
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+birthday than any other day? Grandfather,
+I cannot love thee more, because my love for thee
+is already a perfect love; but I will be such a good
+girl if thou wilt give me what I want, O so much
+I want it! I will be so obedient! I will do everything
+thou desires! I will even marry Boris
+Ragnor.&#8221; And this urgent request was punctuated
+with kisses and little fondling strokes of her
+hand, and Adam finally asked&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How shall I answer thy mother when she
+accuses me of breaking my promise to her?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will answer for thee. O dear! It is growing
+late! If thou dost not hurry, the bank will
+be closed, and then I shall be sick with disappointment,
+and it will be thy fault.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Adam rose and left the house and Sunna,
+having seen that he took the proper turn in the
+road, called for a cup of tea and having refreshed
+herself with it, went upstairs to lay out and prepare
+everything for her toilet. And as she went
+about this business she continually justified herself:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is only natural I should have my necklace,&#8221;
+she thought. &#8220;Norse women have always adored
+gold and silver and gems, and in the old days
+their husbands sailed long journeys and fought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+battles for what their women wanted. My great
+Aunt Christabelle often told me that many of the
+old Shetland and Orkney families had gold ornaments
+and uncut gems, hundreds of years old, hid
+away. I would not wonder if Grandfather has
+some! I dare say the bank&#8217;s safe is full of them!
+I do not care for them but I do want my mother&#8217;s
+wedding necklace&ndash;&ndash;and I am going to have it.
+Right and proper it is, I should have it now.
+Mother would say so if she were here. Girls are
+women earlier than they were in her day. Twenty-one,
+indeed! I expect to be married long before
+I am twenty-one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In less than an hour she began to watch the road
+for her grandfather&#8217;s return. Very soon she saw
+him coming and he had a small parcel in his hand.
+Her heart gave a throb of satisfaction and she
+began to unplait her manifold small braids: &#8220;I
+shall not require to go to bed,&#8221; she murmured.
+&#8220;Grandfather has my necklace. He will want to
+take it back to the bank tomorrow&ndash;&ndash;I shall see
+about that&ndash;&ndash;I promised&ndash;&ndash;yes, I know! But there
+are ways&ndash;&ndash;out of a promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She was, of course, delightfully grateful to
+receive the necklace, and Vedder could not help
+noticing how beautiful her loosened hair looked.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+Its length and thickness and waves of light colour
+gave to her stately, blonde beauty a magical grace,
+and Vedder was one of those men who admire
+the charms of his own family as something naturally
+greater than the same charms in any other
+family. &#8220;The Vedders carry their beauty with an
+air,&#8221; he said, and he was right. The Vedders
+during the course of a few centuries of social
+prominence had acquired that air of superiority
+which impresses, and also frequently
+offends.</p>
+<p>Certainly, Sunna Vedder in white silk and a
+handsome necklace of rubies and diamonds was
+an imposing picture; and Adam Vedder, in spite
+of his sixty-two years, was an imposing escort. It
+would be difficult to say why, for he was a small
+man in comparison with the towering Norsemen
+by whom he was surrounded. Yet he dominated
+and directed any company he chose to favour with
+his presence; and every man in Kirkwall either
+feared or honoured him. Sunna had much of his
+natural temperament, but she had not the driving
+power of his cultivated intellect. She relied on
+her personal beauty and the many natural arts
+with which Nature has made women a match for
+any antagonist. Had she not heard her grandfather
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
+frequently say &#8220;a beautiful woman is the
+best armed creature that God has made! She is
+as invincible as a rhinoceros!&#8221;</p>
+<p>This night he had paid great attention to his
+own toilet. He was fashionably attired, neat as
+a new pin, and if not amiable, at least exceedingly
+polite. He had leaning on his arm what he considered
+the most beautiful creature in Scotland,
+and he assumed the manners of her guardian with
+punctilious courtesy.</p>
+<p>There was a large company present when the
+Vedders reached Mrs. Brodie&#8217;s&ndash;&ndash;military men, a
+couple of naval officers, gentlemen of influence,
+and traders of wealth and enterprise; with a full
+complement of women &#8220;divinely tall and fair.&#8221;
+Sunna made the sensation among them she expected
+to make. There was a sudden pause in
+conversation and every eye filled itself with her
+beauty. For just a moment, it seemed as if there
+was no other person present.</p>
+<p>Then Mrs. Brodie and Colonel Belton came to
+meet them, and Sunna was left in the latter&#8217;s
+charge. &#8220;Will you now dance, Miss Vedder?&#8221;
+he asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let us first walk about a little, Colonel. I
+want to find my friend, Thora Ragnor.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;I have long desired an introduction to Miss
+Ragnor. Is she not lovely?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but now only for one man. A stranger
+came here last week, and she was captured at
+once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How remarkable! I thought that kind of
+irresponsible love had gone quite out of favour and
+fashion.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not so! This youth came, saw, and conquered.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is it the youth I see with Ken McLeod?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The same. Look! There they are, together
+as usual.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is very sweet and attractive.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna answered this remark by asking Thora
+to honour Colonel Belton with her company for a
+short time, saying: &#8220;In the interval I will take
+care of Ian Macrae.&#8221; Then Thora stood up in
+her innocence and loveliness and she was like some
+creature of more ethereal nature than goes with
+flesh and blood. For the eye took her in as a
+whole, and at first noticed neither her face nor
+her dress in particular. Her dress was only of
+white tarlatan, a thin, gauze-like material long out
+of fashion. It is doubtful if any woman yet remembers
+its airy, fairy sway, and graceful folds.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+The filmy robe, however, was plentifully trimmed
+with white satin ribbon, and the waist was entirely
+of satin trimmed with tarlatan. The whole effect
+was girlish and simple, and Thora needed no other
+ornament but the pink and white daisies at her
+belt.</p>
+<p>However, if Sunna expected Thora&#8217;s manner
+and conversation to match the simplicity of her
+dress, she was disappointed. In Love&#8217;s school
+women learn with marvellous rapidity, and Thora
+astonished her by falling readily into a conversation
+of the most up-to-date social character. She
+had caught the trick from Ian, a little playful fencing
+round the most alluring of subjects, yet it
+brought out the simplicity of her character, while
+it also revealed its purity and intelligence.</p>
+<p>Dancing had commenced when Mrs. Ragnor
+entered the room on the arm of her son Boris.
+Boris instantly looked around for Sunna and she
+was dancing with McLeod. All the evening afterwards
+Boris danced, but never once with Sunna,
+and Adam Vedder watched the young man with
+scorn. He was the most desirable party in the
+room for any girl and he quite neglected the handsome
+Sunna Vedder. That was not his only annoyance.
+McLeod was dancing far too often with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span>
+Sunna, and even the beautiful youth Ian Macrae
+had only asked her hand once; and Adam was
+sure that Thora Ragnor had been the suggester of
+that act of politeness. Girls far inferior to Sunna
+in every respect had received more attention than
+his granddaughter. He was greatly offended, but
+he appeared to turn his back on the whole affair
+and to be entirely occupied in conversation with
+Conall Ragnor and Colonel Belton concerning the
+war with Russia.</p>
+<p>Every way the evening was to Sunna a great disappointment,
+in many respects she felt it to be a
+great humiliation; and the latter feeling troubled
+her more for her grandfather than for herself.
+She knew he was mortified, for he did not speak to
+her as they walked through the chill, damp midnight
+to their home. Mrs. Brodie had urged
+Adam and Sunna to put the night past at her
+house, but Adam had been proof against all her
+suggestions, and even against his own desires. So
+he satisfied his temper by walking home and insisting
+on Sunna doing likewise.</p>
+<p>It was a silent, unhappy walk. Adam said not
+a word to Sunna and she would not open the way
+for his anger to relieve itself. When they reached
+home they found a good fire in the room full of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+books which Adam called his own, and there they
+went. Then Sunna let her long dress fall down,
+and put out her sandalled feet to the warmth of
+the fire. Adam glanced into her face and saw that
+it was full of trouble.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go to thy bed, Sunna,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Of this
+night thou must have had enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have had too much, by far. If only thou
+loved me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who else do I love? There is none but thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then with some one thou ought to be angry.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is it with Boris Ragnor I should be angry?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes! It is with Boris Ragnor. Not once did
+he ask me to dance. Watching him and me were
+all the girls. They saw how he slighted me, and
+made little nods and laughs about it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was thy own fault. When Boris came into
+the room, he looked for thee. With McLeod
+thou wert dancing. With that Scot thou wert
+dancing! The black look on his face, I saw it,
+thou should have seen it and have given him a
+smile&ndash;&ndash;Pshaw! Women know so much&ndash;&ndash;and do
+so little. By storm thou ought to have taken the
+whole affair for thy own. I am disappointed in
+thee&ndash;&ndash;yes, I am disappointed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Grandfather?&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;An emergency thou had to face, and thou
+shirked it. When Boris entered the room, straight
+up to him thou should have gone; with an outstretched
+hand and a glad smile thou should have
+said: &#8216;I am waiting for thee, Boris!&#8217; Then thou
+had put all straight that was crooked, and carried
+the evening in thy own hands.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will pay Boris for this insult. Yes, I will,
+and thou must help me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To quarrel with Boris? To injure him in
+any way? No! that I will not do. It would be to
+quarrel also with my old friend Conall. Not thee!
+Not man or woman living, could make me do
+that! Sit down and I will tell thee a better way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I will not sit down till thou say &#8216;yes&#8217; to
+what I ask&#8221;; for some womanly instinct told her
+that while Adam was cowering over the hearth
+blaze and she stood in all her beauty and splendour
+above him, she controlled the situation. &#8220;Thou
+must help me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To what or whom?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want to marry Boris.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou love him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Better than might be. When mine he is all
+mine, then I will love him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is little to trust to.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art wrong. It is of reasons one of the
+best and surest. Not three months ago, a little
+dog followed thee home, an ugly, half-starved little
+mongrel, not worth a shilling; but it was determined
+to have thee for its master, and thou called
+it thy dog, and now it is petted and pampered and
+lies at thy feet, and barks at every other dog, and
+thou says it is the best dog on the Island. It is
+the same way with husbands. Thou hast seen how
+Mary Minorie goes on about her bald, scrimpy
+husband; yet she burst out crying when he put the
+ring on her finger. Now she tells all the girls
+that marriage is &#8216;Paradise Regained.&#8217; When
+Boris is my husband it will be well with me, and
+not bad for him. He will be mine, and we love
+what is our own.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why wilt thou marry any man? Thou wilt be
+rich.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One must do as the rest of the world does&ndash;&ndash;and
+the world has the fashion of marrying.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Money rules love.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes! Bolon Flett had only scorn for his poor
+little wife until her uncle left her two thousand
+pounds. Since then, no word is long enough or
+good enough for her excellencies. Money opens
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+the eyes as well as the heart. What then, if I
+make Boris rich?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris is too proud to take money from thee
+and I will not be sold to any man!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wilt thou wait until my meaning is given thee&ndash;&ndash;flying
+off in a temper like a foolish woman!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am sorry&ndash;&ndash;speak thy meaning.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sit down. Thou art not begging anything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not from thee. I have thy love.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And thine is mine. This is my plan. Above
+all things Boris loves a stirring, money-making
+business. I am going to ask him to take me as
+his partner. Tired am I of living on my past.
+How many boats has Boris?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou knowest he has but one, but she is large
+and swift, and does as much business as McLeod&#8217;s
+three little sloops.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Schooners.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Schooners, then&ndash;&ndash;little ones!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, there is a new kind of boat which
+thou hast never seen. She is driven by steam, not
+wind, she goes swiftly, all winds are fair to her,
+and she cares little for storms.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I saw a ship like that when I was in Edinburgh.
+She lay in Leith harbour, and the whole
+school went to Leith to see her come in.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;If Boris will be my partner, I will lay my luck
+to his, and I will buy a steam ship, a large coaster&ndash;&ndash;dost
+thou see?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then with a laugh she cried: &#8220;I see, I see!
+Then thou can easily beat the sloops or schooners,
+that have nothing but sails. Good is that, very
+good!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Just so. We can make two trips for their one.
+No one can trade against us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;McLeod may buy steam ships.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have learned all about him. His fortune is
+in real estate, mostly in Edinburgh. It takes a
+lifetime to sell property in Edinburgh. We shall
+have got all there is to get before McLeod could
+compete with Vedder and Ragnor.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That scheme would please Boris, I know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A boat could be built on the Clyde in about
+four months, I think. Shall I speak to Boris?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Boris will not fly in the face of good fortune;
+but mind this&ndash;&ndash;it is easier to begin that reel
+than it will be to end it. One thing I do not like&ndash;&ndash;thou
+wert angry with Boris, now thou wilt take
+him for a partner.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At any time I can put my anger under my purse&ndash;&ndash;but
+my anger was mostly against thee. Now
+shall I do as I am minded?&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That way is more likely than not! I think
+this affair will grow with thee&ndash;&ndash;but thou may
+change thy mind&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not call my words back. Go now to thy
+bed and forget everything. This is the time when
+sleep will be better than either words or deeds.
+Of my intent speak to <i>no one</i>. In thy thoughts let
+it be still until its hour arrives.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the morning, very early, I am going to see
+Thora. When the enlisting ship sails northward,
+there will be a crowd to see her off. Boris and
+Thora and Macrae will be among it. I also intend
+to be there. Dost thou know at what hour
+she will leave?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At ten o&#8217;clock the tide is full.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then at ten, she will sail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Likely enough, is that. Our talk is now ended.
+Let it be, as if it had not been.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have forgotten it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder laughed, and added: &#8220;Go then to thy
+bed, I am tired.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not tired of Sunna?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, yes, of thee I have had enough at
+present.&#8221;</p>
+<p>She went away as he spoke, and then he was
+worried. &#8220;Now I am unhappy!&#8221; he ejaculated.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+&#8220;What provokers to the wrong way are women!
+Her mother was like her&ndash;&ndash;my beloved Adriana!&#8221;
+And his old eyes filled with sorrowful tears as he
+recalled the daughter he had lost in the first days
+of her motherhood. Very soon Sunna and Adriana
+became one and he was fast asleep in his
+chair.</p>
+<p>In the morning Sunna kept her intention. She
+poured out her grandfather&#8217;s coffee, and talked of
+everything but the thing in her heart and purpose.
+After breakfast she said: &#8220;I shall put the day past
+with Thora Ragnor. Thy dinner will be served
+for thee by Elga.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Talking thou wilt be&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of nothing that ought to be kept quiet. Do
+not come for me if I am late; I intend that Boris
+shall bring me home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna dressed herself in a pretty lilac lawn
+frock, trimmed with the then new and fashionable
+Scotch open work, and fresh lilac ribbons. Her
+hair was arranged as Boris liked it best, and it
+was shielded by one of those fine, large Tuscan
+hats that have never, even yet, gone out of fashion.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Sunna!&#8221; cried Thora, as she hastened to
+meet her friend, &#8220;how glad am I to see thee!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou wert in my heart this morning, and I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+said to it &#8216;Be content, in an hour I will take thee to
+thy desire.&#8217;&#8221; And they clasped hands, and walked
+thus into the house. &#8220;Art thou not tired after
+the dance?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; replied Thora, &#8220;I was very happy. Do
+happy people get tired?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes&ndash;&ndash;one can only bear so much happiness,
+then it is weariness&ndash;&ndash;sometimes crossness. Too
+much of any good thing is a bad thing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How wise thou art, Sunna.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I live with wisdom.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With Adam Vedder?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and thou hast been living with Love, with
+Mr. Macrae. Very handsome and good-natured
+he is. I am sure that thou art in love with him!
+Is that not the case?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very much in love with me he is, Sunna. It
+is a great happiness. I do not weary of it, no,
+indeed! To believe in love, to feel it all around
+you! It is wonderful! You know, Sunna&ndash;&ndash;surely
+you know?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I, too, have been in love.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With Boris&ndash;&ndash;I know. And also Boris is in
+love with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is wrong. No longer does Boris love
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;But that is impossible. Love for one hour is
+love forever. He did love thee, then he could not
+forget. Never could he forget.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He did not notice me last night. Thou must
+have seen?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not notice&ndash;&ndash;but I heard some talk about
+it. The first time thou art alone with him, he will
+tell thee his trouble. It is only a little cloud&ndash;&ndash;it
+will pass.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose the enlisting ship sails northaway
+first?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, to Lerwick, though they may stop at Fair
+Island on the way. Boris says they could get many
+men there&ndash;&ndash;and Boris knows.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Art thou going to the pier to see them leave?
+I suppose every one goes. Shall we go together?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Sunna! They left this morning about
+four o&#8217;clock. Father went down to the pier with
+Boris. Boris sailed with them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora! Thora! I thought Boris was to remain
+here until the naval party returned from
+Shetland?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The lieutenant in command thought Boris
+could help the enlisting, for in Lerwick Boris has
+many friends. Thou knows my sisters Anna and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+Nenie live in Lerwick. Boris was fain to go and
+see them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But they will return here when their business
+is finished in Lerwick?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They spoke of doing so, but mother is not believing
+they will return. They took with them all
+the men enlisted here and the men are wanted very
+much. Boris did not bid us a short &#8216;good-bye.&#8217;
+Mother was crying, and when he kissed me his
+tears wet my cheeks.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna did not answer. For a few minutes she
+felt as if her heart had suddenly died. At last she
+blundered out:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I suppose the officer was afraid that&ndash;&ndash;Boris
+might slip off while he was away.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, thou supposes what is wrong.
+When a fight is the question, Boris needs no one
+either to watch him or to egg him on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that youngster, Macrae, going to join? Or
+has he already taken the Queen&#8217;s shilling? I think
+I heard such a report.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No one could have told that story. Macrae is
+bound by a contract to McLeod for this year and
+indeed, just yet, he does not wish to go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He does not wish to leave thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is not out of likelihood.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Many are saying that England is in great
+stress, and my grandfather thinks that so she is.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My father says &#8216;not so.&#8217; If indeed it were so,
+my father would have gone with Boris. Mother
+is cross about it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;About what then is she cross?&#8221; asked Sunna.</p>
+<p>&#8220;People are saying that England is in stress.
+Mother says such words are nothing but men&#8217;s
+&#8216;fear talk.&#8217; England&#8217;s sons are many, and if few
+they were, she has millions of daughters who
+would gladly fight for her!&#8221; said Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, for heroics there is no present
+need! I surely thought Boris loved his business
+and would not leave his money-making.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Could thou tell me what incalculable sum of
+money a man would take for his honour and patriotism?&#8221;
+asked Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What has honour to do with it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Everything; a man without honour is not a
+man&ndash;&ndash;he is just &#8216;a body&#8217;; he has no soul. Robert
+Burns told Andrew Horner how such men were
+made!&#8221; replied Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How was that? Tell me! A Burns&#8217; anecdote
+will put grandfather in his finest temper, and I
+want him in that condition for I have a great
+favour to ask from him.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;The tale tells that when Burns was beginning
+to write, he had a rival in a man called Andrew
+Horner. One day they met at the same club dinner,
+and they were challenged to each write a verse
+within five minutes. The gentlemen guests took
+out their watches, the poets were furnished with
+pencils and paper. When time was up Andrew
+Horner had not written the first line but Burns
+handed to the chairman his verse complete.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell me. If you know it, tell me, Thora!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I know it. If you hear it once you do
+not forget it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It runs thus:</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;&#8216;Once on a time<br />
+The Deil gat stuff to mak&#8217; a swine<br />
+And put it in a corner;<br />
+But afterward he changed his plan<br />
+And made it summat like a man,<br />
+And ca&#8217;ed it Andrew Horner.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>&#8220;That is good! It will delight grandfather.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No doubt he already knows it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I should have heard it a thousand times,
+if he knew it.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I believe it has been suppressed.
+Many think it too ill-natured for Burns to have
+written; but my father says it has the true Burns
+ring and is Robert Burns&#8217; writing without doubt.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will give grandfather a nice long job of investigation.
+That is one of his favourite amusements,
+and all Sunna has to do is to be sure he is
+right and everybody else wrong. Now I will go
+home.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Stay with me today.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. Macrae will be here soon.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Uncertain is that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Every hair on thy head, Thora, every article
+of thy dress, from the lace at thy throat to the sandals
+on thy feet, say to me that this is a time when
+my absence will be better than my company.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, do as thou art minded.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is best I do so. A happy morning to thee!
+What more is in my heart shall lie quiet at this
+time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna went away with the air of a happy, careless
+girl, but she said many angry words to herself
+as she hasted on the homeward road. &#8220;Most
+of the tales tell how women are made to suffer
+by the men they love&ndash;&ndash;but no tale shall be made
+about Sunna Vedder! <i>No!</i> <i>No!</i> It is Boris
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
+Ragnor I shall turn into laughter&ndash;&ndash;he has mocked
+my very heart&ndash;&ndash;I will never forgive him&ndash;&ndash;that is
+the foolish way all women take&ndash;&ndash;all but Sunna
+Vedder&ndash;&ndash;she will neither forgive nor forget&ndash;&ndash;she
+will follow up this affair&ndash;&ndash;yes!&#8221;</p>
+<p>By such promises to herself she gradually regained
+her usual reasonable poise, and with a
+smiling face sought her grandfather. She found
+him in his own little room sitting at a table covered
+with papers. He looked up as she entered
+and, in spite of his intention, answered her smile
+and greeting with an equal plentitude of good will
+and good temper.</p>
+<p>&#8220;But I thought then, that thou would stay with
+thy friend all day, and for that reason I took out
+work not to be chattered over.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will go away now. I came to thee because
+things have not gone as I wanted them. Thy
+counsel at such ill times is the best that can happen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Vedder threw down his pencil and turned
+to her. &#8220;Who has given thee wrong or despite
+or put thee out of the way thou wanted to take?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Boris Ragnor. He has sailed north with
+the recruiting company&ndash;&ndash;without a word to me he
+has gone. He has thrown my love back in my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+face. Should thy grandchild forgive him? I am
+both Vedder and Fae. How can I forgive?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder took out his watch and looked at the
+time. &#8220;We have an hour before dinner. Sit
+down and I will talk to thee. First thou shalt tell
+me the very truth anent thy quarrel with Boris.
+What did thou do, or say, that has so far grieved
+him? Now, then, all of it. Then I can judge if
+it be Boris or Sunna, that is wrong in this matter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen then. Boris heard some men talking
+about me&ndash;&ndash;that made his temper rise&ndash;&ndash;then he
+heard from these men that I was dancing at
+McLeod&#8217;s and he went there to see, and as it happened
+I was dancing with McLeod when he entered
+the room, and he walked up to me in the
+dance and said thou wanted me, and he made me
+come home with him and scolded me all the time
+we were together. I asked him not to tell thee,
+and he promised he would not&ndash;&ndash;if I went there no
+more. I have not danced with McLeod since, except
+at Mrs. Brodie&#8217;s. Thou saw me then.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou should not have entered McLeod&#8217;s
+house&ndash;&ndash;what excuse hast thou for that fault?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Many have talked of the fault, none but thou
+have asked me why or how it came that I was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+so foolish. I will tell thee the very truth. I went
+to spend the day with Nana Bork&ndash;&ndash;with thy consent
+I went&ndash;&ndash;and towards afternoon there came
+an invitation from McLeod to Nana to join an informal
+dance that night at eight o&#8217;clock. And
+Nana told me so many pleasant things about these
+little dances I could not resist her talk and I
+thought if I stayed with Nana all night thou
+would never know. I have heard that I stole
+away out of thy house to go to McLeod&#8217;s. I did
+not! I went with Nana Bork whose guest I was.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why did thou not tell me this before?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I knew no one in Kirkwall would dare to say
+to thee this or that about thy grandchild, and I
+hoped thou would never know. I am sorry for
+my disobedience; it has always hurt me&ndash;&ndash;if thou
+forgive it now, so much happier I will be.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Adam drew her to his side and kissed her,
+and words would have been of all things the most
+unnecessary. But he moved a chair close to him,
+and she sat down in it and laid her hand upon his
+knee and he clasped and covered it with his own.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very unkindly Boris has treated thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He has mocked at my love before all Kirkwall.
+Well, then, it is Thora Ragnor&#8217;s complacency that
+affronts me most. If she would put her boasting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+into words, I could answer her; but who can answer
+looks?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She is in the heaven of her first love. Thou
+should understand that condition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is beyond my understanding; nor would I
+try to understand such a lover as Ian Macrae. I
+believe that he is a hypocrite&ndash;&ndash;Thora is so easily
+deceived&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And thou?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am not deceived. I see Boris just as he is,
+rude and jealous and hateful, but I think him a
+far finer man than Ian Macrae ever has been, or
+ever will be.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes! Thou art right. Now then, let this affair
+lie still in thy heart. I think that he will
+come to see thee when the boats return from Shetland&ndash;&ndash;if
+not, then I shall have something to say in
+the matter. I shall want my dinner very soon, and
+some other thing we will talk about. Let it go until
+there is a word to say or a movement to make.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will be ready for thee at twelve o&#8217;clock.&#8221;
+With a feeling of content in her heart, Sunna went
+away. Had she not the Burns story to tell? Yet
+she felt quite capable of restraining the incident
+until she got to a point where its relation would
+serve her purpose or her desire.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI_THE_OLD_OLD_TROUBLE' id='CHAPTER_VI_THE_OLD_OLD_TROUBLE'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h3>THE OLD, OLD TROUBLE</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>From reef and rock and skerry, over headland, ness and roe,<br />
+The coastwise lights of England watch the ships of England go.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>... a girl with sudden ebullitions,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Flashes of fun, and little bursts of song;<br />
+Petulant, pains, and fleeting pale contritions,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Mute little moods of misery and wrong.<br />
+Only a girl of Nature&#8217;s rarest making,<br />
+Wistful and sweet&ndash;&ndash;and with a heart for breaking.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> following two weeks were a time of
+anxiety concerning Boris. The recruiting
+party with whom he had gone away had said positively
+they must return with whatever luck they
+had in two weeks; and this interval appeared to
+Sunna to be of interminable length. She spent a
+good deal of the time with Thora affecting to console
+her for the loss of Ian Macrae, who had left
+Kirkwall for Edinburgh a few days after the departure
+of Boris.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;We are &#8216;a couple of maidens all forlorn,&#8217;&#8221; she
+sang, and though Thora disclaimed the situation,
+she could not prevent her companion insisting on
+the fact.</p>
+<p>Thora, however, did not feel that she had any
+reason for being forlorn. Ian&#8217;s love for her had
+been confessed, not only to herself, but also to
+her father and mother, and the marriage agreed
+to with a few reservations, whose wisdom the lovers
+fully acknowledged. She was receiving the
+most ardent love letters by every mail and she had
+not one doubt of her lover in any respect. Indeed,
+her happiness so pervaded her whole person
+and conduct that Sunna felt it sometimes to be
+both depressing and irritating.</p>
+<p>Thora, however, was the sister of Boris, she
+could not quarrel with her. She had great influence
+over Boris, and Sunna loved Boris&ndash;&ndash;loved
+him in spite of her anger and of his neglect.
+Very slowly went the two weeks the enlisting ships
+had fixed as the length of their absence, but the
+news of their great success made their earlier return
+most likely, and after the tenth day every one
+was watching for them and planning a great patriotic
+reception.</p>
+<p>Still the two weeks went slowly away and it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+was a full day past this fixed time, and the ships
+were not in port nor even in sight, nor had any
+late news come from them. In the one letter
+which Rahal had received from her son he said:
+&#8220;The enlistment has been very satisfactory; our
+return may be even a day earlier than we expected.&#8221;
+So Sunna had begun to watch for the
+party three days before the set time, and when it
+was two days after it she was very unhappy.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why do they not come, Thora?&#8221; she asked
+in a voice trembling with fear. &#8220;Do you think
+they have been wrecked?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no! Nothing of the kind! They may
+have sailed westward to Harris. My father thinks
+so.&#8221; But she appeared so little interested that
+Sunna turned to Mistress Ragnor and asked her
+opinion.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then,&#8221; answered Rahal, &#8220;they <i>are</i> staying
+longer than was expected, but who can tell
+what men in a ship will do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They will surely keep their word and promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps&ndash;&ndash;if it seem a good thing to them.
+Can thou not see? They are masters on board
+ship. Once out of Lerwick Bay, the whole world
+is before them. Know this, they might go East
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+or West, and say to no man &#8216;I ask thy leave.&#8217;
+As changeable as the sea is a sailor&#8217;s promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But Boris is thy son&ndash;&ndash;he promised thee to be
+home in two weeks. Men do not break a promise
+made on their mother&#8217;s lips. How soon dost
+thou expect him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At the harbour mouth he might be, even this
+very minute. I want to see my boy. I love him.
+May the good God send those together who
+would fain be loved!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris is in command of his own ship. He
+was under no man&#8217;s orders. He ought not to
+break his promise.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With my will, he would never do that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou think he will go to the war with the
+other men?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That he might do. What woman is there who
+can read a man&#8217;s heart?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;His mother!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She might, a little way&ndash;&ndash;no further&ndash;&ndash;just as
+well &#8216;no further.&#8217; Only God is wise enough, and
+patient enough, to read a human heart. This is a
+great mercy.&#8221; And Rahal lifted her face from
+her sewing a moment and then dropped it again.</p>
+<p>Almost in a whisper Sunna said &#8220;Good-bye!&#8221;
+and then went her way home. She walked rapidly;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+she was in a passion of grief and mortification,
+but she sang some lilting song along the
+highway. As soon, however, as she passed inside
+the Vedder garden gates, the singing was changed
+into a scornful, angry monologue:</p>
+<p>&#8220;These Ragnor women! Oh, their intolerable
+good sense! So easy it is to talk sweetly and
+properly when you have no great trouble and all
+your little troubles are well arranged! Women
+cannot comfort women. No, they can not! They
+don&#8217;t want to, if they could. Like women, I do
+not! Trust them, I do not! I wish that God had
+made me a man! I will go to my dear old grandad!&ndash;&ndash;He
+will do something&ndash;&ndash;so sorry I am that
+I let Thora see I loved her brother&ndash;&ndash;when I go
+there again, I shall consider his name as the
+bringer-on of yawns and boredom!&#8221;</p>
+<p>An angry woman carries her heart in her
+mouth; but Sunna had been trained by a wise old
+man, and no one knew better than Sunna Vedder
+did, when to speak and when to be silent. She
+went first to her room in order to repair those
+disturbances to her appearance which had been induced
+by her inward heat and by her hurried
+walk home so near the noontide; and half an hour
+later she came down to dinner fresh and cool as
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+a rose washed in the dew of the morning. Her
+frock of muslin was white as snow, there was a
+bow of blue ribbon at her throat, her whole appearance
+was delightfully satisfying. She opened
+her grandfather&#8217;s parlour and found him sitting at
+a table covered with papers and little piles of gold
+and silver coin.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Suppose I was a thief, Grandfather?&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, what would thou take first?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would take a kiss!&#8221; and she laid her face
+against his face, and gave him one.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now, thou could take all there is. What dost
+thou want?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want thee! Dinner is ready.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will come. In ten minutes, I will come&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;
+and in less than ten minutes he was at the dinner
+table, and apparently a quite different man from
+the one Sunna had invited there. He had changed
+his coat, his face was happy and careless, and he
+had quite forgotten the papers and the little piles
+of silver and gold.</p>
+<p>Sunna had said some things to Thora she was
+sorry for saying; she did not intend to repeat this
+fault with her grandfather. Even the subject of
+Boris could lie still until a convenient hour. She
+appeared, indeed, to have thrown off her anger
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span>
+and her disappointment with the unlucky clothing
+she had worn in her visit to Thora. She had even
+assured herself of this change, for when it fell to
+her feet she lifted it reluctantly between her finger
+and thumb and threw it aside, remarking as she
+did so, &#8220;I will have them all washed over again!
+Soda and soap may make them more agreeable
+and more fortunate.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And perhaps if we take the trouble to notice the
+fact, clothing does seem to have some sort of
+sympathy or antagonism with its wearers. Also, it
+appears to take on the mood or feeling predominant,
+looking at one time crisp and perfectly
+proper, at another time limp and careless, as if
+the wearer informed the garment or the garment
+explained the wearer. It is well known that
+&#8220;Fashions are the external expression of the mental
+states of a country, and that if its men and
+women degenerate in their character, their fashions
+become absurd.&#8221; Surely then, a sympathy
+which can affect a nation has some influence upon
+the individual. Sunna had noticed even in her
+childhood that her dresses were lucky and unlucky,
+but the why or the wherefore of the circumstance
+had never troubled her. She had also noticed
+that her grandfather liked and disliked certain
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+colours and modes, but she laid all their differences
+to difference in age.</p>
+<p>This day, however, they were in perfect accord.
+He looked at her and nodded his head, and
+then smilingly asked: &#8220;How did thou find thy
+friend this morning?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So much in love that she had not one regret
+for Boris.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, there is no reason for regret.
+Boris has taken the path of honour.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That may be so, but for the time to come I
+shall put little trust in him. Going such a dubious
+way, he might well have stopped for a God Bless
+Thee!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would thou have said that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why should we ask about things impossible?
+Dost thou know, Grandfather, at what time the
+recruiting party passed Kirkwall?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nobody knows. I heard music out at sea
+three nights ago, just after midnight. There are
+no Shetland boats carrying music. It is more
+likely than not to have been the recruiting party
+saluting us with music as they went by.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes! I think thou art right. Grandfather,
+I want thee to tell me what we are fighting
+about.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Many times thou hast said &#8216;it made no matter
+to thee.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now then, it is different. Since Boris and so
+many of our men went away, Mistress Ragnor
+and Thora talk of the war and of nothing but
+the war. They know all about it. They wanted
+to tell me all about it. I said thou had told me
+all that was proper for me to know, and now
+then, thou must make my words true. What is
+England quarrelling about? It seems to me, that
+somebody is always looking at her in a way she
+does not think respectful enough.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;This war is not England&#8217;s fault. She has done
+all she could to avoid it. It is the Great Bear of
+Russia who wants Turkey put out of Europe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I heard the Bishop say the Turks
+were a disgrace to Europe, and that the Book of
+Common Prayer had once contained a petition for
+delivery from the Devil, the Turks, and the comet,
+then flaming in the sky and believed to be threatening
+destruction to the earth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen, and I will tell thee the truth. The
+Greek population of Turkey, its Syrians and Armenians,
+are the oldest Christians in the world.
+They are also the most numerous and important
+class of the Sultan&#8217;s subjects. Russia also has a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+large number of Russian Christians in Turkey
+over whom she wants a protectorate, but these
+two influences would be thorns in the side of
+Turkey. England has bought favour for the
+Christians she protects, by immense loans of
+money and other political advantages, but neither
+the Turk nor the English want Russia&#8217;s power
+inside of Turkey.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Turkey is in a bad way. A few weeks ago
+the Czar said to England, &#8216;We have on our hands
+a sick man, a very sick man. I tell you frankly,
+it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he
+should slip away from us, especially if it were before
+all necessary arrangements were made. The
+Czar wants Turkey out of his way. He wants
+Constantinople for his own southern capital, he
+wants the Black Sea for a Russian lake, and the
+Danube for a Russian river. He wants many
+other unreasonable things, which England cannot
+listen to.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, I think the Russian would be better
+than the Turk in Europe.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One thing is sure; in the hour that England
+joins Russia, Turkey will slay every Christian in
+her territories. Dost thou think England will
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+inaugurate a huge massacre of Christians?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is not thinkable. Is there nothing
+more?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, there is India. The safety of our
+Indian Empire would be endangered over the
+whole line between East and West if Russia was
+in Constantinople. Turkey lies across Egypt,
+Syria, Asia Minor and Armenia, and above all
+at Constantinople and the Straits. Dost thou
+think England would ask Russia&#8217;s permission every
+time she wished to go to India?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No indeed! That, itself, is a good reason for
+fighting.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but the Englishman always wants a moral
+backbone for his quarrel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is as it should be. The Armenian Christians
+supply that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Sunna, try and imagine to thyself a great
+military despotic Power seating itself at Constantinople,
+throwing its right hand over Asia Minor,
+Syria and Egypt; and its left holding in an iron
+grip the whole north of two continents; keeping
+the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus closed whenever
+it was pleased to do so, and building fleets in
+Egypt; and in Armenia, commanding the desirable
+road to India by the Euphrates.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that could not be suffered! Impossible!
+All the women in Kirkwall would fight against
+such a condition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, so matters stand, and we had been at
+sword points a year ago but for Lord Aberdeen&#8217;s
+cowardly, pernicious love of peace. But he is always
+whining about &#8216;war destroying wealth and
+commerce&#8217;&ndash;&ndash;as if wealth and commerce were of
+greater worth than national honour and justice
+and mercy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yet, one thing is sure, Grandad; war is wasteful
+and destructive&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And one thing is truer still&ndash;&ndash;it is this&ndash;&ndash;<i>that
+national wealth is created by peace for the very
+purpose of defending the nation in war</i>. Bear
+this in mind. Now, it seems to me we have had
+enough of war. I see Elga coming with a dish
+of good Scotch collops, and I give thee my word
+that I will not spoil their savour by any unpleasant
+talk.&#8221; Then he poured a little fine Glenlivet
+into a good deal of water and said: &#8220;Here&#8217;s first
+to the glory of God! and then to the honour of
+England!&#8221; And Sunna touched his glass with
+her glass and the little ceremony put both in a very
+happy mood.</p>
+<p>Then Sunna saw that the moment she had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+waited for had arrived and she said: &#8220;I will tell
+thee a good story of Robert Burns to flavour thy
+collops. Will that be to thy wish?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is beyond my wish. Thou can not tell me
+one I do not know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I heard one today from Thora Ragnor that
+I never heard thee tell.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then it cannot be fit for thee and Thora Ragnor
+to repeat.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wilt thou hear it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is it about some girl he loved?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, it is about a man he scorned. Thou must
+have heard of Andrew Horner?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never heard the creature&#8217;s name before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then the story will be fresh to thee. Will
+thou hear it now?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;As well now, as later.&#8221; For Adam really had
+no expectation of hearing anything he had not already
+heard and judged; and he certainly expected
+nothing unusual from the proper and commonplace
+Thora Ragnor. But Sunna exerted all her
+facial skill and eloquence, and told the clever incident
+with wonderful spirit and delightful mimicry.
+Adam was enchanted; he threw down his
+knife and fork and made the room ring with
+laughter and triumph so genuine that Sunna&ndash;&ndash;much
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span>
+against her will&ndash;&ndash;was compelled to laugh
+with him. They heard the happy thunder in the
+kitchen, and wondered whatever was the matter
+with the Master.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is Robert Burns, his own self, and no other
+man. It is the best thing I have heard from &#8216;the
+lad that was born in Kyle!&#8217;&#8221; Vedder cried. &#8220;Ill-natured!
+Not a bit of it! Just what the Horner
+man deserved!&#8221; Then he took some more collops
+and a fresh taste of Glenlivet, and anon broke
+into laughter again.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! but I wish I was in Edinburgh tonight!
+There&#8217;s men there I would go to see and have my
+laugh out with them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grandfather, why should we not go to Edinburgh
+next winter? You could board me with
+Mistress Brodie, and come every day to sort our
+quarrels and see that I was properly treated.
+Then you could have your crow over the ignoramuses
+who did not know such a patent Burns
+story; and I could take lessons in music and singing,
+and be learning something or seeing something,
+every hour of my life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what about Boris?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The very name of Boris tires my tongue! I
+can do without Boris.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, that is good! Thou art learning
+&#8216;the grand habit of doing without.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wilt thou take me to Edinburgh? My mother
+would like thee to do that. I think I deserve it,
+Grandfather; yes, and so I ask thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I was going, I should have no mind to go
+without thee. One thing I wish to know&ndash;&ndash;in what
+way hast thou deserved it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not expect thee to ask me a question like
+that. Have I fretted and pined, and forgot to
+eat and sleep, and gone dowdy and slovenly, because
+my lover has been fool enough to desert me?
+Well, then, that is what any other girl would have
+done. But because I am of thy blood and stock,
+I take what comes to me as part of my day&#8217;s work,
+and make no more grumble on the matter than one
+does about bad weather. Is that not the truth?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One thing is sure&ndash;&ndash;thou art the finest all round
+girl in the Orcades.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then it seems to me thou should take me to
+Edinburgh. I want that something, that polish,
+only great cities can give me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Blessings on thee! All Edinburgh can give,
+thou shalt have! But it is my advice to thee to
+remain here until Mrs. Brodie goes back, then go
+thou with her.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That will be what it should be. Mrs. Brodie,
+I feel, will be my stepmother; and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She will never step past thee. Fear not!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nor will any one&ndash;&ndash;man or woman&ndash;&ndash;step between
+thee and me! Doubt me not!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, have thy way. I give thee my
+word to take thee to Edinburgh in the autumn.
+Thou shalt either stay with Mrs. Brodie or at the
+Queen&#8217;s Hotel on Prince&#8217;s Street, with old Adam
+Vedder.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Best of all is thy last offer. I will stay with
+thee. I am used to men&#8217;s society. Women bore
+me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Women bore me also.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Know this, there are three women who do not
+bore thee. Shall I speak their names?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not hinder thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sunna Vedder?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I love her. She cannot bore me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rahal Ragnor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I respect her. She does not bore me&ndash;&ndash;often.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is so; it is but seldom thou sees her.
+Well, then, Barbara Brodie?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I once loved her. She can never be indifferent
+to me.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Thou hast told me the truth and I will not
+follow up this catechism.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For that favour, I am thy debtor. I might not
+always have been so truthful. Now, then, be honest
+with me. What wilt thou do all the summer,
+with no lover to wait on thy whims and fancies?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;On thee I shall rely. Where thou goes, I will
+go, and if thou stay at home, with thee I will stay.
+Thou can read to me. I have never heard any of
+our great Sagas and that is a shame. I complain
+of that neglect in my education! I heard Maximus
+Grant recite from &#8216;The Banded Men and
+Haakon the Good,&#8217; when I was in Edinburgh, and
+I said to myself, &#8216;how much finer is this, than opera
+songs, sung with a Scotch burr, in the Italian; or
+than English songs, sung by Scotch people who
+pronounce English after the Scotch fashion!&#8217;
+Then I made up my mind that this coming winter
+I would let Edinburgh drawing-rooms hear the
+songs of Norse warriors; the songs in which the
+armour rattles and the swords shine!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That, indeed, will befit thee! Now, then, for
+the summer, keep thyself well in hand. Say nothing
+of thy plans, for if but once the wind catches
+them, they will soon be for every one to talk to
+death.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span></div>
+<p>Adam was finishing his plate of rice pudding
+and cream when he gave this advice; and with it,
+he moved his chair from the table and said:
+&#8220;Come into the garden. I want to smoke. Thou
+knows a good dinner deserves a pipe, and a bad
+one demands it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then they went into the garden and talked of
+the flowers and the young vegetables, and said not
+a word of Edinburgh and the Sagas that the winds
+could catch and carry round to human folk for
+clash and gossip. And when the pipe was out,
+Adam said: &#8220;Now I am going into the town.
+That Burns story is on my lips, my teeth
+cannot keep my tongue behind them much
+longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A good time will be thine. I wish that I
+could go with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What wilt thou do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Braid my hair and dress myself. Then I shall
+take out thy Saga of &#8216;The Banded Men&#8217; and study
+the men who were banded, and find them out, in
+all their clever ways. Then I can show them to
+others. If I get tired of them&ndash;&ndash;and I do get tired
+of men very quickly&ndash;&ndash;I will put on my bonnet and
+tippet, and go and carry Mrs. Brodie thy respectful&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Take care, Sunna!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good wishes! I can surely go so far.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Know this&ndash;&ndash;every step on that road may lead
+to danger&ndash;&ndash;and thou cannot turn back and tread
+them the other way. There now, be off! I will
+talk with thee no longer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna said something about Burns in reply, but
+Vedder heard her not. He was satisfying his
+vocal impatience by whistling softly and very
+musically &#8220;The Garb of Old Gaul,&#8221; and Sunna
+watched and listened a moment, and then in something
+of a hurry went to her room. A new
+thought had come to her&ndash;&ndash;one which pleased her
+very much; and she proceeded to dress herself accordingly.</p>
+<p>&#8220;None too good is my Easter gown,&#8221; she said
+pleasantly to herself; &#8220;and I can take Eric a basket
+of the oranges grandfather brought home today.
+A treat to the dear little lad they will be.
+Before me is a long afternoon, and I shall find
+the proper moment to ask the advice of Maximus
+about &#8216;The Banded Men.&#8217;&#8221; So with inward
+smiles she dressed herself, and then took
+the highway in a direction not very often taken
+by her.</p>
+<p>It led her to a handsome mansion overlooking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+the Venice of the Orcades, the village and the wonderful
+Bay of Kirkwall, into which</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='ralign cg'>... by night and day,</p>
+<p class='cg'>The great sea water finds its way<br />
+Through long, long windings of the hills.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>The house had a silent look, and its enclosure was
+strangely quiet, though kept in exquisite order and
+beauty. As she approached, a lady about fifty
+years old came to the top of the long, white steps
+to meet her, appearing to be greatly pleased with
+her visit.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Only at dinner time Max was speaking of thee!
+And Eric said his sweetheart had forgotten him,
+and wondering we all were, what had kept thee so
+long away.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, thou knowest about the war and
+the enlisting&ndash;&ndash;everyone, in some way, has been
+touched by the changes made.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;True is that! Quickly thou must come in, for
+Eric has both second-sight and hearing, and no
+doubt he knows already that here thou art&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;
+and talking thus as she went, Mrs. Beaton led the
+way up a wide, light stairway. Even as Mrs. Beaton
+was speaking a thin, eager voice called Sunna&#8217;s
+name, a door flew open, and a man, beautiful
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+as a dream-man, stood in the entrance to welcome
+them. And here the word &#8220;beautiful&#8221; need not
+to be erased; it was the very word that sprang
+naturally from the heart to the lips of every one
+when they met Maximus Grant. No Greek sculptor
+ever dreamed of a more perfect form and
+face; the latter illumined by noticeable grey eyes,
+contemplative and mystical, a face, thoughtful and
+winning, and constantly breaking into kind smiles.</p>
+<p>He took Sunna&#8217;s hand, and they went quickly
+forward to a boy of about eleven years old, whom
+Sunna kissed and petted. The little lad was in a
+passion of delight. He called her &#8220;his sweetheart!
+his wife! his Queen!&#8221; and made her take
+off her bonnet and cloak and sit down beside him.
+He was half lying in a softly cushioned chair;
+there was a large globe at his side, and an equally
+large atlas, with other books on a small table near
+by, and Max&#8217;s chair was close to the whole arrangement.
+He was a fair, lovely boy, with the
+seraphic eyes that sufferers from spinal diseases
+so frequently possess&ndash;&ndash;eyes with the look in them
+of a Conqueror of Pain. But also, on his young
+face there was the solemn Trophonean pallor
+which signs those who daily dare &#8220;to look at death
+in the cave.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Max and I have been to the Greek islands,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;and Sunna, as soon as I am grown up,
+and am quite well, I shall ask thee to marry me,
+and then we will go to one of the loveliest of them
+and live there. Max thinks that would be just
+right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou little darling,&#8221; answered Sunna, &#8220;when
+thou art a man, if thou ask me to marry thee, I
+shall say &#8216;yes!&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course thou wilt. Sunna loves Eric?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do, indeed, Eric! I think we should be very
+happy. We should never quarrel or be cross with
+each other.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh! I would not like that! If we did not
+quarrel, there would be no making-up. I remember
+papa and mamma making-up their little tiffs,
+and they seemed to be very happy about it&ndash;&ndash;and
+to love each other ever so much better for the tiff
+and the make-up. I think we must have little quarrels,
+Sunna; and then, long, long, happy makings-up.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well, Eric; only, thou must make the
+quarrel. With thee I could not quarrel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I should begin it in this way: &#8216;Sunna, I do not
+approve of thy dancing with&ndash;&ndash;say&ndash;&ndash;Ken McLeod.&#8217;
+Then thou wilt say: &#8216;I shall dance with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+whom I like, Eric&#8217;; and I will reply: &#8216;thou art my
+wife and I will not allow thee to dance with McLeod&#8217;;
+and then thou wilt be naughty and saucy
+and proud, and I shall have to be angry and masterful;
+and as thou art going out of the room in a
+terrible temper, I shall say, &#8216;Sunna!&#8217; in a sweet
+voice, and look at thee, and thou wilt look at me,
+with those heavenly eyes, and then I shall open
+my arms and thou wilt fly to my embrace, and the
+making-up will begin.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, that will be delightful, Eric, but
+thou must not accuse me of anything so bad as
+dancing with Mr. McLeod.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would that be bad to thee?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very bad, indeed! I fear I would never try
+to have a &#8216;make-up&#8217; with any one who thought I
+would dance with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou dislike him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is neither here nor there. He is a Scot.
+I may marry like the rest of the world, but while
+my life days last, Sunna Vedder will not marry a
+Scot.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes&ndash;&ndash;but there was some talk that way.
+My aunt heard it. My aunt hears everything.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will tell thee, talk that way was all lies. No
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+one will Sunna Vedder marry, that is not of her
+race.&#8221; Then she put her arms round Eric, and
+kissed his wan face, calling him &#8220;her own little
+Norseman!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell me, Sunna, what is happening in the
+town?&#8221; said he.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, not much now. Men are talking
+of the war, and going to the war, and empty is the
+town. About the war, art thou sorry?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I am glad&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;How glorious the valiant, sword in hand,<br />
+In front of battle for their native land!&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>And he raised his small, thin hands, and his
+face glowed, and he looked like a young St.
+Michael.</p>
+<p>Then Max lifted the globe and books aside and
+put his chair close to his brother&#8217;s. &#8220;Eric has the
+soul of a soldier,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and the sound of
+drums and trumpets stirs him like the cry of fire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And so it happens, Mr. Grant, that we have
+much noise lately from the trumpets and the fife
+and drums.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, man is a military animal, he loves
+parade,&#8221; answered Max.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;But in this war, there is much more than
+parade.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are right, Miss Vedder. It was
+prompted by that gigantic heart-throb with which,
+even across oceans, we feel each other&#8217;s rights and
+wrongs. And in this way we learn best that we
+are men and brothers. Can a man do more for
+a wrong than give his life to right it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Eric cried out with hysterical passion: &#8220;I
+wish only that I might have my way with Aberdeen!
+Oh, the skulking cowards who follow him!
+Max! Max! If you would mount our father&#8217;s
+big war horse and hold me in front of you and
+ride into the thick of the battle, and let me look on
+the cold light of the lifted swords! Oh, the shining
+swords! They shake! They cry out! The
+lives of men are in them! Max! Max! I want
+to die&ndash;&ndash;on a&ndash;&ndash;battlefield!&#8221;</p>
+<p>And Max held the weeping boy in his arms,
+and bowed his head over him and whispered
+words too tender and sacred to be written
+down.</p>
+<p>For a while Eric was exhausted; he lay still
+watching his brother and Sunna, and listening to
+their conversation. They were talking of the excitement
+in London, and of the pressure of the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+clergy putting down the reluctancies and falterings
+of the peace men.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have you heard, Miss Vedder,&#8221; said Grant,
+&#8220;that one of the bishops decided England&#8217;s call
+to war by a wonderful sermon in St. Paul&#8217;s?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am sorry to be ignorant. Tell me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He preached from Jeremiah, Fourth Chapter
+and Sixth Verse; and his closing cry was from
+Nahum, Second Chapter and First Verse, &#8216;Set up
+the standard toward Zion. Stay not, for I will
+bring evil from the north and a great destruction,&#8217;
+and he closed with Nahum&#8217;s advice, &#8216;He that
+dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face, keep
+the munition, watch the way, make thy loins
+strong, fortify thy power mightily.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, how went the advice?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know not exactly. It is hard to convince
+commerce and cowardice that at certain times war
+is the highest of all duties. Neither of them understand
+patriotism; and yet every trembling pacifist
+in time of war is a misfortune to his country.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the country will give them&ndash;&ndash;what?&#8221;
+asked Sunna.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The cold, dead damnation of a disgrace they
+will never outlive,&#8221; answered Max.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span></div>
+<p>There was a sharp cry from Eric at these
+words, and then a passionate childish exclamation&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;Not
+bad enough! Not bad enough!&#8221; he
+screamed. &#8220;Oh, if I had a sword and a strong
+hand! I would cut them up in slices!&#8221; Then with
+an hysterical cry the boy fell backward.</p>
+<p>In an instant Max had him in his arms and was
+whispering words of promise and consolation, and
+just then, fortunately, Mrs. Beaton entered with
+a servant who was carrying a service of tea and
+muffins. It was a welcome diversion and both
+Max and Sunna were glad of it. Max gently unloosed
+Eric&#8217;s hand from Sunna&#8217;s clasp and then
+they both looked at the child. He had fallen into
+a sleep of exhaustion and Max said, &#8220;It is well.
+When he is worn out with feeling, such sleeps
+alone save his life. I am weary, also. Let us
+have a cup of tea.&#8221; So they sat down and talked
+of everything but the war&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;He would hear us
+in his sleep,&#8221; said Max, &#8220;and he has borne all he
+is able to bear today.&#8221; Then Sunna said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Right glad am I to put a stop to such a trouble-raising
+subject. War is a thing by itself, and all
+that touches it makes people bereft of their senses
+or some other good thing. Here has come news
+of Thora Ragnor&#8217;s hurried marriage, but no one
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+knows or cares about the strange things happening
+at our doorstep. Such haste is not good I
+fear.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Does Ragnor approve of it?&#8221; asked Mrs.
+Beaton.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora&#8217;s marriage is all right. They fell in
+love with each other the moment they met. No
+other marriage is possible for either. It is this,
+or none at all,&#8221; answered Sunna.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I heard the man was the son of a great Edinburgh
+preacher.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the Rev. Dr. Macrae, of St. Mark&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is what I heard. He is a good man, but
+a very hard one.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If he is hard, he is not good.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou must not say that, little Miss; it may be
+the Episcopalian belief, but we Calvinists have a
+stronger faith&ndash;&ndash;a faith fit for men and soldiers
+of the Lord.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There! Mrs. Beaton, you are naming soldiers.
+That is against our agreement to drop war
+talk. About Macrae I know nothing. He is not
+aware that anyone but Thora Ragnor lives; and
+I was not in the least attracted by him&ndash;&ndash;his black
+hair and black eyes repelled me&ndash;&ndash;I dislike such
+men.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Will they live in Edinburgh?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe they will live in Kirkwall. Mrs.
+Ragnor owns a pretty house, which she will give
+them. She is going to put it in order and furnish
+it from the roof to the foundation. Thora is busy
+about her napery&ndash;&ndash;the finest of Irish linen and damask.
+Now then, I must hurry home. My grandfather
+will be waiting his tea.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Max rose with her. He looked at his little
+brother and said: &#8220;Aunt, he will sleep now
+for a few hours, will you watch him till I
+return?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will I not? You know he is as safe with me
+as yourself, Max.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So with an acknowledging smile of content, he
+took Sunna&#8217;s hand and led her slowly down the
+stairway. There was a box running all across the
+sill of the long window, lighting the stairs, and it
+was full and running over with the delicious muck
+plant. Sunna laid her face upon its leaves for a
+moment, and the whole place was thrilled with its
+heavenly perfume. Then she smiled at Max and
+his heart trembled with joy; yet he said a little
+abruptly&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;Let us make haste. The night grows
+cloudy.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Their way took them through the village, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span>
+Sunna knew that she would, in all likelihood, be
+the first woman ever seen in Maximus Grant&#8217;s company.
+The circumstance was pleasant to her, and
+she carried herself with an air and manner that
+she readily caught and copied from him. She
+knew that there was a face at every window, but
+she did not turn her head one way or the other.
+Max was talking to her about the Sagas and she
+had a personal interest in the Sagas, and any ambition
+she had to be socially popular was as yet
+quite undeveloped.</p>
+<p>At the point where the Vedder and Ragnor
+roads crossed each other, two men were standing,
+talking. They were Ragnor and Vedder, and
+Ragnor was at once aware of the identity of the
+couple approaching; but Vedder appeared so unaware,
+that Ragnor remarked: &#8220;I see Sunna, Vedder,
+coming up the road, and with her is Colonel
+Max Grant.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But why &#8216;Colonel,&#8217; Ragnor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When General Grant died his son was a colonel
+in the Life Guards. He left the army to care
+for his brother. I heard that the Queen praised
+him for doing so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then the couple were so close, that it was impossible
+to affect ignorance of their presence any
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+longer; and the old men turned and saluted the
+young couple. &#8220;I thank thee, Colonel,&#8221; said Vedder,
+as he &#8220;changed hats&#8221; with the Colonel, &#8220;but
+now I can relieve thee of the charge thou hast
+taken. I am going home and Sunna will go with
+me; but if thou could call on an old man about
+some business, there is a matter I would like to
+arrange with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I could go home with you now, Vedder, if
+that would be suitable.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nay, it would be too much for me tonight. It
+is concerning that waste land on the Stromness
+road, near the little bridge. I would like to build
+a factory there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That would be to my pleasure and advantage.
+I will call on you and talk over the matter, at any
+time you desire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well and good! Say tomorrow at two
+o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Three o&#8217;clock would be better for me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So, let it be.&#8221; Then he took Sunna&#8217;s hand
+and she understood that her walk with Grant was
+over. She thanked Max for his courtesy, sent a
+message to Eric, and then said her good night
+with a look into his eyes which dirled in his heart
+for hours afterwards. Some compliments passed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
+between the men and then she found herself walking
+home with her grandfather.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou ought not to have seen me, Grandfather,&#8221;
+she said a little crossly, &#8220;I was having
+such a lovely walk.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I did not want to see thee, and have I not arranged
+for thee something a great deal better on
+tomorrow&#8217;s afternoon?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;One never knows&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen; he is to come at three o&#8217;clock, it will
+be thy fault if he leaves at four. Thou can make
+tea for him&ndash;&ndash;thou can walk in the greenhouse and
+the garden with him, thou can sing for him&ndash;&ndash;no,
+let him sing for thee&ndash;&ndash;thou can ask him to help
+thee with &#8216;The Banded Men&#8217;&ndash;&ndash;and if he goes away
+before eight o&#8217;clock I will say to thee&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;take the
+first man that asks thee for thou hast no woman-witchery
+with which to pick and choose!&#8217; Grant
+is a fine man. If thou can win him, thou wins
+something worth while. He has always held himself
+apart. His father was much like him. All
+of them soldiers and proud as men are made, these
+confounded, democratic days.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And what of Boris?&#8221; asked Sunna.</p>
+<p>&#8220;May Boris rest wherever he is! Thou could
+not compare Boris with Maximus Grant.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That is the truth. In many ways they are not
+comparable. Boris is a rough, passionate man.
+Grant is a gentleman. Always I thought there
+was something common in me; that must be the
+reason why I prefer Boris.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To vex me, thou art saying such untruthful
+words. I know thy contradictions! Go now and
+inquire after my tea. I am in want of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>During tea, nothing further was said of Maximus
+Grant; but Sunna was in a very merry mood,
+and Adam watched her, and listened to her in
+a philosophical way;&ndash;&ndash;that is, he tried to make
+out amid all her persiflage and bantering talk what
+was her ruling motive and intent&ndash;&ndash;a thing no one
+could have been sure of, unless they had heard
+her talking to herself&ndash;&ndash;that mysterious confidence
+in which we all indulge, and in which we all tell
+ourselves the truth. Sunna was undressing her
+hair and folding away her clothing as she visited
+this confessional, but her revelations were certainly
+honest, even if fragmentary, and full of
+doubt and uncertainty.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grant, indeed!&#8221; she exclaimed, &#8220;I am not
+ready for Grant&ndash;&ndash;I believe I am afraid of the
+man&ndash;&ndash;he would make me over&ndash;&ndash;make me like
+himself&ndash;&ndash;in a month he would do it&ndash;&ndash;I like Boris
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+best! I should quarrel with Boris, of course, and
+we should say words neither polite nor kind to
+each other; but then Boris would do as that blessed
+child said, &#8216;Look at me&#8217;; and I should look at him,
+and the making-up would begin. Heigh-ho! I
+wish it could begin tonight!&#8221; She was silent then
+for a few minutes, and in a sadder voice added&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;with
+Max I should become an angel&ndash;&ndash;and I
+should have a life without a ripple&ndash;&ndash;I would hate
+it, just as I hate the sea when it lies like a mirror
+under the sunshine&ndash;&ndash;then I always want to scream
+out for a great north wind and the sea in a passion,
+shattering everything in its way. If I got
+into that mood with Max, we should have a most
+unpleasant time&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221; and she laughed and tossed
+her pillows about, and then having found a comfortable
+niche in one of them, she tucked her handsome
+head into it and in a few moments the sleep
+of youth and perfect health lulled her into a secret
+garden in the Land of Dreams.</p>
+<p>The next day Sunna appeared to be quite oblivious
+regarding Grant&#8217;s visit and Vedder was
+too well acquainted with his granddaughter to
+speak of it. He only noticed that she was dressed
+with a peculiar simplicity and neatness. At three
+o&#8217;clock Grant was promptly at the Vedder House,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+and at half-past four the land in question had been
+visited and subsequently bought and sold. Then
+the cup of tea came in, and the walk in the garden
+followed, and at six there was an ample meal,
+and during the singing that followed it, Vedder
+fell fast asleep, as was his custom, and when he
+awoke Grant was just going and the clock was
+striking ten. Vedder looked at Sunna and there
+was no need for him to speak.</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was &#8216;The Banded Men,&#8217;&#8221; said Sunna with a
+straight look at her grandfather.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I know a woman who is a match
+for any number of &#8216;banded men.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And in all likelihood that woman will be a
+Vedder. Good night, Grandfather.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII_THE_CALL_OF_WAR' id='CHAPTER_VII_THE_CALL_OF_WAR'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h3>THE CALL OF WAR</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>I came not to send peace but a sword.<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'>&ndash;&ndash;<i>Matt. x, 34.</i></p>
+<p class='cg'><br />
+For when I note how noble Nature&#8217;s form<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Under the war&#8217;s red pain, I deem it true<br />
+That He who made the earthquake and the storm,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Perchance made battles too.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> summer passed rapidly away for it was
+full of new interests. Thora&#8217;s wedding was
+to take place about Christmas or New Year, and
+there were no ready-made garments in those days;
+so all of her girl friends were eager to help her
+needle. Sunna spent half the day with her and all
+their small frets and jealousies were forgotten.
+Early in the morning the work was lifted, and all
+day long it went happily on, to their light-hearted
+hopes and dreams. Then in June and September
+Ian came to Kirkwall to settle his account
+with McLeod, and at the same time, he remained
+a week as the Ragnors&#8217; guest. There was also
+Sunna&#8217;s intended visit to Edinburgh to talk about,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span>
+and there was never a day in which the war and
+its preparations did not make itself prominent.</p>
+<p>One of the pleasantest episodes of this period
+occurred early and related to Sunna. One morning
+she received a small box from London, and
+she was so amazed at the circumstance, that she
+kept examining the address and wondering &#8220;who
+could have sent it,&#8221; instead of opening the box.
+However, when this necessity had been observed,
+it revealed to her a square leather case, almost
+like those used for jewelry, and her heart leaped
+high with expectation. It was something, however,
+that pleased her much more than jewelry;
+it was a likeness of Boris, a daguerreotype&ndash;&ndash;the
+first that had ever reached Kirkwall. A narrow
+scrap of paper was within the clasp, on which
+Boris had written, &#8220;I am all thine! Forget me
+not!&#8221;</p>
+<p>Sunna usually made a pretense of despising
+anything sentimental but this example filled her
+heart with joy and satisfaction. And after it, she
+took far greater pleasure in all the circumstances
+relating to Thora&#8217;s marriage; for she had gained a
+personal interest in them. Even the details of the
+ceremony were now discussed and arranged in accord
+with Sunna&#8217;s taste and suggestions.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;The altar and nave must be decorated with
+flags and evergreens and all the late flowers we
+can secure,&#8221; she said.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There will not be many flowers, I fear,&#8221; answered
+Mistress Ragnor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Grants have a large greenhouse. I shall
+ask them to save all they possibly can. Maximus
+Grant delights in doing a kindness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then thou must ask him, Sunna. He is thy
+friend&ndash;&ndash;perhaps thy lover. So the talk goes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let them talk! My lover is far away. God
+save him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where all good and fit men are gone&ndash;&ndash;to the
+trenches. For my lover is much of a man, strong
+and brave-hearted. He adores his country, his
+home, and his kindred. He counts honour far
+above money; and liberty, more than life. My
+lover will earn the right to marry the girl he
+loves, and become the father of free men and
+women!&#8221; And Rahal answered proudly and tenderly:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art surely meaning my son Boris.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Indeed, thou art near to the truth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Rahal put her arm round Sunna and
+kissed her. &#8220;Thou hast made me happy,&#8221; she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span>
+said, and Sunna made her still more happy, when
+she took out of the little bag fastened to her belt
+the daguerreotype and showed her the strong,
+handsome face of her soldier-sailor boy.</p>
+<p>During all this summer Sunna was busy and
+regular. She was at the Ragnors&#8217; every day until
+the noon hour. Then she ate dinner with her
+grandfather, who was as eager to discuss the news
+and gossip Sunna had heard, as any old woman in
+Kirkwall. He said: &#8220;Pooh! Pooh!&#8221; and &#8220;Nonsense!&#8221;
+but he listened to it, and it often served
+his purpose better than words of weight and wisdom.</p>
+<p>In the afternoons Mistress Brodie was to visit,
+and the winter in Edinburgh to talk over. Coming
+home in time to take tea with her grandfather,
+she devoted the first hour after the meal to practising
+her best songs, and these lullabyed the old
+man to a sleep which often lasted until &#8220;The
+Banded Men&#8221; were attended to. It might then be
+ten o&#8217;clock and she was ready to sleep.</p>
+<p>All through these long summer days, Thora was
+the natural source of interest and the inciting element
+of all the work and chatter that turned the
+Ragnor house upside down and inside out; but
+Thora was naturally shy and quiet, and Sunna
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span>
+naturally expressive and presuming; and it was
+difficult for their companions to keep Thora and
+Sunna in their proper places. Every one found
+it difficult. Only when Ian was present, did Sunna
+take her proper secondary place and Ian, though
+the most faithful and attentive of lovers by mail,
+had only been able to pay Thora one personal
+visit. This visit had occurred at the end of June
+and he was expected again at the end of September.
+The year was now approaching that time and
+the Ragnor household was in a state of happy expectation.</p>
+<p>It was an unusual condition and Sunna said irritably:
+&#8220;They go on about this stranger as if he
+were the son of Jupiter&ndash;&ndash;and poor Boris! They
+never mention him, though there has been a big
+battle and Boris may have been in it. If Boris
+were killed, it is easy to see that this Ian Macrae
+would step into his place!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing of that kind could happen! In thy
+own heart keep such foolish thoughts,&#8221; replied
+Vedder.</p>
+<p>So the last days of September were restless and
+not very happy, for there was a great storm prevailing,
+and the winds roared and the rain fell in
+torrents and the sea looked as if it had gone mad.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
+Before the storm there was a report of a big battle,
+but no details of it had reached them. For
+the Pentland Firth had been in its worst equinoctial
+temper and the proviso added to all Orkney
+sailing notices, &#8220;weather permitting,&#8221; had been in
+full force for nearly a week.</p>
+<p>But at length the storm was over and everyone
+was on the lookout for the delayed shipping.
+Thora was pale with intense excitement but all
+things were in beautiful readiness for the expected
+guest. And Ian did not disappoint the
+happy hopes which called him. He was on the
+first ship that arrived and it was Conall Ragnor&#8217;s
+hand he clasped as his feet touched the dry
+land.</p>
+<p>Such a home-coming as awaited him&ndash;&ndash;the cheerful
+room, the bountifully spread table, the warm
+welcome, the beauty and love, mingling with that
+sense of peace and rest and warm affection which
+completely satisfies the heart. Would such a blissful
+hour ever come again to him in this life?</p>
+<p>His pockets were full of newspapers, and they
+were all shouting over the glorious opening of the
+war. The battle of Alma had been fought and
+won; and the troops were ready and waiting for
+Inkerman. England&#8217;s usual calm placidity had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
+vanished in exultant rejoicing. &#8220;An English gentleman
+told me,&#8221; said Ian, &#8220;that you could not escape
+the chimes of joyful bells in any part of the
+ringing island.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder had just entered the room and he stood
+still to listen to these words. Then he said: &#8220;Men
+differ. For the first victory let all the bells of
+England ring if they want to. We Norsemen like
+to keep our bell-ringing until the fight is over and
+they can chime <i>Peace</i>. And how do you suppose,
+Ian Macrae, that the English and French will
+like to fight together?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well enough, sir, no doubt. Why not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of Waterloo I was thinking. Have the
+French forgotten it? Ian, it is the very first time
+in all the history we have, that Frenchmen ever
+fought with Englishmen in a common cause. Natural
+enemies they have been for centuries, fighting
+each other with a very good will whenever
+they got a chance. Have they suddenly become
+friends? Have they forgot Waterloo?&#8221; and he
+shook his wise old head doubtfully.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who can tell, sir, but when the English conquer
+any nation, they feel kindly to them and
+usually give them many favours?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, every one knows that the same is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+both her pleasure and her folly; and dearly she
+pays for it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ian,&#8221; said Mistress Ragnor, &#8220;are the English
+ships now in the Black Sea? And if so, do you
+think Boris is with them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;About Boris, I do not know. He told me he
+was carrying &#8216;material of war.&#8217; The gentleman
+of whom I spoke went down to Spithead to see
+them off. Her Majesty, in the royal yacht, <i>Fairy</i>,
+suddenly appeared. Then the flagship hauled
+home every rope by the silent &#8216;all-at-once&#8217; action
+of one hundred men. Immediately the rigging of
+the ships was black with sailors, but there was not
+a sound heard except an occasional command&ndash;&ndash;sharp,
+short and imperative&ndash;&ndash;or the shrill order
+of the boatswain&#8217;s whistle. The next moment,
+the Queen&#8217;s yacht shot past the fleet and literally
+led it out to sea. Near the Nab, the royal yacht
+hove to and the whole fleet sailed past her, carried
+swiftly out by a fine westerly breeze. Her
+Majesty waved her handkerchief as they passed
+and it is said she wept. If she had not wept she
+would have been less than a woman and a
+queen.&#8221;</p>
+<p>While Vedder and Ragnor were discussing this
+incident, and comparing it with Cleopatra at the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+head of her fleet and Boadicea at the head of her
+British army and Queen Elizabeth at Tewksbury
+reviewing her army, Mrs. Ragnor and Thora left
+the room. Ian quickly followed. There was a
+bright fire in the parlour, and the piano was open.
+Ian naturally drifted there and then Thora&#8217;s voice
+was wanted in the song. When it was finished,
+Mrs. Ragnor had been called out and they were
+alone. And though Mrs. Ragnor came back at
+intervals, they were practically alone during the
+rest of the evening.</p>
+<p>What do lovers talk about when they are alone?
+Ah! their conversation is not to be written down.
+How unwritable it is! How wise it is! How
+foolish when written down! How supremely satisfying
+to the lovers themselves! Surely it is only
+the &#8220;baby-talk&#8221; of the wisdom not yet comprehensible
+to human hearts! We often say of certain
+events; &#8220;I have no words to describe what I
+felt&#8221;&ndash;&ndash;and who will find out or invent the heavenly
+syllables that can adequately describe the divine
+passion of two souls, that suddenly find their
+real mate&ndash;&ndash;find the soul that halves their soul,
+created for them, created with them, often lost or
+missed through diverse reincarnations; but sooner
+or later found again and known as soon as found
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+to both. No wooing is necessary in such a case&ndash;&ndash;they
+meet, they look, they love, and naturally and
+immediately take up their old, but unforgotten
+love patois. They do not need to learn its sweet,
+broken syllables, its hand clasps and sighs, its
+glances and kisses; they are more natural to them
+than was the grammared language they learned
+through years of painful study.</p>
+<p>Ian and Thora hardly knew how the week went.
+Every one respected their position and left them
+very much to their own inclinations. It led them
+to long, solitary walks, and to the little green skiff
+on the moonlit bay, and to short visits to Sunna,
+in order, mainly, that they might afterwards tell
+each other how far sweeter and happier they were
+alone.</p>
+<p>They never tired of each other, and every day
+they recounted the number of days that had to
+pass ere Ian could call himself free from the McLeod
+contract. They were to marry immediately
+and Ian would go into Ragnor&#8217;s business as bookkeeper.
+Their future home was growing more
+beautiful every day. It was going to be the prettiest
+little home on the island. There was a good
+garden attached to it and a small greenhouse to
+save the potted plants in the winter. Ragnor had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+ordered its furniture from a famous maker in
+Aberdeen, and Rahal was attending with love and
+skill to all those incidentals of modern housekeeping,
+usually included in such words as silver,
+china, napery, ornaments, and kitchen-utensils.
+They were much interested in it and went every
+fine day to observe its progress. Yet their interest
+in the house was far inferior to their interest
+in each other, and Sunna may well be excused for
+saying to her grandfather:</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are the most conceited couple in the
+world! In fact, the world belongs to them and
+all the men and women in it&ndash;&ndash;the sun and the
+moon are made new for them, and they have the
+only bit of wisdom going. I hope I may be able
+to say &#8216;yes&#8217; to all they claim until Saturday
+comes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;These are the ways of love, Sunna.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I shall not walk in them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou wilt walk in the way appointed thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pure Calvinism is that, Grandfather.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So be it. I am a Calvinist about birth, death
+and marriage. They are the events in life about
+which God interferes. His will and design is
+generally evident.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And quite as evident, Grandfather, is the fact
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+that a great many people interfere with His will
+and design.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Sunna, because our will is free. Yet if
+our will crosses God&#8217;s will, crucifixion of some kind
+is sure to follow.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, today is Friday. The week has
+got itself over nearly; and tomorrow will be partly
+free, for Ian goes to Edinburgh at ten o&#8217;clock.
+Very proper is that! Such an admirable young
+man ought only to live in a capitol city.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If these are thy opinions, keep them to thyself.
+Very popular is the young man.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Grandfather, dost thou think that I am walking
+in ankle-tights yet? I can talk as the crowd
+talks, and I can talk to a sensible man like thee.
+Tomorrow brings release. I am glad, for Thora
+has forgotten me. I feel that very much.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art jealous.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Vedder&#8217;s assertion was near the truth, for undeniably
+Ian and Thora had been careless of any
+one but themselves. Yet their love was so vital
+and primitive, so unaffected and sincere, that it
+touched the sympathies of all. In this cold, far-northern
+island, it had all the glow and warmth of
+some rose-crowned garden of a tropical paradise.
+But such special days are like days set
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+apart; they do not fit into ordinary life and cannot
+be continued long under any circumstances. So the
+last day came and Thora said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mother, dear, it is a day in a thousand for
+beauty, and we are going to get Aunt Brodie&#8217;s
+carriage to ride over to Stromness and see the
+queer, old town, and the Stones of Stenness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Go not near them. If you go into the cathedral
+you go expecting some good to come to you;
+for angels may be resting in its holy aisles, ready
+and glad to bless you. What will you ask of the
+ghosts among the Stones of Stenness? Is there
+any favour you would take from the Baal and
+Moloch worshipped with fire and blood among
+them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why, Mother,&#8221; said Thora, &#8220;I have known
+many girls who went with their lovers to Stenness
+purposely to join their hands through the hole in
+Woden&#8217;s Stone and thus take oath to love each
+other forever.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou and Ian will take that oath in the holy
+church of St. Magnus.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is what we wish, Mother,&#8221; said Ian.
+&#8220;We wish nothing less than that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, go and see the queer, old, old
+town, and go to the Mason&#8217;s Arms, and you will
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+get there a good dinner. After it ride slowly back.
+Father will be home before six and must have his
+meal at once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the thing we shall do, Mother. Ian
+thought it would be so romantic to take a lunch
+with us and eat it among the Stones of Stenness.
+But the Mason&#8217;s Arms will be better. The Masons
+are good men, Mother?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In all their generations, good men. Thy
+father is a Mason in high standing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is so! Then the Mason&#8217;s Arms may
+be lucky to us?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We make things lucky or unlucky by our willing
+and doing; but even so, it is not lucky to defy
+or deny what the dead have once held to be good
+or bad.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, why, Mother?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not now, will we talk of whys and wherefores.
+It is easier to believe than to think. Take, in this
+last day of Love&#8217;s seven days, the full joy of your
+lives and ask not why of anyone.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So the lovers went off gaily to see the land-locked
+bay and the strange old town of Stromness;
+and the house was silent and lonely without
+them and Rahal wished that her husband would
+come home and talk with her, for her soul was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span>
+under a cloud of presentiments and she said to
+herself after a morning of fretful, inefficient work:
+&#8220;Oh, how much easier it is to love God than it is
+to trust Him. Are not my dear ones in His care?
+Yet about them I am constantly worrying; though
+perfectly well I know that in any deluge that may
+come, God will find an ark for those who love
+and trust Him. Boris knows&ndash;&ndash;Boris knows&ndash;&ndash;I
+have told him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>About three o&#8217;clock she went to the window and
+looked towards the town. Much to her astonishment
+she saw her husband coming home at a speed
+far beyond his ordinary walk. He appeared also
+to be disturbed, even angry, and she watched him
+anxiously until he reached the house. Then she
+was at the open door and his face frightened her.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Conall! My dear one! Art thou ill?&#8221; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am ill with anger and pity and shame!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is thy meaning? Speak to me plainly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Rahal! the shame and the cruelty of it! I
+am beside myself!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come to my room, then thou shalt tell thy sorrow
+and I will halve it with thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! I want to cry out! I want to shout the
+shameful wrong from the house-tops! Indeed, it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span>
+is flying all over England and Scotland&ndash;&ndash;over all
+the civilized world! And yet&ndash;&ndash;my God! the
+guilty ones are still living!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Coll, my dear one, what is it thou most needs&ndash;&ndash;cold
+water?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No! No! Get me a pot of hot tea.<a name='FNanchor_0001' id='FNanchor_0001'></a><a href='#Footnote_0001' class='fnanchor'>[*]</a> My
+brain burns. My heart is like to break! Our
+poor brave soldiers! They are dying of hunger
+and of every form of shameful neglect. The
+barest necessities of life are denied them.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='fn' />
+<div class='footnote'><a name='Footnote_0001' id='Footnote_0001'></a><a href='#FNanchor_0001'><span class='label'>[*]</span></a>
+<p>The Norsemen of Shetland and Orkney drank tea in
+every kind of need or crisis. No meal without it, no pleasure
+without it; and it was equally indispensable in every kind
+of trouble or fatigue.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class='fn' />
+<p>&#8220;By whom? By whom, Coll?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Pacifists in power and office everywhere! Give
+me a drink! Give me a drink! I am ill&ndash;&ndash;get me
+tea&ndash;&ndash;and I will tell thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was boiling water on the kitchen hob,
+and the tea was ready in five minutes. &#8220;Drink,
+dear Coll,&#8221; said Rahal, &#8220;and then share thy
+trouble and anger with me. The mail packet
+brought the bad news, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, about an hour ago. The town is in a
+tumult. Men are cursing and women are doing
+nothing less. Some whose sons are at the front
+are in a distraction. If Aberdeen were within our
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+reach we would give him five minutes to say his
+prayers and then send him to the judgment of
+God. Englishmen and Norsemen will not lie down
+and rot under Russian tyranny. To die fighting
+against it sends them joyfully to the battlefield!
+But oh, Rahal! to be left alone to die on the battlefield,
+without help, without care, without even
+a drink of cold water! It is damnable cruelty!
+What I say is this: let England stop her bell-ringing
+and shouts of victory until she has comforted
+and helped her wounded and dying soldiers!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And Aberdeen? He is a Scotch nobleman&ndash;&ndash;the
+Scotch are not cowards&ndash;&ndash;what has he done,
+Coll?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because he hates fighting for our rights, he
+persuades all whom his power and patronage can
+reach to lie down or he says they will be knocked
+down. So it may be, but every man that has a
+particle of the Divine in him would rather be
+knocked down than lie down&ndash;&ndash;if down it had to
+be&ndash;&ndash;but there is no question of down in it! Aberdeen!
+He is &#8216;England&#8217;s worst enemy&#8217;&ndash;&ndash;and he
+holds the power given him by England to rule and
+ruin England! I wish he would die and go to
+judgment this night! I do! I do! and my soul
+says to me, &#8216;Thou art right.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Coll, no man knoweth the will of the Almighty.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then they ought to! The question has now
+been up to England for a two-years&#8217; discussion,
+and they have only to open His Word and find it
+out&#8221;; then he straightened himself and in a
+mighty burst of joyful pride and enthusiasm cried
+out:</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth
+my hands to war, and my fingers to
+fight.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;My goodness, and my fortress, my high
+tower, and my deliverer, my shield, and He in
+whom I trust, who subdueth the people under
+me.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>Anon he began to pace the floor as he continued:
+&#8220;&#8216;Rid us and deliver us, from the hands of
+strange children&ndash;&ndash;whose mouth speaketh vanity,
+and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.&#8217;
+Rahal, could there be a better description
+of Russia&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;her right hand of falsehood, her
+mouth speaking vanity?&#8217; David put the very
+words needed in our mouths when he taught us
+to say, &#8216;rid us of such an enemy, and of all who
+strike hands with him!&#8217; Yes, rid us. We want to
+be rid of all such dead souls! Rid us.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span></div>
+<p>Then Rahal reminded her husband that only recently
+his physician had warned him against all excitement,
+especially of anger, and so finally induced
+him to take a sedative and go to sleep. But
+sleep was far from her. She sat down in her own
+room and closed her eyes against all worldly
+sights and sounds. Her soul was trying to reach
+her son&#8217;s soul and impress upon it her own trust
+in the love and mercy of the &#8220;God of battles.&#8221;
+She had hoped that some word or thought of
+Boris would come back to her in such a personal
+manner that she would feel that he was thinking
+of her and of the many sweet spiritual confidences
+they had had together.</p>
+<p>But nothing came, no sign, no word, no sudden,
+flashing memory of some special promise. All
+was void and still until she heard the voices of
+Thora and Ian. Then she went down to them
+and found that the evil news had met them on
+their way home. She asked Ian if he had any
+knowledge of the whereabouts of Boris. Ian
+thought he might be at sea, as his ship was at Spithead
+among the carrying ships of the navy. &#8220;If
+he had been in Alma&#8217;s fight, you might have
+heard from him,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It would
+be his first battle and he would want to write
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+to you about it. That would be only natural.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I will look for good news. If bad
+news is coming, I will not pay it the compliment
+of going to meet it. Have you had a pleasant
+day? Where first did you go?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To the land-locked Bay of Stromness which
+was full of ships of all sizes, of schooners, and of
+little skiffs painted a light green colour like the
+pleasure skiffs of Kirkwall.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the town?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Was very busy while we were there. It has
+but one long street, with steep branches running
+directly up the big granite hill which shelters it
+from the Atlantic. What I noticed particularly
+was, that the houses on the main street all had
+their gables seaward; and are so built that the
+people can step from their doors into their boats.
+I liked that arrangement. Stromness is really an
+Orcadean Venice. The town is a queer old place,
+with a non-English and non-Scotch look. The
+houses have an old-world appearance and the
+names over the doorways carry you back to Norseland.
+Only one street is flagged and little bays
+run up into the street through its whole length.
+But the place appeared to be very busy and happy.
+I noticed few Scotch there, the people seemed to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+be purely Norse. All were busy&ndash;&ndash;men, women
+and children.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It used to be the last port for the Hudson Bay
+Company,&#8221; said Rahal, &#8220;and the big whaling
+fleets, and in days of war and convoys there were
+hundreds of big ships in its wonderful harbour. I
+suppose that you had no time to visit any of the
+ancient monuments there?&#8221; Rahal asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No; Thora told me her grandmother Ragnor
+was buried in its cemetery and that her grave was
+near the church door and had a white pillar at the
+head of it. So we walked there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I cannot describe to you the savage, lonely
+grandeur of its situation. It frightened me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The men and women who chose it were not
+afraid of it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora says its memory frightened her for
+years.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thora was only eight years old when her
+father placed the pillar at the head of his mother&#8217;s
+grave. It was then she saw it&ndash;&ndash;but at eight
+years many people are often more sensitive than
+at eighty. Yes, indeed! They may see, then, what
+eyes dimmed by earthly vision cannot see, and feel
+what hearts hardened by earth&#8217;s experiences cannot
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span>
+feel. Thora&#8217;s spiritual sight was very keen in
+childhood and is not dimmed yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At these words Thora entered the room, wearing
+the little frock of white bar&eacute;ge she had saved
+for this last day of Ian&#8217;s visit. Her face had been
+bathed, her hair brushed and loosened but yet
+dressed with the easiest simplicity. She was in
+trouble but she knew when to speak of trouble,
+and when to be silent. Her mother was talking
+of Stromness; when her father came, he would
+know all, and say all. So she went softly about
+the room, putting on the dinner table those last
+final accessories that it was her duty to supply.</p>
+<p>Yet the conversation was careless and indifferent.
+Rahal talked of Stromness but her heart
+was far away from Stromness, and Thora would
+have liked to tell her mother how beautifully their
+future home had been papered, and all three were
+eager to discuss the news that had come. But all
+knew well that it would be better not to open the
+discussion till Ragnor was present to inform and
+direct their ignorance of events.</p>
+<p>On the stroke of six, Ragnor entered. He had
+slept and washed and was apparently calm, but
+in some way his face had altered, for his heart
+had mastered his brain and its usual expression of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+intellectual strength was exchanged for one of intense
+feeling. His eyes shone and he had the look
+of a man who had just come from the presence
+of God.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are waiting for you, dear Coll,&#8221; said Rahal;
+and he answered softly: &#8220;Well, then, I am
+here.&#8221; For a moment his eyes rested on the table
+which Rahal had set with extra care and with the
+delicacies Ian liked best. Was it not the last dinner
+he would eat with them for three months?
+She thought it only kind to give it a little distinction.
+But this elaboration of the usual home blessings
+did not produce the expected results. Every
+one was anxious, the atmosphere of the room was
+tense and was not relieved until Ragnor had said
+a grace full of meaning and had sat down and
+asked Ian if he &#8220;had heard the news brought by
+that day&#8217;s packet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very brokenly, Father,&#8221; was the answer.
+&#8220;Two men, whom we met on the Stromness road,
+told us that it was &#8216;bad with the army,&#8217; but they
+were excited and in a great hurry and would not
+stand to answer our questions.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No wonder! No wonder!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Whatever is the matter, Father?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I cannot tell you. The words stumble in my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span>
+throat, and my heart burns and bleeds. Here is
+the <i>London Times</i>! Read aloud from it what
+William Howard Russell has witnessed&ndash;&ndash;I cannot
+read the words&ndash;&ndash;I would be using my own
+words&ndash;&ndash;listen, Rahal! Listen, Thora! and oh,
+may God enter into judgment at once with the men
+responsible for the misery that Russell tells us of.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At this point, Adam Vedder entered the room.
+He was in a passion that was relieving itself by
+a torrent of low voiced curses&ndash;&ndash;curses only just
+audible but intensely thrilling in their half-whispered
+tones of passion. In the hall he had taken
+off his hat but on entering the room he found it
+too warm for his top-coat, and he began to remove
+it, muttering to himself while so doing. There
+was an effort to hear what he was saying but very
+quickly Ragnor stopped the monologue by calling:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Adam! Thee! Thou art the one wanted.
+Ian is just going to read what the <i>London Times</i>
+says of this dreadful mismanagement.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Mismanagement!&#8217; Is that what thou calls
+the crime? Go on, Ian! More light on this subject
+is wanted here.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So Ian stood up and read from the <i>Times&#8217;</i> correspondent&#8217;s
+letter the following sentences:</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span></div>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&#8220;The skies are black as ink, the wind is howling over
+the staggering tents, the water is sometimes a foot
+deep, our men have neither warm nor waterproof
+clothing and we are twelve hours at a time in the
+trenches&ndash;&ndash;and not a soul seems to care for their comfort
+or even their lives; the most wretched beggar who
+wanders about the streets of London in the rain leads
+the life of a prince compared with the British soldiers
+now fighting out here for their country.</p>
+<p>... &#8220;The commonest accessories of a hospital are
+wanting; there is not the least attention paid to decency
+or cleanliness, the stench is appalling, the fetid
+air can barely struggle out through chinks in the walls
+and roofs, and for all I can observe the men die without
+the least effort being made to save them. They
+lie just as they were let down on the ground by the
+poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on
+their backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness
+but who are not allowed to remain with them.
+The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the
+dying by the dying. There are no nurses&ndash;&ndash;and men
+are literally dying hourly, because the medical staff of
+the British army has forgotten that old rags of linen
+are necessary for the dressing of wounds.&#8221;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>&#8220;My God!&#8221; cried Ian, as he let the paper fall
+from the hands he clasped passionately together,
+&#8220;My God! How can Thou permit this?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, young man,&#8221; said Adam, &#8220;thou
+must remember that God permits what He does
+not will. And Conall,&#8221; he continued, &#8220;millions
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span>
+have been voted and spent for war and hospital
+materials, where are the goods?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The captain of the packet told me no one could
+get their hands on them. Some are in the holds
+of vessels and other things so piled on the top of
+them that they cannot be got at till the hold is
+regularly emptied. Some are stored in warehouses
+which no one has authority to open&ndash;&ndash;some
+are actually rotting on the open wharves, because
+the precise order to remove them to the hospital
+cannot be found. The surgeons have no bandages,
+the doctors no medicine, and as I said there
+are no nurses but a few rough military orderlies.
+The situation paralyses those who see it!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Paralyses! Pure nonsense!&#8221; cried Vedder,
+whose face was wet with passionate tears, though
+he did not know it. &#8220;Paralyses! No, no! It
+must make them work miracles. I am going to
+Edinburgh tomorrow. I am going to buy all the
+luxuries and medicines I can afford for the lads
+fighting and suffering. Sunna is going to spend a
+week in gathering old linen in Kirkwall and then
+Mistress Brodie and she will bring it with them.
+Rahal, Thora, you must do your best. And thou,
+Conall?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Adam, thou can open my purse and take all
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span>
+thou thinks is right. My Boris may be among
+those dear lads; his mother will have something
+to send him. Wilt thou see it is set on a fair way
+to reach his hand?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will take it to him. If he be in London with
+his vessel, I will find him; if he be at the front, I
+will find him. If he be in Scutari hospital, I will
+find him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Adam, Adam!&#8221; cried Rahal, &#8220;thou art the
+good man that God loves, the man after His own
+heart.&#8221; Her face was set and stern and white
+as snow, and Thora&#8217;s was a duplicate of it; but
+Ragnor, during his short interval of rest, had arrived
+at that heighth and depth of confidence in
+God&#8217;s wisdom which made him sure that in the end
+the folly and wickedness of men would &#8220;praise
+Him&#8221;; so he was ready to help, and calm and
+strong in his sorrow.</p>
+<p>At this point, Rahal rose and a servant came in
+and began to clear the table and carry away the
+remains of the meal. Then Rahal rose and took
+Thora&#8217;s hand and Ian went with them to the parlour.
+She spoke kindly to Ian who at her first
+words burst into bitter weeping, into an almost
+womanly burst of uncontrollable distress. So she
+kissed and left him with the only woman who had
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+the power to soothe, in any degree, the sense of
+utter helplessness which oppressed him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want to go to the Crimea!&#8221; he said, &#8220;I
+would gladly go there. It would give me a chance
+to die happily. It would repay me for all my
+miserable life. I want to go, Thora. You
+want me to go, Thora! Yes, you do, dear
+one!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I do not want you to go. I want you here.
+Oh, what a selfish coward I am. Go, Ian, if you
+wish&ndash;&ndash;if you feel it right to go, then go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This subject was sufficient to induce a long and
+strange conversation during which Thora was led
+to understand that some great and cruel circumstances
+had ruined and in some measure yet controlled
+her lover&#8217;s life. She was begging him to
+go and talk to her father and tell him all that
+troubled him so cruelly when Rahal entered the
+room again.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dear ones,&#8221; she said, &#8220;the house is cold and
+the lamps nearly out. Say good night, now. Ian
+must be up early&ndash;&ndash;and tomorrow we shall have a
+busy day collecting all the old linen we can.&#8221; She
+was yet as white as the long dressing gown she
+wore but there was a smile on her face that made
+it lovely as she recited slowly:</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;Watching, wondering, yearning, knowing<br />
+Whence the stream, and where &#8217;tis going<br />
+Seems all mystery&ndash;&ndash;by and by<br />
+He will speak, and tell us why.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>And the simple words had a charm in them, and
+though they said &#8220;Good night,&#8221; in a mist of tears,
+the sunshine of hope turned them into that wonderful
+bow which God &#8216;bended with his hands&#8217;
+and placed in the heavens as a token of His covenant
+with man, that He would always remember
+man&#8217;s weakness and give him help in time of
+trouble. Now let every good man and woman
+say &#8220;I&#8217;ll warrant it! I never yet found a deluge
+of any kind but I found also that God had provided
+an ark for my refuge and my comfort.&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII_THORAS_PROBLEM' id='CHAPTER_VIII_THORAS_PROBLEM'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h3>THORA&#8217;S PROBLEM</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>There is a tear for all who die,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>A mourner o&#8217;er the humblest grave;<br />
+But nations swell the funeral cry,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>And triumph weeps above the brave.<br />
+For them is Sorrow&#8217;s purest sigh,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>O&#8217;er Ocean&#8217;s heaving bosom sent<br />
+In vain their bones unburied lie,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>All earth becomes their monument.<br />
+<br />
+Born to the War of 1854 on October 21, 1854,<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>a Daughter, called Red Cross.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">The</span> next night Vedder went away. His purposes
+were necessarily rather vague, but it
+was certain he would go to the front if he thought
+he could do any good there. He talked earnestly
+and long with Ragnor but when it came to parting,
+both men were strangely silent. They clasped
+hands and looked long and steadily into each other&#8217;s
+eyes. No words could interpret that look. It
+was a conversation for eternity.</p>
+<p>In the meantime, the whole town was eager to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
+do something but what could they do that would
+give the immediate relief that was needed? There
+were no sewing machines then, women&#8217;s fingers
+and needles could not cope with the difficulty, even
+regarding the Orkney men who were suffering.
+To gather from every one the very necessary old
+linen seemed to be the very extent of their usefulness.</p>
+<p>In these first days of the trouble, Rahal and
+Thora were serious and quiet. A dull, inexplicable
+melancholy shrouded the girl like a garment.
+The pretty home preparing for Ian and herself
+lost its interest. She refused to look forward and
+lived only in the unhappy present. The few words
+Ian has said about some wrong or trouble in the
+past years of his life overshadowed her. She was
+naturally very prescient and her higher self dwelt
+much in</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'><span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>... that finer atmosphere,<br />
+Where footfalls of appointed things,<br />
+Reverberent of days to be,<br />
+Are heard in forecast echoings,<br />
+Like wave beats from a viewless sea.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>However, if trouble lasts through the night, joy,
+or at least hope and expectation, comes in the
+morning; and certainly the first shock of grief settled
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+down into patient hoping and waiting. Vedder
+and Ian were both good correspondents and
+the silence and loneliness were constantly broken
+by their interesting letters. And joyful or sorrowful,
+Time goes by.</p>
+<p>Sunna wrote occasionally but she said she found
+Edinburgh dull, and that she would gladly return
+to Kirkwall if it was not for the Pentland
+Firth and its winter tempers and tantrums.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>The war [she added] has stopped all balls and even
+house parties. There is no dancing and no sports of
+any kind, and I believe skating and golf have been
+forbidden. Love-making is the only recreation allowed
+and I am not tempted to sin in this direction.
+The churches are always open and their bells clatter
+all day long. I have no lovers. Every man will talk
+of the war, and then they get offended if you ask
+them why they are not gone. I have had the pleasure
+of saying a few painful truths to these feather-bed
+patriots, and they tell each other, no doubt, that I am
+impossible and impertinent. One of them said to me,
+myself: &#8220;Wait a wee, Miss Vedder, I wouldna wonder
+but some crippled war lad will fa&#8217; to your lot, when the
+puir fellows come marching home again.&#8221; The Edinburgh
+men are just city flunkeys, they would do fine to
+wait on our Norse men. I would like well to see a
+little dandy advocate I know here, trotting after Boris.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>So days came and went, and the passion of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+shame and sorrow died down and people did not
+talk of the war. But the doors of St. Magnus
+stood open all day long and there were always
+women praying there. They had begun to carry
+their anxieties and griefs to God; and that was
+well for God did not weary of their complaining.
+Women have the very heart of sympathy for a
+man&#8217;s griefs. God is the only refuge for a sorrowful
+woman.</p>
+<p>Steadily the preparations for Thora&#8217;s marriage
+went on, but the spirit that animated their first
+beginnings had cooled down into that calm necessity,
+which always has to attend to all &#8220;finishings
+off.&#8221; Early in December, Thora&#8217;s future home
+was quite finished, and this last word expresses its
+beauty and completeness. Then Ragnor kissed
+his daughter, and put into her hand the key of the
+house and the deed of gift which made it her own
+forever. And in this same hour they decided that
+the first day of the New Year should be the wedding
+day; for Bishop Hedley would then be in
+Kirkwall and who else could marry the little Thora
+whom he had baptised and confirmed and welcomed
+into the fold of the church.</p>
+<p>Nothing is more remarkable than the variety of
+moods in which women take the solemn initiatory
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span>
+rite ushering them into their real life and their
+great and honourable duties. Thora was joyful as
+a bird in spring and never weary of examining the
+lovely home, the perfect wardrobe, and the great
+variety of beautiful presents that had been given
+her.</p>
+<p>Very soon it was the twentieth of December,
+and Ian was expected on the twenty-third. Christmas
+preparations had now taken the place of marriage
+preparations for every item was ready for
+the latter event. There had been a little anxiety
+about the dress and veil, but they arrived on the
+morning of the twentieth and were beautiful and
+fitting in every respect. The dress was of the
+orthodox white satin and the veil fell from a
+wreath of orange flowers and myrtle leaves. And
+oh, how proud and happy Thora was in their
+possession. Several times that wonderful day she
+had run secretly to her room to examine and admire
+them.</p>
+<p>On the morning of the twenty-first she reminded
+herself that in two days Ian would be with
+her and that in nine days she would be his wife.
+She was genuine and happy about the event. She
+made no pretences or reluctances. She loved Ian
+with all her heart, she was glad she was going
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span>
+to be always with him. Life would then be full
+and she would be the happiest woman in the
+world. She asked her father at the breakfast
+table to send her, at once, any letters that might
+come for her in his mail. &#8220;I am sure there will
+be one from Ian,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and, dear Father,
+it hurts me to keep it waiting.&#8221;</p>
+<p>About ten o&#8217;clock, Mrs. Beaton called and
+brought Thora a very handsome ring from Maximus
+Grant and a bracelet from herself. She
+stayed to lunch with the Ragnors and after the
+meal was over, they went upstairs to look at the
+wedding dress. &#8220;I want to see it on you, Thora,&#8221;
+said Mrs. Beaton, &#8220;I shall have a wedding dress
+to buy for my niece soon and I would like to know
+what kind of a fit Mrs. Scott achieves.&#8221; So Thora
+put on the dress, and Mrs. Beaton admitted that it
+&#8220;fit like a glove&#8221; and that she should insist on her
+niece Helen going to Mrs. Scott.</p>
+<p>With many scattering, delaying remarks and
+good wishes, the lady finally bid Thora good-bye
+and Mrs. Ragnor went downstairs with her. Then
+Thora eagerly lifted two letters that had come in
+her father&#8217;s mail and been sent home to her. One
+was from Ian. &#8220;The last he will write to Thora
+Ragnor,&#8221; she said with a smile. &#8220;I will put it with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span>
+his first letter and keep them all my life long. So
+loving is he, so good, so handsome! There is no
+one like my Ian.&#8221; Twice over she read his loving
+letter and then laid it down and lifted the one
+which had come with it.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jean Hay,&#8221; she repeated, &#8220;who is Jean Hay?&#8221;
+Then she remembered the writer&ndash;&ndash;an orphan girl
+living with a married brother who did not always
+treat her as kindly as he should have done. Hearing
+and believing this story, Rahal Ragnor hired
+the girl, taught her how to sew, how to mend and
+darn and in many ways use her needle. Then discovering
+that she had a genius for dressmaking,
+she placed her with a first-class modiste in Edinburgh
+to be properly instructed and liberally attended
+to all financial requisites; for Rahal Ragnor
+could not do anything unless it was wholly and
+perfectly done. Then Thora had dressed Jean
+from her own wardrobe and asked her father to
+send their proteg&eacute;e to Edinburgh on one of the
+vessels he controlled. And Jean had been heartily
+grateful, had done well, and risen to a place of
+trust in her employer&#8217;s business; and a few times
+every year she wrote to Mrs. Ragnor or Thora.
+All these circumstances were remembered by
+Thora in a moment. &#8220;Jean Hay!&#8221; she exclaimed.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+&#8220;Well, Jean, you must wait a few minutes,
+until I have taken off my wedding dress. I
+am sorry I had to put it on&ndash;&ndash;it was not very kind
+or thoughtful of Mrs. Beaton to ask me&ndash;&ndash;I don&#8217;t
+believe mother liked her doing so&ndash;&ndash;mother has
+a superstition or fret about everything. Well,
+then, it is no way spoiled&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221; and she lifted it
+and the white silk petticoat belonging to the dress
+and carefully put them in the place Rahal had selected
+as the safest for their keeping. It was a
+large closet in the spare room and she went there
+with them. As she returned to her own room she
+heard her mother welcoming a favourite visitor
+and it pleased her. &#8220;Now I need not hurry,&#8221; she
+thought. &#8220;Mistress Vorn will stay an hour at
+least, and I can take my own time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Taking her own time&#8221; evidently meant to
+Thora the reading of Ian&#8217;s letter over again.
+And also a little musing on what Ian had said.
+There was, however, no hurry about Jean Hay&#8217;s
+letter and it was so pleasant to drift among the
+happy thoughts that crowded into her consideration.
+So for half an hour Jean&#8217;s letter lay at her
+side untouched&ndash;&ndash;Jean was so far outside her
+dreams and hopes that afternoon&ndash;&ndash;but at length
+she lifted it and these were the words she read:</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span></div>
+<blockquote>
+<p><span class='smcap'>Dear Miss Thora:</span></p>
+<p>I was hearing since last spring that thou wert going
+to be married on the son of the Rev. Dr. Macrae&ndash;&ndash;on
+the young man called John Calvin Macrae. Very
+often I was hearing this, and always I was answering,
+&#8220;There will be no word of truth in that story. Miss
+Ragnor will not be noticing such a young man as
+that. No, indeed!&#8221;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Here Thora threw down the letter and sat looking
+at it upon the floor as if she would any moment
+tear it to pieces. But she did not, she finally lifted
+it and forced herself to continue reading:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I was hating to tell thee some things I knew, and I
+was often writing and then tearing up my letter, for it
+made me sick to be thy true friend in such a cruel way.
+But often I have heard the wise tell &#8220;when the knife is
+needed, the salve pot will be of no use.&#8221; Now then,
+this day, I tell myself with a sad heart, &#8220;Jean, thou
+must take the knife. The full time has come.&#8221;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>&#8220;Why won&#8217;t the woman tell what she has got
+to tell,&#8221; said Thora in a voice of impatient anguish,
+and in a few minutes she whispered, &#8220;I am cold.&#8221;
+Then she threw a knitted cape over her shoulders
+and lifted the letter again, oh, so reluctantly, and
+read:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>The young man will have told your father, that he
+is McLeod&#8217;s agent and a sort of steward of his large
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span>
+properties. This does not sound like anything wrong,
+but often I have been told different. Old McLeod
+left to his son many houses. Three of them are not
+good houses, they are really fashionable gambling
+houses. Macrae has the management of them as well
+as of many others in various parts of the city. Of
+these others I have heard no wrong. I suppose they
+may be quite respectable.</p>
+<p>This story has more to it. Whenever there is a
+great horse race there Macrae will be, and I saw
+myself in the daily newspapers that his name was
+among the winners on the horse Sergius. It was only
+a small sum he won, but sin is not counted in pounds
+and shillings. No, indeed! So there is no wonder his
+good father is feeling the shame of it.</p>
+<p>Moreover, though he calls himself Ian, that is not
+his name. His name is John Calvin and his denial of
+his baptismal name, given to him at the Sabbath service,
+in the house of God, at the very altar of the same,
+is thought by some to be a denial of God&#8217;s grace and
+mercy. And he has been reasoned with on this matter
+by the ruling elder in his father&#8217;s kirk, but no reason
+would he listen to, and saying many things about Calvin
+I do not care to write.</p>
+<p>Many stories go about young men and young women,
+and there is this and that said about Macrae. I have
+myself met him on Prince&#8217;s Street in the afternoon
+very often, parading there with various gayly dressed
+women. I do not blame him much for that. The
+Edinburgh girls are very forward, not like the Norse
+girls, who are modest and retiring in their ways. I
+am forced to say that Macrae is a very gay young
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span>
+man, and of course you know all that means without
+more words about it. He dresses in the highest
+fashion, goes constantly to theatres with some lady or
+other, and I do not wonder that people ask, &#8220;Where
+does he get the money? Does he gamble for it?&#8221; For
+he does not go to any kirk on the Sabbath unless he
+is paid to go there and sing, which he does very well,
+people say. In his own rooms he is often heard playing
+the piano and singing music that is not sacred or
+fit for the holy day. And his father is the most religious
+man in Edinburgh. It is just awful! I fear
+you will never forgive me, Miss Thora, but I have
+still more and worse to tell you, because it is, as I
+may say, personally heard and not this or that body&#8217;s
+clash-ma-claver. Nor did I seek the same, it came
+to me through my daily work and in a way special and
+unlooked-for, so that after hearing it, my conscience
+would no longer be satisfied and I was forced, as it
+were, to the writing of this letter to you.</p>
+<p>I dare say Macrae may have spoken to you anent
+his friendship with Agnes and Willie Henderson, indeed
+Willie Henderson and John Macrae have been
+finger and thumb ever since they played together.
+Now Willie&#8217;s father is an elder in Dr. Macrae&#8217;s kirk
+and if all you hear anent him be true&ndash;&ndash;which I cannot
+vouch for&ndash;&ndash;he is a man well regarded both in kirk and
+market place&ndash;&ndash;that is, he was so regarded until he
+married again about two years ago. For who, think
+you, should he marry but a proud upsetting Englishwoman,
+who was bound to be master and mistress
+both o&#8217;er the hale household?</p>
+<p>Then Miss Henderson showed fight and her brother
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span>
+Willie stood by her. And Miss Henderson is a spunky
+girl and thought bonnie by some people, and has a
+tongue so well furnished with words to defend what
+she thinks her rights, that it leaves nobody uncertain
+as to what thae rights may be. Weel, there has been
+nothing but quarreling in the elder&#8217;s house ever since
+the unlucky wedding; and in the first year of the
+trial Willie Henderson borrowed money&ndash;&ndash;I suppose of
+John Macrae&ndash;&ndash;and took himself off to America, and
+some said the elder was glad of it and others said he
+was sair down-hearted and disappointed.</p>
+<p>After that, Miss Agnes was never friends with her
+stepmother. It seems the woman wanted her to marry
+a nephew of her ain kith and kin, and in this matter
+her father was of the same mind. The old man doubtless
+wanted a sough of peace in his own home. That
+was how things stood a couple of weeks syne, but
+yestreen I heard what may make the change wanted.
+This is how it happened.</p>
+<p>Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Baird came to Madame
+David&#8217;s to have a black velvet gown fitted. Madame
+called on Jean Hay to attend her in the fitting and
+to hang the long skirt properly&ndash;&ndash;for it is a difficult
+job to hang a velvet skirt, and Jean Hay is thought to
+be very expert anent the set and swing of silk velvet,
+which has a certain contrariness of its own. Let that
+pass. I was kneeling on the floor, setting the train,
+when Mrs. Baird said: &#8220;I suppose you have heard,
+Madame, the last escapade of that wild son of the
+great Dr. Macrae?&#8221; Then I was all ears, the more so
+when I heard Madam say: &#8220;I heard a whisper of
+something, but I was not heeding it. Folks never seem
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+to weary of finding fault with the handsome lad.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Madame,&#8221; said Mrs. Baird, &#8220;I happen to
+know about this story. Seeing with your own eyes is
+believing, surely!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What did you see?&#8221; Madame asked.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I saw enough to satisfy me. You know my house
+is opposite to the West End Hotel, and last Friday I
+saw Macrae go there and he was dressed up to the
+nines. He went in and I felt sure he had gone to call
+on some lady staying there. So I watched, and better
+watched, for he did not come out for two hours, and
+I concluded they had lunched together! For when
+Macrae came out of the hotel, he spoke to a cabman,
+and then waited until a young lady and her maid appeared.
+He put the young lady into the cab, had a
+few minutes&#8217; earnest conversation with her, then the
+maid joined her mistress and they two drove away.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, now, Mrs. Baird,&#8221; said Madame, &#8220;there was
+nothing in that but just a courteous luncheon together.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wait, Madame! I felt there was more, so I took
+a book and sat down by my window. And just on the
+edge of the dark I saw the two women return, and a
+little later a waiter put lights in an upper parlour and
+he spread a table for dinner there and Macrae and
+the young lady ate it together. Afterwards they went
+away in a cab together.&#8221; Then Madame asked if the
+maid was with them, and Mrs. Baird said she thought
+she was but had not paid particular attention.</p>
+<p>Madame said something to me about the length of
+the train and then Mrs. Baird seemed annoyed at her
+inattention, and she added: &#8220;Macrae was advertised
+to sing in the City Hall the next night at a mass meeting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+of citizens about abrogating slavery in the United
+States, and he was not there&ndash;&ndash;broke his engagement!
+What do you think of that? The next night, Sabbath,
+he did the same to Dr. Fraser&#8217;s kirk, where he had
+promised to sing a pro-Christmas canticle. And this
+morning I heard that he is going to the Orkneys to
+marry a rich and beautiful girl who lives there. Now
+what do you think of your handsome Macrae? I can
+tell you he is on every one&#8217;s tongue.&#8221; And Madame
+said, &#8220;I have no doubt of it and I&#8217;ll warrant nobody
+knows what they are talking about.&#8221;</p>
+<p>After this the fitting on was not pleasant and I finished
+my part of it as quickly as possible. Indeed,
+Miss Thora, I was miserable about you and so pressed
+in spirit to tell you these things that I could hardly
+finish my day&#8217;s work. For my conscience kept urging
+me to do my duty to you, for it is many favours you
+have done me in the past. Kindly pardon me now,
+and believe me,</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Your humble but sincere friend,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'><span class='smcap'>Jean Hay.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This letter Thora read to the last word but she
+was nearly blind when she reached it. All her
+senses rang inward. &#8220;I am dying!&#8221; she thought,
+and she tried to reach the bed but only succeeded
+in stumbling against a small table full of books,
+knocking it down and falling with it.</p>
+<p>Mistress Ragnor and her visitor heard the fall
+and they were suddenly silent. Immediately, however,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
+they went to the foot of the stairway and
+called, &#8220;Thora.&#8221; There was no answer, and the
+mother&#8217;s heart sank like lead, as she hastened to
+her daughter&#8217;s room and threw open the door.
+Then she saw her stricken child, lying as if dead
+upon the floor. Cries and calls and hurrying feet
+followed, and the unconscious girl was quickly
+freed from all physical restraints and laid at the
+open window. But all the ordinary household
+methods of restoring consciousness were tried
+without avail and the case began to assume a dangerous
+aspect.</p>
+<p>At this moment Ragnor arrived. He knelt at
+his child&#8217;s side and drew her closer and closer,
+whispering her name with the name of the Divine
+One; and surely it was in response to his heart-breaking
+entreaties the passing soul listened and
+returned. &#8220;Father,&#8221; was the first whisper she uttered;
+and with a glowing, grateful heart, the
+father lifted her in his arms and laid her on her
+bed.</p>
+<p>Then Rahal gave him the two letters and sent
+him away. Thora was still &#8220;far off,&#8221; or she would
+have remembered her letters but it was near the
+noon of the next day when she asked her mother
+where they were.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Thy father has them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am sorry, so sorry!&#8221;</p>
+<p>That was all she said but the subject appeared
+to distress her for she closed her eyes, and Rahal
+kissed away the tears that slowly found their way
+down the white, stricken face. However, from
+this hour she rallied and towards night fell into a
+deep sleep which lasted for fourteen hours; and it
+was during this anxious period of waiting that
+Ragnor talked to his wife about the letters which
+were, presumably, the cause of the trouble.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Those letters I gave thee, Coll, did thou read
+both of them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Both of them I read. Ian&#8217;s was the happy letter
+of an expectant bridegroom. Only joy and
+hope was in it. It was the other one that was a
+death blow. Yes, indeed, it was a bad, cruel letter!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the name? Who wrote it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jean Hay.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Jean Hay! What could Jean have to do with
+Thora&#8217;s affairs?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, her conscience made her interfere.
+She had heard some evil reports about Ian&#8217;s
+life and she thought it her duty, after yours and
+Thora&#8217;s kindness to her, to report these stories.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;A miserable return for our kindness! This is
+what I notice&ndash;&ndash;when people want to say cruel
+things, they always blame their conscience or their
+duty for making them do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Here is Jean&#8217;s letter. Thou, thyself, must
+read it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rahal read it with constantly increasing anger
+and finally threw it on the table with passionate
+scorn. &#8220;Not one word of this stuff do I believe,
+Coll! Envy and jealousy sent that news, not gratitude
+and good will! No, indeed! But I will tell
+thee, Coll, one thing I have always found sure, it
+is this; that often, much evil comes to the good
+from taking people out of their poverty and misfortunes.
+They are paying a debt they owe from
+the past and if we assume that debt we have it to
+pay in some wise. That is the wisdom of the old,
+the wisdom learned by sad experience. I wish,
+then, that I had let the girl pay her own debt and
+carry her own burden. She is envious of Thora.
+Yet was Thora very good to her. Do I believe in
+her gratitude? Not I! Had she done this cruel
+thing out of a kind heart, she would have sent this
+letter to me and left the telling or the not telling to
+my love and best judgment. I will not believe anything
+against Ian Macrae! Nothing at all!&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Much truth is in thy words, Rahal, and it is
+not on Jean Hay&#8217;s letter I will do anything. I
+will take only Ian&#8217;s &#8216;yes,&#8217; or &#8216;no&#8217; on any accusation.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You may do that safely, Coll, I know it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I will go back to Edinburgh with him and
+see his father. Perhaps we have all taken the
+youth too far on his handsome person and his
+sweet amiability.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou wrote to his father when Thora was engaged
+to him, with thy permission.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I did.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What said his father?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Too little! He was cursed short about all I
+named. I told him Thora was good and fair and
+well educated; and that she would have her full
+share in my estate. I told him all that I intended
+to do for them about their home and the place
+which I intended for Ian in my business, and referred
+him to Bishop Hedley as to my religious,
+financial, social and domestic standing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why did thou name Bishop Hedley to him?
+They are as far apart as Leviticus and St. John.
+And what did he say to thee in reply?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That my kindness was more than his son deserved,
+etc. In response to our invitation to be
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+present at the marriage ceremony, he said it was
+quite impossible, the journey was too long and
+doubtful, especially in the winter; that he was subject
+to sea-sickness and did not like to leave his
+congregation over Sunday. Rahal, I felt the
+paper on which his letter was written crinkling and
+crackling in my hand, it was that stiff with ecclesiastic
+pomp and spiritual pride. I would not
+show thee the letter, I put it in the fire.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Poor Ian! I think then, that he has had many
+things to suffer.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rahal, this is what I will do. I will meet the
+packet on Saturday and we will go first to my office
+and talk the Hay letter over together. If I
+bring Ian home with me, then something is possible,
+but if I come home alone, then Thora must
+understand that all is over&ndash;&ndash;that the young man
+is not to be thought of.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That would kill her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;So it might be. But better is death than a living
+misery. If Ian is what Jean Hay says he is,
+could we think of our child living with him? Impossible!
+Rahal, dear wife, whatever can be
+done I will do, and that with wisdom and loving
+kindness. Thy part is harder, it must be with our
+dear Thora.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;That is so. And if there has to be parting,
+it will be almost impossible to spread the plaster
+as far as the sore.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is the Great Physician&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell her what I have said.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will do that; but just yet, she is not minding
+much what any one says.&#8221;</p>
+<p>However, on Saturday afternoon Thora left
+her bed and dressed herself in the gown she had
+prepared for her bridegroom&#8217;s arrival. The nervous
+shock had been severe and she looked woefully
+like, and yet unlike, herself. Her eyes were
+full of tears, she trembled, she could hardly support
+herself. If one should take a fresh green
+leaf and pass over it a hot iron, the change it made
+might represent the change in Thora. Jean Hay&#8217;s
+letter had been the hot iron passed over her. She
+had been told of her father&#8217;s decision, but she
+clung passionately to her faith in Ian and her claim
+on her father&#8217;s love and mercy.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Father will do right,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and if he
+does, Ian will come home with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The position was a cruel one to Conall Ragnor
+and he went to meet the packet with a heavy
+heart. Then Ian&#8217;s joyful face and his impatience
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+to land made it more so, and Ragnor found it impossible
+to connect wrong-doing with the open,
+handsome countenance of the youth. On the contrary,
+he found himself without intention declaring:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I never found anything the least
+zig-zaggery about what he said or did. His words
+and ways were all straight. That is the truth.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Yet Ian&#8217;s happy mood was instantly dashed by
+Ragnor&#8217;s manner. He did not take his offered
+hand and he said in a formal tone: &#8220;Ian, we will
+go to my office before we go to the house. I
+must ask thee some questions.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well, sir. Thora, I hope, is all right?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No. She has been very ill.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then let me go to her, sir, at once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Later, I will see about that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Later is too late, let us go at once. If Thora
+is sick&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Be patient. It is not well to talk of women on
+the street. No wise man, who loves his womenkin,
+does that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Ian was silent; and the walk through the
+busy streets was like a walk in a bad dream. The
+place and circumstances felt unreal and he was
+conscious of the sure presence of a force closing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+about him, even to his finger tips. Vainly he tried
+to think. He felt the trouble coming nearer and
+nearer, but what was it? What had he done?
+What had he failed to do? What was he to be
+questioned about?</p>
+<p>Young as he was his experiences had taught him
+to expect only injury and wrong. The Ragnor
+home and its love and truth had been the miracle
+that had for nine months turned his brackish water
+of life into wine. Was it going to fail him, as
+everything else had done? He laughed inwardly
+at the cruel thought and whispered to himself:
+&#8220;This, too, can be borne, but oh, Thora, Thora!&#8221;
+and the two words shattered his pride and made
+him ready to weep when he sat down in Ragnor&#8217;s
+office and saw the kind, pitiful face of the elder
+man looking at him. It gave him the power he
+needed and he asked bluntly what questions he
+was required to answer.</p>
+<p>Ragnor gave him the unhappy letter and he
+read it with a look of anger and astonishment.
+&#8220;Father,&#8221; he said, &#8220;all this woman writes is true
+and not true; and of all accusations, these are the
+worst to defend. I must go back to my very
+earliest remembrances in order to fairly state my
+case, and if you will permit me to do this, in the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+presence of your wife and Thora, I will then accept
+whatever decision you make.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For at least three minutes Ragnor made no answer.
+He sat with closed eyes and his face held
+in the clasp of his left hand. Ian was bending forward,
+eagerly watching him. There was not a
+movement, not a sound; it seemed as if both men
+hardly breathed. But when Ragnor moved, he
+stood up. &#8220;Let us be going,&#8221; he said, &#8220;they are
+anxious. They are watching. You shall do as
+you say, Ian.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rahal saw them first. Thora was lying back in
+her mother&#8217;s chair with closed eyes. She could
+not bear to look into the empty road watching for
+one who might be gone forever. Then in a blessed
+moment, Rahal whispered, &#8220;They are coming!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Both? Both, Mother?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Both!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thank God!&#8221; And she would have cried out
+her thanks and bathed them in joyful tears if
+she had been alone. But Ian must not see her
+weeping. Now, especially, he must be met with
+smiles. And then, when she felt herself in Ian&#8217;s
+embrace, they were both weeping. But oh, how
+great, how blessed, how sacramental are those joys
+that we baptise with tears!</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span></div>
+<p>During the serving of dinner there was no conversation
+but such as referred to the war and
+other public events. Many great ones had transpired
+since they parted, and there was plenty to
+talk about: the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman
+had been fought; the never-to-be-forgotten
+splendour of Scarlett&#8217;s Charge with the Heavy
+Brigade, and the still more tragically splendid one
+of the Light Brigade, had both passed into history.</p>
+<p>More splendid and permanent than these had
+been the trumpet &#8220;call&#8221; of Russell in the <i>Times</i>,
+asking the women of England who among them
+were ready to go to Scutari Hospital and comfort
+and help the men dying for England?
+&#8220;Now,&#8221; he cried,</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;The Son of God goes forth to war!<br />
+Who follows in His train?&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>Florence Nightingale and her band of trained
+nurses, mainly from the Roman Catholic Sisters
+of Mercy, and St. John&#8217;s Protestant House, was
+the instant answer. In six days they were ready
+and without any flourish of trumpets, at the dark,
+quiet midnight, they left England for Scutari and
+in that hour the Red Cross Society was born.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;How long is it since they sailed?&#8221; asked Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;A month,&#8221; answered Ian, &#8220;but the controversy
+about it is still raging in the English papers.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What has anyone to say against it?&#8221; asked
+Rahal. &#8220;The need was desperate, the answer
+quick. What, then, do they say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The prudery of the English middle class was
+shocked at the idea of young women nursing in
+military hospitals. They considered it &#8216;highly
+improper.&#8217; Others were sure women would be
+more trouble than help. Many expect their health
+to fail, and think they will be sent back to English
+hospitals in a month.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought,&#8221; said Ragnor, &#8220;that the objections
+were chiefly religious.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are right,&#8221; replied Ian. &#8220;The Calvinists
+are afraid Miss Nightingale&#8217;s intention is to make
+the men Catholics in their dying hour. Others
+feel sure Miss Nightingale is an Universalist, or
+an Unitarian, or a Wesleyan Methodist. The
+fact is, Florence Nightingale is a devout Episcopalian.&#8221;</p>
+<p>A pleasant little smile parted Ragnor&#8217;s lips, and
+he said with an Episcopalian suavity: &#8220;The Wesleyans
+and the Episcopalians, in doctrine, are much
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+alike. We regard them as brethren;&#8221; and just
+while he spoke, Ragnor looked like some ecclesiastical
+prelate.</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is little to wonder at in the churches
+disagreeing about Miss Nightingale,&#8221; said Rahal,
+&#8220;it is not to be expected that they would believe
+in her, when they do not believe in each other.&#8221;
+As she spoke she stepped to the fireside and
+touched the bell rope, and a servant entered and
+began to clear the table and put more wood on
+the fire, and to turn out one of the lamps at Rahal&#8217;s
+order. Ragnor had gone out to have a quiet
+smoke in the fresh air while Rahal was sending
+off all the servants to a dance at the Fisherman&#8217;s
+Hall. Ian and Thora were not interested in these
+things; they sat close together, talking softly of
+their own affairs.</p>
+<p>Without special request, they drew closer to the
+hearth and to each other. Then Ragnor took out
+a letter and handed it to Ian. He was sitting at
+Thora&#8217;s side and her hand was in his hand. He
+let it fall and took the letter offered him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I cannot explain this letter,&#8221; he said, &#8220;unless
+I preface it with some facts regarding my unhappy
+childhood and youth. I am, as you know, the son
+of Dr. Macrae, but I have been a disinherited
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+son ever since I can remember. I suppose that in
+my earliest years I was loved and kindly treated,
+but I have no remembrance of that time. I know
+only that before I was five years old, my father
+had accepted the solemn conviction that I was
+without election to God&#8217;s grace. Personally I was
+a beautiful child, but I was received and considered,
+body and soul, as unredeemable. Father
+then regarded me as a Divine decree which it was
+his duty to receive with a pious acquiescence. My
+mother pitied and, in her way, loved me, and suffered
+much with me. I have a little sister also,
+who would like to love me, but there is in all her
+efforts just that touch of Phariseeism which destroys
+love.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Ian, there must have been some reason
+for your father&#8217;s remarkable conviction?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is most likely. If so, he never explained
+the fact to me or even to my mother. She told me
+once that he did not suspect that I had missed
+God&#8217;s election until I was between five and six
+years old. I suppose that about that age I began
+to strengthen his cruel fear by my antipathy to the
+kirk services and my real and unfortunate inability
+to learn the Shorter Catechism. This was a natural
+short-coming. I could neither spell or pronounce
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+the words I was told to learn and to memorise
+them was an impossible thing.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Could not your mother help you?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;She tried. She wept over me as she tried, and
+I made an almost superhuman effort to comprehend
+and remember. I could not. I was flogged,
+I was denied food and even water. I was put in
+dark rooms. I was forbid all play and recreation.
+I went through this martyrdom year after year
+and I finally became stubborn and would try no
+longer. In the years that followed, until I was
+sixteen, my daily sufferings were great, but I remember
+them mainly for my mother&#8217;s sake, who
+suffered with me in all I suffered. Nor am I without
+pity for my father. He honestly believed that
+in punishing me he was doing all he could to save
+me from everlasting punishment. Yes, sir! Do
+not shake your head! I have heard him praying,
+pleading with God, for some token of my election
+to His mercy. You see it was John Calvin.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;John Calvin!&#8221; ejaculated Ragnor, &#8220;how is
+that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was his awful tenets I had to learn; and
+when I was young I could not learn them, and
+when I grew older I would not learn them. My
+father had called me John Calvin and I detested
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span>
+the name. On my eighteenth birthday I asked him
+to have it changed. He was very angry at my
+request. I begged him passionately to do so. I
+said it ruined my life, that I could do nothing
+under that name. &#8216;Give me your own name,
+Father,&#8217; I entreated, &#8216;and I will try and be a good
+man!&#8217;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He said something to me, I never knew exactly
+what, but the last word was more than I
+could bear and my reply was an oath. Then he
+lifted the whip at his side and struck me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rahal and Thora were sobbing. Ragnor looked
+in the youth&#8217;s face with shining eyes and asked,
+almost in a whisper, &#8220;What did thou do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I had been struck often enough before to have
+made me indifferent, but at this moment some new
+strength and feeling sprang up in my heart. I
+seized his arms and the whip fell to the floor. I
+lifted it and said, &#8216;Sir, if you ever again use a
+whip in place of decent words to me, I will see you
+no more until we meet for the judgment of God.
+Then I will pity you for the life-long mistake you
+have made.&#8217; My father looked at me with eyes
+I shall never forget, no, not in all eternity! He
+burst into agonizing prayer and weeping and I
+went and told mother to go to him. I left the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+house there and then. I had not a halfpenny, and
+I was hungry and cold and sick with an intolerable
+sense of wrong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Father!&#8221; said Thora, in a voice broken with
+weeping. &#8220;Is not this enough?&#8221; And Ragnor
+leaned forward and took Thora&#8217;s hand but he did
+not speak. Neither did he answer Rahal&#8217;s look
+of entreaty. On the contrary he asked:</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then, Ian? Then, what did thou do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I felt so ill I went to see Dr. Finlay, our family
+physician. He knew the family trouble, because
+he had often attended mother when she was
+ill in consequence of it. I did not need to make
+a complaint. He saw my condition and took me
+to his wife and told her to feed and comfort me.
+I remained in her care four days, and then he offered
+to take me into his office and set me to reading
+medical text books, while I did the office
+work.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What was this work?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was taught how to prepare ordinary medicines,
+to see callers when the doctor was out, and
+make notes of, and on, their cases. I helped the
+doctor in operations, I took the prescriptions to
+patients and explained their use, etc. In three
+years I became very useful and helpful and I was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+quite happy. Then Dr. Finlay was appointed to
+some exceptionally fine post in India, private
+physician to some great Rajah, and the Finlay
+family hastily prepared for their journey to Delhi.
+I longed to go with them but I had not the money
+requisite. With Dr. Finlay I had had a home
+but only money enough to clothe me decently. I
+had not a pound left and mother could not help
+me, and Uncle Ian was in the Madeira Isles with
+his sick wife. So the Finlays went without me;
+and I can feel yet the sense of loneliness and poverty
+that assailed me, when I shut their door behind
+me and walked into the cold street and knew
+not what to do or where to go.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How old were you then, Ian?&#8221; asked Ragnor.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was twenty years old within a few days, and
+I had one pound, sixteen shillings in my pocket.
+Five pounds from an Episcopal church would be
+due in two weeks for my solo and part singing in
+their services; but they were never very prompt
+in their payment and that was nothing to rely on
+in my present need. I took to answering advertisements,
+and did some of the weariest tramping
+looking for work that poor humanity can do.
+When I met Kenneth McLeod, I had broken my
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+last shilling. I was like a hungry, lost child, and
+the thought of my mother came to me and I felt
+as if my heart would break.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The next moment I saw Kenneth McLeod coming
+up Prince&#8217;s Street. It was nearly four years
+since we had seen each other, but he knew me at
+once and called me in his old kind way. Then he
+looked keenly at me, and asked: &#8216;What is the matter,
+Ian? The old trouble?&#8217;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was so heartless and hungry I could hardly
+keep back tears as I answered: &#8216;It is that and
+everything else! Ken, help me, if you can.&#8217;
+&#8216;Come with me!&#8217; he answered, and I went with
+him into the Queen&#8217;s Hotel and he ordered dinner,
+and while we were eating I told him my situation.
+Then he said, &#8216;I can help you, Ian, if you
+will help me. You know that all my happiness is
+on the sea and father kept me on one or another
+of his trading boats as much as possible from my
+boyhood, so that I am now a clever enough navigator.
+Two years ago my father died and I am
+in a lot of trouble about managing the property he
+left me. Now, if you will take the oversight of
+my Edinburgh property, I can take my favourite
+boat and look after the coast trade of the Northern
+Islands.&#8217;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;What could I say? I was dumb with surprise
+and gratitude. I never thought there was anything
+wrong in our contract. I believed the work
+had come in answer to my prayer for help and I
+thanked God and Kenneth McLeod for it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Here Mrs. Ragnor rose, saying, &#8220;Coll, my dear
+one, Thora and I will now leave thee. I am sure
+Ian has done as well as he could do and we hope
+thou wilt judge him kindly.&#8221; Then the women
+went upstairs and Ragnor remained silent until
+Ian said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am very anxious, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Ragnor stood up and slowly answered,
+&#8220;Ian, now is the time to take council of my pillow.
+What I have to say I will say later. This is not a
+thing to be settled by a yes or no. I must think
+over what thou hast told me. I must have some
+words with my wife and daughter. Sleep one
+night at least over thy trouble, there are many
+things to consider; especially this question of the
+young lady who is made the last count of Jean
+Hay&#8217;s letter. What hast thou to say about her?
+She seems to have had some strong claim upon
+thy&ndash;&ndash;shall we say friendship?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You might say much more than friendship,
+sir, and yet wrong neither man nor woman by it.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+Why, the young lady was Agnes Henderson, the
+sister of Willie Henderson, who is my soul&#8217;s
+brother and my second self. Thora must have
+heard all about Agnes!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is she Deacon Scot Henderson&#8217;s daughter?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course she is! Who else would I have left
+two engagements to serve? But Agnes is dear
+to me, perhaps dearer than my own sister. Since
+she was nine years old, we have studied and played
+together. Willie and Agnes were the only loves
+and only friends of my desolate boyhood. You
+have doubtless heard how unhappy the deacon&#8217;s
+second marriage has been. Both Willie and Agnes
+refused the stepmother he gave them, and last
+year Willie went to New York, where he is doing
+very well. But Agnes has been more and more
+wretched, and a recent proposal of marriage between
+herself and the stepmother&#8217;s nephew has
+made her life intolerable. Two weeks ago I had
+a letter from Willie, telling me he had just written
+her, advising an immediate &#8216;give-up&#8217; of the
+whole situation. He told her to take the first
+good steamer and come to him. He also urged
+her to send for me and take my help and advice
+about the voyage. Two weeks ago last Friday
+she did so and I went at once to the West End
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span>
+Hotel to see her. She had disguised herself so
+cleverly that it was difficult to recognise her. I
+went with her to her sitting room and there I
+found the woman who had waited on her all her
+life long. I knew her well for she had often
+scolded me for leading Agnes into danger.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I ate lunch with Agnes and during it I told
+her to transfer all her money not required for
+travelling expenses to the Bank of New York;
+and I promised to go at once and secure a passage
+for herself and maid&ndash;&ndash;for seeing that the <i>Atlantic</i>
+would leave her dock for New York about the
+noon hour of the next day, haste was necessary.
+I did not wish to go to Liverpool because of my
+two engagements, but Agnes was so insistent on
+my presence I could not refuse her. Well, perhaps
+I was wrong to yield to her entreaties.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, hardly,&#8221; said Ragnor. &#8220;Going on board
+a big steamer at Liverpool must be a muddling
+business&ndash;&ndash;not fit for two simple women like Agnes
+Henderson and her maid.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t remember thinking of that but I could
+hear my friend Willie telling me, &#8216;See her safe on
+board, Ian. Don&#8217;t leave her till she is in the captain&#8217;s
+care. Do this for me, Ian!&#8217; And I did it
+for both Agnes&#8217; and Willie&#8217;s sake but mainly for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+Willie&#8217;s, for I love him. He is my right-hand
+friend, always. Perhaps I did wrong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a pity there was any mystification about
+it. Was it necessary for Agnes Henderson to disguise
+herself?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps not, but it prevented trouble and disappointment.
+Her father supposed her to be at
+her uncle&#8217;s home. On Saturday afternoon he went
+to see her and found she had not been there at all.
+He returned to Edinburgh and could get no trace
+of her, nor was she located until I returned and
+informed him that she was on the <i>Atlantic</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>There was a few moments of silence and then
+Ian said, &#8220;Have I done anything unpardonable?
+Surely you will not let that jealous, envious letter
+stand between Thora and myself?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Ragnor answered, &#8220;Tonight I will say
+neither this nor that on the matter. I will sleep
+over the subject and take counsel of One wiser
+than myself. Thou had better do likewise. Many
+things are to consider.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And Ian went away without a word. There
+was anger in his heart, and as he sat gloomily in
+his dimly lit room and felt the damp chill of the
+midnight, he told himself that he had been hardly
+judged. &#8220;I have done nothing wrong,&#8221; he whispered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+passionately. &#8220;Old McLeod collected his
+own rents and looked after his own property and
+no one thought he did wrong. He was an elder
+in one of the largest Edinburgh kirks and the favourite
+chairman in missionary meetings, but because
+I did not go to kirk, what was business in
+him was sin in me.</p>
+<p>&#8220;As to the gambling houses, I had nothing to
+do with them but to collect lawful money, due the
+McLeod estate; and as far as I can see, men who
+gamble for money are quite respectable if they
+get what they gamble for. There was that old
+reprobate Lord Sinclair. He redeemed the Sinclair
+estates by gambling and he married the beautiful
+daughter of the noble Seaforths. Nobody
+blamed him. Pshaw! It is all a matter of money&ndash;&ndash;or
+it is my ill luck.&#8221; And to such irritating reflections
+he finally fell asleep.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX_THE_BREAD_OF_BITTERNESS' id='CHAPTER_IX_THE_BREAD_OF_BITTERNESS'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h3>THE BREAD OF BITTERNESS</h3>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Sorrow</span> develops the mind. It seems as if
+a soul was given us to suffer with&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Dust to dust, but the pure spirit shall flow<br />
+Back to the burning fountain whence it came<br />
+A portion of the Eternal which must glow<br />
+Through time and change unalterably the same.<br />
+<br />
+Our endless need is met by God&#8217;s endless help.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>At her room door Thora bid her mother
+good night. Rahal desired to talk with her,
+but the girl shook her head and said wearily, &#8220;I
+want to think, Mother. I have no heart to
+speak yet.&#8221; And Rahal turned sadly away. She
+knew that hour, that her child had come to a door
+for which she had no key and she left her alone
+with the situation she had to face. Nor did Thora
+just then realize that within the past hour her
+girlhood had vanished, and that she had suddenly
+become a woman with a woman&#8217;s fate upon her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+and a woman&#8217;s heart-rending problem to solve.</p>
+<p>How it came she did not enquire, yet she did
+recognise some change in herself. Hitherto, all
+her troubles had been borne by her father or
+mother. This trouble was her very own. No one
+could carry it for her but without any hesitation
+she accepted it. &#8220;I must find out the very root
+of this matter,&#8221; she said to herself, &#8220;and I will not
+go to bed until I do. Nor is it half-asleep I will be
+over the question. I will sit up and be wide
+awake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So she put more peat and coal on her fire and
+lit a fresh candle; removed her day clothing and
+wrapped herself in a large down cloak. And the
+night was not cold for there was a southerly wind,
+and the gulf stream embraces the Orkneys, giving
+them an abnormally warm climate for their far-north
+latitude. And she had a passing wonder at
+herself for these precautions. A year ago, a week
+ago, she would have thrown herself upon her bed
+in passionate weeping or clung to her mother and
+talked her sorrow away in her loving sympathy
+and advice.</p>
+<p>But at this supreme hour of her life, she wanted
+to be alone. She did not wish to talk about Ian
+with any one. She was wide awake, quite sensible
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span>
+of the pain and grief at her heart, yet tearless and
+calm. Never before had she felt that dignity of
+soul, which looks straight into the face of its sorrow
+and feels itself equal to the bearing of it.
+She had as yet no idea that during that evening
+she had passed through that wonderful heart-experience,
+which suddenly ripens girlhood into
+womanhood. Indeed, they will be thoughtless
+girls&ndash;&ndash;whatever their age&ndash;&ndash;who can read this
+sentence and not pause and recall that marvellous
+transition in their own lives. To some it comes
+with a great joy, to others with a great sorrow
+but it is always a fateful event, and girls should
+be ready to meet and salute it.</p>
+<p>As soon as Thora had made herself and her
+room comfortable, she sat down and closed her
+eyes. All her life she had noticed that her mother
+shut her eyes when she wanted to think. Now
+she did the same, and then softly called Ian Macrae
+to the judgment of her heart and her inner
+senses, but she did it as naturally as women equally
+ignorant have done it in all ages, taking or refusing
+their advice or verdict as directed by their
+dominant desire, or their reason or unreason.</p>
+<p>With almost supernatural clearness she recalled
+his beautiful, yet troubled face, his hesitating manner,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span>
+his restlessness in his chair, his nervous trifling
+with his watch chain or his finger ring. She recalled
+the fact that his voice had in it a strange
+tone and that his eyes reflected a soul fearful and
+angry. It was an unfamiliar Ian she called up,
+but oh! if it could ever become a familiar one.</p>
+<p>The first subject that pressed her for consideration
+was the suspicion of gambling. Certainly
+Ian had promptly denied the charge. He had
+even said that he never was in the gambling parlours
+but once, when he went into them very early
+with the porter, to assure himself that some new
+carpets asked for were really wanted. &#8220;Then,&#8221;
+he added, &#8220;I found out that the demand was made
+by one of the club members, who had a friend who
+was a carpet manufacturer and expected to supply
+what was considered necessary.&#8221;</p>
+<p>It must be recalled here that Norsemen, though
+sharp and keen in business matters, have no gambling
+fever in their blood. To get money and give
+nothing for it! That goes too far beyond their
+idea of fair business, and as for pleasure, they
+have never connected it with the paper kings and
+queens. They find in the sea and their ships, in
+adventure, in music and song, in dancing and story
+telling, all of pleasure they require. A common
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+name for a pack of cards is &#8220;the devil&#8217;s books,&#8221;
+and in Orkney they have but few readers.</p>
+<p>Thora had partially exonerated Ian from the
+charge of gambling when she remembered Jean
+Hay&#8217;s assertion that &#8220;wherever horses were racing,
+there Ian was sure to be and that he had been
+named in the newspapers as a winner on the horse
+Sergius.&#8221; Ian had passed by this circumstance,
+and her father had either intentionally or unintentionally
+done the same. Once she had heard
+Vedder say that &#8220;horse racing produced finer and
+faster horses&#8221;; and she remembered well, that her
+father asked in reply, &#8220;If it was well to produce
+finer and faster horses, at the cost of making
+horsier men?&#8221; And he had further said that he
+did not know of any uglier type of man than a
+&#8220;betting book in breeches.&#8221; She thought a little
+on this subject and then decided Ian ought to be
+talked to about it.</p>
+<p>Her lover&#8217;s neglect of the Sabbath was the next
+question, for Thora was a true and loving daughter
+of the Church of England. Episcopacy was
+the kernel of her faith. She believed all bishops
+were just like Bishop Hedley and that the most
+perfect happiness was found in the Episcopal
+Communion. And she said positively to her heart&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;It
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span>
+is through the church door we will reach
+the Home door, and I am sure Ian will go with
+me to keep the Sabbath in the cathedral. Every
+one goes to church in Kirkwall. He could not resist
+such a powerful public example, and then he
+would begin to like to go of his own inclination.
+I could trust him on this point, I feel sure.&#8221;</p>
+<p>When she took up the next doubt her brow
+clouded and a shadow of annoyance blended itself
+with her anxious, questioning expression. &#8220;His
+name!&#8221; she muttered. &#8220;His name! Why did he
+woo me under a false name? Mother says my
+marriage to him under the name of Ian Macrae
+would not be lawful. Of course he intended to
+marry me with his proper name. He would have
+been sure to tell us all before the marriage day&ndash;&ndash;but
+I saw father was angry and troubled at the
+circumstance. He ought to have told us long
+ago. Why didn&#8217;t he do so? I should have loved
+him under any name. I should have loved him
+better under John than Ian. John is a strong,
+straight name. Great and good men in all ages
+have made John honourable. It has no diminutive.
+It can&#8217;t be made less than John. Englishmen
+and lowland Scotch all say the four sensible
+letters with a firm, strong voice; only the Celt
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span>
+turns John into Ian. I will not call him Ian again.
+Not once will I do it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then she covered her eyes with her hand and a
+sharp, chagrined catch of her breath broke the
+hush of the still room. And her voice, though little
+stronger than a whisper, was full of painful
+wonder. &#8220;What will people say? What shall we
+say? Oh, the shame! Oh, the mortification!
+Who will now live in my pretty home? Who will
+eat my wedding cake? What will become of my
+wedding dress? Oh, Thora! Thora! Love has
+led thee a shameful, cruel road! What wilt thou
+do? What can thou do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then a singular thing happened. A powerful
+thought from some forgotten life came with irresistible
+strength into her mind, and though she
+did not speak the words suggested, she prayed
+them&ndash;&ndash;if prayer be that hidden, never-dying imploration
+that goes with the soul from one incarnation
+to another&ndash;&ndash;for the words that sprang to
+her memory must have been learned centuries before,
+&#8220;Oh, Mary! Mary! Mother of Jesus
+Christ! Thou that drank the cup of all a woman&#8217;s
+griefs and wrongs, pray for me!&#8221;</p>
+<p>And she was still and silent as the words passed
+through her consciousness. She thought every one
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+of them, they seemed at the moment so real and
+satisfying. Then she began to wonder and ask
+herself, &#8220;Where did those words come from?
+When did I hear them? Where did I say them
+before? How do they come to be in my memory?
+From what strange depth of Life did they come?
+Did I ever have a Roman Catholic nurse? Did
+she whisper them to my soul, when I was sick
+and suffering? I must ask mother&ndash;&ndash;oh, how tired
+and sleepy I feel&ndash;&ndash;I will go to bed&ndash;&ndash;I have done
+no good, come to no decision. I will sleep&ndash;&ndash;I will
+tell mother in the morning&ndash;&ndash;I wish I had let her
+stop with me&ndash;&ndash;mother always knows&ndash;&ndash;what is the
+best way&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221; And thus the heart-breaking session
+ended in that blessed hostel, The Inn of
+Dreamless Sleep.</p>
+<p>There was, however, little sleep in the House
+of Ragnor that night, and very early in the morning
+Ragnor, fully dressed, spoke to his wife. &#8220;Art
+thou waking yet, Rahal?&#8221; he asked, and Rahal
+answered, &#8220;I have slept little. I have been long
+awake.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, what dost thou think now of Ian
+Macrae, so-called?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think little amiss of him&ndash;&ndash;some youthful follies&ndash;&ndash;nothing
+to make a fuss about.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Hast thou considered that the follies of youth
+may become the follies of manhood, and of age?
+What then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;We are not told to worry about what may
+be.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ian has evidently been living and spending with
+people far above his means and his class.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Lowland Scotch regard a minister as socially
+equal to any peer. Are not the servants of
+God equal, and more than equal, to the servants
+of the queen? No society is above either they
+or their children. That I have seen always. And
+young men of fine appearance and charming manners,
+like Ian, are welcome in every home, high
+or low. Yes, indeed!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yet girls, as a rule, should not marry handsome
+men with charming manners, unless there is
+something better behind to rely on.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;If thou had not been a handsome man with a
+charming manner, Rahal would not have married
+thee. What then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I would have been a ruined man. I cared for
+nothing but thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe that a girl of moral strength and
+good intelligence should be trusted with the choice
+of her destiny. It is not always that parents have
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+a right to thrust a destiny they choose upon their
+daughter. If a man is not as good and as rich
+as they think she ought to marry they can point
+this out, and if they convince their child, very
+well; and if they do not convince her, also very
+well. Perhaps the girl&#8217;s character requires just the
+treatment it will evolve from a life of struggle.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art talking nonsense, Rahal. Thy liking
+for the young man has got the better of thy
+good sense. I cannot trust thee in this matter.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, Coll, the road to better counsel
+than mine, is well known to thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think Bishop Hedley arrived about an hour
+ago. There were moving lights on the pier, and
+as soon as the morning breaks I am going to see
+him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have thy own way. When a man&#8217;s wife has
+not the wisdom wanted, it is well that he go to his
+Bishop, for Bishops are full of good counsel, even
+for the ruling of seven churches, so I have
+heard.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is not hearsay between thee and Bishop Hedley.
+Thou art well acquainted with him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, in the end thou wilt take thy own
+way.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dost thou want me to say &#8216;yes&#8217; today, and rue
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span>
+it tomorrow? I have no mind for any such foolishness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Coll, this is a time when deeds will be better
+than words.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I see that. Well then, the day breaks, and I
+will go&#8221;&ndash;&ndash;he lingered a minute or two fumbling
+about his knitted gloves but Rahal was dressing
+her hair and took no further notice. So he went
+away in an affected hurry and both dissatisfied and
+uncertain. &#8220;What a woman she is!&#8221; he sighed.
+&#8220;She has said only good words, but I feel as if I
+had broken every commandment at once.&#8221;</p>
+<p>He went away full of trouble and anxiety, and
+Rahal watched him down the garden path and
+along the first stretch of the road. She knew by
+his hurried steps and the nervous play of his
+walking stick that he was both angry and troubled
+and she was not very sorry.</p>
+<p>&#8220;If it was his business standing and his good
+name, instead of Thora&#8217;s happiness and good repute
+that was the question, oh, how careful and
+conciliatory he would be! How anxious to keep
+his affairs from public discussion! It would be
+anything rather than that! I have the same feeling
+about Thora&#8217;s good name. The marriage
+ought to go on for Thora&#8217;s sake. I do not want
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+the women of Kirkwall wondering who was to
+blame. I do not want them coming to see me with
+solemn looks and tearful voices. I could not endure
+their pitying of &#8216;poor Miss Thora!&#8217; They
+would not dare go to Coll with their sympathetic
+curiosity, but there are such women as Astar
+Gager, and Lala Snackoll, and Thyra Peterson,
+and Jorunna Flett. No one can keep them away
+from a house in trouble. Thora must marry. I
+see no endurable way to prevent it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then being dressed she went to Thora&#8217;s room,
+and gently opened the door. Thora was standing
+at her mirror and she turned to her mother
+with a smiling face. Rahal was astonished and
+she said almost with a tone of disapproval, &#8220;I am
+glad to see thee able to smile. I expected to find
+thee weeping, and ill with weeping.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;For a long time, for many hours, I was broken-hearted
+but there came to me, Mother, a strange
+consolation.&#8221; Then she told her mother about
+the prayer she heard her soul say for her. &#8220;Not
+one word did I speak, Mother. But someone
+prayed for me. I heard them. And I was made
+strong and satisfied, and fell into a sweet sleep,
+though I had yet not solved the problem I had
+proposed to solve before I slept.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;What was that problem?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;First, whether I should marry John just as
+he was, and trust the consequences to my influence
+over him; or whether I should refuse him altogether
+and forever; or whether I should wait and
+see what he can do with my father and the good
+Bishop, to help and strengthen him.&#8221; And as
+Thora talked, Rahal&#8217;s face grew light and sweet
+as she listened, and she answered&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;Yes, my dear
+one, that is the wonderful way! Some soul that
+loved thee long, long ago, knew that thou wert in
+great trouble. Some woman&#8217;s soul, perhaps, that
+had lived and died for love. The kinship of our
+souls far exceeds that of our bodies, and their
+help is swift and sure. Be patient with Ian. That
+is what I say.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But why that prayer? I never heard it before.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How little thou knowest of what thou hast
+heard before! Two hundred years ago, all sorrowful,
+unhappy women went to Mary with their
+troubles.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They should not have done so. They could
+have gone to Christ.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They thought Mary had suffered just what
+they were suffering, and they thought that Christ
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+had never known any of the griefs that break a
+woman&#8217;s heart. Mary knew them, had felt them,
+had wept and prayed over them. When my little
+lad Eric died, I thought of Mary. My family
+have only been one hundred years Protestants.
+All of them must have loved thee well enough to
+come and pray for thee. Thou had a great honour,
+as well as a great comfort.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;At any rate I did no wrong! I am glad,
+Mother.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Wrong! Thou wilt see the Bishop today.
+Ask him. He will tell thee that the English
+Church and the English women gave up very reluctantly
+their homage to Mary. Are not their
+grand churches called after Peter and Paul and
+other male saints? Dost thou think that Christ
+loved Peter and Paul more than his mother? I
+know better. Please God thou wilt know better
+some day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Churches are often called after Mary, as well
+as the saints.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not in Scotland.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is one in Glasgow. Vedder told me he
+used to hear Bishop Hedley preach there.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is an Episcopal Church. Ask him about
+thy dream. No, I mean thy soul&#8217;s experience.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Thou said <i>dream</i>, Mother. It was not a
+dream. I saw no one. I only heard a voice. It
+is what we see in dreams that is important.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now wilt thou come to thy breakfast?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is <i>he</i> downstairs yet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will go and call him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rahal, however, came to the table alone. She
+said, &#8220;Ian asked that he might lie still and sleep
+an hour or two. He has not slept all night long,
+I think,&#8221; she added. &#8220;His voice sounded full of
+trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So the two women ate their breakfast alone for
+Ragnor did not return in time to join them. And
+Rahal&#8217;s hopefulness left her, and she was silent
+and her face had a grey, fearful expression that
+Thora could not help noticing. &#8220;You look ill,
+Mother!&#8221; she said, &#8220;and you were looking so
+well when we came downstairs. What is it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know not. I feel as if I was going into a
+black cloud. I wish that thy father would come
+home. He is in trouble. I wonder then what is
+the matter!&#8221;</p>
+<p>In about an hour they saw Ragnor and the
+Bishop coming towards the house together.</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are in trouble, Thora, both of them are
+in trouble.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;About Thora they need not to be in trouble.
+She will do what they advise her to do.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is not thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What then?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will not name my fear, lest I call it to me.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then she rose and went to the door and Thora
+followed her, and by this time, Ragnor and the
+Bishop were at the garden gate. Very soon the
+Bishop was holding their hands, and Rahal found
+when he released her hand that he had left a letter
+in it. Yet for a moment she hardly noticed the
+fact, so shocked was she at the expression of her
+husband&#8217;s face. He looked so much older, his
+eyes were two wells of sorrow, his distress had
+passed beyond words, and when she asked, &#8220;What
+is thy trouble, Coll?&#8221; he looked at her pitifully
+and pointed to the letter. Then she took Thora&#8217;s
+hand and they went to her room together.</p>
+<p>Sitting on the side of her bed, she broke the
+seal and looked at the superscription. &#8220;It is from
+Adam Vedder,&#8221; she said, as she began to read it.
+No other word escaped her lips until she came to
+the end of the long epistle. Then she laid it down
+on the bed beside her and shivered out the words,
+&#8220;Boris is dying. Perhaps dead. Oh, Boris! My
+son Boris! Read for thyself.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></div>
+<p>So Thora read the letter. It contained a vivid
+description of the taking of a certain small battery,
+which was pouring death and destruction on
+the little British company, who had gone as a forlorn
+hope to silence its fire. They were picked
+volunteers and they were led by Boris Ragnor.
+He had made a breach in its defences and carried
+his men over the cannon to victory. At the last
+moment he was shot in the throat and received a
+deadly wound in the side, as he tore from the hands
+of the Ensign the flag of his regiment, wrote Vedder.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I saw the fight between the men. I was carrying
+water to the wounded on the hillside. I, and several
+others, rushed to the side of Boris. He held the flag
+so tightly that no hand could remove it, and we carried
+it with him to the hospital. For two days he remained
+there, then he was carefully removed to my house,
+not very far away, and now he has not only one of
+Miss Nightingale&#8217;s nurses always with him but also
+myself. As for Sunna, she hardly ever leaves him.
+He talks constantly of thee and his father and sister.
+He sends all his undying love, and if indeed these
+wounds mean his death, he is dying gloriously and
+happily, trusting God implicitly, and loving even his
+enemies&ndash;&ndash;a thing Adam Vedder cannot understand.
+He found out before he was twenty years old that
+loving his enemies was beyond his power and that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+nothing could make him forgive them. Our dear
+Boris! Oh, Rahal! Rahal! Poor stricken mother!
+God comfort thee, and tell thyself every minute &#8220;My
+boy has won a glorious death and he is going the way
+of all flesh, honoured and loved by all who ever knew
+him.&#8221;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Thy true friend,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'><span class='smcap'>Adam Vedder.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<div class='figtag'>
+<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
+</div>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/img2.jpg' alt='' title='' width='322' height='500' /><br />
+<p class='caption'>
+He made a breach in its defences and carried his men over cannon to victory.<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>This letter upset all other considerations, and
+when Ian came downstairs at the dinner hour, he
+found no one interested enough in his case to take
+it up with the proper sense of its importance.
+Ragnor was steeped in silent grief. Rahal had
+shut up her sorrow behind dry eyes and a closed
+mouth. The Bishop had taken the seat next to
+Thora. He felt as if no one had missed or even
+thought of him. And such conversation as there
+was related entirely to the war. Thora smiled at
+him across the table, but he was not pleased at
+Thora being able to smile; and he only returned
+the courtesy with a doleful shake of the head.</p>
+<p>After dinner Ian said something about going
+to see McLeod, and then the Bishop interfered&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;No,
+Ian,&#8221; he replied, &#8220;I want you to walk as
+far as the cathedral with me. Will you do that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;With pleasure, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Then let us be going, while there is yet a little
+sunshine.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The cathedral doors stood open, but there was
+no one present except a very old woman, who at
+their approach rose from her knees and painfully
+walked away. The Bishop altered his course, so
+as to greet her&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;Good afternoon, Sister Odd!
+Art thou suffering yet?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Only the pain that comes with many years, sir.
+God makes it easy for me. Wilt thou bless me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou hast God&#8217;s blessing. Who can add to
+it? God be with thee to the very end!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Enough is that. Thy hand a moment, sir.&#8221;</p>
+<p>For a moment they, stood silently hand clasped,
+then parted, and the Bishop walked straight to
+the vestry and taking a key from his pocket,
+opened the door. There was a fire laid ready for
+the match and he stooped and lit it, and Ian placed
+his chair near by.</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is good!&#8221; he said. &#8220;Bring your own
+chair near to me, Ian, I have something to say to
+you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am glad of that, Bishop. No one seemed
+to care for my sorrow. I was made to feel this
+day the difference between a son and a son-in-law.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;There is a difference, a natural one, but you
+have been treated as a son always. Ragnor has
+told me all about those charges. You may speak
+freely to me. It is better that you should do so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I explained the charges to the whole family.
+Do they not believe me?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The explanation was only partial and one-sided.
+I think the charge of gambling may be put
+aside, with your promise to abstain from the appearance
+of evil for the future. I understand your
+position about the Sabbath. You should have gone
+on singing in some church. Supposing you got no
+spiritual help from it, you were at least lifting the
+souls of others on the wings of holy song, and
+you need not have mocked at the devout feelings
+of others by music unfit for the day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was a bit of boyish folly.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was something far more than that. I had
+a letter from Jean Hay more than two months
+ago and I investigated every charge she made
+against you.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Bishop?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I find that, examined separately, they do not
+indicate any settled sinfulness; but taken together
+they indicate a variable temper, a perfectly untrained
+nature, and a weak, unresisting will. Now,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span>
+Ian, a weak, good man is a dangerous type of a
+bad man. They readily become the tools of
+wicked men of powerful intellect and determined
+character. I have met with many such cases.
+Your change of name&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, sir, I could not endure Calvin tacked on
+to me! If you knew what I have suffered!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I know it all. Why did you not tell the Ragnors
+on your first acquaintance with them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mrs. Ragnor liked Ian because it is the Highland
+form for John, and Thora loved the name
+and I did not like, while they knew so little of
+me, to tell them I had only assumed it. I watched
+for a good opportunity to speak concerning it and
+none came. Then I thought I would consult you
+at this time, before the wedding day.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I could not have married you under the name
+of Ian. Discard it at once. Take it as a pet name
+between Thora and yourself, if you choose. No
+doubt you thought Ian was prettier and more romantic
+and suitable for your really handsome person.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Bishop, do not humiliate me! I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have no doubt I am correct. I have known
+young men wreck their lives for some equally foolish
+idea.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;I will cast it off today. I will tell Thora the
+truth tonight. Before we are married, I will advertise
+it in next week&#8217;s <i>News</i>.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Before you are married, I trust you will have
+made the name of John Macrae so famous that
+you will need no such advertising.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean, Bishop?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want you to go to the trenches at Redan or
+to fight your way into Sebastopol. You have been
+left too much to your own direction and your own
+way. Obedience is the first round of the ladder
+of Success. You must learn it. You can only
+be a subordinate till you manage this lesson. Your
+ideas of life are crude and provincial. You need
+to see men making their way upward, in some
+other places than in shops and offices. Above all,
+you must learn to conquer yourself and your indiscreet
+will. You are not a man, until you are
+master in your own house and fear no mutiny
+against your Will to act nobly. You have had
+no opportunities for such education. Now take
+one year to begin it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You mean that I must put off my marriage
+for a year.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. Under present circumstances&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, sir, that is not thinkable! It would be
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span>
+too mortifying! I could not go back to Edinburgh.
+I could not put off my marriage!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You will be obliged to do so. Do you imagine
+the Ragnors will hold wedding festivities, while
+their eldest son is dying, or his broken body on
+its way home for burial?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thought the ceremony would be entirely religious
+and the festivities could be abandoned.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Is that what you wish?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Bishop.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then you will not get it. A year&#8217;s strict
+mourning is due the dead, and the Ragnors will
+give every hour of it. Boris is their eldest
+son.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;They should remember also their living daughter
+Thora will suffer as well as myself.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are not putting yourself in a good light,
+John Macrae. Thora loves her brother with a
+great affection. Do you think she can comfort
+her grief for his loss, by giving you any loving
+honour that belongs to him? You do not know
+Thora Ragnor. She has her mother&#8217;s just, strong
+character below all her gentle ways, and what her
+father and mother say she will endorse, without
+question or reluctance. Now I know that Ragnor
+had resolved on a year&#8217;s separation and discipline,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span>
+before he heard of his son&#8217;s dangerous condition.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris was not dead when that Vedder letter
+was written. He may not be dead now. He may
+not be going to die.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is only his wonderful physical strength that
+has kept him alive so long. Vedder said to me,
+they looked for his death at any hour. He cannot
+recover. His wound is a fatal one. It is
+beyond hope. Vedder wrote while he was yet
+alive, so that he might perhaps break the blow to
+his family.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What then do you advise me to do?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ragnor intends to go back with you and myself
+to Edinburgh. He will see your father and
+offer to buy you a commission as ensign in a good
+infantry regiment. We will ask your father if he
+will join in the plan.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My father will not join in anything to help
+me. How much will an ensign&#8217;s commission
+cost?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I think four or five hundred pounds. Ragnor
+would pay half, if your father would pay half.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Ian rose to his feet, and his eyes blazed
+with a fire no one had ever seen there before.
+&#8220;Bishop,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I thank you for all you propose,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+but if I go to the trenches at Redan or the
+camp at Sebastopol, I will go on John Macrae&#8217;s
+authority and personality. I have one hundred
+pounds, that is sufficient. I can learn all the great
+things you expect me to learn there better among
+the rankers than the officers. I have known the
+officers at Edinburgh Castle. They were not fit
+candidates for a bishopric.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The good man looked sadly at the angry youth
+and answered, &#8220;Go and talk the matter over with
+Thora.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will. Surely she will be less cruel.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you wish, considering present circumstances?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I want the marriage carried out, devoid of all
+but its religious ceremony. I want to spend one
+month in the home prepared for us, and then I
+will submit to the punishment and schooling proposed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, you will not. Do not throw away this
+opportunity to retrieve your so far neglected, misguided
+life. There is a great man in you, if you
+will give him space and opportunity to develop,
+John. This is the wide open door of Opportunity;
+go through, and go up to where it will lead
+you. At any rate do whatever Thora advises. I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span>
+can trust you as far as Thora can.&#8221; Then he held
+out his hand, and Ian, too deeply moved to speak,
+took it and left the cathedral without a word.</p>
+<p>He found Thora alone in the parlour. She had
+evidently been weeping but that fact did not much
+soothe his sense of wrong and injustice. He felt
+that he had been put aside in some measure. He
+was not sure that even now Thora had been weeping
+for his loss. He told himself, she was just as
+likely to have been mourning for Boris. He felt
+that he was unjustly angry but, oh, he was so
+hopeless! Every one was ready to give him advice,
+no one had said to him those little words of
+loving sympathy for which his heart was hungry.
+He had felt it to be his duty to try and console
+Thora, and Thora had wept in his arms and he
+had kissed her tears away. She was now weary
+with weeping and suffering with headache. She
+knew also that talking against any decision of
+her father&#8217;s was useless. When he had said the
+word, the man or woman that could move him did
+not live. Acceptance of the will of others was
+a duty she had learned to observe all her life, it
+was just the duty that Ian had thought it right to
+resist. So amid all his love and disappointment,
+there was a cruel sense of being of secondary interest
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span>
+and importance, just at the very time he had
+expected to be first in everyone&#8217;s love and consideration.</p>
+<p>Finally he said, &#8220;Dear Thora, I can feel no
+longer. My heart has become hopeless. I suffer
+too much. I will go to my room and try and
+submit to this last cruel wrong.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then Thora was offended. &#8220;There is no one
+to blame for this last cruel wrong but thyself,&#8221;
+she answered. &#8220;The death of Boris was a nearer
+thing to my father and mother than my marriage.
+Thy marriage can take place at some other time,
+but for my dear brother there is no future in
+this life.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you even sure of his death?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;My mother has seen him.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is nonsense.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;To you, I dare say it is. Mother sees more
+than any one else can see. She has spiritual vision.
+We are not yet able for it, nor worthy of
+it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then why did she not see our wedding catastrophe?
+She might have averted it by changing
+the date.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ask her;&#8221; and as Thora said these words and
+wearily closed her eyes, Rahal entered the room.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+She went straight to Ian, put her arms round him
+and kissed him tenderly. Then Ian could bear no
+more. He sobbed like a boy of seven years old
+and she wept with him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou poor unloved laddie!&#8221; she said. &#8220;If
+thou had gone wrong, it would have been little
+wonder and little blame to thyself. I think thou
+did all that could be done, with neither love nor
+wisdom to help thee. Rahal does not blame thee.
+Rahal pities and loves thee. Thou hast been
+cowed and frightened and punished for nothing,
+all the days of thy sad life. Poor lad! Poor, disappointed
+laddie! With all my heart and soul I
+pity thee!&#8221;</p>
+<p>For a few moments there was not a word
+spoken and the sound of Ian&#8217;s bitter weeping filled
+the room. Ian had been flogged many a time when
+but a youth, and had then disdained to utter a
+cry, but no child in its first great sorrow, ever
+wept so heart-brokenly as Ian now wept in Rahal&#8217;s
+arms. And a man weeping is a fearsome, pitiful
+sound. It goes to a woman&#8217;s heart like a sword,
+and Thora rose and went to her lover and drew
+him to the sofa and sat down at his side and, with
+promises wet with tears, tried to comfort him. A
+strange silence that the weeping did not disturb
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span>
+was in the house and room, and in the kitchen the
+servants paused in their work and looked at each
+other with faces full of pity.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The Wise One has put trouble on their heads,&#8221;
+said a woman who was dressing a goose to roast
+for dinner and her helper answered, &#8220;And there
+is no use striving against it. What must be, is
+sure to happen. That is Right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;All that we have done, is no good. Fate rules
+in this thing. I see that.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The trouble came on them unawares. And
+if Death is at the beginning, no course that can
+be taken is any good.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is the Master&#8217;s will? For in the end,
+that will orders all things.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;The mistress said the marriage would be put
+off for a year. The young man goes to the war.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No wonder then he cries out. It is surely
+a great disappointment.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tom Snackoll had the same ill luck. He made
+no crying about it. He hoisted sail at midnight
+and stole his wife Vestein out of her window,
+and when her father caught them, they were man
+and wife. And Snackoll went out to speak to his
+father-in-law and he said to him, &#8216;My wife can not
+see thee today, for she is weary and I think it best
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+for her to be still and quiet&#8217;; and home the father
+went and no good of his journey. Snackoll got
+praise for his daring.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then,&#8221; said a young man who had just
+entered, &#8220;it is well known that Vestein and her
+father and mother were all fully willing. The girl
+could as easily have gone out of the door as the
+window. Snackoll is a boaster. He is as great in
+his talk as a fox in his tail.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Thus the household of Ragnor talked in the
+kitchen, and in the parlour Rahal comforted the
+lovers, and cheered and encouraged Ian so greatly
+that she was finally able to say to them:</p>
+<p>&#8220;The wedding day was not lucky. Let it pass.
+There is another, only a year away, that will bring
+lasting joy. Now we have wept over our mischance,
+we will bury it and look to the future.
+We will go and wash away sorrow and put on
+fresh clothes, and look forward to the far better
+marriage a year hence.&#8221;</p>
+<p>And her voice and manner were so persuasive,
+that they willingly obeyed her advice and, as they
+passed her, she kissed them both and told Ian to
+put his head in cold water and get rid of its aching
+fever, for she said, &#8220;The Bishop will want thee
+to sing some of thy Collects and Hymns and thou
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+wilt like to please him. He is thy good friend.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do not think so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He is. Thou may take that, on my word.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The evening brought a braver spirit. They
+talked of Boris and of his open-hearted, open-air
+life, and the Bishop read aloud several letters from
+young men then at the front. They were full of
+enthusiasm. They might have been read to an
+accompaniment of fife and drums. Ian was visibly
+affected and made no further demur about joining
+them. One of them spoke of Boris &#8220;leading
+his volunteers up the hill like a lion&#8221;; and another
+letter described his tenderness to the wounded and
+convalescents, saying &#8220;he spent his money freely,
+to procure them little comforts they could not get
+for themselves.&#8221;</p>
+<p>They talked plainly and from their hearts, hesitating
+not to call his name, and so they brought
+comfort to their heavy sorrow. For it is a selfish
+thing to shut up a sorrow in the heart, far
+better to look at it full in the face, speak of it, discuss
+its why and wherefore and break up that false
+sanctity which is very often inspired by purely
+selfish sentiments. And when this point was
+reached, the Bishop took from his pocket a small
+copy of the Apocrypha and said, &#8220;Now I will tell
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span>
+you what the wisest of men said of such an early
+death as that of our dear Boris:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;He pleased God, and he was beloved of him, so
+that living among sinners, he was translated.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness
+should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile
+his soul.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled
+a long time.</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;For his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he
+to take him away from among the wicked.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And these words fell like heavenly dew on every
+heart. There was no comfort and honour greater
+than this to offer even a mother&#8217;s heart. A happy
+sigh greeted the blessed verses, and there was no
+occasion to speak. There was no word that could
+be added to it.</p>
+<p>Then Ian had a happy thought for before a
+spell-breaking word could be said, he stepped
+softly to the piano and the next moment the room
+was ringing with some noble lines from the &#8220;Men
+of Harlech&#8221; set to notes equally stirring:</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;Men of Harlech, young or hoary,<br />
+Would you win a name in story,<br />
+Strike for home, for life, for glory,<br />
+Freedom, God and Right!<br />
+
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span><br />
+&#8220;Onward! &#8217;Tis our country needs us,<br />
+He is bravest, he who leads us,<br />
+Honour&#8217;s self now proudly leads us,<br />
+Freedom! God and Right!<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Loose the folds asunder!<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Flag we conquer under!<br />
+<span class='indent4'>&nbsp;</span>Death is glory now.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>The words were splendidly sung and the room
+was filled with patriotic fervour. Then the
+Bishop gave Ragnor and Thora a comforting
+look, as he asked, &#8220;Who wrote that song, Ian?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ah, sir, it was never written! It sprang from
+the heart of some old Druid priest as he was urging
+on the Welsh to drive the Romans from their
+country. It is two verses from &#8216;The Song of the
+Men of Harlech.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;In olden times, Ian, the bards went to the battlefield
+with the soldiers. We ought to send our
+singers to the trenches. Ian, go and sing to the
+men of England and of France &#8216;The Song of the
+Men of Harlech.&#8217; Your song will be stronger
+than your sword.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will sing it to my sword, sir. It will make it
+sharper.&#8221; Then Rahal said, &#8220;You are a brave
+boy, Ian,&#8221; and Thora lifted her lovely face and
+kissed him.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span></div>
+<p>Every heart was uplifted, and the atmosphere
+of the room was sensitive with that exalted feeling
+which finds no relief in speech. Humanity
+soon reacts against such tension. There was a
+slight movement, every one breathed heavily, like
+people awakening from sleep, and the Bishop said
+in a slow, soft voice:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I was thinking of Boris. After all, the dear
+lad may return to us. Surgeons are very clever
+now, they can almost work miracles.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Boris will not return,&#8221; said Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;How can you know that, Rahal?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He told me so.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Have you seen him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;When?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;On the afternoon of the eleventh of this
+month.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Bishop, I was making the cap I am
+wearing and I was selecting from some white roses
+on my lap the ones I thought best. Suddenly Boris
+stood at my side.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You saw him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Bishop. I saw him plainly, though I do
+not remember lifting my head.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;How did he look?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Like one who had just won a victory. He was
+much taller and grander in appearance. Oh, he
+looked like one who had realized God&#8217;s promise
+that we should be satisfied. A kind of radiance
+was around him and the air of a conquering soldier.
+And he was my boy still! He called me
+&#8216;Mother,&#8217; he sent such a wonderful message to
+his father.&#8221; And at the last word, Ragnor uttered
+just such a sharp, short gasp as might have
+come from the rift of a broken heart.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did you ask him any question, Rahal?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I could not speak, but my soul longed to know
+what he was doing and the longing was immediately
+answered. &#8216;I am doing the will of the Lord
+of Hosts,&#8217; he said. &#8216;I was needed here.&#8217; Then
+I felt his kiss on my cheek, and I lifted my head
+and looked at the clock. It had struck three just
+as I was conscious of the presence of Boris. It
+was only two minutes past three, but I seemed to
+have lived hours in that two minutes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you think, Bishop, that God loves a soldier?
+He may employ them and yet not love
+them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then the Bishop straightened himself and
+lifted his head, and his face glowed and his eyes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+shone as he answered, &#8220;I will give you one example,
+it could be multiplied indefinitely. Paul
+of Tarsus, a pale, beardless young man, dressed
+as a Roman soldier, is bringing prisoners to Damascus.
+Christ meets him on the road and Paul
+knows instantly that he has met the Captain of his
+soul. Hence forward, he is beloved and honoured
+and employed for Christ, and at the end of life
+he is joyful because he has fought a good
+fight and knows that his reward is waiting
+for him.</p>
+<p>&#8220;God has given us the names of many soldiers
+beloved of Him&ndash;&ndash;Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon,
+David, etc. What care he took of them!
+What a friend in all extremities he was to them!
+All men who fight for their Faith, Home and
+Country, for Freedom, Justice and Liberty, are
+God&#8217;s armed servants. They do His will on the
+battlefield, as priests do it at the altar. So then,</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;In the world&#8217;s broad field of battle,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>In the bivouac of life,<br />
+Be not like dumb driven cattle,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Be a hero in the strife!&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>&#8220;We were speaking of the bards going to the
+battlefield with the soldiers, and as I was quoting
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+that verse of Longfellow&#8217;s a few lines from the
+old bard we call Ossian came into my mind.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell us, then,&#8221; said Thora, &#8220;wilt thou not say
+the words to us, our dear Bishop?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will do that gladly:</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;Father of Heroes, high dweller of eddying winds,<br />
+Where the dark, red thunder marks the troubled cloud,<br />
+Open Thou thy stormy hall!<br />
+Let the bards of old be near.<br />
+Father of heroes! the people bend before thee.<br />
+Thou turnest the battle in the field of the brave,<br />
+Thy terrors pour the blasts of death,<br />
+Thy tempests are before thy face,<br />
+But thy dwelling is calm above the clouds,<br />
+The fields of thy rest are pleasant.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>&#8220;When I was a young man,&#8221; he continued, &#8220;I
+used to read Ossian a good deal. I liked its vast,
+shadowy images, its visionary incompleteness, just
+because we have not yet invented the precise words
+to describe the indescribable.&#8221;</p>
+<p>So they talked, until the frugal Orcadian supper
+of oatmeal and milk, and bread and cheese, appeared.
+Then the night closed and sealed what
+the day had done, and there was no more speculation
+about Ian&#8217;s future. The idea of a military
+life as a school for the youth had sprung up strong
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+and rapidly, and he was now waiting, almost impatiently,
+for it to be translated into action.</p>
+<p>A few restful, pleasant days followed. Ragnor
+was preparing to leave his business for a week, the
+Bishop was settling some parish difficulties, and
+Ian and Thora were permitted to spend their time
+as they desired. They paid one farewell visit to
+their future home and found an old woman who
+had nursed Thora in charge of the place.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou wilt find everything just so, when you
+two come home together, my baby,&#8221; she said.
+&#8220;Not a pin will be out of its place, not a speck of
+dust on anything. Eva will always be ready, and
+please God you may call her far sooner than you
+think for.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Sabbath, the last Sabbath of the old year,
+was to be their last day together, and the Bishop
+desired Ian to make it memorable with song. Ian
+was delighted to do so and together they chose
+for his two solos, &#8220;O for the Wings of a Dove,&#8221;
+and the heavenly octaves of &#8220;He Hath Ascended
+Up on High and Led Captivity Captive.&#8221; The
+old cathedral&#8217;s great spaces were crowded, the
+Bishop was grandly in the spirit, and he easily led
+his people to that solemn line where life verges
+on death and death touches Immortality. It was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span>
+Christ the beginning, and the end; Christ the victim
+on the cross, and Christ the God of the Ascension!
+And he sent every one home with the
+promise of Immortality in their souls and the light
+of it on their faces. His theme had touched
+largely on the Christ of the Resurrection, and the
+mystery and beauty of this Christ was made familiar
+to them in a way they had not before considered.</p>
+<p>Ragnor was afraid it had perhaps been brought
+too close to their own conception of a soul, who
+was seen on earth after the death of the body.
+&#8220;You told the events of Christ&#8217;s forty days on
+earth after His crucifixion so simply, Bishop,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;and yet with much of the air that our
+people tell a ghost story.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, dear Conall, I was telling them
+the most sacred ghost story of the world, and yet
+it is the most literal reality in history. If it were
+only a dream, it would be the most dynamic event
+in human destiny.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;You see, Bishop, there is so much in your way
+of preaching. It has that kind of good comradeship
+which I think was so remarkable in Christ.
+His style was not the ten commandments&#8217; style&ndash;&ndash;thou
+shalt and thou shalt not&ndash;&ndash;but that reasoning,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span>
+brotherly way of &#8216;What man is there among you
+that would not do the kind and right thing?&#8217; You
+used it this very morning when you cried out, &#8216;If
+our dear England needed your help to save her
+Liberty and Life, what man is there among you
+that would not rise up like lions to save her?&#8217;
+And the men could hardly sit still. It was so real,
+so brotherly, so unlike preaching.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Conall, nothing is so wonderful and beautiful
+in Christ&#8217;s life as its almost incredible approachableness.&#8221;</p>
+<p>This sermon had been preached on the Sabbath
+morning and it spiritualized the whole day.
+Ian&#8217;s singing also had proved a wonderful service,
+for when the young men of that day became old
+men, they could be heard leading their crews in
+the melodious, longing strains of &#8216;O for the Wings
+of a Dove,&#8217; as they sat casting their lines into the
+restless water.</p>
+<p>In the evening a cold, northwesterly wind
+sprang up and Thora and Ian retreated to the
+parlour, where a good fire had been built; but
+the Bishop and Ragnor and Rahal drew closer
+round the hearth in the living room and talked,
+and were silent, as their hearts moved them. Rahal
+had little to say. She was thinking of Ian
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+and of the new life he was going to, and of the
+long, lonely days that might be the fate of Thora.
+&#8220;The woeful laddie!&#8221; she whispered, &#8220;he has had
+but small chances of any kind. What can a lad
+do for himself and no mother able to help him!&#8221;</p>
+<p>The Bishop heard or divined her last words and
+he said, &#8220;Be content, Rahal. Not one, but many
+lives we hold, and our hail to every new work we
+begin is our farewell to the old work. Ian is
+going to give a Future to his Past.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I fear, Bishop&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Fear is from the earthward side, Rahal.
+Above the clouds of Fear, there is the certain
+knowledge of Heaven. Fear is nothing, Faith is
+everything!&#8221;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_X_THE_ONE_REMAINS_THE_MANY_CHANGE_AND_PASS' id='CHAPTER_X_THE_ONE_REMAINS_THE_MANY_CHANGE_AND_PASS'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h3>THE ONE REMAINS, THE MANY CHANGE AND PASS</h3>
+</div>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>You Scotsmen are a pertinacious brood;<br />
+Fitly you wear the thistle in your cap,<br />
+As in your grim theology.<br />
+O we&#8217;re not all so fierce! God knows you&#8217;ll find,<br />
+Well-combed and smooth-licked gentlemen enough,<br />
+Who will rejoice with you<br />
+To sneer at Calvin&#8217;s close-wedged creed.<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'>&ndash;&ndash;<span class='smcap'>Blackie.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Sow not in Sorrow,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Fling your seed abroad, and know&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+God sends tomorrow,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>The rain to make it grow.<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'>&ndash;&ndash;<span class='smcap'>Blackie.</span></p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">There</span> are epochs in every life that cut it
+sharply asunder, its continuity is broken
+and things can never be the same again. This was
+the dominant feeling that came to Thora Ragnor,
+as she sat with her mother one afternoon in early
+January. It was a day of Orkney&#8217;s most uncomfortable
+and depressing kind, the whole island being
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+swept by drifting clouds of vapour, which not
+only filled the atmosphere but also the houses, so
+that everything was to the touch damp and uncomfortable.
+Nothing could escape its miserable
+contact, even sitting on the hearthstone its power
+was felt; and until a good northwester came to
+dissipate the damp moisture, nobody expected
+much from any one&#8217;s temper.</p>
+<p>Thora was restless and unhappy. Her life appeared
+to have been suddenly deprived of all joy
+and sunshine. She felt as if everything was at an
+end, or might as well be, and her mother&#8217;s placid,
+peaceful face irritated her. How could she sit
+knitting mufflers for the soldiers in the trenches,
+and not think of Boris and also of Ian, whom they
+had all conspired to send to the same danger and
+perhaps death? She could not understand her
+mother&#8217;s serenity. It occurred to her this afternoon,
+that she might have run away with Ian
+to Shetland and there her sisters would have seen
+her married; and she did not do this, she obeyed
+her parents, and what did she get for it? Loneliness
+and misery and her lover sent far away from
+her. Oh, those moments when Virtue has failed
+to reward us and we regret having served her!
+To the young, they are sometimes very bitter.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span></div>
+<p>And her mother&#8217;s calmness! It not only astonished,
+it angered her. How could she sit still
+and not talk of Boris and Ian? It was a necessary
+relief to Thora, their names were at her lips all
+day long. But Thora had yet to learn that it is
+the middle-aged and the old who have the power
+of hoping through everything, because they have
+the knowledge that the soul survives all its adventures.
+This is the great inspiration, it is the
+good wine which God keeps to the last. The old,
+the way-worn, the faint and weary, they know this
+as the young can never know it.</p>
+<p>However, we may say to bad weather, as to all
+other bad things, &#8220;this, too, will pass,&#8221; and in a
+couple of days the sky was blue, the sun shining,
+and the atmosphere fresh and clear and full of
+life-giving energy. Ships of all kinds were hastening
+into the harbour and the mail boat, broad-bottomed
+and strongly built, was in sight. Then
+there was a little real anxiety. There was sure to
+be letters, what news would they bring? Some
+people say there is no romance in these days.
+Very far wrong are they. These sealed bits of
+white paper hold very often more wonderful romances
+than any in the Thousand Nights of story
+telling.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></div>
+<p>Rahal&#8217;s and Thora&#8217;s anxiety was soon relieved.
+A messenger from the warehouse came
+quickly to the house, with a letter from Ragnor
+to Rahal and a letter from Ian to Thora. Ragnor&#8217;s
+letter said they had had a rough voyage
+southward, the storm being in their faces all the
+way to Leith. There they left the boat and took
+a train for London, from which place they went
+as quickly as possible to Spithead, fearing to miss
+the ship sailing for the Crimea on the eleventh.
+Ragnor said he had seen Ian safely away to Sebastopol
+and observed that he was remarkably
+cheerful and satisfied. He spoke then
+of his own delight with London and regretted
+that he had not made arrangements which
+would permit him to stay a week or two longer
+there.</p>
+<p>Thora&#8217;s letter was a genuine love letter, for
+Ian was deeply in love and everything he said
+was in the superlative mood. Lovers like such
+letters. They are to them the sacred writings.
+It did not seem ridiculous to Thora to be called
+&#8220;an angel of beauty and goodness, the rose of
+womanhood, the lily on his heart, his star of hope,
+the sunshine of his life,&#8221; and many other extravagant
+impossibilities. She would have been disappointed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span>
+if Ian had been more matter-of-fact and
+reasonable.</p>
+<p>So there was now comparative happiness in the
+house of Ragnor, for though the master&#8217;s letters
+were never much more than plain statements of
+doings or circumstances, they satisfied Rahal. It
+is not every man that knows how to write to a
+woman, even if he loves her; but women have a
+special divinity in reading love letters, and they
+know beyond all doubting the worth of words as
+affected by those who use them.</p>
+<p>Ragnor gave himself a whole week in London
+and before leaving that city for Edinburgh
+he wrote a few lines home, saying he intended
+to stay in London over the following Sabbath and
+hear Canon Liddon preach. On Monday he would
+reach Edinburgh and on Tuesday have an interview
+with Dr. Macrae and then take the first boat
+for home. They could now wait easily, the silence
+had been broken, the weather was good, they
+had &#8220;The History of Pendennis&#8221; and &#8220;David Copperfield&#8221;
+to read, their little duties and little cares
+to attend to, and they were not at all unhappy.</p>
+<p>At length, the master was to be home <i>that</i> day.
+If the wind was favourable, he might arrive about
+two o&#8217;clock, but Rahal thought the boat would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+hardly manage it before three with the wind in her
+teeth, or it might be nearer four. The house was
+all ready for him, spick and span from roof to
+cellar and a dinner of the good things he particularly
+liked in careful preparation. And, after
+all, he came a little earlier than was expected.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Dear Conall,&#8221; said Rahal, &#8220;I have been
+watching for thee, but I thought it would be four
+o&#8217;clock, ere thou made Kirkwall.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not with Donald Farquar sailing the boat.
+The way he manages a boat is beyond reason.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;How is that?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He talks to her, as if she was human. He
+scolds and coaxes her and this morning he promised
+to paint and gild her figurehead, if she got
+into Kirkwall before three. Then every sailor
+on board helped her and the wind changed a point
+or two and that helped her, and now and then
+Farquar pushed her on, with a good or bad word,
+and she saved herself by just eleven minutes.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;And how well thou art looking! Never have
+I seen thee so handsome before, never! What
+hast thou been doing to Conall Ragnor?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will tell thee. When I had bid Ian good-bye,
+I resolved to take a week&#8217;s holiday in London
+and as I walked down the Strand, I noticed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+that every one looked at me, not unkindly but
+curiously, and when I looked at the men who
+looked at me, I saw we were different. I went
+into a barber&#8217;s first, and had my hair cut like Londoners
+wear it, short and smart, and not thick and
+bushy, like mine was.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, thy hair was far too long but they
+have cut off all thy curls.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I like the wanting of them. They looked very
+womanish. I&#8217;m a deal more purpose-like without
+them. Then I went to a first-class tailor-man
+and he fit me out with the suit I&#8217;m wearing. He
+said it was &#8216;the correct thing for land or water.&#8217;
+What dost thou think of it?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nothing could be more becoming to thee.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Nay then, I got a Sabbath Day suit that
+shames this one. And I bought a church hat and
+a soft hat that beats all, and kid gloves, and a
+good walking stick with a fancy knob.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou art not needing a walking stick for
+twenty years yet.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, the English gentlemen always carries
+a walking stick. I think they wouldn&#8217;t know
+the way they were going without one. At last,
+I went to the shoemakers, and he made me take
+off my &#8216;Wellingtons.&#8217; He said no one wore them
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span>
+now, and he shod me, as thou sees, very comfortably.
+I like the change.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Then they heard Thora calling them, and Ragnor
+taking Rahal&#8217;s hand hastened to answer the
+call. She was standing at the foot of the stairway,
+and her father kissed her and as he did so
+whispered&ndash;&ndash;&#8220;All is well, dear one. After dinner,
+I will tell thee.&#8221; Then he took her hand, and the
+three in one went together to the round table, set
+so pleasantly near to the comfortable fireside.
+Standing there, hand-clasped, the master said those
+few words of adoration and gratitude that turned
+the white-spread board into a household altar.
+Dinner was on the table and its delicious odours
+filled the room and quickly set Ragnor talking.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I will tell you now, what I saw in London,&#8221;
+he said. &#8220;Ian is a story good enough to keep until
+after dinner. I saw him sail away from Spithead,
+and he went full of hope and pluck and sure of
+success. Then I took the first train back to London.
+I got lodgings in a nice little hotel in Norfolk
+Street, just off the Strand, and London was
+calling me all night long.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou could not see much, Father, in one
+week,&#8221; said Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;I saw the Queen and the Houses of Parliament,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span>
+and I saw the Tower of London and Westminster
+Abbey and the Crystal Palace. And I
+have heard an oratorio, with a chorus of five hundred
+voices and Sims Reeves as soloist. I have
+been to Drury Lane, and the Strand Theatres, to
+a big picture gallery, and a hippodrome. My
+dear ones, the end of one pleasure was just the
+beginning of another; in one week, I have lived
+fifty years.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Any one can understand how a new flavour
+was added to the food they were eating by such
+conversation. Not all the sauces in Christendom
+could have made it so piquant and appetizing.
+Ragnor carved and ate and talked, and Rahal and
+Thora listened and laughed and asked endless
+questions, and when the mind enters into a meal,
+it not only prolongs, it also sweetens and brightens
+it. I suppose there may be in every life two
+or three festivals, that stand out from all others&ndash;&ndash;small,
+unlooked-for meetings, perhaps&ndash;&ndash;where
+love, hope, wonder and happy looking-forward,
+made the food taste as if it had been cooked in
+Paradise. Where, at least for a few hours, a
+mortal might feel that man had been made only
+a little lower than the angels.</p>
+<p>Now, if any of my readers have such a memory,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span>
+let them close the book, shut their eyes and
+live it over again. It was probably a foretaste of
+a future existence, where we shall have faculties
+capable of fuller and higher pleasures; faculties
+that without doubt &#8220;will be satisfied.&#8221; For in all
+hearts that have suffered, there must abide the
+conviction that the Future holds Compensation,
+not Punishment.</p>
+<p>But without forecast or remembrance, the Ragnors
+that night enjoyed their highly mentalised
+meal, and after it was over and the table set backward,
+and the white hearth brushed free of ashes,
+they drew around the fire, and Ragnor laid down
+his pipe, and said:</p>
+<p>&#8220;I left London last Monday, and I was in Edinburgh
+until Wednesday morning. On Tuesday I
+called on Dr. Macrae. I had a letter to give him
+from Ian.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why should Ian have written to him?&#8221; asked
+Rahal, in a tone of disapproval.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because Ian has a good heart, he wrote to his
+father. I read the letter. It was all right.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What then did he say to him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Rahal, he told his father that he was
+leaving for the front, and he wished to leave with
+his forgiveness and blessing, if he would give it to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+him. He said that he was sure that in their life-long
+dispute he must often have been in the wrong,
+and he asked forgiveness for all such lapses of
+his duty. He told his father that he had a clear
+plan of success before him, but said that in all
+cases&ndash;&ndash;fortunate or unfortunate&ndash;&ndash;he would always
+remember the name he bore and do nothing
+to bring it shame or dishonour. A very good,
+brave letter, dear ones. I give Ian credit for it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did thou advise him to write it?&#8221; asked Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, it sprang from his own heart.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou should not have sanctioned it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ian did right, Rahal. I did right to sanction
+it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Father, if Ian has a clear plan of success before
+him, what is it? He ought to have told us.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He thought it out while we were at sea, he
+asked me to explain the matter to you. It is, indeed,
+a plan so simple and manifest, that I wonder
+we did not propose it at the very first. You
+must recollect that Ian was in the employ of Dr.
+Finlay of Edinburgh for three years and a half,
+and that during that period he acquired both a
+large amount of medical knowledge and also of
+medical experience. Now we all know that Ian
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span>
+has a special gift for this science, especially for its
+surgical side, and he is not going to the trenches
+or the cavalry, he is going to offer himself to the
+Surgical and Medical Corps. He will go to the
+battlefield, carry off the wounded, give them first
+help, or see them to the hospital. In this way he
+will be doing constant good to others and yet be
+forwarding the career which is to make his future
+happy and honourable.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then Ian has decided to be a surgeon,
+Father?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, and I can tell thee, Thora, he has not set
+himself a task beyond his power. I think very
+highly of Ian, no one could help doing so; and see
+here, Thora! I have a letter in my pocket for
+thee! He gave it to me as I bid him good-bye at
+Spithead.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am so happy, Father! So happy!&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou hast good reason to be happy. We shall
+all be proud of Ian in good time.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did thou give Ian&#8217;s letter to his father&#8217;s
+hands, or did thou mail it, Coll?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I gave it to him, personally.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What was thy first impression of him?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He gave me first of all an ecclesiastical impression.
+I just naturally looked for a gown or surplice.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span>
+He wanted something without one. He
+met me coldly but courteously, and taking Ian&#8217;s
+letter from me, placed it deliberately upon a
+pile of letters lying on his desk. I said, &#8216;It is
+from thy son, Doctor, perhaps thou had better
+read it at once. It is a good letter, sir, read
+it.&#8217;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He bowed, and asked if Ian was with me.
+I said, &#8216;No, sir, he is on his way to Scutari.&#8217; Then
+he was silent. After a few moments he asked me
+if I had been in Edinburgh during the past Sabbath.
+&#8216;You should have been here,&#8217; he added,
+&#8216;then you could have heard the great Dr. Chalmers
+preach.&#8217; I told him that I had spent that
+never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath under the blessed
+dome of St. Paul&#8217;s in London. I said something
+about the transcending beauty of the wonderful
+music of the cathedral service, and spoke with delight
+of the majestic nave, filled with medi&aelig;val
+rush-bottomed chairs for the worshippers, and I
+told him how much more fitting they were in the
+House of God than pews.&#8221; And Ragnor uttered
+the last word with a new-found emphasis. &#8220;He
+asked, quite scornfully, in what sense I found them
+more fitting, and I answered rather warmly&ndash;&ndash;&#8216;Why,
+sir, sitting together in chairs, we felt so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+much more at home. We were like one great family
+in our Father&#8217;s house.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are the chairs rented?&#8221; asked Rahal.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Rented!&#8221; cried Ragnor scornfully. &#8220;No, indeed!
+There are no dear chairs and no cheap
+chairs, all are equal and all are free. I never felt
+so like worshipping in a church before. The religious
+spirit had free way in our midst.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What did Macrae say?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;He said, he supposed the rush chairs were an
+&#8216;Armenian innovation&#8217;; and I answered, &#8216;The
+pews, sir, they are the innovation.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did thou have any argument with him? I
+have often heard Ian say he plunged into religious
+argument with every one he met.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, Rahal, I don&#8217;t know how it happened,
+but I quickly found myself in a good atmosphere
+of contradictions. I do not remember either what
+I had been saying, but I heard him distinctly assert,
+that &#8216;it was the Armenians who had described
+the Calvinists, and they had not wasted their opportunities.&#8217;
+Then I found myself telling him that
+Armenianism had ruled the religious world ever
+since the birth of Christianity; but that Calvinism
+was a thing of yesterday, a mere Geneva opinion.
+Rahal, the man has a dogma for a soul, and yet
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+through this hard veil, I could see that he was
+full of a longing for love; but he has not found out
+the way to love, his heart is ice-bound. He made
+me say things I did not want to say, he stirred my
+soul round and round until it boiled over, and
+then the words would come. Really, Rahal, I
+did not know the words were in my mind, till
+his aggravating questions made me say them.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;What words? Art thou troubled about
+them?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;A little. He was talking of faith and doubt,
+especially as it referred to the Bible, and I listened
+until I could bear it no longer. He was asking
+what proof there was for this, and that, and
+the other, and as I said, he got me stirred up beyond
+myself and I told him I cared nothing about
+proofs. I said proofs were for sceptics and not
+for good men who <i>knew</i> in whom they had believed.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well then, Coll, that was enough, was it not?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not for Macrae. He said immediately, &#8216;Suppose
+there was no divine authority for the scheme
+of morals and divinity laid down in this Book,&#8217;
+and he laid his hand reverently on the Bible,
+&#8216;where should we be?&#8217; And I told him, we should
+be just where we were, because God&#8217;s commands
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span>
+were written on every conscience and that these
+commands would stand firm even if creeds became
+dust, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul,
+all failed and passed away. &#8216;Power of God!&#8217; I
+cried, as I struck the table with my fist, &#8216;it takes
+God&#8217;s tireless, patient, eternal love to put up with
+puny men, always doubting Him. I believe in
+God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven
+and earth!&#8217; I said, &#8216;and I want no proofs about
+Him in whom I believe.&#8217; By this time, Rahal, he
+had me on fire. I was ready to deny anything he
+asserted, especially about hell, for thou knows,
+Rahal, that there are hells in this world and no
+worse needed. So when he asked if I believed in
+the Calvinistic idea of hell, I answered, &#8216;I deny
+it! My soul denies it&ndash;&ndash;utterly!&#8217; I reminded him
+that God spoke to Dives in hell and called him son
+and that Dives, even there, clung to the fatherhood
+of God. And I told him this world was a
+hell to those who deserved hell, and a place of
+much trial to most men and women, and I thought
+it was poor comfort to preach to such, that the
+next world was worse. There now! I have told
+you enough. He asked me to lunch with him, and
+I did; and I told him as we ate, what a fine fellow
+Ian was, and he listened and was silent.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Then you saw Ian&#8217;s mother and sister?&#8221; asked
+Thora.</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, I did not. They had gone for the winter
+to the Bridge of Allan. Mrs. Macrae is sick,
+her husband seemed unhappy about her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Rahal hoped now that her home would settle
+itself into its usual calm, methodical order. She
+strove to give to every hour its long accustomed
+duty, and to infuse an atmosphere of rest and of
+&#8220;use and wont&#8221; into every day&#8217;s affairs. It was
+impossible. The master of the house had suffered
+a world change. He had tasted of strange pleasures
+and enthusiasms, and was secretly planning a
+life totally at variance with his long accustomed
+routine and responsibilities. He did not speak
+of the things in his heart but nevertheless they
+escaped him.</p>
+<p>Very soon he began to have much more regular
+communication with his sons in Shetland, and
+finally he told Rahal that he intended taking his
+son Robert into partnership. Such changes grew
+slowly in Ragnor&#8217;s mind, and much more slowly
+in practice, but Rahal knew that they were steadily
+working to some ultimate, and already definite
+and determined end in her husband&#8217;s will.</p>
+<p>The absent also exerted a far greater power
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span>
+upon the home than any one believed. Ian&#8217;s letters
+came with persistent regularity, and the influence
+of one was hardly spent, when another arrived
+of quite a different character. Ian was rapidly
+realizing his hopes. He had been gladly
+taken into a surgical corps, under the charge of a
+Doctor Frazer, and his life was a continual drama
+of stirring events. Generally he wrote between actions,
+and then he described the gallant young men
+resting on the slopes of the beleaguered hill, with
+their weapons at their finger tips, but always cheerful.
+Sometimes he spoke of them under terrible
+fire in their life-or-death push forward, followed
+by the surgeons and stretcher-bearers. Sometimes,
+he had been to the trenches to dress a wound that
+would not stop bleeding, but always he wondered
+at seeing the resolute grit and calmness of these
+young men, who had been the dandies in London
+drawing-rooms a year ago and who were now
+smoking placidly in the trenches at Redan.</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; he asked an old surgeon, on
+whom he was waiting. &#8220;Is it recklessness?&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, sir!&#8221; was the answer. &#8220;It is straight
+courage. Courage in the blood. Courage nourished
+on their mother&#8217;s milk. Courage educated
+into them at Eton or Rugby, in many a fight and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+scuffle. Courage that lived with them night and
+day at Oxford or Cambridge, and that made them
+choose danger and death rather than be known
+for one moment as a cad or a coward. It was
+dancing last year. It is fighting in a proper quarrel
+this year. Different duties, that is all.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Every now and then Sunna dropped them letters
+about which there was much pleasant speculating,
+for as the summer came forward, she began
+to accept the disappointments made by the
+death of Boris, and to consider what possibilities
+of life were still within her power. She said in
+May that &#8220;she was sick and weary of everything
+about Sebastopol, and that she wanted to go back
+to Scotland, far more frantically than she ever
+wanted to leave it.&#8221; In June, she said, she had
+got her grandfather to listen to reason, but had
+been forced to cry for what she wanted, a humiliation
+beyond all apologies.</p>
+<p>Her next letter was written in Edinburgh,
+where she declared she intended to stay for some
+time. Maximus Grant was in Edinburgh with
+his little brother, who was under the care and
+treatment of an eminent surgeon living there.
+&#8220;The poor little laddie is dying,&#8221; she said, &#8220;but
+I am able to help him over many bad hours, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+Max is not half-bad, that is, he might be worse if
+left to himself. Heigh-ho! What varieties of
+men, and varieties of their trials, poor women
+have to put up with!&#8221;</p>
+<p>As the year advanced Sunna&#8217;s letters grew
+bright and more and more like her, and she described
+with admirable imitative piquancy the literary
+atmosphere and conversation which is Edinburgh&#8217;s
+native air. In the month of November,
+little Eric went away suddenly, in a paroxysm of
+military enthusiasm, dying literally the death of a
+soldier &#8220;with tumult, with shouting, and with the
+sound of the trumpets,&#8221; in his soul&#8217;s hearing.</p>
+<p>&#8220;We adored him,&#8221; wrote Sunna, in her most
+fervent religious mood, which was just as sincere
+as any other mood. &#8220;He was such a loving, clever
+little soul, and he lay so long within the hollow of
+Death&#8217;s sickle. There he heard and saw wonderful
+things, that I would not dare to speak of.
+Max has wept very sincerely. It is my lot apparently,
+to administer drops of comfort to him.
+In this world, I find that women can neither hide
+nor run away from men and their troubles, the
+moment anything goes wrong with them, they fly
+to some woman and throw their calamity on her.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is easy to see which way Sunna is drifting,&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span>
+said Rahal, after this letter had been read. &#8220;She
+will marry Maximus Grant, of course.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Mother, her grandfather wishes that marriage.
+It is very suitable. His silent, masterful
+way will cure Sunna&#8217;s faults.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;It will do nothing of the kind. What the
+cradle rocks, the spade buries. If Sunna lives to
+be one hundred years old&ndash;&ndash;a thing not unlikely&ndash;&ndash;she
+will be Sunna. Just Sunna.&#8221;</p>
+<p>During all this summer, Ragnor was deeply
+engrossed in his business, and the Vedders remained
+in Edinburgh, as did also Mistress Brodie,
+though she had had all the best rooms in her
+Kirkwall house redecorated. &#8220;It is her hesitation
+about grandfather. She will, and she won&#8217;t,&#8221;
+wrote Sunna, &#8220;and she keeps grandfather hanging
+by a hair.&#8221; Then she made a few scornful remarks
+about &#8220;the hesitating <i>liaisons</i> of old women&#8221;
+and concluded that it all depended upon the
+marriage ceremony.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Grandfather [she wrote] wants to sneak into some
+out of the way little church, and get the business over
+as quickly and quietly as possible; and Mistress Brodie
+has dreams of a peach-bloom satin gown, and a white
+lace bonnet. She thought &#8220;that was enough for a
+second affair&#8221;; and when I gently hoped that it was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
+at least an affair of the heart, she said with a distinct
+snap, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be impertinent, Miss!&#8221; However, all this
+is but the overture to the great matrimonial drama, and
+it is rather interesting.</p>
+<p>I saw by a late London paper that Thora&#8217;s lover has
+gone and got himself decorated, or crossed, for doing
+some dare-devil sort of thing about wounded men. I
+wonder how Thora will like to walk on Pall Mall with
+a man who wears a star or a medal on his breast. Such
+things make women feel small. For, of course, we
+could win stars and medals if we had the chance.
+Max considers Ian &#8220;highly praise-worthy.&#8221; Max
+lately has a way of talking in two or three syllables. I
+am trying to remember where I left my last spelling
+book; I fear I shall have to get up my orthography.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The whole of this year A. D. 1855 was one of
+commonplaces stirred by tragic events. It is this
+conjunction that makes the most prosaic of lives
+always a story. It only taught Thora and Rahal
+to make the most of such pleasures as were within
+their reach. In the evening Ragnor was always
+ready to share what they had to offer, but in the
+daytime he was getting his business into such perfect
+condition that he could leave it safely in
+charge of his son Robert for a year, or more, if
+that was his wish.</p>
+<p>On the second of March, the Czar Nicholas
+died, and there was good hope in that removal.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span>
+In June, General Raglan died of cholera, and on
+the following fifth of September, the Russians,
+finding they could no longer defend Sebastopol,
+blew up its defences and also its two immense
+magazines of munitions. This explosion was terrific,
+the very earth appeared to reel. The town
+they deliberately set on fire. Then on Sunday
+morning, September the ninth, the English and
+French took possession of the great fortress,
+though it was not until the last day of February,
+A. D. 1856, that the treaty of peace was
+signed.</p>
+<p>After the occupation of Sebastopol, however,
+there was a cessation of hostilities, and the hospitals
+rapidly began to empty and the physicians and
+surgeons to return home. Dr. Frazer remained at
+his post till near Christmas, and was then able
+to leave the few cases remaining in the charge of
+competent nurses. Ian remained at his side and
+they returned to England together. It was then
+within a few days of Christmas, and Ian hastened
+northward without delay.</p>
+<p>There was no hesitating welcome for him now;
+he was met by the truest and warmest affection, he
+was cheerfully given the honour which he had
+faithfully won. And the wedding day was no
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span>
+longer delayed, it was joyfully hastened forward.
+Bishop Hedley, the Vedders and Maximus Grant
+had already arrived and the little town was all
+agog and eager for the delayed ceremony. Sunna
+had brought with her Thora&#8217;s new wedding dress
+and the day had been finally set for the first of
+January.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Thou will begin a fresh life with a fresh
+year,&#8221; said Rahal to her daughter. &#8220;A year on
+which, as yet, no tears have fallen; and which has
+not known care or crossed purpose. On its first
+page thou will write thy marriage joy and thy
+new hopes, and the light of a perfect love will be
+over it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>In the meantime life was full of new delights
+to Thora. Wonderful things were happening to
+her every day. The wedding dress was here.
+Adam Vedder had brought her a pretty silver tea
+service, Aunt Barbie&ndash;&ndash;now Madame Vedder&ndash;&ndash;had
+remembered her in many of those womanwise
+ways, that delight the heart of youth. Even Dominie
+Macrae had sent her a gold watch, and the
+little sister-in-law had chosen for her gift some
+very pretty laces. Rich and poor alike brought
+her their good-will offerings, and many old Norse
+awmries were ransacked in the search for jewels
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span>
+or ornaments of the jade stone, which all held as
+&#8220;luck beyond breaking.&#8221;</p>
+<p>The present which pleased Thora most of all
+was a new wedding-dress, the gift of her mother.
+The rich ivory satin was perfect and peerless in its
+exquisite fit and simplicity; jewels, nor yet lace,
+could have added nothing to it. Sunna had
+brought it with her own toilet. In fact, she was
+ready to make a special sensation with it on the
+first of January, for her wedding garment as
+Thora&#8217;s bridesmaid was nothing less than a robe
+of gold and white shot silk, worn over a hoop.
+She had been wearing a hoop all winter in Edinburgh,
+but she was quite sure she would be the
+first &#8220;hooped lady&#8221; to appear in Kirkwall town.
+Thora might wear the bride veil, with its wreath
+of myrtle and rosemary, but she had a pleasant
+little laugh, as she mentally saw herself in the
+balloon of white and gold shot silk, walking majestically
+up the nave of St. Magnus. It was so
+long since hoops had been worn. None of the
+present generation of Kirkwall women could ever
+have seen a lady in a hoop, and behind the present
+generation there was no likelihood of any
+hooped ladies in Kirkwall.</p>
+<p>Thora had no hoop. Her orders had been positively
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span>
+against it and unless Madame Vedder had
+slipped inside &#8220;the bell&#8221; she could not imagine any
+rival. As she made this reflection, she smiled,
+and then translated the smile into the thought, &#8220;If
+she has, she will look like a haystack.&#8221;</p>
+<p>Now Ian&#8217;s military suit in his department had
+been of white duff or linen, plentifully adorned
+with gilt buttons and bands representing some distinctive
+service. It was the secret desire of Ian
+to wear this suit, and he rather felt that Thora or
+his mother-in-law should ask him to do so. For
+he knew that its whiteness and gilt, and tiny knots
+of ribbon, gave to the wearer that military air,
+which all men yearn a little after. He wished to
+wear it on his wedding day but Thora had not
+thought of it, neither had Sunna. However, on
+the 29th, Rahal, that kind, wise woman, asked
+him as a special favour, to wear his medical uniform.
+She said, &#8220;the townsfolk would be so disappointed
+with black broadcloth and a pearl-grey
+waistcoat. They longed to see him as he went
+onto the battlefield, to save or succour the
+wounded.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;But, Mother,&#8221; he answered, &#8220;I went in the
+plainest linen suit to bring in the wounded and
+dying.&#8221;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;I know, dear one, but they do not know, and
+it is not worth while destroying an innocent illusion,
+we have so few of them as we grow old.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Very well, Mother, it shall be as you wish.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;Of course Ian wished to wear it,&#8221; said Sunna.</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Sunna, you must not judge all men from
+Max.&#8221;</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am far from that folly. Your father has
+been watching the winds and the clouds all day.
+So have I. Conall Ragnor is always picturesque,
+even poetical. I feel safe if I follow him. He
+says it will be fine tomorrow. I hope so!&#8221;</p>
+<p>This hope was more than justified. It was a
+day of sunshine and little wandering south winds,
+and the procession was a fact. Now Ragnor
+knew that this marriage procession, as a national
+custom, was passing away, but it had added its
+friendliness to his own and all his sons&#8217; and daughters&#8217;
+weddings and he wanted Thora&#8217;s marriage
+ceremonial to include it. &#8220;When thou art an old
+woman, Thora,&#8221; he said to her, &#8220;then thou wilt
+be glad to have remembered it.&#8221;</p>
+<p>At length the New Year dawned and the day
+arrived. All was ready for it. There was no
+hurry, no fret, no uncertainty. Thora rode to
+the cathedral in the Vedder&#8217;s closed carriage with
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+her father and mother. Ian was with Maximus
+and Sunna in the Galt landeau. Adam Vedder and
+his bride rode together in their open Victoria and
+all were ready as the clock struck ten. Then a
+little band of stringed instruments and young men
+took their place as leaders of the procession, and
+when they started joyfully &#8220;Room for the Bride!&#8221;
+the carriages took the places assigned them and
+about two hundred men and women, who had
+gathered at the Ragnor House, followed in procession,
+many joining in the singing.</p>
+<p>The cathedral was crowded when they reached
+it, and Dr. Hedley in white robes came forward
+to meet the bride and, with smiles and loving good
+will, to unite her forever to the choice of her soul.</p>
+<p>It was almost a musical marriage. Melody began
+and followed and closed the whole ceremonial.
+About twenty returned with the bridal party
+to the Ragnor House to eat the bridal dinner, but
+the general townsfolk were to have their feast and
+dance in the Town Hall about seven in the evening.
+The Bishop stayed only to bless the meal,
+for the boat was waiting that was to carry him to
+a Convocation of the Church then sitting in Edinburgh.
+But he wore his sprig of rosemary on his
+vest, and he stood at Ragnor&#8217;s right hand and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
+watched him mix the Bride Cup, watched him
+mingle in one large silver bowl of pre-Christian
+age the pale, delicious sherry and fine sugar and
+spices and stir the whole with a strip of rosemary.
+Then every guest stood up and was served
+with a cup, most of them having in their hand a
+strip of rosemary to stir it with. And after the
+Bishop had blessed the bride and blessed the bridegroom,
+he said, &#8220;I will quote for you a passage
+from an old sermon and after it, you will stir your
+cup again with rosemary and grow it still more
+plentifully in your gardens.</p>
+<p>&#8220;The rosemary is for married men and man
+challengeth it, as belonging properly to himself.
+It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memory,
+and affects kindly the heart. Let this flower of
+man ensign your wisdom, love and loyalty, and
+carry it, not only in your hands, but in your heads
+and hearts.&#8221; Then he lifted his glass and stirred
+the wine with his strip of rosemary, and as he did
+so all followed his example, while he repeated
+from an old romance the following lines:</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>... &#8220;Before we divide,<br />
+Let us dip our rosemaries<br />
+In one rich bowl of wine, to this brave girl<br />
+And to the gentleman.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span></div>
+<p>With these words he departed, and the utmost
+and happiest interchange of all kinds of good fellowship
+followed. Every man and woman was at
+perfect ease and ready to give of the best they
+had. Even Adam Vedder delighted all, and especially
+his happy-looking bride, by his clever condensation
+of Sunna&#8217;s favourite story of &#8220;The
+Banded Men.&#8221; No finished actor could have made
+it, in its own way, a finer model of dramatic narrative,
+especially in its quaint reversal of the parts
+usually played by father and son, into those of
+the prodigal father and the money-loving, prudent
+son. Then a little whisper went round the table
+and it sprang from Sunna, and people smiled and
+remembered that Adam had won his wife from
+three younger men than himself and, as if by a
+single, solid impulse, they stirred their wine cups
+once more and called for a cheer for the old bridegroom,
+who had been faithful for forty years to
+his first love and had then walked off with her,
+from Provost, Lawyer and Minister; all of them
+twenty years younger than himself.</p>
+<p>Getting near to three o&#8217;clock, they began to sing
+and Rahal was pleased to hear that sound of
+peace, for several guests were just from the battlefield
+and quite as ready for a quarrel as a song.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
+Also during the little confusion of removing fruit
+and cake and glasses, and the substitution of the
+cups and saucers and the strong, hot, sweet tea
+that every Norseman loves, Ian and Thora slipped
+away without notice. Max Grant&#8217;s carriage put
+them in half-an-hour on the threshold of their own
+home. They crossed it hand and hand and Ian
+kissed the hand he held and Thora raised her face
+in answer; but words have not yet been invented
+that can speak for such perfect happiness.</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>Love is rich in his own right,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>He is heir of all the spheres,<br />
+In his service day and night<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Swing the tides and roll the years.<br />
+What has he to ask of fate?<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>Crown him, glad or desolate.<br />
+<br />
+Time puts out all other flames<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>But the glory of his eyes;<br />
+His are all the sacred names,<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>His the solemn mysteries.<br />
+Crown him! In his darkest day<br />
+<span class='indent2'>&nbsp;</span>He has Heaven to give away!</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<p>Ian&#8217;s business arrangements curtailed the length
+of any festivity in relation to the marriage. He
+had already signed an agreement with Dr. Frazer
+to return to him as soon as possible after the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span>
+twelfth day and remain as his assistant until he
+was fully authenticated a surgeon by the proper
+schools. In the meantime he would enter the
+London School of Medicine and Surgery and give
+to Dr. Frazer all the time not demanded by its
+hours and exercises. For this attention Ian was
+to receive from Dr. Frazer one hundred pounds
+a year. Furthermore, when Ian had received the
+proper authority to call himself Dr. John Macrae,
+he was to have the offer of a partnership with Dr.
+Frazer, on what were considered very favourable
+terms.</p>
+<p>So their little romance was at last happily over.
+Ian was an infinitely finer and nobler man. He
+had dwelt amid great acts and great suffering for
+a year and had not visited the House of Mourning
+in vain. All that was light and trifling had
+fallen away from him. He regarded his life and
+talents now as a great and solemn charge and was
+resolved to make them of use to his fellows. And
+Thora was lovelier than she had ever been. She
+had learned self-restraint and she had hoped
+through evil days, till good days came; so then,
+she knew how to look for good when all appeared
+wrong and by faith and will, bring good out of
+evil.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span></div>
+<p>After Thora and her husband left for London
+a great change took place in the Ragnor home.
+Ragnor had been preparing for it ever since his
+visit to London and, within a month, Robert Ragnor
+and his wife and family came from Shetland
+and took possession. It gave Rahal a little pain
+to see any woman in her place but that was nothing,
+she was going to give her dear Coll the dream
+of his life. She was going to travel with him, and
+see all the civilized countries in the world! She
+was going to London first, and last, of all!</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI_SEQUENCES' id='CHAPTER_XI_SEQUENCES'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h3>SEQUENCES</h3>
+</div>
+<p class='dropcap'><span class="dcap">Not</span> long ago I found in a list of Orkney and
+Shetland literature several volumes by a
+Conall Ragnor, two of them poetry. But that just
+tended to certify a suspicion. Sixty years ago I
+had heard him repeat some Gallic poems and had
+known instinctively, though only a girl of eighteen,
+that the man was a poet.</p>
+<p>It roused in me a curiosity I felt it would be
+pleasant to gratify, and so a little while after I
+began this story, I wrote to a London newspaper
+man and asked him to send me some of his Orkney
+exchanges. I have a habit of trusting newspaper
+editors and I found this one as I expected,
+willing and obliging. He sent me two Orkney
+papers and the first thing I noticed was the prevalence
+of the old names. Among them I saw Mrs.
+Max Grant, and I thought I would write to her
+and take my chance of the lady turning out to be
+the old Sunna Vedder. It was quite a possibility,
+as we were apparently about the same age when
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span>
+I saw her. It was only for an hour or two in
+the evening we met, at the Ragnor house, but
+girls see a deal in an hour or two and if I remembered
+her, she had doubtless chronicled an opinion
+of me.</p>
+<p>In about five weeks Mrs. Grant&#8217;s letter in answer
+to mine arrived. She began it by saying
+she remembered me, because I wore a hat, a sailor&#8217;s
+hat, and she said it was the first hat she ever
+saw on a woman&#8217;s head. She said also, that I
+told her women were beginning to wear them for
+shopping and walking and driving, or out at sea,
+but never for church or visiting. All of which
+I doubtless said, for it was my first hat. And I
+do not remember women wearing hats at all until
+about this time.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I suppose [she continued] thou wants to know first
+of all about the Vedders. They were <i>the</i> people then,
+and they have not grown a bit smaller, nor do they
+think any less of themselves yet. My grandfather
+married again and was not sorry for it. I don&#8217;t know
+whether his wife was sorry or not. I took Maximus
+Grant for a husband for, after Boris Ragnor died, I
+did not care who I took, provided he had plenty of
+good qualities and plenty of gold. We lived together
+thirty years very respectably. I took my way and I
+usually expected him to do the same. We had four
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span>
+sons, and they have nine sons among them, and all of
+the nine are now fighting the vipers they have been
+coddling for forty or fifty years. Some are in the
+regular army, some in the navy, and some in the
+plucky, fighting little navy, patrolling England and
+her brood of coastwise islands. They are a tough,
+rough, hard lot, but I love them all better than anything
+else in this world. There are a good many Vedder
+houses in Orkney, and they are all full of little
+squabbling, fighting, never clean, and never properly
+dressed little brats, from four to eleven years old. So
+I don&#8217;t worry about there being Vedders enough to
+run things the way they want them run.</p>
+<p>The Ragnors are here in plenty. All the men are at
+the war, all the women running fishing boats or keeping
+general shops, to which I like to see the Germans
+going. They are told what kind of people they are
+as they walk up to the shops; and they get what they
+want at an impoverishing price. Serve them right!
+Men, however, will pay any money for a thing they
+want.</p>
+<p>There has not been such good times in Orkney since
+I was born, as there is now. We have an enemy to
+beat in trade and an enemy to beat in fight at our
+very doors, and our men are neither to hold nor to bind,
+they are that top-lofty. War is a man&#8217;s native air. My
+sons and grandsons are all two inches taller than they
+were and they defy Nature to contradict them. I
+never attempt it. Well, then, they are proper men in
+all things, a little hard to deal with and masterful, but
+just as I wish them. My grandfather died fifty years
+ago, he might have lived longer if he had not married.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span>
+His widow wept in the deepest black and people
+thought she was sorry.</p>
+<p>The Ragnors are mostly here and in Shetland. Conall
+Ragnor never really settled down again. Rahal and
+he lived in Edinburgh or London, when not travelling.
+I heard that Conall wrote books and really got money
+for them. I cannot believe that. Rahal died first.
+Conall lived a month after her. They were laid in
+earth in Stromness Church-yard. My grandfather
+wanted to bring the body of Boris home and bury it in
+Stromness, and I would not let him. He is all mine
+where he sleeps in the Crimea. I don&#8217;t want him
+among a congregation of his brothers and sisters and
+uncles and aunts.</p>
+<hr class='mini' />
+<p>I suppose thou must have heard of Thora&#8217;s husband.
+He really did become famous, and I was told his father
+forgave him all his youthful follies. It was said Thora
+managed that in some clever way; but I&#8217;m sure I don&#8217;t
+know what to say. Thora never seemed at all clever
+to me. She had many children, but she died long ago,
+though she did live long enough to see her husband
+knighted and her eldest boy marry the daughter of a
+lord. I have no doubt she was happy in her own way,
+only she never did dress herself as a person in the best
+society ought to have done. I once told her so. &#8220;Well,
+then,&#8221; she said, &#8220;I dress to please my husband.&#8221; Imagine
+such simplicity! As to myself I am getting near
+to ninety, but I live a good life and God helps me. I
+have kept my fine hair and complexion and I run
+around on my little errands quite comfortably. Indeed
+I am sunwise able for everything I want. I
+shall be glad to hear from thee again, and if thou wilt
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span>
+send me occasionally some of those delightful American
+papers, thou wilt make me much thy debtor. Also,
+I want thee to tell all the brave young Americans thou
+knows that if they would like a real life on the ocean
+wave, they ought to join our wonderful patrol round
+the English coast. They will learn more and see
+more and feel more in a month, in this little interfering
+navy, than they&#8217;d learn in a lifetime in a first-class
+man-of-war.</p>
+<p>Write to me again and then we shall have tied our
+friendship with a three-fold letter. Thine, with all
+good will and wishes,</p>
+<p class='ralign'><span class='smcap'>Sunna Vedder Grant.</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This is a woman&#8217;s letter and it must have a
+postscript. It is only two lines of John Stuart
+Blackie&#8217;s, and it should have been at the beginning,
+but it will touch your heart at the end as well
+as at the beginning.</p>
+<table summary=''><tr><td>
+<p class='cg'>&#8220;Oh, for a breath of the great North Sea,<br />
+Girdling the mountains!&#8221;<br /></p>
+<p class='ralign cg'>S. V. G.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div class="trnote">
+<p><b>Transcriber Notes</b></p>
+<p>Fixed probable typos.</p>
+<p>Hyphenation standardized.</p>
+<p>Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.</p>
+<p>Author&#8217;s punctuation style is preserved, except quote marks, which have been standardized.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: ppg0811 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Fri Aug 21 20:00:50 -0400 2009 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
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+</pre>
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+Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+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: An Orkney Maid
+
+Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2009 [EBook #29752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ORKNEY MAID ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+AN ORKNEY MAID
+
+
+
+
+  By AMELIA E. BARR
+
+  An Orkney Maid
+  Christine
+  Joan
+  Profit and Loss
+  Three Score and Ten
+  The Measure of a Man
+  The Winning of Lucia
+  Playing with Fire
+  All the Days of My Life
+
+  D. APPLETON & COMPANY
+  Publishers
+  New York
+
+
+[Illustration: "Ian was utterly charmed with the picture she made----"
+[PAGE 60]]
+
+
+
+
+  AN ORKNEY MAID
+
+  BY
+  AMELIA E. BARR
+
+  AUTHOR OF "CHRISTINE," "JOAN," "PROFIT AND LOSS," ETC.
+
+
+  _"The pleasant habit of existence, the sweet fable of life."_
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+  NEW YORK
+  LONDON
+  1918
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
+  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+  Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+                     TO
+               MY DEAR FRIEND
+               DR. MARTIN BARR
+                     OF
+            ELWYNN, PENNSYLVANIA,
+            I INSCRIBE THIS BOOK.
+                          AMELIA E. BARR.
+
+  "_Honor and truth formed your will,
+  Your heart, fidelity._"
+
+
+
+
+_MOTTO_
+
+  _"You can glad your child, or grieve it,
+  You can help it, or deceive it,
+      When all is done,
+      Beneath God's sun,
+  You can only love, and leave it."_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+          Introduction                                               1
+       I. The House of Ragnor                                        7
+      II. Adam Vedder's Trouble                                     30
+     III. Aries the Ram                                             47
+      IV. Sunna and Her Grandfather                                 72
+       V. Sunna and Thora                                           98
+      VI. The Old, Old Trouble                                     129
+     VII. The Call of War                                          164
+    VIII. Thora's Problem                                          193
+      IX. The Bread of Bitterness                                  230
+       X. The One Remains, the Many Change and Pass                271
+      XI. Sequences                                                304
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Yesterday morning this thing happened to me: I was reading the _New
+York Times_ and my eyes suddenly fell upon one word, and that word
+rang a little bell in my memory, "Kirkwall!" The next moment I had
+closed my eyes in order to see backward more clearly, and slowly, but
+surely, the old, old town--standing boldly upon the very beach of the
+stormy North Sea--became clear in my mental vision. There was a whole
+fleet of fishing boats, and a few smart smuggling craft rocking gently
+in its wonderful harbour--a harbour so deep and safe, and so capacious
+that it appeared capable of sheltering the navies of the world.
+
+I was then eighteen years old, I am now over eighty-six; and the
+straits of Time have widened and widened with every year, so that many
+things appear to have been carried away into forgetfulness by the
+stress and flow of full waters. But not so! They are only lying in
+out-of-the-way corners of consciousness, and can easily be recalled by
+some word that has the potency of a spell over them.
+
+"Kirkwall!" I said softly, and then I began to read what the _Times_
+had to say about Kirkwall. The great point appeared to be that as a
+rendezvous for ships it had been placed fifty miles within the "made
+in Germany" danger zone, and was therefore useless to the British
+men-of-war. And I laughed inwardly a little, and began to consider if
+Kirkwall had ever been long outside of some danger zone or other.
+
+All its myths and traditions are of the fighting Picts and Scots, and
+when history began to notice the existence of the Orkneys it was to
+chronicle the struggle between Harold, King of Norway, and his
+rebellious subjects who had fled to the Orkneys to escape his
+tyrannical control. And of the danger zones of every kind which
+followed--of storm and battle and bloody death--does not the Saga of
+Eglis give us a full account?
+
+This fight for popular freedom was a failure. King Harold conquered
+his rebellious subjects, and incidentally took possession of the
+islands and the people who had sheltered them. Then their rulers
+became Norwegian jarls--or earls--and there is no question about
+the danger zones into which the Norwegian vikings carried the
+Orcadeans--quite in accord with their own desire and liking, no doubt.
+And the stirring story of these years--full of delightful dangers
+to the men who adventured them--may all be read today in the
+blood-stirring, blood-curdling Norwegian Sagas.
+
+In the middle of the fifteenth century, James the Third, King of
+Scotland, married Margaret of Denmark, and the Orcades were given to
+Scotland as a security for her dowry. The dowry was never paid, and
+after a lapse of a century and a half Denmark resigned all her
+Orcadean rights to Scotland. The later union of England and Scotland
+finally settled their destiny.
+
+But until the last century England cared very little about the
+Orcades. Indeed Colonel Balfour, writing of these islands in A. D.
+1861, says: "Orkney is a part of a British County, but probably
+there is no part of Europe which so few Englishmen visit." Colonel
+Balfour, of Balfour and Trenabie, possessed a noble estate on the
+little isle of Shapinsay. He enthused the Orcadeans with the modern
+spirit of improvement and progress; he introduced a proper system
+of agriculture, built mills of all kinds, got laws passed for
+reclaiming waste lands, and was in every respect a wise, generous,
+faithful father of his country. To Americans Shapinsay has a
+peculiar interest. In a little cottage there, called _Quholme_, the
+father and mother of Washington Irving lived, and their son
+Washington was born on board an American ship on its passage from
+Kirkwall to New York.
+
+However, it is only since A. D. 1830, one year before I was born, that
+the old Norse life has been changed in Orkney. Up to that date
+agriculture could hardly be said to exist. The sheep and cattle of all
+towns, or communities, grazed together; but this plan, though it saved
+the labour of herding, was at the cost of abandoning the lambs to the
+eagles who circled over the flocks and selected their victims at will.
+In the late autumn all stock was brought to the "infield," which was
+then crowded with horses, cattle and sheep. In A. D. 1830, the
+Norwegian system of weights was changed to the standard weights and
+measures, and money, instead of barter, began to be used generally.
+
+Then a great Scotch emigration set in, and brought careful methods of
+farming with it; and the Orcadean could not but notice results. The
+Scotch trader came also, and the slipshod Norse way of barter and
+bargaining had no chance with the Scotch steady prices and ready
+money. But even through all these domestic and civic changes Orkney
+was constantly in zones of danger. In the first half of the nineteenth
+century England was at war with France and Spain and Russia, and the
+Orcadeans have a fine inherited taste for a sea fight. The Vikings did
+not rule them through centuries for nothing: the Orcadean and his
+brother, the Shetlander, salt the British Navy, and they rather enjoy
+danger zones.
+
+A single generation, with the help of steam communications, changed
+Orkney entirely and in the course of the second generation the
+Orcadean became eager for improvements of all kinds, and ready to
+forward them generously with the careful hoardings of perhaps many
+generations. And as it is in this transient period of the last century
+that my hero and heroine lived, I have thought it well to say
+something of antecedents that Americans may well be excused for
+knowing nothing about. Also--
+
+  ... the past will always win
+      A glory from its being far;
+      And orb into the perfect star,
+  We saw not, when we walked therein.
+
+However, Orkney was far from being out of danger zones in the
+nineteenth century. In its first quarter French and Dutch privateers
+made frequent raids on the islands; and the second quarter gave her
+men their chance of danger in the Crimea. They were not strangers in
+the Russian Chersoneus; their fathers had been in southern seas
+centuries before them. During the last fifty years they have made
+danger zones of their own free will, quarreling with coast guards,
+tampering with smugglers, wandering off with would-be discoverers of
+the North Pole, or with any other doubtful and dangerous enterprise.
+
+And these reflections made me quite comfortable about the
+"made-in-Germany" danger zone. I think the Orcadeans will rather enjoy
+it; and I am quite sure if any Germans take to trafficking, or buying
+or selling, in Kirkwall, they will get the worst of it. In this
+direction it is rather pleasant to remember that even Scotchmen,
+disputing about money, will find the Orcadeans "too far north for
+them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE HOUSE OF RAGNOR
+
+  Kind were the voices I used to hear
+    Round such a fireside,
+  Speaking the mother tongue old and dear;
+    Making the heart beat,
+  With endless tales of wonder and fear,
+    Or plaintive singing.
+
+  Great were the marvellous stories told
+    Of Ossian heroes,
+  Giants, and witches and young men bold
+    Seeking adventures,
+  Winning Kings' daughters, and guarded gold
+    Only with valor.
+
+
+The House of Ragnor was a large and very picturesque edifice. It was
+built of red and white sandstone which Time had covered with a
+heathery lichen, softening the whole into a shade of greenish grey.
+Many minds and many hands had fashioned it, for above its central door
+was the date, 1688, which would presuppose that it had been built
+from revenues coming as a reward for opposition to the Stuarts. It had
+been altered and enlarged by nearly every occupant, was many-roomed,
+and surrounded by a large garden, full of such small fruits as could
+ripen in the short summers, and of such flowers and shrubs as could
+live through the long winters. In sheltered situations, there were
+even hardy roses, and a royal plenty of England's spring flowers
+sweetened many months of the year. A homely garden, where berries and
+roses grew together and privet hedges sheltered peas and lettuce, and
+tulips and wall-flowers did not disdain the proximity of household
+vegetables.
+
+Doubtless the Ragnors had been jarls in old Norwegian times, but in
+1853 such memories had been forgotten, and Conall Ragnor was quite
+content with his reputation of being the largest trader in Orkney, and
+a very wealthy man. Physically he was of towering stature. His hair
+was light brown, and rather curly; his eyes large and bright blue, his
+face broad and rosy. He had great bodily and mental vigor, he was
+blunt in speech, careless about his dress, and simple in all his ways.
+His Protestantism was of the most decided character, but he was not a
+Presbyterian. Presbyterianism was a new thing on the face of the
+earth; he had been "authoritatively told, the Apostles were
+Episcopalians."
+
+"My soul has received no orders to go to thy Presbyterian Church," he
+said to the young Calvinist minister who asked him to do so. "When the
+order comes, then that may happen which has never happened before."
+
+Yet in spite of his pronounced nationality, and his Episcopal faith,
+he married Rahal Gordon from the braes of Moray; a Highland Scotch
+woman and a strict Calvinist. What compact had been made between them
+no one knew, but it had been sufficient to prevent all religious
+disputes during a period of twenty-six years. If Rahal Ragnor had any
+respectable excuse, she did not go to the ritual service in the
+Cathedral. If she had no such excuse, she went there with her husband
+and family. Then doubtless her prayer was the prayer of Naaman, that
+when "she bowed herself in the House of Rimmon, the Lord would pardon
+her for it."
+
+No one could deny her beauty, though it was of the Highland Scotch
+type, and therefore a great contrast to the Orcadean blonde. She was
+slender and dark, with plentiful, glossy, black hair, and soft brown
+eyes. Her face was oval and richly coloured. Her temperament was frank
+and domestic; yet she had a romantic side, and a full appreciation of
+what she called "a proper man."
+
+They had had many children, but four were dead, and three daughters
+were married and living in Edinburgh and Lerwick, and two sons had
+emigrated to Canada; while the youngest of all, a boy of fifteen, was
+a midshipman on Her Majesty's man-of-war, _Vixen_, so that only one
+boy and one girl were with their parents. These were Boris, the eldest
+son, who was sailing his own ship on business ventures to French and
+Dutch ports, and Thora, the only unmarried daughter. And in 1853 these
+five persons lived happily enough together in the Ragnor House,
+Kirkwall.
+
+One day in the spring of 1853 Conall Ragnor was at the rear door of
+his warehouse. The sea was lippering against its foundation, and he
+stood with his hand on his left hip, as with a raised head and keen
+eyes, he searched the far horizon.
+
+In a few minutes he turned with a look of satisfaction. "Well and
+good!" he thought. "Now I will go home. I have the news I was watching
+for." Anon he looked at his watch and reflecting a moment assured
+himself that Boris and the _Sea Gull_ would be safely at anchor by
+five o'clock.
+
+So with an air of satisfaction he walked through the warehouse,
+looking critically at the men cleaning and packing feathers, or dried
+fish, or fresh eggs. There was no sign of slacking in this department,
+and he turned into the shop where men were weighing groceries and
+measuring cloth. All seemed well, and after a short delay in his own
+particular office he went comfortably home.
+
+Meanwhile his daughter Thora was talking of him, and wondering what
+news he would bring them, and Mistress Ragnor, in a very smart cap and
+a gown of dark violet silk, was knitting by the large window in the
+living room--a very comfortable room carpeted with a good Kilmarnock
+"three-ply" and curtained with red moreen. There were a few sea
+pictures on the walls, and there was a good fire of drift-wood and
+peat upon the snow-white hearth.
+
+Thora had just entered the room with a clean table-cloth in her hands.
+Her mother gave her a quick glance of admiration and then said:
+
+"I thought thou wert looking for Boris home tonight."
+
+"Well, then, Mother, that is so. He said we must give him a little
+dance tonight, and I have asked the girls he likes best to come here.
+I thought this was known to thee. To call my words back now, will give
+great disappointment."
+
+"No need is there to call any word back. Because of thy dress I feared
+there had been some word of delay. If likelihood rule, Maren and Helga
+Torrie will wear the best they have."
+
+"That is most certain, but I am not minded to outdress the Torrie
+girls. Very hard it is for them to get a pretty frock, and it will
+make them happy to see themselves smarter than Thora Ragnor."
+
+"Thou should think of thyself."
+
+"Well, I am generally uppermost in my own mind. Also, in Edinburgh I
+was told that the hostess must not outdress her guests."
+
+"Edinburgh and Kirkwall are not in the same latitude. Keep mind of
+that. Step forward and let me look at thee."
+
+So Thora stood up before her mother, and the light from the window
+fell all over her, and she was beautiful from head to feet. Tall and
+slender, with a great quantity of soft brown hair very loosely
+arranged on the crown of her head; a forehead broad and white;
+eyebrows, plentiful and well arched; starlike blue eyes, with a large,
+earnest gaze and an oval face tinted like a rose. Oh! why try to
+describe a girl so lovely? It is like pulling a rose to pieces. It is
+easier to say that she was fleshly perfect and that, being yet in her
+eighteenth year, she had all the bloom of opening flowers, and all
+their softness and sweetness.
+
+Apparently she owed little to her dress, and yet it would have
+been difficult to choose anything more befitting her, for though it
+was only of wine-coloured cashmere, it was made with a plain
+picturesqueness that rendered it most effective. The short sleeves
+then worn gave to her white arms the dark background that made them
+a fascination; the high waist, cut open in front to a point, was
+filled in with white satin, over which it was laced together with a
+thin silk cord of the same colour as the dress. A small lace collar
+completed the toilet, and for the occasion, it was perfect;
+anything added to it would have made it imperfect.
+
+This was the girl who, standing before her mother, asked for her
+approval. And Rahal Ragnor's eyes were filled with her beauty, and she
+could only say:
+
+"Dear thing! There is no need to change! Just as thou art pleases
+me!"
+
+Then with a face full of love Thora stooped and kissed her mother and
+anon began to set the table for the expected guests. With sandalled
+feet and smiling face, she walked about the room with the composure of
+a goddess. There was no hesitation concerning what she had to do; all
+had been arranged and settled in her mind previously, though now and
+then, the discussion of a point appeared to be pleasant and
+satisfying. Thus she thoughtfully said:
+
+"Mother, there will be thyself and father and Boris, that is three,
+and Sunna Vedder, and Helga and Maren Torrie, that makes six, and Gath
+Peterson, and Wolf Baikie and his sisters Sheila and Maren make ten,
+and myself, eleven--that is all and it is enough."
+
+"Why not make it twelve?"
+
+"There is luck in odd numbers. I am the eleventh. I like it."
+
+"Thou might have made it ten. There is one girl on thy list it would
+be better without."
+
+"Art thou thinking of Sunna Vedder, Mother?"
+
+"Yes, I am thinking of Sunna Vedder."
+
+"Well and good. But if Sunna is not here, Boris would feel as if
+there was no one present. It is Sunna he wants to see. It is Sunna he
+wants to please. He says he is so sorry for her."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because she has to live with old Vedder who is nothing but a
+bookworm."
+
+"Vedder is a very clever man. The Bishop was saying that."
+
+"Yes, in a way he was saying it, but----"
+
+"The Bishop was not liking the books he was studying. He said they did
+men and women no good. Thy father was telling me many things. Yes, so
+it is! The Vedders are counted queer--they are different from thee and
+me, and--the Bishop."
+
+"And the Dominie?"
+
+"That may well be. Thy father has a will for Boris to marry Andrina
+Thorkel."
+
+"Boris will never marry Andrina. It would be great bad luck if he did.
+Many speak ill of her. She has a temper to please the devil. I was
+hearing she would marry Scot Keppoch. That would do; for then they
+would not spoil two houses."
+
+"Tell thy father thy thought, and he will give thee thy answer;--but
+why talk of the Future and the Maybe? The Now is the hour of the wise,
+so I will go upstairs and lay out some proper clothing and do thou
+get thy father to dress himself, as Conall Ragnor ought to do."
+
+"That may not be easy to manage."
+
+"Few things are beyond thy say-so." Then she lifted her work-bag and
+left the room.
+
+During this conversation Conall Ragnor had been slowly making his way
+home, after leaving his warehouse when the work of the day was done.
+Generally he liked his walk through the town to his homestead, which
+was just outside the town limits. It was often pleasant and
+flattering. The women came to their doors to watch him, or to speak to
+him, and their admiration and friendliness was welcome. For many years
+he had been used to it, but he had not in the least outgrown the
+thrill of satisfaction it gave him. And often he wondered if his wife
+noticed the good opinion that the ladies of Kirkwall had for her
+husband.
+
+"Of course she does," he commented, "but a great wonder it would be if
+my Rahal should speak of it. In that hour she would be out of the
+commodity of pride, or she would have forgotten herself entirely."
+
+This day he had received many good-natured greetings--Jenny Torrie had
+told him that the _Sea Gull_ was just coming into harbour, and so
+heavy with cargo that the sea was worrying at her gunwale; then Mary
+Inkster--from the other side of the street--added, "Both hands--seen
+and unseen--are full, Captain, I'll warrant that!"
+
+"Don't thee warrant beyond thy knowledge, Mary," answered Ragnor, with
+a laugh. "The _Sea Gull_ may have hands; she has no tongue."
+
+"All that touches the _Sea Gull_ is a thing by itself," cried pretty
+Astar Graff, whose husband was one of the _Sea Gull's_ crew.
+
+"So, then, Astar, she takes her own at point and edge. That is her
+way, and her right," replied Ragnor.
+
+Thus up the narrow street, from one side or the other, Conall Ragnor
+was greeted. Good wishes and good advice, with now and then a careful
+innuendo, were freely given and cheerfully taken; and certainly the
+recipient of so much friendly notice was well pleased with its freedom
+and good will. He came into his own house with the smiling amiability
+of a man who has had all the wrinkles of the day's business smoothed
+and soothed out of him.
+
+Looking round the room, he was rather glad his wife was not there. She
+was generally cool about such attentions, and secretly offended by
+their familiarity. For she was not only a reader and a thinker, she
+was also a great observer, and she had seen and considered the slow
+but sure coming of that spirit of progress, which would break up their
+isolation and, with it, the social privileges of her class. However,
+she kept all her fears on this subject in her heart. Not even to Thora
+would she talk of them lest she might be an inciter of thoughts that
+would raise up a class who would degrade her own: "Few people can be
+trusted with a dangerous thought, and who can tell where spoken words
+go to." And this idea, she knit, or stitched, into every garment her
+fingers fashioned.
+
+So, then, it was quite in keeping with her character to pass by
+Conall's little social enthusiasms with a chilling indifference, and
+if any wonder or complaint was made of this attitude, to reply:
+
+"When men and women of thine own worth and station bow down to thee,
+Conall, then thou will find Rahal Ragnor among them; but I do not
+mingle my words with those of the men and women who sort goose
+feathers, and pack eggs and gut fish for the salting. Thy wife,
+Conall, looks up, and not down."
+
+Well, then, as Rahal knew that the safe return of Boris with the _Sea
+Gull_ would possibly be an occasion for these friendly familiarities,
+she wisely took herself out of the way of hearing anything about it.
+And it is a great achievement when we learn the limit of our power to
+please. Conall Ragnor had not quite mastered the lesson in twenty-six
+years. Very often, yet, he had a half-alive hope that these small
+triumphs of his daily life might at length awaken in his wife's breast
+a sympathetic pleasure. Today it was allied with the return of Boris
+and his ship, and he thought this event might atone for whatever was
+repugnant.
+
+And yet, after all, when he saw no one but Thora present, he had a
+sense of relief. He told her all that had been said and done, and
+added such incidents of Boris and the ship as he thought would please
+her. She laughed and chatted with him, and listened with unabated
+pleasure to the very end, indeed, until he said: "Now, then, I must
+stop talking. I dare say there are many things to look after, for
+Boris told me he would be home for dinner at six o'clock. Till that
+hour I will take a little nap on the sofa."
+
+"But first, my Father, thou wilt go and dress. Everything is ready for
+thee, and mother is dressed, and as for Thora, is she not pretty
+tonight?"
+
+"Thou art the fairest of all women here, if I know anything about
+beauty. Wolf Baikie will be asking the first dance with thee."
+
+"That dance is thine. Mother has given thee to me for that dance."
+
+"To me? That is very agreeable. I am proud to be thy father."
+
+"Then go and dress thyself. I am particular about my partners."
+
+"Dress! What is wrong with my dress?"
+
+"Everything! Not an article in it is worthy of thee and the
+occasion."
+
+"I tell thee, all is as it should be. I am not minded to change it in
+any way."
+
+"Yes; to please Thora, thou wilt make some changes. Do, my Father. I
+love thee so! I am so proud of thy figure, and thou can show even Wolf
+Baikie how he ought to dance."
+
+"Well, then, just for thee--I will wash and put on fresh linen."
+
+"And comb thy beautiful hair. If thou but wet it, then it curls so
+that any girl would envy thee. And all the women would say that it was
+from thee, Thora got her bright, brown, curly hair."
+
+"To comb my hair? That is but a trifle. I will do it to please thee."
+
+"And thou wilt wet it, to make it curl?"
+
+"That I will do also--to please thee."
+
+"Then, as we are to dance together, thou wilt put on thy fine white
+socks, and thy Spanish leather shoes--the pair that have the bright
+buckles on the instep. Yes, thou wilt do me that great favour."
+
+"Thou art going too far; I will not do that."
+
+"Not for thy daughter Thora?" and she laid her cheek against his
+cheek, and whispered with a kiss, "Yes, thou wilt wear the buckled
+shoes for Thora. They will look so pretty in the dance: and Wolf
+Baikie cannot toss his head at thy boots, as he did at Aunt Brodie's
+Christmas dinner."
+
+"Did he do that thing?"
+
+"I saw him, and I would not dance with him because of it."
+
+"Thou did right. Thy Aunt Barbara----"
+
+"Is my aunt, and thy eldest sister. All she does is square and
+upright; what she says, it were well for the rest of the town to take
+heed to. It would please Aunt if thou showed Wolf Baikie thou had
+dancing shoes and also knew right well how to step in them."
+
+"Well, then, thou shalt have thy way. I will wash, I will comb my
+hair, I will put on clean linen and white socks and my buckled shoes.
+That is all I will do! I will not change my suit--no, I will not!"
+
+"Father!"
+
+"Well, then, what call for 'Father' now?"
+
+"I want thee to wear thy kirk suit."
+
+"I will not! No, I will not! The flannel suit is good enough for any
+man."
+
+"Yes, if it were clean and sweet, and had no fish scales on it, and no
+fish smell in it. And even here--at the very end of the world--thy
+friend, the good Bishop, wears black broadcloth and all gentlemen copy
+him. If Thora was thy sweetheart, instead of thy own dear daughter,
+she would not dance with thee in anything but thy best suit."
+
+"It seems to me, my own dear daughter, that very common people wear
+kirk toggery. When I go to the hotels in Edinburgh, or Aberdeen, or
+Inverness, I find all the men who wait on other men are in kirk
+clothes; and if I go to a theatre, the men who wait on the crowd there
+wear kirk clothes, and----"
+
+"Thy Bishop also wears black broadcloth."
+
+"That will be because of his piety and humility. I am not as pious
+and humble as I might be. No, indeed! Not in everything can I humour
+thee, and trouble myself; but this thing is what I will do--I have a
+new suit of fine blue flannel; last night I brought it home. At
+McVittie's it was made, and well it fits me. For thy sake I will wear
+it. This is the end of our talk. No more will I do."
+
+"Thou dear father! It is enough! With a thousand kisses I thank
+thee."
+
+"Too many kisses! Too many kisses! Thou shalt give me five when we
+finish our dance; one for my curled hair, and one for my white, fresh
+linen, and one for my socks, and one for my buckled shoes, and the
+last for my new blue suit. And in that bargain thou wilt get the best
+of me, so one favour in return from thee I must have."
+
+"Dear Father, thy will is my will. What is thy wish?"
+
+"I want thy promise not to dance with Wolf Baikie. Because of his
+sneer I am coaxed to dress as I do not want to dress. Well, then, I
+will take his place with thee, and every dance he asks from thee is to
+be given to me."
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Thora replied: "That agreement does not
+trouble me. It will be to my great satisfaction. So, then, thou art
+no nearer to getting the best of the bargain."
+
+"Thou art a clever, handsome little baggage. But my promises I will
+keep, and it is well for me to be about them. Time flies talking to
+thee," and he looked at his watch and said, "It is now five minutes
+past five."
+
+"Then thou must make some haste. Dinner is set for six o'clock."
+
+"Dost thou think I will fiddle-faddle about myself like a woman?"
+
+"But thou must wash----"
+
+"In the North Sea I wash me every morning. Before thou hast opened thy
+eyes I have had my bath and my swim in the salt water."
+
+"There is rain water in thy room; try it for a change." And he
+answered her with a roar of laughter far beyond Thora's power to
+imitate. But with it ringing in her heart and ears she saw him go to a
+spare room to keep his promises. Then she hastened to her mother.
+
+"Whatever is the matter with thy father, Thora?"
+
+"He has promised to wash and dress. I got all I asked for."
+
+"Will he change his suit?"
+
+"He has a fine new suit. It was hid away in Aunt's room."
+
+"What made him do such a childish thing?"
+
+"To please thee, it was done. It was to be a surprise, I think."
+
+"I will go to him."
+
+"No, no, Mother! Let father have the pleasure he planned. To thee he
+will come, as soon as he is dressed."
+
+"Am I right? From top to toe?"
+
+"From top to toe just as thou should be. The white roses in thy cap
+look lovely with the violet silk gown. Very pretty art thou, dear
+Mother."
+
+"I can still wear roses, but they are white roses now. I used to wear
+pink, Thora."
+
+"Pink and crimson and yellow roses thou may wear yet. Because white
+roses go best with violet I put that colour in thy cap for tonight.
+Think of what my aunt said when thou complained to her of growing old,
+'Rahal, the mother of twelve sons and daughters is always young.' Now
+I will run away, for my father does everything quickly."
+
+In about ten or fifteen minutes, Rahal Ragnor heard him coming. Then
+she stood up and watched the swift throwing open of the door, and the
+entrance of her husband. With a cry of pleasure she clapped her hands
+and said joyfully:
+
+"Oh, Coll! Oh, my dear Coll!" and the next moment Coll kissed her.
+
+"Thou hast made thyself so handsome--just to please me!"
+
+"Yes, for thee! Who else is there? Do I please thee now?"
+
+"Always thou pleases me! But tonight, I have fallen in love with thee
+over again!"
+
+"And yet Thora wanted me to wear my kirk suit," and he walked to the
+glass and looked with great satisfaction at himself. "I think this
+suit is more becoming."
+
+"My dear Coll, thou art right. A good blue flannel suit is a man's
+natural garment. To everyone, rich and poor, it is becoming. If thou
+always dressed as thou art now dressed, I should never have the heart
+or spirit to contradict thee. Thou could have thy own way, year in and
+year out."
+
+"Is that the truth, my dear Rahal? Or is it a compliment?"
+
+"It is the very truth, dear one!"
+
+"From this hour, then, I will dress to thy wish and pleasure."
+
+She stepped quickly to his side and whispered: "In that case, there
+will not be in all Scotland a more distinguished and proper man than
+Conall Ragnor!"
+
+And in a large degree Conall Ragnor was worthy of all the fine things
+his wife said to him. The new clothes fell gracefully over his grand
+figure; he stepped out freely in the light easy shoes he was wearing;
+there was not a single thing stiff or tight or uncomfortable about
+him. Even his shirt collar fell softly round his throat, and the
+bright crimson necktie passed under it was unrestrained by anything
+but a handsome pin, which left his throat bare and gave the scarf
+permission to hang as loosely as a sailor's.
+
+At length Rahal said, "I see that Boris and the ship are safely home
+again."
+
+"Ship and cargo safe in port, and every man on board well and hearty.
+On the stroke of six he will be here. He said so, and Boris keeps his
+word. I hear the sound of talking and laughing. Let us go to meet
+them."
+
+They came in a merry company, Boris, with Sunna Vedder on his arm
+leading them. They came joyously; singing, laughing, chattering,
+making all the noise that youth seems to think is essential to
+pleasure. However, I shall not describe this evening. A dinner-dance
+is pretty much alike in all civilized and semi-civilized communities.
+It will really be more descriptive to indicate a few aspects in which
+this function of amusement differed from one of the same kind given
+last night in a fashionable home or hotel in New York.
+
+First, the guests came all together from some agreed-upon rendezvous.
+They walked, for private carriages were very rare and there were none
+for hire. However, this walking party was generally a very pleasant
+introduction to a more pleasant and intimate evening. The women were
+wrapped up in their red or blue cloaks, and the men carried their
+dancing slippers, fans, bouquets, and other small necessities of the
+ballroom.
+
+Second, the old and the young had an equal share in any entertainment,
+and if there was a difference, it was in favour of the old. On this
+very night Conall Ragnor danced in every figure called, except a
+saraband, which he said was too slow and formal to be worth calling a
+dance. Even old Adam Vedder who had come on his own invitation--but
+welcome all the same--went through the Orkney Quickstep with the two
+prettiest girls present, Thora Ragnor and Maren Torrie. For honourable
+age was much respected and every young person wished to share his
+happiness with it.
+
+A very marked characteristic was the evident pleasure old and young
+had in the gratification of their sense of taste, in the purely animal
+pleasure of eating good things. No one had a bad appetite, and if
+anyone wished for more of a dish they liked, they asked for it. Indeed
+they had an easy consciousness of paying their hostess a compliment,
+and of giving themselves a little more pleasure.
+
+Finally, they made the day, day; and the night, night. Such gatherings
+broke up about eleven o'clock; then the girls went home unwearied, to
+sleep, and morning found them rosy and happy, already wondering who
+would give them the next dance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ADAM VEDDER'S TROUBLE
+
+  ... they do not trust their tongues alone
+  But speak a language of their own;
+  Convey a libel in a frown,
+  And wink a reputation down;
+  Or by the tossing of a fan,
+  Describe the lady and the man.--SWIFT
+
+  It is good to be merry and wise,
+    It is good to be honest and true,
+  It is well to be off with the old love
+    Before you are on with the new.
+
+
+Boris did not remain long in the home port. It was drawing near to
+Lent, and this was a sacred term very highly regarded by the citizens
+of this ancient cathedral town. Of course in the Great Disruption the
+National Episcopal Church had suffered heavy loss, but Lent was a
+circumstance of the Soul, so near and dear to its memory, that even
+those disloyal to their Mother Church could not forget or ignore it.
+In some cases it was secretly more faithfully observed than ever
+before; then its penitential prayers became intensely pathetic in
+their loneliness. For these self-bereft souls could not help
+remembering the days when they went up with the multitude to keep the
+Holy Fast in the House of their God.
+
+Rahal Ragnor had never kept it. It had been only a remnant of popery
+to her. Long before the Free Kirk had been born, she and all her
+family had been Dissenters of some kind or other. And yet her life and
+her home were affected by this Episcopal "In Memoriam" in a great
+number of small, dominating ways, so that in the course of years she
+had learned to respect a ceremonial that she did not endorse. For she
+knew that no one kept Lent with a truer heart than Conall Ragnor, and
+that the Lenten services in the cathedral interfered with his business
+to an extent nothing purely temporal would have been permitted to do.
+
+So, after the little dance given to Boris, there was a period of
+marked quietness in Kirkwall. It was as if some mighty Hand had been
+laid across the strings of Life and softened and subdued all their
+reverberations. There was no special human influence exerted for this
+purpose, yet no one could deny the presence of some unseen, unusual
+element.
+
+"Every day seems like Sabbath Day," said Thora.
+
+"It is Lent," answered Rahal.
+
+"And after Lent comes Easter, dear Mother."
+
+"That is the truth."
+
+In the meantime Boris had gone to Edinburgh on the bark _Sea Gull_ to
+complete his cargo of Scotch ginghams and sewed muslins, native
+jewelry and table delicacies. Perhaps, indeed, the minimum notice
+accorded Lent in the metropolitan city had something to do with this
+journey, which was not a usual one; but after the departure of the
+_Sea Gull_ the Ragnor household had settled down to a period of
+domestic quiet. The Master had to make up the hours spent in the
+cathedral by a longer stay in the store, and the women at this time
+generally avoided visiting; they felt--though they did not speak of
+it--the old prohibition of unkind speech, and the theological quarrel
+was yet so new and raw that to touch it was to provoke controversy,
+instead of conversation.
+
+It was at such vacant times that old Adam Vedder's visits were doubly
+welcome. One day in mid-Lent he came to the Ragnor house, when it was
+raining with that steady deliberation that gives no hope of anything
+better. Throwing off his waterproof outer garments, he left them to
+drip dry in the kitchen. An old woman, watching him, observed:
+
+"Thou art wetting the clean floor, Master Vedder," and he briskly
+answered: "That is thy business, Helga, not mine. Is thy mistress in
+the house?"
+
+"Would she be out, if she had any good sense left?"
+
+"How can a man tell what a woman will do? Where is thy mistress?" and
+he spoke in a tone so imperative, that she answered with shrinking
+humility:
+
+"I ask thy favour. Mistress Ragnor is in the right-hand parlour. I
+will look after thy cloak."
+
+"It will be well for thee to do that."
+
+Then Adam went to the right-hand parlour and found Rahal sitting by
+the fire sewing.
+
+"I am glad to see thee, Rahal," he said.
+
+"I am glad to see thee always--more at this time than at any other."
+
+"Well, that is good, but why at this time more than at any other?"
+
+"The town is depressed; business goes on, but in a silent fashion.
+There is no social pleasure--surely the reason is known to thee!"
+
+"So it is, and the reason is good. When people are confessing their
+sins, and asking pardon for the same, they cannot feel it to be a
+cheerful entertainment; and, as thou observed, it affects even their
+business, which I myself notice is done without the usual joking or
+quarrelling or drinking of good healths. Well, then, that also is
+right. Where is Thora?"
+
+"She is going to a lecture this afternoon to be given by the
+Archdeacon Spens to the young girls, and she is preparing for it." And
+as these words were uttered, Thora entered the room. She was dressed
+for the storm outside, and wore the hood of her cloak drawn well over
+her hair; in her hands were a pair of her father's slippers.
+
+"For thee I brought them," she said, as she held them out to Vedder.
+"I heard thy voice, and I was sure thy feet would be wet. See, then, I
+have brought thee my father's slippers. He would like thee to wear
+them--so would I."
+
+"I will not wear them, Thora. I will not stand in any man's shoes but
+my own. It is an unchancy, unlucky thing to do. Thanks be to thee, but
+I will keep my own standing, wet or dry. Look to that rule for
+thyself, and remember what I say. Let me see if thou art well shod."
+
+Thora laughed, stood straight up, and drew her dress taut, and put
+forward two small feet, trigly protected by high-laced boots. Then,
+looking at her mother, she asked: "Are the boots sufficient, or shall
+I wear over them my French clogs?"
+
+Vedder answered her question. "The clogs are not necessary," he said.
+"The rain runs off as fast as it falls. Thy boots are all such
+trifling feet can carry. What can women do on this hard world-road
+with such impediments as French clogs over English boots?"
+
+"Mr. Vedder, they will do whatever they want to do; and they will go
+wherever they want to go; and they will walk in their own shoes, and
+work in their own shoes, and be well satisfied with them."
+
+"Thora, I am sorry I was born in the last century. If I had waited for
+about fifty years I would have been in proper time to marry thee."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Yes; for I would not have let a woman so fair and good as thou art go
+out of my family. We should have been man and wife. That would
+certainly have happened."
+
+"If two had been willing, it might have been. Now our talk must end;
+the Archdeacon likes not a late comer;" and with this remark, and a
+beaming smile, she went away.
+
+Then there was a silence, full of words longing to be spoken; but
+Rahal Ragnor was a prudent woman, and she sighed and sewed and left
+Vedder to open the conversation. He looked at her a little impatiently
+for a few moments, then he asked:
+
+"To what port has thy son Boris sailed?"
+
+"Boris intends to go to Leith, if wind and water let him do so."
+
+"Boris is not asking wind and water about his affairs. There is a
+question I know not how to answer. I am wanting thy help."
+
+"If that be so, speak thy mind to me."
+
+"I want a few words of advice about a woman."
+
+"Is that woman thy granddaughter, Sunna?"
+
+"A right guess thou hast made."
+
+"Then I would rather not speak of her."
+
+"Thy reason? What is it?"
+
+"She is too clever for a simple woman like me. I have not two faces. I
+cannot make the same words mean two distinct and separate things.
+Sunna has all thy self-wisdom, but she has not thy true heart and thy
+wise tongue."
+
+"Listen to me! Things have come to this--Boris has made love to Sunna
+in the face of all Kirkwall. He has done this for more than a year.
+Then for two weeks before he left for Leith he came not near my house,
+and if he met Sunna in any friend's house he was no longer her lover.
+What is the meaning of this? My girl is unhappy and angry, and I
+myself am far from being satisfied; thou tell, what is wrong between
+them?"
+
+"I would prefer neither to help nor hinder thee in this matter. There
+is a broad way between these two ways, that I am minded to take. It
+will be better for me to do so, and perhaps better for thee also."
+
+"I thought I could count on thee for my friend. Bare is a man's back
+without friends behind it! In thee I trusted. While I feared and
+doubted, I thought, 'If worse comes I will go at once to Rahal
+Ragnor'--_Thou hast failed me_."
+
+"Say not that--my old, dear friend! It is beyond truth. What I know I
+told to my husband; and I asked him if it would be kind and well to
+tell thee, and he said to me: 'Be not a bearer of ill news to Vedder.
+Little can thou trust any evil report; few people are spoken of better
+than they deserve.' Then I gave counsel to myself, thus: Conall has
+four dear daughters, _he knows_. Conall loves his old friend Vedder;
+if he thought to interfere was right, he would advise Vedder to
+interfere or he would interfere for him, and my wish was to spare thee
+the sorrow that comes from women's tongues. I was also sure that if
+the news was true, it would find thee out--if not true, why should
+Rahal Ragnor sow seeds of suspicion and ill-will? Is Sunna disobedient
+to thee?"
+
+"She is something worse--she deceives me. Her name is mixed up with
+some report--I know not what. No one loves me well enough to tell me
+what is wrong."
+
+"Well, then, thou art more feared than loved. Few know thee well
+enough to risk thy anger and all know that Norsemen are bitter
+cruel to those who dare to say that one hair of their women is out
+of its place. Who, then, would dare to say this or that about thy
+granddaughter?"
+
+"Rahal Ragnor could speak safely to me."
+
+Then there was silence for a few moments and Rahal sat with her
+doubled-up left hand against her lips, gazing out of the window.
+Vedder did not disturb her. He waited patiently until she said:
+
+"If I tell thee what was told me, wilt thou visit the story upon my
+husband, or myself, or any of my children?"
+
+Vedder took a signet ring from his finger and kissed it. "Rahal," he
+said, "I have kissed this ring of my fathers to seal the promise I
+shall make thee. If thou wilt give me thy confidence in this matter of
+Sunna Vedder, it shall be for thy good, and for the good of thy
+husband, and for the good of all thy children, as far as Adam Vedder
+can make it so."
+
+"I ask a special promise for my son Boris, for he is concerned in this
+matter."
+
+"Boris can take good care of Boris: nevertheless, I promise thee that
+I will not say or look or do, with hands or tongue, anything that will
+injure, or even annoy, Boris Ragnor. Unto the end of my life, I
+promise this. What may come after, I know not. If there should be a
+wrong done, we will fight it out elsewhere."
+
+"Thy words are sufficient. Listen, then! There is a family, in the
+newest and best part of the town, called McLeod. They are yet strange
+here. They are Highland Scotch. Many say they are Roman Catholics.
+They sing Jacobite songs, and they go not to any church. They have
+opened a great trading route; and they have brought many new customs
+and new ideas with them. A certain class of our people make much of
+them; others are barely civil to them; the best of our citizens do not
+notice them at all. But they have plenty of money, and live
+extravagantly, and the garrison's officers are constantly seen there.
+Do you know them?"
+
+"I have heard of them."
+
+"McLeod has a large trading fleet, and he has interfered with the
+business of Boris in many ways."
+
+"Hast thou ever seen him? Tell me what he is like."
+
+"I have seen him many times. He is a complete Highlander; tall,
+broad-shouldered and apparently very strong, also very graceful. He
+has high cheekbones, and a red beard, but all talk about him, and many
+think him altogether handsome."
+
+"And thou? What dost thou think?"
+
+"When I saw him, he was in earnest discussion with one of his men, and
+he was not using English but sputtering a torrent of shrill Gaelic,
+shrugging his shoulders, throwing his arms about, thrilling with
+excitement--but for all that, he was the picture of a man that most
+women would find irresistible."
+
+"I have heard that he wears the Highland dress."
+
+"Not on the street. They have many entertainments; he may wear it in
+some of them; but I think he is too wise to wear it in public. The
+Norseman is much indebted to the Scot--but it would not do to flaunt
+the feathered cap and philabeg too much--on Kirkwall streets."
+
+"You ought to know."
+
+"Yes, I am Highland Scotch, thank God! I understand this man, though I
+have never spoken to him. I know little about the Lowland Scot. He is
+a different race, and is quite a different man. You would not like
+him, Adam."
+
+"I know him. He is a fine fellow; quiet, cool-blooded, has little to
+say, and wastes no strength in emotion. There's wisdom for you--but go
+on with thy talk, woman; it hurts me, but I must hear it to the end."
+
+"Well, then, Kenneth McLeod has the appearance of a gentleman, though
+he is only a trader."
+
+"Say _smuggler_, Rahal, and you might call him by a truer name."
+
+"Many whisper the same word. Of a smuggler, a large proportion of our
+people think no wrong. That you know. He is a kind of hero to some
+girls. Many grand parties these McLeods give--music and dancing, and
+eating and drinking, and the young officers of the garrison are there,
+as well as our own gay young men; and where these temptations are,
+young women are sure to go. His aunt is mistress of his house.
+
+"Now, then, this thing happened when Boris was last here. One night he
+heard two men talking as they went down the street before him. The
+rain was pattering on the flagged walk and he did not well understand
+their conversation, but it was altogether of the McLeods and their
+entertainments. Suddenly he heard the name of Sunna Vedder. Thrice he
+heard it, and he followed the men to the public house, called for
+whiskey, sat down at a table near them and pretended to be writing.
+But he grew more and more angry as he heard the free and easy talk of
+the men; and when again they named Sunna, he put himself into their
+conversation and so learned they were going to McLeod's as soon as the
+hour was struck for the dance. Boris permitted them to go, laughing
+and boastful; an hour afterwards he followed."
+
+"With whom did he go?"
+
+"Alone he went. The dance was then in progress, and men and women were
+constantly going in and out. He followed a party of four, and went in
+with them. There was a crowd on the waxed floor. They were dancing a
+new measure called the polka; and conspicuous, both for her beauty and
+her dress, he saw Sunna among them. Her partner was Kenneth McLeod,
+and he was in full McLeod tartans. No doubt have I that Sunna and her
+handsome partner made a romantic and lovely picture."
+
+"What must be the end of all this? What the devil am I to think?"
+
+"Think no worse than needs be."
+
+"What did Boris do--or say?"
+
+"He walked rapidly to Sunna, and he said, 'Miss Vedder, thou art
+wanted at thy home--at once thou art wanted. Get thy cloak, and I will
+walk with thee.'"
+
+"Then?"
+
+"She was angry, and yet terrified; but she left the room. Boris feared
+she would try and escape him, so he went to the door to meet her.
+Judge for thyself what passed between them as Boris took her home. At
+first she was angry, afterwards, she cried and begged Boris not to
+tell thee. I am sure Boris was kind to her, though he told her frankly
+she was on a dangerous road. All this I had from Boris, and it is the
+truth; as for what reports have grown from it, I give them no heed.
+Sunna was deceitful and imprudent. I would not think worse of her than
+she deserves."
+
+"Rahal, I am much thy debtor. This affair I will now take into my own
+hands. To thee, my promise stands good for all my life days--and thou
+may tell Boris, it may be worth his while to forgive Sunna. There is
+some fault with him also; he has made love to Sunna for a long time,
+but never yet has he said to me--'I wish to make Sunna my wife!' What
+is the reason of that?"
+
+"Well, then, Adam, a young man wishes to make sure of himself. Boris
+is much from home----"
+
+"There it is! For that very cause, he should have made a straight
+clear road between us. I do not excuse Sunna, but I say that wherever
+there is a cross purpose, there has likely never been a straight one.
+Thou hast treated me well, and I am thy debtor; but it shall be ill
+with all those who have led my child wrong--the more so, because the
+time chosen for their sinful deed makes it immeasurably more sinful."
+
+"The time? What is thy meaning? The time was the usual hour of all
+entertainments. Even two hours after the midnight is quite respectable
+if all else is correct."
+
+"Art thou so forgetful of the God-Man, who at this time carried the
+burden of all our sins?"
+
+"Oh! You mean it is Lent, Adam?"
+
+"Yes! It is Lent!"
+
+"I was never taught to regard it."
+
+"Yet none keep Lent more strictly than Conall Ragnor."
+
+"A wife does not always adopt her husband's ideas. I had a father,
+Adam, uncles and cousins and friends. None of them kept Lent. Dost
+thou expect me to be wiser than all my kindred?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Let us cease this talk. It will come to nothing."
+
+"Then good-bye."
+
+"Be not hard on Sunna. One side only, has been heard."
+
+"As kindly as may be, I will do right."
+
+Then Adam went away, but he left Rahal very unhappy. She had disobeyed
+her husband's advice and she could not help asking herself if she
+would have been as easily persuaded to tell a similar story about her
+own child. "Thora is a school girl yet," she thought, "but she is just
+entering the zone of temptation."
+
+In the midst of this reflection Thora came into the room. Her mother
+looked into her lovely face with a swift pang of fear. It was radiant
+with a joy not of this world. A light from an interior source
+illumined it; a light that wreathed with smiles the pure, childlike
+lips. "Oh, if she could always remain so young, and so innocent! Oh,
+if she never had to learn the sorrowful lessons that love always
+teaches!"
+
+Thus Rahal thought and wished. She forgot, as she did so, that women
+come into this world to learn the very lessons love teaches, and that
+unless these lessons are learned, the soul can make no progress, but
+must remain undeveloped and uninstructed, even until the very end of
+this session of its existence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ARIES THE RAM
+
+  O Christ whose Cross began to bloom
+    With peaceful lilies long ago;
+  Each year above Thy empty tomb
+    More thick the Easter garlands grow.
+  O'er all the wounds of this sad strife
+    Bright wreathes the new immortal life.
+
+  Thus came the word: Proclaim the year of the Lord!
+    And so he sang in peace;
+  Under the yoke he sang, in the shadow of the sword,
+  Sang of glory and release.
+  The heart may sigh with pain for the people pressed and slain,
+  The soul may faint and fall:
+  The flesh may melt and die--but the Voice saith, Cry!
+  And the Voice is more than all.--CARL SPENCER.
+
+
+It was Saturday morning and the next day was Easter Sunday. The little
+town of Kirkwall was in a state of happy, busy excitement, for though
+the particular house cleaning of the great occasion was finished,
+every housewife was full laden with the heavy responsibility of
+feeding the guests sure to arrive for the Easter service. Even Rahal
+Ragnor had both hands full. She was expecting her sister-in-law,
+Madame Barbara Brodie by that day's boat, and nobody ever knew how
+many guests Aunt Barbara would bring with her. Then if her own home
+was not fully prepared to afford them every comfort, she would be sure
+to leave them at the Ragnor house until all was in order. Certainly
+she had said in her last letter that she was not "going to be imposed
+upon, by anyone this spring"--and Thora reminded her mother of this
+fact.
+
+"Dost thou indeed believe thy aunt's assurances?" asked Rahal. "Hast
+thou not seen her break them year after year? She will either ask some
+Edinburgh friend to come back to Kirkwall with her, or she will pick
+up someone on the way home. Is it not so?"
+
+"Aunt generally leaves Edinburgh alone. It is the people she picks up
+on her way home that are so uncertain. Dear Mother, can I go now to
+the cathedral? The flowers are calling me."
+
+"Are there many flowers this year?"
+
+"More than we expected. The Balfour greenhouse has been stripped and
+they have such a lovely company of violets and primroses and white
+hyacinths with plenty of green moss and ivy. The Baikies have a
+hothouse and have such roses and plumes of curled parsley to put
+behind them, and lilies-of-the-valley; and I have robbed thy
+greenhouse, Mother, and taken all thy fairest auriculas and
+cyclamens."
+
+"They are for God's altar. All I have is His. Take what vases thou
+wants, but Helga must carry them for thee."
+
+"And, Mother, can I have the beautiful white Wedgewood basket for the
+altar? It looked so exquisite last Easter."
+
+"It now belongs to the altar. I gave it freely last Easter. I promised
+then that it should never hold flowers again for any meaner festival.
+Take whatever thou wants for thy purpose, and delay me no longer. I
+have this day to put two days' work into one day." Then she lifted her
+eyes from the pastry she was making and looking at Thora, asked: "Art
+thou not too lightly clothed?"
+
+"I have warm underclothing on. Thou would not like me to dress God's
+altar in anything but pure white linen? All that I wear has been made
+spotless for this day's work."
+
+"That is right, but now thou must make some haste. There is no
+certainty about Aunt Barbie. She may be at her home this very
+minute."
+
+"The boat is not due until ten o'clock."
+
+"Not unless Barbara Brodie wanted to land at seven. Then, if she
+wished, winds and waves would have her here at seven. Her wishes
+follow her like a shadow. Go thy way now. Thou art troubling me. I
+believe I have put too much sugar in the custard."
+
+"But that would be a thing incredible." Then Thora took a hasty kiss,
+and went her way. A large scarlet cloak covered her white linen dress,
+and its hood was drawn partially over her head. In her hands she
+carried the precious Wedgewood basket, and Helga and her daughter had
+charge of the flowers and of several glass vases for their reception.
+In an hour all Thora required had been brought safely to the vestry of
+Saint Magnus, and then she found herself quite alone in this grand,
+dim, silent House of God.
+
+In the meantime Aunt Barbara Brodie had done exactly as Rahal Ragnor
+anticipated. The boat had made the journey in an abnormally short
+time. A full sea, and strong, favourable winds, had carried her
+through the stormiest Firth in Scotland, at a racer's speed; and she
+was at her dock, and had delivered all her passengers when Conall
+Ragnor arrived at his warehouse. Then he had sent word to Rahal, and
+consequently she ventured on the prediction that "Aunt Barbara might
+already be at her home."
+
+However, it had not been told the Mistress of Ragnor, that her
+sister-in-law had actually "picked up someone on the way"; and that
+for this reason she had gone directly to her own residence. For on
+this occasion, her hospitality had been stimulated by a remarkably
+handsome young man, who had proved to be the son of Dr. John Macrae, a
+somewhat celebrated preacher of the most extreme Calvinist type. She
+heartily disapproved of the minister, but she instantly acknowledged
+the charm of his son; but without her brother's permission she thought
+it best not to hazard his influence over the inexperienced Thora.
+
+"I am fifty-two years old," she thought, "and I know the measure of a
+man's deceitfulness, so I can take care of myself, but Thora is a
+childlike lassie. It would not be fair to put her in danger without
+word or warning. The lad has a wonderful winning way with women."
+
+So she took her fascinating guest to her own residence, and when he
+had been refreshed by a good breakfast, he frankly said to her:
+
+"I came here on special business. I have a large sum of money to
+deliver, and I think I will attend to that matter at once."
+
+"I will not hinder thee," said Mrs. Brodie, "I'm no way troubled to
+take care of my own money, but it is just an aggravation to take care
+of other folks' siller. And who may thou be going to give a 'large sum
+of money' to, in Kirkwall town? I wouldn't wonder if the party isn't
+my own brother, Captain Conall Ragnor?"
+
+"No, Mistress," the young man replied. "It belongs to a young
+gentleman called McLeod."
+
+"Humph! A trading man is whiles very little of a gentleman. What do
+you think of McLeod?"
+
+"I am the manager of his Edinburgh business, so I cannot discuss his
+personality."
+
+"That's right, laddie! Folks seldom see any good thing in their
+employer; and it is quite fair for them to be just as blind to any bad
+thing in him--but I'll tell you frankly that your employer has not a
+first rate reputation here."
+
+"All right, Mistress Brodie! His reputation is not in my charge--only
+his money. I do not think the quality of his reputation can hurt
+mine."
+
+"Your father's reputation will stand bail for yours. Well now, run
+away and get business off your mind, and be back here for one o'clock
+dinner. I will not wait a minute after the clock chaps one. This
+afternoon I am going to my brother's house, and I sent him a message
+which asks for permission to bring you with me."
+
+"Thanks!" but he said the word in an unthankful tone, and then he
+looked into Mistress Brodie's face, and she laughed and imitated his
+expression, as she assured him "she had no girl with matrimonial
+intentions in view."
+
+"You see, Mistress," he said, "I do not intend to remain longer than a
+week. Why should I run into danger? I am ready to take heartaches. Can
+you tell me how best to find McLeod's warehouse?"
+
+"Speir at any man you meet, and any man will show you the place. I,
+myself, am not carin' to send folk an ill road."
+
+So Ian Macrae went into the town and easily found his friend and
+employer. Then their business was easily settled and it appeared to be
+every way gratifying to both men.
+
+"You have taken a business I hate off my hands, Ian," said McLeod,
+"and I am grateful to you. Where shall we go today? What would you
+like to do with yourself?"
+
+"Why, Kenneth, I would like first of all to see the inside of your
+grand cathedral. I would say, it must be very ancient."
+
+"Began in A. D., 1138. Is that old?"
+
+"Seven hundred years! That will do for age. They were good builders
+then. I have a strange love for these old shrines where multitudes
+have prayed for centuries. They are full of _Presence_ to me."
+
+"_Presence._ What do you mean?"
+
+"Souls."
+
+"You are a creepy kind of mortal. I think, Ian, if you were not such a
+godless man, you might have been a saint."
+
+Macrae drew his lips tight, and then said in detached words--"My
+father is--sure--I--was--born--at--the--other--end--of--the--measure."
+
+Then they were in the interior of the cathedral. The light was dim,
+the silence intense, and both men were profoundly affected by
+influences unknown and unseen. As they moved slowly forward into the
+nave, the altar became visible, and in this sacred place of Communion
+Thora was moving slowly about, leaving beauty and sweetness wherever
+she lingered.
+
+Her appearance gave both men a shock and both expressed it by a
+spasmodic breath. They spoke not; they watched her slim, white figure
+pass to-and-fro with soft and reverent steps, arranging violets and
+white hyacinths with green moss in the exquisite white Wedgewood. Then
+with a face full of innocent joy she placed it upon the altar, and for
+a few moments stood with clasped hands, looking at it.
+
+As she did so, the organist began to practice his Easter music, and
+she turned her face towards the organ. Then they saw fully a
+beautiful, almost childlike face transfigured with celestial
+emotions.
+
+"Let us get out of this," whispered McLeod. "What business have we
+here? It is a kind of sacrilege." And Ian bowed his head and followed
+him. But it was some minutes ere the every-day world became present to
+their senses. McLeod was the first to speak:--
+
+"What an experience!" he sighed. "I should not dare to try it often.
+It would send me into a monastery."
+
+"Are you a Roman Catholic?"
+
+"What else would I be? When I was a lad, I used to dream of being a
+monk. It was power I wanted. I thought then, that priests had more
+power than any other men; as I grew older I found out that it was
+money that owned the earth."
+
+"Not so!" said Ian sharply, "'the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
+thereof.' I promised to be at Mistress Brodie's for dinner at one
+o'clock. What is the time?"
+
+McLeod took out his watch:--"You have twenty minutes," he said. "I was
+just going to tell you that the girl we saw in the cathedral is her
+niece."
+
+Ian had taken a step or two in the direction of the Brodie house, but
+he turned his head, and with a bright smile said, "Thank you, Ken!"
+and McLeod watched him a moment and then with a sigh softly
+ejaculated: "What a courteous chap he is--when he is in the mood to be
+courteous--and what a ---- when he is not in the mood."
+
+Ian was at the Brodie house five minutes before one, and he found
+Mistress Brodie waiting for him. "I am glad that you have kept your
+tryst," she said. "We will just have a modest bite now, and we can
+make up all that is wanting here, at my brother Coll's, a little
+later. I have a pleasant invite for yourself. My good sister-in-law
+has read some of your father's sermons in the Sunday papers and
+magazines, and for their sake she will be glad to see you. I just
+promised for you."
+
+"Thank you, I shall be glad to go with you," and it was difficult for
+him to disguise how more than glad he was to have this opportunity.
+
+"So then, you will put on the best you have with you--the best is none
+too good to meet Thora in."
+
+"Thora?"
+
+"Thora Ragnor, my own niece. She is the bonniest and the best girl in
+Scotland, if you will take me as a judge of girls. 'Good beyond the
+lave of girls,' and so Bishop Hadley asked her special to dress the
+altar for Easter. He knew there would be no laughing and daffing about
+the work, if Thora Ragnor had the doing of it."
+
+"Is there any reason to refrain from laughing and daffing while at
+that work?"
+
+"At God's altar there should be nothing but prayer and praise. You
+know what girls talk and laugh about. If they have not some poor lad
+to bring to worship, or to scorn, they have no heart to help their
+hands; and the work is done silent and snappy. They are wishing they
+were at home, and could get their straight, yellow hair on to
+crimping pins, because Laurie or Johnny would be coming to see them,
+it being Saturday night."
+
+"Then the Bishop thought your niece would be more reverent?"
+
+"He knew she would. He knew also, that she would not be afraid to be
+in the cathedral by herself, she would do the work with her own hands,
+and that there would be no giggling and gossiping and no young lads
+needed to hold vases and scissors and little balls of twine."
+
+Their "moderate bite" was a pleasant lingering one. They talked of
+people in Edinburgh with whom they had some kind of a mutual
+acquaintance, and Mistress Brodie did the most of the talking. She was
+a charming story-teller, and she knew all the good stories about the
+University and its great professors. This day she spent the time
+illustrating John Stuart Blackie taking his ease in a dressing gown
+and an old straw hat. She made you see the man, and Ian felt refreshed
+and cheered by the mental vision. As for Lord Roseberry, he really sat
+at their "modest bite" with them. "You know, laddie," she said,
+"Scotsmen take their politics as if they were the Highland fling; and
+Roseberry was Scotland's idol. He was an orator who carried every soul
+with him, whether they wanted to go or not; and I was told by J. M.
+Barrie, that once when he had fired an audience to the delirium point,
+an old man in the hall shouted out:--'I dinna hear a word; but it's
+grand; it's grand!'"
+
+They barely touched on Scottish religion. Mistress Brodie easily saw
+it was a subject her guest did not wish to discuss, and she shut it
+off from conversation, with the finality of her remark that "some
+people never understood Scotch religion, except as outsiders
+misunderstood it. Well, Ian, I will be ready for our visit in about
+two hours; one hour to rest after eating and a whole hour to dress
+myself and lecture the lasses anent behaving themselves when they are
+left to their own idle wishes and wasteful work."
+
+"Then in two hours I will be ready to accompany you; and in the
+meantime I will walk over the moor and smoke a cigar."
+
+"No, no, better go down to the beach and watch the puffins flying over
+the sea, and the terns fishing about the low lying land. Or you might
+get a sight of an Arctic skua going north, or a black guillemot with a
+fish in its mouth flying fast to feed its young. The seaside is the
+place, laddie! There is something going on there constantly."
+
+So Ian went to the seaside and found plenty of amusement there in
+watching a family quarrel among the eider ducks, who were feeding on
+the young mussels attached to the rocks which a low tide had
+uncovered.
+
+It was a pleasant walk to the Ragnor home, and Rahal and Thora were
+expecting them. The sitting room was cheery with sunshine and fire
+glow, Rahal was in afternoon dress and Thora was sitting near the
+window spinning on the little wheel the marvellously fine threads of
+wool made from the dwarfish breed of Shetland sheep, and used
+generally for the knitting of those delicate shawls which rivalled the
+finest linen laces. On the entrance of her aunt and Ian Macrae she
+rose and stood by her wheel, until the effusive greetings of the two
+elder ladies were complete; and Ian was utterly charmed with the
+picture she made--it was completely different from anything he had
+ever seen or dreamed about.
+
+The wheel was a pretty one, and was inlaid with some bright metal, and
+when Thora rose from her chair she was still holding a handful of fine
+snowy wool. Her blue-robed and blue-eyed loveliness appeared to fill
+the room as she stood erect and smiling, watching her mother and
+aunt. But when her aunt stepped forward to introduce Ian to her, she
+turned the full light of her lovely countenance upon him. Then both
+wondered where they had met before. Was it in dreams only?
+
+Mother and aunt were soon deep in the fascinating gossip of an
+Edinburgh winter season, and Thora and Ian went into the greenhouse
+and the garden and found plenty to talk about until Conall Ragnor
+came home from business and supper was served. And the wonder was,
+that Conall bent to the young man's charm as readily as Thora had
+done. He was amazed at his shrewd knowledge of business methods
+and opportunities; and listened to him with grave attention, though
+laughing heartily at some of his plans and propositions.
+
+"Mr. Macrae," he said, "thou art too far north for me. I do know a few
+Shetlanders that could pare the skin off thy teeth, but we Orcadeans
+are simple honest folk that just live, and let live." At which remark
+Ian laughed, and reminded Conall Ragnor of certain transactions in
+railway stock which had nonplussed the Perth directors at the time.
+Then Ragnor asked how he happened to know what was generally
+considered "private information," and Ian answered, "Private
+information is the most valuable, sir. It is what I look for." Then
+Ragnor rose from the table and said, "Let us have a smoke and a little
+music."
+
+"Take thy smoke, Coll," said Mrs. Ragnor, "and Mr. Macrae will give us
+the music. Barbara says he sings better than Harrison. Come, Mr.
+Macrae, we are waiting to hear thee."
+
+Ian made no excuses. He sat down and sang with delightful charm and
+spirit "A Life on the Ocean Wave" and "The Bay of Biscay." Then these
+were followed by the fresh and then popular songs, "We May Be Happy
+Yet," "Then You'll Remember Me" and "The Land of Our Birth." No one
+spoke or interrupted him, even to praise; but he was well repaid by
+the look on every face and the kindness that flowed out to him. He
+could see it in the eyes, and hear it in the voices, and feel it in
+the manner of all present.
+
+The silence was broken by the sound of quick, firm footsteps. Ragnor
+listened a moment and then went with alacrity to open the door. "I
+knew it was thee!" he cried. "O sir, I am glad to see thee! Come in,
+come in! None can be more welcome!" And it was good to hear the
+strong, sweet modulations of the voice that answered him.
+
+"It is Bishop Hedley!" said Rahal.
+
+"Then I am going," said Aunt Barbara.
+
+"No, no, Aunt!" cried Thora, and the next moment she was at her aunt's
+side coaxing her to resume her chair. Then the Bishop and Ragnor
+entered the room, and the moment the Bishop's face shone upon them,
+all talk about leaving the room ceased. For Bishop Hedley carried his
+Great Commission in his face and his life was a living sermon. His
+soul loved all mankind; and he had with it an heroic mind and a
+strong-sinewed body, which refused to recognise the fact that it died
+daily. For the Bishop's business was with the souls of men, and he
+lived and moved and did his daily work in a spiritual and eternal
+element.
+
+And if constant commerce with the physical world weakens and ages the
+man who lives and works in it, surely the life passed amid spiritual
+thoughts and desires is thereby fortified and strengthened to resist
+the cares and worries which fret the physical body to decay. Then
+vainly the flesh fades, the soul makes all things new. This is a great
+truth--"it is only by the supernatural we are strong."
+
+The Bishop came in bringing with him, not only the moral tonic of his
+presence, but also the very breath of the sea; its refreshing "tang,"
+and good salt flavour. His smile and blessing was a spiritual sunshine
+that warmed and cheered and brightened the room. He was affectionate
+to all, but to Mistress Brodie and Ian Macrae, he was even more kindly
+than to the Ragnors. They were not of his flock but he longed to take
+care of them.
+
+"I heard singing as I came through the garden," he said, "and it was
+not your voice, Conall."
+
+"It was Ian Macrae singing," Conall answered, "and he will gladly sing
+for thee, sir." This promise Macrae ratified at once, and that with
+such power and sweetness that every one was amazed and the Bishop
+requested him to sing, during the next day's service, a fine "Gloria"
+he had just given them in the cathedral choir. And Ian said he would
+see the organist, and if it could be done, he would be delighted to
+obey his request.
+
+"See the organist!" exclaimed Mistress Brodie. "What are you talking
+about? The organist is Sandy Odd, the barber's son! How can the like
+of him hinder the Bishop's wish?" Then the Bishop wrote a few words in
+his pocket book, tore out the leaf, and gave it to Macrae, saying:
+"Mr. Odd will manage all I wish, no doubt. Now, sir, for my great
+pleasure, play us 'Home, Sweet Home.' I have not been here for four
+months, and it is good to be with friends again." And they all sang it
+together, and were perfectly at home with each other after it. So much
+so, that the Bishop asked Rahal to give him a cup of tea and a little
+bread; "I have come from Fair Island today," he said, "and have not
+eaten since noon."
+
+Then all the women went out together to prepare and serve the
+requested meal, so that it came with wonderful swiftness, and beaming
+smiles, and charming words of laughing pleasure. And when he saw a
+little table drawn to the hearth for him and quickly spread with the
+food he needed and smelled the refreshing odour of the young Hyson,
+and heard the pleasant tinkle of china and glass and silver as Thora
+placed them before the large chair he was to occupy, he sat down
+happily to eat and drink, while Thora served him, and Conall smoked
+and watched them with a now-and-then smile or word or two, while Rahal
+and Barbara talked, and Ian played charmingly--with soft pedal
+down--quotations from Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" and "Hark, 'Tis
+the Linnet!" from the oratorio, "Joshua."
+
+It was a delightful interlude in which every one was happy in their
+own way, and so healed by it of all the day's disappointments and
+weariness. But the wise never prolong such perfect moments. Even while
+yielding their first satisfactions, they permit them to depart. It is
+a great deal to _have been happy_. Every such memory sweetens after
+life.
+
+The Bishop did not linger over his meal, and while servants were
+clearing away cups and plates, he said, "Come, all of you, outside,
+for a few minutes. Come and look at the Moon of Moons! The Easter
+Moon! She has begun to fill her horns; and she is throwing over the
+mystery and majesty of earth and sea a soft silvery veil as she
+watches for the dawn. The Easter dawn! that in a few hours will come
+streaming up, full of light and warmth for all."
+
+But there was not much warmth in an Orcadean April evening and the
+party soon returned to the cheerful, comfortable hearth blaze. "It is
+not so beautiful as the moonlight," said Rahal, "but it is very
+good."
+
+"True," said the Bishop, "and we must not belittle the good we have,
+because we look for something better. Let us be thankful for our feet,
+though they are not wings."
+
+Then one of those sudden, inexplicable "arrests" which seem to seal
+up speech fell over every one, and for a minute or more no one could
+speak. Rahal broke the spell. "Some angel has passed through the room.
+Please God he left a blessing! Or perhaps the moonlight has thrown a
+spell over us. What were you thinking of, Bishop?"
+
+"I will tell you. I was thinking of the first Good Friday in Old
+Jerusalem. I was thinking of the sun hiding his face at noonday.
+Thora, have you an almanac?"
+
+Thora took one from a nail on which it was hanging and gave it to
+him.
+
+"I was thinking that the sun, which hid his face at noonday, must at
+that time have been in Aries, the Ram. Find me the signs of the
+Zodiac." Thora did so. "Now look well at Aries the Ram. What month of
+our year is signed thus?"
+
+"The month of March, sir."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I do not know. Tell me, sir."
+
+"I believe that in a long forgotten age, some priest or good man
+received a promise or prophecy revealing the Great Sacrifice that
+would be offered up for man's salvation once and for all time. And I
+think they knew that this plenary sacrament would occur in the vernal
+season, in the month of March, whose sign or symbol was Aries, the
+Ram."
+
+"But why under that sign, sir?"
+
+"The ram, to the ancient world, was the sacrificial animal. We have
+only to open our Bibles and be amazed at the prominence given to the
+ram and his congeners. From the time of Abraham until the time of
+Christ the ram is constantly present in sacrificial and religious
+ceremonies. Do you remember, Thora, any incident depending upon a
+ram?"
+
+"When Isaac was to be sacrificed, a ram caught in a thicket was
+accepted by God in Isaac's place, as a burnt offering."
+
+"More than once Abraham offered a ram in sacrifice. In Exodus, Chapter
+Twenty-ninth, special directions are given for the offering of a ram
+as a burnt offering to the Lord. In Leviticus, the Eighth Chapter, a
+bullock is sacrificed for a sin offering but a ram for a burnt
+offering. In Numbers we are told of _the ram of atonement_ which a man
+is to offer, when he has done his neighbour an injury. In Ezra, the
+Tenth, the ram is offered for a trespass because of an unlawful
+marriage. On the accession of Solomon to the throne one thousand rams
+with bullocks and lambs were 'offered up with great gladness.' In the
+Old Testament there are few books in which the sacrificial ram is not
+mentioned. Even the horn of the ram was constantly in evidence, for it
+called together all religious and solemn services.
+
+"A little circumstance," continued the Bishop, "that pleases me to
+remember occurred in Glasgow five weeks ago. I saw a crowd entering a
+large church, and I asked a workingman, who was eating his lunch
+outside the building, the name of the church; and he answered,--'It's
+just the auld Ram's Horn Kirk. They are putting a new minister in the
+pulpit today and they seem weel pleased wi' their choice.'
+
+"Now I am going to leave this subject with you. I have only indicated
+it. Those who wish to do so, can finish the list, for the half has not
+been told, and indeed I have left the most significant ceremony until
+the last. It is that wonderful service in the Sixteenth Chapter of
+Leviticus, where the priest, after making a sin offering of young
+bullocks and a burnt offering of a ram, casts lots upon two goats for
+a sin offering, and the goat upon which the lot falls is 'presented
+alive before the Lord to make an atonement; and to let him go for a
+scapegoat into the wilderness.'"
+
+Then he took from his pocket a little book and said, "Listen to the
+end of this service, 'And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head
+of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the
+Children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,
+putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away, by
+the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.
+
+"'And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land
+not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.'
+
+"My friends, this night let all read the Fifty-third of Isaiah, and
+they will understand how fitting it was that Christ should be 'offered
+up' in Aries the Ram, the sacrificial month representing the shadows
+and types of which He was the glorious arch-type."
+
+Then there was silence, too deeply charged with feeling, for words.
+The Bishop himself felt that he could speak on no lesser subject, and
+his small audience were lost in wonder at the vast panorama of
+centuries, day by day, century after century, through all of which God
+had remembered that He had promised He would provide the Great and
+Final Sacrifice for mankind's justification. Then Aries the Ram would
+no longer be a promise. It would be a voucher forever that the Promise
+had been redeemed, and a memorial that His Truth and His mercy
+endureth forever!
+
+At the door the Bishop said to Ragnor, "In a few hours, Friend Conall,
+it will be Easter Morning. Then we can tell each other '_Christ has
+risen_!'" And Conall's eyes were full of tears, he could not find his
+voice, he looked upward and bowed his head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SUNNA AND HER GRANDFATHER
+
+  Love is rich in his own right,
+    He is heir of all the spheres,
+  In his service day and night,
+    Swing the tides and roll the years.
+  What has he to ask of fate?
+    Crown him; glad or desolate.
+
+  Time puts out all other flames,
+    But the glory of his eyes;
+  His are all the sacred names,
+    His are all the mysteries.
+  Crown him! In his darkest day
+    He has Heaven to give away!
+                            --CARL SPENCER.
+
+                Arms are fair,
+  When the intent for bearing them is just.
+
+
+In the meantime Sunna was spending the evening with her grandfather.
+The old gentleman was reading, but she did not ask him to read aloud,
+she knew by the look and size of the book that it would not be
+interesting; and she was well pleased when one of her maids desired
+to speak with her.
+
+"Well then, Vera, what is thy wish?"
+
+"My sister was here and she was bringing me some strange news. About
+Mistress Brodie she was talking."
+
+"Yes, I heard she had come home. Did she bring Thora Ragnor a new
+Easter gown?"
+
+"Of a gown I heard nothing. It was a young man she brought! O so
+beautiful is he! And like an angel he sings! The Bishop was very
+friendly with him, and the Ragnors, also; but they, indeed! they are
+friendly with all kinds of people."
+
+"This beautiful young man, is he staying with the Ragnors?"
+
+"With Mistress Brodie he is staying, and with her he went to dinner at
+the Ragnors'. And the Bishop was there and the young man was singing,
+and a great deal was made of his singing, also they were speaking of
+his father who is a famous preacher in some Edinburgh kirk, and----"
+
+"These things may be so, but how came thy sister to know them?"
+
+"This morning my sister took work with Mistress Ragnor and she was
+waiting on them as they eat; and in and out of the room until nine
+o'clock. Then, as she went to her own home, she called on me and we
+talked of the matter, and it seemed to my thought that more might come
+of it."
+
+"Yes, no doubt. I shall see that more does come of it. I am well
+pleased with thee for telling me."
+
+Then she went back to her grandfather and resumed her knitting. Anon,
+she began to sing. Her face was flushed and her nixie eyes were
+dancing to the mischief she contemplated. In a few minutes the old
+gentleman lifted his head, and looked at her. "Sunna," he said, "thy
+song and thy singing are charming, but they fit not the book I am
+reading."
+
+"Then I will stop singing and thou must talk to me. There has come
+news, and I want thy opinion on it. The Ragnors had a dinner party
+today, and we were not asked."
+
+"A great lie is that! Conall Ragnor would not give Queen Victoria a
+party in Lent. Who told thee such foolishness?"
+
+Then Sunna retailed the information given her and asked, "What hast
+thou done to Conall Ragnor? Always before he bid thee to dinner when
+the Bishop was at his house? Or perhaps the offence is with Rahal
+Ragnor? Not long ago thou spent an afternoon with her and black and
+dangerous as a thunder storm thou came home."
+
+"This day the dinner was an accidental gathering. Rahal knows well
+that I have no will to dine with Mistress Brodie. Dost thou want her
+here, as thy stepmother?"
+
+"If Mistress Brodie is not tired of an easy life, she will turn her
+feet away from this house. If Sunna cannot please thee, thou art in
+danger of worse happening. Yes, many are guessing who it is thou wilt
+marry."
+
+"And which way runs the guessing?"
+
+"Not all one way. For thee, that is not a respectable thing. Thou
+should not be named with so many old women."
+
+"I am of thy opinion. An old woman is little to my mind. If I trust
+marriage again, I will choose a young girl for my wife--such an one as
+Treddie Fae, or Thora Ragnor."
+
+"Thora Ragnor! Dreaming thou art! I am sure Barbara Brodie has brought
+this young man here for Thora's approval. Can thou stand against a
+young man?"
+
+"Yes. Adam Vedder and fifty thousand pounds can hand any young man his
+hat and gloves. Thy father's father is not for thee to make a jest
+about. So here our talk shall come to an end on this subject. Go to
+thy bed! Sleep, and the Good Being bless thee!"
+
+Sunna was not yet inclined to sleep. She sat down before her mirror,
+uncoiled her plentiful hair, and carefully brushed and braided it for
+the night, as she considered the news that had come to her.
+
+"This beautiful young man, this singing man, is one of Barbara
+Brodie's 'finds.' Not much do I think of any of them! That handsome
+scholar she brought here turned out an unbearable encumbrance. I
+believe she paid him to go back to Edinburgh. That Aberdeen man, who
+wanted to invest money in Kirkwall had to borrow two pounds from
+grandfather to take him back to where he came from. That witty,
+good-looking Irishman left a big bill at the Castle Hotel for some one
+to pay; and the woman who wanted to begin a dressmaking business, on
+the good will of people like Barbara Brodie, knew nothing about
+dressmaking. This beautiful young man, I'll warrant, is a fish out of
+the same net. As for the Bishop being taken with his beauty, that is
+nothing! The poorer a man is, the better Bishop Hedley will like him.
+So it goes! I wish I knew where Boris Ragnor is--I wish----
+
+"Pshaw! I wonder what kind of a dress Mistress Barbara Brodie brought
+Thora. Not much taste in either men or clothes has she! Too large
+will the pattern be, or too strong the colours, and too heavy, or
+too light, will be the material. I know! And it will not fit her.
+Too big, or too little it is sure to be! With my own dress I am
+satisfied. And if grandfather asks no questions about it, I shall
+count it a lucky dress and save it till Boris comes home. I am
+going to forgive him when he comes home--perhaps----Now I will put
+the hopes and worries of this world under my pillow and be off to
+the Land of Dreams----Tomorrow is Sunday, Easter Sunday--I shall
+sing the solo in my new dress--that is good, I like a religious
+feeling in a new dress--I think I am rather a religious girl."
+
+Alas for the hopes of all who wanted to dress for Easter. It was an
+uncompromising, wet day. It was oil skin and rubber for the men; it
+was cloaks and pattens and umbrellas for the women. Yet, aside from
+the rain, it was a day full of good things. The cathedral was crowded,
+there was full cathedral service, and the Bishop preached a
+transfiguring sermon. The music was good, the home choir did well, and
+Sunna's solo was effectively sung; but after she had heard Ian
+Macrae's "Gloria," she was sorry she had sung at all.
+
+"Grandfather!" she commented, "No private person has a right to sing
+as that man sings! After him, non-professionals make a show of
+themselves."
+
+"Thou sang well--better than usual, I thought."
+
+"I was told he was such a handsome young man! And he has black hair
+and black eyes! Even his skin is dark. He looks like a Celt. I don't
+like Celts. None of our people like them. When they come to the
+fishing they are not respected."
+
+"Thou art much mistaken. Our men like them."
+
+"Boris Ragnor says they are poor traders."
+
+"Well then, it is to fish they come."
+
+"What they come for is no care of mine. Boris is ten times more of a
+man than the best of them. No notice shall I take of this Celt."
+
+"Through thy scorn he may live, and even enjoy his life. The English
+officers do that."
+
+"This chicken is better than might be. Wilt thou have a little more of
+it?"
+
+"Enough is plenty. I have had enough. At Conall Ragnor's there is
+always good eating and I am going there for my supper. Wilt thou go
+with me? Then with Thora thou can talk. This beautiful young man is
+likely at Ragnor's. It was too stormy for Mistress Brodie to go to her
+own house at the noonday. Dost thou see then, how it will be?"
+
+"I will go with thee, I want to see Thora's new dress. I need not
+notice the young man."
+
+"His name? Already I have forgotten it."
+
+"Odd was calling him 'Macrae.'"
+
+"Macrae! That is Highland Scotch. The Macraes are a good family. There
+is a famous minister in Edinburgh of that name. The Calvinists all
+swear by him."
+
+"This man sang in a full cathedral service. Dost thou believe a
+Calvinist would do that? He would be sure it was a disguised mass, and
+nothing better."
+
+Adam laughed as he said, "Well, then, go with me this night to
+Ragnor's and between us we will find something out. A mystery is not
+pleasant to thee."
+
+"There is something wrong in a mystery, that is what I feel."
+
+"Thou can ask Thora all about him."
+
+"I shall not ask her. She will tell me."
+
+Adam laughed again. "That is the best way," he said. "It was thy
+father's way. Well then, five minutes ago, the wind changed. By four
+o'clock it will be fair."
+
+"Then I will be ready to go with thee. If I am left alone, I am sad;
+and that is not good for my health."
+
+"But thou must behave well, even to the Celt."
+
+"Unless it is worth my while, I do not quarrel with any one."
+
+"Was it worth thy while to quarrel with Boris Ragnor?"
+
+"Yes--or I had not quarrelled with him."
+
+"Here comes the sunshine! Gleam upon gloom! Cheery and good it is!"
+
+"They say an Easter dress should be christened with a few drops of
+rain. That is not my opinion. I like the Easter sunshine on it. Now I
+shall leave thee and go and rest and dress myself. Very good is thy
+talk and thy company to me, but to thee, I am foolishness. As I shut
+the door, the big book thou art reading, thou wilt say to it: 'Now,
+friend of my soul, some sensible talk we will have together, for that
+foolish girl has gone to her foolishness at her looking glass.'"
+
+"Run away! I am in a hurry for my big book."
+
+Sunna shut the door with a kiss--and as she took the stairs with
+hurrying steps, the sunshine came dancing through the long window, and
+her feet trod on it and it fell all over her.
+
+At four o'clock she was ready for her evening's inquest and she found
+her grandfather waiting for her. He had put on a light vest and a
+white tie, and he had that clean, healthy, good-tempered look that
+pleases all women. He smiled and bowed to Sunna and she deserved the
+compliment; for she was beautiful and had dressed her beauty most
+becomingly. Her gown was of Saxony cloth, the exact colour of her
+hair, with a collar, stomacher and high cuffs of pale green velvet.
+The collar was tied with cord and small tassels of gold braid; the
+stomacher laced with gold braid over small gilt buttons, and the high
+cuffs were trimmed to match. Very handsome gilt combs held up her
+rippled hair, and a large red-riding-hood cloak covered her from the
+crowning bow of her hair to the little French pattens that protected
+her black satin slippers. She expected to make a conquest, and her
+thoughts were usually the factors of success.
+
+A little disappointment awaited her. She was usually shown into the
+right-hand parlour at once, and she relied on the bit of colour
+afforded by her scarlet cloak to give life to the modest shades of her
+spring colours of pale fawn and tender green. But servants were
+setting the dinner table in the right-hand parlour; and Conall and
+Rahal and Aunt Barbara had taken themselves to Conall's little
+business room where there was a bright fire burning. There, in his big
+chair, Conall was next door to sleeping; and Barbara and Rahal were
+talking in a sleepy, mysterious way about something that did not
+appear to interest them.
+
+At the sound of Adam Vedder's voice, Conall became wide awake; and
+Barbara's face lighted up with a fresh interest. If there was nothing
+else, there was a chronic quarrel between them, which Barbara was
+ready to lift at a moment's notice. But Sunna was not dissatisfied.
+Conall's quick look of admiration, and Rahal's and Barbara's glances
+of surprise, were excellent in their way. She knew she had given them
+a subject of interest sufficient to make even the hour before dinner
+appear short.
+
+"Where is Thora?" she asked, as she turned every way, apparently to
+look for Thora, but really to allow her admirers to convince
+themselves that her dress was trimmed as handsomely at the back as the
+front--that if the stomacher was perfect in front, the sash of green
+velvet at the back was quite as stylish and elaborate.
+
+"Where _is_ Thora?" she asked again.
+
+"In the drawing room thou wilt find Thora with Ian Macrae," said
+Rahal. "Go to them. They will be glad of thy company."
+
+"Doubtful is their gladness. Two are company, three are a crowd. Yet
+so it is! I must run into danger, like the rest of women."
+
+"Is that thy Easter gown, Sunna?" asked Mistress Brodie.
+
+"It is. Dost thou like it?"
+
+"Who would not like it? The rumour goes abroad that thy grandfather
+sent to Inverness for it. Others say it came to thee from Edinburgh."
+
+"Wrong are both stories. I am happy to say that Sunna Vedder gave
+herself a dress so pretty and so suitable."
+
+With these smiling words she left the room and the elder women
+shrugged their shoulders and looked expressively at each other. "What
+can a sensible man like Boris Ragnor see in such a harum-scarum girl!"
+was Rahal Ragnor's question, and Barbara Brodie thought it was all
+Adam Vedder's fault. "He ought to have married some sensible woman who
+would have brought up the girl as girls ought to be brought up," she
+answered; adding, "We may as well remember that the management of
+women, at any age, is a business clean beyond Adam Vedder's
+capabilities."
+
+"Adam is a clever man, Barbie."
+
+"Book clever! What is the use of book wisdom when you have a live
+girl, full of her own way, to deal with?"
+
+"Conall chose the husbands for his daughters. They were quite suitable
+to the girls and they have been very happy with them."
+
+"Thora will choose for herself."
+
+"Perhaps, that may be so. Thora has been spoiled. Her marriage need
+not yet be thought of. In two or three years, we will consider it. The
+little one has not yet any dreams of that kind."
+
+"Such dreams come in a moment--when you are not thinking of them."
+
+In fact, at that very moment Thora was learning the mystery of
+"falling in love"; and there is hardly a more vital thing in life than
+this act. For it is something taking place in the subconscious self;
+it is a revolution, and a growth. It happened that after dinner,
+Conall wished to hear Ian sing again that loveliest of all metrical
+Collects, "Lord of All Power and Might," and Thora went with Ian to do
+her part as accompanist on the piano. As they sang Conall appeared to
+fall asleep, and no more music was asked for.
+
+Then Ian lifted a book full of illustrations of the English lake
+district, and they sat down on the sofa to examine it. Ian had once
+been at Keswick and Ambleside, and he began to tell her about Lake
+Windemere and these lovely villages. He was holding Thora's hand and
+glancing constantly into her face, and before he recognised what he
+was saying, Ambleside and Windemere were quite forgotten, and he was
+telling Thora that he loved her with an everlasting love. He vowed
+that he had loved her in his past lives, and would love her, and only
+her, forever. And he looked so handsome and spoke in words of the
+sweetest tenderness, and indeed was amazed at his own passionate
+eloquence, but knew in his soul that every word he said was true.
+
+And Thora, the innocent little one, was equally sure of his truth. She
+blushed and listened, while he drew her closer to his side calling her
+"his own, his very own!" and begging her to promise that she would
+"marry him, and no other man, in the whole earth."
+
+And Thora promised him what he wished and for one-half hour they were
+in Paradise.
+
+Now, how could this love affair have come to perfection so rapidly?
+Because it was the natural and the proper way. True love dates its
+birth from the first glance. It is the coming together of two souls,
+and in their first contact love flashes forth like flame. And then
+their influence over each other is like that gravitation which one
+star exerts over another star.
+
+But much that passes for love is not love. It is only a prepossession,
+pleasant and profitable, promising many every-day advantages. True
+love is a deep and elemental thing, a secret incredible glory, in a
+way, it is even a spiritual triumph. And we should have another name
+for love like this. For it is the long, long love, that has followed
+us through ages, the healing love, the Comforter! In the soul of a
+young, innocent girl like Thora, it is a kind of piety, and ought to
+be taken with a wondering thankfulness.
+
+An emotion so spiritual and profound was beyond Sunna's understanding.
+She divined that there had been some sort of love-making, but she was
+unfamiliar with its present indications. Her opinion, however, was
+that Ian had offered himself to Thora, and been rejected; in no other
+way could she account for the far-offness of both parties. Thora
+indeed was inexplicable. She not only refused to show Sunna her Easter
+dress, she would not enter into any description of it.
+
+"That is a very remarkable thing," she said to her grandfather, as
+they walked home together. "I think the young man made love to Thora
+and even asked her to marry him, and Thora was frightened and said
+'No!' and she is likely sorry now that she did not say 'Yes.'"
+
+"To say 'No!' would not have frightened thee, I suppose?"
+
+"That is one of the disagreeable things women have to get used to."
+
+"How often must a woman say 'No!' in order to get used to it?"
+
+"That depends on several small things; for instance I am very
+sympathetic. I have a tender heart! Yes, and so I suffer."
+
+"I am glad to know of thy sympathy. If I asked thee to marry a young
+man whom I wished thee to marry, would thou do it--just to please
+me?"
+
+"It would depend--on my mood that day."
+
+"Say, it was thy sympathetic mood?"
+
+"That would be unfavourable. Of the others I should think, and I
+should feel that I was cruel; if I took all hope from them."
+
+"Thou wilt not be reasonable. I am not joking. Would thou marry Boris
+to please me?"
+
+"Boris has offended me. He must come to me, and say, 'I am sorry.' He
+must take what punishment I choose for his rudeness to me. Then, I may
+forgive him."
+
+"And marry him?"
+
+"Only my angel knows, if it is so written. Men do not like to do as
+their women say they must do. Is there any man in the Orcades who
+dares to say 'No,' to his wife's 'Yes?'"
+
+"What of Sandy Stark?"
+
+"Sandy is a Scot! I do not use a Scotch measure for a Norseman. Thou
+art not a perfect Norseman, but yet, even in Edinburgh, there is no
+Scot that could be thy measure. I should have to say--'thou art five
+inches taller than the Scot at thy side, and forty pounds heavier, and
+nearly twice as strong.' That would not be correct to an ounce, but it
+is as near as it is possible to come between Norse and Scot."
+
+"Thou art romancing!"
+
+"As for the Norse women----"
+
+"About Norse women there is no need for thee to teach thy grandfather.
+I know what Norse women are like. If I did not know, I should have
+married again."
+
+"Well then, Barbara Brodie is a good specimen of a capable Norse woman
+and I have noticed one thing about them, that I feel ought to be
+better understood."
+
+"Chut! What hast thou understood? Talk about it, and let thy wisdom be
+known."
+
+"Well then, it is this thing--Norse women always outlive their
+husbands. Thou may count by tens and hundreds the widows in this town.
+The 'maidens of blushing fifteen' have no opportunities; the widow of
+fifty asks a young man into her beautiful home and makes him
+acquainted with the burden of her rents and dividends and her share
+in half a dozen trading boats, and he takes to the golden lure and
+marries himself like the rest of the world. Thou would have been
+re-married long ago but for my protection. I have had a very
+disagreeable day and----"
+
+"Then go to thy bed and put an end to it."
+
+"My new dress is crushed and some way or other I have got a spot on
+the front breadth. Is it that Darwin book thou art looking for?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Would thou like to read a chapter to me?"
+
+"No, I would not."
+
+"Grandfather, I can understand it. I like clever men. Can thou
+introduce me to him--to Darwin?"
+
+"He would not care to see thee. Clever men do not want clever wives;
+so if thou art thinking of a clever husband keep thy 'blue stockings'
+well under thy petticoats."
+
+"And grandfather, do thou keep out of the way of the widows of Orkney
+or thou wilt find thyself inside of a marriage ring."
+
+"Not while thou remains unmarried. Few women would care to look after
+thy welfare. I am used to it, long before thou had been short-coated,
+I had to walk thee to sleep in my arms."
+
+"Yes," laughed Sunna, "I remember that. I felt myself safest with
+thee."
+
+"Thou remembers nothing of the kind. At six months old, thou could
+neither compare nor remember."
+
+"But thou art mistaken. I was born with perfect senses. Ere I was
+twenty-four hours old, I had selected thee as the most suitable person
+to walk me to sleep. I think that was a proof of my perfect
+intelligence. One thing more, and then I will let thee read. I am
+going to marry Boris Ragnor, and then the widow Brodie would--take
+charge of thee." She shut the door to these words and Adam heard her
+laughing all the way to her own room. Then he rubbed his hand slowly
+over and over his mouth and said to himself--"She shall have her
+say-so; Boris is the only man on the Islands who can manage her."
+
+After the departure of the Vedders, Rahal and her sister Brodie went
+upstairs, taking Thora with them. She went cheerfully though a little
+reluctantly. She liked to hear Ian talk. She had thought of asking him
+to sing; but she was satisfied with the one straight, long look which
+flashed between them, as Ian bid her "good night"; for--
+
+  He looked at her as a lover can;
+  She looked at him as one who awakes,
+  The past was a sleep and her life began.
+
+Then she went to her room, and thought of Ian until she fell asleep
+and dreamed of him.
+
+For nearly two hours Ian remained with Conall Ragnor. The Railway
+Mania was then at its height in England, and the older man was
+delighted with Ian's daring stories of its mad excitement. Ian had
+seen and talked with Hudson, the draper's clerk, who had just
+purchased a fine ducal residence and estate from the results of his
+reckless speculations. Ian knew all the Scotch lines, he had even full
+faith in the _Caledonian_ when it was first proposed and could hardly
+win any attention. "Every one said a railway between England and
+Scotland would not pay, Mr. Ragnor," said Ian.
+
+"I would have said very different," replied Conall. "It would be
+certain to pay. Why not?"
+
+"Because there would be _no returns_," laughed Ian, and then Conall
+laughed also, and wished that Boris had been there to learn whatever
+Ian might teach him.
+
+"Hast thou speculated in railway stock yet," he asked.
+
+"No, sir. I have not had the money to do so."
+
+"How would thou buy if thou had?"
+
+"I would buy when no one else was buying, and when everyone else was
+buying, I would keep cool, and sell. A very old and clever speculator
+gave me that advice as a steady rule, saying it was 'his only
+guide.'"
+
+This was the tenor of the men's conversation until near midnight, and
+then Ragnor went with Ian to the door of his room and bid him a frank
+and friendly good night. And as he stood a moment handfast with the
+youth, his conscience troubled him a little and he said: "Ian, Ian,
+thou art a wise lad about this world's business, but thou must not be
+forgetting that there is another world after this."
+
+"I do not forget that, sir."
+
+"Bishop Hedley is a greater and wiser man than all the railway nabobs
+thou hast spoken of."
+
+"I think so, sir! I do indeed!" and the mutual smile and nod that
+followed required no further "good night."
+
+It was a lovely, silent night. The very houses looked as if they were
+asleep; and there was not a sound either in the town on the brown pier
+or the moonlit sea. It was a night full of the tranquillity of God.
+Men and women looked into its peace, and carried its charm into their
+dreams. For most fine spirits that dwell by the sea have an elemental
+sympathy with strange oracles and dreams and old Night. In the
+morning, Conall Ragnor was the first to awaken. He went at once to
+fling open his window. Then he cried out in amazement and wonder, and
+awakened his wife:--
+
+"Rahal! Rahal!" he shouted. "Come here! Come quick! Look at the town!
+It is hung with flags. The ships in the harbour--flying are their
+flags also! And there is a ship just entering the harbour and her
+colours are flying! And there are the guns! They are saluting her from
+the garrison! It must be a man-of-war! I wonder if the Queen is coming
+to see us at last! If thou art ready, call Thora and Barbara.
+Something is up! Thou may hear the town now, all tip-on-top with
+excitement!"
+
+"Why did not thou call us sooner, Coll?"
+
+"I slept late and long."
+
+"But thou must have heard the town noises?"
+
+"A confused noise passed through my ears, a noise full of hurry like a
+morning dream, that was all. Now, I am going for my swim and I will
+bring the news home with me."
+
+But long before it was within expectation of Ragnor's return, the
+three women standing at the open door saw Ian coming rapidly to the
+house from the town. His walk was swift and full of excitement. His
+head was thrown upward, and he kept striking himself on the right
+side, just over the place where his ancestors had worn their dirks or
+broadswords. As soon as he saw the three women he flung his Glengarry
+skyward and shouted a ringing "Hurrah!"
+
+As he approached them, all were struck with his remarkable beauty, his
+manly figure, his swift graceful movements and his handsome face
+suffused with the brightness of fiery youth. Through their long black
+lashes his eyes were shining and glowing and full of spirit, and
+indeed his whole personality was instinct with verve and fire. Anyone
+watching his approach would have said--"Here comes a youth made to
+lead a rattling charge of cavalry."
+
+"Whatever is the matter with you, Ian?" cried Mistress Brodie. "You
+are surely gone daft."
+
+"No indeed!" he answered. "I seem at this very hour to have just found
+myself and my senses."
+
+"What is all the fuss about, Ian?" asked Rahal.
+
+"England has gone to war at the long last with the cruel, crafty black
+Bear of the North."
+
+"Well then, it is full time she did so, there are none will say
+different."
+
+"And," continued Ian, "there is a ship now in harbour carrying
+enlisting officers--you may see her; she is to call at the Orkney and
+Shetland Islands for recruits for the navy, and Great Scot! she will
+get them! All she wants! She could take every man out of Kirkwall!"
+
+"The Mayor and Captain Ragnor will not permit her to do so. She will
+have to leave men to manage the fishing," said Rahal.
+
+"I thought the women could do that," said Ian.
+
+"You do not know what you are talking about. It takes two or three men
+to lift a net full of fish out of the water, and they are about done
+up if they manage it. Come in and get your breakfast. If your news be
+true, there is no saying when Ragnor will get home. He will have some
+reasoning with his men to do, he cannot spare many of them."
+
+"I have a good idea," said Mistress Brodie. "I will give a dance on
+Friday night for the enlisting officers, and we will invite all the
+presentable young men, and all the prettiest girls, to meet them."
+
+"But you will be too late on Friday. The cutter and her crew will
+leave Thursday morning early," said Ian.
+
+"Then say Wednesday night."
+
+"That might do. I could tell the men freshly enlisted to wear a white
+ribbon in their coats----"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Rahal. "What are you saying, Ian? A white favour
+is a Stuart favour. You would set the men fighting in the very dance
+room. There is no excuse in the Orkneys for a Stuart memory."
+
+"I was not thinking of the Stuarts. Have they not done bothering
+yet?"
+
+"In the Scotch heart the Stuart lives forever," said Rahal, with a
+sigh.
+
+But the dance was decided on and some preparations made for it as soon
+as breakfast was over. Ian was enthusiastic on the matter and Thora
+caught his enthusiasm very readily, and before night, all Kirkwall was
+preparing to feast and rejoice because England was going to make the
+great Northern Bear--"the Bear that walks like a man"--stay in the
+North where he belonged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SUNNA AND THORA
+
+  Love, the old, old troubler of the world.
+
+  Love has reasons, of which reason knows nothing.
+
+  Alas, how easily things go wrong!
+  A sigh too much, or a kiss too long,
+  And there follows a mist and a weeping rain
+  And life is never the same again.
+
+
+No sooner was Mrs. Brodie's intention known, than all her friends were
+eager to help her. There was truly but little time between Monday
+morning and Wednesday night; but many hands make light work, and old
+and young offered their services in arranging for what it pleased all
+to consider as a kind of national thanksgiving.
+
+The unanimity of this kindness gave Rahal a slight attack of a certain
+form of jealousy, to which she had been subject for many years, and
+she asked her husband, as she had done often before, "Why is it, Coll,
+that every woman in the town is eager to help and encourage Barbara
+if she only speaks of having a dance or dinner; but if I, thy wife, am
+the giver of pleasure, I am left to do all without help or any show of
+interest. It troubles me, Coll."
+
+And Coll answered as he always did answer--"It is thy superiority,
+Rahal. Is there any woman we know, who would presume to give thee
+advice or counsel? And it is well understood by all of them that thou
+cannot thole an obligation. Thou, and thy daughter, and thy servants
+are sufficient for all thy social plans; and why should thou be
+bothered with a lot of old and young women? Thy sister Brodie loves a
+crowd about her, and she says 'thank thee' to all and sundry, as
+easily as she takes a drink of water. It chokes thee to say 'thanks'
+to any one."
+
+So Rahal was satisfied, and went with the rest to help Mistress Brodie
+prepare for her dance. There were women in the kitchen making pies and
+custards and jellies, and women in her parlours cleaning and
+decorating them, and women in the great hall taking up carpets because
+it was a favourite place for reels, and women washing China and
+trimming lamps. Thora was doing the shopping, Ian was carrying the
+invitations; and every one who had been favoured with one had not
+only said "Yes," but had also asked if there was anything they could
+loan, or do, to help the impromptu festival. Thus, Mrs. Harold Baikie
+sent her best service of China, and the Faes sent several extra large
+lamps, and the bride of Luke Serge loaned her whole supply of
+glassware, and Rahal took over her stock of table silver; and Mistress
+Brodie received every loan--useful or not--with the utmost delight and
+satisfaction.
+
+On Wednesday afternoon, however, she was faced by a condition she did
+not know how to manage. Ian came to her in a hurry, saying, "My
+friend, McLeod, is longing for an invitation from you, and he has
+asked me to request one. Surely you will send him the favour! Yes, I
+know you will."
+
+"You are knowing too much, Ian. What can I do? You know well, laddie,
+he is not popular with the best set here."
+
+"I would not mind the 'best set' if I were you. What makes them 'the
+best'? Just their own opinion of themselves. McLeod is of gentle
+birth, he is handsome and good-hearted, you will like him as soon as
+you speak to him. There is another 'best set' beside the one Adam
+Vedder leads; I would like some one to take down that old man's
+conceit of himself--there is nothing wrong with McLeod! Yes, he is
+Highland Scotch----"
+
+"There! that is enough, Ian! Go your ways and bid the young man. Ask
+him in your own name."
+
+"No, Mistress, I will not do that. The invitation carries neither
+honour nor good will without your name."
+
+"Well then, my name be it. My name has been so much used lately, I
+think I will change it."
+
+"Take my name then. I will be proud indeed if you will."
+
+"You are aye daffing, Ian; I am o'er busy for nonsense the now. Give
+the Mac a hint that tartans are not necessary."
+
+"But I cannot do that. I am going to wear the Macrae tartan."
+
+"You can let that intent go by."
+
+"No, I can not! A certain 'yes' may depend on my wearing the Macrae
+tartan."
+
+"Well, checked cloth is bonnier than black broadcloth to some people.
+I don't think Thora Ragnor is among that silly crowd. There is not a
+more quarrelsome dress than a tartan kilt--and I'm thinking the
+Brodies were ill friends with the Macraes in the old days."
+
+"The Brodies are not Highlanders."
+
+"You are a shamefully ignorant man, Ian Macrae. The Brodies came from
+Moray, and are the only true lineal descendants of Malcolm Thane of
+Brodie in the reign of Alexander the Third, lawful King of Scotland.
+What do you think of the Brodies now?"
+
+"The Macrae doffs his bonnet to them; but----"
+
+"If you say another word, the McLeod will be out of it--sure and
+final."
+
+So Ian laughingly left the room, and Mistress Brodie walked to the
+window and watched him speeding towards the town. "He is a wonderful
+lad!" she said to herself. "And I wish he was my lad! Oh why were all
+my bairns lasses? They just married common bodies and left me! Oh for
+a lad like Ian Macrae!" Then with a great sigh, she added: "It is all
+right. I would doubtless have spoiled and mismanaged him!"
+
+It is not to be supposed that Sunna Vedder kept away from all this
+social stir and preparation. She was first and foremost in everything
+during Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday she reserved herself
+altogether for the evening. No one saw her until the noon hour; then
+she came to the dinner table, for she had an entirely fresh request to
+make, one which she was sure would require all her personal influence
+to compass.
+
+She prefaced it with the intelligence that Boris had arrived during
+the night, and that Elga had met him in the street--"looking more
+handsome than any man ought to look, except upon his wedding day."
+
+"And on that day," said Adam, gloomily, "a man has generally good
+cause to look ugly."
+
+"But if he was going to marry me, Grandfather, how then?"
+
+"He would doubtless look handsome. Men usually do when they are on the
+road of destruction."
+
+"Grandfather! I have made up my mind to marry Boris, and lead him the
+way I want him to go. That will always be the way thou chooseth."
+
+"How comes that?"
+
+"I loved thee first of all. I shall always love thee first. Boris
+played me false, I must pay him back. I must make him suffer. Those
+Ragnors--all of them--put on such airs! They make me sick."
+
+"What art thou after? What favour art thou seeking?"
+
+"Thou knows how the girls will try to outdress each other at this
+Brodie affair----"
+
+"It is too late for a new dress--what is it thou wants now?"
+
+"I want thee to go to the bank and get me my mother's necklace to wear
+just this one night."
+
+"I will not. I gave thy dead mother a promise."
+
+"Break it, for a few hours. My Easter dress is not a dancing dress. I
+have no dancing dress but the pretty white silk thou gave me last
+Christmas--and I have no ornaments at all--none whatever, fit to wear
+with it."
+
+"There are always flowers----"
+
+"Flowers! There is not a flower in Kirkwall. Easter and old Mistress
+Brodie have used up every daisy--besides, white silk ought to have
+jewels."
+
+Adam shook his head positively.
+
+"My mother wishes me to have what I want. Thou ought not to keep it
+from me."
+
+"She told me to give thee her necklace on thy twenty-first birthday--not
+before."
+
+"That is so silly! What better is my twenty-first birthday than any
+other day? Grandfather, I cannot love thee more, because my love for
+thee is already a perfect love; but I will be such a good girl if thou
+wilt give me what I want, O so much I want it! I will be so obedient!
+I will do everything thou desires! I will even marry Boris Ragnor."
+And this urgent request was punctuated with kisses and little fondling
+strokes of her hand, and Adam finally asked--
+
+"How shall I answer thy mother when she accuses me of breaking my
+promise to her?"
+
+"I will answer for thee. O dear! It is growing late! If thou dost not
+hurry, the bank will be closed, and then I shall be sick with
+disappointment, and it will be thy fault."
+
+Then Adam rose and left the house and Sunna, having seen that he took
+the proper turn in the road, called for a cup of tea and having
+refreshed herself with it, went upstairs to lay out and prepare
+everything for her toilet. And as she went about this business she
+continually justified herself:--
+
+"It is only natural I should have my necklace," she thought. "Norse
+women have always adored gold and silver and gems, and in the old days
+their husbands sailed long journeys and fought battles for what their
+women wanted. My great Aunt Christabelle often told me that many of
+the old Shetland and Orkney families had gold ornaments and uncut
+gems, hundreds of years old, hid away. I would not wonder if
+Grandfather has some! I dare say the bank's safe is full of them! I do
+not care for them but I do want my mother's wedding necklace--and I am
+going to have it. Right and proper it is, I should have it now. Mother
+would say so if she were here. Girls are women earlier than they were
+in her day. Twenty-one, indeed! I expect to be married long before I
+am twenty-one."
+
+In less than an hour she began to watch the road for her grandfather's
+return. Very soon she saw him coming and he had a small parcel in his
+hand. Her heart gave a throb of satisfaction and she began to unplait
+her manifold small braids: "I shall not require to go to bed," she
+murmured. "Grandfather has my necklace. He will want to take it back
+to the bank tomorrow--I shall see about that--I promised--yes, I know!
+But there are ways--out of a promise."
+
+She was, of course, delightfully grateful to receive the necklace, and
+Vedder could not help noticing how beautiful her loosened hair
+looked. Its length and thickness and waves of light colour gave to
+her stately, blonde beauty a magical grace, and Vedder was one of
+those men who admire the charms of his own family as something
+naturally greater than the same charms in any other family. "The
+Vedders carry their beauty with an air," he said, and he was right.
+The Vedders during the course of a few centuries of social prominence
+had acquired that air of superiority which impresses, and also
+frequently offends.
+
+Certainly, Sunna Vedder in white silk and a handsome necklace of
+rubies and diamonds was an imposing picture; and Adam Vedder, in spite
+of his sixty-two years, was an imposing escort. It would be difficult
+to say why, for he was a small man in comparison with the towering
+Norsemen by whom he was surrounded. Yet he dominated and directed any
+company he chose to favour with his presence; and every man in
+Kirkwall either feared or honoured him. Sunna had much of his natural
+temperament, but she had not the driving power of his cultivated
+intellect. She relied on her personal beauty and the many natural arts
+with which Nature has made women a match for any antagonist. Had she
+not heard her grandfather frequently say "a beautiful woman is the
+best armed creature that God has made! She is as invincible as a
+rhinoceros!"
+
+This night he had paid great attention to his own toilet. He was
+fashionably attired, neat as a new pin, and if not amiable, at least
+exceedingly polite. He had leaning on his arm what he considered the
+most beautiful creature in Scotland, and he assumed the manners of her
+guardian with punctilious courtesy.
+
+There was a large company present when the Vedders reached Mrs.
+Brodie's--military men, a couple of naval officers, gentlemen of
+influence, and traders of wealth and enterprise; with a full
+complement of women "divinely tall and fair." Sunna made the sensation
+among them she expected to make. There was a sudden pause in
+conversation and every eye filled itself with her beauty. For just a
+moment, it seemed as if there was no other person present.
+
+Then Mrs. Brodie and Colonel Belton came to meet them, and Sunna was
+left in the latter's charge. "Will you now dance, Miss Vedder?" he
+asked.
+
+"Let us first walk about a little, Colonel. I want to find my friend,
+Thora Ragnor."
+
+"I have long desired an introduction to Miss Ragnor. Is she not
+lovely?"
+
+"Yes, but now only for one man. A stranger came here last week, and
+she was captured at once."
+
+"How remarkable! I thought that kind of irresponsible love had gone
+quite out of favour and fashion."
+
+"Not so! This youth came, saw, and conquered."
+
+"Is it the youth I see with Ken McLeod?"
+
+"The same. Look! There they are, together as usual."
+
+"She is very sweet and attractive."
+
+Sunna answered this remark by asking Thora to honour Colonel Belton
+with her company for a short time, saying: "In the interval I will
+take care of Ian Macrae." Then Thora stood up in her innocence and
+loveliness and she was like some creature of more ethereal nature than
+goes with flesh and blood. For the eye took her in as a whole, and at
+first noticed neither her face nor her dress in particular. Her dress
+was only of white tarlatan, a thin, gauze-like material long out of
+fashion. It is doubtful if any woman yet remembers its airy, fairy
+sway, and graceful folds. The filmy robe, however, was plentifully
+trimmed with white satin ribbon, and the waist was entirely of satin
+trimmed with tarlatan. The whole effect was girlish and simple, and
+Thora needed no other ornament but the pink and white daisies at her
+belt.
+
+However, if Sunna expected Thora's manner and conversation to match
+the simplicity of her dress, she was disappointed. In Love's school
+women learn with marvellous rapidity, and Thora astonished her by
+falling readily into a conversation of the most up-to-date social
+character. She had caught the trick from Ian, a little playful fencing
+round the most alluring of subjects, yet it brought out the simplicity
+of her character, while it also revealed its purity and intelligence.
+
+Dancing had commenced when Mrs. Ragnor entered the room on the arm of
+her son Boris. Boris instantly looked around for Sunna and she was
+dancing with McLeod. All the evening afterwards Boris danced, but
+never once with Sunna, and Adam Vedder watched the young man with
+scorn. He was the most desirable party in the room for any girl and he
+quite neglected the handsome Sunna Vedder. That was not his only
+annoyance. McLeod was dancing far too often with Sunna, and even the
+beautiful youth Ian Macrae had only asked her hand once; and Adam was
+sure that Thora Ragnor had been the suggester of that act of
+politeness. Girls far inferior to Sunna in every respect had received
+more attention than his granddaughter. He was greatly offended, but he
+appeared to turn his back on the whole affair and to be entirely
+occupied in conversation with Conall Ragnor and Colonel Belton
+concerning the war with Russia.
+
+Every way the evening was to Sunna a great disappointment, in many
+respects she felt it to be a great humiliation; and the latter feeling
+troubled her more for her grandfather than for herself. She knew he
+was mortified, for he did not speak to her as they walked through the
+chill, damp midnight to their home. Mrs. Brodie had urged Adam and
+Sunna to put the night past at her house, but Adam had been proof
+against all her suggestions, and even against his own desires. So he
+satisfied his temper by walking home and insisting on Sunna doing
+likewise.
+
+It was a silent, unhappy walk. Adam said not a word to Sunna and she
+would not open the way for his anger to relieve itself. When they
+reached home they found a good fire in the room full of books which
+Adam called his own, and there they went. Then Sunna let her long
+dress fall down, and put out her sandalled feet to the warmth of the
+fire. Adam glanced into her face and saw that it was full of trouble.
+
+"Go to thy bed, Sunna," he said. "Of this night thou must have had
+enough."
+
+"I have had too much, by far. If only thou loved me!"
+
+"Who else do I love? There is none but thee."
+
+"Then with some one thou ought to be angry."
+
+"Is it with Boris Ragnor I should be angry?"
+
+"Yes! It is with Boris Ragnor. Not once did he ask me to dance.
+Watching him and me were all the girls. They saw how he slighted me,
+and made little nods and laughs about it."
+
+"It was thy own fault. When Boris came into the room, he looked for
+thee. With McLeod thou wert dancing. With that Scot thou wert dancing!
+The black look on his face, I saw it, thou should have seen it and
+have given him a smile--Pshaw! Women know so much--and do so little.
+By storm thou ought to have taken the whole affair for thy own. I am
+disappointed in thee--yes, I am disappointed."
+
+"Why, Grandfather?"
+
+"An emergency thou had to face, and thou shirked it. When Boris
+entered the room, straight up to him thou should have gone; with an
+outstretched hand and a glad smile thou should have said: 'I am
+waiting for thee, Boris!' Then thou had put all straight that was
+crooked, and carried the evening in thy own hands."
+
+"I will pay Boris for this insult. Yes, I will, and thou must help
+me."
+
+"To quarrel with Boris? To injure him in any way? No! that I will not
+do. It would be to quarrel also with my old friend Conall. Not thee!
+Not man or woman living, could make me do that! Sit down and I will
+tell thee a better way."
+
+"No, I will not sit down till thou say 'yes' to what I ask"; for some
+womanly instinct told her that while Adam was cowering over the hearth
+blaze and she stood in all her beauty and splendour above him, she
+controlled the situation. "Thou must help me!"
+
+"To what or whom?"
+
+"I want to marry Boris."
+
+"Dost thou love him?"
+
+"Better than might be. When mine he is all mine, then I will love
+him."
+
+"That is little to trust to."
+
+"Thou art wrong. It is of reasons one of the best and surest. Not
+three months ago, a little dog followed thee home, an ugly,
+half-starved little mongrel, not worth a shilling; but it was
+determined to have thee for its master, and thou called it thy dog,
+and now it is petted and pampered and lies at thy feet, and barks at
+every other dog, and thou says it is the best dog on the Island. It is
+the same way with husbands. Thou hast seen how Mary Minorie goes on
+about her bald, scrimpy husband; yet she burst out crying when he put
+the ring on her finger. Now she tells all the girls that marriage is
+'Paradise Regained.' When Boris is my husband it will be well with me,
+and not bad for him. He will be mine, and we love what is our own."
+
+"Why wilt thou marry any man? Thou wilt be rich."
+
+"One must do as the rest of the world does--and the world has the
+fashion of marrying."
+
+"Money rules love."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes! Bolon Flett had only scorn for his poor little wife until her
+uncle left her two thousand pounds. Since then, no word is long enough
+or good enough for her excellencies. Money opens the eyes as well as
+the heart. What then, if I make Boris rich?"
+
+"Boris is too proud to take money from thee and I will not be sold to
+any man!"
+
+"Wilt thou wait until my meaning is given thee--flying off in a temper
+like a foolish woman!"
+
+"I am sorry--speak thy meaning."
+
+"Sit down. Thou art not begging anything."
+
+"Not from thee. I have thy love."
+
+"And thine is mine. This is my plan. Above all things Boris loves a
+stirring, money-making business. I am going to ask him to take me as
+his partner. Tired am I of living on my past. How many boats has
+Boris?"
+
+"Thou knowest he has but one, but she is large and swift, and does as
+much business as McLeod's three little sloops."
+
+"Schooners."
+
+"Schooners, then--little ones!"
+
+"Well then, there is a new kind of boat which thou hast never seen.
+She is driven by steam, not wind, she goes swiftly, all winds are fair
+to her, and she cares little for storms."
+
+"I saw a ship like that when I was in Edinburgh. She lay in Leith
+harbour, and the whole school went to Leith to see her come in."
+
+"If Boris will be my partner, I will lay my luck to his, and I will
+buy a steam ship, a large coaster--dost thou see?"
+
+Then with a laugh she cried: "I see, I see! Then thou can easily beat
+the sloops or schooners, that have nothing but sails. Good is that,
+very good!"
+
+"Just so. We can make two trips for their one. No one can trade
+against us."
+
+"McLeod may buy steam ships."
+
+"I have learned all about him. His fortune is in real estate, mostly
+in Edinburgh. It takes a lifetime to sell property in Edinburgh. We
+shall have got all there is to get before McLeod could compete with
+Vedder and Ragnor."
+
+"That scheme would please Boris, I know."
+
+"A boat could be built on the Clyde in about four months, I think.
+Shall I speak to Boris?"
+
+"Yes, Boris will not fly in the face of good fortune; but mind
+this--it is easier to begin that reel than it will be to end it. One
+thing I do not like--thou wert angry with Boris, now thou wilt take
+him for a partner."
+
+"At any time I can put my anger under my purse--but my anger was
+mostly against thee. Now shall I do as I am minded?"
+
+"That way is more likely than not! I think this affair will grow with
+thee--but thou may change thy mind----"
+
+"I do not call my words back. Go now to thy bed and forget everything.
+This is the time when sleep will be better than either words or deeds.
+Of my intent speak to _no one_. In thy thoughts let it be still until
+its hour arrives."
+
+"In the morning, very early, I am going to see Thora. When the
+enlisting ship sails northward, there will be a crowd to see her off.
+Boris and Thora and Macrae will be among it. I also intend to be
+there. Dost thou know at what hour she will leave?"
+
+"At ten o'clock the tide is full."
+
+"Then at ten, she will sail."
+
+"Likely enough, is that. Our talk is now ended. Let it be, as if it
+had not been."
+
+"I have forgotten it."
+
+Vedder laughed, and added: "Go then to thy bed, I am tired."
+
+"Not tired of Sunna?"
+
+"Well then, yes, of thee I have had enough at present."
+
+She went away as he spoke, and then he was worried. "Now I am
+unhappy!" he ejaculated. "What provokers to the wrong way are women!
+Her mother was like her--my beloved Adriana!" And his old eyes filled
+with sorrowful tears as he recalled the daughter he had lost in the
+first days of her motherhood. Very soon Sunna and Adriana became one
+and he was fast asleep in his chair.
+
+In the morning Sunna kept her intention. She poured out her
+grandfather's coffee, and talked of everything but the thing in her
+heart and purpose. After breakfast she said: "I shall put the day past
+with Thora Ragnor. Thy dinner will be served for thee by Elga."
+
+"Talking thou wilt be----"
+
+"Of nothing that ought to be kept quiet. Do not come for me if I am
+late; I intend that Boris shall bring me home."
+
+Sunna dressed herself in a pretty lilac lawn frock, trimmed with the
+then new and fashionable Scotch open work, and fresh lilac ribbons.
+Her hair was arranged as Boris liked it best, and it was shielded by
+one of those fine, large Tuscan hats that have never, even yet, gone
+out of fashion.
+
+"Why, Sunna!" cried Thora, as she hastened to meet her friend, "how
+glad am I to see thee!"
+
+"Thou wert in my heart this morning, and I said to it 'Be content, in
+an hour I will take thee to thy desire.'" And they clasped hands, and
+walked thus into the house. "Art thou not tired after the dance?"
+
+"No," replied Thora, "I was very happy. Do happy people get tired?"
+
+"Yes--one can only bear so much happiness, then it is weariness--sometimes
+crossness. Too much of any good thing is a bad thing."
+
+"How wise thou art, Sunna."
+
+"I live with wisdom."
+
+"With Adam Vedder?"
+
+"Yes, and thou hast been living with Love, with Mr. Macrae. Very
+handsome and good-natured he is. I am sure that thou art in love with
+him! Is that not the case?"
+
+"Very much in love with me he is, Sunna. It is a great happiness. I do
+not weary of it, no, indeed! To believe in love, to feel it all around
+you! It is wonderful! You know, Sunna--surely you know?"
+
+"Yes, I, too, have been in love."
+
+"With Boris--I know. And also Boris is in love with thee."
+
+"That is wrong. No longer does Boris love me."
+
+"But that is impossible. Love for one hour is love forever. He did
+love thee, then he could not forget. Never could he forget."
+
+"He did not notice me last night. Thou must have seen?"
+
+"I did not notice--but I heard some talk about it. The first time thou
+art alone with him, he will tell thee his trouble. It is only a little
+cloud--it will pass."
+
+"I suppose the enlisting ship sails northaway first?"
+
+"Yes, to Lerwick, though they may stop at Fair Island on the way.
+Boris says they could get many men there--and Boris knows."
+
+"Art thou going to the pier to see them leave? I suppose every one
+goes. Shall we go together?"
+
+"Why, Sunna! They left this morning about four o'clock. Father went
+down to the pier with Boris. Boris sailed with them."
+
+"Thora! Thora! I thought Boris was to remain here until the naval
+party returned from Shetland?"
+
+"The lieutenant in command thought Boris could help the enlisting, for
+in Lerwick Boris has many friends. Thou knows my sisters Anna and
+Nenie live in Lerwick. Boris was fain to go and see them."
+
+"But they will return here when their business is finished in
+Lerwick?"
+
+"They spoke of doing so, but mother is not believing they will return.
+They took with them all the men enlisted here and the men are wanted
+very much. Boris did not bid us a short 'good-bye.' Mother was crying,
+and when he kissed me his tears wet my cheeks."
+
+Sunna did not answer. For a few minutes she felt as if her heart had
+suddenly died. At last she blundered out:
+
+"I suppose the officer was afraid that--Boris might slip off while he
+was away."
+
+"Well, then, thou supposes what is wrong. When a fight is the
+question, Boris needs no one either to watch him or to egg him on."
+
+"Is that youngster, Macrae, going to join? Or has he already taken the
+Queen's shilling? I think I heard such a report."
+
+"No one could have told that story. Macrae is bound by a contract to
+McLeod for this year and indeed, just yet, he does not wish to go."
+
+"He does not wish to leave thee."
+
+"That is not out of likelihood."
+
+"Many are saying that England is in great stress, and my grandfather
+thinks that so she is."
+
+"My father says 'not so.' If indeed it were so, my father would have
+gone with Boris. Mother is cross about it."
+
+"About what then is she cross?" asked Sunna.
+
+"People are saying that England is in stress. Mother says such words
+are nothing but men's 'fear talk.' England's sons are many, and if few
+they were, she has millions of daughters who would gladly fight for
+her!" said Thora.
+
+"Well, then, for heroics there is no present need! I surely thought
+Boris loved his business and would not leave his money-making."
+
+"Could thou tell me what incalculable sum of money a man would take
+for his honour and patriotism?" asked Thora.
+
+"What has honour to do with it?"
+
+"Everything; a man without honour is not a man--he is just 'a body';
+he has no soul. Robert Burns told Andrew Horner how such men were
+made!" replied Thora.
+
+"How was that? Tell me! A Burns' anecdote will put grandfather in his
+finest temper, and I want him in that condition for I have a great
+favour to ask from him."
+
+"The tale tells that when Burns was beginning to write, he had a rival
+in a man called Andrew Horner. One day they met at the same club
+dinner, and they were challenged to each write a verse within five
+minutes. The gentlemen guests took out their watches, the poets were
+furnished with pencils and paper. When time was up Andrew Horner had
+not written the first line but Burns handed to the chairman his verse
+complete."
+
+"Tell me. If you know it, tell me, Thora!"
+
+"Yes, I know it. If you hear it once you do not forget it."
+
+"Well then?"
+
+"It runs thus:
+
+  "'Once on a time
+  The Deil gat stuff to mak' a swine
+  And put it in a corner;
+  But afterward he changed his plan
+  And made it summat like a man,
+  And ca'ed it Andrew Horner.'"
+
+"That is good! It will delight grandfather."
+
+"No doubt he already knows it."
+
+"No, I should have heard it a thousand times, if he knew it."
+
+"Well, then, I believe it has been suppressed. Many think it too
+ill-natured for Burns to have written; but my father says it has the
+true Burns ring and is Robert Burns' writing without doubt."
+
+"It will give grandfather a nice long job of investigation. That is
+one of his favourite amusements, and all Sunna has to do is to be sure
+he is right and everybody else wrong. Now I will go home."
+
+"Stay with me today."
+
+"No. Macrae will be here soon."
+
+"Uncertain is that."
+
+"Every hair on thy head, Thora, every article of thy dress, from the
+lace at thy throat to the sandals on thy feet, say to me that this is
+a time when my absence will be better than my company."
+
+"Well, then, do as thou art minded."
+
+"It is best I do so. A happy morning to thee! What more is in my heart
+shall lie quiet at this time."
+
+Sunna went away with the air of a happy, careless girl, but she said
+many angry words to herself as she hasted on the homeward road. "Most
+of the tales tell how women are made to suffer by the men they
+love--but no tale shall be made about Sunna Vedder! _No!_ _No!_ It is
+Boris Ragnor I shall turn into laughter--he has mocked my very
+heart--I will never forgive him--that is the foolish way all women
+take--all but Sunna Vedder--she will neither forgive nor forget--she
+will follow up this affair--yes!"
+
+By such promises to herself she gradually regained her usual
+reasonable poise, and with a smiling face sought her grandfather. She
+found him in his own little room sitting at a table covered with
+papers. He looked up as she entered and, in spite of his intention,
+answered her smile and greeting with an equal plentitude of good will
+and good temper.
+
+"But I thought then, that thou would stay with thy friend all day, and
+for that reason I took out work not to be chattered over."
+
+"I will go away now. I came to thee because things have not gone as I
+wanted them. Thy counsel at such ill times is the best that can
+happen."
+
+Then Vedder threw down his pencil and turned to her. "Who has given
+thee wrong or despite or put thee out of the way thou wanted to
+take?"
+
+"It is Boris Ragnor. He has sailed north with the recruiting
+company--without a word to me he has gone. He has thrown my love back
+in my face. Should thy grandchild forgive him? I am both Vedder and
+Fae. How can I forgive?"
+
+Vedder took out his watch and looked at the time. "We have an hour
+before dinner. Sit down and I will talk to thee. First thou shalt tell
+me the very truth anent thy quarrel with Boris. What did thou do, or
+say, that has so far grieved him? Now, then, all of it. Then I can
+judge if it be Boris or Sunna, that is wrong in this matter."
+
+"Listen then. Boris heard some men talking about me--that made his
+temper rise--then he heard from these men that I was dancing at
+McLeod's and he went there to see, and as it happened I was dancing
+with McLeod when he entered the room, and he walked up to me in the
+dance and said thou wanted me, and he made me come home with him and
+scolded me all the time we were together. I asked him not to tell
+thee, and he promised he would not--if I went there no more. I have
+not danced with McLeod since, except at Mrs. Brodie's. Thou saw me
+then."
+
+"Thou should not have entered McLeod's house--what excuse hast thou
+for that fault?"
+
+"Many have talked of the fault, none but thou have asked me why or how
+it came that I was so foolish. I will tell thee the very truth. I
+went to spend the day with Nana Bork--with thy consent I went--and
+towards afternoon there came an invitation from McLeod to Nana to join
+an informal dance that night at eight o'clock. And Nana told me so
+many pleasant things about these little dances I could not resist her
+talk and I thought if I stayed with Nana all night thou would never
+know. I have heard that I stole away out of thy house to go to
+McLeod's. I did not! I went with Nana Bork whose guest I was."
+
+"Why did thou not tell me this before?"
+
+"I knew no one in Kirkwall would dare to say to thee this or that
+about thy grandchild, and I hoped thou would never know. I am sorry
+for my disobedience; it has always hurt me--if thou forgive it now, so
+much happier I will be."
+
+Then Adam drew her to his side and kissed her, and words would have
+been of all things the most unnecessary. But he moved a chair close to
+him, and she sat down in it and laid her hand upon his knee and he
+clasped and covered it with his own.
+
+"Very unkindly Boris has treated thee."
+
+"He has mocked at my love before all Kirkwall. Well, then, it is Thora
+Ragnor's complacency that affronts me most. If she would put her
+boasting into words, I could answer her; but who can answer looks?"
+
+"She is in the heaven of her first love. Thou should understand that
+condition."
+
+"It is beyond my understanding; nor would I try to understand such a
+lover as Ian Macrae. I believe that he is a hypocrite--Thora is so
+easily deceived----"
+
+"And thou?"
+
+"I am not deceived. I see Boris just as he is, rude and jealous and
+hateful, but I think him a far finer man than Ian Macrae ever has
+been, or ever will be."
+
+"Yes! Thou art right. Now then, let this affair lie still in thy
+heart. I think that he will come to see thee when the boats return
+from Shetland--if not, then I shall have something to say in the
+matter. I shall want my dinner very soon, and some other thing we will
+talk about. Let it go until there is a word to say or a movement to
+make."
+
+"I will be ready for thee at twelve o'clock." With a feeling of
+content in her heart, Sunna went away. Had she not the Burns story to
+tell? Yet she felt quite capable of restraining the incident until she
+got to a point where its relation would serve her purpose or her
+desire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE OLD, OLD TROUBLE
+
+  From reef and rock and skerry, over headland, ness and roe,
+  The coastwise lights of England watch the ships of England go.
+
+  ... a girl with sudden ebullitions,
+    Flashes of fun, and little bursts of song;
+  Petulant, pains, and fleeting pale contritions,
+    Mute little moods of misery and wrong.
+  Only a girl of Nature's rarest making,
+  Wistful and sweet--and with a heart for breaking.
+
+
+The following two weeks were a time of anxiety concerning Boris. The
+recruiting party with whom he had gone away had said positively they
+must return with whatever luck they had in two weeks; and this
+interval appeared to Sunna to be of interminable length. She spent a
+good deal of the time with Thora affecting to console her for the loss
+of Ian Macrae, who had left Kirkwall for Edinburgh a few days after
+the departure of Boris.
+
+"We are 'a couple of maidens all forlorn,'" she sang, and though Thora
+disclaimed the situation, she could not prevent her companion
+insisting on the fact.
+
+Thora, however, did not feel that she had any reason for being
+forlorn. Ian's love for her had been confessed, not only to herself,
+but also to her father and mother, and the marriage agreed to with a
+few reservations, whose wisdom the lovers fully acknowledged. She was
+receiving the most ardent love letters by every mail and she had not
+one doubt of her lover in any respect. Indeed, her happiness so
+pervaded her whole person and conduct that Sunna felt it sometimes to
+be both depressing and irritating.
+
+Thora, however, was the sister of Boris, she could not quarrel with
+her. She had great influence over Boris, and Sunna loved Boris--loved
+him in spite of her anger and of his neglect. Very slowly went the two
+weeks the enlisting ships had fixed as the length of their absence,
+but the news of their great success made their earlier return most
+likely, and after the tenth day every one was watching for them and
+planning a great patriotic reception.
+
+Still the two weeks went slowly away and it was a full day past this
+fixed time, and the ships were not in port nor even in sight, nor had
+any late news come from them. In the one letter which Rahal had
+received from her son he said: "The enlistment has been very
+satisfactory; our return may be even a day earlier than we expected."
+So Sunna had begun to watch for the party three days before the set
+time, and when it was two days after it she was very unhappy.
+
+"Why do they not come, Thora?" she asked in a voice trembling with
+fear. "Do you think they have been wrecked?"
+
+"Oh, no! Nothing of the kind! They may have sailed westward to Harris.
+My father thinks so." But she appeared so little interested that Sunna
+turned to Mistress Ragnor and asked her opinion.
+
+"Well, then," answered Rahal, "they _are_ staying longer than was
+expected, but who can tell what men in a ship will do?"
+
+"They will surely keep their word and promise."
+
+"Perhaps--if it seem a good thing to them. Can thou not see? They are
+masters on board ship. Once out of Lerwick Bay, the whole world is
+before them. Know this, they might go East or West, and say to no man
+'I ask thy leave.' As changeable as the sea is a sailor's promise."
+
+"But Boris is thy son--he promised thee to be home in two weeks. Men
+do not break a promise made on their mother's lips. How soon dost thou
+expect him?"
+
+"At the harbour mouth he might be, even this very minute. I want to
+see my boy. I love him. May the good God send those together who would
+fain be loved!"
+
+"Boris is in command of his own ship. He was under no man's orders. He
+ought not to break his promise."
+
+"With my will, he would never do that."
+
+"Dost thou think he will go to the war with the other men?"
+
+"That he might do. What woman is there who can read a man's heart?"
+
+"His mother!"
+
+"She might, a little way--no further--just as well 'no further.' Only
+God is wise enough, and patient enough, to read a human heart. This is
+a great mercy." And Rahal lifted her face from her sewing a moment and
+then dropped it again.
+
+Almost in a whisper Sunna said "Good-bye!" and then went her way home.
+She walked rapidly; she was in a passion of grief and mortification,
+but she sang some lilting song along the highway. As soon, however, as
+she passed inside the Vedder garden gates, the singing was changed
+into a scornful, angry monologue:
+
+"These Ragnor women! Oh, their intolerable good sense! So easy it is
+to talk sweetly and properly when you have no great trouble and all
+your little troubles are well arranged! Women cannot comfort women.
+No, they can not! They don't want to, if they could. Like women, I do
+not! Trust them, I do not! I wish that God had made me a man! I will
+go to my dear old grandad!--He will do something--so sorry I am that I
+let Thora see I loved her brother--when I go there again, I shall
+consider his name as the bringer-on of yawns and boredom!"
+
+An angry woman carries her heart in her mouth; but Sunna had been
+trained by a wise old man, and no one knew better than Sunna Vedder
+did, when to speak and when to be silent. She went first to her room
+in order to repair those disturbances to her appearance which had been
+induced by her inward heat and by her hurried walk home so near the
+noontide; and half an hour later she came down to dinner fresh and
+cool as a rose washed in the dew of the morning. Her frock of muslin
+was white as snow, there was a bow of blue ribbon at her throat, her
+whole appearance was delightfully satisfying. She opened her
+grandfather's parlour and found him sitting at a table covered with
+papers and little piles of gold and silver coin.
+
+"Suppose I was a thief, Grandfather?" she said.
+
+"Well then, what would thou take first?"
+
+"I would take a kiss!" and she laid her face against his face, and
+gave him one.
+
+"Now, thou could take all there is. What dost thou want?"
+
+"I want thee! Dinner is ready."
+
+"I will come. In ten minutes, I will come----" and in less than ten
+minutes he was at the dinner table, and apparently a quite different
+man from the one Sunna had invited there. He had changed his coat, his
+face was happy and careless, and he had quite forgotten the papers and
+the little piles of silver and gold.
+
+Sunna had said some things to Thora she was sorry for saying; she did
+not intend to repeat this fault with her grandfather. Even the subject
+of Boris could lie still until a convenient hour. She appeared,
+indeed, to have thrown off her anger and her disappointment with the
+unlucky clothing she had worn in her visit to Thora. She had even
+assured herself of this change, for when it fell to her feet she
+lifted it reluctantly between her finger and thumb and threw it aside,
+remarking as she did so, "I will have them all washed over again! Soda
+and soap may make them more agreeable and more fortunate."
+
+And perhaps if we take the trouble to notice the fact, clothing does
+seem to have some sort of sympathy or antagonism with its wearers.
+Also, it appears to take on the mood or feeling predominant, looking
+at one time crisp and perfectly proper, at another time limp and
+careless, as if the wearer informed the garment or the garment
+explained the wearer. It is well known that "Fashions are the external
+expression of the mental states of a country, and that if its men and
+women degenerate in their character, their fashions become absurd."
+Surely then, a sympathy which can affect a nation has some influence
+upon the individual. Sunna had noticed even in her childhood that her
+dresses were lucky and unlucky, but the why or the wherefore of the
+circumstance had never troubled her. She had also noticed that her
+grandfather liked and disliked certain colours and modes, but she
+laid all their differences to difference in age.
+
+This day, however, they were in perfect accord. He looked at her and
+nodded his head, and then smilingly asked: "How did thou find thy
+friend this morning?"
+
+"So much in love that she had not one regret for Boris."
+
+"Well, then, there is no reason for regret. Boris has taken the path
+of honour."
+
+"That may be so, but for the time to come I shall put little trust in
+him. Going such a dubious way, he might well have stopped for a God
+Bless Thee!"
+
+"Would thou have said that?"
+
+"Why should we ask about things impossible? Dost thou know,
+Grandfather, at what time the recruiting party passed Kirkwall?"
+
+"Nobody knows. I heard music out at sea three nights ago, just after
+midnight. There are no Shetland boats carrying music. It is more
+likely than not to have been the recruiting party saluting us with
+music as they went by."
+
+"Yes! I think thou art right. Grandfather, I want thee to tell me what
+we are fighting about."
+
+"Many times thou hast said 'it made no matter to thee.'"
+
+"Now then, it is different. Since Boris and so many of our men went
+away, Mistress Ragnor and Thora talk of the war and of nothing but the
+war. They know all about it. They wanted to tell me all about it. I
+said thou had told me all that was proper for me to know, and now
+then, thou must make my words true. What is England quarrelling about?
+It seems to me, that somebody is always looking at her in a way she
+does not think respectful enough."
+
+"This war is not England's fault. She has done all she could to avoid
+it. It is the Great Bear of Russia who wants Turkey put out of
+Europe."
+
+"Well, then, I heard the Bishop say the Turks were a disgrace to
+Europe, and that the Book of Common Prayer had once contained a
+petition for delivery from the Devil, the Turks, and the comet, then
+flaming in the sky and believed to be threatening destruction to the
+earth."
+
+"Listen, and I will tell thee the truth. The Greek population of
+Turkey, its Syrians and Armenians, are the oldest Christians in the
+world. They are also the most numerous and important class of the
+Sultan's subjects. Russia also has a large number of Russian
+Christians in Turkey over whom she wants a protectorate, but these two
+influences would be thorns in the side of Turkey. England has bought
+favour for the Christians she protects, by immense loans of money and
+other political advantages, but neither the Turk nor the English want
+Russia's power inside of Turkey."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Turkey is in a bad way. A few weeks ago the Czar said to England, 'We
+have on our hands a sick man, a very sick man. I tell you frankly, it
+will be a great misfortune if one of these days he should slip away
+from us, especially if it were before all necessary arrangements were
+made. The Czar wants Turkey out of his way. He wants Constantinople
+for his own southern capital, he wants the Black Sea for a Russian
+lake, and the Danube for a Russian river. He wants many other
+unreasonable things, which England cannot listen to."
+
+"Well then, I think the Russian would be better than the Turk in
+Europe."
+
+"One thing is sure; in the hour that England joins Russia, Turkey will
+slay every Christian in her territories. Dost thou think England will
+inaugurate a huge massacre of Christians?"
+
+"That is not thinkable. Is there nothing more?"
+
+"Well then, there is India. The safety of our Indian Empire would be
+endangered over the whole line between East and West if Russia was in
+Constantinople. Turkey lies across Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor and
+Armenia, and above all at Constantinople and the Straits. Dost thou
+think England would ask Russia's permission every time she wished to
+go to India?"
+
+"No indeed! That, itself, is a good reason for fighting."
+
+"Yes, but the Englishman always wants a moral backbone for his
+quarrel."
+
+"That is as it should be. The Armenian Christians supply that."
+
+"But, Sunna, try and imagine to thyself a great military despotic
+Power seating itself at Constantinople, throwing its right hand over
+Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt; and its left holding in an iron grip the
+whole north of two continents; keeping the Dardanelles and the
+Bosphorus closed whenever it was pleased to do so, and building fleets
+in Egypt; and in Armenia, commanding the desirable road to India by
+the Euphrates."
+
+"Oh, that could not be suffered! Impossible! All the women in Kirkwall
+would fight against such a condition."
+
+"Well, so matters stand, and we had been at sword points a year ago
+but for Lord Aberdeen's cowardly, pernicious love of peace. But he is
+always whining about 'war destroying wealth and commerce'--as if
+wealth and commerce were of greater worth than national honour and
+justice and mercy."
+
+"Yet, one thing is sure, Grandad; war is wasteful and destructive----"
+
+"And one thing is truer still--it is this--_that national wealth is
+created by peace for the very purpose of defending the nation in war_.
+Bear this in mind. Now, it seems to me we have had enough of war. I
+see Elga coming with a dish of good Scotch collops, and I give thee my
+word that I will not spoil their savour by any unpleasant talk." Then
+he poured a little fine Glenlivet into a good deal of water and said:
+"Here's first to the glory of God! and then to the honour of England!"
+And Sunna touched his glass with her glass and the little ceremony put
+both in a very happy mood.
+
+Then Sunna saw that the moment she had waited for had arrived and she
+said: "I will tell thee a good story of Robert Burns to flavour thy
+collops. Will that be to thy wish?"
+
+"It is beyond my wish. Thou can not tell me one I do not know."
+
+"I heard one today from Thora Ragnor that I never heard thee tell."
+
+"Then it cannot be fit for thee and Thora Ragnor to repeat."
+
+"Wilt thou hear it?"
+
+"Is it about some girl he loved?"
+
+"No, it is about a man he scorned. Thou must have heard of Andrew
+Horner?"
+
+"Never heard the creature's name before."
+
+"Then the story will be fresh to thee. Will thou hear it now?"
+
+"As well now, as later." For Adam really had no expectation of hearing
+anything he had not already heard and judged; and he certainly
+expected nothing unusual from the proper and commonplace Thora Ragnor.
+But Sunna exerted all her facial skill and eloquence, and told the
+clever incident with wonderful spirit and delightful mimicry. Adam was
+enchanted; he threw down his knife and fork and made the room ring
+with laughter and triumph so genuine that Sunna--much against her
+will--was compelled to laugh with him. They heard the happy thunder in
+the kitchen, and wondered whatever was the matter with the Master.
+
+"It is Robert Burns, his own self, and no other man. It is the best
+thing I have heard from 'the lad that was born in Kyle!'" Vedder
+cried. "Ill-natured! Not a bit of it! Just what the Horner man
+deserved!" Then he took some more collops and a fresh taste of
+Glenlivet, and anon broke into laughter again.
+
+"Oh! but I wish I was in Edinburgh tonight! There's men there I would
+go to see and have my laugh out with them."
+
+"Grandfather, why should we not go to Edinburgh next winter? You could
+board me with Mistress Brodie, and come every day to sort our quarrels
+and see that I was properly treated. Then you could have your crow
+over the ignoramuses who did not know such a patent Burns story; and I
+could take lessons in music and singing, and be learning something or
+seeing something, every hour of my life."
+
+"And what about Boris?"
+
+"The very name of Boris tires my tongue! I can do without Boris."
+
+"Well, then, that is good! Thou art learning 'the grand habit of doing
+without.'"
+
+"Wilt thou take me to Edinburgh? My mother would like thee to do that.
+I think I deserve it, Grandfather; yes, and so I ask thee."
+
+"If I was going, I should have no mind to go without thee. One thing I
+wish to know--in what way hast thou deserved it?"
+
+"I did not expect thee to ask me a question like that. Have I fretted
+and pined, and forgot to eat and sleep, and gone dowdy and slovenly,
+because my lover has been fool enough to desert me? Well, then, that
+is what any other girl would have done. But because I am of thy blood
+and stock, I take what comes to me as part of my day's work, and make
+no more grumble on the matter than one does about bad weather. Is that
+not the truth?"
+
+"One thing is sure--thou art the finest all round girl in the
+Orcades."
+
+"Then it seems to me thou should take me to Edinburgh. I want that
+something, that polish, only great cities can give me."
+
+"Blessings on thee! All Edinburgh can give, thou shalt have! But it is
+my advice to thee to remain here until Mrs. Brodie goes back, then go
+thou with her."
+
+"That will be what it should be. Mrs. Brodie, I feel, will be my
+stepmother; and----"
+
+"She will never step past thee. Fear not!"
+
+"Nor will any one--man or woman--step between thee and me! Doubt me
+not!"
+
+"Well, then, have thy way. I give thee my word to take thee to
+Edinburgh in the autumn. Thou shalt either stay with Mrs. Brodie or at
+the Queen's Hotel on Prince's Street, with old Adam Vedder."
+
+"Best of all is thy last offer. I will stay with thee. I am used to
+men's society. Women bore me."
+
+"Women bore me also."
+
+"Know this, there are three women who do not bore thee. Shall I speak
+their names?"
+
+"I will not hinder thee."
+
+"Sunna Vedder?"
+
+"I love her. She cannot bore me."
+
+"Rahal Ragnor?"
+
+"I respect her. She does not bore me--often."
+
+"Yes, that is so; it is but seldom thou sees her. Well, then, Barbara
+Brodie?"
+
+"I once loved her. She can never be indifferent to me."
+
+"Thou hast told me the truth and I will not follow up this catechism."
+
+"For that favour, I am thy debtor. I might not always have been so
+truthful. Now, then, be honest with me. What wilt thou do all the
+summer, with no lover to wait on thy whims and fancies?"
+
+"On thee I shall rely. Where thou goes, I will go, and if thou stay at
+home, with thee I will stay. Thou can read to me. I have never heard
+any of our great Sagas and that is a shame. I complain of that neglect
+in my education! I heard Maximus Grant recite from 'The Banded Men and
+Haakon the Good,' when I was in Edinburgh, and I said to myself, 'how
+much finer is this, than opera songs, sung with a Scotch burr, in the
+Italian; or than English songs, sung by Scotch people who pronounce
+English after the Scotch fashion!' Then I made up my mind that this
+coming winter I would let Edinburgh drawing-rooms hear the songs of
+Norse warriors; the songs in which the armour rattles and the swords
+shine!"
+
+"That, indeed, will befit thee! Now, then, for the summer, keep
+thyself well in hand. Say nothing of thy plans, for if but once the
+wind catches them, they will soon be for every one to talk to death."
+
+Adam was finishing his plate of rice pudding and cream when he gave
+this advice; and with it, he moved his chair from the table and said:
+"Come into the garden. I want to smoke. Thou knows a good dinner
+deserves a pipe, and a bad one demands it."
+
+Then they went into the garden and talked of the flowers and the young
+vegetables, and said not a word of Edinburgh and the Sagas that the
+winds could catch and carry round to human folk for clash and gossip.
+And when the pipe was out, Adam said: "Now I am going into the town.
+That Burns story is on my lips, my teeth cannot keep my tongue behind
+them much longer."
+
+"A good time will be thine. I wish that I could go with thee."
+
+"What wilt thou do?"
+
+"Braid my hair and dress myself. Then I shall take out thy Saga of
+'The Banded Men' and study the men who were banded, and find them
+out, in all their clever ways. Then I can show them to others. If I
+get tired of them--and I do get tired of men very quickly--I will
+put on my bonnet and tippet, and go and carry Mrs. Brodie thy
+respectful----"
+
+"Take care, Sunna!"
+
+"Good wishes! I can surely go so far."
+
+"Know this--every step on that road may lead to danger--and thou
+cannot turn back and tread them the other way. There now, be off! I
+will talk with thee no longer."
+
+Sunna said something about Burns in reply, but Vedder heard her not.
+He was satisfying his vocal impatience by whistling softly and very
+musically "The Garb of Old Gaul," and Sunna watched and listened a
+moment, and then in something of a hurry went to her room. A new
+thought had come to her--one which pleased her very much; and she
+proceeded to dress herself accordingly.
+
+"None too good is my Easter gown," she said pleasantly to herself;
+"and I can take Eric a basket of the oranges grandfather brought home
+today. A treat to the dear little lad they will be. Before me is a
+long afternoon, and I shall find the proper moment to ask the advice
+of Maximus about 'The Banded Men.'" So with inward smiles she dressed
+herself, and then took the highway in a direction not very often taken
+by her.
+
+It led her to a handsome mansion overlooking the Venice of the
+Orcades, the village and the wonderful Bay of Kirkwall, into which
+
+                      ... by night and day,
+  The great sea water finds its way
+  Through long, long windings of the hills.
+
+The house had a silent look, and its enclosure was strangely quiet,
+though kept in exquisite order and beauty. As she approached, a lady
+about fifty years old came to the top of the long, white steps to meet
+her, appearing to be greatly pleased with her visit.
+
+"Only at dinner time Max was speaking of thee! And Eric said his
+sweetheart had forgotten him, and wondering we all were, what had kept
+thee so long away."
+
+"Well, then, thou knowest about the war and the enlisting--everyone,
+in some way, has been touched by the changes made."
+
+"True is that! Quickly thou must come in, for Eric has both
+second-sight and hearing, and no doubt he knows already that here thou
+art----" and talking thus as she went, Mrs. Beaton led the way up a
+wide, light stairway. Even as Mrs. Beaton was speaking a thin, eager
+voice called Sunna's name, a door flew open, and a man, beautiful as
+a dream-man, stood in the entrance to welcome them. And here the word
+"beautiful" need not to be erased; it was the very word that sprang
+naturally from the heart to the lips of every one when they met
+Maximus Grant. No Greek sculptor ever dreamed of a more perfect form
+and face; the latter illumined by noticeable grey eyes, contemplative
+and mystical, a face, thoughtful and winning, and constantly breaking
+into kind smiles.
+
+He took Sunna's hand, and they went quickly forward to a boy of about
+eleven years old, whom Sunna kissed and petted. The little lad was in
+a passion of delight. He called her "his sweetheart! his wife! his
+Queen!" and made her take off her bonnet and cloak and sit down beside
+him. He was half lying in a softly cushioned chair; there was a large
+globe at his side, and an equally large atlas, with other books on a
+small table near by, and Max's chair was close to the whole
+arrangement. He was a fair, lovely boy, with the seraphic eyes that
+sufferers from spinal diseases so frequently possess--eyes with the
+look in them of a Conqueror of Pain. But also, on his young face there
+was the solemn Trophonean pallor which signs those who daily dare "to
+look at death in the cave."
+
+"Max and I have been to the Greek islands," he said, "and Sunna, as
+soon as I am grown up, and am quite well, I shall ask thee to marry
+me, and then we will go to one of the loveliest of them and live
+there. Max thinks that would be just right."
+
+"Thou little darling," answered Sunna, "when thou art a man, if thou
+ask me to marry thee, I shall say 'yes!'"
+
+"Of course thou wilt. Sunna loves Eric?"
+
+"I do, indeed, Eric! I think we should be very happy. We should never
+quarrel or be cross with each other."
+
+"Oh! I would not like that! If we did not quarrel, there would be no
+making-up. I remember papa and mamma making-up their little tiffs, and
+they seemed to be very happy about it--and to love each other ever so
+much better for the tiff and the make-up. I think we must have little
+quarrels, Sunna; and then, long, long, happy makings-up."
+
+"Very well, Eric; only, thou must make the quarrel. With thee I could
+not quarrel."
+
+"I should begin it in this way: 'Sunna, I do not approve of thy
+dancing with--say--Ken McLeod.' Then thou wilt say: 'I shall dance
+with whom I like, Eric'; and I will reply: 'thou art my wife and I
+will not allow thee to dance with McLeod'; and then thou wilt be
+naughty and saucy and proud, and I shall have to be angry and
+masterful; and as thou art going out of the room in a terrible temper,
+I shall say, 'Sunna!' in a sweet voice, and look at thee, and thou
+wilt look at me, with those heavenly eyes, and then I shall open my
+arms and thou wilt fly to my embrace, and the making-up will begin."
+
+"Well, then, that will be delightful, Eric, but thou must not accuse
+me of anything so bad as dancing with Mr. McLeod."
+
+"Would that be bad to thee?"
+
+"Very bad, indeed! I fear I would never try to have a 'make-up' with
+any one who thought I would dance with him."
+
+"Dost thou dislike him?"
+
+"That is neither here nor there. He is a Scot. I may marry like the
+rest of the world, but while my life days last, Sunna Vedder will not
+marry a Scot."
+
+"Yes--but there was some talk that way. My aunt heard it. My aunt
+hears everything."
+
+"I will tell thee, talk that way was all lies. No one will Sunna
+Vedder marry, that is not of her race." Then she put her arms round
+Eric, and kissed his wan face, calling him "her own little Norseman!"
+
+"Tell me, Sunna, what is happening in the town?" said he.
+
+"Well, then, not much now. Men are talking of the war, and going to
+the war, and empty is the town. About the war, art thou sorry?"
+
+"No, I am glad----
+
+  "How glorious the valiant, sword in hand,
+  In front of battle for their native land!"
+
+And he raised his small, thin hands, and his face glowed, and he
+looked like a young St. Michael.
+
+Then Max lifted the globe and books aside and put his chair close to
+his brother's. "Eric has the soul of a soldier," he said, "and the
+sound of drums and trumpets stirs him like the cry of fire."
+
+"And so it happens, Mr. Grant, that we have much noise lately from the
+trumpets and the fife and drums."
+
+"Yes, man is a military animal, he loves parade," answered Max.
+
+"But in this war, there is much more than parade."
+
+"You are right, Miss Vedder. It was prompted by that gigantic
+heart-throb with which, even across oceans, we feel each other's
+rights and wrongs. And in this way we learn best that we are men and
+brothers. Can a man do more for a wrong than give his life to right
+it?"
+
+Then Eric cried out with hysterical passion: "I wish only that I might
+have my way with Aberdeen! Oh, the skulking cowards who follow him!
+Max! Max! If you would mount our father's big war horse and hold me in
+front of you and ride into the thick of the battle, and let me look on
+the cold light of the lifted swords! Oh, the shining swords! They
+shake! They cry out! The lives of men are in them! Max! Max! I want to
+die--on a--battlefield!"
+
+And Max held the weeping boy in his arms, and bowed his head over him
+and whispered words too tender and sacred to be written down.
+
+For a while Eric was exhausted; he lay still watching his brother and
+Sunna, and listening to their conversation. They were talking of the
+excitement in London, and of the pressure of the clergy putting down
+the reluctancies and falterings of the peace men.
+
+"Have you heard, Miss Vedder," said Grant, "that one of the bishops
+decided England's call to war by a wonderful sermon in St. Paul's?"
+
+"I am sorry to be ignorant. Tell me."
+
+"He preached from Jeremiah, Fourth Chapter and Sixth Verse; and his
+closing cry was from Nahum, Second Chapter and First Verse, 'Set up
+the standard toward Zion. Stay not, for I will bring evil from the
+north and a great destruction,' and he closed with Nahum's advice, 'He
+that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face, keep the munition,
+watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.'"
+
+"Well, then, how went the advice?"
+
+"I know not exactly. It is hard to convince commerce and cowardice
+that at certain times war is the highest of all duties. Neither of
+them understand patriotism; and yet every trembling pacifist in time
+of war is a misfortune to his country."
+
+"And the country will give them--what?" asked Sunna.
+
+"The cold, dead damnation of a disgrace they will never outlive,"
+answered Max.
+
+There was a sharp cry from Eric at these words, and then a passionate
+childish exclamation--"Not bad enough! Not bad enough!" he screamed.
+"Oh, if I had a sword and a strong hand! I would cut them up in
+slices!" Then with an hysterical cry the boy fell backward.
+
+In an instant Max had him in his arms and was whispering words of
+promise and consolation, and just then, fortunately, Mrs. Beaton
+entered with a servant who was carrying a service of tea and muffins.
+It was a welcome diversion and both Max and Sunna were glad of it. Max
+gently unloosed Eric's hand from Sunna's clasp and then they both
+looked at the child. He had fallen into a sleep of exhaustion and Max
+said, "It is well. When he is worn out with feeling, such sleeps alone
+save his life. I am weary, also. Let us have a cup of tea." So they
+sat down and talked of everything but the war--"He would hear us in
+his sleep," said Max, "and he has borne all he is able to bear today."
+Then Sunna said:
+
+"Right glad am I to put a stop to such a trouble-raising subject. War
+is a thing by itself, and all that touches it makes people bereft of
+their senses or some other good thing. Here has come news of Thora
+Ragnor's hurried marriage, but no one knows or cares about the
+strange things happening at our doorstep. Such haste is not good I
+fear."
+
+"Does Ragnor approve of it?" asked Mrs. Beaton.
+
+"Thora's marriage is all right. They fell in love with each other the
+moment they met. No other marriage is possible for either. It is this,
+or none at all," answered Sunna.
+
+"I heard the man was the son of a great Edinburgh preacher."
+
+"Yes, the Rev. Dr. Macrae, of St. Mark's."
+
+"That is what I heard. He is a good man, but a very hard one."
+
+"If he is hard, he is not good."
+
+"Thou must not say that, little Miss; it may be the Episcopalian
+belief, but we Calvinists have a stronger faith--a faith fit for men
+and soldiers of the Lord."
+
+"There! Mrs. Beaton, you are naming soldiers. That is against our
+agreement to drop war talk. About Macrae I know nothing. He is not
+aware that anyone but Thora Ragnor lives; and I was not in the least
+attracted by him--his black hair and black eyes repelled me--I dislike
+such men."
+
+"Will they live in Edinburgh?"
+
+"I believe they will live in Kirkwall. Mrs. Ragnor owns a pretty
+house, which she will give them. She is going to put it in order and
+furnish it from the roof to the foundation. Thora is busy about her
+napery--the finest of Irish linen and damask. Now then, I must hurry
+home. My grandfather will be waiting his tea."
+
+Max rose with her. He looked at his little brother and said: "Aunt, he
+will sleep now for a few hours, will you watch him till I return?"
+
+"Will I not? You know he is as safe with me as yourself, Max."
+
+So with an acknowledging smile of content, he took Sunna's hand and
+led her slowly down the stairway. There was a box running all across
+the sill of the long window, lighting the stairs, and it was full and
+running over with the delicious muck plant. Sunna laid her face upon
+its leaves for a moment, and the whole place was thrilled with its
+heavenly perfume. Then she smiled at Max and his heart trembled with
+joy; yet he said a little abruptly--"Let us make haste. The night
+grows cloudy."
+
+Their way took them through the village, and Sunna knew that she
+would, in all likelihood, be the first woman ever seen in Maximus
+Grant's company. The circumstance was pleasant to her, and she carried
+herself with an air and manner that she readily caught and copied from
+him. She knew that there was a face at every window, but she did not
+turn her head one way or the other. Max was talking to her about the
+Sagas and she had a personal interest in the Sagas, and any ambition
+she had to be socially popular was as yet quite undeveloped.
+
+At the point where the Vedder and Ragnor roads crossed each other, two
+men were standing, talking. They were Ragnor and Vedder, and Ragnor
+was at once aware of the identity of the couple approaching; but
+Vedder appeared so unaware, that Ragnor remarked: "I see Sunna,
+Vedder, coming up the road, and with her is Colonel Max Grant."
+
+"But why 'Colonel,' Ragnor?"
+
+"When General Grant died his son was a colonel in the Life Guards. He
+left the army to care for his brother. I heard that the Queen praised
+him for doing so."
+
+Then the couple were so close, that it was impossible to affect
+ignorance of their presence any longer; and the old men turned and
+saluted the young couple. "I thank thee, Colonel," said Vedder, as he
+"changed hats" with the Colonel, "but now I can relieve thee of the
+charge thou hast taken. I am going home and Sunna will go with me; but
+if thou could call on an old man about some business, there is a
+matter I would like to arrange with thee."
+
+"I could go home with you now, Vedder, if that would be suitable."
+
+"Nay, it would be too much for me tonight. It is concerning that waste
+land on the Stromness road, near the little bridge. I would like to
+build a factory there."
+
+"That would be to my pleasure and advantage. I will call on you and
+talk over the matter, at any time you desire."
+
+"Well and good! Say tomorrow at two o'clock."
+
+"Three o'clock would be better for me."
+
+"So, let it be." Then he took Sunna's hand and she understood that her
+walk with Grant was over. She thanked Max for his courtesy, sent a
+message to Eric, and then said her good night with a look into his
+eyes which dirled in his heart for hours afterwards. Some compliments
+passed between the men and then she found herself walking home with
+her grandfather.
+
+"Thou ought not to have seen me, Grandfather," she said a little
+crossly, "I was having such a lovely walk."
+
+"I did not want to see thee, and have I not arranged for thee
+something a great deal better on tomorrow's afternoon?"
+
+"One never knows----"
+
+"Listen; he is to come at three o'clock, it will be thy fault if he
+leaves at four. Thou can make tea for him--thou can walk in the
+greenhouse and the garden with him, thou can sing for him--no,
+let him sing for thee--thou can ask him to help thee with 'The
+Banded Men'--and if he goes away before eight o'clock I will say
+to thee--'take the first man that asks thee for thou hast no
+woman-witchery with which to pick and choose!' Grant is a fine man.
+If thou can win him, thou wins something worth while. He has always
+held himself apart. His father was much like him. All of them
+soldiers and proud as men are made, these confounded, democratic
+days."
+
+"And what of Boris?" asked Sunna.
+
+"May Boris rest wherever he is! Thou could not compare Boris with
+Maximus Grant."
+
+"That is the truth. In many ways they are not comparable. Boris is a
+rough, passionate man. Grant is a gentleman. Always I thought there
+was something common in me; that must be the reason why I prefer
+Boris."
+
+"To vex me, thou art saying such untruthful words. I know thy
+contradictions! Go now and inquire after my tea. I am in want of it."
+
+During tea, nothing further was said of Maximus Grant; but Sunna was
+in a very merry mood, and Adam watched her, and listened to her in a
+philosophical way;--that is, he tried to make out amid all her
+persiflage and bantering talk what was her ruling motive and intent--a
+thing no one could have been sure of, unless they had heard her
+talking to herself--that mysterious confidence in which we all
+indulge, and in which we all tell ourselves the truth. Sunna was
+undressing her hair and folding away her clothing as she visited this
+confessional, but her revelations were certainly honest, even if
+fragmentary, and full of doubt and uncertainty.
+
+"Grant, indeed!" she exclaimed, "I am not ready for Grant--I believe I
+am afraid of the man--he would make me over--make me like himself--in
+a month he would do it--I like Boris best! I should quarrel with
+Boris, of course, and we should say words neither polite nor kind to
+each other; but then Boris would do as that blessed child said, 'Look
+at me'; and I should look at him, and the making-up would begin.
+Heigh-ho! I wish it could begin tonight!" She was silent then for a
+few minutes, and in a sadder voice added--"with Max I should become an
+angel--and I should have a life without a ripple--I would hate it,
+just as I hate the sea when it lies like a mirror under the
+sunshine--then I always want to scream out for a great north wind and
+the sea in a passion, shattering everything in its way. If I got into
+that mood with Max, we should have a most unpleasant time----" and she
+laughed and tossed her pillows about, and then having found a
+comfortable niche in one of them, she tucked her handsome head into it
+and in a few moments the sleep of youth and perfect health lulled her
+into a secret garden in the Land of Dreams.
+
+The next day Sunna appeared to be quite oblivious regarding Grant's
+visit and Vedder was too well acquainted with his granddaughter to
+speak of it. He only noticed that she was dressed with a peculiar
+simplicity and neatness. At three o'clock Grant was promptly at the
+Vedder House, and at half-past four the land in question had been
+visited and subsequently bought and sold. Then the cup of tea came in,
+and the walk in the garden followed, and at six there was an ample
+meal, and during the singing that followed it, Vedder fell fast
+asleep, as was his custom, and when he awoke Grant was just going and
+the clock was striking ten. Vedder looked at Sunna and there was no
+need for him to speak.
+
+"It was 'The Banded Men,'" said Sunna with a straight look at her
+grandfather.
+
+"Well, then, I know a woman who is a match for any number of 'banded
+men.'"
+
+"And in all likelihood that woman will be a Vedder. Good night,
+Grandfather."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CALL OF WAR
+
+  I came not to send peace but a sword.
+                                --_Matt. x, 34._
+
+  For when I note how noble Nature's form
+    Under the war's red pain, I deem it true
+  That He who made the earthquake and the storm,
+    Perchance made battles too.
+
+
+The summer passed rapidly away for it was full of new interests.
+Thora's wedding was to take place about Christmas or New Year, and
+there were no ready-made garments in those days; so all of her girl
+friends were eager to help her needle. Sunna spent half the day with
+her and all their small frets and jealousies were forgotten. Early in
+the morning the work was lifted, and all day long it went happily on,
+to their light-hearted hopes and dreams. Then in June and September
+Ian came to Kirkwall to settle his account with McLeod, and at the
+same time, he remained a week as the Ragnors' guest. There was also
+Sunna's intended visit to Edinburgh to talk about, and there was
+never a day in which the war and its preparations did not make itself
+prominent.
+
+One of the pleasantest episodes of this period occurred early and
+related to Sunna. One morning she received a small box from London,
+and she was so amazed at the circumstance, that she kept examining the
+address and wondering "who could have sent it," instead of opening the
+box. However, when this necessity had been observed, it revealed to
+her a square leather case, almost like those used for jewelry, and her
+heart leaped high with expectation. It was something, however, that
+pleased her much more than jewelry; it was a likeness of Boris, a
+daguerreotype--the first that had ever reached Kirkwall. A narrow
+scrap of paper was within the clasp, on which Boris had written, "I am
+all thine! Forget me not!"
+
+Sunna usually made a pretense of despising anything sentimental but
+this example filled her heart with joy and satisfaction. And after it,
+she took far greater pleasure in all the circumstances relating to
+Thora's marriage; for she had gained a personal interest in them. Even
+the details of the ceremony were now discussed and arranged in accord
+with Sunna's taste and suggestions.
+
+"The altar and nave must be decorated with flags and evergreens and
+all the late flowers we can secure," she said.
+
+"There will not be many flowers, I fear," answered Mistress Ragnor.
+
+"The Grants have a large greenhouse. I shall ask them to save all they
+possibly can. Maximus Grant delights in doing a kindness."
+
+"Then thou must ask him, Sunna. He is thy friend--perhaps thy lover.
+So the talk goes."
+
+"Let them talk! My lover is far away. God save him!"
+
+"Where then?"
+
+"Where all good and fit men are gone--to the trenches. For my lover is
+much of a man, strong and brave-hearted. He adores his country, his
+home, and his kindred. He counts honour far above money; and liberty,
+more than life. My lover will earn the right to marry the girl he
+loves, and become the father of free men and women!" And Rahal
+answered proudly and tenderly:
+
+"Thou art surely meaning my son Boris."
+
+"Indeed, thou art near to the truth."
+
+Then Rahal put her arm round Sunna and kissed her. "Thou hast made me
+happy," she said, and Sunna made her still more happy, when she took
+out of the little bag fastened to her belt the daguerreotype and
+showed her the strong, handsome face of her soldier-sailor boy.
+
+During all this summer Sunna was busy and regular. She was at the
+Ragnors' every day until the noon hour. Then she ate dinner with her
+grandfather, who was as eager to discuss the news and gossip Sunna had
+heard, as any old woman in Kirkwall. He said: "Pooh! Pooh!" and
+"Nonsense!" but he listened to it, and it often served his purpose
+better than words of weight and wisdom.
+
+In the afternoons Mistress Brodie was to visit, and the winter in
+Edinburgh to talk over. Coming home in time to take tea with her
+grandfather, she devoted the first hour after the meal to practising
+her best songs, and these lullabyed the old man to a sleep which often
+lasted until "The Banded Men" were attended to. It might then be ten
+o'clock and she was ready to sleep.
+
+All through these long summer days, Thora was the natural source of
+interest and the inciting element of all the work and chatter that
+turned the Ragnor house upside down and inside out; but Thora was
+naturally shy and quiet, and Sunna naturally expressive and
+presuming; and it was difficult for their companions to keep Thora and
+Sunna in their proper places. Every one found it difficult. Only when
+Ian was present, did Sunna take her proper secondary place and Ian,
+though the most faithful and attentive of lovers by mail, had only
+been able to pay Thora one personal visit. This visit had occurred at
+the end of June and he was expected again at the end of September. The
+year was now approaching that time and the Ragnor household was in a
+state of happy expectation.
+
+It was an unusual condition and Sunna said irritably: "They go on
+about this stranger as if he were the son of Jupiter--and poor Boris!
+They never mention him, though there has been a big battle and Boris
+may have been in it. If Boris were killed, it is easy to see that this
+Ian Macrae would step into his place!"
+
+"Nothing of that kind could happen! In thy own heart keep such foolish
+thoughts," replied Vedder.
+
+So the last days of September were restless and not very happy, for
+there was a great storm prevailing, and the winds roared and the rain
+fell in torrents and the sea looked as if it had gone mad. Before the
+storm there was a report of a big battle, but no details of it had
+reached them. For the Pentland Firth had been in its worst equinoctial
+temper and the proviso added to all Orkney sailing notices, "weather
+permitting," had been in full force for nearly a week.
+
+But at length the storm was over and everyone was on the lookout for
+the delayed shipping. Thora was pale with intense excitement but all
+things were in beautiful readiness for the expected guest. And Ian did
+not disappoint the happy hopes which called him. He was on the first
+ship that arrived and it was Conall Ragnor's hand he clasped as his
+feet touched the dry land.
+
+Such a home-coming as awaited him--the cheerful room, the bountifully
+spread table, the warm welcome, the beauty and love, mingling with
+that sense of peace and rest and warm affection which completely
+satisfies the heart. Would such a blissful hour ever come again to him
+in this life?
+
+His pockets were full of newspapers, and they were all shouting over
+the glorious opening of the war. The battle of Alma had been fought
+and won; and the troops were ready and waiting for Inkerman. England's
+usual calm placidity had vanished in exultant rejoicing. "An English
+gentleman told me," said Ian, "that you could not escape the chimes of
+joyful bells in any part of the ringing island.'"
+
+Vedder had just entered the room and he stood still to listen to these
+words. Then he said: "Men differ. For the first victory let all the
+bells of England ring if they want to. We Norsemen like to keep our
+bell-ringing until the fight is over and they can chime _Peace_. And
+how do you suppose, Ian Macrae, that the English and French will like
+to fight together?"
+
+"Well enough, sir, no doubt. Why not?"
+
+"Of Waterloo I was thinking. Have the French forgotten it? Ian, it is
+the very first time in all the history we have, that Frenchmen ever
+fought with Englishmen in a common cause. Natural enemies they have
+been for centuries, fighting each other with a very good will whenever
+they got a chance. Have they suddenly become friends? Have they forgot
+Waterloo?" and he shook his wise old head doubtfully.
+
+"Who can tell, sir, but when the English conquer any nation, they feel
+kindly to them and usually give them many favours?"
+
+"Well, then, every one knows that the same is both her pleasure and
+her folly; and dearly she pays for it."
+
+"Ian," said Mistress Ragnor, "are the English ships now in the Black
+Sea? And if so, do you think Boris is with them?"
+
+"About Boris, I do not know. He told me he was carrying 'material of
+war.' The gentleman of whom I spoke went down to Spithead to see them
+off. Her Majesty, in the royal yacht, _Fairy_, suddenly appeared. Then
+the flagship hauled home every rope by the silent 'all-at-once' action
+of one hundred men. Immediately the rigging of the ships was black
+with sailors, but there was not a sound heard except an occasional
+command--sharp, short and imperative--or the shrill order of the
+boatswain's whistle. The next moment, the Queen's yacht shot past the
+fleet and literally led it out to sea. Near the Nab, the royal yacht
+hove to and the whole fleet sailed past her, carried swiftly out by a
+fine westerly breeze. Her Majesty waved her handkerchief as they
+passed and it is said she wept. If she had not wept she would have
+been less than a woman and a queen."
+
+While Vedder and Ragnor were discussing this incident, and comparing
+it with Cleopatra at the head of her fleet and Boadicea at the head
+of her British army and Queen Elizabeth at Tewksbury reviewing her
+army, Mrs. Ragnor and Thora left the room. Ian quickly followed. There
+was a bright fire in the parlour, and the piano was open. Ian
+naturally drifted there and then Thora's voice was wanted in the song.
+When it was finished, Mrs. Ragnor had been called out and they were
+alone. And though Mrs. Ragnor came back at intervals, they were
+practically alone during the rest of the evening.
+
+What do lovers talk about when they are alone? Ah! their conversation
+is not to be written down. How unwritable it is! How wise it is! How
+foolish when written down! How supremely satisfying to the lovers
+themselves! Surely it is only the "baby-talk" of the wisdom not yet
+comprehensible to human hearts! We often say of certain events; "I
+have no words to describe what I felt"--and who will find out or
+invent the heavenly syllables that can adequately describe the divine
+passion of two souls, that suddenly find their real mate--find the
+soul that halves their soul, created for them, created with them,
+often lost or missed through diverse reincarnations; but sooner or
+later found again and known as soon as found to both. No wooing is
+necessary in such a case--they meet, they look, they love, and
+naturally and immediately take up their old, but unforgotten love
+patois. They do not need to learn its sweet, broken syllables, its
+hand clasps and sighs, its glances and kisses; they are more natural
+to them than was the grammared language they learned through years of
+painful study.
+
+Ian and Thora hardly knew how the week went. Every one respected their
+position and left them very much to their own inclinations. It led
+them to long, solitary walks, and to the little green skiff on the
+moonlit bay, and to short visits to Sunna, in order, mainly, that they
+might afterwards tell each other how far sweeter and happier they were
+alone.
+
+They never tired of each other, and every day they recounted the
+number of days that had to pass ere Ian could call himself free from
+the McLeod contract. They were to marry immediately and Ian would go
+into Ragnor's business as bookkeeper. Their future home was growing
+more beautiful every day. It was going to be the prettiest little home
+on the island. There was a good garden attached to it and a small
+greenhouse to save the potted plants in the winter. Ragnor had
+ordered its furniture from a famous maker in Aberdeen, and Rahal was
+attending with love and skill to all those incidentals of modern
+housekeeping, usually included in such words as silver, china, napery,
+ornaments, and kitchen-utensils. They were much interested in it and
+went every fine day to observe its progress. Yet their interest in the
+house was far inferior to their interest in each other, and Sunna may
+well be excused for saying to her grandfather:
+
+"They are the most conceited couple in the world! In fact, the world
+belongs to them and all the men and women in it--the sun and the moon
+are made new for them, and they have the only bit of wisdom going. I
+hope I may be able to say 'yes' to all they claim until Saturday
+comes."
+
+"These are the ways of love, Sunna."
+
+"Then I shall not walk in them."
+
+"Thou wilt walk in the way appointed thee."
+
+"Pure Calvinism is that, Grandfather."
+
+"So be it. I am a Calvinist about birth, death and marriage. They are
+the events in life about which God interferes. His will and design is
+generally evident."
+
+"And quite as evident, Grandfather, is the fact that a great many
+people interfere with His will and design."
+
+"Yes, Sunna, because our will is free. Yet if our will crosses God's
+will, crucifixion of some kind is sure to follow."
+
+"Well, then, today is Friday. The week has got itself over nearly; and
+tomorrow will be partly free, for Ian goes to Edinburgh at ten
+o'clock. Very proper is that! Such an admirable young man ought only
+to live in a capitol city."
+
+"If these are thy opinions, keep them to thyself. Very popular is the
+young man."
+
+"Grandfather, dost thou think that I am walking in ankle-tights yet? I
+can talk as the crowd talks, and I can talk to a sensible man like
+thee. Tomorrow brings release. I am glad, for Thora has forgotten me.
+I feel that very much."
+
+"Thou art jealous."
+
+Vedder's assertion was near the truth, for undeniably Ian and Thora
+had been careless of any one but themselves. Yet their love was so
+vital and primitive, so unaffected and sincere, that it touched the
+sympathies of all. In this cold, far-northern island, it had all the
+glow and warmth of some rose-crowned garden of a tropical paradise.
+But such special days are like days set apart; they do not fit into
+ordinary life and cannot be continued long under any circumstances. So
+the last day came and Thora said:
+
+"Mother, dear, it is a day in a thousand for beauty, and we are going
+to get Aunt Brodie's carriage to ride over to Stromness and see the
+queer, old town, and the Stones of Stenness."
+
+"Go not near them. If you go into the cathedral you go expecting some
+good to come to you; for angels may be resting in its holy aisles,
+ready and glad to bless you. What will you ask of the ghosts among the
+Stones of Stenness? Is there any favour you would take from the Baal
+and Moloch worshipped with fire and blood among them?"
+
+"Why, Mother," said Thora, "I have known many girls who went with
+their lovers to Stenness purposely to join their hands through the
+hole in Woden's Stone and thus take oath to love each other forever."
+
+"Thou and Ian will take that oath in the holy church of St. Magnus."
+
+"That is what we wish, Mother," said Ian. "We wish nothing less than
+that."
+
+"Well, then, go and see the queer, old, old town, and go to the
+Mason's Arms, and you will get there a good dinner. After it ride
+slowly back. Father will be home before six and must have his meal at
+once."
+
+"That is the thing we shall do, Mother. Ian thought it would be so
+romantic to take a lunch with us and eat it among the Stones of
+Stenness. But the Mason's Arms will be better. The Masons are good
+men, Mother?"
+
+"In all their generations, good men. Thy father is a Mason in high
+standing."
+
+"Yes, that is so! Then the Mason's Arms may be lucky to us?"
+
+"We make things lucky or unlucky by our willing and doing; but even
+so, it is not lucky to defy or deny what the dead have once held to be
+good or bad."
+
+"Well, then, why, Mother?"
+
+"Not now, will we talk of whys and wherefores. It is easier to believe
+than to think. Take, in this last day of Love's seven days, the full
+joy of your lives and ask not why of anyone."
+
+So the lovers went off gaily to see the land-locked bay and the
+strange old town of Stromness; and the house was silent and lonely
+without them and Rahal wished that her husband would come home and
+talk with her, for her soul was under a cloud of presentiments and
+she said to herself after a morning of fretful, inefficient work: "Oh,
+how much easier it is to love God than it is to trust Him. Are not my
+dear ones in His care? Yet about them I am constantly worrying; though
+perfectly well I know that in any deluge that may come, God will find
+an ark for those who love and trust Him. Boris knows--Boris knows--I
+have told him."
+
+About three o'clock she went to the window and looked towards the
+town. Much to her astonishment she saw her husband coming home at a
+speed far beyond his ordinary walk. He appeared also to be disturbed,
+even angry, and she watched him anxiously until he reached the house.
+Then she was at the open door and his face frightened her.
+
+"Conall! My dear one! Art thou ill?" she asked.
+
+"I am ill with anger and pity and shame!"
+
+"What is thy meaning? Speak to me plainly."
+
+"Oh, Rahal! the shame and the cruelty of it! I am beside myself!"
+
+"Come to my room, then thou shalt tell thy sorrow and I will halve it
+with thee."
+
+"No! I want to cry out! I want to shout the shameful wrong from the
+house-tops! Indeed, it is flying all over England and Scotland--over
+all the civilized world! And yet--my God! the guilty ones are still
+living!"
+
+"Coll, my dear one, what is it thou most needs--cold water?"
+
+"No! No! Get me a pot of hot tea.[*] My brain burns. My heart is like
+to break! Our poor brave soldiers! They are dying of hunger and of
+every form of shameful neglect. The barest necessities of life are
+denied them."
+
+  [*] The Norsemen of Shetland and Orkney drank tea in every kind of
+      need or crisis. No meal without it, no pleasure without it; and
+      it was equally indispensable in every kind of trouble or
+      fatigue.
+
+"By whom? By whom, Coll?"
+
+"Pacifists in power and office everywhere! Give me a drink! Give me a
+drink! I am ill--get me tea--and I will tell thee."
+
+There was boiling water on the kitchen hob, and the tea was ready in
+five minutes. "Drink, dear Coll," said Rahal, "and then share thy
+trouble and anger with me. The mail packet brought the bad news, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes, about an hour ago. The town is in a tumult. Men are cursing
+and women are doing nothing less. Some whose sons are at the front
+are in a distraction. If Aberdeen were within our reach we would
+give him five minutes to say his prayers and then send him to the
+judgment of God. Englishmen and Norsemen will not lie down and rot
+under Russian tyranny. To die fighting against it sends them joyfully
+to the battlefield! But oh, Rahal! to be left alone to die on the
+battlefield, without help, without care, without even a drink of
+cold water! It is damnable cruelty! What I say is this: let England
+stop her bell-ringing and shouts of victory until she has comforted
+and helped her wounded and dying soldiers!"
+
+"And Aberdeen? He is a Scotch nobleman--the Scotch are not cowards--what
+has he done, Coll?"
+
+"Because he hates fighting for our rights, he persuades all whom his
+power and patronage can reach to lie down or he says they will be
+knocked down. So it may be, but every man that has a particle of the
+Divine in him would rather be knocked down than lie down--if down it
+had to be--but there is no question of down in it! Aberdeen! He is
+'England's worst enemy'--and he holds the power given him by England
+to rule and ruin England! I wish he would die and go to judgment this
+night! I do! I do! and my soul says to me, 'Thou art right.'"
+
+"Coll, no man knoweth the will of the Almighty."
+
+"Then they ought to! The question has now been up to England for a
+two-years' discussion, and they have only to open His Word and find it
+out"; then he straightened himself and in a mighty burst of joyful
+pride and enthusiasm cried out:
+
+"'Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and
+my fingers to fight.
+
+"'My goodness, and my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer, my
+shield, and He in whom I trust, who subdueth the people under me.'"
+
+Anon he began to pace the floor as he continued: "'Rid us and deliver
+us, from the hands of strange children--whose mouth speaketh vanity,
+and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.' Rahal, could there
+be a better description of Russia--'her right hand of falsehood, her
+mouth speaking vanity?' David put the very words needed in our mouths
+when he taught us to say, 'rid us of such an enemy, and of all who
+strike hands with him!' Yes, rid us. We want to be rid of all such
+dead souls! Rid us."
+
+Then Rahal reminded her husband that only recently his physician had
+warned him against all excitement, especially of anger, and so finally
+induced him to take a sedative and go to sleep. But sleep was far from
+her. She sat down in her own room and closed her eyes against all
+worldly sights and sounds. Her soul was trying to reach her son's soul
+and impress upon it her own trust in the love and mercy of the "God of
+battles." She had hoped that some word or thought of Boris would come
+back to her in such a personal manner that she would feel that he was
+thinking of her and of the many sweet spiritual confidences they had
+had together.
+
+But nothing came, no sign, no word, no sudden, flashing memory of some
+special promise. All was void and still until she heard the voices of
+Thora and Ian. Then she went down to them and found that the evil news
+had met them on their way home. She asked Ian if he had any knowledge
+of the whereabouts of Boris. Ian thought he might be at sea, as his
+ship was at Spithead among the carrying ships of the navy. "If he had
+been in Alma's fight, you might have heard from him," he added. "It
+would be his first battle and he would want to write to you about it.
+That would be only natural."
+
+"Well, then, I will look for good news. If bad news is coming, I will
+not pay it the compliment of going to meet it. Have you had a pleasant
+day? Where first did you go?"
+
+"To the land-locked Bay of Stromness which was full of ships of all
+sizes, of schooners, and of little skiffs painted a light green colour
+like the pleasure skiffs of Kirkwall."
+
+"And the town?"
+
+"Was very busy while we were there. It has but one long street, with
+steep branches running directly up the big granite hill which shelters
+it from the Atlantic. What I noticed particularly was, that the houses
+on the main street all had their gables seaward; and are so built that
+the people can step from their doors into their boats. I liked that
+arrangement. Stromness is really an Orcadean Venice. The town is a
+queer old place, with a non-English and non-Scotch look. The houses
+have an old-world appearance and the names over the doorways carry you
+back to Norseland. Only one street is flagged and little bays run up
+into the street through its whole length. But the place appeared to be
+very busy and happy. I noticed few Scotch there, the people seemed to
+be purely Norse. All were busy--men, women and children."
+
+"It used to be the last port for the Hudson Bay Company," said Rahal,
+"and the big whaling fleets, and in days of war and convoys there were
+hundreds of big ships in its wonderful harbour. I suppose that you had
+no time to visit any of the ancient monuments there?" Rahal asked.
+
+"No; Thora told me her grandmother Ragnor was buried in its cemetery
+and that her grave was near the church door and had a white pillar at
+the head of it. So we walked there."
+
+"Well, then?"
+
+"I cannot describe to you the savage, lonely grandeur of its
+situation. It frightened me."
+
+"The men and women who chose it were not afraid of it."
+
+"Thora says its memory frightened her for years."
+
+"Thora was only eight years old when her father placed the pillar at
+the head of his mother's grave. It was then she saw it--but at eight
+years many people are often more sensitive than at eighty. Yes,
+indeed! They may see, then, what eyes dimmed by earthly vision cannot
+see, and feel what hearts hardened by earth's experiences cannot
+feel. Thora's spiritual sight was very keen in childhood and is not
+dimmed yet."
+
+At these words Thora entered the room, wearing the little frock of
+white barege she had saved for this last day of Ian's visit. Her face
+had been bathed, her hair brushed and loosened but yet dressed with
+the easiest simplicity. She was in trouble but she knew when to speak
+of trouble, and when to be silent. Her mother was talking of
+Stromness; when her father came, he would know all, and say all. So
+she went softly about the room, putting on the dinner table those last
+final accessories that it was her duty to supply.
+
+Yet the conversation was careless and indifferent. Rahal talked of
+Stromness but her heart was far away from Stromness, and Thora would
+have liked to tell her mother how beautifully their future home had
+been papered, and all three were eager to discuss the news that had
+come. But all knew well that it would be better not to open the
+discussion till Ragnor was present to inform and direct their
+ignorance of events.
+
+On the stroke of six, Ragnor entered. He had slept and washed and was
+apparently calm, but in some way his face had altered, for his heart
+had mastered his brain and its usual expression of intellectual
+strength was exchanged for one of intense feeling. His eyes shone and
+he had the look of a man who had just come from the presence of God.
+
+"We are waiting for you, dear Coll," said Rahal; and he answered
+softly: "Well, then, I am here." For a moment his eyes rested on
+the table which Rahal had set with extra care and with the delicacies
+Ian liked best. Was it not the last dinner he would eat with them
+for three months? She thought it only kind to give it a little
+distinction. But this elaboration of the usual home blessings did not
+produce the expected results. Every one was anxious, the atmosphere
+of the room was tense and was not relieved until Ragnor had said a
+grace full of meaning and had sat down and asked Ian if he "had heard
+the news brought by that day's packet?"
+
+"Very brokenly, Father," was the answer. "Two men, whom we met on the
+Stromness road, told us that it was 'bad with the army,' but they were
+excited and in a great hurry and would not stand to answer our
+questions."
+
+"No wonder! No wonder!"
+
+"Whatever is the matter, Father?"
+
+"I cannot tell you. The words stumble in my throat, and my heart
+burns and bleeds. Here is the _London Times_! Read aloud from it what
+William Howard Russell has witnessed--I cannot read the words--I would
+be using my own words--listen, Rahal! Listen, Thora! and oh, may God
+enter into judgment at once with the men responsible for the misery
+that Russell tells us of."
+
+At this point, Adam Vedder entered the room. He was in a passion that
+was relieving itself by a torrent of low voiced curses--curses only
+just audible but intensely thrilling in their half-whispered tones of
+passion. In the hall he had taken off his hat but on entering the room
+he found it too warm for his top-coat, and he began to remove it,
+muttering to himself while so doing. There was an effort to hear what
+he was saying but very quickly Ragnor stopped the monologue by
+calling:
+
+"Adam! Thee! Thou art the one wanted. Ian is just going to read what
+the _London Times_ says of this dreadful mismanagement."
+
+"'Mismanagement!' Is that what thou calls the crime? Go on, Ian! More
+light on this subject is wanted here."
+
+So Ian stood up and read from the _Times'_ correspondent's letter the
+following sentences:
+
+  "The skies are black as ink, the wind is howling over the
+  staggering tents, the water is sometimes a foot deep, our men have
+  neither warm nor waterproof clothing and we are twelve hours at a
+  time in the trenches--and not a soul seems to care for their
+  comfort or even their lives; the most wretched beggar who wanders
+  about the streets of London in the rain leads the life of a prince
+  compared with the British soldiers now fighting out here for their
+  country.
+
+  ... "The commonest accessories of a hospital are wanting; there
+  is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness, the
+  stench is appalling, the fetid air can barely struggle out through
+  chinks in the walls and roofs, and for all I can observe the men
+  die without the least effort being made to save them. They lie
+  just as they were let down on the ground by the poor fellows,
+  their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp with
+  the greatest tenderness but who are not allowed to remain with
+  them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by
+  the dying. There are no nurses--and men are literally dying
+  hourly, because the medical staff of the British army has
+  forgotten that old rags of linen are necessary for the dressing of
+  wounds."
+
+"My God!" cried Ian, as he let the paper fall from the hands he
+clasped passionately together, "My God! How can Thou permit this?"
+
+"Well, then, young man," said Adam, "thou must remember that God
+permits what He does not will. And Conall," he continued, "millions
+have been voted and spent for war and hospital materials, where are
+the goods?"
+
+"The captain of the packet told me no one could get their hands on
+them. Some are in the holds of vessels and other things so piled on
+the top of them that they cannot be got at till the hold is regularly
+emptied. Some are stored in warehouses which no one has authority to
+open--some are actually rotting on the open wharves, because the
+precise order to remove them to the hospital cannot be found. The
+surgeons have no bandages, the doctors no medicine, and as I said
+there are no nurses but a few rough military orderlies. The situation
+paralyses those who see it!"
+
+"Paralyses! Pure nonsense!" cried Vedder, whose face was wet with
+passionate tears, though he did not know it. "Paralyses! No, no! It
+must make them work miracles. I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow. I am
+going to buy all the luxuries and medicines I can afford for the lads
+fighting and suffering. Sunna is going to spend a week in gathering
+old linen in Kirkwall and then Mistress Brodie and she will bring it
+with them. Rahal, Thora, you must do your best. And thou, Conall?"
+
+"Adam, thou can open my purse and take all thou thinks is right. My
+Boris may be among those dear lads; his mother will have something to
+send him. Wilt thou see it is set on a fair way to reach his hand?"
+
+"I will take it to him. If he be in London with his vessel, I will
+find him; if he be at the front, I will find him. If he be in Scutari
+hospital, I will find him!"
+
+"Oh, Adam, Adam!" cried Rahal, "thou art the good man that God loves,
+the man after His own heart." Her face was set and stern and white as
+snow, and Thora's was a duplicate of it; but Ragnor, during his short
+interval of rest, had arrived at that heighth and depth of confidence
+in God's wisdom which made him sure that in the end the folly and
+wickedness of men would "praise Him"; so he was ready to help, and
+calm and strong in his sorrow.
+
+At this point, Rahal rose and a servant came in and began to clear the
+table and carry away the remains of the meal. Then Rahal rose and took
+Thora's hand and Ian went with them to the parlour. She spoke kindly
+to Ian who at her first words burst into bitter weeping, into an
+almost womanly burst of uncontrollable distress. So she kissed and
+left him with the only woman who had the power to soothe, in any
+degree, the sense of utter helplessness which oppressed him.
+
+"I want to go to the Crimea!" he said, "I would gladly go there. It
+would give me a chance to die happily. It would repay me for all my
+miserable life. I want to go, Thora. You want me to go, Thora! Yes,
+you do, dear one!"
+
+"No, I do not want you to go. I want you here. Oh, what a selfish
+coward I am. Go, Ian, if you wish--if you feel it right to go, then
+go."
+
+This subject was sufficient to induce a long and strange conversation
+during which Thora was led to understand that some great and cruel
+circumstances had ruined and in some measure yet controlled her
+lover's life. She was begging him to go and talk to her father and
+tell him all that troubled him so cruelly when Rahal entered the room
+again.
+
+"Dear ones," she said, "the house is cold and the lamps nearly out.
+Say good night, now. Ian must be up early--and tomorrow we shall have
+a busy day collecting all the old linen we can." She was yet as white
+as the long dressing gown she wore but there was a smile on her face
+that made it lovely as she recited slowly:
+
+  "Watching, wondering, yearning, knowing
+  Whence the stream, and where 'tis going
+  Seems all mystery--by and by
+  He will speak, and tell us why."
+
+And the simple words had a charm in them, and though they said "Good
+night," in a mist of tears, the sunshine of hope turned them into that
+wonderful bow which God 'bended with his hands' and placed in the
+heavens as a token of His covenant with man, that He would always
+remember man's weakness and give him help in time of trouble. Now let
+every good man and woman say "I'll warrant it! I never yet found a
+deluge of any kind but I found also that God had provided an ark for
+my refuge and my comfort."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THORA'S PROBLEM
+
+  There is a tear for all who die,
+    A mourner o'er the humblest grave;
+  But nations swell the funeral cry,
+    And triumph weeps above the brave.
+  For them is Sorrow's purest sigh,
+    O'er Ocean's heaving bosom sent
+  In vain their bones unburied lie,
+    All earth becomes their monument.
+
+  Born to the War of 1854 on October 21, 1854,
+      a Daughter, called Red Cross.
+
+
+The next night Vedder went away. His purposes were necessarily rather
+vague, but it was certain he would go to the front if he thought he
+could do any good there. He talked earnestly and long with Ragnor but
+when it came to parting, both men were strangely silent. They clasped
+hands and looked long and steadily into each other's eyes. No words
+could interpret that look. It was a conversation for eternity.
+
+In the meantime, the whole town was eager to do something but what
+could they do that would give the immediate relief that was needed?
+There were no sewing machines then, women's fingers and needles could
+not cope with the difficulty, even regarding the Orkney men who were
+suffering. To gather from every one the very necessary old linen
+seemed to be the very extent of their usefulness.
+
+In these first days of the trouble, Rahal and Thora were serious and
+quiet. A dull, inexplicable melancholy shrouded the girl like a
+garment. The pretty home preparing for Ian and herself lost its
+interest. She refused to look forward and lived only in the unhappy
+present. The few words Ian has said about some wrong or trouble in the
+past years of his life overshadowed her. She was naturally very
+prescient and her higher self dwelt much in
+
+    ... that finer atmosphere,
+  Where footfalls of appointed things,
+  Reverberent of days to be,
+  Are heard in forecast echoings,
+  Like wave beats from a viewless sea.
+
+However, if trouble lasts through the night, joy, or at least hope and
+expectation, comes in the morning; and certainly the first shock of
+grief settled down into patient hoping and waiting. Vedder and Ian
+were both good correspondents and the silence and loneliness were
+constantly broken by their interesting letters. And joyful or
+sorrowful, Time goes by.
+
+Sunna wrote occasionally but she said she found Edinburgh dull, and
+that she would gladly return to Kirkwall if it was not for the
+Pentland Firth and its winter tempers and tantrums.
+
+  The war [she added] has stopped all balls and even house parties.
+  There is no dancing and no sports of any kind, and I believe
+  skating and golf have been forbidden. Love-making is the only
+  recreation allowed and I am not tempted to sin in this direction.
+  The churches are always open and their bells clatter all day long.
+  I have no lovers. Every man will talk of the war, and then they
+  get offended if you ask them why they are not gone. I have had the
+  pleasure of saying a few painful truths to these feather-bed
+  patriots, and they tell each other, no doubt, that I am impossible
+  and impertinent. One of them said to me, myself: "Wait a wee, Miss
+  Vedder, I wouldna wonder but some crippled war lad will fa' to
+  your lot, when the puir fellows come marching home again." The
+  Edinburgh men are just city flunkeys, they would do fine to wait
+  on our Norse men. I would like well to see a little dandy advocate
+  I know here, trotting after Boris.
+
+So days came and went, and the passion of shame and sorrow died down
+and people did not talk of the war. But the doors of St. Magnus stood
+open all day long and there were always women praying there. They had
+begun to carry their anxieties and griefs to God; and that was well
+for God did not weary of their complaining. Women have the very heart
+of sympathy for a man's griefs. God is the only refuge for a sorrowful
+woman.
+
+Steadily the preparations for Thora's marriage went on, but the spirit
+that animated their first beginnings had cooled down into that calm
+necessity, which always has to attend to all "finishings off." Early
+in December, Thora's future home was quite finished, and this last
+word expresses its beauty and completeness. Then Ragnor kissed his
+daughter, and put into her hand the key of the house and the deed of
+gift which made it her own forever. And in this same hour they decided
+that the first day of the New Year should be the wedding day; for
+Bishop Hedley would then be in Kirkwall and who else could marry the
+little Thora whom he had baptised and confirmed and welcomed into the
+fold of the church.
+
+Nothing is more remarkable than the variety of moods in which women
+take the solemn initiatory rite ushering them into their real life
+and their great and honourable duties. Thora was joyful as a bird in
+spring and never weary of examining the lovely home, the perfect
+wardrobe, and the great variety of beautiful presents that had been
+given her.
+
+Very soon it was the twentieth of December, and Ian was expected on
+the twenty-third. Christmas preparations had now taken the place of
+marriage preparations for every item was ready for the latter event.
+There had been a little anxiety about the dress and veil, but they
+arrived on the morning of the twentieth and were beautiful and fitting
+in every respect. The dress was of the orthodox white satin and the
+veil fell from a wreath of orange flowers and myrtle leaves. And oh,
+how proud and happy Thora was in their possession. Several times that
+wonderful day she had run secretly to her room to examine and admire
+them.
+
+On the morning of the twenty-first she reminded herself that in two
+days Ian would be with her and that in nine days she would be his
+wife. She was genuine and happy about the event. She made no pretences
+or reluctances. She loved Ian with all her heart, she was glad she was
+going to be always with him. Life would then be full and she would be
+the happiest woman in the world. She asked her father at the breakfast
+table to send her, at once, any letters that might come for her in his
+mail. "I am sure there will be one from Ian," she said, "and, dear
+Father, it hurts me to keep it waiting."
+
+About ten o'clock, Mrs. Beaton called and brought Thora a very
+handsome ring from Maximus Grant and a bracelet from herself. She
+stayed to lunch with the Ragnors and after the meal was over, they
+went upstairs to look at the wedding dress. "I want to see it on you,
+Thora," said Mrs. Beaton, "I shall have a wedding dress to buy for my
+niece soon and I would like to know what kind of a fit Mrs. Scott
+achieves." So Thora put on the dress, and Mrs. Beaton admitted that it
+"fit like a glove" and that she should insist on her niece Helen going
+to Mrs. Scott.
+
+With many scattering, delaying remarks and good wishes, the lady
+finally bid Thora good-bye and Mrs. Ragnor went downstairs with her.
+Then Thora eagerly lifted two letters that had come in her father's
+mail and been sent home to her. One was from Ian. "The last he will
+write to Thora Ragnor," she said with a smile. "I will put it with
+his first letter and keep them all my life long. So loving is he, so
+good, so handsome! There is no one like my Ian." Twice over she read
+his loving letter and then laid it down and lifted the one which had
+come with it.
+
+"Jean Hay," she repeated, "who is Jean Hay?" Then she remembered the
+writer--an orphan girl living with a married brother who did not
+always treat her as kindly as he should have done. Hearing and
+believing this story, Rahal Ragnor hired the girl, taught her how to
+sew, how to mend and darn and in many ways use her needle. Then
+discovering that she had a genius for dressmaking, she placed her with
+a first-class modiste in Edinburgh to be properly instructed and
+liberally attended to all financial requisites; for Rahal Ragnor could
+not do anything unless it was wholly and perfectly done. Then Thora
+had dressed Jean from her own wardrobe and asked her father to send
+their protegee to Edinburgh on one of the vessels he controlled. And
+Jean had been heartily grateful, had done well, and risen to a place
+of trust in her employer's business; and a few times every year she
+wrote to Mrs. Ragnor or Thora. All these circumstances were remembered
+by Thora in a moment. "Jean Hay!" she exclaimed. "Well, Jean, you
+must wait a few minutes, until I have taken off my wedding dress. I am
+sorry I had to put it on--it was not very kind or thoughtful of Mrs.
+Beaton to ask me--I don't believe mother liked her doing so--mother
+has a superstition or fret about everything. Well, then, it is no way
+spoiled----" and she lifted it and the white silk petticoat belonging
+to the dress and carefully put them in the place Rahal had selected as
+the safest for their keeping. It was a large closet in the spare room
+and she went there with them. As she returned to her own room she
+heard her mother welcoming a favourite visitor and it pleased her.
+"Now I need not hurry," she thought. "Mistress Vorn will stay an hour
+at least, and I can take my own time."
+
+"Taking her own time" evidently meant to Thora the reading of Ian's
+letter over again. And also a little musing on what Ian had said.
+There was, however, no hurry about Jean Hay's letter and it was so
+pleasant to drift among the happy thoughts that crowded into her
+consideration. So for half an hour Jean's letter lay at her side
+untouched--Jean was so far outside her dreams and hopes that
+afternoon--but at length she lifted it and these were the words she
+read:
+
+  DEAR MISS THORA:
+
+  I was hearing since last spring that thou wert going to be married
+  on the son of the Rev. Dr. Macrae--on the young man called John
+  Calvin Macrae. Very often I was hearing this, and always I was
+  answering, "There will be no word of truth in that story. Miss
+  Ragnor will not be noticing such a young man as that. No,
+  indeed!"
+
+Here Thora threw down the letter and sat looking at it upon the floor
+as if she would any moment tear it to pieces. But she did not, she
+finally lifted it and forced herself to continue reading:
+
+  I was hating to tell thee some things I knew, and I was often
+  writing and then tearing up my letter, for it made me sick to be
+  thy true friend in such a cruel way. But often I have heard the
+  wise tell "when the knife is needed, the salve pot will be of no
+  use." Now then, this day, I tell myself with a sad heart, "Jean,
+  thou must take the knife. The full time has come."
+
+"Why won't the woman tell what she has got to tell," said Thora in a
+voice of impatient anguish, and in a few minutes she whispered, "I am
+cold." Then she threw a knitted cape over her shoulders and lifted the
+letter again, oh, so reluctantly, and read:
+
+  The young man will have told your father, that he is McLeod's
+  agent and a sort of steward of his large properties. This does
+  not sound like anything wrong, but often I have been told
+  different. Old McLeod left to his son many houses. Three of them
+  are not good houses, they are really fashionable gambling houses.
+  Macrae has the management of them as well as of many others in
+  various parts of the city. Of these others I have heard no wrong.
+  I suppose they may be quite respectable.
+
+  This story has more to it. Whenever there is a great horse race
+  there Macrae will be, and I saw myself in the daily newspapers
+  that his name was among the winners on the horse Sergius. It was
+  only a small sum he won, but sin is not counted in pounds and
+  shillings. No, indeed! So there is no wonder his good father is
+  feeling the shame of it.
+
+  Moreover, though he calls himself Ian, that is not his name. His
+  name is John Calvin and his denial of his baptismal name, given to
+  him at the Sabbath service, in the house of God, at the very altar
+  of the same, is thought by some to be a denial of God's grace and
+  mercy. And he has been reasoned with on this matter by the ruling
+  elder in his father's kirk, but no reason would he listen to, and
+  saying many things about Calvin I do not care to write.
+
+  Many stories go about young men and young women, and there is this
+  and that said about Macrae. I have myself met him on Prince's
+  Street in the afternoon very often, parading there with various
+  gayly dressed women. I do not blame him much for that. The
+  Edinburgh girls are very forward, not like the Norse girls, who
+  are modest and retiring in their ways. I am forced to say that
+  Macrae is a very gay young man, and of course you know all that
+  means without more words about it. He dresses in the highest
+  fashion, goes constantly to theatres with some lady or other, and
+  I do not wonder that people ask, "Where does he get the money?
+  Does he gamble for it?" For he does not go to any kirk on the
+  Sabbath unless he is paid to go there and sing, which he does very
+  well, people say. In his own rooms he is often heard playing the
+  piano and singing music that is not sacred or fit for the holy
+  day. And his father is the most religious man in Edinburgh. It is
+  just awful! I fear you will never forgive me, Miss Thora, but I
+  have still more and worse to tell you, because it is, as I may
+  say, personally heard and not this or that body's clash-ma-claver.
+  Nor did I seek the same, it came to me through my daily work and
+  in a way special and unlooked-for, so that after hearing it, my
+  conscience would no longer be satisfied and I was forced, as it
+  were, to the writing of this letter to you.
+
+  I dare say Macrae may have spoken to you anent his friendship with
+  Agnes and Willie Henderson, indeed Willie Henderson and John
+  Macrae have been finger and thumb ever since they played together.
+  Now Willie's father is an elder in Dr. Macrae's kirk and if all
+  you hear anent him be true--which I cannot vouch for--he is a man
+  well regarded both in kirk and market place--that is, he was so
+  regarded until he married again about two years ago. For who,
+  think you, should he marry but a proud upsetting Englishwoman, who
+  was bound to be master and mistress both o'er the hale household?
+
+  Then Miss Henderson showed fight and her brother Willie stood by
+  her. And Miss Henderson is a spunky girl and thought bonnie by
+  some people, and has a tongue so well furnished with words to
+  defend what she thinks her rights, that it leaves nobody uncertain
+  as to what thae rights may be. Weel, there has been nothing but
+  quarreling in the elder's house ever since the unlucky wedding;
+  and in the first year of the trial Willie Henderson borrowed
+  money--I suppose of John Macrae--and took himself off to America,
+  and some said the elder was glad of it and others said he was sair
+  down-hearted and disappointed.
+
+  After that, Miss Agnes was never friends with her stepmother. It
+  seems the woman wanted her to marry a nephew of her ain kith and
+  kin, and in this matter her father was of the same mind. The old
+  man doubtless wanted a sough of peace in his own home. That was
+  how things stood a couple of weeks syne, but yestreen I heard what
+  may make the change wanted. This is how it happened.
+
+  Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Baird came to Madame David's to have a
+  black velvet gown fitted. Madame called on Jean Hay to attend her
+  in the fitting and to hang the long skirt properly--for it is a
+  difficult job to hang a velvet skirt, and Jean Hay is thought to
+  be very expert anent the set and swing of silk velvet, which has a
+  certain contrariness of its own. Let that pass. I was kneeling on
+  the floor, setting the train, when Mrs. Baird said: "I suppose you
+  have heard, Madame, the last escapade of that wild son of the
+  great Dr. Macrae?" Then I was all ears, the more so when I heard
+  Madam say: "I heard a whisper of something, but I was not heeding
+  it. Folks never seem to weary of finding fault with the handsome
+  lad."
+
+  "Well, Madame," said Mrs. Baird, "I happen to know about this
+  story. Seeing with your own eyes is believing, surely!"
+
+  "What did you see?" Madame asked.
+
+  "I saw enough to satisfy me. You know my house is opposite to the
+  West End Hotel, and last Friday I saw Macrae go there and he was
+  dressed up to the nines. He went in and I felt sure he had gone to
+  call on some lady staying there. So I watched, and better watched,
+  for he did not come out for two hours, and I concluded they had
+  lunched together! For when Macrae came out of the hotel, he spoke
+  to a cabman, and then waited until a young lady and her maid
+  appeared. He put the young lady into the cab, had a few minutes'
+  earnest conversation with her, then the maid joined her mistress
+  and they two drove away."
+
+  "Well, now, Mrs. Baird," said Madame, "there was nothing in that
+  but just a courteous luncheon together."
+
+  "Wait, Madame! I felt there was more, so I took a book and sat
+  down by my window. And just on the edge of the dark I saw the two
+  women return, and a little later a waiter put lights in an upper
+  parlour and he spread a table for dinner there and Macrae and the
+  young lady ate it together. Afterwards they went away in a cab
+  together." Then Madame asked if the maid was with them, and Mrs.
+  Baird said she thought she was but had not paid particular
+  attention.
+
+  Madame said something to me about the length of the train and then
+  Mrs. Baird seemed annoyed at her inattention, and she added:
+  "Macrae was advertised to sing in the City Hall the next night at
+  a mass meeting of citizens about abrogating slavery in the United
+  States, and he was not there--broke his engagement! What do you
+  think of that? The next night, Sabbath, he did the same to Dr.
+  Fraser's kirk, where he had promised to sing a pro-Christmas
+  canticle. And this morning I heard that he is going to the Orkneys
+  to marry a rich and beautiful girl who lives there. Now what do
+  you think of your handsome Macrae? I can tell you he is on every
+  one's tongue." And Madame said, "I have no doubt of it and I'll
+  warrant nobody knows what they are talking about."
+
+  After this the fitting on was not pleasant and I finished my part
+  of it as quickly as possible. Indeed, Miss Thora, I was miserable
+  about you and so pressed in spirit to tell you these things that I
+  could hardly finish my day's work. For my conscience kept urging
+  me to do my duty to you, for it is many favours you have done me
+  in the past. Kindly pardon me now, and believe me,
+
+    Your humble but sincere friend,
+                              JEAN HAY.
+
+This letter Thora read to the last word but she was nearly blind when
+she reached it. All her senses rang inward. "I am dying!" she thought,
+and she tried to reach the bed but only succeeded in stumbling against
+a small table full of books, knocking it down and falling with it.
+
+Mistress Ragnor and her visitor heard the fall and they were suddenly
+silent. Immediately, however, they went to the foot of the stairway
+and called, "Thora." There was no answer, and the mother's heart sank
+like lead, as she hastened to her daughter's room and threw open the
+door. Then she saw her stricken child, lying as if dead upon the
+floor. Cries and calls and hurrying feet followed, and the unconscious
+girl was quickly freed from all physical restraints and laid at the
+open window. But all the ordinary household methods of restoring
+consciousness were tried without avail and the case began to assume a
+dangerous aspect.
+
+At this moment Ragnor arrived. He knelt at his child's side and drew
+her closer and closer, whispering her name with the name of the Divine
+One; and surely it was in response to his heart-breaking entreaties
+the passing soul listened and returned. "Father," was the first
+whisper she uttered; and with a glowing, grateful heart, the father
+lifted her in his arms and laid her on her bed.
+
+Then Rahal gave him the two letters and sent him away. Thora was still
+"far off," or she would have remembered her letters but it was near
+the noon of the next day when she asked her mother where they were.
+
+"Thy father has them."
+
+"I am sorry, so sorry!"
+
+That was all she said but the subject appeared to distress her for she
+closed her eyes, and Rahal kissed away the tears that slowly found
+their way down the white, stricken face. However, from this hour she
+rallied and towards night fell into a deep sleep which lasted for
+fourteen hours; and it was during this anxious period of waiting that
+Ragnor talked to his wife about the letters which were, presumably,
+the cause of the trouble.
+
+"Those letters I gave thee, Coll, did thou read both of them?"
+
+"Both of them I read. Ian's was the happy letter of an expectant
+bridegroom. Only joy and hope was in it. It was the other one that was
+a death blow. Yes, indeed, it was a bad, cruel letter!"
+
+"And the name? Who wrote it?"
+
+"Jean Hay."
+
+"Jean Hay! What could Jean have to do with Thora's affairs?"
+
+"Well, then, her conscience made her interfere. She had heard some
+evil reports about Ian's life and she thought it her duty, after yours
+and Thora's kindness to her, to report these stories."
+
+"A miserable return for our kindness! This is what I notice--when
+people want to say cruel things, they always blame their conscience or
+their duty for making them do it."
+
+"Here is Jean's letter. Thou, thyself, must read it."
+
+Rahal read it with constantly increasing anger and finally threw it on
+the table with passionate scorn. "Not one word of this stuff do I
+believe, Coll! Envy and jealousy sent that news, not gratitude and
+good will! No, indeed! But I will tell thee, Coll, one thing I have
+always found sure, it is this; that often, much evil comes to the good
+from taking people out of their poverty and misfortunes. They are
+paying a debt they owe from the past and if we assume that debt we
+have it to pay in some wise. That is the wisdom of the old, the wisdom
+learned by sad experience. I wish, then, that I had let the girl pay
+her own debt and carry her own burden. She is envious of Thora. Yet
+was Thora very good to her. Do I believe in her gratitude? Not I! Had
+she done this cruel thing out of a kind heart, she would have sent
+this letter to me and left the telling or the not telling to my love
+and best judgment. I will not believe anything against Ian Macrae!
+Nothing at all!"
+
+"Much truth is in thy words, Rahal, and it is not on Jean Hay's letter
+I will do anything. I will take only Ian's 'yes,' or 'no' on any
+accusation."
+
+"You may do that safely, Coll, I know it."
+
+"And I will go back to Edinburgh with him and see his father. Perhaps
+we have all taken the youth too far on his handsome person and his
+sweet amiability."
+
+"Thou wrote to his father when Thora was engaged to him, with thy
+permission."
+
+"Well, then, I did."
+
+"What said his father?"
+
+"Too little! He was cursed short about all I named. I told him Thora
+was good and fair and well educated; and that she would have her full
+share in my estate. I told him all that I intended to do for them
+about their home and the place which I intended for Ian in my
+business, and referred him to Bishop Hedley as to my religious,
+financial, social and domestic standing."
+
+"Why did thou name Bishop Hedley to him? They are as far apart as
+Leviticus and St. John. And what did he say to thee in reply?"
+
+"That my kindness was more than his son deserved, etc. In response to
+our invitation to be present at the marriage ceremony, he said it was
+quite impossible, the journey was too long and doubtful, especially in
+the winter; that he was subject to sea-sickness and did not like to
+leave his congregation over Sunday. Rahal, I felt the paper on which
+his letter was written crinkling and crackling in my hand, it was that
+stiff with ecclesiastic pomp and spiritual pride. I would not show
+thee the letter, I put it in the fire."
+
+"Poor Ian! I think then, that he has had many things to suffer."
+
+"Rahal, this is what I will do. I will meet the packet on Saturday and
+we will go first to my office and talk the Hay letter over together.
+If I bring Ian home with me, then something is possible, but if I come
+home alone, then Thora must understand that all is over--that the
+young man is not to be thought of."
+
+"That would kill her."
+
+"So it might be. But better is death than a living misery. If Ian is
+what Jean Hay says he is, could we think of our child living with him?
+Impossible! Rahal, dear wife, whatever can be done I will do, and that
+with wisdom and loving kindness. Thy part is harder, it must be with
+our dear Thora."
+
+"That is so. And if there has to be parting, it will be almost
+impossible to spread the plaster as far as the sore."
+
+"There is the Great Physician----"
+
+"I know."
+
+"Tell her what I have said."
+
+"I will do that; but just yet, she is not minding much what any one
+says."
+
+However, on Saturday afternoon Thora left her bed and dressed herself
+in the gown she had prepared for her bridegroom's arrival. The nervous
+shock had been severe and she looked woefully like, and yet unlike,
+herself. Her eyes were full of tears, she trembled, she could hardly
+support herself. If one should take a fresh green leaf and pass over
+it a hot iron, the change it made might represent the change in Thora.
+Jean Hay's letter had been the hot iron passed over her. She had been
+told of her father's decision, but she clung passionately to her faith
+in Ian and her claim on her father's love and mercy.
+
+"Father will do right," she said, "and if he does, Ian will come home
+with him."
+
+The position was a cruel one to Conall Ragnor and he went to meet the
+packet with a heavy heart. Then Ian's joyful face and his impatience
+to land made it more so, and Ragnor found it impossible to connect
+wrong-doing with the open, handsome countenance of the youth. On the
+contrary, he found himself without intention declaring:
+
+"Well, then, I never found anything the least zig-zaggery about what
+he said or did. His words and ways were all straight. That is the
+truth."
+
+Yet Ian's happy mood was instantly dashed by Ragnor's manner. He did
+not take his offered hand and he said in a formal tone: "Ian, we will
+go to my office before we go to the house. I must ask thee some
+questions."
+
+"Very well, sir. Thora, I hope, is all right?"
+
+"No. She has been very ill."
+
+"Then let me go to her, sir, at once."
+
+"Later, I will see about that."
+
+"Later is too late, let us go at once. If Thora is sick----"
+
+"Be patient. It is not well to talk of women on the street. No wise
+man, who loves his womenkin, does that."
+
+Then Ian was silent; and the walk through the busy streets was like a
+walk in a bad dream. The place and circumstances felt unreal and he
+was conscious of the sure presence of a force closing about him, even
+to his finger tips. Vainly he tried to think. He felt the trouble
+coming nearer and nearer, but what was it? What had he done? What had
+he failed to do? What was he to be questioned about?
+
+Young as he was his experiences had taught him to expect only injury
+and wrong. The Ragnor home and its love and truth had been the miracle
+that had for nine months turned his brackish water of life into wine.
+Was it going to fail him, as everything else had done? He laughed
+inwardly at the cruel thought and whispered to himself: "This, too,
+can be borne, but oh, Thora, Thora!" and the two words shattered his
+pride and made him ready to weep when he sat down in Ragnor's office
+and saw the kind, pitiful face of the elder man looking at him. It
+gave him the power he needed and he asked bluntly what questions he
+was required to answer.
+
+Ragnor gave him the unhappy letter and he read it with a look of anger
+and astonishment. "Father," he said, "all this woman writes is true
+and not true; and of all accusations, these are the worst to defend. I
+must go back to my very earliest remembrances in order to fairly state
+my case, and if you will permit me to do this, in the presence of
+your wife and Thora, I will then accept whatever decision you make."
+
+For at least three minutes Ragnor made no answer. He sat with closed
+eyes and his face held in the clasp of his left hand. Ian was bending
+forward, eagerly watching him. There was not a movement, not a sound;
+it seemed as if both men hardly breathed. But when Ragnor moved, he
+stood up. "Let us be going," he said, "they are anxious. They are
+watching. You shall do as you say, Ian."
+
+Rahal saw them first. Thora was lying back in her mother's chair with
+closed eyes. She could not bear to look into the empty road watching
+for one who might be gone forever. Then in a blessed moment, Rahal
+whispered, "They are coming!"
+
+"Both? Both, Mother?"
+
+"Both!"
+
+"Thank God!" And she would have cried out her thanks and bathed them
+in joyful tears if she had been alone. But Ian must not see her
+weeping. Now, especially, he must be met with smiles. And then, when
+she felt herself in Ian's embrace, they were both weeping. But oh, how
+great, how blessed, how sacramental are those joys that we baptise
+with tears!
+
+During the serving of dinner there was no conversation but such
+as referred to the war and other public events. Many great ones
+had transpired since they parted, and there was plenty to talk
+about: the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman had been fought; the
+never-to-be-forgotten splendour of Scarlett's Charge with the
+Heavy Brigade, and the still more tragically splendid one of the
+Light Brigade, had both passed into history.
+
+More splendid and permanent than these had been the trumpet "call" of
+Russell in the _Times_, asking the women of England who among them
+were ready to go to Scutari Hospital and comfort and help the men
+dying for England? "Now," he cried,
+
+  "The Son of God goes forth to war!
+  Who follows in His train?"
+
+Florence Nightingale and her band of trained nurses, mainly from the
+Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy, and St. John's Protestant House, was
+the instant answer. In six days they were ready and without any
+flourish of trumpets, at the dark, quiet midnight, they left England
+for Scutari and in that hour the Red Cross Society was born.
+
+"How long is it since they sailed?" asked Rahal.
+
+"A month," answered Ian, "but the controversy about it is still raging
+in the English papers."
+
+"What has anyone to say against it?" asked Rahal. "The need was
+desperate, the answer quick. What, then, do they say?"
+
+"The prudery of the English middle class was shocked at the idea of
+young women nursing in military hospitals. They considered it 'highly
+improper.' Others were sure women would be more trouble than help.
+Many expect their health to fail, and think they will be sent back to
+English hospitals in a month."
+
+"I thought," said Ragnor, "that the objections were chiefly
+religious."
+
+"You are right," replied Ian. "The Calvinists are afraid Miss
+Nightingale's intention is to make the men Catholics in their dying
+hour. Others feel sure Miss Nightingale is an Universalist, or an
+Unitarian, or a Wesleyan Methodist. The fact is, Florence Nightingale
+is a devout Episcopalian."
+
+A pleasant little smile parted Ragnor's lips, and he said with an
+Episcopalian suavity: "The Wesleyans and the Episcopalians, in
+doctrine, are much alike. We regard them as brethren;" and just while
+he spoke, Ragnor looked like some ecclesiastical prelate.
+
+"There is little to wonder at in the churches disagreeing about Miss
+Nightingale," said Rahal, "it is not to be expected that they would
+believe in her, when they do not believe in each other." As she spoke
+she stepped to the fireside and touched the bell rope, and a servant
+entered and began to clear the table and put more wood on the fire,
+and to turn out one of the lamps at Rahal's order. Ragnor had gone out
+to have a quiet smoke in the fresh air while Rahal was sending off all
+the servants to a dance at the Fisherman's Hall. Ian and Thora were
+not interested in these things; they sat close together, talking
+softly of their own affairs.
+
+Without special request, they drew closer to the hearth and to each
+other. Then Ragnor took out a letter and handed it to Ian. He was
+sitting at Thora's side and her hand was in his hand. He let it fall
+and took the letter offered him.
+
+"I cannot explain this letter," he said, "unless I preface it with
+some facts regarding my unhappy childhood and youth. I am, as you
+know, the son of Dr. Macrae, but I have been a disinherited son ever
+since I can remember. I suppose that in my earliest years I was loved
+and kindly treated, but I have no remembrance of that time. I know
+only that before I was five years old, my father had accepted the
+solemn conviction that I was without election to God's grace.
+Personally I was a beautiful child, but I was received and considered,
+body and soul, as unredeemable. Father then regarded me as a Divine
+decree which it was his duty to receive with a pious acquiescence. My
+mother pitied and, in her way, loved me, and suffered much with me. I
+have a little sister also, who would like to love me, but there is in
+all her efforts just that touch of Phariseeism which destroys love."
+
+"But, Ian, there must have been some reason for your father's
+remarkable conviction?"
+
+"That is most likely. If so, he never explained the fact to me or even
+to my mother. She told me once that he did not suspect that I had
+missed God's election until I was between five and six years old. I
+suppose that about that age I began to strengthen his cruel fear by my
+antipathy to the kirk services and my real and unfortunate inability
+to learn the Shorter Catechism. This was a natural short-coming. I
+could neither spell or pronounce the words I was told to learn and to
+memorise them was an impossible thing."
+
+"Could not your mother help you?"
+
+"She tried. She wept over me as she tried, and I made an almost
+superhuman effort to comprehend and remember. I could not. I was
+flogged, I was denied food and even water. I was put in dark rooms. I
+was forbid all play and recreation. I went through this martyrdom year
+after year and I finally became stubborn and would try no longer. In
+the years that followed, until I was sixteen, my daily sufferings were
+great, but I remember them mainly for my mother's sake, who suffered
+with me in all I suffered. Nor am I without pity for my father. He
+honestly believed that in punishing me he was doing all he could to
+save me from everlasting punishment. Yes, sir! Do not shake your head!
+I have heard him praying, pleading with God, for some token of my
+election to His mercy. You see it was John Calvin."
+
+"John Calvin!" ejaculated Ragnor, "how is that?"
+
+"It was his awful tenets I had to learn; and when I was young I could
+not learn them, and when I grew older I would not learn them. My
+father had called me John Calvin and I detested the name. On my
+eighteenth birthday I asked him to have it changed. He was very angry
+at my request. I begged him passionately to do so. I said it ruined my
+life, that I could do nothing under that name. 'Give me your own name,
+Father,' I entreated, 'and I will try and be a good man!'
+
+"He said something to me, I never knew exactly what, but the last word
+was more than I could bear and my reply was an oath. Then he lifted
+the whip at his side and struck me."
+
+Rahal and Thora were sobbing. Ragnor looked in the youth's face with
+shining eyes and asked, almost in a whisper, "What did thou do?"
+
+"I had been struck often enough before to have made me indifferent,
+but at this moment some new strength and feeling sprang up in my
+heart. I seized his arms and the whip fell to the floor. I lifted it
+and said, 'Sir, if you ever again use a whip in place of decent words
+to me, I will see you no more until we meet for the judgment of God.
+Then I will pity you for the life-long mistake you have made.' My
+father looked at me with eyes I shall never forget, no, not in all
+eternity! He burst into agonizing prayer and weeping and I went and
+told mother to go to him. I left the house there and then. I had not
+a halfpenny, and I was hungry and cold and sick with an intolerable
+sense of wrong."
+
+"Father!" said Thora, in a voice broken with weeping. "Is not this
+enough?" And Ragnor leaned forward and took Thora's hand but he did
+not speak. Neither did he answer Rahal's look of entreaty. On the
+contrary he asked:
+
+"Then, Ian? Then, what did thou do?"
+
+"I felt so ill I went to see Dr. Finlay, our family physician. He knew
+the family trouble, because he had often attended mother when she was
+ill in consequence of it. I did not need to make a complaint. He saw
+my condition and took me to his wife and told her to feed and comfort
+me. I remained in her care four days, and then he offered to take me
+into his office and set me to reading medical text books, while I did
+the office work."
+
+"What was this work?"
+
+"I was taught how to prepare ordinary medicines, to see callers when
+the doctor was out, and make notes of, and on, their cases. I helped
+the doctor in operations, I took the prescriptions to patients and
+explained their use, etc. In three years I became very useful and
+helpful and I was quite happy. Then Dr. Finlay was appointed to some
+exceptionally fine post in India, private physician to some great
+Rajah, and the Finlay family hastily prepared for their journey to
+Delhi. I longed to go with them but I had not the money requisite.
+With Dr. Finlay I had had a home but only money enough to clothe me
+decently. I had not a pound left and mother could not help me, and
+Uncle Ian was in the Madeira Isles with his sick wife. So the Finlays
+went without me; and I can feel yet the sense of loneliness and
+poverty that assailed me, when I shut their door behind me and walked
+into the cold street and knew not what to do or where to go."
+
+"How old were you then, Ian?" asked Ragnor.
+
+"I was twenty years old within a few days, and I had one pound,
+sixteen shillings in my pocket. Five pounds from an Episcopal church
+would be due in two weeks for my solo and part singing in their
+services; but they were never very prompt in their payment and that
+was nothing to rely on in my present need. I took to answering
+advertisements, and did some of the weariest tramping looking for work
+that poor humanity can do. When I met Kenneth McLeod, I had broken my
+last shilling. I was like a hungry, lost child, and the thought of my
+mother came to me and I felt as if my heart would break.
+
+"The next moment I saw Kenneth McLeod coming up Prince's Street. It
+was nearly four years since we had seen each other, but he knew me at
+once and called me in his old kind way. Then he looked keenly at me,
+and asked: 'What is the matter, Ian? The old trouble?'
+
+"I was so heartless and hungry I could hardly keep back tears as I
+answered: 'It is that and everything else! Ken, help me, if you can.'
+'Come with me!' he answered, and I went with him into the Queen's
+Hotel and he ordered dinner, and while we were eating I told him my
+situation. Then he said, 'I can help you, Ian, if you will help me.
+You know that all my happiness is on the sea and father kept me on one
+or another of his trading boats as much as possible from my boyhood,
+so that I am now a clever enough navigator. Two years ago my father
+died and I am in a lot of trouble about managing the property he left
+me. Now, if you will take the oversight of my Edinburgh property, I
+can take my favourite boat and look after the coast trade of the
+Northern Islands.'
+
+"What could I say? I was dumb with surprise and gratitude. I never
+thought there was anything wrong in our contract. I believed the work
+had come in answer to my prayer for help and I thanked God and Kenneth
+McLeod for it."
+
+Here Mrs. Ragnor rose, saying, "Coll, my dear one, Thora and I will
+now leave thee. I am sure Ian has done as well as he could do and we
+hope thou wilt judge him kindly." Then the women went upstairs and
+Ragnor remained silent until Ian said:
+
+"I am very anxious, sir."
+
+Then Ragnor stood up and slowly answered, "Ian, now is the time to
+take council of my pillow. What I have to say I will say later. This
+is not a thing to be settled by a yes or no. I must think over what
+thou hast told me. I must have some words with my wife and daughter.
+Sleep one night at least over thy trouble, there are many things to
+consider; especially this question of the young lady who is made
+the last count of Jean Hay's letter. What hast thou to say about her?
+She seems to have had some strong claim upon thy--shall we say
+friendship?"
+
+"You might say much more than friendship, sir, and yet wrong neither
+man nor woman by it. Why, the young lady was Agnes Henderson, the
+sister of Willie Henderson, who is my soul's brother and my second
+self. Thora must have heard all about Agnes!"
+
+"Is she Deacon Scot Henderson's daughter?"
+
+"Of course she is! Who else would I have left two engagements to
+serve? But Agnes is dear to me, perhaps dearer than my own sister.
+Since she was nine years old, we have studied and played together.
+Willie and Agnes were the only loves and only friends of my desolate
+boyhood. You have doubtless heard how unhappy the deacon's second
+marriage has been. Both Willie and Agnes refused the stepmother he
+gave them, and last year Willie went to New York, where he is doing
+very well. But Agnes has been more and more wretched, and a recent
+proposal of marriage between herself and the stepmother's nephew has
+made her life intolerable. Two weeks ago I had a letter from Willie,
+telling me he had just written her, advising an immediate 'give-up' of
+the whole situation. He told her to take the first good steamer and
+come to him. He also urged her to send for me and take my help and
+advice about the voyage. Two weeks ago last Friday she did so and I
+went at once to the West End Hotel to see her. She had disguised
+herself so cleverly that it was difficult to recognise her. I went
+with her to her sitting room and there I found the woman who had
+waited on her all her life long. I knew her well for she had often
+scolded me for leading Agnes into danger.
+
+"I ate lunch with Agnes and during it I told her to transfer all her
+money not required for travelling expenses to the Bank of New York;
+and I promised to go at once and secure a passage for herself and
+maid--for seeing that the _Atlantic_ would leave her dock for New York
+about the noon hour of the next day, haste was necessary. I did not
+wish to go to Liverpool because of my two engagements, but Agnes was
+so insistent on my presence I could not refuse her. Well, perhaps I
+was wrong to yield to her entreaties."
+
+"No, hardly," said Ragnor. "Going on board a big steamer at Liverpool
+must be a muddling business--not fit for two simple women like Agnes
+Henderson and her maid."
+
+"I don't remember thinking of that but I could hear my friend Willie
+telling me, 'See her safe on board, Ian. Don't leave her till she is
+in the captain's care. Do this for me, Ian!' And I did it for both
+Agnes' and Willie's sake but mainly for Willie's, for I love him. He
+is my right-hand friend, always. Perhaps I did wrong."
+
+"It is a pity there was any mystification about it. Was it necessary
+for Agnes Henderson to disguise herself?"
+
+"Perhaps not, but it prevented trouble and disappointment. Her father
+supposed her to be at her uncle's home. On Saturday afternoon he went
+to see her and found she had not been there at all. He returned to
+Edinburgh and could get no trace of her, nor was she located until I
+returned and informed him that she was on the _Atlantic_."
+
+There was a few moments of silence and then Ian said, "Have I done
+anything unpardonable? Surely you will not let that jealous, envious
+letter stand between Thora and myself?"
+
+Then Ragnor answered, "Tonight I will say neither this nor that on the
+matter. I will sleep over the subject and take counsel of One wiser
+than myself. Thou had better do likewise. Many things are to
+consider."
+
+And Ian went away without a word. There was anger in his heart, and as
+he sat gloomily in his dimly lit room and felt the damp chill of the
+midnight, he told himself that he had been hardly judged. "I have done
+nothing wrong," he whispered passionately. "Old McLeod collected his
+own rents and looked after his own property and no one thought he did
+wrong. He was an elder in one of the largest Edinburgh kirks and the
+favourite chairman in missionary meetings, but because I did not go to
+kirk, what was business in him was sin in me.
+
+"As to the gambling houses, I had nothing to do with them but to
+collect lawful money, due the McLeod estate; and as far as I can see,
+men who gamble for money are quite respectable if they get what they
+gamble for. There was that old reprobate Lord Sinclair. He redeemed
+the Sinclair estates by gambling and he married the beautiful daughter
+of the noble Seaforths. Nobody blamed him. Pshaw! It is all a matter
+of money--or it is my ill luck." And to such irritating reflections he
+finally fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BREAD OF BITTERNESS
+
+
+Sorrow develops the mind. It seems as if a soul was given us to suffer
+with--
+
+  Dust to dust, but the pure spirit shall flow
+  Back to the burning fountain whence it came
+  A portion of the Eternal which must glow
+  Through time and change unalterably the same.
+
+  Our endless need is met by God's endless help.
+
+At her room door Thora bid her mother good night. Rahal desired to
+talk with her, but the girl shook her head and said wearily, "I want
+to think, Mother. I have no heart to speak yet." And Rahal turned
+sadly away. She knew that hour, that her child had come to a door for
+which she had no key and she left her alone with the situation she had
+to face. Nor did Thora just then realize that within the past hour her
+girlhood had vanished, and that she had suddenly become a woman with a
+woman's fate upon her and a woman's heart-rending problem to solve.
+
+How it came she did not enquire, yet she did recognise some change in
+herself. Hitherto, all her troubles had been borne by her father or
+mother. This trouble was her very own. No one could carry it for her
+but without any hesitation she accepted it. "I must find out the very
+root of this matter," she said to herself, "and I will not go to bed
+until I do. Nor is it half-asleep I will be over the question. I will
+sit up and be wide awake."
+
+So she put more peat and coal on her fire and lit a fresh candle;
+removed her day clothing and wrapped herself in a large down cloak.
+And the night was not cold for there was a southerly wind, and the
+gulf stream embraces the Orkneys, giving them an abnormally warm
+climate for their far-north latitude. And she had a passing wonder at
+herself for these precautions. A year ago, a week ago, she would have
+thrown herself upon her bed in passionate weeping or clung to her
+mother and talked her sorrow away in her loving sympathy and advice.
+
+But at this supreme hour of her life, she wanted to be alone. She
+did not wish to talk about Ian with any one. She was wide awake,
+quite sensible of the pain and grief at her heart, yet tearless
+and calm. Never before had she felt that dignity of soul, which
+looks straight into the face of its sorrow and feels itself equal
+to the bearing of it. She had as yet no idea that during that
+evening she had passed through that wonderful heart-experience,
+which suddenly ripens girlhood into womanhood. Indeed, they will
+be thoughtless girls--whatever their age--who can read this
+sentence and not pause and recall that marvellous transition in their
+own lives. To some it comes with a great joy, to others with a great
+sorrow but it is always a fateful event, and girls should be ready
+to meet and salute it.
+
+As soon as Thora had made herself and her room comfortable, she sat
+down and closed her eyes. All her life she had noticed that her mother
+shut her eyes when she wanted to think. Now she did the same, and then
+softly called Ian Macrae to the judgment of her heart and her inner
+senses, but she did it as naturally as women equally ignorant have
+done it in all ages, taking or refusing their advice or verdict as
+directed by their dominant desire, or their reason or unreason.
+
+With almost supernatural clearness she recalled his beautiful, yet
+troubled face, his hesitating manner, his restlessness in his chair,
+his nervous trifling with his watch chain or his finger ring. She
+recalled the fact that his voice had in it a strange tone and that his
+eyes reflected a soul fearful and angry. It was an unfamiliar Ian she
+called up, but oh! if it could ever become a familiar one.
+
+The first subject that pressed her for consideration was the suspicion
+of gambling. Certainly Ian had promptly denied the charge. He had even
+said that he never was in the gambling parlours but once, when he went
+into them very early with the porter, to assure himself that some new
+carpets asked for were really wanted. "Then," he added, "I found out
+that the demand was made by one of the club members, who had a friend
+who was a carpet manufacturer and expected to supply what was
+considered necessary."
+
+It must be recalled here that Norsemen, though sharp and keen in
+business matters, have no gambling fever in their blood. To get money
+and give nothing for it! That goes too far beyond their idea of fair
+business, and as for pleasure, they have never connected it with the
+paper kings and queens. They find in the sea and their ships, in
+adventure, in music and song, in dancing and story telling, all of
+pleasure they require. A common name for a pack of cards is "the
+devil's books," and in Orkney they have but few readers.
+
+Thora had partially exonerated Ian from the charge of gambling
+when she remembered Jean Hay's assertion that "wherever horses were
+racing, there Ian was sure to be and that he had been named in the
+newspapers as a winner on the horse Sergius." Ian had passed by
+this circumstance, and her father had either intentionally or
+unintentionally done the same. Once she had heard Vedder say that
+"horse racing produced finer and faster horses"; and she remembered
+well, that her father asked in reply, "If it was well to produce
+finer and faster horses, at the cost of making horsier men?" And he
+had further said that he did not know of any uglier type of man than a
+"betting book in breeches." She thought a little on this subject
+and then decided Ian ought to be talked to about it.
+
+Her lover's neglect of the Sabbath was the next question, for Thora
+was a true and loving daughter of the Church of England. Episcopacy
+was the kernel of her faith. She believed all bishops were just like
+Bishop Hedley and that the most perfect happiness was found in the
+Episcopal Communion. And she said positively to her heart--"It is
+through the church door we will reach the Home door, and I am sure Ian
+will go with me to keep the Sabbath in the cathedral. Every one goes
+to church in Kirkwall. He could not resist such a powerful public
+example, and then he would begin to like to go of his own inclination.
+I could trust him on this point, I feel sure."
+
+When she took up the next doubt her brow clouded and a shadow of
+annoyance blended itself with her anxious, questioning expression.
+"His name!" she muttered. "His name! Why did he woo me under a false
+name? Mother says my marriage to him under the name of Ian Macrae
+would not be lawful. Of course he intended to marry me with his proper
+name. He would have been sure to tell us all before the marriage
+day--but I saw father was angry and troubled at the circumstance. He
+ought to have told us long ago. Why didn't he do so? I should have
+loved him under any name. I should have loved him better under John
+than Ian. John is a strong, straight name. Great and good men in all
+ages have made John honourable. It has no diminutive. It can't be made
+less than John. Englishmen and lowland Scotch all say the four
+sensible letters with a firm, strong voice; only the Celt turns John
+into Ian. I will not call him Ian again. Not once will I do it."
+
+Then she covered her eyes with her hand and a sharp, chagrined catch
+of her breath broke the hush of the still room. And her voice, though
+little stronger than a whisper, was full of painful wonder. "What will
+people say? What shall we say? Oh, the shame! Oh, the mortification!
+Who will now live in my pretty home? Who will eat my wedding cake?
+What will become of my wedding dress? Oh, Thora! Thora! Love has led
+thee a shameful, cruel road! What wilt thou do? What can thou do?"
+
+Then a singular thing happened. A powerful thought from some forgotten
+life came with irresistible strength into her mind, and though she did
+not speak the words suggested, she prayed them--if prayer be that
+hidden, never-dying imploration that goes with the soul from one
+incarnation to another--for the words that sprang to her memory must
+have been learned centuries before, "Oh, Mary! Mary! Mother of Jesus
+Christ! Thou that drank the cup of all a woman's griefs and wrongs,
+pray for me!"
+
+And she was still and silent as the words passed through her
+consciousness. She thought every one of them, they seemed at the
+moment so real and satisfying. Then she began to wonder and ask
+herself, "Where did those words come from? When did I hear them? Where
+did I say them before? How do they come to be in my memory? From what
+strange depth of Life did they come? Did I ever have a Roman Catholic
+nurse? Did she whisper them to my soul, when I was sick and suffering?
+I must ask mother--oh, how tired and sleepy I feel--I will go to
+bed--I have done no good, come to no decision. I will sleep--I will
+tell mother in the morning--I wish I had let her stop with me--mother
+always knows--what is the best way----" And thus the heart-breaking
+session ended in that blessed hostel, The Inn of Dreamless Sleep.
+
+There was, however, little sleep in the House of Ragnor that night,
+and very early in the morning Ragnor, fully dressed, spoke to his
+wife. "Art thou waking yet, Rahal?" he asked, and Rahal answered, "I
+have slept little. I have been long awake."
+
+"Well then, what dost thou think now of Ian Macrae, so-called?"
+
+"I think little amiss of him--some youthful follies--nothing to make a
+fuss about."
+
+"Hast thou considered that the follies of youth may become the follies
+of manhood, and of age? What then?"
+
+"We are not told to worry about what may be."
+
+"Ian has evidently been living and spending with people far above his
+means and his class."
+
+"The Lowland Scotch regard a minister as socially equal to any peer.
+Are not the servants of God equal, and more than equal, to the
+servants of the queen? No society is above either they or their
+children. That I have seen always. And young men of fine appearance
+and charming manners, like Ian, are welcome in every home, high or
+low. Yes, indeed!"
+
+"Yet girls, as a rule, should not marry handsome men with charming
+manners, unless there is something better behind to rely on."
+
+"If thou had not been a handsome man with a charming manner, Rahal
+would not have married thee. What then?"
+
+"I would have been a ruined man. I cared for nothing but thee."
+
+"I believe that a girl of moral strength and good intelligence should
+be trusted with the choice of her destiny. It is not always that
+parents have a right to thrust a destiny they choose upon their
+daughter. If a man is not as good and as rich as they think she ought
+to marry they can point this out, and if they convince their child,
+very well; and if they do not convince her, also very well. Perhaps
+the girl's character requires just the treatment it will evolve from a
+life of struggle."
+
+"Thou art talking nonsense, Rahal. Thy liking for the young man has
+got the better of thy good sense. I cannot trust thee in this
+matter."
+
+"Well then, Coll, the road to better counsel than mine, is well known
+to thee."
+
+"I think Bishop Hedley arrived about an hour ago. There were moving
+lights on the pier, and as soon as the morning breaks I am going to
+see him."
+
+"Have thy own way. When a man's wife has not the wisdom wanted, it is
+well that he go to his Bishop, for Bishops are full of good counsel,
+even for the ruling of seven churches, so I have heard."
+
+"It is not hearsay between thee and Bishop Hedley. Thou art well
+acquainted with him."
+
+"Well then, in the end thou wilt take thy own way."
+
+"Dost thou want me to say 'yes' today, and rue it tomorrow? I have no
+mind for any such foolishness."
+
+"Coll, this is a time when deeds will be better than words."
+
+"I see that. Well then, the day breaks, and I will go"--he lingered a
+minute or two fumbling about his knitted gloves but Rahal was dressing
+her hair and took no further notice. So he went away in an affected
+hurry and both dissatisfied and uncertain. "What a woman she is!" he
+sighed. "She has said only good words, but I feel as if I had broken
+every commandment at once."
+
+He went away full of trouble and anxiety, and Rahal watched him down
+the garden path and along the first stretch of the road. She knew by
+his hurried steps and the nervous play of his walking stick that he
+was both angry and troubled and she was not very sorry.
+
+"If it was his business standing and his good name, instead of Thora's
+happiness and good repute that was the question, oh, how careful and
+conciliatory he would be! How anxious to keep his affairs from public
+discussion! It would be anything rather than that! I have the same
+feeling about Thora's good name. The marriage ought to go on for
+Thora's sake. I do not want the women of Kirkwall wondering who was
+to blame. I do not want them coming to see me with solemn looks and
+tearful voices. I could not endure their pitying of 'poor Miss Thora!'
+They would not dare go to Coll with their sympathetic curiosity, but
+there are such women as Astar Gager, and Lala Snackoll, and Thyra
+Peterson, and Jorunna Flett. No one can keep them away from a house in
+trouble. Thora must marry. I see no endurable way to prevent it."
+
+Then being dressed she went to Thora's room, and gently opened the
+door. Thora was standing at her mirror and she turned to her mother
+with a smiling face. Rahal was astonished and she said almost with a
+tone of disapproval, "I am glad to see thee able to smile. I expected
+to find thee weeping, and ill with weeping."
+
+"For a long time, for many hours, I was broken-hearted but there came
+to me, Mother, a strange consolation." Then she told her mother about
+the prayer she heard her soul say for her. "Not one word did I speak,
+Mother. But someone prayed for me. I heard them. And I was made strong
+and satisfied, and fell into a sweet sleep, though I had yet not
+solved the problem I had proposed to solve before I slept."
+
+"What was that problem?"
+
+"First, whether I should marry John just as he was, and trust the
+consequences to my influence over him; or whether I should refuse him
+altogether and forever; or whether I should wait and see what he can
+do with my father and the good Bishop, to help and strengthen him."
+And as Thora talked, Rahal's face grew light and sweet as she
+listened, and she answered--"Yes, my dear one, that is the wonderful
+way! Some soul that loved thee long, long ago, knew that thou wert in
+great trouble. Some woman's soul, perhaps, that had lived and died for
+love. The kinship of our souls far exceeds that of our bodies, and
+their help is swift and sure. Be patient with Ian. That is what I
+say."
+
+"But why that prayer? I never heard it before."
+
+"How little thou knowest of what thou hast heard before! Two hundred
+years ago, all sorrowful, unhappy women went to Mary with their
+troubles."
+
+"They should not have done so. They could have gone to Christ."
+
+"They thought Mary had suffered just what they were suffering, and
+they thought that Christ had never known any of the griefs that break
+a woman's heart. Mary knew them, had felt them, had wept and prayed
+over them. When my little lad Eric died, I thought of Mary. My family
+have only been one hundred years Protestants. All of them must have
+loved thee well enough to come and pray for thee. Thou had a great
+honour, as well as a great comfort."
+
+"At any rate I did no wrong! I am glad, Mother."
+
+"Wrong! Thou wilt see the Bishop today. Ask him. He will tell thee
+that the English Church and the English women gave up very reluctantly
+their homage to Mary. Are not their grand churches called after Peter
+and Paul and other male saints? Dost thou think that Christ loved
+Peter and Paul more than his mother? I know better. Please God thou
+wilt know better some day."
+
+"Churches are often called after Mary, as well as the saints."
+
+"Not in Scotland."
+
+"There is one in Glasgow. Vedder told me he used to hear Bishop Hedley
+preach there."
+
+"It is an Episcopal Church. Ask him about thy dream. No, I mean thy
+soul's experience."
+
+"Thou said _dream_, Mother. It was not a dream. I saw no one. I only
+heard a voice. It is what we see in dreams that is important."
+
+"Now wilt thou come to thy breakfast?"
+
+"Is _he_ downstairs yet?"
+
+"I will go and call him."
+
+Rahal, however, came to the table alone. She said, "Ian asked that he
+might lie still and sleep an hour or two. He has not slept all night
+long, I think," she added. "His voice sounded full of trouble."
+
+So the two women ate their breakfast alone for Ragnor did not return
+in time to join them. And Rahal's hopefulness left her, and she was
+silent and her face had a grey, fearful expression that Thora could
+not help noticing. "You look ill, Mother!" she said, "and you were
+looking so well when we came downstairs. What is it?"
+
+"I know not. I feel as if I was going into a black cloud. I wish that
+thy father would come home. He is in trouble. I wonder then what is
+the matter!"
+
+In about an hour they saw Ragnor and the Bishop coming towards the
+house together.
+
+"They are in trouble, Thora, both of them are in trouble."
+
+"About Thora they need not to be in trouble. She will do what they
+advise her to do."
+
+"It is not thee."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"I will not name my fear, lest I call it to me."
+
+Then she rose and went to the door and Thora followed her, and by this
+time, Ragnor and the Bishop were at the garden gate. Very soon the
+Bishop was holding their hands, and Rahal found when he released her
+hand that he had left a letter in it. Yet for a moment she hardly
+noticed the fact, so shocked was she at the expression of her
+husband's face. He looked so much older, his eyes were two wells of
+sorrow, his distress had passed beyond words, and when she asked,
+"What is thy trouble, Coll?" he looked at her pitifully and pointed to
+the letter. Then she took Thora's hand and they went to her room
+together.
+
+Sitting on the side of her bed, she broke the seal and looked at the
+superscription. "It is from Adam Vedder," she said, as she began to
+read it. No other word escaped her lips until she came to the end of
+the long epistle. Then she laid it down on the bed beside her and
+shivered out the words, "Boris is dying. Perhaps dead. Oh, Boris! My
+son Boris! Read for thyself."
+
+So Thora read the letter. It contained a vivid description of the
+taking of a certain small battery, which was pouring death and
+destruction on the little British company, who had gone as a forlorn
+hope to silence its fire. They were picked volunteers and they were
+led by Boris Ragnor. He had made a breach in its defences and carried
+his men over the cannon to victory. At the last moment he was shot in
+the throat and received a deadly wound in the side, as he tore from
+the hands of the Ensign the flag of his regiment, wrote Vedder.
+
+  I saw the fight between the men. I was carrying water to the
+  wounded on the hillside. I, and several others, rushed to the side
+  of Boris. He held the flag so tightly that no hand could remove
+  it, and we carried it with him to the hospital. For two days he
+  remained there, then he was carefully removed to my house, not
+  very far away, and now he has not only one of Miss Nightingale's
+  nurses always with him but also myself. As for Sunna, she hardly
+  ever leaves him. He talks constantly of thee and his father and
+  sister. He sends all his undying love, and if indeed these wounds
+  mean his death, he is dying gloriously and happily, trusting God
+  implicitly, and loving even his enemies--a thing Adam Vedder
+  cannot understand. He found out before he was twenty years old
+  that loving his enemies was beyond his power and that nothing
+  could make him forgive them. Our dear Boris! Oh, Rahal! Rahal!
+  Poor stricken mother! God comfort thee, and tell thyself every
+  minute "My boy has won a glorious death and he is going the way of
+  all flesh, honoured and loved by all who ever knew him."
+
+  Thy true friend,
+              ADAM VEDDER.
+
+[Illustration: He made a breach in its defences and carried his men over
+cannon to victory.]
+
+This letter upset all other considerations, and when Ian came
+downstairs at the dinner hour, he found no one interested enough in
+his case to take it up with the proper sense of its importance. Ragnor
+was steeped in silent grief. Rahal had shut up her sorrow behind dry
+eyes and a closed mouth. The Bishop had taken the seat next to Thora.
+He felt as if no one had missed or even thought of him. And such
+conversation as there was related entirely to the war. Thora smiled at
+him across the table, but he was not pleased at Thora being able to
+smile; and he only returned the courtesy with a doleful shake of the
+head.
+
+After dinner Ian said something about going to see McLeod, and then
+the Bishop interfered--"No, Ian," he replied, "I want you to walk as
+far as the cathedral with me. Will you do that?"
+
+"With pleasure, sir."
+
+"Then let us be going, while there is yet a little sunshine."
+
+The cathedral doors stood open, but there was no one present except a
+very old woman, who at their approach rose from her knees and
+painfully walked away. The Bishop altered his course, so as to greet
+her--"Good afternoon, Sister Odd! Art thou suffering yet?"
+
+"Only the pain that comes with many years, sir. God makes it easy for
+me. Wilt thou bless me?"
+
+"Thou hast God's blessing. Who can add to it? God be with thee to the
+very end!"
+
+"Enough is that. Thy hand a moment, sir."
+
+For a moment they, stood silently hand clasped, then parted, and the
+Bishop walked straight to the vestry and taking a key from his pocket,
+opened the door. There was a fire laid ready for the match and he
+stooped and lit it, and Ian placed his chair near by.
+
+"That is good!" he said. "Bring your own chair near to me, Ian, I have
+something to say to you."
+
+"I am glad of that, Bishop. No one seemed to care for my sorrow. I was
+made to feel this day the difference between a son and a son-in-law."
+
+"There is a difference, a natural one, but you have been treated as a
+son always. Ragnor has told me all about those charges. You may speak
+freely to me. It is better that you should do so."
+
+"I explained the charges to the whole family. Do they not believe
+me?"
+
+"The explanation was only partial and one-sided. I think the charge of
+gambling may be put aside, with your promise to abstain from the
+appearance of evil for the future. I understand your position about
+the Sabbath. You should have gone on singing in some church. Supposing
+you got no spiritual help from it, you were at least lifting the souls
+of others on the wings of holy song, and you need not have mocked at
+the devout feelings of others by music unfit for the day."
+
+"It was a bit of boyish folly."
+
+"It was something far more than that. I had a letter from Jean Hay
+more than two months ago and I investigated every charge she made
+against you."
+
+"Well, Bishop?"
+
+"I find that, examined separately, they do not indicate any settled
+sinfulness; but taken together they indicate a variable temper, a
+perfectly untrained nature, and a weak, unresisting will. Now, Ian, a
+weak, good man is a dangerous type of a bad man. They readily become
+the tools of wicked men of powerful intellect and determined
+character. I have met with many such cases. Your change of name----"
+
+"Oh, sir, I could not endure Calvin tacked on to me! If you knew what
+I have suffered!"
+
+"I know it all. Why did you not tell the Ragnors on your first
+acquaintance with them?"
+
+"Mrs. Ragnor liked Ian because it is the Highland form for John, and
+Thora loved the name and I did not like, while they knew so little of
+me, to tell them I had only assumed it. I watched for a good
+opportunity to speak concerning it and none came. Then I thought I
+would consult you at this time, before the wedding day."
+
+"I could not have married you under the name of Ian. Discard it at
+once. Take it as a pet name between Thora and yourself, if you choose.
+No doubt you thought Ian was prettier and more romantic and suitable
+for your really handsome person."
+
+"Oh, Bishop, do not humiliate me! I----"
+
+"I have no doubt I am correct. I have known young men wreck their
+lives for some equally foolish idea."
+
+"I will cast it off today. I will tell Thora the truth tonight. Before
+we are married, I will advertise it in next week's _News_."
+
+"Before you are married, I trust you will have made the name of John
+Macrae so famous that you will need no such advertising."
+
+"What do you mean, Bishop?"
+
+"I want you to go to the trenches at Redan or to fight your way into
+Sebastopol. You have been left too much to your own direction and your
+own way. Obedience is the first round of the ladder of Success. You
+must learn it. You can only be a subordinate till you manage this
+lesson. Your ideas of life are crude and provincial. You need to see
+men making their way upward, in some other places than in shops and
+offices. Above all, you must learn to conquer yourself and your
+indiscreet will. You are not a man, until you are master in your own
+house and fear no mutiny against your Will to act nobly. You have had
+no opportunities for such education. Now take one year to begin it."
+
+"You mean that I must put off my marriage for a year."
+
+"Exactly. Under present circumstances----"
+
+"Oh, sir, that is not thinkable! It would be too mortifying! I could
+not go back to Edinburgh. I could not put off my marriage!"
+
+"You will be obliged to do so. Do you imagine the Ragnors will hold
+wedding festivities, while their eldest son is dying, or his broken
+body on its way home for burial?"
+
+"I thought the ceremony would be entirely religious and the
+festivities could be abandoned."
+
+"Is that what you wish?"
+
+"Yes, Bishop."
+
+"Then you will not get it. A year's strict mourning is due the dead,
+and the Ragnors will give every hour of it. Boris is their eldest
+son."
+
+"They should remember also their living daughter Thora will suffer as
+well as myself."
+
+"You are not putting yourself in a good light, John Macrae. Thora
+loves her brother with a great affection. Do you think she can comfort
+her grief for his loss, by giving you any loving honour that belongs
+to him? You do not know Thora Ragnor. She has her mother's just,
+strong character below all her gentle ways, and what her father and
+mother say she will endorse, without question or reluctance. Now I
+know that Ragnor had resolved on a year's separation and discipline,
+before he heard of his son's dangerous condition."
+
+"Boris was not dead when that Vedder letter was written. He may not be
+dead now. He may not be going to die."
+
+"It is only his wonderful physical strength that has kept him alive so
+long. Vedder said to me, they looked for his death at any hour. He
+cannot recover. His wound is a fatal one. It is beyond hope. Vedder
+wrote while he was yet alive, so that he might perhaps break the blow
+to his family."
+
+"What then do you advise me to do?"
+
+"Ragnor intends to go back with you and myself to Edinburgh. He will
+see your father and offer to buy you a commission as ensign in a good
+infantry regiment. We will ask your father if he will join in the
+plan."
+
+"My father will not join in anything to help me. How much will an
+ensign's commission cost?"
+
+"I think four or five hundred pounds. Ragnor would pay half, if your
+father would pay half."
+
+Then Ian rose to his feet, and his eyes blazed with a fire no one had
+ever seen there before. "Bishop," he said, "I thank you for all you
+propose, but if I go to the trenches at Redan or the camp at
+Sebastopol, I will go on John Macrae's authority and personality. I
+have one hundred pounds, that is sufficient. I can learn all the great
+things you expect me to learn there better among the rankers than the
+officers. I have known the officers at Edinburgh Castle. They were not
+fit candidates for a bishopric."
+
+The good man looked sadly at the angry youth and answered, "Go and
+talk the matter over with Thora."
+
+"I will. Surely she will be less cruel."
+
+"What do you wish, considering present circumstances?"
+
+"I want the marriage carried out, devoid of all but its religious
+ceremony. I want to spend one month in the home prepared for us, and
+then I will submit to the punishment and schooling proposed."
+
+"No, you will not. Do not throw away this opportunity to retrieve your
+so far neglected, misguided life. There is a great man in you, if you
+will give him space and opportunity to develop, John. This is the wide
+open door of Opportunity; go through, and go up to where it will lead
+you. At any rate do whatever Thora advises. I can trust you as far as
+Thora can." Then he held out his hand, and Ian, too deeply moved to
+speak, took it and left the cathedral without a word.
+
+He found Thora alone in the parlour. She had evidently been weeping
+but that fact did not much soothe his sense of wrong and injustice. He
+felt that he had been put aside in some measure. He was not sure that
+even now Thora had been weeping for his loss. He told himself, she was
+just as likely to have been mourning for Boris. He felt that he was
+unjustly angry but, oh, he was so hopeless! Every one was ready to
+give him advice, no one had said to him those little words of loving
+sympathy for which his heart was hungry. He had felt it to be his duty
+to try and console Thora, and Thora had wept in his arms and he had
+kissed her tears away. She was now weary with weeping and suffering
+with headache. She knew also that talking against any decision of her
+father's was useless. When he had said the word, the man or woman that
+could move him did not live. Acceptance of the will of others was a
+duty she had learned to observe all her life, it was just the duty
+that Ian had thought it right to resist. So amid all his love and
+disappointment, there was a cruel sense of being of secondary
+interest and importance, just at the very time he had expected to be
+first in everyone's love and consideration.
+
+Finally he said, "Dear Thora, I can feel no longer. My heart has
+become hopeless. I suffer too much. I will go to my room and try and
+submit to this last cruel wrong."
+
+Then Thora was offended. "There is no one to blame for this last cruel
+wrong but thyself," she answered. "The death of Boris was a nearer
+thing to my father and mother than my marriage. Thy marriage can take
+place at some other time, but for my dear brother there is no future
+in this life."
+
+"Are you even sure of his death?"
+
+"My mother has seen him."
+
+"That is nonsense."
+
+"To you, I dare say it is. Mother sees more than any one else can see.
+She has spiritual vision. We are not yet able for it, nor worthy of
+it."
+
+"Then why did she not see our wedding catastrophe? She might have
+averted it by changing the date."
+
+"Ask her;" and as Thora said these words and wearily closed her eyes,
+Rahal entered the room. She went straight to Ian, put her arms round
+him and kissed him tenderly. Then Ian could bear no more. He sobbed
+like a boy of seven years old and she wept with him.
+
+"Thou poor unloved laddie!" she said. "If thou had gone wrong, it
+would have been little wonder and little blame to thyself. I think
+thou did all that could be done, with neither love nor wisdom to help
+thee. Rahal does not blame thee. Rahal pities and loves thee. Thou
+hast been cowed and frightened and punished for nothing, all the days
+of thy sad life. Poor lad! Poor, disappointed laddie! With all my
+heart and soul I pity thee!"
+
+For a few moments there was not a word spoken and the sound of Ian's
+bitter weeping filled the room. Ian had been flogged many a time when
+but a youth, and had then disdained to utter a cry, but no child in
+its first great sorrow, ever wept so heart-brokenly as Ian now wept in
+Rahal's arms. And a man weeping is a fearsome, pitiful sound. It goes
+to a woman's heart like a sword, and Thora rose and went to her lover
+and drew him to the sofa and sat down at his side and, with promises
+wet with tears, tried to comfort him. A strange silence that the
+weeping did not disturb was in the house and room, and in the kitchen
+the servants paused in their work and looked at each other with faces
+full of pity.
+
+"The Wise One has put trouble on their heads," said a woman who was
+dressing a goose to roast for dinner and her helper answered, "And
+there is no use striving against it. What must be, is sure to happen.
+That is Right."
+
+"All that we have done, is no good. Fate rules in this thing. I see
+that."
+
+"The trouble came on them unawares. And if Death is at the beginning,
+no course that can be taken is any good."
+
+"What is the Master's will? For in the end, that will orders all
+things."
+
+"The mistress said the marriage would be put off for a year. The young
+man goes to the war."
+
+"No wonder then he cries out. It is surely a great disappointment."
+
+"Tom Snackoll had the same ill luck. He made no crying about it. He
+hoisted sail at midnight and stole his wife Vestein out of her window,
+and when her father caught them, they were man and wife. And Snackoll
+went out to speak to his father-in-law and he said to him, 'My wife
+can not see thee today, for she is weary and I think it best for her
+to be still and quiet'; and home the father went and no good of his
+journey. Snackoll got praise for his daring."
+
+"Well then," said a young man who had just entered, "it is well known
+that Vestein and her father and mother were all fully willing. The
+girl could as easily have gone out of the door as the window. Snackoll
+is a boaster. He is as great in his talk as a fox in his tail."
+
+Thus the household of Ragnor talked in the kitchen, and in the parlour
+Rahal comforted the lovers, and cheered and encouraged Ian so greatly
+that she was finally able to say to them:
+
+"The wedding day was not lucky. Let it pass. There is another, only a
+year away, that will bring lasting joy. Now we have wept over our
+mischance, we will bury it and look to the future. We will go and wash
+away sorrow and put on fresh clothes, and look forward to the far
+better marriage a year hence."
+
+And her voice and manner were so persuasive, that they willingly
+obeyed her advice and, as they passed her, she kissed them both and
+told Ian to put his head in cold water and get rid of its aching
+fever, for she said, "The Bishop will want thee to sing some of thy
+Collects and Hymns and thou wilt like to please him. He is thy good
+friend."
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"He is. Thou may take that, on my word."
+
+The evening brought a braver spirit. They talked of Boris and of his
+open-hearted, open-air life, and the Bishop read aloud several letters
+from young men then at the front. They were full of enthusiasm. They
+might have been read to an accompaniment of fife and drums. Ian was
+visibly affected and made no further demur about joining them. One of
+them spoke of Boris "leading his volunteers up the hill like a lion";
+and another letter described his tenderness to the wounded and
+convalescents, saying "he spent his money freely, to procure them
+little comforts they could not get for themselves."
+
+They talked plainly and from their hearts, hesitating not to call his
+name, and so they brought comfort to their heavy sorrow. For it is a
+selfish thing to shut up a sorrow in the heart, far better to look at
+it full in the face, speak of it, discuss its why and wherefore and
+break up that false sanctity which is very often inspired by purely
+selfish sentiments. And when this point was reached, the Bishop took
+from his pocket a small copy of the Apocrypha and said, "Now I will
+tell you what the wisest of men said of such an early death as that
+of our dear Boris:
+
+  "'He pleased God, and he was beloved of him, so that living among
+  sinners, he was translated.
+
+  "'Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should
+  alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
+
+  "'He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time.
+
+  "'For his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he to take him
+  away from among the wicked.'"
+
+And these words fell like heavenly dew on every heart. There was no
+comfort and honour greater than this to offer even a mother's heart. A
+happy sigh greeted the blessed verses, and there was no occasion to
+speak. There was no word that could be added to it.
+
+Then Ian had a happy thought for before a spell-breaking word could be
+said, he stepped softly to the piano and the next moment the room was
+ringing with some noble lines from the "Men of Harlech" set to notes
+equally stirring:
+
+  "Men of Harlech, young or hoary,
+  Would you win a name in story,
+  Strike for home, for life, for glory,
+  Freedom, God and Right!
+
+  "Onward! 'Tis our country needs us,
+  He is bravest, he who leads us,
+  Honour's self now proudly leads us,
+  Freedom! God and Right!
+      Loose the folds asunder!
+      Flag we conquer under!
+      Death is glory now."
+
+The words were splendidly sung and the room was filled with patriotic
+fervour. Then the Bishop gave Ragnor and Thora a comforting look, as
+he asked, "Who wrote that song, Ian?"
+
+"Ah, sir, it was never written! It sprang from the heart of some old
+Druid priest as he was urging on the Welsh to drive the Romans from
+their country. It is two verses from 'The Song of the Men of
+Harlech.'"
+
+"In olden times, Ian, the bards went to the battlefield with the
+soldiers. We ought to send our singers to the trenches. Ian, go and
+sing to the men of England and of France 'The Song of the Men of
+Harlech.' Your song will be stronger than your sword."
+
+"I will sing it to my sword, sir. It will make it sharper." Then Rahal
+said, "You are a brave boy, Ian," and Thora lifted her lovely face and
+kissed him.
+
+Every heart was uplifted, and the atmosphere of the room was sensitive
+with that exalted feeling which finds no relief in speech. Humanity
+soon reacts against such tension. There was a slight movement, every
+one breathed heavily, like people awakening from sleep, and the Bishop
+said in a slow, soft voice:
+
+"I was thinking of Boris. After all, the dear lad may return to us.
+Surgeons are very clever now, they can almost work miracles."
+
+"Boris will not return," said Rahal.
+
+"How can you know that, Rahal?"
+
+"He told me so."
+
+"Have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When?"
+
+"On the afternoon of the eleventh of this month."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Well, Bishop, I was making the cap I am wearing and I was selecting
+from some white roses on my lap the ones I thought best. Suddenly
+Boris stood at my side."
+
+"You saw him?"
+
+"Yes, Bishop. I saw him plainly, though I do not remember lifting my
+head."
+
+"How did he look?"
+
+"Like one who had just won a victory. He was much taller and grander
+in appearance. Oh, he looked like one who had realized God's promise
+that we should be satisfied. A kind of radiance was around him and the
+air of a conquering soldier. And he was my boy still! He called me
+'Mother,' he sent such a wonderful message to his father." And at the
+last word, Ragnor uttered just such a sharp, short gasp as might have
+come from the rift of a broken heart.
+
+"Did you ask him any question, Rahal?"
+
+"I could not speak, but my soul longed to know what he was doing and
+the longing was immediately answered. 'I am doing the will of the Lord
+of Hosts,' he said. 'I was needed here.' Then I felt his kiss on my
+cheek, and I lifted my head and looked at the clock. It had struck
+three just as I was conscious of the presence of Boris. It was only
+two minutes past three, but I seemed to have lived hours in that two
+minutes."
+
+"Do you think, Bishop, that God loves a soldier? He may employ them
+and yet not love them?"
+
+Then the Bishop straightened himself and lifted his head, and his face
+glowed and his eyes shone as he answered, "I will give you one
+example, it could be multiplied indefinitely. Paul of Tarsus, a pale,
+beardless young man, dressed as a Roman soldier, is bringing prisoners
+to Damascus. Christ meets him on the road and Paul knows instantly
+that he has met the Captain of his soul. Hence forward, he is beloved
+and honoured and employed for Christ, and at the end of life he is
+joyful because he has fought a good fight and knows that his reward is
+waiting for him.
+
+"God has given us the names of many soldiers beloved of Him--Abraham,
+Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, etc. What care he took of them! What a
+friend in all extremities he was to them! All men who fight for their
+Faith, Home and Country, for Freedom, Justice and Liberty, are God's
+armed servants. They do His will on the battlefield, as priests do it
+at the altar. So then,
+
+  "In the world's broad field of battle,
+    In the bivouac of life,
+  Be not like dumb driven cattle,
+    Be a hero in the strife!"
+
+"We were speaking of the bards going to the battlefield with the
+soldiers, and as I was quoting that verse of Longfellow's a few lines
+from the old bard we call Ossian came into my mind."
+
+"Tell us, then," said Thora, "wilt thou not say the words to us, our
+dear Bishop?"
+
+"I will do that gladly:
+
+  "Father of Heroes, high dweller of eddying winds,
+  Where the dark, red thunder marks the troubled cloud,
+  Open Thou thy stormy hall!
+  Let the bards of old be near.
+  Father of heroes! the people bend before thee.
+  Thou turnest the battle in the field of the brave,
+  Thy terrors pour the blasts of death,
+  Thy tempests are before thy face,
+  But thy dwelling is calm above the clouds,
+  The fields of thy rest are pleasant."
+
+"When I was a young man," he continued, "I used to read Ossian a good
+deal. I liked its vast, shadowy images, its visionary incompleteness,
+just because we have not yet invented the precise words to describe
+the indescribable."
+
+So they talked, until the frugal Orcadian supper of oatmeal and milk,
+and bread and cheese, appeared. Then the night closed and sealed what
+the day had done, and there was no more speculation about Ian's
+future. The idea of a military life as a school for the youth had
+sprung up strong and rapidly, and he was now waiting, almost
+impatiently, for it to be translated into action.
+
+A few restful, pleasant days followed. Ragnor was preparing to leave
+his business for a week, the Bishop was settling some parish
+difficulties, and Ian and Thora were permitted to spend their time as
+they desired. They paid one farewell visit to their future home and
+found an old woman who had nursed Thora in charge of the place.
+
+"Thou wilt find everything just so, when you two come home together,
+my baby," she said. "Not a pin will be out of its place, not a speck
+of dust on anything. Eva will always be ready, and please God you may
+call her far sooner than you think for."
+
+The Sabbath, the last Sabbath of the old year, was to be their last
+day together, and the Bishop desired Ian to make it memorable with
+song. Ian was delighted to do so and together they chose for his two
+solos, "O for the Wings of a Dove," and the heavenly octaves of "He
+Hath Ascended Up on High and Led Captivity Captive." The old
+cathedral's great spaces were crowded, the Bishop was grandly in the
+spirit, and he easily led his people to that solemn line where life
+verges on death and death touches Immortality. It was Christ the
+beginning, and the end; Christ the victim on the cross, and Christ the
+God of the Ascension! And he sent every one home with the promise of
+Immortality in their souls and the light of it on their faces. His
+theme had touched largely on the Christ of the Resurrection, and the
+mystery and beauty of this Christ was made familiar to them in a way
+they had not before considered.
+
+Ragnor was afraid it had perhaps been brought too close to their own
+conception of a soul, who was seen on earth after the death of the
+body. "You told the events of Christ's forty days on earth after His
+crucifixion so simply, Bishop," he said, "and yet with much of the air
+that our people tell a ghost story."
+
+"Well then, dear Conall, I was telling them the most sacred ghost
+story of the world, and yet it is the most literal reality in history.
+If it were only a dream, it would be the most dynamic event in human
+destiny."
+
+"You see, Bishop, there is so much in your way of preaching. It has
+that kind of good comradeship which I think was so remarkable in
+Christ. His style was not the ten commandments' style--thou shalt and
+thou shalt not--but that reasoning, brotherly way of 'What man is
+there among you that would not do the kind and right thing?' You used
+it this very morning when you cried out, 'If our dear England needed
+your help to save her Liberty and Life, what man is there among you
+that would not rise up like lions to save her?' And the men could
+hardly sit still. It was so real, so brotherly, so unlike preaching."
+
+"Conall, nothing is so wonderful and beautiful in Christ's life as its
+almost incredible approachableness."
+
+This sermon had been preached on the Sabbath morning and it
+spiritualized the whole day. Ian's singing also had proved a wonderful
+service, for when the young men of that day became old men, they could
+be heard leading their crews in the melodious, longing strains of 'O
+for the Wings of a Dove,' as they sat casting their lines into the
+restless water.
+
+In the evening a cold, northwesterly wind sprang up and Thora and Ian
+retreated to the parlour, where a good fire had been built; but the
+Bishop and Ragnor and Rahal drew closer round the hearth in the living
+room and talked, and were silent, as their hearts moved them. Rahal
+had little to say. She was thinking of Ian and of the new life he was
+going to, and of the long, lonely days that might be the fate of
+Thora. "The woeful laddie!" she whispered, "he has had but small
+chances of any kind. What can a lad do for himself and no mother able
+to help him!"
+
+The Bishop heard or divined her last words and he said, "Be content,
+Rahal. Not one, but many lives we hold, and our hail to every new work
+we begin is our farewell to the old work. Ian is going to give a
+Future to his Past."
+
+"I fear, Bishop----"
+
+"Fear is from the earthward side, Rahal. Above the clouds of Fear,
+there is the certain knowledge of Heaven. Fear is nothing, Faith is
+everything!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE ONE REMAINS, THE MANY CHANGE AND PASS
+
+  You Scotsmen are a pertinacious brood;
+  Fitly you wear the thistle in your cap,
+  As in your grim theology.
+  O we're not all so fierce! God knows you'll find,
+  Well-combed and smooth-licked gentlemen enough,
+  Who will rejoice with you
+  To sneer at Calvin's close-wedged creed.
+                                         --BLACKIE.
+
+  Sow not in Sorrow,
+    Fling your seed abroad, and know
+  God sends tomorrow,
+    The rain to make it grow.
+                              --BLACKIE.
+
+
+There are epochs in every life that cut it sharply asunder, its
+continuity is broken and things can never be the same again. This was
+the dominant feeling that came to Thora Ragnor, as she sat with her
+mother one afternoon in early January. It was a day of Orkney's most
+uncomfortable and depressing kind, the whole island being swept by
+drifting clouds of vapour, which not only filled the atmosphere but
+also the houses, so that everything was to the touch damp and
+uncomfortable. Nothing could escape its miserable contact, even
+sitting on the hearthstone its power was felt; and until a good
+northwester came to dissipate the damp moisture, nobody expected much
+from any one's temper.
+
+Thora was restless and unhappy. Her life appeared to have been
+suddenly deprived of all joy and sunshine. She felt as if everything
+was at an end, or might as well be, and her mother's placid, peaceful
+face irritated her. How could she sit knitting mufflers for the
+soldiers in the trenches, and not think of Boris and also of Ian, whom
+they had all conspired to send to the same danger and perhaps death?
+She could not understand her mother's serenity. It occurred to her
+this afternoon, that she might have run away with Ian to Shetland and
+there her sisters would have seen her married; and she did not do
+this, she obeyed her parents, and what did she get for it? Loneliness
+and misery and her lover sent far away from her. Oh, those moments
+when Virtue has failed to reward us and we regret having served her!
+To the young, they are sometimes very bitter.
+
+And her mother's calmness! It not only astonished, it angered her. How
+could she sit still and not talk of Boris and Ian? It was a necessary
+relief to Thora, their names were at her lips all day long. But Thora
+had yet to learn that it is the middle-aged and the old who have the
+power of hoping through everything, because they have the knowledge
+that the soul survives all its adventures. This is the great
+inspiration, it is the good wine which God keeps to the last. The old,
+the way-worn, the faint and weary, they know this as the young can
+never know it.
+
+However, we may say to bad weather, as to all other bad things, "this,
+too, will pass," and in a couple of days the sky was blue, the sun
+shining, and the atmosphere fresh and clear and full of life-giving
+energy. Ships of all kinds were hastening into the harbour and the
+mail boat, broad-bottomed and strongly built, was in sight. Then there
+was a little real anxiety. There was sure to be letters, what news
+would they bring? Some people say there is no romance in these days.
+Very far wrong are they. These sealed bits of white paper hold very
+often more wonderful romances than any in the Thousand Nights of story
+telling.
+
+Rahal's and Thora's anxiety was soon relieved. A messenger from the
+warehouse came quickly to the house, with a letter from Ragnor to
+Rahal and a letter from Ian to Thora. Ragnor's letter said they had
+had a rough voyage southward, the storm being in their faces all the
+way to Leith. There they left the boat and took a train for London,
+from which place they went as quickly as possible to Spithead, fearing
+to miss the ship sailing for the Crimea on the eleventh. Ragnor said
+he had seen Ian safely away to Sebastopol and observed that he was
+remarkably cheerful and satisfied. He spoke then of his own delight
+with London and regretted that he had not made arrangements which
+would permit him to stay a week or two longer there.
+
+Thora's letter was a genuine love letter, for Ian was deeply in love
+and everything he said was in the superlative mood. Lovers like such
+letters. They are to them the sacred writings. It did not seem
+ridiculous to Thora to be called "an angel of beauty and goodness, the
+rose of womanhood, the lily on his heart, his star of hope, the
+sunshine of his life," and many other extravagant impossibilities. She
+would have been disappointed if Ian had been more matter-of-fact and
+reasonable.
+
+So there was now comparative happiness in the house of Ragnor, for
+though the master's letters were never much more than plain statements
+of doings or circumstances, they satisfied Rahal. It is not every man
+that knows how to write to a woman, even if he loves her; but women
+have a special divinity in reading love letters, and they know beyond
+all doubting the worth of words as affected by those who use them.
+
+Ragnor gave himself a whole week in London and before leaving that
+city for Edinburgh he wrote a few lines home, saying he intended to
+stay in London over the following Sabbath and hear Canon Liddon
+preach. On Monday he would reach Edinburgh and on Tuesday have an
+interview with Dr. Macrae and then take the first boat for home. They
+could now wait easily, the silence had been broken, the weather was
+good, they had "The History of Pendennis" and "David Copperfield" to
+read, their little duties and little cares to attend to, and they were
+not at all unhappy.
+
+At length, the master was to be home _that_ day. If the wind was
+favourable, he might arrive about two o'clock, but Rahal thought the
+boat would hardly manage it before three with the wind in her teeth,
+or it might be nearer four. The house was all ready for him, spick and
+span from roof to cellar and a dinner of the good things he
+particularly liked in careful preparation. And, after all, he came a
+little earlier than was expected.
+
+"Dear Conall," said Rahal, "I have been watching for thee, but I
+thought it would be four o'clock, ere thou made Kirkwall."
+
+"Not with Donald Farquar sailing the boat. The way he manages a boat
+is beyond reason."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"He talks to her, as if she was human. He scolds and coaxes her and
+this morning he promised to paint and gild her figurehead, if she got
+into Kirkwall before three. Then every sailor on board helped her and
+the wind changed a point or two and that helped her, and now and then
+Farquar pushed her on, with a good or bad word, and she saved herself
+by just eleven minutes."
+
+"And how well thou art looking! Never have I seen thee so handsome
+before, never! What hast thou been doing to Conall Ragnor?"
+
+"I will tell thee. When I had bid Ian good-bye, I resolved to take a
+week's holiday in London and as I walked down the Strand, I noticed
+that every one looked at me, not unkindly but curiously, and when I
+looked at the men who looked at me, I saw we were different. I went
+into a barber's first, and had my hair cut like Londoners wear it,
+short and smart, and not thick and bushy, like mine was."
+
+"Well then, thy hair was far too long but they have cut off all thy
+curls."
+
+"I like the wanting of them. They looked very womanish. I'm a deal
+more purpose-like without them. Then I went to a first-class
+tailor-man and he fit me out with the suit I'm wearing. He said it was
+'the correct thing for land or water.' What dost thou think of it?"
+
+"Nothing could be more becoming to thee."
+
+"Nay then, I got a Sabbath Day suit that shames this one. And I bought
+a church hat and a soft hat that beats all, and kid gloves, and a good
+walking stick with a fancy knob."
+
+"Thou art not needing a walking stick for twenty years yet."
+
+"Well then, the English gentlemen always carries a walking stick. I
+think they wouldn't know the way they were going without one. At last,
+I went to the shoemakers, and he made me take off my 'Wellingtons.' He
+said no one wore them now, and he shod me, as thou sees, very
+comfortably. I like the change."
+
+Then they heard Thora calling them, and Ragnor taking Rahal's hand
+hastened to answer the call. She was standing at the foot of the
+stairway, and her father kissed her and as he did so whispered--"All
+is well, dear one. After dinner, I will tell thee." Then he took her
+hand, and the three in one went together to the round table, set so
+pleasantly near to the comfortable fireside. Standing there,
+hand-clasped, the master said those few words of adoration and
+gratitude that turned the white-spread board into a household altar.
+Dinner was on the table and its delicious odours filled the room and
+quickly set Ragnor talking.
+
+"I will tell you now, what I saw in London," he said. "Ian is a story
+good enough to keep until after dinner. I saw him sail away from
+Spithead, and he went full of hope and pluck and sure of success. Then
+I took the first train back to London. I got lodgings in a nice little
+hotel in Norfolk Street, just off the Strand, and London was calling
+me all night long."
+
+"Thou could not see much, Father, in one week," said Thora.
+
+"I saw the Queen and the Houses of Parliament, and I saw the Tower of
+London and Westminster Abbey and the Crystal Palace. And I have heard
+an oratorio, with a chorus of five hundred voices and Sims Reeves as
+soloist. I have been to Drury Lane, and the Strand Theatres, to a big
+picture gallery, and a hippodrome. My dear ones, the end of one
+pleasure was just the beginning of another; in one week, I have lived
+fifty years."
+
+Any one can understand how a new flavour was added to the food they
+were eating by such conversation. Not all the sauces in Christendom
+could have made it so piquant and appetizing. Ragnor carved and ate
+and talked, and Rahal and Thora listened and laughed and asked endless
+questions, and when the mind enters into a meal, it not only prolongs,
+it also sweetens and brightens it. I suppose there may be in every
+life two or three festivals, that stand out from all others--small,
+unlooked-for meetings, perhaps--where love, hope, wonder and happy
+looking-forward, made the food taste as if it had been cooked in
+Paradise. Where, at least for a few hours, a mortal might feel that
+man had been made only a little lower than the angels.
+
+Now, if any of my readers have such a memory, let them close the
+book, shut their eyes and live it over again. It was probably a
+foretaste of a future existence, where we shall have faculties capable
+of fuller and higher pleasures; faculties that without doubt "will be
+satisfied." For in all hearts that have suffered, there must abide the
+conviction that the Future holds Compensation, not Punishment.
+
+But without forecast or remembrance, the Ragnors that night enjoyed
+their highly mentalised meal, and after it was over and the table set
+backward, and the white hearth brushed free of ashes, they drew around
+the fire, and Ragnor laid down his pipe, and said:
+
+"I left London last Monday, and I was in Edinburgh until Wednesday
+morning. On Tuesday I called on Dr. Macrae. I had a letter to give him
+from Ian."
+
+"Why should Ian have written to him?" asked Rahal, in a tone of
+disapproval.
+
+"Because Ian has a good heart, he wrote to his father. I read the
+letter. It was all right."
+
+"What then did he say to him?"
+
+"Well, Rahal, he told his father that he was leaving for the
+front, and he wished to leave with his forgiveness and blessing, if he
+would give it to him. He said that he was sure that in their
+life-long dispute he must often have been in the wrong, and he
+asked forgiveness for all such lapses of his duty. He told his father
+that he had a clear plan of success before him, but said that in
+all cases--fortunate or unfortunate--he would always remember the
+name he bore and do nothing to bring it shame or dishonour. A very
+good, brave letter, dear ones. I give Ian credit for it."
+
+"Did thou advise him to write it?" asked Rahal.
+
+"No, it sprang from his own heart."
+
+"Thou should not have sanctioned it."
+
+"Ian did right, Rahal. I did right to sanction it."
+
+"Father, if Ian has a clear plan of success before him, what is it? He
+ought to have told us."
+
+"He thought it out while we were at sea, he asked me to explain the
+matter to you. It is, indeed, a plan so simple and manifest, that I
+wonder we did not propose it at the very first. You must recollect
+that Ian was in the employ of Dr. Finlay of Edinburgh for three years
+and a half, and that during that period he acquired both a large
+amount of medical knowledge and also of medical experience. Now we all
+know that Ian has a special gift for this science, especially for its
+surgical side, and he is not going to the trenches or the cavalry, he
+is going to offer himself to the Surgical and Medical Corps. He will
+go to the battlefield, carry off the wounded, give them first help, or
+see them to the hospital. In this way he will be doing constant good
+to others and yet be forwarding the career which is to make his future
+happy and honourable."
+
+"Then Ian has decided to be a surgeon, Father?"
+
+"Yes, and I can tell thee, Thora, he has not set himself a task beyond
+his power. I think very highly of Ian, no one could help doing so; and
+see here, Thora! I have a letter in my pocket for thee! He gave it to
+me as I bid him good-bye at Spithead."
+
+"I am so happy, Father! So happy!"
+
+"Thou hast good reason to be happy. We shall all be proud of Ian in
+good time."
+
+"Did thou give Ian's letter to his father's hands, or did thou mail
+it, Coll?"
+
+"I gave it to him, personally."
+
+"What was thy first impression of him?"
+
+"He gave me first of all an ecclesiastical impression. I just
+naturally looked for a gown or surplice. He wanted something without
+one. He met me coldly but courteously, and taking Ian's letter from
+me, placed it deliberately upon a pile of letters lying on his desk. I
+said, 'It is from thy son, Doctor, perhaps thou had better read it at
+once. It is a good letter, sir, read it.'
+
+"He bowed, and asked if Ian was with me. I said, 'No, sir, he is
+on his way to Scutari.' Then he was silent. After a few moments he
+asked me if I had been in Edinburgh during the past Sabbath. 'You
+should have been here,' he added, 'then you could have heard the
+great Dr. Chalmers preach.' I told him that I had spent that
+never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath under the blessed dome of St. Paul's in
+London. I said something about the transcending beauty of the
+wonderful music of the cathedral service, and spoke with delight of
+the majestic nave, filled with mediaeval rush-bottomed chairs for the
+worshippers, and I told him how much more fitting they were in the
+House of God than pews." And Ragnor uttered the last word with a
+new-found emphasis. "He asked, quite scornfully, in what sense I
+found them more fitting, and I answered rather warmly--'Why, sir,
+sitting together in chairs, we felt so much more at home. We were
+like one great family in our Father's house.'"
+
+"Are the chairs rented?" asked Rahal.
+
+"Rented!" cried Ragnor scornfully. "No, indeed! There are no dear
+chairs and no cheap chairs, all are equal and all are free. I never
+felt so like worshipping in a church before. The religious spirit had
+free way in our midst."
+
+"What did Macrae say?"
+
+"He said, he supposed the rush chairs were an 'Armenian innovation';
+and I answered, 'The pews, sir, they are the innovation.'"
+
+"Did thou have any argument with him? I have often heard Ian say he
+plunged into religious argument with every one he met."
+
+"Well, Rahal, I don't know how it happened, but I quickly found myself
+in a good atmosphere of contradictions. I do not remember either what
+I had been saying, but I heard him distinctly assert, that 'it was the
+Armenians who had described the Calvinists, and they had not wasted
+their opportunities.' Then I found myself telling him that Armenianism
+had ruled the religious world ever since the birth of Christianity;
+but that Calvinism was a thing of yesterday, a mere Geneva opinion.
+Rahal, the man has a dogma for a soul, and yet through this hard
+veil, I could see that he was full of a longing for love; but he has
+not found out the way to love, his heart is ice-bound. He made me say
+things I did not want to say, he stirred my soul round and round until
+it boiled over, and then the words would come. Really, Rahal, I did
+not know the words were in my mind, till his aggravating questions
+made me say them."
+
+"What words? Art thou troubled about them?"
+
+"A little. He was talking of faith and doubt, especially as it
+referred to the Bible, and I listened until I could bear it no longer.
+He was asking what proof there was for this, and that, and the other,
+and as I said, he got me stirred up beyond myself and I told him I
+cared nothing about proofs. I said proofs were for sceptics and not
+for good men who _knew_ in whom they had believed."
+
+"Well then, Coll, that was enough, was it not?"
+
+"Not for Macrae. He said immediately, 'Suppose there was no divine
+authority for the scheme of morals and divinity laid down in this
+Book,' and he laid his hand reverently on the Bible, 'where should we
+be?' And I told him, we should be just where we were, because God's
+commands were written on every conscience and that these commands
+would stand firm even if creeds became dust, and Matthew, Mark, Luke,
+John and Paul, all failed and passed away. 'Power of God!' I cried, as
+I struck the table with my fist, 'it takes God's tireless, patient,
+eternal love to put up with puny men, always doubting Him. I believe
+in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth!' I said,
+'and I want no proofs about Him in whom I believe.' By this time,
+Rahal, he had me on fire. I was ready to deny anything he asserted,
+especially about hell, for thou knows, Rahal, that there are hells in
+this world and no worse needed. So when he asked if I believed in the
+Calvinistic idea of hell, I answered, 'I deny it! My soul denies
+it--utterly!' I reminded him that God spoke to Dives in hell and
+called him son and that Dives, even there, clung to the fatherhood of
+God. And I told him this world was a hell to those who deserved hell,
+and a place of much trial to most men and women, and I thought it was
+poor comfort to preach to such, that the next world was worse. There
+now! I have told you enough. He asked me to lunch with him, and I did;
+and I told him as we ate, what a fine fellow Ian was, and he listened
+and was silent."
+
+"Then you saw Ian's mother and sister?" asked Thora.
+
+"No, I did not. They had gone for the winter to the Bridge of Allan.
+Mrs. Macrae is sick, her husband seemed unhappy about her."
+
+Rahal hoped now that her home would settle itself into its usual calm,
+methodical order. She strove to give to every hour its long accustomed
+duty, and to infuse an atmosphere of rest and of "use and wont" into
+every day's affairs. It was impossible. The master of the house had
+suffered a world change. He had tasted of strange pleasures and
+enthusiasms, and was secretly planning a life totally at variance with
+his long accustomed routine and responsibilities. He did not speak of
+the things in his heart but nevertheless they escaped him.
+
+Very soon he began to have much more regular communication with his
+sons in Shetland, and finally he told Rahal that he intended taking
+his son Robert into partnership. Such changes grew slowly in Ragnor's
+mind, and much more slowly in practice, but Rahal knew that they were
+steadily working to some ultimate, and already definite and determined
+end in her husband's will.
+
+The absent also exerted a far greater power upon the home than any
+one believed. Ian's letters came with persistent regularity, and the
+influence of one was hardly spent, when another arrived of quite a
+different character. Ian was rapidly realizing his hopes. He had been
+gladly taken into a surgical corps, under the charge of a Doctor
+Frazer, and his life was a continual drama of stirring events.
+Generally he wrote between actions, and then he described the gallant
+young men resting on the slopes of the beleaguered hill, with their
+weapons at their finger tips, but always cheerful. Sometimes he spoke
+of them under terrible fire in their life-or-death push forward,
+followed by the surgeons and stretcher-bearers. Sometimes, he had been
+to the trenches to dress a wound that would not stop bleeding, but
+always he wondered at seeing the resolute grit and calmness of these
+young men, who had been the dandies in London drawing-rooms a year ago
+and who were now smoking placidly in the trenches at Redan.
+
+"What is it?" he asked an old surgeon, on whom he was waiting. "Is it
+recklessness?"
+
+"No, sir!" was the answer. "It is straight courage. Courage in the
+blood. Courage nourished on their mother's milk. Courage educated into
+them at Eton or Rugby, in many a fight and scuffle. Courage that
+lived with them night and day at Oxford or Cambridge, and that made
+them choose danger and death rather than be known for one moment as a
+cad or a coward. It was dancing last year. It is fighting in a proper
+quarrel this year. Different duties, that is all."
+
+Every now and then Sunna dropped them letters about which there was
+much pleasant speculating, for as the summer came forward, she began
+to accept the disappointments made by the death of Boris, and to
+consider what possibilities of life were still within her power. She
+said in May that "she was sick and weary of everything about
+Sebastopol, and that she wanted to go back to Scotland, far more
+frantically than she ever wanted to leave it." In June, she said, she
+had got her grandfather to listen to reason, but had been forced to
+cry for what she wanted, a humiliation beyond all apologies.
+
+Her next letter was written in Edinburgh, where she declared she
+intended to stay for some time. Maximus Grant was in Edinburgh with
+his little brother, who was under the care and treatment of an eminent
+surgeon living there. "The poor little laddie is dying," she said,
+"but I am able to help him over many bad hours, and Max is not
+half-bad, that is, he might be worse if left to himself. Heigh-ho!
+What varieties of men, and varieties of their trials, poor women have
+to put up with!"
+
+As the year advanced Sunna's letters grew bright and more and more
+like her, and she described with admirable imitative piquancy the
+literary atmosphere and conversation which is Edinburgh's native air.
+In the month of November, little Eric went away suddenly, in a
+paroxysm of military enthusiasm, dying literally the death of a
+soldier "with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the
+trumpets," in his soul's hearing.
+
+"We adored him," wrote Sunna, in her most fervent religious mood,
+which was just as sincere as any other mood. "He was such a loving,
+clever little soul, and he lay so long within the hollow of Death's
+sickle. There he heard and saw wonderful things, that I would not dare
+to speak of. Max has wept very sincerely. It is my lot apparently, to
+administer drops of comfort to him. In this world, I find that women
+can neither hide nor run away from men and their troubles, the moment
+anything goes wrong with them, they fly to some woman and throw their
+calamity on her."
+
+"It is easy to see which way Sunna is drifting," said Rahal, after
+this letter had been read. "She will marry Maximus Grant, of course."
+
+"Mother, her grandfather wishes that marriage. It is very suitable.
+His silent, masterful way will cure Sunna's faults."
+
+"It will do nothing of the kind. What the cradle rocks, the spade
+buries. If Sunna lives to be one hundred years old--a thing not
+unlikely--she will be Sunna. Just Sunna."
+
+During all this summer, Ragnor was deeply engrossed in his business,
+and the Vedders remained in Edinburgh, as did also Mistress Brodie,
+though she had had all the best rooms in her Kirkwall house
+redecorated. "It is her hesitation about grandfather. She will, and
+she won't," wrote Sunna, "and she keeps grandfather hanging by a
+hair." Then she made a few scornful remarks about "the hesitating
+_liaisons_ of old women" and concluded that it all depended upon the
+marriage ceremony.
+
+  Grandfather [she wrote] wants to sneak into some out of the way
+  little church, and get the business over as quickly and quietly as
+  possible; and Mistress Brodie has dreams of a peach-bloom satin
+  gown, and a white lace bonnet. She thought "that was enough for a
+  second affair"; and when I gently hoped that it was at least an
+  affair of the heart, she said with a distinct snap, "Don't be
+  impertinent, Miss!" However, all this is but the overture to the
+  great matrimonial drama, and it is rather interesting.
+
+  I saw by a late London paper that Thora's lover has gone and got
+  himself decorated, or crossed, for doing some dare-devil sort of
+  thing about wounded men. I wonder how Thora will like to walk on
+  Pall Mall with a man who wears a star or a medal on his breast.
+  Such things make women feel small. For, of course, we could win
+  stars and medals if we had the chance. Max considers Ian "highly
+  praise-worthy." Max lately has a way of talking in two or three
+  syllables. I am trying to remember where I left my last spelling
+  book; I fear I shall have to get up my orthography.
+
+The whole of this year A. D. 1855 was one of commonplaces stirred by
+tragic events. It is this conjunction that makes the most prosaic of
+lives always a story. It only taught Thora and Rahal to make the most
+of such pleasures as were within their reach. In the evening Ragnor
+was always ready to share what they had to offer, but in the daytime
+he was getting his business into such perfect condition that he could
+leave it safely in charge of his son Robert for a year, or more, if
+that was his wish.
+
+On the second of March, the Czar Nicholas died, and there was good
+hope in that removal. In June, General Raglan died of cholera, and on
+the following fifth of September, the Russians, finding they could no
+longer defend Sebastopol, blew up its defences and also its two
+immense magazines of munitions. This explosion was terrific, the very
+earth appeared to reel. The town they deliberately set on fire. Then
+on Sunday morning, September the ninth, the English and French took
+possession of the great fortress, though it was not until the last day
+of February, A. D. 1856, that the treaty of peace was signed.
+
+After the occupation of Sebastopol, however, there was a cessation of
+hostilities, and the hospitals rapidly began to empty and the
+physicians and surgeons to return home. Dr. Frazer remained at his
+post till near Christmas, and was then able to leave the few cases
+remaining in the charge of competent nurses. Ian remained at his side
+and they returned to England together. It was then within a few days
+of Christmas, and Ian hastened northward without delay.
+
+There was no hesitating welcome for him now; he was met by the truest
+and warmest affection, he was cheerfully given the honour which he had
+faithfully won. And the wedding day was no longer delayed, it was
+joyfully hastened forward. Bishop Hedley, the Vedders and Maximus
+Grant had already arrived and the little town was all agog and eager
+for the delayed ceremony. Sunna had brought with her Thora's new
+wedding dress and the day had been finally set for the first of
+January.
+
+"Thou will begin a fresh life with a fresh year," said Rahal to her
+daughter. "A year on which, as yet, no tears have fallen; and which
+has not known care or crossed purpose. On its first page thou will
+write thy marriage joy and thy new hopes, and the light of a perfect
+love will be over it."
+
+In the meantime life was full of new delights to Thora. Wonderful
+things were happening to her every day. The wedding dress was here.
+Adam Vedder had brought her a pretty silver tea service, Aunt
+Barbie--now Madame Vedder--had remembered her in many of those
+womanwise ways, that delight the heart of youth. Even Dominie Macrae
+had sent her a gold watch, and the little sister-in-law had chosen for
+her gift some very pretty laces. Rich and poor alike brought her their
+good-will offerings, and many old Norse awmries were ransacked in the
+search for jewels or ornaments of the jade stone, which all held as
+"luck beyond breaking."
+
+The present which pleased Thora most of all was a new wedding-dress,
+the gift of her mother. The rich ivory satin was perfect and peerless
+in its exquisite fit and simplicity; jewels, nor yet lace, could have
+added nothing to it. Sunna had brought it with her own toilet. In
+fact, she was ready to make a special sensation with it on the first
+of January, for her wedding garment as Thora's bridesmaid was nothing
+less than a robe of gold and white shot silk, worn over a hoop. She
+had been wearing a hoop all winter in Edinburgh, but she was quite
+sure she would be the first "hooped lady" to appear in Kirkwall town.
+Thora might wear the bride veil, with its wreath of myrtle and
+rosemary, but she had a pleasant little laugh, as she mentally saw
+herself in the balloon of white and gold shot silk, walking
+majestically up the nave of St. Magnus. It was so long since hoops had
+been worn. None of the present generation of Kirkwall women could ever
+have seen a lady in a hoop, and behind the present generation there
+was no likelihood of any hooped ladies in Kirkwall.
+
+Thora had no hoop. Her orders had been positively against it and
+unless Madame Vedder had slipped inside "the bell" she could not
+imagine any rival. As she made this reflection, she smiled, and then
+translated the smile into the thought, "If she has, she will look like
+a haystack."
+
+Now Ian's military suit in his department had been of white duff or
+linen, plentifully adorned with gilt buttons and bands representing
+some distinctive service. It was the secret desire of Ian to wear this
+suit, and he rather felt that Thora or his mother-in-law should ask
+him to do so. For he knew that its whiteness and gilt, and tiny knots
+of ribbon, gave to the wearer that military air, which all men yearn a
+little after. He wished to wear it on his wedding day but Thora had
+not thought of it, neither had Sunna. However, on the 29th, Rahal,
+that kind, wise woman, asked him as a special favour, to wear his
+medical uniform. She said, "the townsfolk would be so disappointed
+with black broadcloth and a pearl-grey waistcoat. They longed to see
+him as he went onto the battlefield, to save or succour the wounded."
+
+"But, Mother," he answered, "I went in the plainest linen suit to
+bring in the wounded and dying."
+
+"I know, dear one, but they do not know, and it is not worth while
+destroying an innocent illusion, we have so few of them as we grow
+old."
+
+"Very well, Mother, it shall be as you wish."
+
+"Of course Ian wished to wear it," said Sunna.
+
+"Oh, Sunna, you must not judge all men from Max."
+
+"I am far from that folly. Your father has been watching the winds and
+the clouds all day. So have I. Conall Ragnor is always picturesque,
+even poetical. I feel safe if I follow him. He says it will be fine
+tomorrow. I hope so!"
+
+This hope was more than justified. It was a day of sunshine and little
+wandering south winds, and the procession was a fact. Now Ragnor knew
+that this marriage procession, as a national custom, was passing away,
+but it had added its friendliness to his own and all his sons' and
+daughters' weddings and he wanted Thora's marriage ceremonial to
+include it. "When thou art an old woman, Thora," he said to her, "then
+thou wilt be glad to have remembered it."
+
+At length the New Year dawned and the day arrived. All was ready for
+it. There was no hurry, no fret, no uncertainty. Thora rode to the
+cathedral in the Vedder's closed carriage with her father and mother.
+Ian was with Maximus and Sunna in the Galt landeau. Adam Vedder and
+his bride rode together in their open Victoria and all were ready as
+the clock struck ten. Then a little band of stringed instruments and
+young men took their place as leaders of the procession, and when they
+started joyfully "Room for the Bride!" the carriages took the places
+assigned them and about two hundred men and women, who had gathered at
+the Ragnor House, followed in procession, many joining in the
+singing.
+
+The cathedral was crowded when they reached it, and Dr. Hedley in
+white robes came forward to meet the bride and, with smiles and loving
+good will, to unite her forever to the choice of her soul.
+
+It was almost a musical marriage. Melody began and followed and closed
+the whole ceremonial. About twenty returned with the bridal party to
+the Ragnor House to eat the bridal dinner, but the general townsfolk
+were to have their feast and dance in the Town Hall about seven in the
+evening. The Bishop stayed only to bless the meal, for the boat was
+waiting that was to carry him to a Convocation of the Church then
+sitting in Edinburgh. But he wore his sprig of rosemary on his vest,
+and he stood at Ragnor's right hand and watched him mix the Bride
+Cup, watched him mingle in one large silver bowl of pre-Christian age
+the pale, delicious sherry and fine sugar and spices and stir the
+whole with a strip of rosemary. Then every guest stood up and was
+served with a cup, most of them having in their hand a strip of
+rosemary to stir it with. And after the Bishop had blessed the bride
+and blessed the bridegroom, he said, "I will quote for you a passage
+from an old sermon and after it, you will stir your cup again with
+rosemary and grow it still more plentifully in your gardens.
+
+"The rosemary is for married men and man challengeth it, as belonging
+properly to himself. It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memory,
+and affects kindly the heart. Let this flower of man ensign your
+wisdom, love and loyalty, and carry it, not only in your hands, but in
+your heads and hearts." Then he lifted his glass and stirred the wine
+with his strip of rosemary, and as he did so all followed his example,
+while he repeated from an old romance the following lines:
+
+  ... "Before we divide,
+  Let us dip our rosemaries
+  In one rich bowl of wine, to this brave girl
+  And to the gentleman."
+
+With these words he departed, and the utmost and happiest interchange
+of all kinds of good fellowship followed. Every man and woman was at
+perfect ease and ready to give of the best they had. Even Adam Vedder
+delighted all, and especially his happy-looking bride, by his clever
+condensation of Sunna's favourite story of "The Banded Men." No
+finished actor could have made it, in its own way, a finer model of
+dramatic narrative, especially in its quaint reversal of the parts
+usually played by father and son, into those of the prodigal father
+and the money-loving, prudent son. Then a little whisper went round
+the table and it sprang from Sunna, and people smiled and remembered
+that Adam had won his wife from three younger men than himself and, as
+if by a single, solid impulse, they stirred their wine cups once more
+and called for a cheer for the old bridegroom, who had been faithful
+for forty years to his first love and had then walked off with her,
+from Provost, Lawyer and Minister; all of them twenty years younger
+than himself.
+
+Getting near to three o'clock, they began to sing and Rahal was
+pleased to hear that sound of peace, for several guests were just from
+the battlefield and quite as ready for a quarrel as a song. Also
+during the little confusion of removing fruit and cake and glasses,
+and the substitution of the cups and saucers and the strong, hot,
+sweet tea that every Norseman loves, Ian and Thora slipped away
+without notice. Max Grant's carriage put them in half-an-hour on the
+threshold of their own home. They crossed it hand and hand and Ian
+kissed the hand he held and Thora raised her face in answer; but words
+have not yet been invented that can speak for such perfect happiness.
+
+  Love is rich in his own right,
+    He is heir of all the spheres,
+  In his service day and night
+    Swing the tides and roll the years.
+  What has he to ask of fate?
+    Crown him, glad or desolate.
+
+  Time puts out all other flames
+    But the glory of his eyes;
+  His are all the sacred names,
+    His the solemn mysteries.
+  Crown him! In his darkest day
+    He has Heaven to give away!
+
+Ian's business arrangements curtailed the length of any festivity in
+relation to the marriage. He had already signed an agreement with Dr.
+Frazer to return to him as soon as possible after the twelfth day and
+remain as his assistant until he was fully authenticated a surgeon by
+the proper schools. In the meantime he would enter the London School
+of Medicine and Surgery and give to Dr. Frazer all the time not
+demanded by its hours and exercises. For this attention Ian was to
+receive from Dr. Frazer one hundred pounds a year. Furthermore, when
+Ian had received the proper authority to call himself Dr. John Macrae,
+he was to have the offer of a partnership with Dr. Frazer, on what
+were considered very favourable terms.
+
+So their little romance was at last happily over. Ian was an
+infinitely finer and nobler man. He had dwelt amid great acts and
+great suffering for a year and had not visited the House of Mourning
+in vain. All that was light and trifling had fallen away from him. He
+regarded his life and talents now as a great and solemn charge and was
+resolved to make them of use to his fellows. And Thora was lovelier
+than she had ever been. She had learned self-restraint and she had
+hoped through evil days, till good days came; so then, she knew how to
+look for good when all appeared wrong and by faith and will, bring
+good out of evil.
+
+After Thora and her husband left for London a great change took place
+in the Ragnor home. Ragnor had been preparing for it ever since his
+visit to London and, within a month, Robert Ragnor and his wife and
+family came from Shetland and took possession. It gave Rahal a little
+pain to see any woman in her place but that was nothing, she was going
+to give her dear Coll the dream of his life. She was going to travel
+with him, and see all the civilized countries in the world! She was
+going to London first, and last, of all!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SEQUENCES
+
+
+Not long ago I found in a list of Orkney and Shetland literature
+several volumes by a Conall Ragnor, two of them poetry. But that just
+tended to certify a suspicion. Sixty years ago I had heard him repeat
+some Gallic poems and had known instinctively, though only a girl of
+eighteen, that the man was a poet.
+
+It roused in me a curiosity I felt it would be pleasant to gratify,
+and so a little while after I began this story, I wrote to a London
+newspaper man and asked him to send me some of his Orkney exchanges. I
+have a habit of trusting newspaper editors and I found this one as I
+expected, willing and obliging. He sent me two Orkney papers and the
+first thing I noticed was the prevalence of the old names. Among them
+I saw Mrs. Max Grant, and I thought I would write to her and take my
+chance of the lady turning out to be the old Sunna Vedder. It was
+quite a possibility, as we were apparently about the same age when I
+saw her. It was only for an hour or two in the evening we met, at the
+Ragnor house, but girls see a deal in an hour or two and if I
+remembered her, she had doubtless chronicled an opinion of me.
+
+In about five weeks Mrs. Grant's letter in answer to mine arrived. She
+began it by saying she remembered me, because I wore a hat, a sailor's
+hat, and she said it was the first hat she ever saw on a woman's head.
+She said also, that I told her women were beginning to wear them for
+shopping and walking and driving, or out at sea, but never for church
+or visiting. All of which I doubtless said, for it was my first hat.
+And I do not remember women wearing hats at all until about this
+time.
+
+  I suppose [she continued] thou wants to know first of all about
+  the Vedders. They were _the_ people then, and they have not grown
+  a bit smaller, nor do they think any less of themselves yet. My
+  grandfather married again and was not sorry for it. I don't know
+  whether his wife was sorry or not. I took Maximus Grant for a
+  husband for, after Boris Ragnor died, I did not care who I took,
+  provided he had plenty of good qualities and plenty of gold. We
+  lived together thirty years very respectably. I took my way and I
+  usually expected him to do the same. We had four sons, and they
+  have nine sons among them, and all of the nine are now fighting
+  the vipers they have been coddling for forty or fifty years. Some
+  are in the regular army, some in the navy, and some in the plucky,
+  fighting little navy, patrolling England and her brood of
+  coastwise islands. They are a tough, rough, hard lot, but I love
+  them all better than anything else in this world. There are a good
+  many Vedder houses in Orkney, and they are all full of little
+  squabbling, fighting, never clean, and never properly dressed
+  little brats, from four to eleven years old. So I don't worry
+  about there being Vedders enough to run things the way they want
+  them run.
+
+  The Ragnors are here in plenty. All the men are at the war, all
+  the women running fishing boats or keeping general shops, to which
+  I like to see the Germans going. They are told what kind of people
+  they are as they walk up to the shops; and they get what they want
+  at an impoverishing price. Serve them right! Men, however, will
+  pay any money for a thing they want.
+
+  There has not been such good times in Orkney since I was born, as
+  there is now. We have an enemy to beat in trade and an enemy to
+  beat in fight at our very doors, and our men are neither to hold
+  nor to bind, they are that top-lofty. War is a man's native air.
+  My sons and grandsons are all two inches taller than they were and
+  they defy Nature to contradict them. I never attempt it. Well,
+  then, they are proper men in all things, a little hard to deal
+  with and masterful, but just as I wish them. My grandfather died
+  fifty years ago, he might have lived longer if he had not
+  married. His widow wept in the deepest black and people thought
+  she was sorry.
+
+  The Ragnors are mostly here and in Shetland. Conall Ragnor never
+  really settled down again. Rahal and he lived in Edinburgh or
+  London, when not travelling. I heard that Conall wrote books and
+  really got money for them. I cannot believe that. Rahal died
+  first. Conall lived a month after her. They were laid in earth in
+  Stromness Church-yard. My grandfather wanted to bring the body of
+  Boris home and bury it in Stromness, and I would not let him. He
+  is all mine where he sleeps in the Crimea. I don't want him among
+  a congregation of his brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  I suppose thou must have heard of Thora's husband. He really
+  did become famous, and I was told his father forgave him all his
+  youthful follies. It was said Thora managed that in some clever
+  way; but I'm sure I don't know what to say. Thora never seemed
+  at all clever to me. She had many children, but she died long
+  ago, though she did live long enough to see her husband
+  knighted and her eldest boy marry the daughter of a lord. I have
+  no doubt she was happy in her own way, only she never did dress
+  herself as a person in the best society ought to have done. I
+  once told her so. "Well, then," she said, "I dress to please my
+  husband." Imagine such simplicity! As to myself I am getting
+  near to ninety, but I live a good life and God helps me. I have
+  kept my fine hair and complexion and I run around on my little
+  errands quite comfortably. Indeed I am sunwise able for
+  everything I want. I shall be glad to hear from thee again, and if
+  thou wilt send me occasionally some of those delightful American
+  papers, thou wilt make me much thy debtor. Also, I want thee
+  to tell all the brave young Americans thou knows that if they
+  would like a real life on the ocean wave, they ought to join
+  our wonderful patrol round the English coast. They will learn
+  more and see more and feel more in a month, in this little
+  interfering navy, than they'd learn in a lifetime in a first-class
+  man-of-war.
+
+  Write to me again and then we shall have tied our friendship with
+  a three-fold letter. Thine, with all good will and wishes,
+
+  SUNNA VEDDER GRANT.
+
+This is a woman's letter and it must have a postscript. It is only two
+lines of John Stuart Blackie's, and it should have been at the
+beginning, but it will touch your heart at the end as well as at the
+beginning.
+
+  "Oh, for a breath of the great North Sea,
+  Girdling the mountains!"
+                                   S. V. G.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber Notes
+
+Fixed probable typos.
+
+Hyphenation standardized.
+
+Archaic and variable spelling is preserved.
+
+Author's punctuation style is preserved, except quote marks, which
+have been standardized.
+
+Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Orkney Maid, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
+
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