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diff --git a/old/mrmen10.txt b/old/mrmen10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cadf26 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mrmen10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8474 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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A man out of the sea + +Will o' the Mill +i. The plain and the stars +ii. The Parson's Marjory +iii. Death + +Markheim + +Thrawn Janet + +Olalla + +The Treasure of Franchard +i. By the dying Mountebank +ii. Morning tale +iii. The adoption +iv. The education of the philosopher +v. Treasure trove +vi. A criminal investigation, in two parts +vii. The fall of the House of Desprez +viii. The wages of philosophy + + + + +*** +THE MERRY MEN + + + + +CHAPTER I. EILEAN AROS. + + +IT WAS a beautiful morning in the late July when I set forth on +foot for the last time for Aros. A boat had put me ashore the +night before at Grisapol; I had such breakfast as the little inn +afforded, and, leaving all my baggage till I had an occasion to +come round for it by sea, struck right across the promontory with a +cheerful heart. + +I was far from being a native of these parts, springing, as I did, +from an unmixed lowland stock. But an uncle of mine, Gordon +Darnaway, after a poor, rough youth, and some years at sea, had +married a young wife in the islands; Mary Maclean she was called, +the last of her family; and when she died in giving birth to a +daughter, Aros, the sea-girt farm, had remained in his possession. +It brought him in nothing but the means of life, as I was well +aware; but he was a man whom ill-fortune had pursued; he feared, +cumbered as he was with the young child, to make a fresh adventure +upon life; and remained in Aros, biting his nails at destiny. +Years passed over his head in that isolation, and brought neither +help nor contentment. Meantime our family was dying out in the +lowlands; there is little luck for any of that race; and perhaps my +father was the luckiest of all, for not only was he one of the last +to die, but he left a son to his name and a little money to support +it. I was a student of Edinburgh University, living well enough at +my own charges, but without kith or kin; when some news of me found +its way to Uncle Gordon on the Ross of Grisapol; and he, as he was +a man who held blood thicker than water, wrote to me the day he +heard of my existence, and taught me to count Aros as my home. +Thus it was that I came to spend my vacations in that part of the +country, so far from all society and comfort, between the codfish +and the moorcocks; and thus it was that now, when I had done with +my classes, I was returning thither with so light a heart that July +day. + +The Ross, as we call it, is a promontory neither wide nor high, but +as rough as God made it to this day; the deep sea on either hand of +it, full of rugged isles and reefs most perilous to seamen - all +overlooked from the eastward by some very high cliffs and the great +peals of Ben Kyaw. THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MIST, they say the words +signify in the Gaelic tongue; and it is well named. For that hill- +top, which is more than three thousand feet in height, catches all +the clouds that come blowing from the seaward; and, indeed, I used +often to think that it must make them for itself; since when all +heaven was clear to the sea level, there would ever be a streamer +on Ben Kyaw. It brought water, too, and was mossy (1) to the top +in consequence. I have seen us sitting in broad sunshine on the +Ross, and the rain falling black like crape upon the mountain. But +the wetness of it made it often appear more beautiful to my eyes; +for when the sun struck upon the hill sides, there were many wet +rocks and watercourses that shone like jewels even as far as Aros, +fifteen miles away. + +The road that I followed was a cattle-track. It twisted so as +nearly to double the length of my journey; it went over rough +boulders so that a man had to leap from one to another, and through +soft bottoms where the moss came nearly to the knee. There was no +cultivation anywhere, and not one house in the ten miles from +Grisapol to Aros. Houses of course there were - three at least; +but they lay so far on the one side or the other that no stranger +could have found them from the track. A large part of the Ross is +covered with big granite rocks, some of them larger than a two- +roomed house, one beside another, with fern and deep heather in +between them where the vipers breed. Anyway the wind was, it was +always sea air, as salt as on a ship; the gulls were as free as +moorfowl over all the Ross; and whenever the way rose a little, +your eye would kindle with the brightness of the sea. From the +very midst of the land, on a day of wind and a high spring, I have +heard the Roost roaring, like a battle where it runs by Aros, and +the great and fearful voices of the breakers that we call the Merry +Men. + +Aros itself - Aros Jay, I have heard the natives call it, and they +say it means THE HOUSE OF GOD - Aros itself was not properly a +piece of the Ross, nor was it quite an islet. It formed the south- +west corner of the land, fitted close to it, and was in one place +only separated from the coast by a little gut of the sea, not forty +feet across the narrowest. When the tide was full, this was clear +and still, like a pool on a land river; only there was a difference +in the weeds and fishes, and the water itself was green instead of +brown; but when the tide went out, in the bottom of the ebb, there +was a day or two in every month when you could pass dryshod from +Aros to the mainland. There was some good pasture, where my uncle +fed the sheep he lived on; perhaps the feed was better because the +ground rose higher on the islet than the main level of the Ross, +but this I am not skilled enough to settle. The house was a good +one for that country, two storeys high. It looked westward over a +bay, with a pier hard by for a boat, and from the door you could +watch the vapours blowing on Ben Kyaw. + +On all this part of the coast, and especially near Aros, these +great granite rocks that I have spoken of go down together in +troops into the sea, like cattle on a summer's day. There they +stand, for all the world like their neighbours ashore; only the +salt water sobbing between them instead of the quiet earth, and +clots of sea-pink blooming on their sides instead of heather; and +the great sea conger to wreathe about the base of them instead of +the poisonous viper of the land. On calm days you can go wandering +between them in a boat for hours, echoes following you about the +labyrinth; but when the sea is up, Heaven help the man that hears +that cauldron boiling. + +Off the south-west end of Aros these blocks are very many, and much +greater in size. Indeed, they must grow monstrously bigger out to +sea, for there must be ten sea miles of open water sown with them +as thick as a country place with houses, some standing thirty feet +above the tides, some covered, but all perilous to ships; so that +on a clear, westerly blowing day, I have counted, from the top of +Aros, the great rollers breaking white and heavy over as many as +six-and-forty buried reefs. But it is nearer in shore that the +danger is worst; for the tide, here running like a mill race, makes +a long belt of broken water - a ROOST we call it - at the tail of +the land. I have often been out there in a dead calm at the slack +of the tide; and a strange place it is, with the sea swirling and +combing up and boiling like the cauldrons of a linn, and now and +again a little dancing mutter of sound as though the ROOST were +talking to itself. But when the tide begins to run again, and +above all in heavy weather, there is no man could take a boat +within half a mile of it, nor a ship afloat that could either steer +or live in such a place. You can hear the roaring of it six miles +away. At the seaward end there comes the strongest of the bubble; +and it's here that these big breakers dance together - the dance of +death, it may be called - that have got the name, in these parts, +of the Merry Men. I have heard it said that they run fifty feet +high; but that must be the green water only, for the spray runs +twice as high as that. Whether they got the name from their +movements, which are swift and antic, or from the shouting they +make about the turn of the tide, so that all Aros shakes with it, +is more than I can tell. + +The truth is, that in a south-westerly wind, that part of our +archipelago is no better than a trap. If a ship got through the +reefs, and weathered the Merry Men, it would be to come ashore on +the south coast of Aros, in Sandag Bay, where so many dismal things +befell our family, as I propose to tell. The thought of all these +dangers, in the place I knew so long, makes me particularly welcome +the works now going forward to set lights upon the headlands and +buoys along the channels of our iron-bound, inhospitable islands. + +The country people had many a story about Aros, as I used to hear +from my uncle's man, Rorie, an old servant of the Macleans, who had +transferred his services without afterthought on the occasion of +the marriage. There was some tale of an unlucky creature, a sea- +kelpie, that dwelt and did business in some fearful manner of his +own among the boiling breakers of the Roost. A mermaid had once +met a piper on Sandag beach, and there sang to him a long, bright +midsummer's night, so that in the morning he was found stricken +crazy, and from thenceforward, till the day he died, said only one +form of words; what they were in the original Gaelic I cannot tell, +but they were thus translated: 'Ah, the sweet singing out of the +sea.' Seals that haunted on that coast have been known to speak to +man in his own tongue, presaging great disasters. It was here that +a certain saint first landed on his voyage out of Ireland to +convert the Hebrideans. And, indeed, I think he had some claim to +be called saint; for, with the boats of that past age, to make so +rough a passage, and land on such a ticklish coast, was surely not +far short of the miraculous. It was to him, or to some of his +monkish underlings who had a cell there, that the islet owes its +holy and beautiful name, the House of God. + +Among these old wives' stories there was one which I was inclined +to hear with more credulity. As I was told, in that tempest which +scattered the ships of the Invincible Armada over all the north and +west of Scotland, one great vessel came ashore on Aros, and before +the eyes of some solitary people on a hill-top, went down in a +moment with all hands, her colours flying even as she sank. There +was some likelihood in this tale; for another of that fleet lay +sunk on the north side, twenty miles from Grisapol. It was told, I +thought, with more detail and gravity than its companion stories, +and there was one particularity which went far to convince me of +its truth: the name, that is, of the ship was still remembered, and +sounded, in my ears, Spanishly. The ESPIRITO SANTO they called it, +a great ship of many decks of guns, laden with treasure and +grandees of Spain, and fierce soldadoes, that now lay fathom deep +to all eternity, done with her wars and voyages, in Sandag bay, +upon the west of Aros. No more salvos of ordnance for that tall +ship, the 'Holy Spirit,' no more fair winds or happy ventures; only +to rot there deep in the sea-tangle and hear the shoutings of the +Merry Men as the tide ran high about the island. It was a strange +thought to me first and last, and only grew stranger as I learned +the more of Spain, from which she had set sail with so proud a +company, and King Philip, the wealthy king, that sent her on that +voyage. + +And now I must tell you, as I walked from Grisapol that day, the +ESPIRITO SANTO was very much in my reflections. I had been +favourably remarked by our then Principal in Edinburgh College, +that famous writer, Dr. Robertson, and by him had been set to work +on some papers of an ancient date to rearrange and sift of what was +worthless; and in one of these, to my great wonder, I found a note +of this very ship, the ESPIRITO SANTO, with her captain's name, and +how she carried a great part of the Spaniard's treasure, and had +been lost upon the Ross of Grisapol; but in what particular spot, +the wild tribes of that place and period would give no information +to the king's inquiries. Putting one thing with another, and +taking our island tradition together with this note of old King +Jamie's perquisitions after wealth, it had come strongly on my mind +that the spot for which he sought in vain could be no other than +the small bay of Sandag on my uncle's land; and being a fellow of a +mechanical turn, I had ever since been plotting how to weigh that +good ship up again with all her ingots, ounces, and doubloons, and +bring back our house of Darnaway to its long-forgotten dignity and +wealth. + +This was a design of which I soon had reason to repent. My mind +was sharply turned on different reflections; and since I became the +witness of a strange judgment of God's, the thought of dead men's +treasures has been intolerable to my conscience. But even at that +time I must acquit myself of sordid greed; for if I desired riches, +it was not for their own sake, but for the sake of a person who was +dear to my heart - my uncle's daughter, Mary Ellen. She had been +educated well, and had been a time to school upon the mainland; +which, poor girl, she would have been happier without. For Aros +was no place for her, with old Rorie the servant, and her father, +who was one of the unhappiest men in Scotland, plainly bred up in a +country place among Cameronians, long a skipper sailing out of the +Clyde about the islands, and now, with infinite discontent, +managing his sheep and a little 'long shore fishing for the +necessary bread. If it was sometimes weariful to me, who was there +but a month or two, you may fancy what it was to her who dwelt in +that same desert all the year round, with the sheep and flying sea- +gulls, and the Merry Men singing and dancing in the Roost! + + + + +CHAPTER II. WHAT THE WRECK HAD BROUGHT TO AROS. + + +IT was half-flood when I got the length of Aros; and there was +nothing for it but to stand on the far shore and whistle for Rorie +with the boat. I had no need to repeat the signal. At the first +sound, Mary was at the door flying a handkerchief by way of answer, +and the old long-legged serving-man was shambling down the gravel +to the pier. For all his hurry, it took him a long while to pull +across the bay; and I observed him several times to pause, go into +the stern, and look over curiously into the wake. As he came +nearer, he seemed to me aged and haggard, and I thought he avoided +my eye. The coble had been repaired, with two new thwarts and +several patches of some rare and beautiful foreign wood, the name +of it unknown to me. + +'Why, Rorie,' said I, as we began the return voyage, 'this is fine +wood. How came you by that?' + +'It will be hard to cheesel,' Rorie opined reluctantly; and just +then, dropping the oars, he made another of those dives into the +stern which I had remarked as he came across to fetch me, and, +leaning his hand on my shoulder, stared with an awful look into the +waters of the bay. + +'What is wrong?' I asked, a good deal startled. + +'It will be a great feesh,' said the old man, returning to his +oars; and nothing more could I get out of him, but strange glances +and an ominous nodding of the head. In spite of myself, I was +infected with a measure of uneasiness; I turned also, and studied +the wake. The water was still and transparent, but, out here in +the middle of the bay, exceeding deep. For some time I could see +naught; but at last it did seem to me as if something dark - a +great fish, or perhaps only a shadow - followed studiously in the +track of the moving coble. And then I remembered one of Rorie's +superstitions: how in a ferry in Morven, in some great, +exterminating feud among the clans; a fish, the like of it unknown +in all our waters, followed for some years the passage of the +ferry-boat, until no man dared to make the crossing. + +'He will be waiting for the right man,' said Rorie. + +Mary met me on the beach, and led me up the brae and into the house +of Aros. Outside and inside there were many changes. The garden +was fenced with the same wood that I had noted in the boat; there +were chairs in the kitchen covered with strange brocade; curtains +of brocade hung from the window; a clock stood silent on the +dresser; a lamp of brass was swinging from the roof; the table was +set for dinner with the finest of linen and silver; and all these +new riches were displayed in the plain old kitchen that I knew so +well, with the high-backed settle, and the stools, and the closet +bed for Rorie; with the wide chimney the sun shone into, and the +clear-smouldering peats; with the pipes on the mantelshelf and the +three-cornered spittoons, filled with sea-shells instead of sand, +on the floor; with the bare stone walls and the bare wooden floor, +and the three patchwork rugs that were of yore its sole adornment - +poor man's patchwork, the like of it unknown in cities, woven with +homespun, and Sunday black, and sea-cloth polished on the bench of +rowing. The room, like the house, had been a sort of wonder in +that country-side, it was so neat and habitable; and to see it now, +shamed by these incongruous additions, filled me with indignation +and a kind of anger. In view of the errand I had come upon to +Aros, the feeling was baseless and unjust; but it burned high, at +the first moment, in my heart. + +'Mary, girl,' said I, 'this is the place I had learned to call my +home, and I do not know it.' + +'It is my home by nature, not by the learning,' she replied; 'the +place I was born and the place I'm like to die in; and I neither +like these changes, nor the way they came, nor that which came with +them. I would have liked better, under God's pleasure, they had +gone down into the sea, and the Merry Men were dancing on them +now.' + +Mary was always serious; it was perhaps the only trait that she +shared with her father; but the tone with which she uttered these +words was even graver than of custom. + +'Ay,' said I, 'I feared it came by wreck, and that's by death; yet +when my father died, I took his goods without remorse.' + +'Your father died a clean strae death, as the folk say,' said Mary. + +'True,' I returned; 'and a wreck is like a judgment. What was she +called?' + +'They ca'd her the CHRIST-ANNA,' said a voice behind me; and, +turning round, I saw my uncle standing in the doorway. + +He was a sour, small, bilious man, with a long face and very dark +eyes; fifty-six years old, sound and active in body, and with an +air somewhat between that of a shepherd and that of a man following +the sea. He never laughed, that I heard; read long at the Bible; +prayed much, like the Cameronians he had been brought up among; and +indeed, in many ways, used to remind me of one of the hill- +preachers in the killing times before the Revolution. But he never +got much comfort, nor even, as I used to think, much guidance, by +his piety. He had his black fits when he was afraid of hell; but +he had led a rough life, to which he would look back with envy, and +was still a rough, cold, gloomy man. + +As he came in at the door out of the sunlight, with his bonnet on +his head and a pipe hanging in his button-hole, he seemed, like +Rorie, to have grown older and paler, the lines were deeplier +ploughed upon his face, and the whites of his eyes were yellow, +like old stained ivory, or the bones of the dead. + +'Ay' he repeated, dwelling upon the first part of the word, 'the +CHRIST-ANNA. It's an awfu' name.' + +I made him my salutations, and complimented him upon his look of +health; for I feared he had perhaps been ill. + +'I'm in the body,' he replied, ungraciously enough; 'aye in the +body and the sins of the body, like yoursel'. Denner,' he said +abruptly to Mary, and then ran on to me: 'They're grand braws, thir +that we hae gotten, are they no? Yon's a bonny knock (2), but +it'll no gang; and the napery's by ordnar. Bonny, bairnly braws; +it's for the like o' them folk sells the peace of God that passeth +understanding; it's for the like o' them, an' maybe no even sae +muckle worth, folk daunton God to His face and burn in muckle hell; +and it's for that reason the Scripture ca's them, as I read the +passage, the accursed thing. Mary, ye girzie,' he interrupted +himself to cry with some asperity, 'what for hae ye no put out the +twa candlesticks?' + +'Why should we need them at high noon?' she asked. + +But my uncle was not to be turned from his idea. 'We'll bruik (3) +them while we may,' he said; and so two massive candlesticks of +wrought silver were added to the table equipage, already so +unsuited to that rough sea-side farm. + +'She cam' ashore Februar' 10, about ten at nicht,' he went on to +me. 'There was nae wind, and a sair run o' sea; and she was in the +sook o' the Roost, as I jaloose. We had seen her a' day, Rorie and +me, beating to the wind. She wasnae a handy craft, I'm thinking, +that CHRIST-ANNA; for she would neither steer nor stey wi' them. A +sair day they had of it; their hands was never aff the sheets, and +it perishin' cauld - ower cauld to snaw; and aye they would get a +bit nip o' wind, and awa' again, to pit the emp'y hope into them. +Eh, man! but they had a sair day for the last o't! He would have +had a prood, prood heart that won ashore upon the back o' that.' + +'And were all lost?' I cried. 'God held them!' + +'Wheesht!' he said sternly. 'Nane shall pray for the deid on my +hearth-stane.' + +I disclaimed a Popish sense for my ejaculation; and he seemed to +accept my disclaimer with unusual facility, and ran on once more +upon what had evidently become a favourite subject. + +'We fand her in Sandag Bay, Rorie an' me, and a' thae braws in the +inside of her. There's a kittle bit, ye see, about Sandag; whiles +the sook rins strong for the Merry Men; an' whiles again, when the +tide's makin' hard an' ye can hear the Roost blawin' at the far-end +of Aros, there comes a back-spang of current straucht into Sandag +Bay. Weel, there's the thing that got the grip on the CHRIST-ANNA. +She but to have come in ram-stam an' stern forrit; for the bows of +her are aften under, and the back-side of her is clear at hie-water +o' neaps. But, man! the dunt that she cam doon wi' when she +struck! Lord save us a'! but it's an unco life to be a sailor - a +cauld, wanchancy life. Mony's the gliff I got mysel' in the great +deep; and why the Lord should hae made yon unco water is mair than +ever I could win to understand. He made the vales and the +pastures, the bonny green yaird, the halesome, canty land - + + +And now they shout and sing to Thee, +For Thou hast made them glad, + + +as the Psalms say in the metrical version. No that I would preen +my faith to that clink neither; but it's bonny, and easier to mind. +"Who go to sea in ships," they hae't again - + + +And in +Great waters trading be, +Within the deep these men God's works +And His great wonders see. + + +Weel, it's easy sayin' sae. Maybe Dauvit wasnae very weel acquant +wi' the sea. But, troth, if it wasnae prentit in the Bible, I wad +whiles be temp'it to think it wasnae the Lord, but the muckle, +black deil that made the sea. There's naething good comes oot o't +but the fish; an' the spentacle o' God riding on the tempest, to be +shure, whilk would be what Dauvit was likely ettling at. But, man, +they were sair wonders that God showed to the CHRIST-ANNA - +wonders, do I ca' them? Judgments, rather: judgments in the mirk +nicht among the draygons o' the deep. And their souls - to think +o' that - their souls, man, maybe no prepared! The sea - a muckle +yett to hell!' + +I observed, as my uncle spoke, that his voice was unnaturally moved +and his manner unwontedly demonstrative. He leaned forward at +these last words, for example, and touched me on the knee with his +spread fingers, looking up into my face with a certain pallor, and +I could see that his eyes shone with a deep-seated fire, and that +the lines about his mouth were drawn and tremulous. + +Even the entrance of Rorie, and the beginning of our meal, did not +detach him from his train of thought beyond a moment. He +condescended, indeed, to ask me some questions as to my success at +college, but I thought it was with half his mind; and even in his +extempore grace, which was, as usual, long and wandering, I could +find the trace of his preoccupation, praying, as he did, that God +would 'remember in mercy fower puir, feckless, fiddling, sinful +creatures here by their lee-lane beside the great and dowie +waters.' + +Soon there came an interchange of speeches between him and Rorie. + +'Was it there?' asked my uncle. + +'Ou, ay!' said Rorie. + +I observed that they both spoke in a manner of aside, and with some +show of embarrassment, and that Mary herself appeared to colour, +and looked down on her plate. Partly to show my knowledge, and so +relieve the party from an awkward strain, partly because I was +curious, I pursued the subject. + +'You mean the fish?' I asked. + +'Whatten fish?' cried my uncle. 'Fish, quo' he! Fish! Your een +are fu' o' fatness, man; your heid dozened wi' carnal leir. Fish! +it's a bogle!' + +He spoke with great vehemence, as though angry; and perhaps I was +not very willing to be put down so shortly, for young men are +disputatious. At least I remember I retorted hotly, crying out +upon childish superstitions. + +'And ye come frae the College!' sneered Uncle Gordon. 'Gude kens +what they learn folk there; it's no muckle service onyway. Do ye +think, man, that there's naething in a' yon saut wilderness o' a +world oot wast there, wi' the sea grasses growin', an' the sea +beasts fechtin', an' the sun glintin' down into it, day by day? +Na; the sea's like the land, but fearsomer. If there's folk +ashore, there's folk in the sea - deid they may be, but they're +folk whatever; and as for deils, there's nane that's like the sea +deils. There's no sae muckle harm in the land deils, when a's said +and done. Lang syne, when I was a callant in the south country, I +mind there was an auld, bald bogle in the Peewie Moss. I got a +glisk o' him mysel', sittin' on his hunkers in a hag, as gray's a +tombstane. An', troth, he was a fearsome-like taed. But he +steered naebody. Nae doobt, if ane that was a reprobate, ane the +Lord hated, had gane by there wi' his sin still upon his stamach, +nae doobt the creature would hae lowped upo' the likes o' him. But +there's deils in the deep sea would yoke on a communicant! Eh, +sirs, if ye had gane doon wi' the puir lads in the CHRIST-ANNA, ye +would ken by now the mercy o' the seas. If ye had sailed it for as +lang as me, ye would hate the thocht of it as I do. If ye had but +used the een God gave ye, ye would hae learned the wickedness o' +that fause, saut, cauld, bullering creature, and of a' that's in it +by the Lord's permission: labsters an' partans, an' sic like, +howking in the deid; muckle, gutsy, blawing whales; an' fish - the +hale clan o' them - cauld-wamed, blind-eed uncanny ferlies. O, +sirs,' he cried, 'the horror - the horror o' the sea!' + +We were all somewhat staggered by this outburst; and the speaker +himself, after that last hoarse apostrophe, appeared to sink +gloomily into his own thoughts. But Rorie, who was greedy of +superstitious lore, recalled him to the subject by a question. + +'You will not ever have seen a teevil of the sea?' he asked. + +'No clearly,' replied the other. 'I misdoobt if a mere man could +see ane clearly and conteenue in the body. I hae sailed wi' a lad +- they ca'd him Sandy Gabart; he saw ane, shure eneueh, an' shure +eneueh it was the end of him. We were seeven days oot frae the +Clyde - a sair wark we had had - gaun north wi' seeds an' braws an' +things for the Macleod. We had got in ower near under the +Cutchull'ns, an' had just gane about by soa, an' were off on a lang +tack, we thocht would maybe hauld as far's Copnahow. I mind the +nicht weel; a mune smoored wi' mist; a fine gaun breeze upon the +water, but no steedy; an' - what nane o' us likit to hear - anither +wund gurlin' owerheid, amang thae fearsome, auld stane craigs o' +the Cutchull'ns. Weel, Sandy was forrit wi' the jib sheet; we +couldnae see him for the mains'l, that had just begude to draw, +when a' at ance he gied a skirl. I luffed for my life, for I +thocht we were ower near Soa; but na, it wasnae that, it was puir +Sandy Gabart's deid skreigh, or near hand, for he was deid in half +an hour. A't he could tell was that a sea deil, or sea bogle, or +sea spenster, or sic-like, had clum up by the bowsprit, an' gi'en +him ae cauld, uncanny look. An', or the life was oot o' Sandy's +body, we kent weel what the thing betokened, and why the wund +gurled in the taps o' the Cutchull'ns; for doon it cam' - a wund do +I ca' it! it was the wund o' the Lord's anger - an' a' that nicht +we foucht like men dementit, and the niest that we kenned we were +ashore in Loch Uskevagh, an' the cocks were crawin' in Benbecula.' + +'It will have been a merman,' Rorie said. + +'A merman!' screamed my uncle with immeasurable scorn. 'Auld +wives' clavers! There's nae sic things as mermen.' + +'But what was the creature like?' I asked. + +'What like was it? Gude forbid that we suld ken what like it was! +It had a kind of a heid upon it - man could say nae mair.' + +Then Rorie, smarting under the affront, told several tales of +mermen, mermaids, and sea-horses that had come ashore upon the +islands and attacked the crews of boats upon the sea; and my uncle, +in spite of his incredulity, listened with uneasy interest. + +'Aweel, aweel,' he said, 'it may be sae; I may be wrang; but I find +nae word o' mermen in the Scriptures.' + +'And you will find nae word of Aros Roost, maybe,' objected Rorie, +and his argument appeared to carry weight. + +When dinner was over, my uncle carried me forth with him to a bank +behind the house. It was a very hot and quiet afternoon; scarce a +ripple anywhere upon the sea, nor any voice but the familiar voice +of sheep and gulls; and perhaps in consequence of this repose in +nature, my kinsman showed himself more rational and tranquil than +before. He spoke evenly and almost cheerfully of my career, with +every now and then a reference to the lost ship or the treasures it +had brought to Aros. For my part, I listened to him in a sort of +trance, gazing with all my heart on that remembered scene, and +drinking gladly the sea-air and the smoke of peats that had been +lit by Mary. + +Perhaps an hour had passed when my uncle, who had all the while +been covertly gazing on the surface of the little bay, rose to his +feet and bade me follow his example. Now I should say that the +great run of tide at the south-west end of Aros exercises a +perturbing influence round all the coast. In Sandag Bay, to the +south, a strong current runs at certain periods of the flood and +ebb respectively; but in this northern bay - Aros Bay, as it is +called - where the house stands and on which my uncle was now +gazing, the only sign of disturbance is towards the end of the ebb, +and even then it is too slight to be remarkable. When there is any +swell, nothing can be seen at all; but when it is calm, as it often +is, there appear certain strange, undecipherable marks - sea-runes, +as we may name them - on the glassy surface of the bay. The like +is common in a thousand places on the coast; and many a boy must +have amused himself as I did, seeking to read in them some +reference to himself or those he loved. It was to these marks that +my uncle now directed my attention, struggling, as he did so, with +an evident reluctance. + +'Do ye see yon scart upo' the water?' he inquired; 'yon ane wast +the gray stane? Ay? Weel, it'll no be like a letter, wull it?' + +'Certainly it is,' I replied. 'I have often remarked it. It is +like a C.' + +He heaved a sigh as if heavily disappointed with my answer, and +then added below his breath: 'Ay, for the CHRIST-ANNA.' + +'I used to suppose, sir, it was for myself,' said I; 'for my name +is Charles.' + +'And so ye saw't afore?', he ran on, not heeding my remark. 'Weel, +weel, but that's unco strange. Maybe, it's been there waitin', as +a man wad say, through a' the weary ages. Man, but that's awfu'.' +And then, breaking off: 'Ye'll no see anither, will ye?' he asked. + +'Yes,' said I. 'I see another very plainly, near the Ross side, +where the road comes down - an M.' + +'An M,' he repeated very low; and then, again after another pause: +'An' what wad ye make o' that?' he inquired. + +'I had always thought it to mean Mary, sir,' I answered, growing +somewhat red, convinced as I was in my own mind that I was on the +threshold of a decisive explanation. + +But we were each following his own train of thought to the +exclusion of the other's. My uncle once more paid no attention to +my words; only hung his head and held his peace; and I might have +been led to fancy that he had not heard me, if his next speech had +not contained a kind of echo from my own. + +'I would say naething o' thae clavers to Mary,' he observed, and +began to walk forward. + +There is a belt of turf along the side of Aros Bay, where walking +is easy; and it was along this that I silently followed my silent +kinsman. I was perhaps a little disappointed at having lost so +good an opportunity to declare my love; but I was at the same time +far more deeply exercised at the change that had befallen my uncle. +He was never an ordinary, never, in the strict sense, an amiable, +man; but there was nothing in even the worst that I had known of +him before, to prepare me for so strange a transformation. It was +impossible to close the eyes against one fact; that he had, as the +saying goes, something on his mind; and as I mentally ran over the +different words which might be represented by the letter M - +misery, mercy, marriage, money, and the like - I was arrested with +a sort of start by the word murder. I was still considering the +ugly sound and fatal meaning of the word, when the direction of our +walk brought us to a point from which a view was to be had to +either side, back towards Aros Bay and homestead, and forward on +the ocean, dotted to the north with isles, and lying to the +southward blue and open to the sky. There my guide came to a halt, +and stood staring for awhile on that expanse. Then he turned to me +and laid a hand on my arm. + +'Ye think there's naething there?' he said, pointing with his pipe; +and then cried out aloud, with a kind of exultation: 'I'll tell ye, +man! The deid are down there - thick like rattons!' + +He turned at once, and, without another word, we retraced our steps +to the house of Aros. + +I was eager to be alone with Mary; yet it was not till after +supper, and then but for a short while, that I could have a word +with her. I lost no time beating about the bush, but spoke out +plainly what was on my mind. + +'Mary,' I said, 'I have not come to Aros without a hope. If that +should prove well founded, we may all leave and go somewhere else, +secure of daily bread and comfort; secure, perhaps, of something +far beyond that, which it would seem extravagant in me to promise. +But there's a hope that lies nearer to my heart than money.' And +at that I paused. 'You can guess fine what that is, Mary,' I said. +She looked away from me in silence, and that was small +encouragement, but I was not to be put off. 'All my days I have +thought the world of you,' I continued; 'the time goes on and I +think always the more of you; I could not think to be happy or +hearty in my life without you: you are the apple of my eye.' Still +she looked away, and said never a word; but I thought I saw that +her hands shook. 'Mary,' I cried in fear, 'do ye no like me?' + +'O, Charlie man,' she said, 'is this a time to speak of it? Let me +be, a while; let me be the way I am; it'll not be you that loses by +the waiting!' + +I made out by her voice that she was nearly weeping, and this put +me out of any thought but to compose her. 'Mary Ellen,' I said, +'say no more; I did not come to trouble you: your way shall be +mine, and your time too; and you have told me all I wanted. Only +just this one thing more: what ails you?' + +She owned it was her father, but would enter into no particulars, +only shook her head, and said he was not well and not like himself, +and it was a great pity. She knew nothing of the wreck. 'I +havenae been near it,' said she. 'What for would I go near it, +Charlie lad? The poor souls are gone to their account long syne; +and I would just have wished they had ta'en their gear with them - +poor souls!' + +This was scarcely any great encouragement for me to tell her of the +ESPIRITO SANTO; yet I did so, and at the very first word she cried +out in surprise. 'There was a man at Grisapol,' she said, 'in the +month of May - a little, yellow, black-avised body, they tell me, +with gold rings upon his fingers, and a beard; and he was speiring +high and low for that same ship.' + +It was towards the end of April that I had been given these papers +to sort out by Dr. Robertson: and it came suddenly back upon my +mind that they were thus prepared for a Spanish historian, or a man +calling himself such, who had come with high recommendations to the +Principal, on a mission of inquiry as to the dispersion of the +great Armada. Putting one thing with another, I fancied that the +visitor 'with the gold rings upon his fingers' might be the same +with Dr. Robertson's historian from Madrid. If that were so, he +would be more likely after treasure for himself than information +for a learned society. I made up my mind, I should lose no time +over my undertaking; and if the ship lay sunk in Sandag Bay, as +perhaps both he and I supposed, it should not be for the advantage +of this ringed adventurer, but for Mary and myself, and for the +good, old, honest, kindly family of the Darnaways. + + + + +CHAPTER III. LAND AND SEA IN SANDAG BAY. + + +I WAS early afoot next morning; and as soon as I had a bite to eat, +set forth upon a tour of exploration. Something in my heart +distinctly told me that I should find the ship of the Armada; and +although I did not give way entirely to such hopeful thoughts, I +was still very light in spirits and walked upon air. Aros is a +very rough islet, its surface strewn with great rocks and shaggy +with fernland heather; and my way lay almost north and south across +the highest knoll; and though the whole distance was inside of two +miles it took more time and exertion than four upon a level road. +Upon the summit, I paused. Although not very high - not three +hundred feet, as I think - it yet outtops all the neighbouring +lowlands of the Ross, and commands a great view of sea and islands. +The sun, which had been up some time, was already hot upon my neck; +the air was listless and thundery, although purely clear; away over +the north-west, where the isles lie thickliest congregated, some +half-a-dozen small and ragged clouds hung together in a covey; and +the head of Ben Kyaw wore, not merely a few streamers, but a solid +hood of vapour. There was a threat in the weather. The sea, it is +true, was smooth like glass: even the Roost was but a seam on that +wide mirror, and the Merry Men no more than caps of foam; but to my +eye and ear, so long familiar with these places, the sea also +seemed to lie uneasily; a sound of it, like a long sigh, mounted to +me where I stood; and, quiet as it was, the Roost itself appeared +to be revolving mischief. For I ought to say that all we dwellers +in these parts attributed, if not prescience, at least a quality of +warning, to that strange and dangerous creature of the tides. + +I hurried on, then, with the greater speed, and had soon descended +the slope of Aros to the part that we call Sandag Bay. It is a +pretty large piece of water compared with the size of the isle; +well sheltered from all but the prevailing wind; sandy and shoal +and bounded by low sand-hills to the west, but to the eastward +lying several fathoms deep along a ledge of rocks. It is upon that +side that, at a certain time each flood, the current mentioned by +my uncle sets so strong into the bay; a little later, when the +Roost begins to work higher, an undertow runs still more strongly +in the reverse direction; and it is the action of this last, as I +suppose, that has scoured that part so deep. Nothing is to be seen +out of Sandag Bay, but one small segment of the horizon and, in +heavy weather, the breakers flying high over a deep sea reef. + +From half-way down the hill, I had perceived the wreck of February +last, a brig of considerable tonnage, lying, with her back broken, +high and dry on the east corner of the sands; and I was making +directly towards it, and already almost on the margin of the turf, +when my eyes were suddenly arrested by a spot, cleared of fern and +heather, and marked by one of those long, low, and almost human- +looking mounds that we see so commonly in graveyards. I stopped +like a man shot. Nothing had been said to me of any dead man or +interment on the island; Rorie, Mary, and my uncle had all equally +held their peace; of her at least, I was certain that she must be +ignorant; and yet here, before my eyes, was proof indubitable of +the fact. Here was a grave; and I had to ask myself, with a chill, +what manner of man lay there in his last sleep, awaiting the signal +of the Lord in that solitary, sea-beat resting-place? My mind +supplied no answer but what I feared to entertain. Shipwrecked, at +least, he must have been; perhaps, like the old Armada mariners, +from some far and rich land over-sea; or perhaps one of my own +race, perishing within eyesight of the smoke of home. I stood +awhile uncovered by his side, and I could have desired that it had +lain in our religion to put up some prayer for that unhappy +stranger, or, in the old classic way, outwardly to honour his +misfortune. I knew, although his bones lay there, a part of Aros, +till the trumpet sounded, his imperishable soul was forth and far +away, among the raptures of the everlasting Sabbath or the pangs of +hell; and yet my mind misgave me even with a fear, that perhaps he +was near me where I stood, guarding his sepulchre, and lingering on +the scene of his unhappy fate. + +Certainly it was with a spirit somewhat over-shadowed that I turned +away from the grave to the hardly less melancholy spectacle of the +wreck. Her stem was above the first arc of the flood; she was +broken in two a little abaft the foremast - though indeed she had +none, both masts having broken short in her disaster; and as the +pitch of the beach was very sharp and sudden, and the bows lay many +feet below the stern, the fracture gaped widely open, and you could +see right through her poor hull upon the farther side. Her name +was much defaced, and I could not make out clearly whether she was +called CHRISTIANIA, after the Norwegian city, or CHRISTIANA, after +the good woman, Christian's wife, in that old book the 'Pilgrim's +Progress.' By her build she was a foreign ship, but I was not +certain of her nationality. She had been painted green, but the +colour was faded and weathered, and the paint peeling off in +strips. The wreck of the mainmast lay alongside, half buried in +sand. She was a forlorn sight, indeed, and I could not look +without emotion at the bits of rope that still hung about her, so +often handled of yore by shouting seamen; or the little scuttle +where they had passed up and down to their affairs; or that poor +noseless angel of a figure-head that had dipped into so many +running billows. + +I do not know whether it came most from the ship or from the grave, +but I fell into some melancholy scruples, as I stood there, leaning +with one hand against the battered timbers. The homelessness of +men and even of inanimate vessels, cast away upon strange shores, +came strongly in upon my mind. To make a profit of such pitiful +misadventures seemed an unmanly and a sordid act; and I began to +think of my then quest as of something sacrilegious in its nature. +But when I remembered Mary, I took heart again. My uncle would +never consent to an imprudent marriage, nor would she, as I was +persuaded, wed without his full approval. It behoved me, then, to +be up and doing for my wife; and I thought with a laugh how long it +was since that great sea-castle, the ESPIRITO SANTO, had left her +bones in Sandag Bay, and how weak it would be to consider rights so +long extinguished and misfortunes so long forgotten in the process +of time. + +I had my theory of where to seek for her remains. The set of the +current and the soundings both pointed to the east side of the bay +under the ledge of rocks. If she had been lost in Sandag Bay, and +if, after these centuries, any portion of her held together, it was +there that I should find it. The water deepens, as I have said, +with great rapidity, and even close along-side the rocks several +fathoms may be found. As I walked upon the edge I could see far +and wide over the sandy bottom of the bay; the sun shone clear and +green and steady in the deeps; the bay seemed rather like a great +transparent crystal, as one sees them in a lapidary's shop; there +was naught to show that it was water but an internal trembling, a +hovering within of sun-glints and netted shadows, and now and then +a faint lap and a dying bubble round the edge. The shadows of the +rocks lay out for some distance at their feet, so that my own +shadow, moving, pausing, and stooping on the top of that, reached +sometimes half across the bay. It was above all in this belt of +shadows that I hunted for the ESPIRITO SANTO; since it was there +the undertow ran strongest, whether in or out. Cool as the whole +water seemed this broiling day, it looked, in that part, yet +cooler, and had a mysterious invitation for the eyes. Peer as I +pleased, however, I could see nothing but a few fishes or a bush of +sea-tangle, and here and there a lump of rock that had fallen from +above and now lay separate on the sandy floor. Twice did I pass +from one end to the other of the rocks, and in the whole distance I +could see nothing of the wreck, nor any place but one where it was +possible for it to be. This was a large terrace in five fathoms of +water, raised off the surface of the sand to a considerable height, +and looking from above like a mere outgrowth of the rocks on which +I walked. It was one mass of great sea-tangles like a grove, which +prevented me judging of its nature, but in shape and size it bore +some likeness to a vessel's hull. At least it was my best chance. +If the ESPIRITO SANTO lay not there under the tangles, it lay +nowhere at all in Sandag Bay; and I prepared to put the question to +the proof, once and for all, and either go back to Aros a rich man +or cured for ever of my dreams of wealth. + +I stripped to the skin, and stood on the extreme margin with my +hands clasped, irresolute. The bay at that time was utterly quiet; +there was no sound but from a school of porpoises somewhere out of +sight behind the point; yet a certain fear withheld me on the +threshold of my venture. Sad sea-feelings, scraps of my uncle's +superstitions, thoughts of the dead, of the grave, of the old +broken ships, drifted through my mind. But the strong sun upon my +shoulders warmed me to the heart, and I stooped forward and plunged +into the sea. + +It was all that I could do to catch a trail of the sea-tangle that +grew so thickly on the terrace; but once so far anchored I secured +myself by grasping a whole armful of these thick and slimy stalks, +and, planting my feet against the edge, I looked around me. On all +sides the clear sand stretched forth unbroken; it came to the foot +of the rocks, scoured into the likeness of an alley in a garden by +the action of the tides; and before me, for as far as I could see, +nothing was visible but the same many-folded sand upon the sun- +bright bottom of the bay. Yet the terrace to which I was then +holding was as thick with strong sea-growths as a tuft of heather, +and the cliff from which it bulged hung draped below the water-line +with brown lianas. In this complexity of forms, all swaying +together in the current, things were hard to be distinguished; and +I was still uncertain whether my feet were pressed upon the natural +rock or upon the timbers of the Armada treasure-ship, when the +whole tuft of tangle came away in my hand, and in an instant I was +on the surface, and the shores of the bay and the bright water swam +before my eyes in a glory of crimson. + +I clambered back upon the rocks, and threw the plant of tangle at +my feet. Something at the same moment rang sharply, like a falling +coin. I stooped, and there, sure enough, crusted with the red +rust, there lay an iron shoe-buckle. The sight of this poor human +relic thrilled me to the heart, but not with hope nor fear, only +with a desolate melancholy. I held it in my hand, and the thought +of its owner appeared before me like the presence of an actual man. +His weather-beaten face, his sailor's hands, his sea-voice hoarse +with singing at the capstan, the very foot that had once worn that +buckle and trod so much along the swerving decks - the whole human +fact of him, as a creature like myself, with hair and blood and +seeing eyes, haunted me in that sunny, solitary place, not like a +spectre, but like some friend whom I had basely injured. Was the +great treasure ship indeed below there, with her guns and chain and +treasure, as she had sailed from Spain; her decks a garden for the +seaweed, her cabin a breeding place for fish, soundless but for the +dredging water, motionless but for the waving of the tangle upon +her battlements - that old, populous, sea-riding castle, now a reef +in Sandag Bay? Or, as I thought it likelier, was this a waif from +the disaster of the foreign brig - was this shoe-buckle bought but +the other day and worn by a man of my own period in the world's +history, hearing the same news from day to day, thinking the same +thoughts, praying, perhaps, in the same temple with myself? +However it was, I was assailed with dreary thoughts; my uncle's +words, 'the dead are down there,' echoed in my ears; and though I +determined to dive once more, it was with a strong repugnance that +I stepped forward to the margin of the rocks. + +A great change passed at that moment over the appearance of the +bay. It was no more that clear, visible interior, like a house +roofed with glass, where the green, submarine sunshine slept so +stilly. A breeze, I suppose, had flawed the surface, and a sort of +trouble and blackness filled its bosom, where flashes of light and +clouds of shadow tossed confusedly together. Even the terrace +below obscurely rocked and quivered. It seemed a graver thing to +venture on this place of ambushes; and when I leaped into the sea +the second time it was with a quaking in my soul. + +I secured myself as at first, and groped among the waving tangle. +All that met my touch was cold and soft and gluey. The thicket was +alive with crabs and lobsters, trundling to and fro lopsidedly, and +I had to harden my heart against the horror of their carrion +neighbourhood. On all sides I could feel the grain and the clefts +of hard, living stone; no planks, no iron, not a sign of any wreck; +the ESPIRITO SANTO was not there. I remember I had almost a sense +of relief in my disappointment, and I was about ready to leave go, +when something happened that sent me to the surface with my heart +in my mouth. I had already stayed somewhat late over my +explorations; the current was freshening with the change of the +tide, and Sandag Bay was no longer a safe place for a single +swimmer. Well, just at the last moment there came a sudden flush +of current, dredging through the tangles like a wave. I lost one +hold, was flung sprawling on my side, and, instinctively grasping +for a fresh support, my fingers closed on something hard and cold. +I think I knew at that moment what it was. At least I instantly +left hold of the tangle, leaped for the surface, and clambered out +next moment on the friendly rocks with the bone of a man's leg in +my grasp. + +Mankind is a material creature, slow to think and dull to perceive +connections. The grave, the wreck of the brig, and the rusty shoe- +buckle were surely plain advertisements. A child might have read +their dismal story, and yet it was not until I touched that actual +piece of mankind that the full horror of the charnel ocean burst +upon my spirit. I laid the bone beside the buckle, picked up my +clothes, and ran as I was along the rocks towards the human shore. +I could not be far enough from the spot; no fortune was vast enough +to tempt me back again. The bones of the drowned dead should +henceforth roll undisturbed by me, whether on tangle or minted +gold. But as soon as I trod the good earth again, and had covered +my nakedness against the sun, I knelt down over against the ruins +of the brig, and out of the fulness of my heart prayed long and +passionately for all poor souls upon the sea. A generous prayer is +never presented in vain; the petition may be refused, but the +petitioner is always, I believe, rewarded by some gracious +visitation. The horror, at least, was lifted from my mind; I could +look with calm of spirit on that great bright creature, God's +ocean; and as I set off homeward up the rough sides of Aros, +nothing remained of my concern beyond a deep determination to +meddle no more with the spoils of wrecked vessels or the treasures +of the dead. + +I was already some way up the hill before I paused to breathe and +look behind me. The sight that met my eyes was doubly strange. + +For, first, the storm that I had foreseen was now advancing with +almost tropical rapidity. The whole surface of the sea had been +dulled from its conspicuous brightness to an ugly hue of corrugated +lead; already in the distance the white waves, the 'skipper's +daughters,' had begun to flee before a breeze that was still +insensible on Aros; and already along the curve of Sandag Bay there +was a splashing run of sea that I could hear from where I stood. +The change upon the sky was even more remarkable. There had begun +to arise out of the south-west a huge and solid continent of +scowling cloud; here and there, through rents in its contexture, +the sun still poured a sheaf of spreading rays; and here and there, +from all its edges, vast inky streamers lay forth along the yet +unclouded sky. The menace was express and imminent. Even as I +gazed, the sun was blotted out. At any moment the tempest might +fall upon Aros in its might. + +The suddenness of this change of weather so fixed my eyes on heaven +that it was some seconds before they alighted on the bay, mapped +out below my feet, and robbed a moment later of the sun. The knoll +which I had just surmounted overflanked a little amphitheatre of +lower hillocks sloping towards the sea, and beyond that the yellow +arc of beach and the whole extent of Sandag Bay. It was a scene on +which I had often looked down, but where I had never before beheld +a human figure. I had but just turned my back upon it and left it +empty, and my wonder may be fancied when I saw a boat and several +men in that deserted spot. The boat was lying by the rocks. A +pair of fellows, bareheaded, with their sleeves rolled up, and one +with a boathook, kept her with difficulty to her moorings for the +current was growing brisker every moment. A little way off upon +the ledge two men in black clothes, whom I judged to be superior in +rank, laid their heads together over some task which at first I did +not understand, but a second after I had made it out - they were +taking bearings with the compass; and just then I saw one of them +unroll a sheet of paper and lay his finger down, as though +identifying features in a map. Meanwhile a third was walking to +and fro, polling among the rocks and peering over the edge into the +water. While I was still watching them with the stupefaction of +surprise, my mind hardly yet able to work on what my eyes reported, +this third person suddenly stooped and summoned his companions with +a cry so loud that it reached my ears upon the hill. The others +ran to him, even dropping the compass in their hurry, and I could +see the bone and the shoe-buckle going from hand to hand, causing +the most unusual gesticulations of surprise and interest. Just +then I could hear the seamen crying from the boat, and saw them +point westward to that cloud continent which was ever the more +rapidly unfurling its blackness over heaven. The others seemed to +consult; but the danger was too pressing to be braved, and they +bundled into the boat carrying my relies with them, and set forth +out of the bay with all speed of oars. + +I made no more ado about the matter, but turned and ran for the +house. Whoever these men were, it was fit my uncle should be +instantly informed. It was not then altogether too late in the day +for a descent of the Jacobites; and may be Prince Charlie, whom I +knew my uncle to detest, was one of the three superiors whom I had +seen upon the rock. Yet as I ran, leaping from rock to rock, and +turned the matter loosely in my mind, this theory grew ever the +longer the less welcome to my reason. The compass, the map, the +interest awakened by the buckle, and the conduct of that one among +the strangers who had looked so often below him in the water, all +seemed to point to a different explanation of their presence on +that outlying, obscure islet of the western sea. The Madrid +historian, the search instituted by Dr. Robertson, the bearded +stranger with the rings, my own fruitless search that very morning +in the deep water of Sandag Bay, ran together, piece by piece, in +my memory, and I made sure that these strangers must be Spaniards +in quest of ancient treasure and the lost ship of the Armada. But +the people living in outlying islands, such as Aros, are answerable +for their own security; there is none near by to protect or even to +help them; and the presence in such a spot of a crew of foreign +adventurers - poor, greedy, and most likely lawless - filled me +with apprehensions for my uncle's money, and even for the safety of +his daughter. I was still wondering how we were to get rid of them +when I came, all breathless, to the top of Aros. The whole world +was shadowed over; only in the extreme east, on a hill of the +mainland, one last gleam of sunshine lingered like a jewel; rain +had begun to fall, not heavily, but in great drops; the sea was +rising with each moment, and already a band of white encircled Aros +and the nearer coasts of Grisapol. The boat was still pulling +seaward, but I now became aware of what had been hidden from me +lower down - a large, heavily sparred, handsome schooner, lying to +at the south end of Aros. Since I had not seen her in the morning +when I had looked around so closely at the signs of the weather, +and upon these lone waters where a sail was rarely visible, it was +clear she must have lain last night behind the uninhabited Eilean +Gour, and this proved conclusively that she was manned by strangers +to our coast, for that anchorage, though good enough to look at, is +little better than a trap for ships. With such ignorant sailors +upon so wild a coast, the coming gale was not unlikely to bring +death upon its wings. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE GALE. + + +I FOUND my uncle at the gable end, watching the signs of the +weather, with a pipe in his fingers. + +'Uncle,' said I, 'there were men ashore at Sandag Bay - ' + +I had no time to go further; indeed, I not only forgot my words, +but even my weariness, so strange was the effect on Uncle Gordon. +He dropped his pipe and fell back against the end of the house with +his jaw fallen, his eyes staring, and his long face as white as +paper. We must have looked at one another silently for a quarter +of a minute, before he made answer in this extraordinary fashion: +'Had he a hair kep on?' + +I knew as well as if I had been there that the man who now lay +buried at Sandag had worn a hairy cap, and that he had come ashore +alive. For the first and only time I lost toleration for the man +who was my benefactor and the father of the woman I hoped to call +my wife. + +'These were living men,' said I, 'perhaps Jacobites, perhaps the +French, perhaps pirates, perhaps adventurers come here to seek the +Spanish treasure ship; but, whatever they may be, dangerous at +least to your daughter and my cousin. As for your own guilty +terrors, man, the dead sleeps well where you have laid him. I +stood this morning by his grave; he will not wake before the trump +of doom.' + +My kinsman looked upon me, blinking, while I spoke; then he fixed +his eyes for a little on the ground, and pulled his fingers +foolishly; but it was plain that he was past the power of speech. + +'Come,' said I. 'You must think for others. You must come up the +hill with me, and see this ship.' + +He obeyed without a word or a look, following slowly after my +impatient strides. The spring seemed to have gone out of his body, +and he scrambled heavily up and down the rocks, instead of leaping, +as he was wont, from one to another. Nor could I, for all my +cries, induce him to make better haste. Only once he replied to me +complainingly, and like one in bodily pain: 'Ay, ay, man, I'm +coming.' Long before we had reached the top, I had no other +thought for him but pity. If the crime had been monstrous the +punishment was in proportion. + +At last we emerged above the sky-line of the hill, and could see +around us. All was black and stormy to the eye; the last gleam of +sun had vanished; a wind had sprung up, not yet high, but gusty and +unsteady to the point; the rain, on the other hand, had ceased. +Short as was the interval, the sea already ran vastly higher than +when I had stood there last; already it had begun to break over +some of the outward reefs, and already it moaned aloud in the sea- +caves of Aros. I looked, at first, in vain for the schooner. + +'There she is,' I said at last. But her new position, and the +course she was now lying, puzzled me. 'They cannot mean to beat to +sea,' I cried. + +'That's what they mean,' said my uncle, with something like joy; +and just then the schooner went about and stood upon another tack, +which put the question beyond the reach of doubt. These strangers, +seeing a gale on hand, had thought first of sea-room. With the +wind that threatened, in these reef-sown waters and contending +against so violent a stream of tide, their course was certain +death. + +'Good God!' said I, 'they are all lost.' + +'Ay,' returned my uncle, 'a' - a' lost. They hadnae a chance but +to rin for Kyle Dona. The gate they're gaun the noo, they couldnae +win through an the muckle deil were there to pilot them. Eh, man,' +he continued, touching me on the sleeve, 'it's a braw nicht for a +shipwreck! Twa in ae twalmonth! Eh, but the Merry Men'll dance +bonny!' + +I looked at him, and it was then that I began to fancy him no +longer in his right mind. He was peering up to me, as if for +sympathy, a timid joy in his eyes. All that had passed between us +was already forgotten in the prospect of this fresh disaster. + +'If it were not too late,' I cried with indignation, 'I would take +the coble and go out to warn them.' + +'Na, na,' he protested, 'ye maunnae interfere; ye maunnae meddle +wi' the like o' that. It's His' - doffing his bonnet - 'His wull. +And, eh, man! but it's a braw nicht for't!' + +Something like fear began to creep into my soul and, reminding him +that I had not yet dined, I proposed we should return to the house. +But no; nothing would tear him from his place of outlook. + +'I maun see the hail thing, man, Cherlie,' he explained - and then +as the schooner went about a second time, 'Eh, but they han'le her +bonny!' he cried. 'The CHRIST-ANNA was naething to this.' + +Already the men on board the schooner must have begun to realise +some part, but not yet the twentieth, of the dangers that environed +their doomed ship. At every lull of the capricious wind they must +have seen how fast the current swept them back. Each tack was made +shorter, as they saw how little it prevailed. Every moment the +rising swell began to boom and foam upon another sunken reef; and +ever and again a breaker would fall in sounding ruin under the very +bows of her, and the brown reef and streaming tangle appear in the +hollow of the wave. I tell you, they had to stand to their tackle: +there was no idle men aboard that ship, God knows. It was upon the +progress of a scene so horrible to any human-hearted man that my +misguided uncle now pored and gloated like a connoisseur. As I +turned to go down the hill, he was lying on his belly on the +summit, with his hands stretched forth and clutching in the +heather. He seemed rejuvenated, mind and body. + +When I got back to the house already dismally affected, I was still +more sadly downcast at the sight of Mary. She had her sleeves +rolled up over her strong arms, and was quietly making bread. I +got a bannock from the dresser and sat down to eat it in silence. + +'Are ye wearied, lad?' she asked after a while. + +'I am not so much wearied, Mary,' I replied, getting on my feet, +'as I am weary of delay, and perhaps of Aros too. You know me well +enough to judge me fairly, say what I like. Well, Mary, you may be +sure of this: you had better be anywhere but here.' + +'I'll be sure of one thing,' she returned: 'I'll be where my duty +is.' + +'You forget, you have a duty to yourself,' I said. + +'Ay, man?' she replied, pounding at the dough; 'will you have found +that in the Bible, now?' + +'Mary,' I said solemnly, 'you must not laugh at me just now. God +knows I am in no heart for laughing. If we could get your father +with us, it would be best; but with him or without him, I want you +far away from here, my girl; for your own sake, and for mine, ay, +and for your father's too, I want you far - far away from here. I +came with other thoughts; I came here as a man comes home; now it +is all changed, and I have no desire nor hope but to flee - for +that's the word - flee, like a bird out of the fowler's snare, from +this accursed island.' + +She had stopped her work by this time. + +'And do you think, now,' said she, 'do you think, now, I have +neither eyes nor ears? Do ye think I havenae broken my heart to +have these braws (as he calls them, God forgive him!) thrown into +the sea? Do ye think I have lived with him, day in, day out, and +not seen what you saw in an hour or two? No,' she said, 'I know +there's wrong in it; what wrong, I neither know nor want to know. +There was never an ill thing made better by meddling, that I could +hear of. But, my lad, you must never ask me to leave my father. +While the breath is in his body, I'll be with him. And he's not +long for here, either: that I can tell you, Charlie - he's not long +for here. The mark is on his brow; and better so - maybe better +so.' + +I was a while silent, not knowing what to say; and when I roused my +head at last to speak, she got before me. + +'Charlie,' she said, 'what's right for me, neednae be right for +you. There's sin upon this house and trouble; you are a stranger; +take your things upon your back and go your ways to better places +and to better folk, and if you were ever minded to come back, +though it were twenty years syne, you would find me aye waiting.' + +'Mary Ellen,' I said, 'I asked you to be my wife, and you said as +good as yes. That's done for good. Wherever you are, I am; as I +shall answer to my God.' + +As I said the words, the wind suddenly burst out raving, and then +seemed to stand still and shudder round the house of Aros. It was +the first squall, or prologue, of the coming tempest, and as we +started and looked about us, we found that a gloom, like the +approach of evening, had settled round the house. + +'God pity all poor folks at sea!' she said. 'We'll see no more of +my father till the morrow's morning.' + +And then she told me, as we sat by the fire and hearkened to the +rising gusts, of how this change had fallen upon my uncle. All +last winter he had been dark and fitful in his mind. Whenever the +Roost ran high, or, as Mary said, whenever the Merry Men were +dancing, he would lie out for hours together on the Head, if it +were at night, or on the top of Aros by day, watching the tumult of +the sea, and sweeping the horizon for a sail. After February the +tenth, when the wealth-bringing wreck was cast ashore at Sandag, he +had been at first unnaturally gay, and his excitement had never +fallen in degree, but only changed in kind from dark to darker. He +neglected his work, and kept Rorie idle. They two would speak +together by the hour at the gable end, in guarded tones and with an +air of secrecy and almost of guilt; and if she questioned either, +as at first she sometimes did, her inquiries were put aside with +confusion. Since Rorie had first remarked the fish that hung about +the ferry, his master had never set foot but once upon the mainland +of the Ross. That once - it was in the height of the springs - he +had passed dryshod while the tide was out; but, having lingered +overlong on the far side, found himself cut off from Aros by the +returning waters. It was with a shriek of agony that he had leaped +across the gut, and he had reached home thereafter in a fever-fit +of fear. A fear of the sea, a constant haunting thought of the +sea, appeared in his talk and devotions, and even in his looks when +he was silent. + +Rorie alone came in to supper; but a little later my uncle +appeared, took a bottle under his arm, put some bread in his +pocket, and set forth again to his outlook, followed this time by +Rorie. I heard that the schooner was losing ground, but the crew +were still fighting every inch with hopeless ingenuity and course; +and the news filled my mind with blackness. + +A little after sundown the full fury of the gale broke forth, such +a gale as I have never seen in summer, nor, seeing how swiftly it +had come, even in winter. Mary and I sat in silence, the house +quaking overhead, the tempest howling without, the fire between us +sputtering with raindrops. Our thoughts were far away with the +poor fellows on the schooner, or my not less unhappy uncle, +houseless on the promontory; and yet ever and again we were +startled back to ourselves, when the wind would rise and strike the +gable like a solid body, or suddenly fall and draw away, so that +the fire leaped into flame and our hearts bounded in our sides. +Now the storm in its might would seize and shake the four corners +of the roof, roaring like Leviathan in anger. Anon, in a lull, +cold eddies of tempest moved shudderingly in the room, lifting the +hair upon our heads and passing between us as we sat. And again +the wind would break forth in a chorus of melancholy sounds, +hooting low in the chimney, wailing with flutelike softness round +the house. + +It was perhaps eight o'clock when Rorie came in and pulled me +mysteriously to the door. My uncle, it appeared, had frightened +even his constant comrade; and Rorie, uneasy at his extravagance, +prayed me to come out and share the watch. I hastened to do as I +was asked; the more readily as, what with fear and horror, and the +electrical tension of the night, I was myself restless and disposed +for action. I told Mary to be under no alarm, for I should be a +safeguard on her father; and wrapping myself warmly in a plaid, I +followed Rorie into the open air. + +The night, though we were so little past midsummer, was as dark as +January. Intervals of a groping twilight alternated with spells of +utter blackness; and it was impossible to trace the reason of these +changes in the flying horror of the sky. The wind blew the breath +out of a man's nostrils; all heaven seemed to thunder overhead like +one huge sail; and when there fell a momentary lull on Aros, we +could hear the gusts dismally sweeping in the distance. Over all +the lowlands of the Ross, the wind must have blown as fierce as on +the open sea; and God only knows the uproar that was raging around +the head of Ben Kyaw. Sheets of mingled spray and rain were driven +in our faces. All round the isle of Aros the surf, with an +incessant, hammering thunder, beat upon the reefs and beaches. Now +louder in one place, now lower in another, like the combinations of +orchestral music, the constant mass of sound was hardly varied for +a moment. And loud above all this hurly-burly I could hear the +changeful voices of the Roost and the intermittent roaring of the +Merry Men. At that hour, there flashed into my mind the reason of +the name that they were called. For the noise of them seemed +almost mirthful, as it out-topped the other noises of the night; or +if not mirthful, yet instinct with a portentous joviality. Nay, +and it seemed even human. As when savage men have drunk away their +reason, and, discarding speech, bawl together in their madness by +the hour; so, to my ears, these deadly breakers shouted by Aros in +the night. + +Arm in arm, and staggering against the wind, Rorie and I won every +yard of ground with conscious effort. We slipped on the wet sod, +we fell together sprawling on the rocks. Bruised, drenched, +beaten, and breathless, it must have taken us near half an hour to +get from the house down to the Head that overlooks the Roost. +There, it seemed, was my uncle's favourite observatory. Right in +the face of it, where the cliff is highest and most sheer, a hump +of earth, like a parapet, makes a place of shelter from the common +winds, where a man may sit in quiet and see the tide and the mad +billows contending at his feet. As he might look down from the +window of a house upon some street disturbance, so, from this post, +he looks down upon the tumbling of the Merry Men. On such a night, +of course, he peers upon a world of blackness, where the waters +wheel and boil, where the waves joust together with the noise of an +explosion, and the foam towers and vanishes in the twinkling of an +eye. Never before had I seen the Merry Men thus violent. The +fury, height, and transiency of their spoutings was a thing to be +seen and not recounted. High over our heads on the cliff rose +their white columns in the darkness; and the same instant, like +phantoms, they were gone. Sometimes three at a time would thus +aspire and vanish; sometimes a gust took them, and the spray would +fall about us, heavy as a wave. And yet the spectacle was rather +maddening in its levity than impressive by its force. Thought was +beaten down by the confounding uproar - a gleeful vacancy possessed +the brains of men, a state akin to madness; and I found myself at +times following the dance of the Merry Men as it were a tune upon a +jigging instrument. + +I first caught sight of my uncle when we were still some yards away +in one of the flying glimpses of twilight that chequered the pitch +darkness of the night. He was standing up behind the parapet, his +head thrown back and the bottle to his mouth. As he put it down, +he saw and recognised us with a toss of one hand fleeringly above +his head. + +'Has he been drinking?' shouted I to Rorie. + +'He will aye be drunk when the wind blaws,' returned Rorie in the +same high key, and it was all that I could do to hear him. + +'Then - was he so - in February?' I inquired. + +Rorie's 'Ay' was a cause of joy to me. The murder, then, had not +sprung in cold blood from calculation; it was an act of madness no +more to be condemned than to be pardoned. My uncle was a dangerous +madman, if you will, but he was not cruel and base as I had feared. +Yet what a scene for a carouse, what an incredible vice, was this +that the poor man had chosen! I have always thought drunkenness a +wild and almost fearful pleasure, rather demoniacal than human; but +drunkenness, out here in the roaring blackness, on the edge of a +cliff above that hell of waters, the man's head spinning like the +Roost, his foot tottering on the edge of death, his ear watching +for the signs of ship-wreck, surely that, if it were credible in +any one, was morally impossible in a man like my uncle, whose mind +was set upon a damnatory creed and haunted by the darkest +superstitions. Yet so it was; and, as we reached the bight of +shelter and could breathe again, I saw the man's eyes shining in +the night with an unholy glimmer. + +'Eh, Charlie, man, it's grand!' he cried. 'See to them!' he +continued, dragging me to the edge of the abyss from whence arose +that deafening clamour and those clouds of spray; 'see to them +dancin', man! Is that no wicked?' + +He pronounced the word with gusto, and I thought it suited with the +scene. + +'They're yowlin' for thon schooner,' he went on, his thin, insane +voice clearly audible in the shelter of the bank, 'an' she's comin' +aye nearer, aye nearer, aye nearer an' nearer an' nearer; an' they +ken't, the folk kens it, they ken wool it's by wi' them. Charlie, +lad, they're a' drunk in yon schooner, a' dozened wi' drink. They +were a' drunk in the CHRIST-ANNA, at the hinder end. There's nane +could droon at sea wantin' the brandy. Hoot awa, what do you ken?' +with a sudden blast of anger. 'I tell ye, it cannae be; they droon +withoot it. Ha'e,' holding out the bottle, 'tak' a sowp.' + +I was about to refuse, but Rorie touched me as if in warning; and +indeed I had already thought better of the movement. I took the +bottle, therefore, and not only drank freely myself, but contrived +to spill even more as I was doing so. It was pure spirit, and +almost strangled me to swallow. My kinsman did not observe the +loss, but, once more throwing back his head, drained the remainder +to the dregs. Then, with a loud laugh, he cast the bottle forth +among the Merry Men, who seemed to leap up, shouting to receive it. + +'Ha'e, bairns!' he cried, 'there's your han'sel. Ye'll get bonnier +nor that, or morning.' + +Suddenly, out in the black night before us, and not two hundred +yards away, we heard, at a moment when the wind was silent, the +clear note of a human voice. Instantly the wind swept howling down +upon the Head, and the Roost bellowed, and churned, and danced with +a new fury. But we had heard the sound, and we knew, with agony, +that this was the doomed ship now close on ruin, and that what we +had heard was the voice of her master issuing his last command. +Crouching together on the edge, we waited, straining every sense, +for the inevitable end. It was long, however, and to us it seemed +like ages, ere the schooner suddenly appeared for one brief +instant, relieved against a tower of glimmering foam. I still see +her reefed mainsail flapping loose, as the boom fell heavily across +the deck; I still see the black outline of the hull, and still +think I can distinguish the figure of a man stretched upon the +tiller. Yet the whole sight we had of her passed swifter than +lightning; the very wave that disclosed her fell burying her for +ever; the mingled cry of many voices at the point of death rose and +was quenched in the roaring of the Merry Men. And with that the +tragedy was at an end. The strong ship, with all her gear, and the +lamp perhaps still burning in the cabin, the lives of so many men, +precious surely to others, dear, at least, as heaven to themselves, +had all, in that one moment, gone down into the surging waters. +They were gone like a dream. And the wind still ran and shouted, +and the senseless waters in the Roost still leaped and tumbled as +before. + +How long we lay there together, we three, speechless and +motionless, is more than I can tell, but it must have been for +long. At length, one by one, and almost mechanically, we crawled +back into the shelter of the bank. As I lay against the parapet, +wholly wretched and not entirely master of my mind, I could hear my +kinsman maundering to himself in an altered and melancholy mood. +Now he would repeat to himself with maudlin iteration, 'Sic a fecht +as they had - sic a sair fecht as they had, puir lads, puir lads!' +and anon he would bewail that 'a' the gear was as gude's tint,' +because the ship had gone down among the Merry Men instead of +stranding on the shore; and throughout, the name - the CHRIST-ANNA +- would come and go in his divagations, pronounced with shuddering +awe. The storm all this time was rapidly abating. In half an hour +the wind had fallen to a breeze, and the change was accompanied or +caused by a heavy, cold, and plumping rain. I must then have +fallen asleep, and when I came to myself, drenched, stiff, and +unrefreshed, day had already broken, grey, wet, discomfortable day; +the wind blew in faint and shifting capfuls, the tide was out, the +Roost was at its lowest, and only the strong beating surf round all +the coasts of Aros remained to witness of the furies of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER V. A MAN OUT OF THE SEA. + + +Rorie set out for the house in search of warmth and breakfast; but +my uncle was bent upon examining the shores of Aros, and I felt it +a part of duty to accompany him throughout. He was now docile and +quiet, but tremulous and weak in mind and body; and it was with the +eagerness of a child that he pursued his exploration. He climbed +far down upon the rocks; on the beaches, he pursued the retreating +breakers. The merest broken plank or rag of cordage was a treasure +in his eyes to be secured at the peril of his life. To see him, +with weak and stumbling footsteps, expose himself to the pursuit of +the surf, or the snares and pitfalls of the weedy rock, kept me in +a perpetual terror. My arm was ready to support him, my hand +clutched him by the skirt, I helped him to draw his pitiful +discoveries beyond the reach of the returning wave; a nurse +accompanying a child of seven would have had no different +experience. + +Yet, weakened as he was by the reaction from his madness of the +night before, the passions that smouldered in his nature were those +of a strong man. His terror of the sea, although conquered for the +moment, was still undiminished; had the sea been a lake of living +flames, he could not have shrunk more panically from its touch; and +once, when his foot slipped and he plunged to the midleg into a +pool of water, the shriek that came up out of his soul was like the +cry of death. He sat still for a while, panting like a dog, after +that; but his desire for the spoils of shipwreck triumphed once +more over his fears; once more he tottered among the curded foam; +once more he crawled upon the rocks among the bursting bubbles; +once more his whole heart seemed to be set on driftwood, fit, if it +was fit for anything, to throw upon the fire. Pleased as he was +with what he found, he still incessantly grumbled at his ill- +fortune. + +'Aros,' he said, 'is no a place for wrecks ava' - no ava'. A' the +years I've dwalt here, this ane maks the second; and the best o' +the gear clean tint!' + +'Uncle,' said I, for we were now on a stretch of open sand, where +there was nothing to divert his mind, 'I saw you last night, as I +never thought to see you - you were drunk.' + +'Na, na,' he said, 'no as bad as that. I had been drinking, +though. And to tell ye the God's truth, it's a thing I cannae +mend. There's nae soberer man than me in my ordnar; but when I +hear the wind blaw in my lug, it's my belief that I gang gyte.' + +'You are a religious man,' I replied, 'and this is sin'. + +'Ou,' he returned, 'if it wasnae sin, I dinnae ken that I would +care for't. Ye see, man, it's defiance. There's a sair spang o' +the auld sin o' the warld in you sea; it's an unchristian business +at the best o't; an' whiles when it gets up, an' the wind skreights +- the wind an' her are a kind of sib, I'm thinkin' - an' thae Merry +Men, the daft callants, blawin' and lauchin', and puir souls in the +deid thraws warstlin' the leelang nicht wi' their bit ships - weel, +it comes ower me like a glamour. I'm a deil, I ken't. But I think +naething o' the puir sailor lads; I'm wi' the sea, I'm just like +ane o' her ain Merry Men.' + +I thought I should touch him in a joint of his harness. I turned +me towards the sea; the surf was running gaily, wave after wave, +with their manes blowing behind them, riding one after another up +the beach, towering, curving, falling one upon another on the +trampled sand. Without, the salt air, the scared gulls, the +widespread army of the sea-chargers, neighing to each other, as +they gathered together to the assault of Aros; and close before us, +that line on the flat sands that, with all their number and their +fury, they might never pass. + +'Thus far shalt thou go,' said I, 'and no farther.' And then I +quoted as solemnly as I was able a verse that I had often before +fitted to the chorus of the breakers:- + + +But yet the Lord that is on high, +Is more of might by far, +Than noise of many waters is, +As great sea billows are. + + +'Ay,' said my kinsinan, 'at the hinder end, the Lord will triumph; +I dinnae misdoobt that. But here on earth, even silly men-folk +daur Him to His face. It is nae wise; I am nae sayin' that it's +wise; but it's the pride of the eye, and it's the lust o' life, an' +it's the wale o' pleesures.' + +I said no more, for we had now begun to cross a neck of land that +lay between us and Sandag; and I withheld my last appeal to the +man's better reason till we should stand upon the spot associated +with his crime. Nor did he pursue the subject; but he walked +beside me with a firmer step. The call that I had made upon his +mind acted like a stimulant, and I could see that he had forgotten +his search for worthless jetsam, in a profound, gloomy, and yet +stirring train of thought. In three or four minutes we had topped +the brae and begun to go down upon Sandag. The wreck had been +roughly handled by the sea; the stem had been spun round and +dragged a little lower down; and perhaps the stern had been forced +a little higher, for the two parts now lay entirely separate on the +beach. When we came to the grave I stopped, uncovered my head in +the thick rain, and, looking my kinsman in the face, addressed him. + +'A man,' said I, 'was in God's providence suffered to escape from +mortal dangers; he was poor, he was naked, he was wet, he was +weary, he was a stranger; he had every claim upon the bowels of +your compassion; it may be that he was the salt of the earth, holy, +helpful, and kind; it may be he was a man laden with iniquities to +whom death was the beginning of torment. I ask you in the sight of +heaven: Gordon Darnaway, where is the man for whom Christ died?' + +He started visibly at the last words; but there came no answer, and +his face expressed no feeling but a vague alarm. + +'You were my father's brother,' I continued; 'You, have taught me +to count your house as if it were my father's house; and we are +both sinful men walking before the Lord among the sins and dangers +of this life. It is by our evil that God leads us into good; we +sin, I dare not say by His temptation, but I must say with His +consent; and to any but the brutish man his sins are the beginning +of wisdom. God has warned you by this crime; He warns you still by +the bloody grave between our feet; and if there shall follow no +repentance, no improvement, no return to Him, what can we look for +but the following of some memorable judgment?' + +Even as I spoke the words, the eyes of my uncle wandered from my +face. A change fell upon his looks that cannot be described; his +features seemed to dwindle in size, the colour faded from his +cheeks, one hand rose waveringly and pointed over my shoulder into +the distance, and the oft-repeated name fell once more from his +lips: 'The CHRIST-ANNA!' + +I turned; and if I was not appalled to the same degree, as I return +thanks to Heaven that I had not the cause, I was still startled by +the sight that met my eyes. The form of a man stood upright on the +cabin-hutch of the wrecked ship; his back was towards us; he +appeared to be scanning the offing with shaded eyes, and his figure +was relieved to its full height, which was plainly very great, +against the sea and sky. I have said a thousand times that I am +not superstitious; but at that moment, with my mind running upon +death and sin, the unexplained appearance of a stranger on that +sea-girt, solitary island filled me with a surprise that bordered +close on terror. It seemed scarce possible that any human soul +should have come ashore alive in such a sea as had rated last night +along the coasts of Aros; and the only vessel within miles had gone +down before our eyes among the Merry Men. I was assailed with +doubts that made suspense unbearable, and, to put the matter to the +touch at once, stepped forward and hailed the figure like a ship. + +He turned about, and I thought he started to behold us. At this my +courage instantly revived, and I called and signed to him to draw +near, and he, on his part, dropped immediately to the sands, and +began slowly to approach, with many stops and hesitations. At each +repeated mark of the man's uneasiness I grew the more confident +myself; and I advanced another step, encouraging him as I did so +with my head and hand. It was plain the castaway had heard +indifferent accounts of our island hospitality; and indeed, about +this time, the people farther north had a sorry reputation. + +'Why,' I said, 'the man is black!' + +And just at that moment, in a voice that I could scarce have +recognised, my kinsman began swearing and praying in a mingled +stream. I looked at him; he had fallen on his knees, his face was +agonised; at each step of the castaway's the pitch of his voice +rose, the volubility of his utterance and the fervour of his +language redoubled. I call it prayer, for it was addressed to God; +but surely no such ranting incongruities were ever before addressed +to the Creator by a creature: surely if prayer can be a sin, this +mad harangue was sinful. I ran to my kinsman, I seized him by the +shoulders, I dragged him to his feet. + +'Silence, man,' said I, 'respect your God in words, if not in +action. Here, on the very scene of your transgressions, He sends +you an occasion of atonement. Forward and embrace it; welcome like +a father yon creature who comes trembling to your mercy.' + +With that, I tried to force him towards the black; but he felled me +to the ground, burst from my grasp, leaving the shoulder of his +jacket, and fled up the hillside towards the top of Aros like a +deer. I staggered to my feet again, bruised and somewhat stunned; +the negro had paused in surprise, perhaps in terror, some halfway +between me and the wreck; my uncle was already far away, bounding +from rock to rock; and I thus found myself torn for a time between +two duties. But I judged, and I pray Heaven that I judged rightly, +in favour of the poor wretch upon the sands; his misfortune was at +least not plainly of his own creation; it was one, besides, that I +could certainly relieve; and I had begun by that time to regard my +uncle as an incurable and dismal lunatic. I advanced accordingly +towards the black, who now awaited my approach with folded arms, +like one prepared for either destiny. As I came nearer, he reached +forth his hand with a great gesture, such as I had seen from the +pulpit, and spoke to me in something of a pulpit voice, but not a +word was comprehensible. I tried him first in English, then in +Gaelic, both in vain; so that it was clear we must rely upon the +tongue of looks and gestures. Thereupon I signed to him to follow +me, which he did readily and with a grave obeisance like a fallen +king; all the while there had come no shade of alteration in his +face, neither of anxiety while he was still waiting, nor of relief +now that he was reassured; if he were a slave, as I supposed, I +could not but judge he must have fallen from some high place in his +own country, and fallen as he was, I could not but admire his +bearing. As we passed the grave, I paused and raised my hands and +eyes to heaven in token of respect and sorrow for the dead; and he, +as if in answer, bowed low and spread his hands abroad; it was a +strange motion, but done like a thing of common custom; and I +supposed it was ceremonial in the land from which he came. At the +same time he pointed to my uncle, whom we could just see perched +upon a knoll, and touched his head to indicate that he was mad. + +We took the long way round the shore, for I feared to excite my +uncle if we struck across the island; and as we walked, I had time +enough to mature the little dramatic exhibition by which I hoped to +satisfy my doubts. Accordingly, pausing on a rock, I proceeded to +imitate before the negro the action of the man whom I had seen the +day before taking bearings with the compass at Sandag. He +understood me at once, and, taking the imitation out of my hands, +showed me where the boat was, pointed out seaward as if to indicate +the position of the schooner, and then down along the edge of the +rock with the words 'Espirito Santo,' strangely pronounced, but +clear enough for recognition. I had thus been right in my +conjecture; the pretended historical inquiry had been but a cloak +for treasure-hunting; the man who had played on Dr. Robertson was +the same as the foreigner who visited Grisapol in spring, and now, +with many others, lay dead under the Roost of Aros: there had their +greed brought them, there should their bones be tossed for +evermore. In the meantime the black continued his imitation of the +scene, now looking up skyward as though watching the approach of +the storm now, in the character of a seaman, waving the rest to +come aboard; now as an officer, running along the rock and entering +the boat; and anon bending over imaginary oars with the air of a +hurried boatman; but all with the same solemnity of manner, so that +I was never even moved to smile. Lastly, he indicated to me, by a +pantomime not to be described in words, how he himself had gone up +to examine the stranded wreck, and, to his grief and indignation, +had been deserted by his comrades; and thereupon folded his arms +once more, and stooped his head, like one accepting fate. + +The mystery of his presence being thus solved for me, I explained +to him by means of a sketch the fate of the vessel and of all +aboard her. He showed no surprise nor sorrow, and, with a sudden +lifting of his open hand, seemed to dismiss his former friends or +masters (whichever they had been) into God's pleasure. Respect +came upon me and grew stronger, the more I observed him; I saw he +had a powerful mind and a sober and severe character, such as I +loved to commune with; and before we reached the house of Aros I +had almost forgotten, and wholly forgiven him, his uncanny colour. + +To Mary I told all that had passed without suppression, though I +own my heart failed me; but I did wrong to doubt her sense of +justice. + +'You did the right,' she said. 'God's will be done.' And she set +out meat for us at once. + +As soon as I was satisfied, I bade Rorie keep an eye upon the +castaway, who was still eating, and set forth again myself to find +my uncle. I had not gone far before I saw him sitting in the same +place, upon the very topmost knoll, and seemingly in the same +attitude as when I had last observed him. From that point, as I +have said, the most of Aros and the neighbouring Ross would be +spread below him like a map; and it was plain that he kept a bright +look-out in all directions, for my head had scarcely risen above +the summit of the first ascent before he had leaped to his feet and +turned as if to face me. I hailed him at once, as well as I was +able, in the same tones and words as I had often used before, when +I had come to summon him to dinner. He made not so much as a +movement in reply. I passed on a little farther, and again tried +parley, with the same result. But when I began a second time to +advance, his insane fears blazed up again, and still in dead +silence, but with incredible speed, he began to flee from before me +along the rocky summit of the hill. An hour before, he had been +dead weary, and I had been comparatively active. But now his +strength was recruited by the fervour of insanity, and it would +have been vain for me to dream of pursuit. Nay, the very attempt, +I thought, might have inflamed his terrors, and thus increased the +miseries of our position. And I had nothing left but to turn +homeward and make my sad report to Mary. + +She heard it, as she had heard the first, with a concerned +composure, and, bidding me lie down and take that rest of which I +stood so much in need, set forth herself in quest of her misguided +father. At that age it would have been a strange thing that put me +from either meat or sleep; I slept long and deep; and it was +already long past noon before I awoke and came downstairs into the +kitchen. Mary, Rorie, and the black castaway were seated about the +fire in silence; and I could see that Mary had been weeping. There +was cause enough, as I soon learned, for tears. First she, and +then Rorie, had been forth to seek my uncle; each in turn had found +him perched upon the hill-top, and from each in turn he had +silently and swiftly fled. Rorie had tried to chase him, but in +vain; madness lent a new vigour to his bounds; he sprang from rock +to rock over the widest gullies; he scoured like the wind along the +hill-tops; he doubled and twisted like a hare before the dogs; and +Rorie at length gave in; and the last that he saw, my uncle was +seated as before upon the crest of Aros. Even during the hottest +excitement of the chase, even when the fleet-footed servant had +come, for a moment, very near to capture him, the poor lunatic had +uttered not a sound. He fled, and he was silent, like a beast; and +this silence had terrified his pursuer. + +There was something heart-breaking in the situation. How to +capture the madman, how to feed him in the meanwhile, and what to +do with him when he was captured, were the three difficulties that +we had to solve. + +'The black,' said I, 'is the cause of this attack. It may even be +his presence in the house that keeps my uncle on the hill. We have +done the fair thing; he has been fed and warmed under this roof; +now I propose that Rorie put him across the bay in the coble, and +take him through the Ross as far as Grisapol.' + +In this proposal Mary heartily concurred; and bidding the black +follow us, we all three descended to the pier. Certainly, Heaven's +will was declared against Gordon Darnaway; a thing had happened, +never paralleled before in Aros; during the storm, the coble had +broken loose, and, striking on the rough splinters of the pier, now +lay in four feet of water with one side stove in. Three days of +work at least would be required to make her float. But I was not +to be beaten. I led the whole party round to where the gut was +narrowest, swam to the other side, and called to the black to +follow me. He signed, with the same clearness and quiet as before, +that he knew not the art; and there was truth apparent in his +signals, it would have occurred to none of us to doubt his truth; +and that hope being over, we must all go back even as we came to +the house of Aros, the negro walking in our midst without +embarrassment. + +All we could do that day was to make one more attempt to +communicate with the unhappy madman. Again he was visible on his +perch; again he fled in silence. But food and a great cloak were +at least left for his comfort; the rain, besides, had cleared away, +and the night promised to be even warm. We might compose +ourselves, we thought, until the morrow; rest was the chief +requisite, that we might be strengthened for unusual exertions; and +as none cared to talk, we separated at an early hour. + +I lay long awake, planning a campaign for the morrow. I was to +place the black on the side of Sandag, whence he should head my +uncle towards the house; Rorie in the west, I on the east, were to +complete the cordon, as best we might. It seemed to me, the more I +recalled the configuration of the island, that it should be +possible, though hard, to force him down upon the low ground along +Aros Bay; and once there, even with the strength of his madness, +ultimate escape was hardly to be feared. It was on his terror of +the black that I relied; for I made sure, however he might run, it +would not be in the direction of the man whom he supposed to have +returned from the dead, and thus one point of the compass at least +would be secure. + +When at length I fell asleep, it was to be awakened shortly after +by a dream of wrecks, black men, and submarine adventure; and I +found myself so shaken and fevered that I arose, descended the +stair, and stepped out before the house. Within, Rorie and the +black were asleep together in the kitchen; outside was a wonderful +clear night of stars, with here and there a cloud still hanging, +last stragglers of the tempest. It was near the top of the flood, +and the Merry Men were roaring in the windless quiet of the night. +Never, not even in the height of the tempest, had I heard their +song with greater awe. Now, when the winds were gathered home, +when the deep was dandling itself back into its summer slumber, and +when the stars rained their gentle light over land and sea, the +voice of these tide-breakers was still raised for havoc. They +seemed, indeed, to be a part of the world's evil and the tragic +side of life. Nor were their meaningless vociferations the only +sounds that broke the silence of the night. For I could hear, now +shrill and thrilling and now almost drowned, the note of a human +voice that accompanied the uproar of the Roost. I knew it for my +kinsman's; and a great fear fell upon me of God's judgments, and +the evil in the world. I went back again into the darkness of the +house as into a place of shelter, and lay long upon my bed, +pondering these mysteries. + +It was late when I again woke, and I leaped into my clothes and +hurried to the kitchen. No one was there; Rorie and the black had +both stealthily departed long before; and my heart stood still at +the discovery. I could rely on Rorie's heart, but I placed no +trust in his discretion. If he had thus set out without a word, he +was plainly bent upon some service to my uncle. But what service +could he hope to render even alone, far less in the company of the +man in whom my uncle found his fears incarnated? Even if I were +not already too late to prevent some deadly mischief, it was plain +I must delay no longer. With the thought I was out of the house; +and often as I have run on the rough sides of Aros, I never ran as +I did that fatal morning. I do not believe I put twelve minutes to +the whole ascent. + +My uncle was gone from his perch. The basket had indeed been torn +open and the meat scattered on the turf; but, as we found +afterwards, no mouthful had been tasted; and there was not another +trace of human existence in that wide field of view. Day had +already filled the clear heavens; the sun already lighted in a rosy +bloom upon the crest of Ben Kyaw; but all below me the rude knolls +of Aros and the shield of sea lay steeped in the clear darkling +twilight of the dawn. + +'Rorie!' I cried; and again 'Rorie!' My voice died in the silence, +but there came no answer back. If there were indeed an enterprise +afoot to catch my uncle, it was plainly not in fleetness of foot, +but in dexterity of stalking, that the hunters placed their trust. +I ran on farther, keeping the higher spurs, and looking right and +left, nor did I pause again till I was on the mount above Sandag. +I could see the wreck, the uncovered belt of sand, the waves idly +beating, the long ledge of rocks, and on either hand the tumbled +knolls, boulders, and gullies of the island. But still no human +thing. + +At a stride the sunshine fell on Aros, and the shadows and colours +leaped into being. Not half a moment later, below me to the west, +sheep began to scatter as in a panic. There came a cry. I saw my +uncle running. I saw the black jump up in hot pursuit; and before +I had time to understand, Rorie also had appeared, calling +directions in Gaelic as to a dog herding sheep. + +I took to my heels to interfere, and perhaps I had done better to +have waited where I was, for I was the means of cutting off the +madman's last escape. There was nothing before him from that +moment but the grave, the wreck, and the sea in Sandag Bay. And +yet Heaven knows that what I did was for the best. + +My uncle Gordon saw in what direction, horrible to him, the chase +was driving him. He doubled, darting to the right and left; but +high as the fever ran in his veins, the black was still the +swifter. Turn where he would, he was still forestalled, still +driven toward the scene of his crime. Suddenly he began to shriek +aloud, so that the coast re-echoed; and now both I and Rorie were +calling on the black to stop. But all was vain, for it was written +otherwise. The pursuer still ran, the chase still sped before him +screaming; they avoided the grave, and skimmed close past the +timbers of the wreck; in a breath they had cleared the sand; and +still my kinsman did not pause, but dashed straight into the surf; +and the black, now almost within reach, still followed swiftly +behind him. Rorie and I both stopped, for the thing was now beyond +the hands of men, and these were the decrees of God that came to +pass before our eyes. There was never a sharper ending. On that +steep beach they were beyond their depth at a bound; neither could +swim; the black rose once for a moment with a throttling cry; but +the current had them, racing seaward; and if ever they came up +again, which God alone can tell, it would be ten minutes after, at +the far end of Aros Roost, where the seabirds hover fishing. + + + +WILL O' THE MILL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE PLAIN AND THE STARS. + + +THE Mill here Will lived with his adopted parents stood in a +falling valley between pinewoods and great mountains. Above, hill +after hill, soared upwards until they soared out of the depth of +the hardiest timber, and stood naked against the sky. Some way up, +a long grey village lay like a seam or a ray of vapour on a wooded +hillside; and when the wind was favourable, the sound of the church +bells would drop down, thin and silvery, to Will. Below, the +valley grew ever steeper and steeper, and at the same time widened +out on either hand; and from an eminence beside the mill it was +possible to see its whole length and away beyond it over a wide +plain, where the river turned and shone, and moved on from city to +city on its voyage towards the sea. It chanced that over this +valley there lay a pass into a neighbouring kingdom; so that, quiet +and rural as it was, the road that ran along beside the river was a +high thoroughfare between two splendid and powerful societies. All +through the summer, travelling-carriages came crawling up, or went +plunging briskly downwards past the mill; and as it happened that +the other side was very much easier of ascent, the path was not +much frequented, except by people going in one direction; and of +all the carriages that Will saw go by, five-sixths were plunging +briskly downwards and only one-sixth crawling up. Much more was +this the case with foot-passengers. All the light-footed tourists, +all the pedlars laden with strange wares, were tending downward +like the river that accompanied their path. Nor was this all; for +when Will was yet a child a disastrous war arose over a great part +of the world. The newspapers were full of defeats and victories, +the earth rang with cavalry hoofs, and often for days together and +for miles around the coil of battle terrified good people from +their labours in the field. Of all this, nothing was heard for a +long time in the valley; but at last one of the commanders pushed +an army over the pass by forced marches, and for three days horse +and foot, cannon and tumbril, drum and standard, kept pouring +downward past the mill. All day the child stood and watched them +on their passage - the rhythmical stride, the pale, unshaven faces +tanned about the eyes, the discoloured regimentals and the tattered +flags, filled him with a sense of weariness, pity, and wonder; and +all night long, after he was in bed, he could hear the cannon +pounding and the feet trampling, and the great armament sweeping +onward and downward past the mill. No one in the valley ever heard +the fate of the expedition, for they lay out of the way of gossip +in those troublous times; but Will saw one thing plainly, that not +a man returned. Whither had they all gone? Whither went all the +tourists and pedlars with strange wares? whither all the brisk +barouches with servants in the dicky? whither the water of the +stream, ever coursing downward and ever renewed from above? Even +the wind blew oftener down the valley, and carried the dead leaves +along with it in the fall. It seemed like a great conspiracy of +things animate and inanimate; they all went downward, fleetly and +gaily downward, and only he, it seemed, remained behind, like a +stock upon the wayside. It sometimes made him glad when he noticed +how the fishes kept their heads up stream. They, at least, stood +faithfully by him, while all else were posting downward to the +unknown world. + +One evening he asked the miller where the river went. + +'It goes down the valley,' answered he, 'and turns a power of mills +- six score mills, they say, from here to Unterdeck - and is none +the wearier after all. And then it goes out into the lowlands, and +waters the great corn country, and runs through a sight of fine +cities (so they say) where kings live all alone in great palaces, +with a sentry walling up and down before the door. And it goes +under bridges with stone men upon them, looking down and smiling so +curious it the water, and living folks leaning their elbows on the +wall and looking over too. And then it goes on and on, and down +through marshes and sands, until at last it falls into the sea, +where the ships are that bring parrots and tobacco from the Indies. +Ay, it has a long trot before it as it goes singing over our weir, +bless its heart!' + +'And what is the sea?' asked Will. + +'The sea!' cried the miller. 'Lord help us all, it is the greatest +thing God made! That is where all the water in the world runs down +into a great salt lake. There it lies, as flat as my hand and as +innocent-like as a child; but they do say when the wind blows it +gets up into water-mountains bigger than any of ours, and swallows +down great ships bigger than our mill, and makes such a roaring +that you can hear it miles away upon the land. There are great +fish in it five times bigger than a bull, and one old serpent as +lone as our river and as old as all the world, with whiskers like a +man, and a crown of silver on her head.' + +Will thought he had never heard anything like this, and he kept on +asking question after question about the world that lay away down +the river, with all its perils and marvels, until the old miller +became quite interested himself, and at last took him by the hand +and led him to the hilltop that overlooks the valley and the plain. +The sun was near setting, and hung low down in a cloudless sky. +Everything was defined and glorified in golden light. Will had +never seen so great an expanse of country in his life; he stood and +gazed with all his eyes. He could see the cities, and the woods +and fields, and the bright curves of the river, and far away to +where the rim of the plain trenched along the shining heavens. An +over-mastering emotion seized upon the boy, soul and body; his +heart beat so thickly that he could not breathe; the scene swam +before his eyes; the sun seemed to wheel round and round, and throw +off, as it turned, strange shapes which disappeared with the +rapidity of thought, and were succeeded by others. Will covered +his face with his hands, and burst into a violent fit of tears; and +the poor miller, sadly disappointed and perplexed, saw nothing +better for it than to take him up in his arms and carry him home in +silence. + +From that day forward Will was full of new hopes and longings. +Something kept tugging at his heart-strings; the running water +carried his desires along with it as he dreamed over its fleeting +surface; the wind, as it ran over innumerable tree-tops, hailed him +with encouraging words; branches beckoned downward; the open road, +as it shouldered round the angles and went turning and vanishing +fast and faster down the valley, tortured him with its +solicitations. He spent long whiles on the eminence, looking down +the rivershed and abroad on the fat lowlands, and watched the +clouds that travelled forth upon the sluggish wind and trailed +their purple shadows on the plain; or he would linger by the +wayside, and follow the carriages with his eyes as they rattled +downward by the river. It did not matter what it was; everything +that went that way, were it cloud or carriage, bird or brown water +in the stream, he felt his heart flow out after it in an ecstasy of +longing. + +We are told by men of science that all the ventures of mariners on +the sea, all that counter-marching of tribes and races that +confounds old history with its dust and rumour, sprang from nothing +more abstruse than the laws of supply and demand, and a certain +natural instinct for cheap rations. To any one thinking deeply, +this will seem a dull and pitiful explanation. The tribes that +came swarming out of the North and East, if they were indeed +pressed onward from behind by others, were drawn at the same time +by the magnetic influence of the South and West. The fame of other +lands had reached them; the name of the eternal city rang in their +ears; they were not colonists, but pilgrims; they travelled towards +wine and gold and sunshine, but their hearts were set on something +higher. That divine unrest, that old stinging trouble of humanity +that makes all high achievements and all miserable failure, the +same that spread wings with Icarus, the same that sent Columbus +into the desolate Atlantic, inspired and supported these barbarians +on their perilous march. There is one legend which profoundly +represents their spirit, of how a flying party of these wanderers +encountered a very old man shod with iron. The old man asked them +whither they were going; and they answered with one voice: 'To the +Eternal City!' He looked upon them gravely. 'I have sought it,' +he said, 'over the most part of the world. Three such pairs as I +now carry on my feet have I worn out upon this pilgrimage, and now +the fourth is growing slender underneath my steps. And all this +while I have not found the city.' And he turned and went his own +way alone, leaving them astonished. + +And yet this would scarcely parallel the intensity of Will's +feeling for the plain. If he could only go far enough out there, +he felt as if his eyesight would be purged and clarified, as if his +hearing would grow more delicate, and his very breath would come +and go with luxury. He was transplanted and withering where he +was; he lay in a strange country and was sick for home. Bit by +bit, he pieced together broken notions of the world below: of the +river, ever moving and growing until it sailed forth into the +majestic ocean; of the cities, full of brisk and beautiful people, +playing fountains, bands of music and marble palaces, and lighted +up at night from end to end with artificial stars of gold; of the +great churches, wise universities, brave armies, and untold money +lying stored in vaults; of the high-flying vice that moved in the +sunshine, and the stealth and swiftness of midnight murder. I have +said he was sick as if for home: the figure halts. He was like +some one lying in twilit, formless preexistence, and stretching out +his hands lovingly towards many-coloured, many-sounding life. It +was no wonder he was unhappy, he would go and tell the fish: they +were made for their life, wished for no more than worms and running +water, and a hole below a falling bank; but he was differently +designed, full of desires and aspirations, itching at the fingers, +lusting with the eyes, whom the whole variegated world could not +satisfy with aspects. The true life, the true bright sunshine, lay +far out upon the plain. And O! to see this sunlight once before he +died! to move with a jocund spirit in a golden land! to hear the +trained singers and sweet church bells, and see the holiday +gardens! 'And O fish!' he would cry, 'if you would only turn your +noses down stream, you could swim so easily into the fabled waters +and see the vast ships passing over your head like clouds, and hear +the great water-hills making music over you all day long!' But the +fish kept looking patiently in their own direction, until Will +hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. + +Hitherto the traffic on the road had passed by Will, like something +seen in a picture: he had perhaps exchanged salutations with a +tourist, or caught sight of an old gentleman in a travelling cap at +a carriage window; but for the most part it had been a mere symbol, +which he contemplated from apart and with something of a +superstitious feeling. A time came at last when this was to be +changed. The miller, who was a greedy man in his way, and never +forewent an opportunity of honest profit, turned the mill-house +into a little wayside inn, and, several pieces of good fortune +falling in opportunely, built stables and got the position of post +master on the road. It now became Will's duty to wait upon people, +as they sat to break their fasts in the little arbour at the top of +the mill garden; and you may be sure that he kept his ears open, +and learned many new things about the outside world as he brought +the omelette or the wine. Nay, he would often get into +conversation with single guests, and by adroit questions and polite +attention, not only gratify his own curiosity, but win the goodwill +of the travellers. Many complimented the old couple on their +serving-boy; and a professor was eager to take him away with him, +and have him properly educated in the plain. The miller and his +wife were mightily astonished and even more pleased. They thought +it a very good thing that they should have opened their inn. 'You +see,' the old man would remark, 'he has a kind of talent for a +publican; he never would have made anything else!' And so life +wagged on in the valley, with high satisfaction to all concerned +but Will. Every carriage that left the inn-door seemed to take a +part of him away with it; and when people jestingly offered him a +lift, he could with difficulty command his emotion. Night after +night he would dream that he was awakened by flustered servants, +and that a splendid equipage waited at the door to carry him down +into the plain; night after night; until the dream, which had +seemed all jollity to him at first, began to take on a colour of +gravity, and the nocturnal summons and waiting equipage occupied a +place in his mind as something to be both feared and hoped for. + +One day, when Will was about sixteen, a fat young man arrived at +sunset to pass the night. He was a contented-looking fellow, with +a jolly eye, and carried a knapsack. While dinner was preparing, +he sat in the arbour to read a book; but as soon as he had begun to +observe Will, the book was laid aside; he was plainly one of those +who prefer living people to people made of ink and paper. Will, on +his part, although he had not been much interested in the stranger +at first sight, soon began to take a great deal of pleasure in his +talk, which was full of good nature and good sense, and at last +conceived a great respect for his character and wisdom. They sat +far into the night; and about two in the morning Will opened his +heart to the young man, and told him how he longed to leave the +valley and what bright hopes he had connected with the cities of +the plain. The young man whistled, and then broke into a smile. + +'My young friend,' he remarked, 'you are a very curious little +fellow to be sure, and wish a great many things which you will +never get. Why, you would feel quite ashamed if you knew how the +little fellows in these fairy cities of yours are all after the +same sort of nonsense, and keep breaking their hearts to get up +into the mountains. And let me tell you, those who go down into +the plains are a very short while there before they wish themselves +heartily back again. The air is not so light nor so pure; nor is +the sun any brighter. As for the beautiful men and women, you +would see many of them in rags and many of them deformed with +horrible disorders; and a city is so hard a place for people who +are poor and sensitive that many choose to die by their own hand.' + +'You must think me very simple,' answered Will. 'Although I have +never been out of this valley, believe me, I have used my eyes. I +know how one thing lives on another; for instance, how the fish +hangs in the eddy to catch his fellows; and the shepherd, who makes +so pretty a picture carrying home the lamb, is only carrying it +home for dinner. I do not expect to find all things right in your +cities. That is not what troubles me; it might have been that once +upon a time; but although I live here always, I have asked many +questions and learned a great deal in these last years, and +certainly enough to cure me of my old fancies. But you would not +have me die like a dog and not see all that is to be seen, and do +all that a man can do, let it be good or evil? you would not have +me spend all my days between this road here and the river, and not +so much as make a motion to be up and live my life? - I would +rather die out of hand,' he cried, 'than linger on as I am doing.' + +'Thousands of people,' said the young man, 'live and die like you, +and are none the less happy.' + +'Ah!' said Will, 'if there are thousands who would like, why should +not one of them have my place?' + +It was quite dark; there was a hanging lamp in the arbour which lit +up the table and the faces of the speakers; and along the arch, the +leaves upon the trellis stood out illuminated against the night +sky, a pattern of transparent green upon a dusky purple. The fat +young man rose, and, taking Will by the arm, led him out under the +open heavens. + +'Did you ever look at the stars?' he asked, pointing upwards. + +'Often and often,' answered Will. + +'And do you know what they are?' + +'I have fancied many things.' + +'They are worlds like ours,' said the young man. 'Some of them +less; many of them a million times greater; and some of the least +sparkles that you see are not only worlds, but whole clusters of +worlds turning about each other in the midst of space. We do not +know what there may be in any of them; perhaps the answer to all +our difficulties or the cure of all our sufferings: and yet we can +never reach them; not all the skill of the craftiest of men can fit +out a ship for the nearest of these our neighbours, nor would the +life of the most aged suffice for such a journey. When a great +battle has been lost or a dear friend is dead, when we are hipped +or in high spirits, there they are unweariedly shining overhead. +We may stand down here, a whole army of us together, and shout +until we break our hearts, and not a whisper reaches them. We may +climb the highest mountain, and we are no nearer them. All we can +do is to stand down here in the garden and take off our hats; the +starshine lights upon our heads, and where mine is a little bald, I +dare say you can see it glisten in the darkness. The mountain and +the mouse. That is like to be all we shall ever have to do with +Arcturus or Aldebaran. Can you apply a parable?' he added, laying +his hand upon Will's shoulder. 'It is not the same thing as a +reason, but usually vastly more convincing.' + +Will hung his head a little, and then raised it once more to +heaven. The stars seemed to expand and emit a sharper brilliancy; +and as he kept turning his eyes higher and higher, they seemed to +increase in multitude under his gaze. + +'I see,' he said, turning to the young man. 'We are in a rat- +trap.' + +'Something of that size. Did you ever see a squirrel turning in a +cage? and another squirrel sitting philosophically over his nuts? +I needn't ask you which of them looked more of a fool.' + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE PARSON'S MARJORY. + + +After some years the old people died, both in one winter, very +carefully tended by their adopted son, and very quietly mourned +when they were gone. People who had heard of his roving fancies +supposed he would hasten to sell the property, and go down the +river to push his fortunes. But there was never any sign of such +in intention on the part of Will. On the contrary, he had the inn +set on a better footing, and hired a couple of servants to assist +him in carrying it on; and there he settled down, a kind, +talkative, inscrutable young man, six feet three in his stockings, +with an iron constitution and a friendly voice. He soon began to +take rank in the district as a bit of an oddity: it was not much to +be wondered at from the first, for he was always full of notions, +and kept calling the plainest common-sense in question; but what +most raised the report upon him was the odd circumstance of his +courtship with the parson's Marjory. + +The parson's Marjory was a lass about nineteen, when Will would be +about thirty; well enough looking, and much better educated than +any other girl in that part of the country, as became her +parentage. She held her head very high, and had already refused +several offers of marriage with a grand air, which had got her hard +names among the neighbours. For all that she was a good girl, and +one that would have made any man well contented. + +Will had never seen much of her; for although the church and +parsonage were only two miles from his own door, he was never known +to go there but on Sundays. It chanced, however, that the +parsonage fell into disrepair, and had to be dismantled; and the +parson and his daughter took lodgings for a month or so, on very +much reduced terms, at Will's inn. Now, what with the inn, and the +mill, and the old miller's savings, our friend was a man of +substance; and besides that, he had a name for good temper and +shrewdness, which make a capital portion in marriage; and so it was +currently gossiped, among their ill-wishers, that the parson and +his daughter had not chosen their temporary lodging with their eyes +shut. Will was about the last man in the world to be cajoled or +frightened into marriage. You had only to look into his eyes, +limpid and still like pools of water, and yet with a sort of clear +light that seemed to come from within, and you would understand at +once that here was one who knew his own mind, and would stand to it +immovably. Marjory herself was no weakling by her looks, with +strong, steady eyes and a resolute and quiet bearing. It might be +a question whether she was not Will's match in stedfastness, after +all, or which of them would rule the roast in marriage. But +Marjory had never given it a thought, and accompanied her father +with the most unshaken innocence and unconcern. + +The season was still so early that Will's customers were few and +far between; but the lilacs were already flowering, and the weather +was so mild that the party took dinner under the trellice, with the +noise of the river in their ears and the woods ringing about them +with the songs of birds. Will soon began to take a particular +pleasure in these dinners. The parson was rather a dull companion, +with a habit of dozing at table; but nothing rude or cruel ever +fell from his lips. And as for the parson's daughter, she suited +her surroundings with the best grace imaginable; and whatever she +said seemed so pat and pretty that Will conceived a great idea of +her talents. He could see her face, as she leaned forward, against +a background of rising pinewoods; her eyes shone peaceably; the +light lay around her hair like a kerchief; something that was +hardly a smile rippled her pale cheeks, and Will could not contain +himself from gazing on her in an agreeable dismay. She looked, +even in her quietest moments, so complete in herself, and so quick +with life down to her finger tips and the very skirts of her dress, +that the remainder of created things became no more than a blot by +comparison; and if Will glanced away from her to her surroundings, +the trees looked inanimate and senseless, the clouds hung in heaven +like dead things, and even the mountain tops were disenchanted. +The whole valley could not compare in looks with this one girl. + +Will was always observant in the society of his fellow-creatures; +but his observation became almost painfully eager in the case of +Marjory. He listened to all she uttered, and read her eyes, at the +same time, for the unspoken commentary. Many kind, simple, and +sincere speeches found an echo in his heart. He became conscious +of a soul beautifully poised upon itself, nothing doubting, nothing +desiring, clothed in peace. It was not possible to separate her +thoughts from her appearance. The turn of her wrist, the still +sound of her voice, the light in her eyes, the lines of her body, +fell in tune with her grave and gentle words, like the +accompaniment that sustains and harmonises the voice of the singer. +Her influence was one thing, not to be divided or discussed, only +to he felt with gratitude and joy. To Will, her presence recalled +something of his childhood, and the thought of her took its place +in his mind beside that of dawn, of running water, and of the +earliest violets and lilacs. It is the property of things seen for +the first time, or for the first time after long, like the flowers +in spring, to reawaken in us the sharp edge of sense and that +impression of mystic strangeness which otherwise passes out of life +with the coming of years; but the sight of a loved face is what +renews a man's character from the fountain upwards. + +One day after dinner Will took a stroll among the firs; a grave +beatitude possessed him from top to toe, and he kept smiling to +himself and the landscape as he went. The river ran between the +stepping-stones with a pretty wimple; a bird sang loudly in the +wood; the hill-tops looked immeasurably high, and as he glanced at +them from time to time seemed to contemplate his movements with a +beneficent but awful curiosity. His way took him to the eminence +which overlooked the plain; and there he sat down upon a stone, and +fell into deep and pleasant thought. The plain lay abroad with its +cities and silver river; everything was asleep, except a great eddy +of birds which kept rising and falling and going round and round in +the blue air. He repeated Marjory's name aloud, and the sound of +it gratified his ear. He shut his eyes, and her image sprang up +before him, quietly luminous and attended with good thoughts. The +river might run for ever; the birds fly higher and higher till they +touched the stars. He saw it was empty bustle after all; for here, +without stirring a feet, waiting patiently in his own narrow +valley, he also had attained the better sunlight. + +The next day Will made a sort of declaration across the dinner- +table, while the parson was filling his pipe. + +'Miss Marjory,' he said, 'I never knew any one I liked so well as +you. I am mostly a cold, unkindly sort of man; not from want of +heart, but out of strangeness in my way of thinking; and people +seem far away from me. 'Tis as if there were a circle round me, +which kept every one out but you; I can hear the others talking and +laughing; but you come quite close. Maybe, this is disagreeable to +you?' he asked. + +Marjory made no answer. + +'Speak up, girl,' said the parson. + +'Nay, now,' returned Will, 'I wouldn't press her, parson. I feel +tongue-tied myself, who am not used to it; and she's a woman, and +little more than a child, when all is said. But for my part, as +far as I can understand what people mean by it, I fancy I must be +what they call in love. I do not wish to be held as committing +myself; for I may be wrong; but that is how I believe things are +with me. And if Miss Marjory should feel any otherwise on her +part, mayhap she would be so kind as shake her head.' + +Marjory was silent, and gave no sign that she had heard. + +'How is that, parson?' asked Will. + +'The girl must speak,' replied the parson, laying down his pipe. +'Here's our neighbour who says he loves you, Madge. Do you love +him, ay or no?' + +'I think I do,' said Marjory, faintly. + +'Well then, that's all that could be wished!' cried Will, heartily. +And he took her hand across the table, and held it a moment in both +of his with great satisfaction. + +'You must marry,' observed the parson, replacing his pipe in his +mouth. + +'Is that the right thing to do, think you?' demanded Will. + +'It is indispensable,' said the parson. + +'Very well,' replied the wooer. + +Two or three days passed away with great delight to Will, although +a bystander might scarce have found it out. He continued to take +his meals opposite Marjory, and to talk with her and gaze upon her +in her father's presence; but he made no attempt to see her alone, +nor in any other way changed his conduct towards her from what it +had been since the beginning. Perhaps the girl was a little +disappointed, and perhaps not unjustly; and yet if it had been +enough to be always in the thoughts of another person, and so +pervade and alter his whole life, she might have been thoroughly +contented. For she was never out of Will's mind for an instant. +He sat over the stream, and watched the dust of the eddy, and the +poised fish, and straining weeds; he wandered out alone into the +purple even, with all the blackbirds piping round him in the wood; +he rose early in the morning, and saw the sky turn from grey to +gold, and the light leap upon the hill-tops; and all the while he +kept wondering if he had never seen such things before, or how it +was that they should look so different now. The sound of his own +mill-wheel, or of the wind among the trees, confounded and charmed +his heart. The most enchanting thoughts presented themselves +unbidden in his mind. He was so happy that he could not sleep at +night, and so restless, that he could hardly sit still out of her +company. And yet it seemed as if he avoided her rather than sought +her out. + +One day, as he was coming home from a ramble, Will found Marjory in +the garden picking flowers, and as he came up with her, slackened +his pace and continued walking by her side. + +'You like flowers?' he said. + +'Indeed I love them dearly,' she replied. 'Do you?' + +'Why, no,' said he, 'not so much. They are a very small affair, +when all is done. I can fancy people caring for them greatly, but +not doing as you are just now.' + +'How?' she asked, pausing and looking up at him. + +'Plucking them,' said he. 'They are a deal better off where they +are, and look a deal prettier, if you go to that.' + +'I wish to have them for my own,' she answered, 'to carry them near +my heart, and keep them in my room. They tempt me when they grow +here; they seem to say, "Come and do something with us;" but once I +have cut them and put them by, the charm is laid, and I can look at +them with quite an easy heart.' + +'You wish to possess them,' replied Will, 'in order to think no +more about them. It's a bit like killing the goose with the golden +eggs. It's a bit like what I wished to do when I was a boy. +Because I had a fancy for looking out over the plain, I wished to +go down there - where I couldn't look out over it any longer. Was +not that fine reasoning? Dear, dear, if they only thought of it, +all the world would do like me; and you would let your flowers +alone, just as I stay up here in the mountains.' Suddenly he broke +off sharp. 'By the Lord!' he cried. And when she asked him what +was wrong, he turned the question off and walked away into the +house with rather a humorous expression of face. + +He was silent at table; and after the night hid fallen and the +stars had come out overhead, he walked up and down for hours in the +courtyard and garden with an uneven pace. There was still a light +in the window of Marjory's room: one little oblong patch of orange +in a world of dark blue hills and silver starlight. Will's mind +ran a great deal on the window; but his thoughts were not very +lover-like. 'There she is in her room,' he thought, 'and there are +the stars overhead: - a blessing upon both!' Both were good +influences in his life; both soothed and braced him in his profound +contentment with the world. And what more should he desire with +either? The fat young man and his councils were so present to his +mind, that he threw back his head, and, putting his hands before +his mouth, shouted aloud to the populous heavens. Whether from the +position of his head or the sudden strain of the exertion, he +seemed to see a momentary shock among the stars, and a diffusion of +frosty light pass from one to another along the sky. At the same +instant, a corner of the blind was lifted and lowered again at +once. He laughed a loud ho-ho! 'One and another!' thought Will. +'The stars tremble, and the blind goes up. Why, before Heaven, +what a great magician I must be! Now if I were only a fool, should +not I be in a pretty way?' And he went off to bed, chuckling to +himself: 'If I were only a fool!' + +The next morning, pretty early, he saw her once more in the garden, +and sought her out. + +'I have been thinking about getting married,' he began abruptly; +'and after having turned it all over, I have made up my mind it's +not worthwhile.' + +She turned upon him for a single moment; but his radiant, kindly +appearance would, under the circumstances, have disconcerted an +angel, and she looked down again upon the ground in silence. He +could see her tremble. + +'I hope you don't mind,' he went on, a little taken aback. 'You +ought not. I have turned it all over, and upon my soul there's +nothing in it. We should never be one whit nearer than we are just +now, and, if I am a wise man, nothing like so happy.' + +'It is unnecessary to go round about with me,' she said. 'I very +well remember that you refused to commit yourself; and now that I +see you were mistaken, and in reality have never cared for me, I +can only feel sad that I have been so far misled.' + +'I ask your pardon,' said Will stoutly; 'you do not understand my +meaning. As to whether I have ever loved you or not, I must leave +that to others. But for one thing, my feeling is not changed; and +for another, you may make it your boast that you have made my whole +life and character something different from what they were. I mean +what I say; no less. I do not think getting married is worth +while. I would rather you went on living with your father, so that +I could walk over and see you once, or maybe twice a week, as +people go to church, and then we should both be all the happier +between whiles. That's my notion. But I'll marry you if you +will,' he added. + +'Do you know that you are insulting me?' she broke out. + +'Not I, Marjory,' said he; 'if there is anything in a clear +conscience, not I. I offer all my heart's best affection; you can +take it or want it, though I suspect it's beyond either your power +or mine to change what has once been done, and set me fancy-free. +I'll marry you, if you like; but I tell you again and again, it's +not worth while, and we had best stay friends. Though I am a quiet +man I have noticed a heap of things in my life. Trust in me, and +take things as I propose; or, if you don't like that, say the word, +and I'll marry you out of hand.' + +There was a considerable pause, and Will, who began to feel uneasy, +began to grow angry in consequence. + +'It seems you are too proud to say your mind,' he said. 'Believe +me that's a pity. A clean shrift makes simple living. Can a man +be more downright or honourable, to a woman than I have been? I +have said my say, and given you your choice. Do you want me to +marry you? or will you take my friendship, as I think best? or have +you had enough of me for good? Speak out for the dear God's sake! +You know your father told you a girl should speak her mind in these +affairs.' + +She seemed to recover herself at that, turned without a word, +walked rapidly through the garden, and disappeared into the house, +leaving Will in some confusion as to the result. He walked up and +down the garden, whistling softly to himself. Sometimes he stopped +and contemplated the sky and hill-tops; sometimes he went down to +the tail of the weir and sat there, looking foolishly in the water. +All this dubiety and perturbation was so foreign to his nature and +the life which he had resolutely chosen for himself, that he began +to regret Marjory's arrival. 'After all,' he thought, 'I was as +happy as a man need be. I could come down here and watch my fishes +all day long if I wanted: I was as settled and contented as my old +mill.' + +Marjory came down to dinner, looking very trim and quiet; and no +sooner were all three at table than she made her father a speech, +with her eyes fixed upon her plate, but showing no other sign of +embarrassment or distress. + +'Father,' she began, 'Mr. Will and I have been talking things over. +We see that we have each made a mistake about our feelings, and he +has agreed, at my request, to give up all idea of marriage, and be +no more than my very good friend, as in the past. You see, there +is no shadow of a quarrel, and indeed I hope we shall see a great +deal of him in the future, for his visits will always be welcome in +our house. Of course, father, you will know best, but perhaps we +should do better to leave Mr. Will's house for the present. I +believe, after what has passed, we should hardly be agreeable +inmates for some days.' + +Will, who had commanded himself with difficulty from the first, +broke out upon this into an inarticulate noise, and raised one hand +with an appearance of real dismay, as if he were about to interfere +and contradict. But she checked him at once looking up at him with +a swift glance and an angry flush upon her cheek. + +'You will perhaps have the good grace,' she said, 'to let me +explain these matters for myself.' + +Will was put entirely out of countenance by her expression and the +ring of her voice. He held his peace, concluding that there were +some things about this girl beyond his comprehension, in which he +was exactly right. + +The poor parson was quite crestfallen. He tried to prove that this +was no more than a true lovers' tiff, which would pass off before +night; and when he was dislodged from that position, he went on to +argue that where there was no quarrel there could be no call for a +separation; for the good man liked both his entertainment and his +host. It was curious to see how the girl managed them, saying +little all the time, and that very quietly, and yet twisting them +round her finger and insensibly leading them wherever she would by +feminine tact and generalship. It scarcely seemed to have been her +doing - it seemed as if things had merely so fallen out - that she +and her father took their departure that same afternoon in a farm- +cart, and went farther down the valley, to wait, until their own +house was ready for them, in another hamlet. But Will had been +observing closely, and was well aware of her dexterity and +resolution. When he found himself alone he had a great many +curious matters to turn over in his mind. He was very sad and +solitary, to begin with. All the interest had gone out of his +life, and he might look up at the stars as long as he pleased, he +somehow failed to find support or consolation. And then he was in +such a turmoil of spirit about Marjory. He had been puzzled and +irritated at her behaviour, and yet he could not keep himself from +admiring it. He thought he recognised a fine, perverse angel in +that still soul which he had never hitherto suspected; and though +he saw it was an influence that would fit but ill with his own life +of artificial calm, he could not keep himself from ardently +desiring to possess it. Like a man who has lived among shadows and +now meets the sun, he was both pained and delighted. + +As the days went forward he passed from one extreme to another; now +pluming himself on the strength of his determination, now despising +his timid and silly caution. The former was, perhaps, the true +thought of his heart, and represented the regular tenor of the +man's reflections; but the latter burst forth from time to time +with an unruly violence, and then he would forget all +consideration, and go up and down his house and garden or walk +among the fir-woods like one who is beside himself with remorse. +To equable, steady-minded Will this state of matters was +intolerable; and he determined, at whatever cost, to bring it to an +end. So, one warm summer afternoon he put on his best clothes, +took a thorn switch in his hand, and set out down the valley by the +river. As soon as he had taken his determination, he had regained +at a bound his customary peace of heart, and he enjoyed the bright +weather and the variety of the scene without any admixture of alarm +or unpleasant eagerness. It was nearly the same to him how the +matter turned out. If she accepted him he would have to marry her +this time, which perhaps was, all for the best. If she refused +him, he would have done his utmost, and might follow his own way in +the future with an untroubled conscience. He hoped, on the whole, +she would refuse him; and then, again, as he saw the brown roof +which sheltered her, peeping through some willows at an angle of +the stream, he was half inclined to reverse the wish, and more than +half ashamed of himself for this infirmity of purpose. + +Marjory seemed glad to see him, and gave him her hand without +affectation or delay. + +'I have been thinking about this marriage,' he began. + +'So have I,' she answered. 'And I respect you more and more for a +very wise man. You understood me better than I understood myself; +and I am now quite certain that things are all for the best as they +are.' + +'At the same time - ,' ventured Will. + +'You must be tired,' she interrupted. 'Take a seat and let me +fetch you a glass of wine. The afternoon is so warm; and I wish +you not to be displeased with your visit. You must come quite +often; once a week, if you can spare the time; I am always so glad +to see my friends.' + +'O, very well,' thought Will to himself. 'It appears I was right +after all.' And he paid a very agreeable visit, walked home again +in capital spirits, and gave himself no further concern about the +matter. + +For nearly three years Will and Marjory continued on these terms, +seeing each other once or twice a week without any word of love +between them; and for all that time I believe Will was nearly as +happy as a man can be. He rather stinted himself the pleasure of +seeing her; and he would often walk half-way over to the parsonage, +and then back again, as if to whet his appetite. Indeed there was +one corner of the road, whence he could see the church-spire wedged +into a crevice of the valley between sloping firwoods, with a +triangular snatch of plain by way of background, which he greatly +affected as a place to sit and moralise in before returning +homewards; and the peasants got so much into the habit of finding +him there in the twilight that they gave it the name of 'Will o' +the Mill's Corner.' + +At the end of the three years Marjory played him a sad trick by +suddenly marrying somebody else. Will kept his countenance +bravely, and merely remarked that, for as little as he knew of +women, he had acted very prudently in not marrying her himself +three years before. She plainly knew very little of her own mind, +and, in spite of a deceptive manner, was as fickle and flighty as +the rest of them. He had to congratulate himself on an escape, he +said, and would take a higher opinion of his own wisdom in +consequence. But at heart, he was reasonably displeased, moped a +good deal for a month or two, and fell away in flesh, to the +astonishment of his serving-lads. + +It was perhaps a year after this marriage that Will was awakened +late one night by the sound of a horse galloping on the road, +followed by precipitate knocking at the inn-door. He opened his +window and saw a farm servant, mounted and holding a led horse by +the bridle, who told him to make what haste he could and go along +with him; for Marjory was dying, and had sent urgently to fetch him +to her bedside. Will was no horseman, and made so little speed +upon the way that the poor young wife was very near her end before +he arrived. But they had some minutes' talk in private, and he was +present and wept very bitterly while she breathed her last. + + + + +CHAPTER III. DEATH + + +Year after year went away into nothing, with great explosions and +outcries in the cities on the plain: red revolt springing up and +being suppressed in blood, battle swaying hither and thither, +patient astronomers in observatory towers picking out and +christening new stars, plays being performed in lighted theatres, +people being carried into hospital on stretchers, and all the usual +turmoil and agitation of men's lives in crowded centres. Up in +Will's valley only the winds and seasons made an epoch; the fish +hung in the swift stream, the birds circled overhead, the pine-tops +rustled underneath the stars, the tall hills stood over all; and +Will went to and fro, minding his wayside inn, until the snow began +to thicken on his head. His heart was young and vigorous; and if +his pulses kept a sober time, they still beat strong and steady in +his wrists. He carried a ruddy stain on either cheek, like a ripe +apple; he stooped a little, but his step was still firm; and his +sinewy hands were reached out to all men with a friendly pressure. +His face was covered with those wrinkles which are got in open air, +and which rightly looked at, are no more than a sort of permanent +sunburning; such wrinkles heighten the stupidity of stupid faces; +but to a person like Will, with his clear eyes and smiling mouth, +only give another charm by testifying to a simple and easy life. +His talk was full of wise sayings. He had a taste for other +people; and other people had a taste for him. When the valley was +full of tourists in the season, there were merry nights in Will's +arbour; and his views, which seemed whimsical to his neighbours, +were often enough admired by learned people out of towns and +colleges. Indeed, he had a very noble old age, and grew daily +better known; so that his fame was heard of in the cities of the +plain; and young men who had been summer travellers spoke together +in CAFES of Will o' the Mill and his rough philosophy. Many and +many an invitation, you may be sure, he had; but nothing could +tempt him from his upland valley. He would shake his head and +smile over his tobacco-pipe with a deal of meaning. 'You come too +late,' he would answer. 'I am a dead man now: I have lived and +died already. Fifty years ago you would have brought my heart into +my mouth; and now you do not even tempt me. But that is the object +of long living, that man should cease to care about life.' And +again: 'There is only one difference between a long life and a good +dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last.' Or once more: +'When I was a boy, I was a bit puzzled, and hardly knew whether it +was myself or the world that was curious and worth looking into. +Now, I know it is myself, and stick to that.' + +He never showed any symptom of frailty, but kept stalwart and firm +to the last; but they say he grew less talkative towards the end, +and would listen to other people by the hour in an amused and +sympathetic silence. Only, when he did speak, it was more to the +point and more charged with old experience. He drank a bottle of +wine gladly; above all, at sunset on the hill-top or quite late at +night under the stars in the arbour. The sight of something +attractive and unatttainable seasoned his enjoyment, he would say; +and he professed he had lived long enough to admire a candle all +the more when he could compare it with a planet. + +One night, in his seventy-second year, he awoke in bed in such +uneasiness of body and mind that he arose and dressed himself and +went out to meditate in the arbour. It was pitch dark, without a +star; the river was swollen, and the wet woods and meadows loaded +the air with perfume. It had thundered during the day, and it +promised more thunder for the morrow. A murky, stifling night for +a man of seventy-two! Whether it was the weather or the +wakefulness, or some little touch of fever in his old limbs, Will's +mind was besieged by tumultuous and crying memories. His boyhood, +the night with the fat young man, the death of his adopted parents, +the summer days with Marjory, and many of those small +circumstances, which seem nothing to another, and are yet the very +gist of a man's own life to himself - things seen, words heard, +looks misconstrued - arose from their forgotten corners and usurped +his attention. The dead themselves were with him, not merely +taking part in this thin show of memory that defiled before his +brain, but revisiting his bodily senses as they do in profound and +vivid dreams. The fat young man leaned his elbows on the table +opposite; Marjory came and went with an apronful of flowers between +the garden and the arbour; he could hear the old parson knocking +out his pipe or blowing his resonant nose. The tide of his +consciousness ebbed and flowed: he was sometimes half-asleep and +drowned in his recollections of the past; and sometimes he was +broad awake, wondering at himself. But about the middle of the +night he was startled by the voice of the dead miller calling to +him out of the house as he used to do on the arrival of custom. +The hallucination was so perfect that Will sprang from his seat and +stood listening for the summons to be repeated; and as he listened +he became conscious of another noise besides the brawling of the +river and the ringing in his feverish ears. It was like the stir +of horses and the creaking of harness, as though a carriage with an +impatient team had been brought up upon the road before the +courtyard gate. At such an hour, upon this rough and dangerous +pass, the supposition was no better than absurd; and Will dismissed +it from his mind, and resumed his seat upon the arbour chair; and +sleep closed over him again like running water. He was once again +awakened by the dead miller's call, thinner and more spectral than +before; and once again he heard the noise of an equipage upon the +road. And so thrice and four times, the same dream, or the same +fancy, presented itself to his senses: until at length, smiling to +himself as when one humours a nervous child, he proceeded towards +the gate to set his uncertainty at rest. + +From the arbour to the gate was no great distance, and yet it took +Will some time; it seemed as if the dead thickened around him in +the court, and crossed his path at every step. For, first, he was +suddenly surprised by an overpowering sweetness of heliotropes; it +was as if his garden had been planted with this flower from end to +end, and the hot, damp night had drawn forth all their perfumes in +a breath. Now the heliotrope had been Marjory's favourite flower, +and since her death not one of them had ever been planted in Will's +ground. + +'I must be going crazy,' he thought. 'Poor Marjory and her +heliotropes!' + +And with that he raised his eyes towards the window that had once +been hers. If he had been bewildered before, he was now almost +terrified; for there was a light in the room; the window was an +orange oblong as of yore; and the corner of the blind was lifted +and let fall as on the night when he stood and shouted to the stars +in his perplexity. The illusion only endured an instant; but it +left him somewhat unmanned, rubbing his eyes and staring at the +outline of the house and the black night behind it. While he thus +stood, and it seemed as if he must have stood there quite a long +time, there came a renewal of the noises on the road: and he turned +in time to meet a stranger, who was advancing to meet him across +the court. There was something like the outline of a great +carriage discernible on the road behind the stranger, and, above +that, a few black pine-tops, like so many plumes. + +'Master Will?' asked the new-comer, in brief military fashion. + +'That same, sir,' answered Will. 'Can I do anything to serve you?' + +'I have heard you much spoken of, Master Will,' returned the other; +'much spoken of, and well. And though I have both hands full of +business, I wish to drink a bottle of wine with you in your arbour. +Before I go, I shall introduce myself.' + +Will led the way to the trellis, and got a lamp lighted and a +bottle uncorked. He was not altogether unused to such +complimentary interviews, and hoped little enough from this one, +being schooled by many disappointments. A sort of cloud had +settled on his wits and prevented him from remembering the +strangeness of the hour. He moved like a person in his sleep; and +it seemed as if the lamp caught fire and the bottle came uncorked +with the facility of thought. Still, he had some curiosity about +the appearance of his visitor, and tried in vain to turn the light +into his face; either he handled the lamp clumsily, or there was a +dimness over his eyes; but he could make out little more than a +shadow at table with him. He stared and stared at this shadow, as +he wiped out the glasses, and began to feel cold and strange about +the heart. The silence weighed upon him, for he could hear nothing +now, not even the river, but the drumming of his own arteries in +his ears. + +'Here's to you,' said the stranger, roughly. + +'Here is my service, sir,' replied Will, sipping his wine, which +somehow tasted oddly. + +'I understand you are a very positive fellow,' pursued the +stranger. + +Will made answer with a smile of some satisfaction and a little +nod. + +'So am I,' continued the other; 'and it is the delight of my heart +to tramp on people's corns. I will have nobody positive but +myself; not one. I have crossed the whims, in my time, of kings +and generals and great artists. And what would you say,' he went +on, 'if I had come up here on purpose to cross yours?' + +Will had it on his tongue to make a sharp rejoinder; but the +politeness of an old innkeeper prevailed; and he held his peace and +made answer with a civil gesture of the hand. + +'I have,' said the stranger. 'And if I did not hold you in a +particular esteem, I should make no words about the matter. It +appears you pride yourself on staying where you are. You mean to +stick by your inn. Now I mean you shall come for a turn with me in +my barouche; and before this bottle's empty, so you shall.' + +'That would be an odd thing, to be sure,' replied Will, with a +chuckle. 'Why, sir, I have grown here like an old oak-tree; the +Devil himself could hardly root me up: and for all I perceive you +are a very entertaining old gentleman, I would wager you another +bottle you lose your pains with me.' + +The dimness of Will's eyesight had been increasing all this while; +but he was somehow conscious of a sharp and chilling scrutiny which +irritated and yet overmastered him. + +'You need not think,' he broke out suddenly, in an explosive, +febrile manner that startled and alarmed himself, 'that I am a +stay-at-home, because I fear anything under God. God knows I am +tired enough of it all; and when the time comes for a longer +journey than ever you dream of, I reckon I shall find myself +prepared.' + +The stranger emptied his glass and pushed it away from him. He +looked down for a little, and then, leaning over the table, tapped +Will three times upon the forearm with a single finger. 'The time +has come!' he said solemnly. + +An ugly thrill spread from the spot he touched. The tones of his +voice were dull and startling, and echoed strangely in Will's +heart. + +'I beg your pardon,' he said, with some discomposure. 'What do you +mean?' + +'Look at me, and you will find your eyesight swim. Raise your +hand; it is dead-heavy. This is your last bottle of wine, Master +Will, and your last night upon the earth.' + +'You are a doctor?' quavered Will. + +'The best that ever was,' replied the other; 'for I cure both mind +and body with the same prescription. I take away all plain and I +forgive all sins; and where my patients have gone wrong in life, I +smooth out all complications and set them free again upon their +feet.' + +'I have no need of you,' said Will. + +'A time comes for all men, Master Will,' replied the doctor, 'when +the helm is taken out of their hands. For you, because you were +prudent and quiet, it has been long of coming, and you have had +long to discipline yourself for its reception. You have seen what +is to be seen about your mill; you have sat close all your days +like a hare in its form; but now that is at an end; and,' added the +doctor, getting on his feet, 'you must arise and come with me.' + +'You are a strange physician,' said Will, looking steadfastly upon +his guest. + +'I am a natural law,' he replied, 'and people call me Death.' + +'Why did you not tell me so at first?' cried Will. 'I have been +waiting for you these many years. Give me your hand, and welcome.' + +'Lean upon my arm,' said the stranger, 'for already your strength +abates. Lean on me as heavily as you need; for though I am old, I +am very strong. It is but three steps to my carriage, and there +all your trouble ends. Why, Will,' he added, 'I have been yearning +for you as if you were my own son; and of all the men that ever I +came for in my long days, I have come for you most gladly. I am +caustic, and sometimes offend people at first sight; but I am a +good friend at heart to such as you.' + +'Since Marjory was taken,' returned Will, 'I declare before God you +were the only friend I had to look for.' So the pair went arm-in- +arm across the courtyard. + +One of the servants awoke about this time and heard the noise of +horses pawing before he dropped asleep again; all down the valley +that night there was a rushing as of a smooth and steady wind +descending towards the plain; and when the world rose next morning, +sure enough Will o' the Mill had gone at last upon his travels. + + + + +MARKHEIM + + + + +'YES,' said the dealer, 'our windfalls are of various kinds. Some +customers are ignorant, and then I touch a dividend on my superior +knowledge. Some are dishonest,' and here he held up the candle, so +that the light fell strongly on his visitor, 'and in that case,' he +continued, 'I profit by my virtue.' + +Markheim had but just entered from the daylight streets, and his +eyes had not yet grown familiar with the mingled shine and darkness +in the shop. At these pointed words, and before the near presence +of the flame, he blinked painfully and looked aside. + +The dealer chuckled. 'You come to me on Christmas Day,' he +resumed, 'when you know that I am alone in my house, put up my +shutters, and make a point of refusing business. Well, you will +have to pay for that; you will have to pay for my loss of time, +when I should be balancing my books; you will have to pay, besides, +for a kind of manner that I remark in you to-day very strongly. I +am the essence of discretion, and ask no awkward questions; but +when a customer cannot look me in the eye, he has to pay for it.' +The dealer once more chuckled; and then, changing to his usual +business voice, though still with a note of irony, 'You can give, +as usual, a clear account of how you came into the possession of +the object?' he continued. 'Still your uncle's cabinet? A +remarkable collector, sir!' + +And the little pale, round-shouldered dealer stood almost on tip- +toe, looking over the top of his gold spectacles, and nodding his +head with every mark of disbelief. Markheim returned his gaze with +one of infinite pity, and a touch of horror. + +'This time,' said he, 'you are in error. I have not come to sell, +but to buy. I have no curios to dispose of; my uncle's cabinet is +bare to the wainscot; even were it still intact, I have done well +on the Stock Exchange, and should more likely add to it than +otherwise, and my errand to-day is simplicity itself. I seek a +Christmas present for a lady,' he continued, waxing more fluent as +he struck into the speech he had prepared; 'and certainly I owe you +every excuse for thus disturbing you upon so small a matter. But +the thing was neglected yesterday; I must produce my little +compliment at dinner; and, as you very well know, a rich marriage +is not a thing to be neglected.' + +There followed a pause, during which the dealer seemed to weigh +this statement incredulously. The ticking of many clocks among the +curious lumber of the shop, and the faint rushing of the cabs in a +near thoroughfare, filled up the interval of silence. + +'Well, sir,' said the dealer, 'be it so. You are an old customer +after all; and if, as you say, you have the chance of a good +marriage, far be it from me to be an obstacle. Here is a nice +thing for a lady now,' he went on, 'this hand glass - fifteenth +century, warranted; comes from a good collection, too; but I +reserve the name, in the interests of my customer, who was just +like yourself, my dear sir, the nephew and sole heir of a +remarkable collector.' + +The dealer, while he thus ran on in his dry and biting voice, had +stooped to take the object from its place; and, as he had done so, +a shock had passed through Markheim, a start both of hand and foot, +a sudden leap of many tumultuous passions to the face. It passed +as swiftly as it came, and left no trace beyond a certain trembling +of the hand that now received the glass. + +'A glass,' he said hoarsely, and then paused, and repeated it more +clearly. 'A glass? For Christmas? Surely not?' + +'And why not?' cried the dealer. 'Why not a glass?' + +Markheim was looking upon him with an indefinable expression. 'You +ask me why not?' he said. 'Why, look here - look in it - look at +yourself! Do you like to see it? No! nor I - nor any man.' + +The little man had jumped back when Markheim had so suddenly +confronted him with the mirror; but now, perceiving there was +nothing worse on hand, he chuckled. 'Your future lady, sir, must +be pretty hard favoured,' said he. + +'I ask you,' said Markheim, 'for a Christmas present, and you give +me this - this damned reminder of years, and sins and follies - +this hand-conscience! Did you mean it? Had you a thought in your +mind? Tell me. It will be better for you if you do. Come, tell +me about yourself. I hazard a guess now, that you are in secret a +very charitable man?' + +The dealer looked closely at his companion. It was very odd, +Markheim did not appear to be laughing; there was something in his +face like an eager sparkle of hope, but nothing of mirth. + +'What are you driving at?' the dealer asked. + +'Not charitable?' returned the other, gloomily. Not charitable; +not pious; not scrupulous; unloving, unbeloved; a hand to get +money, a safe to keep it. Is that all? Dear God, man, is that +all?' + +'I will tell you what it is,' began the dealer, with some +sharpness, and then broke off again into a chuckle. 'But I see +this is a love match of yours, and you have been drinking the +lady's health.' + +'Ah!' cried Markheim, with a strange curiosity. 'Ah, have you been +in love? Tell me about that.' + +'I,' cried the dealer. 'I in love! I never had the time, nor have +I the time to-day for all this nonsense. Will you take the glass?' + +'Where is the hurry?' returned Markheim. 'It is very pleasant to +stand here talking; and life is so short and insecure that I would +not hurry away from any pleasure - no, not even from so mild a one +as this. We should rather cling, cling to what little we can get, +like a man at a cliff's edge. Every second is a cliff, if you +think upon it - a cliff a mile high - high enough, if we fall, to +dash us out of every feature of humanity. Hence it is best to talk +pleasantly. Let us talk of each other: why should we wear this +mask? Let us be confidential. Who knows, we might become +friends?' + +'I have just one word to say to you,' said the dealer. 'Either +make your purchase, or walk out of my shop!' + +'True true,' said Markheim. 'Enough, fooling. To business. Show +me something else.' + +The dealer stooped once more, this time to replace the glass upon +the shelf, his thin blond hair falling over his eyes as he did so. +Markheim moved a little nearer, with one hand in the pocket of his +greatcoat; he drew himself up and filled his lungs; at the same +time many different emotions were depicted together on his face - +terror, horror, and resolve, fascination and a physical repulsion; +and through a haggard lift of his upper lip, his teeth looked out. + +'This, perhaps, may suit,' observed the dealer: and then, as he +began to re-arise, Markheim bounded from behind upon his victim. +The long, skewerlike dagger flashed and fell. The dealer struggled +like a hen, striking his temple on the shelf, and then tumbled on +the floor in a heap. + +Time had some score of small voices in that shop, some stately and +slow as was becoming to their great age; others garrulous and +hurried. All these told out the seconds in an intricate, chorus of +tickings. Then the passage of a lad's feet, heavily running on the +pavement, broke in upon these smaller voices and startled Markheim +into the consciousness of his surroundings. He looked about him +awfully. The candle stood on the counter, its flame solemnly +wagging in a draught; and by that inconsiderable movement, the +whole room was filled with noiseless bustle and kept heaving like a +sea: the tall shadows nodding, the gross blots of darkness swelling +and dwindling as with respiration, the faces of the portraits and +the china gods changing and wavering like images in water. The +inner door stood ajar, and peered into that leaguer of shadows with +a long slit of daylight like a pointing finger. + +From these fear-stricken rovings, Markheim's eyes returned to the +body of his victim, where it lay both humped and sprawling, +incredibly small and strangely meaner than in life. In these poor, +miserly clothes, in that ungainly attitude, the dealer lay like so +much sawdust. Markheim had feared to see it, and, lo! it was +nothing. And yet, as he gazed, this bundle of old clothes and pool +of blood began to find eloquent voices. There it must lie; there +was none to work the cunning hinges or direct the miracle of +locomotion - there it must lie till it was found. Found! ay, and +then? Then would this dead flesh lift up a cry that would ring +over England, and fill the world with the echoes of pursuit. Ay, +dead or not, this was still the enemy. 'Time was that when the +brains were out,' he thought; and the first word struck into his +mind. Time, now that the deed was accomplished - time, which had +closed for the victim, had become instant and momentous for the +slayer. + +The thought was yet in his mind, when, first one and then another, +with every variety of pace and voice - one deep as the bell from a +cathedral turret, another ringing on its treble notes the prelude +of a waltz-the clocks began to strike the hour of three in the +afternoon. + +The sudden outbreak of so many tongues in that dumb chamber +staggered him. He began to bestir himself, going to and fro with +the candle, beleaguered by moving shadows, and startled to the soul +by chance reflections. In many rich mirrors, some of home design, +some from Venice or Amsterdam, he saw his face repeated and +repeated, as it were an army of spies; his own eyes met and +detected him; and the sound of his own steps, lightly as they fell, +vexed the surrounding quiet. And still, as he continued to fill +his pockets, his mind accused him with a sickening iteration, of +the thousand faults of his design. He should have chosen a more +quiet hour; he should have prepared an alibi; he should not have +used a knife; he should have been more cautious, and only bound and +gagged the dealer, and not killed him; he should have been more +bold, and killed the servant also; he should have done all things +otherwise: poignant regrets, weary, incessant toiling of the mind +to change what was unchangeable, to plan what was now useless, to +be the architect of the irrevocable past. Meanwhile, and behind +all this activity, brute terrors, like the scurrying of rats in a +deserted attic, filled the more remote chambers of his brain with +riot; the hand of the constable would fall heavy on his shoulder, +and his nerves would jerk like a hooked fish; or he beheld, in +galloping defile, the dock, the prison, the gallows, and the black +coffin. + +Terror of the people in the street sat down before his mind like a +besieging army. It was impossible, he thought, but that some +rumour of the struggle must have reached their ears and set on edge +their curiosity; and now, in all the neighbouring houses, he +divined them sitting motionless and with uplifted ear - solitary +people, condemned to spend Christmas dwelling alone on memories of +the past, and now startingly recalled from that tender exercise; +happy family parties struck into silence round the table, the +mother still with raised finger: every degree and age and humour, +but all, by their own hearths, prying and hearkening and weaving +the rope that was to hang him. Sometimes it seemed to him he could +not move too softly; the clink of the tall Bohemian goblets rang +out loudly like a bell; and alarmed by the bigness of the ticking, +he was tempted to stop the clocks. And then, again, with a swift +transition of his terrors, the very silence of the place appeared a +source of peril, and a thing to strike and freeze the passer-by; +and he would step more boldly, and bustle aloud among the contents +of the shop, and imitate, with elaborate bravado, the movements of +a busy man at ease in his own house. + +But he was now so pulled about by different alarms that, while one +portion of his mind was still alert and cunning, another trembled +on the brink of lunacy. One hallucination in particular took a +strong hold on his credulity. The neighbour hearkening with white +face beside his window, the passer-by arrested by a horrible +surmise on the pavement - these could at worst suspect, they could +not know; through the brick walls and shuttered windows only sounds +could penetrate. But here, within the house, was he alone? He +knew he was; he had watched the servant set forth sweet-hearting, +in her poor best, 'out for the day' written in every ribbon and +smile. Yes, he was alone, of course; and yet, in the bulk of empty +house above him, he could surely hear a stir of delicate footing - +he was surely conscious, inexplicably conscious of some presence. +Ay, surely; to every room and corner of the house his imagination +followed it; and now it was a faceless thing, and yet had eyes to +see with; and again it was a shadow of himself; and yet again +behold the image of the dead dealer, reinspired with cunning and +hatred. + +At times, with a strong effort, he would glance at the open door +which still seemed to repel his eyes. The house was tall, the +skylight small and dirty, the day blind with fog; and the light +that filtered down to the ground story was exceedingly faint, and +showed dimly on the threshold of the shop. And yet, in that strip +of doubtful brightness, did there not hang wavering a shadow? + +Suddenly, from the street outside, a very jovial gentleman began to +beat with a staff on the shop-door, accompanying his blows with +shouts and railleries in which the dealer was continually called +upon by name. Markheim, smitten into ice, glanced at the dead man. +But no! he lay quite still; he was fled away far beyond earshot of +these blows and shoutings; he was sunk beneath seas of silence; and +his name, which would once have caught his notice above the howling +of a storm, had become an empty sound. And presently the jovial +gentleman desisted from his knocking, and departed. + +Here was a broad hint to hurry what remained to be done, to get +forth from this accusing neighbourhood, to plunge into a bath of +London multitudes, and to reach, on the other side of day, that +haven of safety and apparent innocence - his bed. One visitor had +come: at any moment another might follow and be more obstinate. To +have done the deed, and yet not to reap the profit, would be too +abhorrent a failure. The money, that was now Markheim's concern; +and as a means to that, the keys. + +He glanced over his shoulder at the open door, where the shadow was +still lingering and shivering; and with no conscious repugnance of +the mind, yet with a tremor of the belly, he drew near the body of +his victim. The human character had quite departed. Like a suit +half-stuffed with bran, the limbs lay scattered, the trunk doubled, +on the floor; and yet the thing repelled him. Although so dingy +and inconsiderable to the eye, he feared it might have more +significance to the touch. He took the body by the shoulders, and +turned it on its back. It was strangely light and supple, and the +limbs, as if they had been broken, fell into the oddest postures. +The face was robbed of all expression; but it was as pale as wax, +and shockingly smeared with blood about one temple. That was, for +Markheim, the one displeasing circumstance. It carried him back, +upon the instant, to a certain fair-day in a fishers' village: a +gray day, a piping wind, a crowd upon the street, the blare of +brasses, the booming of drums, the nasal voice of a ballad singer; +and a boy going to and fro, buried over head in the crowd and +divided between interest and fear, until, coming out upon the chief +place of concourse, he beheld a booth and a great screen with +pictures, dismally designed, garishly coloured: Brown-rigg with her +apprentice; the Mannings with their murdered guest; Weare in the +death-grip of Thurtell; and a score besides of famous crimes. The +thing was as clear as an illusion; he was once again that little +boy; he was looking once again, and with the same sense of physical +revolt, at these vile pictures; he was still stunned by the +thumping of the drums. A bar of that day's music returned upon his +memory; and at that, for the first time, a qualm came over him, a +breath of nausea, a sudden weakness of the joints, which he must +instantly resist and conquer. + +He judged it more prudent to confront than to flee from these +considerations; looking the more hardily in the dead face, bending +his mind to realise the nature and greatness of his crime. So +little a while ago that face had moved with every change of +sentiment, that pale mouth had spoken, that body had been all on +fire with governable energies; and now, and by his act, that piece +of life had been arrested, as the horologist, with interjected +finger, arrests the beating of the clock. So he reasoned in vain; +he could rise to no more remorseful consciousness; the same heart +which had shuddered before the painted effigies of crime, looked on +its reality unmoved. At best, he felt a gleam of pity for one who +had been endowed in vain with all those faculties that can make the +world a garden of enchantment, one who had never lived and who was +now dead. But of penitence, no, not a tremor. + +With that, shaking himself clear of these considerations, he found +the keys and advanced towards the open door of the shop. Outside, +it had begun to rain smartly; and the sound of the shower upon the +roof had banished silence. Like some dripping cavern, the chambers +of the house were haunted by an incessant echoing, which filled the +ear and mingled with the ticking of the clocks. And, as Markheim +approached the door, he seemed to hear, in answer to his own +cautious tread, the steps of another foot withdrawing up the stair. +The shadow still palpitated loosely on the threshold. He threw a +ton's weight of resolve upon his muscles, and drew back the door. + +The faint, foggy daylight glimmered dimly on the bare floor and +stairs; on the bright suit of armour posted, halbert in hand, upon +the landing; and on the dark wood-carvings, and framed pictures +that hung against the yellow panels of the wainscot. So loud was +the beating of the rain through all the house that, in Markheim's +ears, it began to be distinguished into many different sounds. +Footsteps and sighs, the tread of regiments marching in the +distance, the chink of money in the counting, and the creaking of +doors held stealthily ajar, appeared to mingle with the patter of +the drops upon the cupola and the gushing of the water in the +pipes. The sense that he was not alone grew upon him to the verge +of madness. On every side he was haunted and begirt by presences. +He heard them moving in the upper chambers; from the shop, he heard +the dead man getting to his legs; and as he began with a great +effort to mount the stairs, feet fled quietly before him and +followed stealthily behind. If he were but deaf, he thought, how +tranquilly he would possess his soul! And then again, and +hearkening with ever fresh attention, he blessed himself for that +unresting sense which held the outposts and stood a trusty sentinel +upon his life. His head turned continually on his neck; his eyes, +which seemed starting from their orbits, scouted on every side, and +on every side were half-rewarded as with the tail of something +nameless vanishing. The four-and-twenty steps to the first floor +were four-and-twenty agonies. + +On that first storey, the doors stood ajar, three of them like +three ambushes, shaking his nerves like the throats of cannon. He +could never again, he felt, be sufficiently immured and fortified +from men's observing eyes, he longed to be home, girt in by walls, +buried among bedclothes, and invisible to all but God. And at that +thought he wondered a little, recollecting tales of other murderers +and the fear they were said to entertain of heavenly avengers. It +was not so, at least, with him. He feared the laws of nature, +lest, in their callous and immutable procedure, they should +preserve some damning evidence of his crime. He feared tenfold +more, with a slavish, superstitions terror, some scission in the +continuity of man's experience, some wilful illegality of nature. +He played a game of skill, depending on the rules, calculating +consequence from cause; and what if nature, as the defeated tyrant +overthrew the chess-board, should break the mould of their +succession? The like had befallen Napoleon (so writers said) when +the winter changed the time of its appearance. The like might +befall Markheim: the solid walls might become transparent and +reveal his doings like those of bees in a glass hive; the stout +planks might yield under his foot like quicksands and detain him in +their clutch; ay, and there were soberer accidents that might +destroy him: if, for instance, the house should fall and imprison +him beside the body of his victim; or the house next door should +fly on fire, and the firemen invade him from all sides. These +things he feared; and, in a sense, these things might be called the +hands of God reached forth against sin. But about God himself he +was at ease; his act was doubtless exceptional, but so were his +excuses, which God knew; it was there, and not among men, that he +felt sure of justice. + +When he had got safe into the drawing-room, and shut the door +behind him, he was aware of a respite from alarms. The room was +quite dismantled, uncarpeted besides, and strewn with packing cases +and incongruous furniture; several great pier-glasses, in which he +beheld himself at various angles, like an actor on a stage; many +pictures, framed and unframed, standing, with their faces to the +wall; a fine Sheraton sideboard, a cabinet of marquetry, and a +great old bed, with tapestry hangings. The windows opened to the +floor; but by great good fortune the lower part of the shutters had +been closed, and this concealed him from the neighbours. Here, +then, Markheim drew in a packing case before the cabinet, and began +to search among the keys. It was a long business, for there were +many; and it was irksome, besides; for, after all, there might be +nothing in the cabinet, and time was on the wing. But the +closeness of the occupation sobered him. With the tail of his eye +he saw the door - even glanced at it from time to time directly, +like a besieged commander pleased to verify the good estate of his +defences. But in truth he was at peace. The rain falling in the +street sounded natural and pleasant. Presently, on the other side, +the notes of a piano were wakened to the music of a hymn, and the +voices of many children took up the air and words. How stately, +how comfortable was the melody! How fresh the youthful voices! +Markheim gave ear to it smilingly, as he sorted out the keys; and +his mind was thronged with answerable ideas and images; church- +going children and the pealing of the high organ; children afield, +bathers by the brookside, ramblers on the brambly common, kite- +flyers in the windy and cloud-navigated sky; and then, at another +cadence of the hymn, back again to church, and the somnolence of +summer Sundays, and the high genteel voice of the parson (which he +smiled a little to recall) and the painted Jacobean tombs, and the +dim lettering of the Ten Commandments in the chancel. + +And as he sat thus, at once busy and absent, he was startled to his +feet. A flash of ice, a flash of fire, a bursting gush of blood, +went over him, and then he stood transfixed and thrilling. A step +mounted the stair slowly and steadily, and presently a hand was +laid upon the knob, and the lock clicked, and the door opened. + +Fear held Markheim in a vice. What to expect he knew not, whether +the dead man walking, or the official ministers of human justice, +or some chance witness blindly stumbling in to consign him to the +gallows. But when a face was thrust into the aperture, glanced +round the room, looked at him, nodded and smiled as if in friendly +recognition, and then withdrew again, and the door closed behind +it, his fear broke loose from his control in a hoarse cry. At the +sound of this the visitant returned. + +'Did you call me?' he asked, pleasantly, and with that he entered +the room and closed the door behind him. + +Markheim stood and gazed at him with all his eyes. Perhaps there +was a film upon his sight, but the outlines of the new comer seemed +to change and waver like those of the idols in the wavering candle- +light of the shop; and at times he thought he knew him; and at +times he thought he bore a likeness to himself; and always, like a +lump of living terror, there lay in his bosom the conviction that +this thing was not of the earth and not of God. + +And yet the creature had a strange air of the commonplace, as he +stood looking on Markheim with a smile; and when he added: 'You are +looking for the money, I believe?' it was in the tones of everyday +politeness. + +Markheim made no answer. + +'I should warn you,' resumed the other, 'that the maid has left her +sweetheart earlier than usual and will soon be here. If Mr. +Markheim be found in this house, I need not describe to him the +consequences.' + +'You know me?' cried the murderer. + +The visitor smiled. 'You have long been a favourite of mine,' he +said; 'and I have long observed and often sought to help you.' + +'What are you?' cried Markheim: 'the devil?' + +'What I may be,' returned the other, 'cannot affect the service I +propose to render you.' + +'It can,' cried Markheim; 'it does! Be helped by you? No, never; +not by you! You do not know me yet; thank God, you do not know +me!' + +'I know you,' replied the visitant, with a sort of kind severity or +rather firmness. 'I know you to the soul.' + +'Know me!' cried Markheim. 'Who can do so? My life is but a +travesty and slander on myself. I have lived to belie my nature. +All men do; all men are better than this disguise that grows about +and stifles them. You see each dragged away by life, like one whom +bravos have seized and muffled in a cloak. If they had their own +control - if you could see their faces, they would be altogether +different, they would shine out for heroes and saints! I am worse +than most; myself is more overlaid; my excuse is known to me and +God. But, had I the time, I could disclose myself.' + +'To me?' inquired the visitant. + +'To you before all,' returned the murderer. 'I supposed you were +intelligent. I thought - since you exist - you would prove a +reader of the heart. And yet you would propose to judge me by my +acts! Think of it; my acts! I was born and I have lived in a land +of giants; giants have dragged me by the wrists since I was born +out of my mother - the giants of circumstance. And you would +judge me by my acts! But can you not look within? Can you not +understand that evil is hateful to me? Can you not see within me +the clear writing of conscience, never blurred by any wilful +sophistry, although too often disregarded? Can you not read me for +a thing that surely must be common as humanity - the unwilling +sinner?' + +'All this is very feelingly expressed,' was the reply, 'but it +regards me not. These points of consistency are beyond my +province, and I care not in the least by what compulsion you may +have been dragged away, so as you are but carried in the right +direction. But time flies; the servant delays, looking in the +faces of the crowd and at the pictures on the hoardings, but still +she keeps moving nearer; and remember, it is as if the gallows +itself was striding towards you through the Christmas streets! +Shall I help you; I, who know all? Shall I tell you where to find +the money?' + +'For what price?' asked Markheim. + +'I offer you the service for a Christmas gift,' returned the other. + +Markheim could not refrain from smiling with a kind of bitter +triumph. 'No,' said he, 'I will take nothing at your hands; if I +were dying of thirst, and it was your hand that put the pitcher to +my lips, I should find the courage to refuse. It may be credulous, +but I will do nothing to commit myself to evil.' + +'I have no objection to a death-bed repentance,' observed the +visitant. + +'Because you disbelieve their efficacy!' Markheim cried. + +'I do not say so,' returned the other; 'but I look on these things +from a different side, and when the life is done my interest falls. +The man has lived to serve me, to spread black looks under colour +of religion, or to sow tares in the wheat-field, as you do, in a +course of weak compliance with desire. Now that he draws so near +to his deliverance, he can add but one act of service - to repent, +to die smiling, and thus to build up in confidence and hope the +more timorous of my surviving followers. I am not so hard a +master. Try me. Accept my help. Please yourself in life as you +have done hitherto; please yourself more amply, spread your elbows +at the board; and when the night begins to fall and the curtains to +be drawn, I tell you, for your greater comfort, that you will find +it even easy to compound your quarrel with your conscience, and to +make a truckling peace with God. I came but now from such a +deathbed, and the room was full of sincere mourners, listening to +the man's last words: and when I looked into that face, which had +been set as a flint against mercy, I found it smiling with hope.' + +'And do you, then, suppose me such a creature?' asked Markheim. +'Do you think I have no more generous aspirations than to sin, and +sin, and sin, and, at the last, sneak into heaven? My heart rises +at the thought. Is this, then, your experience of mankind? or is +it because you find me with red hands that you presume such +baseness? and is this crime of murder indeed so impious as to dry +up the very springs of good?' + +'Murder is to me no special category,' replied the other. 'All +sins are murder, even as all life is war. I behold your race, like +starving mariners on a raft, plucking crusts out of the hands of +famine and feeding on each other's lives. I follow sins beyond the +moment of their acting; I find in all that the last consequence is +death; and to my eyes, the pretty maid who thwarts her mother with +such taking graces on a question of a ball, drips no less visibly +with human gore than such a murderer as yourself. Do I say that I +follow sins? I follow virtues also; they differ not by the +thickness of a nail, they are both scythes for the reaping angel of +Death. Evil, for which I live, consists not in action but in +character. The bad man is dear to me; not the bad act, whose +fruits, if we could follow them far enough down the hurtling +cataract of the ages, might yet be found more blessed than those of +the rarest virtues. And it is not because you have killed a +dealer, but because you are Markheim, that I offer to forward your +escape.' + +'I will lay my heart open to you,' answered Markheim. 'This crime +on which you find me is my last. On my way to it I have learned +many lessons; itself is a lesson, a momentous lesson. Hitherto I +have been driven with revolt to what I would not; I was a bond- +slave to poverty, driven and scourged. There are robust virtues +that can stand in these temptations; mine was not so: I had a +thirst of pleasure. But to-day, and out of this deed, I pluck both +warning and riches - both the power and a fresh resolve to be +myself. I become in all things a free actor in the world; I begin +to see myself all changed, these hands the agents of good, this +heart at peace. Something comes over me out of the past; something +of what I have dreamed on Sabbath evenings to the sound of the +church organ, of what I forecast when I shed tears over noble +books, or talked, an innocent child, with my mother. There lies my +life; I have wandered a few years, but now I see once more my city +of destination.' + +'You are to use this money on the Stock Exchange, I think?' +remarked the visitor; 'and there, if I mistake not, you have +already lost some thousands?' + +'Ah,' said Markheim, 'but this time I have a sure thing.' + +'This time, again, you will lose,' replied the visitor quietly. + +'Ah, but I keep back the half!' cried Markheim. + +'That also you will lose,' said the other. + +The sweat started upon Markheim's brow. 'Well, then, what matter?' +he exclaimed. 'Say it be lost, say I am plunged again in poverty, +shall one part of me, and that the worse, continue until the end to +override the better? Evil and good run strong in me, haling me +both ways. I do not love the one thing, I love all. I can +conceive great deeds, renunciations, martyrdoms; and though I be +fallen to such a crime as murder, pity is no stranger to my +thoughts. I pity the poor; who knows their trials better than +myself? I pity and help them; I prize love, I love honest +laughter; there is no good thing nor true thing on earth but I love +it from my heart. And are my vices only to direct my life, and my +virtues to lie without effect, like some passive lumber of the +mind? Not so; good, also, is a spring of acts.' + +But the visitant raised his finger. 'For six-and-thirty years that +you have been in this world,' said be, 'through many changes of +fortune and varieties of humour, I have watched you steadily fall. +Fifteen years ago you would have started at a theft. Three years +back you would have blenched at the name of murder. Is there any +crime, is there any cruelty or meanness, from which you still +recoil? - five years from now I shall detect you in the fact! +Downward, downward, lies your way; nor can anything but death avail +to stop you.' + +'It is true,' Markheim said huskily, 'I have in some degree +complied with evil. But it is so with all: the very saints, in the +mere exercise of living, grow less dainty, and take on the tone of +their surroundings.' + +'I will propound to you one simple question,' said the other; 'and +as you answer, I shall read to you your moral horoscope. You have +grown in many things more lax; possibly you do right to be so - and +at any account, it is the same with all men. But granting that, +are you in any one particular, however trifling, more difficult to +please with your own conduct, or do you go in all things with a +looser rein?' + +'In any one?' repeated Markheim, with an anguish of consideration. +'No,' he added, with despair, 'in none! I have gone down in all.' + +'Then,' said the visitor, 'content yourself with what you are, for +you will never change; and the words of your part on this stage are +irrevocably written down.' + +Markheim stood for a long while silent, and indeed it was the +visitor who first broke the silence. 'That being so,' he said, +'shall I show you the money?' + +'And grace?' cried Markheim. + +'Have you not tried it?' returned the other. 'Two or three years +ago, did I not see you on the platform of revival meetings, and was +not your voice the loudest in the hymn?' + +'It is true,' said Markheim; 'and I see clearly what remains for me +by way of duty. I thank you for these lessons from my soul; my +eyes are opened, and I behold myself at last for what I am.' + +At this moment, the sharp note of the door-bell rang through the +house; and the visitant, as though this were some concerted signal +for which he had been waiting, changed at once in his demeanour. + +'The maid!' he cried. 'She has returned, as I forewarned you, and +there is now before you one more difficult passage. Her master, +you must say, is ill; you must let her in, with an assured but +rather serious countenance - no smiles, no overacting, and I +promise you success! Once the girl within, and the door closed, +the same dexterity that has already rid you of the dealer will +relieve you of this last danger in your path. Thenceforward you +have the whole evening - the whole night, if needful - to ransack +the treasures of the house and to make good your safety. This is +help that comes to you with the mask of danger. Up!' he cried; +'up, friend; your life hangs trembling in the scales: up, and act!' + +Markheim steadily regarded his counsellor. 'If I be condemned to +evil acts,' he said, 'there is still one door of freedom open - I +can cease from action. If my life be an ill thing, I can lay it +down. Though I be, as you say truly, at the beck of every small +temptation, I can yet, by one decisive gesture, place myself beyond +the reach of all. My love of good is damned to barrenness; it may, +and let it be! But I have still my hatred of evil; and from that, +to your galling disappointment, you shall see that I can draw both +energy and courage.' + +The features of the visitor began to undergo a wonderful and lovely +change: they brightened and softened with a tender triumph, and, +even as they brightened, faded and dislimned. But Markheim did not +pause to watch or understand the transformation. He opened the +door and went downstairs very slowly, thinking to himself. His +past went soberly before him; he beheld it as it was, ugly and +strenuous like a dream, random as chance-medley - a scene of +defeat. Life, as he thus reviewed it, tempted him no longer; but +on the further side he perceived a quiet haven for his bark. He +paused in the passage, and looked into the shop, where the candle +still burned by the dead body. It was strangely silent. Thoughts +of the dealer swarmed into his mind, as he stood gazing. And then +the bell once more broke out into impatient clamour. + +He confronted the maid upon the threshold with something like a +smile. + +'You had better go for the police,' said he: 'I have killed your +master.' + + + + +THRAWN JANET + + + + +THE Reverend Murdoch Soulis was long minister of the moorland +parish of Balweary, in the vale of Dule. A severe, bleak-faced old +man, dreadful to his hearers, he dwelt in the last years of his +life, without relative or servant or any human company, in the +small and lonely manse under the Hanging Shaw. In spite of the +iron composure of his features, his eye was wild, scared, and +uncertain; and when he dwelt, in private admonitions, on the future +of the impenitent, it seemed as if his eye pierced through the +storms of time to the terrors of eternity. Many young persons, +coming to prepare themselves against the season of the Holy +Communion, were dreadfully affected by his talk. He had a sermon +on lst Peter, v. and 8th, 'The devil as a roaring lion,' on the +Sunday after every seventeenth of August, and he was accustomed to +surpass himself upon that text both by the appalling nature of the +matter and the terror of his bearing in the pulpit. The children +were frightened into fits, and the old looked more than usually +oracular, and were, all that day, full of those hints that Hamlet +deprecated. The manse itself, where it stood by the water of Dule +among some thick trees, with the Shaw overhanging it on the one +side, and on the other many cold, moorish hilltops rising towards +the sky, had begun, at a very early period of Mr. Soulis's +ministry, to be avoided in the dusk hours by all who valued +themselves upon their prudence; and guidmen sitting at the clachan +alehouse shook their heads together at the thought of passing late +by that uncanny neighbourhood. There was one spot, to be more +particular, which was regarded with especial awe. The manse stood +between the high road and the water of Dule, with a gable to each; +its back was towards the kirk-town of Balweary, nearly half a mile +away; in front of it, a bare garden, hedged with thorn, occupied +the land between the river and the road. The house was two stories +high, with two large rooms on each. It opened not directly on the +garden, but on a causewayed path, or passage, giving on the road on +the one hand, and closed on the other by the tall willows and +elders that bordered on the stream. And it was this strip of +causeway that enjoyed among the young parishioners of Balweary so +infamous a reputation. The minister walked there often after dark, +sometimes groaning aloud in the instancy of his unspoken prayers; +and when he was from home, and the manse door was locked, the more +daring schoolboys ventured, with beating hearts, to 'follow my +leader' across that legendary spot. + +This atmosphere of terror, surrounding, as it did, a man of God of +spotless character and orthodoxy, was a common cause of wonder and +subject of inquiry among the few strangers who were led by chance +or business into that unknown, outlying country. But many even of +the people of the parish were ignorant of the strange events which +had marked the first year of Mr. Soulis's ministrations; and among +those who were better informed, some were naturally reticent, and +others shy of that particular topic. Now and again, only, one of +the older folk would warm into courage over his third tumbler, and +recount the cause of the minister's strange looks and solitary +life. + + +Fifty years syne, when Mr. Soulis cam first into Ba'weary, he was +still a young man - a callant, the folk said - fu' o' book learnin' +and grand at the exposition, but, as was natural in sae young a +man, wi' nae leevin' experience in religion. The younger sort were +greatly taken wi' his gifts and his gab; but auld, concerned, +serious men and women were moved even to prayer for the young man, +whom they took to be a self-deceiver, and the parish that was like +to be sae ill-supplied. It was before the days o' the moderates - +weary fa' them; but ill things are like guid - they baith come bit +by bit, a pickle at a time; and there were folk even then that said +the Lord had left the college professors to their ain devices, an' +the lads that went to study wi' them wad hae done mair and better +sittin' in a peat-bog, like their forbears of the persecution, wi' +a Bible under their oxter and a speerit o' prayer in their heart. +There was nae doubt, onyway, but that Mr. Soulis had been ower lang +at the college. He was careful and troubled for mony things +besides the ae thing needful. He had a feck o' books wi' him - +mair than had ever been seen before in a' that presbytery; and a +sair wark the carrier had wi' them, for they were a' like to have +smoored in the Deil's Hag between this and Kilmackerlie. They were +books o' divinity, to be sure, or so they ca'd them; but the +serious were o' opinion there was little service for sae mony, when +the hail o' God's Word would gang in the neuk of a plaid. Then he +wad sit half the day and half the nicht forbye, which was scant +decent - writin', nae less; and first, they were feared he wad read +his sermons; and syne it proved he was writin' a book himsel', +which was surely no fittin' for ane of his years an' sma' +experience. + +Onyway it behoved him to get an auld, decent wife to keep the manse +for him an' see to his bit denners; and he was recommended to an +auld limmer - Janet M'Clour, they ca'd her - and sae far left to +himsel' as to be ower persuaded. There was mony advised him to the +contrar, for Janet was mair than suspeckit by the best folk in +Ba'weary. Lang or that, she had had a wean to a dragoon; she +hadnae come forrit (4) for maybe thretty year; and bairns had seen +her mumblin' to hersel' up on Key's Loan in the gloamin', whilk was +an unco time an' place for a God-fearin' woman. Howsoever, it was +the laird himsel' that had first tauld the minister o' Janet; and +in thae days he wad have gane a far gate to pleesure the laird. +When folk tauld him that Janet was sib to the deil, it was a' +superstition by his way of it; an' when they cast up the Bible to +him an' the witch of Endor, he wad threep it doun their thrapples +that thir days were a' gane by, and the deil was mercifully +restrained. + +Weel, when it got about the clachan that Janet M'Clour was to be +servant at the manse, the folk were fair mad wi' her an' him +thegether; and some o' the guidwives had nae better to dae than get +round her door cheeks and chairge her wi' a' that was ken't again +her, frae the sodger's bairn to John Tamson's twa kye. She was nae +great speaker; folk usually let her gang her ain gate, an' she let +them gang theirs, wi', neither Fair-guid-een nor Fair-guid-day; but +when she buckled to, she had a tongue to deave the miller. Up she +got, an' there wasnae an auld story in Ba'weary but she gart +somebody lowp for it that day; they couldnae say ae thing but she +could say twa to it; till, at the hinder end, the guidwives up and +claught haud of her, and clawed the coats aff her back, and pu'd +her doun the clachan to the water o' Dule, to see if she were a +witch or no, soum or droun. The carline skirled till ye could hear +her at the Hangin' Shaw, and she focht like ten; there was mony a +guidwife bure the mark of her neist day an' mony a lang day after; +and just in the hettest o' the collieshangie, wha suld come up (for +his sins) but the new minister. + +'Women,' said he (and he had a grand voice), 'I charge you in the +Lord's name to let her go.' + +Janet ran to him - she was fair wud wi' terror - an' clang to him, +an' prayed him, for Christ's sake, save her frae the cummers; an' +they, for their pairt, tauld him a' that was ken't, and maybe mair. + +'Woman,' says he to Janet, 'is this true?' + +'As the Lord sees me,' says she, 'as the Lord made me, no a word +o't. Forbye the bairn,' says she, 'I've been a decent woman a' my +days.' + +'Will you,' says Mr. Soulis, 'in the name of God, and before me, +His unworthy minister, renounce the devil and his works?' + +Weel, it wad appear that when he askit that, she gave a girn that +fairly frichtit them that saw her, an' they could hear her teeth +play dirl thegether in her chafts; but there was naething for it +but the ae way or the ither; an' Janet lifted up her hand and +renounced the deil before them a'. + +'And now,' says Mr. Soulis to the guidwives, 'home with ye, one and +all, and pray to God for His forgiveness.' + +And he gied Janet his arm, though she had little on her but a sark, +and took her up the clachan to her ain door like a leddy of the +land; an' her scrieghin' and laughin' as was a scandal to be heard. + +There were mony grave folk lang ower their prayers that nicht; but +when the morn cam' there was sic a fear fell upon a' Ba'weary that +the bairns hid theirsels, and even the men folk stood and keekit +frae their doors. For there was Janet comin' doun the clachan - +her or her likeness, nane could tell - wi' her neck thrawn, and her +heid on ae side, like a body that has been hangit, and a girn on +her face like an unstreakit corp. By an' by they got used wi' it, +and even speered at her to ken what was wrang; but frae that day +forth she couldnae speak like a Christian woman, but slavered and +played click wi' her teeth like a pair o' shears; and frae that day +forth the name o' God cam never on her lips. Whiles she wad try to +say it, but it michtnae be. Them that kenned best said least; but +they never gied that Thing the name o' Janet M'Clour; for the auld +Janet, by their way o't, was in muckle hell that day. But the +minister was neither to haud nor to bind; he preached about +naething but the folk's cruelty that had gi'en her a stroke of the +palsy; he skelpt the bairns that meddled her; and he had her up to +the manse that same nicht, and dwalled there a' his lane wi' her +under the Hangin' Shaw. + +Weel, time gaed by: and the idler sort commenced to think mair +lichtly o' that black business. The minister was weel thocht o'; +he was aye late at the writing, folk wad see his can'le doon by the +Dule water after twal' at e'en; and he seemed pleased wi' himsel' +and upsitten as at first, though a' body could see that he was +dwining. As for Janet she cam an' she gaed; if she didnae speak +muckle afore, it was reason she should speak less then; she meddled +naebody; but she was an eldritch thing to see, an' nane wad hae +mistrysted wi' her for Ba'weary glebe. + +About the end o' July there cam' a spell o' weather, the like o't +never was in that country side; it was lown an' het an' heartless; +the herds couldnae win up the Black Hill, the bairns were ower +weariet to play; an' yet it was gousty too, wi' claps o' het wund +that rumm'led in the glens, and bits o' shouers that slockened +naething. We aye thocht it but to thun'er on the morn; but the +morn cam, an' the morn's morning, and it was aye the same uncanny +weather, sair on folks and bestial. Of a' that were the waur, nane +suffered like Mr. Soulis; he could neither sleep nor eat, he tauld +his elders; an' when he wasnae writin' at his weary book, he wad be +stravaguin' ower a' the countryside like a man possessed, when a' +body else was blythe to keep caller ben the house. + +Abune Hangin' Shaw, in the bield o' the Black Hill, there's a bit +enclosed grund wi' an iron yett; and it seems, in the auld days, +that was the kirkyaird o' Ba'weary, and consecrated by the Papists +before the blessed licht shone upon the kingdom. It was a great +howff o' Mr. Soulis's, onyway; there he would sit an' consider his +sermons; and indeed it's a bieldy bit. Weel, as he cam ower the +wast end o' the Black Hill, ae day, he saw first twa, an syne +fower, an' syne seeven corbie craws fleein' round an' round abune +the auld kirkyaird. They flew laigh and heavy, an' squawked to +ither as they gaed; and it was clear to Mr. Soulis that something +had put them frae their ordinar. He wasnae easy fleyed, an' gaed +straucht up to the wa's; an' what suld he find there but a man, or +the appearance of a man, sittin' in the inside upon a grave. He +was of a great stature, an' black as hell, and his e'en were +singular to see. (5) Mr. Soulis had heard tell o' black men, +mony's the time; but there was something unco about this black man +that daunted him. Het as he was, he took a kind o' cauld grue in +the marrow o' his banes; but up he spak for a' that; an' says he: +'My friend, are you a stranger in this place?' The black man +answered never a word; he got upon his feet, an' begude to hirsle +to the wa' on the far side; but he aye lookit at the minister; an' +the minister stood an' lookit back; till a' in a meenute the black +man was ower the wa' an' rinnin' for the bield o' the trees. Mr. +Soulis, he hardly kenned why, ran after him; but he was sair +forjaskit wi' his walk an' the het, unhalesome weather; and rin as +he likit, he got nae mair than a glisk o' the black man amang the +birks, till he won doun to the foot o' the hill-side, an' there he +saw him ance mair, gaun, hap, step, an' lowp, ower Dule water to +the manse. + +Mr. Soulis wasnae weel pleased that this fearsome gangrel suld mak' +sae free wi' Ba'weary manse; an' he ran the harder, an', wet shoon, +ower the burn, an' up the walk; but the deil a black man was there +to see. He stepped out upon the road, but there was naebody there; +he gaed a' ower the gairden, but na, nae black man. At the hinder +end, and a bit feared as was but natural, he lifted the hasp and +into the manse; and there was Janet M'Clour before his een, wi' her +thrawn craig, and nane sae pleased to see him. And he aye minded +sinsyne, when first he set his een upon her, he had the same cauld +and deidly grue. + +'Janet,' says he, 'have you seen a black man?' + +'A black man?' quo' she. 'Save us a'! Ye're no wise, minister. +There's nae black man in a Ba'weary.' + +But she didnae speak plain, ye maun understand; but yam-yammered, +like a powney wi' the bit in its moo. + +'Weel,' says he, 'Janet, if there was nae black man, I have spoken +with the Accuser of the Brethren.' + +And he sat down like ane wi' a fever, an' his teeth chittered in +his heid. + +'Hoots,' says she, 'think shame to yoursel', minister;' an' gied +him a drap brandy that she keept aye by her. + +Syne Mr. Soulis gaed into his study amang a' his books. It's a +lang, laigh, mirk chalmer, perishin' cauld in winter, an' no very +dry even in the tap o' the simmer, for the manse stands near the +burn. Sae doun he sat, and thocht of a' that had come an' gane +since he was in Ba'weary, an' his hame, an' the days when he was a +bairn an' ran daffin' on the braes; and that black man aye ran in +his heid like the ower-come of a sang. Aye the mair he thocht, the +mair he thocht o' the black man. He tried the prayer, an' the +words wouldnae come to him; an' he tried, they say, to write at his +book, but he could nae mak' nae mair o' that. There was whiles he +thocht the black man was at his oxter, an' the swat stood upon him +cauld as well-water; and there was other whiles, when he cam to +himsel' like a christened bairn and minded naething. + +The upshot was that he gaed to the window an' stood glowrin' at +Dule water. The trees are unco thick, an' the water lies deep an' +black under the manse; an' there was Janct washin' the cla'es wi' +her coats kilted. She had her back to the minister, an' he, for +his pairt, hardly kenned what he was lookin' at. Syne she turned +round, an' shawed her face; Mr. Soulis had the same cauld grue as +twice that day afore, an' it was borne in upon him what folk said, +that Janet was deid lang syne, an' this was a bogle in her clay- +cauld flesh. He drew back a pickle and he scanned her narrowly. +She was tramp-trampin' in the cla'es, croonin' to hersel'; and eh! +Gude guide us, but it was a fearsome face. Whiles she sang louder, +but there was nae man born o' woman that could tell the words o' +her sang; an' whiles she lookit side-lang doun, but there was +naething there for her to look at. There gaed a scunner through +the flesh upon his banes; and that was Heeven's advertisement. But +Mr. Soulis just blamed himsel', he said, to think sae ill of a +puir, auld afflicted wife that hadnae a freend forbye himsel'; an' +he put up a bit prayer for him and her, an' drank a little caller +water - for his heart rose again the meat - an' gaed up to his +naked bed in the gloaming. + +That was a nicht that has never been forgotten in Ba'weary, the +nicht o' the seeventeenth of August, seventeen hun'er' an twal'. +It had been het afore, as I hae said, but that nicht it was hetter +than ever. The sun gaed doun amang unco-lookin' clouds; it fell as +mirk as the pit; no a star, no a breath o' wund; ye couldnae see +your han' afore your face, and even the auld folk cuist the covers +frae their beds and lay pechin' for their breath. Wi' a' that he +had upon his mind, it was gey and unlikely Mr. Soulis wad get +muckle sleep. He lay an' he tummled; the gude, caller bed that he +got into brunt his very banes; whiles he slept, and whiles he +waukened; whiles he heard the time o' nicht, and whiles a tyke +yowlin' up the muir, as if somebody was deid; whiles he thocht he +heard bogles claverin' in his lug, an' whiles he saw spunkies in +the room. He behoved, he judged, to be sick; an' sick he was - +little he jaloosed the sickness. + +At the hinder end, he got a clearness in his mind, sat up in his +sark on the bed-side, and fell thinkin' ance mair o' the black man +an' Janet. He couldnae weel tell how - maybe it was the cauld to +his feet - but it cam' in upon him wi' a spate that there was some +connection between thir twa, an' that either or baith o' them were +bogles. And just at that moment, in Janet's room, which was neist +to his, there cam' a stramp o' feet as if men were wars'lin', an' +then a loud bang; an' then a wund gaed reishling round the fower +quarters of the house; an' then a' was aince mair as seelent as the +grave. + +Mr. Soulis was feared for neither man nor deevil. He got his +tinder-box, an' lit a can'le, an' made three steps o't ower to +Janet's door. It was on the hasp, an' he pushed it open, an' +keeked bauldly in. It was a big room, as big as the minister's +ain, an' plenished wi' grand, auld, solid gear, for he had naething +else. There was a fower-posted bed wi' auld tapestry; and a braw +cabinet of aik, that was fu' o' the minister's divinity books, an' +put there to be out o' the gate; an' a wheen duds o' Janet's lying +here and there about the floor. But nae Janet could Mr. Soulis +see; nor ony sign of a contention. In he gaed (an' there's few +that wad ha'e followed him) an' lookit a' round, an' listened. But +there was naethin' to be heard, neither inside the manse nor in a' +Ba'weary parish, an' naethin' to be seen but the muckle shadows +turnin' round the can'le. An' then a' at aince, the minister's +heart played dunt an' stood stock-still; an' a cauld wund blew +amang the hairs o' his heid. Whaten a weary sicht was that for the +puir man's een! For there was Janat hangin' frae a nail beside the +auld aik cabinet: her heid aye lay on her shoother, her een were +steeked, the tongue projekit frae her mouth, and her heels were twa +feet clear abune the floor. + +'God forgive us all!' thocht Mr. Soulis; 'poor Janet's dead.' + +He cam' a step nearer to the corp; an' then his heart fair whammled +in his inside. For by what cantrip it wad ill-beseem a man to +judge, she was hingin' frae a single nail an' by a single wursted +thread for darnin' hose. + +It's an awfu' thing to be your lane at nicht wi' siccan prodigies +o' darkness; but Mr. Soulis was strong in the Lord. He turned an' +gaed his ways oot o' that room, and lockit the door ahint him; and +step by step, doon the stairs, as heavy as leed; and set doon the +can'le on the table at the stairfoot. He couldnae pray, he +couldnae think, he was dreepin' wi' caul' swat, an' naething could +he hear but the dunt-dunt-duntin' o' his ain heart. He micht maybe +have stood there an hour, or maybe twa, he minded sae little; when +a' o' a sudden, he heard a laigh, uncanny steer upstairs; a foot +gaed to an' fro in the cha'mer whaur the corp was hingin'; syne the +door was opened, though he minded weel that he had lockit it; an' +syne there was a step upon the landin', an' it seemed to him as if +the corp was lookin' ower the rail and doun upon him whaur he +stood. + +He took up the can'le again (for he couldnae want the licht), and +as saftly as ever he could, gaed straucht out o' the manse an' to +the far end o' the causeway. It was aye pit-mirk; the flame o' the +can'le, when he set it on the grund, brunt steedy and clear as in a +room; naething moved, but the Dule water seepin' and sabbin' doon +the glen, an' yon unhaly footstep that cam' ploddin doun the stairs +inside the manse. He kenned the foot over weel, for it was +Janet's; and at ilka step that cam' a wee thing nearer, the cauld +got deeper in his vitals. He commanded his soul to Him that made +an' keepit him; 'and O Lord,' said he, 'give me strength this night +to war against the powers of evil.' + +By this time the foot was comin' through the passage for the door; +he could hear a hand skirt alang the wa', as if the fearsome thing +was feelin' for its way. The saughs tossed an' maned thegether, a +lang sigh cam' ower the hills, the flame o' the can'le was blawn +aboot; an' there stood the corp of Thrawn Janet, wi' her grogram +goun an' her black mutch, wi' the heid aye upon the shouther, an' +the girn still upon the face o't - leevin', ye wad hae said - deid, +as Mr. Soulis weel kenned - upon the threshold o' the manse. + +It's a strange thing that the saul of man should be that thirled +into his perishable body; but the minister saw that, an' his heart +didnae break. + +She didnae stand there lang; she began to move again an' cam' +slowly towards Mr. Soulis whaur he stood under the saughs. A' the +life o' his body, a' the strength o' his speerit, were glowerin' +frae his een. It seemed she was gaun to speak, but wanted words, +an' made a sign wi' the left hand. There cam' a clap o' wund, like +a cat's fuff; oot gaed the can'le, the saughs skrieghed like folk; +an' Mr. Soulis kenned that, live or die, this was the end o't. + +'Witch, beldame, devil!' he cried, 'I charge you, by the power of +God, begone - if you be dead, to the grave - if you be damned, to +hell.' + +An' at that moment the Lord's ain hand out o' the Heevens struck +the Horror whaur it stood; the auld, deid, desecrated corp o' the +witch-wife, sae lang keepit frae the grave and hirsled round by +deils, lowed up like a brunstane spunk and fell in ashes to the +grund; the thunder followed, peal on dirling peal, the rairing rain +upon the back o' that; and Mr. Soulis lowped through the garden +hedge, and ran, wi' skelloch upon skelloch, for the clachan. + +That same mornin', John Christie saw the Black Man pass the Muckle +Cairn as it was chappin' six; before eicht, he gaed by the change- +house at Knockdow; an' no lang after, Sandy M'Lellan saw him gaun +linkin' doun the braes frae Kilmackerlie. There's little doubt but +it was him that dwalled sae lang in Janet's body; but he was awa' +at last; and sinsyne the deil has never fashed us in Ba'weary. + +But it was a sair dispensation for the minister; lang, lang he lay +ravin' in his bed; and frae that hour to this, he was the man ye +ken the day. + + + + +OLALLA + + + + +'Now,' said the doctor, 'my part is done, and, I may say, with some +vanity, well done. It remains only to get you out of this cold and +poisonous city, and to give you two months of a pure air and an +easy conscience. The last is your affair. To the first I think I +can help you. It fells indeed rather oddly; it was but the other +day the Padre came in from the country; and as he and I are old +friends, although of contrary professions, he applied to me in a +matter of distress among some of his parishioners. This was a +family - but you are ignorant of Spain, and even the names of our +grandees are hardly known to you; suffice it, then, that they were +once great people, and are now fallen to the brink of destitution. +Nothing now belongs to them but the residencia, and certain leagues +of desert mountain, in the greater part of which not even a goat +could support life. But the house is a fine old place, and stands +at a great height among the hills, and most salubriously; and I had +no sooner heard my friend's tale, than I remembered you. I told +him I had a wounded officer, wounded in the good cause, who was now +able to make a change; and I proposed that his friends should take +you for a lodger. Instantly the Padre's face grew dark, as I had +maliciously foreseen it would. It was out of the question, he +said. Then let them starve, said I, for I have no sympathy with +tatterdemalion pride. There-upon we separated, not very content +with one another; but yesterday, to my wonder, the Padre returned +and made a submission: the difficulty, he said, he had found upon +enquiry to be less than he had feared; or, in other words, these +proud people had put their pride in their pocket. I closed with +the offer; and, subject to your approval, I have taken rooms for +you in the residencia. The air of these mountains will renew your +blood; and the quiet in which you will there live is worth all the +medicines in the world.' + +'Doctor,' said I, 'you have been throughout my good angel, and your +advice is a command. But tell me, if you please, something of the +family with which I am to reside.' + +'I am coming to that,' replied my friend; 'and, indeed, there is a +difficulty in the way. These beggars are, as I have said, of very +high descent and swollen with the most baseless vanity; they have +lived for some generations in a growing isolation, drawing away, on +either hand, from the rich who had now become too high for them, +and from the poor, whom they still regarded as too low; and even +to-day, when poverty forces them to unfasten their door to a guest, +they cannot do so without a most ungracious stipulation. You are +to remain, they say, a stranger; they will give you attendance, but +they refuse from the first the idea of the smallest intimacy.' + +I will not deny that I was piqued, and perhaps the feeling +strengthened my desire to go, for I was confident that I could +break down that barrier if I desired. 'There is nothing offensive +in such a stipulation,' said I; 'and I even sympathise with the +feeling that inspired it.' + +'It is true they have never seen you,' returned the doctor +politely; 'and if they knew you were the handsomest and the most +pleasant man that ever came from England (where I am told that +handsome men are common, but pleasant ones not so much so), they +would doubtless make you welcome with a better grace. But since +you take the thing so well, it matters not. To me, indeed, it +seems discourteous. But you will find yourself the gainer. The +family will not much tempt you. A mother, a son, and a daughter; +an old woman said to be halfwitted, a country lout, and a country +girl, who stands very high with her confessor, and is, therefore,' +chuckled the physician, 'most likely plain; there is not much in +that to attract the fancy of a dashing officer.' + +'And yet you say they are high-born,' I objected. + +'Well, as to that, I should distinguish,' returned the doctor. +'The mother is; not so the children. The mother was the last +representative of a princely stock, degenerate both in parts and +fortune. Her father was not only poor, he was mad: and the girl +ran wild about the residencia till his death. Then, much of the +fortune having died with him, and the family being quite extinct, +the girl ran wilder than ever, until at last she married, Heaven +knows whom, a muleteer some say, others a smuggler; while there are +some who uphold there was no marriage at all, and that Felipe and +Olalla are bastards. The union, such as it was, was tragically +dissolved some years ago; but they live in such seclusion, and the +country at that time was in so much disorder, that the precise +manner of the man's end is known only to the priest - if even to +him.' + +'I begin to think I shall have strange experiences,' said I. + +'I would not romance, if I were you,' replied the doctor; 'you will +find, I fear, a very grovelling and commonplace reality. Felipe, +for instance, I have seen. And what am I to say? He is very +rustic, very cunning, very loutish, and, I should say, an innocent; +the others are probably to match. No, no, senor commandante, you +must seek congenial society among the great sights of our +mountains; and in these at least, if you are at all a lover of the +works of nature, I promise you will not be disappointed.' + +The next day Felipe came for me in a rough country cart, drawn by a +mule; and a little before the stroke of noon, after I had said +farewell to the doctor, the innkeeper, and different good souls who +had befriended me during my sickness, we set forth out of the city +by the Eastern gate, and began to ascend into the Sierra. I had +been so long a prisoner, since I was left behind for dying after +the loss of the convoy, that the mere smell of the earth set me +smiling. The country through which we went was wild and rocky, +partially covered with rough woods, now of the cork-tree, and now +of the great Spanish chestnut, and frequently intersected by the +beds of mountain torrents. The sun shone, the wind rustled +joyously; and we had advanced some miles, and the city had already +shrunk into an inconsiderable knoll upon the plain behind us, +before my attention began to be diverted to the companion of my +drive. To the eye, he seemed but a diminutive, loutish, well-made +country lad, such as the doctor had described, mighty quick and +active, but devoid of any culture; and this first impression was +with most observers final. What began to strike me was his +familiar, chattering talk; so strangely inconsistent with the terms +on which I was to be received; and partly from his imperfect +enunciation, partly from the sprightly incoherence of the matter, +so very difficult to follow clearly without an effort of the mind. +It is true I had before talked with persons of a similar mental +constitution; persons who seemed to live (as he did) by the senses, +taken and possessed by the visual object of the moment and unable +to discharge their minds of that impression. His seemed to me (as +I sat, distantly giving ear) a kind of conversation proper to +drivers, who pass much of their time in a great vacancy of the +intellect and threading the sights of a familiar country. But this +was not the case of Felipe; by his own account, he was a home- +keeper; 'I wish I was there now,' he said; and then, spying a tree +by the wayside, he broke off to tell me that he had once seen a +crow among its branches. + +'A crow?' I repeated, struck by the ineptitude of the remark, and +thinking I had heard imperfectly. + +But by this time he was already filled with a new idea; hearkening +with a rapt intentness, his head on one side, his face puckered; +and he struck me rudely, to make me hold my peace. Then he smiled +and shook his head. + +'What did you hear?' I asked. + +'O, it is all right,' he said; and began encouraging his mule with +cries that echoed unhumanly up the mountain walls. + +I looked at him more closely. He was superlatively well-built, +light, and lithe and strong; he was well-featured; his yellow eyes +were very large, though, perhaps, not very expressive; take him +altogether, he was a pleasant-looking lad, and I had no fault to +find with him, beyond that he was of a dusky hue, and inclined to +hairyness; two characteristics that I disliked. It was his mind +that puzzled, and yet attracted me. The doctor's phrase - an +innocent - came back to me; and I was wondering if that were, after +all, the true description, when the road began to go down into the +narrow and naked chasm of a torrent. The waters thundered +tumultuously in the bottom; and the ravine was filled full of the +sound, the thin spray, and the claps of wind, that accompanied +their descent. The scene was certainly impressive; but the road +was in that part very securely walled in; the mule went steadily +forward; and I was astonished to perceive the paleness of terror in +the face of my companion. The voice of that wild river was +inconstant, now sinking lower as if in weariness, now doubling its +hoarse tones; momentary freshets seemed to swell its volume, +sweeping down the gorge, raving and booming against the barrier +walls; and I observed it was at each of these accessions to the +clamour, that my driver more particularly winced and blanched. +Some thoughts of Scottish superstition and the river Kelpie, passed +across my mind; I wondered if perchance the like were prevalent in +that part of Spain; and turning to Felipe, sought to draw him out. + +'What is the matter?' I asked. + +'O, I am afraid,' he replied. + +'Of what are you afraid?' I returned. 'This seems one of the +safest places on this very dangerous road.' + +'It makes a noise,' he said, with a simplicity of awe that set my +doubts at rest. + +The lad was but a child in intellect; his mind was like his body, +active and swift, but stunted in development; and I began from that +time forth to regard him with a measure of pity, and to listen at +first with indulgence, and at last even with pleasure, to his +disjointed babble. + +By about four in the afternoon we had crossed the summit of the +mountain line, said farewell to the western sunshine, and began to +go down upon the other side, skirting the edge of many ravines and +moving through the shadow of dusky woods. There rose upon all +sides the voice of falling water, not condensed and formidable as +in the gorge of the river, but scattered and sounding gaily and +musically from glen to glen. Here, too, the spirits of my driver +mended, and he began to sing aloud in a falsetto voice, and with a +singular bluntness of musical perception, never true either to +melody or key, but wandering at will, and yet somehow with an +effect that was natural and pleasing, like that of the of birds. +As the dusk increased, I fell more and more under the spell of this +artless warbling, listening and waiting for some articulate air, +and still disappointed; and when at last I asked him what it was he +sang - 'O,' cried he, 'I am just singing!' Above all, I was taken +with a trick he had of unweariedly repeating the same note at +little intervals; it was not so monotonous as you would think, or, +at least, not disagreeable; and it seemed to breathe a wonderful +contentment with what is, such as we love to fancy in the attitude +of trees, or the quiescence of a pool. + +Night had fallen dark before we came out upon a plateau, and drew +up a little after, before a certain lump of superior blackness +which I could only conjecture to be the residencia. Here, my +guide, getting down from the cart, hooted and whistled for a long +time in vain; until at last an old peasant man came towards us from +somewhere in the surrounding dark, carrying a candle in his hand. +By the light of this I was able to perceive a great arched doorway +of a Moorish character: it was closed by iron-studded gates, in one +of the leaves of which Felipe opened a wicket. The peasant carried +off the cart to some out-building; but my guide and I passed +through the wicket, which was closed again behind us; and by the +glimmer of the candle, passed through a court, up a stone stair, +along a section of an open gallery, and up more stairs again, until +we came at last to the door of a great and somewhat bare apartment. +This room, which I understood was to be mine, was pierced by three +windows, lined with some lustrous wood disposed in panels, and +carpeted with the skins of many savage animals. A bright fire +burned in the chimney, and shed abroad a changeful flicker; close +up to the blaze there was drawn a table, laid for supper; and in +the far end a bed stood ready. I was pleased by these +preparations, and said so to Felipe; and he, with the same +simplicity of disposition that I held already remarked in him, +warmly re-echoed my praises. 'A fine room,' he said; 'a very fine +room. And fire, too; fire is good; it melts out the pleasure in +your bones. And the bed,' he continued, carrying over the candle +in that direction - 'see what fine sheets - how soft, how smooth, +smooth;' and he passed his hand again and again over their texture, +and then laid down his head and rubbed his cheeks among them with a +grossness of content that somehow offended me. I took the candle +from his hand (for I feared he would set the bed on fire) and +walked back to the supper-table, where, perceiving a measure of +wine, I poured out a cup and called to him to come and drink of it. +He started to his feet at once and ran to me with a strong +expression of hope; but when he saw the wine, he visibly shuddered. + +'Oh, no,' he said, 'not that; that is for you. I hate it.' + +'Very well, Senor,' said I; 'then I will drink to your good health, +and to the prosperity of your house and family. Speaking of +which,' I added, after I had drunk, 'shall I not have the pleasure +of laying my salutations in person at the feet of the Senora, your +mother?' + +But at these words all the childishness passed out of his face, and +was succeeded by a look of indescribable cunning and secrecy. He +backed away from me at the same time, as though I were an animal +about to leap or some dangerous fellow with a weapon, and when he +had got near the door, glowered at me sullenly with contracted +pupils. 'No,' he said at last, and the next moment was gone +noiselessly out of the room; and I heard his footing die away +downstairs as light as rainfall, and silence closed over the house. + +After I had supped I drew up the table nearer to the bed and began +to prepare for rest; but in the new position of the light, I was +struck by a picture on the wall. It represented a woman, still +young. To judge by her costume and the mellow unity which reigned +over the canvas, she had long been dead; to judge by the vivacity +of the attitude, the eyes and the features, I might have been +beholding in a mirror the image of life. Her figure was very slim +and strong, and of a just proportion; red tresses lay like a crown +over her brow; her eyes, of a very golden brown, held mine with a +look; and her face, which was perfectly shaped, was yet marred by a +cruel, sullen, and sensual expression. Something in both face and +figure, something exquisitely intangible, like the echo of an echo, +suggested the features and bearing of my guide; and I stood awhile, +unpleasantly attracted and wondering at the oddity of the +resemblance. The common, carnal stock of that race, which had been +originally designed for such high dames as the one now looking on +me from the canvas, had fallen to baser uses, wearing country +clothes, sitting on the shaft and holding the reins of a mule cart, +to bring home a lodger. Perhaps an actual link subsisted; perhaps +some scruple of the delicate flesh that was once clothed upon with +the satin and brocade of the dead lady, now winced at the rude +contact of Felipe's frieze. + +The first light of the morning shone full upon the portrait, and, +as I lay awake, my eyes continued to dwell upon it with growing +complacency; its beauty crept about my heart insidiously, silencing +my scruples one after another; and while I knew that to love such a +woman were to sign and seal one's own sentence of degeneration, I +still knew that, if she were alive, I should love her. Day after +day the double knowledge of her wickedness and of my weakness grew +clearer. She came to be the heroine of many day-dreams, in which +her eyes led on to, and sufficiently rewarded, crimes. She cast a +dark shadow on my fancy; and when I was out in the free air of +heaven, taking vigorous exercise and healthily renewing the current +of my blood, it was often a glad thought to me that my enchantress +was safe in the grave, her wand of beauty broken, her lips closed +in silence, her philtre spilt. And yet I had a half-lingering +terror that she might not be dead after all, but re-arisen in the +body of some descendant. + +Felipe served my meals in my own apartment; and his resemblance to +the portrait haunted me. At times it was not; at times, upon some +change of attitude or flash of expression, it would leap out upon +me like a ghost. It was above all in his ill tempers that the +likeness triumphed. He certainly liked me; he was proud of my +notice, which he sought to engage by many simple and childlike +devices; he loved to sit close before my fire, talking his broken +talk or singing his odd, endless, wordless songs, and sometimes +drawing his hand over my clothes with an affectionate manner of +caressing that never failed to cause in me an embarrassment of +which I was ashamed. But for all that, he was capable of flashes +of causeless anger and fits of sturdy sullenness. At a word of +reproof, I have seen him upset the dish of which I was about to +eat, and this not surreptitiously, but with defiance; and similarly +at a hint of inquisition. I was not unnaturally curious, being in +a strange place and surrounded by string people; but at the shadow +of a question, he shrank back, lowering and dangerous. Then it was +that, for a fraction of a second, this rough lad might have been +the brother of the lady in the frame. But these humours were swift +to pass; and the resemblance died along with them. + +In these first days I saw nothing of any one but Felipe, unless the +portrait is to be counted; and since the lad was plainly of weak +mind, and had moments of passion, it may be wondered that I bore +his dangerous neighbourhood with equanimity. As a matter of fact, +it was for some time irksome; but it happened before long that I +obtained over him so complete a mastery as set my disquietude at +rest. + +It fell in this way. He was by nature slothful, and much of a +vagabond, and yet he kept by the house, and not only waited upon my +wants, but laboured every day in the garden or small farm to the +south of the residencia. Here he would be joined by the peasant +whom I had seen on the night of my arrival, and who dwelt at the +far end of the enclosure, about half a mile away, in a rude out- +house; but it was plain to me that, of these two, it was Felipe who +did most; and though I would sometimes see him throw down his spade +and go to sleep among the very plants he had been digging, his +constancy and energy were admirable in themselves, and still more +so since I was well assured they were foreign to his disposition +and the fruit of an ungrateful effort. But while I admired, I +wondered what had called forth in a lad so shuttle-witted this +enduring sense of duty. How was it sustained? I asked myself, and +to what length did it prevail over his instincts? The priest was +possibly his inspirer; but the priest came one day to the +residencia. I saw him both come and go after an interval of close +upon an hour, from a knoll where I was sketching, and all that time +Felipe continued to labour undisturbed in the garden. + +At last, in a very unworthy spirit, I determined to debauch the lad +from his good resolutions, and, way-laying him at the gate, easily +pursuaded him to join me in a ramble. It was a fine day, and the +woods to which I led him were green and pleasant and sweet-smelling +and alive with the hum of insects. Here he discovered himself in a +fresh character, mounting up to heights of gaiety that abashed me, +and displaying an energy and grace of movement that delighted the +eye. He leaped, he ran round me in mere glee; he would stop, and +look and listen, and seem to drink in the world like a cordial; and +then he would suddenly spring into a tree with one bound, and hang +and gambol there like one at home. Little as he said to me, and +that of not much import, I have rarely enjoyed more stirring +company; the sight of his delight was a continual feast; the speed +and accuracy of his movements pleased me to the heart; and I might +have been so thoughtlessly unkind as to make a habit of these +wants, had not chance prepared a very rude conclusion to my +pleasure. By some swiftness or dexterity the lad captured a +squirrel in a tree top. He was then some way ahead of me, but I +saw him drop to the ground and crouch there, crying aloud for +pleasure like a child. The sound stirred my sympathies, it was so +fresh and innocent; but as I bettered my pace to draw near, the cry +of the squirrel knocked upon my heart. I have heard and seen much +of the cruelty of lads, and above all of peasants; but what I now +beheld struck me into a passion of anger. I thrust the fellow +aside, plucked the poor brute out of his hands, and with swift +mercy killed it. Then I turned upon the torturer, spoke to him +long out of the heat of my indignation, calling him names at which +he seemed to wither; and at length, pointing toward the residencia, +bade him begone and leave me, for I chose to walk with men, not +with vermin. He fell upon his knees, and, the words coming to him +with more cleanness than usual, poured out a stream of the most +touching supplications, begging me in mercy to forgive him, to +forget what he had done, to look to the future. 'O, I try so +hard,' he said. 'O, commandante, bear with Felipe this once; he +will never be a brute again!' Thereupon, much more affected than I +cared to show, I suffered myself to be persuaded, and at last shook +hands with him and made it up. But the squirrel, by way of +penance, I made him bury; speaking of the poor thing's beauty, +telling him what pains it had suffered, and how base a thing was +the abuse of strength. 'See, Felipe,' said I, 'you are strong +indeed; but in my hands you are as helpless as that poor thing of +the trees. Give me your hand in mine. You cannot remove it. Now +suppose that I were cruel like you, and took a pleasure in pain. I +only tighten my hold, and see how you suffer.' He screamed aloud, +his face stricken ashy and dotted with needle points of sweat; and +when I set him free, he fell to the earth and nursed his hand and +moaned over it like a baby. But he took the lesson in good part; +and whether from that, or from what I had said to him, or the +higher notion he now had of my bodily strength, his original +affection was changed into a dog-like, adoring fidelity. + +Meanwhile I gained rapidly in health. The residencia stood on the +crown of a stony plateau; on every side the mountains hemmed it +about; only from the roof, where was a bartizan, there might be +seen between two peaks, a small segment of plain, blue with extreme +distance. The air in these altitudes moved freely and largely; +great clouds congregated there, and were broken up by the wind and +left in tatters on the hilltops; a hoarse, and yet faint rumbling +of torrents rose from all round; and one could there study all the +ruder and more ancient characters of nature in something of their +pristine force. I delighted from the first in the vigorous scenery +and changeful weather; nor less in the antique and dilapidated +mansion where I dwelt. This was a large oblong, flanked at two +opposite corners by bastion-like projections, one of which +commanded the door, while both were loopholed for musketry. The +lower storey was, besides, naked of windows, so that the building, +if garrisoned, could not be carried without artillery. It enclosed +an open court planted with pomegranate trees. From this a broad +flight of marble stairs ascended to an open gallery, running all +round and resting, towards the court, on slender pillars. Thence +again, several enclosed stairs led to the upper storeys of the +house, which were thus broken up into distinct divisions. The +windows, both within and without, were closely shuttered; some of +the stone-work in the upper parts had fallen; the roof, in one +place, had been wrecked in one of the flurries of wind which were +common in these mountains; and the whole house, in the strong, +beating sunlight, and standing out above a grove of stunted cork- +trees, thickly laden and discoloured with dust, looked like the +sleeping palace of the legend. The court, in particular, seemed +the very home of slumber. A hoarse cooing of doves haunted about +the eaves; the winds were excluded, but when they blew outside, the +mountain dust fell here as thick as rain, and veiled the red bloom +of the pomegranates; shuttered windows and the closed doors of +numerous cellars, and the vacant, arches of the gallery, enclosed +it; and all day long the sun made broken profiles on the four +sides, and paraded the shadow of the pillars on the gallery floor. +At the ground level there was, however, a certain pillared recess, +which bore the marks of human habitation. Though it was open in +front upon the court, it was yet provided with a chimney, where a +wood fire would he always prettily blazing; and the tile floor was +littered with the skins of animals. + +It was in this place that I first saw my hostess. She had drawn +one of the skins forward and sat in the sun, leaning against a +pillar. It was her dress that struck me first of all, for it was +rich and brightly coloured, and shone out in that dusty courtyard +with something of the same relief as the flowers of the +pomegranates. At a second look it was her beauty of person that +took hold of me. As she sat back - watching me, I thought, though +with invisible eyes - and wearing at the same time an expression of +almost imbecile good-humour and contentment, she showed a +perfectness of feature and a quiet nobility of attitude that were +beyond a statue's. I took off my hat to her in passing, and her +face puckered with suspicion as swiftly and lightly as a pool +ruffles in the breeze; but she paid no heed to my courtesy. I went +forth on my customary walk a trifle daunted, her idol-like +impassivity haunting me; and when I returned, although she was +still in much the same posture, I was half surprised to see that +she had moved as far as the next pillar, following the sunshine. +This time, however, she addressed me with some trivial salutation, +civilly enough conceived, and uttered in the same deep-chested, and +yet indistinct and lisping tones, that had already baffled the +utmost niceness of my hearing from her son. I answered rather at a +venture; for not only did I fail to take her meaning with +precision, but the sudden disclosure of her eyes disturbed me. +They were unusually large, the iris golden like Felipe's, but the +pupil at that moment so distended that they seemed almost black; +and what affected me was not so much their size as (what was +perhaps its consequence) the singular insignificance of their +regard. A look more blankly stupid I have never met. My eyes +dropped before it even as I spoke, and I went on my way upstairs to +my own room, at once baffled and embarrassed. Yet, when I came +there and saw the face of the portrait, I was again reminded of the +miracle of family descent. My hostess was, indeed, both older and +fuller in person; her eyes were of a different colour; her face, +besides, was not only free from the ill-significance that offended +and attracted me in the painting; it was devoid of either good or +bad - a moral blank expressing literally naught. And yet there was +a likeness, not so much speaking as immanent, not so much in any +particular feature as upon the whole. It should seem, I thought, +as if when the master set his signature to that grave canvas, he +had not only caught the image of one smiling and false-eyed woman, +but stamped the essential quality of a race. + +From that day forth, whether I came or went, I was sure to find the +Senora seated in the sun against a pillar, or stretched on a rug +before the fire; only at times she would shift her station to the +top round of the stone staircase, where she lay with the same +nonchalance right across my path. In all these days, I never knew +her to display the least spark of energy beyond what she expended +in brushing and re-brushing her copious copper-coloured hair, or in +lisping out, in the rich and broken hoarseness of her voice, her +customary idle salutations to myself. These, I think, were her two +chief pleasures, beyond that of mere quiescence. She seemed always +proud of her remarks, as though they had been witticisms: and, +indeed, though they were empty enough, like the conversation of +many respectable persons, and turned on a very narrow range of +subjects, they were never meaningless or incoherent; nay, they had +a certain beauty of their own, breathing, as they did, of her +entire contentment. Now she would speak of the warmth, in which +(like her son) she greatly delighted; now of the flowers of the +pomegranate trees, and now of the white doves and long-winged +swallows that fanned the air of the court. The birds excited her. +As they raked the eaves in their swift flight, or skimmed sidelong +past her with a rush of wind, she would sometimes stir, and sit a +little up, and seem to awaken from her doze of satisfaction. But +for the rest of her days she lay luxuriously folded on herself and +sunk in sloth and pleasure. Her invincible content at first +annoyed me, but I came gradually to find repose in the spectacle, +until at last it grew to be my habit to sit down beside her four +times in the day, both coming and going, and to talk with her +sleepily, I scarce knew of what. I had come to like her dull, +almost animal neighbourhood; her beauty and her stupidity soothed +and amused me. I began to find a kind of transcendental good sense +in her remarks, and her unfathomable good nature moved me to +admiration and envy. The liking was returned; she enjoyed my +presence half-unconsciously, as a man in deep meditation may enjoy +the babbling of a brook. I can scarce say she brightened when I +came, for satisfaction was written on her face eternally, as on +some foolish statue's; but I was made conscious of her pleasure by +some more intimate communication than the sight. And one day, as I +set within reach of her on the marble step, she suddenly shot forth +one of her hands and patted mine. The thing was done, and she was +back in her accustomed attitude, before my mind had received +intelligence of the caress; and when I turned to look her in the +face I could perceive no answerable sentiment. It was plain she +attached no moment to the act, and I blamed myself for my own more +uneasy consciousness. + +The sight and (if I may so call it) the acquaintance of the mother +confirmed the view I had already taken of the son. The family +blood had been impoverished, perhaps by long inbreeding, which I +knew to be a common error among the proud and the exclusive. No +decline, indeed, was to be traced in the body, which had been +handed down unimpaired in shapeliness and strength; and the faces +of to-day were struck as sharply from the mint, as the face of two +centuries ago that smiled upon me from the portrait. But the +intelligence (that more precious heirloom) was degenerate; the +treasure of ancestral memory ran low; and it had required the +potent, plebeian crossing of a muleteer or mountain contrabandista +to raise, what approached hebetude in the mother, into the active +oddity of the son. Yet of the two, it was the mother I preferred. +Of Felipe, vengeful and placable, full of starts and shyings, +inconstant as a hare, I could even conceive as a creature possibly +noxious. Of the mother I had no thoughts but those of kindness. +And indeed, as spectators are apt ignorantly to take sides, I grew +something of a partisan in the enmity which I perceived to smoulder +between them. True, it seemed mostly on the mother's part. She +would sometimes draw in her breath as he came near, and the pupils +of her vacant eyes would contract as if with horror or fear. Her +emotions, such as they were, were much upon the surface and readily +shared; and this latent repulsion occupied my mind, and kept me +wondering on what grounds it rested, and whether the son was +certainly in fault. + +I had been about ten days in the residencia, when there sprang up a +high and harsh wind, carrying clouds of dust. It came out of +malarious lowlands, and over several snowy sierras. The nerves of +those on whom it blew were strung and jangled; their eyes smarted +with the dust; their legs ached under the burthen of their body; +and the touch of one hand upon another grew to be odious. The +wind, besides, came down the gullies of the hills and stormed about +the house with a great, hollow buzzing and whistling that was +wearisome to the ear and dismally depressing to the mind. It did +not so much blow in gusts as with the steady sweep of a waterfall, +so that there was no remission of discomfort while it blew. But +higher upon the mountain, it was probably of a more variable +strength, with accesses of fury; for there came down at times a +far-off wailing, infinitely grievous to hear; and at times, on one +of the high shelves or terraces, there would start up, and then +disperse, a tower of dust, like the smoke of in explosion. + +I no sooner awoke in bed than I was conscious of the nervous +tension and depression of the weather, and the effect grew stronger +as the day proceeded. It was in vain that I resisted; in vain that +I set forth upon my customary morning's walk; the irrational, +unchanging fury of the storm had soon beat down my strength and +wrecked my temper; and I returned to the residencia, glowing with +dry heat, and foul and gritty with dust. The court had a forlorn +appearance; now and then a glimmer of sun fled over it; now and +then the wind swooped down upon the pomegranates, and scattered the +blossoms, and set the window shutters clapping on the wall. In the +recess the Senora was pacing to and fro with a flushed countenance +and bright eyes; I thought, too, she was speaking to herself, like +one in anger. But when I addressed her with my customary +salutation, she only replied by a sharp gesture and continued her +walk. The weather had distempered even this impassive creature; +and as I went on upstairs I was the less ashamed of my own +discomposure. + +All day the wind continued; and I sat in my room and made a feint +of reading, or walked up and down, and listened to the riot +overhead. Night fell, and I had not so much as a candle. I began +to long for some society, and stole down to the court. It was now +plunged in the blue of the first darkness; but the recess was redly +lighted by the fire. The wood had been piled high, and was crowned +by a shock of flames, which the draught of the chimney brandished +to and fro. In this strong and shaken brightness the Senora +continued pacing from wall to wall with disconnected gestures, +clasping her hands, stretching forth her arms, throwing back her +head as in appeal to heaven. In these disordered movements the +beauty and grace of the woman showed more clearly; but there was a +light in her eye that struck on me unpleasantly; and when I had +looked on awhile in silence, and seemingly unobserved, I turned +tail as I had come, and groped my way back again to my own chamber. + +By the time Felipe brought my supper and lights, my nerve was +utterly gone; and, had the lad been such as I was used to seeing +him, I should have kept him (even by force had that been necessary) +to take off the edge from my distasteful solitude. But on Felipe, +also, the wind had exercised its influence. He had been feverish +all day; now that the night had come he was fallen into a low and +tremulous humour that reacted on my own. The sight of his scared +face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me; +and when he dropped and broke a dish, I fairly leaped out of my +seat. + +'I think we are all mad to-day,' said I, affecting to laugh. + +'It is the black wind,' he replied dolefully. 'You feel as if you +must do something, and you don't know what it is.' + +I noted the aptness of the description; but, indeed, Felipe had +sometimes a strange felicity in rendering into words the sensations +of the body. 'And your mother, too,' said I; 'she seems to feel +this weather much. Do you not fear she may be unwell?' + +He stared at me a little, and then said, 'No,' almost defiantly; +and the next moment, carrying his hand to his brow, cried out +lamentably on the wind and the noise that made his head go round +like a millwheel. 'Who can be well?' he cried; and, indeed, I +could only echo his question, for I was disturbed enough myself. + +I went to bed early, wearied with day-long restlessness, but the +poisonous nature of the wind, and its ungodly and unintermittent +uproar, would not suffer me to sleep. I lay there and tossed, my +nerves and senses on the stretch. At times I would doze, dream +horribly, and wake again; and these snatches of oblivion confused +me as to time. But it must have been late on in the night, when I +was suddenly startled by an outbreak of pitiable and hateful cries. +I leaped from my bed, supposing I had dreamed; but the cries still +continued to fill the house, cries of pain, I thought, but +certainly of rage also, and so savage and discordant that they +shocked the heart. It was no illusion; some living thing, some +lunatic or some wild animal, was being foully tortured. The +thought of Felipe and the squirrel flashed into my mind, and I ran +to the door, but it had been locked from the outside; and I might +shake it as I pleased, I was a fast prisoner. Still the cries +continued. Now they would dwindle down into a moaning that seemed +to be articulate, and at these times I made sure they must be +human; and again they would break forth and fill the house with +ravings worthy of hell. I stood at the door and gave ear to them, +till at, last they died away. Long after that, I still lingered +and still continued to hear them mingle in fancy with the storming +of the wind; and when at last I crept to my bed, it was with a +deadly sickness and a blackness of horror on my heart. + +It was little wonder if I slept no more. Why had I been locked in? +What had passed? Who was the author of these indescribable and +shocking cries? A human being? It was inconceivable. A beast? +The cries were scarce quite bestial; and what animal, short of a +lion or a tiger, could thus shake the solid walls of the +residencia? And while I was thus turning over the elements of the +mystery, it came into my mind that I had not yet set eyes upon the +daughter of the house. What was more probable than that the +daughter of the Senora, and the sister of Felipe, should be herself +insane? Or, what more likely than that these ignorant and half- +witted people should seek to manage an afflicted kinswoman by +violence? Here was a solution; and yet when I called to mind the +cries (which I never did without a shuddering chill) it seemed +altogether insufficient: not even cruelty could wring such cries +from madness. But of one thing I was sure: I could not live in a +house where such a thing was half conceivable, and not probe the +matter home and, if necessary, interfere. + +The next day came, the wind had blown itself out, and there was +nothing to remind me of the business of the night. Felipe came to +my bedside with obvious cheerfulness; as I passed through the +court, the Senora was sunning herself with her accustomed +immobility; and when I issued from the gateway, I found the whole +face of nature austerely smiling, the heavens of a cold blue, and +sown with great cloud islands, and the mountain-sides mapped forth +into provinces of light and shadow. A short walk restored me to +myself, and renewed within me the resolve to plumb this mystery; +and when, from the vantage of my knoll, I had seen Felipe pass +forth to his labours in the garden, I returned at once to the +residencia to put my design in practice. The Senora appeared +plunged in slumber; I stood awhile and marked her, but she did not +stir; even if my design were indiscreet, I had little to fear from +such a guardian; and turning away, I mounted to the gallery and +began my exploration of the house. + +All morning I went from one door to another, and entered spacious +and faded chambers, some rudely shuttered, some receiving their +full charge of daylight, all empty and unhomely. It was a rich +house, on which Time had breathed his tarnish and dust had +scattered disillusion. The spider swung there; the bloated +tarantula scampered on the cornices; ants had their crowded +highways on the floor of halls of audience; the big and foul fly, +that lives on carrion and is often the messenger of death, had set +up his nest in the rotten woodwork, and buzzed heavily about the +rooms. Here and there a stool or two, a couch, a bed, or a great +carved chair remained behind, like islets on the bare floors, to +testify of man's bygone habitation; and everywhere the walls were +set with the portraits of the dead. I could judge, by these +decaying effigies, in the house of what a great and what a handsome +race I was then wandering. Many of the men wore orders on their +breasts and had the port of noble offices; the women were all +richly attired; the canvases most of them by famous hands. But it +was not so much these evidences of greatness that took hold upon my +mind, even contrasted, as they were, with the present depopulation +and decay of that great house. It was rather the parable of family +life that I read in this succession of fair faces and shapely +bodies. Never before had I so realised the miracle of the +continued race, the creation and recreation, the weaving and +changing and handing down of fleshly elements. That a child should +be born of its mother, that it should grow and clothe itself (we +know not how) with humanity, and put on inherited looks, and turn +its head with the manner of one ascendant, and offer its hand with +the gesture of another, are wonders dulled for us by repetition. +But in the singular unity of look, in the common features and +common bearing, of all these painted generations on the walls of +the residencia, the miracle started out and looked me in the face. +And an ancient mirror falling opportunely in my way, I stood and +read my own features a long while, tracing out on either hand the +filaments of descent and the bonds that knit me with my family. + +At last, in the course of these investigations, I opened the door +of a chamber that bore the marks of habitation. It was of large +proportions and faced to the north, where the mountains were most +wildly figured. The embers of a fire smouldered and smoked upon +the hearth, to which a chair had been drawn close. And yet the +aspect of the chamber was ascetic to the degree of sternness; the +chair was uncushioned; the floor and walls were naked; and beyond +the books which lay here and there in some confusion, there was no +instrument of either work or pleasure. The sight of books in the +house of such a family exceedingly amazed me; and I began with a +great hurry, and in momentary fear of interruption, to go from one +to another and hastily inspect their character. They were of all +sorts, devotional, historical, and scientific, but mostly of a +great age and in the Latin tongue. Some I could see to bear the +marks of constant study; others had been torn across and tossed +aside as if in petulance or disapproval. Lastly, as I cruised +about that empty chamber, I espied some papers written upon with +pencil on a table near the window. An unthinking curiosity led me +to take one up. It bore a copy of verses, very roughly metred in +the original Spanish, and which I may render somewhat thus - + + +Pleasure approached with pain and shame, +Grief with a wreath of lilies came. +Pleasure showed the lovely sun; +Jesu dear, how sweet it shone! +Grief with her worn hand pointed on, +Jesu dear, to thee! + + +Shame and confusion at once fell on me; and, laying down the paper, +I beat an immediate retreat from the apartment. Neither Felipe nor +his mother could have read the books nor written these rough but +feeling verses. It was plain I had stumbled with sacrilegious feet +into the room of the daughter of the house. God knows, my own +heart most sharply punished me for my indiscretion. The thought +that I had thus secretly pushed my way into the confidence of a +girl so strangely situated, and the fear that she might somehow +come to hear of it, oppressed me like guilt. I blamed myself +besides for my suspicions of the night before; wondered that I +should ever have attributed those shocking cries to one of whom I +now conceived as of a saint, spectral of mien, wasted with +maceration, bound up in the practices of a mechanical devotion, and +dwelling in a great isolation of soul with her incongruous +relatives; and as I leaned on the balustrade of the gallery and +looked down into the bright close of pomegranates and at the gaily +dressed and somnolent woman, who just then stretched herself and +delicately licked her lips as in the very sensuality of sloth, my +mind swiftly compared the scene with the cold chamber looking +northward on the mountains, where the daughter dwelt. + +That same afternoon, as I sat upon my knoll, I saw the Padre enter +the gates of the residencia. The revelation of the daughter's +character had struck home to my fancy, and almost blotted out the +horrors of the night before; but at sight of this worthy man the +memory revived. I descended, then, from the knoll, and making a +circuit among the woods, posted myself by the wayside to await his +passage. As soon as he appeared I stepped forth and introduced +myself as the lodger of the residencia. He had a very strong, +honest countenance, on which it was easy to read the mingled +emotions with which he regarded me, as a foreigner, a heretic, and +yet one who had been wounded for the good cause. Of the family at +the residencia he spoke with reserve, and yet with respect. I +mentioned that I had not yet seen the daughter, whereupon he +remarked that that was as it should be, and looked at me a little +askance. Lastly, I plucked up courage to refer to the cries that +had disturbed me in the night. He heard me out in silence, and +then stopped and partly turned about, as though to mark beyond +doubt that he was dismissing me. + +'Do you take tobacco powder?' said he, offering his snuff-box; and +then, when I had refused, 'I am an old man,' he added, 'and I may +be allowed to remind you that you are a guest.' + +'I have, then, your authority,' I returned, firmly enough, although +I flushed at the implied reproof, 'to let things take their course, +and not to interfere?' + +He said 'yes,' and with a somewhat uneasy salute turned and left me +where I was. But he had done two things: he had set my conscience +at rest, and he had awakened my delicacy. I made a great effort, +once more dismissed the recollections of the night, and fell once +more to brooding on my saintly poetess. At the same time, I could +not quite forget that I had been locked in, and that night when +Felipe brought me my supper I attacked him warily on both points of +interest. + +'I never see your sister,' said I casually. + +'Oh, no,' said he; 'she is a good, good girl,' and his mind +instantly veered to something else. + +'Your sister is pious, I suppose?' I asked in the next pause. + +'Oh!' he cried, joining his hands with extreme fervour, 'a saint; +it is she that keeps me up.' + +'You are very fortunate,' said I, 'for the most of us, I am afraid, +and myself among the number, are better at going down.' + +'Senor,' said Felipe earnestly, 'I would not say that. You should +not tempt your angel. If one goes down, where is he to stop?' + +'Why, Felipe,' said I, 'I had no guess you were a preacher, and I +may say a good one; but I suppose that is your sister's doing?' + +He nodded at me with round eyes. + +'Well, then,' I continued, 'she has doubtless reproved you for your +sin of cruelty?' + +'Twelve times!' he cried; for this was the phrase by which the odd +creature expressed the sense of frequency. 'And I told her you had +done so - I remembered that,' he added proudly - 'and she was +pleased.' + +'Then, Felipe,' said I, 'what were those cries that I heard last +night? for surely they were cries of some creature in suffering.' + +'The wind,' returned Felipe, looking in the fire. + +I took his hand in mine, at which, thinking it to be a caress, he +smiled with a brightness of pleasure that came near disarming my +resolve. But I trod the weakness down. 'The wind,' I repeated; +'and yet I think it was this hand,' holding it up, 'that had first +locked me in.' The lad shook visibly, but answered never a word. +'Well,' said I, 'I am a stranger and a guest. It is not my part +either to meddle or to judge in your affairs; in these you shall +take your sister's counsel, which I cannot doubt to be excellent. +But in so far as concerns my own I will be no man's prisoner, and I +demand that key.' Half an hour later my door was suddenly thrown +open, and the key tossed ringing on the floor. + +A day or two after I came in from a walk a little before the point +of noon. The Senora was lying lapped in slumber on the threshold +of the recess; the pigeons dozed below the eaves like snowdrifts; +the house was under a deep spell of noontide quiet; and only a +wandering and gentle wind from the mountain stole round the +galleries, rustled among the pomegranates, and pleasantly stirred +the shadows. Something in the stillness moved me to imitation, and +I went very lightly across the court and up the marble staircase. +My foot was on the topmost round, when a door opened, and I found +myself face to face with Olalla. Surprise transfixed me; her +loveliness struck to my heart; she glowed in the deep shadow of the +gallery, a gem of colour; her eyes took hold upon mine and clung +there, and bound us together like the joining of hands; and the +moments we thus stood face to face, drinking each other in, were +sacramental and the wedding of souls. I know not how long it was +before I awoke out of a deep trance, and, hastily bowing, passed on +into the upper stair. She did not move, but followed me with her +great, thirsting eyes; and as I passed out of sight it seemed to me +as if she paled and faded. + +In my own room, I opened the window and looked out, and could not +think what change had come upon that austere field of mountains +that it should thus sing and shine under the lofty heaven. I had +seen her - Olalla! And the stone crags answered, Olalla! and the +dumb, unfathomable azure answered, Olalla! The pale saint of my +dreams had vanished for ever; and in her place I beheld this maiden +on whom God had lavished the richest colours and the most exuberant +energies of life, whom he had made active as a deer, slender as a +reed, and in whose great eyes he had lighted the torches of the +soul. The thrill of her young life, strung like a wild animal's, +had entered into me; the force of soul that had looked out from her +eyes and conquered mine, mantled about my heart and sprang to my +lips in singing. She passed through my veins: she was one with me. + +I will not say that this enthusiasm declined; rather my soul held +out in its ecstasy as in a strong castle, and was there besieged by +cold and sorrowful considerations. I could not doubt but that I +loved her at first sight, and already with a quivering ardour that +was strange to my experience. What then was to follow? She was +the child of an afflicted house, the Senora's daughter, the sister +of Felipe; she bore it even in her beauty. She had the lightness +and swiftness of the one, swift as an arrow, light as dew; like the +other, she shone on the pale background of the world with the +brilliancy of flowers. I could not call by the name of brother +that half-witted lad, nor by the name of mother that immovable and +lovely thing of flesh, whose silly eyes and perpetual simper now +recurred to my mind like something hateful. And if I could not +marry, what then? She was helplessly unprotected; her eyes, in +that single and long glance which had been all our intercourse, had +confessed a weakness equal to my own; but in my heart I knew her +for the student of the cold northern chamber, and the writer of the +sorrowful lines; and this was a knowledge to disarm a brute. To +flee was more than I could find courage for; but I registered a vow +of unsleeping circumspection. + +As I turned from the window, my eyes alighted on the portrait. It +had fallen dead, like a candle after sunrise; it followed me with +eyes of paint. I knew it to be like, and marvelled at the tenacity +of type in that declining race; but the likeness was swallowed up +in difference. I remembered how it had seemed to me a thing +unapproachable in the life, a creature rather of the painter's +craft than of the modesty of nature, and I marvelled at the +thought, and exulted in the image of Olalla. Beauty I had seen +before, and not been charmed, and I had been often drawn to women, +who were not beautiful except to me; but in Olalla all that I +desired and had not dared to imagine was united. + +I did not see her the next day, and my heart ached and my eyes +longed for her, as men long for morning. But the day after, when I +returned, about my usual hour, she was once more on the gallery, +and our looks once more met and embraced. I would have spoken, I +would have drawn near to her; but strongly as she plucked at my +heart, drawing me like a magnet, something yet more imperious +withheld me; and I could only bow and pass by; and she, leaving my +salutation unanswered, only followed me with her noble eyes. + +I had now her image by rote, and as I conned the traits in memory +it seemed as if I read her very heart. She was dressed with +something of her mother's coquetry, and love of positive colour. +Her robe, which I know she must have made with her own hands, clung +about her with a cunning grace. After the fashion of that country, +besides, her bodice stood open in the middle, in a long slit, and +here, in spite of the poverty of the house, a gold coin, hanging by +a ribbon, lay on her brown bosom. These were proofs, had any been +needed, of her inborn delight in life and her own loveliness. On +the other hand, in her eyes that hung upon mine, I could read depth +beyond depth of passion and sadness, lights of poetry and hope, +blacknesses of despair, and thoughts that were above the earth. It +was a lovely body, but the inmate, the soul, was more than worthy +of that lodging. Should I leave this incomparable flower to wither +unseen on these rough mountains? Should I despise the great gift +offered me in the eloquent silence of her eyes? Here was a soul +immured; should I not burst its prison? All side considerations +fell off from me; were she the child of Herod I swore I should make +her mine; and that very evening I set myself, with a mingled sense +of treachery and disgrace, to captivate the brother. Perhaps I +read him with more favourable eyes, perhaps the thought of his +sister always summoned up the better qualities of that imperfect +soul; but he had never seemed to me so amiable, and his very +likeness to Olalla, while it annoyed, yet softened me. + +A third day passed in vain - an empty desert of hours. I would not +lose a chance, and loitered all afternoon in the court where (to +give myself a countenance) I spoke more than usual with the Senora. +God knows it was with a most tender and sincere interest that I now +studied her; and even as for Felipe, so now for the mother, I was +conscious of a growing warmth of toleration. And yet I wondered. +Even while I spoke with her, she would doze off into a little +sleep, and presently awake again without embarrassment; and this +composure staggered me. And again, as I marked her make +infinitesimal changes in her posture, savouring and lingering on +the bodily pleasure of the movement, I was driven to wonder at this +depth of passive sensuality. She lived in her body; and her +consciousness was all sunk into and disseminated through her +members, where it luxuriously dwelt. Lastly, I could not grow +accustomed to her eyes. Each time she turned on me these great +beautiful and meaningless orbs, wide open to the day, but closed +against human inquiry - each time I had occasion to observe the +lively changes of her pupils which expanded and contracted in a +breath - I know not what it was came over me, I can find no name +for the mingled feeling of disappointment, annoyance, and distaste +that jarred along my nerves. I tried her on a variety of subjects, +equally in vain; and at last led the talk to her daughter. But +even there she proved indifferent; said she was pretty, which (as +with children) was her highest word of commendation, but was +plainly incapable of any higher thought; and when I remarked that +Olalla seemed silent, merely yawned in my face and replied that +speech was of no great use when you had nothing to say. 'People +speak much, very much,' she added, looking at me with expanded +pupils; and then again yawned and again showed me a mouth that was +as dainty as a toy. This time I took the hint, and, leaving her to +her repose, went up into my own chamber to sit by the open window, +looking on the hills and not beholding them, sunk in lustrous and +deep dreams, and hearkening in fancy to the note of a voice that I +had never heard. + +I awoke on the fifth morning with a brightness of anticipation that +seemed to challenge fate. I was sure of myself, light of heart and +foot, and resolved to put my love incontinently to the touch of +knowledge. It should lie no longer under the bonds of silence, a +dumb thing, living by the eye only, like the love of beasts; but +should now put on the spirit, and enter upon the joys of the +complete human intimacy. I thought of it with wild hopes, like a +voyager to El Dorado; into that unknown and lovely country of her +soul, I no longer trembled to adventure. Yet when I did indeed +encounter her, the same force of passion descended on me and at +once submerged my mind; speech seemed to drop away from me like a +childish habit; and I but drew near to her as the giddy man draws +near to the margin of a gulf. She drew back from me a little as I +came; but her eyes did not waver from mine, and these lured me +forward. At last, when I was already within reach of her, I +stopped. Words were denied me; if I advanced I could but clasp her +to my heart in silence; and all that was sane in me, all that was +still unconquered, revolted against the thought of such an accost. +So we stood for a second, all our life in our eyes, exchanging +salvos of attraction and yet each resisting; and then, with a great +effort of the will, and conscious at the same time of a sudden +bitterness of disappointment, I turned and went away in the same +silence. + +What power lay upon me that I could not speak? And she, why was +she also silent? Why did she draw away before me dumbly, with +fascinated eyes? Was this love? or was it a mere brute attraction, +mindless and inevitable, like that of the magnet for the steel? We +had never spoken, we were wholly strangers: and yet an influence, +strong as the grasp of a giant, swept us silently together. On my +side, it filled me with impatience; and yet I was sure that she was +worthy; I had seen her books, read her verses, and thus, in a +sense, divined the soul of my mistress. But on her side, it struck +me almost cold. Of me, she knew nothing but my bodily favour; she +was drawn to me as stones fall to the earth; the laws that rule the +earth conducted her, unconsenting, to my arms; and I drew back at +the thought of such a bridal, and began to be jealous for myself. +It was not thus that I desired to be loved. And then I began to +fall into a great pity for the girl herself. I thought how sharp +must be her mortification, that she, the student, the recluse, +Felipe's saintly monitress, should have thus confessed an +overweening weakness for a man with whom she had never exchanged a +word. And at the coming of pity, all other thoughts were swallowed +up; and I longed only to find and console and reassure her; to tell +her how wholly her love was returned on my side, and how her +choice, even if blindly made, was not unworthy. + +The next day it was glorious weather; depth upon depth of blue +over-canopied the mountains; the sun shone wide; and the wind in +the trees and the many falling torrents in the mountains filled the +air with delicate and haunting music. Yet I was prostrated with +sadness. My heart wept for the sight of Olalla, as a child weeps +for its mother. I sat down on a boulder on the verge of the low +cliffs that bound the plateau to the north. Thence I looked down +into the wooded valley of a stream, where no foot came. In the +mood I was in, it was even touching to behold the place untenanted; +it lacked Olalla; and I thought of the delight and glory of a life +passed wholly with her in that strong air, and among these rugged +and lovely surroundings, at first with a whimpering sentiment, and +then again with such a fiery joy that I seemed to grow in strength +and stature, like a Samson. + +And then suddenly I was aware of Olalla drawing near. She appeared +out of a grove of cork-trees, and came straight towards me; and I +stood up and waited. She seemed in her walking a creature of such +life and fire and lightness as amazed me; yet she came quietly and +slowly. Her energy was in the slowness; but for inimitable +strength, I felt she would have run, she would have flown to me. +Still, as she approached, she kept her eyes lowered to the ground; +and when she had drawn quite near, it was without one glance that +she addressed me. At the first note of her voice I started. It +was for this I had been waiting; this was the last test of my love. +And lo, her enunciation was precise and clear, not lisping and +incomplete like that of her family; and the voice, though deeper +than usual with women, was still both youthful and womanly. She +spoke in a rich chord; golden contralto strains mingled with +hoarseness, as the red threads were mingled with the brown among +her tresses. It was not only a voice that spoke to my heart +directly; but it spoke to me of her. And yet her words immediately +plunged me back upon despair. + +'You will go away,' she said, 'to-day.' + +Her example broke the bonds of my speech; I felt as lightened of a +weight, or as if a spell had been dissolved. I know not in what +words I answered; but, standing before her on the cliffs, I poured +out the whole ardour of my love, telling her that I lived upon the +thought of her, slept only to dream of her loveliness, and would +gladly forswear my country, my language, and my friends, to live +for ever by her side. And then, strongly commanding myself, I +changed the note; I reassured, I comforted her; I told her I had +divined in her a pious and heroic spirit, with which I was worthy +to sympathise, and which I longed to share and lighten. 'Nature,' +I told her, 'was the voice of God, which men disobey at peril; and +if we were thus humbly drawn together, ay, even as by a miracle of +love, it must imply a divine fitness in our souls; we must be +made,' I said - 'made for one another. We should be mad rebels,' I +cried out - 'mad rebels against God, not to obey this instinct.' + +She shook her head. 'You will go to-day,' she repeated, and then +with a gesture, and in a sudden, sharp note - 'no, not to-day,' she +cried, 'to-morrow!' + +But at this sign of relenting, power came in upon me in a tide. I +stretched out my arms and called upon her name; and she leaped to +me and clung to me. The hills rocked about us, the earth quailed; +a shock as of a blow went through me and left me blind and dizzy. +And the next moment she had thrust me back, broken rudely from my +arms, and fled with the speed of a deer among the cork-trees. + +I stood and shouted to the mountains; I turned and went back +towards the residencia, waltzing upon air. She sent me away, and +yet I had but to call upon her name and she came to me. These were +but the weaknesses of girls, from which even she, the strangest of +her sex, was not exempted. Go? Not I, Olalla - O, not I, Olalla, +my Olalla! A bird sang near by; and in that season, birds were +rare. It bade me be of good cheer. And once more the whole +countenance of nature, from the ponderous and stable mountains down +to the lightest leaf and the smallest darting fly in the shadow of +the groves, began to stir before me and to put on the lineaments of +life and wear a face of awful joy. The sunshine struck upon the +hills, strong as a hammer on the anvil, and the hills shook; the +earth, under that vigorous insulation, yielded up heady scents; the +woods smouldered in the blaze. I felt the thrill of travail and +delight run through the earth. Something elemental, something +rude, violent, and savage, in the love that sang in my heart, was +like a key to nature's secrets; and the very stones that rattled +under my feet appeared alive and friendly. Olalla! Her touch had +quickened, and renewed, and strung me up to the old pitch of +concert with the rugged earth, to a swelling of the soul that men +learn to forget in their polite assemblies. Love burned in me like +rage; tenderness waxed fierce; I hated, I adored, I pitied, I +revered her with ecstasy. She seemed the link that bound me in +with dead things on the one hand, and with our pure and pitying God +upon the other: a thing brutal and divine, and akin at once to the +innocence and to the unbridled forces of the earth. + +My head thus reeling, I came into the courtyard of the residencia, +and the sight of the mother struck me like a revelation. She sat +there, all sloth and contentment, blinking under the strong +sunshine, branded with a passive enjoyment, a creature set quite +apart, before whom my ardour fell away like a thing ashamed. I +stopped a moment, and, commanding such shaken tones as I was able, +said a word or two. She looked at me with her unfathomable +kindness; her voice in reply sounded vaguely out of the realm of +peace in which she slumbered, and there fell on my mind, for the +first time, a sense of respect for one so uniformly innocent and +happy, and I passed on in a kind of wonder at myself, that I should +be so much disquieted. + +On my table there lay a piece of the same yellow paper I had seen +in the north room; it was written on with pencil in the same hand, +Olalla's hand, and I picked it up with a sudden sinking of alarm, +and read, 'If you have any kindness for Olalla, if you have any +chivalry for a creature sorely wrought, go from here to-day; in +pity, in honour, for the sake of Him who died, I supplicate that +you shall go.' I looked at this awhile in mere stupidity, then I +began to awaken to a weariness and horror of life; the sunshine +darkened outside on the bare hills, and I began to shake like a man +in terror. The vacancy thus suddenly opened in my life unmanned me +like a physical void. It was not my heart, it was not my +happiness, it was life itself that was involved. I could not lose +her. I said so, and stood repeating it. And then, like one in a +dream, I moved to the window, put forth my hand to open the +casement, and thrust it through the pane. The blood spurted from +my wrist; and with an instantaneous quietude and command of myself, +I pressed my thumb on the little leaping fountain, and reflected +what to do. In that empty room there was nothing to my purpose; I +felt, besides, that I required assistance. There shot into my mind +a hope that Olalla herself might be my helper, and I turned and +went down stairs, still keeping my thumb upon the wound. + +There was no sign of either Olalla or Felipe, and I addressed +myself to the recess, whither the Senora had now drawn quite back +and sat dozing close before the fire, for no degree of heat +appeared too much for her. + +'Pardon me,' said I, 'if I disturb you, but I must apply to you for +help.' + +She looked up sleepily and asked me what it was, and with the very +words I thought she drew in her breath with a widening of the +nostrils and seemed to come suddenly and fully alive. + +'I have cut myself,' I said, 'and rather badly. See!' And I held +out my two hands from which the blood was oozing and dripping. + +Her great eyes opened wide, the pupils shrank into points; a veil +seemed to fall from her face, and leave it sharply expressive and +yet inscrutable. And as I still stood, marvelling a little at her +disturbance, she came swiftly up to me, and stooped and caught me +by the hand; and the next moment my hand was at her mouth, and she +had bitten me to the bone. The pang of the bite, the sudden +spurting of blood, and the monstrous horror of the act, flashed +through me all in one, and I beat her back; and she sprang at me +again and again, with bestial cries, cries that I recognised, such +cries as had awakened me on the night of the high wind. Her +strength was like that of madness; mine was rapidly ebbing with the +loss of blood; my mind besides was whirling with the abhorrent +strangeness of the onslaught, and I was already forced against the +wall, when Olalla ran betwixt us, and Felipe, following at a bound, +pinned down his mother on the floor. + +A trance-like weakness fell upon me; I saw, heard, and felt, but I +was incapable of movement. I heard the struggle roll to and fro +upon the floor, the yells of that catamount ringing up to Heaven as +she strove to reach me. I felt Olalla clasp me in her arms, her +hair falling on my face, and, with the strength of a man, raise and +half drag, half carry me upstairs into my own room, where she cast +me down upon the bed. Then I saw her hasten to the door and lock +it, and stand an instant listening to the savage cries that shook +the residencia. And then, swift and light as a thought, she was +again beside me, binding up my hand, laying it in her bosom, +moaning and mourning over it with dove-like sounds. They were not +words that came to her, they were sounds more beautiful than +speech, infinitely touching, infinitely tender; and yet as I lay +there, a thought stung to my heart, a thought wounded me like a +sword, a thought, like a worm in a flower, profaned the holiness of +my love. Yes, they were beautiful sounds, and they were inspired +by human tenderness; but was their beauty human? + +All day I lay there. For a long time the cries of that nameless +female thing, as she struggled with her half-witted whelp, +resounded through the house, and pierced me with despairing sorrow +and disgust. They were the death-cry of my love; my love was +murdered; was not only dead, but an offence to me; and yet, think +as I pleased, feel as I must, it still swelled within me like a +storm of sweetness, and my heart melted at her looks and touch. +This horror that had sprung out, this doubt upon Olalla, this +savage and bestial strain that ran not only through the whole +behaviour of her family, but found a place in the very foundations +and story of our love - though it appalled, though it shocked and +sickened me, was yet not of power to break the knot of my +infatuation. + +When the cries had ceased, there came a scraping at the door, by +which I knew Felipe was without; and Olalla went and spoke to him - +I know not what. With that exception, she stayed close beside me, +now kneeling by my bed and fervently praying, now sitting with her +eyes upon mine. So then, for these six hours I drank in her +beauty, and silently perused the story in her face. I saw the +golden coin hover on her breaths; I saw her eyes darken and +brighter, and still speak no language but that of an unfathomable +kindness; I saw the faultless face, and, through the robe, the +lines of the faultless body. Night came at last, and in the +growing darkness of the chamber, the sight of her slowly melted; +but even then the touch of her smooth hand lingered in mine and +talked with me. To lie thus in deadly weakness and drink in the +traits of the beloved, is to reawake to love from whatever shock of +disillusion. I reasoned with myself; and I shut my eyes on +horrors, and again I was very bold to accept the worst. What +mattered it, if that imperious sentiment survived; if her eyes +still beckoned and attached me; if now, even as before, every fibre +of my dull body yearned and turned to her? Late on in the night +some strength revived in me, and I spoke:- + +'Olalla,' I said, 'nothing matters; I ask nothing; I am content; I +love you.' + +She knelt down awhile and prayed, and I devoutly respected her +devotions. The moon had begun to shine in upon one side of each of +the three windows, and make a misty clearness in the room, by which +I saw her indistinctly. When she rearose she made the sign of the +cross. + +'It is for me to speak,' she said, 'and for you to listen. I know; +you can but guess. I prayed, how I prayed for you to leave this +place. I begged it of you, and I know you would have granted me +even this; or if not, O let me think so!' + +'I love you,' I said. + +'And yet you have lived in the world,' she said; after a pause, +'you are a man and wise; and I am but a child. Forgive me, if I +seem to teach, who am as ignorant as the trees of the mountain; but +those who learn much do but skim the face of knowledge; they seize +the laws, they conceive the dignity of the design - the horror of +the living fact fades from their memory. It is we who sit at home +with evil who remember, I think, and are warned and pity. Go, +rather, go now, and keep me in mind. So I shall have a life in the +cherished places of your memory: a life as much my own, as that +which I lead in this body.' + +'I love you,' I said once more; and reaching out my weak hand, took +hers, and carried it to my lips, and kissed it. Nor did she +resist, but winced a little; and I could see her look upon me with +a frown that was not unkindly, only sad and baffled. And then it +seemed she made a call upon her resolution; plucked my hand towards +her, herself at the same time leaning somewhat forward, and laid it +on the beating of her heart. 'There,' she cried, 'you feel the +very footfall of my life. It only moves for you; it is yours. But +is it even mine? It is mine indeed to offer you, as I might take +the coin from my neck, as I might break a live branch from a tree, +and give it you. And yet not mine! I dwell, or I think I dwell +(if I exist at all), somewhere apart, an impotent prisoner, and +carried about and deafened by a mob that I disown. This capsule, +such as throbs against the sides of animals, knows you at a touch +for its master; ay, it loves you! But my soul, does my soul? I +think not; I know not, fearing to ask. Yet when you spoke to me +your words were of the soul; it is of the soul that you ask - it is +only from the soul that you would take me.' + +'Olalla,' I said, 'the soul and the body are one, and mostly so in +love. What the body chooses, the soul loves; where the body +clings, the soul cleaves; body for body, soul to soul, they come +together at God's signal; and the lower part (if we can call aught +low) is only the footstool and foundation of the highest.' + +'Have you,' she said, 'seen the portraits in the house of my +fathers? Have you looked at my mother or at Felipe? Have your +eyes never rested on that picture that hangs by your bed? She who +sat for it died ages ago; and she did evil in her life. But, look- +again: there is my hand to the least line, there are my eyes and my +hair. What is mine, then, and what am I? If not a curve in this +poor body of mine (which you love, and for the sake of which you +dotingly dream that you love me) not a gesture that I can frame, +not a tone of my voice, not any look from my eyes, no, not even now +when I speak to him I love, but has belonged to others? Others, +ages dead, have wooed other men with my eyes; other men have heard +the pleading of the same voice that now sounds in your ears. The +hands of the dead are in my bosom; they move me, they pluck me, +they guide me; I am a puppet at their command; and I but reinform +features and attributes that have long been laid aside from evil in +the quiet of the grave. Is it me you love, friend? or the race +that made me? The girl who does not know and cannot answer for the +least portion of herself? or the stream of which she is a +transitory eddy, the tree of which she is the passing fruit? The +race exists; it is old, it is ever young, it carries its eternal +destiny in its bosom; upon it, like waves upon the sea, individual +succeeds to individual, mocked with a semblance of self-control, +but they are nothing. We speak of the soul, but the soul is in the +race.' + +'You fret against the common law,' I said. 'You rebel against the +voice of God, which he has made so winning to convince, so +imperious to command. Hear it, and how it speaks between us! Your +hand clings to mine, your heart leaps at my touch, the unknown +elements of which we are compounded awake and run together at a +look; the clay of the earth remembers its independent life and +yearns to join us; we are drawn together as the stars are turned +about in space, or as the tides ebb and flow, by things older and +greater than we ourselves.' + +'Alas!' she said, 'what can I say to you? My fathers, eight +hundred years ago, ruled all this province: they were wise, great, +cunning, and cruel; they were a picked race of the Spanish; their +flags led in war; the king called them his cousin; the people, when +the rope was slung for them or when they returned and found their +hovels smoking, blasphemed their name. Presently a change began. +Man has risen; if he has sprung from the brutes, he can descend +again to the same level. The breath of weariness blew on their +humanity and the cords relaxed; they began to go down; their minds +fell on sleep, their passions awoke in gusts, heady and senseless +like the wind in the gutters of the mountains; beauty was still +handed down, but no longer the guiding wit nor the human heart; the +seed passed on, it was wrapped in flesh, the flesh covered the +bones, but they were the bones and the flesh of brutes, and their +mind was as the mind of flies. I speak to you as I dare; but you +have seen for yourself how the wheel has gone backward with my +doomed race. I stand, as it were, upon a little rising ground in +this desperate descent, and see both before and behind, both what +we have lost and to what we are condemned to go farther downward. +And shall I - I that dwell apart in the house of the dead, my body, +loathing its ways - shall I repeat the spell? Shall I bind another +spirit, reluctant as my own, into this bewitched and tempest-broken +tenement that I now suffer in? Shall I hand down this cursed +vessel of humanity, charge it with fresh life as with fresh poison, +and dash it, like a fire, in the faces of posterity? But my vow +has been given; the race shall cease from off the earth. At this +hour my brother is making ready; his foot will soon be on the +stair; and you will go with him and pass out of my sight for ever. +Think of me sometimes as one to whom the lesson of life was very +harshly told, but who heard it with courage; as one who loved you +indeed, but who hated herself so deeply that her love was hateful +to her; as one who sent you away and yet would have longed to keep +you for ever; who had no dearer hope than to forget you, and no +greater fear than to be forgotten.' + +She had drawn towards the door as she spoke, her rich voice +sounding softer and farther away; and with the last word she was +gone, and I lay alone in the moonlit chamber. What I might have +done had not I lain bound by my extreme weakness, I know not; but +as it was there fell upon me a great and blank despair. It was not +long before there shone in at the door the ruddy glimmer of a +lantern, and Felipe coming, charged me without a word upon his +shoulders, and carried me down to the great gate, where the cart +was waiting. In the moonlight the hills stood out sharply, as if +they were of cardboard; on the glimmering surface of the plateau, +and from among the low trees which swung together and sparkled in +the wind, the great black cube of the residencia stood out bulkily, +its mass only broken by three dimly lighted windows in the northern +front above the gate. They were Olalla's windows, and as the cart +jolted onwards I kept my eyes fixed upon them till, where the road +dipped into a valley, they were lost to my view forever. Felipe +walked in silence beside the shafts, but from time to time he would +cheek the mule and seem to look back upon me; and at length drew +quite near and laid his hand upon my head. There was such kindness +in the touch, and such a simplicity, as of the brutes, that tears +broke from me like the bursting of an artery. + +'Felipe,' I said, 'take me where they will ask no questions.' + +He said never a word, but he turned his mule about, end for end, +retraced some part of the way we had gone, and, striking into +another path, led me to the mountain village, which was, as we say +in Scotland, the kirkton of that thinly peopled district. Some +broken memories dwell in my mind of the day breaking over the +plain, of the cart stopping, of arms that helped me down, of a bare +room into which I was carried, and of a swoon that fell upon me +like sleep. + +The next day and the days following the old priest was often at my +side with his snuff-box and prayer book, and after a while, when I +began to pick up strength, he told me that I was now on a fair way +to recovery, and must as soon as possible hurry my departure; +whereupon, without naming any reason, he took snuff and looked at +me sideways. I did not affect ignorance; I knew he must have seen +Olalla. 'Sir,' said I, 'you know that I do not ask in wantonness. +What of that family?' + +He said they were very unfortunate; that it seemed a declining +race, and that they were very poor and had been much neglected. + +'But she has not,' I said. 'Thanks, doubtless, to yourself, she is +instructed and wise beyond the use of women.' + +'Yes,' he said; 'the Senorita is well-informed. But the family has +been neglected.' + +'The mother?' I queried. + +'Yes, the mother too,' said the Padre, taking snuff. 'But Felipe +is a well-intentioned lad.' + +'The mother is odd?' I asked. + +'Very odd,' replied the priest. + +'I think, sir, we beat about the bush,' said I. 'You must know +more of my affairs than you allow. You must know my curiosity to +be justified on many grounds. Will you not be frank with me?' + +'My son,' said the old gentleman, 'I will be very frank with you on +matters within my competence; on those of which I know nothing it +does not require much discretion to be silent. I will not fence +with you, I take your meaning perfectly; and what can I say, but +that we are all in God's hands, and that His ways are not as our +ways? I have even advised with my superiors in the church, but +they, too, were dumb. It is a great mystery.' + +'Is she mad?' I asked. + +'I will answer you according to my belief. She is not,' returned +the Padre, 'or she was not. When she was young - God help me, I +fear I neglected that wild lamb - she was surely sane; and yet, +although it did not run to such heights, the same strain was +already notable; it had been so before her in her father, ay, and +before him, and this inclined me, perhaps, to think too lightly of +it. But these things go on growing, not only in the individual but +in the race.' + +'When she was young,' I began, and my voice failed me for a moment, +and it was only with a great effort that I was able to add, 'was +she like Olalla?' + +'Now God forbid!' exclaimed the Padre. 'God forbid that any man +should think so slightingly of my favourite penitent. No, no; the +Senorita (but for her beauty, which I wish most honestly she had +less of) has not a hair's resemblance to what her mother was at the +same age. I could not bear to have you think so; though, Heaven +knows, it were, perhaps, better that you should.' + +At this, I raised myself in bed, and opened my heart to the old +man; telling him of our love and of her decision, owning my own +horrors, my own passing fancies, but telling him that these were at +an end; and with something more than a purely formal submission, +appealing to his judgment. + +He heard me very patiently and without surprise; and when I had +done, he sat for some time silent. Then he began: 'The church,' +and instantly broke off again to apologise. 'I had forgotten, my +child, that you were not a Christian,' said he. 'And indeed, upon +a point so highly unusual, even the church can scarce be said to +have decided. But would you have my opinion? The Senorita is, in +a matter of this kind, the best judge; I would accept her +judgment.' + +On the back of that he went away, nor was he thenceforward so +assiduous in his visits; indeed, even when I began to get about +again, he plainly feared and deprecated my society, not as in +distaste but much as a man might be disposed to flee from the +riddling sphynx. The villagers, too, avoided me; they were +unwilling to be my guides upon the mountain. I thought they looked +at me askance, and I made sure that the more superstitious crossed +themselves on my approach. At first I set this down to my +heretical opinions; but it began at length to dawn upon me that if +I was thus redoubted it was because I had stayed at the residencia. +All men despise the savage notions of such peasantry; and yet I was +conscious of a chill shadow that seemed to fall and dwell upon my +love. It did not conquer, but I may not deify that it restrained +my ardour. + +Some miles westward of the village there was a gap in the sierra, +from which the eye plunged direct upon the residencia; and thither +it became my daily habit to repair. A wood crowned the summit; and +just where the pathway issued from its fringes, it was overhung by +a considerable shelf of rock, and that, in its turn, was surmounted +by a crucifix of the size of life and more than usually painful in +design. This was my perch; thence, day after day, I looked down +upon the plateau, and the great old house, and could see Felipe, no +bigger than a fly, going to and fro about the garden. Sometimes +mists would draw across the view, and be broken up again by +mountain winds; sometimes the plain slumbered below me in unbroken +sunshine; it would sometimes be all blotted out by rain. This +distant post, these interrupted sights of the place where my life +had been so strangely changed, suited the indecision of my humour. +I passed whole days there, debating with myself the various +elements of our position; now leaning to the suggestions of love, +now giving an ear to prudence, and in the end halting irresolute +between the two. + +One day, as I was sitting on my rock, there came by that way a +somewhat gaunt peasant wrapped in a mantle. He was a stranger, and +plainly did not know me even by repute; for, instead of keeping the +other side, he drew near and sat down beside me, and we had soon +fallen in talk. Among other things he told me he had been a +muleteer, and in former years had much frequented these mountains; +later on, he had followed the army with his mules, had realised a +competence, and was now living retired with his family. + +'Do you know that house?' I inquired, at last, pointing to the +residencia, for I readily wearied of any talk that kept me from the +thought of Olalla. + +He looked at me darkly and crossed himself. + +'Too well,' he said, 'it was there that one of my comrades sold +himself to Satan; the Virgin shield us from temptations! He has +paid the price; he is now burning in the reddest place in Hell!' + +A fear came upon me; I could answer nothing; and presently the man +resumed, as if to himself: 'Yes,' he said, 'O yes, I know it. I +have passed its doors. There was snow upon the pass, the wind was +driving it; sure enough there was death that night upon the +mountains, but there was worse beside the hearth. I took him by +the arm, Senor, and dragged him to the gate; I conjured him, by all +he loved and respected, to go forth with me; I went on my knees +before him in the snow; and I could see he was moved by my +entreaty. And just then she came out on the gallery, and called +him by his name; and he turned, and there was she standing with a +lamp in her hand and smiling on him to come back. I cried out +aloud to God, and threw my arms about him, but he put me by, and +left me alone. He had made his choice; God help us. I would pray +for him, but to what end? there are sins that not even the Pope can +loose.' + +'And your friend,' I asked, 'what became of him?' + +'Nay, God knows,' said the muleteer. 'If all be true that we hear, +his end was like his sin, a thing to raise the hair.' + +'Do you mean that he was killed?' I asked. + +'Sure enough, he was killed,' returned the man. 'But how? Ay, +how? But these are things that it is sin to speak of.' + +'The people of that house . . . ' I began. + +But he interrupted me with a savage outburst. 'The people?' he +cried. 'What people? There are neither men nor women in that +house of Satan's! What? have you lived here so long, and never +heard?' And here he put his mouth to my ear and whispered, as if +even the fowls of the mountain might have over-heard and been +stricken with horror. + +What he told me was not true, nor was it even original; being, +indeed, but a new edition, vamped up again by village ignorance and +superstition, of stories nearly as ancient as the race of man. It +was rather the application that appalled me. In the old days, he +said, the church would have burned out that nest of basilisks; but +the arm of the church was now shortened; his friend Miguel had been +unpunished by the hands of men, and left to the more awful judgment +of an offended God. This was wrong; but it should be so no more. +The Padre was sunk in age; he was even bewitched himself; but the +eyes of his flock were now awake to their own danger; and some day +- ay, and before long - the smoke of that house should go up to +heaven. + +He left me filled with horror and fear. Which way to turn I knew +not; whether first to warn the Padre, or to carry my ill-news +direct to the threatened inhabitants of the residencia. Fate was +to decide for me; for, while I was still hesitating, I beheld the +veiled figure of a woman drawing near to me up the pathway. No +veil could deceive my penetration; by every line and every movement +I recognised Olalla; and keeping hidden behind a corner of the +rock, I suffered her to gain the summit. Then I came forward. She +knew me and paused, but did not speak; I, too, remained silent; and +we continued for some time to gaze upon each other with a +passionate sadness. + +'I thought you had gone,' she said at length. 'It is all that you +can do for me - to go. It is all I ever asked of you. And you +still stay. But do you know, that every day heaps up the peril of +death, not only on your head, but on ours? A report has gone about +the mountain; it is thought you love me, and the people will not +suffer it.' + +I saw she was already informed of her danger, and I rejoiced at it. +'Olalla,' I said, 'I am ready to go this day, this very hour, but +not alone.' + +She stepped aside and knelt down before the crucifix to pray, and I +stood by and looked now at her and now at the object of her +adoration, now at the living figure of the penitent, and now at the +ghastly, daubed countenance, the painted wounds, and the projected +ribs of the image. The silence was only broken by the wailing of +some large birds that circled sidelong, as if in surprise or alarm, +about the summit of the hills. Presently Olalla rose again, turned +towards me, raised her veil, and, still leaning with one hand on +the shaft of the crucifix, looked upon me with a pale and sorrowful +countenance. + +'I have laid my hand upon the cross,' she said. 'The Padre says +you are no Christian; but look up for a moment with my eyes, and +behold the face of the Man of Sorrows. We are all such as He was - +the inheritors of sin; we must all bear and expiate a past which +was not ours; there is in all of us - ay, even in me - a sparkle of +the divine. Like Him, we must endure for a little while, until +morning returns bringing peace. Suffer me to pass on upon my way +alone; it is thus that I shall be least lonely, counting for my +friend Him who is the friend of all the distressed; it is thus that +I shall be the most happy, having taken my farewell of earthly +happiness, and willingly accepted sorrow for my portion.' + +I looked at the face of the crucifix, and, though I was no friend +to images, and despised that imitative and grimacing art of which +it was a rude example, some sense of what the thing implied was +carried home to my intelligence. The face looked down upon me with +a painful and deadly contraction; but the rays of a glory encircled +it, and reminded me that the sacrifice was voluntary. It stood +there, crowning the rock, as it still stands on so many highway +sides, vainly preaching to passers-by, an emblem of sad and noble +truths; that pleasure is not an end, but an accident; that pain is +the choice of the magnanimous; that it is best to suffer all things +and do well. I turned and went down the mountain in silence; and +when I looked back for the last time before the wood closed about +my path, I saw Olalla still leaning on the crucifix. + + + +THE TREASURE OF FRANCHARD. + + + +CHAPTER I. BY THE DYING MOUNTEBANK. + + +They had sent for the doctor from Bourron before six. About eight +some villagers came round for the performance, and were told how +matters stood. It seemed a liberty for a mountebank to fall ill +like real people, and they made off again in dudgeon. By ten +Madame Tentaillon was gravely alarmed, and had sent down the street +for Doctor Desprez. + +The Doctor was at work over his manuscripts in one corner of the +little dining-room, and his wife was asleep over the fire in +another, when the messenger arrived. + +'Sapristi!' said the Doctor, 'you should have sent for me before. +It was a case for hurry.' And he followed the messenger as he was, +in his slippers and skull-cap. + +The inn was not thirty yards away, but the messenger did not stop +there; he went in at one door and out by another into the court, +and then led the way by a flight of steps beside the stable, to the +loft where the mountebank lay sick. If Doctor Desprez were to live +a thousand years, he would never forget his arrival in that room; +for not only was the scene picturesque, but the moment made a date +in his existence. We reckon our lives, I hardly know why, from the +date of our first sorry appearance in society, as if from a first +humiliation; for no actor can come upon the stage with a worse +grace. Not to go further back, which would be judged too curious, +there are subsequently many moving and decisive accidents in the +lives of all, which would make as logical a period as this of +birth. And here, for instance, Doctor Desprez, a man past forty, +who had made what is called a failure in life, and was moreover +married, found himself at a new point of departure when he opened +the door of the loft above Tentaillon's stable, + +It was a large place, lighted only by a single candle set upon the +floor. The mountebank lay on his back upon a pallet; a large man, +with a Quixotic nose inflamed with drinking. Madame Tentaillon +stooped over him, applying a hot water and mustard embrocation to +his feet; and on a chair close by sat a little fellow of eleven or +twelve, with his feet dangling. These three were the only +occupants, except the shadows. But the shadows were a company in +themselves; the extent of the room exaggerated them to a gigantic +size, and from the low position of the candle the light struck +upwards and produced deformed foreshortenings. The mountebank's +profile was enlarged upon the wall in caricature, and it was +strange to see his nose shorten and lengthen as the flame was blown +about by draughts. As for Madame Tentaillon, her shadow was no +more than a gross hump of shoulders, with now and again a +hemisphere of head. The chair legs were spindled out as long as +stilts, and the boy set perched atop of them, like a cloud, in the +corner of the roof. + +It was the boy who took the Doctor's fancy. He had a great arched +skull, the forehead and the hands of a musician, and a pair of +haunting eyes. It was not merely that these eyes were large, or +steady, or the softest ruddy brown. There was a look in them, +besides, which thrilled the Doctor, and made him half uneasy. He +was sure he had seen such a look before, and yet he could not +remember how or where. It was as if this boy, who was quite a +stranger to him, had the eyes of an old friend or an old enemy. +And the boy would give him no peace; he seemed profoundly +indifferent to what was going on, or rather abstracted from it in a +superior contemplation, beating gently with his feet against the +bars of the chair, and holding his hands folded on his lap. But, +for all that, his eyes kept following the Doctor about the room +with a thoughtful fixity of gaze. Desprez could not tell whether +he was fascinating the boy, or the boy was fascinating him. He +busied himself over the sick man: he put questions, he felt the +pulse, he jested, he grew a little hot and swore: and still, +whenever he looked round, there were the brown eyes waiting for his +with the same inquiring, melancholy gaze. + +At last the Doctor hit on the solution at a leap. He remembered +the look now. The little fellow, although he was as straight as a +dart, had the eyes that go usually with a crooked back; he was not +at all deformed, and yet a deformed person seemed to be looking at +you from below his brows. The Doctor drew a long breath, he was so +much relieved to find a theory (for he loved theories) and to +explain away his interest. + +For all that, he despatched the invalid with unusual haste, and, +still kneeling with one knee on the floor, turned a little round +and looked the boy over at his leisure. The boy was not in the +least put out, but looked placidly back at the Doctor. + +'Is this your father?' asked Desprez. + +'Oh, no,' returned the boy; 'my master.' + +'Are you fond of him?' continued the Doctor. + +'No, sir,' said the boy. + +Madame Tentaillon and Desprez exchanged expressive glances. + +'That is bad, my man,' resumed the latter, with a shade of +sternness. 'Every one should be fond of the dying, or conceal +their sentiments; and your master here is dying. If I have watched +a bird a little while stealing my cherries, I have a thought of +disappointment when he flies away over my garden wall, and I see +him steer for the forest and vanish. How much more a creature such +as this, so strong, so astute, so richly endowed with faculties! +When I think that, in a few hours, the speech will be silenced, the +breath extinct, and even the shadow vanished from the wall, I who +never saw him, this lady who knew him only as a guest, are touched +with some affection.' + +The boy was silent for a little, and appeared to be reflecting. + +'You did not know him,' he replied at last, 'he was a bad man.' + +'He is a little pagan,' said the landlady. 'For that matter, they +are all the same, these mountebanks, tumblers, artists, and what +not. They have no interior.' + +But the Doctor was still scrutinising the little pagan, his +eyebrows knotted and uplifted. + +'What is your name?' he asked. + +'Jean-Marie,' said the lad. + +Desprez leaped upon him with one of his sudden flashes of +excitement, and felt his head all over from an ethnological point +of view. + +'Celtic, Celtic!' he said. + +'Celtic!' cried Madame Tentaillon, who had perhaps confounded the +word with hydrocephalous. 'Poor lad! is it dangerous?' + +'That depends,' returned the Doctor grimly. And then once more +addressing the boy: 'And what do you do for your living, Jean- +Marie?' he inquired. + +'I tumble,' was the answer. + +'So! Tumble?' repeated Desprez. 'Probably healthful. I hazard +the guess, Madame Tentaillon, that tumbling is a healthful way of +life. And have you never done anything else but tumble?' + +'Before I learned that, I used to steal,' answered Jean-Marie +gravely. + +'Upon my word!' cried the doctor. 'You are a nice little man for +your age. Madame, when my CONFRERE comes from Bourron, you will +communicate my unfavourable opinion. I leave the case in his +hands; but of course, on any alarming symptom, above all if there +should be a sign of rally, do not hesitate to knock me up. I am a +doctor no longer, I thank God; but I have been one. Good night, +madame. Good sleep to you, Jean-Marie.' + + + + +CHAPTER II. MORNING TALK + + +DOCTOR DESPREZ always rose early. Before the smoke arose, before +the first cart rattled over the bridge to the day's labour in the +fields, he was to be found wandering in his garden. Now he would +pick a bunch of grapes; now he would eat a big pear under the +trellice; now he would draw all sorts of fancies on the path with +the end of his cane; now he would go down and watch the river +running endlessly past the timber landing-place at which he moored +his boat. There was no time, he used to say, for making theories +like the early morning. 'I rise earlier than any one else in the +village,' he once boasted. 'It is a fair consequence that I know +more and wish to do less with my knowledge.' + +The Doctor was a connoisseur of sunrises, and loved a good +theatrical effect to usher in the day. He had a theory of dew, by +which he could predict the weather. Indeed, most things served him +to that end: the sound of the bells from all the neighbouring +villages, the smell of the forest, the visits and the behaviour of +both birds and fishes, the look of the plants in his garden, the +disposition of cloud, the colour of the light, and last, although +not least, the arsenal of meteorological instruments in a louvre- +boarded hutch upon the lawn. Ever since he had settled at Gretz, +he had been growing more and more into the local meteorologist, the +unpaid champion of the local climate. He thought at first there +was no place so healthful in the arrondissement. By the end of the +second year, he protested there was none so wholesome in the whole +department. And for some time before he met Jean-Marie he had been +prepared to challenge all France and the better part of Europe for +a rival to his chosen spot. + +'Doctor,' he would say - 'doctor is a foul word. It should not be +used to ladies. It implies disease. I remark it, as a flaw in our +civilisation, that we have not the proper horror of disease. Now +I, for my part, have washed my hands of it; I have renounced my +laureation; I am no doctor; I am only a worshipper of the true +goddess Hygieia. Ah, believe me, it is she who has the cestus! +And here, in this exiguous hamlet, has she placed her shrine: here +she dwells and lavishes her gifts; here I walk with her in the +early morning, and she shows me how strong she has made the +peasants, how fruitful she has made the fields, how the trees grow +up tall and comely under her eyes, and the fishes in the river +become clean and agile at her presence. - Rheumatism!' he would +cry, on some malapert interruption, 'O, yes, I believe we do have a +little rheumatism. That could hardly be avoided, you know, on a +river. And of course the place stands a little low; and the +meadows are marshy, there's no doubt. But, my dear sir, look at +Bourron! Bourron stands high. Bourron is close to the forest; +plenty of ozone there, you would say. Well, compared with Gretz, +Bourron is a perfect shambles.' + +The morning after he had been summoned to the dying mountebank, the +Doctor visited the wharf at the tail of his garden, and had a long +look at the running water. This he called prayer; but whether his +adorations were addressed to the goddess Hygieia or some more +orthodox deity, never plainly appeared. For he had uttered +doubtful oracles, sometimes declaring that a river was the type of +bodily health, sometimes extolling it as the great moral preacher, +continually preaching peace, continuity, and diligence to man's +tormented spirits. After he had watched a mile or so of the clear +water running by before his eyes, seen a fish or two come to the +surface with a gleam of silver, and sufficiently admired the long +shadows of the trees falling half across the river from the +opposite bank, with patches of moving sunlight in between, he +strolled once more up the garden and through his house into the +street, feeling cool and renovated. + +The sound of his feet upon the causeway began the business of the +day; for the village was still sound asleep. The church tower +looked very airy in the sunlight; a few birds that turned about it, +seemed to swim in an atmosphere of more than usual rarity; and the +Doctor, walking in long transparent shadows, filled his lungs +amply, and proclaimed himself well contented with the morning. + +On one of the posts before Tentaillon's carriage entry he espied a +little dark figure perched in a meditative attitude, and +immediately recognised Jean-Marie. + +'Aha!' he said, stopping before him humorously, with a hand on +either knee. 'So we rise early in the morning, do we? It appears +to me that we have all the vices of a philosopher.' + +The boy got to his feet and made a grave salutation. + +'And how is our patient?' asked Desprez. + +It appeared the patient was about the same. + +'And why do you rise early in the morning?' he pursued. + +Jean-Marie, after a long silence, professed that he hardly knew. + +'You hardly know?' repeated Desprez. 'We hardly know anything, my +man, until we try to learn. Interrogate your consciousness. Come, +push me this inquiry home. Do you like it?' + +'Yes,' said the boy slowly; 'yes, I like it.' + +'And why do you like it?' continued the Doctor. '(We are now +pursuing the Socratic method.) Why do you like it?' + +'It is quiet,' answered Jean-Marie; 'and I have nothing to do; and +then I feel as if I were good.' + +Doctor Desprez took a seat on the post at the opposite side. He +was beginning to take an interest in the talk, for the boy plainly +thought before he spoke, and tried to answer truly. 'It appears +you have a taste for feeling good,' said the Doctor. 'Now, there +you puzzle me extremely; for I thought you said you were a thief; +and the two are incompatible.' + +'Is it very bad to steal?' asked Jean-Marie. + +'Such is the general opinion, little boy,' replied the Doctor. + +'No; but I mean as I stole,' explained the other. 'For I had no +choice. I think it is surely right to have bread; it must be right +to have bread, there comes so plain a want of it. And then they +beat me cruelly if I returned with nothing,' he added. 'I was not +ignorant of right and wrong; for before that I had been well taught +by a priest, who was very kind to me.' (The Doctor made a horrible +grimace at the word 'priest.') 'But it seemed to me, when one had +nothing to eat and was beaten, it was a different affair. I would +not have stolen for tartlets, I believe; but any one would steal +for baker's bread.' + +'And so I suppose,' said the Doctor, with a rising sneer, 'you +prayed God to forgive you, and explained the case to Him at +length.' + +'Why, sir?' asked Jean-Marie. 'I do not see.' + +'Your priest would see, however,' retorted Desprez. + +'Would he?' asked the boy, troubled for the first time. 'I should +have thought God would have known.' + +'Eh?' snarled the Doctor. + +'I should have thought God would have understood me,' replied the +other. 'You do not, I see; but then it was God that made me think +so, was it not?' + +'Little boy, little boy,' said Dr. Desprez, 'I told you already you +had the vices of philosophy; if you display the virtues also, I +must go. I am a student of the blessed laws of health, an observer +of plain and temperate nature in her common walks; and I cannot +preserve my equanimity in presence of a monster. Do you +understand?' + +'No, sir,' said the boy. + +'I will make my meaning clear to you,' replied the doctor. 'Look +there at the sky - behind the belfry first, where it is so light, +and then up and up, turning your chin back, right to the top of the +dome, where it is already as blue as at noon. Is not that a +beautiful colour? Does it not please the heart? We have seen it +all our lives, until it has grown in with our familiar thoughts. +Now,' changing his tone, 'suppose that sky to become suddenly of a +live and fiery amber, like the colour of clear coals, and growing +scarlet towards the top - I do not say it would be any the less +beautiful; but would you like it as well?' + +'I suppose not,' answered Jean-Marie. + +'Neither do I like you,' returned the Doctor, roughly. 'I hate all +odd people, and you are the most curious little boy in all the +world.' + +Jean-Marie seemed to ponder for a while, and then he raised his +head again and looked over at the Doctor with an air of candid +inquiry. 'But are not you a very curious gentleman?' he asked. + +The Doctor threw away his stick, bounded on the boy, clasped him to +his bosom, and kissed him on both cheeks. 'Admirable, admirable +imp!' he cried. 'What a morning, what an hour for a theorist of +forty-two! No,' he continued, apostrophising heaven, 'I did not +know such boys existed; I was ignorant they made them so; I had +doubted of my race; and now! It is like,' he added, picking up his +stick, 'like a lovers' meeting. I have bruised my favourite staff +in that moment of enthusiasm. The injury, however, is not grave.' +He caught the boy looking at him in obvious wonder, embarrassment, +and alarm. 'Hullo!' said he, 'why do you look at me like that? +Egad, I believe the boy despises me. Do you despise me, boy?' + +'O, no,' replied Jean-Marie, seriously; 'only I do not understand.' + +'You must excuse me, sir,' returned the Doctor, with gravity; 'I am +still so young. O, hang him!' he added to himself. And he took +his seat again and observed the boy sardonically. 'He has spoiled +the quiet of my morning,' thought he. 'I shall be nervous all day, +and have a febricule when I digest. Let me compose myself.' And +so he dismissed his pre-occupations by an effort of the will which +he had long practised, and let his soul roam abroad in the +contemplation of the morning. He inhaled the air, tasting it +critically as a connoisseur tastes a vintage, and prolonging the +expiration with hygienic gusto. He counted the little flecks of +cloud along the sky. He followed the movements of the birds round +the church tower - making long sweeps, hanging poised, or turning +airy somersaults in fancy, and beating the wind with imaginary +pinions. And in this way he regained peace of mind and animal +composure, conscious of his limbs, conscious of the sight of his +eyes, conscious that the air had a cool taste, like a fruit, at the +top of his throat; and at last, in complete abstraction, he began +to sing. The Doctor had but one air - , 'Malbrouck s'en va-t-en +guerre;' even with that he was on terms of mere politeness; and his +musical exploits were always reserved for moments when he was alone +and entirely happy. + +He was recalled to earth rudely by a pained expression on the boy's +face. 'What do you think of my singing?' he inquired, stopping in +the middle of a note; and then, after he had waited some little +while and received no answer, 'What do you think of my singing?' he +repeated, imperiously. + +'I do not like it,' faltered Jean-Marie. + +'Oh, come!' cried the Doctor. 'Possibly you are a performer +yourself?' + +'I sing better than that,' replied the boy. + +The Doctor eyed him for some seconds in stupefaction. He was aware +that he was angry, and blushed for himself in consequence, which +made him angrier. 'If this is how you address your master!' he +said at last, with a shrug and a flourish of his arms. + +'I do not speak to him at all,' returned the boy. 'I do not like +him.' + +'Then you like me?' snapped Doctor Desprez, with unusual eagerness. + +'I do not know,' answered Jean-Marie. + +The Doctor rose. 'I shall wish you a good morning,' he said. 'You +are too much for me. Perhaps you have blood in your veins, perhaps +celestial ichor, or perhaps you circulate nothing more gross than +respirable air; but of one thing I am inexpugnably assured:- that +you are no human being. No, boy' - shaking his stick at him - 'you +are not a human being. Write, write it in your memory - "I am not +a human being - I have no pretension to be a human being - I am a +dive, a dream, an angel, an acrostic, an illusion - what you +please, but not a human being." And so accept my humble +salutations and farewell!' + +And with that the Doctor made off along the street in some emotion, +and the boy stood, mentally gaping, where he left him. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE ADOPTION. + + +MADAME DESPREZ, who answered to the Christian name of Anastasie, +presented an agreeable type of her sex; exceedingly wholesome to +look upon, a stout BRUNE, with cool smooth cheeks, steady, dark +eyes, and hands that neither art nor nature could improve. She was +the sort of person over whom adversity passes like a summer cloud; +she might, in the worst of conjunctions, knit her brows into one +vertical furrow for a moment, but the next it would be gone. She +had much of the placidity of a contented nun; with little of her +piety, however; for Anastasie was of a very mundane nature, fond of +oysters and old wine, and somewhat bold pleasantries, and devoted +to her husband for her own sake rather than for his. She was +imperturbably good-natured, but had no idea of self-sacrifice. To +live in that pleasant old house, with a green garden behind and +bright flowers about the window, to eat and drink of the best, to +gossip with a neighbour for a quarter of an hour, never to wear +stays or a dress except when she went to Fontainebleau shopping, to +be kept in a continual supply of racy novels, and to be married to +Doctor Desprez and have no ground of jealousy, filled the cup of +her nature to the brim. Those who had known the Doctor in bachelor +days, when he had aired quite as many theories, but of a different +order, attributed his present philosophy to the study of Anastasie. +It was her brute enjoyment that he rationalised and perhaps vainly +imitated. + +Madame Desprez was an artist in the kitchen, and made coffee to a +nicety. She had a knack of tidiness, with which she had infected +the Doctor; everything was in its place; everything capable of +polish shone gloriously; and dust was a thing banished from her +empire. Aline, their single servant, had no other business in the +world but to scour and burnish. So Doctor Desprez lived in his +house like a fatted calf, warmed and cosseted to his heart's +content. + +The midday meal was excellent. There was a ripe melon, a fish from +the river in a memorable Bearnaise sauce, a fat fowl in a +fricassee, and a dish of asparagus, followed by some fruit. The +Doctor drank half a bottle PLUS one glass, the wife half a bottle +MINUS the same quantity, which was a marital privilege, of an +excellent Cote-Rotie, seven years old. Then the coffee was +brought, and a flask of Chartreuse for madame, for the Doctor +despised and distrusted such decoctions; and then Aline left the +wedded pair to the pleasures of memory and digestion. + +'It is a very fortunate circumstance, my cherished one,' observed +the Doctor - 'this coffee is adorable - a very fortunate +circumstance upon the whole - Anastasie, I beseech you, go without +that poison for to-day; only one day, and you will feel the +benefit, I pledge my reputation.' + +'What is this fortunate circumstance, my friend?' inquired +Anastasie, not heeding his protest, which was of daily recurrence. + +'That we have no children, my beautiful,' replied the Doctor. 'I +think of it more and more as the years go on, and with more and +more gratitude towards the Power that dispenses such afflictions. +Your health, my darling, my studious quiet, our little kitchen +delicacies, how they would all have suffered, how they would all +have been sacrificed! And for what? Children are the last word of +human imperfection. Health flees before their face. They cry, my +dear; they put vexatious questions; they demand to be fed, to be +washed, to be educated, to have their noses blown; and then, when +the time comes, they break our hearts, as I break this piece of +sugar. A pair of professed egoists, like you and me, should avoid +offspring, like an infidelity.' + +'Indeed!' said she; and she laughed. 'Now, that is like you - to +take credit for the thing you could not help.' + +'My dear,' returned the Doctor, solemnly, 'we might have adopted.' + +'Never!' cried madame. 'Never, Doctor, with my consent. If the +child were my own flesh and blood, I would not say no. But to take +another person's indiscretion on my shoulders, my dear friend, I +have too much sense.' + +'Precisely,' replied the Doctor. 'We both had. And I am all the +better pleased with our wisdom, because - because - ' He looked at +her sharply. + +'Because what?' she asked, with a faint premonition of danger. + +'Because I have found the right person,' said the Doctor firmly, +'and shall adopt him this afternoon.' + +Anastasie looked at him out of a mist. 'You have lost your +reason,' she said; and there was a clang in her voice that seemed +to threaten trouble. + +'Not so, my dear,' he replied; 'I retain its complete exercise. To +the proof: instead of attempting to cloak my inconsistency, I have, +by way of preparing you, thrown it into strong relief. You will +there, I think, recognise the philosopher who has the ecstasy to +call you wife. The fact is, I have been reckoning all this while +without an accident. I never thought to find a son of my own. +Now, last night, I found one. Do not unnecessarily alarm yourself, +my dear; he is not a drop of blood to me that I know. It is his +mind, darling, his mind that calls me father.' + +'His mind!' she repeated with a titter between scorn and hysterics. +'His mind, indeed! Henri, is this an idiotic pleasantry, or are +you mad? His mind! And what of my mind?' + +'Truly,' replied the Doctor with a shrug, 'you have your finger on +the hitch. He will be strikingly antipathetic to my ever beautiful +Anastasie. She will never understand him; he will never understand +her. You married the animal side of my nature, dear and it is on +the spiritual side that I find my affinity for Jean-Marie. So much +so, that, to be perfectly frank, I stand in some awe of him myself. +You will easily perceive that I am announcing a calamity for you. +Do not,' he broke out in tones of real solicitude - 'do not give +way to tears after a meal, Anastasie. You will certainly give +yourself a false digestion.' + +Anastasie controlled herself. 'You know how willing I am to humour +you,' she said, 'in all reasonable matters. But on this point - ' + +'My dear love,' interrupted the Doctor, eager to prevent a refusal, +'who wished to leave Paris? Who made me give up cards, and the +opera, and the boulevard, and my social relations, and all that was +my life before I knew you? Have I been faithful? Have I been +obedient? Have I not borne my doom with cheerfulness? In all +honesty, Anastasie, have I not a right to a stipulation on my side? +I have, and you know it. I stipulate my son.' + +Anastasie was aware of defeat; she struck her colours instantly. +'You will break my heart,' she sighed. + +'Not in the least,' said he. 'You will feel a trifling +inconvenience for a month, just as I did when I was first brought +to this vile hamlet; then your admirable sense and temper will +prevail, and I see you already as content as ever, and making your +husband the happiest of men.' + +'You know I can refuse you nothing,' she said, with a last flicker +of resistance; 'nothing that will make you truly happier. But will +this? Are you sure, my husband? Last night, you say, you found +him! He may be the worst of humbugs.' + +'I think not,' replied the Doctor. 'But do not suppose me so +unwary as to adopt him out of hand. I am, I flatter myself, a +finished man of the world; I have had all possibilities in view; my +plan is contrived to meet them all. I take the lad as stable boy. +If he pilfer, if he grumble, if he desire to change, I shall see I +was mistaken; I shall recognise him for no son of mine, and send +him tramping.' + +'You will never do so when the time comes,' said his wife; 'I know +your good heart.' + +She reached out her hand to him, with a sigh; the Doctor smiled as +he took it and carried it to his lips; he had gained his point with +greater ease than he had dared to hope; for perhaps the twentieth +time he had proved the efficacy of his trusty argument, his +Excalibur, the hint of a return to Paris. Six months in the +capital, for a man of the Doctor's antecedents and relations, +implied no less a calamity than total ruin. Anastasie had saved +the remainder of his fortune by keeping him strictly in the +country. The very name of Paris put her in a blue fear; and she +would have allowed her husband to keep a menagerie in the back +garden, let alone adopting a stable-boy, rather than permit the +question of return to be discussed. + +About four of the afternoon, the mountebank rendered up his ghost; +he had never been conscious since his seizure. Doctor Desprez was +present at his last passage, and declared the farce over. Then he +took Jean-Marie by the shoulder and led him out into the inn garden +where there was a convenient bench beside the river. Here he sat +him down and made the boy place himself on his left. + +'Jean-Marie,' he said very gravely, 'this world is exceedingly +vast; and even France, which is only a small corner of it, is a +great place for a little lad like you. Unfortunately it is full of +eager, shouldering people moving on; and there are very few bakers' +shops for so many eaters. Your master is dead; you are not fit to +gain a living by yourself; you do not wish to steal? No. Your +situation then is undesirable; it is, for the moment, critical. On +the other hand, you behold in me a man not old, though elderly, +still enjoying the youth of the heart and the intelligence; a man +of instruction; easily situated in this world's affairs; keeping a +good table:- a man, neither as friend nor host, to be despised. I +offer you your food and clothes, and to teach you lessons in the +evening, which will be infinitely more to the purpose for a lad of +your stamp than those of all the priests in Europe. I propose no +wages, but if ever you take a thought to leave me, the door shall +be open, and I will give you a hundred francs to start the world +upon. In return, I have an old horse and chaise, which you would +very speedily learn to clean and keep in order. Do not hurry +yourself to answer, and take it or leave it as you judge aright. +Only remember this, that I am no sentimentalist or charitable +person, but a man who lives rigorously to himself; and that if I +make the proposal, it is for my own ends - it is because I perceive +clearly an advantage to myself. And now, reflect.' + +'I shall be very glad. I do not see what else I can do. I thank +you, sir, most kindly, and I will try to be useful,' said the boy. + +'Thank you,' said the Doctor warmly, rising at the same time and +wiping his brow, for he had suffered agonies while the thing hung +in the wind. A refusal, after the scene at noon, would have placed +him in a ridiculous light before Anastasie. 'How hot and heavy is +the evening, to be sure! I have always had a fancy to be a fish in +summer, Jean-Marie, here in the Loing beside Gretz. I should lie +under a water-lily and listen to the bells, which must sound most +delicately down below. That would be a life - do you not think so +too?' + +'Yes,' said Jean-Marie. + +'Thank God you have imagination!' cried the Doctor, embracing the +boy with his usual effusive warmth, though it was a proceeding that +seemed to disconcert the sufferer almost as much as if he had been +an English schoolboy of the same age. 'And now,' he added, 'I will +take you to my wife.' + +Madame Desprez sat in the dining-room in a cool wrapper. All the +blinds were down, and the tile floor had been recently sprinkled +with water; her eyes were half shut, but she affected to be reading +a novel as the they entered. Though she was a bustling woman, she +enjoyed repose between whiles and had a remarkable appetite for +sleep. + +The Doctor went through a solemn form of introduction, adding, for +the benefit of both parties, 'You must try to like each other for +my sake.' + +'He is very pretty,' said Anastasie. 'Will you kiss me, my pretty +little fellow?' + +The Doctor was furious, and dragged her into the passage. 'Are you +a fool, Anastasie?' he said. 'What is all this I hear about the +tact of women? Heaven knows, I have not met with it in my +experience. You address my little philosopher as if he were an +infant. He must be spoken to with more respect, I tell you; he +must not be kissed and Georgy-porgy'd like an ordinary child.' + +'I only did it to please you, I am sure,' replied Anastasie; 'but I +will try to do better.' + +The Doctor apologised for his warmth. 'But I do wish him,' he +continued, 'to feel at home among us. And really your conduct was +so idiotic, my cherished one, and so utterly and distantly out of +place, that a saint might have been pardoned a little vehemence in +disapproval. Do, do try - if it is possible for a woman to +understand young people - but of course it is not, and I waste my +breath. Hold your tongue as much as possible at least, and observe +my conduct narrowly; it will serve you for a model.' + +Anastasie did as she was bidden, and considered the Doctor's +behaviour. She observed that he embraced the boy three times in +the course of the evening, and managed generally to confound and +abash the little fellow out of speech and appetite. But she had +the true womanly heroism in little affairs. Not only did she +refrain from the cheap revenge of exposing the Doctor's errors to +himself, but she did her best to remove their ill-effect on Jean- +Marie. When Desprez went out for his last breath of air before +retiring for the night, she came over to the boy's side and took +his hand. + +'You must not be surprised nor frightened by my husband's manners,' +she said. 'He is the kindest of men, but so clever that he is +sometimes difficult to understand. You will soon grow used to him, +and then you will love him, for that nobody can help. As for me, +you may be sure, I shall try to make you happy, and will not bother +you at all. I think we should be excellent friends, you and I. I +am not clever, but I am very good-natured. Will you give me a +kiss?' + +He held up his face, and she took him in her arms and then began to +cry. The woman had spoken in complaisance; but she had warmed to +her own words, and tenderness followed. The Doctor, entering, +found them enlaced: he concluded that his wife was in fault; and he +was just beginning, in an awful voice, 'Anastasie - ,' when she +looked up at him, smiling, with an upraised finger; and he held his +peace, wondering, while she led the boy to his attic. + + + +CHAPTER IV. +THE EDUCATION OF A PHILOSOPHER. + + +THE installation of the adopted stable-boy was thus happily +effected, and the wheels of life continued to run smoothly in the +Doctor's house. Jean-Marie did his horse and carriage duty in the +morning; sometimes helped in the housework; sometimes walked abroad +with the Doctor, to drink wisdom from the fountain-head; and was +introduced at night to the sciences and the dead tongues. He +retained his singular placidity of mind and manner; he was rarely +in fault; but he made only a very partial progress in his studies, +and remained much of a stranger in the family. + +The Doctor was a pattern of regularity. All forenoon he worked on +his great book, the 'Comparative Pharmacopoeia, or Historical +Dictionary of all Medicines,' which as yet consisted principally of +slips of paper and pins. When finished, it was to fill many +personable volumes, and to combine antiquarian interest with +professional utility. But the Doctor was studious of literary +graces and the picturesque; an anecdote, a touch of manners, a +moral qualification, or a sounding epithet was sure to be preferred +before a piece of science; a little more, and he would have written +the 'Comparative Pharmacopoeia' in verse! The article 'Mummia,' +for instance, was already complete, though the remainder of the +work had not progressed beyond the letter A. It was exceedingly +copious and entertaining, written with quaintness and colour, +exact, erudite, a literary article; but it would hardly have +afforded guidance to a practising physician of to-day. The +feminine good sense of his wife had led her to point this out with +uncompromising sincerity; for the Dictionary was duly read aloud to +her, betwixt sleep and waning, as it proceeded towards an +infinitely distant completion; and the Doctor was a little sore on +the subject of mummies, and sometimes resented an allusion with +asperity. + +After the midday meal and a proper period of digestion, he walked, +sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by Jean-Marie; for madame +would have preferred any hardship rather than walk. + +She was, as I have said, a very busy person, continually occupied +about material comforts, and ready to drop asleep over a novel the +instant she was disengaged. This was the less objectionable, as +she never snored or grew distempered in complexion when she slept. +On the contrary, she looked the very picture of luxurious and +appetising ease, and woke without a start to the perfect possession +of her faculties. I am afraid she was greatly an animal, but she +was a very nice animal to have about. In this way, she had little +to do with Jean-Marie; but the sympathy which had been established +between them on the first night remained unbroken; they held +occasional conversations, mostly on household matters; to the +extreme disappointment of the Doctor, they occasionally sallied off +together to that temple of debasing superstition, the village +church; madame and he, both in their Sunday's best, drove twice a +month to Fontainebleau and returned laden with purchases; and in +short, although the Doctor still continued to regard them as +irreconcilably anti-pathetic, their relation was as intimate, +friendly, and confidential as their natures suffered. + +I fear, however, that in her heart of hearts, madame kindly +despised and pitied the boy. She had no admiration for his class +of virtues; she liked a smart, polite, forward, roguish sort of +boy, cap in hand, light of foot, meeting the eye; she liked +volubility, charm, a little vice - the promise of a second Doctor +Desprez. And it was her indefeasible belief that Jean-Marie was +dull. 'Poor dear boy,' she had said once, 'how sad it is that he +should be so stupid!' She had never repeated that remark, for the +Doctor had raged like a wild bull, denouncing the brutal bluntness +of her mind, bemoaning his own fate to be so unequally mated with +an ass, and, what touched Anastasie more nearly, menacing the table +china by the fury of his gesticulations. But she adhered silently +to her opinion; and when Jean-Marie was sitting, stolid, blank, but +not unhappy, over his unfinished tasks, she would snatch her +opportunity in the Doctor's absence, go over to him, put her arms +about his neck, lay her cheek to his, and communicate her sympathy +with his distress. 'Do not mind,' she would say; 'I, too, am not +at all clever, and I can assure you that it makes no difference in +life.' + +The Doctor's view was naturally different. That gentleman never +wearied of the sound of his own voice, which was, to say the truth, +agreeable enough to hear. He now had a listener, who was not so +cynically indifferent as Anastasie, and who sometimes put him on +his mettle by the most relevant objections. Besides, was he not +educating the boy? And education, philosophers are agreed, is the +most philosophical of duties. What can be more heavenly to poor +mankind than to have one's hobby grow into a duty to the State? +Then, indeed, do the ways of life become ways of pleasantness. +Never had the Doctor seen reason to be more content with his +endowments. Philosophy flowed smoothly from his lips. He was so +agile a dialectician that he could trace his nonsense, when +challenged, back to some root in sense, and prove it to be a sort +of flower upon his system. He slipped out of antinomies like a +fish, and left his disciple marvelling at the rabbi's depth. + +Moreover, deep down in his heart the Doctor was disappointed with +the ill-success of his more formal education. A boy, chosen by so +acute an observer for his aptitude, and guided along the path of +learning by so philosophic an instructor, was bound, by the nature +of the universe, to make a more obvious and lasting advance. Now +Jean-Marie was slow in all things, impenetrable in others; and his +power of forgetting was fully on a level with his power to learn. +Therefore the Doctor cherished his peripatetic lectures, to which +the boy attended, which he generally appeared to enjoy, and by +which he often profited. + +Many and many were the talks they had together; and health and +moderation proved the subject of the Doctor's divagations. To +these he lovingly returned. + +'I lead you,' he would say, 'by the green pastures. My system, my +beliefs, my medicines, are resumed in one phrase - to avoid excess. +Blessed nature, healthy, temperate nature, abhors and exterminates +excess. Human law, in this matter, imitates at a great distance +her provisions; and we must strive to supplement the efforts of the +law. Yes, boy, we must be a law to ourselves and for ourselves and +for our neighbours - lex armata - armed, emphatic, tyrannous law. +If you see a crapulous human ruin snuffing, dash from him his box! +The judge, though in a way an admission of disease, is less +offensive to me than either the doctor or the priest. Above all +the doctor - the doctor and the purulent trash and garbage of his +pharmacopoeia! Pure air - from the neighbourhood of a pinetum for +the sake of the turpentine - unadulterated wine, and the +reflections of an unsophisticated spirit in the presence of the +works of nature - these, my boy, are the best medical appliances +and the best religious comforts. Devote yourself to these. Hark! +there are the bells of Bourron (the wind is in the north, it will +be fair). How clear and airy is the sound! The nerves are +harmonised and quieted; the mind attuned to silence; and observe +how easily and regularly beats the heart! Your unenlightened +doctor would see nothing in these sensations; and yet you yourself +perceive they are a part of health. - Did you remember your +cinchona this morning? Good. Cinchona also is a work of nature; +it is, after all, only the bark of a tree which we might gather for +ourselves if we lived in the locality. - What a world is this! +Though a professed atheist, I delight to bear my testimony to the +world. Look at the gratuitous remedies and pleasures that surround +our path! The river runs by the garden end, our bath, our +fishpond, our natural system of drainage. There is a well in the +court which sends up sparkling water from the earth's very heart, +clean, cool, and, with a little wine, most wholesome. The district +is notorious for its salubrity; rheumatism is the only prevalent +complaint, and I myself have never had a touch of it. I tell you - +and my opinion is based upon the coldest, clearest processes of +reason - if I, if you, desired to leave this home of pleasures, it +would be the duty, it would be the privilege, of our best friend to +prevent us with a pistol bullet.' + +One beautiful June day they sat upon the hill outside the village. +The river, as blue as heaven, shone here and there among the +foliage. The indefatigable birds turned and flickered about Gretz +church tower. A healthy wind blew from over the forest, and the +sound of innumerable thousands of tree-tops and innumerable +millions on millions of green leaves was abroad in the air, and +filled the ear with something between whispered speech and singing. +It seemed as if every blade of grass must hide a cigale; and the +fields rang merrily with their music, jingling far and near as with +the sleigh-bells of the fairy queen. From their station on the +slope the eye embraced a large space of poplar'd plain upon the one +hand, the waving hill-tops of the forest on the other, and Gretz +itself in the middle, a handful of roofs. Under the bestriding +arch of the blue heavens, the place seemed dwindled to a toy. It +seemed incredible that people dwelt, and could find room to turn or +air to breathe, in such a corner of the world. The thought came +home to the boy, perhaps for the first time, and he gave it words. + +'How small it looks!' he sighed. + +'Ay,' replied the Doctor, 'small enough now. Yet it was once a +walled city; thriving, full of furred burgesses and men in armour, +humming with affairs; - with tall spires, for aught that I know, +and portly towers along the battlements. A thousand chimneys +ceased smoking at the curfew bell. There were gibbets at the gate +as thick as scarecrows. In time of war, the assault swarmed +against it with ladders, the arrows fell like leaves, the defenders +sallied hotly over the drawbridge, each side uttered its cry as +they plied their weapons. Do you know that the walls extended as +far as the Commanderie? Tradition so reports. Alas, what a long +way off is all this confusion - nothing left of it but my quiet +words spoken in your ear - and the town itself shrunk to the hamlet +underneath us! By-and-by came the English wars - you shall hear +more of the English, a stupid people, who sometimes blundered into +good - and Gretz was taken, sacked, and burned. It is the history +of many towns; but Gretz never rose again; it was never rebuilt; +its ruins were a quarry to serve the growth of rivals; and the +stones of Gretz are now erect along the streets of Nemours. It +gratifies me that our old house was the first to rise after the +calamity; when the town had come to an end, it inaugurated the +hamlet.' + +'I, too, am glad of that,' said Jean-Marie. + +'It should be the temple of the humbler virtues,' responded the +Doctor with a savoury gusto. 'Perhaps one of the reasons why I +love my little hamlet as I do, is that we have a similar history, +she and I. Have I told you that I was once rich?' + +'I do not think so,' answered Jean-Marie. 'I do not think I should +have forgotten. I am sorry you should have lost your fortune.' + +'Sorry?' cried the Doctor. 'Why, I find I have scarce begun your +education after all. Listen to me! Would you rather live in the +old Gretz or in the new, free from the alarms of war, with the +green country at the door, without noise, passports, the exactions +of the soldiery, or the jangle of the curfew-bell to send us off to +bed by sundown?' + +'I suppose I should prefer the new,' replied the boy. + +'Precisely,' returned the Doctor; 'so do I. And, in the same way, +I prefer my present moderate fortune to my former wealth. Golden +mediocrity! cried the adorable ancients; and I subscribe to their +enthusiasm. Have I not good wine, good food, good air, the fields +and the forest for my walk, a house, an admirable wife, a boy whom +I protest I cherish like a son? Now, if I were still rich, I +should indubitably make my residence in Paris - you know Paris - +Paris and Paradise are not convertible terms. This pleasant noise +of the wind streaming among leaves changed into the grinding Babel +of the street, the stupid glare of plaster substituted for this +quiet pattern of greens and greys, the nerves shattered, the +digestion falsified - picture the fall! Already you perceive the +consequences; the mind is stimulated, the heart steps to a +different measure, and the man is himself no longer. I have +passionately studied myself - the true business of philosophy. I +know my character as the musician knows the ventages of his flute. +Should I return to Paris, I should ruin myself gambling; nay, I go +further - I should break the heart of my Anastasie with +infidelities.' + +This was too much for Jean-Marie. That a place should so transform +the most excellent of men transcended his belief. Paris, he +protested, was even an agreeable place of residence. 'Nor when I +lived in that city did I feel much difference,' he pleaded. + +'What!' cried the Doctor. 'Did you not steal when you were there?' + +But the boy could never be brought to see that he had done anything +wrong when he stole. Nor, indeed, did the Doctor think he had; but +that gentleman was never very scrupulous when in want of a retort. + +'And now,' he concluded, 'do you begin to understand? My only +friends were those who ruined me. Gretz has been my academy, my +sanatorium, my heaven of innocent pleasures. If millions are +offered me, I wave them back: RETRO, SATHANAS! - Evil one, begone! +Fix your mind on my example; despise riches, avoid the debasing +influence of cities. Hygiene - hygiene and mediocrity of fortune - +these be your watchwords during life!' + +The Doctor's system of hygiene strikingly coincided with his +tastes; and his picture of the perfect life was a faithful +description of the one he was leading at the time. But it is easy +to convince a boy, whom you supply with all the facts for the +discussion. And besides, there was one thing admirable in the +philosophy, and that was the enthusiasm of the philosopher. There +was never any one more vigorously determined to be pleased; and if +he was not a great logician, and so had no right to convince the +intellect, he was certainly something of a poet, and had a +fascination to seduce the heart. What he could not achieve in his +customary humour of a radiant admiration of himself and his +circumstances, he sometimes effected in his fits of gloom. + +'Boy,' he would say, 'avoid me to-day. If I were superstitious, I +should even beg for an interest in your prayers. I am in the black +fit; the evil spirit of King Saul, the hag of the merchant Abudah, +the personal devil of the mediaeval monk, is with me - is in me,' +tapping on his breast. 'The vices of my nature are now uppermost; +innocent pleasures woo me in vain; I long for Paris, for my +wallowing in the mire. See,' he would continue, producing a +handful of silver, 'I denude myself, I am not to be trusted with +the price of a fare. Take it, keep it for me, squander it on +deleterious candy, throw it in the deepest of the river - I will +homologate your action. Save me from that part of myself which I +disown. If you see me falter, do not hesitate; if necessary, wreck +the train! I speak, of course, by a parable. Any extremity were +better than for me to reach Paris alive.' + +Doubtless the Doctor enjoyed these little scenes, as a variation in +his part; they represented the Byronic element in the somewhat +artificial poetry of his existence; but to the boy, though he was +dimly aware of their theatricality, they represented more. The +Doctor made perhaps too little, the boy possibly too much, of the +reality and gravity of these temptations. + +One day a great light shone for Jean-Marie. 'Could not riches be +used well?' he asked. + +'In theory, yes,' replied the Doctor. 'But it is found in +experience that no one does so. All the world imagine they will be +exceptional when they grow wealthy; but possession is debasing, new +desires spring up; and the silly taste for ostentation eats out the +heart of pleasure.' + +'Then you might be better if you had less,' said the boy. + +'Certainly not,' replied the Doctor; but his voice quavered as he +spoke. + +'Why?' demanded pitiless innocence. + +Doctor Desprez saw all the colours of the rainbow in a moment; the +stable universe appeared to be about capsizing with him. +'Because,' said he - affecting deliberation after an obvious pause +- 'because I have formed my life for my present income. It is not +good for men of my years to be violently dissevered from their +habits.' + +That was a sharp brush. The Doctor breathed hard, and fell into +taciturnity for the afternoon. As for the boy, he was delighted +with the resolution of his doubts; even wondered that he had not +foreseen the obvious and conclusive answer. His faith in the +Doctor was a stout piece of goods. Desprez was inclined to be a +sheet in the wind's eye after dinner, especially after Rhone wine, +his favourite weakness. He would then remark on the warmth of his +feeling for Anastasie, and with inflamed cheeks and a loose, +flustered smile, debate upon all sorts of topics, and be feebly and +indiscreetly witty. But the adopted stable-boy would not permit +himself to entertain a doubt that savoured of ingratitude. It is +quite true that a man may be a second father to you, and yet take +too much to drink; but the best natures are ever slow to accept +such truths. + +The Doctor thoroughly possessed his heart, but perhaps he +exaggerated his influence over his mind. Certainly Jean-Marie +adopted some of his master's opinions, but I have yet to learn that +he ever surrendered one of his own. Convictions existed in him by +divine right; they were virgin, unwrought, the brute metal of +decision. He could add others indeed, but he could not put away; +neither did he care if they were perfectly agreed among themselves; +and his spiritual pleasures had nothing to do with turning them +over or justifying them in words. Words were with him a mere +accomplishment, like dancing. When he was by himself, his +pleasures were almost vegetable. He would slip into the woods +towards Acheres, and sit in the mouth of a cave among grey birches. +His soul stared straight out of his eyes; he did not move or think; +sunlight, thin shadows moving in the wind, the edge of firs against +the sky, occupied and bound his faculties. He was pure unity, a +spirit wholly abstracted. A single mood filled him, to which all +the objects of sense contributed, as the colours of the spectrum +merge and disappear in white light. + +So while the Doctor made himself drunk with words, the adopted +stable-boy bemused himself with silence. + + + + +CHAPTER V. TREASURE TROVE. + + +THE Doctor's carriage was a two-wheeled gig with a hood; a kind of +vehicle in much favour among country doctors. On how many roads +has one not seen it, a great way off between the poplars! - in how +many village streets, tied to a gate-post! This sort of chariot is +affected - particularly at the trot - by a kind of pitching +movement to and fro across the axle, which well entitles it to the +style of a Noddy. The hood describes a considerable arc against +the landscape, with a solemnly absurd effect on the contemplative +pedestrian. To ride in such a carriage cannot be numbered among +the things that appertain to glory; but I have no doubt it may be +useful in liver complaint. Thence, perhaps, its wide popularity +among physicians. + +One morning early, Jean-Marie led forth the Doctor's noddy, opened +the gate, and mounted to the driving-seat. The Doctor followed, +arrayed from top to toe in spotless linen, armed with an immense +flesh-coloured umbrella, and girt with a botanical case on a +baldric; and the equipage drove off smartly in a breeze of its own +provocation. They were bound for Franchard, to collect plants, +with an eye to the 'Comparative Pharmacopoeia.' + +A little rattling on the open roads, and they came to the borders +of the forest and struck into an unfrequented track; the noddy +yawed softly over the sand, with an accompaniment of snapping +twigs. There was a great, green, softly murmuring cloud of +congregated foliage overhead. In the arcades of the forest the air +retained the freshness of the night. The athletic bearing of the +trees, each carrying its leafy mountain, pleased the mind like so +many statues; and the lines of the trunk led the eye admiringly +upward to where the extreme leaves sparkled in a patch of azure. +Squirrels leaped in mid air. It was a proper spot for a devotee of +the goddess Hygieia. + +'Have you been to Franchard, Jean-Marie?' inquired the Doctor. 'I +fancy not.' + +'Never,' replied the boy. + +'It is ruin in a gorge,' continued Desprez, adopting his expository +voice; 'the ruin of a hermitage and chapel. History tells us much +of Franchard; how the recluse was often slain by robbers; how he +lived on a most insufficient diet; how he was expected to pass his +days in prayer. A letter is preserved, addressed to one of these +solitaries by the superior of his order, full of admirable hygienic +advice; bidding him go from his book to praying, and so back again, +for variety's sake, and when he was weary of both to stroll about +his garden and observe the honey bees. It is to this day my own +system. You must often have remarked me leaving the +"Pharmacopoeia" - often even in the middle of a phrase - to come +forth into the sun and air. I admire the writer of that letter +from my heart; he was a man of thought on the most important +subjects. But, indeed, had I lived in the Middle Ages (I am +heartily glad that I did not) I should have been an eremite myself +- if I had not been a professed buffoon, that is. These were the +only philosophical lives yet open: laughter or prayer; sneers, we +might say, and tears. Until the sun of the Positive arose, the +wise man had to make his choice between these two.' + +'I have been a buffoon, of course,' observed Jean-Marie. + +'I cannot imagine you to have excelled in your profession,' said +the Doctor, admiring the boy's gravity. 'Do you ever laugh?' + +'Oh, yes,' replied the other. 'I laugh often. I am very fond of +jokes.' + +'Singular being!' said Desprez. 'But I divagate (I perceive in a +thousand ways that I grow old). Franchard was at length destroyed +in the English wars, the same that levelled Gretz. But - here is +the point - the hermits (for there were already more than one) had +foreseen the danger and carefully concealed the sacrificial +vessels. These vessels were of monstrous value, Jean-Marie - +monstrous value - priceless, we may say; exquisitely worked, of +exquisite material. And now, mark me, they have never been found. +In the reign of Louis Quatorze some fellows were digging hard by +the ruins. Suddenly - tock! - the spade hit upon an obstacle. +Imagine the men fooling one to another; imagine how their hearts +bounded, how their colour came and went. It was a coffer, and in +Franchard the place of buried treasure! They tore it open like +famished beasts. Alas! it was not the treasure; only some priestly +robes, which, at the touch of the eating air, fell upon themselves +and instantly wasted into dust. The perspiration of these good +fellows turned cold upon them, Jean-Marie. I will pledge my +reputation, if there was anything like a cutting wind, one or other +had a pneumonia for his trouble.' + +'I should like to have seen them turning into dust,' said Jean- +Marie. 'Otherwise, I should not have cared so greatly.' + +'You have no imagination,' cried the Doctor. 'Picture to yourself +the scene. Dwell on the idea - a great treasure lying in the earth +for centuries: the material for a giddy, copious, opulent existence +not employed; dresses and exquisite pictures unseen; the swiftest +galloping horses not stirring a hoof, arrested by a spell; women +with the beautiful faculty of smiles, not smiling; cards, dice, +opera singing, orchestras, castles, beautiful parks and gardens, +big ships with a tower of sailcloth, all lying unborn in a coffin - +and the stupid trees growing overhead in the sunlight, year after +year. The thought drives one frantic.' + +'It is only money,' replied Jean-Marie. 'It would do harm.' + +'O, come!' cried Desprez, 'that is philosophy; it is all very fine, +but not to the point just now. And besides, it is not "only +money," as you call it; there are works of art in the question; the +vessels were carved. You speak like a child. You weary me +exceedingly, quoting my words out of all logical connection, like a +parroquet.' + +'And at any rate, we have nothing to do with it,' returned the boy +submissively. + +They struck the Route Ronde at that moment; and the sudden change +to the rattling causeway combined, with the Doctor's irritation, to +keep him silent. The noddy jigged along; the trees went by, +looking on silently, as if they had something on their minds. The +Quadrilateral was passed; then came Franchard. They put up the +horse at the little solitary inn, and went forth strolling. The +gorge was dyed deeply with heather; the rocks and birches standing +luminous in the sun. A great humming of bees about the flowers +disposed Jean-Marie to sleep, and he sat down against a clump of +heather, while the Doctor went briskly to and fro, with quick +turns, culling his simples. + +The boy's head had fallen a little forward, his eyes were closed, +his fingers had fallen lax about his knees, when a sudden cry +called him to his feet. It was a strange sound, thin and brief; it +fell dead, and silence returned as though it had never been +interrupted. He had not recognised the Doctor's voice; but, as +there was no one else in all the valley, it was plainly the Doctor +who had given utterance to the sound. He looked right and left, +and there was Desprez, standing in a niche between two boulders, +and looking round on his adopted son with a countenance as white as +paper. + +'A viper!' cried Jean-Marie, running towards him. 'A viper! You +are bitten!' + +The Doctor came down heavily out of the cleft, and, advanced in +silence to meet the boy, whom he took roughly by the shoulder. + +'I have found it,' he said, with a gasp. + +'A plant?' asked Jean-Marie. + +Desprez had a fit of unnatural gaiety, which the rocks took up and +mimicked. 'A plant!' he repeated scornfully. 'Well - yes - a +plant. And here,' he added suddenly, showing his right hand, which +he had hitherto concealed behind his back - 'here is one of the +bulbs.' + +Jean-Marie saw a dirty platter, coated with earth. + +'That?' said he. 'It is a plate!' + +'It is a coach and horses,' cried the Doctor. 'Boy,' he continued, +growing warmer, 'I plucked away a great pad of moss from between +these boulders, and disclosed a crevice; and when I looked in, what +do you suppose I saw? I saw a house in Paris with a court and +garden, I saw my wife shining with diamonds, I saw myself a deputy, +I saw you - well, I - I saw your future,' he concluded, rather +feebly. 'I have just discovered America,' he added. + +'But what is it?' asked the boy. + +'The Treasure of Franchard,' cried the Doctor; and, throwing his +brown straw hat upon the ground, he whooped like an Indian and +sprang upon Jean-Marie, whom he suffocated with embraces and +bedewed with tears. Then he flung himself down among the heather +and once more laughed until the valley rang. + +But the boy had now an interest of his own, a boy's interest. No +sooner was he released from the Doctor's accolade than he ran to +the boulders, sprang into the niche, and, thrusting his hand into +the crevice, drew forth one after another, encrusted with the earth +of ages, the flagons, candlesticks, and patens of the hermitage of +Franchard. A casket came last, tightly shut and very heavy. + +'O what fun!' he cried. + +But when he looked back at the Doctor, who had followed close +behind and was silently observing, the words died from his lips. +Desprez was once more the colour of ashes; his lip worked and +trembled; a sort of bestial greed possessed him. + +'This is childish,' he said. 'We lose precious time. Back to the +inn, harness the trap, and bring it to yon bank. Run for your +life, and remember - not one whisper. I stay here to watch.' + +Jean-Marie did as he was bid, though not without surprise. The +noddy was brought round to the spot indicated; and the two +gradually transported the treasure from its place of concealment to +the boot below the driving seat. Once it was all stored the Doctor +recovered his gaiety. + +'I pay my grateful duties to the genius of this dell,' he said. +'O, for a live coal, a heifer, and a jar of country wine! I am in +the vein for sacrifice, for a superb libation. Well, and why not? +We are at Franchard. English pale ale is to be had - not +classical, indeed, but excellent. Boy, we shall drink ale.' + +'But I thought it was so unwholesome,' said Jean-Marie, 'and very +dear besides.' + +'Fiddle-de-dee!' exclaimed the Doctor gaily. 'To the inn!' + +And he stepped into the noddy, tossing his head, with an elastic, +youthful air. The horse was turned, and in a few seconds they drew +up beside the palings of the inn garden. + +'Here,' said Desprez - 'here, near the table, so that we may keep +an eye upon things.' + +They tied the horse, and entered the garden, the Doctor singing, +now in fantastic high notes, now producing deep reverberations from +his chest. He took a seat, rapped loudly on the table, assailed +the waiter with witticisms; and when the bottle of Bass was at +length produced, far more charged with gas than the most delirious +champagne, he filled out a long glassful of froth and pushed it +over to Jean-Marie. 'Drink,' he said; 'drink deep.' + +'I would rather not,' faltered the boy, true to his training. + +'What?' thundered Desprez. + +'I am afraid of it,' said Jean-Marie: 'my stomach - ' + +'Take it or leave it,' interrupted Desprez fiercely; 'but +understand it once for all - there is nothing so contemptible as a +precisian.' + +Here was a new lesson! The boy sat bemused, looking at the glass +but not tasting it, while the Doctor emptied and refilled his own, +at first with clouded brow, but gradually yielding to the sun, the +heady, prickling beverage, and his own predisposition to be happy. + +'Once in a way,' he said at last, by way of a concession to the +boy's more rigorous attitude, 'once in a way, and at so critical a +moment, this ale is a nectar for the gods. The habit, indeed, is +debasing; wine, the juice of the grape, is the true drink of the +Frenchman, as I have often had occasion to point out; and I do not +know that I can blame you for refusing this outlandish stimulant. +You can have some wine and cakes. Is the bottle empty? Well, we +will not be proud; we will have pity on your glass.' + +The beer being done, the Doctor chafed bitterly while Jean-Marie +finished his cakes. 'I burn to be gone,' he said, looking at his +watch. 'Good God, how slow you eat!' And yet to eat slowly was +his own particular prescription, the main secret of longevity! + +His martyrdom, however, reached an end at last; the pair resumed +their places in the buggy, and Desprez, leaning luxuriously back, +announced his intention of proceeding to Fontainebleau. + +'To Fontainebleau?' repeated Jean-Marie. + +'My words are always measured,' said the Doctor. 'On!' + +The Doctor was driven through the glades of paradise; the air, the +light, the shining leaves, the very movements of the vehicle, +seemed to fall in tune with his golden meditations; with his head +thrown back, he dreamed a series of sunny visions, ale and pleasure +dancing in his veins. At last he spoke. + +'I shall telegraph for Casimir,' he said. 'Good Casimir! a fellow +of the lower order of intelligence, Jean-Marie, distinctly not +creative, not poetic; and yet he will repay your study; his fortune +is vast, and is entirely due to his own exertions. He is the very +fellow to help us to dispose of our trinkets, find us a suitable +house in Paris, and manage the details of our installation. +Admirable Casimir, one of my oldest comrades! It was on his +advice, I may add, that I invested my little fortune in Turkish +bonds; when we have added these spoils of the mediaeval church to +our stake in the Mahometan empire, little boy, we shall positively +roll among doubloons, positively roll! Beautiful forest,' he +cried, 'farewell! Though called to other scenes, I will not forget +thee. Thy name is graven in my heart. Under the influence of +prosperity I become dithyrambic, Jean-Marie. Such is the impulse +of the natural soul; such was the constitution of primaeval man. +And I - well, I will not refuse the credit - I have preserved my +youth like a virginity; another, who should have led the same +snoozing, countryfied existence for these years, another had become +rusted, become stereotype; but I, I praise my happy constitution, +retain the spring unbroken. Fresh opulence and a new sphere of +duties find me unabated in ardour and only more mature by +knowledge. For this prospective change, Jean-Marie - it may +probably have shocked you. Tell me now, did it not strike you as +an inconsistency? Confess - it is useless to dissemble - it pained +you?' + +'Yes,' said the boy. + +'You see,' returned the Doctor, with sublime fatuity, 'I read your +thoughts! Nor am I surprised - your education is not yet complete; +the higher duties of men have not been yet presented to you fully. +A hint - till we have leisure - must suffice. Now that I am once +more in possession of a modest competence; now that I have so long +prepared myself in silent meditation, it becomes my superior duty +to proceed to Paris. My scientific training, my undoubted command +of language, mark me out for the service of my country. Modesty in +such a case would be a snare. If sin were a philosophical +expression, I should call it sinful. A man must not deny his +manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations. I must +be up and doing; I must be no skulker in life's battle.' + +So he rattled on, copiously greasing the joint of his inconsistency +with words; while the boy listened silently, his eyes fixed on the +horse, his mind seething. It was all lost eloquence; no array of +words could unsettle a belief of Jean-Marie's; and he drove into +Fontainebleau filled with pity, horror, indignation, and despair. + +In the town Jean-Marie was kept a fixture on the driving-seat, to +guard the treasure; while the Doctor, with a singular, slightly +tipsy airiness of manner, fluttered in and out of cafes, where he +shook hands with garrison officers, and mixed an absinthe with the +nicety of old experience; in and out of shops, from which he +returned laden with costly fruits, real turtle, a magnificent piece +of silk for his wife, a preposterous cane for himself, and a kepi +of the newest fashion for the boy; in and out of the telegraph +office, whence he despatched his telegram, and where three hours +later he received an answer promising a visit on the morrow; and +generally pervaded Fontainebleau with the first fine aroma of his +divine good humour. + +The sun was very low when they set forth again; the shadows of the +forest trees extended across the broad white road that led them +home; the penetrating odour of the evening wood had already arisen, +like a cloud of incense, from that broad field of tree-tops; and +even in the streets of the town, where the air had been baked all +day between white walls, it came in whiffs and pulses, like a +distant music. Half-way home, the last gold flicker vanished from +a great oak upon the left; and when they came forth beyond the +borders of the wood, the plain was already sunken in pearly +greyness, and a great, pale moon came swinging skyward through the +filmy poplars. + +The Doctor sang, the Doctor whistled, the Doctor talked. He spoke +of the woods, and the wars, and the deposition of dew; he +brightened and babbled of Paris; he soared into cloudy bombast on +the glories of the political arena. All was to be changed; as the +day departed, it took with it the vestiges of an outworn existence, +and to-morrow's sun was to inaugurate the new. 'Enough,' he cried, +'of this life of maceration!' His wife (still beautiful, or he was +sadly partial) was to be no longer buried; she should now shine +before society. Jean-Marie would find the world at his feet; the +roads open to success, wealth, honour, and post-humous renown. +'And O, by the way,' said he, 'for God's sake keep your tongue +quiet! You are, of course, a very silent fellow; it is a quality I +gladly recognise in you - silence, golden silence! But this is a +matter of gravity. No word must get abroad; none but the good +Casimir is to be trusted; we shall probably dispose of the vessels +in England.' + +'But are they not even ours?' the boy said, almost with a sob - it +was the only time he had spoken. + +'Ours in this sense, that they are nobody else's,' replied the +Doctor. 'But the State would have some claim. If they were +stolen, for instance, we should be unable to demand their +restitution; we should have no title; we should be unable even to +communicate with the police. Such is the monstrous condition of +the law. (6) It is a mere instance of what remains to be done, of +the injustices that may yet be righted by an ardent, active, and +philosophical deputy.' + +Jean-Marie put his faith in Madame Desprez; and as they drove +forward down the road from Bourron, between the rustling poplars, +he prayed in his teeth, and whipped up the horse to an unusual +speed. Surely, as soon as they arrived, madame would assert her +character, and bring this waking nightmare to an end. + +Their entrance into Gretz was heralded and accompanied by a most +furious barking; all the dogs in the village seemed to smell the +treasure in the noddy. But there was no one in the street, save +three lounging landscape painters at Tentaillon's door. Jean-Marie +opened the green gate and led in the horse and carriage; and almost +at the same moment Madame Desprez came to the kitchen threshold +with a lighted lantern; for the moon was not yet high enough to +clear the garden walls. + +'Close the gates, Jean-Marie!' cried the Doctor, somewhat +unsteadily alighting. 'Anastasie, where is Aline?' + +'She has gone to Montereau to see her parents,' said madame. + +'All is for the best!' exclaimed the Doctor fervently. 'Here, +quick, come near to me; I do not wish to speak too loud,' he +continued. 'Darling, we are wealthy!' + +'Wealthy!' repeated the wife. + +'I have found the treasure of Franchard,' replied her husband. +'See, here are the first fruits; a pineapple, a dress for my ever- +beautiful - it will suit her - trust a husband's, trust a lover's, +taste! Embrace me, darling! This grimy episode is over; the +butterfly unfolds its painted wings. To-morrow Casimir will come; +in a week we may be in Paris - happy at last! You shall have +diamonds. Jean-Marie, take it out of the boot, with religious +care, and bring it piece by piece into the dining-room. We shall +have plate at table! Darling, hasten and prepare this turtle; it +will be a whet - it will be an addition to our meagre ordinary. I +myself will proceed to the cellar. We shall have a bottle of that +little Beaujolais you like, and finish with the Hermitage; there +are still three bottles left. Worthy wine for a worthy occasion.' + +'But, my husband; you put me in a whirl,' she cried. 'I do not +comprehend.' + +'The turtle, my adored, the turtle!' cried the doctor; and he +pushed her towards the kitchen, lantern and all. + +Jean-Marie stood dumfounded. He had pictured to himself a +different scene - a more immediate protest, and his hope began to +dwindle on the spot. + +The Doctor was everywhere, a little doubtful on his legs, perhaps, +and now and then taking the wall with his shoulder; for it was long +since he had tasted absinthe, and he was even then reflecting that +the absinthe had been a misconception. Not that he regretted +excess on such a glorious day, but he made a mental memorandum to +beware; he must not, a second time, become the victim of a +deleterious habit. He had his wine out of the cellar in a +twinkling; he arranged the sacrificial vessels, some on the white +table-cloth, some on the sideboard, still crusted with historic +earth. He was in and out of the kitchen, plying Anastasie with +vermouth, heating her with glimpses of the future, estimating their +new wealth at ever larger figures; and before they sat down to +supper, the lady's virtue had melted in the fire of his enthusiasm, +her timidity had disappeared; she, too, had begun to speak +disparagingly of the life at Gretz; and as she took her place and +helped the soup, her eyes shone with the glitter of prospective +diamonds. + +All through the meal, she and the Doctor made and unmade fairy +plans. They bobbed and bowed and pledged each other. Their faces +ran over with smiles; their eyes scattered sparkles, as they +projected the Doctor's political honours and the lady's drawing- +room ovations. + +'But you will not be a Red!' cried Anastasie. + +'I am Left Centre to the core,' replied the Doctor. + +'Madame Gastein will present us - we shall find ourselves +forgotten,' said the lady. + +'Never,' protested the Doctor. 'Beauty and talent leave a mark.' + +'I have positively forgotten how to dress,' she sighed. + +'Darling, you make me blush,' cried he. 'Yours has been a tragic +marriage!' + +'But your success - to see you appreciated, honoured, your name in +all the papers, that will be more than pleasure - it will be +heaven!' she cried. + +'And once a week,' said the Doctor, archly scanning the syllables, +'once a week - one good little game of baccarat?' + +'Only once a week?' she questioned, threatening him with a finger. + +'I swear it by my political honour,' cried he. + +'I spoil you,' she said, and gave him her hand. + +He covered it with kisses. + +Jean-Marie escaped into the night. The moon swung high over Gretz. +He went down to the garden end and sat on the jetty. The river ran +by with eddies of oily silver, and a low, monotonous song. Faint +veils of mist moved among the poplars on the farther side. The +reeds were quietly nodding. A hundred times already had the boy +sat, on such a night, and watched the streaming river with +untroubled fancy. And this perhaps was to be the last. He was to +leave this familiar hamlet, this green, rustling country, this +bright and quiet stream; he was to pass into the great city; his +dear lady mistress was to move bedizened in saloons; his good, +garrulous, kind-hearted master to become a brawling deputy; and +both be lost for ever to Jean-Marie and their better selves. He +knew his own defects; he knew he must sink into less and less +consideration in the turmoil of a city life, sink more and more +from the child into the servant. And he began dimly to believe the +Doctor's prophecies of evil. He could see a change in both. His +generous incredulity failed him for this once; a child must have +perceived that the Hermitage had completed what the absinthe had +begun. If this were the first day, what would be the last? 'If +necessary, wreck the train,' thought he, remembering the Doctor's +parable. He looked round on the delightful scene; he drank deep of +the charmed night air, laden with the scent of hay. 'If necessary, +wreck the train,' he repeated. And he rose and returned to the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, IN TWO PARTS. + + +THE next morning there was a most unusual outcry, in the Doctor's +house. The last thing before going to bed, the Doctor had locked +up some valuables in the dining-room cupboard; and behold, when he +rose again, as he did about four o'clock, the cupboard had been +broken open, and the valuables in question had disappeared. Madame +and Jean-Marie were summoned from their rooms, and appeared in +hasty toilets; they found the Doctor raving, calling the heavens to +witness and avenge his injury, pacing the room bare-footed, with +the tails of his night-shirt flirting as he turned. + +'Gone!' he said; 'the things are gone, the fortune gone! We are +paupers once more. Boy! what do you know of this? Speak up, sir, +speak up. Do you know of it? Where are they?' He had him by the +arm, shaking him like a bag, and the boy's words, if he had any, +were jolted forth in inarticulate murmurs. The Doctor, with a +revulsion from his own violence, set him down again. He observed +Anastasie in tears. 'Anastasie,' he said, in quite an altered +voice, 'compose yourself, command your feelings. I would not have +you give way to passion like the vulgar. This - this trifling +accident must be lived down. Jean-Marie, bring me my smaller +medicine chest. A gentle laxative is indicated.' + +And he dosed the family all round, leading the way himself with a +double quantity. The wretched Anastasie, who had never been ill in +the whole course of her existence, and whose soul recoiled from +remedies, wept floods of tears as she sipped, and shuddered, and +protested, and then was bullied and shouted at until she sipped +again. As for Jean-Marie, he took his portion down with stoicism. + +'I have given him a less amount,' observed the Doctor, 'his youth +protecting him against emotion. And now that we have thus parried +any morbid consequences, let us reason.' + +'I am so cold,' wailed Anastasie. + +'Cold!' cried the Doctor. 'I give thanks to God that I am made of +fierier material. Why, madam, a blow like this would set a frog +into a transpiration. If you are cold, you can retire; and, by the +way, you might throw me down my trousers. It is chilly for the +legs.' + +'Oh, no!' protested Anastasie; 'I will stay with you.' + +'Nay, madam, you shall not suffer for your devotion,' said the +Doctor. 'I will myself fetch you a shawl.' And he went upstairs +and returned more fully clad and with an armful of wraps for the +shivering Anastasie. 'And now,' he resumed, 'to investigate this +crime. Let us proceed by induction. Anastasie, do you know +anything that can help us?' Anastasie knew nothing. 'Or you, +Jean-Marie?' + +'Not I,' replied the boy steadily. + +'Good,' returned the Doctor. 'We shall now turn our attention to +the material evidences. (I was born to be a detective; I have the +eye and the systematic spirit.) First, violence has been employed. +The door was broken open; and it may be observed, in passing, that +the lock was dear indeed at what I paid for it: a crow to pluck +with Master Goguelat. Second, here is the instrument employed, one +of our own table-knives, one of our best, my dear; which seems to +indicate no preparation on the part of the gang - if gang it was. +Thirdly, I observe that nothing has been removed except the +Franchard dishes and the casket; our own silver has been minutely +respected. This is wily; it shows intelligence, a knowledge of the +code, a desire to avoid legal consequences. I argue from this fact +that the gang numbers persons of respectability - outward, of +course, and merely outward, as the robbery proves. But I argue, +second, that we must have been observed at Franchard itself by some +occult observer, and dogged throughout the day with a skill and +patience that I venture to qualify as consummate. No ordinary man, +no occasional criminal, would have shown himself capable of this +combination. We have in our neighbourhood, it is far from +improbable, a retired bandit of the highest order of intelligence.' + +'Good heaven!' cried the horrified Anastasie. 'Henri, how can +you?' + +'My cherished one, this is a process of induction,' said the +Doctor. 'If any of my steps are unsound, correct me. You are +silent? Then do not, I beseech you, be so vulgarly illogical as to +revolt from my conclusion. We have now arrived,' he resumed, 'at +some idea of the composition of the gang - for I incline to the +hypothesis of more than one - and we now leave this room, which can +disclose no more, and turn our attention to the court and garden. +(Jean-Marie, I trust you are observantly following my various +steps; this is an excellent piece of education for you.) Come with +me to the door. No steps on the court; it is unfortunate our court +should be paved. On what small matters hang the destiny of these +delicate investigations! Hey! What have we here? I have led on +to the very spot,' he said, standing grandly backward and +indicating the green gate. 'An escalade, as you can now see for +yourselves, has taken place.' + +Sure enough, the green paint was in several places scratched and +broken; and one of the panels preserved the print of a nailed shoe. +The foot had slipped, however, and it was difficult to estimate the +size of the shoe, and impossible to distinguish the pattern of the +nails. + +'The whole robbery,' concluded the Doctor, 'step by step, has been +reconstituted. Inductive science can no further go.' + +'It is wonderful,' said his wife. 'You should indeed have been a +detective, Henri. I had no idea of your talents.' + +'My dear,' replied Desprez, condescendingly, 'a man of scientific +imagination combines the lesser faculties; he is a detective just +as he is a publicist or a general; these are but local applications +of his special talent. But now,' he continued, 'would you have me +go further? Would you have me lay my finger on the culprits - or +rather, for I cannot promise quite so much, point out to you the +very house where they consort? It may be a satisfaction, at least +it is all we are likely to get, since we are denied the remedy of +law. I reach the further stage in this way. In order to fill my +outline of the robbery, I require a man likely to be in the forest +idling, I require a man of education, I require a man superior to +considerations of morality. The three requisites all centre in +Tentaillon's boarders. They are painters, therefore they are +continually lounging in the forest. They are painters, therefore +they are not unlikely to have some smattering of education. +Lastly, because they are painters, they are probably immoral. And +this I prove in two ways. First, painting is an art which merely +addresses the eye; it does not in any particular exercise the moral +sense. And second, painting, in common with all the other arts, +implies the dangerous quality of imagination. A man of imagination +is never moral; he outsoars literal demarcations and reviews life +under too many shifting lights to rest content with the invidious +distinctions of the law!' + +'But you always say - at least, so I understood you' - said madame, +'that these lads display no imagination whatever.' + +'My dear, they displayed imagination, and of a very fantastic +order, too,' returned the Doctor, 'when they embraced their +beggarly profession. Besides - and this is an argument exactly +suited to your intellectual level - many of them are English and +American. Where else should we expect to find a thief? - And now +you had better get your coffee. Because we have lost a treasure, +there is no reason for starving. For my part, I shall break my +fast with white wine. I feel unaccountably heated and thirsty to- +day. I can only attribute it to the shock of the discovery. And +yet, you will bear me out, I supported the emotion nobly.' + +The Doctor had now talked himself back into an admirable humour; +and as he sat in the arbour and slowly imbibed a large allowance of +white wine and picked a little bread and cheese with no very +impetuous appetite, if a third of his meditations ran upon the +missing treasure, the other two-thirds were more pleasingly busied +in the retrospect of his detective skill. + +About eleven Casimir arrived; he had caught an early train to +Fontainebleau, and driven over to save time; and now his cab was +stabled at Tentaillon's, and he remarked, studying his watch, that +he could spare an hour and a half. He was much the man of +business, decisively spoken, given to frowning in an intellectual +manner. Anastasie's born brother, he did not waste much sentiment +on the lady, gave her an English family kiss, and demanded a meal +without delay. + +'You can tell me your story while we eat,' he observed. 'Anything +good to-day, Stasie?' + +He was promised something good. The trio sat down to table in the +arbour, Jean-Marie waiting as well as eating, and the Doctor +recounted what had happened in his richest narrative manner. +Casimir heard it with explosions of laughter. + +'What a streak of luck for you, my good brother,' he observed, when +the tale was over. 'If you had gone to Paris, you would have +played dick-duck-drake with the whole consignment in three months. +Your own would have followed; and you would have come to me in a +procession like the last time. But I give you warning - Stasie may +weep and Henri ratiocinate - it will not serve you twice. Your +next collapse will be fatal. I thought I had told you so, Stasie? +Hey? No sense?' + +The Doctor winced and looked furtively at Jean-Marie; but the boy +seemed apathetic. + +'And then again,' broke out Casimir, 'what children you are - +vicious children, my faith! How could you tell the value of this +trash? It might have been worth nothing, or next door.' + +'Pardon me,' said the Doctor. 'You have your usual flow of +spirits, I perceive, but even less than your usual deliberation. I +am not entirely ignorant of these matters.' + +'Not entirely ignorant of anything ever I heard of,' interrupted +Casimir, bowing, and raising his glass with a sort of pert +politeness. + +'At least,' resumed the Doctor, 'I gave my mind to the subject - +that you may be willing to believe - and I estimated that our +capital would be doubled.' And he described the nature of the +find. + +'My word of honour!' said Casimir, 'I half believe you! But much +would depend on the quality of the gold.' + +'The quality, my dear Casimir, was - ' And the Doctor, in default +of language, kissed his finger-tips. + +'I would not take your word for it, my good friend,' retorted the +man of business. 'You are a man of very rosy views. But this +robbery,' he continued - 'this robbery is an odd thing. Of course +I pass over your nonsense about gangs and landscape-painters. For +me, that is a dream. Who was in the house last night?' + +'None but ourselves,' replied the Doctor. + +'And this young gentleman?' asked Casimir, jerking a nod in the +direction of Jean-Marie. + +'He too' - the Doctor bowed. + +'Well; and if it is a fair question, who is he?' pursued the +brother-in-law. + +'Jean-Marie,' answered the Doctor, 'combines the functions of a son +and stable-boy. He began as the latter, but he rose rapidly to the +more honourable rank in our affections. He is, I may say, the +greatest comfort in our lives.' + +'Ha!' said Casimir. 'And previous to becoming one of you?' + +'Jean-Marie has lived a remarkable existence; his experience his +been eminently formative,' replied Desprez. 'If I had had to +choose an education for my son, I should have chosen such another. +Beginning life with mountebanks and thieves, passing onward to the +society and friendship of philosophers, he may be said to have +skimmed the volume of human life.' + +'Thieves?' repeated the brother-in-law, with a meditative air. + +The Doctor could have bitten his tongue out. He foresaw what was +coming, and prepared his mind for a vigorous defence. + +'Did you ever steal yourself?' asked Casimir, turning suddenly on +Jean-Marie, and for the first time employing a single eyeglass +which hung round his neck. + +'Yes, sir,' replied the boy, with a deep blush. + +Casimir turned to the others with pursed lips, and nodded to them +meaningly. 'Hey?' said he; 'how is that?' + +'Jean-Marie is a teller of the truth,' returned the Doctor, +throwing out his bust. + +'He has never told a lie,' added madame. 'He is the best of boys.' + +'Never told a lie, has he not?' reflected Casimir. 'Strange, very +strange. Give me your attention, my young friend,' he continued. +'You knew about this treasure?' + +'He helped to bring it home,' interposed the Doctor. + +'Desprez, I ask you nothing but to hold your tongue,' returned +Casimir. 'I mean to question this stable-boy of yours; and if you +are so certain of his innocence, you can afford to let him answer +for himself. Now, sir,' he resumed, pointing his eyeglass straight +at Jean-Marie. 'You knew it could be stolen with impunity? You +knew you could not be prosecuted? Come! Did you, or did you not?' + +'I did,' answered Jean-Marie, in a miserable whisper. He sat there +changing colour like a revolving pharos, twisting his fingers +hysterically, swallowing air, the picture of guilt. + +'You knew where it was put?' resumed the inquisitor. + +'Yes,' from Jean-Marie. + +'You say you have been a thief before,' continued Casimir. 'Now +how am I to know that you are not one still? I suppose you could +climb the green gate?' + +'Yes,' still lower, from the culprit. + +'Well, then, it was you who stole these things. You know it, and +you dare not deny it. Look me in the face! Raise your sneak's +eyes, and answer!' + +But in place of anything of that sort Jean-Marie broke into a +dismal howl and fled from the arbour. Anastasie, as she pursued to +capture and reassure the victim, found time to send one Parthian +arrow - 'Casimir, you are a brute!' + +'My brother,' said Desprez, with the greatest dignity, 'you take +upon yourself a licence - ' + +'Desprez,' interrupted Casimir, 'for Heaven's sake be a man of the +world. You telegraph me to leave my business and come down here on +yours. I come, I ask the business, you say "Find me this thief!" +Well, I find him; I say "There he is! You need not like it, but +you have no manner of right to take offence.' + +'Well,' returned the Doctor, 'I grant that; I will even thank you +for your mistaken zeal. But your hypothesis was so extravagantly +monstrous - ' + +'Look here,' interrupted Casimir; 'was it you or Stasie?' + +'Certainly not,' answered the Doctor. + +'Very well; then it was the boy. Say no more about it,' said the +brother-in-law, and he produced his cigar-case. + +'I will say this much more,' returned Desprez: 'if that boy came +and told me so himself, I should not believe him; and if I did +believe him, so implicit is my trust, I should conclude that he had +acted for the best.' + +'Well, well,' said Casimir, indulgently. 'Have you a light? I +must be going. And by the way, I wish you would let me sell your +Turks for you. I always told you, it meant smash. I tell you so +again. Indeed, it was partly that that brought me down. You never +acknowledge my letters - a most unpardonable habit.' + +'My good brother,' replied the Doctor blandly, 'I have never denied +your ability in business; but I can perceive your limitations.' + +'Egad, my friend, I can return the compliment,' observed the man of +business. 'Your limitation is to be downright irrational.' + +'Observe the relative position,' returned the Doctor with a smile. +'It is your attitude to believe through thick and thin in one man's +judgment - your own. I follow the same opinion, but critically and +with open eyes. Which is the more irrational? - I leave it to +yourself.' + +'O, my dear fellow!' cried Casimir, 'stick to your Turks, stick to +your stable-boy, go to the devil in general in your own way and be +done with it. But don't ratiocinate with me - I cannot bear it. +And so, ta-ta. I might as well have stayed away for any good I've +done. Say good-bye from me to Stasie, and to the sullen hang-dog +of a stable-boy, if you insist on it; I'm off.' + +And Casimir departed. The Doctor, that night, dissected his +character before Anastasie. 'One thing, my beautiful,' he said, +'he has learned one thing from his lifelong acquaintance with your +husband: the word RATIOCINATE. It shines in his vocabulary, like a +jewel in a muck-heap. And, even so, he continually misapplies it. +For you must have observed he uses it as a sort of taunt, in the +sense of to ERGOTISE, implying, as it were - the poor, dear fellow! +- a vein of sophistry. As for his cruelty to Jean-Marie, it must +be forgiven him - it is not his nature, it is the nature of his +life. A man who deals with money, my dear, is a man lost.' + +With Jean-Marie the process of reconciliation had been somewhat +slow. At first he was inconsolable, insisted on leaving the +family, went from paroxysm to paroxysm of tears; and it was only +after Anastasie had been closeted for an hour with him, alone, that +she came forth, sought out the Doctor, and, with tears in her eyes, +acquainted that gentleman with what had passed. + +'At first, my husband, he would hear of nothing,' she said. +'Imagine! if he had left us! what would the treasure be to that? +Horrible treasure, it has brought all this about! At last, after +he has sobbed his very heart out, he agrees to stay on a condition +- we are not to mention this matter, this infamous suspicion, not +even to mention the robbery. On that agreement only, the poor, +cruel boy will consent to remain among his friends.' + +'But this inhibition,' said the Doctor, 'this embargo - it cannot +possibly apply to me?' + +'To all of us,' Anastasie assured him. + +'My cherished one,' Desprez protested, 'you must have +misunderstood. It cannot apply to me. He would naturally come to +me.' + +'Henri,' she said, 'it does; I swear to you it does.' + +'This is a painful, a very painful circumstance,' the Doctor said, +looking a little black. 'I cannot affect, Anastasie, to be +anything but justly wounded. I feel this, I feel it, my wife, +acutely.' + +'I knew you would,' she said. 'But if you had seen his distress! +We must make allowances, we must sacrifice our feelings.' + +'I trust, my dear, you have never found me averse to sacrifices,' +returned the Doctor very stiffly. + +'And you will let me go and tell him that you have agreed? It will +be like your noble nature,' she cried. + +So it would, he perceived - it would be like his noble nature! Up +jumped his spirits, triumphant at the thought. 'Go, darling,' he +said nobly, 'reassure him. The subject is buried; more - I make an +effort, I have accustomed my will to these exertions - and it is +forgotten.' + +A little after, but still with swollen eyes and looking mortally +sheepish, Jean-Marie reappeared and went ostentatiously about his +business. He was the only unhappy member of the party that sat +down that night to supper. As for the Doctor, he was radiant. He +thus sang the requiem of the treasure:- + +'This has been, on the whole, a most amusing episode,' he said. +'We are not a penny the worse - nay, we are immensely gainers. Our +philosophy has been exercised; some of the turtle is still left - +the most wholesome of delicacies; I have my staff, Anastasie has +her new dress, Jean-Marie is the proud possessor of a fashionable +kepi. Besides, we had a glass of Hermitage last night; the glow +still suffuses my memory. I was growing positively niggardly with +that Hermitage, positively niggardly. Let me take the hint: we had +one bottle to celebrate the appearance of our visionary fortune; +let us have a second to console us for its occultation. The third +I hereby dedicate to Jean-Marie's wedding breakfast.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DESPREZ. + + +THE Doctor's house has not yet received the compliment of a +description, and it is now high time that the omission were +supplied, for the house is itself an actor in the story, and one +whose part is nearly at an end. Two stories in height, walls of a +warm yellow, tiles of an ancient ruddy brown diversified with moss +and lichen, it stood with one wall to the street in the angle of +the Doctor's property. It was roomy, draughty, and inconvenient. +The large rafters were here and there engraven with rude marks and +patterns; the handrail of the stair was carved in countrified +arabesque; a stout timber pillar, which did duty to support the +dining-room roof, bore mysterious characters on its darker side, +runes, according to the Doctor; nor did he fail, when he ran over +the legendary history of the house and its possessors, to dwell +upon the Scandinavian scholar who had left them. Floors, doors, +and rafters made a great variety of angles; every room had a +particular inclination; the gable had tilted towards the garden, +after the manner of a leaning tower, and one of the former +proprietors had buttressed the building from that side with a great +strut of wood, like the derrick of a crane. Altogether, it had +many marks of ruin; it was a house for the rats to desert; and +nothing but its excellent brightness - the window-glass polished +and shining, the paint well scoured, the brasses radiant, the very +prop all wreathed about with climbing flowers - nothing but its air +of a well-tended, smiling veteran, sitting, crutch and all, in the +sunny corner of a garden, marked it as a house for comfortable +people to inhabit. In poor or idle management it would soon have +hurried into the blackguard stages of decay. As it was, the whole +family loved it, and the Doctor was never better inspired than when +he narrated its imaginary story and drew the character of its +successive masters, from the Hebrew merchant who had re-edified its +walls after the sack of the town, and past the mysterious engraver +of the runes, down to the long-headed, dirty-handed boor from whom +he had himself acquired it at a ruinous expense. As for any alarm +about its security, the idea had never presented itself. What had +stood four centuries might well endure a little longer. + +Indeed, in this particular winter, after the finding and losing of +the treasure, the Desprez' had an anxiety of a very different +order, and one which lay nearer their hearts. Jean-Marie was +plainly not himself. He had fits of hectic activity, when he made +unusual exertions to please, spoke more and faster, and redoubled +in attention to his lessons. But these were interrupted by spells +of melancholia and brooding silence, when the boy was little better +than unbearable. + +'Silence,' the Doctor moralised - 'you see, Anastasie, what comes +of silence. Had the boy properly unbosomed himself, the little +disappointment about the treasure, the little annoyance about +Casimir's incivility, would long ago have been forgotten. As it +is, they prey upon him like a disease. He loses flesh, his +appetite is variable and, on the whole, impaired. I keep him on +the strictest regimen, I exhibit the most powerful tonics; both in +vain.' + +'Don't you think you drug him too much?' asked madame, with an +irrepressible shudder. + +'Drug?' cried the Doctor; 'I drug? Anastasie, you are mad!' + +Time went on, and the boy's health still slowly declined. The +Doctor blamed the weather, which was cold and boisterous. He +called in his CONFRERE from Bourron, took a fancy for him, +magnified his capacity, and was pretty soon under treatment himself +- it scarcely appeared for what complaint. He and Jean-Marie had +each medicine to take at different periods of the day. The Doctor +used to lie in wait for the exact moment, watch in hand. 'There is +nothing like regularity,' he would say, fill out the doses, and +dilate on the virtues of the draught; and if the boy seemed none +the better, the Doctor was not at all the worse. + +Gunpowder Day, the boy was particularly low. It was scowling, +squally weather. Huge broken companies of cloud sailed swiftly +overhead; raking gleams of sunlight swept the village, and were +followed by intervals of darkness and white, flying rain. At times +the wind lifted up its voice and bellowed. The trees were all +scourging themselves along the meadows, the last leaves flying like +dust. + +The Doctor, between the boy and the weather, was in his element; he +had a theory to prove. He sat with his watch out and a barometer +in front of him, waiting for the squalls and noting their effect +upon the human pulse. 'For the true philosopher,' he remarked +delightedly, 'every fact in nature is a toy.' A letter came to +him; but, as its arrival coincided with the approach of another +gust, he merely crammed it into his pocket, gave the time to Jean- +Marie, and the next moment they were both counting their pulses as +if for a wager. + +At nightfall the wind rose into a tempest. It besieged the hamlet, +apparently from every side, as if with batteries of cannon; the +houses shook and groaned; live coals were blown upon the floor. +The uproar and terror of the night kept people long awake, sitting +with pallid faces giving ear. + +It was twelve before the Desprez family retired. By half-past one, +when the storm was already somewhat past its height, the Doctor was +awakened from a troubled slumber, and sat up. A noise still rang +in his ears, but whether of this world or the world of dreams he +was not certain. Another clap of wind followed. It was +accompanied by a sickening movement of the whole house, and in the +subsequent lull Desprez could hear the tiles pouring like a +cataract into the loft above his head. He plucked Anastasie bodily +out of bed. + +'Run!' he cried, thrusting some wearing apparel into her hands; +'the house is falling! To the garden!' + +She did not pause to be twice bidden; she was down the stair in an +instant. She had never before suspected herself of such activity. +The Doctor meanwhile, with the speed of a piece of pantomime +business, and undeterred by broken shins, proceeded to rout out +Jean-Marie, tore Aline from her virgin slumbers, seized her by the +hand, and tumbled downstairs and into the garden, with the girl +tumbling behind him, still not half awake. + +The fugitives rendezvous'd in the arbour by some common instinct. +Then came a bull's-eye flash of struggling moonshine, which +disclosed their four figures standing huddled from the wind in a +raffle of flying drapery, and not without a considerable need for +more. At the humiliating spectacle Anastasie clutched her +nightdress desperately about her and burst loudly into tears. The +Doctor flew to console her; but she elbowed him away. She +suspected everybody of being the general public, and thought the +darkness was alive with eyes. + +Another gleam and another violent gust arrived together; the house +was seen to rock on its foundation, and, just as the light was once +more eclipsed, a crash which triumphed over the shouting of the +wind announced its fall, and for a moment the whole garden was +alive with skipping tiles and brickbats. One such missile grazed +the Doctor's ear; another descended on the bare foot of Aline, who +instantly made night hideous with her shrieks. + +By this time the hamlet was alarmed, lights flashed from the +windows, hails reached the party, and the Doctor answered, nobly +contending against Aline and the tempest. But this prospect of +help only awakened Anastasie to a more active stage of terror. + +'Henri, people will be coming,' she screamed in her husband's ear. + +'I trust so,' he replied. + +'They cannot. I would rather die,' she wailed. + +'My dear,' said the Doctor reprovingly, 'you are excited. I gave +you some clothes. What have you done with them?' + +'Oh, I don't know - I must have thrown them away! Where are they?' +she sobbed. + +Desprez groped about in the darkness. 'Admirable!' he remarked; +'my grey velveteen trousers! This will exactly meet your +necessities.' + +'Give them to me!' she cried fiercely; but as soon as she had them +in her hands her mood appeared to alter - she stood silent for a +moment, and then pressed the garment back upon the Doctor. 'Give +it to Aline,' she said - 'poor girl.' + +'Nonsense!' said the Doctor. 'Aline does not know what she is +about. Aline is beside herself with terror; and at any rate, she +is a peasant. Now I am really concerned at this exposure for a +person of your housekeeping habits; my solicitude and your +fantastic modesty both point to the same remedy - the pantaloons.' +He held them ready. + +'It is impossible. You do not understand,' she said with dignity. + +By this time rescue was at hand. It had been found impracticable +to enter by the street, for the gate was blocked with masonry, and +the nodding ruin still threatened further avalanches. But between +the Doctor's garden and the one on the right hand there was that +very picturesque contrivance - a common well; the door on the +Desprez' side had chanced to be unbolted, and now, through the +arched aperture a man's bearded face and an arm supporting a +lantern were introduced into the world of windy darkness, where +Anastasie concealed her woes. The light struck here and there +among the tossing apple boughs, it glinted on the grass; but the +lantern and the glowing face became the centre of the world. +Anastasie crouched back from the intrusion. + +'This way!' shouted the man. 'Are you all safe?' Aline, still +screaming, ran to the new comer, and was presently hauled head- +foremost through the wall. + +'Now, Anastasie, come on; it is your turn,' said the husband. + +'I cannot,' she replied. + +'Are we all to die of exposure, madame?' thundered Doctor Desprez. + +'You can go!' she cried. 'Oh, go, go away! I can stay here; I am +quite warm.' + +The Doctor took her by the shoulders with an oath. + +'Stop!' she screamed. 'I will put them on.' + +She took the detested lendings in her hand once more; but her +repulsion was stronger than shame. 'Never!' she cried, shuddering, +and flung them far away into the night. + +Next moment the Doctor had whirled her to the well. The man was +there and the lantern; Anastasie closed her eyes and appeared to +herself to be about to die. How she was transported through the +arch she knew not; but once on the other side she was received by +the neighbour's wife, and enveloped in a friendly blanket. + +Beds were made ready for the two women, clothes of very various +sizes for the Doctor and Jean-Marie; and for the remainder of the +night, while madame dozed in and out on the borderland of +hysterics, her husband sat beside the fire and held forth to the +admiring neighbours. He showed them, at length, the causes of the +accident; for years, he explained, the fall had been impending; one +sign had followed another, the joints had opened, the plaster had +cracked, the old walls bowed inward; last, not three weeks ago, the +cellar door had begun to work with difficulty in its grooves. 'The +cellar!' he said, gravely shaking his head over a glass of mulled +wine. 'That reminds me of my poor vintages. By a manifest +providence the Hermitage was nearly at an end. One bottle - I lose +but one bottle of that incomparable wine. It had been set apart +against Jean-Marie's wedding. Well, I must lay down some more; it +will be an interest in life. I am, however, a man somewhat +advanced in years. My great work is now buried in the fall of my +humble roof; it will never be completed - my name will have been +writ in water. And yet you find me calm - I would say cheerful. +Can your priest do more?' + +By the first glimpse of day the party sallied forth from the +fireside into the street. The wind had fallen, but still charioted +a world of troubled clouds; the air bit like frost; and the party, +as they stood about the ruins in the rainy twilight of the morning, +beat upon their breasts and blew into their hands for warmth. The +house had entirely fallen, the walls outward, the roof in; it was a +mere heap of rubbish, with here and there a forlorn spear of broken +rafter. A sentinel was placed over the ruins to protect the +property, and the party adjourned to Tentaillon's to break their +fast at the Doctor's expense. The bottle circulated somewhat +freely; and before they left the table it had begun to snow. + +For three days the snow continued to fall, and the ruins, covered +with tarpaulin and watched by sentries, were left undisturbed. The +Desprez' meanwhile had taken up their abode at Tentaillon's. +Madame spent her time in the kitchen, concocting little delicacies, +with the admiring aid of Madame Tentaillon, or sitting by the fire +in thoughtful abstraction. The fall of the house affected her +wonderfully little; that blow had been parried by another; and in +her mind she was continually fighting over again the battle of the +trousers. Had she done right? Had she done wrong? And now she +would applaud her determination; and anon, with a horrid flush of +unavailing penitence, she would regret the trousers. No juncture +in her life had so much exercised her judgment. In the meantime +the Doctor had become vastly pleased with his situation. Two of +the summer boarders still lingered behind the rest, prisoners for +lack of a remittance; they were both English, but one of them spoke +French pretty fluently, and was, besides, a humorous, agile-minded +fellow, with whom the Doctor could reason by the hour, secure of +comprehension. Many were the glasses they emptied, many the topics +they discussed. + +'Anastasie,' the Doctor said on the third morning, 'take an example +from your husband, from Jean-Marie! The excitement has done more +for the boy than all my tonics, he takes his turn as sentry with +positive gusto. As for me, you behold me. I have made friends +with the Egyptians; and my Pharaoh is, I swear it, a most agreeable +companion. You alone are hipped. About a house - a few dresses? +What are they in comparison to the "Pharmacopoeia" - the labour of +years lying buried below stones and sticks in this depressing +hamlet? The snow falls; I shake it from my cloak! Imitate me. +Our income will be impaired, I grant it, since we must rebuild; but +moderation, patience, and philosophy will gather about the hearth. +In the meanwhile, the Tentaillons are obliging; the table, with +your additions, will pass; only the wine is execrable - well, I +shall send for some to-day. My Pharaoh will be gratified to drink +a decent glass; aha! and I shall see if he possesses that acme of +organisation - a palate. If he has a palate, he is perfect.' + +'Henri,' she said, shaking her head, 'you are a man; you cannot +understand my feelings; no woman could shake off the memory of so +public a humiliation.' The Doctor could not restrain a titter. +'Pardon me, darling,' he said; 'but really, to the philosophical +intelligence, the incident appears so small a trifle. You looked +extremely well - ' + +'Henri!' she cried. + +'Well, well, I will say no more,' he replied. 'Though, to be sure, +if you had consented to indue - A PROPOS,' he broke off, 'and my +trousers! They are lying in the snow - my favourite trousers!' +And he dashed in quest of Jean-Marie. + +Two hours afterwards the boy returned to the inn with a spade under +one arm and a curious sop of clothing under the other. + +The Doctor ruefully took it in his hands. 'They have been!' he +said. 'Their tense is past. Excellent pantaloons, you are no +more! Stay, something in the pocket,' and he produced a piece of +paper. 'A letter! ay, now I mind me; it was received on the +morning of the gale, when I was absorbed in delicate +investigations. It is still legible. From poor, dear Casimir! It +is as well,' he chuckled, 'that I have educated him to patience. +Poor Casimir and his correspondence - his infinitesimal, timorous, +idiotic correspondence!' + +He had by this time cautiously unfolded the wet letter; but, as he +bent himself to decipher the writing, a cloud descended on his +brow. + +'BIGRE!' he cried, with a galvanic start. + +And then the letter was whipped into the fire, and the Doctor's cap +was on his head in the turn of a hand. + +'Ten minutes! I can catch it, if I run,' he cried. 'It is always +late. I go to Paris. I shall telegraph.' + +'Henri! what is wrong?' cried his wife. + +'Ottoman Bonds!' came from the disappearing Doctor; and Anastasie +and Jean-Marie were left face to face with the wet trousers. +Desprez had gone to Paris, for the second time in seven years; he +had gone to Paris with a pair of wooden shoes, a knitted spencer, a +black blouse, a country nightcap, and twenty francs in his pocket. +The fall of the house was but a secondary marvel; the whole world +might have fallen and scarce left his family more petrified. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE WAGES OF PHILOSOPHY. + + +ON the morning of the next day, the Doctor, a mere spectre of +himself, was brought back in the custody of Casimir. They found +Anastasie and the boy sitting together by the fire; and Desprez, +who had exchanged his toilette for a ready-made rig-out of poor +materials, waved his hand as he entered, and sank speechless on the +nearest chair. Madame turned direct to Casimir. + +'What is wrong?' she cried. + +'Well,' replied Casimir, 'what have I told you all along? It has +come. It is a clean shave, this time; so you may as well bear up +and make the best of it. House down, too, eh? Bad luck, upon my +soul.' + +'Are we - are we - ruined?' she gasped. + +The Doctor stretched out his arms to her. 'Ruined,' he replied, +'you are ruined by your sinister husband.' + +Casimir observed the consequent embrace through his eyeglass; then +he turned to Jean-Marie. 'You hear?' he said. 'They are ruined; +no more pickings, no more house, no more fat cutlets. It strikes +me, my friend, that you had best be packing; the present +speculation is about worked out.' And he nodded to him meaningly. + +'Never!' cried Desprez, springing up. 'Jean-Marie, if you prefer +to leave me, now that I am poor, you can go; you shall receive your +hundred francs, if so much remains to me. But if you will consent +to stay ' - the Doctor wept a little - 'Casimir offers me a place - +as clerk,' he resumed. 'The emoluments are slender, but they will +be enough for three. It is too much already to have lost my +fortune; must I lose my son?' + +Jean-Marie sobbed bitterly, but without a word. + +'I don't like boys who cry,' observed Casimir. 'This one is always +crying. Here! you clear out of this for a little; I have business +with your master and mistress, and these domestic feelings may be +settled after I am gone. March!' and he held the door open. + +Jean-Marie slunk out, like a detected thief. + +By twelve they were all at table but Jean-Marie. + +'Hey?' said Casimir. 'Gone, you see. Took the hint at once.' + +'I do not, I confess,' said Desprez, 'I do not seek to excuse his +absence. It speaks a want of heart that disappoints me sorely.' + +'Want of manners,' corrected Casimir. 'Heart, he never had. Why, +Desprez, for a clever fellow, you are the most gullible mortal in +creation. Your ignorance of human nature and human business is +beyond belief. You are swindled by heathen Turks, swindled by +vagabond children, swindled right and left, upstairs and +downstairs. I think it must be your imagination. I thank my stars +I have none.' + +'Pardon me,' replied Desprez, still humbly, but with a return of +spirit at sight of a distinction to be drawn; 'pardon me, Casimir. +You possess, even to an eminent degree, the commercial imagination. +It was the lack of that in me - it appears it is my weak point - +that has led to these repeated shocks. By the commercial +imagination the financier forecasts the destiny of his investments, +marks the falling house - ' + +'Egad,' interrupted Casimir: 'our friend the stable-boy appears to +have his share of it.' + +The Doctor was silenced; and the meal was continued and finished +principally to the tune of the brother-in-law's not very +consolatory conversation. He entirely ignored the two young +English painters, turning a blind eyeglass to their salutations, +and continuing his remarks as if he were alone in the bosom of his +family; and with every second word he ripped another stitch out of +the air balloon of Desprez's vanity. By the time coffee was over +the poor Doctor was as limp as a napkin. + +'Let us go and see the ruins,' said Casimir. + +They strolled forth into the street. The fall of the house, like +the loss of a front tooth, had quite transformed the village. +Through the gap the eye commanded a great stretch of open snowy +country, and the place shrank in comparison. It was like a room +with an open door. The sentinel stood by the green gate, looking +very red and cold, but he had a pleasant word for the Doctor and +his wealthy kinsman. + +Casimir looked at the mound of ruins, he tried the quality of the +tarpaulin. 'H'm,' he said, 'I hope the cellar arch has stood. If +it has, my good brother, I will give you a good price for the +wines.' + +'We shall start digging to-morrow,' said the sentry. 'There is no +more fear of snow.' + +'My friend,' returned Casimir sententiously, 'you had better wait +till you get paid.' + +The Doctor winced, and began dragging his offensive brother-in-law +towards Tentaillon's. In the house there would be fewer auditors, +and these already in the secret of his fall. + +'Hullo!' cried Casimir, 'there goes the stable-boy with his +luggage; no, egad, he is taking it into the inn.' + +And sure enough, Jean-Marie was seen to cross the snowy street and +enter Tentaillon's, staggering under a large hamper. + +The Doctor stopped with a sudden, wild hope. + +'What can he have?' he said. 'Let us go and see.' And he hurried +on. + +'His luggage, to be sure,' answered Casimir. 'He is on the move - +thanks to the commercial imagination.' + +'I have not seen that hamper for - for ever so long,' remarked the +Doctor. + +'Nor will you see it much longer,' chuckled Casimir; 'unless, +indeed, we interfere. And by the way, I insist on an examination.' + +'You will not require,' said Desprez, positively with a sob; and, +casting a moist, triumphant glance at Casimir, he began to run. + +'What the devil is up with him, I wonder?' Casimir reflected; and +then, curiosity taking the upper hand, he followed the Doctor's +example and took to his heels. + +The hamper was so heavy and large, and Jean-Marie himself so little +and so weary, that it had taken him a great while to bundle it +upstairs to the Desprez' private room; and he had just set it down +on the floor in front of Anastasie, when the Doctor arrived, and +was closely followed by the man of business. Boy and hamper were +both in a most sorry plight; for the one had passed four months +underground in a certain cave on the way to Acheres, and the other +had run about five miles as hard as his legs would carry him, half +that distance under a staggering weight. + +'Jean-Marie,' cried the Doctor, in a voice that was only too +seraphic to be called hysterical, 'is it - ? It is!' he cried. +'O, my son, my son!' And he sat down upon the hamper and sobbed +like a little child. + +'You will not go to Paris now,' said Jean-Marie sheepishly. + +'Casimir,' said Desprez, raising his wet face, 'do you see that +boy, that angel boy? He is the thief; he took the treasure from a +man unfit to be entrusted with its use; he brings it back to me +when I am sobered and humbled. These, Casimir, are the Fruits of +my Teaching, and this moment is the Reward of my Life.' + +'TIENS,' said Casimir. + + +Footnotes: + +(1) Boggy. + +(2) Clock + +(3) Enjoy. + +(4) To come forrit - to offer oneself as a communicant. + +(5) It was a common belief in Scotland that the devil appeared as a +black man. This appears in several witch trials and I think in +Law's MEMORIALS, that delightful store-house of the quaint and +grisly. + +(6) Let it be so, for my tale! + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText The Merry Men +by Robert Louis Stevenson + |