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第41章

lay morals-第41章

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d bow; were beside  him on the table。

'Hech; Patey M'Briar; is this you?' said he; a trifle  tipsily。  'Step in by; man; and have a drop brandy: for the  stomach's sake!  Even the deil can quote Scripture … eh;  Patey?'

'I will neither eat nor drink with you;' replied M'Brair。  'I  am come upon my Master's errand: woe be upon me if I should  anyways mince the same。  Hall Haddo; I summon you to quit  this kirk which you encumber。'

'Muckle obleeged!' says Haddo; winking。

'You and me have been to kirk and market together;' pursued  M'Brair; 'we have had blessed seasons in the kirk; we have  sat in the same teaching…rooms and read in the same book; and  I know you still retain for me some carnal kindness。  It  would be my shame if I denied it; I live here at your mercy  and by your favour; and glory to acknowledge it。  You have  pity on my wretched body; which is but grass; and must soon  be trodden under: but O; Haddo! how much greater is the  yearning with which I yearn after and pity your immortal  soul!  Come now; let us reason together!  I drop all points  of controversy; weighty though these be; I take your defaced  and damnified kirk on your own terms; and I ask you; Are you  a worthy minister?  The communion season approaches; how can  you pronounce thir solemn words; 〃The elders will now bring  forrit the elements;〃 and not quail?  A parishioner may be  summoned to…night; you may have to rise from your miserable  orgies; and I ask you; Haddo; what does your conscience tell  you?  Are you fit?  Are you fit to smooth the pillow of a  parting Christian?  And if the summons should be for  yourself; how then?'

Haddo was startled out of all composure and the better part  of his temper。  'What's this of it?' he cried。  'I'm no waur  than my neebours。  I never set up to be speeritual; I never  did。  I'm a plain; canty creature; godliness is cheerfulness;  says I; give me my fiddle and a dram; and I wouldna hairm a  flee。'

'And I repeat my question;' said M'Brair: 'Are you fit … fit  for this great charge? fit to carry and save souls?'

'Fit?  Blethers!  As fit's yoursel';' cried Haddo。

'Are you so great a self…deceiver?' said M'Brair。  'Wretched  man; trampler upon God's covenants; crucifier of your Lord  afresh。  I will ding you to the earth with one word: How  about the young woman; Janet M'Clour?'

'Weel; what about her? what do I ken?' cries Haddo。   'M'Brair; ye daft auld wife; I tell ye as true's truth; I  never meddled her。  It was just daffing; I tell ye: daffing;  and nae mair: a piece of fun; like!  I'm no denying but what  I'm fond of fun; sma' blame to me!  But for onything sarious  … hout; man; it might come to a deposeetion!  I'll sweir it  to ye。  Where's a Bible; till you hear me sweir?'

'There is nae Bible in your study;' said M'Brair severely。

And Haddo; after a few distracted turns; was constrained to  accept the fact。

'Weel; and suppose there isna?' he cried; stamping。  'What  mair can ye say of us; but just that I'm fond of my joke; and  so's she?  I declare to God; by what I ken; she might be the  Virgin Mary … if she would just keep clear of the dragoons。   But me! na; deil haet o' me!'

'She is penitent at least;' says M'Brair。

'Do you mean to actually up and tell me to my face that she  accused me?' cried the curate。

'I canna just say that;' replied M'Brair。  'But I rebuked her  in the name of God; and she repented before me on her bended  knees。'

'Weel; I daursay she's been ower far wi' the dragoons;' said  Haddo。  'I never denied that。  I ken naething by it。'

'Man; you but show your nakedness the more plainly;' said  M'Brair。  'Poor; blind; besotted creature … and I see you  stoytering on the brink of dissolution: your light out; and  your hours numbered。  Awake; man!' he shouted with a  formidable voice; 'awake; or it be ower late。'

'Be damned if I stand this!' exclaimed Haddo; casting his  tobacco…pipe violently on the table; where it was smashed in  pieces。  'Out of my house with ye; or I'll call for the  dragoons。'

'The speerit of the Lord is upon me;' said M'Brair with  solemn ecstasy。  'I sist you to compear before the Great  White Throne; and I warn you the summons shall be bloody and  sudden。'

And at this; with more agility than could have been expected;  he got clear of the room and slammed the door behind him in  the face of the pursuing curate。  The next Lord's day the  curate was ill; and the kirk closed; but for all his ill  words; Mr。 M'Brair abode unmolested in the house of  Montroymont。



HEATHERCAT CHAPTER III … THE HILL…END OF DRUMLOWE



THIS was a bit of a steep broken hill that overlooked upon  the west a moorish valley; full of ink…black pools。  These  presently drained into a burn that made off; with little  noise and no celerity of pace; about the corner of the hill。   On the far side the ground swelled into a bare heath; black  with junipers; and spotted with the presence of the standing  stones for which the place was famous。  They were many in  that part; shapeless; white with lichen … you would have said  with age: and had made their abode there for untold  centuries; since first the heathens shouted for their  installation。  The ancients had hallowed them to some ill  religion; and their neighbourhood had long been avoided by  the prudent before the fall of day; but of late; on the  upspringing of new requirements; these lonely stones on the  moor had again become a place of assembly。  A watchful picket  on the Hill…end commanded all the northern and eastern  approaches; and such was the disposition of the ground; that  by certain cunningly posted sentries the west also could be  made secure against surprise: there was no place in the  country where a conventicle could meet with more quiet of  mind or a more certain retreat open; in the case of  interference from the dragoons。  The minister spoke from a  knowe close to the edge of the ring; and poured out the words  God gave him on the very threshold of the devils of yore。   When they pitched a tent (which was often in wet weather;  upon a communion occasion) it was rigged over the huge  isolated pillar that had the name of Anes…Errand; none knew  why。  And the congregation sat partly clustered on the slope  below; and partly among the idolatrous monoliths and on the  turfy soil of the Ring itself。  In truth the situation was  well qualified to give a zest to Christian doctrines; had  there been any wanted。  But these congregations assembled  under conditions at once so formidable and romantic as made a  zealot of the most cold。  They were the last of the faithful;  God; who had averted His face from all other countries of the  world; still leaned from heaven to observe; with swelling  sympathy; the doings of His moorland remnant; Christ was by  them with His eternal wounds; with dropping tears; the Holy  Ghost (never perfectly realised nor firmly adopted by  Protestant imaginations) was dimly supposed to be in the  heart of each and on the lips of the minister。  And over  against them was the army of the hierarchies; from the men  Charles and James Stuart; on to King Lewie and the Emperor;  and the scarlet Pope; and the muckle black devil himself;  peering out the red mouth of hell in an ecstasy of hate and  hope。  'One pull more!' he seemed to cry; 'one pull more; and  it's done。  There's only Clydesdale and the Stewartry; and  the three Bailiaries of Ayr; left for God。'  And with such an  august assistance of powers and principalities looking on at  the last conflict of good and evil; it was scarce possible to  spare a thought to those old; infirm; debile; AB AGENDO  devils whose holy place they were now violating。

There might have been three hundred to four hundred present。   At least there were three hundred horses tethered for the  most part in the ring; though some of the hearers on the  outskirts of the crowd stood with their bridles in their  hand; ready to mount at the first signal。  The circle of  faces was strangely characteristic; long; serious; strongly  marked; the tackle standing out in the lean brown cheeks; the  mouth set and the eyes shining with a fierce enthusiasm; the  shepherd; the labouring man; and the rarer laird; stood there  in their broad blue bonnets or laced hats; and presenting an  essential identity of type。  From time to time a long…drawn  groan of adhesion rose in this audience; and was propagated  like a wave to the outskirts; and died away among the keepers  of the horses。  It had a name; it was called 'a holy groan。'

A squall came up; a great volley of flying mist went out  before it and whelmed the scene; the wind stormed with a  sudden fierceness that carried away the minister's voice and  twitched his tails and made him stagger; and turned the  congregation for a moment into a mere pother of blowing  plaid…ends and prancing horses; and the rain followed and was  dashed straight into their faces。  Men and women panted aloud  in the shock of that violent shower…bath; the teeth were  bared along all the line in an involuntary grimace; plaids;  mantles; and riding…coats were proved vain; and the  worshippers felt the water stream on their naked flesh。  The  minister; reinforcing his great and shrill voice; continued  to contend against and triumph over the rising of the squall  and the dashing of the rain。

'In that day ye may go thirty mile and not hear a crawing  cock;' he said; 'and fifty mile and not get a light to your  pipe; and an hundred mile and not see a smoking house。  For  there'll be naething in all Scotland but deid men's banes and  blackness; and the living anger of the Lord。  O; where to  find a bield … O sirs; where to find a bield from the wind of  the Lord's anger?  Do ye call THIS a wind?  Bethankit!  Sirs;  this is but a temporary dispensation; this is but a puff of  wind; this is but a spit of rain and by with it。  Already  there's a blue bow in the west; and the sun will take the  crown of the causeway again; and your things'll be dried upon  ye; and your flesh will be warm upon your bones。  But O;  sirs; sirs! for the day of the Lord's anger!'

His rhetoric was set forth with an ear…piercing elocution;  and a voice that sometimes crashed like cannon。  Such as it  was; it was the gift of all hill…preachers; to a singular  degree of likeness or identity。  Their images scarce ranged  beyond the red horizon of the moor and the rainy hill…top;  the shepherd and his sheep; a fowling…piece; a spade; a pipe;  a dunghill; a crowing cock; the shining and the withdrawal of  the sun。  An occasional pathos of simple humanity; and  frequent patches of big Biblical words; relieved the homely  tissue。  It was a poetry apart; bleak; austere; but genuine;  and redolent of the soil。

A little before the coming of the squall there was a  different scene enacting at the outposts。  For the most part;  the sentinels were faithful to their important duty; the  Hill…end of Drumlowe was known to be a safe meeting…place;  and the out…pickets on this particular day had been somewhat  lax from the beginning; and grew laxer during the inordinate  length of the discourse。  Francie lay there in his appointed  hiding…hole; looking abroad between two whin…bushes。  His  view was across the course of the burn; then over a piece of  plain moorl

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