Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters
Page 70
CHAPTER LXIX
Rarely has it fallen to the lot of man to be so blessed with suchchildren as mine; but surely I was unworthy of the blessing. And yet,though maybe unworthy, Lord, thou knowest by the nightly anthems ofthankfulness that rose from my hearth, that the chief sentiment in mybreast, in those moments of melody, was my inward acknowledgment toThee for having made this world so bright to me, with an offspring sogood and fair, and with Sarah Lochrig, their mother, she whose life wasthe sweetness in the cup of my felicity. Let me not, however, hurry on,nor forget that I am but an historian, and that it befits not thejuridical pen of the character to dwell upon my own woes when I have totell of the sufferings of others.
The trials and the tribulations which I had heard so much of, andwhereof I had witnessed so many, made me in a sense but little liable tobe moved when told of any new outrage. But the sight of that Highlanderwrenching from Sarah Lochrig's finger our wedding-ring did, in itseffects and influences, cause a change in my nature as sudden and aswonderful as that which the rod of Moses underwent in being quickenedinto a serpent.
For some time I sat as I was sitting while the deed was doing; and whenmy wife, after the plunderers had departed, said to me, soothingly, thatwe had reason to be thankful for having endured no other loss than alittle world's gear, she was surprised at the sedateness with which Iresponded to her pious condolements. Michael, our first-born, then inthe prime beauty of his manhood, had been absent when the robbery wascommitted, and coming in, on hearing what had been done, flamed with thegenerous rage of youth, and marvelled that I had been so calm. My blitheand blooming Mary joined her ingenuous admiration to theirs, but my mildand sensible Margaret fell upon my neck, and weeping, cried, "O! father,it's no worth the doure thought that gars your brows sae gloom;" whileJoseph, the youngest of the flock, then in his twelfth year, brought theBible and laid it on my knees.
I opened the Book, and would have read a portion, but the passage whichcaught my eye was the beginning of the sixth chapter of Jeremiah, "O yechildren of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst ofJerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire inBeth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and greatdestruction." And I thought it was a voice calling me to arm, and toraise the banner against the oppressor; and thereupon I shut the Book,and retiring to the fields, communed with myself for some time.
Having returned into the house, and sent Michael to my brother's toinquire how it had fared with him and his family, I at the same timedirected Joseph to go to Irvine, and tell our friends there to help uswith a supply of blankets, for the Highlanders had taken away my horsesand driven off my cattle, and we had no means of bringing any thing.
But Joseph was not long gone when Michael came flying back from mybrother's, and I saw by his looks that something very dreadful had beencommitted, and said,--
"Are they all in life?"
"Aye in life!" and, the tears rushing into his eyes, he exclaimed, "ButO! I wish that my cousin Bell had been dead and buried!"
Bell Gilhaize, my brother's only daughter, was the lightest-heartedmaiden in all our parish. It had long been a pleasure both to her fatherand me to observe a mingling of affections between her and Michael, andthe year following had been fixt for their marriage.
"The time of weeping, Michael," said I, "is past, and the time ofwarring will soon come. It is not in man to bear always aggression, norcan it be required of him ever to endure contumely."
"What has befallen Bell?" said his mother to him; but instead of makingher any answer, he uttered a dreadful sound, like the howl of madness,and hastily quitted the house.
Sarah Lochrig, who was a woman of a serene reason, and mild and graciousin her nature, looked at me with a silent sadness, that told all theanguish with which the horror that she guessed had darted into her soul;and then, with an energy that I never saw in her before, folded her owntwo daughters to her bosom, as if she was in terror for them, and bathedtheir necks with tears.
While we were in this state my brother himself came in. He was now a manwell stricken in years, but of a hale appearance, and usually of an openand manly countenance. Nor on this occasion did he appear greatlyaltered; but there was a fire in his eye, and a severity in his aspect,such as I'd never seen before, yet withal a fortitude that showed howstrong the self-possession was, which kept the tempest within him frombreaking out in word or gesture.
"Ringan," said he, "we have met with a misfortune. It's the will ofProvidence, and we maun bear it. But surely in the anger that is causedby provocation, our Creator tells us to resent. From this hour, allobligation, obedience, allegiance, all whatsoever that as a subject Idid owe to Charles Stuart is at an end. I am his foe; and the Lord putstrength into my arm to revenge the ruin of my bairn!"
There was in the utterance of these words a solemnity at firstterrifying to hear; but his voice in the last clause of the sentencefaltered, and he took off his bonnet and held it over his face, and weptbitterly.
I could make him no answer for some time; but I took hold of his hand,and when he had a little mastered his grief, I said, "Brother, we arechildren of the same parents, and the wrongs of one are the wrongs ofboth. But let us not be hasty."
He took the bonnet from his face, and looked at me sternly for a littlewhile, and then he said,--
"Ringan Gilhaize, till you have felt what I feel, you ne'er can knowthat the speed o' lightning is slow to the wishes and the will ofrevenge."
At that moment his daughter Bell was brought in, led by my son Michael.Her father, at the sight of her, clasped his hands wildly above hishead, and rushed out of the house. My wife went towards her, but stoppedand fell back into my arms at the sight of her demented look. Mydaughters gazed, and held up their trembling hands.
"Speak to her," said Michael to his sisters; "she'll maybe heed you;"and he added, "Bell, it's Mary and Peggy," and dropping her hand, hewent to lead Mary to her, while she stood like a statue on the spot.
"Dear Bell," said I, as I moved myself gently from the arms of myafflicted wife, "come wi' me to the open air;" and I took her by thehand which poor Michael had dropped, and led her out to the green, butstill she looked the same demented creature.
Her father, who had by this time again overcome his distress, seeing uson the green, came towards us, while my wife and daughters also cameout; but Michael could no longer endure the sight of the rifled rosethat he had cherished for the ornament of his bosom, and he remained tohide his grief in the house.
"Her mind's gone, Ringan," said my brother, "and she'll ne'er be betterin this world!" Nor was she; but she lived many months after, and in allthe time never shed a tear, nor breathed a sigh, nor spoke a word; whereshe was led she went; where she was left, she stood. At last she becameso weak that she could not stand; and one day, as I was sitting at herbedside, I observed that she lay unusually still, and touching her hand,found that all her sorrows were over.