‘Rumours are rife in Eskaig. Whatever it is you’re plotting, I hope you’ll see sense and forget it altogether now you know about the soldiers. ’
Eneas Ross’s face took on an expression of Highland stubbornness such as Wyatt had seen many times before, and his hopes plummeted.
‘You’ve probably been too tied up with affairs of the Church to take notice of what’s been happening about you, Preacher. The Army isn’t here to support only Garrett. Landowners are clearing tenants from Glenelg to Morvern. Emigration has become such good business that shipowners are bringing vessels into Fort William and offering five-pound passages to Nova Scotia. My father witnessed the hunting down of the last wolf in the Highlands. I’ve no wish to live to see the passing of the last Highlander.’
‘You can’t fight the landowners, Eneas. At least, not your way.’
‘It’s too late for any other way, Preacher. They’re evicting and burning. You can’t fight force and fire with words.’
‘Think about it very carefully, Eneas. You’ve already lost two sons. Let that be enough.’
‘Is dying as a man more to be feared than living as a coward?’ Eneas Ross answered his own question with a shake of his head. ‘I’ll take your advice kindly because it comes from a man who’s faced death himself. You’re still the same man, Preacher. If you weren’t, you’d be living well in the manse in Eskaig now, taking Kilmalie money. Men like us can’t change, either. It’s what sets Highlanders apart from other men. Kings and generals have known it for hundreds of years.’
‘Nonsense! It’s pride, Eneas. The sort of pride the Bible tells us leads only to destruction. Your family deserves more. Magdalene and Mairi – they deserve more.’
Wyatt made the plea as Magdalene Ross appeared in the doorway of the croft looking anxious. She was far removed from the confident and contented woman he had first met here little more than a year ago.
‘I was a soldier when Magdalene first met me. She understands. As for Mairi … you’ve said you want to marry the girl. Take her for a walk to the ridge and ask her again. She’s talked of no one else these past weeks.’
With a jerk of his head to his ‘kinsmen’, Eneas Ross led them back inside the croft. In the doorway he turned. ‘Don’t take her too far off, Preacher. We can teach the Irish to respect Highland men. I wouldn’t trust them with our women.’
Eneas Ross ducked inside the low doorway of the croft and was followed by his ‘kinsmen’, leaving Wyatt staring after him.
‘Would you like to take that walk? You don’t have to….’ Mairi was looking at him uncertainly.
‘Of course I would. For weeks I’ve wanted to be with you again. Even when I should have had my mind on other matters. But I’m worried about what might happen if your father and the others clash with Garrett and the Army.’
‘So am I. Tibbie is, too. It’s more difficult to know what Ma’s thinking. She believes she’s being disloyal to Pa if she doesn’t agree with him – when we’re around anyway.’ Mairi took his hand in an affectionate gesture as they walked together from the croft.
‘She’ll be even more disloyal if she doesn’t try to stop him acting foolishly. She must know that.’
‘Ma hasn’t been seeing things too clearly since Donnie was killed. He was the baby of the family, a wee bit special for all of us….’ There was a break in Mairi’s voice, and Wyatt squeezed her hand sympathetically. ‘One day Ma will be all weepie about Donnie; the next she’ll be saying that if he’d been killed in Spain the family would have taken their revenge on the factor by now.’
They walked on in silence for some minutes before Mairi said: ‘All we’ve spoken of so far are Ross troubles, but how about you? Ewan Munro was up here a day or two ago to bring us the Munros’ first calf. It’s payment for the cow Pa gave them when they were given the croft. But what’s happening to the Church? How do you see your future?’
Wyatt told Mairi of all that had occurred in Edinburgh, and of the plans for an evangelical Free Church of Scotland, stronger than the church in which it had its beginnings.
‘You will be staying in Eskaig?’
‘I hope so.’ They topped a small rise and could see a waterfall tumbling down towards Loch Arkaig, some miles away, with the high peaks of Glengarry beyond. Farther away the peaks appeared to have been painted in pastel shades of mauve by distance.
Mairi stood in an unselfconscious pose, the dress moulded to her body by the wind. ‘It’s a beautiful land, Wyatt, yet there’s been so much blood spilled in these mountains. Why?’
Wyatt shook his head. ‘The beauty is God’s handiwork. It’s men who do the fighting.’
Mairi looked at Wyatt as though seeking something in his face. Then she moved towards him and kissed him, and his arms went about her.
When a need for breath made Mairi turn her face away, she stayed close, her head against his chest. ‘I’m frightened, Wyatt. Frightened of what will happen to us; to Pa and the boys – and to this land of ours. I feel as though I’m clinging on by my fingernails to everything I know and love.’
‘That isn’t so. Your hold on me grows stronger every time we’re together.’ He tried to think of words to reassure her. ‘As for your father … I’ve deliberately exaggerated things to him, in the hope of stopping him from doing anything foolish.’
Again Mairi sought the truth in Wyatt’s face. She found what she was seeking, but her kiss was briefer this time.
‘You’re a very nice man, Wyatt Jamieson.’ She pushed herself from him and, ignoring his protests, kept an arm’s length between them.
‘Do you still want to marry me?’
Wyatt could hardly believe he had heard her aright.
‘You know I do. Wanting to marry you gets in the way of every other thought that comes into my head. I wake in the night and reach out to see if you’re lying beside me, not wanting to accept I’ve been dreaming. I love you so much, Mairi.’
Mairi was silent for so long that Wyatt was afraid his confession might have frightened her in some way. He was wondering whether he should apologise, when she spoke again.
‘All right.’
That was all, just two words: ‘All right.’
He waited for her to say more. When she remained silent, he said in confusion: ‘What do you mean … “All right”?’
‘I mean all right – I’ll marry you.’
Wyatt’s mouth spoke two or three sentences before any words came out.
‘You mean it? You really mean it? You’ll marry me?’
She nodded, his astonishment both delighting and amusing her. ‘Yes. I’ve learned to read and write. I haven’t got any shoes yet, but I will. I won’t disgrace you….’
Words were squeezed from her as Wyatt hugged her clear of the ground and swung her around in a circle. Then Wyatt kissed her and kissed her again.
Eventually she managed to push him from her. ‘Wyatt … listen to me. When? When do you want me to marry you?’
‘Soon. Very soon. As soon as I know what my future is to be.’ Suddenly he sobered. ‘I’ll know this Sunday whether or not I’ll be staying in Eskaig. If Angus Cameron gets overwhelming support from the people, I’ll have to leave. I’ll return to Edinburgh and seek somewhere else to work.’ Wyatt hesitated. ‘Would you leave the Highlands and come with me, if it’s necessary?’
‘I’ll go wherever you go. But what if the people choose you, and not Angus Cameron?’
‘Then I’ll stay and build a kirk beside the school. A house, too. It won’t be large, but there’ll be enough room…. I’ve drawn a plan….’ Suddenly Wyatt’s heart was too full for words. ‘Mairi, I love you!’
‘I love you, too, Wyatt Jamieson.’
Back at the croft, Magdalene and Eneas Ross greeted the news with affection, but without surprise.
Magdalene Ross kissed and hugged them both, while Mairi’s brothers and their ‘kinsmen’ crowded around to congratulate the newly betrothed couple.
Finally, it was the turn of Eneas R
oss to clasp the hand of his future son-in-law.
‘I’ll be pleased to have you in the family, Preacher,’ he said. ‘Though it’s taken you so long to persuade her to say Yes I was beginning to worry lest you weren’t the man I believed you to be.’
Forty-one
NEWS OF WYATT’S intended marriage came as no surprise to a delighted Alasdair Burns. He had been expecting it for many months.
The village elders were less enthusiastic. Mairi Ross was an unsophisticated mountain girl. She had no knowledge of what was expected of a minister’s wife, and no useful family connections to help in the difficult times ahead. However, the matter of Wyatt’s marriage was overshadowed by the question of his acceptance by the community in his new role as Free Church minister.
If the people wanted him, and with the full backing of the newly formed church, he felt confident he could withstand the malicious opposition of John Garrett. Without the support of the parishioners, his presence could cause them only humiliation.
The elders were every bit as concerned about the outcome as was Wyatt. They believed in the principles that had brought about the formation of the Free Church, but if it failed in Eskaig they could not move on.
Angus Cameron had not been slow in pressing home this point during Wyatt’s absence in Edinburgh. Had he not returned when he did, Wyatt believed at least two of the elders might have returned to the established church.
New support arrived shortly before the allegiance of the villagers was put to the test. Evangeline Garrett and her mother returned to their Corpach home late on Friday. Charlotte Garrett would never be cured, but she was more stable now.
Evangeline rode up to the Eskaig schoolhouse mid-morning the next day, and her initial greeting was for Alasdair Burns. Watching the couple together, Wyatt thought it probable they, too, would soon be contemplating marriage.
Evangeline was no less enthusiastic than Alasdair Burns had been at the news that Wyatt was to marry Mairi, but she was also filled with indignation at her father’s treatment of the Eskaig minister.
‘I learned only this morning that Father has moved Angus Cameron into the manse. It’s disgraceful, Wyatt. By the time a servant told me the news my father had already gone out, otherwise I’d have told him what I thought.’
‘I’m grateful for your concern, but don’t even mention the matter to him. It will only start a family argument without serving any useful purpose.’
‘It won’t start the argument. I’ve something else to put to him that will do that. It seems my father’s been a very busy man while mother and I have been away – and I’m not talking of Kilmalie business. I believe he’s seeing that Seonaid girl again.’
Wyatt found it difficult to believe Evangeline’s accusation after all that had happened, but Seonaid and her father had left the Eskaig inn and moved to Fort William. Wyatt had seen Seonaid shortly before the move when she told him she was going because she had an offer of more remunerative employment.
Annie Hamilton told a different story. She said Seonaid was lazy, and given to spending too much time away from the inn, sometimes being away for whole nights.
Wyatt remembered the whispering he had heard coming from John Garrett’s bedroom. Sadly, he was forced to admit that Evangeline was probably right.
Sunday was a cloudy and blustery day. Wyatt thought it would probably favour Angus Cameron. Wyatt’s strongest support was in the mountains behind the village. Bad weather was likely to keep the crofters and cottars at home, while Cameron’s supporters had only to hurry along the road to the kirk to lend him their support.
‘Don’t worry, Wyatt, you’ll get the result you want.’ Alasdair Burns repeated his prophecy for the umpteenth time that morning. ‘Cameron’s seen as throwing in his lot with Garrett and the landowners. The people of Eskaig won’t forgive him for that.’
Both men had worked well into the night preparing the school for its Sunday role as the district’s free church. It was by no means ideal, but it was spacious enough to hold the size of congregation Wyatt hoped to have, with seats for the elderly.
‘What’s happening here is being repeated in more than four hundred churches throughout Scotland today. The outcome will decide the future of the Church in Scotland….’
‘Not to mention your marriage to Mairi!’
‘Have you and Evangeline ever spoken of marriage?’
‘Many times. At least, she’s spoken of it. I tell her it’s madness even to think of such a thing, but there’s more than a touch of her father in Evangeline Garrett. She’ll not listen to anyone who isn’t saying what she wants to hear.’
‘What’s wrong with the idea? It’s not like you to think you’re not good enough for a factor’s daughter.’
‘I’m as good as any man or woman anywhere, whatever their station in life. But it’s also true to say I can’t offer Evangeline all the things she’s used to having.’
‘I’m sure Evangeline has taken that into consideration. If you both planned to stay in Eskaig and teach, the Free Church could afford to pay you a small joint salary….’ Wyatt was thinking of Lord Kilmalie’s legacy. ‘You wouldn’t live in luxury, but you’d get by.’
‘Then, it seems we both have a great deal to win or lose today, Wyatt.’ Alasdair Burns knew where the money would come from to pay for schoolteachers. He rested a hand affectionately upon his friend’s shoulder. ‘I’d better get out on the streets of Eskaig now and start driving folk to your service.’
For a long while it seemed Alasdair Burns might be having difficulty persuading the Eskaig villagers to attend Wyatt’s first Free Church service. Long after the time when the congregation normally attended church there was no movement on the road from the village, and Wyatt was as nervous as on the day of his induction.
Services in the school had been deliberately arranged to coincide with the induction in the nearby kirk. It would leave no doubt in anyone’s mind which church the people of Eskaig had chosen to follow. Looking to where Angus Cameron waited at the gate of the small kirk, Wyatt knew the Eskaig elder must be having the same misgivings as himself. He almost felt sorry for him.
John Garrett stood with Angus Cameron. The Kilmalie factor had arrived a few minutes earlier. Only one of his household, a hostler, was with him. Wyatt wondered what had happened to prevent the remainder of his servants from attending.
The presbytery were standing nearby. Only two were ministers who had attended Wyatt’s induction. The remainder had joined the breakaway movement in company with Coll Kennedy. For a moment Wyatt wondered how the easygoing Letterfinlay minister was making out. Whether he had found a place in which to preach. Wyatt decided he probably had. Coll Kennedy was not lacking in enterprise. Wyatt would soon find out; he intended to pay his friend a visit at the earliest opportunity.
Some minutes before the services were due to begin there came the sound of a pony and trap being driven hard from the direction of Corpach, and Evangeline came into view driving at a recklessly fast speed. Pony and trap slackened speed at the gate of the kirk, but Evangeline did not haul the pony to a halt until she reached the school.
Throwing the long reins carelessly inside the small vehicle, Evangeline leaped to the ground. Ignoring her father and his companions watching from outside the kirk, Evangeline called to Wyatt: ‘I hope I’m not late. I had things to do at home before I came out.’
‘You’re the first to arrive and you’re very welcome. Come inside.’
As Wyatt ushered Evangeline to the school, he glanced towards her father, standing with the representatives of the established church. John Garrett’s face was livid.
‘You’ve made your father very angry, Evangeline. You should have stayed away. There’ll be trouble for you when you return home.’
‘More than you know, Wyatt.’ Evangeline seemed surprisingly unconcerned. ‘I refused to allow the servants to attend church with him. I said he’d let them get into lazy ways while I was away. As a punishment they have to work today and clean the
house from top to bottom. They minded far less than Father did. Are there many people in Angus Cameron’s church?’
‘One. Your father’s hostler.’
‘Where’s Alasdair?’ Evangeline had been looking about her for the one-legged teacher. ‘Is he inside the school?’
‘He’s in the village, trying to raise a congregation. I hope that might be him now.’
While they were speaking he saw a number of people leave Eskaig and head along the road towards the school – or the kirk next door. He looked for Alasdair Burns, but the schoolteacher was not with them.
There were far more people than he had expected to see, and he was apprehensive until he recognised a pale and sickly Lachlan Munro among them. Hope leaped suddenly high. Lachlan would not be here on Angus Cameron’s behalf. Then he recognised the Ross family, too….
Wyatt threw open the school gate as the procession reached him and the leaders turned in, nodding to him as they passed – and still they filled the road from Eskaig. By the time Mairi came in through the gate Wyatt was beside himself with joy. Every man, woman and child had turned into the school. Not one had passed by to go to the kirk.
‘Come here and stand with me.’ Wyatt reached out and took Mairi’s hand, and she took up a position beside him. Magdalene Ross looked startled for a moment, then she smiled her approval. Wyatt had made a gesture, the implications of which would not be lost on the community.
Wyatt and Mairi stood together as Wyatt extended a greeting to those he knew, as well as to many he did not. The improvised church was filled to overflowing long before the tail-end of the procession reached the school. People began crowding into the schoolyard, and they had to squeeze close together to make room for those yet to come.
Bringing up the rear was Alasdair Burns, and with him Annie Hamilton, landlady of the Eskaig inn.
‘Alasdair! I didn’t know there were so many people in these parts. Where did you find them all?’
Alasdair Burns grinned triumphantly. ‘You’d better ask Annie. She sent word out through the mountains that there’d be free whisky for any man who came in to your service today.’
God's Highlander Page 34