| Show 4 I The ISLE of the WINDS t I IBy S1C OC T l li1 lrhlJf iy GAHIPLEY COpyr1ght 1198 under thename oC Little Anna Mark by S I Cockett Copyright IS9 by S n erocltett CHTR v The Torchlight Fuer I was 12 of the clock on the night of the Sabbath the day of the dlsco cry of the murder when lying asleep in a little trundle bed in the house of 1mphray Spurwa I awoke with a great commoUon without sounding In my ear My mother was In the great bed near me She had come frem the lodge Yett In the company of Umphry Spurway and his folk for the Englishman unaafe leave her In man Judged it unse to leve that lonely and defcnSles house at the mercy of a wild beast run mad like ner hu bad Pllp Stnsfeld My othe would have stayed on at the F lodge being tlough a little woman still brave enough in spirit in spite ot baYing been broken down in health with her troubles But both the minister min-ister and Mr Spurway feeched and prayed upon her to come away for my sake urging Intently that there was no sayIng of what Iniquity her husband might not be guilty In his present state of anger and drunken fur Sa it was arranged that for 3 time sl e should come to the mi house sitting sit-ting so pleasantly by the weir whose water drives the great water wheels 1mphr Spuray slept In a little boxlike I box-like ofce In the miii itself havng given j giv-en up his own chamber to the minister My mother and I lay as I have nld in the guest chamber And I was never better pleased than to exchange the slensmelng empty resounding 4 great house and the lonely dank little lodge Yett hidden among the trees for such an abiding place I was cheer j M 1 1 A 1 iqU Inn th UI ucvuu nu u WU u burn and click of the shuttles never ceased The creaking noise of many beams all moving in unlsI was music in my earg1adsome as the sound of many lark singing above a spring meadow Then at night there was the song of the river over the well and the splash of the water tumbling from the wooden mi lade or trough into the black pool beneath the great wheel I could never get enough of these things and shal always connect the frt perfect per-fect happiness of my life with the humming weaving rooms and splashing waters about the in house oC Um phray Spmwa the Englishman But at midnight a noise of stirring about the house woke me In the place which though already a great fellow I lay very well content in the little trundle with my mother above me in her own bed I how not very well why I awake ILI were not that my mother put her arm down to assure herself of my presence For a woman outraged and despised by the husband of her youth may lie and see the mornIng morn-Ing come in with unshut eye or a high mystic like Mr James Welwco of Tindergrth may in like manne wander wan-der aU night sleepless upon the banks of 1lal plucking an apple here and there But a boys thoughts are not thus absorbed in the hour of repose He will sleep through a cannonade oran or-an earthquake That Is for ordinary Hut at all events my mother awoke me and a mement after I found myself my-self onrny fet looking out of the r 10W ire was a aanClOf Ul 15L5 down in the valley beyond the Esk water and distant voices which came Irregularly up to us being almoSt drowned by the plash and roar of the weir But nearer indeed under my very window I sanS that which made me pull on my breeches with hate and diligence Umphra Spurway was ordering or-dering his little force of webver once more into marching array and the minister Mr Bell was standing ready as i were to accompany them I had not all my clothes rightly on when I ran down stir crying to my mother that I would not be long and I to my present sorrow disobeying her I tommad to come quickly back to bed For inee I was never used to mindIng mind-Ing my mother much nor she to insisting Insist-Ing upon strict obedience But EO Eon as 1r Spurwa saw me he ordered me pack and even so I must perforce I have gone For i Is a different thing 10 disobey Umphry Spurwa and one that I for one would not have ventured upon But recollecting himself he said speaking as If jn a kind of mus I will do him good His ee may yet long after the Sotom apple Let I him come an see how bitter I maybe maY-be in the belly And after that he took to more no rice Ot me DUI uiviuu DIS party into two One section he gave Into the hands of William Bowman bidding keep watch at Min house and mount guard to keep both my mother and the property of his master from harm during his absence And William Bowman obeyed though I dare say he desired as great b as I bad done to accompany us Then rmphra Spurway waved a hand toward the window where lay mother lay For he was always by ordinary ten up about her and If he had only to conduct her across a mUddy rod lIe took C of her as I she had been s much breakable glass that might fail asunder ere he could bring her to the further de But this at the time I set down as an English custom and resolved never to practice observing that it drew the eyes of men making privately them smile and wink to each other So we marched two by two down the little loaning and lo like the rubbing of a wet palm over a school balrns s iate the kin glow of the watch lights at the in house was blotted out and the singing nose of the weIr ceased as If a door had been shut between be-tween us and the dnrsh of the water Phi lad sid Umphry Spurway r have brought you out this night that ye may be a wines of a strange tranctonne that ye wi never forget one that rightly considered and thought on will be a bogger to fright ye from evil doing more than the devil ni fh fp We went down the waterside to the ord of Esk msrching silently Ands And-s we went Mr James Bell would have improve the occasion with sundry remarks re-marks upon the fate of sinner and the certainty with which their sins found them out but Umphray Spur way a little hlughly as I thought bade him keep thc wInd in the bladder against the Sabbt day T wl the minster awered nothing Anon we came to the ford across Esk water and her I WS no pleasant road e a t travel For the 100 were out and l what with the men of the snow and > the get pieces of ke floating by in the swirl of the shallows I took the men some of them above the knee and indeed io the waist as oren u tires slipped from the stepping stoI As for Mr BeH he wa wet bret hIgh by falling front the great center one t S v t > a iLJ and indeed was welt night wholly swept away the ftrnet of the for at tot plac warrirg against the stone But while struggling thus In the wate he had this eremlon Lord I a about thy work I look t the to bring me hAnd h-And It really seemed a I the waters slacked and became less imp3able AB for me I was neither wet nor wear Umphry Spurwa caught me upon up-on thd verge of the black Intere and crie me right scely on his shoulder t the other side going as Ef a If I had bee no more tha a pound weIght avoirdupoIs tresently we were passed the peril of the waters and the minister return log thanks Umphry Spuway put his han on his shoulder and said Sir I 1 umbiy crave your pardon for my un civil words I spoke as a zd man for vliIch I am heartily sorry And Mr Bell answer lat he thought no more abut the matter For which I thought the better of him But all this was n fOrt when we came to where the krktown o Iorebam lE low beneath the kirk thereof For we fW lights dane in here and th < rnat lathor wIt dip cantles In them alone such as the men use at th stable or the maidens at the milking of the cows but great mlklng te cows gt torches of tar and rosin hot mak rsn ing a rfd trail of fire above on the dark and cloudy sky As we came nearer we hear also the crying of voices and the trampling of many hc et So we went fast that those tht were wetted wet-ted at the ford might take no hut Then as we proceeded at the swaying sway-ing trot of the IrIs harvester we came on 3 m running as eagerly as our 51c hut in a contrary direction Him Umphry Spurway called upon to ht and when he did not tripped him up hE < incontinent Delng or a country wnen they are skilled In such plays There aftr Spurway stele the mn up on his feet and eiaid to ha Ah William Rbsn Us you Whither away E 0 fat I pray you at this hur of the morning That goes forward wit of folk at the s Jet a concourse a kirk of 1oreham Then the man being held fat onoth aIde and seeing no remedy Void us hO Philip Stanadeid had given orders for the burial of his father that night sacretiy in the kirk yard of Ior I serGty which was more retired than that of New lns mor and hch ao was the I family burying place of the Stanselds For cried the man he had gone aDGut swearing that whether hIs father were murdered by the Englishman Or mureed whether he made away with himself he die a dogs death and Should be burled like a dog out of the house that was noW his And co fiercely did he speak that no man dared to counter him by word or look Fcr as William Rebaon testified ever since the finding of his father Philip Stan eld bad been wild and disordered dis-ordered threatening any with death that withstood him in the smallest triii Lifelife he would r at long and last I have come into my heritage Qf new life I tat wci 3 esteve a lick pot lacquey and a whipped cur nm now become the master of And on the heads o thorn that flouted me I will clean the mir from m sheen I We will go down and see what J to be seen sid Umphr y Spuway I set see Wilam RobsrJ in th midst that hema not escape and follow me quietly ns I bade you a frt So falling Into the train but yet keeipg carefully In the dark behind we followed the riotous concourse on its wily up to the kirk of Iorhm I remember as we mounted the slope see a Ing the bead of the Englishman glow red as fire In the light of the tossing 1 pitchpine knots ahead of us I Then when they lowe to go up the took behind the whln final mlet we tok I bushes and bending cur heads we hid our lve at the back or the kirk dyke before they entered And a gruciome sight I was that we looked upon g from that colg of vantage Tw women wet dancing and singing sing-Ing ribald songs mixed with psalm tunes There had torches in their hans hnd would oren stop to swear if one scattered tar on the other as they waved their firebrands jn the all And once I thought that they would certainly fail like furies one on the certinly fal lke other The wilder of the two was that Mark same buxom blowsln Janet whom I had seen at the change house with Philip Stansfeld The other I knew not at that time Ten cam the corpse of my grand father whitesheeted and COtnles borne upon the shoulders of halfa dozen men thus mishandled and abuse looking at least twice the length of an ordinary man I mind clear as the pen In my hand that my poor grandfathers swathe head af frIghtened me more than all for I was not tt but rather waggling this way and that from side to side like a twig with a broken topa memory for a grown man to carry wit him to his grave let alone a halfng boy such as I was And a thousand times since when I have slept alone nay even now after I haVe been In strange places for years and encountered many lament ablehaps and mishaps I could wIsh that I had never seen that gray uno stable bal which looked at me that night tuilor over the shoulder qf the dells tIor This unseemly procession came Into the klrkyar with levity and jet stumbling over gravestones the most part of them being well touched with strong drink The six bearers in especial went forward curing and swearing like men not in love with their work who would have out their anger upon the very stones beneath their fet Presently they came to a open grave where was a man still busily piling up the red earth along the side a 1anthor shining down from the gave head upon his bare air arms and besweted brow This opening was rot miflc In the 11 fII vault oi the Stn e ds but rather i the sunny cornr where the poor folk le And this by special order of the dead mans son Philip Stnfeld walked bide the body not robustly and noisily like the others but rater dull and sullen like a devI from hell whose leave of absence ab-sence is almost expired ISO when the two women stood near the grave and with their fet detached de-tached some of the mold back again Into te yawning deep he turn upon illem condemning their souls to bla k perdition forever and threatening to kill them If they stoed not where he had ordered them without moving s much as a little finger 1 hen 1e baa the vedigger Saul Mark to Come out of the hole that he had made for a lazy goOdfoinothing swearing that it was deep enough for all JI had to kep from the croWs and called to the six bearers to cast in the carrion and be brsk But tee men ignorant cottiers and ditchers about the get house hd yet hers kindlier for the poor cay than their master For very gent they lowered the poor harried boy till it rested on a bed of kindred soil Butat the gave foot Philip Stan field stood silent with his arms folded and at the head the two ill women 1 spat upon the face of the noble dead and cursed fr with voices like to the I croaking of ravens Cove up cie Philip Stnsfed abruptly waving his had to the bearers and Saul Mark the grave dig geJ And they would have done It too hastily like men in fear of their lives some with spades and shovels and some with nothing better than a piece of ancient coffin and ldplnte and some with their naked bands But at that moment Umphray Spurway steppe over the kirk dyke and commanded com-manded tem to stop 1 charge you in the kings name to mind what ye are about kngs this is a hanging matter for all of outo bury lone conernln3 whose death there Is grave suspicion of black murder haying hay-Ing been committed What have ye to do with how 1 dispose Of my father cried Philip Staeld Enlsh dog get to your kennel Ye w1 hear enough of murder mur-der or all be bygane Pt Like and very like sid Um I er I phray Spurway composedly I speak not to you Philip Stanseld I know better But I warn these men whom ye would lead Into treson Hear Saul Mack and you that are with him I promise you I will make such a mutiny that the parliament of the estates Sad the kings high majesty shall hear ot i klngs put away this mans c without either flsaals lrpse manf c9rf wihout eiher fsas examination or color of crwner law But at that the young man Philip Staneld flashed a paper before his eyes with an insolent gesture Therewhat think ye of that he cried There is an order from Sir Jame Immediately Dairympie of Stall to bury the Umphray Spura took It and cal ins for a lanthor perused i looking well and long at the signature But though he sok his head and doubted he could mke nothing of i and so much dashed in spirit and astonished there remained nothing for u but to retire re-tire and betake ourselves homeward And as we went the two women laughed and waved their torches over the grave which the bearers were now fat filling under the direction of I Saul lark But Philip Stnsfeld stood i silent with folded arms at the sient wih ars graves foot watching the cods smiting the I face of the dead dedCT V I I I The Grayeyed ian I was once more in the midmost deeps of the night Two restless expectant expec-tant days had come and gone when a second time I was wake out of my frt sleep by a knocking at Our chamber door My mother said in a pitiful volcQ that she desired to know who was there Whereto Umphra Spurwa answered an-swered that he must have me a a witness ness to tell what I kl 1n that n get man from Edinburgh who h I come to Moreham to make perquIst on into all the circumstances of the kill Ing kl 11 IngAlas when will all this cease and we live again in quiet said my mother sadly kissing me But take hIm Only bring the lad back to me afe I With my own life cried Umphray Spury from without the door Bo sure of i madam At this my mother rose and helped to array me whIch I suffered gladly enough There was nothing but night alarms a1rs at this time and though my heart beat the turmoil and the strangeness made I it all mightily taking to a boy of my age and disposition 1 At the stairs foot I found strs a party of I I four assembled eagerly scrutinizing asemble strtnizlng a paper with the aid of a dark Ian thor Presently I gathered from their talk tal that this wa an order from the privy council for raising and examining the body of Sir James Further that thQ one produced at the frt burial had been forged Three of the four were chlrurgcns or as they began to be called surgeons The fourth was a man the like of whom for native lgnl I had neve seenot of outstanding stature or greatly noticeable hut of nlot nnp and with such a pair of eyes I forth u I eye forh looking eyes as I had never seen 11 any countenance Then all of us went i to Moreham kirk but not this time by the fordthere being said the tlrd I no occasion for hurry So bury we took a cat about and passed over by More I ham Brig under which I could see the black water flowing fat In the sow bound narrows of the linn as we turned the corer and s came In due time to tme the Kirk Yett Here to my mingled trepidation and joy were real kings soldiers keep klngs Ing guard I could see the starshine strshine glitter faint their Suter fait on bayonet no brIghter at the brIghtest than print seen by the light of glowwOrsaT the sight gave me a curIous prideful feel Ing in my throat Thegrave lnoor Mans Acre was already empty the loosely compacted wa earth being agln turned up red while whie a sentry stooped over I for what pur pose I know not We were admitted to the kirk and there upon the backs of three high trestles at the head end of the aisle lay the body upon a bier I Candies werq 1 J standing about fixed each in a dab of its own grease on It gease sconses set against the wall A second guard of soldier stood between the chlrrgeons and the other who stood waiting the event I shivered as I watched and the pride ful feeling within me died utterly away The men busied themselves witl knIves and yIals about the body wih only sound a that or thl fn f their low whispering one hi the other It was fully an hour afterward and nIgh the breaking of the morning when one of the chlru1Cn looked down and beckoned the gree man who meatm had beEn busily and Quleh looking over papers which he had brought with lm bout with bright colored tae Info 3 sliest He went immediately within the cr don The chler chlrurgen whispered something itt his ear He held up his had and 10 at the signal an officer II sprang along the aisle and was out of the doUke So I Than every one waited mine wearily I han before rave and except the gray eyed m who agaIn buried himself j deep In This papers The chirurgeons covert C paper pr harried hurled body andIwasgiad ofiat Thug dismay I dis-may noqgh wfwaied as I say I hearing I tbinut the dreep of large 7 > > m1t drpe S theytone on the lea less twigs and eplahed Irregujarly 1garly on the root and the wS of thp doctors clean Ieg their horrid tools breathing on them and looking at te close t the light Then all suddenly we beard on the kirk brae the ore tr Qf feet coming nearer and preety the rattle of asgune without Them was a hoarse bark of ic and Umlih ray Epuway opened the doer at a sign from the quiet geye than He simply looked up from hIs pap no dod and S dropped his bed agaIn to r his ta L 4 So there in the dim gloaming or the morning We saw a company of hIs marts tot guards standing at attention at-tention across the path looking spruce and brave i the gray light front the east Another word of coad and they separated wheeling rigSt and left with sodden clash of acuteet and 10 there between the open 1ees of the door with an armed soldier on either side of him stood Philip Stans field my father Then In the little l irk of torehm and within the wails of The harie ran son1 befell > sne t9 wring a heart of stone Tew to pltfulnms of appeal abut the expression or attitude of Philip S = He stood darkly silent blackly hanomme a aver ann save that his cm1leJon was mottled all over with pace of grayIsh white aid Its tan he looked much a I bad seen Mm in the change house But behind him wore the two buxom women Janet Mark and the other wh name I did not then knoW their 1 cheeks turned ghastly white and the strn drink ded within hem Philip Stanfeld stood forward and apart vtth a certain pridefulness a bhsck and bite sr lowering m his brow But the two wo n kept weeping weep-Ing and bewa1 their fate wrInging their hands andcUn heaven to witness ness tat they cre wholly innocent of all evil Intent To he several c re cfJOflet Marks apron there clung a child the 1tt being be-Ing that llttl Anna whoris welsat raw on the krltr waU at ew ln Lie I twe us an the slaTs At the other side ahoy a yer or two younger WhEn fJt I set eyes upon the ba1r I got a start He Ja exact the race I was accutoe to se In the glass when I was sent to comb m3 hairthe fame brad brow hooky n th black hall i Worn short and coming to a sort of widows peak in front When I first saw him I wasn a fret tat mlht le allowed to play with him but after a whie I began to thin tat I might rot 1115 it so wdli Ie loreh3m s > kirk as Jreebelt that morning a indeed 1 ghastly and unholy morn un-holy sIght The chill loyish light the east was coming reJctanty frm eat mingled with the blue river mists Into a kind of unwioleSJmf eenelke that of a dead ms face The candies ott the little platform by the swathed corpse begaw bur low guttering In their sockets and dropping s1deway unrcared The hie wrapping Wrap-ping sheets rend the eartstaned mort seet nInth Ph hIMreoI abhorred In t nt of probing and scission above all the swathed foree on al out the bierwhat wonder that I cried biewhat UmphraY SpursvaY to and besought Umphry Surway take me away tae the Englishman on the contrary I put an arm about my neck and JaUed a liftin me on I I me on the shouMer lfinJ on te that horUy F tool and assuring me tht should De needed I 1 wondered tothewaited for In the growing light Save the gyed I keenfaced man ailin the krk chlrr I geons and all w rl blue with cold Many of them were indeed shaking caught on gossamer cob like leave gosamer webs on an autumn morIng then at I I a sigh the two guardsmen who stood Stansfield by the wrist gripping Philip Stansfeld wris I Phip brought him quite to the front beside the face of the dead and at the same moment the grayeyed man turned I Into the gyeyed with his paper pa-per In his handas r thought jut like I a minister about to dispense he ele ments on sacrament Sunday 1 demand to know why I a brought here crIed the prisoner In a deep voice You shall answer for thls whoever who-ever you may be X would advise you that I kqow the law Whatever be tho charge against me I cannot be tried aginst here without summons or warrandice You are not to b tried said the man with the gray eyes looking directly direct-ly at the prisoner foithe frt time At whose In5ta e then am I ap prehend u d U and Jeld for examinaton TnaI you WIn KUUW < 1 cuuUoU UI demand to know now I see not here either procurator fiscal or por teus roll I I a well advised only the next of kin to the dead pr his ma jestys advocate In person can prosecute prose-cute on a capital chrrge I myself am next of kin And I have the honor o be his ma jestys advocate sid the gaeyed man nodding over the black oak desk hike an eagle upon a mountain peak before be-fore he launches himself upon the quarry In the vale The women set up a shrill cry of utmost I ut-most fear antI Philip Stsfeld started forward as if to break through his guards and an In that little kirk could I her his teeth grind convulsively together to-gether But In an instant fe had completely com-pletely recovered himself I charge I1mPhr SpuraYr cloth weaver and John Bell minister with the murder of my father Sir James Stansfeld he cried turing him about to where we stood Thee two were the last seen nl his company They alone knew that one the day of the deed he carried a great aunt about with him being the rents and mails of all his New Mime property They alone made him drunk In the change house of James Brdson as with hine e e 1 5 wand can prove by many witnesses rhon nfnnnnlnr hI hn th I murdered him thlu own fireside at dead of night and cast him into the river The kings advocate whom I klngs adocte who now know to have been Sir James Dalrym pIe of Stair listened to the young mans sIde harangue with his head a little to th6 Enough of thIs You observe no I probability or even uniformity in your accusations he answered sharply 1 charge you Philip Stansfeld and these two women your accomplcesl a art and part In the cruel murder of your father Sir James Stnseld of New Ins And now I will proceed to make recognition with regard to the facts At this the two women set up aloud a-loud anti desolate wailing but a before be-fore Philip Stansfeld gImfy commended commend-ed himself that villain himsel so vlahi as hOe was I could not refuse him a certainadmi cernaml ration ton men The lord advocate turned to the w menBe Be silent he sid I urge you to i I confess the truth a yoU value your lIves I cal you not guilty a thIs man is guilty I offEr you the chance I to speak now Va are Innocentwe ken nothing of the mater they cried I Then said the advocate sid advocte calmly there remains nothing for me to do 1 but to prove the dee out of the mouths of your own innocent children All this while 1e was making a new I point to his pen doing it with a sal knife delicately and well so that i admired ad-mired tplty greatly to see hIs skill and des At the frt word of theirchuldren the teir cldre te two women set upa crying louder and more heartrending tan before Crerel they said to gee ourS bars testify against uS They ken Ten there came a surprise upen me quick as a stroke from behind I ead a mime called which at first I did not recognIze a my own I cal upon Philip Staed the younger to stand frwad k II was the goieeof the kings vo cate and scarcely w r the words ut i I t re than Umphray Spuray pushed I I me up the aisleaerd the guards making way I came intoUie little openspare Intote ltt opn spac II r where was a totstoQI on whiirh I stood a forgetting elltei s in the gryeye kirk looked roan trmnbllngly uP at the I A he turned hietcountenance upon < 11 Im J voice seed to change and become be-come extraordinarily caressing and his eyes bad such a light at kindliness In them that at tat moment I could have tld him anything h desired That ayhng der That they say was the secret o his power le could wile the truth out of a r uctant witness with a voice caressing a that ot a turtle dove Little mar he saId svan like one who has children of his own I want you to tel me all tat took place after you were lad to sleep In the blue chamber at the house of New Milns Mln I began to tel the story a well a 1 could the advocate prompting me with conning questions But at each answer the dakfaed man between the guard seemed to approach nearer to my back Though m3 head was turned away frlm hIm I seed to see the dagger in his hand the very gleaming blade which I ba seen him cleanse upon the page ot Baxter his Saints Ret In my graadtathes chamber gncates camber I cannot sea unless tat man is kept further away 1 cried out and at a sign from the advocate they took him back to a place n a the door where the rest of the wher rt kings guaa5 pany stood ranked In the order of theIr corn panyFear Fear nothing little mn you will never b molested for aught you may st hftn n1 iii c J v nuv U tU my lord advocate smUing encourage met down upon me So with little catches of the breath and occasional forgetUng of the slt pleat words I told all that I had seen through the panel axed afterward by i the haunted brig And as I spoke m voice appeared to be sounding QD and ira silence eternally trgh a kin ot tingling You rCjlze this prisoner as the man whom you saw In the chamber te br of Sir James Stansfielci c I turned to hook il hIP Stfeld I His eyes met mine with such a terrible suc terble look In them that my bert failed me completely I fell to the ground and for a time l no more gound When I cme to mnlfthelad with the th ml features like tnI those I had 4 sen wil I n U6 illS Lurn upon the footstool and the advocate was cssqueionIng hJn wlth the mme h wIl sme twinning kindlness he had use to me My nanr ii JamIe J01nston he na sid clwplngls hands as IL fn prayer It pryer at the kirk I lleit my mother I was ling cress the foot of the bed In the kitchen on th nlChtwheathe laird nchtwhete die at the big houS I heard my mihe and Janet Mark come iu late ant they cam eer to the b to see if I was > se sepln o I steIt my een aD mae pretence Ten a I lay thus I her my mihe say tat YekenWba had dune the deed at last and that he had a safe plan to affix the sae urwaYJ a te guilt on Umphy To which Janet Mark awed that before the morrows morows morn Philip mor PhUp Stansfeld would be Lord o a fre Moreham Kirk Yett to the High Stone Rig and that she should be the leddy should b 0 itAye led Ae sid my miher he promirud ever h to rie in te skirt 0 tem that I t VICU alU ugntue mm and ewe that theY wee to hae great r ward hat helped him with the body to the waterside SQ that It might appear that i had been cast in near by the dwelling of Umphy Sura te As the lad spoke his soke mother did not cease to reproach hi saying that she had ewer been kind t6 him cad that she never thought that he would thus swear away her life before the kings ofiiceza I Whereat greatly moved the lad I leaped dwm from the stol and went and knEeled down bore his mother hi beseeching her to speak the truth and that the kind man would be forbearing forbearng with hel all But being hardened she struck at blm wIth her clenched han and would have fallen upon him and beaten him on the spot but that the guards would gars WCtl not terlt i Yet more piteous i was when little Anna the daughter of the ill woman I woan with the fair countenance Janet Mark l1k was Cled n to stand on the stool She had a rlders red coat over her night apparel the arms iappng loosely at her side and a curly tangle of short locks appearing to climb over the high i mUtar collar and Cap in an intricate Intri-cate leee down her bak Out of he moth of babes and su klng said the minister aloud as I die stood on the stool But as he spoke In his pulpit voice nobody took any no lice of him Diana hurt my miher braw man stie she crledbefora ever a Queton I naa Deen aSKed get tears bIg as cherry stones running fast down her face and falling like raindrops on the bosom of her night rail 0 dlnnayex my minnie She has been a kind mlther to me For the strange thing is that though the womn was each an fvI wretch she ha not been ill to the bairn ho loved her and that greatly Do not be afraid sad my lord advocate kindly Your mothers life shall not be taken because o you Tel all you know and I promise Yon you may fIelD your mothel most of all by speaking the truth Try and mind all she said on the night len she came late and your father Saul Mark spoke harshly t her Then In little piteous gulps of speech the barn old be taeh that she had wake with the noise of her father and mother quarreling had calling each otherOm namesalthough poor little maiden that was no uncommon event In her hou My minnie sad that father was to cease his brawlngs fortat they would son be rIch If he but held hi ore All was done and well done but not by her Then eY spoke r low hat I ould net her but after that my mln nle raid that she would yet be a lady riding jn her carriage and I wondered If T 1M pt sittln hl th nI man Them she told hosr HiniTlmt I DidI guarded the door with drawn uwor and bended pistols till she would bring back help to move the corpse And that father must my come away that lItant Then my father called her WOre than beforomurere traiores and other words Swearing more terribly than beforE that he would set no finger to such a ploy anti that she ust gang t the Ill place her aln gate So my minnie gae aw oot again and I lay awake and shaking In my bed a that nicht saying prayers fa my minnie At this Umpbray Surw y would have spoken but my lord advocate stopped hIm and the net moment with n I shriek that rang through the kirk Janet Ja-net Mark cried o f Is true I i true I confess Tae me ay And 0 tell forward uoubled limp anl soft over the seat back like a twisted ed sheet that is Tng out at a wash log on the green Then the other woman cried out also My lord my lord say i j s not unto death and I to wl1 confess ajlO Bay that It i not unto death But the grafy man in the pre centers des only put his pea between his teeth and rising to his fet began tobundle up his papers Take them away he sd briefly but even as the soldiers Soulder their arms with a sharp unanimous him movement a thought seemed to strike himFirst First let the chief prisoner touch the body of the murdered man he 1d i is lea and customary eve It there b in It little efficacy And In a moment hearing the words roken the sullen upI scorn of the young man was up-I will not he cried ye shall not bod force ma I will not touch my fathers bodAnd And he fought against his captors as they strove to tate him up t wher the body lay I took other four strongmen strong-men to bring him to the place fighting every inch like n wildcat his face like no face I have ever seen distorted out a regnt n with passion and angel c I an-gel I he will cried rottbuch il I will not touch I Sir James Darmple stood grimly watching thIn liDs almost with a smile on his IUs enough h sId his behvior I speaks more loutily ofhis guilt than If blood had fow from forty wound at his touch Tkekawa The guard clashedout with their gr c heout ter prisoners I the ticks ot t cock the lIttle 1Irk was empty of all save the dead body of my grandfather which at lat was to be laid to its final rt without with-out further disurb nce I could hear the crying ot tka women a Janet ark tried to look back to where on the highest part of the kirk hre Urphr Spuna stood with little Anna Mark holding tightly to his hand And I could see the figure of Phllp StMteld taller than any of his gas by a bend cut black against the brightening brIght-ening Ey of morn And little Anna Mark had gotten over her fears and now smiiet down at the advocate I is prettyso pretty she sad See the coat of the sldlerr just like mine And look at the sparkling of theIr sworSbnn bony An she wavEd her hand prettily a a child does to a pageant that passes below on the street with music and banners while the soldier marched her mothe out of her sight But r thin it brought the water to the eye or alt that saw It to watch the mother looking hack and eve back at her chidad the innocent bar smiling and backing and wavIng her little hand AnQ even a we SOOd so tne Sun roe and It wa the newda CHAPTER I C I My Two Curators The net pat of the tale I will tel briefly a 1 may Philip Stasfed father tried and condemned my was tried cndeed to death according tb the word of the kings advocate The two women with kings him Janet Mark and Robins Johnston were sentenced to be carried away overseas over-seas and there t b sold for slave in the VIrginian or Carolinian plants tons NOw all thee three lay In the Tol booth or Edinburgh while waiting their several doom and meanwhile many things happened to us who abe at New Milnsin the vale of MorehamFor I Ure or lour aas aner tie tKng away of my father I felt all the sensations i stons of terror a strongly a before but after a while the feeling was blunted blunt-ed and in a surring degree I plucked heartEspeciallyas I heard up heat Espeialys soon as herd that Philip StaDeld was condemned to death and would never come back tQ trouble u again which 1 tae i Is a strange thing for a son to feel about his own father 1 was still abiding with my mother no more in the pleasant humming Min house by the Well but instead at the lonely little cottage of the lodge Yet sunk In the gloomy pin of Morhm wood I had hated it from the first and now took eve opportunity of slipping slip-pIng off to Umphry SpunYs mill in the valley where I could be happy with the weaver and dyers and with all the hum and bustle of the mill So log blithesomely on abut me But after a while Umphray Spury would not permit me to come s often Is your mother left all alone in that gloomy house he would ask and < I when I told him aye he WOUld frow and shake his head and fold the webs I of cloth al Wrong So that even Will lam Bowman wouiC smite covertly and taking the piece out of his masters hand would do It himself FIe on you go your ways bore laddie he would say I is not meet that your mothqr a young and far lady should be thus left alone Pshaw And he would knock a drying rc over with hIs foot and then kick It again for falling Whereat very gravely William Bowman would pick it up and set the harmless thing in its place again knowing know-ing his maters was and custom when troubled Then why did you send my mother away from YOUr house Umphry Spur pay I would say Why did you not ask her to sta altogether with you when she was hereI you think so much of her being lonesome In the loge Yet I did not want to go and I a sure that she did not Whats tlatwbats that he would I blater out looking a it he would knock my head off Gods helpa8k I your mother to stay What doe the loon say Out o my mill with you Ask his mother to sty Ah would I 110t The varlet to speak so Get homl to your mother at a dogs trot or I will set the bloodhoun1s on you And see blodhounJs take this basket of trot with you sir rah and do not dare to show your face at the In houSe for a month of Sundays Sun-days Not to tel yOU how my mother liked the trout I would adventure for I was I beginning to know Umphray Spurway as well as WUla Bowman knew him and tolount upon the knowledge Well at any rate let me not see your face before tomorrow he would grumble I will not have boys like you setting my carding and spinning lasses by the ears and wasting my mens time for which I have to pay so dear Get away Yet for all that I wet just when I was ready But I must hasten to tel who befell myself son after this while my father lay In the Tolmooth under sentence of death I thin I have not hitherto mentioned my Uncle John save by inference in-ference a It were when Sir James my poor grandfather complained to his friend that his second son to whom be had looked to be some comfort to his old age was fast following In the footsteps foot-steps of Ils brother Now Mr John Sfansfeld was a youth of quite different appearance from my poor father For one thing he was very I thin and wirdrwn with a pale face almost bloodless as it seemed wIth hi face all ared down till It was like a birds with n sallow skin drawn tightly over prominent cheek bone and a nose a littl hooked u L o i U J wel IU Il uuots DUI I not of the busy sort of them like the graeyed kings advocate Sir James Dalrple of Stall He had never had any work to do In his life at his own proper business but with other like him le sent most of his time in telling stories to the detriment of other pee pIe notably Qf the more successful members of his own profeslpn So I found out afterwards for at this time he weaed but little of his leisure On a lad like me For er the brother had hated each other cordially my father with the prodigals contempto the less prdlga1s les open sinner who he called the lawyers clerk or Blue Bag with other gross and insulting name that I will gs write here While John sad nothing to his brother havIng a great dislike to blows and open warfare memberIng too doubtless the beatings and bully Ing he bad reelvedfrom his senior in youth So he saH nothing only bode his time and supplied my grandfather with everything he could hear or invent in-vent to the discredit of his elder son But after Ph1p StsOeld came home the last time from the low countries and began to be a shame over all the country side there came a day when the brothers met I was at Lucky Bar tons hotel in the Grsmarket where the north coaches stop Their greeting must have sounded strange from brother to brother Hey dens rattebag langnebblt Jock the sunnlanter where awnlf I Com and takes drink with an honest man for once in your worthless peevIsh ueThat That was Philip Stnselds salutation saluta-tion cried from the farther side of the wide square And s leaving his legal companions John had gone to speak to his brother From that time he had scarcely left my father s long as he remained in Edinburgh He had Philip Stansfeld In his rooms He plied hIm I with drink Me kept knives and plst ts away from him when he waxed desperate desper-ate in his cups In nil this he was assisted as-sisted by one Saul Mark the husband of the buxom be5m Janet whom we aw frt at the chansehou by the clties rOads of New Milns Saul Mark was a strange man rather ohorUah an thickset his akin browned lkethat or a man long in hot countries where fever and rum had sled him a1t all infection o otherfeebTeFdiseaes He wore large sil1er rings il his earS a thick hoop 7 c w < i oC the elite metal o his left tub for se luck aa when h was In no company an away frot a town he ote wore a re hndkerhiet ted abut his head insted of a den blue kilmar 0 l11ma neck bon And tat lat feed pee p pIe mo piratical than and anything murderous a being ot b He had appeared quite suddenly in the countrysIde one far day about nine yea ago He set up a dicing and gambling tale on the gen at a ham to which all the young sparks on an bold swearing blades within twenty miles r re From this tIme forth the silent man with the rings twinkling palely In hi e had p1y rng ed many a day on orha greIwith varying luck One evening there came cvenng tr cme a elderly borer elbowing among the te lairds son who put dOn a gt ot to which he S set off in a few moment in the quIck give and take of a larger game The amount of his 103 was not much but it was the elderly cuntrmas all The seem e to him dishony in the sdden disappearance of his logcershed pocket keeping piece With a ss of sudden anget beset a set his hand to his hip t draw a dagger and graspIng the keeper of the gambling fble by the collar bo f < un himself looking Into the gin rn race of death t a readiness whIch seemed uncanny and unnatural to the onlookers The brown m with the earrings had dIvine the in tenton or his la before he knew tem himself and while going on with his game had kept his had upon the butt of a pistol which lay hand ready cocked in a drawer at hIs right The countryman gasped and gurgled inarticutately A gluey foam gathered about his lips Be uttered no inteili gihj word his mouth was too dry He might have died there and then by the hand of the gamester had not a girl wailed soddenly timm behind Do not kill my fatherspare my father The pistol was still steady at the mans head The gamblers hand did LULV 1 US ma usric Deaoy eyes wanlered on e to the beauteous imploring im-ploring face at his elbow Then with a sudden jer he threw the man back Tiim him so that he metisured his length on the ground The assailant was Andrew Johnston cottier of the farm of Boglo Thorn and the girl was his youngest daughter the same whom we know as Janet Mark They were married in a week and in a month Janet Mark was back with her father and her husband on his way to the seaport town of Aberleith with cards and dice and painted tables Thea not fc three years was there heard in the mad the blithesome lilt bf his sea songsor the refrain of his Summons when he called customers to his table Thu cairds the cairds the bonny boniiy pictures Ombre trlctrac and lantelooglek and dice Money to get money to spend money to burn Come one come all to the painted paper the rattle of the pockmarked the merry slink of the aim Thiswas the man whom my uncle John had chosen to assist him in his purpose And not froni any feeling of revenge upon my father on account of his wife did he join with my uncle For Saul Mark upon his return had accepted the circumstances as he found them sagely resolving to make the most out of thorn So it came about that my fathbe ing in prison ready o meet his end my uncle appeared at New Milan with a paper signed and enled bearing that Philip Stansfield the younger being heir to all the properties and estates of his grandfather his father Phtjip Stansfield the elder being under sea tence of death had appointed his brother and Saul Mark joint curators of all the aforesaid infants goods till he should be of age This to take ef feet only in case of the death of the said Philip Stnnsfleld the elder presently pres-ently in the Tolbootit of Edinburgh My mother was much troubled at this and grieved sore at it as at first did my grandmother also down by the Great House But John soon recon cued her to It by accompanying her regularly to the kirk and especially by speaking ever pruisefully of Mr John Bell and his sermons But all thesa1projects and purposes overt and sacret were in a moment blown upon by certain startling oc currenta which in a moment nut anew a-new face upon all out lives And these I wll tell in order even as they hap pencil tnat the reader may follow their effect upon us even as my mother and I felt them in the Yett house of New Milns The last night in February came upon us a night ever memorable to alt of us nho had been affected by the sad death of Sir James Stansfield It nna the very da set for the execution of my father in Edinburgh and we hoped for news in the morning i had been over all day at the mills of Umphray Spurway where finding he could not prevent my coming about him the EngliShman had set William Bowman t give me lessons together with the little tanglehaired maiden Anna Mark It was work that William Bowman lIked well enough For not only was he a good scholar but he was glad to be quit of the thankless task o1 superintending the workers in the mill for the best part of the afternoon Then whers it began to grow dark Umphray Spurway took me by the hand and we went gladscmeiy together over to the little house among the pines where my mother dwelt At first the Englishman talked easily and answered an-swered all my questions of which as is the wont of boys I asked very rnruiy and or n very foolish sort But as we neared the enttage of the Yett lYmph ray he waxeej silent and when he replied re-plied at nh his words were mostly spoleen at random It had hardly all the promise of a wild night Overhead the scud was riding eastward flecked and sullen yet going fast as sptnne on a raging tide race Lower a thin almost invisible mist steamed along the laud and combed itself through the trees like long blown maidens hair The reek of the iumm rose from the hearthstone thruugh the rafters up to the outer air peeped once over th chimneys and then with a sidolong dive sped eastward east-ward also down the wind Spite of alt this it nas not yet dark and sometimes some-times in the bright blinks the sun himself him-self looked slantwise through the for eat aisles and ruled the shadows of the tail trunks black on last years leaves blue on the few half melted wreaths of the winter snows I did not notice alt these things at the time but they comeback come-back to me non as all the natural Surroundings of my boyhood art went to do with vIvid arid even startling clearness For about this time I used to be haunted with a fear lest I should forget for-get or as ft were grow out of myself my-self and as the years went past become be-come some other person Why I was so anxfous to keep my personality I know not but thecaze stood so in my mind For instance I remembez well a close fence of split pinesshIchi extended extend-ed from the back of the great house of New Milas to the waterside of Esk It was perhaps 400 or 500 feet in length and the pales were set excceding cices together xci i marie it my business busi-ness to know every several one of them by headmirk back and front sll the green mould on the split side the blu isii rotted places where the wet had seaped in the clear yellow blobs of the resin running like tears town the bark And know them I did back and front above and below I could bind my own eyes and wander till I laid my hand on a paling stop cautiously uplift up-lift the corner of th handkerchief take my marks and then run over to my seif cm the next two or three on either side of me there still unseen In all thin there was no apparent advantage to myself ior indeed hope o any But the experiment mity be accepted ri typIcal of the many trials I made of my memory at that time A year or two aftcrwards ha1a ethex things to think about I cared no jot for all the splitpine Icaces in the countryside well as I ray I weet skipping hoeae to my mother by Umpray Spurwaya side propounding innunicrble ques 0 |
