It seems to me the very madness of misanthropy, said Earnscliff; following his own current of thought.
And ye didna think it was a spiritual creature, then? asked Hobbie at his companion.
Who, I? No, surely.
Weel, I am partly of the mind mysell that it may be a live thing and yet I dinna ken, I wadna wish to see ony thing look liker a bogle.
At any rate, said Earnscliff, I will ride over to-morrow and see what has become of the unhappy being.
In fair daylight? queried the yeoman; then, grace o God, Ise be wi ye. But here we are nearer to Heugh-foot than to your house by twa mile, hadna ye better een gae hame wi me, and well send the callant on the powny to tell them that you are wi us, though I believe theres naebody at hame to wait for you but the servants and the cat.
Have with you then, friend Hobbie, said the young hunter; and as I would not willingly have either the servants be anxious, or puss forfeit her supper, in my absence, Ill be obliged to you to send the boy as you propose.
Aweel, that IS kind, I must say. And yell gae hame to Heugh-foot? Theyll be right blithe to see you, that will they.
This affair settled, they walked briskly on a little farther, when, coming to the ridge of a pretty steep hill, Hobbie Elliot exclaimed, Now, Earnscliff, I am aye glad when I come to this very bit Ye see the light below, thats in the ha window, where grannie, the gash auld carline, is sitting birling at her wheel and ye see yon other light thats gaun whiddin back and forrit through amang the windows? thats my cousin, Grace Armstrong, shes twice as clever about the house as my sisters, and sae they say themsells, for theyre good-natured lasses as ever trode on heather; but they confess themsells, and sae does grannie, that she has far maist action, and is the best goer about the toun, now that grannie is off the foot hersell. My brothers, ane o thems away to wait upon the chamberlain, and anes at Moss-phadraig, thats our led farm he can see after the stock just as weel as I can do.
You are lucky, my good friend, in having so many valuable relations.
Troth am I Grace make me thankful, Ise never deny it. But will ye tell me now, Earnscliff, you that have been at college, and the high-school of Edinburgh, and got a sort o lair where it was to be best gotten will ye tell me no that its ony concern of mine in particular, but I heard the priest of St. Johns, and our minister, bargaining about it at the Winter fair, and troth they baith spak very weel Now, the priest says its unlawful to marry anes cousin; but I cannot say I thought he brought out the Gospel authorities half sae weel as our minister our minister is thought the best divine and the best preacher atween this and Edinburgh Dinna ye think he was likely to be right?
Certainly marriage, by all protestant Christians, is held to be as free as God made it by the Levitical law; so, Hobbie, there can be no bar, legal or religious, betwixt you and Miss Armstrong.
Hout awa wi your joking, Earnscliff, replied his companion, ye are angry aneugh yoursell if ane touches you a bit, man, on the sooth side of the jest No that I was asking the question about Grace, for ye maun ken shes no my cousin-germain out and out, but the daughter of my uncles wife by her first marriage, so shes nae kith nor kin to me only a connexion like. But now were at the Sheeling-hill Ill fire off my gun, to let them ken Im coming, thats aye my way; and if I hae a deer I gie them twa shots, ane for the deer and ane for mysell.
He fired off his piece accordingly, and the number of lights were seen to traverse the house, and even to gleam before it. Hobbie Elliot pointed out one of these to Earnscliff, which seemed to glide from the house towards some of the outhouses-Thats Grace hersell, said Hobbie. Shell no meet me at the door, Ise warrant her but shell be awa, for a that, to see if my hounds supper be ready, poor beasts.
Love me, love my dog, answered Earnscliff. Ah, Hobbie, you are a lucky young fellow!
This observation was uttered with something like a sigh, which apparently did not escape the ear of his companion.
Hout, other folk may be as lucky as I am O how I have seen Miss Isabel Veres head turn after somebody when they passed ane another at the Carlisle races! Wha kens but things may come round in this world?
Earnscliff muttered something like an answer; but whether in assent of the proposition, or rebuking the application of it, could not easily be discovered; and it seems probable that the speaker himself was willing his meaning should rest in doubt and obscurity. They had now descended the broad loaning, which, winding round the foot of the steep bank, or heugh, brought them in front of the thatched, but comfortable, farm-house, which was the dwelling of Hobbie Elliot and his family.
The doorway was thronged with joyful faces; but the appearance of a stranger blunted many a gibe which had been prepared on Hobbies lack of success in the deer-stalking. There was a little bustle among three handsome young women, each endeavouring to devolve upon another the task of ushering the stranger into the apartment, while probably all were anxious to escape for the purpose of making some little personal arrangements, before presenting themselves to a young gentleman in a dishabille only intended for their brother.
Hobbie, in the meanwhile, bestowing some hearty and general abuse upon them all (for Grace was not of the party), snatched the candle from the hand of one of the rustic coquettes, as she stood playing pretty with it in her hand, and ushered his guest into the family parlour, or rather hall; for the place having been a house of defence in former times, the sitting apartment was a vaulted and paved room, damp and dismal enough compared with the lodgings of the yeomanry of our days, but which, when well lighted up with a large sparkling fire of turf and bog-wood, seemed to Earnscliff a most comfortable exchange for the darkness and bleak blast of the hill. Kindly and repeatedly was he welcomed by the venerable old dame, the mistress of the family, who, dressed in her coif and pinners, her close and decent gown of homespun wool, but with a large gold necklace and ear-rings, looked, what she really was, the lady as well as the farmers wife, while, seated in her chair of wicker, by the corner of the great chimney, she directed the evening occupations of the young women, and of two or three stout serving wenches, who sate plying their distaffs behind the backs of their young mistresses.
As soon as Earnscliff had been duly welcomed, and hasty orders issued for some addition to the evening meal, his grand-dame and sisters opened their battery upon Hobbie Elliot for his lack of success against the deer.
Jenny needna have kept up her kitchen-fire for a that Hobbie has brought hame, said one sister.
Troth no, lass, said another; the gathering peat, if it was weel blawn, wad dress a our Hobbies venison. [The gathering peat is the piece of turf left to treasure up the secret seeds of fire, without any generous consumption of fuel; in a word, to keep the fire alive.]
Ay, or the low of the candle, if the wind wad let it hide steady, said a third; if I were him, I would bring hame a black craw, rather than come back three times without a bucks horn to blaw on.
Hobbie turned from the one to the other, regarding them alternately with a frown on his brow, the augury of which was confuted by the good-humoured laugh on the lower part of his countenance. He then strove to propitiate them, by mentioning the intended present of his companion.
Hobbie turned from the one to the other, regarding them alternately with a frown on his brow, the augury of which was confuted by the good-humoured laugh on the lower part of his countenance. He then strove to propitiate them, by mentioning the intended present of his companion.
In my young days, said the old lady, a man wad hae been ashamed to come back frae the hill without a buck hanging on each side o his horse, like a cadger carrying calves.
I wish they had left some for us then, grannie, retorted Hobbie; theyve cleared the country o them, thae auld friends o yours, Im thinking.
We see other folk can find game, though you cannot, Hobbie, said the eldest sister, glancing a look at young Earnscliff.
Weel, weel, woman, hasna every dog his day, begging Earnscliffs pardon for the auld saying Mayna I hae his luck, and he mine, another time? Its a braw thing for a man to be out a day, and frighted na, I winna say that neither but mistrysted wi bogles in the hame-coming, an then to hae to flyte wi a wheen women that hae been doing naething a the live-lang day, but whirling a bit stick, wi a thread trailing at it, or boring at a clout.
Frighted wi bogles! exclaimed the females, one and all, for great was the regard then paid, and perhaps still paid, in these glens, to all such fantasies.
I did not say frighted, now I only said mis-set wi the thing And there was but ae bogle, neither Earnscliff, ye saw it; as weel as I did?
And he proceeded, without very much exaggeration, to detail, in his own way, the meeting they had with the mysterious being at Mucklestane-Moor, concluding, he could not conjecture what on earth it could be, unless it was either the Enemy himsell, or some of the auld Peghts that held the country lang syne.
Auld Peght! exclaimed the grand-dame; na, na bless thee frae scathe, my bairn, its been nae Peght that its been the Brown Man of the Moors! O weary fa thae evil days! what can evil beings be coming for to distract a poor country, now its peacefully settled, and living in love and law O weary on him! he neer brought gude to these lands or the indwellers. My father aften tauld me he was seen in the year o the bloody fight at Marston-Moor, and then again in Montroses troubles, and again before the rout o Dunbar, and, in my ain time, he was seen about the time o Bothwell-Brigg, and they said the second-sighted Laird of Benarbuck had a communing wi him some time afore Argyles landing, but that I cannot speak to sae preceesely it was far in the west. O, bairns, hes never permitted but in an ill time, sae mind ilka ane o ye to draw to Him that can help in the day of trouble.
Earnscliff now interposed, and expressed his firm conviction that the person they had seen was some poor maniac, and had no commission from the invisible world to announce either war or evil. But his opinion found a very cold audience, and all joined to deprecate his purpose of returning to the spot the next day.
O, my bonny bairn, said the old dame (for, in the kindness of her heart, she extended her parental style to all in whom she was interested) You should beware mair than other folk theres been a heavy breach made in your house wi your fathers bloodshed, and wi law-pleas, and losses sinsyne; and you are the flower of the flock, and the lad that will build up the auld bigging again (if it be His will) to be an honour to the country, and a safeguard to those that dwell in it you, before others, are called upon to put yoursell in no rash adventures for yours was aye ower venturesome a race, and muckle harm they have got by it.
But I am sure, my good friend, you would not have me be afraid of going to an open moor in broad daylight?
I dinna ken, said the good old dame; I wad never bid son or friend o mine haud their hand back in a gude cause, whether it were a friends or their ain that should be by nae bidding of mine, or of ony body thats come of a gentle kindred But it winna gang out of a grey head like mine, that to gang to seek for evil thats no fashing wi you, is clean against law and Scripture.
Earnscliff resigned an argument which he saw no prospect of maintaining with good effect, and the entrance of supper broke off the conversation. Miss Grace had by this time made her appearance, and Hobbie, not without a conscious glance at Earnscliff, placed himself by her side. Mirth and lively conversation, in which the old lady of the house took the good-humoured share which so well becomes old age, restored to the cheeks of the damsels the roses which their brothers tale of the apparition had chased away, and they danced and sung for an hour after supper as if there were no such things as goblins in the world.
CHAPTER IV
I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind;
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something.
On the following morning, after breakfast, Earnscliff took leave of his hospitable friends, promising to return in time to partake of the venison, which had arrived from his house. Hobbie, who apparently took leave of him at the door of his habitation, slunk out, however, and joined him at the top of the hill.
Yell be gaun yonder, Mr. Patrick; feind o me will mistryst you for a my mother says. I thought it best to slip out quietly though, in case she should mislippen something of what were gaun to do we maunna vex her at nae rate it was amaist the last word my father said to me on his deathbed.
By no means, Hobbie, said Earnscliff; she well merits all your attention.
Troth, for that matter, she would be as sair vexed amaist for you as for me. But dye really think theres nae presumption in venturing back yonder? We hae nae special commission, ye ken.
If I thought as you do, Hobbie, said the young gentleman, I would not perhaps enquire farther into this business; but as I am of opinion that preternatural visitations are either ceased altogether, or become very rare in our days, I am unwilling to leave a matter uninvestigated which may concern the life of a poor distracted being.
Aweel, aweel, if ye really think that, answered Hobbie doubtfully And its for certain the very fairies I mean the very good neighbours themsells (for they say folk suldna ca them fairies) that used to be seen on every green knowe at een, are no half sae often visible in our days. I canna depone to having ever seen ane mysell, but, I ance heard ane whistle ahint me in the moss, as like a whaup [Curlew] as ae thing could be like anither. And mony ane my father saw when he used to come hame frae the fairs at een, wi a drap drink in his head, honest man.
Earnscliff was somewhat entertained with the gradual declension of superstition from one generation to another which was inferred In this last observation; and they continued to reason on such subjects, until they came in sight of the upright stone which gave name to the moor.
As I shall answer, says Hobbie, yonders the creature creeping about yet! But its daylight, and you have your gun, and I brought out my bit whinger I think we may venture on him.
By all manner of means, said Earnscliff; but, in the name of wonder, what can he be doing there?
Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi the grey geese, as they ca thae great loose stanes Odd, that passes a thing I eer heard tell of!