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12 - The Old Mill · Queen Hildegarde

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of Queen Hildegard. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information,
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  Speaker 1: ought to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Queen Hildegard
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  Speaker 1: by Laura Elizabeth R. Richards, Chapter twelve, The Old Mill.
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  Speaker 1: It was a sad group that sat in the pleasant
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  Speaker 1: kitchen that bright September morning. The good farmer sat before
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  Speaker 1: his empty desk, seeming half stupefied by the blow which
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  Speaker 1: had fallen so suddenly upon him, while his wife hang
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  Speaker 1: about him, reproaching herself bitterly for not having put him
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  Speaker 1: on his guard the night before. Hildegard moved restlessly about
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen, setting things to right as she thought, though
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  Speaker 1: in reality she hardly knew what she was doing, and
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  Speaker 1: had already carefully deposited the tea pot in the coal
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  Speaker 1: hot and laid the broom on the top shelf of
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  Speaker 1: the dresser. Her heart was full of wrath and sorrow,
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  Speaker 1: fierce anger against the miserable wretch who had robbed his benefactor.
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  Speaker 1: Sympathy for her kind friends brought thus suddenly from comfort
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  Speaker 1: to distress, for she knew now that the money which
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  Speaker 1: Simon had stolen had been drawn from the bank only
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  Speaker 1: two days before to pay off the mortgage on the farm.
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  Speaker 1: I shouldn't have minded the money, Farmer Hartly was saying,
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  Speaker 1: even now, if I'd have been saving it just to
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  Speaker 1: spend or lay by, I shouldn't have minded. Though it
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  Speaker 1: would have hurt just the same to have Simon's son
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  Speaker 1: take it. My brother Simon san as I Alice stood by.
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  Speaker 1: But it's hard to let the farm go. I tell ye,
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  Speaker 1: marm Lucy, it's terrible, heart. And he bowed his head
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  Speaker 1: upon his hands in a dejection, which made his way
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  Speaker 1: weep anew and wring her hands. But they will not
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  Speaker 1: take the farm from you, Farmer Hartly, cried Hilda aghast.
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  Speaker 1: They cannot do that, can they. Why it was your
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  Speaker 1: father's and your grandfather's before him, and his father's afore him,
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  Speaker 1: said the farmer, looking up with a sad smile on
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  Speaker 1: his kindly face. But that don't make no difference, you see, Hildy,
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  Speaker 1: Lawyer Clinch is a hard man, a terrible hard man,
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  Speaker 1: and he's always wanted this farm. It's the best pistol
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  Speaker 1: land in the whole township, and he wants it for
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  Speaker 1: a market farm. But why did you mortgage it to him,
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  Speaker 1: cried Hilda. I didn't, my gall I didn't, said the farmer, sadly,
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  Speaker 1: he'd can't watch over it. Ever since Simon began to
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  Speaker 1: get into trouble Reckon, he knew pretty well how things
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  Speaker 1: would come out and buy me by Jason Double As
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  Speaker 1: held the mortgage, he up and died, And then lawyer
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  Speaker 1: Clinch step in and told the executors how Jason owed
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  Speaker 1: him a big dead but he didn't want to do
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  Speaker 1: nothing unfriendly, as though he'd take the mortgage in Hartley's
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  Speaker 1: glen and call it square. The executors was kind of
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  Speaker 1: fool people, both of them. I don't know what possessed
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  Speaker 1: Jason double to choose them for executors when he might
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  Speaker 1: have had the peak of a state lunatic Assylomon got
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  Speaker 1: some falses, knew something, But so it was, and I
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  Speaker 1: suppose so it was meant to be. They give it
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  Speaker 1: to him and thanked him for taking it. And he's
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  Speaker 1: waiting and waited, hoping to catch me in a tight place,
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  Speaker 1: and now he's done it. And that's about all there
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  Speaker 1: is to it, added farmer Hartly, rising and pushing back
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  Speaker 1: his massive gray hair, and I shan meant, did I
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  Speaker 1: sitting and mowling over it? Thar's old Simon's work to
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  Speaker 1: be done, and my own too. Holdy my gall. He
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  Speaker 1: held out his honest brown hand to Hildegarde, who clustered
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  Speaker 1: it affectionately in both of hers. I'll stay by marm
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  Speaker 1: Lucy and cherk her up a bit till be a
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  Speaker 1: hard day for her. And she hasn't no gal of
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  Speaker 1: her own now to do for her. But you've grown
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  Speaker 1: to be almost a daughter to us. Huldy God, bless
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  Speaker 1: ye child. His voice faltered as he laid his other
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  Speaker 1: hand for a moment on the girl's fair head, Then
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  Speaker 1: turning hastily away, he took up his buttered straw hat
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  Speaker 1: and went slowly out of the house. An older man,
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  Speaker 1: it might have been, by ten years than he had
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  Speaker 1: been the night before. Right daughterly did Hilda show herself
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  Speaker 1: that day, and faith herself could hardly have been more
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  Speaker 1: ten and helpful. Feeling intuitive that work was the best
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  Speaker 1: balm for a sore heart, she begged for Nurse Lucy's
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  Speaker 1: help and advice in one and another item of household routine.
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  Speaker 1: Then she bethought her of the churning, and felt that
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  Speaker 1: if the thing was to befall, it could not have
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  Speaker 1: better be fallen than on a Tuesday, when the great
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  Speaker 1: blue churn stood ready in the dairy, and the cream
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  Speaker 1: lay thick and yellow in the shining pans. Well, that's
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  Speaker 1: a fact, sighed Nurse Lucy, if I hadn't forgotten my
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  Speaker 1: butter in all this trouble, and it must be made
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  Speaker 1: sorrow or smiles, as the old saying is. Come with
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  Speaker 1: me hill the dairy, if you will, your face is
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  Speaker 1: the only bright thing I can see this sad day.
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  Speaker 1: So they went together into the cool dairy, where the
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  Speaker 1: light came in dimly through the screen of clematies that
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  Speaker 1: covered the window. Held a bared her round white arms,
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  Speaker 1: and Nurse Lucy pinned back her calico sleeves from a
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  Speaker 1: pair that were still shapely, though brown, and each took
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  Speaker 1: a skimmer and set earnestly to work. The process of
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  Speaker 1: skimming cream is in itself a soothing, not to say,
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  Speaker 1: an absorbing one, to push the thick yellow ripples piling
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  Speaker 1: themselves upon the skimmer across the pan, to seed drop
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  Speaker 1: like melted ivory into the cream bowl, to pursue floating
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  Speaker 1: cream islands round and round the pale and mimic sea.
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  Speaker 1: Who can do this long and not be comforted in
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  Speaker 1: some small degree? Even in the midst of heavy sorrow?
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  Speaker 1: Also there is joy and a never failing sense of
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  Speaker 1: achievement when the butter first splashes in the churn. So
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  Speaker 1: Nurse Lucie took heart and churned and pressed and molded
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  Speaker 1: her butter, And though some tears fell into it, it
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  Speaker 1: was none the worse for that. But as she stammed
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  Speaker 1: each ball with a familiar stamp showing an impossible cow
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  Speaker 1: with four lame legs, how many more times said the
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  Speaker 1: good woman, Shall I use this stamp? And what kind
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  Speaker 1: of butter will they make? Who come after me? And
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  Speaker 1: her tears flowed again. Lawyer Clinch keeps a hired girl.
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  Speaker 1: And I never saw real good butter made by a
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  Speaker 1: hired girl. They haven't the feeling for it. And there's
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  Speaker 1: feeling in butter making as much as in anything else.
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  Speaker 1: But here Hilda interposed and gently hinted that there ought
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  Speaker 1: not to be feeling about getting the farmer's dinner. We
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  Speaker 1: must have the things he likes best, she said, for
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  Speaker 1: it will be hard enough to make him eat anything.
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  Speaker 1: I will make that apple pudding that he likes so much,
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  Speaker 1: and there is the fowl for the pie, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Nurse Lucy the little Maid was away on a vacation,
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  Speaker 1: so there was plenty of work to be done. Dinner
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  Speaker 1: time came and went, and it was not till she
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  Speaker 1: had seen Dame hardly safe established on her bed for
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  Speaker 1: tears and trouble had brought on a sick headache, and
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  Speaker 1: tucked her up under the red quilt, with a bottle
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  Speaker 1: of hot water at her and a bowl of cracked
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  Speaker 1: eyes by her side. It was not till she had
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  Speaker 1: done this and sang one or two of the soothing
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  Speaker 1: songs that the good woman loved, that Hilda had a
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  Speaker 1: moment to herself. She ran out to say a parting
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  Speaker 1: word to the farmer, who was just starting for the
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  Speaker 1: village in the forlorn hope, which in his heart he
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  Speaker 1: knew to be vain of getting an extension of time
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  Speaker 1: from Lawyer Clinch while search was being made for the
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  Speaker 1: wretched Simon. When old Nancy had trotted away down the lane,
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  Speaker 1: Hilda went back and sat down in the porch, very
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  Speaker 1: tired and sad at heart. It seemed so hard, so hard,
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  Speaker 1: that she could do nothing to save her friends from
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  Speaker 1: the threatening room. She thought of her father with a
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  Speaker 1: momentary flush of hope that made her spring from her
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  Speaker 1: seat with a half articulate cry of joy. But the
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  Speaker 1: hope faded as she remembered that he had probably just
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  Speaker 1: started for the Yosemite Valley, and that there was no
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  Speaker 1: knowing when or where a despatch would reach him. She
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  Speaker 1: sighed and sank back on the bench with a hopeless feeling. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: she bethought her of her little dog, whom she had
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  Speaker 1: not seen all day. Jock had grown very dear to
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  Speaker 1: her heart, and was usually her inseparable companion, except when
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  Speaker 1: she was busy with household tasks, to which he had
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  Speaker 1: an extreme aversion. A mistress, in Jock's opinion, was a
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  Speaker 1: person who fed one, and took one to walk, and
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  Speaker 1: patted one, and who was in return to be loved
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  Speaker 1: desperately and obeyed in reason. But sweeping and knocking brooms
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  Speaker 1: against one's legs and paying no attention to one's invitations
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  Speaker 1: to play or go for a walk were manifest derelictions
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  Speaker 1: from a mistress duty. Accordingly, when Hilda was occupied in
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  Speaker 1: the house, Jock always sat in the back porch, with
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  Speaker 1: his back turned to the kitchen door, and his tail
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  Speaker 1: cocked very high, while one ear listened eagerly for the
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  Speaker 1: sound of Hilda's footsteps, and the other was thrown negligently
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  Speaker 1: forward to convey the impression that he did not really care,
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  Speaker 1: but only waited to oblige her. And the moment the
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  Speaker 1: door opened and she appeared with her hat on. Oh
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  Speaker 1: their rapture, the shrieks and squeaks and leaps of joy,
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  Speaker 1: their wrigglings of body and frantic waggings of tail that
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  Speaker 1: ensued so this morning, what with all the trouble and
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  Speaker 1: with her knowledge of his views, Hildegarde had not thought
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  Speaker 1: to wonder where Jock was. And now it struck her
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  Speaker 1: that she had exchanged no greeting with him since last night,
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  Speaker 1: that she had heard no little impatient bark, no flapping
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  Speaker 1: of tail against the door. By way of reminder, where
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  Speaker 1: could the little fellow be? She walked round the house,
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  Speaker 1: calling and whistling softly. She visited the barn and the
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  Speaker 1: cow shed, and all the haunts where her favorite was
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  Speaker 1: wont to linger, but no Jock was to be seen.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps he has gone over to see will, she thought,
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  Speaker 1: with a feeling of relief. Indeed, this was very possible,
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  Speaker 1: as the two dogs were very brotherly and frequently exchanged visits,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes acting as letter carriers for their two mistresses, Pink
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  Speaker 1: and Hilda. If Jock was at Pink's house, he would
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  Speaker 1: be well cared for, and Bable would. But here Hildegarde
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  Speaker 1: started as a new perplexity arose. Where was bable they
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  Speaker 1: had actually forgotten the boy in the confusion and trouble
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  Speaker 1: of the day. He had not certainly come to the
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  Speaker 1: house as he invariably did, and the farmer had not
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  Speaker 1: spoken of him when he came in at noon. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: Pink was ill, hil the thought with fresh alarm. If
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  Speaker 1: it should be so, Buble could not leave her, for
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  Speaker 1: missus Chirk was nursing a sick woman two or three
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  Speaker 1: miles away, and there were no other neighbors nearer than
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  Speaker 1: the farm. Oh my, Pink, cried Hilda, and I cannot
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  Speaker 1: go to you at once, for nurse Lucy must not
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  Speaker 1: be left alone in her trouble. I must wait, wait
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  Speaker 1: patiently till farmer hardly comes back. Patiently she tried to wait.
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  Speaker 1: She stole up to her room, and taking up one
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  Speaker 1: of her best beloved books the Households of Sir Thomas
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  Speaker 1: Moore lost herself for a while in the Noble Sorrows
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  Speaker 1: of Margaret Roper, but even this could not hold her
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  Speaker 1: long in her restless frame of mind. So she went
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  Speaker 1: downstairs again and out into the soft, golden September air,
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  Speaker 1: and fell to pacing up and down the gravel walk
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  Speaker 1: before the house like a slender, white robed sentinel. Presently
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  Speaker 1: there was a rustling in the bushes, then a hasty,
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  Speaker 1: joyful bark, and a little dog sprang forward and greeted
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  Speaker 1: Hildegarde with every demonstration of affection. Chock, my own dear
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  Speaker 1: little Jock, she cried, stooping down to caress her favorite.
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  Speaker 1: But as she did so, she saw that it was
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  Speaker 1: not Jock, but will Pink's dog, which was bounding and
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  Speaker 1: leaping about her. Much puzzled, she nevertheless patted the little
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  Speaker 1: fellow and shook paws with him, and told him she
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  Speaker 1: was glad to see him. But where is your brother,
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  Speaker 1: she cried, Oh, Willie dog, where is Jock? And where
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  Speaker 1: is Bubble? Bubble? Will speak? Will spoke as well as
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  Speaker 1: he could, giving a short bark at each repetition of
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  Speaker 1: the well known name then he jumped up on Hilda
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  Speaker 1: and threw back his head with a peculiar action which
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  Speaker 1: at once attracted her attention. She took him up in
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  Speaker 1: her arms, and lo there was a piece of paper
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  Speaker 1: folded and pinned securely to his collar. Hastily setting the
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  Speaker 1: dog down, she opened the note and read as follows,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Hildy Simon Hartly, He come here early this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and he says to me, I was diggin potatoes for dinner.
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  Speaker 1: And he come and leaned on the fence and says
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  Speaker 1: he I've fixed your city. Gull up fine, he says,
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  Speaker 1: And I says, what yer mean? I mean what I says?
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  Speaker 1: He says, I've fixed yer up? Fine? She thinks a
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  Speaker 1: heap of that, doorg? I know that ain't spelled right,
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  Speaker 1: but it's the way he said it, don't, she says.
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  Speaker 1: He I reckon, says I. Well, says he. You tell
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  Speaker 1: her to look for him in the peat of the
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  Speaker 1: old mill, says he an, then he'll LARF laughed. I
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  Speaker 1: was bound. I'd get it, Miss Hildy. I don't see
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  Speaker 1: why they spell a thing g and said F and
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  Speaker 1: went away, And I ran after him to make him
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  Speaker 1: tell me what he'd been up to and climbing over
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  Speaker 1: the wall. I catched my foot on a stone, and
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  Speaker 1: the stone come down on my foot and me with it.
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  Speaker 1: And I didn't know anything till Simon had gone and
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  Speaker 1: my foot swallow up, so's I couldn't walk and I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't mind it. It's hurting, Miss Hildy. But it's like
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  Speaker 1: there warn't no bones in it. Pink says. I sprainted
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  Speaker 1: bad and I started to go over to the farm
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  Speaker 1: an old force to tell ye, but I didn't know
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  Speaker 1: anything again, and Pink made me come back. We couldn't
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  Speaker 1: neither of us get hold of Will, but now we
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  Speaker 1: got him, and I hope he'll go straight, Miss Hildy.
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  Speaker 1: Pink wanted to write this for me, but I'd rather
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  Speaker 1: write myself. You ain't pank tuated it, she says, she
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  Speaker 1: can punk tuate it herself. Barren, I can I ain't
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  Speaker 1: e see paid, I says from zare bubble Chirk. P
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  Speaker 1: s I wished I could get him out for ye,
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  Speaker 1: Miss hell Day. If Bable's letter was funny, Hilda had
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  Speaker 1: no heart to see the fun Her tears flowed fast
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  Speaker 1: as she realized the fate of her pretty little patent playfellow.
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  Speaker 1: The vindictive wretch, too cowardly to face her again, had
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  Speaker 1: taken his revenge upon the harm little dog. All day long,
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  Speaker 1: poor Jock had been in that fearful place. He was
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  Speaker 1: still only a puppy, and she knew he could not
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  Speaker 1: possibly get out if he had really been thrown into
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  Speaker 1: the pit of the great wheel. But and she gave
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  Speaker 1: a cry of pain as the thought struck her. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: it was only his lifeless body that was lying there.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps the ruffin had killed him and thrown him down Thereafterwards,
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  Speaker 1: she started up and paced the walk hurriedly, trying to
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  Speaker 1: think what she had best do. Her first impulse was
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  Speaker 1: to fly at once to the glen, but that was impossible,
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  Speaker 1: as she must not. She felt leave dame hardly. No
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  Speaker 1: one was near. They were quite alone again. She said,
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  Speaker 1: I must wait, I must wait till Farmer Hartly comes home.
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  Speaker 1: But the waiting was harder now than it had been before.
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  Speaker 1: She could do nothing but pace up and down, up
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  Speaker 1: and down like a caged panther, stopping every few minutes
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  Speaker 1: to throw back her head and listen for the longed
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  Speaker 1: for sound, the sound of approaching wheels. Softly, the shadows
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  Speaker 1: fell as the sun went down, the purple twilight deepened,
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  Speaker 1: and the stars lighted their silver lamps, while all the
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  Speaker 1: soft night noises began to make themselves heard as the
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  Speaker 1: voice vues of day died away. But Hilda had ears
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  Speaker 1: for only one sound. At length. Out of the silence,
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  Speaker 1: or was it out of her own fancy, she seemed
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  Speaker 1: to hear a faint, clicking noise. She listened intently. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: there it was again. There was no mistaking the click
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  Speaker 1: of Old Nancy's hoofs, and with it was a dim
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  Speaker 1: suggestion of a rattle, a jingle. Yes, beyond a doubt,
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  Speaker 1: the farmer was coming. Hilda Guard flew into the house
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  Speaker 1: and met Dame Hartly just coming down the stairs. The
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  Speaker 1: farmer is coming, she said hastily. He is almost here.
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  Speaker 1: I am going to find Jock. I shall be back,
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  Speaker 1: and she was gone before the astonished Dame could ask
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  Speaker 1: her a question. Through the kitchen and out of the
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  Speaker 1: back porch sped the girl, only stopping to catch up
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  Speaker 1: a small lantern which hung on a nail, and to
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  Speaker 1: put some matches in her pocket. Little Will followed her,
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  Speaker 1: barking hopefully, and together the two ran swiftly through the
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  Speaker 1: barn yard, and passed the cow shed and took the
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  Speaker 1: path which led to the old mill. The way was
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  Speaker 1: so familiar now to Hilda that she could have traversed blindfold,
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  Speaker 1: and this was well for her, for in the dense
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  Speaker 1: shade of the beech plantation it was now pitch dark.
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  Speaker 1: The feathery branches brushed her face and caught the tentrils
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  Speaker 1: of her hair with her slender fingers. There was something
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  Speaker 1: ghostly in their touch. Hilda was not generally timid, but
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  Speaker 1: her nerves had been strung to a high pitch all day,
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  Speaker 1: and she had no longer full control of them. She shivered, and,
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  Speaker 1: bending her head low, called to the dog, and hurried
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  Speaker 1: on out from among the trees. Now into the dim,
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  Speaker 1: starlit glade, down the pine strewn path, with the noise
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  Speaker 1: of falling water from out the beech wood at the right,
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  Speaker 1: and the ruined mil looming black before her. Now came
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  Speaker 1: the three broken steps. Yes, so far she had no
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  Speaker 1: need of the lantern round the corner, stepping carefully over
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  Speaker 1: the half buried millstone, groping her way, her hand touched
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  Speaker 1: the stone wall, but she drew it back hastily. So
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  Speaker 1: damp and cold, the stones were darker and darker. Here
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  Speaker 1: she must light the lantern before she ventured down the
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  Speaker 1: long flight of steps. The match spurted, and now the
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  Speaker 1: tiny yellow flame sprang up and shed a faint light
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  Speaker 1: on the immediate space around her. It only made the
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  Speaker 1: outer darkness seem more intense, but no matter. She could
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  Speaker 1: see two steps in front of her, and holding the
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  Speaker 1: lantern steadily before her, she stepped carefully down and down
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: until she stood on the firm grin'sward of the glen.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Ah how different everything was now from its usual aspect.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: The green and gold were turned into black upon black.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: The laughing, dimpling, sun kissed water was now a black,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: gloomy pool, beyond which the fall shimmered white, like a
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: water spirit undine or was it kuler born, the malignant
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and vengeful sprite. The first stood tall and gaunt, closing
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: like a spectral guard about the ruined mill and pointing
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: their long, dark fingers in silent menace at the intruder.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Upon their evening repose, hilde Guard shivered again and held
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: her lantern tighter, Remembering how Bubble had said that the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: glen was a tormenting, spooky place after dark, she looked
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: fearfully about her. As the low wind rustled the branches,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: they bent towards her as if to clutch her. An
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: angry whisper seemed to pass from one to the other,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and an utterly unreasoning terror fell upon the girl. She
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: stood for a moment as if paralyzed with fear, when
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: suddenly the little dog gave a sharp yelp and leaped
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: up on her impatiently. The sound startled her into new terror,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: but in a moment the revulsion came, and she almost
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: laughed aloud. Here was she a great girl, almost a woman,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: carwering and shivering, while a tiny puppy who had hardly
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: any brains at all, was eager to go on. She
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: patted the dog, and, taking herself by both ears as
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: she expressed it. Afterwards, walked steadily forward, pushed aside the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: dense tangle of vines and bushes, and stooped down to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: enter the black hole which led into the vault of
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the mill. A rush of cold air met her and
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: beat against her face like a black wing that brushed it.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: It had a moldy smell. Holding up the lantern, Hildegarde
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: crept as best she could through the narrow opening. A
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: gruesome place it was, in which she found herself. Grim
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: enough by daylight, it was now doubly so, for the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: blackness seemed like something tangible, some shapeless monster, which was
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: gathering itself together and shrinking back inch by inch. As
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the little spark of light moved forward, the gaunt beams,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the jagged bits of iron bent and twisted into fantastic shapes,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: stretched and thrust themselves from every side, and again the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: girl fancied them, fleshless arms reaching out to clutch her.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: But hark, was that a sound? A faint sound from
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: the furthest and darkest corner, where the great wheel raised
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: its toothed and broken round from the dismal pit. Jock,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: my little jock, cried Hildegard, are you there? A feeble sound?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: The very ghost of a tiny bark, answered her, and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: a faint scratching was heard. In an instant, all fear
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: left Hilda, and she sprang forward forward, holding the lantern
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: high above her head and calling out words of encouragement
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and cheer courage. Jock, cheer up, little man. Missus is here, Missus,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: will save you. Speak to him, will tell him you
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: are here. Wow. Said will manfully scuttling about in the darkness. Wow,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: replied a pitiful squeak from the depths of the wheel
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: pit hill. There reached the edge of the pit and
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: looked down. In one corner was a little white bundle,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: which moved feebly and wagged a peaiteous tail, and squeaked
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: with faint rupture. Evidently the little creature was exhausted, perhaps
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: mildly injured. How should she reach him? She threw the
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: ray of light. Oh, how dim it was, and how heavy,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and closed the darkness breast on the side of the pit,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and so that it was a rough and jagged wall,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: with stones projecting at intervals. A moment's survey satisfied her,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: setting the lantern carefully at a little distance, and bidding
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: will charge and be still. She began the descent, feeling
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the way carefully with her feet and grasping the rough
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: stones firmly with her hands down down, while the huge
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: wheel towered over her and grinned with all its rusty
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: teeth to see so strange a sight. At last, her
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: feet touched the soft earth another instant, and she had
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: jock in her arms and was fondling and caressing him,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and saying all sorts of foolish things to him in
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: her delight. But a cry of pain from the poor puppy,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: even in the midst of his frantic, though feeble demonstrations
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: of joy, told her that all was not right. And
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: she found that one little leg hung limp and was
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: evidently broken. How could she ever get him up? For
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: a moment she stood bewildered, and then an idea came
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to her, which she has always maintained was the only
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: really clever one she ever had in her preoccupation of mind.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: She had forgotten old day to take off the brown
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Holland apron which she had warned her work in the morning,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: and it was a touch of this apron which brought
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: her inspiration. Quick as a flash, she had it off
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and tied round her neck, pinned up at both ends
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: to form a bag. Then she stooped again to pick
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: up Jock, whom she had laid carefully down while she
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: arranged the apron. As she did so, the feeble ray
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: from the lantern fell on a space where the ground
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: had been scratched up, evidently by the puppy's paws, And
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: in that space something shone with a dull glitter. Hildegarde
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: bent lower and found what seemed to be a small
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: brass handle half covered with earth. She dug the earth
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: away with her hands and pulled and tugged at the
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: handle for some time without success. But at length the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: sullen soil yielded, and she staggered back against the wheel
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: with a small metal box in her hands. No time
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: now to examine the prize, beat what it might into
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the apron bag. It went, and on top of it
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: went the puppy, yelping dismally, then slowly, carefully, clinging with
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: hands and feet for life and limb, Hilda reascended the wall.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Oh but it was hard work. Her hands were already
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: very sore, and the heavy bundle hung back from her
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: neck and half choked her. Moreover, the puppy was uncomfortable
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: and yelped piteously and straggled in his bonds, while the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: sharp corner of the iron box pressed painfully against the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: back of her neck. The jatting stones were far apart,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and several times it seemed as if she could not
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: possibly reach the next one, but the royal blood was
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: fully up. Queen hild the Guard set her teeth and
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: grasped the stones as if her slender hands were nerved
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: with steel. At last, at last she felt the edge,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and the next moment had dragged herself painfully over it,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and stood once more on solid ground. She drew a
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: long breath and hastily untied the apron from her neck,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: took poor Jock tenderly in one arm, while with the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: other she carried the lantern and the iron box. Will
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: was jumping frantically about and trying to reach his brother Puppy,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: who responded with squeaks of joy to his unruptured greeting. Down, Will,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: said Hilda, decidedly, Down, sir, Lie still, Jocky, we shall
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: be at home soon now. Patience little dog and Jock
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: tried hard to be patient, though it was not pleasant
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: to be squeezed into a ball, while his mistress crawled
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: out of the hole, which she did with some difficulty,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: laden with her triple burden. However, they were out at last,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and speeding back towards the farm as fast as eager
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: feet could carry them. Little thought had held a naw
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of spectral trees or ghostly gloom. Joyfully, she hurried back
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: up the long steps along the glade through the beech plantation,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: only laughing now when the feathery fingers brushed her face,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and hugging Jock so tight that he squeaked again. Now
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: she saw the lights twinkling in the farmhouse, and quickening
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: her pace, she fairly ran through lane and barnyard and
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: finally burst into the kitchen, breathless and exhausted, but radiant.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: The farmer and his wife, who were sitting with disturbed
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: and anxious looks, rose hastily as she entered. Oh, hil
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: de dear, cried dame heartily, we have been terribly frightened
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: about you. Jacob has been searching. But good, gracious child,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: she added, breaking off hastily, where have you been? And
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: what have you been doing to get yourself into such
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: a state? Well might the good woman exclaimed, while the
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: farmer gazed in silent astonishment. The girl's dress was torn
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and draggled, and covered with great spots and splashes of black.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Her face was streaked with dirt, her fair hair hanging
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: loose upon her shoulders. Could this be Hilda, the dainty,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the spotless? But her eyes shone like stars, and her face,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: though very pale, wore a look of triumphant light. I
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: have found him, she said, simply, my little chalk Simon
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: threw him into the wheel pit of the old mill,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: and I went to get him out. His leg is broken,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: but I know you can set it. Nurse Lucy, don't
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: look so frightened, she added, smiling, seeing that the farmer
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and his wife were fairly pale with her. It was
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: not so very bad after all, And in as few
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: words as might be, she told the story of Bubble's
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: note and of her strange expedition. My child, my child,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: cried Dame hartily, putting her arms around the girl and
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: weeping as she did. So. How could you do such
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: a fearful thing? Think if your foot had slipped, you
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: might be lying there now yourself, in that dreadful place?
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: And she shuddered, putting back the tangle of fair hair
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: with trembling fingers. Ah, but you see, my foot didn't slip,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Nurse Lucie, replied Hilda gaily, I wouldn't let it slip.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: And here I am safe and sound. So it's really
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: absurd for you to be frightened. Now, my dear, Why
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: in the name of the earthly didn't ye wait till
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: I came home and let me go down, for ye,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: demanded the farmer, who was secretly delighted with the exploit,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: though he tried to look very grave. Oh I I
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: never thought of it, said Hildegarde. My only thought was
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: to get down there as quickly as possible. So I
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: waited till I heard you coming, for I didn't want
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: leave nurse Lucy alone. And then I went. And I
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: will not be scolded, she added quickly, for I think
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I have made a great discovery. She held one hand
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: behind her as she spoke, and her eyes sparkled as
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: she fixed them on the farmer. Dear farmer, Hartly, she said,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: is it true as Babo told me that your father
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: used to go down often into the vault of the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: old mill. Why? Yes, he did frequent, said the farmer, wondering,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: twas a fancy of his spoken about there. But what
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Wait a moment, cried Hilda, trembling with excitement. Wait a moment,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: think a little, dear farmer, Hartly, did you not tell
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: me that when he was dying, your father said something
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: about digging. Try to remember just what he said. The
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: farmer ran his hands through his shaggy locks with a
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: bewildered look. What on earth are you driving at, Hildy?
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: He said, Father, Why he didn't say nothing at the
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: last about them crazy diamonds. He was always join about
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: diamond says he. And then he says dig and fell
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: back on the pillar. And that was all, yes, cried Hilda.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: And you never did dig, did you? But now somebody
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: has been digging. Little Jock began and I finished, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: we have found. We have found. She broke off suddenly,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and drawing her hand from behind her back, held up
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the iron box. Take it, she cried, thrusting it into
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the astonished farmer's hands, and falling on her knees beside
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: his chair. Take it and open it, I think, Oh,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: I am sure that you will not lose the farm
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: after all. Open it quickly, please. Now, much agitated in
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: spite of himself, farmer hartly bent himself to the task
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: of opening the box. For some minutes, it resisted stubbornly,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: and even when the lock was broken, the lid clungk firmly,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: and the Russet hinges refused to perform their office. But
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: at length they yielded, and slowly, unwillingly, the box opened.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Hilda's breath came short and quick, and she clasped her
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: hands unconsciously as she bent forward to look into the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: mysterious casket. What did she see? At first? Nothing but
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: a handkerchief, a yellow silk handkerchief of curious pattern, carefully
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: folded into a small square, and fitting nicely inside the box.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: That was all but Farmer Hartley's voice trembled as he
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: said in a husky whisper, father's hank chair. And it
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: was with a shaking hand that he lifted the folds
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: of silk. One look, and he fell back in his chair,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: while Hildegarde quietly sat down on the floor and cried.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: For the diamonds. Were there, big diamonds and little diamonds,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: some rough and dull, some flashing out sparks of light,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: as if they shone the brighter for their long imprisonment,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Some tinged with yellow or blue, some with the clear
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: white radiance which is seen in nothing else save a
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: dewdrop when the morning sun first strikes upon it. There
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: they lay a handful of stones, a little heap of
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: shining crystals, but enough to pay off the mortgage and
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Hartley's glen, and leave the farmer a rich man for life.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Dame Hartly was the first to rouse herself from the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: silent amaze into which they had fallen. Well, well, she said,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: wiping her eyes, the ways of providence are mysterious to
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: think of it after all these years. Why Jacob, come,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: my dear come, You ain't crying now that the Lord
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: in this blessed child under him has taken away all
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: your trouble. But the farmer, to his own great amazement,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: was crying. He sobbed quietly once or twice, then cleared
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: his throat and wiped his eyes with the old silk handkerchief.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Poor old father, he said, simply, it seems kinder hard
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: that nobody ever believed him, and we'll let him die
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: thinking he was crazy. That takes holt on me, he does,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: ma'am Lucy. Now I tell ye, seems like's if i'd
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: been punished for not having faith, and now I get
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: the reward without having deserved it. As if you could
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: have reward enough, cried Hildegarde, laying her hand on his affectionately.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: But oh, do just look at them, dear Farmer Hartly,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: aren't they beautiful? But what is that peeping out of
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: the cotton wool beneath it? Is something red Farmer hardly
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: felt beneath the cotton which lined the box, and drew out, Oh, wonderful,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: a chain of rubies. Each stone glowed like a living
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: coal as he held it up in the lamp light.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Were they rubies or were they drops of blood? Linked
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: together by a thread of gold? The princess's reckless cried Hilda, Oh, beautiful, beautiful,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: And I knew it was true. I knew it all
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the time. The old man fixed a strange look, solemn
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: and tender on the girl as she stood at his side.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Radiant and glowing with happiness, she said. His voice trembled
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: as he spoke, that furrin woman. She said, it was
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: her heart's blood, as father had saved, and now it's
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: still blood. Hildy, my gal, our heart's blood that goes
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: out to you and loves and blesses you as if
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: you were our own child, come back from the dead.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: And drawing her to him, he clasped the ruby chain
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: around Hilda's neck. End of chapter twelve.