Transcript

025 - Chapter 3 · Pirate

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Speaker 1: Chapter three of the Pirate by Sir Walter Scott. The
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Speaker 1: libovox recording is in the public domain. Read by Dionjine's
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Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, Utah. There was shaking of hands and
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Speaker 1: sorrow of heart, for the hour was approaching when merry
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Speaker 1: folks must part. So we called for our horses and
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Speaker 1: asked for our way, while the jolly old landlord said,
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Speaker 1: nothing's to pay. Lillaput a poem. We do not dwell
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Speaker 1: upon the festivities of the day, which had nothing in
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Speaker 1: them to interest the reader. Particularly, the table groaned under
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Speaker 1: the usual plenty, which was disposed of by the guests
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Speaker 1: with the usual appetite. The bowl of punch was filled
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Speaker 1: and emptied with the same celerity as usual. The men
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Speaker 1: quaffed and the women laughed. Claude Houlcrow rhymed, punned and
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Speaker 1: praised John Dryden, the u Dollar bumpered and sung choruses,
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Speaker 1: and the evening concluded as usual in the rigging loft,
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Speaker 1: as it was Magnus Troyle's pleasure to term the dancing apartment,
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Speaker 1: it was then and there that Cleveland, approaching Magnus, where
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Speaker 1: he sat betwixt his two daughters, intimated his intention of
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Speaker 1: going to Kirkwall in a small brig which Bryce Snoutsfoot,
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Speaker 1: who had disposed of his goods with unprecedented celerity, had
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Speaker 1: freighted thither to procure a supply. Magnus heard this sudden
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Speaker 1: proposal of his guest with surprise not unmingled with displeasure,
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Speaker 1: and demanded sharply of Cleveland how long it was since
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Speaker 1: he had learned to prefer Bryce Sneltsfoot's company to his own.
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Speaker 1: Cleveland answered, with his usual bluntness of manner, that time
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Speaker 1: and tide tarried for no one, and that he had
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Speaker 1: his own particular reasons for making his trip to Kirkwall
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Speaker 1: sooner than the U Dollar proposed to set sail, that
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Speaker 1: he hoped to meet with him and his daughters at
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Speaker 1: the Great Fair, which was now closely approaching, and might
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Speaker 1: perhaps find it possible to return to Zetland along with them.
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Speaker 1: While he spoke, thus, Brenda kept her eye as much
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Speaker 1: upon her sister as it was possible to do without
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Speaker 1: exciting general observation. She remarked that Minna's pale cheek became
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Speaker 1: yet paler while Cleveland spoke, and that she seemed by
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Speaker 1: compressing her lips and slightly knitting her brows to be
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Speaker 1: in the act of repressing the effects of strong interior emotion,
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Speaker 1: but she spoke not, and when Cleveland, having bidden adieu
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Speaker 1: to the u Dollar, approached to salute her, as was
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Speaker 1: then the custom, she received his farewell without trusting herself
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Speaker 1: to attempt a reply. Brenda had her own trial approaching,
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Speaker 1: for Mordaunt Mertown, once so much loved by her father,
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Speaker 1: was now in the act of making his cold parting
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Speaker 1: from him without receiving a single look of friendly regard.
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Speaker 1: There was indeed sarcasm in the tone with which Magnus
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Speaker 1: wished the youth a good journey, and recommended to him
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Speaker 1: if he met a bonnie Lass by the way, not
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Speaker 1: to dream that she was in love, because she chanced
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Speaker 1: to jest with him. Murtown colored at what he felt
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Speaker 1: as an insult, although it was but half intelligible to him,
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Speaker 1: but he remembered Brenda and suppressed every feeling of resentment.
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Speaker 1: He proceeded to take his leave of the sister's Minna,
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Speaker 1: whose heart was considerably softened towards him, received his farewell
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Speaker 1: with some degree of interest, But Brenda's grief was so
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Speaker 1: visible in the kindness of her manner and the moisture
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Speaker 1: which gathered in her eye that it was noticed even
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Speaker 1: by the u Dollar, who exclaimed, half angrily, Why I less,
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Speaker 1: That may be right enough, for he was an old acquaintance,
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Speaker 1: But mind I have no will that he remained. One Mertown,
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Speaker 1: who was slowly leaving the apartment, half overheard this disparaging observation,
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Speaker 1: and half turned round to resent it. But his purpose
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Speaker 1: failed him when he saw that Brenda had been obliged
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Speaker 1: to have recourse to her handkerchief to hide her emotion,
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Speaker 1: and the sense that it was excited by his departure,
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Speaker 1: obliterated every thought of her father's unkindness. He retired. The
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Speaker 1: other guests followed his example, and many of them, like
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Speaker 1: Cleveland and himself, took their leave overnight, with the intention
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Speaker 1: of commencing their homeward journey on the succeeding morning. That night,
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Speaker 1: the mutual sorrow of Minna and Brenda, if it could
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Speaker 1: not wholly remove the reserve which had estranged the sisters
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Speaker 1: from each other, at least melted all its frozen and
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Speaker 1: unkindly symptoms. They wept in each other's arms, and though
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Speaker 1: neither spoke, yet each became dearer to the other because
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Speaker 1: they felt that the grief which called forth these drops
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Speaker 1: had a source common to them both. It is probable
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Speaker 1: that though Brenda's tears were most abundant, the grief of
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Speaker 1: Minna was most deeply seated. For long after the younger
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Speaker 1: had sobbed herself asleep like a child upon her sister's bosom,
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Speaker 1: Nina lay awake, watching the dubious twilight, while tear after
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Speaker 1: tear slowly gathered in her eye and found a current
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Speaker 1: down her cheek as soon as it became too heavy
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Speaker 1: to be supported by her long, black, silken eyelashes. As
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Speaker 1: she lay bewildered among the sorrowful thoughts which supplied these tears,
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Speaker 1: she was surprised to distinguish beneath the window the sounds
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Speaker 1: of music. At first, she supposed it was some freak
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Speaker 1: of Claude Holcrow, whose fantastic humor sometimes indulged itself in
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Speaker 1: such serenades. But it was not the goo of the
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Speaker 1: old minstrel, but the guitar. She heard, an instrument which
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Speaker 1: none in the island knew how to touch, except Cleveland,
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Speaker 1: who had learned, in his intercourse with the South American Spaniards,
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Speaker 1: to play on it with superior execution. Perhaps it was
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Speaker 1: in those climates also that he had learned the song, which,
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Speaker 1: though he now sung it under the window of a
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Speaker 1: maiden of Tuley, had certainly never been composed for the
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Speaker 1: native of a climate so northerly and so severe, since
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Speaker 1: it spoke of productions of the earth and skies which
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Speaker 1: are there unknown. One love wakes and weeps while beauty sleeps.
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Speaker 1: Oh for music's softest numbers to prompt a theme for
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Speaker 1: Beauty's dream, soft as the pillow of her slumbers. Two
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Speaker 1: through groves of palm side gales of balm. Fireflies on
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Speaker 1: the air are wheeling, while through the gloom comes soft perfume,
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Speaker 1: the distant beds of flowers, revealing three. Awake and live.
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Speaker 1: No dream can give a shadowed bliss, the real excelling.
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Speaker 1: No longer sleep from lattice, peep and list the tale
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Speaker 1: that love is telling. The voice of Cleveland was deep,
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Speaker 1: rich and manly, and accorded well with the Spanish air
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Speaker 1: to which the words, probably a translation from the same language,
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Speaker 1: had been adapted. His invocation would not probably have been fruitless.
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Speaker 1: Could Minna have arisen without awaking her sister, But that
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Speaker 1: was impossible for Brenda, who, as we have already mentioned,
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Speaker 1: had wept bitterly before she sunk into repose, now lay
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Speaker 1: with her face on her sister's neck and one arm
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Speaker 1: stretched around her, in the attitude of a child which
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Speaker 1: has cried itself asleep in the arms of its nurse.
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Speaker 1: It was impossible for Minna to extricate herself from her
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Speaker 1: grasp without awaking her, and she could not therefore execute
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Speaker 1: her hasty purpose of donning her gown and approaching the
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Speaker 1: window to speak with Cleveland, who she had no doubt
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Speaker 1: had resorted to this contrivance to procure an interview. The
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Speaker 1: restraint was sufficiently provoking, for it was more than probable
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Speaker 1: that her lover came to take his last farewell. But
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Speaker 1: that Brenda, inimical as she seemed to be of late
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Speaker 1: towards Cleveland, should awake and witness it was a thought
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Speaker 1: not to be endured. There was a short pause in
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Speaker 1: which Minna endeavored, more than once, with as much gentleness
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Speaker 1: as possible, to unclasp Brenda's arm from her neck, But
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Speaker 1: whenever she attempted it, the slumberer muttered some little pettish sound,
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Speaker 1: like a child disturbed in its sleep, which sufficiently showed
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Speaker 1: that perseverance in the attempt would awaken her fully to
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Speaker 1: her great vexation. Therefore, Minna was compelled to remain still
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Speaker 1: and silent when her lover, as if determined upon gaining
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Speaker 1: her ear by music of another strain, sung the following
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Speaker 1: fragment of a sea ditty, Farewell, farewell. The voice you
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Speaker 1: hear has left its last soft tone with you. Its
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Speaker 1: next must join the sea word cheer and shout among
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Speaker 1: the shouting crew, the accents which I scarce could form
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Speaker 1: beneath your frown's controlling check. Must give the word above
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Speaker 1: the storm to cut the mast and clear the wreck.
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Speaker 1: The timid eye I dared not raise, the hand that
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Speaker 1: shook when pressed to thine must point the guns upon
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Speaker 1: the chase. Must bid the deadly cutlass shine to all
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Speaker 1: I love or hope, or fear, honor or own, A
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Speaker 1: long adieu to all that life has soft and dear, farewell,
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Speaker 1: safe memory of you. He was again silent, and again
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Speaker 1: she to whom the serenade was addressed, strove in vain
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Speaker 1: to arise without rousing her sister. It was impossible, and
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Speaker 1: she had nothing before her but the unhappy thought that
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Speaker 1: Cleveland was taking leave in his desolation, without a single
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Speaker 1: glance or a single word, He too, whose temper was
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Speaker 1: so fiery, Yet who subjected his violent mood with such
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Speaker 1: sedulous attention to her will? Could she but have stolen
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Speaker 1: a moment to say adieu, to caution him against new
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Speaker 1: quarrels with Murtowne, to implore him to detach himself from
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Speaker 1: such comrades as he had described? Could she but have
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Speaker 1: done this? Who could say what effect such parting admonitions
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Speaker 1: might have had upon his character, nay upon the future
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Speaker 1: events of his life? Tantalized by such thoughts, Minnow was
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Speaker 1: about to make another and decisive effort when she heard
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Speaker 1: voices beneath the window, and thought she could distinguish that
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Speaker 1: they were those of Cleveland and Mertown, speaking in a
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Speaker 1: sharp tone, which, at the same time seemed cautiously suppressed,
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Speaker 1: as if the speakers feared being overheard. Alarm now mingled
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Speaker 1: with her former desire to rise from bed, and she
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Speaker 1: accomplished at once the purpose which she had so often
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Speaker 1: attempted in vain. Brenda's arm was unloosed from her sister's neck,
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Speaker 1: without the sleeper receiving more alarm than provoked two or
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Speaker 1: three unintelligible murmurs, while with equal speed and silence, Minna
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Speaker 1: put on some part of her dress with the intention
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Speaker 1: to steal to the window. But ere she could accomplish this,
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Speaker 1: the sound of the voices without was exchanged for that
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Speaker 1: of blows and struggling, which terminated suddenly by a deep groan.
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Speaker 1: Terrified at this last signal of mischief, Mena sprung to
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Speaker 1: the window and endeavored to open it, for the persons
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Speaker 1: were so close under the walls of the house that
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Speaker 1: she could not see them save by putting her head
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Speaker 1: out of the casement. The iron hasp was stiff and rusted, and,
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Speaker 1: as generally happens, the haste with which she labored to
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Speaker 1: undo it only rendered the task more difficult. When it
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Speaker 1: was accomplished, and Minna had eagerly thrust her body half
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Speaker 1: out at the casement, those who had created the sounds
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Speaker 1: which alarmed her were become invisible, excepting that she saw
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Speaker 1: a shadow cross the moonlight, the substance of which must
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Speaker 1: have been in the act of turning a corner, which
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Speaker 1: concealed it from her sight. The shadow moved slowly and
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Speaker 1: seemed that of a man who supported another upon his shoulders,
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Speaker 1: an indication which put the climax to Mena's agony of mind.
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Speaker 1: The window was not above eight feet from the ground,
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Speaker 1: and she hesitated not to throw herself from it hastily
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Speaker 1: and to pursue the object which had excited her terror.
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Speaker 1: But when she came to the corner of the buildings
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Speaker 1: from which the shadow seemed to have been projected, she
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Speaker 1: discovered which could point out the way that the figure
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Speaker 1: had gone, and after a moment's consideration, became sensible that
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Speaker 1: all attempts at pursuit would be alike wild and fruitless.
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Speaker 1: Besides all the projections and recesses of the many angled
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Speaker 1: mansion and its numerous offices, besides the various cellars, storehouses, stables,
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Speaker 1: and so forth which defied her solitary search, there was
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Speaker 1: a range of low rocks stretching down to the haven,
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Speaker 1: and which were in fact a continuation of the ridge
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Speaker 1: which formed its pier. These rocks had many indentures, hollows,
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Speaker 1: and caverns, into any one of which the figure to
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Speaker 1: which the shadow belonged might have retired with his fatal burden.
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Speaker 1: For fatal she feared it was most likely to prove
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Speaker 1: a moment's, as we have said, convinced Menna of the
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Speaker 1: folly of further pursuit. Her next thought was to alarm
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Speaker 1: the family. But what tale had she to tell, and
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Speaker 1: of whom was that tale to be told. On the
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Speaker 1: other hand, the wounded man, if indeed he were wounded,
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Speaker 1: alas if indeed he were not mortally wounded, might not
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Speaker 1: be past the reach of assistance. And with this idea
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Speaker 1: she was about to raise her voice when she was
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Speaker 1: interrupted by that of Claude Holcrow, who was returning, apparently
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Speaker 1: from the haven, and singing in his manner a scrap
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Speaker 1: of an old Norse ditty which might run thus in English.
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Speaker 1: And you shall deal the funeral dole. I deal it,
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Speaker 1: mother mine, to weary body and to heavy soul, the
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Speaker 1: white bread and the wine, and you shall deal my
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Speaker 1: horses of pride, I deal them, mother mine. And you
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Speaker 1: shall deal my lands so wide, and deal my castles nine.
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Speaker 1: But deal not vengeance for the deed, and deal not
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Speaker 1: for the crime. The body to its place, and the
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Speaker 1: soul to Heaven's grace, and the rest in God's own time.
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Speaker 1: The singular adaptation of these rhymes to the situation in
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Speaker 1: which she found herself seemed to mena like a warning
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Speaker 1: from Heaven. We are speaking of a land of omens
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Speaker 1: and superstitions, and perhaps will scarce be understood by those
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Speaker 1: whose limited imagination cannot conceive how strongly these operate upon
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Speaker 1: the human mind during a certain progress of society. A
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Speaker 1: line of Virgil turned up casually, was received in the
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Speaker 1: seventeenth century and in the court of England as an
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Speaker 1: intimation of future events. And no wonder that a maiden
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Speaker 1: of the distant and wild isles of Zeteland should have
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Speaker 1: considered as an injunction from Heaven versus which happened to
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Speaker 1: convey a sense analogous to her present situation. I will
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Speaker 1: be silent, she muttered. I will seal my lips, the
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Speaker 1: body to its place, and the soul to Heaven's grace,
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Speaker 1: and the rest in God's own time. Who speaks there,
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Speaker 1: said Claude Holcrow, in some alarm, for he had not,
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Speaker 1: in his travels in foreign parts, been able by any
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Speaker 1: means to rid himself of his native superstitions. In the
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Speaker 1: condition to which fear and horror had reduced her. Minnow
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Speaker 1: was at first unable to reply, and Halcrow, fixing his
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Speaker 1: eyes upon the female white figure, which he saw indistinctly,
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Speaker 1: for she stood in the shadow of the house, and
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Speaker 1: the morning was thick and misty. Began to conjure her
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Speaker 1: in an ancient rhyme which occurred to him as suited
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Speaker 1: for the occasion, and which had in its gibberish a
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Speaker 1: wild and unearthly sound, which may be lost in the
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Speaker 1: ensuing translation. Saint Magnus control thee, that martyr of treason.
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Speaker 1: Saint Ronan, rebuke thee with rhyme and with reason, by
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Speaker 1: the mass of Saint Martin. The might of Saint Mary
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Speaker 1: be thou gone, or thy weird shall be worse if
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Speaker 1: thou tarry. If of good, go hence and hallow thee.
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Speaker 1: If of ill, let the earth swallow thee. If thou
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Speaker 1: art of air, let the gray mist fold thee. If
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Speaker 1: of earth, let the swort mine hold thee. If a
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Speaker 1: pixie seek thy ring, if a nixy seek thy spring.
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Speaker 1: If on middle Earth thou hast men slave of sorrow,
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Speaker 1: shame and sin, hast eat the bread of toil and strife,
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Speaker 1: and dread the lot which men call life. Begone to
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Speaker 1: thy stone, for thy coffin is scant of thee. The
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Speaker 1: worm thy playfellow wails for the want of thee. Hence,
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Speaker 1: houseless ghost, Let the earth hide thee till Michael shall
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Speaker 1: blow the blast. See that there thou by thee phantom fly.
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Speaker 1: Hence take the cross for a token. Hence pass till
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Speaker 1: hollow mass. My spell is spoken. It is I, Holcrow,
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Speaker 1: muttered Minna, in a tone so thin and low that
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Speaker 1: it might have passed for the faint reply of the
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Speaker 1: conjured phantom. You you, said Holcrow, his tone of alarm
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Speaker 1: changing to one of extreme surprise by this moonlight which
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Speaker 1: is wanting. And so it is who could have thought
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Speaker 1: to find you, my most lovely night, wandering abroad in
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Speaker 1: your own element. But you saw them, I reckon as
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Speaker 1: well as I bold enough in you to follow them,
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Speaker 1: though saw whom? Follow whom? Said Minna, hoping to gain
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Speaker 1: some information on this subject of her fears and anxiety.
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Speaker 1: The corpse lights, which danced at the haven, replied Holcrow.
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Speaker 1: They bowed no good. I promise you you WoT well
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Speaker 1: what the old rhyme says. Where corpse light dances bright,
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Speaker 1: be it day or night, be it by light or dark,
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Speaker 1: there shall corpse lie stiff and stark. I went half
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Speaker 1: as far as the haven to look after them, but
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Speaker 1: they had vanished. I think I saw a boat put off. However,
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Speaker 1: some one bound for the Hoff. I suppose I would
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Speaker 1: we had good news of this fishing. There was norna
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Speaker 1: left us in anger, and then these corpse lights. Well,
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Speaker 1: God help the while. I am an old man and
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Speaker 1: can but wish that all were well over. But how now,
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Speaker 1: my pretty mina tears in your eyes, and now that
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Speaker 1: I see you in the fair moonlight, farefooted too? By
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Speaker 1: Saint madness? Were there no stockings of zeppelind wool soft
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Speaker 1: enough for these pretty feet and ankles that glance so
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Speaker 1: white in the moonbeam? What silent angry? Perhaps, he added,
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Speaker 1: in a more serious tone, at my nonsense. For shame,
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Speaker 1: silly maiden. Remember I am old enough to be your
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Speaker 1: father and have always loved you as my child. I
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Speaker 1: am not angry, said Minna, straining herself to speak. But
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Speaker 1: heard you nothing, saw you nothing. They must have passed you,
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Speaker 1: they said, Claude holcrow, What mean you by they? Is
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Speaker 1: it the corpse lights? No, they did not pass by me.
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Speaker 1: But I think they have passed by you and blighted
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Speaker 1: you with their influence, For you are as pale as
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Speaker 1: a specter. Come, come, Minna, he added, opening a side
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Speaker 1: door of the dwelling. These moonlight walks are fitter for
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Speaker 1: old poets than for young maidens. And so lightly clad
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Speaker 1: as you are, maiden, you should take care how you
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Speaker 1: give yourself to the breezes of a zeppelin knight, for
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Speaker 1: they bring more sleet than odors upon their wings. But
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Speaker 1: maiden go in for as glorious John says, or as
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Speaker 1: he does not say, for I cannot remember how his
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Speaker 1: verse chimes. But as I say myself in a pretty
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Speaker 1: poem written when my muse was in her teens, men's
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Speaker 1: ful maiden never should rise till the first beam tinged
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Speaker 1: the skies, silk fringed eyelids. Still should close till the
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Speaker 1: sun has kissed the rose maiden's foot. We should not
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Speaker 1: view marked with tiny print on dew till the opening flowrets,
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Speaker 1: spread carpet meat for beauty's tread. Stay what comes next?
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Speaker 1: Let me see When the spirit of recitation seized on
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Speaker 1: Claude Hulcrow, he forgot time and place, and might have
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Speaker 1: kept his companion in the cold air for half an hour,
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Speaker 1: giving poetical reasons why she ought to have been in bed,
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Speaker 1: But she interrupted him by the question, earnestly pronounced, yet
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Speaker 1: in a voice which was scarcely articulate, holding Halcrow at
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Speaker 1: the same time with a trembling and convulsive grasp as
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Speaker 1: if to support herself from falling. Saw you no one
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Speaker 1: in the boat which put to sea? But now nonsense,
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Speaker 1: replied Holcrow. How could I see any one when light
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Speaker 1: and distance only enabled me to know that it was
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Speaker 1: a boat and not a grampus. But there must have
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Speaker 1: been someone in the boat, repeated Minna, scarce conscious of
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Speaker 1: what she said, certainly answered the poet. Boats seldom worked
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Speaker 1: to windward of their own accord. But come, this is
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Speaker 1: all folly. And so, as the queen says in an
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Speaker 1: old play which was revived for the stage by rare Will,
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Speaker 1: devenant to bed to bed to bed. They separated, and
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Speaker 1: Minna's limbs conveyed her with difficulty through several devious passages
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Speaker 1: to her own chamber, where she stretched herself cautiously beside
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Speaker 1: her still sleeping sister, with a mind harassed with the
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Speaker 1: most agonizing apprehensions that she had heard Cleveland. She was
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Speaker 1: positive the tenor of the songs left her no doubt
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Speaker 1: on that subject, if not equally certain that she had
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Speaker 1: heard young Mertown's voice in hot quarrel with her lover,
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Speaker 1: the impression to that effect was strong on her mind.
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Speaker 1: The groan with which the struggle seemed to terminate, the
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Speaker 1: fearful indication from which it seemed that the conqueror had
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Speaker 1: borne off the lifeless body of his victim, all tended
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Speaker 1: to prove that some fatal event had concluded the contest.
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Speaker 1: And which of the unhappy men had fallen, which had
26:53
Speaker 1: met a bloody death, which had achieved a fatal and
26:58
Speaker 1: a bloody victory, were questions to which the still small
27:02
Speaker 1: voice of interior conviction answered that her lover, Cleveland, from character,
27:08
Speaker 1: temper and habits, was most likely to have been the
27:12
Speaker 1: survivor of the fray. She received from the reflection and
27:17
Speaker 1: involuntary consolation which she almost detested herself for admitting when
27:23
Speaker 1: she recollected that it was at once darkened with her
27:27
Speaker 1: lover's guilt and embittered with the destruction of Brenda's happiness.
27:32
Speaker 1: Forever innocent, unhappy sister. Such were her reflections, Thou that
27:40
Speaker 1: art ten times better than I, because so unpretending, so
27:45
Speaker 1: unassuming in thine excellence, how is it possible that I
27:50
Speaker 1: should cease to feel a pang which is only transferred
27:55
Speaker 1: from my bosom to thine. As these cruel thoughts crossed
27:59
Speaker 1: her mind, she could not refrain from straining her sister
28:04
Speaker 1: so close to her bosom that, after a heavy sigh,
28:08
Speaker 1: Brenda awoke sister. She said, is it you? I dreamed?
28:13
Speaker 1: I lay on one of those monuments which Claude Holcrow
28:17
Speaker 1: described to us, where the effigy of the inhabitant beneath
28:22
Speaker 1: lies carved in the stone upon the sepulcher. I dreamed
28:27
Speaker 1: such a marble form lay by my side, and that
28:31
Speaker 1: it suddenly acquired enough of life and animation to fold
28:36
Speaker 1: me to its cold, moist bosom. And it is yours, Minna,
28:41
Speaker 1: that is indeed so chilly. You are ill, my dearest Minna.
28:46
Speaker 1: For God's sake, let me rise and call you fani faye?
28:50
Speaker 1: What ails you? Has Norna been here again? Call no
28:54
Speaker 1: one hither, said Minna, detaining her. Nothing ails me for
28:59
Speaker 1: which anyone has a remedy, Nothing but apprehensions of evil
29:04
Speaker 1: worse than even Norna could prophecy. But God is above all,
29:09
Speaker 1: my dear Brenda, and let us pray to Him to turn,
29:13
Speaker 1: as he only can, our evil into good. They did
29:18
Speaker 1: jointly repeat their usual prayer for strength and protection from
29:23
Speaker 1: on high, and again composed themselves to sleep, suffering no
29:29
Speaker 1: word save God, bless You to pass betwixt them when
29:34
Speaker 1: their devotions were finished, thus scrupulously dedicating to Heaven their
29:39
Speaker 1: last waking words. If human frailty prevented them from commanding
29:45
Speaker 1: their last waking thoughts. Brenda slept first, and Minna strongly,
29:51
Speaker 1: resisting the dark and evil presentiments which again began to
29:56
Speaker 1: crowd themselves upon her imagination, was at last so fortunate
30:01
Speaker 1: as to slumber. Also. The storm which Hulcrow had expected
30:06
Speaker 1: began about daybreak, a squall heavy with wind and rain,
30:11
Speaker 1: such as is often felt even during the finest part
30:15
Speaker 1: of the season in these latitudes. At the whistle of
30:19
Speaker 1: the wind and the clatter of the rain on the
30:23
Speaker 1: shingle roofing of the fisher's huts, many a poor woman
30:27
Speaker 1: was awakened and called on her children to hold up
30:31
Speaker 1: their little hands and join in prayer for the safety
30:35
Speaker 1: of the dear husband and father, who was even then
30:39
Speaker 1: at the mercy of the disturbed elements around the house
30:44
Speaker 1: of burgestra chimneys howled, and windows clashed. The props and
30:49
Speaker 1: rafters of the higher parts of the building, most of
30:53
Speaker 1: them formed out of wreck wood, groaned and quivered, as
30:58
Speaker 1: fearing to be again to burst by the tempest. But
31:02
Speaker 1: the daughters of Magnet's troyl continued to sleep as softly
31:07
Speaker 1: and as sweetly as if the hand of chantry had
31:11
Speaker 1: formed them out of statuary marble. The squall had passed away,
31:16
Speaker 1: and the sunbeams, dispersing the clouds which drifted to leeward,
31:21
Speaker 1: shone full through the lattice. When Minna first started from
31:26
Speaker 1: the profound sleep into which fatigue and mental exhaustion had
31:32
Speaker 1: lulled her, and raising herself on her arm, began to
31:37
Speaker 1: recall events which, after this interval of profound repose, seemed
31:43
Speaker 1: almost to resemble the baseless visions of the night. She
31:48
Speaker 1: almost doubted if what she recalled of horror previous to
31:52
Speaker 1: her starting from her bed, was not indeed the fiction
31:56
Speaker 1: of a dream suggested perhaps by some external sounds. I
32:02
Speaker 1: will see Claude Holcrow instantly, she said, he may know
32:06
Speaker 1: something of these strange noises, as he was stirring at
32:11
Speaker 1: the time. With that she sprung from bed, but hardly
32:15
Speaker 1: stood upright on the floor ere Her sister exclaimed, gracious Heaven, Minna,
32:22
Speaker 1: what ails your foot your ankle? She looked down and saw,
32:26
Speaker 1: with surprise which amounted to agony, that both her feet,
32:31
Speaker 1: but particularly one of them, was stained with dark crimson,
32:36
Speaker 1: resembling the color of dried blood. Without attempting to answer Brenda,
32:42
Speaker 1: she rushed to the window and cast a desperate look
32:46
Speaker 1: on the grass beneath, for there she knew she must
32:50
Speaker 1: have contracted the fatal stain. But the rain which had
32:54
Speaker 1: fallen there in trouble quantity, as well from the heavens
32:59
Speaker 1: as from the ear leaves of the house, had washed
33:02
Speaker 1: away that guilty witness, if indeed such had ever existed.
33:07
Speaker 1: All was fresh and fair, and the blades of grass,
33:11
Speaker 1: overcharged and bent with rain drops, glittered like diamonds in
33:16
Speaker 1: the bright morning sun. While Minna stared upon the spangled
33:20
Speaker 1: verde with her full, dark eyes fixed and enlarged to
33:25
Speaker 1: circles by the intensity of her terror, Brenda was hanging
33:30
Speaker 1: about her, and with many an eager enquiry, pressed to
33:34
Speaker 1: know whether or how she had hurt herself. A piece
33:39
Speaker 1: of glass cut through my shoe, said Minna, bethinking herself
33:44
Speaker 1: that some excuse was necessary to her sister. I scarce
33:48
Speaker 1: felt it at the time, and yet see how it
33:52
Speaker 1: has bled, said her sister. Sweet Minna, she added, approaching
33:57
Speaker 1: her with a wetted towel, Let me wipe the blood off.
34:01
Speaker 1: The hurt may be worse than you think of. But
34:04
Speaker 1: as she approached Minna, who saw no other way of
34:08
Speaker 1: preventing discovery that the blood with which she was stained
34:12
Speaker 1: had never flowed in her own veins, harshly and hastily
34:17
Speaker 1: repelled the proffered kindness. Poor Brenda, unconscious of any offense
34:23
Speaker 1: which she had given to her sister, drew back two
34:27
Speaker 1: or three paces on finding her service Thus unkindly refused,
34:33
Speaker 1: and stood gazing at Minna with looks in which there
34:37
Speaker 1: was more of surprise and mortified affection than of resentment,
34:42
Speaker 1: but which had yet something also of natural displeasure. Sister
34:48
Speaker 1: said she, I thought we had agreed, but last night
34:52
Speaker 1: that happened to us. What might we would at least
34:56
Speaker 1: love each other much may happen betwixt night and morning,
35:01
Speaker 1: answered Minna, in words, rather wrenched from her by her
35:05
Speaker 1: situation than flowing forth the voluntary interpreters of her thoughts.
35:11
Speaker 1: Much may indeed have happened in a night so stormy,
35:16
Speaker 1: answered Brenda. Foresee where the very wall around Euphani's plant
35:22
Speaker 1: to proove has been blown down? But neither wind, nor rain,
35:27
Speaker 1: nor aught else can cool our affection, Minna. But that
35:32
Speaker 1: may chance, replied Minna, which may convert it into the
35:37
Speaker 1: rest of the sentence. She muttered in a tone so
35:40
Speaker 1: indistinct that it could not be apprehended, while at the
35:45
Speaker 1: same time she washed the blood stains from her feet
35:49
Speaker 1: and left ankle. Brenda, who still remained looking on at
35:54
Speaker 1: some distance, endeavored in vain to assume some tone which
35:58
Speaker 1: might re establish kindness and confidence betwixt them. You were right,
36:04
Speaker 1: she said, Minna, to suffer no one to help you
36:08
Speaker 1: to dress so simple. A scratch standing where I do,
36:13
Speaker 1: it is scarce visible. The most cruel wounds, replied Minna,
36:18
Speaker 1: are those which make no outward show. Are you sure
36:22
Speaker 1: you see it at all? Oh? Yes, replied Brenda, framing
36:27
Speaker 1: her answer as she thought would best please her sister.
36:31
Speaker 1: I see a very slight scratch. Nay, Now you draw
36:35
Speaker 1: on the stocking. I can see nothing you do indeed
36:39
Speaker 1: see nothing, answered Minna. Somewhat wildly. But the time will
36:44
Speaker 1: soon come that all I all will be seen and known,
36:51
Speaker 1: so saying, she hastily completed her dress and led the
36:54
Speaker 1: way to breakfast, where she assumed her place amongst the guests,
37:00
Speaker 1: but with a countenance so pale and haggard, and manners
37:04
Speaker 1: and speech so altered and so bewildered that it excited
37:08
Speaker 1: the attention of the whole company, and the utmost anxiety
37:13
Speaker 1: on the part of her father, Magnus Troyle. Many and
37:17
Speaker 1: various were the conjectures of the guests concerning a distemperature
37:23
Speaker 1: which seemed rather mental than corporeal. Some hinted that the
37:27
Speaker 1: maiden had been struck with an evil eye, and something
37:31
Speaker 1: they muttered about Norna of the fitful head. Some talked
37:36
Speaker 1: of the departure of Captain Cleveland and murmured it was
37:40
Speaker 1: a shame for a young lady to take on so
37:44
Speaker 1: after a landlooper of whom no one knew anything. And
37:49
Speaker 1: this contemptuous epithet was in particular bestowed on the Captain
37:54
Speaker 1: by Mistress Babby Yellowly, while she was in the act
37:58
Speaker 1: of wrapping round her old skinny neck the very handsome overlay,
38:03
Speaker 1: as she called it, wherewith the said captain had presented her.
38:08
Speaker 1: The old lady Glowrorem had a system of her own,
38:12
Speaker 1: which she hinted to Mistress Yellowly after thanking God that
38:17
Speaker 1: her own connection with the Bergwustra family was by the
38:21
Speaker 1: lass's mother, who was a canny scotswoman like herself. For
38:26
Speaker 1: as to these troils, you see, Dame Yellowly, For as
38:31
Speaker 1: high as they hold their heads, they say that ken
38:35
Speaker 1: win King sagaciously that there is a bee in their bonnet,
38:40
Speaker 1: that Norna as they call her, for it's not her
38:43
Speaker 1: right name. Neither is at Wiles far beside her right mind.
38:49
Speaker 1: And they that can the cause say the foul was
38:52
Speaker 1: some gait or other linked in with it, for he
38:56
Speaker 1: will never hear an evil word of her. But if
39:00
Speaker 1: I was in Scotland, then or I might have canned
39:03
Speaker 1: the real cause as well as other folk. At any rate,
39:07
Speaker 1: there is a kind of wildness in the blood. Ye
39:11
Speaker 1: can very well daft folk denefid to be contradicted. And
39:16
Speaker 1: I'll say that for the fout he likes to be
39:20
Speaker 1: contradicted as ill as any man in Zeteland. But it
39:24
Speaker 1: shall never be said that I said any ill of
39:28
Speaker 1: the house that I am so nearly connected with. Only
39:32
Speaker 1: ye will mind, Dame. It is through the sinclairs that
39:36
Speaker 1: we are akin, not through the troils, and the sinclairs
39:41
Speaker 1: are canned far and wide for a wise generation. Dame.
39:46
Speaker 1: But I see there is the stirrup cup coming round.
39:50
Speaker 1: I wonder, said Missus Babby to her brother. As soon
39:54
Speaker 1: as the Lady gloroum turned from her, what guards that
39:59
Speaker 1: muckle wife, Dame, Dame Dame, that gait at me she
40:04
Speaker 1: might ken? The blood of the Clinkscales is as good
40:08
Speaker 1: as any glow rorums among them. The guests, meanwhile, were
40:13
Speaker 1: fast taking their departure, scarcely noticed by Magnus, who was
40:18
Speaker 1: so much engrossed with menace indisposition, that contrary to his
40:23
Speaker 1: hospitable want, he suffered them to go away unsaluted, and
40:29
Speaker 1: thus concluded, amidst anxiety and illness. The Festival of Saint
40:34
Speaker 1: John As celebrated on that season at the house of Burguestra,
40:40
Speaker 1: adding another caution to that of the Emperor of Ethiopia,
40:45
Speaker 1: with how little security man can reckon upon the days
40:49
Speaker 1: which he destines to happiness. End of Chapter three