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043 - The Marches · Whats Mines Mine

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  Speaker 1: Volume three, Chapter nine of What's Mine's Mind by George
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  Speaker 1: mac Donald. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
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  Speaker 1: the Marches. It was plainly of no use for the
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  Speaker 1: Chief to attempt mollifying mister Palmer. So long as it
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  Speaker 1: was possible for him to be what he was. It
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  Speaker 1: must be impossible for him to understand the conscience that
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  Speaker 1: compelled the Chief to refuse participation in the results of
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  Speaker 1: his life. Where a man's own conscience is content, how
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  Speaker 1: shall he listen to the remonstrance of another man's. But
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  Speaker 1: even if he could have understood that the offense was unavoidable,
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  Speaker 1: that would rather have increased than diminished the pain of
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  Speaker 1: the hurt. As it was, the Chief's determination must seem
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  Speaker 1: to mister Palmer an unprovoked insult. Thus reflecting, Allister tried
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  Speaker 1: all he could to be fair to the man whom
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  Speaker 1: he had driven to cut his acquaintance. It was now
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  Speaker 1: a lonely time for Allister, lonelier than any ever before.
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  Speaker 1: Ian was not within reach even by letter. Mercy was
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  Speaker 1: shut up from him. He had not seen or heard
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  Speaker 1: from her since writing his explanation, and his mother did
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  Speaker 1: not sympathize with his dearest earthly desire. She would be
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  Speaker 1: greatly relieved, yea heartily glad if mercy was denied him.
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  Speaker 1: She loved een more than the Chief, yet could have
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  Speaker 1: better borne to see him, the husband of mercy. What
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  Speaker 1: was wanting to the equality of her love was in
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  Speaker 1: this regard more than balanced by her respect for the
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  Speaker 1: chief of the clan and head of the family. Allister's
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  Speaker 1: light was thus left to burn in very darkness, that
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  Speaker 1: it might burn the better. For as strength is made
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  Speaker 1: perfect through weakness, so does the light within grow by darkness.
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  Speaker 1: It was the people that sat in darkness that saw
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  Speaker 1: a great light. He was brought closer than ever to
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  Speaker 1: first principles. Had to think and judge more than ever
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  Speaker 1: of the right thing to do, first of all, the
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  Speaker 1: right thing with regard to mercy, of giving her up,
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  Speaker 1: There was of course no thought. So long as she
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  Speaker 1: would be his. He was hers, as entirely as the
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  Speaker 1: bonds of any marriage could make him. But she owed
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  Speaker 1: something to her father, and of all men, the patriarchal
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  Speaker 1: chief was the last to dare interfere with the rights
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  Speaker 1: of a father. But they must be rights, not rights
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  Speaker 1: turned into or founded upon wrongs. With the first in
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  Speaker 1: acknowledging true he would not be with the last, even
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  Speaker 1: in yielding to false rights. The question was what were
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  Speaker 1: the rights of a father? One thing was clear that
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  Speaker 1: it was the duty, therefore the right of a father
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  Speaker 1: to prevent his child from giving herself away before she
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  Speaker 1: could know what she did. And Mercy was not yet
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  Speaker 1: of age. That one woman might be capable of knowing
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  Speaker 1: at fifteen and another not at fifty left untouched the
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  Speaker 1: necessity for fixing a limit. It was his own duty
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  Speaker 1: and right, on the other hand, to do what he
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  Speaker 1: could to prevent her from being in any way deceived
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  Speaker 1: Concerning him. It was essential that nothing should be done, resolved,
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  Speaker 1: or yielded by the girl through any misunderstanding he could forestall,
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  Speaker 1: or because of any falsehood he could frustrate. He must
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  Speaker 1: therefore contrive to hold some communication with her. First of all, however,
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  Speaker 1: he must learn how she was treated. It was not
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  Speaker 1: only in fiction or the ancient clan histories that tyrannical
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  Speaker 1: and cruel things were done. A tragedy is even more
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  Speaker 1: a tragedy that it has not much diversity of incident,
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  Speaker 1: that it is acted in commonplace surroundings, and that the
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  Speaker 1: agents of it are commonplace persons, fathers and mothers acting
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  Speaker 1: from the best of low or selfish motives. Where either
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  Speaker 1: mammon or society is worshiped in love, longing, or fear,
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  Speaker 1: there is room for any falsehood, any cruelty, any suffering.
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  Speaker 1: There were several of the clan employed about the new house,
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  Speaker 1: of whom Alister might have sought information, But he was
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  Speaker 1: of another construction, from the man of fashion in the
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  Speaker 1: old place, whose first love strategy is always to bribe
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  Speaker 1: the lady's maid. The chief scorned to learn anything through
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  Speaker 1: those of a man's own household. He fired a gun
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  Speaker 1: and ran up a flag on the old castle, which
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  Speaker 1: brought Rob of the angels at full speed, and comforted
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  Speaker 1: the heart of Mercy, sitting disconsolate at her window. It
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  Speaker 1: was her chief's doing, and might have to do with
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  Speaker 1: her having told Rob the state of matters between him
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  Speaker 1: and the new house. I need not desire you, Rob,
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  Speaker 1: he concluded, to be silent. You may, of course let
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  Speaker 1: your father know, but never a soul. Besides, from this moment,
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  Speaker 1: every hour your father does not actually need you. Be
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  Speaker 1: somewhere on the hills where you can see the new house.
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  Speaker 1: I want to learn first whether she goes out at
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  Speaker 1: all with the dark, you must draw nearer the house.
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  Speaker 1: But I will have no questioning of the servants or
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  Speaker 1: any one employed about it. I will never use a
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  Speaker 1: man's pay to thwart his plans, nor yet make any man,
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  Speaker 1: even unconsciously a traitor. Rob understood and departed, but bef
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  Speaker 1: for he had news for his master. An event occurred
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  Speaker 1: which superseded his service. The neighbors mister Pegrin Palmer and
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  Speaker 1: mister Brander, had begun to enclose their joint estates for
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  Speaker 1: a deer forest, and had engaged men to act as curators.
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  Speaker 1: They were from the neighborhood, but none of them belonged
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  Speaker 1: to Strathrud, and not one knew the boundaries of the
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  Speaker 1: district they had to patrol, nor indeed were the boundaries
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  Speaker 1: everywhere precisely determined? Why should they be? Where all was
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  Speaker 1: heather and rock Until game sprinkled, space grew valuable. Who
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  Speaker 1: would care whether this or that lump of limestone rooted
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  Speaker 1: in the solid earth were the actual property of the
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  Speaker 1: one or the other. Either would make the other welcome
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  Speaker 1: to blast and cart it away. There was just one
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  Speaker 1: person who knew all about the boundaries that was to
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  Speaker 1: be known. He could not, in places draw their lines
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  Speaker 1: with absolute assurance, but he had better grounds for his
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  Speaker 1: conclusions than any one else could have. This was Hector
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  Speaker 1: of the Stags, for who so likely to understand them
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  Speaker 1: as he who knew the surface within them as well
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  Speaker 1: as the clay floor of his own hut. If he
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  Speaker 1: did not everywhere know where the march line fell, at
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  Speaker 1: least he knew perfectly where it ought to fall. It
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  Speaker 1: happened just at this time that the mistress told Hector
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  Speaker 1: she would be glad of a deer, intending to cure
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  Speaker 1: part for winter use. The next day, therefore, the first
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  Speaker 1: of rob of the Angel's secret service, he stalked one
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  Speaker 1: across the hill farm, got a shot at it near
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  Speaker 1: the cave house, brought it down, and was busy breaking
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  Speaker 1: it when the two men who had come creeping up
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  Speaker 1: behind threw themselves upon him, and managed well for themselves
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  Speaker 1: to secure him before he had a chance of defending himself,
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  Speaker 1: Finding he was deaf and dumb, One of them knew
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  Speaker 1: who he must be, and would have let him go,
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  Speaker 1: But the other, eager to ingratiate himself with the new laird,
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  Speaker 1: used such argument to the contrary, as prevailed with his companion,
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  Speaker 1: and they set out for the new house. Hector between
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  Speaker 1: them with his hands tied. Annoyed and angry at being
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  Speaker 1: thus treated like a malefactor, He yet found amusement in
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  Speaker 1: the notion of their mistake. But he found it awkward
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  Speaker 1: to be unable to use that readiest weapon of human defense,
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  Speaker 1: the tongue, if only his ears and mouth, as he
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  Speaker 1: called Rob in their own speech, had been with him.
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  Speaker 1: When he saw, however, where they were taking him, he
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  Speaker 1: was comforted, for Rob was almost certain to see him
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  Speaker 1: wherever he was. He was watching the new house. He
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  Speaker 1: went composedly along with them, therefore fuming and snorting, not
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  Speaker 1: caring to escape. When Rob caught sight of the three,
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  Speaker 1: he could not think how it was that his father
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  Speaker 1: walked so unlike himself. He could not be hurt, for
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  Speaker 1: his step was strong and steady, as ever, not the
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  Speaker 1: less was there something of the rhythm gone out of
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  Speaker 1: his motion. There was a broken music in his gait.
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  Speaker 1: He took the telescope which the chief had lent him,
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  Speaker 1: and turned it upon him, discovering then that his father's
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  Speaker 1: hands were bound behind his back. Fiercest indignation over whelmed
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  Speaker 1: the soul of Rob of the angels, his father bound
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  Speaker 1: like a criminal, his father the best of men. What
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  Speaker 1: could the devils mean? Ah, they were taking him to
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  Speaker 1: the new house. He shut up his telescope, laid it
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  Speaker 1: down by a stone, and bounded to meet them, sharpening
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  Speaker 1: his knife on his hand as he went. The moment
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  Speaker 1: they were near enough, signs unintelligible to the keepers began
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  Speaker 1: to pass between the father and son. Robs meant that
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  Speaker 1: he must let him pass unnoticed. Hector's that he understood,
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  Speaker 1: so with but the usual salutation of a stranger, Rob
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  Speaker 1: passed them. The same moment he turned and with one
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  Speaker 1: swift sweep of his knife severed the bonds of his father.
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  Speaker 1: The old man stepped back, and father and son stood
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  Speaker 1: fronting the enemy. Now, said Rob, if you are honest,
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  Speaker 1: men stand to it. How dared you bind Hector of
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  Speaker 1: the Stags because he is not an honest man, replied
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  Speaker 1: one of them. Rob answered him with a blow. The
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  Speaker 1: man made at him, but he stepped between. Say that
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  Speaker 1: again of my father, cried Rob, who has no speech
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  Speaker 1: to defend himself, and I will drive my knife into you.
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  Speaker 1: We are only doing our duty, said the other. We
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  Speaker 1: came upon him there cutting up the deer he had
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  Speaker 1: just killed on the new laird's land. Who are you
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  Speaker 1: to say which is the strangers and which the Macruds.
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  Speaker 1: Neither my father nor I have ever seen the faces
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  Speaker 1: of you in the country. Will you pretend to know
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  Speaker 1: the march is better than my father, who was born
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  Speaker 1: and bred in the heather and knows every stone on
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  Speaker 1: the face of the hills. We can't help where he
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  Speaker 1: was born or what he knows. He was on our land.
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  Speaker 1: He is the Macrud's keeper and was on his own land.
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  Speaker 1: You will get yourselves into trouble. We'll take our chance.
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  Speaker 1: Take your man, then, if he tried to escape, I
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  Speaker 1: swear by the bones of my grandfather, said the more
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  Speaker 1: inimical of the two, inheritor of a clan feud with
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  Speaker 1: the Macruds. I will shoot him. Rob of the Angel
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  Speaker 1: burst into a scornful laugh. You will, will you? I
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  Speaker 1: will not kill him. I don't want to be hanged
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  Speaker 1: for him, but I will empty my shot beryl into
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  Speaker 1: the legs of him. So take your chance. You are warned.
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  Speaker 1: They had Hector's gun, and Rob had no weapon but
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  Speaker 1: his knife. Nor was he inclined to use either. Now
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  Speaker 1: he had cooled a little, he turned to his father.
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  Speaker 1: The old man understood perfectly what had passed between them,
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  Speaker 1: and signed to Rob that he would go on to
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  Speaker 1: the new house, and Rob might run and let the
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  Speaker 1: chief know what had happened. The same thing was in
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  Speaker 1: Rob's mind, for he saw how it would favor the
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  Speaker 1: desires of his chief, bringing them all naturally about the place.
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  Speaker 1: But he must first go with his father on the
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  Speaker 1: chance of learning something. We will go with you, he said.
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  Speaker 1: We don't want you, but I mean to go. My
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  Speaker 1: father is not able to speak for himself. You know nothing.
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  Speaker 1: I know what he knows. The lie does not grow
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  Speaker 1: in our strath. You crow, my cock, no higher than
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  Speaker 1: I strike, answered Rob. In the eyes of the men,
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  Speaker 1: Rob was small and weak, but there was something in
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  Speaker 1: him notwithstanding, that looked dangerous, and though far from cowards,
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  Speaker 1: they thought it as well to leave him alone. Mercy,
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  Speaker 1: at her window where was her usual seat, now saw
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  Speaker 1: them coming and instinctively connected their appearance with her father's
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  Speaker 1: new measures of protection, And when the men turned toward
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen, she ran down to learn what she could.
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  Speaker 1: Rob greeted her with a smile as he entered I
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  Speaker 1: am going to fetch them acruit, he whispered, and turning
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  Speaker 1: went out again. He told the chief that at the word,
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  Speaker 1: her face lighted up, as with the rise of the moon.
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  Speaker 1: One of the maids went and told her master that
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  Speaker 1: they had got a poacher in the kitchen. Mister Palmer's
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  Speaker 1: eyes lightened under his black brows when he saw the captive,
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  Speaker 1: whom he knew by sight and by report. His men
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  Speaker 1: told him the story their own way, never hinting a
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  Speaker 1: doubt as to whose was the land on which the
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  Speaker 1: deer had been killed. Where is the nearest magistrate, he inquired,
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  Speaker 1: with grand severity. The nearest is ma Crud, Sir, answered
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  Speaker 1: a highlander who had come from work in the garden
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  Speaker 1: to see what was going on. I cannot apply to him.
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  Speaker 1: The fellow is one of his own men. The mac
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  Speaker 1: crud does what is just rejoined the man. His master
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  Speaker 1: vouchsafed him no reply. He would not show his wrath
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  Speaker 1: against the chief. It would be undignified. Take him to
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  Speaker 1: the tool house and lock him up till I think
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  Speaker 1: what to do with him. Bring me the key. The
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  Speaker 1: butler led the way, and Hector followed Between his captors.
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  Speaker 1: They might have been showing him to his bedroom. So
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  Speaker 1: calm was he Rob gone to fetch the chief. His
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  Speaker 1: imprisonment could not last, and for the indignity was he
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  Speaker 1: not in the right. As mister Palmer left the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: his eye fell on Mercy. Go to your room, he
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  Speaker 1: said angrily, and turned from her. She obeyed in silence,
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  Speaker 1: consoling herself that from her window she could see the
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  Speaker 1: arrival of the Chief, Nor had she watched long. When
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  Speaker 1: she saw him coming along the road with Rob at
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  Speaker 1: the gate, she lost sight of them. Presently she heard
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  Speaker 1: voices in the hall and crept down the stair far
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  Speaker 1: enough to hear I could commit you for a breach
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  Speaker 1: of the peace, mister Palmer. She heard the Chief say,
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  Speaker 1: you ought to have brought the man to me as
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  Speaker 1: a magistrate. I order his release, but I give my
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  Speaker 1: word he shall be forthcoming when legally required. Your word
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  Speaker 1: is no bail. The man was taken poaching. I have
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  Speaker 1: him and I will keep him. Let me see him then,
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  Speaker 1: that I may learn from himself where he shot the deer.
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  Speaker 1: He shall go before mister Brander. Then I beg you
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  Speaker 1: will take him at once. I will go with him.
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  Speaker 1: But listen a moment mister Palmer, when this same man,
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  Speaker 1: my keeper took your guest poaching on my ground, I
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  Speaker 1: let mister circum go. I could have committed him as
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  Speaker 1: you would commit Hector. I ask you in return, to
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  Speaker 1: let Hector go, being deaf and dumb, and the hills
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  Speaker 1: the joy of his life. Confinement will be terrible to him.
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  Speaker 1: I will do nothing of the kind. You could never
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  Speaker 1: have committed a gentleman for a mistake. This is quite
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  Speaker 1: a different thing. It is a different thing. For Hector
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  Speaker 1: cannot have made a mistake. He could not have followed
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  Speaker 1: a deer on to your ground without knowing it. I
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  Speaker 1: make no question of that. He says he was not
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  Speaker 1: on your property. Says he is not a man to lie.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Palmer smiled once more. I pray you let us
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  Speaker 1: see him together. You shall not see him. Then take
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  Speaker 1: him at once before mister Brander. Mister Brander is not
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  Speaker 1: at home. Take him before some magistrate. I care not
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  Speaker 1: who there is, mister Chisholm. I will take him when
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  Speaker 1: and where it suits me. Then as a magistrate, I
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  Speaker 1: will set him at liberty. I am sorry to make
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  Speaker 1: myself unpleasant to you. Of all things I would have
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  Speaker 1: avoided it. But I cannot let the man suffer unjustly.
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  Speaker 1: Where have you put him? Where you will not find him?
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  Speaker 1: He is one of my people. I must have him,
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  Speaker 1: Your people a set of idle poaching fellows. By heaven,
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  Speaker 1: the strath shall be rid of the pack of them
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  Speaker 1: before another year is out. While I have land in
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  Speaker 1: it with room for them to stand upon. The straths
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  Speaker 1: shall not be rid of them. But this is idle.
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  Speaker 1: Where have you put Hector of the stags? Mister Palmer laughed,
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  Speaker 1: and safe keeping? There is no occasion to be uneasy
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  Speaker 1: about him. He shall have plenty to eat and drink,
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  Speaker 1: be well punished, and show the rest of the rascals
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  Speaker 1: the way out of the country. Then I must find him.
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  Speaker 1: You compel me, so, saying the chief, with intent to
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  Speaker 1: begin his search at the top of the house, in
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the hope of seeing Mercy, darted up the stair. She
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  Speaker 1: heard him coming, went a few steps higher, and waited
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  Speaker 1: on the landing. He saw her, white with flashing eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Their hands clasped each other for a moment only, But
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  Speaker 1: the moment was of eternity, not of time. You will
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  Speaker 1: find Hector in the tool house, she said aloud, you
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  Speaker 1: shameless Hussy cried her father, following the chief in a fury,
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  Speaker 1: Mercy ran up the stair. The chief turned and faced
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  Speaker 1: mister Palmer. You have no business in my house. I
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  Speaker 1: have the right of a magistrate. You have no right.
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  Speaker 1: Leave it at once, allow me to pass. You ought
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  Speaker 1: to be ashamed of yourself making a girl turn traitor
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  Speaker 1: to her own father. You ought to be proud of
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  Speaker 1: a daughter with a conscience and courage to turn against you.
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  Speaker 1: The Chief passed mister Palmer, and running down the stair,
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  Speaker 1: joined Rob of the angels, where he stood at the
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  Speaker 1: door in a group composed of the keepers and most
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  Speaker 1: of the servants. Do you know the tool house? He
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  Speaker 1: said to Rob, Yes, mac crude, lead the way, then
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  Speaker 1: your father is there on no account to let them
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  Speaker 1: open the door, cried mister Palmer. They may hold through
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  Speaker 1: it what communication they please. You will not be saying
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  Speaker 1: much to a death man through inch boards, remarked the
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  Speaker 1: clansmen from the garden. Mister Palmer hurried after them, and
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  Speaker 1: his men followed. Alister found the door fast and solid,
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  Speaker 1: without handle. He turned a look on his companion and
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  Speaker 1: was about to run his weight against the lock. It
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  Speaker 1: is too strong, said Rob, hect out of the stags,
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  Speaker 1: must open it. But how you cannot even let him
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  Speaker 1: know what you want. Rob gave a smile, and, going
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  Speaker 1: up to the door, laid himself against it as close
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  Speaker 1: as he could stand, with his face upon it, and
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  Speaker 1: so stood silent. Mister Palmer, coming up with his attendants,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: all stood for a few moments in silence, wondering at Rob.
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  Speaker 1: He must be holding communication with his father. But how
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: sounds began inside, first a tumbling of tools about, then
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: an attack on the lock. Come come, this won't do,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: said mister Palmer, approaching the door. Prevent it, then said
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  Speaker 1: the chief, do what you will. You cannot make him
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  Speaker 1: hear you, And while the door is between you, he
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  Speaker 1: cannot see you. If you do not open it, he
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: will run, said mister Palmer to the butler. You will
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: find the key on my table. I don't want the
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: lock ruined. But there was no stopping the thing. Before
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the butler came back, the lock fell, the door opened,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and out came Hector, wiping his brow with his sleeve
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: and looking as if he enjoyed the fun. The keepers
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: darted forward, stand off, said the Chief, stepping between I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: don't want to hurt you, but if you attempt to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: lay hands on him, I will. One of the men
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: dodged round and laid hold of Hector from behind. The
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: other made a move towards him from the front. Hector
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: stood motionless for an instant, watching his chief, But when
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: he saw him knock down the man before him, he
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: had his own assailant by the throat in an instant,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: gave him a shake and threw him beside his companion.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: You shall suffer for this, macrud, cried mister Palmer, coming
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: close up to him and speaking in a low, determined tone,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: carrying a conviction of unchangeableness. Better leave what may not
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: be the worst alone, returned the chief. It is of
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: no use telling you how sorry I am to have
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to make myself disagreeable to you. But I give you
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: fair warning that I will accept no refusal of the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: hand of your daughter from any but herself. As you
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: have chosen to break with me. I accept your declaration
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: of war and tell you plainly I will do all
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I can to win your daughter, never asking your leave
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: in respect of anything I may think it well to do.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: You will find there are stronger forces in the world
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: than money. Henceforward I hold myself clear of any personal
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: obligation to you, except as Mercy's father and my enemy.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: From very rage, mister Palmer was incapable of answering him.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Allister turned from him, and, in his excitement, mechanically followed Rob,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: who was turning a corner of the house. It was
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: not the way to the gate, but Rob had seen
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Mercy peeping round that same corner. Anxious in truth about
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: her father, she feared nothing for Allister. He came at
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: once upon Mercy, and talking together, Rob withdrew and joined
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: his father a little way off. They retired a few
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: more paces, and stood waiting their chief's orders. How am
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: I to see you again? Mercy, said the chief hurriedly.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Can't you think of some way? Think quick? Now? Mercy,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: as she sat alone at her window, had not unfrequently
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: imagined the Chief standing below on the walk, or just
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: beyond in the belt of shrubbery, and now once more
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in her mind's eye, suddenly seeing him there, she answered, hurriedly,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: come under my window to night. I do not know
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: which it is you see it from the castle. I
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: will put a candle in it. What hour, any time
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: after midnight? I will sit there till you come. Thank you,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: said the chief, and departed with his attendants. Mercy hastened
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: into the house by a back door, but had to
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: cross the hall to reach the stair. As she ran up,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: her father came in at the front door, saw her
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and called her. She went down again to meet the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: tempest of his rage, which now broke upon her and
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: gathered fear. He called her a treacherous, unnatural child, with
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: every name he thought bad enough to characterize her conduct.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Had she been to him as Reagan or Goneril, he
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: could hardly have found worse names for her. She stood pale,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: but looked him in the face. Her mother came, trembling
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: as near as she dared, withered by her terror to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: almost twice her age. Mister Palmer, in his fury, took
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a step towards Mercy, as if he would strike her.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Mercy did not move a muscle, but stood ready for
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the blow. Then love overcame her fear, and the wife
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and mother threw herself between her arms round her husband,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: as if rather to protect him from the deed than
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: her daughter from its hurt. Go to your room, Mercy,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: she said. Mercy turned and went. She could not understand herself.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: She used to be afraid of her father when she
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: knew no reason. Now that all the bad in his
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: nature and breeding took form and utterance, she found herself calm.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: But the thing that quieted her was, in reality, her
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: sorrow that he should carry himself so wildly. What she
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: thought was, if the mere sense of not being in
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: the wrong made one able to endure so much, what
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: must not the truth's sake enable one to bear? She
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: sat down at her window to gaze and brood. When
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: her father cooled down, he was annoyed with himself, not
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that he had been unjust, but that he had behaved
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: with so little dignity. With brows black as evil, he
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: sat degraded in his own eyes, resenting the degradation on
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: his daughter. Every time he thought of her, new rage
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: arose in his heart. He had been proud of his
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: family autocracy. So seldom had it been necessary to enforce
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: his authority that he never doubted his wishes had but
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to be known to be obeyed born tyrannical. The characterless
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: submission of his wife had nourished the tyrannical in him.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Now all at once a daughter, the ugly one from
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: whom no credit was to be looked for, dared to
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: defy him for a clown, figuring in a worn out
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: rag of chieftainship, the musty fiction of a clan half
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a dozen shepherds, crofters, weavers and shoemakers, not the shadow
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: of a gentleman among them, a man who ate brose,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: went with bare knees, worked like any hind, and did
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: not dare offend his wretched relations by calling his poultry
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: farm his own. For the sake of such a fellow
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: with a highland twang that disgusted his fastidious ear. His
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: own daughter made a mock of his authority, treated him
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: as a nobody in his own house. She had risen
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: against him and betrayed him to the insults of his enemy.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: His conscious importance, partly from doubt in itself, boiled and fumed,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: bubbled and steamed in the cauldron of his angry brain.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Not one, but many sons would go down upon such
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: a wrath. I wish I might never set eyes on
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the girl again, he said to his wife, A small
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: enough loss. The sight of her would be the ugly,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: common looking thing. I beg you will save me from
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: it in future, as much as you can. She makes
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: me feels if I should go out of my mind.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: So calm, forsooth, so meek, so self sufficient, Oh, quite
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: a saint, and so strong minded, equal to throwing her
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: father over for a fellow she never saw till a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: year ago. She shall have her dinner sent up to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: her as usual, answered his wife with a sigh. But really, peregrine,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: my dear, you must compose yourself. Love has driven many
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a women to extremes love. Why should she love such
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a fellow? I see nothing in him to love? Why
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: should she love him? Tell me that give me one
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: good reason for her folly, and I will forgive her,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: do anything for her, anything, But let her have the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: brascal that I will not take for your son in law,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: an ape that loathes your money, calls it filthy lucre,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and means it not if I can help it. Don't
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: let me see her. I shall come to hate her,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and that I would rather not. A man must love
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and cherish his own flesh. I shall go away. I
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: must to get rid of the hateful face of the minx,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: with its self righteous injured look staring at you. If
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you do, you can't expect me to prevent her from
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: seeing him. Lock her up in the coal hole, bury
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: her if you like, I shall never ask what you
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: have done with her. Never to see her again is
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: all I care about. Ah. If she were really dead,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you would want to see her again. After a while.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I wish then she was dead, that I might want
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to see her again. It won't be sooner. Ten times,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Rather than know her married to that beast, I would
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: see her dead and buried. The mother held her peace.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: He did not mean it, she said to herself. It
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: was only his anger. But he did mean it. At
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that moment, he would with joy have heard the earth
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: fall on her coffin. Notwithstanding her faculty for shutting out
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: the painful, her persistent self assuring that it would blow over,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and her confidence that things would buy and buy resume
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: their course, Missus Palmer was in those days very unhappy.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: The former quite once restored she would take mercy in hand,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: and reasoning with her soon persuade her to what she pleased.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: It was her husband's severity that had brought it to this.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: The accomplice of her husband, she did not understand that
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: influence works only between such as inhabit the same spiritual sphere.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: The daughter had been lifted into a region far above
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: all the arguments of her mother, arguments poor in life
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and base in reach. End of Volume three, Chapter nine,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: recording by Hannah Mary