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054 - Alister's Princess · Whats Mines Mine

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  Speaker 1: Volume three, chapter twenty of What's Mine's Mine by George
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  Speaker 1: mac Donald. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Allister's Princess Ten peaceful days they spent in the cave house.
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  Speaker 1: It was cold outside, but the clear air of the
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  Speaker 1: hill top was delicious, and inside it was warm and dry.
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  Speaker 1: There were plenty of books, and Mercy never felt the
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  Speaker 1: time a moment too long. The mother talked freely of
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  Speaker 1: her sons and of their father, of the history of
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  Speaker 1: the clan, of her own girlhood, and of the hopes
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  Speaker 1: and intentions of her sons. Will you go with him, Mercy,
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  Speaker 1: she asked, laying her hand on hers. I would rather
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  Speaker 1: be his servant, answered Mercy, than remain at home. There
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  Speaker 1: is no life there. There is life wherever there is
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  Speaker 1: the will to live, that is, to do the thing
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  Speaker 1: that is given one to do, said the mother. In writing,
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  Speaker 1: she told Aliceter nothing of what had happened. He might
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  Speaker 1: hurry home without completing his business. Undisturbed by fresh anxiety.
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  Speaker 1: He settled everything parted with his property to an old
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  Speaker 1: friend of the family, and received what would suffice for
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  Speaker 1: his further intents. He also charted a vessel to take
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  Speaker 1: them over the sea, and to save weariness and expense,
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  Speaker 1: arranged for it to go northward as far as a
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  Speaker 1: certain bay on the coast, and there take the clan
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  Speaker 1: on board. When at length he reached home, Nancy informed
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  Speaker 1: him that his mother was at the hill house and
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  Speaker 1: begged he would go there to her. He was a
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  Speaker 1: good deal perplexed. She very seldom went there, and had
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  Speaker 1: never before gone for the night, and it was so
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  Speaker 1: early in the season. He set out immediately. It was
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  Speaker 1: twilight when he reached the top of the hill, and
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  Speaker 1: no light shone from the little windows of the tomb.
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  Speaker 1: That day, Mercy had been amusing her protectress with imitations
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  Speaker 1: in which she had some gift of certain of her
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  Speaker 1: London acquaintance. When the mother heard her son's approaching step,
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  Speaker 1: a thought came to her. Here quick, she said, put
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  Speaker 1: on my cap and shawl and sit in this chair.
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  Speaker 1: I will go into the bedroom. Then do as you like.
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  Speaker 1: When the chief entered, he saw the form of his mother,
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  Speaker 1: as he thought, bending over the peat fire, which had
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  Speaker 1: sunk rather low in his imagination, he saw again the
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  Speaker 1: form of his uncle, as on that night in the
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  Speaker 1: low moonlight. She did not move, did not even look up.
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  Speaker 1: He stood still for a moment. A strange feeling possessed
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  Speaker 1: him of something not being as it ought to be.
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  Speaker 1: But he recovered himself with an effort, and, kneeling beside her,
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  Speaker 1: put his arms round her, not a little frightened at
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  Speaker 1: her continued silence. What is the matter, mother, dear? He said,
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  Speaker 1: why have you come up to this lonely place? When
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  Speaker 1: first Mercy felt his arms, she could not have spoken
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  Speaker 1: if she would, her heart seemed to grow too large
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  Speaker 1: for her body. But in a moment or two she
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  Speaker 1: controlled herself and was able to say sufficiently in his
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  Speaker 1: mother's tone and manner to keep up the initiated misconception.
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  Speaker 1: They put me out of the house, Allister, put you
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  Speaker 1: out of the house. He returned like one hearing and
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  Speaker 1: talking in a dream? Who dared interfere with you? Mother?
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  Speaker 1: Am I losing my senses? I seem not to understand
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  Speaker 1: my own words? Mister Palmer? Mister Palmer? Was it to him?
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  Speaker 1: I sold the land in London? What could he have
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  Speaker 1: to do with you? Mother? How did they allow him
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  Speaker 1: to come near the house in my absence? Oh? I
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  Speaker 1: see he came and worried you so about Mercy that
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  Speaker 1: you were glad to take refuge from him up here,
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  Speaker 1: I understand now, he ended, in a tone of great relief.
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  Speaker 1: He felt as if he had just recovered his senses. No,
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  Speaker 1: that was not it. But we are going so soon.
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  Speaker 1: There would have been no good in fighting it out.
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  Speaker 1: We are going soon, are we not? Indeed we are, Please, God,
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  Speaker 1: replied the chief, who had relapsed into bewilderment. That is
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  Speaker 1: well for you, more than anybody. Would you believe it?
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  Speaker 1: The worthless girl vows she will never leave her mother's house. Ah, mother,
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  Speaker 1: you never heard her say so. I know mercy better
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  Speaker 1: than that. She will leave it when I say come.
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  Speaker 1: But that won't be now. I must wait and come
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  Speaker 1: and fetch her when she is of age. She is
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  Speaker 1: not worthy of you, She is worthy of me if
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  Speaker 1: I were twenty times worthier. Mother, Mother, what has turned
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  Speaker 1: you against us again? It is not like you to
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  Speaker 1: change about, so I cannot bear to find you changeable.
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  Speaker 1: I should have sworn you were just the one to
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  Speaker 1: understand her perfectly. I cannot bear you should let unworthy
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  Speaker 1: reasons prejudice you against any one. If you say a
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  Speaker 1: word more against her, I will go and sit outside
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  Speaker 1: with the moon. She is not up yet, but she
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  Speaker 1: will be presently, and though she is rather old and silly,
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  Speaker 1: I shall find her much better company than you, mother, Dear.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke playfully, but was grievously puzzled. To whom are
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  Speaker 1: you talking, Alister? Yourself or a ghost? Alister started up
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  Speaker 1: and saw his mother coming from the bedroom with a
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  Speaker 1: candle in her hand. He stood stupefied. He looked again
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  Speaker 1: at the seated figure still bending over the fire. Who
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  Speaker 1: was it if not his mother? With a wild burst
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  Speaker 1: of almost hysterical laughter, Mercy sprang to her feet and
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  Speaker 1: threw herself into his arms. It was not the less
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  Speaker 1: a new bewilderment, that it was an unspeakably delightful change
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  Speaker 1: from the last. Was he awake or dreaming? Was the
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  Speaker 1: dream of his boyhood come true? Or was he dreaming
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  Speaker 1: it on in manhood? It was come true. The princess
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  Speaker 1: was arrived. She was here in his cave to be
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  Speaker 1: his own. A great calm and a boundless hope filled
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  Speaker 1: the heart of Alister. The night was far advanced when
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  Speaker 1: he left them to go home, Nor did he find
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  Speaker 1: his way home, but wandered all night about the tomb,
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  Speaker 1: making long rounds, and still returning like an angel, sent
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  Speaker 1: to hover and watch until the morning, when he astonished
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  Speaker 1: them by entering as they sat at breakfast and told
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  Speaker 1: them how he had passed the night. It thrilled Mercy's
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  Speaker 1: heart to know that while she slept and was dreaming
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  Speaker 1: about him, he was awake and thinking about her. What
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  Speaker 1: is only dreaming in me, is thinking in you, Alister,
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  Speaker 1: She said, I was thinking, returned Alister, that as you
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  Speaker 1: did not know, I was watching you. So when we
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  Speaker 1: feel as if God were nowhere, he is watching over
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  Speaker 1: us with an eternal consciousness, above and beyond our every
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  Speaker 1: hope and fear, untouched by the varying faith and fluctuating
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  Speaker 1: moods of his children. After breakfast, he went to see
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  Speaker 1: the clergyman of the parish, who lived some miles away.
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  Speaker 1: The result of which visit was that in a few
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  Speaker 1: days they were married. First, however, he went once more
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  Speaker 1: to the new house, desiring to tell mister Palmer what
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  Speaker 1: had been and was about to be done. He refused
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  Speaker 1: to see him and would not allow his wife or
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  Speaker 1: Christina to go to him. The wedding was solemnized at
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  Speaker 1: noon within the ruined walls of the old castle. The
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  Speaker 1: withered remnant of the clan, with pipes playing, guns firing,
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  Speaker 1: and shouts of celebration, marched to the cave house to
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  Speaker 1: fetch thence the bride. When the ceremony was over, a
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  Speaker 1: feast was ready for all in the barn, and much
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  Speaker 1: dancing followed when evening came, with a half moon hanging
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  Speaker 1: faint in the limpid blue, and the stars looking large
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  Speaker 1: through the mist of ungathered tears, those of nature, not
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  Speaker 1: the lovers, with a wind like the breath of a
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  Speaker 1: sleeping child, sweet and soft and full of dreams of summer.
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  Speaker 1: The mountains and hills asleep around them like a flock
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  Speaker 1: of day wearied things, and haunted by the angels of
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  Speaker 1: Rob's visions. The lovers, taking leave only of the mother,
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  Speaker 1: stole away to walk through the heavenly sapphire of the
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  Speaker 1: still night, up the hills, and over the rushing streams
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  Speaker 1: of the spring, to the cave of their rest. No
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  Speaker 1: ill omen but lovely symbol to such as could see
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  Speaker 1: in the tomb the porch of paradise, Where should true
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  Speaker 1: lovers make their bed, but on the threshold of eternity.
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  Speaker 1: End of Volume three, Chapter twenty recording by Hannah Mary