The next morning rose, dim, hot, and oppressive, suiting well, in its
unnatural stillness and sultry brooding, with the terror of bewilderment
and darkness which had fallen upon Anne. The tossings and wild
restlessness of that mental fever, the gloomy clouds that had settled
upon the future, the sad significance with which Christian Lillie's
words came burning back upon her memory--bore her down in dark blinding
agony as those heavy thunder clouds bore down upon the earth. She
wandered out:--with eyes keen for that one object, and veiled to all
things else, she hovered about Schole. Once as she lingered by the
hedge, she saw an upper window opened, and the pale head which she had
seen once before, with its high snowy temples and thin hair, and
delicately lined face, looked out steadfastly upon the gloomy weltering
water. The eyes were blue, deep, and liquid as a summer evening sky--the
face, with all its tremulous poetry, and exquisite delicacy of
feebleness, was gazing out with a mournful composure, which made its
extreme susceptibility and fluctuating language of expression, more
remarkable than ever. Calmly mournful as it then was, you could so well
see how the lightest breath would agitate it--the faintest whisper sway
and mould these delicate facile features. One long, steadfast sad look
was thrown over the darkly silent water, and brooding ominous sky, and
then the window was closed. Anne remained upon the sands nearly the
whole day--but saw nothing more of the mysterious inhabitants of Schole.
Wild whispers of wind curled along the dark Firth as the evening fell.
All the day, the earth had been lying in that dread, bewildered pause
which comes before a thunder storm. Now, as Anne sat looking out into
the darkness, the tempest began; the night was very dark--the whole
breadth of the sky was covered by one ponderous thunder-cloud, through
which there suddenly shot a sheet of ghastly light. Anne was still at
the window--she started back, but not before the scene revealed by that
flash, had fixed itself in its terrific gloom and unearthly colors upon
her memory. The dismal outline of the house of Schole--the sea beyond,
plunging and heaving in black wrath--and on its troubled and gloomy
bosom, a drifting, helpless ship, the broken masts and rigging of which
seemed for the moment flaming with wild, phosphoric light. Anne shrank
from the window; but in a moment returned in intense anxiety, too
thoroughly aroused and absorbed to think of fear.
Another flash, and yet another--and still the helpless, dismantled ship
was drifting on; she fancied she could see dark figures, specks in the
distance, clinging to the yards; she fancied she could discern the black
waves weltering over the buried hull, as the light fell full upon the
vessel--there was a blind incompetency in its motions which showed that
its crew had lost command of it.--She saw the falling of some spar--she
fancied she could hear a terrible shrill cry; she threw open her window.
The thunder was pealing its awful trumpet-note into the dense
darkness:--gazing eagerly through the gloom she waited for another
flash.
"For guid sake come in--for pity's sake come in," cried Miss Crankie,
pulling her from behind. The sisters, their maid, and Jacky had crowded
together into Anne's room in the gregarious instinct of fear.
Bursting over the mighty gloom of waters flashed that death-like
illumination. There _were_ figures on the yards of the drifting
ship--there were wild cries of sharp despair and anguish; you could
fancy there were even agonized hands stretching out in vain for help,
and there were--yes, there were also figures upon the sands. "God
preserve us!" exclaimed Miss Crankie in overwhelming awe and excitement
as the flash shone over their faces. "Miss Ross for pity's sake come
in."
Anne did come in--she snatched a shawl which hung upon a chair, and
hurried blindly forward to the door.
"Where are ye gaun?" exclaimed Miss Crankie.
It was echoed in different tones by all the others, as they crowded
together in awe and terror.
"To the sands--to the sands," said Anne: she made her way through them
in spite of remonstrance and entreaty: she extricated herself from the
detaining grasp of Miss Crankie, and leaving the house, ran hastily
towards Schole.
It was a fearful night; the wind had risen imperceptibly from the wild
whispers which crept over the Firth in the earlier evening to a
shifting, coarse, impetuous gale. The lightning, as it burst in sheets
over the earth, revealed strange glimpses of the shivering summer
foliage and verdure, which bore so strange a contrast to the storm
raging above. Anne saw nothing but the black, weltering water--the
helpless drifting ship--the deadly danger of some souls--the help that
might be rendered them.
Before she reached Schole, Miss Crankie and Jacky overtook her--none of
them spoke. All were agitated, excited, and anxious--all were looking
eagerly towards the sea.
Another flash--the black waters were dashing high up on those feeble
spars. Clinging to them in the wild vehemence of despair were several
men, and one slight shadow bound as it seemed to the mast--could it be a
woman in that extremity? The hull was covered--the waters appeared to
rise higher every moment.--There was a little knot of people on the
sands--was there no help?
Again the deadly illumination bursts over sea and sky. There is a figure
struggling through the surge--you catch a glimpse of him--now fighting
through the foam--now buffeting with the black waves. Anne and her
companions are already on the sands; they see a strong rope trailing
over the wet shore--the other end is fastened round the body of this
brave man. The little knot on the shore is sternly silent--fearfully
anxious. No one looks in the face of his neighbor they are watching with
intense, unswerving gaze, the progress of that adventurer across the
gloomy water. Even Anne scarcely notes that the gates of Schole stand
open, and there are lights within!
They see him again further in, when the next flash comes, fighting
vigorously through the waves; the dark figures on the yards of the
helpless ship have ceased to cry--they too are watching (who can tell
with what agonies of fear and hope?) the speck that fights towards them
through the turbid gloom of that dark sea.
There is a long pause this time, between the lightning and its
accompanying thunder. In the dense gloom they can discover nothing of
his progress. They wait in intense anxiety for the next flash.
The water is bathed in light again: he is returning. He carries an
indistinct burden in one arm, guiding himself painfully as they can
discern by the tightened rope. The men on shore assist him
warily--another long buffeting--another breathless watch, and he has
reached solid land again.
Who is this man? Anne Ross's eyes are strained eagerly to discover. The
light from a lantern streams on a woman carried in his arms; he did not
wait to bring her fully to the land, but placing her in the hold of one
of the lookers on, turned instantly back again--back through the gloomy,
heaving, turbid water, to save more lives--to complete the work he had
begun.
Anne watched him toiling back again through surge and foam, so anxiously
that she scarcely noted the burden he had brought from the wreck in his
arms. Now a faint cry recalled her attention; the saved woman was a
young mother clasping an infant convulsively to her breast. Two or three
female figures were already kneeling round her--Miss Crankie, Jacky, and
another.--Anne joined them; the third person was Christian Lillie.
They could scarcely draw the child from the strained arms that clasped
it; it was alive--nothing more. The agonized hold relaxed at last, and
Miss Crankie received it from the mother.
"Let us take her in," said Christian Lillie raising the young woman in
her arms.
She resisted feebly.
"No--no till they're a' safe; no till I see Willie."
Miss Crankie carried the child into Schole. Christian and Anne wrapped
the young mother in a shawl, and supported her.--Her limbs were rigid
with the terrible vigil. She gazed in agony towards the ship, and
murmured:
"He'll no leave it till the last; he'll no save himsel till a'body else
is saved. Oh! the Lord keep him--Willie!--Willie!"
And there they remained till six heroic voyages had been made to the
helpless vessel. They were all saved at last. The last, the husband of
the young woman, and captain of the ship, fighting his own way to the
shore; he had more strength or nerve than the rest.
And who had done it all? The light from the lantern streamed for a
moment on his face--that pale susceptible face, whose delicate features
spoke so eloquently the language of expression--the thin hair clung to
his white temples; his eyes were shining with unnatural excitement--with
something which looked like an unnatural vehemence of hope. It was
Patrick Lillie!
The bystanders and the saved men alike poured into Schole; they were all
assembled in the large old-fashioned kitchen. Their deliverer had
disappeared. Miss Crankie, alert and active, went about, briskly helping
all. Christian was there, and Anne.--Seven lives in all had been saved
by Patrick Lillie. The young wife of the captain lay almost insensible
in an easy chair; she had borne the extremity of danger bravely, but
now she sank--the over-strained nerves gave way--she could hardly answer
the inquiries of her husband.
By and by, under Christian's directions, he carried her to a small room
upstairs, where a bed had been hastily prepared for her. Anne
volunteered her attendance, and rendered it with all care and
tenderness; she was left alone with the young mother, Christian and the
captain of the ill-fated vessel in the meantime arranging for the
accommodation of the men.
The rigid limbs of Anne's patient relaxed at last; the chill was
gradually overcome, and about an hour after they had been brought within
the sheltering walls of Schole, Anne received the infant from Miss
Crankie to satisfy the eager mother. The strangers by this time were
gone; the shipwrecked men were accommodated as well as might be in the
comfortable kitchen.--Miss Crankie herself, when there remained nothing
further to be done, departed also--only Anne continued with her
patient--she had not seen either Patrick or Christian again.
Drawing the baby to her breast, the young mother soon fell into a
refreshing sleep. Anne sat thoughtfully by her bed-side--now and then
she heard a footstep below testifying that the household was still
astir. She was anxious to remain as long as possible--to endeavor to
open some communication with this singular brother and sister. For the
moment she had forgotten Jean Miller's history, and shuddered and
trembled as she remembered it--would they avoid her still?
The room she occupied had a faded red curtain drawn along the further
wall; she fancied she heard a low murmur as of some voice beyond it, and
rose to see. The wall was a very thin partition which had evidently been
put up in some emergency to make two rooms of one--immediately behind
the curtain was a door standing ajar. Anne could see through into
another room guarded like this by a curtain, placed there for some
simple purpose of preventing a draft of air as it seemed, for each of
the rooms had another door, and both entered from a gusty, windy
gallery.
And there was a voice proceeding from that outer room--a solitary voice,
low-toned, and strange--it was reading aloud as it seemed, although its
owner was evidently alone. "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold."--Anne glanced back to see that her patient
slept; she was lying in a calm slumber, luxuriously peaceful, and at
rest. The low voice went on:
"Not fourfold but sevenfold. Lord! Thou seest the offering in my hand.
Thou who didst not reject this sinner of old times.--Thou who didst
tread wearily that way to Jericho for this publican's sake, who was a
son of Abraham. Lord, Lord, rejectest Thou me?--seven for one--wherefore
did I toil for them, but to lay them at Thy feet--seven saved for one
lost. Oh, Thou blessed One, where are Thy tender mercies--Thy loving
kindnesses--wilt Thou shut thy heaven only to me?"
There was a pause; the voice was broken and unsteady; the strange
utterance passionate and solemn; it was resumed:
"Not thy heaven, unless it be Thy will--not Thy glory or Thy
gladness--only Thy forgiveness, merciful Lord, only one uplifting of Thy
reconciled countenance. There is no light. I grope in the noonday, like
a blind man, I cannot see Thee--I cannot see Thee! Lord, I confess my
iniquity before Thee. Lord, I restore Thee sevenfold. Look upon my
offering--seven for one! I bring them to Thy feet--seven saved for one
lost! Lord of all tenderness--of all compassion, Thou most
merciful--most mighty--is it I--is it I? Wilt Thou reject only me?"
Anne stood fixed in silent, eager interest--she could not think of any
evil in her listening. She was too deeply moved--too mightily concerned
for that!
"Thou knowest the past. Thou, who ordainest all things, dost know these
fearful years. Blood for blood. Lord, thou hast seen mine agonies--Thou
knowest how I have died a thousand times in this fearful, blighted life:
look upon mine offering--I bring thee back sevenfold. Lord of mercy,
cast me not away for evermore!"
The voice ceased. Anne cast a tremulous glance from the edge of the
curtain. He was sitting by a table, a Bible lying open before him. Large
drops hung upon his thin, high forehead--his delicate features were
moving in silent agonies of entreaty--a hot flush was on his cheek. He
suddenly buried his face in his hands, and bowed it down upon the open
Bible. Very fearful was this to see and hear! This living death of
wakeful misery--this vain struggling to render with his own hands the
atonement which he, of all men, needed most--while the great Evangel of
divine love and tenderness, with its mightier offering and all-availing
sacrifice, lay unapplied at his hands.
Anne drew back in awe and reverence, and carefully closed the door--it
was not meet that she should pry further into the secret agonies of this
stricken and sinful spirit, as it poured itself forth before its God.
She returned to the bedside, her head throbbing with dull pain, her
heart full of darkness and anguish. Was it true?--was it indeed true?--a
haunting fear no longer, but a deadly and hopeless reality!
At intervals she heard the murmurings renewed, and watched in breathless
anxiety then, lest her patient should wake--at length it ceased
altogether. The young mother slept peacefully with her infant nestling
in her arms--a strange contrast there was between the sleeper and the
watcher--the one in delicious safety and rest, after deadliest
peril--the other wading through a restless sea of grief and pain, to
which there seemed neither shore nor boundary, involving agonies
mightier than death.
The night wore swiftly on--the morning rose as calm and sunny as if
storms had never raged in the soft atmosphere which it gilded with its
early sunbeams. Anne rose to look from the window--the Firth lay broad
before her, still something moved and unquiet--rolling long waves upon
the shore, and specked like the breast of some war-horse, with spots of
foam. At a little distance, dashed against a bold, projecting cliff, the
masts of the hapless vessel appeared through the dark water. Anne
shuddered when she saw the white spars, rising so very short a way above
the broad surface of the Firth. A little longer delay last night--a
paroxysm of desperate energy a little less bold, and these hapless
seamen, and this youthful mother, had been lying, far from all
consciousness of earthly pain or pleasure, in the dark graves of the
sea!
Sevenfold--seven saved for one lost! Alas, was this all?--had he no hope
but this?
Anne's patient waked--she began to look about her confusedly--then she
recollected herself: "Willie, Willie, where is he--is he safe?"
Anne hastened to reassure her; but finding that she only partially
succeeded, and hearing as she thought some one stirring below, she left
the room to seek "Willie," to satisfy his anxious wife.
In a small bare parlor below she found the serving-woman of the Lillies
and Jacky--they had just made a fire, and Marget, with considerable
grumbling, was preparing tea. Jacky, looking very dark, and pale, and
wakeful, was moving about in her own intense stillness of nervous
activity, discharging various pieces of work entrusted to her, and
returning instantly to seek more.
"I declare," exclaimed Marget, peevishly, as Anne reached the door,
"ye're enough to pit a body daft. Afore ane can think ye're weel begun
wi' ae turn, ye're seeking anither. Have ye washen a' the cups?"
"Yes."
Marget looked back--the long array of gleaming earthenware spoke for
itself. In anticipation of so many stranger guests, Marget had collected
a dusty congregation of cups and saucers, out of the corners of a dark
old pantry.
"Do ye aye do your work as cleverly? Ye're a strange speerit o' a
creature to get through a turn at that rate. Are ye aye as fast?"
"Ay," said Jacky, bashfully, "when there's ony need."
"I wadna like to be trysted to haud ye gaun. Ye wad be as ill to ser as
Michael Scot's man. Get out yon muckle tray, and tak the dust aff't, and
set down the cups--it's aye something. Eh, Mem, I beg your pardon!"
This was addressed to Anne, whom Marget descried for the first time
standing behind her. Anne asked where the young captain was.
"Ye see, they're a' lying in the kitchen, puir creatures. It was the
warmest place, and we made shake-downs to them as well as we could; and
no to disturb them, I kindled my bit fire in here--and your lassie is
very handy, Mem, and I'm muckle obliged to ye for letting her help me.
Ye see I'll hae plenty on my hands wi' a' thae strangers, and trouble in
the house forbye."
"Is any one ill?" asked Anne, eagerly.
"Ye see, it's just yin o' Mr. Patrick's ill turns. What was onybody to
expect after the way he exposed himsel last night?--a frail man like him
fighting through the sea as if he had been a giant--and he's waur than
ordinar the day."
"Can I see Miss Lillie?" said Anne.
"Miss Kirstin's been at his bedside close, since ever we got the men
sorted in the kitchen. She had to wile him out o' his ain room, because
the young Captain's wife was in the next, and she was feared he would
disturb her, and he's lying up in the west room. He'll no hear o' a
doctor--maybe it's because he kens about physic himself--ony way he'll
no have yin near him."
"But Miss Lillie would see me perhaps, if you asked her," said Anne.
"She's no fond o' onybody fashing her, when she's no wanting them," said
Marget, "and it's ill my pairt to anger my mistress.--I've been here
even on wi' her this sixteen year--I come frae Falkirk mysel, and dinna
belang about this place--and a guid mistress she is, if she's no just
like ither folk, And it's a lang trail up that weary stair when ane's
breath is as short as mine--and--if ye have nae objection, Mem, I wad
rather ye would wait till she comes down hersel. She'll be wanting
something for Mr. Patrick before lang."
"Will you ask the Captain of the ship to come to me then?" asked Anne.
Marget went with some reluctance, and returned in a few minutes with the
stalwart young Captain. Anne begged her to guide him to his wife's room,
and then opening the outer door, stepped out herself into the garden for
a moment's refreshment in the cool morning air.
Fresh, bright, healthful, tinged and gilded with their young sunbeams,
while everything around rejoiced in its lightsome breadth and purity,
Anne almost fancied it strange that the joyous air did not shrink from
these gray walls--so full of sin and grief--sorrow, remorse, and pain,
that shrank from the eye of man, as they were.
When she again entered the room where she had found Marget and Jacky,
the young captain of the wrecked ship was there, somewhat tremulous and
unsteady, poor fellow, after his meeting with his wife. They had been
looking together from the window at the lost vessel with mingled
thankfulness and regret. Anne began to speak to him.
"The boat was a schooner--the William and Mary of Kincardine--homeward
bound from the Baltic, with a cargo of timber. We've been water-logged
for three weeks; drifting very much where the wind likit to drive us. If
it had not been for the summer weather and lown winds, we must have
perished before now; we've had a dreadful time--no that I care for a
while of hardship myself--it like comes natural to a seafaring life--but
Mary and the infant! I was saying to her the now, that she had better
make up her mind, to let me go alone after this; I durst not put her in
such peril again.
"She seems to have borne it bravely," said Anne.
"Ay, that she has," said the young man, his eyes glistening.--"It's
often no the strongest and roughest like that can bear the most. For the
bairn's sake and mine, and her mother's at hame, I believe she could
have held out as long as myself. To be sure, we sheltered her, while
shelter was possible, but that has not been for a while--and now she's
less worn out than the men. It's a strange thing that, but I've seen the
like of it before. They can stand work--plenty of it--but they canna
both work and thole--and we have needed both."
"It is very strange," said Anne, "almost all of them were stronger than
their deliverer."
"Ay it's no that," said the captain of the William and Mary, "it's the
spirit that ever does anything. My men were stunned and helpless, worn
out with the terrible watch they have kept for three weeks bye-past. The
gentleman scarce so much as felt he had a body clothing him, when he saw
our peril. It was the keen spirit that did it."
Anne sighed. This unhappy man, borne down by his fearful secret, his
life desolated by a great hidden crime, was a very angel of bravery and
goodness to the men whose lives he had saved.--She asked:
"Will the loss be great?"
The young man's countenance fell.
"No doubt it'll be heavy upon us. It's part my father's, and part mine.
We built it just before I was married, as you would, maybe, notice by
the name. My mother had aye a great wark with Mary, and she would have
it called after us both. When the tide's out, we'll see better what's
lost, and what may be saved. It's a mercy the cargo can take no scaith,
being timber. Onyway it must be a heavy loss, but we may be thankful
we're to the fore ourselves."
Anne did not answer. At any other time, she would have sympathized
warmly with this prepossessing, youthful couple. At present, her
interest and thoughts were so engrossed, that any other feeling was
faint within her.
"Mary was speaking of coming down herself," said the young captain, "to
thank you for your goodness. And the gentleman--I have not seen the
gentleman!"
"I hear he is ill," said Anne. "I am only a--a neighbor: but I hear Mr.
Lillie's exertions have hurt him--he has been long an invalid."
The young man said some words of respectful regret, and then left her to
attend to his men. He wished to remove them as soon as possible--especially
now, when he heard that there was sickness in the house.
Marget, with a good deal of grumbling, was preparing a breakfast for
them. Anne opened the door of a room on the opposite side of the
hall--it was Patrick Lillie's study--and went in. She felt she had a
right. In all the world, there was no family so closely connected with
her as this.
Upon the table, in the recess of the low projecting window, lay an old
Latin book--others of a like nature were scattered round. Anne was
sufficiently acquainted with old literature to see that some of these
were rare and strange. A small pile, which she could fancy the daily and
beloved companions of their owner, lay at one side. The upper one of the
pile, was the "Imitatione Christi," of Thomas a Kempis, in the original
Latin--the others were of the same contemplative cast. Old emblematic
poems, full of devout conceits: old dialectic philosophy, subtle and
shifting--a strange atmosphere for that fragile mind, with its sensitive
beauty and feebleness, to breathe and dwell in.
She was thinking of him--with her hands clasped over her eyes, and her
head bowed down, she was trying to think what she could do--"looking
forward as the aim and expectation of your life--almost, God help us--as
your hope--for a thing which you knew would rend your heart, and make
your life a desert when it came." The words returned before her
constantly, blinding her mind and stilling it. She could do nothing.
A hand was laid upon her shoulder. She looked up hastily--it was
Christian Lillie. Her eyes were fixed upon Anne with a look of wistful
inquiry: her tall figure was slightly bent. Anne saw more clearly than
she had ever done before, how attenuated and worn out she was. Yet, in
the melancholy face and shadowy frame, there was no trace of greater
weariness than usual. She had been watching by a sick-bed all the
night--and such a sick-bed!--but she thought of no rest, she evidenced
no fatigue. You could fancy the soul within, so constantly awake and
watching, that its thin robe of earthly covering needed not the common
sustenance of feeble humanity.
"What do you here?" said Christian Lillie, "this is no air for you to
breathe--no roof to cover you. Let us bear our own burden as we best
can; you must not try to render help to us--no, nor even sympathy--you
must go from this fated house."
Anne took into her own the thin hand which rested on her shoulder.
"You must let me stay," she said eagerly. "I can take no dismissal--you
must let me stay--no one else in this wide world could be beside you as
I can be--save one. I must remain with you; I must share your
labors--you cannot watch continually."
"Watch!" said Christian, "I _have_ watched continually, without ceasing
night or day. You can rest who are young--you who have known no deadly
evil--what rest is there for me? Leave me to my own weird. God knows,
who sent it, that He has sent patience also to bear its bitterness. It
was long before that came, but I watched, and waited, and prayed for it
dry-eyed: tears are not for me, unless it be the terrible ones that the
heart weeps when it is wrung. You must go from this place; let us not
throw the shadow of our desolation over another of your blood. You must
go before you are blighted."
"Do not fear me," said Anne, anxiously; "do not fear to trust me. Is not
our sorrow the same--our hope the same? let me stay beside you."
"The same--the same! God forbid that you knew what you were saying.
There are agonies that folk may not lay the light name of sorrow upon.
Be thankful that you know nothing sorer than grief; and if you would
keep your hope alive, leave the house that contains us."
"I cannot leave you; you must not ask me," said Anne; "I have a claim
upon you. Do not you know better than I the bond that there is between
us? I will not leave you."
Christian Lillie walked through the room slowly, sadly, heavily; she
made no answer; she seemed to acquiesce at last.
For a time they both continued silent. Then Anne asked:
"Is he ill? they told me he was ill."
"_He!_" Christian paused; over the steadfast whiteness of her face there
flushed an unnatural color. She gazed upon Anne; her wistful melancholy
eyes dilating as it seemed in eager inquiry. "He!" she checked herself;
it appeared to have flashed upon her that Anne knew something of their
mighty secret greater than she had before thought. She controlled
herself with an effort--"yes, he is ill; what can he be else but ill?"
"I must return to him," she resumed, after an incoherent pause. "Stay
with us, since you will stay; but mind I have warned you, that with us
there can be nothing but desolation, and blight, and hopelessness. What
depths you may fathom before we are parted, I know not. It may be that
you are sent thither for that end. We walk darkling, but He sees the
beginning and the end: let His will be done."
She left the room--in a short time, Anne also quitted it. Marget was
arranging in the kitchen the breakfast for the shipwrecked seamen. There
was no scant or niggardly provision. The men, gaunt and famished-like,
an uncouth company, were gathered about the table. In the little parlor
sat the captain and his wife.
"Miss Kirstin said I was to see they had plenty to their breakfast,"
said Marget, deprecatingly, "and there wasna bread enough in the house;
and I'm no sae young as I hae been mysel, forbye having a fashious
hoast, and a sore shortness in my breath, sae I took the freedom to send
your lass, because she was willing to gang, and I hope, Mem, ye'll no be
angry."
"By no means," said Anne. "Jacky will be glad to help you, I am sure."
"She's a willing lassie," said Marget; "but if it werena that she's
discreet, and does what she's bidden, I wad maist think she wasna canny.
Preserve me! there she is already rattling at the gate; if she's been at
Aberford, she maun hae flown."
Jacky had only been at Miss Crankie's; she returned laden with
provisions sent by Anne's kind, active, odd little landlady--there was a
full supply. Anne herself joined the young captain and his wife in the
little parlor.
In the course of the day the forlorn crew of the "William and Mary,"
considerably revived by their night's rest and shelter, left
Schole--with much gratitude expressed and unexpressed. William and Mary
themselves proceeded, with their infant, to the house of the husband's
father. The men dispersed to their various homes.
Anne remained--only once again during that day she saw Christian. Then
she spoke less incoherently, with something indeed of singular
gentleness, and an endeavor for the moment to forget her individual
burden, as though her heart began to yearn for the sympathy of this
younger sister. Patrick was very ill; he could not leave his bed.
The next day told the same tale, and so did the next--and the next
again. The illness increased. The fever and agitation of that night had
wrought their due effect upon the delicate, enfeebled frame whenever the
desperate tension and rigid strength of its nervous excitement failed.
On the fourth day, Christian, who all this time had watched unceasingly,
called the medical practitioner of the little town to her brother's
bedside. Anne saw him as he passed down stairs, and asked eagerly for
his patient; the doctor shook his head--he could give no hope.
Anne spent the greater part of the day in Schole, returning to Miss
Crankie's only for the night. Now, when Patrick's illness had increased
so alarmingly, she could only exchange a passing word with Christian on
the stair, or at the door of the sick-room. She had pleaded vainly for
permission to help her in her tendance of the sufferer: failing in that,
she gradually assumed the management of the household matters below. She
lightened Christian's hands, at least so far.
A week after the shipwreck, Anne entered Christian's room--the high
turret chamber from which so often she had seen the reflected light
gleaming upon the dark waters of the Firth--to wait for her coming. It
was a still, dim, balmy night, soft and melancholy. There was always a
great attraction in that broad Firth at their feet--a kind of wandering
freedom for the overcharged heavy hearts gazing forth upon it. The
rounded window was veiled by an old-fashioned, faded curtain: within
this there was a seat which Christian Lillie had occupied for more
lingering woeful nights than we could count or record. Anne seated
herself there, and looked out in the dim gloaming upon the silent land,
and gleaming sea.
By-and-by she heard the slow, sad footstep enter, and sat still, in
expectation of being joined immediately--for Christian, like herself,
continually sought these windows; continually calmed her sorrow in the
wide tranquillity and balmy peace that lay around.
"Give him to me for a prey. Lord, give him to me for a prey," were the
strange words that came to Anne's ear, falling low through the tremulous
darkness; "I ask not for his life. Thou knowest that I ask not for his
life. My Father, wilt Thou not hear? wilt Thou forget the prayers that
have risen to Thee day by day and night by night since Thou didst hide
Thy countenance from us? My Lord! hast Thou said any word in vain? shall
any promise be forgotten before Thee?"
The listener sat still in awe; she dared not interrupt this agony of
supplication with any token of her presence.
Christian was pacing the room quickly, with tremulous step, and
passionate low voice, too mightily absorbed to think of form or posture.
"If it be Thy will--Thy will--and Thy will is to seek and save the lost;
and this is lost in sin, in blindness, and the deep gloom of unbelief,
and it was such that Thou camest to save--such, and not the righteous.
It is Thy will--it is Thy will. Grant me Thy will of salvation to this
sinner--Lord! Lord!"
She paused; she threw herself on her knees; there was an indefinite
sound of entreaty--groaning that could not be uttered.--Then she started
to her feet again, and the words poured forth aloud, as one who finds a
new argument and can scarce pause for language in which to state and
plead it.
"Thou who art a man! Thou who bearest a human heart in Thy high heaven!
Thou who hast entreated, and yearned, and wept over sinful brethren,
whom the adversary sifted as wheat! Thou, O Lord! who wearest Thy
humanity upon Thy throne!--he is a sinner--so were they whom Thou didst
call Thy friends.--He hath denied Thee--so did he, for whom Thy holy
lips prayed, that his faith might not fail. My Lord!--my Lord!--thou
hearest always. Look down upon us, and send us deliverance."
She sat down; she put back her wet hair, and wiped the heavy dew from
her forehead. Then she clasped her hands over her brow.
"Not life--not joy--not temporal deliverance--whatsoever is in Thy hands
is well--be it to us as seemeth good to Thee. But light, O, my Father!
light to this darkness--deliverance to this bondman--the grace of Thine
infinite mercy--the touch of Thy divine compassion. Lord, if Thou wilt,
Thou canst deliver him."
There was a faint call from another room. Christian Lillie paused for a
moment to compose her agitated features, and then hastened to the
restless sick-bed. Anne Ross sat still at the high turret window,
looking out through silent tears upon the dim country, and the gleaming
sea.
That sky serene, and calm, and boundless, beholding all beneath its
infinite extent--that mighty eye above, looking down amid the countless
myriads of its universe, as certainly upon the untold agonies of this
house as if all humanity were centered there--that One, at the right
hand of the Father, who, in the might of His eternal Godhead, doth dwell
in heaven--a man! The appeal of the broken heart was to these; and they
do not fail to answer.