The night has been unruly:...
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.
_Macbeth_.
The storm was now all but over. The moon shone clear, and the clouds
that scudded across its face were few. Lauvellen, to the east, was
visible to the summit; and Raven Craig, to the west, loomed black
before the moon. A cutting wind still blew, and a frost had set in
sharp and keen. Already the sleet that had fallen was frozen in sheets
along the road, which was thereby made almost impassable even to the
sure footsteps of the mountaineer. The trees no longer sighed and
moaned with the wind; on the stiffening firs lay beads of frozen snow,
and the wind as it passed through them soughed. The ghylls were fuller
and louder, and seemed to come from every hill; the gullocks
overflowed, but silence was stealing over the streams, and the deeper
rivers seemed scarcely to flow.
Ralph and Rotha walked side by side to Shoulthwaite Moss. It was
useless for the girl to return to Fornside, Ralph had said. Her father
would not be there, and the desolate house was no place for her on a
night like this. She must spend the night under his mother's charge.
They had exchanged but few words on setting out. The tragedy of her
father's life was settling on the girl's heart with a nameless misery.
It is the first instinct of the child's nature to look up to the
parent as its refuge, its tower of strength. That bulwark may be
shattered before the world, and yet to the child's intuitive feeling
it may remain the same. Proudly, steadfastly the child heart continues
to look up to the wreck that is no wreck in the eyes of its love. Ah!
how well it is if the undeceiving never comes! But when all that
seemed strong, when all that seemed true, becomes to the unveiled
vision weak and false, what word is there that can represent the
sadness of the revealment?
“Do you think, Ralph, that I could bear a terrible answer if I were to
ask you a terrible question?”
Rotha broke the silence between them with these words. Ralph replied
promptly,--
“Yes, I do. What would you ask?”
The girl appeared powerless to proceed. She tried to speak and
stopped, withdrawing her words and framing them afresh, as though
fearful of the bluntness of her own inquiry. Her companion perceived
her distress, and coming to her relief with a cheerier tone, he
said,--
“Don't fear to ask, Rotha. I think I can guess your question. You want
to know if--”
“Ralph,” the girl broke in hurriedly--she could better bear to say the
word herself than to hear him say it--“Ralph, he is my father, and
that has been enough. I could not love him the less whatever might
happen. I have never asked him--anything. He is my father, and though
he be--whatever he may be--he is my father _still_, you know. But,
Ralph, tell me--you say I can bear it--and I can--I feel I can
now--tell me, Ralph, _was_ it poor father after all?”
Rotha had stopped and covered up her face in her hands. Ralph stopped
too. His voice was deep and thick as he answered slowly,--
“No, Rotha, it was not.”
“_Not_ father?” cried the girl; “you know it was not?”
“I _know_ it was not.”
The voice again was not the voice of one who brings glad tidings, but
the words were themselves full of gladness for the ear on which they
fell, and Rotha seemed almost overcome by her joy. She clutched
Ralph's arm with both hands.
“Heaven be praised!” she said; “now I can brave anything--poor, poor
father!”
After this the girl almost leapt over the frozen road in the ecstasy
of her new-found delight. The weight of weary months of gathering
suspense seemed in one moment to have fallen from her forever. Half
laughing, half weeping, she bounded along, the dog sporting beside
her. Her quick words rippled on the frosty air. Occasionally she
encountered a flood that swept across the way from the hills above to
the lake beneath, but her light foot tripped over it before a hand
could be offered her. Their path lay along the pack-horse road by the
side of the mere, and time after time she would scud down to the
water's edge to pluck the bracken that grew there, or to test the thin
ice with her foot. She would laugh and then be silent, and then break
out into laughter again. She would prattle to herself unconsciously
and then laugh once more. All the world seemed made anew to this happy
girl to-night.
True enough, nature meant her for a heartsome lass. Her hair was dark,
and had a tangled look, as though lately caught in brambles or still
thick with burrs. Her dark eyebrows and long lashes shaded the darkest
of black-brown eyes. Her mouth was alive with sensibility. Every shade
of feeling could play upon her face. Her dress was loose, and somewhat
negligently worn; one never felt its presence or knew whether it were
poor or fine. Her voice, though soft, was generally high-pitched, not
like the whirl of wind through the trees, but like its sigh through
the long grass, and came, perhaps, to the mountain girl from the
effort to converse above the sound of these natural voices. There was
a tremor in her voice sometimes, and, when she was taken unawares, a
sidelong look in her eyes. There was something about her in these
serious moods that laid hold of the imagination. She had surely a well
of strength which had been given for her own support and the solace of
others at some future moment, only too terrible. But not to-night, as
she tripped along under the moonlight, did the consciousness of that
moment overshadow her.
And what of Ralph, who strode solemnly by her side? A change had come
over him of late. He spoke little, and never at all of the scenes he
had witnessed in his long campaign--never of his own share in them. He
had become at once an active and a brooding man. The shadow of a
supernatural presence seemed to hang over everything. Tonight that
shadow was blacker than before.
In the fulness of her joy Rotha had not marked the tone in which Ralph
spoke when he gave her in a word all the new life that bounded in her
veins. But that tone was one of sadness, and that word had seemed to
drain away from veins of his some of the glad life that now pulsated
in hers. Was it nothing that the outcast among men whom he alone, save
this brave girl, had championed, had convinced him of his innocence?
Nothing that the light of a glad morning had broken on the long night
of the blithe creature by his side, and brightened her young life with
the promise of a happier future?
“Look, Ralph, look at the withered sedge, all frost-covered!” said
Rotha in her happiness, tripping up to his side, with a sprig newly
plucked in her hand. Ralph answered her absently, and she rattled on
to herself, “Rotha shall keep you, beautiful sedge! How you glisten in
the moonlight!” Then the girl broke out with a snatch of an old Border
ballad,--
Dacre's gane to the war, Willy,
Dacre's gane to the war;
Dacre's lord has crossed the ford,
And left us for the war.
“Poor father,” she said more soberly, “poor father; but he'll come
back home now--come back to our _own_ home again”; and then,
unconscious of the burden of her song, she sang,--
Naworth's halls are dead, Willy,
Naworth's halls are dead;
One lonely foot sounds on the keep,
And that's the warder's tread.
The moon shone clearly; the tempest had lulled, and the silvery voice
of the girl was all that could be heard above the distant rumble of
the ghylls and the beat of Ralph's heavy footsteps. In a moment Rotha
seemed to become conscious that her companion was sad as well as
silent. How had this escaped her so long? she thought.
“But you don't seem quite so glad, Ralph,” she said in an altered
tone, half of inquiry, half of gentle reproach, as of one who felt
that her joy would have been the more if another had shared it.
“Don't I? Ah, but I _am_ glad--that is, I'm glad your father won't
need old Mattha's bull-grips,” he said, with an attempt to laugh at
his own pleasantry.
How hollow the laugh sounded on his own ears! It was not what his
father would have called heartsome. What was this sadness that was
stealing over him and stiffening every sense? Had he yet realized it
in all its fulness? Ralph shook himself and struck his hand on his
breast, as though driving out the cold. He could not drive out the
foreboding that had taken a seat there since Sim looked last in his
eyes and cried, “Let me go.”
Laddie frisked about them, and barked back at the echo of his own
voice, that resounded through the clear air from the hollow places in
the hills. They had not far to go now. The light of the kitchen window
at Shoulthwaite would be seen from the turn of the road. Only through
yonder belt of trees that overhung the “lonnin,” and they would be in
the court of Angus Ray's homestead.
“Ralph,” said Rotha--she had walked in silence for some little
time--“all the sorrow of my life seems gone. You have driven it all
away.” Her tremulous voice belied the light laugh that followed.
He looked down at her tear-dimmed eyes. Was her great sorrow indeed
gone? Had he driven it away from her? If so, was it not all, and more,
being gathered up into his own heart instead? Was it not so?
“You have borne it bravely, Rotha--very bravely,” he answered. “Do you
think, now, that I could have borne it as you have done?”
There was a tremor in his tone and a tenderness of expression in his
face that Rotha had never before seen there.
“Bear it as I have done?” she repeated. “There is nothing you could
not bear.” And her radiant face was lit up in that white moonlight
with a perfect sunshine of beauty.
“I don't know, Rotha, my girl,” he answered falteringly; “I don't
know--yet.” The last words were spoken with his head dropped on to his
breast.
Rotha stepped in front of him, and, putting her hand on his shoulder,
stopped him and looked searchingly in his face.
“What is this sadness, Ralph? Is there something you have not told
me--something behind, which, when it comes, will take the joy out of
this glad news you give me?”
“I could not be so cruel as that, Rotha; do you think I could?”
A smile was playing upon his features as he smoothed her hair over her
forehead and drew forward the loose hood that had fallen from it.
“And there is nothing to come after--nothing?”
“Nothing that need mar your happiness, my girl, or disturb your love.
You love your father, do you not?”
“Better than all the world!” Rotha answered impulsively. “Poor
father!”
“Better than all the world,” echoed Ralph vacantly, and with something
like a sigh. Her impetuous words seemed to touch him deeply, and he
repeated them once more, but they died away on his lips. “Better than
all the--” Then they walked on.
They had almost reached the belt of trees that overhung the road.
“Ralph,” said Rotha, pausing, “may I--kiss you?”
He stooped and kissed her on the forehead. Then the weight about his
heart seemed heavier than before. By that kiss he felt that between
him and the girl at his side there was a chasm that might never be
bridged. Had he loved her? He hardly knew; he had never put it to
himself so. Did she not love him? He could not doubt it. And her kiss!
yes, it was the kiss of love; but _what_ love? The frank, upturned
face answered him but too well.
They were within the shadow of the trees now, and could see the lights
at Shoulthwaite. In two minutes more their journey would be done.
“Take my hand, Rotha; you might slip on the frosty road in darkness
like this.”
The words were scarcely spoken, when Rotha gave a little cry and
stumbled. “In an instant Ralph's arm was about her, and she had
regained her feet.
“What is that?” she said, trembling with fear, and turning backwards.
“A drift of frozen sleet, no doubt,” Ralph said, kicking with his foot
at the spot where Rotha slipped.
“No, no,” she answered, trembling now with some horrible apprehension.
Ralph had stepped back, and was leaning over something that lay across
the road. The dog was snuffling at it.
“What is it?” said Rotha nervously.
He did not answer. He was on his knees beside it; his hands were on
it. There was a moment of agonizing suspense.
“What is it?” Rotha repeated.
Still there came no reply. Ralph had risen, but he knelt again. His
breath was coming fast. Rotha thought she could hear the beating of
his heart.
“Oh, but I must know!” cried the girl. And she stepped backward as
though to touch for herself the thing that lay there.
“Nothing,” said Ralph, rising and taking her firmly by the hand that
she had outstretched,--“nothing--a sack of corn has fallen from the
wagon, nothing more.” He spoke in a hoarse whisper.
He drew her forward a few paces, but she stopped. The dog was standing
where Ralph had knelt, and was howling wofully.
“Laddie, come here,” Ralph said; “Rotha, come away.”
“I could bear the truth, Ralph--I think I could,” she answered.
He put his arm about her, and drew her along without a word. She felt
his powerful frame quiver and his strong voice die within him. She
guessed the truth. She knew this man as few had known him, as none
other could know him.
“Go back, Ralph,” she said; “I'll hurry on.” And still the dog howled
behind them.
Ralph seemed not to hear her, but continued to walk by her side. Her
heart sank, and she looked piteously into his face.
And now the noise reached them of hurrying footsteps in front. People
were coming towards them from the house. Lanterns were approaching
them. In another moment they were in the court. All was astir. The
whole household seemed gathered there, and in the middle of the yard
stood the mare Betsy, saddled but riderless, her empty wool-creels
strapped to her sides.
“Thank Heaven, here is Ralph,” said Willy. He was standing bareheaded,
with the bridle in his hand.
“Bless thee!” cried Mrs. Ray as her son came up to her. “Here is the
mare back home, my lad, but where is thy father?”
“The roads are bad to-night, mother,” Ralph said, with a violent
effort to control the emotion that was surging up to his throat.
“God help us, Ralph; you can't mean that!” said Willy, catching his
brother's drift.
“Give me the lantern, boy,” said Ralph to a young cowherd that stood
near. “Rotha, my lass, take mother into the house.” Then he stepped up
to where his mother stood petrified with dismay, and kissed her
tenderly. He had rarely done so before. The good dame understood him
and wept. Rotha put her arms about the mother's neck and kissed her
too, and helped her in.
Willy was unmanned. “You don't mean that you know that father--”
He could say no more. Ralph had raised the lantern to the level of the
mare's creels to remove the strap that bound them, and the light had
fallen on his face.
“Ralph, is he hurt--much hurt?”
“He is--dead!”
Willy fell back as one that had been dealt a blow.
“God help me! O God, help me!” he cried.
“Give me the reins,” said Ralph, “and be here when I come back. I
can't be long. Keep the door of the kitchen shut--mother is there. Go
into his room, and see that all is ready.”
“No, no, I can't do that.” Willy was shuddering visibly.
“Remain here, at least, and give no warning when I return.”
“Take me with you, Ralph; I can't stay here alone.”
“Take the lantern, then,” said Ralph.
And the brothers walked, with the mare between them, to where the path
was, under the shadow of the trees. What shadow had fallen that night
on their life's path, which Time might never raise? Again and again
the horse slipped its foot on the frozen road. Again and again Willy
would have stopped and turned back; but he went on-he dared not to
leave his brother's side. The dog howled in front of them. They
reached the spot at last.
Angus Ray lay there, his face downwards. The mighty frame was still
and cold and stiff as the ice beneath it. The strong man had fallen
from the saddle on to his head, and, dislocating his neck, had met
with instant death. Close at hand were the marks of the horse's
sliding hoofs. She had cast one of her shoes in the fall, and there it
lay. Her knees, too, were still bleeding.
“Give me the lantern, Willy,” said Ralph, going down on his knees to
feel the heart. He had laid his hand on it before, and knew too well
it did not beat. But he opened the cloak and tried once more. Willy
was walking to and fro across the road, not daring to look down. And
in the desolation of that moment the great heart of his brother failed
him too, and he dropped his head over the cold breast beside which he
knelt, and from eyes unused to weep the tears fell hot upon it.
“Take the lantern again, Willy,” Ralph said, getting up. Then he
lifted the body on to the back of the mare that stood quietly by their
side.
As he did so a paper slipped away from the breast of the dead man.
Willy picked it up, and seeing “Ralph Ray” written on the back of it,
he handed it to his brother, who thrust it into a pocket unread.
Then the two walked back, their dread burden between them.