When they came within a mile of the town, where a small public stood
that wayfaring men were wont to stop and refresh themselves at, my
grandfather urged the disconsolate Marion, who had come all the way from
Kinghorn without speaking a single word, to alight from the cart, and
remain there till the cloud of night, when she might go to her mother's
unafflicted by the gaze of the pitiless multitude.
To this, at first, she made no answer; but leaping out of the cart, and
standing still for a moment, she looked wistfully at her sister and
daughter, and then began to weep, crying, "Gang ye awa, and no mind me;
ye canna thole, and oughtna to share what I maun bear; and I'll never
break another vow: so, in the face o' day, and of a' people, I'm
constrained to enter Crail--first, to confess my guilt at the door of
the honest man and his bairns that I hae sae disgraced; and syne to beg
my mother to take in the limmer that was scofft frae door to door, till
the blessed time when ye were sent to stop me laying desperate hands on
mysel'."
Elspa remonstrated with her for some time, but she was not to be
entreated: "My guilt and my shamelessness were public," said she, "and
it is meet that the world should behold what hae been the wages I hae
earnt, and the depth of the humiliation to which my vain and proud heart
has been brought; so, go ye on wi' your gudeman and Agnes, and let me
come by mysel'."
"No, Marion," replied her sister, "that sha'na be; I'll no let you do
that. If you will make sic a pilgrimage, I'll bear you company, for I
can ne'er be ashamed nor mortified in being wi' you, when ye are seeking
again the path of righteousness that ye were sae beguil't to quit."
"Say nae I was beguil't; say naething to gar me think less o' my fault
than I should: there was nae beguiler but my ain vain and sinful
nature."
Her daughter, who had all this time stood silent with the tear in her
e'e, then said, "I'll gang wi' you, mother, too."
"Mother!--O Agnes Kilspinnie, dinna sae wrang yoursel', and your honest
father, as to ca' the like o' me mother. But did ye say ye would come
wi' me?" and she dropped vehemently on her knees, and, spreading her
arms to the skies, cried out with a loud and wild voice,--
"God, God! is thy goodness so great, that thou canst already vouchsafe
to me a mercy like this?"
Seeing her so bent on going into the town in her miserable estate, and
his wife and her daughter so mindit to go with her, my grandfather said
it would be as well for him to run forward and prepare her mother for
her coming; so he left them, and hastened into the town, thinking they
would come in the cart; but when he was gone, Marion, still in the hope
she might get her sister and daughter dissuaded from accompanying her,
told them that she was resolved to go on her bare feet, which, however,
made them in pity still adhere the more closely to their determination;
and, having paid the Kinghorn man for his cart, the three set forward
together, Elspa on the right hand and Agnes on the left hand of the
lowly penitent.
In the meantime my grandfather hastened to the dwelling of Widow Ruet,
his gude-mother, to tell her who was coming, and to prepare her aged
mind for the sore shock. For though she was a sectarian of the Roman
seed, she was nevertheless a most devout character, and abided more in
the errors of her religion, because she thought herself too old to learn
a new faith, than from that obstinacy of spirit which in those days so
abounded in the breasts of the papisticals.
The news was at first as glad tidings to the humane old woman; but every
now and then she began to start, and to listen--and a tear fell from her
eye. When she heard the voice of anyone talking in the street, or the
sound of a foot passing, she hurried to the window and looked hastily
out. The struggle within her was great, and it grew every minute
stronger and stronger; and after walking very wofully divers times
across the floor, she went and closed the shutters of her window, and
sitting down gave full vent to her grief. In that state she had not been
long, when the sough of a din gathering at a distance was heard.
"Mother of Christ!" she cried, starting up, clapping her hands; "Mother
of Jesus, thou hast seen the fruit of thy womb exposed to ignominy. By
thine own agonies in that hour, I implore thy support. O blessed Mary,
thy sorrow was light compared to my burden, for thy bairn was holy, and
meek, and kind, and without sin. But thou hast known what it was to sit
by thy baby sleeping in its innocence; thou hast known what it was to
love it for the very troubles it then gave thee. By the remembrance of
that sweet watching and care, O pity me, and help me to receive my
erring bairn!"
My grandfather could not stand her lament and ejaculations, and hearing
the sound drawing nearer and nearer, he went out of the house to see if
his presence might be any protection; but the sight he saw was even more
sorrowful than the aged mother's grief.
Instead of the cart in which he expected to see the women, he beheld
them coming along, side by side, together attended by a great
multitude; doors and windows flew open as they came along, and old and
young looked out. Many cried, "She has been well serv't for her shame."
Some laughed; and the young turned aside their heads to hide their
tears. Among others that ran from the causey-side to look in the face of
Marion--still beautiful, though faded, but shining with something
brighter than beauty--there was a little boy that went up close to her,
and took her by the hand, without speaking, and led her along. He was
her own son; but still she moved not her solemn heavenward eye, though a
universal sobbing burst from ail the multitude; and my grandfather, at
the piteous pageantry, was no longer able to remain master of his
feelings. Seeing, however, that the mournful actors therein were going
on towards Bailie Kilspinnie's, and not intending to stop, as he
expected they would, at Widow Ruet's door, he ran forward to warn his
old friend; but in this he was too late; some one had been already
there; and he found the poor man, with his three other children,
standing at the door, seemingly utterly at a loss to know what his duty
should be; nor was my grandfather in any condition of mind to help him
with advice.
At that juncture the multitude came rushing on before the women, and
halted in front of the bailie's house; for, seeing him and his bairns,
they were taught, by some sense of gentle sympathy, to divide and retire
to a distance, leaving an open and silent space for the penitent to go
forward.
When Agnes Kilspinnie and her brother saw their father and brother and
sisters at the door, they quitted their mother and joined them, as if
instructed by an instinct, while she slowly approached.
Elspa Ruet, who had hitherto maintained a serene and resigned composure
of countenance, was so moved at this sad spectacle, that my grandfather,
seeing her distress, stepped out and caught her in his arms, and
supported her from falling, she was so faint with anguish of heart.
In the same moment, with a look that struck awe and consternation into
every one around, Marion stepped on towards her husband and children,
and gazed at them, and was dropping on her knees when the bailie caught
her in his arms as if he would have carried her into the house. But he
faltered in his purpose; and, casting his eyes on the five weans whom
she had so deserted, he unloosed his embrace, and, gathering them before
him, went in and shut the door.
The multitude uttered a fearful sough; Elspa Ruet, roused by it, rushed
from my grandfather towards her sister, and stooping, tried to raise her
up. Poor Marion, still kneeling, looked around to the people, who stood
all as still as mourners at an interment, and her dark ringlets falling
loose, made her pale face appear of an unearthly fairness. She seemed as
if she would have said something to her sister, who had clasped her by
the hand, but litherly swinging backwards, she laid her head down on her
husband's threshold and gave a heavy sigh, and died.