Rarely has it fallen to the lot of man to be so blessed with such
children as mine; but surely I was unworthy of the blessing. And yet,
though maybe unworthy, Lord, thou knowest by the nightly anthems of
thankfulness that rose from my hearth, that the chief sentiment in my
breast, in those moments of melody, was my inward acknowledgment to
Thee for having made this world so bright to me, with an offspring so
good and fair, and with Sarah Lochrig, their mother, she whose life was
the sweetness in the cup of my felicity. Let me not, however, hurry on,
nor forget that I am but an historian, and that it befits not the
juridical pen of the character to dwell upon my own woes when I have to
tell of the sufferings of others.
The trials and the tribulations which I had heard so much of, and
whereof I had witnessed so many, made me in a sense but little liable to
be moved when told of any new outrage. But the sight of that Highlander
wrenching from Sarah Lochrig's finger our wedding-ring did, in its
effects and influences, cause a change in my nature as sudden and as
wonderful as that which the rod of Moses underwent in being quickened
into a serpent.
For some time I sat as I was sitting while the deed was doing; and when
my wife, after the plunderers had departed, said to me, soothingly, that
we had reason to be thankful for having endured no other loss than a
little world's gear, she was surprised at the sedateness with which I
responded to her pious condolements. Michael, our first-born, then in
the prime beauty of his manhood, had been absent when the robbery was
committed, and coming in, on hearing what had been done, flamed with the
generous rage of youth, and marvelled that I had been so calm. My blithe
and blooming Mary joined her ingenuous admiration to theirs, but my mild
and sensible Margaret fell upon my neck, and weeping, cried, "O! father,
it's no worth the doure thought that gars your brows sae gloom;" while
Joseph, the youngest of the flock, then in his twelfth year, brought the
Bible and laid it on my knees.
I opened the Book, and would have read a portion, but the passage which
caught my eye was the beginning of the sixth chapter of Jeremiah, "O ye
children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of
Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in
Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great
destruction." And I thought it was a voice calling me to arm, and to
raise the banner against the oppressor; and thereupon I shut the Book,
and retiring to the fields, communed with myself for some time.
Having returned into the house, and sent Michael to my brother's to
inquire how it had fared with him and his family, I at the same time
directed Joseph to go to Irvine, and tell our friends there to help us
with a supply of blankets, for the Highlanders had taken away my horses
and driven off my cattle, and we had no means of bringing any thing.
But Joseph was not long gone when Michael came flying back from my
brother's, and I saw by his looks that something very dreadful had been
committed, and said,--
"Are they all in life?"
"Aye in life!" and, the tears rushing into his eyes, he exclaimed, "But
O! I wish that my cousin Bell had been dead and buried!"
Bell Gilhaize, my brother's only daughter, was the lightest-hearted
maiden in all our parish. It had long been a pleasure both to her father
and me to observe a mingling of affections between her and Michael, and
the year following had been fixt for their marriage.
"The time of weeping, Michael," said I, "is past, and the time of
warring will soon come. It is not in man to bear always aggression, nor
can it be required of him ever to endure contumely."
"What has befallen Bell?" said his mother to him; but instead of making
her any answer, he uttered a dreadful sound, like the howl of madness,
and hastily quitted the house.
Sarah Lochrig, who was a woman of a serene reason, and mild and gracious
in her nature, looked at me with a silent sadness, that told all the
anguish with which the horror that she guessed had darted into her soul;
and then, with an energy that I never saw in her before, folded her own
two daughters to her bosom, as if she was in terror for them, and bathed
their necks with tears.
While we were in this state my brother himself came in. He was now a man
well stricken in years, but of a hale appearance, and usually of an open
and manly countenance. Nor on this occasion did he appear greatly
altered; but there was a fire in his eye, and a severity in his aspect,
such as I'd never seen before, yet withal a fortitude that showed how
strong the self-possession was, which kept the tempest within him from
breaking out in word or gesture.
"Ringan," said he, "we have met with a misfortune. It's the will of
Providence, and we maun bear it. But surely in the anger that is caused
by provocation, our Creator tells us to resent. From this hour, all
obligation, obedience, allegiance, all whatsoever that as a subject I
did owe to Charles Stuart is at an end. I am his foe; and the Lord put
strength into my arm to revenge the ruin of my bairn!"
There was in the utterance of these words a solemnity at first
terrifying to hear; but his voice in the last clause of the sentence
faltered, and he took off his bonnet and held it over his face, and wept
bitterly.
I could make him no answer for some time; but I took hold of his hand,
and when he had a little mastered his grief, I said, "Brother, we are
children of the same parents, and the wrongs of one are the wrongs of
both. But let us not be hasty."
He took the bonnet from his face, and looked at me sternly for a little
while, and then he said,--
"Ringan Gilhaize, till you have felt what I feel, you ne'er can know
that the speed o' lightning is slow to the wishes and the will of
revenge."
At that moment his daughter Bell was brought in, led by my son Michael.
Her father, at the sight of her, clasped his hands wildly above his
head, and rushed out of the house. My wife went towards her, but stopped
and fell back into my arms at the sight of her demented look. My
daughters gazed, and held up their trembling hands.
"Speak to her," said Michael to his sisters; "she'll maybe heed you;"
and he added, "Bell, it's Mary and Peggy," and dropping her hand, he
went to lead Mary to her, while she stood like a statue on the spot.
"Dear Bell," said I, as I moved myself gently from the arms of my
afflicted wife, "come wi' me to the open air;" and I took her by the
hand which poor Michael had dropped, and led her out to the green, but
still she looked the same demented creature.
Her father, who had by this time again overcome his distress, seeing us
on the green, came towards us, while my wife and daughters also came
out; but Michael could no longer endure the sight of the rifled rose
that he had cherished for the ornament of his bosom, and he remained to
hide his grief in the house.
"Her mind's gone, Ringan," said my brother, "and she'll ne'er be better
in this world!" Nor was she; but she lived many months after, and in all
the time never shed a tear, nor breathed a sigh, nor spoke a word; where
she was led she went; where she was left, she stood. At last she became
so weak that she could not stand; and one day, as I was sitting at her
bedside, I observed that she lay unusually still, and touching her hand,
found that all her sorrows were over.