During the remainder of the day, after Mr. Keelevin had left him, Claud
continued to sit alone, and took no heed of any thing that occurred
around him.--Dinner was placed on the table at the usual hour; but he
did not join Walter.
‘I won’er, father,’ said the natural, as he was hewing at the joint,
‘that ye’re no for ony dinner the day; for ye ken if a’ the folk in the
world were to die but only ae man, it would behove that man to hae his
dinner.’
To this sage observation the grey-haired penitent made no reply; and
Walter finished his meal without attempting to draw him again into
conversation.
In the afternoon Claud left his elbow-chair, and walked slowly and
heavily up the path which led to the bench he had constructed on the
rising ground, where he was so often in the practice of contemplating
the lands of his forefathers; and on gaining the brow of the hill, he
halted, and once more surveyed the scene. For a moment it would seem
that a glow of satisfaction passed over his heart; but it was only a
hectical flush, instantly succeeded by the nausea of moral disgust;
and he turned abruptly round, and seated himself with his back towards
the view which had afforded him so much pleasure. In this situation he
continued some time, resting his forehead on his ivory-headed staff,
and with his eyes fixed on the ground.
In the meantime, Mr. Keelevin having called on the Reverend Dr.
Denholm, according to Claud’s wish, to request he would visit him
in the afternoon, the venerable minister was on his way to Grippy.
On reaching the house, he was informed by one of the maid-servants,
that her master had walked to his summer-seat on the hill, whither he
immediately proceeded, and found the old man still rapt in his moody
and mournful meditations.
Claud had looked up, as he heard him approach, and pointing to the
bench, beckoned him to be seated. For some time they sat together
without speaking; the minister appearing to wait in expectation that
the penitent would address him first; but observing him still disposed
to continue silent, he at last said,--
‘Mr. Keelevin told me, Mr. Walkinshaw, that ye wished to see me under
this dispensation with which the hand o’ a righteous Providence has
visited your family.’
‘I’m greatly obligated to Mr. Keelevin,’ replied Claud, thoughtfully;
‘he’s a frien’ly and a very honest man. It would hae been happy wi’ me
the day, Dr. Denholm, had I put mair confidence in him; but I doobt, I
doobt, I hae been a’ my life a sore hypocrite.’
‘I was ay o’ that notion,’ said the Reverend Doctor, not quite sure
whether the contrition so humbly expressed was sincere or affected, but
the meek look of resignation with which the desolate old man replied to
the cutting sarcasm, moved the very heart of the chastiser with strong
emotions of sympathy and grief; and he added, in his kindliest manner,--
‘But I hope, Mr. Walkinshaw, I may say to you, “Brother, be of good
cheer;” for if this stroke, by which your first-born is cut off from
the inheritance of the years that were in the promise of his winsome
youth, is ta’en and borne as the admonition of the vanity of setting
your heart on the things of carnal life, it will prove to you a great
blessing for evermore.’
There was something in the words in which this was couched, that, still
more painfully than the taunt, affected the disconsolate penitent,
and he burst into tears, taking hold of the minister’s right hand
graspingly with his left, saying, ‘Spare me, doctor! O spare me, an it
be possible--for the worm that never dieth hath coiled itsel within my
bosom, and the fire that’s never quenched is kindled around me--What an
it be for ever?’
‘Ye should na, Mr. Walkinshaw,’ replied the clergyman, awed by the
energy and solemnity of his manner--‘Ye should na entertain such
desperate thoughts, but hope for better things; for it’s a blithe
thing for your precious soul to be at last sensible o’ your own
unworthiness.’
‘Aye, doctor, but, alack for me! I was ay sensible o’ that. I hae
sinned wi’ my e’en open, and I thought to mak up for’t by a strict
observance o’ church ordinances.’
‘’Deed, Mr. Walkinshaw, there are few shorter roads to the pit than
through the kirk-door; and many a Christian has been brought nigh to
the death, thinking himsel cheered and guided by the sound o’ gospel
preaching, when, a’ the time, his ear was turned to the sough o’
perdition.’
‘What shall I do to be saved?’ said the old man, reverentially and
timidly.
‘Ye can do naething yoursel, Mr. Walkinshaw,’ replied the minister; and
he proceeded, with the fearlessness of a champion and the energy of an
apostle, to make manifest to his understanding the corruption of the
human heart, and its utter unworthiness in the pure eyes of Him that
alone can wash away the Ethiopian hue of original sin, and eradicate
the leopard spots of personal guilt.
While he spoke the bosom of Claud was convulsed--he breathed deeply and
fearfully--his eyes glared--and the manner in which he held his hands,
trembling and slightly raised, showed that his whole inward being
was transfixed, as it were, with a horrible sense of some tremendous
apocalypse.
‘I fear, I fear, Doctor Denholm,’ he exclaimed, ‘that I can hae no
hope.’
The venerable pastor was struck with the despair of the expression,
and, after a short pause, said, ‘Dinna let yoursel despond; tak comfort
in the mercy of God; surely your life has na been blacken’t wi’ ony
great crime?’
‘It has been one continued crime,’ cried the penitent--‘frae the first
hour that my remembrance can look back to, down to the vera last
minute, there has been no break nor interruption in the constancy of my
iniquity. I sold my soul to the Evil One in my childhood, that I might
recover the inheritance of my forebears. O the pride of that mystery!
and a’ the time there was a voice within me that would na be pacified
wi’ the vain promises I made to become another man, as soon as ever my
conquest was complete.’
‘I see but in that,’ said the pious Doctor, in a kind and consoling
manner, ‘I see but in a’ that, Mr. Walkinshaw, an inordinate love of
the world; and noo that ye’re awakened to a sense of your danger, the
Comforter will soon come. Ye hae ay been reputed an honest man, and no
deficient in your moral duties, as a husband, a parent, a master, and a
friend.’
Claud clasped his hands fervently together, exclaiming, ‘O God! thou
hast ever seen my hypocrisy!--Dr. Denholm,’ and he took him firmly by
the hand;--‘when I was but a bairn, I kent na what it was to hae the
innocence o’ a young heart. I used to hide the sma’ presents of siller
I got frae my frien’s, even when Maudge Dobbie, the auld kind creature
that brought me up, could na earn a sufficiency for our scrimpit meals;
I did na gang near her when I kent she was in poortith and bedrid, for
fear my heart would relent, and gar me gie her something out o’ the
gathering I was making for the redemption o’ this vile yird that is
mair grateful than me, for it repays with its fruits the care o’ the
tiller. I stifled the very sense o’ loving kindness within me; and in
furtherance of my wicked avarice, I married a woman--Heaven may forgie
the aversion I had to her; but my own nature never can.’
Dr. Denholm held up his hands, and contemplated in silence the humbled
and prostrate spirit that was thus proceeding with the frightful
confession of its own baseness and depravity.
‘But,’ cried the penitent, ‘I canna hope that ye’re able to thole
the sight that I would lay open in the inner sepulchre of my guilty
conscience--for in a’ my reprobation I had ever the right before me,
when I deliberately preferred the wrang. The angel of the Lord ceased
not, by night nor by day, to warsle for me; but I clung to Baal, and
spurned and kicked whenever the messenger of brightness and grace tried
to tak me away.’
The old man paused, and then looking towards the minister, who still
continued silent, regarding him with compassionate amazement, said,--
‘Doctor, what can I expek?’
‘O! Mr. Walkinshaw, but ye hae been a doure sinner,’ was the simple and
emphatic reply; ‘and I hope that this sense o’ the evil of your way is
an admonition to a repentance that may lead you into the right road at
last. Be ye, therefore, thankful for the warning ye hae now gotten of
the power and the displeasure of God.’
‘Many a warning,’ said Claud, ‘in tokens sairer than the plagues o’
Egypt, which but grieved the flesh, hae I had in the spirit; but still
my heart was harden’t till the destroying angel slew my first-born.’
‘Still I say, be thankful, Mr. Walkinshaw! ye hae received a singular
manifestation of the goodness of God. Your son, we’re to hope, is
removed into a better world. He’s exposed no more to the temptations of
this life--a’ care wi’ him is past--a’ sorrow is taken from him. It’s
no misfortune to die, but a great risk to be born; and nae Christian
should sorrow, like unto those who are without hope, when Death, frae
ahint the black yett, puts forth his ancient hand, and pulls in a
brother or a sister by the skirts of the garment of flesh. The like
o’ that, Mr. Walkinshaw, is naething; but when, by the removal of a
friend, we are taught to see the error of our way, it’s a great thing
for us--it’s a blithe thing; and, therefore, I say unto you again,
brother, be of good cheer, for in this temporal death of your son,
maybe the Lord has been pleased to bring about your own salvation.’
‘And what may be the token whereby I may venture to take comfort frae
the hope?’
‘There’s nae surer sign gi’en to man than that token--when ye see
this life but as a pilgrimage, then ye may set forward in your way
rejoicing--when ye behold nothing in your goods and gear but trash
and splendid dirt, then may ye be sure that ye hae gotten better than
silver or gold--when ye see in your herds and flocks but fodder for
a carnal creature like the beasts that perish, then shall ye eat of
the heavenly manna--when ye thirst to do good, then shall the rock
be smitten, and the waters of life, flowing forth, will follow you
wheresoever you travel in the wilderness of this world.’
The venerable pastor suddenly paused, for at that moment Claud laid
aside his hat, and, falling on his knees, clasped his hands together,
and looking towards the skies, his long grey hair flowing over his
back, he said with awful solemnity, ‘Father, thy will be done!--in the
devastation of my earthly heart, I accept the erles of thy service.’
He then rose with a serene countenance, as if his rigid features had
undergone some benignant transformation. At that moment a distant
strain of wild and holy music, rising from a hundred voices, drew their
attention towards a shaggy bank of natural birch and hazel, where, on
the sloping ground in front, they saw a number of Cameronians from
Glasgow, and the neighbouring villages, assembled to commemorate in
worship the persecutions which their forefathers had suffered there for
righteousness sake.
After listening till the psalm was finished, Claud and Dr. Denholm
returned towards the house, where they found Leddy Grippy had arrived.
The old man, in order to avoid any unnecessary conversation, proposed
that the servants should be called in, and that the Doctor should
pray--which he did accordingly, and at the conclusion retired.