Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters

by John Galt

  CHAPTER XXXV

  When they came within a mile of the town, where a small public stoodthat wayfaring men were wont to stop and refresh themselves at, mygrandfather urged the disconsolate Marion, who had come all the way fromKinghorn without speaking a single word, to alight from the cart, andremain there till the cloud of night, when she might go to her mother'sunafflicted by the gaze of the pitiless multitude.

  To this, at first, she made no answer; but leaping out of the cart, andstanding still for a moment, she looked wistfully at her sister anddaughter, 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 neverbreak another vow: so, in the face o' day, and of a' people, I'mconstrained to enter Crail--first, to confess my guilt at the door ofthe honest man and his bairns that I hae sae disgraced; and syne to begmy mother to take in the limmer that was scofft frae door to door, tillthe blessed time when ye were sent to stop me laying desperate hands onmysel'."

  Elspa remonstrated with her for some time, but she was not to beentreated: "My guilt and my shamelessness were public," said she, "andit is meet that the world should behold what hae been the wages I haeearnt, and the depth of the humiliation to which my vain and proud hearthas been brought; so, go ye on wi' your gudeman and Agnes, and let mecome by mysel'."

  "No, Marion," replied her sister, "that sha'na be; I'll no let you dothat. If you will make sic a pilgrimage, I'll bear you company, for Ican ne'er be ashamed nor mortified in being wi' you, when ye are seekingagain 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 faultthan I should: there was nae beguiler but my ain vain and sinfulnature."

  Her daughter, who had all this time stood silent with the tear in here'e, then said, "I'll gang wi' you, mother, too."

  "Mother!--O Agnes Kilspinnie, dinna sae wrang yoursel', and your honestfather, as to ca' the like o' me mother. But did ye say ye would comewi' me?" and she dropped vehemently on her knees, and, spreading herarms to the skies, cried out with a loud and wild voice,--

  "God, God! is thy goodness so great, that thou canst already vouchsafeto me a mercy like this?"

  Seeing her so bent on going into the town in her miserable estate, andhis wife and her daughter so mindit to go with her, my grandfather saidit would be as well for him to run forward and prepare her mother forher coming; so he left them, and hastened into the town, thinking theywould come in the cart; but when he was gone, Marion, still in the hopeshe 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 forwardtogether, Elspa on the right hand and Agnes on the left hand of thelowly 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 agedmind for the sore shock. For though she was a sectarian of the Romanseed, she was nevertheless a most devout character, and abided more inthe errors of her religion, because she thought herself too old to learna new faith, than from that obstinacy of spirit which in those days soabounded in the breasts of the papisticals.

  The news was at first as glad tidings to the humane old woman; but everynow and then she began to start, and to listen--and a tear fell from hereye. When she heard the voice of anyone talking in the street, or thesound of a foot passing, she hurried to the window and looked hastilyout. The struggle within her was great, and it grew every minutestronger and stronger; and after walking very wofully divers timesacross the floor, she went and closed the shutters of her window, andsitting down gave full vent to her grief. In that state she had not beenlong, when the sough of a din gathering at a distance was heard.

  "Mother of Christ!" she cried, starting up, clapping her hands; "Motherof Jesus, thou hast seen the fruit of thy womb exposed to ignominy. Bythine 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, andmeek, and kind, and without sin. But thou hast known what it was to sitby thy baby sleeping in its innocence; thou hast known what it was tolove it for the very troubles it then gave thee. By the remembrance ofthat sweet watching and care, O pity me, and help me to receive myerring bairn!"

  My grandfather could not stand her lament and ejaculations, and hearingthe sound drawing nearer and nearer, he went out of the house to see ifhis presence might be any protection; but the sight he saw was even moresorrowful than the aged mother's grief.

  Instead of the cart in which he expected to see the women, he beheldthem coming along, side by side, together attended by a greatmultitude; doors and windows flew open as they came along, and old andyoung looked out. Many cried, "She has been well serv't for her shame."Some laughed; and the young turned aside their heads to hide theirtears. Among others that ran from the causey-side to look in the face ofMarion--still beautiful, though faded, but shining with somethingbrighter 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 washer own son; but still she moved not her solemn heavenward eye, though auniversal sobbing burst from ail the multitude; and my grandfather, atthe piteous pageantry, was no longer able to remain master of hisfeelings. Seeing, however, that the mournful actors therein were goingon towards Bailie Kilspinnie's, and not intending to stop, as heexpected they would, at Widow Ruet's door, he ran forward to warn hisold friend; but in this he was too late; some one had been alreadythere; and he found the poor man, with his three other children,standing at the door, seemingly utterly at a loss to know what his dutyshould be; nor was my grandfather in any condition of mind to help himwith advice.

  At that juncture the multitude came rushing on before the women, andhalted 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 retireto a distance, leaving an open and silent space for the penitent to goforward.

  When Agnes Kilspinnie and her brother saw their father and brother andsisters at the door, they quitted their mother and joined them, as ifinstructed by an instinct, while she slowly approached.

  Elspa Ruet, who had hitherto maintained a serene and resigned composureof countenance, was so moved at this sad spectacle, that my grandfather,seeing her distress, stepped out and caught her in his arms, andsupported her from falling, she was so faint with anguish of heart.

  In the same moment, with a look that struck awe and consternation intoevery one around, Marion stepped on towards her husband and children,and gazed at them, and was dropping on her knees when the bailie caughther in his arms as if he would have carried her into the house. But hefaltered in his purpose; and, casting his eyes on the five weans whomshe had so deserted, he unloosed his embrace, and, gathering them beforehim, went in and shut the door.

  The multitude uttered a fearful sough; Elspa Ruet, roused by it, rushedfrom my grandfather towards her sister, and stooping, tried to raise herup. Poor Marion, still kneeling, looked around to the people, who stoodall as still as mourners at an interment, and her dark ringlets fallingloose, made her pale face appear of an unearthly fairness. She seemed asif she would have said something to her sister, who had clasped her bythe hand, but litherly swinging backwards, she laid her head down on herhusband's threshold and gave a heavy sigh, and died.