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And
then
he
felt
compunction
,
for
he
remembered
the
worn
face
of
the
dead
woman
at
the
Greenshiel
.
For
two
days
the
minister
of
Woodilee
was
a
man
unbalanced
and
distraught
.
He
sat
at
his
books
without
concentration
,
and
he
wandered
on
the
hills
without
delight
,
while
Isobel
’
s
face
puckered
in
dismay
as
she
removed
his
scarcely
tasted
meals
.
It
was
hot
thundery
weather
,
with
storms
that
never
broke
in
rain
grumbling
among
the
glens
,
and
to
this
she
set
down
his
indisposition
to
eat
.
But
David
’
s
trouble
was
not
of
the
body
.
He
had
thought
himself
the
mailed
servant
of
God
,
single
in
purpose
,
armed
securely
against
the
world
,
and
lo
!
in
a
single
night
he
had
been
the
sport
of
profane
fancies
and
had
rejoiced
in
vanities
.
The
girl
he
scarcely
thought
of
-
-
she
had
scared
rather
than
enthralled
him
.
But
the
Wood
of
Melanudrigill
lay
heavy
on
his
conscience
.
Where
was
his
Christian
fortitude
if
a
black
forest
at
night
could
set
him
shivering
like
a
lost
child
?
David
had
all
his
life
kept
a
tight
hand
on
his
courage
;
if
he
dreaded
a
thing
,
that
was
good
reason
why
he
should
go
out
of
his
road
to
face
it
.
His
instinct
was
to
return
alone
to
Melanudrigill
in
the
dark
,
penetrate
its
deepest
recesses
,
and
give
the
lie
to
its
enchantments
.
.
.
.
But
a
notion
which
he
could
not
combat
restrained
him
.
That
was
what
the
Wood
wanted
,
to
draw
him
back
to
it
through
curiosity
or
fear
.
If
he
yielded
to
his
impulse
he
would
be
acknowledging
its
power
.
It
was
the
part
of
a
minister
of
God
to
deny
at
the
outset
that
the
place
was
more
than
a
common
wilderness
of
rock
and
tree
,
to
curb
his
fancies
as
things
too
vain
for
a
grown
man
’
s
idlest
thought
.
On
this
point
he
fixed
his
resolution
and
found
some
comfort
.
But
the
memory
of
Calidon
and
the
troopers
and
the
groom
’
s
words
remained
to
trouble
him
.
Had
he
not
borne
himself
in
their
company
as
a
Laodicean
,
assenting
when
he
should
have
testified
?
.
.
.
He
went
over
every
detail
of
the
talk
,
for
it
stuck
firmly
in
his
mind
.
They
had
decried
the
Solemn
League
and
Covenant
in
the
name
of
the
Kirk
,
and
he
had
not
denounced
them
.
.
.
.
And
yet
they
had
spoken
as
Christian
men
and
loyal
sons
of
that
Kirk
.
.
.
.
What
meant
,
too
,
the
groom
’
s
disquisition
on
law
and
government
?
David
found
the
argument
hard
to
gainsay
-
-
it
presented
a
doctrine
of
the
state
which
commended
itself
to
his
reason
.
Yet
it
was
in
flat
contradiction
of
the
declared
view
of
that
Kirk
which
he
was
sworn
to
serve
,
and
what
then
became
of
his
ordination
vows
?
.
.
.
But
was
it
contrary
to
the
teaching
of
the
Word
and
the
spirit
of
his
faith
?
He
searched
his
mind
on
this
point
and
found
that
he
had
no
clearness
.
His
duty
,
it
seemed
,
was
to
go
to
some
father
-
in
-
God
,
like
the
minister
of
Kirk
Aller
,
and
lay
his
doubts
before
him
.
But
he
found
that
course
impossible
.
The
pale
fleshy
face
of
Mr
.
Muirhead
rose
before
him
,
as
light
-
giving
as
a
peat
-
stack
;
he
heard
his
complacent
tones
,
saw
the
bland
conceit
in
his
ruminant
eyes
.
Nor
would
he
fare
better
with
the
militancy
of
his
brother
of
Bold
,
who
classed
all
mankind
as
Amalekites
,
save
the
chosen
few
who
wore
his
own
phylacteries
.
Mr
.
Fordyce
might
give
him
comfort
,
and
he
was
on
the
point
many
times
of
saddling
his
horse
and
riding
to
the
manse
of
Cauldshaw
.
.
.
.
But
each
time
he
found
it
impossible
,
and
when
he
asked
himself
the
cause
he
was
amazed
at
the
answer
.
Loyalty
forbade
him
-
-
loyalty
to
the
young
man
,
habited
as
a
groom
,
who
had
spoken
both
as
counsellor
and
comrade
.
That
was
the
enduring
spell
of
that
strange
night
.
David
as
a
youth
in
Edinburgh
had
had
few
familiar
friends
,
and
none
that
could
be
called
intimate
.
For
the
first
time
he
had
met
one
from
whom
had
gone
forth
an
influence
that
melted
his
heart
.
He
recalled
with
a
kind
of
aching
affection
the
gentle
,
commanding
courtesy
,
the
winning
smile
,
the
masterful
and
yet
wistful
grey
eyes
.
"
I
wonder
,
"
he
thought
,
"
if
I
was
not
meant
to
be
a
soldier
.
For
I
could
follow
yon
man
most
joyfully
to
the
cannon
’
s
mouth
.
"
On
the
third
day
peace
returned
to
him
,
when
he
buried
Marion
of
the
Greenshiel
.
The
parish
coffin
was
not
used
,
as
was
the
custom
for
poor
folk
,
since
the
farmer
of
Reiverslaw
,
Richie
’
s
master
,
paid
the
cost
of
a
private
one
,
and
himself
attended
the
"
chesting
"
the
night
before
.
On
the
day
David
walked
the
seven
miles
to
the
cottage
,
where
Richie
had
set
out
a
poor
entertainment
of
ale
and
oatcakes
for
the
mourners
.
It
was
not
the
fashion
for
the
minister
to
pray
at
the
house
or
at
the
grave
,
as
savouring
of
Popish
prayers
for
the
dead
,
nor
was
it
the
custom
for
a
widower
to
attend
the
funeral
;
but
David
took
his
own
way
,
and
prayed
with
the
husband
,
the
wailing
women
,
and
the
half
-
dozen
shepherds
who
had
assembled
for
the
last
rites
.
The
light
coffin
was
carried
by
four
young
men
,
and
David
walked
with
them
all
the
way
to
Woodilee
.
The
farmer
of
Reiverslaw
joined
them
at
a
turn
of
the
road
-
-
his
name
was
Andrew
Shillinglaw
,
a
morose
,
dark
man
not
over
-
well
spoken
of
in
the
parish
-
-
and
he
and
the
minister
finished
the
journey
side
by
side
.
The
bellman
,
Nehemiah
Robb
,
who
was
also
the
gravedigger
and
the
beadle
,
met
them
at
the
entrance
to
the
kirkton
,
and
with
him
a
crowd
of
villagers
.
Preceded
by
the
jangling
of
Robb
’
s
bell
,
the
procession
reached
the
shallow
grave
,
the
women
remaining
at
the
kirkyard
gate
.
The
coffin
was
lowered
,
the
earth
shovelled
down
,
and
the
thing
in
five
minutes
was
over
.
There
was
no
"
dredgy
"
[
funeral
feast
]
at
the
poor
house
of
the
Greenshiel
to
draw
the
mourners
back
upon
the
seven
moorland
miles
.
The
men
adjourned
to
Lucky
Weir
’
s
,
the
kirk
bell
was
restored
to
its
tree
,
a
woman
or
two
sobbed
,
and
the
last
of
Marion
Smail
was
a
thin
stream
of
figures
vanishing
in
the
haze
of
evening
,
one
repeating
to
the
other
in
funereal
voices
that
"
puir
Mirren
had
got
weel
awa
’
.
"
Yet
the
occasion
,
austere
and
bare
as
poverty
could
make
it
,
woke
in
David
a
mood
of
tenderness
and
peace
.
The
lowering
clouds
had
gone
from
the
sky
,
all
morning
it
had
rained
,
and
the
afternoon
had
had
a
soft
autumn
freshness
.
He
had
prayed
with
Richie
,
but
his
prayers
had
been
also
for
himself
,
and
as
he
walked
behind
the
coffin
on
the
path
by
the
back
of
the
Hill
of
Deer
his
petition
seemed
to
have
been
answered
.
He
had
an
assurance
of
his
vocation
.
The
crowd
at
the
kirkyard
,
those
toil
-
worn
folk
whose
immortal
souls
had
been
given
into
his
charge
,
moved
him
to
a
strange
exultation
.
