Others will fall in once the drum is beaten. To
these he spoke with authority, and he used his power toput reason into the
distracted.
Wrap a fold of your cloak over your mouth and
neverslacken rein till you are back in Calidon.
It was the night, the eve of Candlemas, which the
three menhad chosen for their work of burning.
A pretty mess your folk have made of it, she said.
What cognizancedoes Yester bear, Aunt Grizel?
Isobel had said there was no fever, but that meant
that shedreaded fever.
Hedropped his head on his breast and suffered for
an instant theanguish of indecision.
She had spurred himto action, and shown him a duty
which he had been too blind to see.
Troth, theyll no be sweir to mak a brig for ye, for
they dinnawant a scandal in the Kirk. He realized how swiftly duringthe pest fever
had succeeded listlessness.
You mayhave to put reason into the folk with the
flat of your sword.
The conversation was conductedat a distance of a
dozen yards. At first few creditedthe tale, but presently came ample confirmation.
He rode to Calidon witha fluttering heart, an excitement rather of fear than of
joy.
Have you not heard that half the parish is sickor
dead?
Wrap a fold of your cloak over your mouth and
neverslacken rein till you are back in Calidon.
He would run away, she said, he, the old soldier of
a hundredbattles. She departed as suddenly as she had come.
Though the air was cooland tonic, beast and man
sweated with the smallest exertion.
Therelay Calidon on its windy braes, but Calidon
was now as distant forhim as the moon.
Above all, he felt himself a prisoner shutinto a
noisome cage from which there was no escape. It must be a mark of the Lords
displeasure, but againstwhom? Awahame, my braw leddy, for the minister has eneuch to
trouble himwithout concern for his joe. He rode to Calidon witha fluttering heart,
an excitement rather of fear than of joy.
Oh, haste ye, or yell be smitten like thelave, and
yere ower young and bonny to dee. There was no such woman in the parish or in all
thecountryside. He saw faces wherethere were none, he listened to voices in the
deepest silence.
His prayers even to himselfseemed idle; at any rate
they fell upon dulled ears.
The two stood before her like prisonersbrought to
judgment.
A hundred battles, nor a thousand battles,wouldna
reconcile me to the pest. Clearly he knew her, for he picked up a reed fromthe
floor.
The roads were blocked as if Montroses
kernscommanded them. Inever could abide the reek o the folk, and they have
doubtlessgotten what they deserved. The generalsullenness he set down to the dregs
of grief and terror. My trouble is that Ive a nice stomach and a fastidious nose.
But in an hour came the rain,and the murky smoke-wreaths were turned to steaming
embers.