Inchbracken: The Story of a Fama Clamosa

  CHAPTER XXXII.

  _CHANGES_.

  Three weeks passed after the sitting of the Congregational Councilwhich had agreed that there was a 'fama clamosa' in the parish. ThePresbytery had sat with closed doors to consider the case. It hadadjourned, and met again to further consider, decide, and order underthe circumstances. Enquiry into the facts, and such like trifles,would come later, when the evidence for the prosecution was matured.Clearly there could be no defence until there was an indictment, adefence in its very nature being a reply; and until the thesis ofaccusation could be formulated, there was nothing to reply to.Wherefore Mr. Brown could not be heard either in person or through hisfriends at this early stage of the proceedings. Still he wassuspected, though not formally accused; and, although he possessed thecommon right of all men to be deemed innocent till found guilty, hewas by no means in the position of an innocent man. The immortalinterests of the Free Church adherents in the Parish of Kilrundle wereat stake, and could by no means be left for a single day exposed tothe influence of a perhaps improper person. He had been notified todiscontinue his duties till further notice, and another young man hadbeen sent to fill his place, as well as (but these were his privateinstructions from the leaders and wire-pullers who guided thePresbytery's movements) to act as amateur detective in ferreting outevidence for the prosecution, which, singularly enough, was yet toodefective to warrant bringing the case into court.

  There is no power like a democracy for precipitate and arbitraryaction. The units composing it so fully realize their authority, andso like to exercise it; while, being many, and co-ordinate, they havelittle or no sense of individual responsibility. They propose, vote,and order, each in obedience to his individual whim or impulse, andimagine that they are doing great things; but it is the bodycorporate, the official abstraction, which is left to bear the blamewhen justice or policy miscarry. In this respect, if in no other, theone-man power has the advantage, the king or bishop is personallyidentified with each transaction of his reign, and when a failureoccurs he feels himself personally discredited; he has therefore thestrongest incentive to walk circumspectly, that he may not havehereafter to retrace his steps, while with popular assemblies, areversal of policy or a change of front is immaterial, so long as themajority has its way.

  Roderick, therefore, being suspected, was now placed under a vigoroustaboo--boycotted we would have called it thirty-five years later, butboycotted under a wisely modified form. Ebenezer Prittie or PeterMalloch would still have been happy to sell him all they had in theirshops,--at a proper advance on cost--seeing that the coin of anexcommunicate is no worse than other people's, and money, however comeby, is 'all right,' as Vespasian found out long ago. There was nofear, therefore, of his being starved out so long as he continued ableto buy. But intercourse with his parishioners had come to an end. Somefew were veritably unwilling to have dealings with iniquity, but themajority dared not offend public opinion by appearing to holdcommunication with him; and these secretly knowing the shakiness oftheir own principles were the loudest in denouncing any one who shouldventure to approach the Browns, thereby contributing much of thestrength of that public opinion which tyrannized over themselves. Theonly exceptions were Roderick's pensioners. These, defying thecensorious, presented themselves in shy and deprecatory fashion(deprecatory alike to the offended righteous without, and to theindignant and maligned within), each as his pay-day came round. Themoney had become an established item in their income, which those whodisapproved would assuredly not make good; wherefore, they feltconstrained to revisit the flesh pots. After all, even if the worstwere true, what was it but a spoiling of the Egyptians? A perfectlyallowable, perhaps a praiseworthy act, which Moses himself hadsuggested, and even recommended to the chosen people of old. They tookthe money, therefore, in defiance of such as shook their heads, and,finding it retained its old purchasing power, were none the worse.

  The days dragged wearily along for Roderick and his sister. October,which began in summer sunshine, relieved but not chilled by bracingairs, was waning in cloud and gloom; dull foggy days of rain, or windytempests ending in early frosts. The sick room was close and damp. Theruddier the blaze upon the hearth, the stronger the flavour of mouldand damp drawn out from the oozy walls and cold clay floor. Thechamber would grow close but never warm, and the capacious chimneyseemed powerless for ventilation, and served only as an escape for theheat. After undergoing the visitation of Mr. Geddie and hiscompanions, Roderick had had a return of his more serious symptoms.Indignation and outraged feelings sent the blood boiling in stormytumult through his veins, and he was not weak enough to obtain therelief of tears. Self-respect required him to preserve calmness beforethe friends who were with him; and his irritation, deprived of vent inspeech or action, settled in the morbid part of his system, andrekindled the expiring inflammation in his chest. He was therefore aprisoner once more to his bed, when he would gladly have been removinghimself from the scene of his mortifications, and had no alleviationsave the visits of Kenneth and the Laird; but these were frequent.

  Whenever other matters brought the former to the village he made apoint of calling to enquire; and it was remarkable how frequentlybusiness demanded his presence there at this time. During the firstweek the gossips observed him ride three alternate days down theirstreet, and the traders began seriously to consider whether they couldnot so improve their stocks as to tempt some share of the Inchbrackenpetty custom from Inverlyon. After that, however, his visits becamedaily, there was no longer even a pretence of other business, andEbenezer Prittie abandoned the hope of supplying the Drysdale propertywith nails and ironmongery. Kenneth was sincerely interested in hisfriend's health, and sat sympathizingly by his bedside, but thepatient was not able to talk much, and even if he had been, wasforbidden to try. He was often drowsy, too, and sometimes slept, owingto the restless wakefulness of his nights. It fell, therefore, on Maryto make the conversation, a duty which she fulfilled apparently totheir mutual satisfaction, seeing that the visits grew more frequentand of longer and longer duration. What they found to talk about noone can say, for their voices were pitched in the lowest tones--ofcourse that the patient might not be disturbed; and apparently he wasnot, if we may judge from the ease with which he soon fell into anestablished routine. He would welcome his visitor with a cordialhandshake, answer the regulation questions about his health, hear anylittle item of news that might be stirring, and then calmly close hiseyes, and turn round for another nap.

  When two people find pleasure in each other's conversation,surrounding circumstances are of little account. The most momentousquestions have ere now been asked and answered during the gyrations ofa waltz, or the intervals of a square dance. Pyramus and Thisbe werehappy in whispering to each other through the chink in a paling, andmy neighbour next door used to save shoeleather by chatting to a younglady at the other end of the town down the pipe of a telephone. Thatturned out badly, however, in the end, as one night his soft engagingwhisper was replied to in the gruff and stormy tones of papa! who badehim have done with his nonsense, or he would put the d--d wire out ofthe house! He had done something of the same kind to my poor friendalready. It was nothing new, therefore, if these two young peopleforgot for the time the stuffy little room in which they sat, and thegruesome army of medicine bottles, getting more and more numerousevery day. They were as utterly content as though they had beensitting under one of the great shady trees of Eden, with only birds,flowers, and tame lions to listen to their discourse. The flowers, atleast, they had in ever increasing profusion, as poor Colewort knew tohis cost, in the sad devastation that fell on his most sacredpreserves in the greenhouses of Inchbracken. Their sweetness broughtsomething like the freshness of spring, (or was it only of hope?) intothat close and frowsy place; even the fumes of damp and mouldinessfled before the breath of these children of dew and sunshine.

  At length there came a day, after many others that had been madebright with flowers, and
fragrant with sweeter words, when Kennethbrought nothing in his hand but a bunch of violets, which he told herhis mother had sent. A slip of paper was tied to them on which waswritten, 'For dearest Mary.' 'And so you may know, Mary,' he said,'that everything between us is known at home, and you will be madewelcome. My mother will come and see you, or if that cannot be managedshe will write to you, after you have left Glen Effick; and I thinkyou will overlook her not coming here. After the decided stand ourfamily has taken against this church secession, she would rather notdo that; and as you are going to be one of the family yourself, youwill not wish us to stultify ourselves. That is what the old gentlemancalls it at least, though I daresay it is nonsense. Still, he is anold man, and he is going to be very fond of you, so we must humourhim.' There came a tear in Mary's eye, a smile to her lip, a blush,and words presently. She said exactly what was prettiest and nicest,or so thought Kenneth. Every nice girl knows what the words would be,they were just what she would say herself on a like occasion. As forthe men, they will hear them, each for himself let us hope, when thetime comes; therefore let us not rub the bloom from the plum by unwiseanticipation.

  The visits of the Laird were somewhat less frequent; but he wasfortunate in always finding Roderick awake, and, after the first fewdays following the relapse, eager to converse; and as the visits wererepeated two or three times a week, an intimacy sprung up between thetwo men which had not existed before. The Laird was pleased to findwhat he had not hitherto looked for, a sound and mature judgment andabundant common sense where he had been wont to expect only pious goodintentions and a youthful enthusiasm, beautiful and interesting enoughbut somewhat raw, and needing much of the pressure of time andcircumstance to squeeze out the green and vapid whey of youth andinexperience. Roderick was equally surprised to find that the husk ofhard dry business shrewdness, which he had hitherto looked upon as theman himself, was but the dried or hardened scars or cicatrices of rubsand bruises long since endured by a true and gentle nature, now healedand wholesome, and that beneath the somewhat repulsive exterior, therewere rich stores of experience, charity and christian wisdom.Heretofore their intercourse had consisted in visits from Roderick toAuchlippie on parochial business; and on these occasions Mrs. Sangsterin her character of Mother in Israel, high patroness and LadyBountiful to the congregation, was always present. It might beRoderick who proposed the subject to be considered or it might be theLaird, but at the first opening Mrs. Sangster would take up herparable, and after that there was little opportunity for any one elseto slip in a word even edgewise. She loved the sound of her own sweetvoice better than any other music, and with a silent, perforce anattentive audience, her periods would swell and round themselves withevangelical commonplaces, and a general overflowing of conventionalpiety. When his lady opened her mouth on any subject, it was theLaird's practice to close his for good and all; that was his mode offulfilling the apostolic precept to honour the weaker vessel. Had hespoken, he would have been compelled to distinguish and except, to ripup sophisms and show that the conclusion arrived at was not deduciblefrom the premises stated, and endless altercation would have ensued.Wherefore, like a sensible man, he held his peace, and left his fairpartner to discourse at her own sweet will. When, also, it becamenecessary for him to express his own views, he would do it in thedryest, clearest, and most concise form, leaving no room for questionor debate from his better and more loquacious half. It was thereforeas if for the first time that these two met and became acquainted inthat sickroom; and the discovery each made of the other was anunexpected happiness to both. Timidly and doubtfully Roderick wouldsometimes bring the conversation round to Sophia, but it was in adiffident and uncertain way. He hungered to hear or talk of her, butas regarded his hopes and aspirations he felt bound to keep silence.His instinct of what was fitting withheld him from attempting toentangle his friend in his more genial moments, in any kind of promiseor consent, so long as a breath, however groundless, hung over hisreputation. It was true that the Laird did not believe a syllable tohis disadvantage, but on that very account he felt so deeply indebtedto him, when all the world beside had turned its back, that he couldnot take advantage of the old man's goodwill.

  Whether the Laird saw more than Roderick put in words, it would not beeasy to say; but it is certain that at that time an understandingsprung up between himself and his daughter which had not existedbefore. He had hitherto regarded her simply as a child, female child,belonging to his wife, and rather a dull one as that. It now firstseemed to dawn on him that she was a woman, a distinct person, and hisown daughter, and that it was in her to become the dearest companionof his life. What he may have known of her relations with her mother,incident to Roderick's letter, cannot be known, for he never told; butfrom the evening after the congregational council, when she plucked upcourage to enter into conversation with him, and glean such news aboutthe proceedings as she could ask or he communicate, they found theyhad entered upon new relations with each other. It may have been theSangster element in her, of which her mother so loudly complained thatengaged his sympathy so directly, or it may have been the incense ofher feminine hero worship, seeing that he appeared to her so great,and strong, and good, in opposing himself singly to the universalprejudice, and manfully espousing the cause of worth and innocencemaligned, but certainly from that day forth, father and daughterbecame fast friends and constant companions. Often she would accompanyhim in his walks to the village, and though she would not defy hermother by accompanying him to the Browns', still her father wouldcarry messages to and fro between her and Mary, which broughtassurance both to Roderick and herself that they were not parted. Theold lady was the only party dissatisfied with these new combinations.She felt her authority slipping from her fingers. Her daughter had,she could not tell how, developed an independent personality of herown, and was evidently now held in allegiance to herself only by asense of duty. The daughter was also establishing a hold on herfather's regard, which her mother herself had long since allowed topass from her, as costing too much trouble to retain; and Mrs.Sangster beheld already in prophetic vision, herself as a meek oldlady seated by her work-table near the fire, while Sophia, themistress of Auchlippie, ruled the roast! The meekness of her futurerole had not as yet, however, come to Mrs. Sangster. She fumed andfretted like a spirit in chains, and the mornings which mother anddaughter spent together were by no means smooth or enjoyable for poorSophia. Her mother's grievance being incapable of statement, theebullitions thence arising could neither be foreseen nor assigned toany specific cause. The scandalous rumours relating to the Browns wereretailed and enlarged on in a way that, but a few short weeks before,Mrs. Sangster would have been shocked to think she could indulge inbefore her carefully nurtured child; and Sophia, as her only defence,had to fall back on the paternal gift of silence. But that invariablydrove her mother vanquished from the field, seeing that it takes twoto fight, and with a parting shot at the dull _dour_ blood of theSangsters, she would seek relief in the privacy of her chamber fromthat sovereign remedy, 'a good cry.'

  At the end of three weeks Roderick was found well enough to travel,and it was time that they should start, if, in those ante-railwaydays, they would avoid the delays, discomforts, and extra fatigue ofbad roads. They took the stage coach as far as Dundee, where theywould embark in the steamer for London. Thence there was railwaywestward, and with more staging, they would reach their destination.

  It need scarcely be said that Eppie and the baby stood on the innsteps to watch the travellers drive away, and wish them 'God-speed.'Mary kissed them both, hoping a father might shortly be found for thelittle one, but grudgingly, for she deeply loved it herself. Kennethwas there, likewise, with regretful adieux and repetition of thealready-made promises to write soon and often. So too was the Laird,and this time Sophy was on his arm, and Roderick thenceforth had atleast one smile and handshake to treasure in his memory, unspokenanswers to his letter of a month back, and tokens from which to bodehopefully of the future.

  There were othe
r onlookers, but they peered from windows, over avertedshoulders, or from behind corners. The parishioners had begun to findout many differences between their new pastor and his predecessor.There were no alms now, for the new man had no money to give; andthere was less sympathy, for he was a stranger in the parish, andlikewise new to ministerial work. Shame kept them from coming forward;but when the guard blew his horn, the coachman tipped up his leaderswith the whip, and the lumbering vehicle rolled up the eastern brae,every one felt that he had a friend the less left in Glen Effick.