Chapter 30 of Launa Dune. This is a Liberox recording. All Liberox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Liberox.org. Recording by Daisy55. Launa Dune by Aura D. Blackmore. Chapter 30. Annie gets the best of it. I had a long, outgrown, unwholesome feeling as to my father's death, and so had Annie. Though Lizzie, who must have loved him least, still entertained some evil will and longing for a punishment. Therefore, I was surprised, and indeed, starter would not be too much to say the moon being somewhat fleecy. To see our Annie sitting there as motionless as the tombstone, and with all her best followers upon her after stoning away at the dishes. My nerves, however, are good and strong, except at least in love matters. Wherein they always fail me, and when I meet with witches, and therefore I went up to Annie. Although she looked so white and pure, for I had seen her before with those things on, and this struck me who she was. What are you doing here, Annie? I acquired, rather sternly, being vexed with her for having gone so very near to frighten me. Nothing at all, said I, Annie, shortly, and indeed it was truth enough for a woman. Not that I dare to believe that women are such liars as men say, only that I mean they often see things round the corner and know not which is which of it. And indeed, I never have known a woman, though right enough in their meaning, purely and perfectly true and transparent, except only my launder, and even so, I might not have loved her if she had been ugly. Why, how so, I said, Miss Annie?  You seem not to be doing it, John, answered Annie softly. What business have you here doing nothing at this time of night? I was taken so aback with this and the extreme impertinence of it from a mere young girl like Annie that I turned around to march away and have nothing more to say to her.  Oh, John, I would tell you, I would tell you only don't be angry, John. Angry? No indeed, I said. What right have I to be angry with you? Because you have your secrets? Every chick of a girl thinks now that she has a right to her secrets. And you have none of your own, John? Of course you have none of your own. Or you're going on out at night? We will not quarrel here, poor Annie, I answered, with some lostness. There are many things upon my mind which girls can have no notion of. And so there are upon mine, John. Oh, John, I would tell you everything. If you will look at me kindly and promise to forgive me, oh, I am so miserable. Now this, though she was behaving so badly, moved me much towards her, especially as I longed to know what she had to tell me.  But even in the shadows there, she was very long before the beginning and seemed to have two minds about it, or rather perhaps a dozen. And she laid her cheek against the tree and sobbed till it was pitiful, and I knew what mother would say to her for spoiling her best frost soul. Now will you stop, I said at last, harder than I meant it, for I knew that she would go on all night. If anyone encouraged her, and though not well acquainted with women, I understood my sisters, or else I must be a born fool, except, of course, that I never profess to understand Eliza. Yes, I will stop, said Annie Panty. You are very hard on me, John, but I know you mean it for the best. If somebody else, I am sure, don't know who, and have no right to know no doubt, but she must be a wicked thing if somebody else had been taken so with a pain all round the heart, John, and no power of telling it. Perhaps you would have coaxed and kissed her, and come a little nearer, and made an opportunity to be very loving. Now this was so exactly what I had tried to do to Lorna, that my breath was almost taken away at Annie's, so describing it, for a while I could not say a word, but wonder if she were a witch, which had never been in our family. Then, all of a sudden, I saw the way to beat her, with the devil at my elbow. From your knowledge of these things, Annie, you must have had them done to you. I demand to know this very moment, who has taken such liberties. Then, John, you shall never know if you ask in that manner. Besides, it was no liberty in the least at all. Cousins have a right to do things, and when they are one's godfather, here Annie stopped quite suddenly, having so betrayed herself, but met me in the full moonlight, being resolved to face it out with a good face put upon it. Alas, I feared it would come to this, I answered very sadly. I know he has been here many a time, without showing himself to me. There is nothing meaner than for a man to sneak and to steal a young man's heart, without her people knowing it.  Only a common highway man, I answered, without heeding her, a man without an acre of his own, and livener hanged upon any common, and no other writer common over it. John, said my sister, are the dunes privileged not to be hanged upon common land? At this I was so thunderstruck, that I leaped in the air like a shot rabbit, and rushed as hard as I could through the gate, and across the yard, and back into the kitchen, and there I asked Farmer Nicola Snow to give me some tobacco, and to lend me a spare pipe. This he did with a grateful manner, then now some five-fourth gone, and so I smoked the very first pipe that ever had entered my lips till then, and beyond a doubt it did me good, and spread my heart at leisure. Meanwhile, the Reapers were mostly gone, to be up big times in the morning, and some were led by their wives, and some had to lead their wives themselves, according to the capacity of man and wife respectfully. But Betty was as lovely as ever, bustling about with everyone, and looking out for the chance of grotes, which the better off might be free with. And over the kneeling pan next day, she dropped three and six pints out of her pocket, and Lizzie could not tell for her life how much more might have it been. Now by this time, I had almost finished smoking that pipe of tobacco, and wondering at myself for having so despised it head to hole, and to making up my mind to have another trial tomorrow night. It began to occur to me that, although dear Annie had behaved so very badly and rudely, and almost taken my breath away with the suddenness of her illusion, yet it was not kind of me to leave her out there at that time of night, all alone, and in such distress. Any of the Reapers going home might be forgotten, so far beyond fear of ghosts as to venture into the churchyard, and although they would know a great deal better than to insult a sister of mine when sober, there was no time what they might do in their present state of rejoicing. Moreover, it was only right that I should learn from launder's sake how far Annie, or anyone else, had penetrated our secret. Therefore, I went forth and once, bearing my pipe in a skilful manner, as I had seen Thomas Nicholas do, and marking with a new kind of pleasure how the rings and wits of smoke hovered and fluttered in the moonlight like a lock upon his carol. Poor Annie was gone back again to our father's grave, and there she sat upon the turf, sobbing very gently and not wishing to trouble anyone. So I raised her attendily and made much of her and consoled her, for I could not scold her there, and perhaps after all she was not to be blamed so much as Tom Fagus himself was. Annie was very grateful to me, and kissed me many times and begged my pardon ever so often for her rudeness to me. And then having gone so far with it and finding me so complacent, she must needs tried to go a little further, and to lead me away from her own affairs and into mine concerning launder. But although it was clever enough of her, she was not deep enough for me there, and I soon discovered that she knew nothing, not even the name of my darling, but only suspected from things she had seen and put together like a woman. Upon this, I brought her back again to Tom Fagus and his doings. My poor Annie, have you really promised him to be his wife? Then, after all you have no reason John, no particular reason I mean for slighting poor Sally Snow. So, without even asking mother of me, oh Annie it was wrong of you.  She dotes on the very ground. I dare say he tells you that Annie, that he dotes on the ground you walk upon, but did you believe him child? You may believe me, I assure you John, and have the farm to be settled upon her. After the old man's time, and though she gives herself little heirs, it is only done to entice you. She has the very best hand in the dairy John, and the lightest at a turn over cake. Now Annie, don't talk nonsense so. I wish just to know the truth about you and Tom Fagus. Do you mean to marry him? I, to marry before my brother, and leave him with none to take care of him? Who can do him a red deer collar, except Sally herself, as I can? Come home dear at once, and I will do you one, for you never ate a morsel or supper with all the people you had to attend upon. This was true enough, and seeing no chance of anything more than cross questions and crooked purposes at which a girl was sure to beat me, I even allowed her to lead me home with the thoughts of the call of uppermost, but I never counted upon being beaten so thoroughly as I was.  Can your love do a collar, John? No, I should hope not, I answered rashly. She is not a mere cook maid, I should hope not. She is not half so pretty as Sally's snow, I will answer for that, said Annie. She is ten thousand times as pretty as ten thousand Sally's snows, I replied with great indignation. Oh, but look at Sally's eyes, cried my sister wafflessly. Look at Lorna Dunes, said I, and you will never look again at Sally's. Oh, Lorna Dunes, Lorna Dunes, exclaimed our Annie, half frightened, yet clapping her hands with triumph, and having found me out so. Lorna Dunes is the lovely maiden who has stolen poor somebody's heart so. I shall remember it, because it is so queer a name, but stop! I had better write it down, lend me your hat for a boy to write it on. I have a great mind to lend you a box on the ear, I answered her in my vexation. And I would, if you had not been crying so, you would slide good for nothing baggage. As it is, I shall keep it for Master Fagus and add interest for keeping. Oh no, John, oh no, John, she begged me earnestly, being sobered in a moment. Your hand is so terribly heavy, John, and he never would forgive you. Although he is so good-hearted, he cannot put up with an insult. Promise me, dear John, that you will not strike him, and I will promise you faithfully to keep your secret, even from mother and even from cousin Tom himself. And from Lizzie, most of all from Lizzie, I answered very eagerly, knowing too well which of my relations would be hardest on me. Of course, from little Lizzie, said Annie, with some contempt. A young thing like her cannot be kept too long, in my opinion, from the knowledge of such subjects. And besides, I should be very sorry if Lizzie had the right to know your secrets, as I have, dear John. Not a soul shall be the wiser for your having trusted me, John. Although I shall be very wretched when you are late away at night among those dreadful people. Well, I replied, it is no use crying over still milk, Annie. You have my secret, and I have yours, and I scarcely know which of the two is likely to have the worst time of it when it comes to mother's ears. I could put up with perpetual scolding, but not with mother's sad solace. That is exactly how I feel, John. And as Annie said, she brightened up, and her soft eyes shone upon me. But now, I shall be much happier, dear, because I shall try to help you. No doubt the young lady deserves it, John. She is not after the farm, I hope. She exclaimed, and that was enough. There was so much scorn in my voice and face. Then I am sure I am very glad, Annie always made the best of things. For I do believe that Sally Snow has taken a fancy to our dairy place and the pattern of our cream pans. And she asked so much of our metals in the color of the milk. Then, after all you were right, dear Annie, it is the ground she doped upon. And the things that walk upon it, she answered me with another kiss. Sally has taken a wonderful fancy to our best cow, Nipple Pins. But she never shall have her now. What a consolation. We entered the house quite gently thus, and found farmer Nicholas Snow asleep. Little dreaming how his plans had been over set between us. And then Annie said to me very slightly between a smile and a blush.  That indeed I do, Annie. I must kiss you for only thinking of it. Dear me, it seems as if you had known all about us for a twelve month. She loves you with all her heart, John. No doubt about that, of course. And Annie looked up at me as much as to say she would like to know who could help it. That's the very thing she won't do, I said, knowing that Annie would love me all the more for it. She is only beginning to like me, Annie. And as for loving, she is so young that she only loves her grandfather. But I hope she will come to it by and by. Of course, she must reply to my sister. It will be impossible for her to help it. Oh, well, I don't know, for I wanted more assurance of it. Maidens are such a wondrous thing. Not a bit of it, said Annie, casting her eyes downwards. Love is as simple as milking when people know how to do it. But you must not let her alone too long. That is my advice to you. What a simple thing you must have been not to tell me long ago. It would have made Lorna wild about you long before this time, Johnny. But now you go into the polyveil while I do your call-up. Faith snow is not come but Pauline Sally. Sally has made up her mind to call you this very blessed evening, John. Only look what a thing of a scarf she has on. I should be quite ashamed to wear it. But you won't strike poor Tom, will you? Not I, my darling, for your sweet sake. And so, dear Annie, having grown quite brave, gave me a little push into the parlor where I was quite abashed to enter after all I had heard about Sally. And I made up my mind to examine her well and to try a little courting with her if she should leave me on that I may be in practice for Lorna. But when I perceived how grandly and witchly both the young damsels were appellate and how in their curtsies to me they retreated as if I were making it up to them in a way they had learned from Exeter and how they began to talk of the court as if they had been there all their lives and the latest mold of the touches of this and the profile of the countess of that and the last good saying of my Lord something instead of butter and cream and eggs and things which they understood. I knew there must be somebody in the room besides Jasper Kebby to talk at. And so there was. For behind the curtain drawn across the window seat there was no less a man than Uncle Ben was sitting half asleep and weary and by his side a little girl very quiet and very watchful.  I asked him heartily how he was and he said well enough for that matter no as you great clouds have been making. I am sorry that we have disturbed you sir I answer civilly but I knew not that you were here even and you must allow for harvest time so it seems he replied and allow a great deal including waste and drunkenness. Now if you can see so small a thing after an empty flag is much longer this is my granddaughter and my Harris here he glanced at my mother my Harris little Ruth Huckleback I am very glad to see you Ruth I answered often my hand which he seemed afraid to take. Welcome to flowers borrows my good cousin Ruth. However my good cousin Ruth only arose and made me a courtesy to her great brown eyes at me more in fears I thought than kinship and if ever any one look unlike the Harris to great property it was the little girl before me come out to the kitchen dear and let me chuck you to the ceiling I said just encourage her I always do it to little girls and then they can see the hams and bacon laughing and Ruth turned away with a deep rich color. Do you know how old she is you nun skull said uncle Ben in his driest draw she was 17 last July sir on the first of July grandfather Ruth whispered with her back still to me but many people will not believe it here mother came up to my rescue as she always loved to do and she said if my son may not dance miss Ruth at any rate he may dance with her we have only been waiting for you dear John to have a little harvest dance with the kitchen door thrown open you take Ruth uncle Ben take Sally master DB pay off with Polly and neighbor Nicholas will be good enough if I can awake him to stand up with fair mistress Keebie Lizzie will play us the virginal won't you Lizzie dear but who is the dance with you madam uncle Ben asked very politely I think you must rearrange your figure I have not danced for a school of years and I will not dance now the mistress and the owner of the harvest sits aside neglected nay master Huckleback cried Sally snow with a saucy toss of her hair mistress read is too kind a great deal and handling you over to me you take her and I will fetch Anna to be my partner this evening I like dancing very much better with girls for they never squeeze and rumple one oh it is so much nicer have no fear for me my dears my mother answer smelling Parson Bowden promise to come back again I expect him every minute and he attends to lead me off and to bring a partner for Annie too a very pretty young gentlemen now begin and I will join you there was no disobeying her without witness and indeed the girls feet were already jiggling and Lizzie giving herself wonderful airs with a role of learned music and even while Annie was doing my call of her pretty round instead was arching itself as I could see from the Paula door so I took the roof and I spun her around as the sound of the music came lively and ringing and after us came out of the room begging me not to jump over her and an on my grave partner began to smile sweetly and look up at me with the brightest of eyes and drop me the prettiest curtsy till I thought what a great stoop I must have been to dream of putting her in the cheese rack but one thing I could not at all understand why mother who used to do all in her power to do all the work that she had to do should now do the very opposite but she would not allow me one moment with Sally not even to cross in the dance or whisper or go anywhere near corner which is I said I attended to do just by way of practice while she kept me at all the evening as close as possible to Ruth Hucker back and came up and praised me on the roof times and again that I declare I was quite ashamed although of course I knew that I deserved it all but I could not well say that then Annie came sailing down the dance with her beautiful hair flowing around her the lightest figure in all the room and the sweetest and the loveliest she was blushing with tears beneath her dear blue eyes as she met my glance of surprise and grief at the partners she was leaning on it was squire my would be which is all I was soon had seen her with Tom Vegas as indeed I had expected when I heard of Paulson Bowden and to me it seemed that she had no right to be dancing so with that I can try to whisper but she only said see to yourself John no but let us both enjoy ourselves you are not dancing with Lorna John but you seem uncommonly happy tush I said could I flip about so if I had my love with me end of chapter 30 recording by Daisy 55 chapter 31 of Lorna Dune this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Michelle Harris Lorna Dune by R.D. Blackmore chapter 31 John Fry's errand we kept up the dance very late that night that she would not hear of our going to bed while she glanced from young Squire Marwood very deep in his talk with our Annie to me and Ruth Huckaback were beginning to be very pleasant company alas poor mother so proud as she was how little she dreamed that her good schemes already were hopelessly going awry being forced to be up before daylight next day in order to begin right early I would not go to my bedroom with my mother but determined to sleep in the tallot awhile that place being cool and airy and refreshing with the smell of sweet hay moreover after my dwelling in town or had felt like a horse on a lime kiln I could not for a length of time have enough of country life the mooing of a calf was music and the chuckle of a fowl was wit and the snore of the horses was news to me Walt have the own way I reckon being cross with sleepiness for she had washed up everything sleep in hog pound if the likes young letting her have the last word of it as is the do of women I stood in the court and wondered awhile at the glory of the harvest moon and the yellow world shown upon then I saw as sure as ever I was standing there in the shadow of the stable I saw a short wide figure glide across the foot of the courtyard between me and the guard gate instead of running after it as I should have done I began to consider who it could be and what on earth was doing there when all our people were in bed and the reapers gone home or to the lynn hay close against the wheat field having made up my mind at last that it could be none of our people though not a dog was barking and also that it must have been either a girl or a woman but I came too late to learn through my own hesitation for this was the lower end of the courtyard not the approach from the parish highway but the end of the sled way across the fields where the brook goes down to the lynn stream and where squire faggots had saved the old drake and of course the dry channel of the brook being scarcely any water now afforded plenty of place to hide and also to go to a little coppice beyond our cabbage garden and so further on to the parish highway I saw at once that it was vain to make any pursuit by moonlight and resolving to hold my own council about it though puzzled not a little and to keep watch there another night back I returned to the tablet ladder and slept without leaving off till morning now many people may wish to know that he had brought master huckaback over from Dulverton at that time of year when the clothing business was most active on account of harvest wages and when the new wheat was beginning to sample from the early parts up the country for he meddled as well in corn dealing and when we could not attend to him properly by reason of our occupation and yet more surprising it seemed to me that he should have brought his granddaughter also instead of the troop of dragoons that he would never come here again and how he had managed to enter the house together with his granddaughter and be sitting quite at home in the parlor there without any knowledge or even suspicion on my part that last question was easily solved for mother herself had admitted them by means of the little passage during a chorus of the harvest song which might have drowned an earthquake but as for his meaning and motive and apparent neglect of his business none but himself could interpret them and as he did not see fit to do so we could not be rude enough to inquire he seemed in no hurry to take his departure though his visit was so inconvenient to us as himself indeed must have noticed and presently Lizzie who was the sharpest among us said in my hearing that she believed he had purposely timed his visit so that he might have liberty to pursue his own object whatsoever it were without interruption from us mother gazed hard upon Lizzie at this having formed a very different opinion but Annie and myself agreed that it was worth looking into now how could we look into it without watching Uncle Rubin whenever he went abroad and trying to catch him in his speech when he was taking his ease at night for in spite of all the disgust with which he had spoken while sailing there was not a man coming into our kitchen who liked it better than he did only in a quiet way and without too many witnesses now to endeavor to get at the purpose of any guest even a treacherous one which we had no right to think Uncle Rubin by means of observing him in his cups is a thing which even the lowest of people would regard with abhorrence and to my mind it was not clear whether it would be fair play at all to follow a visitor even at a distance from home and clear of our premises except for the purpose of fetching him back and giving him more to go on with nevertheless we could not but think the times being wild and disjointed that Uncle Ben was not using fairly the part of a guest in our house to make long expeditions we knew not with her and involve us in trouble we knew not what for his mode was directly after breakfast to pray to the Lord a little which used not to be his practice and then to go forth upon Dolly the witch was our Annie's pony very quiet and respectful with a bag of good victuals hung behind him and two great cavalry pistols in front and he always wore his meanest clothes as of expecting to be robbed or to disarm the temptation there too and he never took his golden chronometer neither his bag of money so much the girls found out and told me for I was never at home myself by day and they very craftily spurred me on having less noble ideas perhaps to hit upon Uncle Ruben's track and follow and see what became of him for he never returned until dark or more just in time to be in before us who were coming home from the harvest and then Dolly always seemed very weary and stained with a muck from beyond our parish but I refused to follow him not only for the loss of a day's work to myself and at least half a day to the other men but chiefly because I could not think that it would be upright and manly it was all very well to creep warily into the valley of the dunes and heed everything around me both because they were public enemies and also because I risked my life at every step I took there but as to tracking a feeble old man however subtle he might be a guest moreover of our own and a relative through my mother once and for all I said it is below me and I won't do it thereupon the girls knowing my way ceased to torment me about it but what was my astonishment the very next day to perceive that instead of 14 reapers we were only 13 left directly our breakfast was done with or mowers rather I should say for we were gone into the barley now who has been and left his side I asked and here's a 10 cup never been handled boy didn't he now maester yawn said Bill Dads looking at me queerly as yawned fry were gain of war brack with us oh very well I answered John knows what he is doing for John Fry was a kind of foreman now and it would not do to say anything that might lessen his authority however I made up my mind to rope him when I should catch him by myself without peril to his dignity but when I came home in the evening late and almost weary there was no Annie cooking my supper nor Lizzie by the fire reading nor even little Ruth Huckaback watching the shadows and pondering upon this I went to the girls room not in the very best of tempers and there I found all three of them in the little place set apart for Annie eagerly listening to John Fry who was telling some great adventure John had a great jug of ale beside him and a horn well drained and he clearly looked upon himself as a hero and the maid seemed to be of the same opinion well done John my sister was saying capital done John Fry how very brave you have been John now quick let us hear the rest of it what does all this nonsense mean I said in a voice which frightened them as I could see by the light of our own mutton candles John Fry you be off to your wife at once or you shall have what I owe you now instead of tomorrow morning John made no answer but scratched his head and looked at the maidens to take his part it is you that must be off I think said Lizzie with all the impudence in the world what right have you to come in here to the young lady's room without an invitation even very well Miss Lizzie I suppose mother has some right here and with that I was going away to fetch her knowing that she always took my side and never would allow the house to be turned upside down in that manner but Annie caught hold of me by the arm and little Ruth stood in the doorway and Lizzie said don't be a fool John you know a great deal more than you dream of upon this I glanced at Annie to learn whether she had been telling but her pure true face reassured me at once and then she said very gently Lizzie you talk too fast my child no one knows anything of our John which he need to be ashamed of and working as he does from light to dusk and earning the living of all of us he is entitled to choose his own good time for going out and for coming in without consulting a little girl five years younger than himself now John sit down and you shall know all that we have done though I doubt whether you will approve of it upon this I kissed Annie and so did Ruth and John Fry looked a deal more comfortable but Lizzie only made a face at us then Annie began as follows you must know dear John that we have been extremely curious ever since Uncle Ruben came to know what he was come for especially at this time of year when he is at his busiest he never vouchsafed any explanation neither gave any reason true or false which shows his entire ignorance of all feminine nature if Ruth had known and refused to tell us we should have been much easier because we must have got it out of Ruth before two or three days were over darling Ruth knew no more than we did and indeed I must do her the justice to say that she has been quite as inquisitive well we might have put up with it if it had not been for his taking Dolly my own pet Dolly away every morning quite as if she belonged to him and keeping her out until close upon dark and then bringing her home in a frightful condition and he even had the impudence when I told him that Dolly was my pony to say that we owed him a pony ever since you took from him that little horse upon which you found him strapped so snugly and he means to take Dolly to Doverton with him to run in his little cart if there is law in the land he shall not surely John you will not let him that I won't said I except upon the conditions which I offered him once before if we owe him the pony we owe him the straps sweet Annie laughed like a bell at this and then she went on with her story well John we were perfectly miserable you cannot understand it of course but I used to go every evening and hug poor Dolly and kiss her and beg her to tell me where she had been and what she had seen that day but never having belonged to Balem darling Dolly was quite unsuccessful though often she strove to tell me with her ears down and both eyes rolling then I made John Fry tie her tail in a knot with a piece of white ribbon as if for adornment that I might trace her among the hills at any rate for a mile or two but Uncle Ben was too deep for that he cut off the ribbon before he started saying he would have no dunes after him and then in despair I applied to you knowing how quick a foot you are and I got Ruth and Lizzie to help me but you answered us very shortly the supper you had that night according to your desserts but though we were dashed to the ground for a time we were not wholly discomfited our determination to know all about it seemed to increase with the difficulty and Uncle Ben's manner last night was so dry when we tried to romp and to lead him out that it was much worse than Jamaica Ginger graded into a poor sprayed finger so we sent him to bed at the earliest moment if you remember you, John having now taken to smoke which is a hateful practice had gone forth grumbling about your bad supper and not taking it as a good lesson why Annie I cried in amazement at this I will never trust you again for a supper I thought you were so sorry and so I was dear very sorry but still we must do our duty and when we came to consider it Ruth was the cleverest of us all she said that surely we must have some man we could trust about the farm to go on a little errand and then I remembered that old John Fry would do anything for money not for money plays miss said John Fry taking a pull at the beer but for the love of your sweet face to be sure John with the kings behind it and so Lizzie ran for John at once and we gave him full directions how he was to slip out of the barley in the confusion of the breakfast so that none might miss him and to run back to the black comb bottom and there he would find the very same pony which Uncle Ben had been tied upon and there is no faster upon the farm and then without waiting for any breakfast unless he could eat it either running or trotting he was to travel all up the black comb by the track Uncle Ruben had taken and up at the top to look forward carefully and so to trace him without being seen A. and rate well a dude and John cried with his mouth in the bullocks horn well and what did you see John I asked with great anxiety though I meant to have shown no interest John was just at the very point of it Lizzie answered me sharply when you chose to come in and stop him then let him begin again said I things being gone so far it is now my duty to know everything for the sake of you girls and mother him cried Lizzie in a nasty way but I took no notice of her for she was always bad to deal with therefore John Fry began again being heartily glad to do so that his story might get out of the tumble which all our talk had made in it but as he could not tell a tale in the manner of my Lorna although he told it very well for those who understood him I will take it from his mouth altogether and state in brief what happened when John upon his forest pony which he had much adieu to hold its mouth being like a bucket was come to the top of the long black comb two miles or more from Plover's Barrow's and winding to the southward he stopped his little nag short of the crest and got off and looked ahead of him from behind a tump of wortles it was a long flat sweep of moorland over which he was gazing with a few bogs here and there and brushy places round them of course John Fry from his shepherd life and reclaiming of strayed cattle knew as well as need be where he was and the spread of the hills before him although it was beyond our beat or rather I should say beside it not but what we might have grazed there had it turned out that way it was a long, flat sweep but what we might have grazed there had it been our pleasure but that it was not worth our while and scarcely worth Jasper Kebby's even all the land being cropped as one might say with desolation and nearly all our knowledge of it sprang from the unaccountable tricks of cows who have young calves with them at which time they have wild desire to get away from the sight of man and keep calf and milk for one another although it be in a barren land at least our cows have gotten this trick and I have heard other people complain of it John Fry as I said knew the place well enough but he liked it none the more for that neither did any of our people and indeed all the neighborhood of Tom's Hill and Larksboro and most of all Black Barrow Down lay under grave imputation of having been enchanted with a very evil spell moreover it was known that though folk were loath to speak of it even on a summer morning that Squire Tom who had been murdered there a century ago or more had been seen by several shepherds even in the middle day walking with his severed head carried in his left hand and his right arm lifted towards the sun therefore it was very bold in John as I acknowledged to venture across that more alone even with a fast pony under him and some whiskey by his side and he would never have done so of that I am quite certain either for the sake of Annie's sweet face or of the golden guinea which the three maidens had subscribed to reward his skill and valor but the truth was that he could not resist his own great curiosity for carefully spying across the moor from behind the tuft of wardles at first he could discover nothing having life in motion except three or four wild cattle roving in vain search for nourishment and a diseased sheep banished hither and some carrion crows keeping watch on her but when John was taking his very last look being only too glad to go home again and acknowledge himself baffled he thought he saw a figure moving in the farthest distance upon blackbarrow down scarcely a thing to be sure of yet on account of the want of color but as he watched the figure pass between him and a naked cliff and appeared to be a man on horseback making his way very carefully in fear of bogs and serpents for all about there it is atter's ground and large black serpents dwell in the marshes and can swim as well as crawl John knew that the man who was riding there was Ruben for none of the dunes ever passed that way and the shepherds were afraid of it and now it seemed an unkind place for an unarmed man to venture through especially after an armed one who might not like to be spied upon and must have some dark object in visiting such drear solitudes nevertheless John Fry so ached with unbearable curiosity to know what an old man and a stranger and a rich man and a peaceable could possibly be after in that mysterious manner moreover John so throbbed with hope to find some wealthy secret that come what would of it he resolved to go to the end of the matter therefore he only waited a while for fear of being discovered till Master Huckaback turned to the left and entered a little gully whence he could not survey the moor John remounted and crossed the rough land and the stony places and picked his way among the moorasses as fast as ever he dared to go until in about half an hour he drew nigh the entrance of the gully and now it behoved him to be most wary for Uncle Ben might have stopped in there either to rest his horse or having reached the end of his journey and in either case John had little doubt that he had ever heard of him therefore he made his pony come to the mouth of its sideways and leaned over and peered in around the rocky corner while the little horse cropped at the briars but he soon perceived that the gully was empty so far at least as its course was straight and with that he hastened into it though his heart was not working easily when he had traced the winding hollow for half a mile or more he saw that it forked to the left of a steep red bank and the other to the right being narrow and slightly tending downwards some yellow sand lay here and there between the starving grasses and this he examined narrowly for a trace of Master Huckaback at last he saw that beyond all doubt the man he was pursuing had taken the course which led downhill and down the hill he must follow him and this John did with deep misgivings and a hearty wish that he had never started upon so perilous and errand for now he knew not where he was and scarcely dared to ask himself having heard of a horrible hole somewhere in this neighborhood called the wizard's sloth therefore John rode down the slope with sorrow and great caution and these grew more as he went onward and his pony reared against him being scared of the ruffus moorland and John had just made up his mind that God meant this for a warning as the passage seemed darker and deeper when suddenly he turned a corner and saw a scene which stopped him for there was the wizard's sloth itself as black as death and bubbling with a few scant yellow reeds and a ring around it outside these bright water grass of the liveliest green was creeping tempting any unwary foot to step and plunge and fonder and on the marge were blue campanula sundew and forget-me-not such as no child could resist on either side the hill fell back and the ground was broken with tufts of rush and flag and mare's tail and a few rough alder trees over clogged with water and not a bird was seen or heard neither rail nor water hen wagtail nor reed warbler of this horrible quagmire the worst upon all ex-moor John had heard from his grandfather and even from his mother when they wanted to keep him quiet but his father had feared to speak of it to him being a man of piety and up to the tricks of the evil one this made John the more desirous to have a good look at it now only with his girth's well up to turn away and flee at speed if anything should happen and now he proved how well it is to be wary and wide awake even in lonesome places for at the other side of the slough and a few land yards beyond it where the ground was less noisome he had observed a felled tree lying over a great hole in the earth with staves of wood and slabs of stone and some yellow gravel around it but the flags of reeds around the morass partly screened it from his eyes and he could not make out the meaning of it except that it meant no good and probably it was witchcraft yet Dolly seemed not to be harmed by it for there she was as large as life tied to a stump not far beyond and flipping the flies away with her tail while John was trembling within himself less Dolly should get scent of his pony and nay and reveal their presence although she could not see them suddenly to his great amazement something white arose out of the hole under the brown trunk of the tree seeing this his blood went back within him yet he was not able to turn and flee but rooted his face in among the loose stones and kept his quivering shoulders back and prayed to God to protect him however the white thing itself was not so very awful being nothing more than a long cone nightcap with a tassel on the top such as criminals wear at hanging time but when John saw a man's face under it and a man's neck and shoulders slowly rising out of the pit he could not doubt that this was the place where the murderers come to life again according to the Exmor story he knew that a man had been hanged last week and that this was the ninth day after it therefore he could bear no more thoroughly brave as he had been neither did he wait to see what became of the gallows man but climbed on his horse with what speed he might and rode away at full gallop neither did he dare go back by the way he came fearing to face black barrow down therefore he struck up the other track leading away towards Cloven Rock and after riding hard for an hour and drinking all his whiskey he luckily fell in with a shepherd who led him on to a public house somewhere near Exiford and here he was so unmanned the excitement being over that nothing less than a gallon of ale and half a gammon of bacon brought him to his right mind again and he took good care to be home before dark having followed a well-known sheep track when John Fry finished his story at last after many exclamations from Annie and from Lizzie and much praise of his gallantry yet some little disappointment that he had not stayed there a little longer while he was about it so as to be able to tell us more I said to him very sternly now John you have dreamed half this my man I firmly believe that you fell asleep at the top of the black comb after drinking all your whiskey and never went on to the moor at all John the girls were exceedingly angry at this and laid their hands before my mouth but I waited for John to answer with my eyes fixed upon him steadfastly banked for me to deny said John looking at me very honestly but what a mate tell a lie now in a while same as other men doth and most of oral them as spacks again it that this here be no lie I wish to God it war boy I might sleep this Nate the better I believe you speak the truth John and I ask your pardon now not a word to anyone about this strange affair there is mischief brewing I can see and it is my place to attend to it several things come across me now only I will not tell you they were not at all contended with this but I would give them no better except to say and vowed to sleep at my door all night now my dears this is foolish of you too much of this matter is known already it is for your own dear sakes that I am bound to be cautious I have an opinion of my own but it may be a very wrong one I will not ask you to share it with me neither will I make you inquisitive Annie pouted and Lizzie frowned and Ruth looked at me with her eyes wide open but no other mark of regarding me and I saw that if any one of the three for John Fry was gone home with the trembles could be trusted to keep a secret that one was Ruth Huckaback end of chapter 31 recording by Michelle Harris chapter 32 of Lorna Dune this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Michelle Harris Lorna Dune by R. D. Blackmore chapter 32 feeding of the pigs the story told by John Fry that night and my conviction of its truth made me very uneasy especially as following upon the warnings of Judge Jeffries and the hints received from Jeremy Stickles and the outburst of the tanner at Dunster as well as sundry tales and rumors and signs of secret understanding seen and heard on market days and at places of entertainment we knew for certain that at Taunton Bridgewater and even Dulverton there was much disaffection towards the king and regret for the days of the Puritans albeit I had told the truth and the pure and simple truth when upon my examination I had assured his lordship that to the best of my knowledge there was nothing of the sort with us but now I was beginning to doubt whether I might not have been mistaken especially when we heard as we did of arms being landed at Linnmouth in the dead of the night and of the tramp of men having reached someone's ears from a hill where a famous echo was for it must be plain to any conspirator without the example of the dunes that for the secret muster of men and the stowing of unlawful arms and communication by beacon lights scarcely a fitter place could be found in the wilds of Exmor with deep ravines running far inland from an unwatched and mostly a sheltered sea for the channel from Countessbury Foreland up to Minehead or even farther though rocky and gusty and full of currents is safe from great rollers and the sweeping power of the southwest storms which prevail with us more than all the others and make sad work on the opposite coast but even supposing it probable that something against King Charles II or rather against his Roman advisors and especially his brother were now in preparation amongst us was it likely that Master Huckaback a wealthy man and a careful one known moreover to the Lord Chief Justice would have anything to do with it to this I could make no answer Uncle Ben was so close a man so avaricious and so revengeful that it was quite impossible to say what course he might pursue without knowing all the chances of gain or rise or satisfaction to him that he hated the papists I knew full well though he never spoke much about them also that he had followed the march of Oliver Cromwell's army but more as a subtler people said than as a real soldier and that he would go a long way with money to have his revenge on the dunes although their name never passed his lips during the present visit but how was it likely to be as to the dunes themselves which side would they probably take in the coming movement if movement indeed it would be so far as they had any religion at all by birth they were Roman Catholics so much I knew from Lorna and indeed it was well known all around that a priest had been fetched more than once to the valley to soothe some poor outlaw's departure on the other hand they were not likely to entertain much affection for the son of the man who had banished them and confiscated their property and it was not at all impossible that desperate men such as they were having nothing to lose but estates to recover and not being held by religion much should cast away all regard for the birth from which they had been cast out and make common cause with a Protestant rising for the chance of revenge and replacement however I do not mean to say that all these things occurred to me as clearly as I have set them down only that I was in general doubt and very sad perplexity for mother was so warm and innocent and kind so to everyone that knowing some little by this time of the English Constitution I feared very greatly lest she should be punished for harboring malcontents as well as possible I knew that if any poor man came to our door and cried officers are after me for God's sake take and hide me mother would take him in at once and conceal and feed him even though he had been very violent and to tell the truth so would both my sisters and so indeed would I once it will be clear that we were not the sort of people before I could quite make up my mind how to act in this difficulty and how to get at the rights of it for I would not spy after Uncle Rubin though I felt no great fear of the wizard sloth and none of the man with the white nightcap a difference came again upon it and a change of chances for Uncle Ben went away as suddenly as he first had come to us giving no reason for his departure neither claiming the pony and indeed leaving something behind him of great value to my mother for he begged her to see to his young granddaughter until he could find opportunity of fetching her safely to Dulverton mother was overjoyed at this as she could not help displaying and Ruth was quite as much delighted although she durst not show it for at Dulverton she had to watch and keep such ward on the victuals and the in and out of the shop men that it went entirely against her heart and she never could enjoy herself truly she was an altered girl as she came to us catching our unsuspicious manners and our free goodwill and hearty noise of laughing by this time the harvest being done and the thatching of the ricks made sure against southwestern tempest and all the reapers being gone with good money and thankfulness I began to burn in spirit for the sight of Lorna I had begged my sister Annie to let Sally Snow know once for all that it was not in my power anything more to do with her of course our Annie was not to grieve Sally neither to let it appear for a moment that I suspected her kind views upon me and her strong regard for our dairy only I thought it right upon our part not to waste Sally's time any longer being a handsome wench as she was and many young fellows glad to marry her and Annie did this uncommonly well as she herself told me afterwards having taken Sally in the sweetest manner into her pure confidence and opened half her bosom to her about my very sad love affair not that she let Sally know of course who it was or what it was only that she made her understand without hinting at any desire of it that there was no chance now of having me Sally changed color a little at this and then went on about a red cow which had passed seven needles at milking time in as much as there are two sorts in the calendar to wit the lunar and the solar I made bold to regard both my months in the absence of any provision as intended to be strictly lunar therefore upon the very day when the eight weeks were expiring forth I went in search of Lorna taking the pearl ring hopefully and all the new laid eggs I could find and a dozen and a half of small trout from our brook and the pleasure it gave me to catch those trout thinking as every one came forth and danced upon the grass how much she would enjoy him is more than I can now describe although I well remember it and it struck me that after accepting my ring and saying how much she loved me it was possible that my queen might invite me even to stay and sup with her and so I arranged with dear Annie beforehand who is now the greatest comfort to me to account for my absence I was very disappointed for although I waited and waited for hours with an equal amount both of patience and peril no Lorna ever appeared at all nor even the faintest sign of her and another thing occurred as well which vexed me more than it need have done for so small a matter and this was that my little offering of the trout and the new laid eggs was carried off in the coolest manner by that vile carver dune for thinking to keep them I laid them in a little bed of reeds by the side of the water and placed some dog leaves over them and when I had quite forgotten about them and was watching from my hiding place beneath the willow tree for I like not to enter Lorna's bower without her permission except just to peep that she was not there and while I was turning the ring in my pocket having just seen the new moon I became aware he had a broad brimmed hat and a leather jerkin and heavy jack boots to his middle thigh and what was worst of all for me on his shoulder he bore a long carbine having nothing to meet him with all but my staff and desiring to avoid disturbance I retired promptly into the chasm keeping the tree betwixt us that he might not describe me and watching from behind the jet of rock where now I had scraped myself a neat little hole for the purpose presently the great man reappeared being now within fifty yards of me and the light still good enough as he drew nearer for me to describe his features and though I am not a judge of men's faces there was something in his which turned me cold as though with a kind of horror not that it was an ugly face nay rather it seemed a handsome one so far as mere form and line might go full of strength and vigor and will and steadfast resolution from the short black hair to the broad forehead to the long black beard descending below the curt bold chin there was not any curve or glimpse of weakness or of afterthought nothing playful nothing pleasant nothing with a track of smiles nothing which a friend could like and laugh at him for having and yet he might have been a good man for I have known very good men so fortified by their own strange ideas of God and the cold and cruel hankering of his steel-blue eyes now let no one suppose for a minute that I saw all this in a moment for I am very slow and take a long time to digest things only I like to set down and have done with it all the results of my knowledge though they be not manifold but what I said to myself just then was no more than this what a fellow to have Lorna in the midst of right so outraged although of course I would never allow her to go so far as that I almost longed that he might thrust his head in to look after me for there I was with my ash staff clubbed ready to have Adam and not ill inclined to do so if only he would come where strength not firearms must decide it however he suspected nothing of my dangerous neighborhood but walked his round then as he marched back again along the margin of the stream he has spied my little horde covered up with dog leaves he saw that the leaves were upside down and this of course drew his attention I saw him stoop and lay bare the fish and the eggs set a little away from them and in my simple heart I thought that now he knew all about me but to my surprise he seemed well pleased and his harsh short laughter came to me without echo and I thought I was very happy and I thought that I was going to be a good fisherman Charlie have I caught these setting bait for Lorna now I understand my fishings and the robbing of counsellors hen roost may I never have good roasting if I have it not tonight and roast thee Charlie afterwards with this he calmly packed up and grieved and mortified by this most impudent robbery that I started forth from my rocky screen with the intention of pursuing him until my better sense arrested me barely in time to escape his eyes for I said to myself that even supposing I could contend unarmed with him it would be the greatest folly in the world to have my secret access known and perhaps a fatal barrier placed between Lorna and myself and I knew not for the sake of a few eggs and fishes it was better to bear this trifling loss however ignominious and goading to the spirit than to risk my love and Lorna's welfare and perhaps be shot into the bargain and I think that all will agree with me that I acted for the wisest in withdrawing to my shelter though deprived of eggs and fishes having waited as I said until there was no chance whatever of my love appearing I hastened homeward very sadly and the wind of early autumn moaned across the moorland all the beauty of the harvest all the gaiety was gone and the early fall of dusk was like a weight upon me nevertheless I went every evening thence forward for a fortnight hoping every time in vain to find my hope and comfort and meanwhile what perplexed me most was that the signals were replaced in order as agreed upon so that Lorna could scarcely be restrained by any rigor one time I had a narrow chance of being shot and settled with and it befell me thus I was waiting very carelessly being now a little desperate at the entrance to the glen instead of watching through my sight hole as the proper practice was suddenly a ball went by me with a whiz and whistle passing through my hat and sweeping it away all folded up the hat fluttered far down the stream before I had time to go after it and with the help of both wind and water was fifty yards gone in a moment at this I had just enough mind left to shrink back very suddenly and lurk very still and closely for I knew what a narrow escape it had been as I heard the bullet hard set by the powder sing mournfully down the chasm like a drone banished out of the hive and as I peered through my little cranny I saw a wreath of smoke still floating where the thickness was of the withy bed and presently Carver Dune came forth having stopped to reload his piece perhaps and ran very swiftly to the entrance to see what he had shot sore trouble had I to keep close quarters from the slipperiness of the stone beneath me with the water sliding over it my foe came quite to the verge of the fall where the river began to comb over and there he stopped for a minute or two on the utmost edge of dry land upon the very spot indeed where I had fallen senseless when I clummet in my boyhood I could hear him breathing hard and grunting as in doubt and discontent for he stood within a yard of me and I kept my right fist ready for him if he should discover me then at the foot of the water slide my black hat suddenly appeared tossing in white foam and fluttering like a raven wound now I had doubted which hat to take when I left home that day till I thought that the black hat became me best and might seem kinder to Lorna have I killed the old bird at last my enemy cried in triumph tis the third time I have shot at thee and thou was beginning to mock me no more of thy cursed croaking now to wake me in the morning ha ha there are not many who get three chances from Carver Dune and none ever go beyond it I laughed within myself at this as he strode away in his triumph for was not this his third chance of me and he know with the wiser and then I thought that perhaps the chance might someday be on the other side for to tell the truth I was heartily tired of lurking and playing bo peep so long to which nothing could have reconciled me except my fear for Lorna and here I saw was a man of strength fit for me to encounter such as I had never met but would be glad to meet with having found no man of late who needed not my mercy at wrestling or at single stick and growing more and more uneasy as I found no Lorna I would have tried to force the Dune Glenn from the upper end and take my chance of getting back but for Annie and her prayers now that same night I think it was or at any rate the next one that I noticed Betty Muxworthy going on most strangely looking and laid her fingers on her lips and pointed over her shoulder but I took little heat of her being in kind of dudgeon and oppressed with evil luck believing too that all she wanted was to have some little grumble about some petty grievance but presently she poked me with the heel of a fire bundle and passing close to my ear whispered so that none else could hear her Lorna Dune by these words I was so startled that I turned round and stared at her but she pretended not to know it and began with all her might to scour an empty crock with a bessem Oh Betty let me help you that work is much too hard for you I cried with a sudden chivalry which only one rude answer Zeed me a dune of thick every nate less ten-year yarn while out vending out how hard it wore but if so be the ones to help Carpeg's bucket for me Massey if I ain't forgotten to fade the pegs till now favoring me with another wink to which I now paid the keenest heed Betty went and fetched the lantern from the hook inside the door then when she had kindled it not allowing me any time to ask what she was after she went outside and pointed to the great box of wash and riddlings and brown hulkage for we ground our own corn always and though she knew that her slokum had full work to carry it on a pole with another to help to sling it she said to me as quietly as a maiden might ask one to carry a glove yon rid car thick thing for me so I carried it for her without any words wondering what she was up to next and whether she had ever heard of being too hard on the willing horse and when we came to hog pound she was bearing and saw that I had the box by one hand very easily yon rid she said there be no other man in England could adude it now these shalt have larna while I was wondering how my chance of having Lorna could depend upon my power to carry pigs wash and how Betty could have any voice in the matter which seemed to depend upon her decision and in short while I was all the pigs who had been fast to sleep and dreaming in their emptiness awoke with one accord at the goodness of the smell around them they had resigned themselves as even pigs do to a kind of fast hoping to break their fast more sweetly on the morrow morning but now they tumbled out all headlong pigs below and pigs above pigs point blank and pigs across pigs currant and pigs rampant but all alike prepared to eat and all in good cadence taking tacks marlbucket and bailing out what a way such stoof as thick here be so Betty set me to feed the pigs while she held the lanthorn and knowing what she was I saw that she would not tell me another word until all the pigs were served and in truth no man could well look at them and delay to serve them they were all expressing appetite and so forcible a manner some running to and fro some rushing down to the oaken troughs and poking each other away from them and the kindest of all putting up their forefeet on the top rail on the hog pound and blinking their little eyes and grunting prettily to coax us as who would say I trust you now you will be kind I know and give me the first and the very best of it up and get now woolly young mained young sow with the babel back Arleway have first turn of it in a lap I did zuck zuck zuck how her stick her tail up do me good to zian now they see trough the zany and talk the goat legs out of the way wish they would give you a good bait mack the hop a bit vast that I reckon hit that there a goat oza bird over's back with the broomstick he be robin of my young sow chug chug chug and a drap moor left in the dripping pail come now Betty I said when all the pigs were at it sucking, swilling, munching, guzzling, thrusting and ousting and spilling the food upon the backs of their brethren as great men do with their charity come now Betty how much longer am I to wait for your message surely I am as good as a pig d'no is thee be young no strachiness in thy backin and now I come to think of it young the zed is gone last Friday as how I got a goat beer will he stick to that now maester yon no no Betty certainly not I made a mistake about it I should have said a becoming mustachio such as you may well be proud of then thee be a lair yon rid zeso like a man lad not exactly that Betty but I made a great mistake and I humbly ask your pardon as a crown piece Betty no fey no fey said Betty however she put it into her pocket now tack my advice yon thee marry Sally Snow not with all England for her dowry oh Betty you know better as me I know much worse yon break thy poor mother's heart it will and to think of all the danger does love Lerna now so much with all the strength of my heart and soul I will have her or I will die Betty well thee will die in either case but it bane for me to argify and do her love thee too yon I hope she does Betty I hope she does what do you think about it ah then I may hold my tongue to it now what boys and maidens be as well as I knew young pegs I myself been of that sort one tame every bit so well as you be and Betty held the land thorn up and defied me to deny it and the light through the horn showed a gleam in her eyes such as I had never seen there before no odds no odds about that she continued mack a fool of my zeal to spake of it all gone into shortshard but it be a lucky foolery for thee my boy I can toly for I love to see the love in thee cometh over me as the spring do though I be nay three score now yon I will tell thee one thing can't a bear to see thee threaten so hold thee head down same as they pegs do so I bent my head quite close to her and she whispered in my ear goo of a marinin digirt soft her can't get out of an avenin now her hath zent word to me to toly in the glory of my delight at this I bestowed upon Betty a chaste salute with all the pigs for witnesses and she took it not amiss considering how long she had been out of practice but then she fell back like a broom on its handle and stared at me feigning anger oh fey oh fey London impudence I doubt I veered thee has gone on zadly yon end of chapter 32 recording by Michelle Harris chapter 33 of Lorna Dune this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Michelle Harris Lorna Dune by R. D. Blackmore chapter 33 an early morning calling of course I was up the very next morning before the October sunrise and a way through the wild in the woodland towards the bag worthy water at the foot of the long cascade the rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it peeping down the spread of light he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of grey mountain and wavering length of upland beneath his gaze the dew fogs dipped and crept to the hollow places then stole away in line and column holding skirts and clinging subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over grassland while the brave lines of the hills came forth one beyond other gliding then the woods arose in folds like drapery of awakened mountains stately with a depth of awe and memory of the tempests autumn's mellow hand was on them as they owned already touched with gold and red and olive and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear itself suddenly the gladsome light leaped over hill and valley casting amber blue and purple and a tint of rich red rose according to the scene they lit on and the curtain flung around yet all alike dispelling fear and the cloven hoof of darkness all on the wings of hope dancing and proclaiming God is here then life and joy sprang reassured from every crouching hollow every flower and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them and all the flashing of God's gaze merged into soft beneficence so perhaps shall break upon us that eternal morning when crag and chasm shall be no more neither hill and valley nor great unventaged ocean when glory shall not scare happiness neither happiness envy glory but all things shall arise and shine in the light of the father's countenance because itself is risen who maketh his son to rise upon both the just and the unjust and surely but for the saving clause dune glen had been in darkness now as I stood with scanty breath for few men could have won that climb at the top of the long defile and the bottom of the mountain gorge all of myself and the pain of it and the dark of my discontent fell away into wonder and rapture for I cannot help seeing things now and then slow-witted as I have a right to be and perhaps because it comes so rarely the sight dwells with me like a picture the bar of rock with the water clef breaking steeply through it stood bold and bare and dark in shadow gray with red gullies down it but the sun was beginning to glisten over the comb of the eastern highland and through an archway of the wood hung with old nests and ivy the lines of many a leaning tree were thrown from the cliffs of the foreland down upon the sparkling grass at the foot of the western crags and through the dewey meadows breast fringed with shade but touched on one side with a smile ran the crystal water curving in its brightness like diverted hope on either bank the blades of grass making their last autumn growth pricked their spears and crisp their tuftings with the pearly purity the tenderness of their green appeared under the glaucus mantel while that grace of fusion which is the blush of green life spread its damask chastity as the mind was who can see such large kind doings and not be ashamed of human grief not only unashamed of grief but much abashed with joy was I when I saw my Lorna coming pure than the morning dew than the sun more bright and clear that which made me love her so that which lifted my heart to her as the spring wind lifts the clouds was the gayness of her nature and its inborn playfulness and yet all this with maiden shame a conscious dream of things unknown and a sense of fate about them down the valley still she came not witting that I looked at her having ceased through my own misprison to expect me yet a while or at least she told herself so in the joy of awakened life and brightness of the morning she had cast all care away and seemed to float upon the sunrise like a buoyant silver wave suddenly at sight of me for I leaped forth at once in fear of seeming to watch her unawares the bloom upon her cheeks was deepened and the radiance of her eyes and she came to meet me gladly at last then you are come John I thought you had forgotten me I could not make you understand they have kept me prisoner every evening but come into my house you are in danger here meanwhile I could not answer being overcome with joy but followed to her little grotto where I had been twice before I knew that the crowning moment of my life was coming that Lorna would own her love for me she made for a while as if she dreamed not of the meaning of my gaze but tried to speak of other things faltering now and then and mantling with a richer damask below her long eyelashes this is not what I came to know I whispered very softly you know what I am come to ask if you come on purpose to ask anything why do you delay so she turned away very bravely but I saw that her lips were trembling I delay so long because I fear because my whole life hangs in balance on a single word because what I have near me now may never more be near me after though more than all the world or than a thousand worlds to me as I spoke these words of passion in a low soft voice Lorna trembled more and more but she made no answer neither yet looked up at me I have loved you long and long I pursued being reckless now when you were a little child as a boy I worshiped you then when I saw you a comely girl as a stripling I adored you now that you are a full grown maiden all the rest I do and more I love you more than tongue can tell or heart can hold in silence I have waited long and long and though I am so far below you I can wait no longer but must have my answer you have been very faithful John she murmured to the fern and moss I suppose I must reward you that will not do you any harm I will not do you any harm that will not do for me I said I will not have reluctant liking nor a scent for pity's sake which only means endurance I must have all love or none I must have your heart of hearts even as you have mine Lorna while I spoke she glanced up shyly through her fluttering lashes to prolong my doubt one moment for her own delicious pride then she opened wide upon me all the glorious depth and softness of her loving eyes and flung both arms around my neck and answered with her heart on mine darling you have won it all I shall never be my own again I am yours my own one forever and forever I am sure I know not what I did or what I said thereafter being overcome with transport by her words and at her gaze only one thing I remember when she raised her bright lips to me like a child for me to kiss such a smile of sweet temptation met me through her flowing hair that I almost forgot my manners giving her no time to breathe that will do said Lorna gently but violently blushing for the present that will do John and now remember one thing dear all the kindness is to be on my side and you are to be very distant as behooves to a young maiden except when I invite you but you may kiss my hand John oh yes you may kiss my hand you know ah to be sure I had forgotten how very stupid of me for by this time I had taken one sweet hand and gazed on it with the pride of all the world to think that such a lovely thing was mine and then I slipped my little ring upon the wedding finger and this time Lorna kept it and looked with fondness every time you cry said I drawing her closer to me I shall consider it an invitation not to be too distant there now none shall make you weep darling you shall sigh no more but live in peace and happiness with me to guard and cherish you and who shall dare to vex you but she drew a long sad sigh and looked at the ground with the great tears rolling and pressed one hand upon the trouble of her pure young breast it can never never be she murmured to herself alone who am I to dream of it something in my heart tells me it can be so never never end of chapter 33 recording by Michelle Harris chapter 34 of Lorna Doon this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Michelle Harris Lorna Doon by R.D. Blackmore chapter 34 two negatives make an affirmative there was however no possibility of depressing me at such a time to be loved by Lorna the sweet the pure the playful one the fairest creature on God's earth and the most enchanting the lady of high birth and mind that I a mere clumsy suffering yeoman without wit or wealth or lineage should have won that loving heart to be my own forever was a thought no fears could lessen and no chance could steal from me therefore at her own entreaty taking a very quick adieu and by her own invitation and exceeding kind one I hurried home with deep exulting yet some sad misgivings for Lorna had made me promise now to tell my mother everything as indeed I always meant to do when my suit should be gone too far to stop I knew of course that my dear mother would be greatly moved and vexed the airship of Glen Doon not being a very desirable dower but in spite of that and all disappointment as to little Ruth Huckaback feeling my mother's tenderness and deep affection to me and forgiving nature I doubted not that before very long she would view the matter as I did and if once I could get her only to look at Lorna she would so love and glory in her that I should obtain all praise and thanks for chance without deserving them unluckily for my designs who should be sitting down at breakfast with my mother and the rest but squire faggots as everybody now began to entitle him I noticed something odd about him something uncomfortable in his manner and a lack of that ease and humor which had been want to distinguish him he took his breakfast as it came without a single joke about it or preference of this to that but with sly soft looks at Annie who seemed unable to sit quiet or to look at anyone steadfastly I feared in my heart what was coming on and felt truly sorry for poor mother after breakfast it became my duty to see to the plowing of a barley stubble ready for the sowing of a French grass and I asked Tom Faggots to come with me but he refused and I knew the reason being resolved to allow him fair feel to himself though with great displeasure that a man of such illegal repute should marry into our family which had always been counted so honest I carried my dinner upon my back and spent the whole day with the furrows when I returned squire faggots was gone which appeared to me but a sorry sign in as much as if mother had taken kindly to him in his intentions she would surely have made him remain a while to celebrate the occasion and presently no doubt was left for Lizzie came running to meet me at the bottom of the wood-rick and cried oh John there is such a business mother is in such a state of mind and Annie crying her eyes out what do you think you would never guess though I have suspected it ever so long no need for me to guess some indifference because of her self-important air I knew all about it long ago you have not been crying much I see I should like you better if you had why should I cry I like Tom Faggots he is the only one I ever see with the spirit of a man that was a cut of course at me Mr. Faggots had won the goodwill of Lizzie by his hatred of the dooms and vows that if he could get a dozen men of any courage to join him he would pull their stronghold about their ears without any more ado this malice of his seems strange to me as he had never suffered at their hands so far at least as I knew was it to be attributed to his jealousy of outlaws who excelled him in his business not being good at repartee I made no answer to Lizzie having found this course more irksome to her than the very best invective and so we entered the house together and mother sent at once for me while I was trying to console my darling sister Annie oh John speak one good word for me she cried with both hands laid in mine and her tearful eyes looking up at me not one my pet but a hundred I answered kindly embracing her have no fear little sister I am going to make your case so bright by comparison I mean that mother will send for you in five minutes and call you her best her most dutiful child and praise cousin Tom to the skies and send a man on horseback after him and then you will have a harder task to intercede for me my dear oh John dear John you won't tell her about Lorna oh not today dear yes today and at once Annie I want to have it over and be done with it oh but think of her dear I am sure she could not bear it after this great shock already she will bear it all the better and the one will drive the other out I know exactly what mother is she will be desperately savage first with you and then with me and then for a little while with both of us together and then she will put one against the other in her mind I mean and consider which was most to blame and in doing that she will be compelled to find the best in either's case that it may beat the other and so as the please come before her mind they will gain upon the charges both of us being her children you know and before very long particularly if we both keep out of the way she will begin to think that after all she has been a little too hasty and then she will remember how good we have always been to her and how like our father upon that she will think of her own love time and sigh a good bit and cry a little and then smile and send for both of us and beg our pardon John how on earth can you know all that exclaimed my sister wiping her eyes and gazing at me with a soft bright smile who on earth can have told you John people to call you stupid indeed why I feel that all you say is quite true because you describe so exactly what I should do myself I mean if I had two children who had behaved as we have done but tell me darling John how you learned all this never you mind I replied and concede I fear I must be a fool if I did not know what mother is by this time now in as much as the thing befell according to my prediction what need for me to dwell upon it after saying how it would be moreover I would regret to write down what mother said about Lorna in her first surprise and tribulation not only because I was grieved by the gross injustice of it and frightened mother with her own words repeated deeply after her but rather because it is not well when people repent of hasty speech to enter it against them that is said to be the angels business and I doubt if they can attend to it much without doing injury to themselves however by the afternoon when the sun began to go down upon us our mother sat on the garden bench with her head on my great otterskin waistcoat which was waterproof around our Annie's waist and scarcely knowing which of us she ought to make the most of or which deserved most pity not that she had forgiven yet the rivals to her love Tom Fagus I mean and Lorna but that she was beginning to think a tattle better of them now and a vast deal better of her own children and it helped her much in this regard that she was not thinking half so well as usual of herself or rather of her own judgment for in good truth she had no self only as it came home to her by no very distant road but by way of her children a better mother never lived and can I after searching all things add another word to that and indeed poor Lizzie was not so very bad but behaved on the whole very well for her she was much to be pitied poor thing and great allowance is made for her as belonging to a well-grown family and a very calmly one and feeling her own shortcomings this made her leap to the other extreme and reassert herself too much endeavoring to exalt the mind at the expense of the body because she had the invisible one so far as can be decided in better share than the visible not but what she had her points and very calmly points of body lovely eyes to wit and very beautiful hands and feet almost as good as Lorna's and a neck as wide as snow but Lizzie was not gifted with our gate and port and bounding health now while we sat on the garden bench under the great ash tree we left dear mother to take her own way and talk at her own pleasure children almost always are more wide awake than their parents the fathers and the mothers laugh but the young ones have the best of them and now both Annie knew and I that we had gotten the best of mother and therefore we let her lay down the law as if we had been two dollies darling John, my mother said your case is a very hard one a young and very romantic girl God's sin that I be right in my charitable view of her has met an equally simple boy among great dangers and difficulties from which my son has saved her at the risk of his life at every step of course she became attached to him and looked up to him in every way as a superior being come now mother I said if you only saw Lorna you would look upon me as the lowest dirt no doubt I should my mother answered and the king and queen and all the royal family well this poor angel having made up her mind to take compassion upon my son when he had saved her life so many times persuades him to marry her out of pure pity and the saddest part of it all is this that my mother will never never never understand the truth said I that is all I wish she answered just to get at the simple truth for my own perception of it John you are very wise in kissing me but perhaps you would not be so wise in bringing Lorna for an afternoon just to see what she thinks of me there is a good saddle of mutton now and there are some very good sausages with the anchor Annie from the last little sow we killed as if Lorna would eat sausages said I with appearance of high contempt though rejoicing all the while that mother seemed to have her name so pat and she pronounced it in a manner which made my heart leap to my ears Lorna to eat sausages I don't see why she shouldn't my mother answered smiling if she means to be a farmer's wife I think what do you say Annie she will eat whatever John desires I should hope said Annie gravely particularly as I made them oh that I could only get the chance of trying her I answered if you could once behold her mother you would never let her go again and she would love you with all your heart she is so good and gentle that is a lucky thing for me saying this my mother wept as she had been doing off and on when no one seemed to look at her otherwise I suppose John she would very soon turn me out of the farm having you so completely under her thumb as she seems to have I see now that my time is over Lizzie and I will seek our fortunes it is wiser so now mother I cried will you have the kindness not to talk any nonsense everything belongs to you and so I hope your children do and you in turn belong to us as you have proved ever since oh ever since we can remember why do you make Annie cry so you ought to know better than that mother upon this went over all the things she had done before how many times I know not neither does it matter only she seemed to enjoy it more every time of doing it and then she said she was an old fool and Annie like a thorough girl she could never get her hair out end of chapter 34 recording by Michelle Harris