Part 22 (2/2)

”Let them come,” she answered quietly, ”men can only hurt our bodies.

None can touch our true selves. Why should we be afraid? Why should we fly?”

But the mother rose and thrust the trembling Agnes into her sister's arms.

”Save her! save her!” she sobbed. ”It is thine example that hath led her to this. To thee do I look to save her from the peril which now besets her. If thou hast no thought or care for thine own life, save that of thy sister!”

Margaret looked down at the little white tearful, and yet courageous, face of her sister and companion, and the dreamy look pa.s.sed from her eyes, whilst her mouth grew resolute.

”Yes, yes,” she cried, in a low voice, ”they shall not touch Agnes! She shall be saved. Lead on Archie, lead on! We will follow you to the hiding place of which you spoke.”

The youth was only too ready to obey; his own agitation was great.

Although not himself of the same way of thinking as the Covenanters, he had the greatest reverence for their firmness and strong faith, and for Margaret he entertained feelings which, as yet, were scarcely understood by him, only it somehow seemed as though were he to lose her, life would be changed for him.

Margaret was but fourteen years of age at this time, and Archie was not twenty; but the girl had that within her and in her aspect, which made it impossible to regard her as a child. When stories were told of the virgin saints and martyrs of old, it was always Margaret's calm, sweet, young face that rose up before the eyes of the lad, and her resolution and courage in face of a threatened and fearful danger intensified this impression.

As he hurried the girls along towards the place which he knew would be a safe shelter for them and for others, and enable them to join with a party of fugitives whose arrangements were all made, he strove to change the purpose of Margaret, and to seek to win her promise to conform to the laws of the land.

But she shook her head, and the glow in her eyes made them s.h.i.+ne like stars in the dusk.

”Nay, Archie, thou must not seek to turn me from the straight and narrow way, even though it be a th.o.r.n.y one to tread! I ask not of thee to follow it. If thou canst serve G.o.d and the King too, with a free heart and conscience, then thank G.o.d for it, and dwell in peace and safety!

For myself I cannot. The Spirit hath shown me a more excellent way, and I needs must follow at all cost. What are the trials and troubles and sufferings of this present life when an eternity of glory lies beyond?

'To him that overcometh will I give----'”

She did not finish the sentence; her mind seemed to travel too swiftly for words. Archie looked at her; and Agnes raised her white, tear-stained face, and both felt that they were looking upon the face of an angel.

The King was dead! The news had reached the north; and for a brief moment the hand of the law was stayed. Persecution of Covenanters was temporarily abandoned till the mind of the new monarch should be known.

There were those who shrewdly suspected that where Charles had chastised with whips, James would chastise with scorpions; but for the moment the country breathed again, and many hunted exiles and wanderers crept back to their former homes, to visit their friends and see how they fared, even if they did not mean to remain long.

Archie Scott was returning home from his work one evening, when he met an acquaintance of his, a man for whom he entertained a feeling of deep dislike and distrust, one Patrick Stuart, who seemed always remarkably well informed as to what was in the wind, and to trim his sails accordingly.

”Have ye seen them?” he asked of Archie, with a look of mystery on his sly face.

”Seen whom, man?” asked the other impatiently.

”Why, those two girls of the Wilsons, who went into hiding four years back--just escaping by the skin of their teeth! I saw the pair of them not an hour since, down there with old Margaret M'Lauchlan! I peeped in at the window, and saw them plain. A rare, fine girl Margaret has grown too--such hair--such eyes! But she needn't think that her beauty will save her, once the bloodhounds get on her track!” and an evil light sprang into the man's s.h.i.+fty eyes, whilst Archie felt his fingers tingling to be at his throat!

Patrick pa.s.sed on, and the other looked after him; his heart was beating high with excitement and a strange foreboding. He almost followed the retreating figure, yet he knew not what to say. He had a premonition that Patrick meant ill in some way, but he had nothing on which to base his suspicions. And his heart felt suddenly hungry for Margaret. He turned his back on the vanis.h.i.+ng figure, and strode rapidly away towards the lonely little house on the outskirts of the town where the old woman lived.

The girl met him with the same calm sweetness of aspect. She had a sister-like greeting for him; but he could scarcely stammer out the words of welcome and greeting that he had been rehearsing so eloquently all the while. There was something in her beauty, her purity of expression, her deep dreamy eyes and steadfast glance that stirred his heart to its depths, and yet left him tongue-tied before her.

She asked him if he thought their parents would receive them, and could do so without peril to themselves. Archie replied that when their flight four years ago had been discovered, the officers had forbidden the parents upon pain of death ever to shelter or hold any communication with their children again, and had, moreover, warned them that they must instantly lodge information with the authorities, should they ever discover their whereabouts.

”Poor mother!” said Margaret gently, when she heard these words. ”How she must have suffered! Now I understand why we never had news from her!

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