Part 28 (1/2)

”And what gude wad that hae dune?” answered the prisoner. ”Na, na, Jeanie, a' was ower when ance I forgot what I promised when I faulded down the leaf of my Bible. See,” she said, producing the sacred volume, ”the book opens aye at the place o' itsell. O see, Jeanie, what a fearfu'

Scripture!”

Jeanie took her sister's Bible, and found that the fatal mark was made at this impressive text in the book of Job: ”He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone. And mine hope hath he removed like a tree.”

”Isna that ower true a doctrine?” said the prisoner ”Isna my crown, my honour, removed? And what am I but a poor, wasted, wan-thriven tree, dug up by the roots, and flung out to waste in the highway, that man and beast may tread it under foot? I thought o' the bonny bit them that our father rooted out o' the yard last May, when it had a' the flush o'

blossoms on it; and then it lay in the court till the beasts had trod them a' to pieces wi' their feet. I little thought, when I was wae for the bit silly green bush and its flowers, that I was to gang the same gate mysell.”

”O, if ye had spoken ae word,” again sobbed Jeanie,--”if I were free to swear that ye had said but ae word of how it stude wi' ye, they couldna hae touched your life this day.”

”Could they na?” said Effie, with something like awakened interest--for life is dear even to those who feel it is a burden--”Wha tauld ye that, Jeanie?”

”It was ane that kend what he was saying weel eneugh,” replied Jeanie, who had a natural reluctance at mentioning even the name of her sister's seducer.

”Wha was it?--I conjure you to tell me,” said Effie, seating herself upright.--”Wha could tak interest in sic a cast-by as I am now?--Was it--was it _him?_”

”Hout,” said Ratcliffe, ”what signifies keeping the poor la.s.sie in a swither? I'se uphaud it's been Robertson that learned ye that doctrine when ye saw him at Muschat's Cairn.”

”Was it him?” said Effie, catching eagerly at his words--”was it him, Jeanie, indeed?--O, I see it was him--poor lad, and I was thinking his heart was as hard as the nether millstane--and him in sic danger on his ain part--poor George!”

Somewhat indignant at this burst of tender feeling towards the author of her misery, Jeanie could not help exclaiming--”O Effie, how can ye speak that gate of sic a man as that?”

”We maun forgie our enemies, ye ken,” said poor Effie, with a timid look and a subdued voice; for her conscience told her what a different character the feelings with which she regarded her seducer bore, compared with the Christian charity under which she attempted to veil it.

”And ye hae suffered a' this for him, and ye can think of loving him still?” said her sister, in a voice betwixt pity and blame.

”Love him!” answered Effie--”If I hadna loved as woman seldom loves, I hadna been within these wa's this day; and trow ye, that love sic as mine is lightly forgotten?--Na, na--ye may hew down the tree, but ye canna change its bend--And, O Jeanie, if ye wad do good to me at this moment, tell me every word that he said, and whether he was sorry for poor Effie or no!”

”What needs I tell ye onything about it?” said Jeanie. ”Ye may be sure he had ower muckle to do to save himsell, to speak lang or muckle about ony body beside.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jeanie and Effie--304]

”That's no true, Jeanie, though a saunt had said it,” replied Effie, with a sparkle of her former lively and irritable temper. ”But ye dinna ken, though I do, how far he pat his life in venture to save mine.” And looking at Ratcliffe, she checked herself and was silent.

”I fancy,” said Ratcliffe, with one of his familiar sneers, ”the la.s.sie thinks that naebody has een but hersell--Didna I see when Gentle Geordie was seeking to get other folk out of the Tolbooth forby Jock Porteous?--but ye are of my mind, hinny--better sit and rue, than flit and rue--ye needna look in my face sae amazed. I ken mair things than that, maybe.”

”O my G.o.d! my G.o.d!” said Effie, springing up and throwing herself down on her knees before him--”D'ye ken where they hae putten my bairn?--O my bairn! my bairn! the poor sackless innocent new-born wee ane--bone of my bone, and flesh of my fles.h.!.+--O man, if ye wad e'er deserve a portion in Heaven, or a brokenhearted creature's blessing upon earth, tell me where they hae put my bairn--the sign of my shame, and the partner of my suffering! tell me wha has taen't away, or what they hae dune wi't?”

”Hout tout,” said the turnkey, endeavouring to extricate himself from the firm grasp with which she held him, ”that's taking me at my word wi' a witness--Bairn, quo' she? How the deil suld I ken onything of your bairn, huzzy? Ye maun ask that of auld Meg Murdockson, if ye dinna ken ower muckle about it yoursell.”

As his answer destroyed the wild and vague hope which had suddenly gleamed upon her, the unhappy prisoner let go her hold of his coat, and fell with her face on the pavement of the apartment in a strong convulsion fit.

Jeanie Deans possessed, with her excellently clear understanding, the concomitant advantage of prompt.i.tude of spirit, even in the extremity of distress.

She did not suffer herself to be overcome by her own feelings of exquisite sorrow, but instantly applied herself to her sister's relief, with the readiest remedies which circ.u.mstances afforded; and which, to do Ratcliffe justice, he showed himself anxious to suggest, and alert in procuring. He had even the delicacy to withdraw to the farthest corner of the room, so as to render his official attendance upon them as little intrusive as possible, when Effie was composed enough again to resume her conference with her sister.

The prisoner once more, in the most earnest and broken tones, conjured Jeanie to tell her the particulars of the conference with Robertson, and Jeanie felt it was impossible to refuse her this gratification.

”Do ye mind,” she said, ”Effie, when ye were in the fever before we left Woodend, and how angry your mother, that's now in a better place, was wi'

me for gieing ye milk and water to drink, because ye grat for it? Ye were a bairn then, and ye are a woman now, and should ken better than ask what canna but hurt you--But come weal or woe, I canna refuse ye onything that ye ask me wi' the tear in your ee.”