登陆注册
5251200000016

第16章 CHAPTER VIII(1)

What I feel sure I know by this time is that all the things we think happen by chance and accident are only part of the weaving of the scheme of life. When you begin to suspect this and to watch closely you also begin to see how trifles connect themselves with one another, and seem in the end to have led to a reason and a meaning, though we may not be clever enough to see it clearly. Nothing is an accident. We make everything happen ourselves: the wrong things because we do not know or care whether we are wrong or right, the right ones because we unconsciously or consciously choose the right even in the midst of our ignorance.

I dare say it sounds audacious for an ordinary girl to say such things in an ordinary way; but perhaps I have said them in spite of myself, because it is not a bad thing that they should be said by an every-day sort of person in simple words which other every-day people can understand.

I am only expressing what has gradually grown into belief in my mind through reading with Angus ancient books and modern ones --books about faiths and religions, books about philosophies and magics, books about what the world calls marvels, but which are not marvels at all, but only workings of the Law most people have not yet reasoned about or even accepted.

Angus had read and studied them all his life before he began to read them with me, and we talked them over together sitting by the fire in the library, fascinated and staring at each other, I in one high-backed chair and he in another on the opposite side of the hearth.

Angus is wonderful--wonderful! He KNOWS there is no such thing as chance. He KNOWS that we ourselves are the working of the Law-- and that we ourselves could work what now are stupidly called "miracles" if we could only remember always what the Law is.

What I intended to say at first was merely that it was not by chance that I climbed to the shelf in the library that afternoon and pushed aside the books hiding the old manuscript which told the real story of Dark Malcolm of the Glen and Wee Brown Elspeth. It seemed like chance when it happened, but it was really the first step toward my finding out the strange, beautiful thing I knew soon afterward.

From the beginning of my friendship with the MacNairns I had hoped they would come and stay with me at Muircarrie. When they both seemed to feel such interest in all I told them of it, and not to mind its wild remoteness, I took courage and asked them if they would come to me. Most people are bored by the prospect of life in a feudal castle, howsoever picturesquely it is set in a place where there are no neighbors to count on. Its ancient stateliness is too dull.

But the MacNairns were more allured by what Muircarrie offered than they were by other and more brilliant invitations. So when I went back to the castle I was only to be alone a week before they followed me.

Jean and Angus were quite happy in their quiet way when I told them who I was expecting.

They knew how glad I was myself. Jean was full of silent pleasure as she arranged the rooms I had chosen for my guests, rooms which had the most sweeping view of the moor.

Angus knew that Mr. MacNairn would love the library, and he hovered about consulting his catalogues and looking over his shelves, taking down volumes here and there, holding them tenderly in his long, bony old hand as he dipped into them. He made notes of the manuscripts and books he thought Mr. MacNairn would feel the deepest interest in. He loved his library with all his being, and I knew he looked forward to talking to a man who would care for it in the same way.

He had been going over one of the highest shelves one day and had left his step-ladder leaning against it when he went elsewhere. It was when I mounted the steps, as I often did when he left them, that I came upon the manuscript which related the old story of Dark Malcolm and his child. It had been pushed behind some volumes, and I took it out because it looked so old and yellow. And I opened at once at the page where the tale began.

At first I stood reading, and then I sat down on the broad top of the ladder and forgot everything. It was a savage history of ferocious hate and barbarous reprisals. It had been a feud waged between two clans for three generations.

The story of Dark Malcolm and Ian Red Hand was only part of it, but it was a gruesome thing.

同类推荐
  • 太上洞玄灵宝诚业本行上品妙经

    太上洞玄灵宝诚业本行上品妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 献帝春秋

    献帝春秋

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 汤液本草

    汤液本草

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 梧冈集

    梧冈集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送边补阙东归省觐

    送边补阙东归省觐

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 画图缘

    画图缘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 微型小说一千零一夜(第一卷)

    微型小说一千零一夜(第一卷)

    本书中的每一篇小说都是一个贴近生活的精彩故事,反映着当代生活的广阔图景。它们不仅能教会你如何理解生活,更能教会你如何热爱生活。开阔读者的视野、启迪读者的心智、使读者得到精神享受,是编者编选此书的最大愿望。
  • 裂锦(新版)

    裂锦(新版)

    这是一个悲凉的传奇。傅圣歆为了避免家族企业的破产,不得不依附于曾有宿怨的商界巨子易志维。他们在彼此的试探与挣扎里,慢慢陷入与对方的情感纠葛中。只是现实严酷,容不得她奢望爱情或是幸福。悲情小天后匪我思存感动经典,再续三世纠葛情仇。这一刻的爱情情深似海,而人生,注定寂寞如雪。当文字也开始哭泣……再见记忆中那些明媚的忧伤,觅一个云淡风轻的闲暇午后,在匪我思存的文字里体验一次畅快淋漓的文字之旅!
  • The Way of the World

    The Way of the World

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 看命一掌金

    看命一掌金

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 风尘温酒

    风尘温酒

    他仍是在晨露间轻啄的白鹤可我不是我他把自己隐藏在黑暗的角落我一路追寻着只余残躯和马革可无论如何无论如何都想与他一起看看日落日出时死去又如何.
  • 影魔的大海贼系统

    影魔的大海贼系统

    “单杀是不可能单杀的,这辈子都不可能单杀的,伐木又不会,就是要抢人头这种东西,才能维持得了装备更新……”少年奈文不顾劝阻,连续千场首选影魔,结果出了意外,融合影魔穿越到海贼的世界。
  • 猗觉寮杂记选辑

    猗觉寮杂记选辑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 湮灭之龙

    湮灭之龙

    在精灵族和卡朗德之间,暗龙神也被称为夜月舞者。被赋予了一个月光稀疏、天色黯淡的夜晚,在林间空地上孤独起舞的精灵女子的形象。虽然只是高傲精灵的一面之词,但由于某些奇怪的原因,在人类和其他智慧种族间也有一定的接受程度。由此可知,与古老文献上记载的不同,当今的暗龙神不再因为主宰毁灭、消亡的神职而让人有种一听见就毛骨悚然的感觉,反而成了隐秘、不可知的代名词。甚至在人类的低俗小说中,她成了偷-情、私-奔的保护者。更与代表纯洁贤淑的水龙神的人性化形象,形成一明一暗让人垂涎不已的对比。你说你喜欢火爆脾气的女孩子,或者像光之神那样晶莹的男孩子?异端!去死吧。
  • 姐儿门前一棵槐

    姐儿门前一棵槐

    这是一部战争情感小说,是一个将军惊心动魄的情爱史,是一个女人感天动地的美德书。在战争中荣升为将军的人,背后都站着一个伟大的女性!她们是中国革命最高贵的牺牲。本书温婉细腻地讲述了将军(牛儿)和妻子郑秀云与前妻凤儿之间的恩爱情仇,在苦难和尊严的人性挣扎中,一番儿女情长,几多尘缘未了,母性的自尊和宽容之美,读来催人泪下,扼腕叹息,如一幅优美的风俗画。