登陆注册
5385000000066

第66章

The energy of the language, somewhat allied to hyperbole, even in its most ordinary expressions, now seemed almost too weak to afford Elspat the means of bringing out the splendid picture which she presented to her son of the land in which she proposed to him to take refuge. Yet the colours were few with which she could paint her Highland paradise. "The hills," she said, "were higher and more magnificent than those of Breadalbane--Ben Cruachan was but a dwarf to Skooroora. The lakes were broader and larger, and abounded not only with fish, but with the enchanted and amphibious animal which gives oil to the lamp.

[The seals are considered by the Highlanders as enchanted princes.] The deer were larger and more numerous; the white-tusked boar, the chase of which the brave loved best, was yet to be roused in those western solitudes; the men were nobler, wiser, and stronger than the degenerate brood who lived under the Saxon banner. The daughters of the land were beautiful, with blue eyes and fair hair, and bosoms of snow; and out of these she would choose a wife for Hamish, of blameless descent, spotless fame, fixed and true affection, who should be in their summer bothy as a beam of the sun, and in their winter abode as the warmth of the needful fire."

Such were the topics with which Elspat strove to soothe the despair of her son, and to determine him, if possible, to leave the fatal spot, on which he seemed resolved to linger. The style of her rhetoric was poetical, but in other respects resembled that which, like other fond mothers, she had lavished on Hamish, while a child or a boy, in order to gain his consent to do something he had no mind to; and she spoke louder, quicker, and more earnestly, in proportion as she began to despair of her words carrying conviction.

On the mind of Hamish her eloquence made no impression. He knew far better than she did the actual situation of the country, and was sensible that, though it might be possible to hide himself as a fugitive among more distant mountains, there was now no corner in the Highlands in which his father's profession could be practised, even if he had not adopted, from the improved ideas of the time when he lived, the opinion that the trade of the cateran was no longer the road to honour and distinction. Her words were therefore poured into regardless ears, and she exhausted herself in vain in the attempt to paint the regions of her mother's kinsmen in such terms as might tempt Hamish to accompany her thither. She spoke for hours, but she spoke in vain. She could extort no answer, save groans and sighs and ejaculations, expressing the extremity of despair.

At length, starting on her feet, and changing the monotonous tone in which she had chanted, as it were, the praises of the province of refuge, into the short, stern language of eager passion--"I am a fool," she said, "to spend my words upon an idle, poor-spirited, unintelligent boy, who crouches like a hound to the lash. Wait here, and receive your taskmasters, and abide your chastisement at their hands; but do not think your mother's eyes will behold it. I could not see it and live. My eyes have looked often upon death, but never upon dishonour. Farewell, Hamish! We never meet again."

She dashed from the hut like a lapwing, and perhaps for the moment actually entertained the purpose which she expressed, of parting with her son for ever. A fearful sight she would have been that evening to any who might have met her wandering through the wilderness like a restless spirit, and speaking to herself in language which will endure no translation. She rambled for hours, seeking rather than shunning the most dangerous paths.

The precarious track through the morass, the dizzy path along the edge of the precipice or by the banks of the gulfing river, were the roads which, far from avoiding, she sought with eagerness, and traversed with reckless haste. But the courage arising from despair was the means of saving the life which (though deliberate suicide was rarely practised in the Highlands) she was perhaps desirous of terminating. Her step on the verge of the precipice was firm as that of the wild goat. Her eye, in that state of excitation, was so keen as to discern, even amid darkness, the perils which noon would not have enabled a stranger to avoid.

Elspat's course was not directly forward, else she had soon been far from the bothy in which she had left her son. It was circuitous, for that hut was the centre to which her heartstrings were chained, and though she wandered around it, she felt it impossible to leave the vicinity. With the first beams of morning she returned to the hut. Awhile she paused at the wattled door, as if ashamed that lingering fondness should have brought her back to the spot which she had left with the purpose of never returning; but there was yet more of fear and anxiety in her hesitation--of anxiety, lest her fair-haired son had suffered from the effects of her potion--of fear, lest his enemies had come upon him in the night. She opened the door of the hut gently, and entered with noiseless step. Exhausted with his sorrow and anxiety, and not entirely relieved perhaps from the influence of the powerful opiate, Hamish Bean again slept the stern, sound sleep by which the Indians are said to be overcome during the interval of their torments. His mother was scarcely sure that she actually discerned his form on the bed, scarce certain that her ear caught the sound of his breathing. With a throbbing heart, Elspat went to the fireplace in the centre of the hut, where slumbered, covered with a piece of turf, the glimmering embers of the fire, never extinguished on a Scottish hearth until the indwellers leave the mansion for ever.

"Feeble greishogh," [Greishogh, a glowing ember.] she said, as she lighted, by the help of a match, a splinter of bog pine which was to serve the place of a candle--"weak greishogh, soon shalt thou be put out for ever, and may Heaven grant that the life of Elspat MacTavish have no longer duration than thine!"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 庶女的嫡妻之路

    庶女的嫡妻之路

    穿越成为庶女,爹爹不亲,嫡母不爱,嫡姐、庶姐也都明争暗斗。什么?还让她嫁给那个风流成性,无所事事的逍遥王爷,成为生孩子的工具?心死出嫁,却发现一切都与她想的不同,无用王爷还是深情亲王?从此手握两府大权,看一个身份低微的庶女如何当家?
  • 大魏宸妃传

    大魏宸妃传

    (新书《皇上,请废了臣妾!》已开更,欢迎亲们支持哦!)神宗十年,广选秀女,徐婉贞成为选侍大魏后宫波谲云诡,汇聚了千姿百态的女人为获宠,她们各出奇招;为争宠,她们频施毒计徐婉贞目睹了一幕幕尔虞我诈,一心韬光养晦面对后宫的残酷和血腥,她步步为营宸妃,这一人之下的尊称似乎被施了诅咒胡氏、傅氏、慕容氏均未逃离“宸妃”的魔咒最终,当婉贞封为宸妃,她的命运又将归于何处?*注:本文朝代为架空历史,人物等均为虚构。
  • 不可拯救之:惊险玩偶

    不可拯救之:惊险玩偶

    梦中我成了一个冰冷的布偶,就坐在他面前,任黑暗的死亡将他蔓延,无动于衷。我是什么,是人,还是怪物,我求乞被拯救,亦或者是被毁灭,在绝望之前。
  • 异能家庭

    异能家庭

    一场突如其来的大火将高家烧的面目全非,接踵而来的巨额索赔又让高家人倾家荡产;却不料这一连串的变故竟然逼出一家人体内潜在的异能,比如高家弟弟利用瞬移帮助姥爷在广场舞前排占座,姥爷点火供大伙烧烤,高家姐姐暂停时间挽救弟弟考场作弊等等,但是等等,这是异能的正确打开方式吗?接下来随着LEE的出场,事情变得扑朔迷离起来。
  • 娘亲来自现代

    娘亲来自现代

    她来自现代,却多了一个莫名身份的儿子……在这古代之中,她的姓氏与皇家重叠,弄得她必须得‘隐姓’……算了,不就是不说自己的姓氏吗?到时候就说自己叫什么名儿不就行了嘛~可是,连名字都跟皇家犯了冲!这,她还得‘埋名’呀……----“娘亲,我叫啥名字?”某个一脸单纯实际腹黑的小鬼问道。“你啊,好像是叫……”韩金凤犹豫了半天,她儿子到底叫啥嘞?“叫啥……”一群‘衣冠禽兽’在一旁等着答案。只要知道了这小娃姓甚名谁,说不定就能够找到他爹,然后……请君休妻!他(们)好接收啊……等了N久之后,韩金凤一拍大脑,这才对着自家儿子说道:“儿子啊!我决定了,你就跟我一样……叫韦卓!”“砰!”一群人跌倒不起。
  • 火辣王妃炮王爷

    火辣王妃炮王爷

    性格倔强的她——陆小蔓,穿越时空遇到了坏脾气的王爷,两人为了各自的目地结成了临时婚姻,各种矛盾从这里开始,两人就像两座活火山,一触即发,却又在打打闹闹中情谊渐长,到底是谁先动了心?……温柔的方媚仪是王爷的青梅竹马,也是王爷伍杰的心上人,可她却一心想做皇后……白玉国的皇上,伍杰王爷同父异母的哥哥,沉着冷静,虽贵为皇帝却从不封任何女人为妃,也绝不宠幸任何的女人,女人只是玩偶,他从不留恋,却在遇到性格倔强,火辣性感的陆小蔓之后彻底改变了,而此时的陆小蔓已经成为王妃,他要何去何从……伍杰,性格爆躁,脾气变化无常,虽为王爷却不原与皇宫有任何牵扯,独自一人生活,他们四人的感情错综复杂,最终谁与谁能结发?谁伤害了谁?觉得本文很好看,有兴趣看下去的人不妨投下您珍贵的票票,本人感激不尽,不喜欢的朋友可以悄悄的走开,请大家不要在我写的文的下面骂脏话,本人看到一律删除,请大家建造一个和谐社会…谢谢
  • 王者峡谷的英雄故事

    王者峡谷的英雄故事

    小短腿鲁班、大小姐孙尚香、铁扇公主小乔、峡谷第一美男子李白…咳咳…峡谷里的英雄故事都在这里。可甜可虐,可纯可污,欢迎入坑。
  • 网1少年在异世

    网1少年在异世

    你好,我叫唐小天,姑且是你的系统。你把任务做了,我们俩都高兴。成,先给我来两粒伸腿瞪眼丸吧。亲你积分不够呢(假笑)要不给我来个十全大补丸也行。亲你权限不够呢(讽刺)那给我来本书我自己学可以不这个可以有哦,亲你要《高等数学》还是《传热学》?三积分十本,还能给你打八折。(装作天真无邪)要不来一本《魔法回路探索,从入门到精通》呢?这才需要十积分呢。(实则幸灾乐祸)亲?亲?亲还在吗?
  • 信仰入侵异世界

    信仰入侵异世界

    我叫杨见喜,我发现我重生了。一群神仙也跟着我重生了,天天嚷嚷着找我救命。我现在自顾不暇,被这个世界的好多狠人盯上了,哪有时间救他们?可他们吵的我好心烦,我有些犹豫不定,要不要不管他们,要他们都......
  • 海意菩萨所问净印法门经

    海意菩萨所问净印法门经

    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。