We had gotten almost to the door of the farm when we saw a horse and rider top the heathery fell to the left, and sweep down upon us at a tearing gallop2.
The old man, hearing the clatter3 of stones, turned quickly.
“Alexander-Jonita!” he exclaimed, shaking his head with fond blame towards the daring rider, “I declare that lassie will break neck-bone some o’ thae days. And that will be seen!”
With dark hair flying in the wind, eyes gleaming like stars, short kirtle driven back{130} from her knees by the rush of the horse’s stride, came a girl of eighteen or twenty on the back of a haltered but saddle-free mare5.
Whether, as her father had boasted, the girl was riding astride, or whether she sat in the new-fangled way of the city ladies, I cannot venture to decide. For with a sharp turn of the hempen6 bridle7 she reined8 her beast within a few yards of us, and so had leaped nimbly to the ground before the startled senses could take in all the picture.
“Lassie,” cried the elder, with a not intolerant reproof9 in his tones, “where hae ye been that the kirk and the service of God saw ye not this day?”
The girl came fearlessly forward, looking me directly in the eyes. The reins10 were yet in her hand.
“Father,” she said, gently enough, but without looking at him, “I had the marches to ride, the ‘aval’ sheep to turn, the bitten ewes to dress with tar4, the oxen to keep in bound, the horses to water; besides which, Jean wanted my stockings and Sunday gear to be braw the day at the kirk. So I had e’en to bide11 at hame!”
“Thing shame o’ yoursel’, Alexander-Jonita!”{131} cried her father, “ye are your mither’s dochter. Ye tak’ not after the douce ways o’ your faither. Spite o’ a’ excuses, ye should hae been at the kirk.”
“Is this the young minister lad?” said Alexander-Jonita, looking at me more with the assured direct gaze of a man than with the customary bashfulness of a maid. Singularly fearless and forthlooking was her every glance.
“Even so,” said her father, “the lad has spoken weel this day!”
She looked me through and through, till I felt the manhood in me stir to vexation, not with shyness alone, but for very shame to be thus outfaced and made into a bairn.
She spoke12 again, still, however, keeping her eyes on me.
“I am no kirk-goer—no, nor yet great kirk-lover. But I ken13 a man when I see him,” said the strange maid, holding out her hand frankly14. And, curiously15 enough, I took it with an odd sense of gratitude16 and comradeship.
“The kirk,” said I, “is not indeed all that it might be, but the kirk and conventicle alike are the gathering17 places of those that love the good way. We are not to forsake18 the assembling of ourselves together.”{132}
“Even so, minister!” she said, with some sudden access of gravity, “and this day I have been preaching the Gospel to the sheep and the oxen, the kye and the horse-beasts within the bounds of my parish, while ye spake your good word to human creatures that were maybe somewhat less grateful.”
“The folk to whom I spake had immortal19 souls,” said I, a little indignant to be thus bearded by a lassie.
“And how,” she retorted, turning on me quick as a fire-flash, “ken ye that the beasts have none, or that their spirit goeth downward into the earth? Have they not bodies also and gratitude? There was a sore distressed20 sheep this morning at Tornorrach that looked at me first with eyes that spake a prayer. But after I had cleansed21 and dressed the hurt, it breathed a benediction22, sweet as any said in the Kirk of Balmaghie this day!”
“Nevertheless it was for men and women, perishing in sin, that Christ died!” I persisted, not willing to be silenced.
“How ken ye that?” she said; “did not the same Lord make the sheep on the hills and the kye in the byres? Will He that watches the sparrow fall think it wrong to lift a sheep out{133} of a pit on the Sabbath? The Pharisees are surely not all dead to this day!”
“E’en let her alane, ye will be as wise,” said her father; “she has three words to every one that are given to men o’ sense. But she is withal a good lass and true of speech. Alexander-Jonita, stable your beast and come ben to wait on the minister in the ben room.”[9]
The girl moved away, leading her steed, and her father and I went on to the house of Drumglass.
When we entered the table was not yet set, and there were no preparations for a meal. Nathan Gemmell looked about him with a certain severe darkening expression, which told of a temper not yet altogether brought into obedience23 to the spirit.
“Jean—Jean Gemmell!” he cried, “come hither, lass!” He went and knocked loudly at the chamber24 door, which opened at one side of the kitchen.
“Wherefore have ye not set the table for the meal of meat?” he asked, frowning upon the maiden25 whom I had first seen. She stood with meek26 and smiling face looking at us from{134} the lintel. Her face was shining and her hair very becomingly attired27, though (as I observed) in a different fashion from what it had been in the morning by the kirk-gate when she gave me her piece to stay my hunger.
“I have been praying upon my knees for a blessing28 upon the work of this day in the kirk,” said Jean Gemmell, looking modestly down, “and I waited for Alexander-Jonita to help me to lay the table.”
“Were ye not vainly adoring your frail29 tabernacle? It seems more likely!” said her father, somewhat cruelly as I thought.
Then she looked once across at me, and her eyes filled with tears, so that I was vividly30 sorry for the maid. But she turned away from her father’s reproof without a word.
“We can well afford to wait. There is no haste,” I said, to ease her hurt if so I could; “this good kind maiden gave me all she had this morning in the kirk-yard, or I know not how I should have sped at the preaching work this day!”
Jean Gemmell paused half-way across the floor, as her father was employed looking out of the little window to catch a glimpse of Alexander-Jonita. She lifted her eyes again to mine{135} with a look of sweet and tender gratitude and understanding which more than thanked me for the words I had spoken.
At that moment in came Alexander-Jonita with a free swing like some stripling gallant31 of high degree. I own that even at that time I liked to see her walk. She, at least, was no proud dame32 like—well, like one whose eyes abode33 with me, and the thought of whose averted34 gaze (God pardon me!) lay heavy about my heart when I ought to have been thinking of other and higher things.
Alexander-Jonita waited for no bidding, but after a glance which took in at once the empty board and Jean’s smooth dress and well-ordered hair, she hasted to spread a white cloth on the table, a coverture bleached36 and fine as it had been laundered37 for a prince’s repast. Then to cupboard and aumrie she went, bringing down and setting in order oaten bread, sour-milk scones38 of honest crispness, dried ham-of-mutton which she sliced very thin before serving—the rarest dainty of Galloway, and enough to make a hungry man’s mouth water only to think upon.
Then came in Jean Gemmell, who made shift to help daintily as she found occasion. But,{136} listening over-closely to the converse39 of her father and myself, it chanced that she let fall a platter, which breaking, set her sister in a quick high mood. So that she ordered the lass to go and sit down while folk with hands did the work.
Now this somewhat vexed40 me, for I could see by the modest, covert35 way the girl glanced up at me as she set herself obediently down in the low window seat that her heart was full to the overflowing41. Also something in the wild girl’s tone mettled me.
So I said to Jean across the kitchen, “Be of good cheer, maiden. There was one at Bethany who waited not, but yet chose the better part.”
“Aye,” cried Alexander-Jonita as she turned from the cupboard with a plate of butter, “say ye so? I ever kenned42 that you young ministers thought excellent things of yourselves, but I dreamed not that ye went as far as that.”
Whereat I blushed hotly, to think that I had unwittingly compared myself to One who sat with Martha and Mary in the house. And after that I was dumb before the sharp-tongued lass all the time of eating. But under the table Jean Gemmell put her hand a moment on mine, seeing me fallen silent and downcast.
点击收听单词发音
1 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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2 gallop | |
v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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3 clatter | |
v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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4 tar | |
n.柏油,焦油;vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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5 mare | |
n.母马,母驴 | |
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6 hempen | |
adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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7 bridle | |
n.笼头,束缚;vt.抑制,约束;动怒 | |
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8 reined | |
勒缰绳使(马)停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 ); 驾驭; 严格控制; 加强管理 | |
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9 reproof | |
n.斥责,责备 | |
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10 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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11 bide | |
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
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12 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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13 ken | |
n.视野,知识领域 | |
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14 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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15 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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16 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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17 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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18 forsake | |
vt.遗弃,抛弃;舍弃,放弃 | |
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19 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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20 distressed | |
痛苦的 | |
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21 cleansed | |
弄干净,清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 benediction | |
n.祝福;恩赐 | |
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23 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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24 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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25 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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26 meek | |
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的 | |
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27 attired | |
adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服,使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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29 frail | |
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的 | |
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30 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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31 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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32 dame | |
n.女士 | |
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33 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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34 averted | |
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移 | |
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35 covert | |
adj.隐藏的;暗地里的 | |
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36 bleached | |
漂白的,晒白的,颜色变浅的 | |
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37 laundered | |
v.洗(衣服等),洗烫(衣服等)( launder的过去式和过去分词 );洗(黑钱)(把非法收入改头换面,变为貌似合法的收入) | |
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38 scones | |
n.烤饼,烤小圆面包( scone的名词复数 ) | |
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39 converse | |
vi.谈话,谈天,闲聊;adv.相反的,相反 | |
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40 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
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41 overflowing | |
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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42 kenned | |
v.知道( ken的过去式和过去分词 );懂得;看到;认出 | |
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