Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor
she let Sally know, of course, who it was, or what it was; only that she
made her understand, without hinting at any desire of it, that there was
no chance now of having me. Sally changed colour a little at this, and
then went on about a red cow which had passed seven needles at milking
time.
Inasmuch as there are two sorts of month well recognised by the
calendar, to wit the lunar and the solar, I made bold to regard both
my months, in the absence of any provision, as intended to be strictly
lunar. Therefore upon the very day when the eight weeks were expiring
forth I went in search of Lorna, taking the pearl ring hopefully, and
all the new-laid eggs I could find, and a dozen and a half of small
trout from our brook. And the pleasure it gave me to catch those trout,
thinking as every one came forth and danced upon the grass, how much
she would enjoy him, is more than I can now describe, although I well
remember it. And it struck me that after accepting my ring, and saying
how much she loved me, it was possible that my Queen might invite
me even to stay and sup with her: and so I arranged with dear Annie
beforehand, who was now the greatest comfort to me, to account for my
absence if I should be late.
But alas, I was utterly disappointed; for although I waited and waited
for hours, with an equal amount both of patience and peril, no Lorna
ever appeared at all, nor even the faintest sign of her. And another
thing occurred as well, which vexed me more than it need have done, for
so small a matter. And this was that my little offering of the trout
and the new-laid eggs was carried off in the coolest manner by that vile
Carver Doone. For thinking to keep them the fresher and nicer, away from
so much handling, I laid them in a little bed of reeds by the side of
the water, and placed some dog-leaves over them. And when I had quite
forgotten about them, and was watching from my hiding-place beneath
the willow-tree (for I liked not to enter Lorna's bower, without her
permission; except just to peep that she was not there), and while I was
turning the ring in my pocket, having just seen the new moon, I
became aware of a great man coming leisurely down the valley. He had a
broad-brimmed hat, and a leather jerkin, and heavy jack-boots to his
middle thigh, and what was worst of all for me, on his shoulder he bore
a long carbine. Having nothing to meet him withal but my staff, and
desiring to avoid disturbance, I retired promptly into the chasm,
keeping the tree betwixt us that he might not descry me, and watching
from behind the jut of a rock, where now I had scraped myself a neat
little hole for the purpose.
Presently the great man reappeared, being now within fifty yards of me,
and the light still good enough, as he drew nearer for me to descry
his features: and though I am not a judge of men's faces, there was
something in his which turned me cold, as though with a kind of horror.
Not that it was an ugly face; nay, rather it seemed a handsome one, so
far as mere form and line might go, full of strength, and vigour, and
will, and steadfast resolution. From the short black hair above the
broad forehead, to the long black beard descending below the curt, bold
chin, there was not any curve or glimpse of weakness or of afterthought.
Nothing playful, nothing pleasant, nothing with a track of smiles;
nothing which a friend could like, and laugh at him for having. And
yet he might have been a good man (for I have known very good men so
fortified by their own strange ideas of God): I say that he might
have seemed a good man, but for the cold and cruel hankering of his
steel-blue eyes.
Now let no one suppose for a minute that I saw all this in a moment; for
I am very slow, and take a long time to digest things; only I like to
set down, and have done with it, all the results of my knowledge, though
they be not manifold. But what I said to myself, just then, was no more
than this: “What a fellow to have Lorna!” Having my sense of right so
outraged (although, of course, I would never allow her to go so far as
that), I almost longed that he might thrust his head in to look after
me. For there I was, with my ash staff clubbed, ready to have at him,
and not ill inclined to do so; if only he would come where strength, not
firearms, must decide it. However, he suspected nothing of my dangerous
neighbourhood, but walked his round like a sentinel, and turned at the
brink of the water.
Then as he marched back again, along the margin of the stream, he espied
my little hoard, covered up with dog-leaves. He saw that the leaves were
upside down, and this of course drew his attention. I saw him stoop,
and lay bare the fish, and the eggs set a little way from them and in
my simple heart, I thought that now he knew all about me. But to my
surprise, he seemed well-pleased; and his harsh short laughter came to
me without echo,--
“Ha, ha! Charlie boy! Fisherman Charlie, have I caught thee setting
bait for Lorna? Now, I understand thy fishings, and the robbing of
Counsellor's hen roost. May I never have good roasting, if I have it not
to-night and roast thee, Charlie, afterwards!”
With this he calmly packed up my fish, and all the best of dear Annie's
eggs; and went away chuckling steadfastly, to his home, if one may
call it so. But I was so thoroughly grieved and mortified by this most
impudent robbery, that I started forth from my rocky screen with the
intention of pursuing him, until my better sense arrested me, barely
in time to escape his eyes. For I said to myself, that even supposing
I could contend unarmed with him, it would be the greatest folly in the
world to have my secret access known, and perhaps a fatal barrier placed
between Lorna and myself, and I knew not what trouble brought upon her,
all for the sake of a few eggs and fishes. It was better to bear this
trifling loss, however ignominious and goading to the spirit, than to
risk my love and Lorna's welfare, and perhaps be shot into the bargain.
And I think that all will agree with me, that I acted for the wisest, in
withdrawing to my shelter, though deprived of eggs and fishes.
Having waited (as I said) until there was no chance whatever of my love
appearing, I hastened homeward very sadly; and the wind of early autumn
moaned across the moorland. All the beauty of the harvest, all the
gaiety was gone, and the early fall of dusk was like a weight upon
me. Nevertheless, I went every evening thenceforward for a fortnight;
hoping, every time in vain to find my hope and comfort. And meanwhile,
what perplexed me most was that the signals were replaced, in order as
agreed upon, so that Lorna could scarcely be restrained by any rigour.
One time I had a narrow chance of being shot and settled with; and
it befell me thus. I was waiting very carelessly, being now a little
desperate, at the entrance to the glen, instead of watching through my
sight-hole, as the proper practice was. Suddenly a ball went by me, with
a whizz and whistle, passing through my hat and sweeping it away all
folded up. My soft hat fluttered far down the stream, before I had time
to go after it, and with the help of both wind and water, was fifty
yards gone in a moment. At this I had just enough mind left to shrink
back very suddenly, and lurk very still and closely; for I knew what
a narrow escape it had been, as I heard the bullet, hard set by the
powder, sing mournfully down the chasm, like a drone banished out of the
hive. And as I peered through my little cranny, I saw a wreath of smoke
still floating where the thickness was of the withy-bed; and presently
Carver Doone came forth, having stopped to reload his piece perhaps, and
ran very swiftly to the entrance to see what he had shot.
Sore trouble had I to keep close quarters, from the slipperiness of the
stone beneath me with the water sliding over it. My foe came quite to
the verge of the fall, where the river began to comb over; and there he
stopped for a minute or two, on the utmost edge of dry land, upon the
very spot indeed where I had fallen senseless when I clomb it in my
boyhood. I could hear him breathing hard and grunting, as in doubt and
discontent, for he stood within a yard of me, and I kept my right
fist ready for him, if he should discover me. Then at the foot of the
waterslide, my black hat suddenly appeared, tossing in white foam, and
fluttering like a raven wounded. Now I had doubted which hat to take,
when I left home that day; till I thought that the black became me best,
and might seem kinder to Lorna.
“Have I killed thee, old bird, at last?” my enemy cried in triumph;
“'tis the third time I have shot at thee, and thou wast beginning to
mock me. No more of thy cursed croaking now, to wake me in the morning.
Ha, ha! there are not many who get three chances from Carver Doone; and
none ever go beyond it.”
I laughed within myself at this, as he strode away in his triumph; for
was not this his third chance of me, and he no whit the wiser? And then
I thought that perhaps the chance might some day be on the other side.
For to tell the truth, I was heartily tired of lurking and playing
bo-peep so long; to which nothing could have reconciled me, except
my fear for Lorna. And here I saw was a man of strength fit for me to
encounter, such as I had never met, but would be glad to meet with;
having found no man of late who needed not my mercy at wrestling, or at
single-stick. And growing more and more uneasy, as I found no Lorna, I
would have tried to force the Doone Glen from the upper end, and take my
chance of getting back, but for Annie and her prayers.
Now that same night I think it was, or at any rate the next one, that I
noticed Betty Muxworthy going on most strangely. She made the queerest
signs to me, when nobody was looking, and laid her fingers on her lips,
and pointed over her shoulder. But I took little heed of her, being in
a kind of dudgeon, and oppressed with evil luck; believing too that all
she wanted was to have some little grumble about some petty grievance.
But presently she poked me with the heel of a fire-bundle, and passing
close to my ear whispered, so that none else could hear her, “Larna
Doo-un.”
By these words I was so startled, that I turned round and stared at her;
but she pretended not to know it, and began with all her might to scour
an empty crock with a besom.
“Oh, Betty, let me help you! That work is much too hard for you,” I
cried with a sudden chivalry, which only won rude answer.
“Zeed me adooing of thic, every naight last ten year, Jan, wiout vindin'
out how hard it wor. But if zo bee thee wants to help, carr peg's bucket
for me. Massy, if I ain't forgotten to fade the pegs till now.”
Favouring me with another wink, to which I now paid the keenest heed,
Betty went and fetched the lanthorn from the hook inside the door. Then
when she had kindled it, not allowing me any time to ask what she was
after, she went outside, and pointed to the great bock of wash, and
riddlings, and brown hulkage (for we ground our own corn always), and
though she knew that Bill Dadds and Jem Slocombe had full work to carry
it on a pole (with another to help to sling it), she said to me as
quietly as a maiden might ask one to carry a glove, “Jan Ridd, carr thic
thing for me.”
So I carried it for her, without any words; wondering what she was up
to next, and whether she had ever heard of being too hard on the willing
horse. And when we came to hog-pound, she turned upon me suddenly, with
the lanthorn she was bearing, and saw that I had the bock by one hand
very easily.
“Jan Ridd,” she said, “there be no other man in England cud a' dood it.
Now thee shalt have Larna.”