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CHAPTER XLV
A CHANGE LONG NEEDED
Jeremy Stickles was gone south, ere ever the frost set
in, for the purpose of mustering forces to attack the
Doone Glen. But, of course, this weather had put a
stop to every kind of movement; for even if men could
have borne the cold, they could scarcely be brought to
face the perils of the snow-drifts. And to tell the
truth I cared not how long this weather lasted, so long
as we had enough to eat, and could keep ourselves from
freezing. Not only that I did not want Master Stickles
back again, to make more disturbances; but also that
the Doones could not come prowling after Lorna while
the snow lay piled between us, with the surface soft
and dry. Of course they would very soon discover where
their lawful queen was, although the track of sledd and
snow-shoes had been quite obliterated by another
shower, before the revellers could have grown half as
drunk as they intended. But Marwood de Whichehalse,
who had been snowed up among them (as Gwenny said),
after helping to strip the beacon, that young Squire
was almost certain to have recognised me, and to have
told the vile Carver. And it gave me no little
pleasure to think how mad that Carver must be with me,
for robbing him of the lovely bride whom he was
starving into matrimony. However, I was not pleased at
all with the prospect of the consequences; but set all
hands on to thresh the corn, ere the Doones could come
and burn the ricks. For I knew that they could not
come yet, inasmuch as even a forest pony could not
traverse the country, much less the heavy horses needed
to carry such men as they were. And hundreds of the
forest ponies died in this hard weather, some being
buried in the snow, and more of them starved for want
of grass.
Going through this state of things, and laying down the
law about it (subject to correction), I very soon
persuaded Lorna that for the present she was safe, and
(which made her still more happy) that she was not only
welcome, but as gladdening to our eyes as the flowers
of May. Of course, so far as regarded myself, this was
not a hundredth part of the real truth; and even as
regarded others, I might have said it ten times over.
For Lorna had so won them all, by her kind and gentle
ways, and her mode of hearkening to everybody's
trouble, and replying without words, as well as by her
beauty, and simple grace of all things, that I could
almost wish sometimes the rest would leave her more to
me. But mother could not do enough; and Annie almost
worshipped her; and even Lizzie could not keep her
bitterness towards her; especially when she found that
Lorna knew as much of books as need be.
As for John Fry, and Betty, and Molly, they were a
perfect plague when Lorna came into the kitchen. For
betwixt their curiosity to see a live Doone in the
flesh (when certain not to eat them), and their high
respect for birth (with or without honesty), and their
intense desire to know all about Master John's
sweetheart (dropped, as they said, from the
snow-clouds), and most of all their admiration of a
beauty such as never even their angels could have
seen--betwixt and between all this, I say, there was no
getting the dinner cooked, with Lorna in the kitchen.
And the worst of it was that Lorna took the strangest
of all strange fancies for this very kitchen; and it
was hard to keep her out of it. Not that she had any
special bent for cooking, as our Annie had; rather
indeed the contrary, for she liked to have her food
ready cooked; but that she loved the look of the place,
and the cheerful fire burning, and the racks of bacon
to be seen, and the richness, and the homeliness, and
the pleasant smell of everything. And who knows but
what she may have liked (as the very best of maidens
do) to be admired, now and then, between the times of
business?
Therefore if you wanted Lorna (as I was always sure to
do, God knows how many times a day), the very surest
place to find her was our own old kitchen. Not
gossiping, I mean, nor loitering, neither seeking into
things, but seeming to be quite at home, as if she had
known it from a child, and seeming (to my eyes at
least) to light it up, and make life and colour out of
all the dullness; as I have seen the breaking sun do
among brown shocks of wheat.
But any one who wished to learn whether girls can
change or not, as the things around them change (while
yet their hearts are steadfast, and for ever anchored),
he should just have seen my Lorna, after a fortnight of
our life, and freedom from anxiety. It is possible
that my company--although I am accounted stupid by folk
who do not know my way--may have had something to do
with it; but upon this I will not say much, lest I lose
my character. And indeed, as regards company, I had
all the threshing to see to, and more than half to do
myself (though any one would have thought that even
John Fry must work hard this weather), else I could not
hope at all to get our corn into such compass that a
good gun might protect it.
But to come back to Lorna again (which I always longed
to do, and must long for ever), all the change between
night and day, all the shifts of cloud and sun, all the
difference between black death and brightsome
liveliness, scarcely may suggest or equal Lorna's
transformation. Quick she had always been and 'peart'
(as we say on Exmoor) and gifted with a leap of thought
too swift for me to follow; and hence you may find
fault with much, when I report her sayings. But
through the whole had always run, as a black string
goes through pearls, something dark and touched with
shadow, coloured as with an early end.
But, now, behold! there was none of this! There was no
getting her, for a moment, even to be serious. All her
bright young wit was flashing, like a newly-awakened
flame, and all her high young spirits leaped, as if
dancing to its fire. And yet she never spoke a word
which gave more pain than pleasure.
And even in her outward look there was much of
difference. Whether it was our warmth, and freedom,
and our harmless love of God, and trust in one another;
or whether it were our air, and water, and the pea-fed
bacon; anyhow my Lorna grew richer and more lovely,
more perfect and more firm of figure, and more light
and buoyant, with every passing day that laid its
tribute on her cheeks and lips. I was allowed one kiss
a day; only one for manners' sake, because she was our
visitor; and I might have it before breakfast, or else
when I came to say 'good-night!' according as I
decided. And I decided every night, not to take it in
the morning, but put it off till the evening time, and
have the pleasure to think about, through all the day
of working. But when my darling came up to me in the
early daylight, fresher than the daystar, and with no
one looking; only her bright eyes smiling, and sweet
lips quite ready, was it likely I could wait, and think
all day about it? For she wore a frock of Annie's,
nicely made to fit her, taken in at the waist and
curved--I never could explain it, not being a
mantua-maker; but I know how her figure looked in it,
and how it came towards me.
But this is neither here nor there; and I must on with
my story. Those days are very sacred to me, and if I
speak lightly of them, trust me, 'tis with lip alone;
while from heart reproach peeps sadly at the flippant
tricks of mind.
Although it was the longest winter ever known in our
parts (never having ceased to freeze for a single
night, and scarcely for a single day, from the middle
of December till the second week in March), to me it
was the very shortest and the most delicious; and
verily I do believe it was the same to Lorna. But when
the Ides of March were come (of which I do remember
something dim from school, and something clear from my
favourite writer) lo, there were increasing signals of
a change of weather.
One leading feature of that long cold, and a thing
remarked by every one (however unobservant) had been
the hollow moaning sound ever present in the air,
morning, noon, and night-time, and especially at night,
whether any wind were stirring, or whether it were a
perfect calm. Our people said that it was a witch
cursing all the country from the caverns by the sea,
and that frost and snow would last until we could catch
and drown her. But the land, being thoroughly blocked
with snow, and the inshore parts of the sea with ice
(floating in great fields along), Mother Melldrum (if
she it were) had the caverns all to herself, for there
was no getting at her. And speaking of the sea reminds
me of a thing reported to us, and on good authority;
though people might be found hereafter who would not
believe it, unless I told them that from what I myself
beheld of the channel I place perfect faith in it: and
this is, that a dozen sailors at the beginning of March
crossed the ice, with the aid of poles from Clevedon to
Penarth, or where the Holm rocks barred the flotage.
But now, about the tenth of March, that miserable
moaning noise, which had both foregone and accompanied
the rigour, died away from out the air; and we, being
now so used to it, thought at first that we must be
deaf. And then the fog, which had hung about (even in
full sunshine) vanished, and the shrouded hills shone
forth with brightness manifold. And now the sky at
length began to come to its true manner, which we had
not seen for months, a mixture (if I so may speak) of
various expressions. Whereas till now from
Allhallows-tide, six weeks ere the great frost set in,
the heavens had worn one heavy mask of ashen gray when
clouded, or else one amethystine tinge with a hazy rim,
when cloudless. So it was pleasant to behold, after
that monotony, the fickle sky which suits our England,
though abused by foreign folk.
And soon the dappled softening sky gave some earnest of
its mood; for a brisk south wind arose, and the blessed
rain came driving, cold indeed, yet most refreshing to
the skin, all parched with snow, and the eyeballs so
long dazzled. Neither was the heart more sluggish in
its thankfulness to God. People had begun to think,
and somebody had prophesied, that we should have no
spring this year, no seed-time, and no harvest; for
that the Lord had sent a judgment on this country of
England, and the nation dwelling in it, because of the
wickedness of the Court, and the encouragement shown to
Papists. And this was proved, they said, by what had
happened in the town of London; where, for more than a
fortnight, such a chill of darkness lay that no man
might behold his neighbour, even across the narrowest
street; and where the ice upon the Thames was more than
four feet thick, and crushing London Bridge in twain.
Now to these prophets I paid no heed, believing not
that Providence would freeze us for other people's
sins; neither seeing how England could for many
generations have enjoyed good sunshine, if Popery meant
frost and fogs. Besides, why could not Providence
settle the business once for all by freezing the Pope
himself; even though (according to our view) he were
destined to extremes of heat, together with all who
followed him?
Not to meddle with that subject, being beyond my
judgment, let me tell the things I saw, and then you
must believe me. The wind, of course, I could not see,
not having the powers of a pig; but I could see the
laden branches of the great oaks moving, hoping to
shake off the load packed and saddled on them. And
hereby I may note a thing which some one may explain
perhaps in the after ages, when people come to look at
things. This is that in desperate cold all the trees
were pulled awry, even though the wind had scattered
the snow burden from them. Of some sorts the branches
bended downwards, like an archway; of other sorts the
boughs curved upwards, like a red deer's frontlet.
This I know no reason* for; but am ready to swear that
I saw it.
*(The reason is very simple, as all nature's reasons
are; though the subject has not yet been investigated
thoroughly. In some trees the vascular tissue is more
open on the upper side, in others on the under side, of
the spreading branches; according to the form of
growth, and habit of the sap. Hence in very severe
cold, when the vessels (comparatively empty) are
constricted, some have more power of contraction on the
upper side, and some upon the under.)
Now when the first of the rain began, and the old
familiar softness spread upon the window glass, and ran
a little way in channels (though from the coldness of
the glass it froze before reaching the bottom), knowing
at once the difference from the short sharp thud of
snow, we all ran out, and filled our eyes and filled
our hearts with gazing. True, the snow was piled up
now all in mountains round us; true, the air was still
so cold that our breath froze on the doorway, and the
rain was turned to ice wherever it struck anything;
nevertheless that it was rain there was no denying, as
we watched it across black doorways, and could see no
sign of white. Mother, who had made up her mind that
the farm was not worth having after all those
prophesies, and that all of us must starve, and holes
be scratched in the snow for us, and no use to put up a
tombstone (for our church had been shut up long ago)
mother fell upon my breast, and sobbed that I was the
cleverest fellow ever born of woman. And this because
I had condemned the prophets for a pack of fools; not
seeing how business could go on, if people stopped to
hearken to them.
Then Lorna came and glorified me, for I had predicted a
change of weather, more to keep their spirits up, than
with real hope of it; and then came Annie blushing
shyly, as I looked at her, and said that Winnie would
soon have four legs now. This referred to some stupid
joke made by John Fry or somebody, that in this weather
a man had no legs, and a horse had only two.
But as the rain came down upon us from the southwest
wind, and we could not have enough of it, even putting
our tongues to catch it, as little children might do,
and beginning to talk of primroses; the very noblest
thing of all was to hear and see the gratitude of the
poor beasts yet remaining and the few surviving birds.
From the cowhouse lowing came, more than of fifty
milking times; moo and moo, and a turn-up noise at the
end of every bellow, as if from the very heart of kine.
Then the horses in the stables, packed as closely as
they could stick, at the risk of kicking, to keep the
warmth in one another, and their spirits up by
discoursing; these began with one accord to lift up
their voices, snorting, snaffling, whinnying, and
neighing, and trotting to the door to know when they
should have work again. To whom, as if in answer, came
the feeble bleating of the sheep, what few, by dint of
greatest care, had kept their fleeces on their backs,
and their four legs under them.
Neither was it a trifling thing, let whoso will say the
contrary, to behold the ducks and geese marching forth
in handsome order from their beds of fern and straw.
What a goodly noise they kept, what a flapping of their
wings, and a jerking of their tails, as they stood
right up and tried with a whistling in their throats to
imitate a cockscrow! And then how daintily they took
the wet upon their dusty plumes, and ducked their
shoulders to it, and began to dress themselves, and
laid their grooved bills on the snow, and dabbled for
more ooziness!
Lorna had never seen, I dare say, anything like this
before, and it was all that we could do to keep her
from rushing forth with only little lambswool shoes on,
and kissing every one of them. 'Oh, the dear things,
oh, the dear things!' she kept saying continually, 'how
wonderfully clever they are! Only look at that one with
his foot up, giving orders to the others, John!'
'And I must give orders to you, my darling,' I
answered, gazing on her face, so brilliant with
excitement; 'and that is, that you come in at once,
with that worrisome cough of yours; and sit by the
fire, and warm yourself.'
'Oh, no, John! Not for a minute, if you please, good
John. I want to see the snow go away, and the green
meadows coming forth. And here comes our favourite
robin, who has lived in the oven so long, and sang us a
song every morning. I must see what he thinks of it!'
'You will do nothing of the sort,' I answered very
shortly, being only too glad of a cause for having her
in my arms again. So I caught her up, and carried her
in; and she looked and smiled so sweetly at me instead
of pouting (as I had feared) that I found myself unable
to go very fast along the passage. And I set her there
in her favourite place, by the sweet-scented wood-fire;
and she paid me porterage without my even asking her;
and for all the beauty of the rain, I was fain to stay
with her; until our Annie came to say that my advice
was wanted.
Now my advice was never much, as everybody knew quite
well; but that was the way they always put it, when
they wanted me to work for them. And in truth it was
time for me to work; not for others, but myself, and
(as I always thought) for Lorna. For the rain was now
coming down in earnest; and the top of the snow being
frozen at last, and glazed as hard as a china cup, by
means of the sun and frost afterwards, all the rain ran
right away from the steep inclines, and all the outlets
being blocked with ice set up like tables, it
threatened to flood everything. Already it was ponding
up, like a tide advancing at the threshold of the door
from which we had watched the duck-birds; both because
great piles of snow trended in that direction, in spite
of all our scraping, and also that the gulley hole,
where the water of the shoot went out (I mean when it
was water) now was choked with lumps of ice, as big as
a man's body. For the 'shoot,' as we called our little
runnel of everlasting water, never known to freeze
before, and always ready for any man either to wash his
hands, or drink, where it spouted from a trough of
bark, set among white flint-stones; this at last had
given in, and its music ceased to lull us, as we lay in
bed.
It was not long before I managed to drain off this
threatening flood, by opening the old sluice-hole; but
I had much harder work to keep the stables, and the
cow-house, and the other sheds, from flooding. For we
have a sapient practice (and I never saw the contrary
round about our parts, I mean), of keeping all rooms
underground, so that you step down to them. We say
that thus we keep them warmer, both for cattle and for
men, in the time of winter, and cooler in the
summer-time. This I will not contradict, though having
my own opinion; but it seems to me to be a relic of the
time when people in the western countries lived in
caves beneath the ground, and blocked the mouths with
neat-skins.
Let that question still abide, for men who study
ancient times to inform me, if they will; all I know
is, that now we had no blessings for the system. If
after all their cold and starving, our weak cattle now
should have to stand up to their knees in water, it
would be certain death to them; and we had lost enough
already to make us poor for a long time; not to speak
of our kind love for them. And I do assure you, I
loved some horses, and even some cows for that matter,
as if they had been my blood-relations; knowing as I did
their virtues. And some of these were lost to us; and
I could not bear to think of them. Therefore I worked
hard all night to try and save the rest of them.
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