icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Log out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

Malcolm

Chapter 6 VI DUNCAN MACPHAIL

Word Count: 3369    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

s every way-only of the roofs could you predict the position; were divided from each other by every sort of small, irregular space and passage, and looked like a national

es, but so closely built, so thickly inhabited, and so pervaded with "a very ancient and fishlike smell," that but for the besom of the salt north wind it must have been unhealthy. Eastward the houses could extend

indow in the seaward gable of which was filled with a curious collection of things for sale-dusty looking sweets in a glass bottle; gingerbread cakes in the shape of large hearts, thickly studded with sugar plum

nd in at its open door. But the moment it was entered it lost all appearance of a shop, and

ve themsels the day, daddy?"

who was leaning over a small peat fire on the hearth, sifting oatmeal through the fingers of h

oms of decay, and decided measures had had to be again and again resorted to in the case of the latter to put off its evil day, and keep within it the breath of its musical existence. The youth's question, then, as to the behaviour of t

l I mak oot the parritch? thinkin ye've had en

m. Ta tay will tawn when her poy must make his own parritch, an' she'll be wantin' no more parri

ong confinement in the grave, and generally had a word or two ready wherewith to combat the frightful notion; but, as he s

putter, or ta traicle, or ta pottle o' peer, s

, that he was stone blind. It came neither of old age nor disease-he had been born blind. His eyes, although large and wide, looked like those of a sleep walker-open with shut sense

on?" he said, when he heard

ode of speech was entirely different from his grandfather's: the latter had learned En

ion and conflagration, entered, and said, in a loud screetch-"Maister MacPhail, my

yers yet, and you know fery well tat she won't sell pefore she's made her prayers. T

esser; tilted the table, and wiped it hearthward-then from a shelf took down and laid upon it a bible, before which he seated himself with an air of reverence. The old man sat down on

beannuich

than the tune-wild and wailful as the wind of his native desolations, or as the sound of his own pipes borne thereon; and apparently all but lawless, for the multitude of so called grace notes, hovering and fluttering endlessly around the centre tone like the comments on a text, r

the Bible, plainly the next in an ordered succession, for it could never have been chosen or culled; after which they kneeled together, and the old man poured out a prayer, beginning in a low, scarcely audible voice, which rose at length to a loud, modulated chant. Not a sentence, hardly a phrase, of

e presented itself to him. Nay, although, understanding both languages, he used that which was unintelligible to the lad, he yet regarded

hills. You see, Malcolm, it must be so, for how can a mortal man speak to his God in anything put Gaelic? When Mr Craham-no, not Mr Craham, ta coot man; it was ta new Minister-he speak an' say to her: 'Mr MacPhail, you ought to make your prayers in Enclish,' I was fery wrathful, and I answered and said: 'Mr Downey, do you tare to suppose tat God doesn't prefer ta Gaelic to ta Sassenach tongue!'-'Mr MacPhail,' says he, 'it'll pe for your poy I mean it How's ta lad to learn ta way of s

o learn me?" asked

elic; put she always has to set ta tead men-that is ta vords-on their feet, and put tem in pattle array, when she would pe speaking ta dull mechanic English. When she opens her mouth to it, ta

lic shape, and sent from it a strange gabble, imitative of the

asked, after jabbering gibbe

ay pefore tey pekin to speak it properly. So it 's all fery well, and if you will only pe putting your mouth in ta Gaelic shape often enough, ta sounds will soo

ult he anticipated: he had thought only to make his grandfath

ou: you'll never pe a man-not to speak of a pard like your

tching them up softly, put the mouthpiece to his lips. With a few vigorous blasts he filled the bag, and out burst the double droning bass, while the youth's fingers, clutching the chanter as by the thr

but far more in delight with the musician, while, ever and anon, with feeble yell, he uttered the unspellable Hoogh of the Highl

r till her poy, how he makes ta pipes speak ta true Gaelic! Ta pest o' Gaelic, tat! Old Tuncan's pipes 'll not know how to be talking Sassenach. See t

ey, nor lilt, but jist

th instrument as the miser's to finger his gold; "hear well to me as I play, and you'll soon be

in the middle of a coronach, followed by an abrupt pause, revealed the emptiness of both lu

fering the pipes to his gra

ould hardly have been serious in requesting Malcolm to

r Graham's flute music, and maybe that'll help me a bit.-Wadn

n beings. His eyes, or indeed perhaps rather his whole face, appeared to possess an ethereal sense as of touch, for, without the slightest contact in the ordinary sense of the word, he was aware of the neighbourhood of material objects, as if through the pulsations of some medium to others imperceptible. He could, with perfect accuracy, tell the height of any wall or fence w

s kilt had faded-noticeable chiefly on weekdays, when he wore no sporran; for the kilt, encountering, from its loose construction, comparatively little strain or friction, may reach an antiquity unknown to the garments of the low country, and, while perfectly decent, yet look ancient exceedingly. On Sundays, however, he made the best of himself, and came out like a belated and aged butterfly-with his father's sporr

ur as he passed them-the fact being that he had not yet recovered from his second revel in the pipes

me cauld nicht," said the other:

sed, the blin' body! It's exterordinor hoo he's managed to

pipin' 's no to be despised; an' there's the cryin', an' the chop, an' the lamps. 'Deed he

first he cam' to

r me min'in' that?

they tell me wasna muckle bigger n

d man than, though nae doobt

bairn, they s

he father or mither o' 'im, an' sae it weel may be as they say. It's nigh twenty y

il, an' he maun hae come here in hidin' for som

tin' the een to guide them, canna be that far aff the straucht. Guid guide 's! we hae en

hat fowk telled me," re

that, for I ken there

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
1 Chapter 1 I: MISS HORN2 Chapter 2 II BARBARA CATANACH3 Chapter 3 III THE MAD LAIRD4 Chapter 4 IV PHEMY MAIR5 Chapter 5 V LADY FLORIMEL6 Chapter 6 VI DUNCAN MACPHAIL7 Chapter 7 VII ALEXANDER GRAHAM8 Chapter 8 VIII THE SWIVEL9 Chapter 9 IX THE SALMON TROUT10 Chapter 10 X THE FUNERAL11 Chapter 11 XI THE OLD CHURCH12 Chapter 12 XII THE CHURCHYARD13 Chapter 13 XIII THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE14 Chapter 14 XIV MEG PARTAN'S LAMP15 Chapter 15 XV THE SLOPE OF THE DUNE16 Chapter 16 XVI THE STORM17 Chapter 17 XVII THE ACCUSATION18 Chapter 18 XVIII THE QUARREL19 Chapter 19 XIX DUNCAN'S PIPES20 Chapter 20 XX ADVANCES21 Chapter 21 XXI MEDIATION22 Chapter 22 XXII WHENCE AND WHITHER 23 Chapter 23 XXIII ARMAGEDDON24 Chapter 24 XXIV THE FEAST25 Chapter 25 XXV THE NIGHT WATCH26 Chapter 26 XXVI NOT AT CHURCH27 Chapter 27 XXVII LORD GERNON28 Chapter 28 XXIX FLORIMEL AND DUNCAN29 Chapter 29 XXX THE REVIVAL30 Chapter 30 XXXI WANDERING STARS31 Chapter 31 XXXII THE SKIPPER'S CHAMBER32 Chapter 32 XXXIII THE LIBRARY33 Chapter 33 XXXIV MILTON, AND THE BAY MARE34 Chapter 34 XXXV KIRKBYRES35 Chapter 35 XXXVI THE BLOW36 Chapter 36 XXXVII THE CUTTER37 Chapter 37 XXXVIII THE TWO DOGS38 Chapter 38 XXXIX COLONSAY CASTLE39 Chapter 39 XL THE DEIL'S WINNOCK40 Chapter 40 XLI THE CLOUDED SAPPHIRES41 Chapter 41 XLII DUNCAN'S DISCLOSURE42 Chapter 42 XLIII THE WIZARD'S CHAMBER43 Chapter 43 XLIV THE HERMIT44 Chapter 44 XLV MR CAIRNS AND THE MARQUIS45 Chapter 45 XLVI THE BAILLIES' BARN46 Chapter 46 XLVII MRS STEWART'S CLAIM47 Chapter 47 XLVIII THE BAILLIES' BARN AGAIN48 Chapter 48 XLIX MOUNT PISGAH49 Chapter 49 L LIZZY FINDLAY50 Chapter 50 LI THE LAIRD'S BURROW51 Chapter 51 LII CREAM OR SCUM 52 Chapter 52 LIII THE SCHOOLMASTER'S COTTAGE53 Chapter 53 LIV ONE DAY54 Chapter 54 LV THE SAME NIGHT55 Chapter 55 LVI SOMETHING FORGOTTEN56 Chapter 56 LVII THE LAIRD'S QUEST57 Chapter 57 LVIII MALCOLM AND MRS STEWART58 Chapter 58 LIX AN HONEST PLOT59 Chapter 59 LX THE SACRAMENT60 Chapter 60 LXI MISS HORN AND THE PIPER61 Chapter 61 LXII THE CUTTLE FISH AND THE CRAB62 Chapter 62 LXIII MISS HORN AND LORD LOSSIE63 Chapter 63 LXIV THE LAIRD AND HIS MOTHER64 Chapter 64 LXV THE LAIRD'S VISION65 Chapter 65 LXVI THE CRY FROM THE CHAMBER66 Chapter 66 LXVII FEET OF WOOL67 Chapter 67 LXVIII HANDS OF IRON68 Chapter 68 LXIX THE MARQUIS AND THE SCHOOLMASTER69 Chapter 69 LXX END OR BEGINNING