The History of David Grieve

e lights of Clough End had disappeared; against the night sky the dark woody side of Mardale Moor was still visible; beneath it sang the river; a few stars were to be seen; and every now and th

ad's cry was

over, but Hannah ungraciously brought him out some cold bacon and bread.

had gone to the back kitchen for a moment. Reu

d sat on the steps. The dogs came and put their noses on his knees. He pulled abs

e again in his ear. She had squa

vid, angrily, getting up

ed him across

o got a

I hav

k at t' po

I did

y didn

And he stalked off. Louie, left behind, ch

idden, as he conceived, from all the world by the night, he heard the rustle of a dress, the cl

Dyson. I seed 'im gooin passt Wigsons' th

ght with both his hands. To judge from the muffled sounds he heard, Louie went on talking for a while;

n, I tell yo, an yo're a great

n his shoulder from a substant

had carried home that afternoon from Clough End-a loan from a young stationer he had lately made acquaintance with-could draw him back to the farm. He sat on and on in the dark. And when at last, roused by the distant sounds of shutting up the house, he slunk in and up to

is time Mr. Dyson picked him out at once-the face and head indeed were easily remembered. After the sermon, when the congregation were filing out, leaving behind those more particularly distressed in mind to be dealt w

id peremptorily. 'Don't

sullen instinct of the wild creature shrinking from a possible captor, made him keep himself as much as possible out of Mr. Dyson's way. At the prayer-meetings and addresses, which followed each other during the next fortnight in quick succession, David was alm

of individuals, especially women, an indescribable zeal for proselytising. The signs of 'conviction' in any hitherto unregen

ough End shoemaker, slightly know

nodding to him. 'Theer'll be prayin

d and hesitating, she fixed him

he said under her breath, 'and

her arms, and she looked dragged and worn. But all the way down t

r, already half dead of asthma and bronchitis, told his 'experiences' in a voice broken by incessant coughing; one of the boys, a rough specimen, known to David as a van-boy from some calico-printing works in the neighbourhood, pr

or less furtively, in the excitements of Dissenting revivals. Jerry Timmins and his set represented the only serious blot on what the pious Clough Endian might reasonably regard as a fair picture. But this set contained some sharp fellows-provided outlet for a considerable amount of energy of a raw and roving sort, and, no doubt, did more to maintain the mental equilibrium of the small factory-town than any e

door, which opened directly into the little room where they were congregated; and then, when they emerged into the street, they found a mock prayer-meeting going on outside, with all th

es and embracing him from behind, 'my heart's real touched. Gie me yor co

not till they had gained the outskirts of the town that the shower of stones ceased, and that they could pause to take stock of their losses. Then it appeared that, though all were bruised, torn, and furious, some were inclined to take a mystical joy

he knot of panting boys, as he faced round upon them at the gate leading to

ey had a diabolical way of scenting out the small ones. The meetings at the shoemaker's had been undisturbed for some few nights,

igs,' said one boy in disgust,

orily. 'If yo wanted to keep out o' t

quired, with e

moor,' and he waved his hand towards the hills behind him, lying clear

revivalistic outbreaks in provincial England. The idea of the moors and the old ruin as setting for a secret prayer-meet

wellnigh intolerable to him-and now, that he should have allowed the Timminsites to know an

had some real qualms about sin, some real aspirations after holiness, and, so far, the self-consciousness which had first stirred at Haworth was deepened and fertilised. But the thirst for emotion and sensation was the main force

cing anti-meat schemes which were to lead so easily to a paradise of free 'buying' for both of them. Whenever she tried to call him back to these things he shook her off impatiently, and their new-born congeniality to each other had been all swamped in this craze for 'shout

he and Hannah had been doing their best to drive Sandy's son to perdition through a downward course of 'loafing,' God had sent Mr. Dyson to put Davy back on the right road. But he was ill at ease; he watched the excitement, which all the lad's prickly reticence could not hide from those about him, with strange and variable feelings. As a Christian, he should have rejoiced; instead, the uncle and nephew shunned each other more than ever, and shunned espe

erred to the Derbyshire farms on the 15th of May, are driven back to their Yorkshire owners, with all the fatness of Derbyshire pastures showing on their sleek sides. Breeders and farmers meet again at Woodhead, just within the

ly of the young horses, and he mentioned certain ailments springing from damp and exposure for which he might be held responsible. Hannah grew irritated and anxious. The receipts from this source were the largest they could reckon upon in the year. But the fields on w

s uncle told some queer tales at home about their summer stock. And when Reuben announced his inten

now, by 'the sense of pardon'? Person after person at the prayer-meetings he had been frequenting had spoken of attaining it with ecstasy, or of being still shut out from it with anguish. But how, after all, did it differ from pardoning yourself? You had only, it seemed to him, to think very hard that you were pardoned, and the feeling came. How could anybody tell

with one of the first strong emotions of adolescence. Then, some one told him casually that 'Lias was more ailing than usual, and that Margaret was in much t

ring ling; such gleaming greens among the bilberry leaf; such reds among the turning ferns; such fiery touches on the mountain ashes overhanging the Red Brook! The western light struck in great shafts into the bosom of the Scout; and over its grand encompassing mass hung some hovering clouds just kindling into rosy flame. As the boy walked along he saw and

st, a favourite prayer-leader in Sunday meetings. At first, everything felt strange; the boys eyed one another; even David as he stepped in among them had a momentary react

ning prayer was hackneyed; every gesture uncouth. But his heart was in it, and religious conviction is the most infectious thing in the world. He warmed, and his congregation warmed with him. The wild scene, too, did its part-the world of darkening moors spread out before them; the mountain wall behi

ed against the stones. But when he began the boys about pricked up their ears, and David was conscious suddenly of a deepened silence. There were warm tears on his hidden cheeks; but it please

ou Travell

I hold, but

ny befor

eft alone

ll night I

till the b

not yet to

unuttera

till beseech

t now res

I will not

name, thy n

tis Love-tho

whisper i

breaks, the

ersal Lov

all, thy m

and thy n

ound of it spreading far and wide into the purple breast of Kinder Scout. At last the painful sobbing of poor To

f your sins; they're done away i' th' blood o' the Lamb. Ho

lad sprang to his feet, and cl

I'm saved!' And he remained standing in an ecstasy, looking to t

s side and proclaim the same faith. But the inmost heart of him, his real self, seemed to him at this testing moment something dead and cold. No heavenly voice spoke to him, David Grieve. A genuine pang of religious despair seized hi

imagination, and straining his eyes into the dusk. Had the night opened to his

at was t

r scream, nearer apparently than the first, and then a loud wailing, broken every few seconds by a stran

error. Again the scream, and the little ghostly laugh! Looking at each other wildly, th

d Brook-half a dozen of the bolder spirits following. The rest stood cowering on the slope under the smithy. David meanwhile had climbed the ruined wall, and stood with head strained forward, his

s a patch of juniper overhanging the Red Brook-when suddenly from behind it there shot up a white thing, taller than the tallest m

eadlong among the heather in their agony of flight, others ruthlessly knocking over those in front of them who seemed to be in their way. In a few seconds, as it seemed, the