Eggleston_The_Circuit_Rider.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
sing glory-hallelujah. ? "
" me go," plead the young woman, in terror.
" yet, you angelic creature. that come
to think of it, piety suits your style of feature.
, want to ask you one question before we part,
to meet down below, perhaps. you ate so pious,
why can't you be honest .? can't you tell
what you left for.? the
devil don't you let him know beforehand what sort of a
horse he 's getting when he invests in you .-' it pious
to cheat a man into marrying you, when you know he
would n't do it if "he knew the whole truth .'
now, you talk a good deal about the 'bar of ,'
what do you think will become of such a swindle as
you are, at the bar of ? "
" are a wicked man," cried she, "to bring up
the sins that have put behind my back.
should talk with with or anybody
about them ? "
always quieted her conscience by
reasoning that 's forgiveness had made the un-
pleasant facts of her life as though they were not.
was very unpleasant, when , she had put down her
memory entirely upon certain points, to have it march
up to her from without, wearing a wolf-skin cap and
false whiskers, and speaking about the most disagree-
able subjects.
" , thought maybe you had a conscience,
but you don't seem to have any. are totally
depraved, bdieve, if you do love to sing and shout
326 ,
apd pray. , when a preacher cannot get a. man
to be good by talking at his conscience, he talks
damnation to him. you think you have managed
to get round on the blind, side of , and don't
suppose you are afraid of hell itself. , as conscience
and perdition won't touch you, '11 try something else.
are gqing to write a note to
and let him off. am going to carry it."
" won't write any such a note, if you shoot me ! "
" are n't afraid of gunpowder. think
you 'd sail into heaven straight, by virtue of your
experiences. am not goiijg to shoot you, but here
is a pencil and a piece of paper. may write to
, or shall. write will put down a
truthful history of all 's life, and
shall be quite particular to tell him why you left
and came out here to evangelize the
wilderness, and play the- mischief with your heavenly
blue eyes. , if you write, '11 keep still."
" '11 write, then," she said, in trepidation.
" '11 write now, honey," replied her mysterious
tormentor, leading the horse up to the stump.
dismounted, sat down and took the
pencil. ingenious miiid immediately set itself to
devising some way by which she might satisfy the man
who was so strangely acquainted with her life, and yet
keep a sort of hold upon the young preacher. the
man stood behind her and said, as she began, "
write what say. don't care how you open.
him any sweet name you please. you 'd better
say ' .' "
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wrote : " ." .
" say : ' engagement between us is broken
off. is my fault, not yours.' "
" won't write that."
" , you will, my pious friend. , ,
you 've got a nice face ; when a man once gets in love
with you he can't quite get out. suppose will feel
tender toward you when we meet to part no more,
down below. was in love with you once."
" are you .? "
" , that don't matter! was going to- say that if
had n't ^een in love with your blue eyes once
would n't have taken the trouble to come forty miles
to get you to write this letter. was only a mile
away from , as you call him, when 1
heard that you had victimized him. could have sent
him a note. came over here to save you from the
ruin you deserve. would have told him more than
the people in ever knew. , my dear,
scribble away as say, or will tell him and every-
body else what will take the music out of your love-
feast speeches in all this country."
a tremulous hand wrote, reflecting
that she could send another note after this and tell
that a highwayman who entertained
an insane love for her had met her in a lonely spot
and extorted this from her. handed the note to
.
" , , you 'd better ask to forgive
this sin, too. may pray and shout till you die.
'11 never say anything unless you open communica-
328 .
tion with preacher again. that, and '11
blow you sky-high."
" are cruel, and wicked, and mean, and "
" , , you used to call me sweeter
names than that, and you don*t look half so fascinat-
ing when you 're mad as when you are talking heavenly.
by, ." with that went
into a thicket and brought forth his own horse and
rode away, not on the road but through the woods.
could have guessed which one of her
many lovers this might be she would have set about
forming some plan for circumventing him. the
mystery was too much for her. sincerely loved
, and the bitter cup she had given to others
had now come back to her own lips. with it
came a little humility. could not again forget
her early sins so totally. looked to see them start
out of the bushes by the wayside at her.
this recital it is not necessary that should
tell you what told his brother that
night as they strolled in the woods.
midnight left home, where he could not
stay longer with safety. war with
had broken out and he joined the army at
under his own name, which was his best disguise.
was wounded at 's , and wrote home that
he was trying to wipe the stain off his name.
afterward moved and led an honest life, but the
memory of his wild youth never ceased to give him
pain. nothing is so dangerous to a reformed
sinner as forgetfulness.
.
.
went down to strain the milk on the
morning after her return, the hope of some
deliverance through had well-nigh died
out. he had had anything to. communicate,
would not have delayed so long to come to see her.
, standing there as of old, in the moss-covered
spring-house, she was, in spite of herself, dreaming
dreams of , and wondering whether she could
have misunderstood the hint that ,
while he was yet , had dropped. the time
the first crock was filled with milk and adjusted to its
place in the cold current, she had recalled that
morirthg of nearly three years before, when she had
resolved to forsake father and mother and cleave to
; by the time the second crock had been neatly
covered with its clean block she thought she could
almost hear him, as she had heard him singing on
that morning :
" nor bogle shalt thou fear,
'rt to love and heaven sae dear,
of ill may come thee near,
bonnie dearie."
she and had long since, in accordance
330
.
with the of , given up "singing those
songs that do not tend to the glory of ," but she
felt a longing to hear 's voice again, assuring
her of his strong pro-
tection, as it had on
that morning three
years ago ,
she had filled all the
v\ \
the - again.
crocks, and now turned to pass out of the low door'
when she saw, standing there as he had stood on that
other morning, . was more manly,
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mote self-contained, than then. of discipline
had ripened them both. stepped back and let her
emerge into the light; he handed her that note which
had dictated to , and which
read :
" . :
" engagement between us is broken off. is
my fault and not yours.
" . ."
" must have cost her a great deal," said ,
in pity. loved her better for her first unselfish
thought.
told her frankly the history of the engagement;
and then he and sat and talked in a happiness
so great that it made them quiet, until some one
came to call her, when walked up to the
house to renew his acquaintance with the invalid and
mollified .
" , ," said , afterward, when he
came to understand how matters stood, " you 've got
the answer in the book. 's quare enough. ,
' one and one is two ' is aisy enough, but ' one and
one is one ' makes the hardest sum iver given to any-
body. 've got it, and 'm glad of it. ye
niver conjugate the varb ' to love ' anyways excipt
prisent tinse, indicative mood, first parson, plural num-
ber, 'we love.' don't keer ef ye add the futur'
tinse, and say, 'we will love,' nor ef ye put in the
parfect and say, ,'we have loved,' but may ye always
stick fast to first parson, plural number, prisint tinse,
indicative mood, active v'ice ! "
returned to circuit in some
332 .
trepidation. feared that the old brethren would
blame him more than ever. this time he found
himself the object of much sympathy. had
forestalled all gossip by renewing her engagement
with the very willing , who chuckled a
great deal to think how he had " cut out " the
preacher, after all. when came
to understand that he had not understood 's
case at all, and to understand that he never should be
able to understand it, he thought to atone for any
mistake he might have made by advising the bishop
to send to the circuit that included
. liked the appointment
better than had expected. of living
with his mother, as became a dutiful son, he soon
installed himself for the year at the house of
, in the double capacity of general supervisor
of the moribund man's affairs and son-in-law.
rise before me, as write these last lines,
visions of circuits and stations of which was
afterward the preacher-in-charge, and of districts of
which he came to be presiding elder. not all of
these written in the of the of the -
ferences .' the silent and unobtrusive heroism of
and her brave and life-long sacrifices are recorded
nowhere but in the of 's .