Emma Jane Cave

“ I suppose every one, at some period or other of their lives, has known what it was to feel the heart lightened, step quickened, and cheek flushed, with nothing more or less exciting than a fine frosty morning! Such was my own case: and after my little confab with Mary—or Mrs. Bennet, as she was usually termed—I hastened to put on a jaunty hat, warm coat, gloves, &c., and sally forth rejoicing; but while my kirtle was undergoing the process of “kilting a little above the knee,” I could not resist again asking Mary, “Was Lady Janet really so very beautiful?” ”

“ The Lady Janet, ne’er in a’ the days that passed sin’ Lord Archdale’s death, sae long as she lived, ne’er gainsayed her husband in ony thing, and some even went sae far as to say that a shadow o’ sorrowful tenderness for her wer sometimes seen athwart his savage face;—it wer but a passing gleam, called forth by some act of obedience, perchance, or unselfishness on her part, or maybe some service performed for him by the thin shadowy hands, which had never sought his in love for a’ they’d been mon and wife a year. ”

“ The Lady Janet Johnstoun, the last o’ her name, in her twenty-first year, wer buried solemnly in the presence o’ them as had served and loved her; kith or kin she had nane, near, but the Mistress Joan. And sae the young girl, whose earlie promise had been brighter and gayer than most, had lived a bitterer life, and died a crueller death, than is often heard of, and wer maist truthfullie and deeplie mourned by her foster sister, my ain mither. ”

“ I dinna ken whether I’m richt in telling you what folks say, except it may be that ye winna place ower much stress upon it, but set it down to the superstition o’ a puir woman frae the north countree; and therefore, wi’out further preface, I maun tell ye that the Lady Janet Johnstoun nae rests in a grave o’ mon’s delving, but is still seen seeking for, nane can tell what. If it is permitted her to work retribution upon ony that so much as hurt one hair o’ her head, I wad say wi’ my whole heart may it be dune. ”

“ I was charmed with them: the case was old, worn and faded, but the jewels were clear, bright, and beautiful, sparkling in a way that only finest rubies can do. Then, where did these antique Austrian (which I at once knew they were) ornaments come from? Benjamin, of course, was in a state of benighted ignorance on this point; but, noting my flushed cheek and greedy eyes, did not omit to ask a very fair sum, but still so little in comparison with their real value, that I saw he did not appreciate them ”

“ The wind howled like the howl o’ spirits, but still Lady Janet sat silent and calm wi’ her dark eyes fixed upon the sky, and never seemed to have a fear that she wer sailing down that stream into eternitie, until she observed Sandie begin to take off his upper claithes, and pointing to a rope which lay i’ the stern, he said, ‘I am the stronger mon o’ the two, bind the Lady Janet fast to me, and wi’ the help o’ Him that rules, she shall be safe in her ain ha’ to nicht. ”

“ There are some very young girls who, in the fresh buoyancy of youth, take hearts by storm—they are few, and their conquests doubtful; but a woman, be she young or old, who charms, simply and quietly, by saying and doing nothing, ought to be ticketed “dangerous.” ”

“ But a’ the day and a’ the nicht he wer wandering backward and forward on the shore o’ the lake, as if he sought for treasure.
“At the first news o’ the disaster, Mistress Joan had come, and niver left her brother, and wer always at hand, biding him ‘bear up, bear it bravelie.’ Now, ’twer never expected he wad mourn for the Lady Janet; he’d never been the loving husband, generous and tender to the frail piece o’ womankind that o’ his ain free will he’d taken frae them as loved and tended her. ”

“ She who’d fly a hawk, or hunt a hound, or rein a horse better and braver than the best, had lost all heart for onnie, save her duty to him. ’Twas in the winter time, and each cauld blast seemed to shake the auld mon waur, and Sir Patrick hurried on preparations for his wedding, in such a fashion as mony deemed unseemly. The day cam at last, and the Lady Janet, wi’ her voice as firm as her heart wer cauld, said the words that gave herself away; but her eyes ne’er sought the bridegroom, dark and lustrous as they were; they ne’er turned on ony but the auld mon by her side, her father. ”

“ But ’tis said by some, that every mortal has their span o’ life given wi’ its portion o’ joy and woe, and gin the life be cut off by ony unexpected stroke, still the spirit maun do its work, and, invisible to a’, perform its task unseen and unrewarded. ”

“ We answer to thy spirit,
⁠Queen o’ the Johnstouns a’!
“Sir Patrick took it a’ darklie and silentlie, as wer his fashion, and ne’er stood up for his wife’s father, or so much as turned his head to save her a pang, but contrarywise, seemed as if ’twer something he would e’en brave out; and ’twer about this time, when every one belonging to the Lady Janet, or any o’ the Johnstouns, felt that something wer hanging o’er the clan, though they didna richtlie ken what, that he must needs summon a’ the folk round about for mony a mile to a gran’ ball! At that time naebody could mak’ oot for why. ”

“ I mind me not distinctly o’ a’ the bye ways and sly ways by which Kenneth mair na’ half ruined the Lady Janet’s father; but I have heard my mither tell that if the Lady Janet could ha’ gien her heart’s bluid drop by drop for her father, ’twould ha’ been dune, wi’ thanks to Heaven for the privilege. And sae she did, puir thing! but nae in a way as she recognised. Sin’ the time she wer cradled, there had been troth plighted ’twixt her and her cousin by her mother’s side, the Lord Archdale of Evry, the ainlie son and chief o’ a’ that ilk—ane as wad ha’ conferred honour to onnie throne he sat upon ”

“ The Lady Janet Johnstoun’s father wer a soldier and a saint if one e’er stepped this earth—what in my ain countree they aye ca’ ‘leal and loyal and trew’—and oh, Gude save us! if ever saint wer worshipped here, he wer, the brave, trew, old soldier, by his child the Lady Janet Johnstoun. He had several brothers, but they a’ died away wi’out leaving any survivors, except his youngest brother Kenneth, who lived to pruve his sel’ ane o’ the deil’s handy tools, and wha liked his master. This one, Kenneth, had a son and a daughter, Joan; the son’s name wer Patrick. ”

“ So long as the world lasts, there will be a “to-morrow morning.” Late on this particular “to-morrow morning,” I was roused from what appeared to me a deep sleep by the ejaculations of Lora and Mrs. Bennet, and was surprised to see the medical man of the district bending gravely over me ”

“ Mistress Joan had need to bear up bravelie then, for Sir Patrick sank down whimpering like a craven hound, and ne’er again had the licht o’ reason vouchsafed him; sometimes wild wi’ terror, sometimes cowed and feeble like a child, but alway a thing to dread, for he wer mad!
“Mistress Joan micht weel speak awsomelie o’ ‘the wound the sharp rock had made in her puir sister’s breast.’ Folk kenned weel eneuch that a sharper instrument than the rugged rock had struck the blow, which made the Lady Janet sink down like a stone when the boat capsized. ”

“ They met on the open muir, the sun shining bright abuve their heads, and my ain mither stood by her side, and grat, puir thing! as if ’twer her heart wer breaking!—grat sae, that she heard but little of a’ they said. But for a’ sae braw and lustie as Lord Archdale wer, when he cam to meet the Lady Janet, stanning before her wi’ his bonnet in his hand, and the fresh breeze blowing his golden hair like a glory frae his brow ”

“ When Sandie ventured to say that ’twer unsafe, Sir Patrick made as though he wad ha’ struck at him, and shouted as if beside his sel’, ‘Art afraid, hound, to ferry the Lady Janet Johnstoun, when she stan’s waiting?’ The coward made use o’ her name to attain his miserable object. ”

“ Sir Patrick was very proud of her, and so far as it lay in his niggardly, ungenerous, coward’s nature to be so, wer kind to her, and preparations for the wedding went on brawlie; kinsfolk cam speeding ower the hills, gentles o’ a’ high degrees frae far and near; but the Lady Janet sat in her bower alone, and never seemed to care for ought but tending on her father. ”

“ Bennet, gazing steadfastly into the fire, “that when the shadow o’ death is closing round, the mightie One is permitted wi’ his huge wing to touch those he is about to grasp, so that unconsciouslie to themselves they are warned to make their peace wi’ a’ men before departing on their lonely road. The Lady Janet might ha’ felt the icie touch, or read her doom in Sir Patrick’s face, for as she turned to leave the inhospitable ha’s o’ Lowereslie she stopped, then hurried back to where Mistress Joan stood wi’ the sinister smile upon her face, watching their departure ”

“ The Lady Janet must ha’ gone down speedielie, but Sir Patrick and Sandie fought bravelie, and Sandie perilled his life to save the Lady Janet, but when she disappeared altogether, he, like one o’ the clan as he wer, after a sore ficht wi’ angry elements, wer flung upon the bank wi’ the senseless form o’ Sir Patrick in his grasp. ”

“ Bennet, “in the Lady Janet Johnstoun’s day. Mony a braw lad, understanding not its meaning, wud fain be lying stark and cauld on the muir than be thocht a mon o’ peace, believing it to be what we ca’ coward! There was never but ane o’ that likes in the Johnstouns, least o’ a’ amang the women, matron or maid; for if it was nae the ca’ o’ their time to strike the blow, there was ne’er an ane but could stan’ like the rocks theirselves to endure ”