James Leslie

“ In the same year he returned to Scotland to assist in recruiting and organizing the corps of Scottish volunteers which James, 3rd marquis of Hamilton, brought over to Gustavus in 1631. Leslie received a severe wound in the following winter, but was able nevertheless to be present at Gustavus’s last battle at Lützen. Like many others of the soldiers of fortune who served under Gustavus, Leslie cherished his old commander’s memory to the day of his death, and he kept with particular care a jewel and miniature presented to him by the king. ”

“ James's, before the queen, sermons which called forth the wrath of the whigs. In 1709 Benjamin Hoadly attacked him, and a long and rather warm controversy ensued. Pamphlet after pamphlet poured forth from the press. Among the supporters of Blackhall one is supposed to have been the famous Charles Leslie, and the pamphlet with the curious title ‘The best answer ever was made, and to which no answer ever will be made (not to be behind Mr. Hoadly in assurance) , &c.,’ bears strong internal evidence of having been written by Leslie. ”

“ Leslie—young Mr. Leslie?” cried the three together; but a wild war-whoop from the crowd gave the answer back. “Hurroo! Martin for ever! Down with the Leslies! Ballinashough! Hurroo! Don't leave one of them living! Beat their sowles out!”
“Leslie for ever!” yelled out Owen, with a voice heard over every part of the field; and with a spring into the air, and a wild flourish of his stick, he dashed into the crowd.
“Here's Owen Connor, make way for Owen;” cried the non-combatants, as they jostled and parted each other, to leave a free passage for one whose prowess was well known. ”

“ And I verily believe that this prevailed most with David Leslie, who looked upon Nave as the representative of the kirk of Scotland.” The fact of Sir James and David Leslie’s repugnance to shed the blood of those defenceless men is fully corroborated by Bishop Guthry, on the authority of many persons who were present, who says that while the butchery was going on, and while Leslie, Argyle, and Neaves were walking over the ancles in blood, Leslie turned out and thus addressed the latter:—“Now, Mr. John, have you not once got your fill of blood?” ”

“ She, however, expressed her willingness, should he return to the ecclesiastical life, to place him in a bishopric, and to grant him various other preferments in France and Scotland; but, according to Lesley, Lord James was obstinate in his determination not to accede to her desire, and, disappointed in his ambition to obtain the earldom of Moray, resolved strenuously to oppose Mary of Guise, the queen regent (History, Scottish Text Soc. ii. 286) . There is just enough of truth in Lesley's accusation to render it efficacious as a calumny. ”

“ Leslie married, soon after his ordination, Jane, daughter of Richard Griffith, dean of Ross, by whom he had two sons, Robert, who succeeded to the Glaslough estate, and Henry. Leslie wrote an easy and lively style, had some learning and wit, and more scurrility, and was adroit at logical fence. ”

“ Nor was it till after much persuasion and great trouble, that Leslie could reconcile him to himself, and assure him, that his own fortunate repentance had saved him from destruction.
“You shall go back to your mountain-cabin, Owen; you shall have your own farm again, and be as happy as ever,” said the young man. “The law must deal with those who break it, and no one will go farther than myself to vindicate the law ”

“ His family, which bore the motto 'Grip Fast,' was among the proudest and the poorest of the nobility of Aberdeenshire, and Leslie as a younger son went abroad to push his fortunes. Though bred a Calvinist he entered the imperial service, received his baptism of fire in Flanders, and fought his way to an ensign's commission in Italy, during the war of the Mantuan succession, in 1630. He afterwards served with distinction in Germany, and in 1632 held the rank of major in one of Count Terska's musketeer regiments. ”

“ Dodge laughed, but he seemed so earnest that she went to the head of the stairs and called out:
"Husband, come up here a minute. Here is a boy wants to know if you will sell your buggy."
"Who wants it, Jimmy?"
"I do. Oh, father, please don't laugh. I've been thinking of a plan. I don't want Mr. Crawson to take his money out of the bank for me. If I hadn't been a bad, disobedient boy, I shouldn't have gone in the boat, and then Daniel couldn't have hurt me. I don't want the Doctor not to have his pay because he isn't rich, and he goes to see so many poor people who can't give anything." ”

“ At this point, the ladies all became pale, a great many of them said, “O, Lord!” fervently, and turned away; while we stronger-hearted men gazed on with the most absorbing interest and anxiety. Leslie soon regained his composure and equilibrium, and resumed his perilous walk.
On reaching the Canada side, he was saluted with thunders of applause from both shores and the bridge; and, after resting awhile, and taking a glass of lemonade (probably) , he again stepped upon the rope, balancing-pole in hand, and a coffee-sack over his head. ”

“ You’ve already a reputation on the campus——”
“That’s just the trouble,” Leslie interrupted dryly. “Not the pleasant sort of reputation you mean, Jeremiah. It’s the old one—the one that I’ve not yet succeeded in living down. I hope to do it—in time, by hard, unobtrusive work for Hamilton College. That’s the only way it can be done.” Her rugged features settled into purposeful lines.
“Do you hear that, Midget? She is that anxious to be hard-working!”
This time Leslie caught the amused exchange of eye-signals between Leila and Vera. ”

“ No! it can't!" exclaimed Mrs. Leslie. She was never in time for any thing.
"Last bell ringing," said Mr. Leslie, who, though a slow man, was methodical and punctual. Mrs. Leslie made a frantic rush at the door, the Montfydget blood being now in a blaze—whirled up the stairs—gained her room, tore her best bonnet from the peg, snatched her newest shawl from the drawers, crushed the bonnet on her head, flung the shawl on her shoulders, thrust a desperate pin into its folds, in order to conceal a buttonless yawn in the body of her gown, and then flew back like a whirlwind. ”

“ Mrs. Dodge parted the hair from her boy's forehead with a loving smile, said, softly; "You grow more like your father every day;" and then added, "yes, dear, but don't play too hard and get hurt."
"Oh, no!" answered Jimmy and ran away.
He reached the pond some minutes before his companion, and after quite a tussle with his conscience had just made up his mind to go back to school, when he saw Daniel come over the wall down to the boat.
"Father's gone off with a load of fish," he said laughing; "and he wont be home till evening." ”

“ The expression of his face is not open, like the squire’s, nor has it the cold closeness which accompanies the intellectual character of young Leslie’s; but it is reserved and dignified, and significant of self-control, as should be the physiognomy of a man accustomed to think before he speaks. When you look at him, you are not surprised to learn that he is not a florid orator nor a smart debater,—he is a “weighty speaker.” He is fairly read, but without any great range either of ornamental scholarship or constitutional lore. He has not much humour ”

“ Lettie stood faced with terror. Leslie saw her, and swung round the wheels on the sharp, curving hill-side; looking only to see that he should miss her. The car slid sideways; the mud crackled under the wheels, and the machine went crashing into Nethermere. It caught the edge of the old stone wall with a smash. Then for a few moments I think I was blind. When I saw again, Leslie was lying across the broken hedge, his head hanging down the bank, his face covered with blood; the car rested strangely on the brink of the water, crumpled as if it had sunk down to rest. ”

“ But scarce had Harley, surprised by Leslie’s sudden disappearance, remarked the cause, than with equal abruptness he abandoned the whispered conference he had commenced with Levy, and hastening to Randal, laid hand on the young man’s shoulder, exclaiming, “Ten thousand pardons to all three! But I cannot allow this waste of time, Mr. Leslie. You have yet an hour before it grows dark. There are three out-voters six miles off, influential farmers, whom you must canvass in person with my father’s steward. Hasten to the stables; choose your own horse. ”

“ The conversation had taken place while the Doctor sat in his buggy, and the farmer stood near his barn.
Jimmy was sitting up in bed with a napkin pinned around his neck, his eyes looking unnaturally large on account of his thin cheeks, but otherwise better than he had done since the accident.
"Oh, this does taste so good, father!" exclaimed the boy smacking his lips with a keen relish. "Toasted bread and pure cream, no fooling!"
"I think he gains strength every day on this diet," said his mother laughing; "but what has happened?" noticing her husband's flushed face. ”

“ Stick to it. No one but yourself can make, or mar you.” Unconsciously Leslie repeated the very words she had said on a certain spring night of the previous year when a bevy of girls, headed by Mildred Ferguson, had arrayed itself against her.
241“That’s the way I think, too. You can see for yourself how much better it was not to let it be known on the campus that I used to be a trapeze performer,” Jewel said soberly. “I’d have been talked over and sneered at until I’d have been glad to leave Hamilton.”
“Not by the girls who count as representative of Hamilton,” Leslie sturdily disagreed. ”

“ It'll show yer how the good Lord carries his children through a dale of throuble."
"Yes, Bridget, I should like to hear it; but I'm so faint. I've taken nothing since yesterday morning."
"I'll run down, and make ye a cup of tea. It's better for us not to mind the coffee at all, as himself is away."
In a short time she returned with tea and a cracker, which Gertrude swallowed with a relish. Then leaving the cup standing on the table, she began:
"I'm not a girl, ma'am, at all. I'm a married woman; and the ring is in my trunk. Patrick McCarty was as fine a bye as one would wish to see. ”

“ I do not like the idea of his going away from home and home influences, and being subject to others of which we know nothing."
"I can think of no other," said Mr Ross; "school life will do Leslie a world of good; he is too much alone now, and mixes so little with companions of his own age, that he entertains too great an idea of his own powers and capacities; school life will teach him to moderate this. I think he will have to go, my dear."
At that moment Leslie burst into the room, full of life and spirits, shouting, "Good-bye, ma, good-bye papa, I'm off for a row with old Crusoe." ”

“ The glow faded from Leslie's face. It was always like this, the eager throb of welcome ending in the formal handshake of farewell.
"Are you going away for Christmas?" she asked.
"I shall probably pad the hoof. Moors."
"Moors! Fine. I'd love to do that. Just sun and wind and no one to see you but God."
"If you wish to test that theory, just try stealing a sheep. My word, you've a ripe, old-fashioned cold! Don't forget to take a flask of brandy." ”

“ His philosophy of life, under an appearance of careless gayety, was, perhaps, in reality deeper than that of my learned friend Mr. Mackay; for whilst the elderly scholar was laboring painfully and thanklessly to elucidate the past, the young artist was enjoying the present in his own way, and looking forward hopefully to the future. The buoyancy of spirits that George Leslie had in those days is an excellent gift for a young artist, because it carries him merrily over the difficulties of his craft. His brother Robert was older and graver. He painted landscape and marine subjects ”

“ When her eldest boy was three years old Lettie returned to live at Eberwich. Old Mr. Tempest died suddenly, so Leslie came down to inhabit “Highclose.” He was a very much occupied man. Very often he was in Germany or in the South of England engaged on business. At home he was unfailingly attentive to his wife and his two children. He had cultivated a taste for public life. ”

“ To Leslie it was a constant marvel, considering the secret tension under which she lived, that outwardly her life went on in the same peaceful groove. She rose and dressed as usual, prepared the meals, ate and chatted with Aunt Marcia, walked on the beach or down to the village, fished occasionally with Phyllis and the Kelvins, took a dip in the ocean when it was not too chilly, read and slept and idled, as if there were nothing in the world but what was quiet and normal and in the ordinary course of things. ”

“ And poor Leslie’s has been almost all tragedy. She feels, I reckon, though mebbe she hardly knows she feels it, that there’s a vast deal in her life you can’t enter nor understand—and so she has to keep you back from it—hold you off, so to speak, from hurting her. You know if we’ve got anything about us that hurts we shrink from anyone’s touch on or near it. It holds good with our souls as well as our bodies, I reckon. Leslie’s soul must be near raw—it’s no wonder she hides it away.”
“If that were really all, I wouldn’t mind, Captain Jim. ”

“ Was any other boy absent?"
"Now I think of it, Daniel Crawson was away both on Tuesday and to-day; but he plays truant so often I never thought of Jimmy in connection with him."
"Oh, I hope not! he is a profane, wicked boy, and his father is—"
"Oh, Miss Reynolds, the pond! What if Jimmy has gone out in Mr. Crawson's boat! What shall I do? I must send at once."
CHAPTER VI. THE SENSELESS BOY.
MRS. DODGE left the room in great distress, and at the same moment the Doctor's old buggy drove into the yard. ”

“ He knew not whether she was aware of his passion, but his fluttering heart told him, at least, that she had not frowned upon him.
Young love rests upon the slightest foundation; thus Leslie was encouraged and made hopeful by the remembrance of the friendly meeting which he had with Rosalind. Then, as he awoke from this pleasant reverie into which he had fallen, the consciousness that she was now a captive among the Indians, the thought maddened him. He dipped his oars deep in the water, and moved swiftly along. ”