Slain By The Doones | Page 6

feared nothing but his
duty, would make his way in, with a small flock at his heels, and read
the Psalms of the day, and preach concerning the difficulty of doing
better. And it was accounted to the credit of the Doones that they never
came near him, for he had no money.
The Fords had been excellent Catholics always; but Thomas and
Deborah Pring, who managed everything while I was overcome, said
that the church, being now so old, must have belonged to us, and
therefor might be considered holy. The parson also said that it would
do, for he was not a man of hot persuasions. And so my dear father lay
there, without a stone, or a word to tell who he was, and the grass
began to grow.
Here I was sitting one afternoon in May, and the earth was beginning to
look lively; when a shadow from the west fell over me, and a large,
broad man stood behind it. If I had been at all like myself, a thing of
that kind would have frightened me; but now the strings of my system
seemed to have nothing like a jerk in them, for I cared not whither I
went, nor how I looked, nor whether I went anywhere.

"Child! poor child!" It was a deep, soft voice of distant yet large
benevolence. "Almost a woman, and a comely one, for those who think
of such matters. Such a child I might have owned, if Heaven had been
kind to me."
Low as I was of heart and spirit, I could not help looking up at him; for
Mother Pring's voice, though her meaning was so good, sounded like a
cackle in comparison to this. But when I looked up, such
encouragement came from a great benign and steadfast gaze that I
turned away my eyes, as I felt them overflow. But he said not a word,
for his pity was too deep, and I thanked him in my heart for that.
"Pardon me if I am wrong," I said, with my eyes on the white flowers I
had brought and arranged as my father would have liked them; "but
perhaps you are the clergyman of this old church." For I had lain
senseless and moaning on the ground when my father was carried away
to be buried.
"How often am I taken for a clerk in holy orders! And in better times I
might have been of that sacred vocation, though so unworthy. But I am
a member of the older church, and to me all this is heresy."
There was nothing of bigotry in our race, and we knew that we must
put up with all changes for the worst; yet it pleased me not a little that
so good a man should be also a sound Catholic.
"There are few of us left, and we are persecuted. Sad calumnies are
spread about us," this venerable man proceeded, while I gazed on the
silver locks that fell upon his well-worn velvet coat. "But of such things
we take small heed, while we know that the Lord is with us. Haply
even you, young maiden, have listened to slander about us."
I told him with some concern, although not caring much for such things
now, that I never had any chance of listening to tales-about anybody,
and was yet without the honour of even knowing who he was.
"Few indeed care for that point now," he answered, with a toss of his
glistening curls, and a lift of his broad white eyebrows. "Though there

has been a time when the noblest of this earth--but vanity, vanity, the
wise man saith. Yet some good I do in my quiet little way. There is a
peaceful company among these hills, respected by all who conceive
them aright. My child, perhaps you have heard of them?"
I replied sadly that I had not done so, but hoped that he would forgive
me as one unacquainted with that neighbourhood. But I knew that there
might be godly monks still in hiding, for the service of God in the
wilderness.
"So far as the name goes, we are not monastics," he said, with a sparkle
in his deep-set eyes; "we are but a family of ancient lineage, expelled
from our home in these irreligious times. It is no longer in our power to
do all the good we would, and therefore we are much undervalued.
Perhaps you have heard of the Doones, my child?"
To me it was a wonder that he spoke of them thus, for his look was of
beautiful mildness, instead of any just condemnation. But his aspect
was as if he came from heaven; and I thought that he had a hard job
before him, if he