Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  A BOY AND A GIRL When I came to myself again, my hands were full ofyoung grass and mould, and a little girl kneeling at my side was rubbingmy forehead tenderly with a dock-leaf and a handkerchief.

  'Oh, I am so glad,' she whispered softly, as I opened my eyes and lookedat her; 'now you will try to be better, won't you?'

  I had never heard so sweet a sound as came from between her bright redlips, while there she knelt and gazed at me; neither had I ever seenanything so beautiful as the large dark eyes intent upon me, full ofpity and wonder. And then, my nature being slow, and perhaps, for thatmatter, heavy, I wandered with my hazy eyes down the black shower ofher hair, as to my jaded gaze it seemed; and where it fell on the turf,among it (like an early star) was the first primrose of the season. Andsince that day I think of her, through all the rough storms of my life,when I see an early primrose. Perhaps she liked my countenance, andindeed I know she did, because she said so afterwards; although at thetime she was too young to know what made her take to me. Not that I hadany beauty, or ever pretended to have any, only a solid healthy face,which many girls have laughed at.

  Thereupon I sate upright, with my little trident still in one hand, andwas much afraid to speak to her, being conscious of my country-brogue,lest she should cease to like me. But she clapped her hands, and made atrifling dance around my back, and came to me on the other side, as if Iwere a great plaything.

  'What is your name?' she said, as if she had every right to ask me; 'andhow did you come here, and what are these wet things in this great bag?'

  'You had better let them alone,' I said; 'they are loaches for mymother. But I will give you some, if you like.'

  'Dear me, how much you think of them! Why, they are only fish. But howyour feet are bleeding! oh, I must tie them up for you. And no shoes norstockings! Is your mother very poor, poor boy?'

  'No,' I said, being vexed at this; 'we are rich enough to buy all thisgreat meadow, if we chose; and here my shoes and stockings be.'

  'Why, they are quite as wet as your feet; and I cannot bear to see yourfeet. Oh, please to let me manage them; I will do it very softly.'

  'Oh, I don't think much of that,' I replied; 'I shall put somegoose-grease to them. But how you are looking at me! I never saw any onelike you before. My name is John Ridd. What is your name?'

  'Lorna Doone,' she answered, in a low voice, as if afraid of it, andhanging her head so that I could see only her forehead and eyelashes;'if you please, my name is Lorna Doone; and I thought you must haveknown it.'

  Then I stood up and touched her hand, and tried to make her look at me;but she only turned away the more. Young and harmless as she was, hername alone made guilt of her. Nevertheless I could not help looking ather tenderly, and the more when her blushes turned into tears, and hertears to long, low sobs.

  'Don't cry,' I said, 'whatever you do. I am sure you have never done anyharm. I will give you all my fish Lorna, and catch some more for mother;only don't be angry with me.'

  She flung her little soft arms up in the passion of her tears, andlooked at me so piteously, that what did I do but kiss her. It seemed tobe a very odd thing, when I came to think of it, because I hated kissingso, as all honest boys must do. But she touched my heart with a suddendelight, like a cowslip-blossom (although there were none to be seenyet), and the sweetest flowers of spring.

  She gave me no encouragement, as my mother in her place would have done;nay, she even wiped her lips (which methought was rather rude of her),and drew away, and smoothed her dress, as if I had used a freedom. ThenI felt my cheeks grow burning red, and I gazed at my legs and wassorry. For although she was not at all a proud child (at any rate in hercountenance), yet I knew that she was by birth a thousand years in frontof me. They might have taken and framed me, or (which would be more tothe purpose) my sisters, until it was time for us to die, and then havetrained our children after us, for many generations; yet never could wehave gotten that look upon our faces which Lorna Doone had naturally, asif she had been born to it.

  Here was I, a yeoman's boy, a yeoman every inch of me, even where I wasnaked; and there was she, a lady born, and thoroughly aware of it, anddressed by people of rank and taste, who took pride in her beauty andset it to advantage. For though her hair was fallen down by reason ofher wildness, and some of her frock was touched with wet where she hadtended me so, behold her dress was pretty enough for the queen of allthe angels. The colours were bright and rich indeed, and the substancevery sumptuous, yet simple and free from tinsel stuff, and matching mostharmoniously. All from her waist to her neck was white, plaited in closelike a curtain, and the dark soft weeping of her hair, and the shadowylight of her eyes (like a wood rayed through with sunset), made it seemyet whiter, as if it were done on purpose. As for the rest, she knewwhat it was a great deal better than I did, for I never could look faraway from her eyes when they were opened upon me.

  Now, seeing how I heeded her, and feeling that I had kissed her,although she was such a little girl, eight years old or thereabouts, sheturned to the stream in a bashful manner, and began to watch the water,and rubbed one leg against the other.

  I, for my part, being vexed at her behaviour to me, took up all mythings to go, and made a fuss about it; to let her know I was going.But she did not call me back at all, as I had made sure she would do;moreover, I knew that to try the descent was almost certain death tome, and it looked as dark as pitch; and so at the mouth I turned roundagain, and came back to her, and said, 'Lorna.'

  'Oh, I thought you were gone,' she answered; 'why did you ever comehere? Do you know what they would do to us, if they found you here withme?'

  'Beat us, I dare say, very hard; or me, at least. They could never beatyou.'

  'No. They would kill us both outright, and bury us here by the water;and the water often tells me that I must come to that.'

  'But what should they kill me for?'

  'Because you have found the way up here, and they never could believeit. Now, please to go; oh, please to go. They will kill us both ina moment. Yes, I like you very much'--for I was teasing her to sayit--'very much indeed, and I will call you John Ridd, if you like; onlyplease to go, John. And when your feet are well, you know, you can comeand tell me how they are.'

  'But I tell you, Lorna, I like you very much indeed--nearly as much asAnnie, and a great deal more than Lizzie. And I never saw any one likeyou, and I must come back again to-morrow, and so must you, to see me;and I will bring you such lots of things--there are apples still, anda thrush I caught with only one leg broken, and our dog has just hadpuppies--'

  'Oh, dear, they won't let me have a dog. There is not a dog in thevalley. They say they are such noisy things--'

  'Only put your hand in mine--what little things they are, Lorna! And Iwill bring you the loveliest dog; I will show you just how long he is.'

  'Hush!' A shout came down the valley, and all my heart was trembling,like water after sunset, and Lorna's face was altered from pleasant playto terror. She shrank to me, and looked up at me, with such a power ofweakness, that I at once made up my mind to save her or to die with her.A tingle went through all my bones, and I only longed for my carbine.The little girl took courage from me, and put her cheek quite close tomine.

  'Come with me down the waterfall. I can carry you easily; and motherwill take care of you.'

  'No, no,' she cried, as I took her up: 'I will tell you what to do. Theyare only looking for me. You see that hole, that hole there?'

  She pointed to a little niche in the rock which verged the meadow, aboutfifty yards away from us. In the fading of the twilight I could justdescry it.

  'Yes, I see it; but they will see me crossing the grass to get there.'

  'Look! look!' She could hardly speak. 'There is a way out from the topof it; they would kill me if I told it. Oh, here they come, I can seethem.'

  The little maid turned as white as the snow which hung on the rocksabove her, and she looked at the water and then at me, and she c
ried,'Oh dear! oh dear!' And then she began to sob aloud, being so young andunready. But I drew her behind the withy-bushes, and close down to thewater, where it was quiet and shelving deep, ere it came to the lip ofthe chasm. Here they could not see either of us from the upper valley,and might have sought a long time for us, even when they came quitenear, if the trees had been clad with their summer clothes. Luckily Ihad picked up my fish and taken my three-pronged fork away.

  Crouching in that hollow nest, as children get together in ever solittle compass, I saw a dozen fierce men come down, on the other side ofthe water, not bearing any fire-arms, but looking lax and jovial, as ifthey were come from riding and a dinner taken hungrily. 'Queen, queen!'they were shouting, here and there, and now and then: 'where the pest isour little queen gone?'

  'They always call me "queen," and I am to be queen by-and-by,' Lornawhispered to me, with her soft cheek on my rough one, and her littleheart beating against me: 'oh, they are crossing by the timber there,and then they are sure to see us.'

  'Stop,' said I; 'now I see what to do. I must get into the water, andyou must go to sleep.'

  'To be sure, yes, away in the meadow there. But how bitter cold it willbe for you!'

  She saw in a moment the way to do it, sooner than I could tell her; andthere was no time to lose.

  'Now mind you never come again,' she whispered over her shoulder, as shecrept away with a childish twist hiding her white front from me; 'only Ishall come sometimes--oh, here they are, Madonna!'

  Daring scarce to peep, I crept into the water, and lay down bodilyin it, with my head between two blocks of stone, and some flood-driftcombing over me. The dusk was deepening between the hills, and a whitemist lay on the river; but I, being in the channel of it, could seeevery ripple, and twig, and rush, and glazing of twilight above it, asbright as in a picture; so that to my ignorance there seemed no chanceat all but what the men must find me. For all this time they wereshouting and swearing, and keeping such a hullabaloo, that the rocks allround the valley rang, and my heart quaked, so (what with this andthe cold) that the water began to gurgle round me, and to lap upon thepebbles.

  Neither in truth did I try to stop it, being now so desperate, betweenthe fear and the wretchedness; till I caught a glimpse of the littlemaid, whose beauty and whose kindliness had made me yearn to be withher. And then I knew that for her sake I was bound to be brave and hidemyself. She was lying beneath a rock, thirty or forty yards from me,feigning to be fast asleep, with her dress spread beautifully, and herhair drawn over her.

  Presently one of the great rough men came round a corner upon her; andthere he stopped and gazed awhile at her fairness and her innocence.Then he caught her up in his arms, and kissed her so that I heard him;and if I had only brought my gun, I would have tried to shoot him.

  'Here our queen is! Here's the queen, here's the captain's daughter!'he shouted to his comrades; 'fast asleep, by God, and hearty! Now I havefirst claim to her; and no one else shall touch the child. Back to thebottle, all of you!'

  He set her dainty little form upon his great square shoulder, and hernarrow feet in one broad hand; and so in triumph marched away, with thepurple velvet of her skirt ruffling in his long black beard, and thesilken length of her hair fetched out, like a cloud by the wind behindher. This way of her going vexed me so, that I leaped upright in thewater, and must have been spied by some of them, but for their haste tothe wine-bottle. Of their little queen they took small notice, being inthis urgency; although they had thought to find her drowned; but troopedaway after one another with kindly challenge to gambling, so far as Icould make them out; and I kept sharp watch, I assure you.

  Going up that darkened glen, little Lorna, riding still the largest andmost fierce of them, turned and put up a hand to me, and I put up a handto her, in the thick of the mist and the willows.

  She was gone, my little dear (though tall of her age and healthy); andwhen I got over my thriftless fright, I longed to have more to say toher. Her voice to me was so different from all I had ever heard before,as might be a sweet silver bell intoned to the small chords of a harp.But I had no time to think about this, if I hoped to have any supper.

  I crept into a bush for warmth, and rubbed my shivering legs onbark, and longed for mother's fagot. Then as daylight sank below theforget-me-not of stars, with a sorrow to be quit, I knew that now mustbe my time to get away, if there were any.

  Therefore, wringing my sodden breaches, I managed to crawl from the bankto the niche in the cliff which Lorna had shown me.

  Through the dusk I had trouble to see the mouth, at even the fiveland-yards of distance; nevertheless, I entered well, and held on bysome dead fern-stems, and did hope that no one would shoot me.

  But while I was hugging myself like this, with a boyish manner ofreasoning, my joy was like to have ended in sad grief both to myselfand my mother, and haply to all honest folk who shall love to readthis history. For hearing a noise in front of me, and like a coward notknowing where, but afraid to turn round or think of it, I felt myselfgoing down some deep passage into a pit of darkness. It was no good tocatch the sides, the whole thing seemed to go with me. Then, withoutknowing how, I was leaning over a night of water.

  This water was of black radiance, as are certain diamonds, spannedacross with vaults of rock, and carrying no image, neither showing margenor end, but centred (at it might be) with a bottomless indrawal.

  With that chill and dread upon me, and the sheer rock all around, andthe faint light heaving wavily on the silence of this gulf, I must havelost my wits and gone to the bottom, if there were any.

  But suddenly a robin sang (as they will do after dark, towards spring)in the brown fern and ivy behind me. I took it for our little Annie'svoice (for she could call any robin), and gathering quick warm comfort,sprang up the steep way towards the starlight. Climbing back, as thestones glid down, I heard the cold greedy wave go japping, like a blindblack dog, into the distance of arches and hollow depths of darkness.