A Cry in the WildernessWaller, Mary E. (Mary Ella)
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A Cry in the Wilderness
Waller, Mary E. (Mary Ella)
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Québec (Province) -- Fiction
A path partly overgrown with bushes led around the house; following it,
I found that the main building was the least part of the whole
structure. Two additions, varying in length and height, provided as
many sharp gables, and gave it the inconsequent charm of the unexpected.
Beyond, in a tangle of cedars and hemlocks, were some low square
out-buildings with black hip-roofs. Still following the path, that
turned to the left away from the outbuildings, I found myself in the
woods that from all sides encroached upon the house. It was a joy to
be in them at that early hour. The air was filled with sunshine and
crisp with the breath of vanishing snow. The sky was deep blue as seen
between the interlocking branches, wet and darkened, of the crowding
trees.
Before me I saw what looked to be another out-building, also white, and
evidently the goal for this path through the woods. It proved to be a
small chapel, half in ruins; the door was time-stained and barred with
iron; the window glass was gone; only the delicate wooden traceries of
the frame were intact. I mounted a pile of building stone beneath one
of the windows, and by dint of standing on tiptoe I could look over the
window ledge to the farther end of the chapel. To my amazement I saw
that it had been, in part, a mortuary chapel. Several slabs were lying
about as if they had been pried off, and the deep stone-lined graves
were empty. The place fairly gave me the creeps; it was so unexpected
to find this reminder in the hour of the day's resurrection.
What a wilderness was this Seigniory of Lamoral! And yet--I liked it.
I liked its wildness, the untrammelled growth of its trees, underbrush
and vines; the dignified simplicity of its old manor that matched the
simple sincerity of its present inmates. I felt somehow akin to all of
it, and I could say with truth, that I should be glad to remain a part
of it. But I recalled what Mrs. Macleod said about our removal to the
farm, and that remembrance forbade my indulging in any thoughts of
permanency.
"Stranger I am in it, and stranger I must remain to it, and at no
distant time 'move on,' I suppose." This was my thought.
A noise of soft runnings-to-and-fro in the underbrush startled me. I
jumped down from the pile of stones and started for the house, but not
before the dogs found me and announced the fact with continued and
energetic yelpings. Jamie greeted me from the doorway.
"Good morning! You 've stolen a march on me; I wanted to show you the
chapel in the woods. You will find this old place as good as a two
volume novel."
"What a wilderness it is!"
"That's what Cale is here for. He is only waiting for Ewart to come to
bring order out of this chaos. I hope you noticed that cut through the
woods across the creek?"
"Yes, it's lovely; those are the Laurentians I see, are n't they?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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