Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years AgoOliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
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Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago
Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret)
Domestic fiction; Scotland -- Fiction
“In yours or in mine,” was all that Kirsteen could say. She put her lips
trembling to the hand that had given this treasure: then being hastily
dismissed by a gesture of that hand rose from her knees and went away.
In a moment more she was outside in the mild delightful summer night,
all made up of pleasures which knew no chill, no fading, no sorrow, the
young moon softly shining as if for pure joy, the unseen burns softly
tinkling, the graceful birch trees waving their feathery branches in the
soft air. Such a night! a visionary daylight lingering in the west,
against which rose the fantastic majestic outline of the hills--the glen
penetrating far into the soft gloom towards the east, caught by a ray
of moonlight here and there; the wind upon the face of the wayfarer like
a caress--the air all full of love and longing and sweet dreams.
Kirsteen passed through it holding her treasure against her breast, a
kind of happiness possessing her, her bosom lightened for the moment by
reason of the very climax of emotion through which she had passed, the
exhaustion of sorrow which at times feels like ease to the worn-out
soul. She had a long walk to the village where her postchaise waited for
her. The road came out upon the sides of the loch which shone like a
sheet of burnished silver in the moonlight. As she approached the
village one or two people met her and turned to look back at the unknown
figure which it was evident did not “belong.” There was a little
commotion in the small village public-house where her carriage was
waiting, the horses harnessed and the lamps lighted as she had ordered.
A postchaise with an unknown lady in it was a strange occurrence in such
a place. The people at the little alehouse were very anxious to see her
veil lifted, to know if she would have anything. Just outside the
village was the road that led to Drumcarro. Kirsteen did not even remark
it as she drove past in the soft darkness. There was no room in her mind
for any thought but one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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