1

of a creature moving about in worlds not realized;" the revenant is entirely comme il faut. All goes weirdly and well up to the moment of the final catastrophe, which it would have been so easy, one would think, to manage with the same fine and faultless ambiguity. If only the haunted tower had been made to crumble without warning of its own inevitable decay, putting forever beyond the reach of investigation the mysteries which had pervaded it, the conclusion would have been perfectly consistent and credible, and the reaction in the reader's mind would probably have been toward wonder and faith. The lovers might still have been buried beneath the ruin, and then exhumed alive, if their merciful author absolutely would. But the antiquated and tawdry machinery of the secret chamber, the mystic lamp, the winking portrait, and the alchemist "properties" generally test our credulity too severely, and

make us more than half ashamed of the sincerity of our interest. Loch Houran tower is reduced once for all to the rank of the Castle of Udolpho.

It would be unfair, however, to close with a captious complaint this tolerably long and yet imperfect survey of the work of one of the ablest female writers of this or any time. The very fact that Mrs. Oliphant has shown herself capable, in mature age, of taking an entirely fresh departure, and starting anew the discussion of a question so intensely and everlastingly interesting to all her readers that her views must needs be met by every variety of opposition as well as every degree of assent, is proof in itself that the resources of her mental vitality are greater than even her most faithful admirers have imagined. Long may we continue, not merely to be entertained by the lighter exercises, but stimulated by the graver speculations, of this open, vigorous, and brilliant mind. Harriet Waters Preston.

XI.

Ir is seldom, in this world at least, that a man who absents himself from church repents it with the fervor of regret which Amos James experienced when he heard of the unexpected proceedings at the Notch. "Sech a rumpus dad-burn my luck -I mought never git the chance ter see agin!" he declared, with a pious sense of deprivation. And he thought it had been a poor substitute to sit on the doorstep all the forenoon Sunday, "ez lonesome ez a b'ar in a hollow tree," because his heart was yet so raw and sensitive that he could not see Dorinda's pink sun-bonnet without a rush of painful emotion, or her face without

remembering how she looked when he talked of the rescue of Rick Tyler.

The "gang o' men"-actively described by his mother as "lopin' roun' the mill"- lingered long in conclave this morning. Perhaps their views had a more confident and sturdy effect from being propounded at the top of the voice, since the insistent whir of the busy old mill drowned all efforts in a lower tone; but it was very generally the opinion that Micajah Green had transcended all the license of his official character in making the arrest at the place and time he had selected.

"I knows," commented one of the disaffected, "ez it air the law o' Tennessee ez a arrest kin be made of a Sunday, ef so be it must. But 'pears like ter me

The water whirled around the wheel; the race foamed with prismatic bubbles, flashing opal-like in the sun; the vague lapsing of the calm depths in the pond was like some deep sigh, as of the fullness of happiness or reflective content, not pain. The water falling over the dam babbled in a meditative undertone. All sounds were dominated by the whir of the mill in its busy, industrial monody, and within naught else could be heard, save the strident voices pitched on the miller's key and roaring the gossip. Through the window could be seen the rocky banks opposite, their summits tufted with huckleberry and sassafras bushes and many a tangle of weeds; the dark shadow in the water below; the slope of the mountain rising above. A branch, too, of the low-spreading chestnut-oak, that hung above the roof of the mill, was visible, swaying close without; it cast a tempered shade over the long cobwebs depending from the rafters, whitened by the dust of the flour. The rough, undressed timbers within were of that mellow, rich tint, intermediate between yellow and brown, so restful to the eye. The floor was littered with bags of corn, on which some of the men lounged; others sat in the few chairs,

and Amos James leaned against the hopper.

"Waal, ez fur ez 'Cajah Green could know, he'd hev been a-preachin' then, an' argyfyin' his own righteousness; an' 'Cajah laid off ter kem a-steppin' in with his warrant ter prove him a liar an' convict him o' sinnin' agin the law 'fore his congregation."

"'Pears like ter me ez pa'son war sorter forehanded," said Pete, captiously. "He hed proved hisself a liar 'fore the sher'ff got thar; saved 'Cajah the trouble."

"I hearn," said another man, "ez pa'son up-ed an' 'lowed ez he did n't b'lieve in the Lord, an' prophesied his own downfall an' his trial 'fore the sher'ff got thar."

"He d-d-did!" shouted Pete. "We never knowed much more arter 'Cajah an' the dep'ty kem 'n we did afore. Pa'son said they'd gird him an' t-t-take him whar he did n't want ter g-go, so they d-d-d-did."

an'

"D-d-did what?" mockingly demanded Amos James, with unnecessary rancor, it might have seemed.

Pete's infirmity became more pronounced under this cavalier treatment. "T-t-take him w-w-w-whar he did n't w-w-w-want - explosively "ter go, ye fool, you! "Whar?"

try of the unsentient old mill was like the bustle of many clever people, - a great stir about nothing. He wore his broad-brimmed white hat far back on his head. His black hair was sprinkled with flour and meal, and along the curves of his features the snowy flakes .had congregated in thin lines, bringing out the olive tint of his complexion, and intensifying the sombre depths of his

eyes.

Pete returned the allusion to his defective speech by a comment on the intentness of the miller's gaze.

"Ye look percisely like a ow-el, Amos,percisely like a old horned ho-ho-hooter," he declared, with a laugh. "Ya-as," he continued, "they did take pa'son ter jail, bein' ez the jestice that the sher'ff tuk him afore old Squair Prine, ye know h-he could n't decide ez ter his g-guilt. The Squair air so oncertain in his mind, an' wavers so ez ter his knowledge, that I hev hearn ez ev'y day he counts his toes ter make sure he's got ten. So the old Squair h-hummed and h-h-hawed over the evidence, an' he 'l-lowed ter Pa'son K-Kelsey ez he could n't b'lieve nuthin' agin him right handy, ez he hed sot under his p-preachin' many a time an' profited by it; but thar war his cur'ous performin' 'bout'n the gaynder whilst Rick got off, an' he hed hearn ez pa'son turned his back on the Lord in a s'prisin' way. Then the Squair axed how he kem ter prophesy his own arrest ef he hed done nuthin' ter bring it on. The Squair 'lowed 't war a serious matter, a pen'tiary offense; an' he war n't cl'ar in his own mind; an' he up-ed an' down-ed, an' twisted an' turned, an' he did n't know what ter do: so the e-end war he jes' committed Pa'son Kelsey ter jail, ter await the action o' the, g-g-g-gran' jury."

Pete gave this detail with some humor, wagging his head back and forth to imitate the magisterial treatment of the quandary, and putting up first one hand,

then the other, stretching out first one rough boot, then the other, to signify the various points of the dilemma.

Amos James did not laugh. He still gravely gazed at the narrator. "Why n't he git bail?" he demanded gruffly.

"Waal, he did n't-'kase he could n't. The old man, he fixed the bail without so much dilly-dallyin' an' jouncin' 'roun' in his mind ez ye mought expec'. He jes' put on his specs, an' polished his old bald noodle with his red h-h-handkercher, an' tuk a fraish chaw o' terbacco, an' put his nose in his book, an' tuk it out ter brag ez them crazy bugs in N-N-Nashvul sent him a book ev'y time they made a batch o' new laws,pore, prideful old critter mus' hev been lyin'!-an' then he put his nose in his book agin, like he smelt the law an' trailed it by scent. "T war n't more 'n haffen hour 'fore he tuk it out, an' say the least bail he could take war a thousand d-d-dollars fur the defendant, an' five hunderd fur each of his sureties, — like it hev been in ev'y sech case 'fore a jestice s-sence the Big Smoky Moun tings war made."

Pete laughed, his great fore-teeth, his flexible lip, his long, bony face and tangled mane, giving him something of an equine aspect. His mood was unusually jocular; and indeed a man might experience some elation of spirit to be the only one of the "lopers round" at the mill who had been present at a trial of such significance. The close attention accorded his every word demonstrated the interest in the subject, and the guffaws which greeted his sketch of the familiar character of the old " Squair" was a flattering tribute to his skill as a raconteur. The peculiar antagonism of his disposition was manifested only in the delay and digressions by which he thwarted Amos James's eagerness to know why Parson Kelsey had not been admitted to bail. He could not accurately interpret the lowering indignation

of the miller's look, and he cared less for the threat it expressed. Cowardice was not predicable of one of the Cayce tribe. Perhaps it might have been agreeable for the community if the discordant Pete could have been more readily intimidated.

"He axed w-w-why Pa'son Kelsey did n't g-gin bail. He did gin it, but 't-t war n't accepted."

"What fur?" demanded Amos, relapsing into interest in the subject, and leaning back against the hopper. "Waal," said Pete, preferring, on the

"He did gin it," returned Pete, perversely.

"Waal, then, how 'd the sher'ff take him ter jail?"

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'Right down the county road, ez ye an' me an' the rest of us hyar in the Big Smoky hev worked on till sech c-c-cattle ez 'Cajah Green an' his buzzardy dep'ty hain't got no sort'n c-chance o' breakin' thar necks over the rocks an' sech."

"Look a hyar, Pete Cayce, I'll fling ye bodaciously over that thar bluff!" exclaimed Amos James, darkly frowning.

A rat that had boldly run across the floor a number of times, its whiskers powdered white, its tail white also, and gayly frisking behind it, had ventured so close to the miller's motionless foot that when he stepped hastily forward it sprang into the air with a wonderfully human expression of fright; then, with a sprawling anatomy and a scuttling sound, it sped away to some dark corner, where it might meditate on the escaped danger and take heed of foolhardiness.

"W-w-what would I be a-doin' of, Amos Jeemes, whilst ye war a-flingin' m-me over the b-b-bluff?" demanded Pete, pertinently.

"What ails ye, ter git tuk so suddint in yer temper, Amos?" asked another of the baffled listeners, who desired rather to promote peace and further the detail of Parson Kelsey's examination before the magistrate than to witness one of Pete Cayce's acrid contentions. "Amos jes' axed ye, Pete, why pa'son war n't admitted ter bail."

"H-h-he never none, now," said Pete.

proceedings before the magistrate to the more familiar diversion of bickering, "pa'son, he 'lowed he 'd gin his gran'dad an' his uncle ter go on his bond; an' the Squair, arter he hed stuck his nose into his book a couple o' times, an' did n't see nuthin' abolishin' gran'dads an' uncles, he tuk it out an' refraished it with a pinch o' snuff, an' 'lowed he'd take gran'dad an' uncle on the bond. An' then up jumped Gid Fletcher, the blacksmith over yander ter the Settlemint, — him it war ez swore out the warrant, — an' demanded the Squair would hear his testimony agin it. That thar 'Cajah Green, he sick-ed him on, all the time. I seen Gid Fletcher storp suddint wunst, an' wall his eye 'round onsartin' at 'Cajah Green, ez ef ter make sure he war a-sayin' all right. An' 'Cajah Green, he batted his eye, ez much ez ter say, Sure ez ye air born aforehand."

6

Go it, old hoss!' them two fixed it up

"I do de-spise that thar critter, 'Cajah Green!" exclaimed one of the men, who was sitting on a sack of corn in the middle of the floor. "He fairly makes the trigger o' my rifle itch! I hope he won't kem out ahead at the August election. The Big Smoky 'l hev ter git him beat somehows; we can't hev him aggervatin' 'roun' hyar another two year."

The fore-legs of Pete Cayce's tilted chair came down with a thump. He leaned forward, and with a marked gesture offered his big horny paw to the man who sat on the bag of corn; they solemnly shook hands as on a compact.

Amos James still leaned against the empty hopper, listening with a face of angry gloom as Pete recommenced:

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Waal, the Squair, he put his nose inter his book agin, an' then he 'lowed he'd hear Gid Fletcher's say-so. An' Gid, — waal, he 'll be mighty good metal fur the devil's anvil; I feel it in my bones how Satan will rej'ice ter draw Gid Fletcher down small, he got up an' 'lowed ez pa'son an' his uncle an' his gran'dad did n't wuth two thousand dollars. They hed what they hed all tergether, an' 't war n't enough,-'t war n't wuth more 'n a thousan', ef that. An' so the Squair, - waal, he looked toler'ble comical, a-nosin' in his book an' a-polishin' off the torp o' his head with his red handkercher, an' he war ez oneasy an' onsartain in his actions ez a man consortin' accidentally with a bumbly bee. He tried 'em all powerful in thar temper, bein' so gin over ter backin' an' fo'thin'; but ez he war the jestice they hed ter sot 'round an' look solemn an' respec'ful. An' at las' he said he could n't accept the bail, ez 't war insufficient. The dep'ty looked like he'd jump up an' down, an' crack his heels together; 'peared like he war glad fur true. the Squair, he 'lowed ez the rescue war a crime ez mought make a jestice keerful how he tuk insufficient bail. Ennybody ez would holp a man ter escape from cust'dy would jump his bond himself, though he war tol'ble keerful ter explain ter pa'son ez he never ondertook ter charge either on him, nuther. An' he hed ter bear in mind ez he oc'pied a m-m-mighty important place in the l-law, though I can't see ez it air so mighty important ter h-h-hev ter say, 'I dunno; let the court decide.'"

An'

bough of the overspreading chestnutoak, at the deep, transparent water in the pond. The dark, lustrous reflec tion of the sassafras and huckleberry bushes on the summit of the vertical rocky bank was like some mezzotinted landscape under glass. A frog on one of the ledges at the waterside was a picture of amphibious content; sometimes his mouth opened and shut quickly, with an expression, if not beautiful, implying satisfaction. Pete lazily caught up a stick which he had been whittling. The slight missile flew through the air, catching the light as it went. Its aim was accurate, and the next moment the monotony of the placid surface was broken by the elastically widening circles above the spot where the frog jumped in.

"The pa'son," he said languidly, having satisfactorily concluded this exploit,-"at fust it looked like the c-critter could n't make it out, — he 'peared toler❜ble peaked an' white-faced, but the way he behaved ter the sher'ff 'minds me o' the tales the old men tell 'bout'n Hangin' Maw an' Bloody Feller, an' them t'other wild Injuns that useter aggervate the white folks in the Big Smoky, — proud an' straight, an' lookin' at 'Cajah Green ez ef he war jes' the dirt under his feet. Waal, pa'son 'lowed, calm an' quiet, ez I'd be skinnin' a deer or suthin', ez he'd ruther be obligated ter his own f-folks fur that holp, but ez that could n't be he'd git bail from others. "T war n't m-much matter jes' till he could 'pear 'fore the court, fur nuthin' could be easier 'n ter prove ez he hed n't rescued Rick Tyler, nor never gin offense agin the law. An' he turned round ez s-s-sure an' quiet ter Pa'son Tobin, who hed kem along ter see what mought be a-doin', an' sez he, 'B-Brother Jake Tobin, you-uns an' some o' the c-church folks, I know, will be 'sponsible fur the bail.' An' ef ye'll b'lieve me, Brother Jake Tobin, he got up slanch-wise, an' in sech a hurry the