What have I
done that ye should lightly me? What have I done? What have I done?
O, what have I done?" and her voice rose upon the third repetition. "I
thocht - I thocht - I thocht I was sae happy!" and the first sob broke
from her like the paroxysm of some mortal sickness.
Archie ran to her. He took the poor child in his arms, and she nestled
to his breast as to a mother's, and clasped him in hands that were
strong like vices. He felt her whole body shaken by the throes of
distress, and had pity upon her beyond speech. Pity, and at the same
time a bewildered fear of this explosive engine in his arms, whose works
he did not understand, and yet had been tampering with. There arose
from before him the curtains of boyhood, and he saw for the first time
the ambiguous face of woman as she is. In vain he looked back over the
interview; he saw not where he had offended. It seemed unprovoked, a
wilful convulsion of brute nature. . . .
GLOSSARY
Ae, one.
Antinomian, one of a sect which holds that under the gospel dispensation
the moral law is not obligatory.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228