Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
131
form with the mingled anger and pity of a
noble nature
" I am Mairi's husband, and the son of one
whom you deeply wronged," he said, slowly and
distinctly ; and the old man looked up with a
sudden wild expression, so that Ronald hastened
to add — " wronged, but did not murder. Nicol
Adam, you did not kill Allan Roy. my father.
It may seem strange to you, but it is true. I
do not know if you meant to kill him — (bid and
your own conscience know — but you thought
you did. When you threw him over the Black
Rock, he fell, as you supposed, into the bottom-
less, unseen cauldron below ; he did not. A
tree which had fallen across the gully broke his
fall ; he was caught by a sharp spike in it, and
hung suspended over the water. When he re-
covered consciousness, he saw the imminent
peril of his position, and, managing to cling to
the tree, struggled, arm over arm, across the
cauldron. I have often heard him tell it,
though I little knew you were his attempted
murderer. He left the country, full of such
shameful and sad associations for him — his
family ruined, his sister dishonoured, himself
robbed, by you, Nicol Adam — and going to
Australia, struggled to keep his family in com-
fort there. When I was thirteen my mother
died, then my sister, then my father. I came
to the old country, and, while paying a visit to
my father's old home, met Mairi. We loved
each other. When you cruelly cast her out, she
came to me ; we were married with, literally,
'a saxpence atween us/ and went to London,
where my uncle found me a Government ap-
pointment. Mairi has been ailing lately, and
pined to see her old home, so we came here. I
am a bit of a painter, and thought the Ault-
gradh would make a line scene to-day ; and
Providence brought me near you when that
villain, Angus Macdougall, tried to make you
lose your footing, so that you might fall over
the rock. I brought you here, to my own
house, in safety.''
Ronald's voice ceased. Balmayne, lying back
on his pillow, stared at his niece and her hus-
band with wild, terrified eyes. They wondered
how much of the story he had understood.
Presently he said, in a low, hoarse voice —
" Mairi ! "
She bent over him.
"Send for Ross, the lawyer, at once. Tell
him to bring — the will — with him. Send fast,
or it will be too late. Then give me — brandy
and water. The end's coining fast."
Mairi turned to her husband.
" Send Kenny Oak, Ronald ; don't go your-
self. Don't leave me."
When the messenger was despatched, Ronald
and Mairi remained together in the room await-
ing the end. The old year had but a few grains
of the sands of life now. As its end drew
nigh, so the end of this old wasted life ebbed,
wave by wave, with it.
" Ronald," Mairi whispered, " it is the last
night of the old year. There will be no New
Year for him on earth. You will forgive him 1"
He clasped her hand.
About eleven o'clock the lawyer arrived. The
old man, with a great effort, gathered his sink-
ing faculties together, and dictated, in a low,
hoarse voice : —
" I, Nicol Adam, of Balmayne, being this
day in my right mind, do leave, all and sundry,
my properties, &c, to Ronald and Mairi Roy,
my nephew-by-law, and niece ; also the estate
of Balrobie, which belonged by right to Allan
Uoy, and was wickedly and unjustly stolen from
him by me. And 1 here declare myself to have
been a great sinner and evil-doer all the days of
my life, and to have done the said Allan Roy
and his kinsfolk cruel wrong ; for the which I
hope God will forgive me. Amen ! . . .
Have you wrote it, Rossi Be quick, or I can-
not see to sign it. My eyes are waxing dim."
It was signed and sealed at last, attested by
the signatures of Kenny Oak and the maid-
servant employed by Mairi. The old man, like
one already dead, lay on his pillows with dim,
glazing eyes and ghastly face. Suddenly a
murmur shook his lips. Mairi bent to catch it.
"Mairi — forgive ! "
" Yes, as God will forgive you, if you ask
Him, uncle," Mairi's sweet voice answered,
gently.
"Ronald Roy — I wronged his kinsfolk "
" I have forgiven it," Ronald answered, at a
sign from Mairi. " Ask the forgiveness of
Heaven, sir — it is more important than mine."
A bell rang loudly across the desolate coun-
try ; it was that which announced the death of
the old year — the birth of his successor. Ere
it ceased, the troubled human life had ended,
and the soul of Nicol Adam, sinner, floated out
on the dark waters of the Bevond.
Glasgow 1st. ay Assoi [ation. — Hector MacLean
Memorial. — At the monthly meeting of this associa-
tion, held in tie' Waterloo Kooms, Glasgow, on liilth
March. 1893, it was unanimously agreed that a suit-
able monument be erected over tin- remains of tli.it
distinguished son of Islay, the late Hector MacLean,
M.A.I. , Ballygrant, and a committee was appointed
to take the necessary steps toward that object.
Subscriptions are mvited from friends, clansmen, and
admirers, and will be received ami acknowledged by
Archibald Sinclair, president, In Bothwell Street,
Glasgow ; or by Duncan C. Brock, hon. secy, and
treasurer. It is proposed to close the list on 15th
June.