Prisoners of Conscience by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (mini ebook reader txt) 📕

if he had no other luck. God give us all such wives as Auda!"

"Well, then," answered Matilda, "a man's fate is his wife, and she is of his own choosing; and, what is more, a good husband makes a good wife." Then, suddenly stopping, she listened a moment and added: "The minister is come, and we shall hear from him still better words. But sit down, Liot; you have passed the hour well, as you always do."

The minister came in with a smile, and he was placed in the best chair and made many times welcome. It was evident in a moment that he had brought a different spirit with him; the old world vanished away, and the men and women that a few minutes before had been so close to it suffered a transformation. As the minister entered the room they became in a moment members of the straitest Christian kirk--quiet, hard-working fishers, and douce, home-keeping women. He said the night was bad and black, and spoke of the boats and the fishers in them. And the men talked solemnly about the "takes" and the kirk meetings, while some of the women knitted and listened, and others helped Matilda and Karen to set the table with goose and fish, and barley and oaten cakes, and the hot, sweet tea which is the Shetlander's favorite drink.

Many meals in a lifetime people eat, and few are remembered; but when they are "eventful," how sweet or bitter is that bread-breaking! This night Liot's cake and fish and cup of tea were as angels' food. Karen broke her cake with him, and she sweetened his cup, and smiled at him and talked to him as he ate and drank with her. And when at last they stood up for the song and thanksgiving he held her hand in his, and their voices blended in the noble sea psalm, so dear to every seafarer's heart:


"The floods, O Lord, have lifted up,
They lifted up their voice!
The floods have lifted up their waves
And made a mighty noise.

"But yet the Lord, that is on high,
Is more of might by far
Than noise of many waters is,
Or great sea-billows are."


Soft and loud the singing swelled, and the short thanksgiving followed it. To bend his head and hold Karen's hand while the blessing fell on his ears was heaven on earth to Liot; such happiness he had never known before--never even dreamed of. He walked home through the buffeting wind and the drenching rain, and felt neither; for he was saying over and over to himself, "I have found my wife! I have found my wife!"

Karen had the same prepossession. As she unbound her long, fair hair she thought of Liot. Slowly unplaiting strand from strand, she murmured to her heart as she did so:

"Such a man as Liot Borson I have never met before. It was easy to see that he loved me as soon as he looked at me; well, then, Liot Borson shall be my husband--Liot, and only Liot, will I marry."

It was at the beginning of winter that this took place, and it was a kind of new birth to Liot. Hitherto he had been a silent man about his work; he now began to talk and to sing, and even to whistle; and, as every one knows, whistling is the most cheerful sound that comes from human lips. People wondered a little and said, "It is Karen Sabiston, and it is a good thing." Also, the doubts and fears that usually trouble the beginnings of love were absent in this case. Wherever Liot and Karen had learned each other, the lesson had been perfected. At their third meeting he asked her to be his wife, and she answered with simple honesty, "That is my desire."

This betrothal was, however, far from satisfactory to Karen's aunt; she could bring up nothing against Liot, but she was ill pleased with Karen. "You have some beauty," she said, "and you have one hundred pounds of your own; and it was to be expected that you would look to better yourself a little."

"Have I not done so? Liot is the best of men."

"And the best of men are but men at best. It is not of Liot I think, but of Liot's money; he is but poor, and you know little of him. Those before us have said wisely, 'Ere you run in double harness, look well to the other horse.'"

"My heart tells me that I have done right, aunt."

"Your heart cannot foretell, but you might have sense enough to forethink; and it is sure that I little dreamed of this when I brought you here from the naked gloom of Yell."

"It is true your word brought me here, but I think it was Liot who called me by you."

"It was not. When my tongue speaks for any Borson, I wish that it may speak no more! I like none of them. Liot is good at need on a winter's night; but even so, all his stories are of dool and wrong-doing and bloody vengeance. From his own words it is seen that the Borsons have ever been well-hated men. Now, I have forty years more of this life than you have, and I tell you plainly I think little of your choice; whatever sorrow comes of it, mind this: I didn't give you leave to make it."

"Nor did I ask your leave, aunt; each heart knows its own; but you have a way to throw cold water upon every hope."

"There are hopes I wish at the bottom of the sea. To be sure, when ill is fated some one must speak the words that bring it about; but I wish it had been any other but myself who wrote, 'Come to Lerwick'; for I little thought I was writing, 'Come to Liot Borson.' As every one knows, he is the son of unlucky folk; from father to son nothing goes well with them."

"I will put my luck to his, and you will learn to think better of Liot for my sake, aunt."

"Not while my life-days last! That is a naked say, and there's no more to it."

Matilda's dislike, however, did not seriously interfere with Liot's and Karen's happiness. It was more passive than active; it was more virulent when he was absent than when he was present; and all winter she suffered him to visit at her house. These visits had various fortunes, but, good or bad, the season wore away with them; and as soon as April came Liot began to build his house. Matilda scoffed at his hurry. "Does he think," she cried, "that he can marry Karen Sabiston when he lists to? Till you are twenty-one you are in my charge, and I will take care to prevent such folly as long as I can."

"Well, then, aunt, I shall be of age and my own mistress next Christmas, and on Uphellya night[1] I will be married to Liot."

"After that we shall have nothing to say to each other."

"It will not be my fault."

"It will be my will. However, if you are in love with ill luck and fated for Liot Borson, you must dree your destiny; and Liot does well to build his home, for he shall not wive himself out of my walls."

"It will be more shame to you than to me, aunt, if I am not married from your house; also, people will speak evil of you."

"That is to be expected; but I will not be so ill to myself as to make a feast for a man I hate. However, there are eight months before Uphellya, and many chances and changes may come in eight months."

The words were a prophecy. As Matilda uttered them Thora Fay entered the room, all aglow with excitement. "There is a new ship in the harbor!" she cried. "She is called the _Frigate Bird_, and she has silk and linen and gold ornaments for sale, besides tea and coffee and the finest of spirits. As for the captain, he is as handsome as can be, and my brother thinks him a man of some account."

"You bring good news, Thora," said Matilda. "I would gladly see the best of whatever is for sale, and I wish your brother to let so much come to the man's ears."

"I will look to that," answered Thora. "Every one knows there is to be a wedding in your house very soon." And with these words she nodded at Karen, and went smiling away with her message.

A few hours afterward Captain Bele Trenby of the _Frigate Bird_ stepped across Matilda Sabiston's threshold. It was the first step toward his death-place, though he knew it not; he took it with a laugh and a saucy compliment to the pretty servant who opened the door for him, and with the air of one accustomed to being welcome went into Matilda Sabiston's presence. He delighted the proud, wilful old woman as soon as she saw him; his black eyes and curling black hair, the dare-devil look on his face, and the fearless dash of his manner reminded her of Paul Sabiston, the husband of her youth. She opened her heart and her purse to the bold free-trader; she made him eat and drink, and with a singular imprudence told him of secret ways in and out of the voes, and of hiding-places in the coast caverns that had been known to her husband. And as she talked she grew handsome; so much so that Karen let her knitting fall to watch her aunt's face as she described Paul Sabiston's swift cutter--"a mass of snowy canvas, stealing in and out of the harbor like a cloud."

The coming of this man was the beginning of sorrow. In a few days he understood the situation, and he resolved to marry Karen Sabiston. Her fair, stately beauty charmed him, and he had no doubt she would inherit her aunt's wealth; that she was cold and shy only stimulated his love, and as for Liot, he held his pretensions in contempt. All summer he sailed between Holland and Shetland, and the Lerwick people gave him good trade and good welcome. With Matilda Sabiston he had his own way; she did whatever he wished her to do. Only at Karen her power stopped short; neither promises nor threats would induce the girl to accept Bele as her lover; and Matilda, accustomed to drive her will through the teeth of every one, was angry morning, noon, and night with her disobedient niece.

As the months wore on Liot's position became more and more painful and humiliating, and he had hard work to keep his hands off Bele when they met on the pier or in the narrow streets of the town. His smile, his voice, his face, his showy dress and hectoring manner, all fed in Liot's heart that bitter hatred which springs from a sense of being personally held in contempt; he felt, also, that even among his fellow-townsmen he was belittled and injured by this plausible, handsome stranger. For Bele said very much what it pleased him to say, covering his insolences with a laugh and with a jovial, jocular air, that made resentment seem ridiculous. Bele was also a gift-giver, and for every woman, old or young, he had a compliment or a ribbon.

If Liot had been less human, if he had come from a more mixed race, if his feelings had