HEATHER AND SNOW

BY GEORGE MACDONALD

CONTENTS

[I.][A RUNAWAY RACE]
[II.][MOTHER AND SON]
[III.][AT THE FOOT OF THE HORN]
[IV.][DOG-STEENIE]
[V.][COLONEL AND SERGEANT]
[VI.][MAN-STEENIE]
[VII.][CORBYKNOWE]
[VIII.][DAVID AND HIS DAUGHTER]
[IX.][AT CASTLE WEELSET]
[X.][DAVID AND FRANCIS]
[XI.][KIRSTY AND PHEMY]
[XII.][THE EARTH-HOUSE]
[XIII.][A VISIT FROM FRANCIS GORDON]
[XIV.][STEENIE’S HOUSE]
[XV.][PHEMY CRAIG]
[XVI.][SHAM LOVE]
[XVII.][A NOVEL ABDUCTION]
[XVIII.][PHEMY’S CHAMPION]
[XIX.][FRANCIS GORDON’S CHAMPION]
[XX.][MUTUAL MINISTRATION]
[XXI.][PHEMY YIELDS PLACE]
[XXII.][THE HORN]
[XXIII.][THE STORM AGAIN]
[XXIV.][HOW KIRSTY FARED]
[XXV.][KIRSTY’S DREAM]
[XXVI.][HOW DAVID FARED]
[XXVII.][HOW MARION FARED]
[XXVIII.][HUSBAND AND WIFE]
[XXIX.][DAVID, MARION, KIRSTY, SNOOTIE, AND WHAT WAS LEFT OF STEENIE]
[XXX.][FROM SNOW TO FIRE]
[XXXI.][KIRSTY SHOWS RESENTMENT]
[XXXII.][IN THE WORKSHOP]
[XXXIII.][A RACE WITH DEATH]
[XXXIV.][BACK FROM THE GRAVE]
[XXXV.][FRANCIS COMES TO HIMSELF]
[XXXVI.][KIRSTY BESTIRS HERSELF]
[XXXVII.][A GREAT GULF]
[XXXVIII.][THE NEIGHBOURS]
[XXXIX.][KIRSTY GIVES ADVICE]
[XL.][MRS. GORDON]
[XLI.][TWO HORSEWOMEN]
[XLII.][THE LAIRD AND HIS MOTHER]
[XLIII.][THE CORONATION]
[XLIV.][KIRSTY’S TOCHER]
[XLV.][KIRSTY’S SONG]

CHAPTER I
A RUNAWAY RACE

Upon neighbouring stones, earth-fast, like two islands of an archipelago, in an ocean of heather, sat a boy and a girl, the girl knitting, or, as she would have called it, weaving a stocking, and the boy, his eyes fixed on her face, talking with an animation that amounted almost to excitement. He had great fluency, and could have talked just as fast in good English as in the dialect in which he was now pouring out his ambitions—the broad Saxon of Aberdeen.

He was giving the girl to understand that he meant to be a soldier like his father, and quite as good a one as he. But so little did he know of himself or the world, that, with small genuine impulse to action, and moved chiefly by the anticipated results of it, he saw success already his, and a grateful country at his feet. His inspiration was so purely ambition, that, even if, his mood unchanged, he were to achieve much for his country, she could hardly owe him gratitude.

‘I’ll no hae the warl’ lichtly (make light of) me!’ he said.

‘Mebbe the warl’ winna tribble itsel aboot ye sae muckle as e’en to lichtly ye!’ returned his companion quietly.

‘Ye do naething ither!’ retorted the boy, rising, and looking down on her in displeasure. ‘What for are ye aye girdin at me? A body canna lat his thouchts gang, but ye’re doon upo them, like doos upo corn!’