[CHAPTER I. THE DEATH OF OLD EWAN]
[CHAPTER II. A MAN CHILD IS BORN]
[CHAPTER III. THE CHRISTENING OF YOUNG EWAN]
[CHAPTER IV. THE DEEMSTER OF MAN]
[CHAPTER V. THE MANXMAN'S BISHOP]
[CHAPTER VI. THE COZY NEST AT BISHOP'S COURT]
[CHAPTER VII. DANNY THE MADCAP]
[CHAPTER VIII. PASSING THE LOVE OF WOMEN]
[CHAPTER IX. THE SERVICE ON THE SHORE]
[CHAPTER X. THE FIRST NIGHT WITH THE HERRINGS]
[CHAPTER XI. THE HERRING BREAKFAST]
[CHAPTER XII. DAN'S PENANCE]
[CHAPTER XIII. HOW EWAN MOURNED FOR HIS WIFE]
[CHAPTER XIV. WRESTLING WITH FATE]
[CHAPTER XV. THE LIE THAT EWAN TOLD]
[CHAPTER XVI. THE PLOWING MATCH]
[CHAPTER XVII. THE WRONG WAY WITH DAN]
[CHAPTER XVIII. THE BLIND WOMAN'S SECOND SIGHT]
[CHAPTER XIX. HOW EWAN FOUND DAN]
[CHAPTER XX. BLIND PASSION AND PAIN]
[CHAPTER XXI. THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT]
[CHAPTER XXII. ALONE, ALONE--ALL, ALL ALONE!]
[CHAPTER XXIII. ALONE ON A WIDE, WIDE SEA]
[CHAPTER XXIV. "THERE'S GOLD ON THE CUSHAGS YET."]
[CHAPTER XXV. A RESURRECTION INDEED]
[CHAPTER XXVI. HOW EWAN CAME TO CHURCH]
[CHAPTER XXVII. HOW THE NEWS CAME TO THE BISHOP]
[CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CHILD GHOST IN THE HOUSE]
[CHAPTER XXIX. BY BISHOP'S LAW OR DEEMSTER'S]
[CHAPTER XXX. THE DEEMSTER'S INQUEST]
[CHAPTER XXXI. FATHER AND SON]
[CHAPTER XXXII. DIVINATION]
[CHAPTER XXXIII. KIDNAPPED]
[CHAPTER XXXIV. A RUDE TRIBUNAL]
[CHAPTER XXXV. THE COURT OF GENERAL JAIL DELIVERY]
[CHAPTER XXXVI. CUT OFF FROM THE PEOPLE]
[THE BRIEF RELATION OF DANIEL MYLREA]
[CHAPTER XXXVII. OF HIS OUTCAST STATE]
[CHAPTER XXXVIII. OF HIS WAY OF LIFE]
[CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THE GHOSTLY HAND UPON HIM]
[CHAPTER XL. OF HIS GREAT LONELINESS]
[CHAPTER XLI. OF HOW HE KEPT HIS MANHOOD]
[CHAPTER XLII. OF THE BREAKING OF THE CURSE]
[CHAPTER XLIII. OF HIS GREAT RESOLVE]
[CHAPTER XLIV. THE SWEATING SICKNESS]
[CHAPTER XLV. "OUR FATHER, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN"]
THE DEEMSTER
CHAPTER I
THE DEATH OF OLD EWAN
Thorkell Mylrea had waited long for a dead man's shoes, but he was wearing them at length. He was forty years of age; his black hair was thin on the crown and streaked with gray about the temples; the crow's-feet were thick under his small eyes, and the backs of his lean hands were coated with a reddish down. But he had life in every vein, and restless energy in every limb.
His father, Ewan Mylrea, had lived long, and mourned much, and died in sorrow. The good man had been a patriarch among his people, and never a serener saint had trod the ways of men. He was already an old man when his wife died. Over her open grave he tried to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed—" But his voice faltered and broke. Though he lived ten years longer, he held up his head no more. Little by little he relinquished all active interest in material affairs. The world had lost its light for him, and he was traveling in the dusk.
On his sons, Thorkell, the elder, Gilcrist, the younger, with nearly five years between them, the conduct of his estate devolved. Never were brothers more unlike. Gilcrist, resembling his father, was of a simple and tranquil soul; Thorkell's nature was fiery, impetuous, and crafty. The end was the inevitable one; the heel of Thorkell was too soon on the neck of Gilcrist.
Gilcrist's placid spirit overcame its first vexation, and he seemed content to let his interests slip from his hands. Before he was out Thorkell Mylrea was in effect the master of Ballamona; his younger brother was nightly immersed in astronomy and the Fathers, and the old man was sitting daily, in his slippers, in the high-backed armchair by the ingle, over which these words were cut in the black oak: "God's Providence is mine inheritance."