Where it cam frae is mair than I can tell or what was the cause o't.
It might ha' been that the general made it, but I was sair puzzled tae
tell hoo, for his honds were baith doon by his side as he passed me.
It cam frae his direction, certainly, but it appeared tae me tae come
frae ower his heid, but it was siccan a thin, eerie, high-pitched,
uncanny kind o' soond that it wasna easy tae say just exactly where it
did come frae.
The general tuk nae heed o't, but walked on and was soon oot o' sicht,
and I didna lose a minute in creepin' oot frae my hidin' place and
scamperin' awa' back tae my room, and if a' the bogies in the Red Sea
were trapesin' up and doon the hale nicht through, I wud never put my
heid oot again tae hae a glimpse o' them.
I didna say a word tae anybody aboot what I'd seen, but I made up my
mind that I wudna stay muckle langer at Cloomber Ha'. Four pund a month
is a good wage, but it isna enough tae pay a man for the loss o' his
peace o' mind, and maybe the loss o' his soul as weel, for when the deil
is aboot ye canna tell what sort o' a trap he may lay for ye, and though
they say that Providence is stronger than him, it's maybe as weel no' to
risk it.
It was clear tae me that the general and his hoose were baith under some
curse, and it was fit that that curse should fa' on them that had earned
it, and no' on a righteous Presbyterian, wha had ever trod the narrow
path.
My hairt was sair for young Miss Gabriel--for she was a bonnie and
winsome lassie--but for a' that, I felt that my duty was tae mysel' and
that I should gang forth, even as Lot ganged oot o' the wicked cities o'
the plain.
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