John Burnet of Barns: A Romance

It was near midday before I started, so that night I got no farther than the town of Hamilton, but lay at the inn there. The next morning I left betimes, thinking to reach Barns...

We were aboard on the next morning by a little after daybreak, for the captain had forewarned me, the night before, that he purposed to catch the morning tide. To one inland-bre...

The life at the college of Leyden was the most curious that one could well conceive; yet ere I had been there a week, I had begun heartily to like it. The students were drawn fr...

I slept till dawn the dreamless sleep of those who have drowned care in bodily exertion. It was scarce light when I awoke, and, with the opening of the eyes, there came with a r...

The night was full of wind, light spring airs, which rustled and whistled down every street and brought a promise of the hills and the green country. The stars winked and sparkl...

The house of Barns stands on a green knoll above the Tweed, half-way between the village of Stobo and the town of Peebles. Tweed here is no great rolling river, but a shallow, p...

The year 1683 was with us the driest year in any man's memory. From the end of April to the end of July we had scarce a shower. The hay-harvest was ruined beyond repair, and man...

That I am alive to this day and fit to write this tale, I owe to William Baillie. He saw me fall and the press close over me, and, though hard beset himself, he made one effort...

It was dawning morn, grey and misty, with a thaw setting in on the surface of the snow. Down the narrow, crooked streets, with a wind shivering in our teeth, we went at a breakn...

Of my doings for some months after my father's death I must tell hastily. I fell heir to the lands of Barns, and being of age entered at once into my possession. The place remai...

That night I was too wearied and sore in body to sleep. My mind also was troubled, for I had made an enemy of my cousin, who, as I knew, was not of a nature to forgive readily....

By this time I had grown a great stalwart lad, little above the middle height, but broad and sinewy. I had made progress in all manly sports and could fling the hammer almost as...

They had scarce been five minutes gone when the full folly of my action dawned upon me. To be sure I had saved the miller from death, but I had now put my own neck in the noose....

It was on a fine sharp morning, early in February, that I finally bade good-bye to the folk at Barns and forded Tweed and rode out into the world. There was a snell feel in the...

The next morn broke fair and cloudless, and ere the sun was up I was awake, for little time must be lost if we sought to win to Smitwood ere the pursuit began. The folk of the c...

The place we found ourselves in was a narrow passage, very lofty and very dark, and with countless jags of rough stone on all sides to affront the stranger. Some few paces led u...

This was in April, and now the summer began to grow over the land. The days grew longer and the air more mild, the flowers came out on the hills, little mountain pansies and eye...

Summer came on the heels of spring, and the little strip of garden below my windows grew gay as the frock of a burgher's wife on a Sunday. There were great lines of tulips, purp...

I lay that night on the bare moors, with no company save the birds, and no covering save a dry bush of heather. The stars twinkled a myriad miles away, and the night airs blew s...

For a second I was so filled with despair at Master Veitch's news that my mind was the veriest blank and I could get no thought save that bitterest of all--that my lady was gone...

I have taken in hand to write this, the history of my life, not without much misgiving of heart; for my memory at the best is a bad one, and of many things I have no clear remem...

I promise you I slept little that night, and it was with a heavy heart that I rose betimes and dressed in the chill of the morning. There was no one awake, and I left the house...

My first thought on entering the supper-room was one of amazement. The owner of the house, whom I had taken to be a man of simple tastes, here proved himself to be a very Caliph...

When I came to the door of _The Three Herrings_, I presented an imposing sight, with Nicol at my side and two sailors at my back with my baggage. The landlord, who was taking th...

I rushed up the street, leaving the gates swinging wide behind me, and down the lane to where Nicol waited. In brief, panting words I told him my tale. He heard it without a mov...

I slept late on the next morning, so that it was near nine o'clock ere I was up and dressed. By the time that I broke my fast I had had some leisure to reflect upon the events o...

And now I set myself resolutely to think out something that might be the saving of my life and my love. I was in a perilous case, for when Gilbert found that I had escaped him,...

It was towards evening, a dark November evening, that we came near the little town of Biggar. The place lies on a sandy bank raised from the wide moss which extends for miles by...

The next period in my life lies still in my mind like a dream. I have a remembrance of awaking and an impression of light, and strange faces, and then all was dark again. Of tho...

Nicol wakened me before dawn and I made haste to get ready. I looked to see that my sword was in fit condition, for it was a stout cut-and-thrust blade of the kind which speedil...

I slept like a log till the broad daylight on the next morn woke me, and with all speed I got up and dressed. I found myself much refreshed in body. My weariness was gone, and t...

When we came to the camping-place it was almost deserted. The people had all gone to the fair, and nothing was to be seen save the baggage and the children. The morning had grow...

If there had been haste before in our journey there was the more now, when in a few hours the countryside would be alive with our foes. I hurriedly considered in my mind the cou...

I knew well that I had little time to lose, and that what must be done must be done quickly. So as soon as the tails of them were round the hillside, I came out from my hiding-p...

The next morn the weather had changed. When I looked forth through the latticed panes to the street, it was a bleak scene that met my eyes--near a foot of snow, flakes tossing a...

It was the third day of April, a day so cool and mild that every one who could was in the open air, that I sat in the little strip of garden behind my lodging, reading the Sympo...

I lay there, still with fright and anxiety, while the wind roared around my hiding-place, and the noise of the horses' feet came to my ears. My first thought was to rush out and...

Of the events of the time following there is little need to give an exact account. There was some law business to be gone through in connection with my cousin's death and the di...

"I've travelled far and seen many things, but, Gad, I never saw a stranger than this. My niece is driven out of house and home by an overbold lover, and you, Master Burnet, come...

Now, at last, I am come to the end of my tale, and have little more to set down. It was on a very fresh, sweet May morning, that Marjory and I were married in the old Kirk of Ly...

We rode in silence for maybe half a mile, while I turned over the events of the evening in my mind and tried to find some way out of the difficulties in which, by my own folly,...

The next month was, I think, the busiest in my life. For from the evening of my meeting with Michael Veitch my mind was firmly made up to go to travel abroad, and with this dete...

"When you had gone oot," began Nicol, "I just waited till I heard your footsteps gang oot o' the yaird. Syne I gaed dounstairs to the landlord, whae is a decent, comfortable kin...

I am writing the last words of this tale in my house of Barns after many years have come and gone since the things I wrote of. I am now no more young, and my wife is no more a s...

Captain Steen met me on deck and greeted me heartily. "There's a brisk wind from the sou'-east," said he, "which should speed us well;" and soon, amid creaking of cordage and fl...

I. THE PIER O' LEITH II. HOW I RODE TO THE SOUTH III. THE HOUSE OF DAWYCK IV. HOW MICHAEL VEITCH MET HIS END V. I CLAIM A PROMISE, AND WE SEEK THE HILLS VI. THE CAVE OF THE COR...

I. THE ADVENTURE WHICH BEFELL ME IN THE WOOD OF DAWYCK II. THE HOUSE OF BARNS III. THE SPATE IN TWEED IV. I GO TO THE COLLEGE AT GLASGOW V. COUSINLY AFFECTION VI. HOW MASTER GIL...

I. I HEAR NO GOOD IN THE INN AT THE FORDS O' CLYDE II. AN OLD JOURNEY WITH A NEW ERRAND III. THE HOUSE WITH THE CHIPPED GABLES IV. UP HILL AND DOWN DALE V. EAGLESHAM VI. I MAKE...

I. OF MY VOYAGE TO THE LOW COUNTRIES II. I VISIT MASTER PETER WISHART III. THE STORY OF A SUPPER PARTY IV. OUR ADVENTURE ON THE ALPHEN ROAD V. THE FIRST SUNDAY OF MARCH VI. THE...