Musings of a Chinese Mystic (Zhuangzi)

FOOT-FARING. It was a lovely morning in the first of summer. Donal Grant was descending a path on a hillside to the valley below--a sheep-track of which he knew every winding as w...

A SPIRITUAL FOOT-PAD. He was now walking southward, but would soon, when the mountains were well behind him, turn toward the east. He carried a small wallet, filled chiefly with o...

THE MOOR. The night began to descend and he to be weary, and look about him for a place of repose. But there was a long twilight before him, and it was warm. For some time the ro...

THE TOWN. Donal was queer, some of my readers will think, and I admit it; for the man who regards the affairs of life from any other point than his own greedy self, must be queer ...

THE COBBLER. At the end of the street he came to a low-arched gateway in the middle of a poor-looking house. Within it sat a little bowed man, cobbling diligently at a boot. The s...

DOORY. She was a very small, spare woman, in a blue print with little white spots--straight, not bowed like her husband. Otherwise she seemed at first exactly like him. But ere th...

A SUNDAY. Notwithstanding his weariness, Donal woke early, for he had slept thoroughly. He rose and dressed himself, drew aside the little curtain that shrouded the window, and lo...

THE GATE. The next day, after breakfast, Donal said to his host-- “Noo I maun pey ye for my shune, for gien I dinna pey at ance, I canna tell hoo muckle to ca’ my ain, an’ what I...

THE MORVEN ARMS. On Wednesday evening Donal went to _The Morven Arms_ to inquire for the third time if his box was come. The landlord said, if a great heavy tool-chest was the thi...

THE PARISH CLERGYMAN. The next day, Donal put on his best coat, and went to call on the minister. Shown into the study, he saw seated there the man he had met on his first day’s j...

THE EARL. He met no one on his way from the gate up through the wood. He ascended the hill with its dark ascending firs, to its crown of silvery birches, above which, as often as ...

THE CASTLE. The next morning came a cart from the castle to fetch his box; and after breakfast he set out for his new abode. He took the path by the river-side. The morning was g...

A SOUND. All at once came to his ear through the night a strange something. Whence or what it was he could not even conjecture. Was it a moan of the river from below? Was it a los...

THE SCHOOLROOM. Old Simmons, the butler, woke him. “I was afraid something was the matter, sir. They tell me you did not come down last night; and breakfast has been waiting you ...

HORSE AND MAN. During the first day and the next, Donal did not even come in sight of any other of the family; but on the third day, after their short early school--for he seldom ...

COLLOQUIES. In the evening Donal went to see Andrew Comin. “Weel, hoo are ye gettin’ on wi’ the yerl?” asked the cobbler. “You set me a good example of saying nothing about him,...

LADY ARCTURA. It was now almost three weeks since Donal had become an inmate of the castle, and he had scarcely set his eyes on the lady of the house. Once he had seen her back, a...

A CLASH. All this time, Donal had never again seen the earl, neither had the latter shown any interest in Davie’s progress. But lady Arctura was full of serious anxiety concerning...

THE FACTOR. The old avenue of beeches, leading immediately nowhither any more, but closed at one end by a built-up gate, and at the other by a high wall, between which two points ...

THE OLD GARDEN. The avenue seemed to Donal about to stop dead against a high wall, but ere they quite reached the end, they turned at right angles, skirted the wall for some dista...

A FIRST MEETING. He took her hand, and felt it an honest one--a safe, comfortable hand. “My brother told me he had brought you,” she said. “I am glad to see you.” “You are very ...

A TALK ABOUT GHOSTS. But again he was the first. They had turned and gone a good way down the long garden, and had again turned towards the house. “This place makes me feel as I...

A TRADITION OF THE CASTLE. “Well,” he said as he drew near, “I am glad to see you two getting on so well!” “How do you know we are?” asked his sister, with something of the antag...

STEPHEN KENNEDY. The great comforts of Donal’s life, next to those of the world in which his soul lived--the eternal world, whose doors are ever open to him who prays--were the so...

EVASION. The next day he could find him nowhere, and in the evening went to see the Comins. It was pretty dark, but the moon would be up by and by. When he reached the cobbler’s ...

CONFRONTMENT. At length one evening Donal knocked at the door of Forgue’s room, and went in. He was seated in an easy chair before a blazing fire, looking comfortable, and showing...

THE SOUL OF THE OLD GARDEN. The days went on and on, and still Donal saw nothing, or next to nothing of the earl. Thrice he met him on the way to the walled garden in which he was...

A PRESENCE YET NOT A PRESENCE. The twilight had fallen while he wrote, and the wind had risen. It was now blowing a gale. When he could no longer see, he rose to light his lamp, a...

EPPY AGAIN. He would gladly have told his friend the cobbler all about the strange occurrence; but he did not feel sure it would be right to carry a report of the house where he h...

LORD MORVEN. The winter came at last in good earnest--first black frost, then white snow, then sleet and wind and rain; then snow again, which fell steady and calm, and lay thick....

BEWILDERMENT. His first thought was of a long and delightful journey he had made on horseback with the earl--through scenes of entrancing interest and variety,--with the present r...

THE SECOND DINNER WITH THE EARL. He went as before, conducted by the butler, and formally announced. To his surprise, with the earl was lady Arctura. His lordship made him give he...

THE HOUSEKEEPER’S ROOM. He was not so late the next morning. Ere he had finished his breakfast he had made up his mind that he must beware of the earl. He was satisfied that the ...

COBBLER AND CASTLE. In the bosom of the family in which the elements seem most kindly mixed, there may yet lie some root of discord and disruption, upon which the foreign influenc...

THE EARL’S BEDCHAMBER. Having washed the blood from his face, Donal sought Simmons. “His lordship can’t see you now, I am sure, sir,” answered the butler; “lord Forgue is with hi...

A NIGHT-WATCH. When he reached the bottom of the hill, there at the gate was Forgue, walking up and down, apparently waiting for him. He would have passed him, but Forgue stepped ...

LORD FORGUE AND LADY ARCTURA. At the castle things fell into their old routine. Nothing had been arranged between lord Forgue and Eppy, and he seemed content that it should be so....

ARCTURA AND SOPHIA. About this time her friend, Miss Carmichael, returned from a rather lengthened visit. But after the atonement that had taken place between her and Donal, it wa...

THE CASTLE-ROOF. One stormy Friday night in the month of March, when a bitter east wind was blowing, Donal, seated at the plain deal-table he had got Mrs. Brookes to find him that...

A RELIGION-LESSON. In the morning Donal learned from Simmons that his master was very ill--could not raise his head. “The way he do moan and cry!” said Simmons. “You would think ...

THE MUSIC-NEST. The hour came, and with the very stroke of the clock, lady Arctura and Davie were in the schoolroom. A moment more, and they set out to climb the spiral of Baliol’...

COMMUNISM. But Donal did not feel that even then would he have exhausted the likelihood of discovery. That the source of the music that had so long haunted the house was an aeolia...

EPPY AND KENNEDY. When Stephen Kennedy heard that Eppy had gone back to her grandparents, a faint hope revived in his bosom; he knew nothing of the late passage between the two pa...

HIGH AND LOW. When lord Morven heard of his son’s return, he sent for Donal, received him in a friendly way, gave him to understand that, however he might fail to fall in with his...

A LAST ENCOUNTER. Now for a while, Donal seldom saw lady Arctura, and when he did, received from her no encouragement to address her. The troubled look had reappeared on her face....

A HORRIBLE STORY. The health of the earl remained fluctuating. Its condition depended much on the special indulgence. There was hardly any sort of narcotic with which he did not a...

MORVEN HOUSE. Opposite Morven House was a building which had at one time been the stables to it, but was now part of a brewery; a high wall shut it off from the street; it was din...

PATERNAL REVENGE. No sooner had he entered the castle, where his return had been watched for, than Simmons came to him with the message that his lordship wanted to see him. Then f...

FILIAL RESPONSE. One thing then was clear to Donal, that for the present he had nothing to do with the affair. Supposing the earl’s assertion true, there was at present no questio...

A SOUTH-EASTERLY WIND. One morning, Donal in the schoolroom with Davie, a knock came to the door, and lady Arctura entered. “The wind is blowing from the south-east,” she said. ...

A DREAM. One evening, as Donal was walking in the little avenue below the terraces, Davie, who was now advanced to doing a little work without his master’s immediate supervision, ...

INVESTIGATION. The autumn brought terrible storms. Many fishing boats came to grief. Of some, the crews lost everything: of others, the loss of their lives delivered their crews f...

MISTRESS BROOKES UPON THE EARL. They were hardly seated when Simmons appeared, saying he had been looking everywhere for her ladyship, for his lordship was taken as he had never s...

LADY ARCTURA’S ROOM. The next day, when he saw lady Arctura, Donal was glad to learn that, for all the excitement of the day before, she had passed a good night, and never dreamed...

HER BED-CHAMBER. Lady Arctura opened the door of her bedroom. Donal glanced round it. It was as old-fashioned as the other. “What is behind that press there--wardrobe, I think yo...

THE LOST ROOM. Donal then took the light from her hand, and looked in. The opening went into the further wall and turned immediately to the left. He gave her back the candle, and ...

THE HOUSEKEEPER’S ROOM. As the clock upon the schoolroom chimney-piece struck the hour, Arctura entered, and at once took her seat at the table with Davie--much to the boy’s wonde...

A SOUL DISEASED. “Papa is very ill to-day, Simmons tells me,” said Davie, as Donal entered the schoolroom. “He says he has never seen him so ill. Oh, Mr. Grant, I hope he is not g...

DUST TO DUST. The next night, as if by a common understanding, for it was without word spoken, the three met again in the housekeeper’s room, where she had supper waiting. Of busi...

A LESSON ABOUT DEATH. Whatever lady Arctura might decide concerning the restoration of the chapel to the light of day, Donal thought it would not be amiss to find, without troubli...

THE BUREAU. On the Monday night Donal again went down into the hidden parts of the castle. Arctura had come to the schoolroom, but seemed ill able for her work, and he did not tel...

THE CRYPT. “When are you going down again to the chapel, Mr. Grant?” said lady Arctura: she was better now, and able to work. “I was down last night, and want to go again this ev...

THE CLOSET. Tender over lady Arctura, Donal would ask a question or two of the housekeeper before disclosing what further he had found. He sought her room, therefore, while Arctur...

THE GARLAND-ROOM. All through the terrible time, the sense of help and comfort and protection in the presence of the young tutor, went on growing in the mind of Arctura. It was no...

THE WALL. On the day after the last _triad_ in the housekeeper’s parlour, as Donal sat in the schoolroom with Davie--about noon it was--he became aware that for some time he had b...

PROGRESS AND CHANGE. Things went on very quietly for a time. Arctura grew better, resumed her studies, and made excellent progress. She would have worked harder, but Donal would n...

THE BREAKFAST-ROOM. Two years before, lady Arctura had been in the habit of riding a good deal, but after an accident to a favourite horse for which she blamed herself, she had sc...

LARKIE. It was a lovely day in spring. “Please, Mr. Grant,” said Davie, “may I have a holiday?” Donal looked at him with a little wonder: the boy had never before made such a re...

THE SICK-CHAMBER. She was carried to her room and laid on her bed. The doctor requested Mrs. Brookes and Donal to remain, and dismissed the rest, then proceeded to examine her. Th...

A PLOT. But his lordship had his suspicions, and took measures to confirm or set them at rest--with the result that he concluded Donal madly in love with his niece, and unable, wh...

GLASHGAR. Out of Arctura’s sight Donal had his turn of so-called weakness! The day was a glorious one, and Davie, full of spirits, could not understand why he seemed so unlike hi...

SENT, NOT CALLED. He had been at home about ten days, during which not a word had come to Davie or himself from the castle, and was beginning to grow, not perhaps anxious, but hun...

IN THE NIGHT. When he reached the town, he rode into the yard of the Morven Arms, and having found a sleepy ostler, gave up his mare: he would be better without her at the castle!...

A MORAL FUNGUS. Spiritual insanity, cupidity, cruelty, and possibly immediate demoniacal temptation had long been working in and on a mind that had now ceased almost to distinguis...

THE PORCH OF HADES. When Arctura woke from her unnatural sleep, she lay a while without thought, then began to _localize_ herself. The last place she recalled was the inn where th...

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. Standing upon the edge of the stone leaned against the wall, Donal seized the edge of the slab which crossed the opening near the top, and drew himself up i...

THE ANGEL OF THE DEVIL. There came a great burst of thunder. It was the last of the storm. It bellowed and shuddered, went, and came rolling up again. It died away at last in the ...

RESTORATION. The same afternoon, while Donal was reading to Arctura in the library, there came a loud ringing of the door-bell. Donal ran to see, and to his great delight, there w...

A SLOW TRANSITION. A dreary time followed. Sometimes the patient would lie awake half the night, howling with misery, and accusing Donal of heartless cruelty. He knew as well as h...

AWAY-FARING. Suddenly what strength lady Arctura had, gave way, and she began to sink. But it was spring with the summer at hand; they hoped she would recover sufficiently to be r...

A WILL AND A WEDDING. But the opening of the windows of heaven, and the unspeakable rush of life through channels too narrow and banks too weak to hold its tide, caused a terrible...

THE WILL. When her will was read, it was found that, except some legacies, and an annuity to Mrs. Brookes, she had left everything to Donal. Mr. Graeme, rising the moment the law...

INSIGHT. Mr. Graeme was a good sort of man, and a gentleman; but he was not capable of meeting Donal on the ground on which he approached him: on that level he had never set foot....

MORVEN HOUSE. In the evening Donal went again to the home-farm. Finding himself alone in the drawing-room, he walked out into the old garden. “Thank God,” he said to himself, “if...