Oh, why did you tell us of this? It is my favourite seat, and I cannot
leave it; and now I find I must go on sitting over the grave of a
suicide.
That won t harm ye, my pretty; an it may make poor Geordie gladsome to
have so trim a lass sittin on his lap. That won t hurt ye. Why, I ve
sat here off an on for nigh twenty years past, an it hasn t done me
no harm. Don t ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn lie
there either! It ll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the
tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field.
There s the clock, an I must gang. My service to ye, ladies! And off
he hobbled.
Lucy and I sat awhile, and it was all so beautiful before us that we
took hands as we sat; and she told me all over again about Arthur and
their coming marriage. That made me just a little heart-sick, for I
haven t heard from Jonathan for a whole month.
* * * * *
_The same day._ I came up here alone, for I am very sad. There was no
letter for me. I hope there cannot be anything the matter with Jonathan.
The clock has just struck nine. I see the lights scattered all over the
town, sometimes in rows where the streets are, and sometimes singly;
they run right up the Esk and die away in the curve of the valley. To my
left the view is cut off by a black line of roof of the old house next
the abbey. The sheep and lambs are bleating in the fields away behind
me, and there is a clatter of a donkey s hoofs up the paved road below.
The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further
along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street.
Neither of the bands hears the other, but up here I hear and see them
both. I wonder where Jonathan is and if he is thinking of me! I wish he
were here.
_Dr. Seward s Diary._
_5 June._--The case of Renfield grows more interesting the more I get to
understand the man. He has certain qualities very largely developed;
69