‘Oh, what a dreadful place to live in!’ cried Hermione; ‘it recalls Kinglake’s description of the country around Jerusalem—“a land unspeakably desolate and ghastly”—no wonder the poor things died early and Branwell drank. When one thinks of that murderous school at Cowan Bridge it is hard to restrain one’s feelings.’
‘Some people love moors and fells,’ argued Vanda; ‘there’s a wild and rugged grandeur about them; and Yorkshiremen, next to the Scots, are among the boldest of the races of Britain. Look at the men and women we watched going to that mill!’
‘All very well,’ said her unconvinced sister. ‘The climate kills off the weak ones; but what of those poor, sensitive little creatures, shivering and ill-fed, in that unhealthy, undrained hole? That fanatical idiot of a clergyman ought to have been sent to gaol, and a teacher or two hanged! He was rich too, and thanked God for the progress of the school, while these dear babes starved by inches.’
‘Gently, my dear Hermie!’ said Reggie; ‘he’s not the only historical personage who has killed, or tortured, for the glory of God; but the whole affair is plunged in lamentation, mourning, and woe. I vote we leave for Scotland by the early train to-morrow.’
‘By the very earliest,’ Eric agreed. ‘Another day here would send us back to Hexham—despairing of life, and fit for nothing but suicide.’
‘All the same, moors and heaths have their redeeming features,’ insisted Vanda. ‘Don’t you remember how Justice Inglewood calls Die Vernon his “heath-blossom,” when, pulling her towards him by the hand, he says: “Another time let the law take its course—and, Die, my beauty! let young fellows show each other the way through the moors”?’
‘All very well for Die Vernon, with a blood mare to ride, and a cavalier like Frank Osbaldistone to gallop about with her. But think of three lonely girls, with not even a wicked cousin, like Rashleigh, to fight with, or a delightful, handsome, romantic one like Frank, to fall in and out of love with! But now I think the Brontë experience has gone far enough. Let us agree that the incident is closed. We make an early start to-morrow.’
‘And so say all of us,’ chorused the rest of the party.
The next departure was made successfully. From Yorkshire to Scotland is no great distance, though the wanderers did not cross the moors to Hawkstone Craig, but proceeded by the more modern route of Keighley and Sheffield.