A Daughter of Heth by William Black

AN APPARITION.

Coquette had never got accustomed to the depressing stillness and gloom of the Sabbath as it was kept at Airlie; and on this, the first morning of what seemed to be the beginning of a new era of her life, she almost feared what she would have to encounter. She dreaded the death-like silence of the neighbourhood; the sombre procession of the people to church; the sharp, imperative jangle of the bell; and then the long, drowsy, monotonous day spent indoors, with the melancholy sound of Leezibeth reading aloud to herself in the kitchen. Once, as she lay ill, she talked to Leezibeth about the pleasant Sundays she had learnt to love in her youth -- the cheerful gathering of friends and acquaintances at the small church in the early morning -- the mysterious music -- the solemn lights in the recesses of the building: then out into the clear air again, and home to meet all manner of relatives and friends who had come to spend a quiet holiday. Against all this, Leezibeth naturally protested strongly; and even warmed into poetic language, as elderly Scotchwomen will, who have been familiar all their life with the picturesque phraseology of the Bible.