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Weir of Hermiston 

        by Robert Louis Stevenson



TO MY WIFE









I saw rain falling and the rainbow drawn

On Lammermuir。  Hearkening I heard again

In my precipitous city beaten bells

Winnow the keen sea wind。  And here afar;

Intent on my own race and place; I wrote。

    Take thou the writing: thine it is。  For who

Burnished the sword; blew on the drowsy coal;

Held still the target higher; chary of praise

And prodigal of counsel … who but thou?

So now; in the end; if this the least be good;

If any deed be done; if any fire

Burn in the imperfect page; the praise be thine。







INTRODUCTORY









IN the wild end of a moorland parish; far out of the sight of any house; 

there stands a cairn among the heather; and a little by east of it; in 

the going down of the brae…side; a monument with some verses half 

defaced。  It was here that Claverhouse shot with his own hand the 

Praying Weaver of Balweary; and the chisel of Old Mortality has clinked 

on that lonely gravestone。  Public and domestic history have thus marked 

with a bloody finger this hollow among the hills; and since the 

Cameronian gave his life there; two hundred years ago; in a glorious 

folly; and without comprehension or regret; the silence of the moss has 

been broken once again by the report of firearms and the cry of the 

dying。



The Deil's Hags was the old name。  But the place is now called Francie's 

Cairn。  For a while it was told that Francie walked。  Aggic Hogg met him 

in the gloaming by the cairnside; and he spoke to her; with chattering 

teeth; so that his words were lost。  He pursued Rob Todd (if any one 

could have believed Robbie) for the space of half a mile with pitiful 

entreaties。  But the age is one of incredulity; these superstitious 

decorations speedily fell off; and the facts of the story itself; like 

the bones of a giant buried there and half dug up; survived; naked and 

imperfect; in the memory of the scattered neighbours。  To this day; of 

winter nights; when the sleet is on the window and the cattle are quiet 

in the byre; there will be told again; amid the silence of the young and 

the additions and corrections of the old; the tale of the Justice…Clerk 

and of his son; young Hermiston; that vanished from men's knowledge; of 

the two Kirsties and the Four Black Brothers of the Cauldstaneslap; and 

of Frank Innes; 〃the young fool advocate;〃 that came into these moorland 

parts to find his destiny。







CHAPTER I … LIFE AND DEATH OF MRS。 WEIR







THE Lord Justice…Clerk was a stranger in that part of the country; but 

his lady wife was known there from a child; as her race had been before 

her。  The old 〃riding Rutherfords of Hermiston;〃 of whom she was the 

last descendant; had been famous men of yore; ill neighbours; ill 

subjects; and ill husbands to their wives though not their properties。  

Tales of them were rife for twenty miles about; and their name was even 

printed in the page of our Scots histories; not always to their credit。  

One bit the dust at Flodden; one was hanged at his peel door by James 

the Fifth; another fell dead in a carouse with Tom Dalyell; while a 

fourth (and that was Jean's own father) died presiding at a Hell…Fire 

Club; of which he was the founder。  There were many heads shaken in 

Crossmichael at that judgment; the more so as the man had a villainous 

reputation among high and low; and both with the godly and the worldly。  

At that very hour of his demise; he had ten going pleas before the 

Session; eight of them oppressive。  And the same doom extended even to 

his agents; his grieve; that had been his right hand in many a left…hand 

business; being cast from his horse one night and drowned in a peat…hag 

on the Kye…skairs; and his very doer (although lawyers have long spoons) 

surviving him not long; and dying on a sudden in a bloody flux。



In all these generations; while a male Rutherford was in the saddle with 

his lads; or brawling in a change…house; there would be always a white…

faced wife immured at home in the old peel or the later mansion…house。  

It seemed this succession of martyrs bided long; but took their 

vengeance in the end; and that was in the person of the last descendant; 

Jean。  She bore the name of the Rutherfords; but she was the daughter of 

their trembling wives。  At the first she was not wholly without charm。  

Neighbours recalled in her; as a child; a strain of elfin wilfulness; 

gentle little mutinies; sad little gaieties; even a morning gleam of 

beauty that was not to be fulfilled。  She withered in the growing; and 

(whether it was the sins of her sires or the sorrows of her mothers) 

came to her maturity depressed; and; as it were; defaced; no blood of 

life in her; no grasp or gaiety; pious; anxious; tender; tearful; and 

incompetent。



It was a wonder to many that she had married … seeming so wholly of the 

stuff that makes old maids。  But chance cast her in the path of Adam 

Weir; then the new Lord…Advocate; a recognised; risen man; the conqueror 

of many obstacles; and thus late in the day beginning to think upon a 

wife。  He was one who looked rather to obedience than beauty; yet it 

would seem he was struck with her at the first look。  〃Wha's she?〃 he 

said; turning to his host; and; when he had been told; 〃Ay;〃 says he; 

〃she looks menseful。  She minds me … 〃; and then; after a pause (which 

some have been daring enough to set down to sentimental recollections); 

〃Is she releegious?〃 he asked; and was shortly after; at his own 

request; presented。  The acquaintance; which it seems profane to call a 

courtship; was pursued with Mr。 Weir's accustomed industry; and was long 

a legend; or rather a source of legends; in the Parliament House。  He 

was described coming; rosy with much port; into the drawing…room; 

walking direct up to the lady; and assailing her with pleasantries; to 

which the embarrassed fair one responded; in what seemed a kind of 

agony; 〃Eh; Mr。 Weir!〃 or 〃O; Mr。 Weir!〃 or 〃Keep me; Mr。 Weir!〃  On the 

very eve of their engagement; it was related that one had drawn near to 

the tender couple; and had overheard the lady cry out; with the tones of 

one who talked for the sake of talking; 〃Keep me; Mr。 Weir; and what 

became of him?〃 and the profound accents of the suitor reply; 〃Haangit; 

mem; haangit。〃  The motives upon either side were much debated。  Mr。 

Weir must have supposed his bride to be somehow suitable; perhaps he 

belonged to that class of men who think a weak head the ornament of 

women … an opinion invariably punished in this life。  Her descent and 

her estate were beyond question。  Her wayfaring ancestors and her 

litigious father had done well by Jean。  There was ready money and there 

were broad acres; ready to fall wholly to the husband; to lend dignity 

to his descendants; and to himself a title; when he should be called 

upon the Bench。  On the side of Jean; there was perhaps some fascination 

of curiosity as to this unknown male animal that approached her with the 

roughness of a ploughman and the APLOMB of an advocate。  Being so 

trenchantly opposed to all she knew; loved; or understood; he may well 

have seemed to her the extreme; if scarcely the ideal; of his sex。  And 

besides; he was an ill man to refuse。  A little over forty at the period 

of his marriage; he looked already older; and to the force of manhood 

added the senatorial dignity of years; it was; perhaps; with an 

unreverend awe; but he was awful。  The Bench; the Bar; and the most 

experienced and reluctant witness; bowed to his authority … and why not 

Jeannie Rutherford?



The heresy about foolish women is always punished; I have said; and Lord 

Hermiston began to pay the penalty at once。  His house in George Square 

was wretchedly ill…guided; nothing answerable to the expense of 

maintenance but the cellar; which was his own private care。  When things 

wen

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