Chapter I: Preface

The Dark Year of Dundee may be called a tale of Fact, since Fiction has only been employed in it as the handmaid of Truth, and for the purpose of throwing a more vivid light upon scenes and events that actually occurred. The “story,” slight as it is, may not inaptly be likened to the sheath or calyx that encloses and protects the yet unopened bud. When the flower unfolds its petals, the calyx has fulfilled its work, and, hidden from the eye, no longer attracts the thoughts and attention of the spectator. Thus it has been intended only to leave upon the reader’s mind the impression of one grand and simple character;—only to tell, plainly and briefly, the story of one who, long ago, laboured abundantly and endured nobly for Christ’s sake, “strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.” And no alloy of fiction has been admitted into what is here recorded of George Wishart; for, apart from any other consideration, such a character as his is “God’s workmanship,” and it would seem impossible to add anything to the great Artist’s design without marring its beauty and completeness.

CONTENTS

THE DARK YEAR OF DUNDEE.
Page
I. Fanaticism 9
II. Clouded Death 21
III. God’s Messenger 31
IV. Fruits of the Message 45
V. More Fruits of the Message 57
VI. The Darkest Hour 69
VII. New Friends and Old 83
VIII. The Cardinal’s Missionary 99
IX. How the Mission Sped 111
X. What became of the Cardinal’s Missionary 129
XI. Clear shining after Rain 147
XII. The Reward of God’s Messenger 169
XIII. He giveth his beloved Sleep 189
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THE PRIOR’S TITHE.
I. Tithing the Fish 219
II. The Excommunication 231
III. The First Prayer 243
IV. Dawnings of Light 257
V. The Great Change 271
VI. Entering into the Cloud 287
VII. Voices in the Cloud 301
VIII. The Cloud Breaks 315
IX. Left Alone 329

I.
=Fanaticism.=

“I know the dim haunts of fever,
Where the blossoms of youth decay:
I know where your free broad river
Sweeps disease on its breast away.

“Yet despite your earnest pity,
And despite its own smoke and din,
I cling to yon crowded city,
Though I shrink from its woe and sin.”
_Hymns of Faith and Hope._