song.

"I'll serve thee in such noble ways,
As never man before;
I'll deck and crown thy head with bays,
And love thee more and more."

The encounter cheered me greatly, and lifted the depression which the
eternal drizzle had settled on my spirits. That bold girl singing a
martial ballad to the storm and taking pleasure in the snellness of the
air, was like a rousing summons or a cup of heady wine. The picture
ravished my fancy. The proud dark eye, the little wanton curls peeping
from the hood, the whole figure alert with youth and life--they cheered
my recollection as I trod that sour moorland. I tried to remember her
song, and hummed it assiduously till I got some kind of version, which
I shouted in my tuneless voice. For I was only a young lad, and my life
had been bleak and barren. Small wonder that the call of youth set
every fibre of me a-quiver.

I had done better to think of the road. I found the Howe Burn readily
enough, and scrambled up its mossy bottom. By this time the day was
wearing late, and the mist was deepening into the darker shades of
night. It is an eery business to be out on the hills at such a season,
for they are deathly quiet except for the lashing of the storm. You
will never hear a bird cry or a sheep bleat or a weasel scream. The
only sound is the drum of the rain on the peat or its plash on a
boulder, and the low surge of the swelling streams. It is the place and
time for dark deeds, for the heart grows savage; and if two enemies met
in the hollow of the mist only one would go away.