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diff --git a/old/65615-0.txt b/old/65615-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b5bbdd7..0000000 --- a/old/65615-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5820 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Master of Aberfeldie, Volume I (of 3), -by James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Master of Aberfeldie, Volume I (of 3) - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: June 14, 2021 [eBook #65615] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER OF ABERFELDIE, VOLUME I -(OF 3) *** - - - - - - - THE MASTER OF ABERFELDIE - - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT - - AUTHOR OF - "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "THE CAMERONIANS," - "THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER," - ETC. ETC. - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - VOL. I. - - - - LONDON: - HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, - 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. - 1884. - - _All rights reserved._ - - - - - Contents - - Chapter - - I. Stalking the Deer - II. Hawke Holcroft - III. Uncle Raymond's Will - IV. The Grahams of Dundargue - V. Olive and Allan - VI. The Chagrin of Love - VII. Le Chagrin d'Amour - VIII. The Riding-Party - IX. The Picnic at Dunsinane - X. The Golden Bangle - XI. Eveline's Suitor - XII. A Revelation to Holcroft - XIII. Allan Proves Mysterious - XIV. Olive Changes Her Mind - XV. The Carpet-Dance, and What Came of It - - - - -THE MASTER OF ABERFELDIE. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -STALKING THE DEER. - -'I don't know what Olive will think, or how she may view my loitering -here, after all these years of absence, instead of hastening home to -meet her; but, truth to tell, the temptation to have a shot on the -purple heather after sweltering so long in India was so great----' - -'What does it matter what she thinks?' interrupted the elder man, -laughing. 'When two persons are to spend the whole term of their -natural lives together, they can surely spare a few days for pleasure -apart!' - -'But consider, I have not seen my little _fiancée_ for seven years.' - -'You will find her a pretty tall _fiancée_ now,' replied the other, -'and as handsome as any girl in Scotland, Allan.' - -The speakers were Lord Aberfeldie (he was viscount in the Peerage) -and his son Allan, the Master, then at home on leave from the Black -Watch, in which he was a captain; and now, side by side, they were -creeping up a steep and stony corrie in search of the red deer, but -paused for a few minutes to breathe and converse. - -The Master--so entitled as the son of a Scottish baron (we may add -for the information of most English readers even in these days)--was, -like his father, a tall and soldier-like fellow, with closely-shorn -dark brown hair, straight features, and an almost black moustache, -which partly concealed lips that were handsomely curved, and -expressive of no small degree of firmness and decision. He carried -his head erect, and spoke rather with the air of one used to command -when addressing men, but with great and subtle softness when -conversing with women of every station and degree; and already, under -home influences, his dark hazel eyes were losing the keen and -somewhat hawk-like expression they had worn when daily facing death -and suffering on active service. - -Both father and son were handsome, though there were nearly thirty -years between them in age, and both were, from head to foot, -unmistakably thorough-bred men--the latter tanned deeply by a -tropical sun, and his forehead scarred by a wound from a tulwar blade. - -Lord Aberfeldie, now above fifty, had taken a turn of service for a -few years in the Black Watch till his succession to the title -required his presence at home, though an enthusiastic soldier; and -soon after his place in the regiment which he loved so well was taken -by his only son and heir, the Master, then fresh from college. - -Father and son both wore plain shooting-kilts and jackets of coarse -heather-coloured stuff, with handsomely-mounted sporans and skeins; -other ornaments they had none, unless we except the crest of -Graham--their surname--an eagle taloning a stork, in their -glengarries; and the peer, who was a keen fisherman, had his -head-dress further garnished by various flies and old fish-hooks. - -When _en route_ home to the family seat at Dundargue, in the Carse of -Gowrie, the Master had been tempted by his father to join him at -their shooting-box among the lovely Perthshire hills, where, at -present, the party consisted of only four--Mr. Hawke Holcroft, an -English guest, and Evan Cameron, a sub. of the Black Watch, also on -leave; and these two, attended by a keeper and gillies, were creeping -up another corrie, rifle in hand, about half a mile distant. - -'You have had this--a--Mr. Holcroft with you for some time at -Dundargue!' said Allan Graham, questioningly. - -'Yes--for some weeks--before we came up to the hills here.' - -'He cannot know anything about the implied engagement--that of Olive -Raymond with me?' - -'Implied?' - -'Well--the peculiar arrangements that exist under her father's -eccentric will.' - -'Probably not--nay, undoubtedly not,' replied his father, eyeing him -keenly; 'it is no business of his--so, whence the question, Allan?' - -'Because he showed me, rather vauntingly, a very fine photo he keeps -in his pocket-book.' - -'A photo of Olive?' - -'Yes.' - -'The deuce he does. I have thought her sometimes too _épris_ with -our horsey friend Hawke Holcroft, and thus longed for your return. -They renewed at Dundargue, an acquaintance formed last season in -London, when Olive made some sensation, I assure you; and, now that -you have seen her photo, what do you think of her--pretty?' - -'Pretty! She is downright beautiful!' - -'Ah--wait till you have seen her. She does credit to your mother's -rearing and her governess's tutelage; but you have not exhibited much -impatience hitherto. Gad, when I was your age----' - -'You forget that she was such a child when we parted,' interrupted -Allan, stroking out his long dark moustache. 'But was it not rather -cool of him to show me her likeness?' - -'Perhaps; but then it was done in ignorance of the situation, and it -is probably the result of some conservatory flirtation.' - -'But just as he showed it to me, was it not strange that I heard the -cry of a plover overhead, and----' - -Lord Aberfeldie interrupted his son by a hearty laugh, and tossed -away the end of his cigar. - -'After eight years' soldiering with the Black Watch, do you actually -retain the superstition that the plover is a type of inconstancy, and -the bird of ill-omen Burns, Scott, and Leyden describe it as being?' - -Allan laughed, too; but now, when among his native mountains and the -scenes of his childhood, he could not help old Scottish impressions -returning to him, though certainly the ranks of his regiment were the -last place in which he was likely to forget them. - -The silver-haired and silver-bearded old game-keeper, Dugald Glas -(whose real name was Mackinnon), a hawk-eyed Celt, with a -weather-beaten visage, and bare knees that were brown as mahogany, -now urged silence and no more smoking. He had discovered by the aid -of his binoculars a couple of deer grazing, but pretty far apart, -upon the hill-side; and once again by private signal the two parties -began mutually their stealthy approach upward in the two corries that -concealed them in the _forest_, for so it was called, though -destitute now of trees. - -'A forest, as the word was strictly taken in ancient times,' says Sir -Thomas Dick Lauder, 'could not be in the hands of anyone but the -king, yet in later periods forests have become the property of -subjects, or have been erected by them, though without being -protected by forest laws. The royal forest in the Isle of Wight, in -which there is not a single tree, is not the only English example -remaining of the view taken of this old meaning of the word.' Hence, -he adds, 'Let not the Cockney suppose that the word forest -necessarily implies a district covered with oaks, chestnuts, or trees -of any other description.' - -A powerful and gigantic staghound, wiry, sinewy, and iron-grey--the -noble dog that Landseer loved to depict--saw the deer already without -the aid of glasses and strained hard upon his leash, an iron chain, -which was twisted round the muscular wrist of the old keeper, who -soothed and patted him, while muttering in Gaelic, '_Mar e Bran, is e -braithair!_' (If it is not Bran, it is his brother), alluding to -Fingal's favourite staghound, which he was thought to resemble, as -his hair was iron-grey, his feet were yellow, with erect ears of a -ruddy tinge. - -The forenoon was brilliantly clear, so the deer-stalkers had not the -weather to contend with, as that, if untoward, may render all -strategy vain. - -Lord Aberfeldie and his son were as well aware as their skilled old -keeper that in stalking the chief things to regard are the eyes and -nose of the deer. His vision, quick as that of an eagle, can detect -a human head above a ridge of rock or belt of bracken, and he can -scent an intruder on his 'native heath,' if the breeze blows _from_ -the former, at a wonderful distance; and old Dugald Glas, who had -brought the father and son to the forest at dawn with us much care -and secresy as if an assassination was in hand, had long scanned the -vicinity with his glasses before he discovered the stags in question, -and gave the concealed stalkers the signal to approach them. - -The two animals were rather far apart; both were quietly feeding, -and--as the season was considerably advanced--both in colour were -marvellously like the grey stone and brown heather around them, and -both were, as yet, all unalarmed as Lord Aberfeldie, the Master, and -Dugald Glas, while pausing and holding ever and anon a council of war -in low whispers, crept up the stony corrie, keeping carefully to -leeward of the quarry they had selected, leaving Cameron of -Stratherroch and Hawke Holcroft to approach the other as best they -might; but it was in the present instance absolutely necessary that -both parties should fire at the same instant, or one of the stags -would vanish at a gallop, perhaps to the most distant limit of the -forest. - -In crawling after such game the head must be foremost when going up a -hill, and the feet foremost when going down, and the stalker must -creep on his stomach and knees; and all this, when done in the kilt, -over rough rocks, sharply-pointed heather, and mossy bog, is not to -be effected without considerable toil and even discomfort. - -Nearly an hour of this kind of work had gone on, the father and son -creeping side by side, softly and in silence, dragging their rifles -after them, old Dugald following in the same fashion, with Bran -straining on his iron chain; and once or twice they had actually to -traverse the bed of a mountain burn that brawled hoarsely downward -over its brown-worn pebbles and boulders. - -The stag was still feeding quietly, and all unconscious of the -approach of death; and the stalkers were, they thought, within a safe -distance now, and that it could not escape them; so Dugald Glas -dropped behind, after whispering to the Master in Gaelic, - -'Blood upon the skein, Allan!' - -Then the heart of the latter began to beat highly as the moment for -shooting drew near, for after all their care and toil it was quite -possible that a grouse might whirr up from the heather, and with a -warning cry scare the stag to full speed. - -'You take aim, Allan,' whispered Lord Aberfeldie, 'and I shall -reserve my fire. It is years since you had a shot at a dun cow, my -boy.' - -Inch by inch the Master cautiously inserted his double-barrelled -rifle between the stiff tufts of purple heather that fringed the bank -of the hollow up which they had been creeping, and brought the sights -to bear upon the beautiful and graceful animal that cropped the -herbage, with his branching antlers lowered; and Allan, in the -excitement of the moment, felt his pulses beating wildly. - -'If I miss--if I fail!' he muttered. - -'Tut---there is no such word as fail!' replied his father, -unconsciously quoting 'Richelieu.' - -Allan drew a long breath, while his dark eye seemed to flash along -the barrel, and fired. Bang went a couple of rifles in the distant -corrie, but Aberfeldie and his son took no heed of them. The -latter's single shot had sped true, piercing the stag above the left -eye, and now it lay prone on the heather, tearing up tufts and sandy -earth with its hoofs in the agonies of death. - -Allan's skein-dhu was promptly in his hand; the stag was -_gralloched_, and Dugald Glas, waving his bonnet, shouted loudly for -Alister Bane and Hector Crubach (or lame Hector), two gillies, to -bring up the pony, on which the dead animal was slung, and then the -party set out for the place appointed for luncheon, as raid-day was -now long since past. - -'What the deuce are Stratherroch and Holcroft about?' exclaimed Lord -Aberfeldie, while shading his eyes with his hand; and to their -success in sport we shall refer in the next chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -HAWKE HOLCROFT. - -The process of creeping in serpent fashion over sharp-pointed -heather, rough stones, and occasionally in the bed of a mountain -stream, as we have already described, proved intensely tiresome and -distasteful to a 'man about town' like Mr. Hawke Holcroft, who could -not entirely conceal his genuine disgust thereat, and at the slowness -of the whole affair, though reminded by Dugald's son Angus, a smart -young under-keeper, of the big hart of Benmore, which was stalked for -seven long summer days before it was killed. - -'But, for the Lord's sake, sir, keep quiet,' whispered Angus. 'We -are now close on one of the finest of Macgilony's dun cows.' - -'I see no dun cow!' grumbled Holcroft. - -'He means yonder deer,' whispered Cameron, a fair-haired and -pleasant-looking fellow. 'Macgilony was a famous hunter in the olden -time, and his dun cows, as he called them, were the red deer of the -Grampians.' - -But to Holcroft, whose idea of hunting the stag was to have a scared -and bewildered creature--a fallow deer, fed on oats and hay, -perhaps--cast loose from a game-cart in a smooth, grassy park, the -perseverance, courage, and labour required for stalking in the -Highlands seemed a simple waste of time and an inconceivable bore. - -'Stop for a minute,' whispered Angus, as they crept _up the wind_; -'the stag can smell with more than its nostrils.' - -As the stoppage took place directly in the bed of a brawling burn, -where they all lay on their stomachs, Holcroft not unnaturally asked, -with no small irritation, what he meant; and the wiry young -Highlander, who was whiskered and moustached to such an extent that, -with his shaggy eyebrows, he somewhat resembled a Skye terrier in -visage, explained his theory--no uncommon one, though, of course, not -admitted by naturalists--that the red deer can both smell and breathe -through the curious aperture beneath each eye, even if their heads -are immersed in water when in the act of drinking. - -'Dioul!' muttered Angus, as they crept forward again, but on dry -heather this time, 'we can't be too cautious, whateffer! A deer's -eye is as keen as an eagle's, and his nose acute as that of a -foumart.' - -'The first shot shall be yours, Holcroft,' said Cameron. 'I shall -reserve my fire. He seems a powerful animal, and, if you only wound -him, we may have the devil to pay!' - -'Thanks--but how?' whispered Holcroft. - -'If the dogs bring him to bay, he may turn upon us ere another -cartridge can be dropped in the barrel, and gore deep with his horns.' - -English sportsmen generally prefer having the deer driven to stalking -them, for the bodily exertion requisite in the latter case tries so -severely every muscle and sinew; but, to the true Highland hunter, -one deer shot after a long and adventurous stalk, is worth a hundred -knocked over after a successful drive by gillies, when the herd is -urged in wild confusion through some narrow pass well garrisoned by -breech-loaders in secure ambush. - -While Holcroft and Cameron crept softly forward nearer the browsing -deer, the young keeper threw his plaid over the eyes of the staghound -Shiuloch, and held it in by main strength, though his wrist was -nearly dislocated by the strain of the leash, and the ill-suppressed -whimpers of the animal were lost amid its muffling. - -'Now,' whispered Angus, hoarsely, full of excitement--'now is your -time, sir!' - -Holcroft took a long aim; in his intense anxiety, and perhaps -inspired by vanity, he overdid his aim; he fired at the precise -moment Allan's shot was heard in the distant corrie, but only wounded -the stag in the shoulder, and, just as he let fly the contents of the -other barrel (and missed), it fled away with the speed of the wind, -followed by the swift and powerful hound, which, quick as thought, -Angus let slip, and both vanished down a deep glen, overhung by -silver birches, close by. - -'_Ohone a Dhia!_ but he has missed it, after all--it is no use -guiding a Sassenach whateffer!' muttered Angus, under his thick, -ruddy moustache; yet, as Cameron could read by the expression that -twinkled in his hazel eyes, secretly not ill-pleased at the result, -however. - -'I almost did it--hit him, at all events!' said Holcroft, with -intense mortification, as he was too much of an Englishman not to -wish to excel in everything that appertained to sport. - -'Almost!' repeated Angus, who added to Cameron, in a low voice, "_Cha -d'rinse theob riomh sealg!_" (_i.e._, Almost, never killed the game). - -'Better luck next time,' said the young Laird of Stratherroch, -consolingly. 'Allan has knocked over his deer, I see.' - -'Attempt and Did-not were the two worst hounds of Fingal,' muttered -Angus, in his Perthshire Gaelic, with a furtive glance, fall of -meaning, at Stratherroch. - -'To the genuine Highlander,' says a recent English writer, 'it is a -fixed article of belief that there never yet was a Sassenach who knew -more about the wind and weather, or about the innumerable other -mysteries which furnish the stalker with the tact and skill required -to perfect him in his difficult craft, than a cow understands of -conic sections. With true Celtic caution and prudence, the gillies -tolerate the opulent tenant from the south out of respect for his -cheque-book and his frequent drafts upon it; but in their hearts they -look upon him as an _intruder_, and are not sorry when they -contemplate his receding form, as he turns his face homewards, and -leaves moor, loch, and mountain, glen and forest to 'their natural -denizens.' - -And in this spirit Angus was secretly regarding the unconscious Mr. -Holcroft, who had the genuine Southern idea that no man of woman born -could undervalue him. - -So the little shooting-party united now, and, not unwillingly, all -sat down to have luncheon, as they were sharply appetised by long -exercise in the keen mountain air, and on no other tablecloth than -the purple heather; the ample contents of a hamper--game pies, cold -beef, bread, champagne (cooled in an adjacent runnel), whisky, and so -forth--were laid out by the active hands of the gillies, expectant of -their own repast when the time came. - -They lunched near the mossy ruins of a clachan--some of those -melancholy ruins so common over all the Highlands, the traces of a -departed people who have passed away to other lands, evicted by -grasping selfishness to make way for grouse and deer. - -There, the low, shattered gables, an old well, some gooseberry bushes -that marked 'where a garden had been,' were all that remained of a -once populous village, whose men had often gone forth to fight for -Scotland in the wars of old, and whose descendants in latter years -had manned more than one company of the Black Watch in Egypt and the -Peninsula. - -On the sunny hill-slope close by, a ruined wall, low and -circular--above which appeared the grey arms of a solitary Celtic -cross, an aged yew-tree, and where long grass waved in the -wind--marked where lay the last of the clan, whom no human power -could evict or send towards the setting sun; and these imparted a -melancholy to the solemn scenery, for solemn it was with all its -beauty. - -It was of that kind peculiar to some parts of Perthshire, where the -subordinate hills, rising a thousand feet and more above the valley, -are entirely covered with dusky pines, taking away all that -appearance of blackness and desolation presented by naked mountain -masses, and adding softness and beauty to the landscape, which would -otherwise be stern and grim. Nor were the glassy loch and the -murmuring torrent wanting there, nor those passes where the mountains -approach each other, and make them, like that of Killiecrankie, excel -even the famous Vale of Tempe. - -Though not very impressionable by Nature, Holcroft, influenced by the -good things he was imbibing, said something about the beauty of the -scenery, to which Lord Aberfeldie responded, adding, with a laugh, - -'I do enjoy life in a shooting-box, and of all the entrancing sports -to me there is none like stalking the deer.' - -With his sodden knickerbocker suit drying slowly upon him in the -mountain wind, Holcroft could only assent to this faintly, and -wished, perhaps, that, like Stratherroch, he wore a kilt, and could -wring the water out of the plaits thereof. - -'Of old in Scotland,' resumed Lord Aberfeldie, as he lit his -briar-root pipe, 'no man was deemed perfect in the craft of hunting -till he had landed a salmon from the pool, shot an eagle on the wing, -and killed a stag. But, when here in a shooting-box, I always thank -heaven that I am at least fifteen miles from a telegraph wire, that -letters can only come once a day, and just before dinner, and bills -and lawyers' letters seldom or never at all. Have a glass of -something before you lunch, Dugald,' he said, addressing his -venerable keeper; 'I know you will prefer Glenlivet to all the -Clicquot and Moet in the world.' - -'A cless, thank you kindly, my lord,' replied Dugald, touching his -bonnet, 'though my mouth can hold more of whateffer it be.' - -And, bowing to the company, Dugald drained it in quick time. - -'I daresay, Holcroft,' said Allan, 'you would prefer the deer driven -to being stalked?' - -'Infinitely!' replied the other, as he quaffed a bumper of sparkling -Moselle. - -'Well, I for one do not,' said the Master, emphatically. - -'The Highlander of old would follow a stag for days, or even for -weeks, if necessary,' observed Lord Aberfeldie, with kindling eyes, -'sleeping in his plaid among the heather, he would lie where night -found him. With his long gaff he would catch a salmon between the -water and the sky; but when stalking he had no conception of the -brutal German battues now so common in the Highlands, and so -degrading to sport,' he added; in his energy, forgetting that there -was something of rebuke in his remarks, which certainly made -Holcroft's cheek redden with annoyance, and his rather shifty eyes to -lower. - -The Master, aware that this subject was rather a hobby with his -father, hastened to change the conversation by observing, - -'How strange it seems, Stratherroch, that you and I should be so -suddenly here after all these past years with the regiment--here -among the purple heather and green bracken again.' - -'And a few weeks hence will see us with it again, and back to the old -pipe-clay routine,' said Cameron. - -'Regiments are now no longer what they were in my time,' said Lord -Aberfeldie, a little irrelevantly, perhaps, but pursuing his own -ideas. 'Examinations, cramming and useless pedantry, promotion by -selection and compulsory retirement for the officers, with short -service among the men, render corps no longer what they were in the -old days, each a happy, movable home. The time when a young officer -often said, with just pride and noble ambition, "My father and my -grandfather have both commanded _this_ regiment, and, please God, I -hope at some period to do the same," can never come again! And what -Highland officer now, in the Black Watch or any other of our national -regiments, is followed to the colours by a band of his own name and -kindred, or can speak of his comrades as "my father's people," or -"the men from our glen;" and yet such was the case when yonder ruined -clachan was instinct with village life, and the voices of children -were heard around its humble hearths.' - -'The hero of Ghuznee had a theory that no Scotsman was fitted to -command a regiment,' said Stratherroch, laughing. - -'I know that he detested Scotsmen, and brought six officers, all -Scotsmen, to a court-martial; and it was then he is said to have made -the statement which cost him so dear in India.' - -'How?' asked Holcroft. - -'Because, within an hour after, old Colonel Wemyss, of the 52nd, -paraded him in rear of the cantonment, and planted a bullet in his -body by way of curing him of prejudice for the future. Rather a -convincing argument, old Wemyss thought it,' added Aberfeldie, -laughing, as he knocked the ashes from his cherished briar-root, put -it in its case, and dropped it into his silver-mounted sporran. - -'Talking of regiments, I saw yours at Portsmouth, Graham,' said -Holcroft; 'and I thought the men looked graceful indeed, with their -kilts over their left shoulders and their black sporrans waving above -their bronzed faces.' - -Whether this was meant as a joke or a sneer, it is impossible to say; -but his hearers took it as the former, and laughed accordingly, on -which Holcroft added, - -'I mean their plaid-shawls over their shoulders. I remember that -Miss Raymond laughed heartily when I made the same remark.' - -'I don't wonder at that,' said Lord Aberfeldie. 'Olive is a girl who -laughs on very slight occasions.' - -'You have not seen her since your return,' said Holcroft to Allan -Graham. - -'No; but I shall very soon now.' - -'She is a very handsome girl; what the deuce have the men been about -to leave her all this time Miss Raymond?' - -'All this time? Why, she has not yet seen her twentieth year,' -exclaimed Allan, with some annoyance, as he thought of the photo. - -'Her costumes are _chic_,' continued Holcroft, '_chic_ to a degree! -How I admired her portrait in the Grosvenor Gallery; and wise was the -artist to label it "Fair to See."' - -Allan glanced at his father, and his face clouded to hear all -this--praise though it was--in the mouth of Hawke Holcroft. - -'You have an appreciation of beauty, apparently,' said young Cameron. - -'Who has not? Thus, as Disraeli says, "the action of lovely woman on -our destiny is increasing," and, as Miss Raymond----' - -'I am Miss Raymond's uncle and guardian,' said Lord Aberfeldie, -rather stiffly, and to Mr. Holcroft, as it seemed, a little -irrelevantly, though cutting short whatever he meant to say; for the -peer winced at the way in which his guest referred to his niece in -the hearing of gillies and gamekeepers, and, more than all, in the -presence of Allan, whose dark eyes wore rather a lowering expression; -but, as all had hearty appetites after their recent exercise and long -exposure in the keen, bracing mountain air of an autumn day, they -were inclined to use their knives and forks rather than their -tongues, and the subject, however pleasing to Mr. Holcroft, was -dropped. - -The latter was not a pleasing type of Englishman, though his air and -bearing were thoroughly those of a gentleman. He had a good square -figure, but his legs were somewhat of the spindle order, as his -knickerbocker suit revealed. He was flaxen-haired, fair-skinned, and -somewhat freckled, with a tawny moustache and pale grey eyes; and -strange it was that these, though weak-looking, cunning, and shifty, -would assume at times, but covertly, a defiant, even ferocious -expression, if evil passions excited him. - -He was almost destitute of eyebrows, but had a massive chin; and as -Allan Graham regarded him, as he lay stretched upon the grass -leisurely smoking, he by no means showed his father's sentiment of -friendship for this son of an old friend; and there grew in his -breast a mysterious instinct--almost a presentiment--that Holcroft -would in some way or other bring trouble upon them conjunctly or -severally. - -After the keepers and gillies had their repast, the luncheon -apparatus was packed up, and, shouldering their rifles, the party set -out for the shooting-box, which was situated in a pretty glen a few -miles distant. - -Angus, who was--as his father boasted--strong as Cuchullin, again -lifted the deer to the pony's back, and preceded by the family piper, -Ronald Gair, with his pipes in full blast to the air of 'The Birks of -Aberfeldie,' they departed down the winding path towards the dark -blue loch that lay at the foot of the solemn, pine-clad hills. - -Like the gillies and keepers, Ronald was never seen without a sprig -of the _Buaidh craob na Laibhreis_ (the laurel-tree of victory), the -badge of the Grahams, in his bonnet. - -Ronald Gair's locks were silver now, but they had been dark enough -when he played the Black Watch up the green slopes of the Alma, -through all Central India, to the gates of Lucknow, and in later -times to the corpse-encumbered swamps of Coomassie. - -Holcroft winced at what he deemed the dissonance of the pipes, and -cursed their sound in his heart; but he was too well-bred or too -prudent to say anything on the subject as he strode by Cameron's side -down the strath, with a huge regalia between his teeth. Indeed, he -might have been pretty well used to their sound by this time, as -Ronald Gair roused the household with them in the morning, preceded -many a meal--dinner always--and seemed to spend most of his time in -incessant 'tuning up' between. - -'I have a suspicion that he is bad form, this Holcroft,' said Allan -to his father, as they could converse, unheard by the other two, amid -the din of the pipes, which Ronald blew as if to wake the Seven -Sleepers of Ephesus, or Holgar Danske in his cavern at Elsinore. 'I -have heard that he half lives on play and his betting-book, and that -his little place in Essex, or rather what remains of it, is dipped -over head and ears. Indeed, he admitted jocularly to Cameron that it -was mortgaged for thrice its value, three times over, a fact which -would teach the holders prudence for the future. Why did you have -him here or at Dundargue?' - -'Well--his father and I were old friends, as you know; his father, in -fact, by an act of great bravery, saved my life at the Alma, when -three Russians were at the point of bayoneting me, as I lay helpless -on the field; so you see, Allan, I cannot help being at least -hospitable to the poor fellow, and certainly his friend.' - -Indeed, Lord Aberfeldie had always been the latter to Holcroft, and -not seldom his 'banker,' but of this Allan knew nothing, nor was ever -likely to know, so far as his father was concerned. - -'He seems to consider Olive an heiress,' said Allan, after a pause. - -'As--of course--she is.' - -'And he dared to speak of her under the slangy name of "cash" to -Stratherroch, as I, by chance, overheard.' - -Lord Aberfeldie knitted his dark brows, and said, - -'I detest slang--it is deuced bad form; but Holcroft belongs, I know, -to a horsey set.' - -The sun was setting now, and gradually his crimson glory was paling -in fire on the hill tops, till it faded out and died away, and the -shadows of the September night crept upward step by step from the -deep glens below, and one by one the stars came out above the -trees--a sea of dark and solemn pines that covered all the mountain -slopes--and ere long the red lights from the curtained windows of the -luxurious shooting-lodge were seen to cast long lines of wavering -radiance across the bosom of the loch, by the margin of which it -stood. - -Ere this, the great greyhound Shiuloch (whose name means speed) had -returned, drenched with water (showing that he had pursued the stag -into some distant loch) and bloody with more than one wound inflicted -by antlers. - -The sharp-set hunters had dined luxuriously, and cigars with brandy -and soda had become the order of the night, when the Master said to -his father, - -'I think I have had enough of deer-stalking--three weeks nearly--and -to-morrow I shall start for Dundargue.' - -'I think you are wise to do so,' replied Lord Aberfeldie, with a -pointed glance. - -'Sorry to lose you, Graham,' said Holcroft, concealing under a bright -smile his secret annoyance, envy, and alarm, of all which more anon. - -In this sudden resolution Allan Graham was influenced, perhaps, by -some remarks of his father, the viscount, and pique at those of Hawke -Holcroft, together with a natural longing to see his mother and -sister, and a growing consciousness that he had been somewhat remiss -and, to say the least of it, ungallant to his cousin. Thus, next -day, he took his departure for Dundargue; but he could little foresee -all the bitter complications that were to arise, and to culminate in -the future, through his merely lingering to stalk deer in his -father's forest. - -When he went off, none shook his hand more warmly than Hawke -Holcroft, though the latter muttered under his breath, - -'Fool that I was, not to make my innings before this fellow came; but -if some people could be put out of the way, that others might take -their place, how much pleasanter this world would be--to other -people, at least.' - -Little did the family of Aberfeldie know that in Hawke Holcroft they -had among them an unscrupulous adventurer and most dangerous guest! - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -UNCLE RAYMOND'S WILL. - -'Marriage, indeed!' exclaimed Olive Raymond, 'it will be time enough -to speak of that when this "laggard in love," your brother, turns up -here at Dundargue. Besides, all women don't marry, so why should I?' - -'Most pretty ones do, and marry you must!' replied, with a merry -little laugh, Eveline Graham, the sole daughter of the house of -Aberfeldie, to her English cousin, as she usually called her. - -'Such stuff all this is! Does not the author of "The Red Rag" say -that "if there is a circumstance calculated to breed mutual -detestation in the minds of two young people, it is the knowledge -that their respective parents have destined them for each other!"' - -'How readily you quote,' said Eveline. - -'Because I have the subject at heart.' - -They were posed like a couple of Du Maurier's fashionable girls, and -were leisurely sipping afternoon tea at a pretty Chippendale table -from an exquisite Wedgwood service, and, for freedom to gossip, had -dispensed with all attendance. - -Both the cousins were handsome girls, whose bearded, belted, and -corsletted ancestors--portraits of whom hung on the walls, and who -had often - - 'Carved at the meal with gloves of steel,' - -in that same Castle of Dundargue--would have regarded such a repast -and such a beverage as 'afternoon tea' with no small wonder, and, -perhaps, disgust. - -Eveline Graham was very softly featured and slender in figure; but -Olive Raymond, who was the taller of the two, was more fully -developed, yet looked slim as a Greek goddess in a dress of deep blue -that became her pure complexion and rich brown hair, with only a tiny -bouquet of white flowers in the brooch at her bosom, and a multitude -of silver bangles--emblems of conquest, perhaps--like silver fetters, -on her slender and snowy wrists. She was fair and colourless, with -dark grey violet eyes that looked black under their jetty fringes at -night. - -Eveline was more dazzlingly fair, but more _petite_, with soft, hazel -eyes, and bright, brown hair that was shot with gold. She had -exquisite hands and feet, and though _petite_, as we say, and -slender, she had a peculiar grace and dignity of manner that only -required a brocade-dress, ruff, and long stomacher to make her like -one of her stately 'forbears,' whose portraits by Jameson were in the -room in which she sat--a modern portion of the grim old Castle of -Dundargue, the aspect and construction of which edifice were very -different from those of the additions that had been made to it in -later times. - -And as the girls sit there, in the tempered light of the afternoon -sun streaming through the French windows that open to a stately -balustraded terrace, and sip their tea leisurely, their conversation -will throw some light upon the past, and perhaps the future, of -certain of our _dramatis personæ_. - -'When Allan returns--'began Eveline. - -'Oh, don't talk to me again of Allan!' interrupted Olive Raymond, -with a petulant toss of her pretty head, 'or I will begin to tease -you about Stratherroch.' - -'How?' asked Eveline, colouring perceptibly. - -'He loves you--and you know he does.' - -'Yes,' said Eveline, as a soft smile stole over her mignonne face; 'I -cannot doubt it, though no word from which I could infer it has ever -escaped his lips; but poor Cameron has little more than his pay. His -paternal acres are mortgaged to the full--even the shootings and -fishings, believe, don't come to him. I heard papa express to mamma -his surprise that Cameron could "pull through," as he phrased it; -that he would have no ineligibles in future dangling about me, and -that--as I have nothing--I must marry _money_! That was the -word--oh, how selfish it sounds, and how hateful!' added the girl, -while her rosy little nether lip quivered. 'Poor Evan!' she -murmured, dreamily; and as she uttered his name her voice, which was -soft even as Cordelia's, became like that of Annie Laurie, 'low and -sweet.' - -'Ineligibles!' said her cousin; 'and yet he invited here Mr. -Holcroft, who is well-nigh penniless, and against whose attentions -Aunt Aberfeldie specially warned me.' - -'In the interests of Allan, of course.' - -'Allan--absurd!' exclaimed Olive, shrugging her handsome shoulders. -'You all seem to forget that he can only remember me as a little -girl.' - -'Still you are his _fiancée_.' - -'In a manner of way.' - -'Distinctly so, if the tenor of your papa's will is to be observed.' - -'Then I think he might have had some curiosity about me, instead of -spending days at that stupid deer-forest. For all he knows, I might -have been a veritable fright!' added Olive, with growing pique, as -she glanced at the reflection of her own beautiful self in an -adjacent console-mirror. 'If he thinks that, as Master of -Aberfeldie, he has only to come and see, and conquer, I shall teach -him that he is very much mistaken.' - -'Olive--how can you talk thus?' expostulated soft little Eveline; -'his delay is probably all papa's fault.' - -'I am sure that I shall hate him then!' - -'Query?' said Eveline, with a saucy smile on her lovely lips. - -'There is no query in this case,' persisted Olive, as she set down -her cup with a jerk; for in her spirit of freedom there was at times -a curious but unexpressed antagonism in her heart to the family of -Aberfeldie, as if she felt herself somewhat in their power, and even -to her own disadvantage, and this spirit, which Holcroft was not slow -to discover, had rather encouraged his hopes. - -'He will be sure to love you, at all events, Olive dear, if he has -any sense or power of observation at all--you are so pretty--nay, so -charming.' - -'Any fool may love a pretty face, and generally does so.' - -'But you possess much more than a pretty face, Olive.' - -'Yes--the fortune which I am to share with him ere my twenty-fifth -year.' - -'Or, if you refuse----' - -'One half of it goes to him, and the other, or nearly so, to -charitable institutions,' exclaimed Olive, her sweet face paling with -absolute anger. - -'He will love you for yourself alone, I am assured,' persisted -Eveline, in defence of her brother. 'You are beautiful, Cousin -Olive; you ride, row, dance, play lawn-tennis, and flirt to -perfection. Are not all these qualities calculated to excite -admiration in a young officer; and then, more than all, you have such -dear, funny ways with you.' And the warm-hearted girl concluded by -laughing and kissing her cousin on both cheeks effusively. - -The tenor of this remarkable will, which has been referred to more -than once, was, to say the least of it, peculiar. - -Some years before this period, Olive Raymond arrived at Dundargue an -orphan, left in charge of Lord Aberfeldie--the child of his only -sister, Muriel Graham, who had married a Mr. Raymond, a poor man, -whom means furnished by the Aberfeldie family enabled to become one -of the wealthiest planters in Jamaica. Both her parents had died -early, and after her location at Dundargue she became a species of -sister to Eveline and Allan Graham. - -Happy, indeed, was Olive alike in her Scottish home in the lovely -Carse of Gowrie, and when the family took up their abode, according -to the season or the sitting of Parliament, at their West-end -residence in London. - -By will, Mr. Oliver Raymond left his entire fortune, which was very -considerable, to his daughter; but, in gratitude to the family of his -wife, on the strange condition that she was to marry his nephew, -Allan Graham, whose death alone was to free her from that -contingency. If she unreasonably refused, then, in that case, after -her twenty-fifth year, she was to forfeit all that would accrue to -her, save a very slender allowance--the share so forfeited to become -the inheritance of her cousin Allan; and if _he_ declined to wed his -cousin Olive, then, in _that_ case, the money so forfeited was to go -to such Scottish charitable institutions as Lord Aberfeldie and the -other trustees might select. - -This will was, undoubtedly, a strange one; but then Mr. Raymond had -been a strange and eccentric man, animated by an intense regard and -esteem for the family of his deceased wife, the Grahams of -Aberfeldie, to whom he felt all his good fortune had been due. - -As children, the tenor of this tyrannical will in no way affected the -relations of Olive and Allan with each other; and the latter--a manly -and sturdy lad, when at home from the College of Glenalmond, where he -pursued his studies and cultivated cricket, boxing, and -football--petted and made much of the violet-eyed and brown-haired -little cousin, who had dropped among them as if from the clouds; but -after he had joined the Black Watch as a subaltern, and years passed -on, and they began to be talked of and deemed in the family circle as -an engaged couple, betrothed, affianced, and all the rest of it, the -young beauty and heiress began to resent the terms of the will -bitterly, perhaps not unreasonably; she became, as we have said, -antagonistic, and was perplexed to think that her father could not -have foreseen some difficulties on the part of his two legatees. - -Thus, as they both grew older, she seldom replied to the letters -which Allan wrote to her, by his parents' desire, perhaps, rather -than his own, till he ceased to write to her at all, on which she -became severely piqued; and once when she was a little way on in her -'teens,' and when Allan was at home for a very brief period before -departing to India, she treated him with an indifference--almost -animosity--that made him deem the girl wayward, cold-hearted, even -purse-proud, and everything unpleasant; and with this fatal -impression he rejoined the Black Watch, and amid many a flirtation -might soon have forgotten the heiress that was growing up for him at -Dundargue, but for the letters he received from thence, and in which -ample references to her and her beauty and accomplishments were never -omitted; while she, on the other hand, when she became of a -marriageable age, seldom ceased to stigmatise the will as outrageous, -indelicate, grotesque, and unjust. And now that her cousin Allan was -coming home--nay, _had_ come home--for a protracted period on leave -of absence, she felt that a crisis was at hand in her fate--a crisis -in which she, like a hunted creature, knew not how to escape. - -'Yes, Allan will soon learn to love you for your own sake,' returned -the gentle Eveline, after a pause. - -'How can I ever be certain of that? Oh, I owe little indeed to papa, -who by such a will as his seeks to degrade both your brother and -myself,' replied Olive. - -'Degrade!' exclaimed Eveline, her hazel eyes distending. - -'Yes--by forcing us into a marriage on one hand, or to accepting -starvation on the other.' - -'Starvation!--such strong language, Olive,' said Eveline, in a tone -of rebuke. - -Of the alleged tie that bound her to Allan Graham, and of the latter -himself, personally, she had never thought so seriously as she had -done of _late_; and, truth to tell, in the opportunities afforded by -mutual residence in a country house--that great rambling castle -especially--Mr. Hawke Holcroft, by his subtle attentions when no one -else was near, had begun to interest her more than Lord or Lady -Aberfeldie could have relished or conceived; and to her it seemed -that for some time back at Dundargue (continuing a sentiment he had -striven to rouse during a past season in London) his eyes bad been -telling in imploring and passionate glances what his lips had not yet -the audacity to utter; but then the girl was young, enthusiastic, -impressionable, and far from insensible to admiration and flattery. - -Though she did not and could not regard Allan Graham as a lover, and -disliked thus to view him in the light of her intended husband, -circumstances now compelled her to _think_ of him; and though she -remembered him chiefly as the playmate of her childhood, she was -piqued that he seemed in no haste to meet and see her, but instead -had openly manifested, as she thought, indifference and lack of -interest or curiosity, by shooting at Aberfeldie Lodge for days. - -Thus pique made her not indisposed to encourage the attention of -others, especially of Hawke Holcroft, as we shall show, when he -returned to Dundargue before his departure for London. - -Olive Raymond in her pride of heart bitterly resented the tenor of -her father's will. She knew that by the chances of war, climate, and -foreign service generally, she might never have seen her cousin -again; but now the inevitable seemed at hand, and she felt herself in -a measure set apart for him as fairly as if she had personally -betrothed herself; but was she to be bound, while he was absolutely -free? And stories she had heard--some of them artfully and casually -dropped by Holcroft--of more than one flirtation at Chatham and -elsewhere, added to the pique in which she was indulging. - -Lady Aberfeldie now came in through one of the open French windows -for her cup of afternoon tea, with a bright scarlet shawl loosely -floating over her handsome head and shapely shoulders, quitting the -terrace, where she had been amusing herself by feeding the peacocks. - -She was looking unusually radiant as she announced that Angus, the -young keeper, had just come from the shooting lodge to inform her -that the Master would be home that afternoon, and that his rooms must -be put in order for him without delay. - -So, on hearing this, the wilful Olive resolved to pay a protracted -visit elsewhere, and to be absent when he did arrive. - -No woman understood the art of dressing better than Lady Aberfeldie, -and well was she aware how truly a dainty maize or a coral colour -with rich black lace trimmings became her brunette tints, her dark -hair and eyes, her pure, yet slightly olive complexion. Her whole -air was graceful and queenly, as befitted one who was always to 'walk -in silk attire.' - -Lady Aberfeldie never forgot that she had been the belle of three -seasons in Belgravia, and an heiress to the boot, though the memories -of others might be less retentive; and now, in her fortieth year, she -was a very handsome blooming woman still. - -'We must have some dinners and no end of dances and lawn-tennis -parties, mamma, in honour of Allan's return,' said Eveline, as she -assisted her mother to tea. - -'Thank God, my dear boy is home--home again--and safe at last--after -all he has faced and undergone,' said Lady Aberfeldie, with a bright -and fond expression in her fine face. 'Why, it seems but yesterday, -Olive, that you and he were little chits playing together on the lawn -or at Nannie's knee--when you had rag dolls, and used to sing -together of the old woman that lived in a shoe, or "High upon -Highlands and low upon Tay," or of - - "Alexander, King of Macedon, - Who conquered the world but Scotland alone; - When he came to Scotland his courage grew cold, - To find a little nation courageous and bold, - So stout and so bold--" - -You remember the nursery song, Olive?' - -'I have forgotten it, aunt.' - -'Then I hope you will remember in its place the adage----' - -'What adage?' interrupted Olive sharply. - -'That a good son makes a good husband,' said Lady Aberfeldie, archly, -and laughing as she tapped her niece's soft cheek with her teaspoon. - -'Adages are not to my taste, aunt.' - -'Child, what makes you seem so cross to-day?' - -'The weather, perhaps,' suggested Eveline. - -But Olive, who had rather a mutinous expression in her soft face, -remained silent. - -'This is bad form in our day of joy,' said Lady Aberfeldie, who had -been eyeing her closely. 'In society well-bred people always control -their emotions--their feelings.' - -'Easy enough for them, aunt.' - -'How?' - -'Because they have seldom any feelings to control.' - -And to prevent more being said with reference to Allan--a subject she -dreaded--Olive Raymond withdrew. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE GRAHAMS OF DUNDARGUE. - -Who would have imagined that within a few yards of the elegant and -stately modern drawing-room in which these three handsome women of -the best style were chatting and sipping their tea, there still -existed within the old walls of Dundargue a hideous oubliette or -bottle dungeon, like those that were in the Castle of St. Andrews and -ancient peel of Linlithgow--so named from the French word to 'forget.' - -Shaped like a bottle, it was--and is--totally dark and of great -depth, with no outlet but its narrow mouth, through which prisoners -were precipitated and left to die. 'Dante,' says Victor Hugo, when -describing that in the Bastille, 'could find nothing better for the -construction of his hell. These dungeon-funnels usually terminated -in a deep hole like a tub, in which Dante has placed his Satan, and -in which society placed the criminal condemned to death. When once a -miserable human being was interred there--farewell light, air, life, -and hope! It never went out but to the gibbet or the stake. -Sometimes it was left to rot there, and human justice called that -forgetting. Between mankind and himself the condemned felt an -accumulation of stones and jailers, and the whole prison was but one -enormous and complicated lock that barred him out of the living -world.' - -From such places the shrieks and wails of despair and death--death -from thirst and hunger--never reach the upper air. - -When the oubliette of Dundargue was examined a few years ago there -was found in it a mass of unctuous-looking mould that made those -shudder who looked upon it. It was full of skulls and human bones. -Of whom those beings had been even tradition was silent; but, as some -coins of Edward I. of England were found among the ghastly remains, -they were supposed to have been certain English prisoners or -fugitives, who, when flying from the siege of Perth, had fallen into -the hands of Sir Malise Graham of Dundargue, in the Carse of Gowrie, -a relentless enemy of the invaders of his country, who said, grimly, -'A few Englishmen less in the world would make the world all the -better,' and, dropping them successively into the oubliette, placed a -huge stone over the mouth of it, and 'forgot' all about them. - -From a short distance beyond Dundee, called 'The Beautiful' in the -days of old, the lovely and fertile Carse of Gowrie, so famed in -Scottish song, stretches far westward, bounded by the Firth of Tay on -the south, and a line of undulating hills on the north, till it -narrows to a vale among the rocky eminences that overlook the fair -city of Perth. - -The Carse is not quite a dead level, for here and there slope up -wooded or cultivated elevations, named Inches, serving to show that -in the ages they won their name the Carse had been a wide, open lake; -but above one of these inches towers the abrupt, though not very -lofty, rock crowned by the Castle of Dundargue, an edifice on which -the surrounding hills have looked down for centuries. - -Bronze or iron rings, to which the Romans are said to have moored -their galleys, were lately to be seen in the rock of Dundargue, and -cables have been found at the foot of the Sidlaw Hills, relics of the -time when an inland sea rolled its waves against their now grassy -slopes. - -The original castle, or strong square tower, starts flush from the -edge of the rock, out of which its oubliette and lower vaults are -hollowed, standing clear and minute against the sky, and its -machicolated battlements rise high above the more florid modern -additions of the days of James VI. and Queen Anne. - -From its stone bartizan can be seen the sweep of the broad, blue -Firth of Tay, with its vessels, the varied surface of the beautiful -Carse of Gowrie clothed with leafy timber, narrow stripes of -sand-edged land, and long stretches of cultivated ground, studded -with curious old orchards and ancient and hoary forests of dwarf oak; -and on the north and west the glorious blue mountains, piled over -each other in ranges, and capped, afar off, by the historic Grampians. - -The earliest portion of the edifice is said to have been built by Sir -Malise Graham, and possesses the battlemented bartizan, which was a -decided feature in the architecture of Scotland long before her -intimate connection with the Continent; and the tenures of many -houses in the vicinity are still held by owners who, if they had to -fulfil the original obligations, would be compelled to bring to the -castle coal for its fires, beer and beef for its tables, and oats for -the chargers of the men-at-arms, with cords to bind and hang -prisoners condemned to the dule-tree. - -The Grahams, Viscounts of Aberfeldie and Barons of Dundargue in the -peerage of Scotland, had the barony bestowed on them in 1600, in -consequence of the bravery of the then laird at the battle of -Benrinnes, six years before, and the viscounty in 1648, for doughty -deeds done in the wars of the Covenant; but they had been lairds of -Dundargue in days that were remote indeed--the days of that Graham -who, when expiring of a mortal wound on the field of Dunbar, gave his -sword--the same weapon now preserved in the house of Montrose--to his -son, 'the Graham' of future battles, 'the Richt Hand of Wallace,' in -whose arms he expired of a wound, after the battle of Falkirk, -leaving the patronymic of 'gallant' to all his descendants. - -In one apartment hung with Gobelin tapestry stood a bed wherein -Charles II. had reposed before his coronation at Scone; and another -had been occupied by his nephew, James VIII., of the Scottish -Jacobites, before he went to visit Castle Lyon, the guest of John, -Lord Aberfeldie, who declined to sit in the Union Parliament, and -who, to the end of his days, even when George III. was king, was wont -to assert 'that green peas and the other edibles were always a month -later, after that vile and degrading incorporation,' and that many a -sweet flower never blossomed again after the White Rose was destroyed -at Culloden. - -In right of gift to an ancestor, the present peer was Hereditary -Keeper of the Royal Palace of Falkland, and as such wore a key and -chain of silver at his neck on collar days at Windsor and elsewhere. - -It was a September afternoon--almost evening--when the pastures had -become parched, the foliage shrivelled and of various tints, and -high-piled wains came rocking over the furrowed fields and through -green lanes as the harvest was led home, that a horseman 'might have -been seen' (to use the phraseology of Mr. G. P. R. James)--nay, was -seen--to ride leisurely down the Carse and take a flying leap over a -hedge into the great lawn of Dundargue, and then, after trotting his -horse between belts of trees, he drew his bridle for a few minutes, -while he lingered and regarded fondly and admiringly the old -structure, which he had not seen for well-nigh seven years; and -Allan, the Master of Aberfeldie--for he the rider was--thought there -was not in all the Carse of Gowrie another residence to compare with -Dundargue for the many stories and characteristics that circle about -a house which has been for ages the home of one family, with all its -historic memories, its traditions and patriotism. - -The shadows of the great old trees under which more than one Scottish -king had blown his hunting-horn fell far along the turf, that was -green as an emerald and soft as velvet. A semi-transparent haze, -mingling with the sunshine, pervaded the Carse land; the smoke of an -adjacent village ascended from the hoary orchards around it, and far -eastward fell the shadow of the tall and weather-worn keep of -Dundargue, with all its tourelles, or Scottish turrets, tinted redly -by the rays of the setting sun; and Allan's heart swelled as he -looked around, for the love of his native land was strong within him, -and he recalled the words of an English writer, who describes it as -the place chosen by Nature as the mirror of her beauty: - -'She has planted it in the northern seas, with its mountains fronting -the western sun, and watered its plains and valleys with a thousand -streams, over which the lights of heaven are poured with an -illumination and a glory, with an entanglement and a mingling of all -the colours that can make earth beautiful. There is no land in all -the world which, for the softer splendours of mountain and fell, wood -and stream, surpasses Scotland!' - -And Allan now remembered that the green ridge on which he had reined -up his horse for a moment or two had been to him a place of fear, -when a child, as the abode of the _Daoine Shi_--the goblins or -fairies--who could be heard at work in the heart of the knoll, busily -opening and shutting great chests, the contents of which were alleged -to be the pillage of pantries, larders, and meal-girnels; and once an -old housekeeper at Dundargue, who contrived to circumvent them by -securing the door of her premises, was struck with blindness, from -which she did not recover till the barrier was removed. - -Allan saw a lady suddenly appear upon a path close by that which led -to the avenue; and she proved to be no other than Olive Raymond, who, -intent on being absent when he arrived, came thus upon him face to -face, yet neither knew the other. - -On her arm she bore a little basket, with some presents for her poor -pensioners. The cordiality and kindness of Olive to the poor and -labouring people made the periodical return of the household from -London and elsewhere more than a matter for local rejoicing. There -were none about Dundargue but loved her, as they also did Eveline -Graham, though the latter did less among them; and the Scottish -peasantry, it must be borne in mind, unlike others elsewhere, are -usually too self-reliant and full of proper pride to accept aid from -Dorcas, blanket, food, or coal societies. - -Well mounted, Allan had substituted a light-grey tweed suit, which -well became his dark complexion, for his shooting-kilt and jacket, -and as a sudden light or conviction came upon him, aided by a memory -of the photo he had seen in Holcroft's possession, he sprang from his -horse when the young lady drew near. - -'I beg your pardon,' said he, as he threw the bridle over his arm and -lifted his hat; 'I cannot be mistaken, changed though you are--you -are my cousin, Olive Raymond?' - -She blushed deeply, and said, - -'And you--are Allan Graham!' - -'Yes, Olive. Oh! how good, how kind of you to come and meet me,' he -replied, his heart beating lightly as he looked into her beautiful -face and deftly possessed himself of her hands. - -'Far from it,' she replied, seeking to release herself, and now -growing pale with positive annoyance at his supposition. 'I have -some duties to do at the village. I hope you enjoyed your shooting -excursion?' she observed, after a pause. - -'I did--and yet----' - -'So much so, indeed, that you were in no haste to come home,' said -she, laughing to conceal her secret vexation at the rencontre. - -Allan found his intended wife all that he could have wished, and more -than he could have imagined. The little girl he had left, had now -expanded into a tall, proud, and lovely one--lovelier than he had -ever dreamed of her being; and under her pretty black velvet hat her -grey-violet eyes regarded him with a curious mixture of shyness and -confusion in their expression, and--though he did not then detect -it--resentment. - -When he had last seen his 'little wife,' as he was wont to call her -_then_, she was a madcap girl, with all her golden hair flying far -and wide from a pearly neck and brow, rippling and unconfined. Now -her braided hair was of the richest brown, and she was the belle of a -London season, and he could not help acknowledging in his heart the -many charms she possessed, and suddenly becoming very appreciative -thereof. - -'I hope Mr. Holcroft is enjoying his sport among the hills?' said -she, after another pause. - -'Never mind Holcroft,' replied Allan, a little piqued by her manner; -'have you no welcome for me, Olive?' - -'Of course you are glad to be home again,' said she, evasively. - -'I have always loved dear old Dundargue, even when I came home as a -boy from school, and now I shall love it more than ever.' - -'Why?' - -'Can you ask me--when you are its permanent inmate?' - -'I may not be so always,' said she, pointedly. 'Nothing lasts for -ever; but as we are cousins--' she was about to add something, yet -paused. - -'And more than mere cousins can ever be to each other. You might at -least give me your hand, Olive,' said he, drawing nearer to her as -she looked up at him, earnestly, shyly, and then, he began to think, -rather defiantly, with those wonderful violet-grey eyes of hers. She -gave him her right hand, and, though cased in a tight glove, a soft -and warm little hand it felt; but he drew her towards him, and, ere -she could avert the act, was softly and swiftly kissed by him. - -'_Don't_,' she exclaimed, as she snatched her fingers from his clasp. -'How dare you?' she added, repelling him with both hands outspread, -and a laughing indignation that was _not_ all laughter; but he looked -at the sweet red lips as though he longed to offend again. - -'Olive, how can you treat me thus, after all these years?' he asked, -with an emotion of annoyance. 'Have you forgotten what jolly -playmates we used to be; how we went nutting and seeking birds' nests -together, made rag dolls, and chorused "Alexander, King of Macedon," -and so forth, with our old nurse, Nannie Mackinnon, the wife of -Dugald Glas?' - -'I have not forgotten; but I had thought, or hoped, that you had done -so.' - -'Why?' - -'I cannot say,' replied the wilful beauty, pouting and yet confessing -in her secret heart how handsome he looked, and how winning he was in -eye and manner. - -'I remember, too,' said he, laughingly, 'the scores of times we used -to wander in the garden, or on the heather braes, seeking bees to -_blob_ and get the honey out of them; and when on May mornings you -used to catch a snail by the horns, and toss it over your left -shoulder as an omen of luck in marriage.' - -'Allan, such odious and absurd things should be forgotten.' - -'We were children, then; and what fun we had when fishing with -tinnies in the burn for minnows and pow-wowits under the old -brig-stone. Do you remember how I used to climb to get birds' nests -for you, and how we wove fairy caps of rushes and bluebells in many a -green howe of the Sidlaw Hills?' - -'How can you treasure such childish memories, Allan?' she asked, but -with momentary softness in her manner. - -'Because such were very dear to me when far away in other lands and -other scenes, when the Indian sky was like a sheet of heated iron -overhead, and the breeze that came from the sandy desert was like the -breath of the death-blast; when cattle perished by the empty tanks, -the birds sat on the dusty trees with eyes closed and beaks agape, -and when strong soldiers died on the line of march, stricken down by -sunstroke or sheer exhaustion.' - -'Poor Allan!' - -'And you are going to the village?' said he, inquiringly, seeing that -she manifested no desire to return with him. - -'Yes.' - -'But won't you accompany me home, now that I have returned?' - -'You must excuse me--I do so enjoy a walk in the evening before -dinner.' - -'I have not seen my mother for seven years,' he said, reproachfully; -'yet, if you will permit me to accompany you to the village, I shall -do so, and then escort you home.' - -'I cannot trespass on your time so much,' she replied, with a slight -_soupçon_ of sarcasm in her tone; 'besides, what would Aunt -Aberfeldie think of your being in no haste to see her, after -lingering so long at the deer-forest?' - -Allan thought rightly that he now detected the true source of her -pique and peculiar greeting; but he knew nothing yet of her bitter -opposition to the terms of her father's will. - -'Aunt and Eveline are anxiously waiting you, so do not let me detain -you longer. If an escort back is requisite, I shall doubtless find -one with ease,' and, nodding her head smilingly, she tripped down the -tree-shaded avenue and left him; thus he had no choice, though -looking after her with a sigh, but to remount and ride towards the -house, or rather the castle, of Dundargue. - -So--so she had so little interest in him, in his return and his -society--that she would neither turn back with him nor permit him to -escort her, but had left him to pay some trumpery visits which she -could do at any other time, day, or hour. - -'How was this?' he asked of himself. 'Holcroft has certainly -something to do with it. Why the deuce did my father bring the -fellow here?' - -Allan's hitherto languid interest in her had become quickened by the -sight of her undoubted beauty and grace, and he was, perhaps, a -little unreasonably piqued by her open indifference as to his return -from remote foreign service, and to his views and whole affairs. -Thus the breach between these two--if such we may call it--seemed -likely to widen. - -In a few minutes more the affectionate effusiveness of the welcome -home accorded him by his mother and his tender sister consoled him, -but it contrasted in his mind powerfully and painfully with that of -his cousin; yet he could scarcely expect that she would have flung -her soft arms round his neck and kissed him again and again with -hungry affection on both cheeks as they did. - -'The pater, dear old fellow, will be home in the course of a day or -two,' said he. 'Mr. Holcroft is coming with him, and Stratherroch, -of Ours, too,' he added. - -He noticed that Eveline's pale cheek coloured for a moment at the -name of the latter. - -'Ah, you know him, it seems?' said he. - -'Yes, very well,' replied Eveline, frankly. - -'He has been at home with the dépôt lately. A right good sort is -Evan Cameron, but desperately hard up, poor lad. I often think he -will have to exchange for India or something of that kind, though it -would break his heart to leave the Black Watch.' - -Eveline's long lashes drooped as her brother said this, all -unconscious that his casual remarks were secretly wounding her. - -The expression he could plainly detect in the sweet and expressive -face of his sister at the mention of Evan Cameron gave Allan some -occasion for thought. - -He loved and esteemed his friend and brother-officer, but felt it -would be a serious misfortune indeed if any affection took root -between him and Eveline; for Evan was poor, as we have hinted, his -estate valueless to him, and 'at nurse;' and there was, moreover, a -necessity for Eveline making a wealthy marriage--indeed, her father, -Lord Aberfeldie, had already a suitor in view for her. - -'I am so sorry that our dear Olive is out,' said Allan's mother, -breaking a little pause; 'but we knew not at what hour to expect you.' - -'I met her in the avenue----' - -'And you knew each other--how strange!' exclaimed Lady Aberfeldie, -with a brightening face. - -'Yes, after a minute or two. She seems as charming a girl as one--to -use a soldier's phrase--might see in the longest day's march.' - -'And such she is. She did not turn back with you?' - -'No, mother,' he replied, with hesitation. - -'But she was, of course, glad to see you?' - -'I can't say that she was particularly, mater dear; and she got into -a regular pet because I dared to kiss her, even in a cousinly way.' - -'Dared, my darling boy!' exclaimed his mother, indignantly. - -'Fact, mater,' said the Master, smiling and twirling up the ends of -his long dark moustaches. - -Lady Aberfeldie and her daughter exchanged a swift and mutual glance; -but the latter knew more of the views of the young lady in question -than the former did. - -'I am glad you are pleased with Olive,' said she; 'and when your -acquaintance is fully resumed you will find the dear girl all you -could wish.' - -'She has wonderful blue-grey eyes; they seem violet-blue when she -smiles, and black when she is angry.' - -'Angry?' said Lady Aberfeldie, inquiringly. - -'Well, she rather looked so when I ventured to kiss her in the -avenue,' said Allan, laughing, and referring to a kiss that, though -snatched, he was never to forget, perhaps, in the long years that -were to come. - -'She has grown the very image of her mother, your poor Aunt Muriel, -who was one of my bridesmaids.' - - -By visits to the minister's manse and elsewhere Olive had wilfully -and petulantly contrived to protract her absence from home to the -last moment; the dressing-bell had rung, and before dinner she was -hastily giving a few touches to her costume--not that she cared to -attract her cousin (quite the reverse)--but she dismissed her foreign -maid, Clairette Patchouli, on a sign that Eveline wished to talk with -her alone. - -'Now, Olive,' began the latter, 'that you have seen Allan----' - -'I saw him years ago,' interrupted Olive, pettishly. - -'He was a boy then; but now that he is a man, and not the boy you -remember, what do you think of him?' - -Olive made no reply, but continued to slip her bangles on the -whitest, roundest, and most taper pair of arms that ever bewildered -the senses of man. - -'Isn't he very handsome?' persisted Eveline. - -'To partial eyes, perhaps, but there are plenty of men in the world -quite as handsome--even more so, I doubt not. I like him already, -but don't let him think so; besides, I also like our English visitor, -Mr. Holcroft.' - -'I do _not_!' said Eveline, decisively. - -'Why?' - -'He is horsey in bearing, and his face, though handsome, I grant you, -often wears a sinister, sharp, and supercilious expression.' - -'How tanned Allan is by the Indian sun!' - -'I think his face and head both grand and handsome!' exclaimed his -sister, with affectionate enthusiasm; 'he quite reminds me of the old -Greeks.' - -'I was not aware you knew any of them,' laughed Olive. - -'Their sculptures, I mean,' replied Eveline, as they swept down the -great staircase to the dining-room. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -OLIVE AND ALLAN. - -A few days had now passed since Allan Graham's return to Dundargue, -but he seemed--though greatly attracted by his cousin Olive, and in a -manner compelled to think of her as something more than a mere -cousin--to make no progress in her favour at all. Sometimes he -smoked beside her in utter silence, while she swung in a hammock -between two trees on the lawn, deep--or affecting to be so--in the -last three-volume novel that had come in the box from Edinburgh; and, -when they stole furtive glances at each other, his were curious and -hers, under the shadow of her gorgeous Japanese umbrella, were -hostile, defiant at least, and thus not without a certain drollery; -but few remarks were interchanged of a more exciting nature than that -'the weather was lovely,' or 'the leaves were falling.' - -In these days, and for long after, Olive was terribly uncertain in -her moods, and to Allan Graham it seemed at times as if she almost -disliked him. - -When they were alone together, which was seldom, she scarcely spoke -to him, and thus his enforced silence disposed her to be more silent -still. To Olive the whole situation was one of miserable unrest; she -felt that there was something grotesque in it, and she longed -intensely to be anywhere else than at Dundargue. - -While Allan, admiring her rare beauty and pretty, petulant ways, was -already learning to love her, he found his tongue loaded, as it were, -tied up, and his tenderness cramped by the strange tenor of her -father's will, which made him feel that, love her as he might, that -love would never seem pure, or without the taint of selfishness. - -He had procured for her at Malta a complete suite of gold and -pearl-mounted Maltese jewellery, the best that could be found in the -Strada San Paoli, costing him more than even he could well afford; -but now so cold and repellant was her demeanour that he had not the -courage as yet to present the elaborate trinkets--so rich in fretwork -and fine as a gossamer web--so they were left to repose in their -purple velvet cases. - -Yet his thoughts about her were becoming persistent now. Times there -were when he conceived that he would treat her judiciously, but -tenderly, and in such a fashion that her feelings must slide into a -species of sisterly, or at least cousinly, interest in him; but -then--at these times--a flash of her dark grey-blue eyes cast these -intentions to the winds, though Allan began to feel nothing but -passionate love for her. - -To him, as to her, the situation imparted an awkwardness now, that of -course he had never been conscious of when a boy. He did not want -the money of his cousin or of anyone else, as he muttered to himself -while tugging and twisting his thick, dark moustache; and thus, with -all the tenderness that was growing in his heart for Olive, he often -unconsciously adopted towards her a studied courtesy and almost -indifferent bearing that somewhat galled her ready pride, and made -her think 'this indifference to me, and the beauty all men aver I -possess, can only spring from a love he bears some one else; and, -with that love in his heart, he seems actually ready to conform to -the outrageous wishes of papa!' - -And more convinced of this suspicion did she become when she found -that he evinced no more desire to seek her society than that of his -mother or sister; but this was the result of her own bearing. - -Allan was ere long in sore perplexity. The slightest attempt at -tenderness she repelled or seemed to shrink from, as a sensitive -plant shrinks from the touch; and, on the other hand, the lack of it -seemed to increase her coldness and rouse her sense of pride. - -'What the deuce is the meaning of this?' muttered Allan, as he -chanced upon a volume one day. It was a very handsome and expensive -edition of some of Byron's poems, which had been given by Hawke -Holcroft to Olive as a birthday gift, and on turning over the leaves -of which he found innumerable paragraphs and lines pencilled on pages -that seemed to fall naturally open, where these marks, all of which -referred to love and passion, were most plentiful. - -All of these seemed to have been selected with an ulterior view for -her perusal and study. Allan knit his brows and tossed the volume to -the other side of the table. - -'So, so,' thought he, 'Cousin Olive has had a guide for her reading, -and the guide is that fellow Holcroft. He has made good use of his -time, hang him!' - -Olive, who had been watching him under the deep fringes of her eyes, -smiled when she saw the action, and, instantly divining the reason of -it, resolved not to leave her Byron lying about in future; and now a -new mood seized her. - -'Tell me, Allan,' she said, suddenly looking up from a piece of music -she was studying, 'did you ever think of me at all when you were all -these years far away in India?' - -'Have you forgotten what I told you on the evening we met on the -lawn?' said he, reproachfully, yet surprised by her taking the -initiative in a conversation, especially of this kind. 'Often, -indeed, did I think of you!' - -'How--in what fashion?' - -'As my merry little playmate when I was a mere youth--the droll girl -to whom I was somehow tied up under Uncle Raymond's will.' - -'You phrase it rightly,' said she, biting her coral nether lip. -'Tied up; yes, but I won't be so. Yet you did think of me as a droll -little playmate?' - -'Yes; how else could I think of you? Not as the lovely girl I find -you now, Olive.' - -'You may know by this time that I hate all flattery,' said she, -blushing hotly at what she had brought upon herself by a blunt -reference to a hitherto ignored subject--their mutual relation to -each other. - -'I have here a gift I brought you from India,' observed Allan, -timidly, as he unlocked his desk and thought of the Maltese -ornaments, but did not dare refer to them as yet. - -'A gift?' said she, coldly, with face half averted. - -'A little silver idol of Siva, beautifully carved and chased--will -you accept of it?' - -'Thanks--with pleasure,' said she, trembling lest it had been a ring. -'How curious, and yet how grotesquely hideous it is!' she added, -turning it round, and then balancing it in the white palm of a slim -and delicate hand. - -'And rather a curious story attends it--if you care to hear.' - -'Please to tell me,' said she, her curiosity roused. 'Why, the funny -thing has ever so many heads, and a dozen of arms at least!' - -'We were in cantonments at Hurdwur, in Delhi,' said Allan, glad to -secure her attention even for a few minutes, 'when a subadar-major of -the 10th Native Infantry, a disciple of Siva, wishing to sacrifice to -his little idol, placed it by the bank of the river there, which is -one of the greatest places for Hindoo purification, and the resort of -thousands of pilgrims from every part of Hindostan. While he turned -aside to get the ghee with which to anoint it, some person adroitly -carried it off. After searching for it in vain, with consternation -in his soul, the unfortunate subadar-major went to the priest of the -nearest temple, and, with tears in his eyes, related his loss. - -'"Dog!" exclaimed the priest, "you have lost your god, and must -prepare to die, for death alone can soothe the wrath of Siva." - -'"If die I must," replied the wretched subadar-major, with clasped -hands and trembling knees, though a brave man, as the medals on his -breast proved, "it shall be by drowning in the holy river; so come -with me to the edge thereof, and give me your blessing." - -'The priest consented, and followed him to the Ganges, into which he -went deliberately. - -'"Be courageous, my son--die with joy, and perfect happiness awaits -you," exclaimed the priest. - -'"My dear master," said the subadar, "before I perish, lend me _your_ -god that I may adore it--the water is already up to my neck." - -'The priest consented, and handed his idol to the subadar-major, who, -as if by accident, let it drop in the deep water. - -'"Ah! master," he exclaimed, as if in horror and dismay, "what a new -misfortune! Your god is also lost, and so we must die together--for -you must drown, too, and go with me to the throne of Siva!" - -'And, approaching the priest, he strove to grasp the hand of the -latter, who stood pale and trembling on the lowest step of the ghaut -or landing-place. - -'"What trash do you speak?" the priest suddenly exclaimed, in great -wrath; "can there be any harm in losing a little image of baked clay, -not worth an anna! I have dozens of such in my temple close by; let -us each choose one, and keep silence on the subject!" - -'The subadar did so then, but chose this fine silver one, which he -bestowed on me for kindness shown to him when dying of a wound -received in a skirmish, and I brought it home as a bauble for you, -Cousin Olive.' - -She placed the idol on the table, and remained silent, while Allan -eyed her wistfully. - -'Why is my presence so distasteful to you?' he asked, after a -minute's pause. - -'Distasteful! Oh! Allan, don't say so,' said she, impressed by the -pathos of his tone, but for a moment only; 'it is you who think, or -seem to think so.' - -'Olive!' he exclaimed, a little impatiently and reproachfully as he -drew near her. - -'There--there--that will do,' said she, starting up, 'don't bring -down the ceiling on me--auntie more than all!' - -And she swept from the room, leaving the idol behind her. - -Allan sighed with annoyance, and addressed her no more during the -whole of that day. She was conscious of this, for she remarked to -Lady Aberfeldie in the evening, - -'How odd--how strange Cousin Allan is to me!' - -'Strange?' - -'Yes, aunt.' - -'I know not what you mean, Olive,' she replied, a little gravely and -severely; 'but to me it seems that you are always strange, and not my -son, the Master.' - -Lady Aberfeldie had a soft, but set face of the classic type, with a -mouth that, though beautiful and aristocratic, could become very -fixed in expression at times, and it seemed so now to Olive, thus -that young lady withdrew. - -'Our Allan is young and handsome, noble and most unselfishly in love -with her, as I am beginning to hope, Eveline, so what more would -Olive Raymond wish for?' said Lady Aberfeldie to her daughter. - -'She would have that, which she has not, mamma, perfect freedom to -accept or refuse whom she chose. Unselfish in love I know Allan must -be; but that is precisely the point which Olive is left to doubt.' - -'Wherefore?' - -'Through that unlucky will, which makes a kind of bondswoman of her.' - -'I would to heaven the silly document had never been framed! I have -often feared that it might lead to all our attention, care, and -affection being misconstrued by her; but Allan might have been -sickly, weakly, even deformed, and, with the terms of this will -hanging over her, what would she have thought then?' - -'Then, as I have heard her say, the will might be reduced by a court -of law.' - -At this reply a clouded expression came into the fair, colourless -face of Lady Aberfeldie, but just then a servant in the Graham -livery, yellow and black, approached with a note on a salver. - -'From papa!' she said, while cutting it open with a mother-of-pearl -knife. 'Just a line or two to say he will be home in a couple of -days, and is certainly bringing with him Mr. Hawke Holcroft, "the son -of his old friend," and that other young detrimental, Stratherroch. -He is well-nigh penniless, but, with your papa, to be in the Black -Watch is quite equal to a patent of nobility.' - -Eveline felt her colour fade, while a sad expression stole over her -soft face, and her mother, after glancing at her narrowly, added, - -'He also brings our wealthy friend, Sir Paget Puddicombe, the M.P. -for Slough-cum-Sloggit, in Yorkshire. You remember him in London -last season, and how much he admired you, dear?' - -Eveline _did_ remember him, and how the rich but elderly baronet's -attentions, encouraged by her parents, were the ridicule of her girl -friends and the bane of her existence; yet she only sighed and -remained silent, and, passing through a French window, quitted the -drawing-room to join her brother, who was smoking a cigar on the -terrace, and teasing the peacocks as they sat on the stately -balustrade. - -He was in rather a similar mood. He felt the demeanour of Olive -after the little episode of the idol keenly, and, remembering the -pencilled Byron, was, of course, inclined to connect Hawke Holcroft -with that demeanour; so he had certainly become, for a time, cold and -constrained in manner to his cousin. - -'When was that photo of Olive done?' he asked, rather abruptly. - -'The one in the ball dress?' - -'Yes.' - -'When we were last in Edinburgh; but I do not remember where the -studio was.' - -'She gave one to that Mr. Holcroft.' - -'I was quite unaware that she did so,' said Eveline, with some -annoyance of manner. - -'Look here, Eve, if, when in London,' grumbled Allan, 'she shies her -photos about in this fashion they will soon be in every fellow's -possession, and we may, ere long, expect to find them, like those of -professional beauties, on glove and match-boxes.' - -'What a funny and horrid idea!' said his sister, passing her arm -through his and nestling her head on his shoulder, while he, -stooping, kissed her _mignonne_ face with a smiling caress. - -'There is nothing funny about it,' he replied, though, like her, he -could little foresee the trouble that unlucky photograph was to cost -in the future. 'And, to say the least of it, Olive treats me with -almost hostility at times.' - -'She does not conceal from me a resentment at her lack of free will.' - -'As for Uncle Raymond's arrangements, I would to goodness that he had -left all he had to his old housekeeper and her infernal screeching -cockatoo with the yellow tuft.' - -'Certainly Olive does not seem to be the kind of girl to be disposed -of against her wish, Allan; you may read that in the firm tread of -her little feet, in the carriage of her head, and the perfect -possession of her manner.' - -'But surely she may be won--though she will not understand me.' - -'I hope she will ere long; but is there not a writer who says, Allan, -that while the world lasts the difficulty of women understanding and -making allowance for the feelings of men in what pertains to love, -"will be probably one of the great sources of darkness and confusion -in the social arrangement of things."' - -'What a dear little casuist it is,' said he, as she raised her -_petite_ figure on tip-toe to kiss his well-tanned cheek; 'but,' he -added, 'I am in a state of great uncertainty.' - -'Uncertainty can always be ended; but then perhaps how bitterly--how -very bitterly,' replied Eveline, who was not without some harrowing -thoughts of her own; and something in her tone caused Allan to regard -her soft hazel eyes, and sweet, shy face, with tenderness and inquiry. - -'Of what are you thinking, or of--_whom_?' he whispered, as his arm -went caressing round her, and he stroked her bright, sheeny hair. - -'I may trust you, Allan?' she said, in a broken voice. - -'To death, _petite_. You are thinking of--of Evan Cameron?' - -Eveline sobbed now. - -'Has he spoken of love to you?' asked Allan, in a low voice, and with -a troubled expression in his face. - -'Never; he knows it would be hopeless,' she replied, huskily. - -'Poor Evan! and the governor is bringing him again--a grand mistake! -How the deuce is all this to end with us? But don't sob so, my -little darling,' he added, as he drew her closer to him. - -Yet, despite her brother's sympathy and tenderness, Eveline Graham -let her tears flow freely, and he promised to keep her secret that -she and Evan Cameron cherished an unspoken and hopeless love for each -other; and in a brief space they were to meet again! - -Meanwhile, though somewhat relieved by having her brother for a -confidant, she was both restless and unhappy. She strolled upon the -terrace to feed the peacocks, or wandered listlessly in the garden, -going from occupation to occupation, taking up a book--one of Mudie's -last--only to toss it aside; seated herself before the piano, rose -then and left it. Anon she resorted to her sketching-block, sorted -her colours, selected a brush, only to quit any attempt to work with -a hopeless sigh. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE CHAGRIN OF LOVE. - -Lord Aberfeldie duly arrived at Dundargue with his three gentlemen -visitors, their approach being heralded by the pipes of Ronald Gair, -who was perched on a seat of the game-laden wagonette as it bowled up -the avenue. - -On the first day of his return the peer was anxious to learn upon -what footing the cousins were--if Allan had made a proposal, or 'even -opened the trenches,' and if so, with what success. On these points -he was enlightened by Lady Aberfeldie, and, though not very much -surprised to find matters as they were, he trusted to propinquity and -cousinly feeling of intercourse, as trump cards in the game, and was -sure that all would come right in the end, and before Allan's leave -of absence was out. - -There was no selfishness in this desire of Lord Aberfeldie. He had -no power to alter the matter as it stood, for if she did not marry -Allan if he was willing to marry her, 'then and in that case,' as the -will had it, her patrimony would be lost even to herself. Allan's -death alone would save it for her. - -Great indeed, thought the girl with bitterness, must have been her -father's regard for the house of Aberfeldie! - -'What friends--such lovers we might be but for the confounded plans -of that eccentric old fellow!' was the ever-recurring thought of -Allan. - -'You are at least fond of her?' said the peer, as he and his son -smoked their cigars together on the terrace that overlooked the -far-stretching vista of the Carse of Gowrie, then bathed in the ruddy -splendour of the setting sun. - -'Fond of Olive! Yes, as much as she will permit me to be. She is my -cousin, of course,' replied Allan. - -'There is something evasive--doubtful--in your answer; but you must -at some time or other propose to her. You know precisely the terms -of her father's remarkable will.' - -'Yes, and that it hangs like a millstone round the necks of us both, -rendering what may be the dearest wish of our hearts liable, perhaps, -to the grossest misconstruction. She has more than once told Eveline -that to gain freedom of action she would face poverty--anything.' - -'Tuts! Romantic rant! Much she knows of what poverty is. But why -should she even think of facing it?' - -'To be free and unfettered, as I have said.' - -'Relinquishing to you all that portion of her fortune which does not -go to charitable institutions?' - -'Yes.' - -'Poor girl! A silly and impetuous threat. But she will think better -of it, Allan, by-and-by, and we have fully five years to count upon -yet.' - -But it did not seem as if the fair Olive was likely to change her -mind soon, to judge by her bearing that evening, when, after dinner, -the guests and family at Dundargue assembled in the drawing-room. - -The repast was over, and thereafter, ere the ladies withdrew, Ronald -Gair, with all his drones in order, his Crimean, Indian, and Ashanti -medals glittering on his breast, had marched thrice round the table, -according to his daily wont, in 'full fig,' looking as only a -Highland piper or a peacock can look; and, to the amazement of Sir -Paget Puddicombe and the disgust of Hawke Holcroft, winding up 'The -Birks of Aberfeldie' by several warlike skirls at the back of his -master's chair--the dinner, we say, was over, and the gentlemen had -joined the ladies in the stately drawing-room, which was lighted by -more than one glittering chandelier. - -Lord Aberfeldie, his son, and Stratherroch, as they wore the kilt, -had, of course, substituted for their rough shooting-jackets others -of black cloth, with the irreproachable white vests and ties as -evening costume, and had also assumed their silver-mounted dirks; -while Holcroft and one or two more were _de rigueur_ in the funereal -attire, which a writer calls 'the butler-suit, the most hideous -clothing yet hit upon by our species.' - -In that brilliant drawing-room, grouped with well-bred people, were -some curious elements of secret doubt and future discord that did not -quite meet the eye. - -Holcroft hung over the chair of Olive so closely that, at times, the -tip of his long and waxed tawny moustache nearly touched her head, -while she played with her fan, opening and shutting it listlessly as -they conversed in low tones, he adopting a sentimental one, though it -was ever his boast that he 'was not one of those fools who hoard by -them dried flowers, locks of hair, and all that sort of thing.' - -Quietly watched by Lady Aberfeldie, whose lips wore their set -expression, Evan Cameron was entirely occupied with her daughter, -while Allan seemed quite as intent on a new guest, Miss Logan of -Loganlee, a girl possessed of considerable personal attractions; and -his father talked politics with Loganlee himself, the parish -minister, and Sir Paget Puddicombe, a short, pompous, and squat, but -rather pleasant little man, with a prematurely bald head, which he -had a way of jerking forward from his neck like a turtle, a rubicund -face, two merry eyes, and whose age was rather doubtful, but too old -any way for a girl of Eveline Graham's years, though he affected -considerable juvenility of manner. - -Lord Aberfeldie, who generally about that time, when at Dundargue, -was wont to enjoy a quiet little game of chess or bezique with Olive -or Eveline, was rather bored by the _empressement_ with which the -clergyman, Sir Paget, and Loganlee discussed politics and the -prospects of the ministry. - -The latter, a sombre man, whose air of respectability was almost -oppressive, was one of a style of men common enough in Scotland. A -small landed proprietor, he had contrived to become M.P. in the -Liberal interest for a cluster of Scottish burghs (each of which, if -in England, would have had two members), and he was chiefly -noted--being 'Parliament House bred'--for neglecting Scottish -interests and toadying to the Lord-Advocate, and consequently -obtained the usual legal reward, a sheriffship, or something of that -kind, with a thousand a year or so. - -He seldom opened his mouth, save to talk on politics; he was tall and -thin, with very square shoulders, grizzled, sandy, mutton-chop -whiskers, apple-green eyes, and nothing more about him remarkable, -save a curious air of perpetual self-assertion, combined, as we have -said, with an oppressive one of respectability. - -His host began to change the tenor of the conversation by hoping that -Sir Paget found his quarters comfortable last night, adding that he -occupied 'the Johnson Room.' - -'Why is it so called?' asked Sir Paget, jerking forward his bald head. - -'Dr. Johnson slept a night in Dundargue when on his famous tour.' - -'Of which Boswell makes no mention?' said Mr. Logan, inquiringly. - -'Because my ancestor did not pay him sufficient deference; and, -indeed, I fear we should scarcely ever have heard of the literary -bear of Bolt Court and Fleet Street but for that Scotch toady of his. -Though he alleged that the most valuable piece of timber in Scotland -was his walking-stick, he might have seen some fine trees at the -Birks of Aberfeldy. We must ride over there, Sir Paget, and I will -show you the cradle of the Black Watch, my old regiment of immortal -memory.' - -'How?' - -'It was first mustered there on the 25th of October, 1739.' - -'Ah!' said Sir Paget, who was not so much interested in the matter as -the speaker. - -Sir Paget was a childless widower, and had been left a noble fortune -in many ways, including nearly the whole of Slough-cum-Sloggit, of -which his father rose by his own merits to be mayor. He had entered -the town a tattered lad, with only a sixpence in his pocket, and, in -due time, the sixpence became the basis of colossal wealth. He had -been made a baronet by the ministry of the day--no one knew precisely -for what; but the wealth he left behind him gave his son an interest -in the eyes of Lady Aberfeldie he was unlikely to attain in the soft -hazel orbs of her daughter. - -Sir Paget generally stood with his chest puffed out, reminding one of -a pouter-pigeon, his little, fat hands interlaced behind his back, -and often as not under the tails of his coat, his round, -good-humoured face and twinkling eyes turned up to the faces of those -with whom he conversed, as most men, and women, too, had the -advantage of him in stature. - -With a gold _pince-nez_ balanced on his very pug nose, he was what -young ladies described as 'an absurd little man' whose tender -speeches they laughed at--none more than Eveline--till matters took a -serious turn, though he failed to feel the truth of the aphorism, -'Let no lover cherish sanguine hopes when the object of his choice -has grown to look upon him in the light of the ridiculous.' - -Evan Cameron, we have said, sighed for Eveline; hopeless as his -undeclared love had been, the presence of the wealthy English -baronet, in conjunction with certain rumours he had heard, made it -more hopeless than ever; and, unattractive though Sir Paget's years -and figure, he felt intuitively that in him he had a dangerous rival. - -When he found that this most eligible _parti_ was again on the -_tapis_--one whose name had been associated with that of Eveline in -at least one 'society' paper during the last London season, poor -Stratherroch's heart sank down to zero. He felt and knew that, with -Lady Aberfeldie especially, he was literally 'nowhere' by his want of -wealth, though, like a true Highlander, he could trace his lineage -back into the misty times of Celtic antiquity; but, aristocratic -though she was, the peeress set little store on that. - -Eveline Graham seemed as much beyond his reach as the moon. He felt -that, for his own peace of mind, he ought to quit Dundargue as soon -as possible, yet he clung desperately to the perilous delight of the -girl's society. - -To all appearance, the pair were simply looking over, almost in -silence, a large book of clear-skied and strongly-shadowed photos of -Indian scenery brought home by Allan, yet both their hearts had but a -single thought, and, when the downward glance of his soft grey eyes -met hers, she felt that, in spite of herself, there was something in -it like a magnetic spell. - -Passionate and pleading eyes they were, generous and loving in -expression, telling the tale his lips had not yet uttered, and might -never do so; and the girl lowered her white lids as if a weight -oppressed them, and the diamond locket on her white bosom sparkled as -a sigh escaped her. - -A little way off, in something of the same pose, Hawke Holcroft, with -a glass in his pale, sinister eye, was hanging, as we have said, over -Olive Raymond, doing his utmost in _sotto voce_ to fascinate that -young lady, while pretending to translate, as suited the occasion and -himself, for the edification of his fair listener, the lettering of -one of the Chinese or Japanese fans that were strewed about the -tables. - -Now, Mr. Hawke Holcroft knew nothing about the terms of Mr. Raymond's -will, or of the existence of any such document, and might never know. -He was only certain that Olive was undoubtedly an heiress; that he -himself was very impecunious, and ere long might be well-nigh -desperate; and so he did not see why he should not, to use his own -horsey phraseology, 'enter stakes as well as another.' - -Rumour, certainly, had linked the names of the cousins together; 'but -if she is engaged to Graham,' thought the observant Holcroft, 'it is -strange that she wears no engagement ring.' - -He knew not that, separated as the pair had been almost from -childhood, no such little formality as the presentation of a ring -could have been gone through; and now, as the Master did not see his -way to it as yet, Holcroft was 'scoring,'or thought so. - -He was leaving nothing unsaid to enchain her attention. He seemed -very clever: at least he could converse fluently on many subjects; -seemed to have been everywhere and to have seen everything worth -seeing, or pretended to have done so, which was most likely. - -'However they stand, her heart is not in it,' was his ever-recurring -thought; 'and if so, why the deuce shouldn't I try my hand? She has -a pot of money--indeed, no end of money, I hear; but, then, if her -noble aunt and uncle have made up their noble minds to pounce upon -her as a daughter-in-law, how is she to resist, unless she elopes, if -"Barkis" (meaning Allan) "is willin'"? They can make her life a -burden to her until she gives in, or--or I run away with her, and why -the devil should I not?' - -Holcroft was an artful man, and well acquainted with every phase of -dissipated life; he had suave manners when he chose and an -unexceptionable appearance. With many debts and secret passions, he -was cold and selfish; a man who never made a move in any way without -forecast and calculation; and who might commit a crime if driven to -it, but never precisely a folly. - -He was closely watching Olive while he conversed with her; he admired -her beautiful person, but still more her ample purse. She dared to -trifle with him at times, he thought; and then, even when looking -down upon her satin-like hair, her dazzling white shoulders and -innocent violet eyes, with a vengeful feeling he mentally vowed that -he would _compel_ her to love him, or accept him, he cared not which, -if human will and cunning failed him not! - -He had a love--a passion for her--in a strange fashion of his own, -yet times there were when he almost hated her for fencing with him: -and little could the soft, bright beauty, who raised her fine eyes -from time to time to his and conversed so laughingly with him, have -conceived the conflicting emotions that were concealed in his breast -under a smiling exterior, or the shame and agony he was yet to cost -her. - -Even when he attempted to look loving, there were a cold expression -and lack of colour in his eyes, and there was something very -significant of an iron will about his lips and powerful chin. - -Olive had no warm feeling for Holcroft, and save for the obnoxious -will would infinitely have preferred her cousin Allan in the end; but -she affected just then to believe in Platonic friendship (blended -with a little judicious flirtation) so firmly that, to pique Allan, -she showed a great apparent preference for his would-be rival. - -Olive and Holcroft knew that this seeming flirtation was perilous -work, and might compromise them both with Lord and Lady Aberfeldie, -and with Allan, too, if it attracted attention; but Holcroft had a -game to play. Olive's proud little heart was full of resentment and -pique, and then anything with a spice of danger in it is always -curiously fascinating. - -More than all, Olive was beginning to feel conscious that, under the -circumstances, it was strangely awkward to be in the same house with -Allan Graham--the intended husband to whom her father had bequeathed -her. But whither could she go? - -In more than one instance, in the drawing-room at Dundargue, that -night was illustrated the aphorism that language is given us to -conceal our thoughts, and much was exhibited of what the French not -inaptly term the chagrin or peevishness of love. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -LE CHAGRIN D'AMOUR. - -Allan Graham, with all his quiet and growing love for Olive, seeing -how she received him, neither petted her as he was wont to do in his -boyhood, nor after a time had attempted any tenderness with her; but -trusted to the progress of events and the necessity for fulfilling -her father's wish rather than to his own influence or power of -persuasion, aware that she could only become the bride of another, -penniless, or nearly so, a circumstance which militated sadly against -himself. - -But this assumed coldness and calmness withal, Olive could feel, with -a woman's acuteness in such matters, how much the expression of his -dark eyes and the tone of his voice changed and softened, -unconsciously, when he looked at and addressed her. She was of his -own blood, like a sister, whom he might treat with formality or -affection, coldly or playfully, according to the occasion or the -mood, and whom he might love as much as he liked, or she would -permit. Ah! this tender and mysterious tie of cousinship must give -him, as he thought, 'a great pull' over Hawke Holcroft, and every -other man. - -On this evening, how handsome she looked, in all her wilfullness! -How Allan longed that he might take her in his embrace, to kiss her -starry eyes, her peach-like cheek, and sheeny hair with an ardour he -had never felt in his boyhood, when he had done so many times; but -now, somehow, he dared scarcely think of such a thing, and there was -that fellow Holcroft, with all his easy insouciance, and with the -smile of one who never laughed really in his life, hanging just -rather too much over her, with a considerable amount of empressement -in his eyes and manner, pouring his flowery nothings into her -apparently willing ear, and Lady Aberfeldie, who could stand this no -longer, became secretly provoked, and opened and shut her fan of -heavy mother-of-pearl with such vehemence that the sticks rattled. - -And, with the emotions we have described in his heart, Allan, as if -the further to play out the game of cross-purposes, in a spirit of -pique, doubtless, remained in close attendance on Miss Ruby Logan. - -Now the latter was not the heiress of Loganlee, as she had several -brothers; but, even had she been so, it would not have enhanced her -value in the ambitious estimation of Lady Aberfeldie. - -But Ruby was a very handsome girl, with a skin pure, transparent, and -delicate as the lining of a shell, while her fine hair was ample in -quantity, and of the darkest amber; her eyes large, deep-blue, and -fringed by dark lashes. She was large, full in form, and altogether -a bright and attractive-looking girl, and Olive felt conscious that -she might prove rather a formidable rival if she ever had to view her -as such. - -Replacing the three daughters of the minister of Dundargue, who had -been afflicting the company with much boarding-school Mozart and -Chopin, who would have deemed anything national vulgar, to say the -least of it, compared with some lachrymose drawing-room ballad, and -who in a ditty of great length and mystery, which we quote at second -hand, had informed their hearers-- - - 'Mermaids we be, - Under the blue sea'-- - -replacing them, we say, Ruby Logan sang to Allan in a rich -mezzo-soprano voice, and with a suppressed emotion, born perhaps of a -coquettish desire to dazzle and please him, as a handsome young -fellow of good position, all of which proved a fresh annoyance to my -Lady Aberfeldie, who deemed music at times 'a convenient noise for -drowning conversation, and under whose shelter the old people talk -scandal and the young people make love,' and who knew that Miss -Logan, like Olive, had that wonderful charm, which is, perhaps, one -of the greatest any girl can possess, a lovely and ever-changing -expression; and even Allan, as he gazed down into the depths of her -dark-blue eyes (while she sang _at_ him), and anon glanced furtively -at Olive, thought to himself, - -'How the dickens _will_ our little game of cross-purposes end?' - -Lady Aberfeldie was just then indulging in the same surmise, as, full -of watchfulness, she occupied an ottoman in the centre of the inner -drawing-room, cresting up her white throat and well-shaped head; -looking in her stately beauty like the heroine of some grand old -Scottish romance of the days of Montrose or Prince Charles, for there -was something of a past age in her style and bearing, though attired -in the latest fashion by a modiste of Princes Street. - -In her matronhood, Lady Aberfeldie had still that subdued charm which -was not now the beauty of youth, yet stood very much in place of it; -but, with all her softness of manner, she was a proud and determined -woman, capable of doing much to accomplish a purpose of her own, and -the marriage of Eveline to Sir Paget Puddicombe was certainly her -purpose at present. - -Thinking that it was high time to make some change in the general -grouping, the moment Miss Logan's musical performance was done she -summoned Allan to her side by a wave of her fan. - -'So glad I am that your father, who so often mistakes, invited dear -Sir Paget here,' she said, in low voice. - -'He is rather a good sort,' replied Allan, in his off-hand way; -'capital cellar and preserves, I have heard.' - -'So rich, and not _very_ old; he always admired Eveline, and she -certainly cares for no one else--thus I have great hopes for her, -Allan,' she added, confidently; but Allan sighed; he knew better, and -recalled the tears of his gentle sister on the terrace, and her half -murmured admissions of deep interest in that winsome young -brother-officer, whom he loved so well; and, as he remained silent, -his mother spoke again. - -'Mr. Holcroft seems to be fairly absorbing Olive; he has been talking -to her quite long enough, and this will not do; ask her to play -something at my request, and do you lead her to the piano.' - -'We are anticipated,' said Allan, as he saw his sister seat herself -at the instrument with young Cameron by her side, busy among the -leaves of her music; and a shade of annoyance deepened in the face of -Lady Aberfeldie as she glanced at her husband, whose eyes were turned -also towards the pair, and she knew from personal experience how much -may be inferred or deduced from the words of a song, and also how -many a tender speech, an accompaniment, however ill or well executed, -may conceal. - -Lord Aberfeldie, of course, would never consent to Eveline having a -suitor with means so limited as those of her young admirer; but, -though the idea of such a contingency had not occurred to him. Lady -Aberfeldie was much sharper and more suspicious; she saw 'how the -tide set,' and was much opposed to Cameron being even a visitor at -Dundargue in any way, as an utter 'detrimental,' and declined to see -how his being one of 'Ours'--the Black Watch--altered _that_ matter. - -And now, after a considerable amount of preluding, much unnecessary -whispering, as 'my lady' thought, much glancing and many reciprocal -smiles, Evan Cameron began to sing, accompanied by her daughter; and -more annoyed became the matron on finding the theme chosen one of -love and tenderness that could be, and was, sung with considerable -_point_--a now forgotten little Scotch song, which the author adapted -to the air of 'Rousseau's Dream,' and with the desire to excel before -the girl he loved better than life, young Cameron, gave his whole -soul to the lyric. - - 'See the moon o'er cloudless Jura - Shining in the loch below; - See the distant mountain towering - Like a pyramid of snow. - Scenes of grandeur--scenes of childhood-- - Scenes so dear to love and me! - Let us roam by bower and wild wood, - All is lovelier when with _thee_. - - 'On Jura's hills the winds are sighing, - But all is silent in the grove; - And the leaves with dewdrops glistening - Sparkle like the eye of love. - Night so calm, so clear, so cloudless, - Blessed night to love and me; - Let us roam by bower and fountain, - All is lovelier when with _thee_.' - -And it was not unnoticed by Lady Aberfeldie that at the closing word -of each verse the eyes of the pair unconsciously met. Ere Eveline -could be prevented, she had acceded to Cameron's softly uttered -desire that she would sing anything for _him_; and she frankly did -so, throwing into her voice the thrill and tenderness that are sure -to come into a girl's utterances when singing to the man she loves. -The heart of Cameron responded to this mysterious influence, and, as -the girl regarded him furtively from time to time, she thought, with -his crisp wavy hair, his clear grey eyes, general expression and -bearing, he looked every inch what he was, the descendant of that Sir -Evan Cameron of Lochiel who met Cromwell's men in combat under the -shadow of Ben Nevis; yet to other eyes he seemed just a good sample -of an infantryman who had across his forehead the genuine sunmark of -his craft, made under the line of his forage-cap by a scorching -tropical sun. - -And now when Lady Aberfeldie, to stop any more musical performances -between these two, prevailed upon Olive to replace her cousin, she -was quick enough to detect that the former, displeased or piqued by -Allan's apparent attention to Ruby Logan, swept past him with the -most subtle little touch of disdain in the carriage of her handsome -head. - -Now Cameron had once more to give place to pudgy little Sir Paget, -who--puffing out his chest and jerking forward his bald shining -head--began to do his best to make himself pleasing to Eveline, while -the latter, under her mother's watchful eye, was compelled to listen -and appear to act with compliance and complacency; and poor Eveline, -like Olive, often felt with some compunction that her mother's -general bearing--which a certain quiet yet lofty dignity seemed never -to forsake--was more calculated to inspire respect than love. - -And Cameron, while he found himself talking rather absently on -regimental matters with Lord Aberfeldie, as he looked at Eveline from -time to time, was thinking sadly in his honest heart, - -'Oh, what madness it is in me to love her as I do, and how wicked if -I lure her into loving me! Can I expect her ambitious mother or her -calculating father ever to view with favour one so penniless as I am? -Would it be honourable in me to profit by her girlish prepossession -in my favour, and so preclude her from reaping those advantages of -wealth, position, and rank which she is entitled to expect, and to -which her parents looked forward? and alas! as the wife of Sir -Paget--if such be her fate--poor Eveline will be lost for ever to me.' - -His breast felt torn by such thoughts as these; and, sooth to say, it -is as often amid the splendour and luxury of life, as amid its -squalor and poverty, that some of its bitterest tragedies are acted -out. - -But now the party began to break up--the ladies to seek their -respective apartments, and the gentlemen to adjourn for a time to the -smoking-room. - -As the two cousins, each so different in her style of loveliness, -crossed the great apartment, the soft _frou-frou_ of their long -silken dresses seemed to mingle with their soft laughter and silvery -voices. Sir Paget jerked forward his head and remarked to his -hostess that 'they made a charming picture.' - -Each had a sore place in her heart, but there was no appearance of it -then. - -Though resenting the position in which she was placed, and much -inclined to resist it, Olive Raymond--such is female caprice--also -resented Allan's having hovered so much about the amber-haired -beauty, and, when she bade him adieu for the night, she could not -help singing softly, with some point and waggery, as she glanced back -at him, the lines of Tennyson's song: - - 'I know a maiden fair to see, - Take care! - She can both false and friendly be, - Beware, beware! - Trust her not, she is fooling thee.' - -But whether she applied the words to herself or Ruby Logan it puzzled -him to divine. - -Olive and Eveline were of an age, and able to sympathise with each -other in every thought or fancy. They had grown up together like -sisters, Olive, as an orphan, doubtless being the most petted of the -two by the household ever since she came a little child to Dundargue, -and both were frank, both were open-hearted, and proud of each -other's personal attractions; and now, dismissing their maids, they -brushed out each other's shining hair that they might have a quiet -gossip together. - -'So ends a tiresome night,' said Eveline, shrugging her white -shoulders, which shone like ivory in the light of the toilette -candles: 'a night when the conversation of everyone seemed of a -nature so antagonistic, or as if it was all broken up into wrong -duets.' - -Like her father, Eveline was anxious to discover how the cousins were -affected towards each other now; yet the course of this evening, in -which Allan had plainly flirted with Ruby Logan, while Olive seemed -to have been engrossed by Mr. Holcroft, did not seem to promise much, -and she hinted this pretty plainly. - -'I do think Holcroft loves me, or leads me to infer that he does,' -said Olive, with a soft smile on her downcast face, as she took off -her rings, bangles, and bracelets, and tossed them on the marble -toilette-table.' - -'And you--what is your feeling for him?' asked Eveline, with some -anxiety in her face and tone; 'not love, I hope.' - -'I don't know what I feel--perhaps it is only a girl's emotion of -gratitude and vanity.' - -'I hope it will never be anything more. You scarcely spoke to poor -Allan to-night?' said Eveline, interrogatively. - -'Rather say he scarcely spoke to me! But we are fated to see quite -enough of each other, I suppose,' replied Olive, as with slender -fingers she coiled and knotted up the silky masses of her rich brown -hair. 'How absurd it is,' she added, petulantly, 'to think, as I -have said a hundred times, that I have a lover cut and dry for me--a -_fiancé_--ever since he was in jackets and knickerbockers!' - -After a pause, during which she was critically and approvingly -regarding herself sideways in the swinging cheval-glass, she said, - -'When I heard that he was returning to Dundargue, I was quite -prepared to dislike him intensely.' - -'Olive!' - -'Fact, dear; and since then he must have been sorely puzzled by my -various moods towards him.' - -'You speak but with truth in this; and yet he seems to have been -somewhat the same with you.' - -'Poor fellow--but ever so good and kind.' - -'And--and you think, Olive dear, that you are beginning to love him -as mamma wishes?' - -'Nay--nay, I cannot admit that.' - -'Even to me?' said Eveline, caressing her. - -'Even to you. Did you not see his manner to-night with Ruby Logan?' - -'To pique you, if possible, Olive; but when Allan proposes to you, as -I am sure he will, and must do----' - -'_Must_ do!' interrupted Olive. 'Yes--there it is.' - -'Well?' - -'Then, and in that case, as the will has it, I shall tell him that, -however I may esteem and regard him as my cousin, he can never be -more, or nearer, or dearer than as such.' - -Eveline sighed and smiled; but she told this reply next day to Allan, -and hence he became less in a hurry to bring matters to an issue, -though love was growing in his heart, nevertheless. - -'Oh, why is it that women cannot speak their minds as men do? I wish -I dared run away!' exclaimed the petulant beauty, beating the carpet -with a little impatient foot. 'To-day I saw two great brown eagles -winging their way skyward from the rock of Dundargue; and oh! -Eveline, you can't think how long and wistfully I watched them till -they dwindled into tiny specks.' - -'Why?' - -'They seemed such free agents, and, as such, to be envied. They had -no wills or last testaments made by others to control their -actions--no parents to rule them in the matters of love and marriage.' - -'How droll you are, Olive! To whom but you would such speculations -occur? I hope you did not express them to--to----' - -'Allan?' - -'Yes.' - -'Not to Allan.' - -'To whom then?' - -'Mr. Holcroft.' - -'Then, you were very wrong to do so,' said Eveline, almost severely; -'he will be certain to draw his own deductions therefrom.' - -'In something else I was, I fear, wrong too.' - -'How?' - -'I permitted him to try one of my gold bangles--one sent me by Allan -from Delhi--on his arm, and it would not come off again.' - -'And the bangle?' - -'Is still there,' said Olive, laughing, but not without a little -emotion of alarm. - -'Oh, Olive!' exclaimed Eveline, with something of dismay, 'how could -you? This is worse than the photo.' - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE RIDING-PARTY. - -For some time the days passed on as they generally do in a -country-house like Dundargue, and there was all the usual flow of -life and--with three exceptions, Sir Paget, Holcroft, and -Cameron--change of guests and visitors, with the amusements wealth -can give. - -First came the partridge-shooting, and then the pheasants were to be -knocked over, while the ladies drove almost daily to the preserves -with the luncheon in the drag or large pony-carriage; there were -hunting days, dinners, luncheons, musical evenings, carpet dances, -and so forth, and the inevitable lawn-tennis, with the ladies in -bewitching costumes; but still Allan, damped perhaps by his sister's -communications, 'made no way' with his tantalising cousin, and Hawke -Holcroft, on Lord Aberfeldie's invitation, was still lingering at -Dundargue. - -To Allan, Olive had become a part of his life, and each day seemed -only to begin when he met her at breakfast in her charming morning -toilette, fresh from her bath and the hands of Mademoiselle -Clairette, her hair dressed to perfection, and her face radiant with -health and beauty. - -'How often do I wish she had not a _sous_!' sighed Allan. 'Then she -might learn that I love her for herself alone.' - -The curious position in which they were placed relatively made the -cousins most strange to each other, involving much constraint. - -'They are fencing with their feelings,' was Lord Aberfeldie's -conviction. - -To Evan Cameron, however, it was evident that Holcroft was 'making -all the running he could' during Allan's absences after the game, or -apparent occupation with laughing Ruby Logan, while it became evident -to Sir Paget and more than one other guest that he got up many a -quiet game at _ecarté_--that most rooking of all games--and many a -match at billiards after the ladies had retired; and it was soon -remarked by the same close observers that he was a singularly -successful player, often pocketing large sums, seldom losing, and -then very slenderly, as if to keep up appearances. - -At Dundargue he felt himself in clover! He knew, or was aware -instinctively, that neither Lady Aberfeldie nor the Master cared much -about him; but he also knew that his host was inspired by the -kindliest feelings towards him as the only son of an early friend and -gallant old Crimean comrade who had gone to his long home. - -If any rule governed the erratic life of the horsey and gambling -Holcroft, it was that of resolutely shutting his eyes against -to-morrow, and letting it take care of itself; and, now that there -was a prospect of winning a wife with money--and such a chance seldom -came his way--could he but play his cards well and surely, his -fortune would be made! - -He was a mass of absolute selfishness--the result either of his -innate nature or of his nomadic habits. A life-long bankrupt, he had -been ever readier to borrow than to lend, to smoke any other fellow's -cigars than his own, and to take every advantage of the honourable -and unsuspecting. - -Such was the perilous inmate which a mistaken sense of kindness, -gratitude, and hospitality had induced Lord Aberfeldie to make one of -the family circle at Dundargue during the shooting season; and to -whom the advent of the bangle--which, though it slipped easily upon -his wrist, most mysteriously would not come off it--and other -adventitious circumstances, the real cause of which he did not know, -gave a considerable amount of what he termed to himself 'modest -assurance' and confidence of ultimate success. - -'I should like to come into a nice little pot of money--a fortune, if -you will--but not with a girl tacked to it,' he said, on one -occasion, to throw Allan 'off the scent,' as he thought. 'I am -neither domestic nor ambitious. A few thousands would do.' - -'And make you content?' - -'Content! I should feel as happy as more than once I have been at -Monaco, when I have seen the croupier's rake pushing a jolly pile of -gold across the _trente-et-quarante_ table towards me, by Jove.' - -It did not occur to him that by little speeches like this and -anecdotes about his own acumen in the betting ring, he let a little -light in upon the general tenor of his past and present life, and, -all unconscious that Sir Paget and others listened with slightly -elevated eyebrows, he would produce a sealskin cigar-case of -portentous dimensions, draw therefrom a great Rio Hondo cigar, and -after carefully manipulating it, begin to smoke it with intense -satisfaction. - -Hawke Holcroft, like Mr. Micawber, was always waiting for something -to 'turn up' in the way of good for himself, and now thought he had -found that something in Olive Raymond--an heiress free, he deemed, to -choose for herself--free to be wooed and won; and on a day when she -proposed a riding-party to visit Macbeth's Castle of Dunsinane he -very nearly had the hardihood to learn his fate--in the words of -Montrose's song, to put it 'to the touch, to win or lose it all.' - -Drives, riding-parties, and rambles to visit artistic bits of scenery -and the rural [** Transcriber's note: line missing from source book?] -lions the neighbourhood afforded every opportunity to those who -wished to cultivate each other's society at Dundargue, and the -expedition proposed by Olive to visit the ruins of the usurper's -castle, proved the occasion of Mr. Hawke Holcroft's attempt to -advance his own interests. - -Whatever Lady Aberfeldie's views were, her husband had never been -called upon to fulfil the duties of a vigilant guardian or parent, -and to study the difference between 'detrimentals' and married -parties, so he left the guidance of the whole affair in the hands of -Allan, and remained closeted with his solicitor. - -By judicious manoeuvring, Holcroft contrived to pair-off with Olive, -while Allan thus became the escort of Ruby Logan, and Eveline, of -course, fell to Sir Paget, who soon found the truth of the vulgar -adage about two being company, &c., on their being joined by -Stratherroch. - -It was a clear and brilliant day early in October, when the blue sky -was flecked by fleecy clouds, and the far-stretching scenery of the -fertile Carse, overlooked by the long chain of heights, named the -Sidlaw Hills, lay steeped in sunshine. - -The parks of Dundargue, with their broad acres of velvet-like turf, -their stately oaks and towering beeches, among the gnarled branches -of which legions of gleds were cawing to each other, and brown -squirrels were gliding to and fro; their hedges of ancient thorn, and -others where the hawthorn berries showed red and the wild roses were -blooming--the parks, we say, were left behind, with all their groups -of deer, and the party, certainly a merry and a well-mounted one, -accompanied by the stag-hounds Shiuloch and Bran, careering joyously -on either hand, followed by a couple of splendidly-horsed grooms, -cantered along the highway, and ere long broke, or fell, into that -slow and ambling pace which is suited for conversing with ease. And -Holcroft, who was well versed in all horsey details, and had a very -appreciative eye, could see that his fair companion's _tout -ensemble_, her riding costume, her hat, veil, and gauntlets were all -perfect, from the coils of brown glossy hair to the little foot that -rested firmly in its tiny stirrup of burnished steel; and that foot -was indeed a model--arched, small, and always full of character in -its elasticity of tread; and, more than all, intoxicated by the -ambient air, the sunshine, her own high spirits, and the pleasure of -being mounted on her own favourite pad, Olive Raymond was looking her -brightest and her best. - -He had, while engaging all her attention in conversation, contrived, -unknown to her, by the pacing of his horse, to leave the trio -referred to at some distance behind; while, luckily for him, Allan -Graham, lured on by Ruby Logan--who was something between a flirt and -a hoyden--had gone ahead with her suddenly at a hand-gallop, and now -the pair were out of sight. - -There could be no engagement, despite all rumour thereof--not even a -passing fancy--between the cousins, was now Holcroft's conviction, -and of his own ultimate success with Olive he began to have little -doubt, could he but warily mould her to his purpose; and already in -fancy he saw her thousands--how many there were he knew not--firmly -in his grasp. - -Though swallowed up by mortgages, his place in Essex--or the few -acres that nominally still remained to him there--caused the -retention of his name among the 'landed gentry of England,' and he -based much upon that circumstance as aiding his designs on Lord -Aberfeldie's ward, to whom he had sometimes dropped glowing hints of -possession that were not nor ever had been his. - -Something undefined in Olive's manner rather encouraged him on this -day. She, to show that she resented the apparent indifference of -Allan as being a 'laggard in love,' even while resenting the tenor of -that family compact which was meant to bind them together, was -disposed to flirt with Holcroft, out of pique rather than precise -preference, and to annoy Allan. - -With the latter present now, Holcroft became at times a species of -difficulty to Olive. During a past season in London there had been -sundry, not exactly love-passages, but little coquettings and -lingerings in conservatories that nearly amounted to such; and he, in -ignorance of the footing in which she was regarded by the family, was -quite inclined, penniless as he was, or nearly so, to revive, if not -improve, past relations; and this had been his object from the first -day he came to Dundargue. - -And now 'that muscular idiot the Master,' as he was in the habit of -mentally calling Allan, having cantered out of sight, he addressed -himself more fully to his companion and the matter in hand. - -'I enjoy town to the full--none can do so more--when I am there, but -I love--oh, I do love--the country!' replied Olive, in reply to a -remark of Holcroft's about their last London season. - -'It is always very romantic, of course, and all that sort of thing.' - -'And with pleasant people about one, the country becomes so -delightful for a time; and then we girls have such perfect freedom -here.' - -'Even an escort is not necessary at times.' - -'Unless in the park--beyond that I always like to have one,' said -Olive. - -'Are you pleased to have _me_ for one?' he asked, in a low voice, and -pretty pointedly. - -'Of course,' she answered, frankly. - -'How charming to be at hand in case of danger!' - -'What possible danger?' asked Olive, with surprise. - -'Oh, the untimely appearance of an infuriated stag or the proverbial -mad bull of the three-volume novel.' - -'Why not a brigand or a Bengal tiger?' said Olive, laughing; then, -suddenly becoming grave, she added--'But, by the way, talking of -Bengal, please to give me back my bangle.' - -'Why?' - -'Simply because I cannot permit you to retain it,' she replied, -little foreseeing to what the natural request might lead. - -'Do not deprive me of it!' he urged, softly and entreatingly. - -'Why?' asked she, in return; 'for what reason. It is -impossible--what may people say?' - -'What they please, if seen, which it never shall be.' - -'What might they not think?' - -'Oh, what does it matter?' he urged again, with much would-be sadness -and tenderness. - -'Little to you, perhaps, but much to me,' retorted Olive; 'but I do -not choose that aught should be either thought or said about it. We -shall certainly be accused of flirting.' - -'No, no, Miss Raymond--oh, no, Olive----' - -'Olive!' she repeated, in a startled manner. - -'Pardon me--none could ever accuse me of flirting with you--that were -an impossibility--for deeper thoughts----' - -'My bangle, please, Mr. Holcroft, and at once!' she said, -imperatively, in dread of what more he might say. - -She held forth her hand, but the trinket either would not come off -his wrist, or he pretended that such was the case. Olive tried to -remove it, but in vain, and glanced round her, red with vexation. -Her hand was gloved, otherwise she would have felt how unpleasantly -cold and clammy were the fingers of her would-be lover. - -'Allow me to retain it, even for a time--though would that I might -wear it in my grave--for a time, in memory of the darling hopes I -have dared to cherish,' he whispered, in a manner there could be no -mistaking now. - -'Spare me this melodramatic sort of thing, Mr. Holcroft,' said Olive, -growing rather pale; 'I cannot--must not listen to you.' - -'Why--what do you mean?' - -'That there are obstacles between us, even were there not the want of -liking,' she replied, decidedly, but with an agitated voice. - -'Obstacles?' he repeated, inquiringly, sadly, and certainly with an -air of _disappointment_; 'am I now to understand that you are engaged -to the Master of Aberfeldie, as these absurd Scots people call him?' - -Olive bit her ruddy nether lip at this home question; but made no -reply. - -'What enigma is this? You either are or you are not. If not, why -may not I----' - -'I dare not listen to this style of conversation,' interrupted Olive, -with positive annoyance; 'and you have no right to force it upon me.' - -'After all that has passed?' said he, reproachfully, and rather -feeling as if his hopes were melting into air. - -'I do not understand you,' replied Olive, whose conscience certainly -did reproach her. - -'If I force this conversation--' he began in a bitter and rather -upbraiding tone, then pausing; 'pardon me if I offend,' he resumed, -with what seemed growing sadness, while attempting to touch her hand, -yet withdrawing his own in apparent timidity. 'But am I wrong in -deeming your engagement--or alleged engagement, as rumour says, made -when you were a child--one in which your woman's heart and wishes -have not been consulted? Tell me--for I may have to leave Dundargue -soon now.' - -She was in some respects but a weak girl; he a crafty and wily man of -the world; and, though he knew it not in the least, he was touching -her on a very tender point--yet she replied, firmly enough, - -'You have no right to question me; but say, what has Allan done to -you that your face should darken at the mention of his name? Is he -not your friend?' - -'He was.' - -'And now----' - -'He is no longer so.' - -'Why?' - -'He is my rival.' - -She coloured to her temples at this blunt reply, and all it inferred. - -'I loved you long before you ever cared for me,' he resumed, coolly. - -'Sir--how dare you say I ever cared for you?' exclaimed Olive, her -cheeks aflame now; 'let this subject cease, and be resumed no more!' - -'It breaks my heart to hear you speak thus.' - -'Hearts don't break now-a-days, even in such romantic places as -Dundargue,' said she, with a sharp little laugh; 'and here this -matter ends.' - -He bowed in silence; but, fatally perhaps for Allan's interests and -her own, she thought, and her vanity was flattered by the idea: - -'Holcroft loves me, despite the tenor of papa's will--loves me, for -myself, of course; while Allan _knows_ its value to himself! Surely -there is a difference in this!' - -But it was precisely because Holcroft knew neither of the will nor -its spirit that he took the courage to address her as he did. Had he -done so, that enterprising gentleman would speedily have 'dropped out -of the hunt,' and, so far as he is concerned, we should then have no -story to tell. - -Meanwhile he did not lose heart, and thought he had only to wait the -fulness of time for the certainty of winning her, and with her, -wealth--of joy or happiness he took no heed at all. - -By this time, greatly to Olive's relief, Eveline and her two swains -had overtaken them, and so the matter dropped, though the minds of -both, from two points of view, were full of it. She would now have -to endure the double annoyance of being daily in the society of a -lover who had addressed her as such, and of an _intended_ lover who -had scarcely yet approached the subject! - -And, for some reason only known to herself, she did not tell Eveline, -though her bosom-friend, of what had passed between herself and -Holcroft. The latter, however, still retained the golden bangle on -which her name was engraved; but for a time now there was something -in her manner little to the liking of Hawke Holcroft--full as he was -of dreams of her, or of her fortune rather--of the risks he ran, and -the shifts to which he might be put ere he handled it. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE PICNIC AT DUNSINANE. - -Ambling on together and urging their horses, but at an easy pace, -they soon drew near the object of their destination--Macbeth's famous -castle of Dunsinane--whither the portly old butler, Mr. Tappleton, -had preceded them in a wagonette, freighted with a luxurious -luncheon; and, leaving their cattle in charge of the grooms, they -began the ascent of that peak of the Sidlaw Hills which has been -immortalised by Shakespeare. - -With her riding-skirt thrown over her left arm, Eveline acted as -their guide, and it may easily be supposed that she solicited the -assistance of Cameron's arm, rather than that of Sir Paget -Puddicombe, who had quite enough to do in assisting himself up a path -which proved to him, as he said, 'rather a breather.' - -It was a winding road cut in the rock, all the other sides being -steep and difficult of access, and ere long, on reaching the flat and -fertile summit, which commands a magnificent view of Strathmore and -Blairgowrie, they found themselves within the strong rampart and deep -fosse of what has once been a great military station of oval form, -two hundred and ten feet long, by one hundred and thirty broad; and -there they found Allan and Ruby Logan, who had preceded them, in full -possession of the highest point, whence he was directing her -attention to the chief features in the scenery, including, of course, -Birnam Wood, fifteen miles distant, 'The Lang Man's Grave,' a great -stone, under which Macbeth is said to lie--Ruby the while clinging to -his arm in the exuberance of her delight, and carrying her riding-hat -in her hand, as she was quite aware that her hair alone, in its -wonderful luxuriance, made her very attractive, it being an unruly -mass of rich, rippling golden amber in hue, shot with a redder and -brighter tint at times when the sunlight struck it. - -Under the splendour of a glorious noon, while a soft breeze rippled -the verdant grass, the luncheon was proceeded with; fowls were -dissected, pies investigated, champagne and hock, cool from the -ice-pails, uncorked; all the requisites for a merry party were there, -and yet in the party itself the chief element of high spirits was -wanting, unless in the instance of Ruby Logan, who began to flatter -herself that she had made--or nearly so--a conquest of the Master of -Aberfeldie. - -Oppressed with the tenor of the conversation that had so recently -passed between herself and Mr. Holcroft, Olive Raymond was unusually -silent, and, for her, _distraite_; and he, remembering the somewhat -decided 'snub' she had so unexpectedly given him, was somewhat silent -too, but sought consolation in champagne, while listening rather -abstractedly to Sir Paget Puddicombe descanting on the traditions of -the neighbourhood, as, in guide-book fashion, he knew all about the -predictions of the weird sisters, the defeat and death of the -usurper, and was full of the probability that the great dramatist had -visited Dunsinane in person. - -But Holcroft only quaffed his liquor, tugged his tawny moustache from -time to time, and listened with an air of boredom, mingled with a -quizzical expression of mistrust in his pale grey shifty eyes. - -He had seen Macbeth on the stage, of course, and endured him more -than once; but of the Thane of Cawdor he knew no more than what he -had seen of him behind the footlights, and had cared to learn no -more; and now it was with some genuine Cockney bewilderment, as he -looked at the massive trenches around him, he began to think that -'some such fellow had existed then.' - -Eveline and young Cameron, under Sir Paget's eye, were both reserved -and _triste_, and no wine seemed capable of rousing animation in the -lover. He had but one thought--the end of his leave was approaching, -and when he left Dundargue he might never again see Eveline Graham. -His heart was heavy. - -When the trio were riding together, it was not that the eyes of -Eveline disappointed him, or that she did not converse with him fully -and earnestly; but he had detected in the manner of Sir Paget a -provoking air of proprietary and confidence with regard to her that -keenly piqued him, and could only have been born, he rightly -conjectured, of some recent confidential arrangement with Lord -Aberfeldie; but the young girl herself was sweetly unconscious of it -all. - -His responses had been brief, and he had ventured on few remarks, -aware that little would escape unnoticed; thus he had been somewhat -silent, while Sir Paget's easy-going old roadster ambled between the -horses of himself and Eveline, going pace for pace, Sir Paget's head -at each jerking forward in turtle fashion. - -The trio still remained together when seated on the grass at -luncheon, for neither of the gentlemen were disposed to quit the side -of Eveline, whose colour might have been noticed to heighten at a -question Sir Paget asked Cameron, of whom he certainly had a certain -jealousy. - -'Where does your property of Stratherroch lie, Mr. Cameron?' - -'In Inverness-shire.' - -'Ah!--mountainous, of course--good shooting for those who care for -such things--not that I do. Is the land very remunerative now?' - -'To others--not to me,' said Cameron, a little bitterly. 'A fair -inheritance would be mine, Sir Paget, were Stratherroch unencumbered. -My father was a wild fellow in his day--as what Highland laird is -not? How some acres were mortgaged in succession, how others went -_in toto_, heaven only knows--I don't. The estate is at nurse now; -one day it will be mine again--but not for years; and I was too long -foolishly sentimental about it.' - -'How?' asked Sir Paget. - -'I thought I would rather that the manor-house fell to ruins than -pass, even temporarily, into the possession of strangers--of others -than a Cameron; and now, by Jove! it has been for years occupied by -one Jones Smithson, of Manchester.' - -'Whose rental is clearing it?' - -'Yes; and meantime I have little more in this world than my claymore -and commission in the Black Watch,' said Cameron, with a somewhat -hollow laugh and a swift, sad glance at Eveline; while Sir Paget -smiled complacently as he thought of the balance at _his_ bankers, -and the fat, unfettered acres that lay round Slough-cum-Sloggit. - -'I hope you do not find Dundargue dull, Sir Paget?' said Eveline, to -change a conversation that rather oppressed her, as she was sharp -enough to divine the thoughts of both men. - -'Assuredly not, Miss Graham; how could it be so when I am enabled to -renew my intimacy with one who can cast, as it were, bright sunshine -in the most shady place?' he replied, with an unusual jerk of his -head, a glance of eye, and accentuation of voice that annoyed her -greatly, while Cameron's lip quivered under his moustache with -mingled irritation and amusement. - -And now at luncheon, inspired by a few bumpers of Clicquot, Sir -Paget's glances at Eveline took occasionally the fashion of grotesque -and languishing leers. - -The wealthy baronet was older than she by a great many years, but -they by no means warranted him being safe from a love, or passion -rather, that might prove cruel as the grave--the passion of a -middle-aged man for a very handsome young girl, whose parents were -fully disposed to further his views and their own. It has been said -that 'people for the life of them cannot be said to believe in the -love pangs of a man over forty, or of a woman over twenty-nine,' but -people may at times be wrong. - -The present epoch was rather a trying one to Cameron and Eveline. As -she had admitted to Allan, she knew that he loved her with a love -unselfish and unspoken; and he felt intuitively that he was far from -indifferent to her--knew it by the indescribable, untaught, and -nameless signs by which a man learns instinctively that a woman loves -him--in a first passion, a most intoxicating conviction; yet -circumstances blended the happiness of Cameron with much that was -alloy. - -To avoid attentions or would-be tender speeches that might annoy poor -Cameron, Eveline found herself compelled to talk intently to Sir -Paget about local traditions and superstitions, and, thanks to her -old nurse Nannie, she had--for a fashionable young lady of the -present day--a curious _répertoire_ of stories about wraiths and -warnings, _Daione Shi_ and other fairies, who were wont in -pre-railway times to haunt the corries, cairns, and rocks. - -'Have you no ghosts in or about Dundargue?' asked Sir Paget. 'A -grand old mansion is scarcely complete without some such spectral -visitor.' - -'Surely that oubliette, whatever it is, of which I have heard more -than once, must contain something of the kind?' said Holcroft, in a -covert, but detestable kind of sneering tone, which he could adopt -when his own interests were not concerned. - -'In the gallery that leads to it I have heard of something strange,' -said Allan. - -'Oh, do tell us--what is seen there?' exclaimed Ruby Logan. - -'Nothing--but old servants have a story to the effect that if anyone -remains long there,' replied Allan, laughing, 'they are certain to -have a strong sense of shadowy forms--intangible presences--hovering -near them, and dare not turn their heads to see what they are.' - -'We have no decided ghosts, thank Heaven!' said Eveline, laughing, -and all unconscious of Holcroft's manner. 'There are none even in -the palaces of Holyrood or Falkland, where terrible things have been -done, so why should there be in poor old Dundargue? But a spot close -by where we are now lunching is the alleged scene of a curious -event--a very dark tradition in our family history.' - -'Why recur to a story so absurd?' said Allan. - -But she was pressed to explain herself, and with a shy, sweet smile -in her eyes as she glanced from time to time at Evan Cameron, and a -wonderfully musical modulation of voice, she told her tale, but not -quite as old nurse Nannie had told it to her. - -'The deep, rocky dell that lies between this and Dundargue, a few -miles distant, was ever in past times what we find it now, covered -with dense forest-trees, mingled with alders and silver birches so -thickly as to exclude the rays of the sun, and it was said to be the -haunt of a Urisk or mountain-goblin--a species of fiend which, Sir -Walter Scott says, tradition avers to have had a figure half-man and -half-goat.' - -'In short, the Grecian satyr of classical antiquity,' said Allan, -laughing. - -'Be that as it may, the existence of this particular Urisk was never -fairly proved until the days of one of our ancestors, Malise Graham -of Dundargue, who fought at the battle of Ben Rinnes against the -Reformers, and had in hiding in the "Priest's Hole," as it is still -called, in the keep, a wandering Scottish Benedictine, known only as -James of Jerusalem. - -'Now, Malise Graham had an only daughter, Muriel, a girl possessed of -that rare and soft beauty----' - -'Which is still the inheritance of her family,' said Sir Paget, with -a most portentous jerk of his head. - -'Please not to interrupt me, or I shall stop,' exclaimed Eveline, -with unconcealed annoyance. 'Muriel, in her walks near Dundargue, -had made--unknown to her family--the acquaintance of a handsome young -stranger of winning manners and prepossessing appearance. - -'In the secluded life led in those days by a maiden of rank, such an -event was of deep and peculiar interest; love speedily became the -sequel, and in truth the object of it seemed to have been a very -loveable fellow. Thus it was, with many bitter tears, that one -evening she told him that her frequent absence from home had been -remarked, and that she must meet him no more in that wooded hollow, -especially as it was the haunt of goblins and other evil spirits. - -'On hearing this, the handsome stranger laughed till all the dell -seemed to re-echo, caressed her tenderly, and, after urging her on -peril of her truth and soul to come to the trysting-place at least -once again, left her in haste, as some one was seen to approach them. - -'This proved to be James of Jerusalem, who is still remembered as the -Black Priest of Dundargue. He wore nothing that was canonical; to -have done so would have been as much as his life was worth in those -days; thus he was clad in a sable Geneva cloak and doublet, with -falling bands, and a calotte cap of black velvet with long lappets. - -'He looked deadly pale, and was trembling in every limb, while he -crossed himself again and again, and said, in a low and agitated -voice, - -'"Child Muriel, who is he that left you in such hot haste just now?" - -'But Muriel, - - "Crimson with shame, with terror mute," - -terror of her father, who was a stern and rigid man, remained silent. - -'"Speak, unhappy girl!" urged the priest. - -'"I know not his name," she replied, faintly. - -'"Why?" - -'"He conceals it from me." - -'"And why?" - -'"I know not; but oh, father, guide and counsel me, for I love him -dearly, as he loves me." - -'"You must meet him----" - -'"Once again," she urged, piteously. - -'"Never more, I meant to say--never more. But why say you once -again?" - -'"I have promised, on my soul's peril." - -'"On your soul's peril indeed!" groaned the priest, in great -tribulation; but, in defiance of all he could urge, Muriel, though -she lived in an age of dark superstition, of omens and dread, -inspired by her love, stole forth at the usual hour and entered the -dell to meet her lover, for the last time, as it proved. - -'Perhaps it was a prevision of this that made the wood seem so dark -and gloomy, and even the knots and gnarled branches of the trees to -look like those in the forest to Undine, fiendish faces and freakish -limbs. - -'Muriel knew in her heart that such meetings were wrong, unbecoming -to her position, and sinful because she concealed them; but a spell -seemed upon her, and she could not resist it. She took no heed of -the future; she had but one thought, to be again with him. - -'"And oh! why should this meeting be our last one?" she wailed in her -heart, as he drew her to him, looking so handsome the while in his -black doublet slashed with red, his ruff and scarlet plume. - -'"My own!" said he, caressingly; "my own, I am aware that yonder -dotard, fool and knave, the mass-monger, has been seeking to -influence your mind against me, and to part us." - -'"And here he stands prepared to do so!" exclaimed the black priest, -as he suddenly appeared beside them, his eyes sparkling, but -strangely with fear, rage, and triumph mingling in their expression. -Muriel's lover clasped her to his breast, and wrapped his scarlet -mantle round her. Then, while his eyes glared with a fire which -fortunately she did not see, he exclaimed, - -'"Stand back, canting liar--stand back, and begone!" - -'"Child Muriel, come to me, in the name of God!" cried the priest, in -sore agony; but she still clung to her lover, who, at the name -uttered, cowered and shrank, as in the opera we see Mephistopheles -cower and shrink before the cross-hilted swords of the soldiers. - -'"Muriel, Muriel, you are mine!" exclaimed her lover, attempting to -lift her from the ground. - -'"Take heed, child, ere it is too late," urged the priest. - -'"Dare you advise?" asked the stranger, mockingly; "does not one day -judge another?" - -'"Yes, and the last day judges all--even such as you!" cried the -benedictine; then, making a sign of the cross in the air, he -exclaimed, 'In nomine Patris et Filii; et Spiritus Sancti!' - -'Scarcely had he done so when, under the power of his exorcism, the -mantle, ruff, and plume of the pretended knight turned to bracken -leaves, his goblin chain to wild holly, and he stood forth in all his -deformity, a horror to the eye, half man and half goat, with the face -of a baffled and exasperated fiend--the Urisk, or wood goblin; and, -with a malignant yell, he vanished down the fast-darkening dingle!' - -'And Muriel?' asked Holcroft, who had listened to all with such a -smile as his face might be expected to wear. - -'Was saved, of course,' said Eveline. - -'And lived happy ever after?' - -'Well--content at least, let us hope. She died a nun in the house of -the English Benedictines at Paris--now the convent of the Val de -Grace.' - -'And has this legend a moral?' asked Holcroft, mockingly. - -'Of course it has,' answered Allan, rather bluntly, yet with a quiet -smile; 'it gave a good hint to the girls at Dundargue to beware of -the attentions of unaccredited strangers.' - -Holcroft's colour changed for a moment, and not unnoticed by Allan; -for perhaps, reading between the lines, all this seemed somewhat a -parable to the former, who tugged at his yellow moustaches in a way -he did when irritated, heedless that pomade hongroise was disastrous -to straw-coloured gloves. - -The angry gleam that crossed the eyes of Holcroft was also noticed by -Evan Cameron, who, for some reason as yet only known to himself, -could not abide him; though certainly the latter did not cross _him_ -by any attentions to the penniless Eveline Graham. - -Her little tradition came as a pleasant interlude to nearly all, for -save Sir Paget--always confident and genial--no one seemed quite at -ease, as a sense of cross-purposes brooded over them. - -'Tappleton,' cried Allan to the butler, 'another glass of champagne -all round; and then to be off,' he added, swinging Olive adroitly -into her saddle, and thus, as he thought, anticipating Holcroft, -though the latter, remembering keenly his recent 'snub,' had no -intention of offering his services just then. - -Allan, fearing that he had gone rather too far with Ruby Logan in -attempting to pique his cousin, now resolved to leave that young lady -to the care of anyone else in their homeward ride, much to her -surprise and disappointment, and took his place by the side of Olive, -in obedience to a half-inviting glance she gave him. - -He and his sister were, of course, familiar since childhood with the -ruins of Dunsinane and all their surroundings; but to two or three of -the party, as they turned to depart, and saw the vast ramparts -reddened by the setting sun, there came to memory the scene they had -so often witnessed on the stage--Malcolm's army with the boughs of -Birnam in their helmets, the 'alarms and excursions,' the fierce and -protracted melo-dramatic combat, the downfall of Macbeth beneath the -sword of Macduff, and the cries of 'Hail, King of Scotland--King of -Scotland, hail!' - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE GOLDEN BANGLE. - -A writer says 'there is the beauty of youth, and surely there is the -beauty of love, too,' and the latter certainly shone in the soft eyes -of Eveline Graham as she caracoled her horse in the homeward ride by -the side of young Cameron, and her eyes, which were ever the mystery -of that face, had now their sweetest smiles for him. She saw how his -face was lighted up, and was aware how his voice softened when he -addressed her as it softened to no other woman; and yet, withal, -though no word of love had passed between these two, right well did -they know the secret of each other's hearts; but poverty fettered his -tongue, and her parents' ambition and known wishes nearly repressed -all hope in the heart of Eveline. - -With all her regard for her father she had a fear of him, and still -more so of her mother. All their prejudices were in favour of -wealth; but Evan Cameron appeared to her altogether so dear and -irresistible that she, poor girl, could not imagine anyone being -proof against him, and with this conviction, and the knowledge that -Allan loved him, she permitted herself occasionally to live in a kind -of fool's paradise, wherein Sir Paget Puddicombe had no part. - -When her mother was not present, she played to Evan Cameron, and sang -his favourite songs; she showed him her drawings for hints and -suggestions, discussed her favourite books, and let him hang over her -chair; and at such times, though nothing of love was said, there was -a subtle tenderness in Cameron's eye and voice that made her -impulsive heart quicken, as no man's eye or voice had ever done -before, and young though she was, Eveline had heard more than one -declaration of love. - -And now for a time he had the joy of having her all to himself, as -they contrived to distance the rest of their party. - -But what availed it? Evan knew that, if once he passed beyond what -appeared to be the merest friendship, his visit to Dundargue might -come to a speedy end, and its hospitality could never be extended to -him again. - -To Evan, Eveline Graham proved, if we may say so, a kind of -revelation after the rough life he had led of late years in -India--something from another world, as it were--and thus much of -adoration mingled with his love for her. If dying could have served -Eveline, there and then would Evan Cameron have died for her! - -Whether such enthusiastic passion might last it was impossible to -say, but time may show. - -We have referred to the quiet confidence of Sir Paget Puddicombe--a -confidence borne of his consciousness of wealth and assured position. -However, he was sharp enough to see to some extent how Cameron was -attracted by Eveline, and to feel how the latter preferred the young -subaltern's society to his own; but in a very short time he knew that -the 'detrimental,' as Lady Aberfeldie called him, would be again with -his regiment, the Black Watch, perhaps under orders for foreign -service; then he would have the course all to himself, and doubted -not, as Holcroft would have said, 'to win in a canter.' - -Cameron thought the proverb right about there being no fool like an -old one; but then, every old fool had not Sir Paget's bank-book, and -the preference and influence of parents to back up his folly. But -with a handsome figure, and his V.C., how much more was Cameron like -the object of a young girl's eye than Sir Paget could ever be! - -'It was in the Kurram Pass, in Afghanistan, that you gained the -Victoria Cross, Mr. Cameron?' said Eveline, breaking a pause in the -conversation, and shortening her reins, while he checked the pace of -his horse, and replied, with a pleased smile, - -'Yes; but how do you know that, Miss Graham--from your brother, the -Master?' - -'No.' - -'I have never spoken of it.' - -'I read it in the Army List,' replied Eveline, candidly, and to hear -her say so made the bronze cross of more value to him than the Garter -would have been. - -She had read it, and committed the episode to heart too--how 'the -Queen had been graciously pleased to signify her intention of -conferring the decoration of the Victoria Cross' on Lieutenant Evan -Cameron, of the --th Foot, and now of the Black Watch, for a daring -act of bravery on a date given, when the retreating forces were -attacked by Afghans in great strength, the latter having pushed -forward upon the position at daybreak, and Lieutenant Cameron, -accompanied by only five soldiers, captured a nine-pounder gun, -shooting down or bayonetting all the gunners, and thus preventing the -destructive use of the piece, which he brought off with the loss of -one man, but in the conflict received three severe tulwar wounds. - -Cameron was an enthusiast in his profession, and with outwardly the -air of a well-bred man of the world, and thoroughly so that of a -young Line officer, he had in his nature a deep sentiment of -nationality, of clanship, and Highland romance, with an intense pride -in his regiment. He had entertained Eveline often with sketches, -anecdotes, and traditions of the Black Watch, but of himself and his -V.C., of course, he never spoke. - -'What a proud moment it must have been for you, when you knew that -you had won the cross!' said the girl, with a flush on her soft cheek. - -Stirred in his soul by the interest she took in him, the great secret -of his heart was trembling on his lips, but he repressed it, and a -shadow came into his face and a wistfulness into his eyes. - -'Prouder would I have been, Miss Graham,' said he, 'if--if--I---- - -'What?' - -'I had then been known even by name to _you_?' he replied, in a low -voice, and with a manner there was no mistaking. - -Nothing more was said then; yet they both felt, while eye met eye, -that their first words of love had been spoken. - -More might, perhaps, have passed, as the subject could easily have -been enlarged on; but just then they were abruptly joined by Allan, -who came up at a trot and reined in his horse sharply by their side, -with a dark expression on his face, which Eveline thought augured ill -for his success with Olive, whom he had suddenly left in the care of -Mr. Hawke Holcroft. - -After quitting the ruins, as Allan rode on by his cousin's side, his -memory had gone back to the days when she was a girl of some twelve -years or so--a bright-eyed hoyden, who could fish, even take a shot -from his gun, climb trees, eat apples right off the branch, play -marbles with him, grasp a trout darting in the burn under the long -yellow broom or purple brambles, and was his companion in many a -ramble and out-door frolic; and now inspired by that memory, the -scenery and beauty of the evening, he felt himself disposed to treat -with considerable tenderness the lovely girl he hoped to make yet his -own. - -On the other hand, Olive cared little to please him, and for a time -she almost repelled, and yet by doing so she greatly lured and -attracted him. - -The friendship of Allan and Olive was a source of some perplexity, if -not amusement, to Eveline Graham, but of irritation to her mother, to -whom they never seemed to act as lovers at all, unless in 'the Scots -fashion' of pouting and quarrelling. - -To the eyes of all interested in the matter, it did not seem that she -cared for him in the least. She never altered a plan or hastened her -pace to meet him, or go where he might chance to be--in the library, -on the terrace smoking, or in any of the quaint corridors that -traversed the old house. She never adopted a dress, a ribbon, or -ornament to please his eye, though she sometimes did, coquettishly, -he thought, to flatter Hawke Holcroft; and even now, as they were -slowly traversing the dark, woody dell of the legend--the -_Coire-nan-Uriskin_--she was humming, half in warning, half in -waggery, Tennyson's song: - - 'She can both false and friendly be, - Beware! beware! - Trust her not, she is fooling thee!' - -And yet, as she glanced at her soldierly cousin from time to time -under her long, dark lashes, she thought that, though he looked -stately in the kilt, he seldom looked better than now when in riding -costume, with the smartest of light grey cover coats. - -The girl's mind vibrated curiously between her over-sensitive pride, -her wishes, her doubts, and half convictions. - -If pique at her position in the family with Allan had made her -accept, with a certain degree of equanimity, the attentions of -Holcroft, she now began to feel a pleasure that she had not more -fully encouraged them. - -At such moments as the present Allan felt that this fair girl, who -had ever been his friend--cherished as a sister--this sweet cousin -with the violet eyes and rich brown hair--was dear to him with a -tenderness to which he could scarcely give a name, unless it were -purest love; and she might have read it in his eyes, intense and -strong, but for that spirit of wilfulness which led her to -temporise--was it to tyrannise?--or play with it and him. - -But may a girl really love a man till she is certain of being loved -in return? For Allan, baffled by her manner, had said nothing very -pointed as yet, as if he based all their future on her father's will; -and times there were when in pique he dropped his way of treating her -half playfully, half deferentially, and became absolutely cold. - -In fact, the thoughts of Olive, apart from her jealous pride, were -somewhat difficult to analyse; but, as yet, she deemed that she could -only regard him with a kind of sisterly attention; while he, when not -irritated by the presence of Holcroft, would say to Eveline, - -'When we are alone, and can slip back into our old memories, I shall -soon teach her to love me.' - -'But meantime,' replied his sister, 'you are the most tiresome couple -in the world.' - -'I wish Mr. Holcroft or some one else would join us,' said Olive, -looking round in her saddle. - -'Why, it is always Mr. Holcroft!' exclaimed Allan. - -'You are so provokingly silent. For more than a mile you have not -once spoken to me. It is stupid to be so _triste_! Surely there is -some one else whose society you prefer, or with whom you would be -more lively?' - -'Olive!' said he, on hearing this blunt and pointed remark--both -curiously so for her. 'You are surely not jealous of anyone?' he -added. - -'Jealous!' echoed the girl, with a strange but affected kind of lazy -scorn; 'why should I be so, and of _whom_?' - -'Well may you ask, of whom could you be so?' replied Allan, -pointedly--so much so that she coloured; 'though I, of course, matter -little to you.' - -'Allan, you are very wrong to say so,' said the girl, softly. - -'Then I am not quite indifferent to you?' urged Allan, impulsively -now; 'you do care for me a little?' - -'Certainly--a good deal, if it is any satisfaction to you; but -there--don't touch my bridle hand, or you will make my horse shy. -How can you be so tiresome!' - -Allan sighed, and yet he regarded her, in her loveliness and -insouciance, with an expression just then of mingled amusement, -annoyance, and regard in his dark hazel eyes. - -With all the love that had been growing in his heart for Olive, he -had been in no hurry to urge his suit, for, though impetuous by -nature, he could be reserved and cautious enough at times; but now -his heart flew to his head, and he said, bluntly, - -'Dearest Olive, will you promise to love me--to marry me?' - -'Why require any promise about the matter?' she replied, as all her -wilfulness returned; 'has not my father promised for me--bequeathed -me to you like a bale of goods, or condemned me to poverty!' she -added, with a bitter laugh on her lips that curled with anger. 'I -wonder that he did not order that I was to be locked up and fed on -bread and water till I gave my consent to marry you, or that I was to -be dropped into that oubliette which exists somewhere in Dundargue.' - -'Cousin Olive,' said he, reproachfully, 'why this pride and doubt of -my purpose? You are as cruel as you are beautiful.' - -'This is worse than anything you have ever said to me,' she cried, -with angry laughter still. - -'Worse?' - -'Yes, an attempt at gross straightforward compliment, as if I was a -girl at a railway buffet.' - -'Don't you like to be complimented?' - -'By some people--yes,' was the petulant reply. - -'All the girls I have ever known have liked pretty, flattering -speeches.' - -'But I am different, I hope, from most of the girls you have known.' - -'By Jove you are!' replied the Master, twisting his moustache till he -made himself wince; 'but will I never be more to you than I am now?' - -'Never more than my cousin--what would you desire to be? But here -comes Mr. Holcroft, to whom I certainly made no sign,' she added, -with some annoyance, as she thought of what had so lately passed -between them; and then, so variable was her emotion, that she laughed -as she thought--'Two proposals in one day, and both made in the -saddle too--how droll!' - -Allan misinterpreted her silent laugh as a welcome to Holcroft, and -shrank from his own angry fears--they were not convictions yet--lest -he should adopt that meanest passion of the whole category--jealousy -without a just cause--jealousy of one inferior to him in social -position, and certainly in personal attractions. - -When reduced to act cavalier to Miss Ruby Logan, who certainly did -not want him, Hawke Holcroft had looked darkly after the cousins as -they rode off together, and thought that nothing short of death would -prevent him from accomplishing the object he had now in view ere he -left Dundargue. - -From something in the manner of the cousins, he--a close -observer--augured that Allan had not made his 'innings' with the -heiress, yet he cantered up to Allan's side, and said, smilingly to -Olive, - -'May I smoke, Miss Raymond? The road is quite lonely, and if not -disagreeable to you----' - -'Certainly,' said she, curtly. - -'And I shall join you,' added Allan. 'Can you oblige me with a -light, Holcroft?' - -Cigars were selected, and Holcroft handed his silver matchbox to -Allan, who, with a leap of his heart, though without changing colour -or a muscle of his dark and sunburned face, saw on his rival's wrist -his own gift sent from Delhi, the gold bangle, which Olive had, -perhaps, for the time forgotten, and on which was her own name in -raised Roman letters. - -He had seen Holcroft in rather close proximity to her during the most -of the day, and if piqued thereat, more than ever was he piqued and -startled now, and abruptly wheeling round his horse, he muttered some -excuse and joined his sister and his friend Cameron, while the words -of the song came ominously back to memory-- - - 'Trust her not, she is fooling thee.' - - -The bangle! He blushed to think of it, and shrank as yet from -speaking of it, even to Eveline, for he was altogether unaware of -under what circumstances Holcroft came to possess it, or the effort -Olive had made to procure its return without success, but imagination -and jealousy now did much to fill his heart with secret fury. - -Would the future hold love or hatred for these two cousins? It -seemed just then difficult to say. - -Like Eveline, he thought the gift of the photo a trifle when compared -with this, yet the photo was eventually to prove the most serious and -troublesome gift of the two. - -Wounded self-esteem, disquiet, and intense mortification reigned -supreme in the mind of the somewhat proud young Master of Aberfeldie; -but he felt himself necessitated to dissemble. Hawke Holcroft was -his father's guest, the son of his father's oldest and most valued -friend; and while at Dundargue it would be necessary to treat him -with courtesy, though Allan never doubted that he was a 'leg,' and -resolved that his courtesy would be blended with watchfulness, -if--bitter thought--Olive was now worth watching over! - -Unprepared for such a crisis or catastrophe as the discovery of the -bangle, and ignorant that Allan had made it, when a carpet-dance took -place that evening at Dundargue, though Olive was arrayed in one of -her most becoming toilettes for him, and him alone, he never even -addressed her or looked near her; and, black though his brow, he -entirely occupied himself with Ruby Logan; and, provoked by this, -Olive again endured the attention of Holcroft, and thought to -play--or affect to play--with them _both_. - -In this, however, the little scheme was doomed to be disappointed by -the events of the following day. - -'I shall quit Dundargue for London, or give up my leave and go back -to the regiment, and never look upon her fair, false face again till -I have schooled myself into merely regarding her with a -brotherly--well, say cousinly--eye!' thought Allan, with great -bitterness of spirit. - -But how about that absurd will and the settlement of the money? - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -EVELINE'S SUITOR. - -'Verily,' says a writer, 'we miss our opportunities, and live our -lives as if they were all to come twice over; not as if each passing -sunset brought us nearer that day when the pulse must cease to beat, -and the heart with all its emotions must be stilled for ever.' - -Olive was now experiencing the truth of this to a certain extent. - -She had been--in spite of herself--touched by Allan's earnestness, -and on retiring to her room her first act was to have his neglected -gift--the little silver idol--the bequest of the grateful -subadar--duly installed on a pretty Swiss bracket, and next morning -she determined to discover why his manner, after their return from -Dunsinane, had been so marked and disagreeable to her, even if she -should take the initiative, and have to recur to the conversation -which ended so abruptly on the preceding evening. - -She entered the breakfast-room full of the subject, and dressed--so -far as lace and blue ribbons went--in a most attractive and -coquettish morning costume; but Allan was not there--he was at the -stables, no doubt, or at the kennel. How tiresome men were, she -thought. - -'Good morning, Olive darling! how charming you look--I must -positively give you a kiss!' exclaimed the not usually effusive Lady -Aberfeldie, touching the girl's cheek with her lips. - -The last to appear at the breakfast-table was her husband, who -entered with a note in his hand, and an expression of surprise on his -face. - -'Here is a strange thing, Eveline,' said he to Lady Aberfeldie. -'Tappleton has just brought me this note from Allan----' - -'From Allan!' exclaimed one or two voices. - -'Stating that he would leave by dawn this morning to take the train -for the south, and might be absent some time, and this without -further explanation.' - -'How odd--how unlike him!' exclaimed Lady Aberfeldie. 'Do you know -of any business engagement or invitation he had?' - -'No--I know of nothing.' - -'Or you, Olive--or you, Mr. Cameron?' - -All professed ignorance, and the matter was canvassed by the family -circle in vain. - -'It will be explained, of course. Allan never acts without reason,' -said his father, addressing himself to the morning meal. - -'Allan gone--how odd--how unaccountable!' was the thought of Olive, -whose heart rather reproached her; and now, for a little time, she -missed the handsome cousin whom she had so teased, worried, and -mortified; and she began to dread that he had resigned his leave of -absence, and gone abruptly to rejoin his regiment. - -'Olive,' said Lady Aberfeldie, 'do go on with your breakfast.' - -'Oh, auntie, I have finished.' - -'Finished!--child, you have taken nothing: Tappleton will get you a -little grouse-pie.' - -'Oh, no--thanks,' replied Olive, and, rising from the table, she -quitted the room. The eyes of her aunt and Holcroft followed her, as -each had thoughts of their own. - -The love the latter professed for her was destitute of jealousy, but -was not without fear; and his face just then would have been a -picture had anyone cared to study it. - -There might have been read satisfaction that by Allan's unexpected -departure he had the field all to himself; annoyance, for the -Dundargue despatch-box often brought him, and on this morning had -done so, epistles in blue envelopes, which he cared not to receive; -greed, as he thought of the prize that might yet be his; and hot -impatience to find it in his grasp; and thus, while affecting to -listen to Lord Aberfeldie, who was describing to him and Sir Paget a -cover they were to shoot over that day, his mind was revolving how he -might succeed in entrapping Olive Raymond into some kind of Scotch -marriage (whatever that was) in fun, or jest, and then declare it was -a true and solemn ceremony. He thought he had heard of such things -being tried and done, but was not quite certain. - -However, he took fresh courage now that he would have her all to -himself, and thought, with Bulwer, that 'thrones and bread man wins -by the aid of others. Fame and woman's heart he can only gain -through himself.' - -Not that he cared much for fame or woman's heart either; but he could -mightily appreciate her fortune. - -Whatever was the secret thought of Olive about the sudden and -unexpected departure of Allan, she felt some renewal of her pique, -but of a different kind, when told by Eveline of the magnificent -suite of Maltese ornaments he had brought home. - -'For whom?' she asked. - -'You, of course.' - -'Then he has never offered them for my acceptance.' - -'Think of your manner to him, Olive.' - -'They are for Ruby Logan more likely. He has met Ruby before, we all -know.' - -'I should not be surprised if they become a gift to Ruby now,' -replied Eveline, who was quietly provoked by Olive's treatment of her -brother; 'though, when he got these jewels at Malta, I question if he -knew of that yellow-haired damsel's existence.' - -And now, greatly to the vexation of Eveline, and the amusement -perhaps of Olive, the latter's bangle remained on the wrist of the -enterprising Mr. Holcroft, though none of them knew the mischief that -the discovery of it had wrought in the mind of Allan Graham; but in -the latter's absence poor little Eveline was doomed to -have--unsupported by his presence and advice--some heavy trouble of -her own. - -Lord and Lady Aberfeldie were in consultation in the latter's -boudoir, a little, old-fashioned room of octagonal shape, the -panelled walls of which were hung with rich silk--a sanctum long -sacred to the Chatelaines of Dundargue, and the whole appurtenances -of which had that combined air of ease, repose, and grandeur peculiar -to the furniture of an ancient and long-descended race. - -Kelpie--a currish-looking terrier, but her ladyship's pet--had got -his morning repast of cream and macaroons from her own white hands, -and, this important duty over, she and her husband began to converse -on family matters. - -Lady Aberfeldie amid these, indulged in some angry surmises as to how -long they were 'to have the society of Mr. Holcroft.' - -'I cannot say that I care much personally for Hawke Holcroft,' -replied her husband; 'but his father, as you know, saved my life at -Alma, and won therefore the V.C. I have told you, Eveline, I think, -that when Colin Campbell's Highland brigade advanced in _echelon_ of -regiments along the Kourgané Hill, the Black Watch, of course, led -the way, and, just about the time the Russian Kazan column broke, no -particular sound had followed our firing but the yells of their -wounded ringing through the smoke. With the next volley we heard a -rattling sound, as our bullets fell like hail upon the tin-kettles -they carried outside their knapsacks, as all the great grey-coated -blocks of infantry were _right about face_ now, in full retreat. It -was just then, as our calvary and guns swept after them in pursuit, -that I fell wounded, and would have been bayoneted on the spot by -four Russians, who lay among some caper bushes shamming death, had -not old Major Holcroft cut them down like ninepins, and protected me -till some of our fellows returned. I cannot forget all that, you -know.' - -Lady Aberfeldie, who had heard all this fifty times at least before, -sighed with impatience, and said, - -'His son certainly appears to have some attraction for Olive; and -what would you think if Allan, repelled by her, was actually to fall -in love with Ruby Logan and her amber locks? What a complication -that might be.' - -'Don't suggest such a thing for a moment. I hope he will prove -himself every way worthy of one who has so long occupied, like -Eveline, the place of a daughter in our hearts.' - -'Talking of Eveline, it is high time she was informed of Sir Paget's -views and wishes; and while on the subject may I ask,' she added, -with some asperity of tone, 'how long Mr. Cameron is to be here?' - -'A week yet, and then he must report himself at head-quarters.' - -'A whole week?' muttered lady Aberfeldie, who was far from -inhospitable when she approved of the objects to whom she thought -hospitality should be extended. - -'I do like Stratherroch. He is like his father, old Angus of the -Cameron Highlanders, yet not so lively; for Angus was the king of -good fellows, and used to keep the mess-table in a roar.' - -'Yet I would his son were with the regiment again, or anywhere else -but here.' - -'I think he admires Eveline.' - -'I am certain of it, and the sooner their intimacy terminates the -better. Eveline and Strath--good heavens!' exclaimed Lady -Aberfeldie, with her white jewelled hands uplifted, 'never again must -their names be mingled, even in our family circle, especially under -pending circumstances.' - -'They do seem intimate,' said the peer, moodily; 'but have not at -least progressed so far as the use of Christian names.' - -'That would be intolerable:' and, ringing the bell, Lady Aberfeldie -desired a servant to summon her daughter, who appeared in a very -coquettish and becoming lawn-tennis costume, for a game on the lawn, -where the courts were already set and some friends awaited. - -She entered with a bright smile, which soon died away, for she read -an expression in the faces of her parents, especially that of her -mother, which seemed to her sensitive heart prophetic of evil. - -If it be true, as Madame be Stael asserts, that 'love occupies the -whole life of a woman,' it need not be a matter of surprise that the -sex can discover each other's love secrets with ease; thus, though -Lady Aberfeldie fully suspected what filled the heart of her -daughter--so closely had she watched her--she was somewhat pitiless -now. - -With all her queenly manner and soft grace, her unexceptional -toilettes and suavity of manner, Lady Aberfeldie had a will of iron, -yea, of adamant in some things, and her daughter's marriage with Sir -Paget was one of them. - -She was told plainly and bluntly that he had proposed for her hand; -had asked permission to address her on the subject; had offered -magnificent--yea, princely settlements; and it was expected the -marriage would take place, when the family returned to London, next -season. - -The long dreaded cloud had burst upon her at last! - -She grew white as a lily on hearing this sentence, clung to a console -table for support, and then burst into a torrent of tears, while her -father drew her tenderly towards him. - -'Be calm, child,' said he, 'we shall give you plenty of time to think -about it; marriage is a serious thing at all times.' - -Eveline thought it was doubly serious with such a bridegroom, but -could only sob, while her mother eyed her gloomily, as she thought -this excessive grief and repugnance augured worse for her scheme than -indignation or defiance would have done; but poor Eveline was all -softness and gentleness. - -'What folly is this?' she asked. - -'I am your only daughter, mamma,' urged Eveline. - -'Hence it is your first duty to your family, to yourself, and the -world to make an early, eligible, and wealthy marriage. Every season -brings many such to pass in our own circle.' - -'Are we so poor, mamma?' - -'We are not rich, and know not what may happen.' - -Did Lady Aberfeldie speak prophetically? If so, it was an utterance -made unawares. - -'Eveline darling,' said her father, 'you were content enough with the -attentions of Sir Paget, and to accept even his presents in London, a -season or two ago.' - -'I was but a girl then fresh from school, and--and joined other girls -in laughing at my having an old lover. I--I knew no better,' she -continued, sobbing. - -'And had not met Cameron of Stratherroch!' said her mother through -her set teeth, and quite forgetting the _rôle_ she had so recently -suggested. - -'No,' thought Eveline, 'and had not learned to love him.' She -shivered as if she had been struck when her mother spoke, and then -said, with all the firmness she could assume. - -'You must mistake us in some way, mamma. Mr. Cameron has never -addressed a word to me that he might not have addressed to yourself.' - -'I am glad of it--then I shall taunt you with his name no more,' said -her mother, kissing her forehead. 'People generally, but young -ladies especially, should never indulge in strong emotions.' - -'Perhaps, mamma; but why?' - -'They age the face so much by lining it.' - -Eveline covered with her handkerchief her whole sweet face, which was -quivering with emotion now. She felt that the romance of her young -girl's life was quite passing from her, and that, even if she escaped -a marriage with Sir Paget, she must think of Evan Cameron and his -silent love no more! - -'Think of Sir Paget's princely settlements,' said Lord Aberfeldie. -'But how difficult it is,' he added, as if to himself, 'to imbue a -woman--a pretty girl more than all--with any idea of the seriousness -of pounds, shillings, and pence! To her they are as the sands upon -the seashore, unless she has known want.' - -'Do reflect on all this, Eveline,' urged her mother. - -'I cannot; and why should I do so?' - -'Because most of the great evils of life might be avoided if we would -only take time to reflect.' - -'In a matter like this, mamma,' said Eveline, taking courage from her -desperation, and hoping by temporising to gain, at least, time, -'reflection might lead to madness. Can wealth or princely -settlements make up for that disparity of years which will excite -ridicule in all the girls who know me, and cover me with contempt as -a mean, sordid, and covetous creature in marrying a man I do not and -can never love, and who cannot really care for me, whatever he may -think or say? So, so, I am to be taken to market, as it were, and -sold to the best advantage. That is the plain English of it!' - -'Eveline, how can you adopt a tone so little like you?' said her -mother, reproachfully. 'Sir Paget will be sure to address you on -this subject, as he has your papa's permission, and, when he does so, -be sure that you comport yourself as becomes my daughter,' she added, -rather haughtily, and rather ignoring her husband in the matter. -'But go; I hear Olive and Miss Logan calling for you.' - -Eveline hurried away, bathed her eyes, and then, hat in hand, -descended from the terrace to the sunny lawn, where Olive, Ruby, and -other girls were flitting about, radiant with smiles and in -gaily-coloured costumes, with saucy and bewitching hats, talking and -laughing merrily; but the girl felt as one in a dream, a nightmare. -A dark cloud seemed to envelop her, amid which she heard the voices -of her friends, and it may be imagined with what emotions in her -breast she saw in the tennis-court opposite her, Cameron, looking so -handsome in a kind of athlete's flannel dress, and the rotund figure -of Sir Paget in a tight morning coat, out of the neck of which his -round, shining head was jerked ever and anon in the turtle fashion we -have described. - -Never while she lived, Eveline thought, should she forget the horror -she had of that game of lawn-tennis; the part she had to act in it -under a glorious sunshine, and the desire she had for the seclusion -of her own room, for by contrast with the chaos in her own heart the -whole bright scene became a species of grim phantasmagoria. - -Her heart seemed full of tears; her naturally buoyant and happy -spirit was crushed. She dared hardly trust herself to address even -Cameron, who saw, with a lover's instinct, that something, he knew -not what (unless with reference to Sir Paget), had gone decidedly -wrong. - -We have already adverted to the strong passion an elderly swain like -Sir Paget may conceive for a young girl; and, encouraged by her -parents' permission, he was now giving full swing to it, as he -watched her slender, lithe, and willowy figure in the various -postures incident to the game, which tested his powers of action -severely, and during a pause in it he approached her with a smile -rippling on his rubicund old face, and displaying a set of teeth that -were first-rate as to cost and quality. - -'My dear Miss Graham,' he said, with a most insinuating jerk of his -head, 'why do you avoid me?' - -'I am not aware that I avoid you; I hope I don't do so,' replied -Eveline, colouring with annoyance, and at the conviction that she -certainly had done so. Then, as a kind of hunted feeling came over -her, she added; 'but I do not think, Sir Paget, that I am bound to -account to you for all I do.' - -'Of course not,' said he, with a bow, and Eveline coloured more -deeply at the ungraciousness of her own speech; 'of course not, my -dear young lady--_as yet_,' he added, under his breath. - -At last she pleaded illness, fatigue, and headache, threw down her -hat, and fairly fled to her own room. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -A REVELATION TO HOLCROFT. - -The sudden, unexpected, and unexplained departure of Allan Graham -from Dundargue (a reason for which will be given in due time), if it -puzzled his family, still more puzzled and piqued Olive, especially -after what passed between them on their homeward ride. But then, -says Lefanu,--'Women are so enigmatical; some in everything--all in -matters of the heart.' - -The monetary matters of Mr. Hawke Holcroft were approaching a species -of crisis now, and he was daily getting orange-coloured missives and -messages 'wired' in mysterious terms from jockeys, bookmakers, and -other horsey folks that added to his tribulation, for things seemed -to be going wrong with him, and he felt that now or never must he -attempt to secure the heiress, who, he thought, was only waiting to -be carried off. - -Even loo and écarté in the evening with such pigeon-like players as -Sir Paget were beginning to fail as resources. - -'Odd fellow in his way,' remarked the baronet to Cameron. 'A trifle -too lucky at cards for my taste.' - -'Or mine,' said Cameron, grimly. - -'Turns up the king too often after the early hours of the morning.' - -Yet when night came again and the small hours of the morning, the -somewhat simple M.P. for Slough-cum-Sloggit was again a heavy loser -to Holcroft. - -'He has some secret about him,' said the former. - -'Most men have some secret which they generally keep to themselves,' -replied Cameron. - -'Secrets certainly, which they seldom tell to their wives or -sweethearts,' said the baronet, laughing. - -We have said that Olive had a secret thought that might prove -somewhat fatal to Allan's success with her, a mistaken idea that -Holcroft loved her--loved her for herself--and despite the tenor of -her father's will; while Allan might love her because he knew the -value of its tenor to himself. - -And, now that the latter was so unaccountably absent, Holcroft was -full of confidence, and, the ice having once been broken, thought it -would be easy to go back to where he had left off on the ride home -from Dunsinane. - -In his own selfish way he loved her; but then she was beautiful. -Loved her! 'Oh, poverty of language, that we must so often use the -word love!' exclaims a writer. - -It was some days before his inevitable departure from Dundargue (and -not an hour too soon for that), when he and Olive were somewhat -earlier, and before anyone else, in the breakfast-room, and the notes -of Ronald Gair's pipes, playing his morning reveille, 'The Black -Watch,' a slow and wailing air, were dying away on the terrace -outside. - -Holcroft's face looked worn and haggard--more freckled, and the eyes -more than usually shifty in their expression. He had received some -letters and telegrams the evening before that upset him so much that -he failed even to win at loo or écarté, and the live-long night he -had been heard by Cameron pacing to and fro, as if unable to rest. - -Olive was struck by his pallid appearance. - -They exchanged 'Good-mornings,' and then a few minutes' silence -ensued. - -'We may have rain soon.' was the not very original remark of Holcroft. - -'The sky looks very like it. Rain always comes when the mist is -where we see it now, on yonder low spur of the Sidlaw Hills,' replied -Olive. - -She was kneeling on a bearskin, beside the great staghounds, Shiuloch -and Bran, with her little white hands outspread before the fire for -warmth; and a charming picture she made, in her morning costume, -fresh and lovely as a fairy, with the dogs in the foreground, and the -great carved stone arch of the baronial chimney-piece for a frame. - -Hawke Holcroft turned from the window and came to her side, though -curiously enough the hazel eyes of the hounds glistened, and they -showed their teeth at him, suggestive of kicks secretly administered. - -'We are down earlier than usual this morning,' said she. - -'All the better.' - -'Why?' - -'I want so particularly to talk to you,' said he, with all the -softness he could assume. - -'And I with you,' said Olive, with a frankness that was a curious -mistake. 'You leave us soon, I believe?' - -'Yes.' - -'For London?' - -'For London,' he replied, mechanically, as it were. - -'I thought you came to stay out the grouse-shooting?' - -'Till the tenth of December! I have not been asked,' he replied, -gnawing his yellow moustache; and then, after a pause, added, 'would -_you_ wish that I stayed?' - -'Certainly, if you are enjoying yourself,' was the girl's frank -but--after what he had urged some time ago--rather rash response. - -His eyes sparkled--he drew nearer. - -'Miss Raymond--Olive!' he exclaimed, but paused, as, at that moment, -Lady Aberfeldie swept into the room; 'on the terrace--the terrace -after breakfast,' he whispered, hurriedly, and then turned to receive -his hostess's morning greeting, which was so frigid that he feared -she had overheard him call her niece by her Christian name. - -Holcroft was rather abstracted at breakfast; thus Ruby Logan, who had -been watching him, said, - -'I would not, if I were you, put more sugar on the devilled turkey; -it won't improve it.' - -'Forgot it was not salt; thanks, Miss Logan,' stammered Holcroft. - -Now, whether the charming Olive was inspired by coquetry, curiosity, -caprice, or a strange desire to play with fire, we know not; but when -breakfast was over she laid down a novel she had been reading, or -affecting to read, at intervals during the meal, and, assuming her -garden hat, with all the laces and ribbons of her bright morning -dress fluttering about her, while everyone else at table was deep in -his or her letters and papers, went forth upon--the terrace! - -Now Mr. Hawke Holcroft never read novels or anything else unless for -a purpose. He glanced at the page which Olive had left open (the -work was 'Miss Forrester') and the passage struck him as most -_apropos_ to himself: - -'I never pretended to goodness. I have certain views for myself. I -never pretended to fooling. I am clever. What stands between me and -my ambition I will remove; of whatever can administer to it I will -avail myself. Beyond this, it seems to me, I am as good as other -people.' - -'Hawke, my boy, yourself to a hair!' thought he, as he quietly sought -the terrace, not by the French window, as Olive had done, but by -going through a corridor and the entrance hall. - -As coolly as if she had no prevision of what he was sure to urge, -Olive, who wore a waggish yet shy expression under her garden hat, -and who kept her hands deep in the pockets of her morning dress, said, - -'What have you to say to me here that you could not have said in the -vicinity of the tea-urn?' - -'All that I have to say may be said in three words.' - -'Three! say it then.' - -'I love you; a confession that has hovered on my timid lips many a -time.' - -'I cannot listen to this, and I wish to have back my bangle. If -Allan were to see it--good heavens!' - -'I have said that it shall be buried with me. Do give me some hope.' - -'Of what; permission to retain the bangle?' - -'No; that you may one day love me.' - -'I cannot.' - -'Say rather that you will not.' - -Barring, in an angle of the terrace, her attempts to leave him, he -continued, in an earnestness that was born of monetary pressure and -desperate hope, to plead his passion. - -'I am greatly honoured,' replied the girl, growing cold as he waxed -warm, and glancing nervously at the windows of the mansion; 'but I am -very sorry----' - -'That you don't love me.' - -'Yes.' - -'But you may in time. Oh, how I could teach you to do so! Let me -wait and strive, Olive. You deem me wild, perhaps--horsey, and all -that sort of thing; but do you think a man never changes, never grows -better, under a woman's softening influence? Are you entirely to let -this family compact, whatever it may be, Olive--pardon me, Miss -Raymond,' he added, as he saw how her face clouded by the reference -to her position--'are you intending to let it stand between you and -all other chances of marriage?' - -'You have no right to question me thus, or to assume this interest in -my affairs, Mr. Holcroft.' - -'Pardon me, but I have a love for you that will last while life does.' - -He did not add that it was the love of--her money. - -'If there is only the Master, your cousin, between us, that is no -barrier, as I know you don't love him.' - -'Then you know more of me than I do of myself,' said Olive, provoked -by his blunt brusquerie of manner, and failing to be flattered by his -pertinacity just then. - -'Perhaps you deem me an heiress?' said Olive, as a new light suddenly -broke upon her. - -'My dear Miss Raymond,' stammered Holcroft, colouring with surprise -at the abruptness of her question. 'I never thought upon the -subject; I only knew that--that--I am not just now a man of fortune; -my place in Essex----' he paused, thinking the less he said about it -the better. 'But who thinks of pelf when the heart is full of -passion!' he added, magnanimously. 'But tell me now,' said he, in -his most suave tone, 'do you care for anyone else more than for me?' - -'I don't care for you at all--at least in the way you mean,' she -replied, defiantly. - -He ground his teeth, even while he smiled, and thought, - -'I must have patience before I tempt my fate again!' - -Hawke Holcroft had made it so much a habit during his sojourn at -Dundargue to be in close attendance upon Olive--especially when they -were alone together--that his lovemaking took her less by surprise. -In a spirit of pique she had permitted him to dangle, and to play--if -we may use the term--at admiration for herself; but, now that he had -become serious a second time, she became alarmed. - -The remark which had escaped her had excited some surprise in the -mind of Holcroft, as it interested him deeply; thus he said, in a low -soft voice, - -'You referred to your not being an heiress, Miss Raymond, as if -_that_ could possibly make any difference with one who loves you -as--as----' - -'There, there, that will do!' interrupted the impetuous Olive; 'I am -_not_ an heiress, in one sense, but very much of a beggar, if you -knew all,' she added, in a voice that faltered. - -He regarded her with some bewilderment, as well he might, and said, - -'My dear Miss Raymond, what am I to understand by this paradox?' - -'Understand that I must marry my cousin Allan, or forfeit papa's -fortune--it goes to him if I refuse, or to charities.' - -Her distinctness and vehemence carried conviction with her words. -Holcroft was confounded; but, being a practised dissembler, he only -smiled, and said, - -'A most remarkable arrangement, and a tyrannical one for you. But -suppose the Master had died in his boyhood--or were to die now?' - -'The will would be worthless in effect, of course, I suppose,' -replied Olive, whose cheeks now burned scarlet, for--always a -creature of hot impulse--she now thought, '_why_ should I have -permitted my self to speak to _him_, one, almost a stranger, or to -any man, of papa's will? What must he think of me! Oh, what will -Aunt Aberfeldie say?' - -For half a minute Holcroft was silent. He was thinking, 'this must -be all bosh!--a cock and a bull, or a madman's will; she doesn't know -what she is talking about--no woman or girl ever knows business. -Well--I've a pull on her anyway; a viscount's niece isn't in a -fellow's power every day, as she will find herself in mine.' - -What he referred to we shall show ere long. - -While Olive was still crimson with reflections on her own imprudence, -Holcroft took possession of her passive hands, and said, in a partly -assumed voice of agitation, - -'You told me, Miss Raymond--let me say Olive--a minute or two ago -that you did not care for me. I shall not take that as your final -answer; and ere I leave Dundargue, when I again venture to speak to -you on the subject nearest my heart, your reply----' - -'Will too probably be the same,' replied Olive, wrenching away her -hands, as steps were heard near, and she hastily re-entered the house. - -The footsteps heard were those of Allan, who came leisurely up the -flight, a broad and stately one, which led to the terrace. He had, -while proceeding down the avenue, observed the pair together, and, as -it seemed to him, in rather too close proximity. He also remarked -Olive's abrupt departure, at _his_ approach as he supposed, and his -soul become ireful within him; but he felt himself, as he gave a hand -to Holcroft, compelled to dissemble. - -So did the latter who met him smilingly. - -'Welcome home to Dundargue,' he exclaimed; 'you have come back as -unexpectedly as you went; but whither?' - -'Only as far as Edinburgh.' - -'Ah.' The reply seemed rather to relieve Holcroft. Nothing was -known about him there, he thought. - -'A lady was on the terrace with you just now?' - -'Yes--Miss Raymond.' - -'So I thought--sorry she did not stay.' - -'Why--particularly?' - -'I have some news that may interest her.' - -'About whom?' - -'Herself.' - -'Hope they are pleasant?' - -'That will depend upon how she may view them,' said Allan, with a -nod, as he entered the house. - -'Now, what the deuce has he been up to--this fellow, with his hair -cut to the military pattern--Newgate crop, I should call it--he looks -queer this morning,' muttered Holcroft, as he selected a cigar from -his case, bit the end off with his sharp white teeth, and proceeded -to smoke it with brief, angry, and unenjoyable puffs that indicated a -mind full of bitterness and ill at ease. Olive's communication had -been a sudden revelation to him. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -ALLAN PROVES MYSTERIOUS. - -If Allan's sudden departure and unexplained absence excited some -curiosity in the minds of his family, his return excited it afresh -when he declined to make any explanation until he had held an -interview with his cousin, Olive Raymond, who, for a time, secluded -herself in her own room on the usual feminine plea of having a -headache. - -Eveline, who had so longed for his return, now with tears told him of -her father's frequently expressed wish--nay, command, and Sir Paget's -forthcoming proposal; but, full of his own miseries, he could only -caress her and say, - -'God bless you, little one. I wish you well over all this.' - -Sir Paget had left Dundargue pending the final arrangements, as he -thought; thus the cloud and the dread were hanging over her still. - -'Has Olive received back her gold bangle--my gift--from Mr. -Holcroft?' asked Allan, with knitted brows. - -'I--I think not. How did you learn he had it?' - -'Plainly enough--I saw it on his wrist!' - -'Where he put it, in play--not she.' - -'I should hope not, by Jove!' - -'I know she has asked him for it repeatedly.' - -'Can't make the beggar out.' - -'I can--he thinks Olive an heiress. - -Allan's dark brow became more deeply knitted. - -'She thinks that if she married you, Allan dear,' said his sister, -after a pause, 'she would be sacrificing her own pride and liberty, -and that you might marry her though not caring for her----' - -'But for that wretched money?' said Allan, with a kind of snort. -'Poor Olive--she views the situation in this light! I certainly -shall not ask her to make any sacrifices for me, and, so far as I am -concerned, she shall be free as a bird in the air.' - -His sister regarded him now with some perplexity, not understanding -what he meant, but said, - -'You have just come in time for a little carpet-dance we have -arranged as a farewell treat to Ruby Logan, Mr. Holcroft, and--and -Evan Cameron, who are about to leave Dundargue.' - -Allan noted the inflection of her voice as she uttered the name of -his young brother officer, and then hurried away, as their mother -entered the room, and with rather a cloudy expression in her face, -though he hastened to kiss her. - -'You have been to Edinburgh, I have heard,' she said. - -'Yes.' - -'About what, Allan?' - -'That you will learn in time, mother. I must speak with Olive first.' - -Lady Aberfeldie was full of irrepressible curiosity, but Allan -declined to gratify it just then. - -'Have your recent movements any reference to Olive?' - -'You will learn in time, mother.' - -Lady Aberfeldie's face shaded with annoyance, for, only the day -before, she and the petulant young lady in question had indulged in a -tift between them. - -Perceiving a wistful look and fitful manner about Olive, and that she -was more than usually restless and irritable, Lady Aberfeldie had -unwisely spoken to her on the subject of Allan's regard for her. - -Olive had sat for a moment or two, with her delicate hands tightly -interlaced in her lap, and then, turning defiantly to her aunt, she -said, - -'I will never marry Allan!' - -'You must marry Allan, my dear girl,' replied Lady Aberfeldie, calmly -and firmly. - -'Why?' - -'You know your father's wish.' - -'Oh, the will, of course! So I am to be treated like a child? Well, -if so, I may prove a wilful and dangerous one!' - -Her aunt's report of this conversation made Lord Aberfeldie more than -ever anxious for the return of his son. - -'You are very mysterious, Allan. You and Olive seem a pair of -enigmas,' said Lady Aberfeldie. 'But your father waits you in the -library, and perhaps you will condescend to confide in him, if not in -me. I must own it will be a fatal thing for your future happiness if -Olive thinks you seek her for gain; but for what does Mr. Holcroft so -evidently seek her?' - -Allan smiled disdainfully. - -'I have tried to think, mother dear, that she is not affected by this -person Holcroft, but begin to own to myself that "the faith that -worketh miracles" is not in me.' - -When questioned by his father, Allan made the same reticent reply, -that he must see Olive before making any explanations. - -'The time has come now, Allan,' said Lord Aberfeldie, 'when you are -bound in honour to make your cousin an offer, for in this peculiar -entanglement--for such, I grant you, it is--you and she do not stand -in the position of most engaged persons.' - -'But suppose I have no wish to marry----' - -'Absurd--outrageous!' - -'Or may not marry at all?' - -'By the refusal of Olive?' - -'Yes.' - -'Then her fortune, or most of it, becomes yours, in terms of the -will--' - -'Which has been a curse to us both. In her mind, and in the eyes of -all who may come to hear of it, we must lie under the degrading -imputation of a mercenary motive.' - -'Not if you act with tact and delicacy, and surely your boy-and-girl -attachment must remain unchanged,' said Lord Aberfeldie, in a voice -that was soft, rather than indignant, as his memory went back to the -day when Olive first came a little orphan child to Dundargue--a tiny -and graceful creature, with tender, wondering, and beseeching eyes--a -child that climbed upon his knee, clung to him with sympathetic love, -and played with his watch-chain or the tassels of his sash, if he was -in uniform. 'And so,' he added, after a pause, 'you must propose to -the dear girl as a mere matter of form.' - -'I have already done so,' said Allan, recalling, what he was not -likely to forget, all that had occurred during the homeward ride from -Dunsinane. - -'Well, sir?' asked his father. - -'I was laughed at--mocked, I may say.' - -'Impossible! The girl must have been jesting with you.' - -'I do not think so,' said Allan, both sadly and bitterly as he -thought of the bangle and many other circumstances, the inevitable -'trifles light as air.' - -'Well, you are bound to renew your proposal.' - -'I do not think so, nor shall I again, unless some change comes over -her.' - -'If I exert my authority as guardian and trustee----' - -'She may run away. Olive is a proud and restless girl with a defiant -spirit, though she has a very affectionate heart.' - -'But you cannot expect that she is to propose to _you_.' - -'I do love her, father--love her dearly; but fear that she views me -too much as a brother to love me otherwise.' - -'This is rank nonsense. Think of your separations, and of your -last--one well nigh seven years--with the Black Watch.' - -'But might it not be the case that she may have a _penchant_ for some -one else?' - -'For whom?' asked Lord Aberfeldie, angrily. - -'Well, say for your friend Mr. Holcroft.' - -'Penniless Hawke Holcroft! absurd--the man has seen but little of -her.' - -'Quite enough in London and here to learn to admire, if not to love -her. I would, however, rather see her laid in her grave than married -to Holcroft,' said Allan, in a stern but broken voice, adding under -his breath, as he left his father's presence and cut short an -unpleasant interview, 'but, so far as I am concerned, she shall be -free to choose for herself--free as the wind.' - -'What the deuce can all this mean?' exclaimed Lord Aberfeldie, in -great perplexity; 'was ever an unfortunate man more troubled with two -intractable girls, than I am with Eveline and Olive!' - -It has been said that, 'if exceedingly few men and women understand -each other when they are in their sober senses, how must it fare when -they are under the blinding influence of love?' - -But Allan's course of action was decided now. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -OLIVE CHANGES HER MIND. - -'You are pleased to see me again, Olive?' - -'Of course, Allan--why do you ask me?' she exclaimed, putting both -her hands into his in welcome. - -He retained them with a tender pressure for half a minute, looking -the while wistfully into her violet eyes, and then he let them drop -from his clasp. - -'You wish particularly to speak with me, I understand?' said Olive, -nervously thinking it must refer to the _tête-à-tête_ he had overseen -on the terrace. - -'Yes--particularly, dear Olive.' - -When he saw her tender beauty, her grace, and her witchery, and felt -all the subtle charm of her presence, his heart was wrung by the -thought that, by the very act he had the power to do, and the -suggestions he was about to make to her, he might place her at the -entire disposal of Hawke Holcroft, of whose real character he now -knew more than formerly. - -How variable had been the emotions she had, ever since his return -from India, exhibited towards him! By turns she had been changeable -and indifferent apparently; playful, petulant, and imperious; yet -always bewitching and sweet. - -Seeing the cloudy and sad expression of his eye, Olive said, - -'You have not come to scold me for anything, Allan. We are at least -friends.' - -'Would we were more,' said Allan, remembering what his father had -urged but a few minutes before. - -'Surely to be cousins is a near enough relationship.' - -'Olive,' said he, reproachfully, 'unless you have formed a distinct -attachment for some one else, I must say I do not understand you.' - -'I don't want you to understand me,' she replied, with half-averted -face. - -'Why are you so hard with me?' he exclaimed, with a wistful, longing, -and miserable expression in his eyes. - -She made no reply, so he spoke again. - -'I have had a long consultation with our family agent in Edinburgh.' - -'About what?' - -'Your affairs and mine, Olive.' - -'_My_ affairs?' - -'Yes, and I have obtained the opinion of ruby Logan's father, and of -counsel of much higher--yes, of the highest--repute on the vexed -subject of your father's will--vexed at least between you and I, -Olive.' - -She gazed at him with something of vacant surprise blended with -inquiry in her face. - -'What I am about to suggest may be dangerous, as I do not know the -terms on which you permit yourself to be with this--Mr. Holcroft--but -I have had excellent legal advice, and----' - -'Legal advice--oh, indeed!' she interrupted, with a toss of her -pretty head; 'that is well, for the laws as made by you men rank us -women with children and lunatics. And what says this advice?' - -'That you can be freed from the trammels of your father's will--free, -and the inheritrix of your own great wealth.' - -She regarded him for a minute with blank astonishment; then as bright -joy like sunshine spread over her sweet face and sparkled in the -depth of her eyes, she exclaimed, in a low voice, - -'Free, do you say, free in my own actions, and free to bestow papa's -money how and on whom I please?' - -'On _whom_ you please,' replied Allan, thinking with intense -mortification on Holcroft, and Holcroft only; for personally he was -far above thinking of the fortune that might otherwise be his own, as -the stars are above the earth. 'Let me but see all this matter fully -arranged and then I shall be content,' said he, after a pause, during -which they had been regarding each other; he, her with sadness, and -she him with bewilderment. 'There are rumours in the air of a -turn-up with the Turks, and of a war in Egypt, and right glad I am of -that!' - -'Why, Allan?' - -'Because I'll get attached to the first army corps that sails, even -if the Black Watch is not going; but that it is sure to be, as, thank -God! the dear old corps is always in everything.' - -'And why this joy?' - -'To get as far away from you as possible,' he replied, bluntly, in a -hollow tone. - -'Must you do so, Allan?' - -'Yes, unless I mean to drive myself mad.' - -'Do you really love me so much--and--and,' she paused, for she seemed -touched, her sweet lips were quivering now. - -'What more?' - -'For myself alone,' she asked, softly. - -'Love you--oh, Olive.' - -'There now, don't!' she exclaimed, turning away her face, and Allan -shrank back. - -'Playing with me, after all--after all!' he muttered. 'Will you -please to look at the opinion of counsel,' he added, drawing from his -pocket a folio document, stitched with a red thread, and with a broad -margin. - -'What a long story!' she exclaimed, as she glanced at and read, - - -'Chambers, Edinburgh. - -'Copy of Counsel's opinion referred to in letter of 20th October, -1882, on the will of the late Oliver Raymond, Esq, of Jamaica, with -note of fees thereon.' - - -'What a fearful long story!' exclaimed Olive again. 'Tell me all -about it, Allan? but pray don't read it.' - -'The will of your father is herein denounced as eccentric--one that -no court of law would enforce, nor could uphold, as in more than one -instance it is not conceived in strictly legal terms, and, to all -intents and purposes, can be put aside if you choose. Thus, Olive, -you are free--free from all the bonds--if such ever existed--that -seemed to bind you to me; and I thank God that it is so, and I shall -go to Egypt, perhaps, with a lighter heart. All that now remains to -be done is to take the means, if such are necessary, to have the -document set aside as so much waste paper, and you duly made mistress -of your inheritance, as you are now of age, in England, at least, -where it is invested. Thus, you see, Olive, this opinion of counsel -is most valuable to you.' - -Her soft eyes were brimming over with tears now, as she mechanically -took the document in her tremulous fingers. - -'And thus you relinquish me?' she said. - -'I relinquish, gladly, your fortune, and all control over your -actions, if--you choose.' - -'But I don't choose! Oh, Allan, how generous all this is of you. -But I shall not be less so, nor will I act upon this opinion of -counsel.' - -'How?' - -'See, thus!' - -And, tearing it into pieces, she cast them into the fire-grate. - -'Illegal as it may be, papa's will must be now a law to me more than -ever.' - -'And you, Olive?' - -'Love you, dear Allan, and love you dearly,' cried the wilful and -impulsive girl, as all her heart went forth to him, and he pressed -her to his breast at last. - -Doubt, pride, defiance, and petulance had all passed away, and Olive -was all softness, love, and joy now; and to the pair time seemed for -a term to stand still, and save their caressing words softly -murmured, and the twitter of birds among the ivy without, silence -appeared to reign in this room; and nothing seemed to disturb them, -till Olive suddenly started from Allan's arms. - -'What is it, love?' he asked. - -'A face at the window!' - -'Whose face?' - -'I know not,' she replied, with some agitation. 'It has just -vanished.' - -She thought, nay, she was sure, it had the features of Hawke -Holcroft, but she did not _say_ so. If it were he, how much had he -overheard, how much overseen! - -But she soon forgot the episode, and that night at dinner she looked -more radiant than ever, in her suite of Maltese jewellery--gold set -with orient pearls. - -'It is usual for engaged ladies to have a ring,' Allan had whispered, -as he slipped a magnificently jewelled hoop upon her mystic finger. - -'Fool that I have been!' thought the girl. 'How near was I -estranging one of the best and dearest of men in the world, not for -the sake of one immeasurably his inferior, even worthless perhaps, -but in a spirit of vanity, pique, and suspicion!' - -'Allan,' she whispered to him softly, when an opportunity came, 'I -see now how foolish I have been and wilful--oh, so wilful! But we -all make mistakes in life, and require at times each other's pity and -forgiveness.' - -How sweetly and shyly she looked and spoke. - -Hawke Holcroft felt intuitively, and indeed saw, that there was some -sudden change in the bearing of the pair to each other, and that a -sudden brightness had come into the faces of all--even that of -Eveline, usually now so _triste_ and pale--and under his sandy -moustache he 'wondered what the devil it all meant,' till his -watchful eyes detected the new and brilliant ring on the engaged -finger of Olive Raymond! - - -If Mr. Hawke Holcroft imagined he had nothing to dread personally -from the Master's sudden visit to Edinburgh he reckoned without his -host, as he would have found had he overheard a brief conversation -which took place between Allan and his comrade, young Cameron, as -they loitered in the gun-room looking over old Joe-Mantons, new -rifles, and central-fire breech-loaders, &c. - -He was not slow to perceive very soon that Allan, usually so suave -and pleasant in manner, treated him now with a kind of stiffness that -was almost hauteur; but he dissembled his rage and so did Allan, who -had a keen sense of the laws of hospitality, with the genuine British -dread of aught that might approach a 'scene,' more than all as the -visit of Holcroft was nearly ended. - -Poor wretch! he strove well to keep a brave front in society, while -letters that often lay beside his plate at breakfast were seen to -cloud his brow with perplexity, for they alluded to wrong horses -backed, I.O.U.'s, bills, and cheques 'referred to drawer,' and so -forth, and he must have left Dundargue before this, but for a -friendly slip of paper, which he had received from Lord Aberfeldie, -that 'Fool of Quality,' as he thought him. - -'Look here, Cameron,' said Allan, as the twain smoked their cigars in -a quiet place. 'It is little wonder to me that you, Sir Paget -Puddicombe, and one or two others lost at cards with Holcroft as you -did. I dined with our fellows at the mess in the Castle when I went -to Edinburgh. There his name cropped up by the merest chance, and I -was told by Carslogie of Ours that he was present at a shindy in -London, where this fellow Holcroft, after having an unprecedented run -at cards at a place in St. James Street, was accused of having the -ace of trumps up his sleeve, from whence it fell when he was shying a -bottle at the accuser's head. He talks to the pater largely of his -"place in Essex," or what remains of it. Involved in debt to a -ruinous extent, he gave bills right and left, which were dishonoured. -£10,000 _had_ been raised upon his estate, in which he had only a -reversionary interest, and, when the mortgagees called in their -money, and the estate was sold, it did not suffice to pay a tithe of -the sums he had raised in every conceivable way, and everyone lost -their money all round. Sharp that! Yet he scraped through without -punishment.' - -'By Jove!' - -'Worse still. Carslogie told me he was suspected of causing a horse -to fail in a race through having the bit poisoned; and how he left a -young fellow in the Hussars at Maidstone in the lurch, by refusing at -the last moment to ride for him a peculiarly vicious horse, which he -had solemnly undertaken to do, and so causing him to lose the race, -on which he had most imprudently made a ruinously heavy book.' - -'And how did it end?' - -'The report of a pistol that night in the cavalry barrack announced -that the Hussar had shot himself--that is all! And this is the -"young man of the period" whom my father's confiding simplicity has -made a welcome guest for some weeks back at Dundargue, and thrown -into the society of my sister and Olive! But I shall fully open his -eyes the moment our visitor is gone.' - -But it was rather a pity for his own sake that Allan did not 'open' -Lord Aberfeldie's eyes a little before that event, and such being the -character of Mr. Hawke Holcroft the reader may feel less surprised at -some of the things we may have to record of him ere long. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE CARPET-DANCE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. - -Though somewhat of the nature of an impromptu affair, the -'carpet-dance' partook of something of a more important kind. Many -guests were invited; the ladies were in semi-toilet and the gentlemen -in evening dress: but the great dancing-room at Dundargue was -decorated to perfection by the care of Mr. Tappleton, the butler, the -housekeeper, and gardener, with the rarest plants, flowers, and ferns -the conservatories could produce, disposed in China and Japanese jars -on pedestals and marble console tables of the time of Louis XIV., at -whose court a Lord Aberfeldie had once been ambassador. - -The fete had been brought about by the two fair cousins as a farewell -treat to the last of their present guests, who were departing--Ruby -Logan, Stratherroch, and--Mr. Holcroft! - -Greatly to Eveline's relief, Sir Paget was gone, but, as if to worry -her further, Sir Paget left for her--with Lady Aberfeldie--a letter -referring to his admiration and regard for her since the last season -in London, and with it a handsome diamond necklet--the sight of which -in its fragrant Russian-leather case she loathed--with the hope that -she would accept and wear it, in token that she was holding out -brilliant hopes to him when 'they met in town again.' - -Eveline flatly declined to accept and wear the jewellery, so, to her -intense annoyance, it remained as yet in her mother's hands. She was -'biding her time.' - -The wealthy suitor had attained a battered middle-age, while Eveline -was still in the glory of her youth. True, but he had both wealth -and rank to offer, for though she was an 'Honourable Miss,' he was a -baronet, and so far as his love went, if it came late in life, it -was, nevertheless, a kind of overmastering passion. - -The new emotions of her heart caused Eveline to reflect more than -perhaps she had ever done before. It seemed but yesterday since she -and Olive conned their tasks and practised their scales together -under the eyes of a governess; since they had gathered bouquets of -wild flowers from the clefts of the rocks of Dundargue, and made -fairy caps of rushes and harebells by the burnside; happy children -both; but how miserable she was now that she was on the verge of -womanhood, and had learned to love and to hate; for she loved Evan -Cameron, and hated--yes, and she blushed as she admitted it to -herself--she did hate that smiling and rubicund old interloper, Sir -Paget. - -'And you will not wear the necklet?' said Lady Aberfeldie, for the -last time. - -'Do please to excuse me, dearest mamma--I cannot--yet a while.' - -Lady Aberfeldie was pleased by the half obedience these words implied. - -'What ornaments will you wear then?' she asked. 'You have so many to -choose from.' - -'Let me wear the lovely diamond necklace that lies in the strong -casket in your room, mamma.' - -Lady Aberfeldie's calm, patrician face darkened. - -'I would rather you wore no diamonds at all, child; and these I never -wear myself.' - -'But why, mamma?' - -'Because that necklace always brings evil to whoever wears it.' - -'So I have heard. But it is a silly superstition, and they are such -lovely stones! But what is the story of them?' - -'The wife of a cavalier who died with Montrose on the scaffold of -Edinburgh gave them to an ancestor of ours to save his life. This -was the first viscount, who was a zealous Covenanter, and the bosom -friend of Lord Warriston. He certainly took the jewels from the poor -sorrowing wife----' - -'And the cavalier?' - -'Was beheaded by the Maiden at the market-cross, and a kind of curse -seems to have attended these diamonds ever since.' - -'A cruel story.' - -'But a true one.' - -Eveline laughed at the superstition, kissed her cold, proud mother, -and carried her point; thus, at the time when carriage after carriage -was depositing guests at the great arched entrance hall, Eveline was -surveying her figure and face in the mirror with all a young girl's -satisfaction and thinking that her slender white throat never looked -as it did then, when encircled by the sparkling diamonds of the -luckless widow, and Olive at the same time was looking radiant in the -Maltese suite of Allan. - -How the two last named enjoy the carpet-dance! Perfect confidence -was so sweetly established between them, they had so many little -secrets to tell, so many revelations to make, so many comparisons, of -mutual hopes and fears, and so forth, while each seemed to exult in -the affection of the other, and felt in their hearts the words -ascribed to old Catullus:-- - - 'Let those love now who never loved before. - Let those who always loved, now love the more!' - - -'Those two young fools seem to understand each other and each other's -interests at last!' whispered Lord to Lady Aberfeldie, with a smile -of amusement. - -'But there are two _other_ young fools present who are doing their -best to mar each other's interests,' was her cold and warning -response. - -Hawke Holcroft's shifty eyes lowered as he watched the cousins and -whirled in a waltz with Ruby Logan or any other girl who came to -hand. He was in utter perplexity to find the new footing on which -these hitherto strange lovers so suddenly were, and that he himself -was, as he felt and thought, 'nowhere!' - -What could she mean? There was something of radiance in the faces of -all the family--even of the sweetly pensive Eveline--all indicative -of a new movement that _he_ was out of. - -'As for Olive,' he muttered, while a sentiment of rage, mingled with -avarice and jealousy, grew strong in his heart, 'she is an infernal -weather-cock, but a deuced handsome one!' - -Ruby Logan was equally puzzled, but found consolation with young -Carslogie of the Black Watch, whom Allan had invited to the -festivity, and who styled her, with reference to her hair, 'the amber -witch.' - -'Happy Olive and Allan,' thought Eveline, as she rested for a minute -on the arm of Cameron, 'they may have as many round dances as they -choose without remark, while mine, with _him_, must be few and far -between.' - -Her dress was white silk, trimmed with little laurel leaves and -crowberry--the latter a delicate attention to Evan, as it is the -badge of the Camerons. - -'Will you wear my colours to-night?' she asked, as they promenaded at -that end of the room which was furthest away from 'papa and mamma.' -She broke off a spray and made him a button-hole. 'Allow me to fix -it for you,' said Eveline, and deftly she put it in his lapel, while -Evan's heart thrilled to feel the touch of her beloved hand--even -though gloved--so near his heart, as they swept into another waltz. - -'Aberfeldie,' said the hostess to her husband, 'I feel certain that -Evan Cameron is in love with our Eveline.' - -Lord Aberfeldie had no doubt about it whatever now, but he only said, - -'He would be a fool to be otherwise.' - -'But that is not what we seek!' - -'Certainly not; but all young fellows have fancies; and he will be -gone from this in a few hours now.' - -'Thank Heaven, yes!' responded Lady Aberfeldie, devoutly. - -'By the way, why did you permit her to wear those unlucky diamonds?' - -'She pled so hard, and then the idea of their bringing evil is so -behind the age.' - -'Behind the age or not, something untoward or unlucky always -accompanies their appearance in public. They should have been sent -to Bond Street long ago.' - -And Lord Aberfeldie smiled on her affectionately, as at that moment -he could not help thinking how handsome and young his wife looked in -her costume of rich ruby velvet, trimmed at the square cut neck and -arms with the finest white old lace, while jewels that an empress -might have worn glittered in her ears and hair. - -Replacing sometimes the professional musicians, making themselves -useful at the piano, and playing certainly good dance music were -two--the 'mermaids,' as Holcroft called them--the minister's -daughters, who were usually so fond of warbling that they 'were under -the blue sea.' - -He knew nothing of what Allan had learned concerning him--of the -light Carslogie had thrown on his private life; thus, whatever change -had come over the spirit of Olive's dream, he deemed it necessary to -ask her for, at least, one round dance as usual; and Allan watched -them with a haughty grimace on his features as they danced it in a -silent manner that was peculiar and rather oppressive to both. The -moment it was over, and he handed her back to a seat, Holcroft took -refuge in the refreshment-room, where Mr. Tappleton gave him a -foaming glass of sparkling champagne. - -Young Cameron was rather grave, Allan thought, but the former was -oppressed by one idea then, that on the morrow he would have to -report himself at the headquarters of the Black Watch, and he gazed -like one in a dream at the dancers whirling round him; so Allan took -him to task and strove to rally him. - -'Why so sad, old fellow? You're down on your luck, somehow,' said he. - -'Because, Graham,' replied Cameron, with a forced smile, 'there are -times when I am inclined to ask with Mr. Mallock, "Is life worth -living?"' - -'Of course it is--but how with you?' - -'Well,' replied Cameron, with whom just then one bitter thought was -more than usually keen, 'dipped nigh to sinking as my place of -Stratherroch is, I don't see so much to live for, and certainly -deuced little to live upon.' - -'Don't take this gloomy view, old fellow,' said Allan, cheerfully. - -'It is very well for you to take a jolly view of the world, -Allan--you, the son of a peer, and engaged to----' - -'Take heart, man; we've lots of life before us--life in Egypt -perhaps. There is Eveline sitting alone; take another turn with her, -and then we'll have some of Mumms' extra dry together.' - -Eveline had opened an album as Cameron drew near her, but closed it -instantly as the first photo that met her eyes was a fine cabinet one -of Sir Paget. There was an expression of pensive sweetness in her -otherwise radiant face, for she, poor girl, never for a moment forgot -that a parting--too probably a final one it might prove--was close at -hand now, and, after the two past delightful months, how dreary would -the future seem! - -'Are you tired?' said a tender voice in her ear; 'it is our dance, I -think--but would you rather sit it out?' - -'A little promenade rather.' - -He bowed, and, rising, she took his proffered arm. They made a -circuit of the room once or twice, and then, lured no doubt by the -coolness and seclusion of a long corridor, entered it, unnoticed as -they thought; but the watchful gaze of Lady Aberfeldie had followed -them. - -There was much to see in this long, stately, and vaulted corridor, -and its deeply embayed windows overlooking the rock on which the -oldest part of Dundargue is perched. Its floor was of _parqueterie_; -its walls of wainscot, with massively framed old pictures; some -trophies of arms and family armour hung there, and the windows were -furnished with ancient stone seats and modern stained glass, through -which the radiance of the setting sun was contending with the dim -shaded lamps. - -Specimens of unique china and frail goblets of Venetian glass, with -other objects of 'bigotry and virtue,' as Holcroft had called them, -were there in oaken cabinets and on exquisite brackets. Among other -things, on a pedestal, skilfully stuffed, the last golden eagle that -had been shot at the Birks of Aberfeldie, by the gun of Dugald Glas, -a glorious bird that measured five feet from tip to tip of his -shining pinions; yet none of these things caught the attention of the -two promenaders. - -Her hand was on his arm; involuntarily that arm pressed the soft and -tremulous fingers which rested there, and in another moment his hand -stole over them without their being withdrawn--nay, it seemed as if -their load became more heavy. - -Eveline was not unaware that there was something morally wrong in the -situation; but, then, 'the situation had its charm.' - -'Eveline!' - -Cameron had never before ventured to call her by her Christian name, -nor, until it passed his lips half unconsciously now, had he an -intention of so uttering it; but that utterance seemed scarcely a new -revelation to the girl. - -Soft and lovely was the shy smile upon her upturned face as they -stood within the deep bay of a window. Was it that smile, or what, -that dazed Evan Cameron and swept his senses away; but he caught her -suddenly in his arms and kissed her lips and eyes, whispering, - -'Oh! Eveline, my darling--my darling!' - -And then there was a pause, full of sighs of happiness. 'The stone -was cast into the water, and the still lake broke up into a stormy -sea, where there would be peace and quiet no more!' No more, at -least, unless the future held some happiness for these two poor -loving hearts. - -'Have I done wrong?' said Cameron, in a breathless voice, after a -little time; 'God knows I never meant that you should see how dearly, -how desperately, and how hopelessly I love you when I let the -precious secret escape me as I did; but it is done now.' - -She was pale as death and trembling violently, as she thought of her -mother; yet she nestled closely and clingingly to him. - -'You love me, Eveline?' - -'Can you ask?' she whispered. 'Yes--oh, yes--Evan.' - -He was intoxicated, and drew her close to him again. Such a moment -comes but once in life--once only! - -'Let us go now--we shall be missed,' said Eveline. - -'Oh, stay one moment longer, darling.' - -'Mamma, if we could only get her to be our friend, all might be right -and go well.' - -'Even with my poverty, Eveline?' - -'Don't call it so. Yes, papa always gives in to her in the long run.' - -Cameron sighed. - -'Are you two practising for amateur theatricals, or admiring the -stars through the stained glass?' said the voice of Lord Aberfeldie, -suddenly. - -We have said that the eyes of his wife had followed the pair, and -hence no doubt his lordship's sudden appearance in the dimly-lighted -corridor. Both were painfully confused. - -How much had Lord Aberfeldie overseen, how much had he overheard, or -how little of both? It was impossible for them to guess, but he -good-naturedly affected not to see all that his mind took in. - -Cameron felt that he had nothing to explain, to urge, or to utter, -but bowed, smiled a very hollow smile indeed, and led his partner -back to the dancing-room, where neither waltzed more that evening, as -the impromptu affair was over, the guests were departing, and Lord -Aberfeldie was beginning to think that the diamonds of the legend -were already producing their evil results in this the first untoward -event in the young life of his daughter. - -Allan and Cameron, avoiding Holcroft, sat long that night in the -former's room smoking and imbibing brandy-and-soda, but no word -escaped the lover of what had passed in the corridor; and, sooth to -say, full of Olive and himself, Allan had never missed the pair from -the dancing-room. - -Cameron was to leave Dundargue betimes next morning, so he bade -farewell to his comrade, who charged him with remembrances to 'all -our fellows of the Black Watch;' and anon Cameron found himself alone -with his own loving, exulting, sad, and anxious thoughts, and with -the little bouquet--a dwarf laurel leaf and sprig of -crowberry--dearer to him then than even his Victoria Cross! - -Again and again did he rehearse that sweet episode in the dimly-lit -corridor, and again and again in the time to come would it return -with sorrowful reiteration to his heart and memory! - -Eveline loved him! Her own lips had acknowledged it, her kisses -seemed still to linger on his lips; but to what end--my God! he -exclaimed, in bitterness of heart, to what end? Again and again he -thought over her plaintive and child-like wish, 'if we could only get -mamma to be our friend,' and all that wish suggested. Her mother -suspected much, he feared, and that her father knew all. Sir Paget, -with his colossal wealth, was looming in the distance like a simoon -to the newly dawned love; and poor Evan could but come to the -terrible conclusion that, like too many others, his penniless love -could only be a hopeless one. - -So wore the night away--the last, Cameron was assured, he would ever -spend in Dundargue; and morning came. - -Unslept, Cameron made rapidly the prosaic preparations for his -departure, and a valet had borne off his portmanteaus, rugs, and -gun-case to the entrance hall, where the sleepy Mr. Tappleton and a -wagonette awaited him. - -As he was about to descend the great, silent staircase, suddenly -Eveline, fully dressed for the day and softly slippered, stood before -him, her mignonne face very pale, and her soft hazel eyes inflamed by -past weeping. - -'Evan!' - -'My darling!' - -No housemaids were about as yet, and no prying eyes were there, nor -had Ronald Gair with his pipes blown _reveille_. - -'I could not let you go without--without one word of farewell,' she -sobbed. - -Long and mute was their embrace, and the heart of Cameron swelled as -if to bursting with mingled love and gratitude. He pressed her to -it. It was their parting embrace, and both seemed to feel in it that -which a writer has described as 'the vibration of an agony.' - -'I feel as if I were bereft of reason!' he whispered. - -'My poor Evan--my own dear love!' cooed the girl. One kiss more, and -he was gone. - -When or where, if ever, would they meet again? - -Eveline had nervously and sedulously avoided Sir Paget till the time -of his departure; and, when he did leave Dundargue in the dawn, he -was only seen off by the old butler; but Evan Cameron had an -unexpected farewell caress, the memory of a sad, soft, and clinging -kiss that he was to take away with him to what he deemed the land of -bondage, and tearful eyes watched his wagonette as it passed down the -avenue and out upon the high-road that led to the railway. - -Evan looked backwards at the tall and stately pile of Dundargue, on -which the rays of the rising sun shone redly, and deep in his heart -he envied Carslogie, who was to remain behind for a couple of days' -shooting. Yet wherefore should he envy any man while Eveline loved -him? was his afterthought. - -And she, poor girl, seemed to feel herself left most terribly alone -with all her sorrow--alone amid her loving family and splendid -surroundings, and with Evan's words of love lingering in her ear she -was soon bidden to school herself to think of Sir Paget, and Sir -Paget Puddicombe only! 'The human creature,' it has been written, -'who would have suited us to every fibre of our being we have not -found, or, having found, have not possessed; but (perhaps) -undervalued, and so allowed to pass out of our lives.' - -These two suited each other 'to a fibre,' as our author quaintly puts -it, and in perfect unanimity of sentiment; and yet for all that they -may be compelled to pass out of each other's lives, and live those -lives far, far apart. - -Under her mother's scrutiny Eveline strove hard to dissemble, and on -receiving her morning kiss said, - -'Well, mamma, no evil has come of the wearing the diamonds--Dundargue -has not taken fire.' - -'No, child--indeed, good has come!' - -'How, mamma?' - -'This morning's mail has brought an enclosure for you--the formal -proposal of Sir Paget.' - -Eveline was stricken dumb, but thought to herself, - -'Unhappy I--evil _has_ come!' - -And ere noon was passed she was taken to task by her father in the -library, prompted by her mother, no doubt. - -He drew her to him caressingly, and, interlacing his fingers upon her -head, drew her soft cheek upon his breast. - -'I think, Eveline,' said he, 'you may know by this time how well I -love you.' - -'I do, indeed, papa,' replied Eveline, in a low voice, but feeling -her heart sink under this unusual prelude nevertheless. - -'And yet you have been deluding me.' - -'Deluding you--I, papa?' - -'Yes.' - -'Oh, how?' - -'By encouraging--pardon me, not that--rather by permitting a visitor -to encourage certain hopes. That, you know, it is impossible I -should view with favour.' - -'You mean--you mean----' stammered Eveline, recalling the episode in -the corridor. - -'Evan Cameron.' - -'He is gone,' said she, with difficulty restraining her tears. - -'To darken the door of Dundargue no more! Not that I have any fault -to find with poor Cameron--a brave fellow who has won his V.C., and -is a Black Watchman to boot; but he is Laird of Stratherroch only in -name; his purse does not come up to the requisite standard, and may -never do so till both your heads are grey; but he is gone, as you -say, and we shall think of him no more. I have other brighter, -better, and richer views for you, my dear child, and I hope you will -not disappoint us all. Sir Paget loves you, and you will think -seriously over all this?' - -'How can I do otherwise, papa?' was the dubious response, and the -girl stole away to her own room. So wearing the diamonds seemed only -to be bringing about a sudden crisis in the affairs of herself and -the banished Evan Cameron, for such she deemed him. - -And, ere she went to bed that night, Eveline, poor girl, strove to -pray that she might have some guide or assistance up the stony and -thorny path which she feared was before her now in life; but she no -longer now had the deep and unbroken sleep that had ever been her lot -the moment her soft cheek touched the pillow. Too nervous to sleep -alone, she crept in beside Olive, and, nestling her little face in -the white bosom of her cousin, wept long and bitterly. - -But events were now to occur that caused even the brilliant proposal -of Sir Paget to be forgotten. - - - -END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. - - - -LONDON: PRINTED BY DUNCAN MACDONALD, BLENHEIM HOUSE. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER OF ABERFELDIE, VOLUME I -(OF 3) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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