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diff --git a/old/7174.txt b/old/7174.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..409f688 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7174.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19264 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Lossie, by George MacDonald +#27 in our series by George MacDonald + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Marquis of Lossie + +Author: George MacDonald + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7174] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 21, 2003] +Last Updated: August 7, 2016 + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Martin Robb + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE. by George MacDonald + + + +CHAPTER I: THE STABLE YARD + + +It was one of those exquisite days that come in every winter, in +which it seems no longer the dead body, but the lovely ghost of +summer. Such a day bears to its sister of the happier time something +of the relation the marble statue bears to the living form; the +sense it awakes of beauty is more abstract, more ethereal; it lifts +the soul into a higher region than will summer day of lordliest +splendour. It is like the love that loss has purified. + +Such, however, were not the thoughts that at the moment occupied +the mind of Malcolm Colonsay. Indeed, the loveliness of the morning +was but partially visible from the spot where he stood--the stable +yard of Lossie House, ancient and roughly paved. It was a hundred +years since the stones had been last relaid and levelled: none of +the horses of the late Marquis minded it but one--her whom the +young man in Highland dress was now grooming--and she would have +fidgeted had it been an oak floor. The yard was a long and wide +space, with two storied buildings on all sides of it. In the centre +of one of them rose the clock, and the morning sun shone red on +its tarnished gold. It was an ancient clock, but still capable of +keeping good time--good enough, at least, for all the requirements +of the house, even when the family was at home, seeing it never +stopped, and the church clock was always ordered by it. + +It not only set the time, but seemed also to set the fashion of +the place, for the whole aspect of it was one of wholesome, weather +beaten, time worn existence. One of the good things that accompany +good blood is that its possessor does not much mind a shabby coat. +Tarnish and lichens and water wearing, a wavy house ridge, and +a few families of worms in the wainscot do not annoy the marquis +as they do the city man who has just bought a little place in the +country. When an old family ceases to go lovingly with nature, I +see no reason why it should go any longer. An old tree is venerable, +and an old picture precious to the soul, but an old house, on which +has been laid none but loving and respectful hands, is dear to the +very heart. Even an old barn door, with the carved initials of hinds +and maidens of vanished centuries, has a place of honour in the +cabinet of the poet's brain. It was centuries since Lossie House +had begun to grow shabby--and beautiful; and he to whom it now +belonged was not one to discard the reverend for the neat, or let +the vanity of possession interfere with the grandeur of inheritance. + +Beneath the tarnished gold of the clock, flushed with the red +winter sun, he was at this moment grooming the coat of a powerful +black mare. That he had not been brought up a groom was pretty +evident from the fact that he was not hissing; but that he was +Marquis of Lossie there was nothing about him to show. The mare +looked dangerous. Every now and then she cast back a white glance +of the one visible eye. But the youth was on his guard, and as wary +as fearless in his handling of her. When at length he had finished +the toilet which her restlessness--for her four feet were never +all still at once upon the stones--had considerably protracted, +he took from his pocket a lump of sugar, and held it for her to +bite at with her angry looking teeth. + +It was a keen frost, but in the sun the icicles had begun to drop. +The roofs in the shadow were covered with hoar frost; wherever +there was shadow there was whiteness. But for all the cold, there +was keen life in the air, and yet keener life in the two animals, +biped and quadruped. + +As they thus stood, the one trying to sweeten the other's relation +to himself, if he could not hope much for her general temper, a +man, who looked half farmer, half lawyer, appeared on the opposite +side of the court in the shadow. + +"You are spoiling that mare, MacPhail," he cried. + +"I canna weel du that, sir; she canna be muckle waur," said the +youth. + +"It's whip and spur she wants, not sugar." + +"She has had, and sail have baith, time aboot (in turn); and I houp +they'll du something for her in time, sir." + +"Her time shall be short here, anyhow. She's not worth the sugar +you give her." + +"Eh, sir! luik at her," said Malcolm, in a tone of expostulation, +as he stepped back a few paces and regarded her with admiring eyes. +"Saw ye ever sic legs? an' sic a neck? an' sic a heid? an' sic fore +an' hin' quarters? She's a' bonny but the temper o' her, an' that +she canna help like the likes o' you an me." + +"She'll be the death o' somebody some day. The sooner we get rid +of her the better. Just look at that," he added, as the mare laid +back her ears and made a vicious snap at nothing in particular. + +"She was a favourite o' my--maister, the marquis," returned the +youth, "an' I wad ill like to pairt wi' her." + +"I'll take any offer in reason for her," said the factor. "You'll +just ride her to Forres market next week, and see what you can get +for her. I do think she's quieter since you took her in hand." + +"I'm sure she is--but it winna laist a day. The moment I lea' +her, she'll be as ill's ever," said the youth. "She has a kin' a +likin' to me, 'cause I gi'e her sugar, an' she canna cast me; but +she's no a bit better i' the hert o' her yet. She's an oonsanctifeed +brute. I cudna think o' sellin' her like this." + +"Lat them 'at buys tak' tent (beware)," said the factor. + +"Ow ay! lat them; I dinna objec'; gien only they ken what she's +like afore they buy her," rejoined Malcolm. + +The factor burst out laughing. To his judgment the youth had spoken +like an idiot. + +"We'll not send you to sell," he said. "Stoat shall go with you, +and you shall have nothing to do but hold the mare and your own +tongue." + +"Sir," said Malcolm, seriously, "ye dinna mean what ye say? Ye +said yersel' she wad be the deith o' somebody, an' to sell her ohn +tell't what she's like wad be to caw the saxt comman'ment clean to +shivers." + +"That may be good doctrine i' the kirk, my lad, but it's pure heresy +i' the horse market. No, no! You buy a horse as you take a wife-- +for better for worse, as the case may be. A woman's not bound to +tell her faults when a man wants to marry her. If she keeps off +the worst of them afterwards, it's all he has a right to look for." + +"Hoot, sir! there's no a pair o' parallel lines in a' the +compairison," returned Malcolm. "Mistress Kelpie here 's e'en ower +ready to confess her fauts, an' that by giein' a taste o' them; +she winna bide to be speired; but for haudin' aff o' them efter the +bargain's made--ye ken she's no even responsible for the bargain. +An' gien ye expec' me to haud my tongue aboot them--faith, +Maister Crathie, I wad as sune think o' sellin' a rotten boat to +Blue Peter. Gien the man 'at has her to see tilt dinna ken to luik +oot for a storm o' iron shune or lang teeth ony moment, his wife +may be a widow that same market nicht: An' forbye, it's again' the +aucht comman'ment as weel's the saxt. There's nae exception there +in regaird o' horse flesh. We maun be honest i' that as weel's i' +corn or herrin', or onything ither 'at 's coft an' sell't atween +man an' his neibor." + +"There's one commandment, my lad," said Mr Crathie, with the dignity +of intended rebuke, "you seem to find hard to learn, and that is, +to mind your own business." + +"Gien ye mean catchin' the herrin', maybe ye're richt," said the +youth. "I ken muir aboot that nor the horse coupin', and it's full +cleaner." + +"None of your impudence!" returned the factor. "The marquis is +not here to uphold you in your follies. That they amused him is no +reason why I should put up with them. So keep your tongue between +your teeth, or you'll find it the worse for you." + +The youth smiled a little oddly, and held his peace. + +"You're here to do what I tell you, and make no remarks," added +the factor. + +"I'm awaur o' that, sir--within certain leemits," returned Malcolm. + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean within the leemits o' duin' by yer neibor as ye wad ha'e +yer neibor du by you--that's what I mean, sir." + +"I've told you already that doesn't apply in horse dealing. +Every man has to take care of himself in the horse market: that's +understood. If you had been brought up amongst horses instead of +herring, you would have known that as well as any other man." + +"I doobt I'll ha'e to gang back to the herrin' than, sir, for they're +like to pruv' the honester o' the twa; But there's nae hypocrisy +in Kelpie, an' she maun ha'e her day's denner, come o' the morn's +what may." + +At the word hypocrisy, Mr Crathie's face grew red as the sun in +a fog. He was an elder of the kirk, and had family worship every +night as regularly as his toddy. So the word was as offensive and +insolent as it was foolish and inapplicable. He would have turned +Malcolm adrift on the spot, but that he remembered--not the favour +of the late marquis for the lad--that was nothing to the factor +now: his lord under the mould was to him as if he had never been +above it--but the favour of the present marchioness, for all in +the house knew that she was interested in him. Choking down therefore +his rage and indignation, he said sternly; + +"Malcolm, you have two enemies--a long tongue, and a strong +conceit. You have little enough to be proud of, my man, and the +less said the better. I advise you to mind what you're about, and +show suitable respect to your superiors, or as sure as judgment +you'll go back to fish guts." + +While he spoke, Malcolm had been smoothing Kelpie all over with his +palms; the moment the factor ceased talking, he ceased stroking, +and with one arm thrown over the mare's back, looked him full in +the face. + +"Gien ye imaigine, Maister Crathie," he said, "'at I coont it ony +rise i' the warl' 'at brings me un'er the orders o' a man less +honest than he micht be, ye're mista'en. I dinna think it's pride +this time; I wad ile Blue Peter's lang butes till him, but I winna +lee for ony factor atween this an' Davy Jones." + +It was too much. Mr Crathie's feelings overcame him, and he was +a wrathful man to see, as he strode up to the youth with clenched +fist. + +"Haud frae the mere, for God's sake, Maister Crathie," cried Malcolm. +But even as he spoke, two reversed Moorish arches of gleaming +iron opened on the terror quickened imagination of the factor +a threatened descent from which his most potent instinct, that of +self preservation, shrank in horror. He started back white with +dismay, having by a bare inch of space and a bare moment of time, +escaped what he called Eternity. Dazed with fear he turned and +had staggered halfway across the yard, as if going home, before he +recovered himself. Then he turned again, and with what dignity he +could scrape together said--"MacPhail, you go about your business." + +In his foolish heart he believed Malcolm had made the brute strike +out. + +"I canna weel gang till Stoat comes hame," answered Malcolm. + +"If I see you about the place after sunset, I'll horsewhip you," +said the factor, and walked away, showing the crown of his hat. + +Malcolm again smiled oddly, but made no reply. He undid the mare's +halter, and took her into the stable. There he fed her, standing +by her all the time she ate, and not once taking his eyes off her. +His father, the late marquis, had bought her at the sale of the +stud of a neighbouring laird, whose whole being had been devoted +to horses, till the pale one came to fetch himself: the men about +the stable had drugged her, and, taken with the splendid lines of +the animal, nor seeing cause to doubt her temper as she quietly +obeyed the halter, he had bid for her, and, as he thought, had her +a great bargain. The accident that finally caused his death followed +immediately after, and while he was ill no one cared to vex him +by saying what she had turned out. But Malcolm had even then taken +her in hand in the hope of taming her a little before his master, +who often spoke of his latest purchase, should see her again. In +this he had very partially succeeded; but if only for the sake of +him whom he now knew for his father, nothing would have made him +part with the animal. Besides, he had been compelled to use her with +so much severity at times that he had grown attached to her from +the reaction of pity as well as from admiration of her physical +qualities, and the habitude of ministering to her wants and comforts. +The factor, who knew Malcolm only as a servant, had afterwards +allowed her to remain in his charge, merely in the hope, through +his treatment, of by and by selling her, as she had been bought, +for a faultless animal, but at a far better price. + + + +CHAPTER II: THE LIBRARY + + +When she had finished her oats, Malcolm left her busy with her hay, +for she was a huge eater, and went into the house, passing through +the kitchen and ascending a spiral stone stair to the library--the +only room not now dismantled. As he went along the narrow passage +on the second floor leading to it from the head of the stair, the +housekeeper, Mrs Courthope, peeped after him from one of the many +bedrooms opening upon it, and watched him as he went, nodding her +head two or three times with decision: he reminded her so strongly +--not of his father, the last marquis, but the brother who had +preceded him, that she felt all but certain, whoever might be his +mother, he had as much of the Colonsay blood in his veins as any +marquis of them all. It was in consideration of this likeness that +Mr Crathie had permitted the youth, when his services were not +required, to read in the library. + +Malcolm went straight to a certain corner, and from amongst a dingy +set of old classics took down a small Greek book, in large type. +It was the manual of that slave among slaves, that noble among the +free, Epictetus. He was no great Greek scholar, but, with the help +of the Latin translation, and the gloss of his own rath experience, +he could lay hold of the mind of that slave of a slave, whose very +slavery was his slave to carry him to the heights of freedom. It was +not Greek he cared for, but Epictetus. It was but little he read, +however, for the occurrence of the morning demanded, compelled +thought. Mr Crathie's behaviour caused him neither anger nor +uneasiness, but it rendered necessary some decision with regard to +the ordering of his future. + +I can hardly say he recalled how, on his deathbed, the late marquis, +about three months before, having, with all needful observances, +acknowledged him his son, had committed to his trust the welfare +of his sister; for the memory of this charge was never absent from +his feeling even when not immediately present to his thought. But +although a charge which he would have taken upon him all the same +had his father not committed it to him, it was none the less a +source of perplexity upon which as yet all his thinking had let in +but little light. For to appear as Marquis of Lossie was not merely +to take from his sister the title she supposed her own, but to +declare her illegitimate, seeing that, unknown to the marquis, the +youth's mother, his first wife, was still alive when Florimel was +born. How to act so that as little evil as possible might befall +the favourite of his father, and one whom he had himself loved with +the devotion almost of a dog, before he knew she was his sister, +was the main problem. + +For himself, he had had a rough education, and had enjoyed it: his +thoughts were not troubled about his own prospects. Mysteriously +committed to the care of a poor blind Highland piper, a stranger +from inland regions, settled amongst a fishing people, he had, as +he grew up, naturally fallen into their ways of life and labour, +and but lately abandoned the calling of a fisherman to take charge +of the marquis's yacht, whence, by degrees, he had, in his helpfulness, +grown indispensable to him and his daughter, and had come to live +in the house of Lossie as a privileged servant. His book education, +which he owed mainly to the friendship of the parish schoolmaster, +although nothing marvellous, or in Scotland very peculiar, had +opened for him in all directions doors of thought and inquiry, but +the desire of knowledge was in his case, again through the influences +of Mr Graham, subservient to an almost restless yearning after +the truth of things, a passion so rare that the ordinary mind can +hardly master even the fact of its existence. + +The Marchioness of Lossie, as she was now called, for the family +was one of the two or three in Scotland in which the title descends +to an heiress, had left Lossie House almost immediately upon her +father's death, under the guardianship of a certain dowager countess. +Lady Bellair had taken her first to Edinburgh, and then to London. +Tidings of her Malcolm occasionally received through Mr Soutar of +Duff Harbour, the lawyer the marquis had employed to draw up the +papers substantiating the youth's claim. The last amounted to this, +that, as rapidly as the proprieties of mourning would permit, she +was circling the vortex of the London season; and Malcolm was now +almost in despair of ever being of the least service to her as +a brother to whom as a servant he had seemed at one time of daily +necessity. If he might but once be her skipper, her groom, her +attendant, he might then at least learn how to discover to her +the bond between them, without breaking it in the very act, and so +ruining the hope of service to follow. + + + +CHAPTER III: MISS HORN + + +The door opened, and in walked a tall, gaunt, hard featured woman, +in a huge bonnet, trimmed with black ribbons, and a long black net +veil, worked over with sprigs, coming down almost to her waist. She +looked stern, determined, almost fierce, shook hands with a sort +of loose dissatisfaction, and dropped into one of the easy chairs +in which the library abounded. With the act the question seemed +shot from her--"Duv ye ca' yersel' an honest man, noo, Ma'colm?" + +"I ca' myself naething," answered the youth; "but I wad fain be +what ye say, Miss Horn." + +"Ow! I dinna doobt ye wadna steal, nor yet tell lees aboot a horse: +I ha'e jist come frae a sair waggin' o' tongues about ye. Mistress +Crathie tells me her man's in a sair vex 'at ye winna tell a wordless +lee aboot the black mere: that's what I ca't--no her. But lee it +wad be, an' dinna ye aither wag or haud a leein' tongue. A gentleman +maunna lee, no even by sayin' naething--na, no gien 't war to +win intill the kingdom. But, Guid be thankit, that's whaur leears +never come. Maybe ye're thinkin' I ha'e sma' occasion to say sic +like to yersel'. An' yet what's yer life but a lee, Ma'colm? You +'at's the honest Marquis o' Lossie to waur yer time an' the stren'th +o' yer boady an' the micht o' yer sowl tyauvin' (wrestling) wi' a +deevil o' a she horse, whan there's that half sister o' yer' ain +gauin' to the verra deevil o' perdition himsel' amang the godless +gentry o' Lon'on!" + +"What wad ye ha'e me un'erstan' by that, Miss Horn?" returned +Malcolm. "I hear no ill o' her. I daursay she's no jist a sa'nt +yet, but that's no to be luiked for in ane o' the breed: they maun +a' try the warl' first ony gait. There's a heap o' fowk--an' no +aye the warst, maybe," continued Malcolm, thinking of his father, +"'at wull ha'e their bite o' the aipple afore they spite it oot. +But for my leddy sister, she's owre prood ever to disgrace hersel'." + +"Weel, maybe, gien she bena misguidit by them she's wi'. But I'm +no sae muckle concernt aboot her. Only it's plain 'at ye ha'e no +richt to lead her intill temptation." + +"Hoo am I temptin' at her, mem?" + +"That's plain to half an e'e. Ir ye no lattin' her live believin' +a lee? Ir ye no allooin' her to gang on as gien she was somebody +mair nor mortal, when ye ken she's nae mair Marchioness o' Lossie +nor ye're the son o' auld Duncan MacPhail? Faith, ye ha'e lost +trowth gien ye ha'e gaint the warl' i' the cheenge o' forbeirs!" + +"Mint at naething again the deid, mem. My father's gane till's +accoont; an it's weel for him he has his father an' no his sister +to pronoonce upo' him." + +"'Deed ye're right there, laddie," said Miss Horn, in a subdued +tone. + +"He's made it up wi' my mither afore noo, I'm thinkin'; an' ony +gait he confesst her his wife an' me her son afore he dee'd, an' +what mair had he time to du?" + +"It's fac'," returned Miss Horn. "An' noo luik at yersel': what yer +father confesst wi' the verra deid thraw o' a labourin' speerit, to +the whilk naething cud ha'e broucht him but the deid thraws (death +struggles) o' the bodily natur' an' the fear o' hell, that same +confession ye row up again i' the cloot o' secrecy, in place o' +dightin' wi' 't the blot frae the memory o' ane wha I believe I +lo'ed mair as my third cousin nor ye du as yer ain mither!" + +"There's no blot upo' her memory, mem," returned the youth, "or I +wad be markis the morn. There's never a sowl kens she was mither +but kens she was wife--ay, an' whase wife, tu." + +Miss Horn had neither wish nor power to reply, and changed her +front. + +"An' sae, Ma'colm Colonsay," she said, "ye ha'e no less nor made +up yer min' to pass yer days in yer ain stable, neither better nor +waur than an ostler at the Lossie Airms, an' that efter a' 'at I +ha'e borne an' dune to mak a gentleman o' ye, bairdin' yer father +here like a verra lion in 's den, an' garrin' him confess the thing +again' ilka hair upon the stiff neck o' 'im? Losh, laddie! it was +a pictur' to see him stan'in wi' 's back to the door like a camstairy +(obstinate) bullock!" + +"Haud yer tongue, mem, gien ye please. I canna bide to hear my +father spoken o' like that. For ye see I lo'ed him afore I kent he +was ony drap 's blude to me." + +"Weel, that's verra weel; but father an' mither's man and wife, +an' ye camna o' a father alane." + +"That's true, mem, an' it canna be I sud ever forget yon face ye +shawed me i' the coffin, the bonniest, sairest sicht I ever saw," +returned Malcolm, with a quaver in his voice. + +"But what for cairry yer thouchts to the deid face o' her? Ye kent +the leevin' ane weel," objected Miss Horn. + +"That's true, mem; but the deid face maist blottit the leevin' oot +o' my brain." + +"I'm sorry for that.--Eh, laddie, but she was bonny to see!" + +"I aye thoucht her the bonniest leddy I ever set e'e upo'. An' dinna +think, mem, I'm gaein to forget the deid, 'cause I'm mair concemt +aboot the leevin'. I tell ye I jist dinna ken what to du. What +wi' my father's deein' words committin' her to my chairge, an' the +more than regaird I ha'e to Leddy Florimel hersel', I'm jist whiles +driven to ane mair. Hoo can I tak the verra sunsheen oot o' her life +'at I lo'ed afore I kent she was my ain sister, an' jist thoucht +lang to win near eneuch till to du her ony guid turn worth duin? An' +here I am, her ane half brither, wi' naething i' my pooer but to +scaud the hert o' her, or else lee! Supposin' she was weel merried +first, hoo wad she stan' wi' her man whan he cam to ken 'at she +was nae marchioness--hed no lawfu' richt to ony name but her +mither's? An' afore that, what richt cud I ha'e to alloo ony man +to merry her ohn kent the trowth aboot her? Faith, it wad be a fine +chance though for the fin'in' oot whether or no the man was worthy +o' her! But, ye see that micht be to make a playock o' her hert. +Puir thing, she luiks doon upo' me frae the tap o' her bonny neck, +as frae a h'avenly heicht; but I s' lat her ken yet, gien only I +can win at the gait o' 't, that I ha'ena come nigh her for naething." + +He gave a sigh with the words, and a pause followed. + +"The trowth's the trowth," resumed Miss Horn, "neither mair nor +less." + +"Ay," responded Malcolm; "but there's a richt an' a wrang time for +the telling' o' 't. It's no as gien I had had han' or tongue in +ony foregane lee. It was naething o' my duin', as ye ken, mem. To +mysel', I was never onything but a fisherman born. I confess 'at +whiles, when we wad be lyin' i' the lee o' the nets, tethered to +them like, wi' the win' blawin' strong 'an steady, I ha'e thocht +wi' mysel' 'at I kent naething aboot my father, an' what gien it +sud turn oot 'at I was the son o' somebody--what wad I du wi' my +siller?" + +"An' what thoucht ye ye wad du, laddie?" asked Miss Horn gently. + +"What but bigg a harbour at Scaurnose for the puir fisher fowk 'at +was like my ain flesh and blude!" + +"Weel," rejoined Miss Horn eagerly, "div ye no look upo' that as a +voo to the Almichty--a voo 'at ye're bun' to pay, noo 'at ye ha'e +yer wuss? An' it's no merely 'at ye ha'e the means, but there's no +anither that has the richt; for they're yer ain fowk, 'at ye gaither +rent frae, an 'at's been for mony a generation sattlet upo' yer +lan'--though for the maitter o' the lan', they ha'e had little +mair o' that than the birds o' the rock ha'e ohn feued--an' them +honest fowks wi' wives an' sowls o' their ain! Hoo upo' airth are +ye to du yer duty by them, an' render yer accoont at the last, +gien ye dinna tak till ye yer pooer an' reign? Ilk man 'at 's in +ony sense a king o' men is bun' to reign ower them in that sense. +I ken little aboot things mysel', an' I ha'e no feelin's to guide +me, but I ha'e a wheen cowmon sense, an' that maun jist stan' for +the lave." + +A silence followed. + +"What for speak na ye, Ma'colm?" said Miss Horn, at length. + +"I was jist tryin'," he answered, "to min' upon a twa lines 'at I +cam' upo' the ither day in a buik 'at Maister Graham gied me afore +he gaed awa--'cause I reckon he kent them a' by hert. They say +jist sic like's ye been sayin', mem--gien I cud but min' upo' +them. They're aboot a man 'at aye does the richt gait--made by +ane they ca' Wordsworth." + +"I ken naething aboot him," said Miss Horn, with emphasized +indifference. + +"An' I ken but little: I s' ken mair or lang though. This is hoo +the piece begins: + +Who is the happy warrior? Who is he +That every Man in arms should wish to be?-- +It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought +Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought +Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought. + +--There! that's what ye wad hae o' me, mem!" + +"Hear till him!" cried Miss Horn. "The man's i' the richt, though +naebody never h'ard o' 'im. Haud ye by that, Ma'colm, an' dinna ye +rist till ye ha'e biggit a harbour to the men an' women o' Scaurnose. +Wha kens hoo mony may gang to the boddom afore it be dune, jist +for the want o' 't?" + +"The fundation maun be laid in richteousness, though, mem, else-- +what gien 't war to save lives better lost?" + +"That belangs to the Michty," said Miss Horn. + +"Ay, but the layin' o' the fundation belangs to me. An' I'll no +du't till I can du't ohn ruint my sister." + +"Weel, there's ae thing clear: ye'll never ken what to do sae lang's +ye hing on aboot a stable, fu' o' fower fittet animals wantin' +sense--an' some twa fittet 'at has less." + +"I doobt ye're richt there, mem; and gien I cud but tak puir Kelpie +awa' wi' me--" + +"Hoots! I'm affrontit wi ye. Kelpie--quo he! Preserve's a'! The +laad 'ill lat his ain sister gang, an' bide at hame wi' a mere!" + +Malcolm held his peace. + +"Ay, I'm thinkin' I maun gang," he said at length. + +"Whaur till, than?" asked Miss Horn. + +"Ow! to Lon'on--whaur ither?" + +"And what'll yer lordship du there?" + +"Dinna say lordship to me, mem, or I'll think ye're jeerin' at me. +What wad the caterpillar say," he added, with a laugh, "gien ye +ca'd her my leddie Psyche?" + +Malcolm of course pronounced the Greek word in Scotch fashion. + +"I ken naething aboot yer Seechies or yer Sukies," rejoined Miss +Horn. "I ken 'at ye're bun' to be a lord and no a stableman, an' +I s' no lat ye rist till ye up an' say what neist?" + +"It's what I ha'e been sayin' for the last three month," said +Malcolm. + +"Ay, I daursay; but ye ha'e been sayin' 't upo' the braid o' yer +back, and I wad ha'e ye up an' sayin' 't." + +"Gien I but kent what to du!" said Malcolm, for the thousandth +time. + +"Ye can at least gang whaur ye ha'e a chance o' learnin'," returned +his friend.--"Come an' tak yer supper wi' me the nicht--a +rizzart haddie an' an egg, an' I'll tell ye mair aboot yer mither." + +But Malcolm avoided a promise, lest it should interfere with what +he might find best to do. + + + +CHAPTER IV: KELPIE'S AIRING + + +When Miss Horn left him--with a farewell kindlier than her +greeting--rendered yet more restless by her talk, he went back +to the stable, saddled Kelpie, and took her out for an airing. + +As he passed the factor's house, Mrs Crathie saw him from the +window. Her colour rose. She arose herself also, and looked after +him from the door--a proud and peevish woman, jealous of her +husband's dignity, still more jealous of her own. + +"The verra image o' the auld markis!" she said to herself; for in +the recesses of her bosom she spoke the Scotch she scorned to utter +aloud; "and sits jist like himsel', wi' a wee stoop i' the saiddle, +and ilka noo an' than a swing o' his haill boady back, as gien some +thoucht had set him straught.--Gien the fractious brute wad but +brak a bane or twa o' him!" she went on in growing anger. "The +impidence o' the fallow! He has his leave: what for disna he tak' +it an' gang? But oot o' this gang he sail. To ca' a man like mine a +heepocreet 'cause he wadna procleem till a haul market ilka secret +fau't o' the horse he had to sell! Haith, he cam' upo' the wrang +side o' the sheet to play the lord and maister here! and that I +can tell him!" + +The mare was fresh, and the roads through the policy hard both +by nature and by frost, so that he could not let her go, and had +enough to do with her. He turned, therefore, towards the sea gate, +and soon reached the shore. There, westward of the Seaton, where +the fisher folk lived, the sand lay smooth, flat, and wet along the +edge of the receding tide: he gave Kelpie the rein, and she sprang +into a wild gallop, every now and then flinging her heels as high +as her rider's head. But finding, as they approached the stony +part from which rose the great rock called the Bored Craig, that +he could not pull her up in time, he turned her head towards the +long dune of sand which, a little beyond the tide, ran parallel +with the shore. It was dry and loose, and the ascent steep. Kelpie's +hoofs sank at every step, and when she reached the top, with wide +spread struggling haunches, and "nostrils like pits full of blood +to the brim," he had her in hand. She stood panting, yet pawing +and dancing, and making the sand fly in all directions. + +Suddenly a woman with a child in her arms rose, as it seemed to +Malcolm, under Kelpie's very head. She wheeled and reared, and, +in wrath or in terror, strained every nerve to unseat her rider, +while, whether from faith or despair, the woman stood still as a +statue, staring at the struggle. + +"Haud awa' a bit, Lizzy," cried Malcolm. "She's a mad brute, an' +I mayna be able to haud her. Ye ha'e the bairnie, ye see!" + +She was a young woman, with a sad white face. To what Malcolm said +she paid no heed, but stood with her child in her arms and gazed +at Kelpie as she went on plunging and kicking about on the top of +the dune. + +"I reckon ye wadna care though the she deevil knockit oot yer harns; +but ye ha'e the bairn, woman! Ha'e mercy on the bairn, an' rin +to the boddom." + +"I want to speak to ye, Ma'colm MacPhail," she said, in a tone +whose very stillness revealed a depth of trouble. + +"I doobt I canna hearken to ye richt the noo," said Malcolm. "But +bide a wee." He swung himself from Kelpie's back, and, hanging hard +on the bit with one hand, searched with the other in the pocket of +his coat, saying, as he did so--"Sugar, Kelpie! sugar!" + +The animal gave an eager snort, settled on her feet, and began +snuffing about him. He made haste, for, if her eagerness should +turn to impatience, she would do her endeavour to bite him. After +crunching three or four lumps, she stood pretty quiet, and Malcolm +must make the best of what time she would give him. + +"Noo, Lizzy!" he said hurriedly. "Speyk while ye can." + +"Ma'colm," said the girl, and looked him full in the face for a +moment, for agony had overcome shame; then her gaze sought the far +horizon, which to seafaring people is as the hills whence cometh +their aid to the people who dwell among mountains; "--Ma'colm, +he's gaein' to merry Leddy Florimel." + +Malcolm started. Could the girl have learned more concerning his +sister than had yet reached himself? A fine watching over her was +his, truly! But who was this he? + +Lizzy had never uttered the name of the father of her child, and +all her people knew was that he could not be a fisherman, for then +he would have married her before the child was born. But Malcolm +had had a suspicion from the first, and now her words all but +confirmed it.--And was that fellow going to marry his sister? He +turned white with dismay--then red with anger, and stood speechless. + +But he was quickly brought to himself by a sharp pinch under the +shoulder blade from Kelpie's long teeth: he had forgotten her, and +she had taken the advantage. + +"Wha tellt ye that, Lizzy?" he said. + +"I'm no at leeberty to say, Ma'colm, but I'm sure it's true, an' +my hert's like to brak." + +"Puir lassie!" said Malcolm, whose own trouble had never at any +time rendered him insensible to that of others. "But is't onybody +'at kens what he says?" he pursued. + +"Weel, I dinna jist richtly ken gien she kens, but I think she +maun ha'e gude rizzon, or she wadna say as she says. Oh me! me! +my bairnie 'ill be scornin' me sair whan he comes to ken. Ma'colm, +ye're the only ane 'at disna luik doon upo' me, an whan ye cam' +ower the tap o' the Boar's Tail, it was like an angel in a fire +flaucht, an' something inside me said--Tell 'im; tell 'im; an' +sae I bude to tell ye." + +Malcolm was even too simple to feel flattered by the girl's confidence, +though to be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved. + +"Hearken, Lizzy!" he said. "I canna e'en think, wi' this brute ready +ilka meenute to ate me up. I maun tak' her hame. Efter that, gien +ye wad like to tell me onything, I s' be at yer service. Bide aboot +here--or, luik ye: here's the key o' yon door; come throu' that +intil the park--throu' aneth the toll ro'd, ye ken. There ye'll +get into the lythe (lee) wi' the bairnie; an' I'll be wi' ye in a +quarter o' an hoor. It'll tak' me but twa meenutes to gang hame. +Stoat 'ill put up the mere, and I'll be back--I can du't in ten +meenutes." + +"Eh! dinna hurry for me, Ma'colm: I'm no worth it," said Lizzy. + +But Malcolm was already at full speed along the top of the dune. + +"Lord preserve 's!" cried Lizzy, when she saw him clear the brass +swivel. "Sic a laad as that is! Eh, he maun ha'e a richt lass to +lo'e him some day! It's a' ane to him, boat or beast. He wadna turn +frae the deil himsel'. An syne he's jist as saft's a deuk's neck +when he speyks till a wuman or a bairn--ay, or an auld man aither!" + +And full of trouble as it was about another, Lizzy's heart yet +ached at the thought that she should be so unworthy of one like +him. + + + +CHAPTER V: LIZZY FINDLAY + + +From the sands she saw him gain the turnpike road with a bound and +a scramble. Crossing it he entered the park by the sea gate; she +had to enter it by the tunnel that passed under the same road. +She approached the grated door, unlocked it, and looked in with +a shudder. It was dark, the other end of it being obscured by +trees, and the roots of the hill on whose top stood the temple of +the winds. Through the tunnel blew what seemed quite another wind +--one of death, from regions beneath. She drew her shawl, one end +of which was rolled about her baby, closer around them both ere +she entered. Never before had she set foot within the place, and +a strange horror of it filled her: she did not know that by that +passage, on a certain lovely summer night, Lord Meikleham had issued +to meet her on the sands under the moon. The sea was not terrible +to her; she knew all its ways nearly as well as Malcolm knew the +moods of Kelpie; but the earth and its ways were less known to her, +and to turn her face towards it and enter by a little door into its +bosom was like a visit to her grave. But she gathered her strength, +entered with a shudder, passed in growing hope and final safety +through it, and at the other end came out again into the light, +only the cold of its death seemed to cling to her still. But the +day had grown colder; the clouds that, seen or unseen, ever haunt +the winter sun, had at length caught and shrouded him, and through +the gathering vapours he looked ghastly. The wind blew from the +sea. The tide was going down. There was snow in the air. The thin +leafless trees were all bending away from the shore, and the wind +went sighing, hissing, and almost wailing through their bare boughs +and budless twigs. There would be a storm, she thought, ere the +morning, but none of their people were out. + +Had there been--well, she had almost ceased to care about +anything, and her own life was so little to her now, that she had +become less able to value that of other people. To this had the +ignis fatuus of a false love brought her! She had dreamed heedlessly, +to awake sorrowfully. But not until she heard he was going to be +married, had she come right awake, and now she could dream no more. +Alas! alas! what claim had she upon him? How could she tell, since +such he was, what poor girl like herself she might not have robbed +of her part in him? + +Yet even in the midst of her misery and despair, it was some +consolation to think that Malcolm was her friend. + +Not knowing that he had already suffered from the blame of her +fault, or the risk at which he met her, she would have gone. towards +the house to meet him the sooner, had not this been a part of the +grounds where she knew Mr Crathie tolerated no one without express +leave given. The fisher folk in particular must keep to the road +by the other side of the burn, to which the sea gate admitted them. +Lizzy therefore lingered near the tunnel, afraid of being seen. + +Mr Crathie was a man who did well under authority, but upon the +top of it was consequential, overbearing, and far more exacting than +the marquis. Full of his employer's importance when he was present, +and of his own when he was absent, he was yet in the latter +circumstances so doubtful of its adequate recognition by those +under him, that he had grown very imperious, and resented with +indignation the slightest breach of his orders. Hence he was in no +great favour with the fishers. + +Now all the day he had been fuming over Malcolm's behaviour to him +in the morning, and when he went home and learned that his wife +had seen him upon Kelpie, as if nothing had happened, he became +furious, and, in this possession of the devil, was at the present +moment wandering about the grounds, brooding on the words Malcolm +had spoken. He could not get rid of them. They caused an acrid +burning in his bosom, for they had in them truth, like which no +poison stings. + +Malcolm, having crossed by the great bridge at the house, hurried +down the western side of the burn to find Lizzy, and soon came upon +her, walking up and down. + +"Eh, lassie, ye maun be cauld!" he said. + +"No that cauld," she answered, and with the words burst into tears: +"But naebody says a kin' word to me noo," she said in excuse, "an' +I canna weel bide the soun' o' ane when it comes; I'm no used till +'t." + +"Naebody?" exclaimed Malcolm. + +"Na, naebody," she answered. "My mither winna, my father daurna, +an' the bairnie canna, an I gang near naebody forbye." + +"Weel, we maunna stan' oot here i' the cauld: come this gait," said +Malcolm. "The bairnie 'll get its deid." + +"There wadna be mony to greit at that," returned Lizzy, and pressed +the child closer to her bosom. + +Malcolm led the way to the little chamber contrived under the temple +in the heart of the hill, and unlocking the door made her enter. +There he seated her in a comfortable chair, and wrapped her in the +plaid he had brought for the purpose. It was all he could do to +keep from taking her in his arms for very pity, for, both body and +soul, she seemed too frozen to shiver. He shut the door, sat down +on the table near her, and said: + +"There's naebody to disturb 's here, Lizzy: what wad ye say to me +noo?" + +The sun was nearly down, and its light already almost smothered in +clouds, so that the little chamber, whose door and window were in +the deep shadow of the hill, was nearly dark. + +"I wadna hae ye tell me onything ye promised no to tell," resumed +Malcolm, finding she did not reply, "but I wad like to hear as +muckle as ye can say." + +"I hae naething to tell ye, Ma'colm, but jist 'at my leddy Florimel's +gauin' to be merried upo' Lord Meikleham--Lord Liftore, they ca' +him noo. Hech me!" + +"God forbid she sud be merried upon ony sic a bla'guard!" cried +Malcolm. + +"Dinna ca' 'im ill names, Ma'colm. I canna bide it, though I hae +no richt to tak up the stick for him." + +"I wadna say a word 'at micht fa' sair on a sair hert," he returned; +"but gien ye kent a', ye wad ken I hed a gey sized craw to pluck +wi' 's lordship mysel'." + +The girl gave a low cry. + +"Ye wadna hurt 'im, Ma'colm?" she said, in terror at the thought +of the elegant youth in the clutches of an angry fisherman, even +if he were the generous Malcolm MacPhail himself. + +"I wad raither not," he replied, "but we maun see hoo he cairries +himsel'." + +"Du naething till 'im for my sake, Ma'colm. Ye can hae naething +again' him yersel'." + +It was too dark for Malcolm to see the keen look of wistful regret +with which Lizzy tried to pierce the gloom and read his face: for +a moment the poor girl thought he meant he had loved her himself. +But far other thoughts were in Malcolm's mind: one was that her +whom, as a scarce approachable goddess, he had loved before he knew +her of his own blood, he would rather see married to an honest +fisherman in the Seaton of Portlossie, than to such a lord as +Meikleham. He had seen enough of him at Lossie House to know what +he was, and puritanical fish catching Malcolm had ideas above +those of most marquises of his day: the thought of the alliance +was horrible to him. It was possibly not inevitable, however; only +what could he do, and at the same time avoid grievous hurt? + +"I dinna think he'll ever merry my leddy," he said. + +"What gars ye say that, Ma'colm?" returned Lizzy, with eagerness. + +"I canna tell ye jist i' the noo; but ye ken a body canna weel +be aye aboot a place ohn seein things. I'll tell ye something o' +mair consequence hooever," he continued. . "Some fowk say there's +a God, an' some say there's nane, an' I ha'e no richt to preach to +ye, Lizzy; but I maun jist tell ye this--'at gien God dinna help +them 'at cry till 'im i' the warst o' tribles, they micht jist as +weel ha'e nae God at a'. For my ain pairt I ha'e been helpit, an' +I think it was him intil 't. Wi' his help, a man may warstle throu' +onything. I say I think it was himsel' tuik me throu' 't, an' here +I stan' afore ye, ready for the neist trible, an' the help 'at 'll +come wi' 't. What it may be, God only knows!" + + + +CHAPTER VI: MR CRATHIE + + +He was interrupted by the sudden opening of the door, and the voice +of the factor in exultant wrath. + +"MacPhail!" it cried. "Come out with you. Don't think to sneak +there. I know you. What right have you to be on the premises? Didn't +I send you about your business this morning?" + +"Ay, sir, but ye didna pay me my wages," said Malcolm, who had +sprung to the door and now stood holding it half shut, while Mr +Crathie pushed it half open. + +"No matter. You're nothing better than a housebreaker if you enter +any building about the place." + +"I brak nae lock," returned Malcolm. "I ha'e the key my lord gae +me to ilka place 'ithin the wa's excep' the strong room." + +"Give it me directly. I'm master here now." + +"'Deed, I s' du nae sic thing, sir. What he gae me I'll keep." + +"Give up that key, or I'll go at once and get a warrant against +you for theft." + +"Weel, we s' refar't to Maister Soutar." + +"Damn your impudence--'at I sud say't!--what has he to do with +my affairs? Come out of that directly." + +"Huly, huly, sir!" returned Malcolm, in terror lest he should +discover who was with him. + +"You low bred rascal! Who have you there with you?" + +As he spoke Mr Crathie would have forced his way into the dusky +chamber, where he could just perceive a motionless undefined +form. But stiff as a statue Malcolm kept his stand, and the door +was immovable. Mr Crathie gave a second and angrier push, but the +youth's corporeal as well as his mental equilibrium was hard to +upset, and his enemy drew back in mounting fury. + +"Get out of there," he cried, "or I'll horsewhip you for a damned +blackguard." + +"Whup awa'," said Malcolm, "but in here ye s' no come the nicht." + +The factor rushed at him, his heavy whip upheaved--and the same +moment found himself, not in the room, but lying on the flower bed +in front of it. Malcolm instantly stepped out, locked the door, +put the key in his pocket, and turned to assist him. But he was up +already, and busy with words unbefitting the mouth of an elder of +the kirk. + +"Didna I say 'at ye sudna come in, sir? What for wull fowk no tak' +a tellin'?" expostulated Malcolm. + +But the factor was far beyond force of logic or illumination of +reason. He raved and swore. + +"Get oot o' my sicht," he cried, "or I'll shot ye like a tyke." + +"Gang an' fess yer gun," said Malcolm, "an' gien ye fin' me waitin' +for ye, ye can lat at me." + +The factor uttered a horrible imprecation on himself if he did not +make him pay dearly for his behaviour. + +"Hoots, sir! Be asham't o' yersel'. Gang hame to the mistress, an' +I s' be up the morn's mornin' for my wages." + +"If ye set foot on the grounds again, I'll set every dog in the +place upon you." + +Malcolm laughed. + +"Gien I was to turn the order the ither gait, wad they min' you or +me, div ye think, Maister Crathie?" + +"Give me that key, and go about your business." + +"Na, na, sir! What my lord gae me I s' keep--for a' the factors +atween this an' the Land's En'," returned Malcolm. "An' for lea'in' +the place, gien I be na in your service, Maister Crathie, I'm nae +un'er your orders. I'll gang whan it shuits me. An' mair yet, ye +s' gang oot o' this first, or I s' gar ye, an that ye'll see." + +It was a violent proceeding, but for a matter of manners he was +not going to risk what of her good name poor Lizzy had left: like +the books of the Sibyl, that grew in value. He made, however, but +one threatful stride towards the factor, for the great man turned +and fled. + +The moment he was out of sight, Malcolm unlocked the door, led +Lizzy out, and brought her through the tunnel to the sands. There +he left her, and set out for Scaurnose. + + + +CHAPTER VII: BLUE PETER + + +The door of Blue Peter's cottage was opened by his sister. Not +much at home in the summer, when she carried fish to the country, +she was very little absent in the winter, and as there was but one +room for all uses, except the closet bedroom and the garret at the +top of the ladder, Malcolm, instead of going in, called to his +friend, whom he saw by the fire with his little Phemy upon his +knee, to come out and speak to him. + +Blue Peter at once obeyed the summons. + +"There's naething wrang, I houp, Ma'colm?" he said, as he closed +the door behind him. + +"Maister Graham wad say," returned Malcolm, "naething ever was +wrang but what ye did wrang yersel', or wadna pit richt whan ye +had a chance. I ha'e him nae mair to gang till, Joseph, an' sae I'm +come to you. Come doon by, an' i' the scoug o' a rock, I'll tell +ye a' aboot it." + +"Ye wadna ha'e the mistress no ken o' 't?" said his friend. "I +dinna jist like haein' secrets frae her." + +"Ye sall jeedge for yersel', man, an' tell her or no just as ye +like. Only she maun haud her tongue, or the black dog 'll ha'e a' +the butter." + +"She can haud her tongue like the tae stane o' a grave," said Peter. + +As they spoke they reached the cliff that hung over the shattered +shore. It was a clear, cold night. Snow, the remnants of the last +storm, which frost had preserved in every shadowy spot, lay all +about them. The sky was clear, and full of stars, for the wind +that blew cold from the northwest had dispelled the snowy clouds. +The waves rushed into countless gulfs and crannies and straits +on the ruggedest of shores, and the sounds of waves and wind kept +calling like voices from the unseen. By a path, seemingly fitter +for goats than men, they descended halfway to the beach, and under +a great projection of rock stood sheltered from the wind. Then +Malcolm turned to Joseph Mair, commonly called Blue Peter, because +he had been a man of war's man, and laying his hand on his arm +said: + +"Blue Peter, did ever I tell ye a lee?" + +"No, never," answered Peter. "What gars ye speir sic a thing?" + +"Cause I want ye to believe me noo, an' it winna be easy." + +"I'll believe onything ye tell me--'at can be believed." + +"Weel, I ha'e come to the knowledge 'at my name's no MacPhail: it's +Colonsay. Man, I'm the Markis o' Lossie." + +Without a moment's hesitation, without a single stare of unbelief +or even astonishment, Blue Peter pulled off his bonnet, and stood +bareheaded before the companion of his toils. + +"Peter!" cried Malcolm, "dinna brak my hert: put on yer bonnet." + +"The Lord o' lords be thankit, my lord!" said Blue Peter: "the puir +man has a freen' this day." + +Then replacing his bonnet he said--"An' what'll be yer lordship's +wull?" + +"First and foremost, Peter, that my best freen', efter my auld +daddy and the schulemaister, 's no to turn again' me 'cause I hed +a markis an' neither piper nor fisher to my father." + +"It's no like it, my lord," returned Blue Peter, "whan the first +thing I say is--what wad ye ha'e o' me? Here I am--no speirin' +a queston!" + +"Weel, I wad ha'e ye hear the story o' 't a'." + +"Say on, my lord," said Peter. + +But Malcolm was silent for a few moments. + +"I was thinkin', Peter," he said at last, "whether I cud bide to +hear you say my lord to me. Dootless, as it 'll ha'e to come to +that, it wad be better to grow used till 't while we're thegither, +sae 'at whan it maun be, it mayna ha'e the luik o' cheenge until +it, for cheenge is jist the thing I canna bide. I' the meantime, +hooever, we canna gi'e in till 't, 'cause it wad set fowk jaloosin'. +But I wad be obleeged till ye, Peter, gien you wad say my lord +whiles, whan we're oor lanes, for I wad fain grow sae used till't +'at I never kent ye said it, for 'atween you an' me I dinna like +it. An' noo I s' tell ye a' 'at I ken." + +When he had ended the tale of what had come to his knowledge, and +how it had come, and paused: + +"Gie's a grup o' yer han', my lord," said Blue Peter, "an' may +God haud ye lang in life an' honour to reule ower us. Noo, gien ye +please, what are ye gauin' to du?" + +"Tell ye me, Peter, what ye think I oucht to du." + +"That wad tak a heap o' thinkin'," returned the fisherman; "but +ae thing seems aboot plain: ye ha'e no richt to lat yer sister +gang exposed to temptations ye cud haud frae her. That's no, as +ye promised, to be kin' till her. I canna believe that's hoo yer +father expeckit o' ye. I ken weel 'at fowk in his poseetion ha'ena +the preevileeges o' the like o' hiz--they ha'ena the win, an' the +watter, an' whiles a lee shore to gar them know they are but men, +an' sen' them rattling at the wicket of h'aven; but still I dinna +think, by yer ain accoont, specially noo 'at I houp he's forgi'en +an' latten in--God grant it!--I div not think he wad like my +leddy Florimel to be oon'er the influences o' sic a ane as that +Leddy Bellair. Ye maun gang till her. Ye ha'e nae ch'ice, my lord." + +"But what am I to do, whan I div gang?" + +"That's what ye hev to gang an' see." + +"An' that's what I ha'e been tellin' mysel', an' what Miss Horn's +been tellin' me tu. But it's a gran' thing to get yer ain thouchts +corroborat. Ye see I'm feart for wrangin' her for pride, and bringin' +her doon to set mysel' up." + +"My lord," said Blue Peter, solemnly, "ye ken the life o' puir +fisher fowk; ye ken hoo it micht be lichtened, sae lang as it laists, +an' mony a hole steikit 'at the cauld deith creeps in at the noo: +coont ye them naething, my lord? Coont ye the wull o' Providence, +'at sets ye ower them, naething? What for could the Lord ha'e gie +ye sic an upbringin' as no markis' son ever hed afore ye, or maybe +ever wull ha'e efter ye, gien it bena 'at ye sud tak them in han' +to du yer pairt by them? Gien ye forsak them noo, ye'll be forgettin' +him 'at made them an' you, an' the sea, an' the herrin' to be taen +intil 't. Gien ye forget them, there's nae houp for them, but the +same deith 'ill keep on swallowin' at them upo' sea an' shore." + +"Ye speyk the trowth as I ha'e spoken't till mysel', Peter. +Noo, hearken: will ye sail wi' me the nicht for Lon'on toon?" The +fisherman was silent a moment--then answered, "I wull, my lord; +but I maun tell my wife." + +"Rin, an' fess her here than, for I'm fleyed at yer sister, honest +wuman, an' little Phemy. It wad blaud a' thing gien I was hurried +to du something afore I kenned what." + +"I s' ha'e her oot in a meenute," said Joseph, and scrambled up +the cliff. + + + +CHAPTER VIII: VOYAGE TO LONDON + + +For a few minutes Malcolm stood alone in the dim starlight of +winter, looking out on the dusky sea, dark as his own future, into +which the wind now blowing behind him would soon begin to carry +him. He anticipated its difficulties, but never thought of perils: +it was seldom anything oppressed him but the doubt of what he ought +to do. This was ever the cold mist that swallowed the airy castles +he built and peopled with all the friends and acquaintances of his +youth. But the very first step towards action is the death warrant +of doubt, and the tide of Malcolm's being ran higher that night, as +he stood thus alone under the stars, than he had ever yet known it +run. With all his common sense, and the abundance of his philosophy, +which the much leisure belonging to certain phases of his life had +combined with the slow strength of his intellect to render somewhat +long winded in utterance, there was yet room in Malcolm's bonnet +for a bee above the ordinary size, and if it buzzed a little +too romantically for the taste of the nineteenth century, about +disguises and surprises and bounty and plots and rescues and such +like, something must be pardoned to one whose experience had already +been so greatly out of the common, and whose nature was far too +childlike and poetic, and developed in far too simple a surrounding of +labour and success, difficulty and conquest, danger and deliverance, +not to have more than the usual amount of what is called the romantic +in its composition. + +The buzzing of his bee was for the present interrupted by the return +of Blue Peter with his wife. She threw her arms round Malcolm's +neck, and burst into tears. + +"Hoots, my woman!" said her husband, "what are ye greitin' at?" + +"Eh, Peter!" she answered, "I canna help it. It's jist like a deith. +He's gauin' to lea' us a', an' gang hame till 's ain, an' I canna +bide 'at he sud grow strange-like to hiz 'at ha'e kenned him sae +lang." + +"It'll be an ill day," returned Malcolm, "whan I grow strange to +ony freen'. I'll ha'e to gang far down the laich (low) ro'd afore +that be poassible. I mayna aye be able to du jist what ye wad like; +but lippen ye to me: I s' be fair to ye. An' noo I want Blue Peter +to gang wi' me, an' help me to what I ha'e to du--gien ye ha'e +nae objection to lat him." + +"Na, nane ha'e I. I wad gang mysel' gien I cud be ony use," answered +Mrs Mair; "but women are i' the gait whiles." + +"Weel, I'll no even say thank ye; I'll be awin' ye that as weel's +the lave. But gien I dinna du weel, it winna be the fau't o' ane +or the ither o' you twa freen's. Noo, Peter, we maun be aff." + +"No the nicht, surely?" said Mrs Mair, a little taken by surprise. + +"The suner the better, lass," replied her husband. "An' we cudna +ha'e a better win'. Jist rin ye hame, an' get some vicktooals +thegither, an' come efter hiz to Portlossie." + +"But hoo 'ill ye get the boat to the watter ohn mair han's? I'll +need to come mysel' an' fess Jean." + +"Na, na; let Jean sit. There's plenty i' the Seaton to help. We're +gauin' to tak' the markis's cutter. She's a heap easier to lainch, +an' she'll sail a heap fester." + +"But what'll Maister Crathie say?" + +"We maun tak' oor chance o' that," answered her husband, with a +smile of confidence; and thereupon he and Malcolm set out for the +Seaton, while Mrs Mair went home to get ready some provisions for +the voyage, consisting chiefly of oatcakes. + +The prejudice against Malcolm from his imagined behaviour to Lizzy +Findlay, had by this time, partly through the assurances of Peter, +partly through the power of the youth's innocent presence, almost +died out, and when the two men reached the Seaton, they found plenty +of hands ready to help them to reach the little sloop. Malcolm said +he was going to take her to Peterhead, and they asked no questions +but such as he contrived to answer with truth, or to leave unanswered. +Once afloat, there was very little to be done to her, for she had +been laid up in perfect condition, and as soon as Mrs Mair appeared +with her basket, and they had put that, a keg of water, some +fishing lines, and a pan of mussels for bait, on board, they were +ready to sail, and wished their friends a light goodbye, leaving +them to imagine they were gone but for a day or two, probably on +some business of Mr Crathie's. + +With the wind from the northwest, they soon reached Duff Harbour, +where Malcolm went on shore and saw Mr Soutar. He, with a landsman's +prejudice, made strenuous objections to such a mad prank as sailing +to London at that time of the year, but in vain. Malcolm saw nothing +mad in it, and the lawyer had to admit he ought to know best. He +brought on board with him a lad of Peter's acquaintance, and now +fully manned, they set sail again, and by the time the sun appeared +were not far from Peterhead. + +Malcolm's spirits kept rising as they bowled along over the bright +cold waters. He never felt so capable as when at sea. His energies +had been first called out in combat with the elements, and hence +he always felt strongest, most at home, and surest of himself on +the water. Young as he was, however, such had been his training +under Mr Graham, that a large part of this elevation of spirit was +owing to an unreasoned sense of being there more immediately in the +hands of God. Later in life, he interpreted the mental condition +thus--that of course he was always and in every place equally in +God's hands, but that at sea he felt the truth more keenly. Where +a man has nothing firm under him, where his life depends on winds +invisible and waters unstable, where a single movement may be death, +he learns to feel what is at the same time just as true every night +he spends asleep in the bed in which generations have slept before +him, or any sunny hour he spends walking over ancestral acres. + +They put in at Peterhead, purchased a few provisions, and again +set sail. + +And now it seemed to Malcolm that he must soon come to a conclusion +as to the steps he must take when he reached London. But think as +he would, he could plan nothing beyond finding out where his sister +lived, going to look at the house, and getting into it if he might. +Nor could his companion help him with any suggestions, and indeed +he could not talk much with him because of the presence of Davy, +a rough, round eyed, red haired young Scot, of the dull invaluable +class that can only do what they are told, but do that to the extent +of their faculty. + +They knew all the coast as far as the Frith of Forth; after that +they had to be more careful. They had no charts on board, nor could +have made much use of any. But the wind continued favourable, and +the weather cold, bright, and full of life. They spoke many coasters +on their way, and received many directions. + +Off the Nore they had rough weather, and had to stand off and on +for a day and a night till it moderated. Then they spoke a fishing +boat, took a pilot on board, and were soon in smooth water. More +and more they wondered as the channel narrowed, and ended their +voyage at length below London Bridge, in a very jungle of masts. + + + +CHAPTER IX: LONDON STREETS + + +Leaving Davy to keep the sloop, the two fishermen went on shore. +Passing from the narrow precincts of the river, they found themselves +at once in the roar of London city. Stunned at first, then excited, +then bewildered, then dazed, without plan to guide their steps, +they wandered about until, unused to the hard stones, their feet +ached. It was a dull day in March. A keen wind blew round the +corners of the streets. They wished themselves at sea again. + +"Sic a sicht o' fowk!" said Blue Peter. + +"It's hard to think," rejoined Malcolm, "what w'y the God 'at made +them can luik efter them a' in sic a tumult. But they say even the +sheep dog kens ilk sheep i' the flock 'at 's gien him in chairge." + +"Ay, but ye see," said Blue Peter, "they're mair like a shoal o' +herrin' nor a flock o' sheep." + +"It's no the num'er o' them 'at plagues me," said Malcolm. "The +gran' diffeeculty is hoo He can lat ilk ane tak' his ain gait an' +yet luik efter them a'. But gien He does't, it stan's to rizzon it +maun be in some w'y 'at them 'at's sae luikit efter canna by ony +possibeelity un'erstan'." + +"That's trowth, I'm thinkin'. We maun jist gi'e up an' confess +there's things abune a' human comprehension." + +"Wha kens but that maybe 'cause i' their verra natur' they're ower +semple for cr'aturs like hiz 'at's made sae mixed-like, an' see +sae little intill the hert o' things?" + +"Ye're ayont me there," said Blue Peter, and a silence followed. + +It was a conversation very unsuitable to London Streets--but +then these were raw Scotch fisherman, who had not yet learned how +absurd it is to suppose ourselves come from anything greater than +ourselves, and had no conception of the liberty it confers on a man +to know that he is the child of a protoplasm, or something still +more beautifully small. + +At length a policeman directed them to a Scotch eating house, where +they fared after their country's fashions, and from the landlady +gathered directions by which to guide themselves towards Curzon +Street, a certain number in which Mr Soutar had given Malcolm as +Lady Bellair's address. + +The door was opened to Malcolm's knock by a slatternly charwoman, +who, unable to understand a word he said, would, but for its fine +frank expression, have shut the door in his face. From the expression +of hers, however, Malcolm suddenly remembered that he must speak +English, and having a plentiful store of the book sort, he at once +made himself intelligible in spite of tone and accent. It was, +however, only a shifting of the difficulty, for he now found it +nearly impossible to understand her. But by repeated questioning +and hard listening he learnt at last that Lady Bellair had removed +her establishment to Lady Lossie's house in Portland Place. + +After many curious perplexities, odd blunders, and vain endeavours +to understand shop signs and notices in the windows; after they had +again and again imagined themselves back at a place they had left +miles away; after many a useless effort to lay hold of directions +given so rapidly that the very sense could not gather the sounds, +they at length stood--not in Portland Place, but in front of +Westminster Abbey. Inquiring what it was, and finding they could +go in, they entered. + +For some moments not a word was spoken between them, but when they +had walked slowly halfway up the nave Malcolm turned and said, "Eh, +Peter! sic a blessin'!" and Peter replied, "There canna be muckle +o' this i' the warl'!" + +Comparing impressions afterwards, Peter said that the moment he +stepped in, he heard the rush of the tide on the rocks of Scaurnose; +and Malcolm declared he felt as if he had stepped out of the world +into the regions of eternal silence. + +"What a mercy it maun be," he went on, "to mony a cratur', in sic +a whummle an' a rum'le an' a remish as this Lon'on, to ken 'at +there is sic a cave howkit oot o' the din, 'at he can gang intill +an' say his prayers intill! Man, Peter! I'm jist some feared whiles +'at the verra din i' my lugs mayna 'maist drive the thoucht o' God +oot o' me." + +At length they found their way into Regent Street, and leaving +its mean assertion behind, reached the stately modesty of Portland +Place; and Malcolm was pleased to think the house he sought was +one of those he now saw. + +It was one of the largest in the Place. He would not, however, yield +to the temptation to have a good look at it, for fear of attracting +attention from its windows and being recognised. They turned therefore +aside into some of the smaller thoroughfares lying between Portland +Place and Great Portland Street, where searching about, they came +upon a decent looking public house and inquired after lodgings. +They were directed to a woman in the neighbourhood, who kept a dingy +little curiosity shop. On payment of a week's rent in advance, she +allowed them a small bedroom. But Malcolm did not want Peter with +him that night; he wished to be perfectly free; and besides it was +more than desirable that Peter should go and look after the boat +and the boy. + +Left alone he fell once more to his hitherto futile scheming: +How was he to get near his sister? To the whitest of lies he had +insuperable objection, and if he appeared before her with no reason +to give, would she not be far too offended with his presumption to +retain him in her service? And except he could be near her as her +servant, he did not see a chance of doing anything for her without +disclosing facts which might make all such service as he would most +gladly render her impossible, by causing her to hate the very sight +of him. Plan after plan rose and passed from his mind rejected, and +the only resolution he could come to was to write to Mr Soutar, to +whom he had committed the protection of Kelpie, to send her up by +the first smack from Aberdeen. He did so, and wrote also to Miss +Horn, telling her where he was, then went out, and made his way +back to Portland Place. + +Night had closed in, and thick vapours hid the moon, but lamps and +lighted windows illuminated the wide street. Presently it began +to snow. But through the snow and the night went carriages in all +directions, with great lamps that turned the flakes into white stars +for a moment as they gleamed past. The hoofs of the horses echoed +hard from the firm road. + +Could that house really belong to him? It did, yet he dared not +enter it. That which was dear and precious to him was in the house, +and just because of that he could not call it his own. There was +less light in it than in any other within his range. He walked +up and down the opposite side of the street its whole length some +fifty times, but saw no sign of vitality about the house. At length +a brougham stopped at the door, and a man got out and knocked. +Malcolm instantly crossed, but could not see his face. The door +opened, and he entered. The brougham waited. After about a quarter +of an hour he came out again, accompanied by two ladies, one of +whom he judged by her figure to be Florimel. They all got into the +carriage, and Malcolm braced himself for a terrible run. But the +coachman drove carefully, the snow lay a few inches deep, and he +found no difficulty in keeping near them, following with fleet foot +and husbanded breath. + +They stopped at the doors of a large dark looking building in a +narrow street He thought it was a church, and wondered that so his +sister should be going there on a week night. Nor did the aspect +of the entrance hall, into which he followed them, undeceive him. +It was more showy, certainly, than the vestibule of any church he +had ever been in before, but what might not churches be in London? +They went up a great flight of stairs--to reach the gallery, as +he thought, and still he went after them. When he reached the top, +they were just vanishing round a curve, and his advance was checked: +a man came up to him, said he could not come there, and gruffly +requested him to show his ticket. + +"I haven't got one. What is this place?" said Malcolm, whom the +aspect of the man had suddenly rendered doubtful, mouthing his English +with Scotch deliberation. The man gave him a look of contemptuous +surprise, and turning to another who lounged behind him with his +hands in his pockets, said--"Tom, here's a gentleman as wants to +know where he is: can you tell him?" The person addressed laughed, +and gave Malcolm a queer look. + +"Every cock crows on his own midden," said Malcolm, "but if I were +on mine, I would try to be civil." + +"You go down there, and pay for a pit ticket, and you'll soon know +where you are, mate," said Tom. + +He obeyed, and after a few inquiries, and the outlay of two +shillings, found himself in the pit of one of the largest of the +London theatres. + + + +CHAPTER X: THE TEMPEST + + +The play was begun, and the stage was the centre of light. Thither +Malcolm's eyes were drawn the instant he entered. He was all but +unaware of the multitude of faces about him, and his attention was +at once fascinated by the lovely show revealed in soft radiance. But +surely he had seen the vision before! One long moment its effect +upon him was as real as if he had been actually deceived as to +its nature: was it not the shore between Scaurnose and Portlossie, +betwixt the Boar's Tail and the sea? and was not that the marquis, +his father, in his dressing gown, pacing to and fro upon the +sands? He yielded himself to illusion--abandoned himself to the +wonderful, and looked only for what would come next. + +A lovely lady entered: to his excited fancy it was Florimel. A +moment more and she spoke. + + +If by your art, my dearest father, you have +Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. + +Then first he understood that before him rose in wondrous realization +the play of Shakspere he knew best--the first he had ever read: +The Tempest, hitherto a lovely phantom for the mind's eye, now +embodied to the enraptured sense. During the whole of the first act +he never thought either of Miranda or Florimel apart. At the same +time so taken was he with the princely carriage and utterance of +Ferdinand that, though with a sigh, he consented he should have +his sister. + +The drop scene had fallen for a minute or two before he began +to look around him. A moment more and he had commenced a thorough +search for his sister amongst the ladies in the boxes. But when at +length he found her, he dared not fix his eyes upon her lest his +gaze should make her look at him, and she should recognise him. +Alas, her eyes might have rested on him twenty times without his +face once rousing in her mind the thought of the fisher lad of +Portlossie! All that had passed between them in the days already +old was virtually forgotten. + +By degrees he gathered courage, and soon began to feel that there +was small chance indeed of her eyes alighting upon him for the +briefest of moments. Then he looked more closely, and felt through +rather than saw with his eyes that some sort of change had already +passed upon her. It was Florimel, yet not the very Florimel he had +known. Already something had begun to supplant the girl freedom +that had formerly in every look and motion asserted itself. She +was more beautiful, but not so lovely in his eyes; much of what had +charmed him had vanished. She was more stately, but the stateliness +had a little hardness mingled with it: and could it be that the +first of a cloud had already gathered on her forehead? Surely she +was not so happy as she had been at Lossie House. She was dressed +in black, with a white flower in her hair. + +Beside her sat the bold faced countess, and behind them her nephew, +Lord Meikleham that was now Lord Liftore. A fierce indignation +seized the heart of Malcolm at the sight. Behind the form of the +earl, his mind's eye saw that of Lizzy, out in the wind on the +Boar's Tail, her old shawl wrapped about herself and the child of +the man who sat there so composed and comfortable. His features +were fine and clear cut, his shoulders broad, and his head well +set: he had much improved since Malcolm offered to fight him with +one hand in the dining room of Lossie House. Every now and then +he leaned forward between his aunt and Florimel, and spoke to the +latter. To Malcolm's eyes she seemed to listen with some haughtiness. Now +and then she cast him an indifferent glance. Malcolm was pleased: +Lord Liftore was anything but the Ferdinand to whom he could consent +to yield his Miranda. They would make a fine couple certainly, but for +any other fitness, knowing what he did, Malcolm was glad to perceive +none. The more annoyed was he when once or twice he fancied he caught +a look between them that indicated more than acquaintanceship-- +some sort of intimacy at least. But he reflected that in the relation +in which they stood to Lady Bellair it could hardly be otherwise. + +The play was tolerably well put upon the stage, and free of the +absurdities attendant upon too ambitious an endeavour to represent to +the sense things which Shakspere and the dramatists of his period +freely committed to their best and most powerful ally, the willing +imagination of the spectators. The opening of the last scene, +where Ferdinand and Miranda are discovered at chess, was none the +less effective for its simplicity, and Malcolm was turning from a +delighted gaze at its loveliness to glance at his sister and her +companions, when his eyes fell on a face near him in the pit which +had fixed an absorbed regard in the same direction. It was that of +a man a few years older than himself, with irregular features, but +a fine mouth, large chin; and great forehead. Under the peculiarly +prominent eyebrows shone dark eyes of wondrous brilliancy and seeming +penetration. Malcolm could not but suspect that his gaze was upon +his sister, but as they were a long way from the boxes, he could +not be certain. Once he thought he saw her look at him, but of that +also he could be in no wise certain. + +He knew the play so well that he rose just in time to reach the +pit door ere exit should be impeded with the outcomers, and thence +with some difficulty he found his way to the foot of the stair up which +those he watched had gone. There he had stood but a little while, +when he saw in front of him, almost within reach of an outstretched +hand, the same young man waiting also. After what seemed a long +time, he saw his sister and her two companions come slowly down the +stair in the descending crowd. Her eyes seemed searching amongst +the multitude that filled the lobby. Presently an indubitable glance +of still recognition passed between them, and by a slight movement +the young man placed himself so that she must pass next him in +the crowd. Malcolm got one place nearer in the change, and thought +they grasped hands. She turned her head slightly back, and seemed +to put a question--with her lips only. He replied in the same +manner. A light rushed into her face and vanished. But not a feature +moved and not a word had been spoken. Neither of her companions +had seen the dumb show, and her friend stood where he was till they +had left the house. Malcolm stood also, much inclined to follow +him when he went, but, his attention having been attracted for a +moment in another direction, when he looked again he had disappeared. +He sought him where he fancied he saw the movement of his vanishing, +but was soon convinced of the uselessness of the attempt, and walked +home. + +Before he reached his lodging, he had resolved on making trial of +a plan which had more than once occurred to him, but had as often +been rejected as too full of the risk of repulse. + + + +CHAPTER XI: DEMON AND THE PIPES + + +His plan was to watch the house until he saw some entertainment +going on, then present himself as if he had but just arrived from +her ladyship's country seat. At such a time no one would acquaint +her with his appearance, and he would, as if it were but a matter +of course, at once take his share in waiting on the guests. By this +means he might perhaps get her a little accustomed to his presence +before she could be at leisure to challenge it. + +When he put Kelpie in her stall the last time for a season, and +ran into the house to get his plaid for Lizzy, who was waiting him +near the tunnel, he bethought himself that he had better take with +him also what other of his personal requirements he could carry. +He looked about therefore, and finding a large carpet bag in one +of the garret rooms, hurried into it some of his clothes--amongst +them the Highland dress he had worn as henchman to the marquis, +and added the great Lossie pipes his father had given to old Duncan +as well, but which the piper had not taken with him when he left +Lossie House. The said Highland dress he now resolved to put on, +as that in which latterly Florimel had been most used to see him: +in it he would watch his opportunity of gaining admission to the +house. + +The next morning Blue Peter made his appearance early. They went +out together, spent the day in sightseeing, and, on Malcolm's part +chiefly, in learning the topography of London. + +In Hyde Park Malcolm told his friend that he had sent for Kelpie. + +"She'll be the deid o' ye i' thae streets, as fu' o' wheels as the +sea o' fish: twize I've been 'maist gr'un to poother o' my ro'd +here," said Peter. + +"Ay, but ye see, oot here amo' the gentry it's no freely sae ill, +an' the ro'ds are no a' stane; an' here, ye see, 's the place whaur +they come, leddies an' a', to ha'e their rides thegither. What I'm +fleyt for is 'at she'll be brackin' legs wi' her deevilich kickin'." + +"Haud her upo' dry strae an' watter for a whilie, till her banes +begin to cry oot for something to hap them frae the cauld: that'll +quaiet her a bit," said Peter. + +"It's a' ye ken!" returned Malcolm. "She's aye the wau natur'd, the +less she has to ate. Na, na; she maun be weel lined. The deevil in +her maun lie warm, or she'll be neither to haud nor bin'. There's +nae doobt she's waur to haud in whan she's in guid condeetion; but +she's nane sae like to tak' a body by the sma' o' the back, an' shak +the inside oot o' 'im, as she maist did ae day to the herd laddie +at the ferm, only he had an auld girth aboot the mids o' 'im for +a belt, an' he tuik the less scaith." + +"Cudna we gang an' see the maister the day?" said Blue Peter, +changing the subject. + +He meant Mr Graham, the late schoolmaster of Portlossie, whom the +charge of heretical teaching had driven from the place. + +"We canna weel du that till we hear whaur he is. The last time Miss +Horn h'ard frae him, he was changin' his lodgin's, an' ye see the +kin' o' a place this Lon'on is," answered Malcolm. + +As soon as Peter was gone, to return to the boat, Malcolm dressed +himself in his kilt and its belongings, and when it was fairly dusk, +took his pipes under his arm, and set out for Portland Place. He +had the better hope of speedy success to his plan, that he fancied +he had read on his sister's lips, in the silent communication that +passed between her and her friend in the crowd, the words come and +tomorrow. It might have been the merest imagination, yet it was +something: how often have we not to be grateful for shadows! Up +and down the street he walked a long time, without seeing a sign +of life about the house. But at length the hall was lighted. Then +the door opened, and a servant rolled out a carpet over the wide +pavement, which the snow had left wet and miry--a signal for the +street children, ever on the outlook for sights, to gather. Before +the first carriage arrived, there was already a little crowd of +humble watchers and waiters about the gutter and curb stone. But +they were not destined to much amusement that evening, the visitors +amounting only to a small dinner party. Still they had the pleasure +of seeing a few grand ladies issue from their carriages, cross the +stage of their Epiphany, the pavement, and vanish in the paradise +of the shining hall, with its ascent of gorgeous stairs. No broken +steps, no missing balusters there! And they have the show all for +nothing! It is one of the perquisites of street service. What one +would give to see the shapes glide over the field of those camerae +obscurae, the hearts of the street Arabs! once to gaze on the +jewelled beauties through the eyes of those shocked haired girls! +I fancy they do not often begrudge them what they possess, except +perhaps when feature or hair or motion chances to remind them of +some one of their own people, and they feel wronged and indignant +that size should flaunt in such splendour, "when our Sally would +set off grand clothes so much better!" It is neither the wealth +nor the general consequence it confers that they envy, but, as I +imagine, the power of making a show--of living in the eyes and +knowledge of neighbours for a few radiant moments: nothing is so +pleasant to ordinary human nature as to know itself by its reflection +from others. When it turns from these warped and broken mirrors +to seek its reflection in the divine thought, then it is redeemed; +then it beholds itself in the perfect law of liberty. + +Before he became himself an object of curious interest to the crowd +he was watching, Malcolm had come to the same conclusion with many +a philosopher and observer of humanity before him--that on the +whole the rags are inhabited by the easier hearts; and he would +have arrived at the conclusion with more certainty but for the high +training that cuts off intercourse between heart and face. + +When some time had elapsed, and no more carriages appeared, Malcolm, +judging the dinner must now be in full vortex, rang the bell of +the front door. It was opened by a huge footman, whose head was +so small in proportion that his body seemed to have absorbed it. +Malcolm would have stepped in at once, and told what of his tale +he chose at his leisure; but the servant, who had never seen the +dress Malcolm wore, except on street beggars, with the instinct +his class shares with watchdogs, quickly closed the door. Ere it +reached the post, however, it found Malcolm's foot between. + +"Go along, Scotchy. You're not wanted here," said the man, pushing +the door hard. "Police is round the corner." + +Now one of the weaknesses Malcolm owed to his Celtic blood was an +utter impatience of rudeness. In his own nature entirely courteous, +he was wrathful even to absurdity at the slightest suspicion of +insult. But that, in part through the influence of Mr Graham, the +schoolmaster, he had learned to keep a firm hold on the reins of +action, this foolish feeling would not unfrequently have hurried +him into conduct undignified. On the present occasion, I fear the +main part of his answer, but for the shield of the door, would have +been a blow to fell a bigger man than the one that now glared at +him through the shoe broad opening. As it was, his words were fierce +with suppressed wrath. + +"Open the door, an' lat me in," was, however, all he said. + +"What's your business?" asked the man, on whom his tone had its +effect. + +"My business is with my Lady Lossie," said Malcolm, recovering his +English, which was one step towards mastering, if not recovering, +his temper. + +"You can't see her. She's at dinner." + +"Let me in, and I'll wait. I come from Lossie House." + +"Take away your foot and I'll go and see," said the man. + +"No. You open the door," returned Malcolm. + +The man's answer was an attempt to kick his foot out of the doorway. +If he were to let in a tramp, what would the butler say? + +But thereupon Malcolm set his port vent to his mouth, rapidly +filled his bag, while the man stared as if it were a petard with +which he was about to blow the door to shivers, and then sent from +the instrument such a shriek, as it galloped off into the Lossie +Gathering, that involuntarily his adversary pressed both hands to +his ears. With a sudden application of his knee Malcolm sent the +door wide, and entered the hall, with his pipes in full cry. The +house resounded with their yell--but only for one moment. For +down the stair, like bolt from catapult, came Demon, Florimel's +huge Irish staghound, and springing on Malcolm, put an instant end +to his music. The footman laughed with exultation, expecting to +see him torn to pieces. But when instead he saw the fierce animal, +a foot on each of his shoulders, licking Malcolm's face with long +fiery tongue, he began to doubt. + +"The dog knows you," he said sulkily. + +"So shall you, before long," returned Malcolm. "Was it my fault +that I made the mistake of looking for civility from you? One word +to the dog, and he has you by the throat." + +"I'll go and fetch Wallis," said the man, and closing the door, +left the hall. + +Now this Wallis had been a fellow servant of Malcolm's at Lossie +House, but he did not know that he had gone with Lady Bellair when +she took Florimel away: almost everyone had left at the same time. +He was now glad indeed to learn that there was one amongst the +servants who knew him. + +Wallis presently made his appearance, with a dish in his hands, on +his way to the dining room, from which came the confused noises of +the feast. + +"You'll be come up to wait on Lady Lossie," he said. "I haven't +a moment to speak to you now, for we're at dinner, and there's a +party." + +"Never mind me. Give me that dish; I'll take it in: you can go for +another," said Malcolm, laying his pipes in a safe spot. + +"You can't go into the dining room that figure," said Wallis, who +was in the Bellair livery. + +"This is how I waited on my lord," returned Malcolm, "and this is +how I'll wait on my lady." + +Wallis hesitated. But there was that about the fisher fellow was +too much for him. As he spoke, Malcolm took the dish from his hands, +and with it walked into the dining room. + +There one reconnoitring glance was sufficient. The butler was at the +sideboard opening a champagne bottle. He had cut wire and strings, +and had his hand on the cork as Malcolm walked up to him. It was +a critical moment, yet he stopped in the very article, and stared +at the apparition. + +"I'm Lady Lossie's man from Lossie House. I'll help you to wait," +said Malcolm. + +To the eyes of the butler he looked a savage. But there he +was in the room with the dish in his hands, and speaking at least +intelligibly; the cork of the champagne bottle was pushing hard +against his palm, and he had no time to question. He peeped into +Malcolm's dish. + +"Take it round, then," he said. So Malcolm settled into the business +of the hour. + +It was some time, after he knew where she was, before he ventured +to look at his sister: he would have her already familiarised with +his presence before their eyes met. That crisis did not arrive +during dinner. + +Lord Liftore was one of the company, and so, to Malcolm's pleasure, +for he felt in him an ally against the earl, was Florimel's mysterious +friend. + + + +CHAPTER XII: A NEW LIVERY + + +Scarcely had the ladies gone to the drawing room, when Florimel's +maid, who knew Malcolm, came in quest of him. Lady Lossie desired +to see him. + +"What is the meaning of this, MacPhail?" she said, when he entered +the room where she sat alone. "I did not send for you. Indeed, I +thought you had been dismissed with the rest of the servants." + +How differently she spoke! And she used to call him Malcolm! The +girl Florimel was gone, and there sat--the marchioness, was it? +--or some phase of riper womanhood only? It mattered little to +Malcolm. He was no curious student of man or woman. He loved his +kind too well to study it. But one thing seemed plain: she had +forgotten the half friendship and whole service that had had place +betwixt them, and it made him feel as if the soul of man no less +than his life were but as a vapour that appeareth for a little and +then vanisheth away. + +But Florimel had not so entirely forgotten the past as Malcolm +thought--not so entirely at least but that his appearance, and +certain difficulties in which she had begun to find herself, brought +something of it again to her mind. + +"I thought," said Malcolm, assuming his best English, "your +ladyship might not choose to part with an old servant at the will +of a factor, and so took upon me to appeal to your ladyship to +decide the question." + +"But how is that? Did you not return to your fishing when the +household was broken up?" + +"No, my lady. Mr Crathie kept me to help Stoat, and do odd jobs +about the place." + +"And now he wants to discharge you?" + +Then Malcolm told her the whole story, in which he gave such +a description of Kelpie, that her owner, as she imagined herself, +expressed a strong wish to see her; for Florimel was almost +passionately fond of horses. + +"You may soon do that, my lady," said Malcolm. "Mr Soutar, not +being of the same mind as Mr Crathie, is going to send her up. It +will be but the cost of the passage from Aberdeen, and she will +fetch a better price here if your ladyship should resolve to part +with her. She won't fetch the third of her value anywhere, though, +on account of her bad temper and ugly tricks." + +"But as to yourself, MacPhail--where are you going to go?" said +Florimel. "I don't like to send you away, but, if I keep you, +I don't know what to do with you. No doubt you could serve in the +house, but that would not be suitable at all to your education and +previous life." + +"A body wad tak' you for a granny grown!" said Malcolm to himself. +But to Florimel he replied--"If your ladyship should wish to keep +Kelpie, you will have to keep me too, for not a creature else will +she let near her." + +"And pray tell me what use then can I make of such an animal," said +Florimel. + +"Your ladyship, I should imagine, will want a groom to attend you +when you are out on horseback, and the groom will want a horse-- +and here am I and Kelpie!" answered Malcolm. + +Florimel laughed. + +"I see," she said. "You contrive I shall have a horse nobody can +manage but yourself." + +She rather liked the idea of a groom so mounted, and had too much +well justified faith in Malcolm to anticipate dangerous results. + +"My lady," said Malcolm, appealing to her knowledge of his +character to secure credit, for he was about to use his last means +of persuasion, and as he spoke, in his eagerness he relapsed into +his mother tongue,--"My lady, did I ever tell ye a lee?" + +"Certainly not, Malcolm, so far as I know. Indeed I am sure you +never did," answered Florimel, looking up at him in a dominant yet +kindly way. + +"Then," continued Malcolm, "I'll tell your ladyship something you +may find hard to believe, and yet is as true as that I loved your +ladyship's father.--Your ladyship knows he had a kindness for +me." + +"I do know it," answered Florimel gently, moved by the tone of +Malcolm's voice, and the expression of his countenance. + +"Then I make bold to tell your ladyship that on his deathbed your +father desired me to do my best for you--took my word that I +would be your ladyship's true servant." + +"Is it so, indeed, Malcolm?" returned Florimel, with a serious wonder +in her tone, and looked him in the face with an earnest gaze. She +had loved her father, and it sounded in her ears almost like a +message from the tomb. + +"It's as true as I stan' here, my leddy," said Malcolm. + +Florimel was silent for a moment. Then she said, "How is it that +only now you come to tell me?" + +"Your father never desired me to tell you, my lady--only he never +imagined you would want to part with me, I suppose. But when you +did not care to keep me, and never said a word to me when you went +away, I could not tell how to do as I had promised him. It wasn't +that one hour I forgot his wish, but that I feared to presume; for +if I should displease your ladyship my chance was gone. So I kept +about Lossie House as long as I could, hoping to see my way to some +plan or other. But when at length Mr Crathie turned me away, what +was I to do but come to your ladyship? And if your ladyship will +let things be as before in the way of service, I mean--I canna +doot, my leddy, but it'll be pleesant i' the sicht o' yer father, +whanever he may come to ken o' 't, my lady." + +Florimel gave him a strange, half startled look. Hardly more than +once since her father's funeral had she heard him alluded to, and +now this fisher lad spoke of him as if he were still at Lossie +House. + +Malcolm understood the look. + +"Ye mean, my leddy--I ken what ye mean," he said. "I canna help +it. For to lo'e onything is to ken't immortal. He's livin' to me, +my lady." + +Florimel continued staring, and still said nothing. + +I sometimes think that the present belief in mortality is nothing +but the almost universal although unsuspected unbelief in immortality +grown vocal and articulate. + +But Malcolm gathered courage and went on, + +"An' what for no, my leddy?" he said, floundering no more in +attempted English, but soaring on the clumsy wings of his mother +dialect. "Didna he turn his face to the licht afore he dee'd? an' +him 'at rase frae the deid said 'at whaever believed in him sud +never dee. Sae we maun believe 'at he's livin', for gien we dinna +believe what he says, what are we to believe, my leddy?" + +Florimel continued yet a moment looking him fixedly in the face. +The thought did arise that perhaps he had lost his reason, but she +could not look at him thus and even imagine it. She remembered how +strange he had always been, and for a moment had a glimmering idea +that in this young man's friendship she possessed an incorruptible +treasure. The calm, truthful, believing, almost for the moment +enthusiastic, expression of the young fisherman's face wrought upon +her with a strangely quieting influence. It was as if one spoke to +her out of a region of existence of which she had never even heard, +but in whose reality she was compelled to believe because of the +sound of the voice that came from it. + +Malcolm seldom made the mistake of stamping into the earth any +seeds of truth he might cast on it: he knew when to say no more, +and for a time neither spoke. But now for all the coolness of her +upper crust, Lady Florimel's heart glowed--not indeed with the +power of the shining truth Malcolm had uttered, but with the light +of gladness in the possession of such a strong, devoted, disinterested +squire. + +"I wish you to understand," she said at length, "that I am not at +present mistress of this house, although it belongs to me. I am +but the guest of Lady Bellair who has rented it of my guardians. +I cannot therefore arrange for you to be here. But you can find +accommodation in the neighbourhood, and come to me every day for +orders. Let me know when your mare arrives: I shall not want you +till then. You will find room for her in the stables. You had better +consult the butler about your groom's livery." + +Malcolm was astonished at the womanly sufficiency with which she +gave her orders. He left her with the gladness of one who has had +his righteous desire, held consultation with the butler on the +matter of the livery, and went home to his lodging. There he sat +down and meditated. + +A strange new yearning pity rose in his heart as he thought about +his sister and the sad facts of her lonely condition. He feared +much that her stately composure was built mainly on her imagined +position in society, and was not the outcome of her character. Would +it be cruelty to destroy that false foundation, hardly the more +false as a foundation for composure that beneath it lay a mistake? +--or was it not rather a justice which her deeper and truer self +had a right to demand of him? At present, however, he need not +attempt to answer the question. Communication even such as a trusted +groom might have with her, and familiarity with her surroundings, +would probably reveal much. Meantime it was enough that he would +now be so near her that no important change of which others might +be aware, could well approach her without his knowledge, or anything +take place without his being able to interfere if necessary. + + + +CHAPTER XIII: TWO CONVERSATIONS + + +The next day Wallis came to see Malcolm and take him to the tailor's. +They talked about the guests of the previous evening. + +"There's a great change on Lord Meikleham," said Malcolm. + +"There is that," said Wallis. "I consider him much improved. But +you see he's succeeded; he's the earl now, and Lord Liftore--and +a menseful, broad shouldered man to the boot of the bargain. He +used to be such a windle straw!" + +In order to speak good English, Wallis now and then, like some +Scotch people of better education, anglicized a word ludicrously. + +"Is there no news of his marriage?" asked Malcolm, adding, "they +say he has great property." + +"My love she's but a lassie yet," said Wallis, "--though she too +has changed quite as much as my lord." + +"Who are you speaking of?" asked Malcolm, anxious to hear the talk +of the household on the matter. + +"Why, Lady Lossie, of course. Anybody with half an eye can see as +much as that." + +"Is it settled then?" + +"That would be hard to say. Her ladyship is too like her father: no +one can tell what may be her mind the next minute. But, as I say, +she's young, and ought to have her fling first--so far, that +is, as we can permit it to a woman of her rank. Still, as I say, +anybody with half an eye can see the end of it all: he's for ever +hovering about her. My lady, too, has set her mind on it, and for +my part I can't see what better she can do. I must say I approve +of the match. I can see no possible objection to it." + +"We used to think he drank too much," suggested Malcolm. + +"Claret," said Wallis, in a tone that seemed to imply no one could +drink too much of that. + +"No, not claret only. I've seen the whisky follow the claret." + +"Well, he don't now--not whisky at least. He don't drink too +much--not much too much--not more than a gentleman should. He +don't look like it--does he now? A good wife, such as my Lady +Lossie will make him, will soon set him all right. I think of taking +a similar protection myself, one of these days." + +"He is not worthy of her," said Malcolm. + +"Well, I confess his family won't compare with hers. There's a +grandfather in it somewhere that was a banker or a brewer or a soap +boiler, or something of the sort, and she and her people have been +earls and marquises ever since they walked arm in arm out of the +ark. But, bless you! all that's been changed since I came to town. +So long as there's plenty of money and the mind to spend it, we have +learned not to be exclusive. It's selfish that. It's not Christian. +Everything lies in the mind to spend it though. Mrs Tredger-- +that's our lady's maid--only this is a secret--says it's all +settled--she knows it for certain fact--only there's nothing +to be said about it yet--she's so young, you know." + +"Who was the man that sat nearly opposite my lady, on the other +side of the table?" asked Malcolm. + +"I know who you mean. Didn't look as if he'd got any business there +--not like the rest of them, did he? No, they never do. Odd and +end sort of people like he is, never do look the right thing-- +let them try ever so hard. How can they when they ain't it? That's +a fellow that's painting Lady Lossie's portrait! Why he should +be asked to dinner for that, I'm sure I can't tell. He ain't paid +for it in victuals, is he? I never saw such land leapers let into +Lossie House, I know! But London's an awful place. There's no such +a thing as respect of persons here. Here you meet the butcher, the +baker, the candlestick maker, any night in my lady's drawing room. +I declare to you, Mawlcolm MacPhail, it makes me quite uncomfortable +at times to think who I may have been waiting upon without knowing +it. For that painter fellow, Lenorme they call him, I could knock +him on the teeth with the dish every time I hold it to him. And to +see him stare at Lady Lossie as he does!" + +"A painter must want to get a right good hold of the face he's got +to paint," said Malcolm. "Is he here often?" + +"He's been here five or six times already," answered Wallis, "and +how many times more I may have to fill his glass, I don't know. I +always give him second best sherry, I know. I'm sure the time that +pictur' 's been on hand! He ought to be ashamed of himself. If +she's been once to his studio, she's been twenty times--to give +him sittings as they call it. He's making a pretty penny of it, I'll +be bound! I wonder he has the cheek to show himself when my lady +treats him so haughtily. But those sort of people have no proper +feelin's, you see: it's not to be expected of such." + +Wallis liked the sound of his own sentences, and a great deal +more talk of similar character followed before they got back from +the tailor's. Malcolm was tired enough of him, and never felt +the difference between man and man more strongly than when, after +leaving him, he set out for a walk with Blue Peter, whom he found +waiting him at his lodging. On this same Blue Peter, however, +Wallis would have looked down from the height of his share of the +marquisate as one of the lower orders--ignorant, vulgar, even +dirty. + +They had already gazed together upon not a few of the marvels of +London, but nothing had hitherto moved or drawn them so much as the +ordinary flow of the currents of life through the huge city. Upon +Malcolm, however, this had now begun to pall, while Peter already +found it worse than irksome, and longed for Scaurnose. At the same +time loyalty to Malcolm kept him from uttering a whisper of his +homesickness. It was yet but the fourth day they had been in London. + +"Eh, my lord!" said Blue Peter, when by chance they found themselves +in the lull of a little quiet court, somewhere about Gray's Inn, +with the roar of Holborn in their ears, "it's like a month sin' I +was at the kirk. I'm feart the din's gotten into my heid, an' I'll +never get it out again. I cud maist wuss I was a mackerel, for +they tell me the fish hears naething. I ken weel noo what ye meant, +my lord, whan ye said ye dreidit the din micht gar ye forget yer +Macker." + +"I hae been wussin' sair mysel', this last twa days," responded +Malcolm, "'at I cud get ae sicht o' the jaws clashin' upo' the +Scaurnose, or rowin up upo' the edge o' the links. The din o' natur' +never troubles the guid thouchts in ye. I reckon it's 'cause it's +a kin' o' a harmony in 'tsel', an' a harmony's jist, as the maister +used to say, a higher kin' o' a peace. Yon organ 'at we hearkent +till ae day ootside the kirk, ye min'--man, it was a quaietness +in 'tsel', and cam' throu' the din like a bonny silence--like a +lull i' the win' o' this warl'! It wasna a din at a', but a gran' +repose like. But this noise tumultuous o' human strife, this din' +o' iron shune an' iron wheels, this whurr and whuzz o' buyin' an' +sellin' an' gettin' gain--it disna help a body to their prayers." + +"Eh, na, my lord! Jist think o' the preevilege--I never saw nor +thoucht o' 't afore--o' haein' 't i' yer pooer, ony nicht 'at +ye're no efter the fish, to stap oot at yer ain door, an' be in +the mids o' the temple! Be 't licht or dark, be 't foul or fair, +the sea sleepin' or ragin', ye ha'e aye room, an' naething atween +ye an' the throne o' the Almichty, to the whilk yer prayers ken the +gait, as weel 's the herrin' to the shores o' Scotlan': ye ha'e but +to lat them flee, an' they gang straucht there. But here ye ha'e +aye to luik sae gleg efter yer boady, 'at, as ye say, my lord, yer +sowl's like to come aff the waur, gien it binna clean forgotten." + +"I doobt there's something no richt aboot it, Peter," returned +Malcolm. + +"There maun be a heap no richt aboot it," answered Peter. + +"Ay, but I'm no meanin' 't jist as ye du. I had the haill thing +throu' my heid last nicht, an' I canna but think there's something +wrang wi' a man gien he canna hear the word o' God as weel i' the +mids o' a multitude no man can number, a' made ilk ane i' the image +o' the Father--as weel, I say, as i' the hert o' win' an' watter +an' the lift an' the starns an' a'. Ye canna say 'at thae things +are a' made i' the image o' God, in the same w'y, at least, 'at ye +can say 't o' the body an' face o' a man, for throu' them the God +o' the whole earth revealed Himsel' in Christ." + +"Ow, weel, I wad alloo what ye say, gien they war a' to be considered +Christians." + +"Ow, I grant we canna weel du that i' the full sense, but I doobt, +gien they bena a' Christians 'at ca's themsel's that, there's a +heap mair Christianity nor get's the credit o' its ain name. I min' +weel hoo Maister Graham said to me ance 'at hoo there was something +o' Him 'at made him luikin' oot o' the een o' ilka man 'at he had +made; an' what wad ye ca' that but a scart or a straik o' Christianity." + +"Weel, I kenna; but ony gait I canna think it can be again' the +trowth o' the gospel to wuss yersel' mair alane wi' yer God nor ye +ever can be in sic an awfu' Babylon o' a place as this." + +"Na, na, Peter; I'm no sayin' that. I ken weel we're to gang +intill the closet and shut to the door. I'm only afeart 'at there +be something wrang in mysel' 'at tak's 't ill to be amon' sae +mony neibors. I'm thinkin' 'at, gien a' was richt 'ithin me, gien +I lo'ed my neibor as the Lord wad hae them 'at lo'ed Him lo'e ilk +ane his brither, I micht be better able to pray amang them--ay, +i' the verra face o' the bargainin' an' leein' a' aboot me." + +"An' min' ye," said Peter, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, +and heedless of Malcolm's, "'at oor Lord himsel' bude whiles to +win awa', even frae his dissiples, to be him lane wi' the Father +o' 'im." + +"Ay, ye're richt there, Peter," answered Malcolm, "but there's ae +p'int in 't ye maunna forget--and that is 'at it was never i' +the day-time--sae far's I min'--'at he did sae. The lee lang +day he was among 's fowk--workin' his michty wark. Whan the nicht +cam', in which no man could wark, he gaed hame till 's Father, as +'t war. Eh me! but it's weel to ha'e a man like the schuilmaister +to put trowth intill ye. I kenna what comes o' them 'at ha'e drucken +maisters, or sic as cares for naething but coontin' an Laitin, an' +the likes o' that!" + + + +CHAPTER XIV: FLORIMEL + + +That night Florimel had her thoughts as well as Malcolm. Already +life was not what it had been to her, and the feeling of a difference +is often what sets one a-thinking first. While her father lived, +and the sureness of his love overarched her consciousness with a +heaven of safety, the physical harmony of her nature had supplied +her with a more than sufficient sense of well being. Since his death, +too, there had been times when she even fancied an enlargement of +life in the sense of freedom and power which came with the knowledge +of being a great lady, possessed of the rare privilege of an ancient +title and an inheritance which seemed to her a yet greater wealth +than it was. But she had soon found that, as to freedom, she had +less of that than before--less of the feeling of it within her: +not much freedom of any sort is to be had without fighting for it, +and she had yet to discover that the only freedom worth the name +--that of heart, and soul, and mind--is not to be gained except +through the hardest of battles. She was very lonely, too. Lady +Bellair had never assumed with her any authority, and had always +been kind even to petting, but there was nothing about her to make +a home for the girl's heart. She felt in her no superiority, and +for a spiritual home that is essential. As she learned to know her +better, this sense of loneliness went on deepening, for she felt +more and more that her guardian was not one in whom she could place +genuine confidence, while yet her power over her was greater than +she knew. The innocent nature of the girl had begun to recoil from +what she saw in the woman of the world, and yet she had in herself +worldliness enough to render her fully susceptible of her influences. +Notwithstanding her fine health and natural spirits, Florimel had +begun to know what it is to wake suddenly of a morning between +three and four, and lie for a long weary time, sleepless. In youth +bodily fatigue ensures falling asleep, but as soon as the body is +tolerably rested, if there be unrest in the mind, that wakes it, +and consciousness returns in the shape of a dull misgiving like the +far echo of the approaching trump of the archangel. Indeed, those +hours are as a vestibule to the great hall of judgment, and to such +as, without rendering it absolute obedience, yet care to keep on +some sort of terms with their conscience, is a time of anything but +comfort. Nor does the court in those hours sitting, concern itself +only with heavy questions of right or wrong, but whoever loves +and cares himself for his appearance before the eyes of men, finds +himself accused of paltry follies, stupidities, and indiscretions, +and punished with paltry mortifications, chagrins, and anxieties. +From such arraignment no man is free but him who walks in the perfect +law of liberty--that is, the will of the Perfect--which alone +is peace. + +On the morning after she had thus taken Malcolm again into her +service, Florimel had one of these experiences--a foretaste of +the Valley of the Shadow: she awoke in the hour when judgment sits +upon the hearts of men. Or is it not rather the hour for which a +legion of gracious spirits are on the watch--when, fresh raised +from the death of sleep, cleansed a little from the past and its +evils by the gift of God, the heart and brain are most capable of +their influences?--the hour when, besides, there is no refuge of +external things wherein the man may shelter himself from the truths +they would so gladly send conquering into the citadel of his nature, +--no world of the senses to rampart the soul from thought, when +the eye and the ear are as if they were not, and the soul lies naked +before the infinite of reality. This live hour of the morning is +the most real hour of the day, the hour of the motions of a prisoned +and persecuted life, of its effort to break through and breathe. A +good man then finds his refuge in the heart of the Purifying Fire; +the bad man curses the swarms of Beelzebub that settle upon every +sore spot in his conscious being. + +But it was not the general sense of unfitness in the conditions +of her life, neither was it dissatisfaction with Lady Bellair, or +the want of the pressure of authority upon her unstable being; it +was not the sense of loneliness and unshelteredness in the sterile +waste of fashionable life, neither was it weariness with the same +and its shows, or all these things together, that could have waked +the youth of Florimel and kept it awake at this hour of the night +--for night that hour is, however near the morning. + +Some few weeks agone, she had accompanied to the study of a certain +painter, a friend who was then sitting to him for her portrait. The +moment she entered, the appearance of the man and his surroundings +laid hold of her imagination. Although on the very verge of popularity, +he was young--not more than five and twenty. His face, far from +what is called handsome, had a certain almost grandeur in it, owed +mainly to the dominant forehead, and the regnant life in the eyes. +To this the rest of the countenance was submissive. The mouth was +sweet yet strong, seeming to derive its strength from the will +that towered above and overhung it, throned on the crags of those +eyebrows. The nose was rather short, not unpleasantly so, and had +mass enough. In figure he was scarcely above the usual height, +but well formed. To a first glance even, the careless yet graceful +freedom of his movements was remarkable, while his address was +manly, and altogether devoid of self recommendation. Confident +modesty and unobtrusive ease distinguished his demeanour. His +father, Arnold Lenorme, descended from an old Norman family, had +given him the Christian name of Raoul, which, although outlandish, +tolerably fitted the surname, notwithstanding the contiguous l's, +objectionable to the fastidious ear of their owner. The earlier +and more important part of his education, the beginnings, namely, +of everything he afterwards further followed, his mother herself +gave him, partly because she was both poor and capable, and +partly because she was more anxious than most mothers for his best +welfare. The poverty they had crept through, as those that strive +after better things always will, one way or another, with immeasurable +advantage, and before the time came when he must leave home, her +influence had armed him in adamant--a service which alas! few +mothers seem capable of rendering the knights whom they send out into +the battlefield of the world. Most of them give their children the +best they have; but how shall a foolish woman ever be a wise mother? +The result in his case was, that reverence for her as the type of +womanhood, working along with a natural instinct for refinement, a +keen feeling of the incompatibility with art of anything in itself +low or unclean, and a healthful and successful activity of mind, +had rendered him so far upright and honourable that he had never +yet done that in one mood which in another he had looked back upon +with loathing. As yet he had withstood the temptations belonging +to his youth and his profession--in great measure also the +temptations belonging to success; he had not yet been tried with +disappointment, or sorrow, or failure. + +As to the environment in which Florimel found him, it was to her +a region of confused and broken colour and form--a kind of chaos +out of which beauty was ever ready to start. Pictures stood on +easels, leaned against chair backs, glowed from the wall--each +contributing to the atmosphere of solved rainbow that seemed to +fill the space. Lenorme was seated--not at his easel, but at a +grand piano, which stood away, half hidden in a corner, as if it +knew itself there on sufferance, with pictures all about the legs +of it. For they had walked straight in without giving his servant +time to announce them. A bar of a song, in a fine tenor voice, +broke as they opened the door; and the painter came to meet them +from the farther end of the study. He shook hands with Florimel's +friend, and turned with a bow to her. At the first glance the eyes +of both fell. Raised the same instant, they encountered each other +point blank, and then the eloquent blood had its turn at betrayal. +What the moment meant, Florimel did not understand; but it seemed +as if Raoul and she had met somewhere long ago, were presumed not +to know it, but could not help remembering it, and agreeing to +recognise it as a fact. A strange pleasure filled her heart. While +Mrs Barnardiston sat she flitted about the room like a butterfly, +looking at one thing after another, and asking now the most ignorant, +now the most penetrative question, disturbing not a little the +work, but sweetening the temper of the painter, as he went on with +his study of the mask and helmet into which the Gorgon stare of +the Unideal had petrified the face and head of his sitter. He found +the situation trying nevertheless. It was as if Cupid had been set +by Jupiter to take a portrait of Io in her stall, while evermore he +heard his Psyche fluttering about among the peacocks in the yard. +For the girl had bewitched him at first sight. He thought it was +only as an artist, though to be sure a certain throb, almost of +pain, in the region of the heart, when first his eyes fell before +hers, might have warned, and perhaps did in vain warn him otherwise. +Sooner than usual he professed himself content with the sitting, +and then proceeded to show the ladies some of his sketches and +pictures. Florimel asked to see one standing as in disgrace with +its front to the wall. He put it, half reluctantly, on an easel, +and said it was meant for the unveiling of Isis, as presented in +a maehrchen of Novalis, introduced in Die Lehrlinge zu Sais, in +which the goddess of Nature reveals to the eager and anxious gaze +of the beholder the person of his Rosenbluethchen, whom he had left +behind him when he set out to visit the temple of the divinity. +But on the great pedestal where should have sat the goddess there +was no gracious form visible. That part of the picture was a +blank. The youth stood below, gazing enraptured with parted lips +and outstretched arms, as if he had already begun' to suspect what +had begun to dawn through the slowly thinning veil--but to the +eye of the beholder he gazed as yet only on vacancy, and the picture +had not reached an attempt at self explanation. Florimel asked why +he had left it so long unfinished, for the dust was thick on the +back of the canvas. + +"Because I have never seen the face or figure," the painter answered, +"either in eye of mind or of body, that claimed the position." + +As he spoke, his eyes seemed to Florimel to lighten strangely, and +as if by common consent they turned away, and looked at something +else. Presently Mrs Barnardiston, who cared more for sound than +form or colour, because she could herself sing a little, began to +glance over some music on the piano, curious to find what the young +man had been singing, whereupon Lenorme said to Florimel hurriedly, +and almost in a whisper, with a sort of hesitating assurance, + +"If you would give me a sitting or two--I know I am presumptuous, +but if you would--I--I should send the picture to the Academy +in a week." + +"I will," replied Florimel, flushing like a wild poppy, and as she +said it, she looked up in his face and smiled. + +"It would have been selfish," she said to herself as they drove +away, "to refuse him." + +This first interview, and all the interviews that had followed, now +passed through her mind as she lay awake in the darkness preceding +the dawn, and she reviewed them not without self reproach. But +for some of my readers it will be hard to believe that one of the +feelings that now tormented the girl was a sense of lowered dignity +because of the relation in which she stood to the painter--seeing +there was little or no ground for moral compunction, and the feeling +had its root merely in the fact that he was a painter fellow, and +she a marchioness. Her rank had already grown to seem to her so +identified with herself that she was hardly any longer capable of +the analysis that should show it distinct from her being. As to any +duty arising from her position, she had never heard the word used +except as representing something owing to, not owed by rank. Social +standing in the eyes of the super excellent few of fashion was the +Satan of unrighteousness worshipped around her. And the precepts +of this worship fell upon soil prepared for it. For with all the +simplicity of her nature, there was in it an inborn sense of rank, +of elevation in the order of the universe above most others of the +children of men--of greater intrinsic worth therefore in herself. +How could it be otherwise with the offspring of generations of pride +and falsely conscious superiority? Hence, as things were going now +with the mere human part of her, some commotion, if not earthquake +indeed, was imminent. Nay the commotion had already begun, as +manifest in her sleeplessness and the thoughts that occupied it. + +Rightly to understand the sense of shame and degradation she had +not unfrequently felt of late, we must remember that in the circle +in which she moved she heard professions, arts, and trades alluded +to with the same unuttered, but the more strongly implied contempt +--a contempt indeed regarded as so much a matter of course, so +thoroughly understood, so reasonable in its nature, so absolute in +its degree, that to utter it would have been bad taste from very +superfluity. Yet she never entered the painter's study but with +trembling heart, uncertain foot, and fluttering breath, as of one +stepping within the gates of an enchanted paradise, whose joy is +too much for the material weight of humanity to ballast even to the +steadying of the bodily step, and the outward calm of the bodily +carriage. How far things had gone between them we shall be able to +judge by and by; it will be enough at present to add that it was +this relation and the inward strife arising from it that had not +only prematurely, but over rapidly ripened the girl into the woman. + +This my disclosure of her condition, however, has not yet uncovered +the sorest spot upon which the flies of Beelzebub settled in the +darkness of this torture hour of the human clock. Although still +the same lively, self operative nature she had been in other +circumstances, she was so far from being insensible or indifferent +to the opinions of others, that she had not even strength enough to +keep a foreign will off the beam of her choice: the will of another, +in no way directly brought to bear on hers, would yet weigh to +her encouragement where her wish was doubtful, or to her restraint +where impulse was strong; it would even move her towards a line +of conduct whose anticipated results were distasteful to her. Ever +and anon her pride would rise armed against the consciousness of +slavery, but its armour was too weak either for defence or for +deliverance. She knew that the heart of Lady Bellair, what of heart +she had, was set upon her marriage with her nephew, Lord Liftore. +Now she recoiled from the idea of marriage, and dismissed it into +a future of indefinite removal; she had no special desire to please +Lady Bellair from the point of gratitude, for she was perfectly aware +that her relation to herself was far from being without advantage +to that lady's position as well as means: a whisper or two that +had reached her had been enough to enlighten her in that direction; +neither could she persuade herself that Lord Liftore was at all +the sort of man she could become proud of as a husband; and yet she +felt destined to be his wife. On the other hand she had no dislike +to him: he was handsome, well informed, capable--a gentleman, +she thought, of good regard in the circles in which they moved, and +one who would not in any manner disgrace her, although to be sure +he was her inferior in rank, and she would rather have married +a duke. At the same time, to confess all the truth, she was by no +means indifferent to the advantages of having for a husband a man +with money enough to restore the somewhat tarnished prestige of her +own family to its pristine brilliancy. She had never said a word +to encourage the scheming of Lady Bellair; neither, on the other +hand, had she ever said a word to discourage her hopes, or give her +ground for doubting the acceptableness of her cherished project. +Hence Lady Bellair had naturally come to regard the two as almost +affianced. But Florimel's aversion to the idea of marriage, and her +horror at the thought of the slightest whisper of what was between +her and Lenorme, increased together. + +There were times too when she asked herself in anxious discomfort +whether she was not possibly a transgressor against a deeper and +simpler law than that of station--whether she was altogether +maidenly in the encouragement she had given and was giving to the +painter. It must not be imagined that she had once visited him +without a companion, though that companion was indeed sometimes +only her maid--her real object being covered by the true pretext +of sitting for her portrait, which Lady Bellair pleased herself +with imagining would one day be presented to Lord Liftore. But she +could not, upon such occasions of morning judgment as this, fail +to doubt sorely whether the visits she paid him, and the liberties +which upon fortunate occasions she allowed him, were such as could +be justified on any ground other than that she was prepared to give +him all. All, however, she was by no means prepared to give him: +that involved consequences far too terrible to be contemplated even +as possibilities. + +With such causes for disquiet in her young heart and brain, it is +not then wonderful that she should sometimes be unable to slip across +this troubled region of the night in the boat of her dreams, but +should suffer shipwreck on the waking coast, and have to encounter +the staring and questioning eyes of more than one importunate truth. +Nor is it any wonder either that, to such an inexperienced and so +troubled a heart, the assurance of one absolutely devoted friend +should come with healing and hope--even if that friend should be +but a groom, altogether incapable of understanding her position, +or perceiving the phantoms that crowded about her, threatening to +embody themselves in her ruin. A clumsy, ridiculous fellow, she +said to herself, from whose person she could never dissociate the +smell of fish, who talked a horrible jargon called Scotch, and +who could not be prevented from uttering unpalatable truths at +uncomfortable moments; yet whose thoughts were as chivalrous as +his person was powerful, and whose countenance was pleasing if only +for the triumph of honesty therein: she actually felt stronger and +safer to know he was near, and at her beck and call. + + + +CHAPTER XV: PORTLOSSIE + + +Mr Crathie, seeing nothing more of Malcolm, believed himself at +last well rid of him; but it was days before his wrath ceased to +flame, and then it went on smouldering. Nothing occurred to take +him to the Seaton, and no business brought any of the fisher people +to his office during that time. Hence he heard nothing of the mode +of Malcolm's departure. When at length in the course of ordinary +undulatory propagation the news reached him that Malcolm had taken +the yacht with him, he was enraged beyond measure at the impudence +of the theft, as he called it, and ran to the Seaton in a fury. +He had this consolation, however: the man who had accused him of +dishonesty and hypocrisy had proved but a thief. + +He found the boathouse indeed empty, and went storming from cottage +to cottage, but came upon no one from whom his anger could draw +nourishment, not to say gain satisfaction. At length he reached the +Partan's, found him at home, and commenced, at haphazard, abusing +him as an aider and abettor of the felony. But Meg Partan was at +home also, as Mr Crathie soon learned to his cost; for, hearing +him usurp her unique privilege of falling out upon her husband, +she stole from the ben end, and having stood for a moment silent +in the doorway, listening for comprehension, rushed out in a storm +of tongue. + +"An' what for sudna my man," she cried, at full height of her +screeching voice, "lay tu his han' wi' ither honest fowk to du for +the boat what him 'at was weel kent for the captain o' her, sin' +ever she was a boat, wantit dune? Wad ye tak the comman' o' the +boat, sir, as weel's o' a' thing ither aboot the place?" + +"Hold your tongue, woman," said the factor; "I have nothing to say +to you." + +"Aigh, sirs! but it's a peety ye wasna foreordeent to be markis +yersel'! It maun be a sair vex to ye 'at ye're naething but the +factor." + +"If ye don't mind your manners, Mistress Fin'lay," said Mr Crathie +in glowing indignation, "perhaps you'll find that the factor is as +much as the marquis, when he's all there is for one." + +"Lord safe 's hear till 'im !" cried the Partaness. "Wha wad hae +thoucht it o' 'im? There's fowk 'at it sets weel to tak upo' them! +His father, honest man, wad ne'er hae spoken like that to Meg +Partan; but syne he was an honest man, though he was but the heid +shepherd upo' the estate. Man, I micht hae been yer mither--gien +I had been auld eneuch for 's first wife, for he wad fain hae had +me for 's second." + +"I've a great mind to take out a warrant against you, John Fin'lay, +otherwise called the Partan, as airt an' pairt in the stealing of +the Marchioness of Lossie's pleasure boat," said the factor. "And +for you, Mistress Fin'lay, I would have you please to remember that +this house, as far at least as you are concerned, is mine, although +I am but the factor, and not the marquis; and if you don't keep +that unruly tongue of yours a little quieter in your head, I'll +set you in the street the next quarter day but one, as sure's ever +you gutted a herring, and then you may bid goodbye to Portlossie, +for there's not a house, as you very well know, in all the Seaton, +that belongs to another than her ladyship." + +"'Deed, Mr Crathie," returned Meg Partan, a little sobered by the +threat, "ye wad hae mair sense nor rin the risk o' an uprisin' +o' the fisher fowk. They wad ill stan' to see my auld man an' me +misused, no to say 'at her leddyship hersel' wad see ony o' her +ain fowk turned oot o' hoose an' haudin' for naething ava." + +"Her ladyship wad gi'e hersel' sma' concern gien the haill bilin' +o' ye war whaur ye cam frae," returned the factor. "An' for the +toon here, the fowk kens the guid o' a quaiet caus'ay ower weel to +lament the loss o' ye." + +"The deil's i' the man!" cried the Partaness in high scorn. "He +wad threip upo' me 'at I was ane o' thae lang tongued limmers 'at +maks themsel's h'ard frae ae toon's en' to the tither! But I s' +gar him priv 's words yet!" + +"Ye see, sir," interposed the mild Partan, anxious to shove extremities +aside, "we didna ken 'at there was onything intill't by ord'nar. +Gien we had but kent 'at he was oot o' your guid graces,--" + +"Haud yer tongue afore ye lee, man," interrupted his wife. "Ye ken +weel eneuch ye wad du what Ma'colm MacPhail wad hae ye du, for ony +factor in braid Scotlan'." + +"You must have known," said the factor to the Partan, apparently +heedless of this last outbreak of the generous evil temper, and +laying a cunning trap for the information he sorely wanted, but +had as yet failed in procuring--"else why was it that not a soul +went with him? He could ill manage the boat alone." + +"What put sic buff an' styte i' yer heid, sir?" rejoined Meg; +defiant of the hints her husband sought to convey to her. "There's +mony ane wad hae been ready to gang, only wha sud gang but him 'at +gaed wi' him an' 's lordship frae the first?" + +"And who was that?" asked Mr Crathie. + +"Ow! wha but Blue Peter?" answered Meg. + +"Hm!" said the factor, in a tone that for almost the first time in +her life made the woman regret that she had spoken, and therewith +he rose and left the cottage. + +"Eh, mither!" cried Lizzy, in her turn appearing from the ben end, +with her child in her arms, "ye hae wroucht ruin i' the earth! He'll +hae Peter an' Annie an' a' oot o' hoose an' ha', come midsummer." + +"I daur him till't!" cried her mother, in the impotence and self +despite of a mortifying blunder; "I'll raise the toon upon 'im." + +"What wad that du, mither?" returned Lizzy, in distress about her +friends. "It wad but mak' ill waur." + +"An' wha are ye to oppen yer mou' sae wide to yer mither?" burst +forth Meg Partan, glad of an object upon which the chagrin that +consumed her might issue in flame. "Ye havena luikit to yer ain +gait sae weel 'at ye can thriep to set richt them 'at broucht ye +forth.--Wha are ye, I say?" she repeated in rage. + +"Ane 'at folly's made wiser, maybe, mither," answered Lizzie sadly, +and proceeded to take her shawl from behind the door: she would go +to her friends at Scaurnose, and communicate her fears for their +warning. But her words smote the mother within the mother, and she +turned and looked at her daughter with more of the woman and less +of the Partan in her rugged countenance than had been visible there +since the first week of her married life. She had been greatly +injured by the gaining of too easy a conquest and resultant supremacy +over her husband, whence she had ever after revelled in a rule too +absolute for good to any concerned. As she was turning away, her +daughter caught a glimpse of her softened eyes, and went out of the +house with more comfort in her heart than she had felt ever since +first she had given her conscience cause to speak daggers to her. + +The factor kept raging to himself all the way home, flung himself +trembling on his horse, vouchsafing his anxious wife scarce any +answer to her anxious enquiries, and galloped to Duff Harbour to +Mr Soutar. + +I will not occupy my tale with their interview. Suffice it to say +that the lawyer succeeded at last in convincing the demented factor +that it would be but prudent to delay measures for the recovery +of the yacht and the arrest and punishment of its abductors, until +he knew what Lady Lossie would say to the affair. She had always +had a liking for the lad, Mr Soutar said, and he would not be in +the least surprised to hear that Malcolm had gone straight to her +ladyship and put himself under her protection. No doubt by this +time the cutter was at its owner's disposal: it would be just like +the fellow! He always went the nearest road anywhere. And to prosecute +him for a thief would in any case but bring down the ridicule of +the whole coast upon the factor, and breed him endless annoyance +in the getting in of his rents--especially among the fishermen. +The result was that Mr Crathie went home--not indeed a humbler +or wiser man than he had gone, but a thwarted man, and therefore +the more dangerous in the channels left open to the outrush of his +angry power. + +When Lizzy reached Scaurnose, her account of the factor's behaviour, +to her surprise, did not take much effect upon Mrs Mair: a queer +little smile broke over her countenance, and vanished. An enforced +gravity succeeded, however, and she began to take counsel with +Lizzy as to what they could do, or where they could go, should the +worst come to the worst, and the doors, not only of her own house, +but of Scaurnose and Portlossie as well, be shut against them. +But through it all reigned a calm regard and fearlessness of the +future which, to Lizzy's roused and apprehensive imagination, was +strangely inexplicable. Annie Mair seemed possessed of some hidden +and upholding assurance that raised her above the fear of man or +what he could do to her. The girl concluded it must be the knowledge +of God, and prayed more earnestly that night than she had prayed +since the night on which Malcolm had talked to her so earnestly +before he left. I must add this much, that she was not altogether +astray: God was in Malcolm, giving new hope to his fisher folk. + + + +CHAPTER XVI: ST JAMES THE APOSTLE + + +When Malcolm left his sister, he had a dim sense of having lapsed +into Scotch, and set about buttressing and strengthening his +determination to get rid of all unconscious and unintended use of +the northern dialect, not only that, in his attendance upon Florimel, +he might be neither offensive nor ridiculous, but that, when the +time should come in which he must appear what he was, it might +be less of an annoyance to her to yield the marquisate to one who +could speak like a gentleman and one of the family. But not the +less did he love the tongue he had spoken from his childhood, and +in which were on record so many precious ballads and songs, old +and new; and he resolved that, when he came out as a marquis, he +would at Lossie House indemnify himself for the constraint of London. +He would not have an English servant there except Mrs Courthope: he +would not have the natural country speech corrupted with cockneyisms, +and his people taught to speak like Wallis! To his old friends the +fishers and their families, he would never utter a sentence but +in the old tongue, haunted with all the memories of relations that +were never to be obliterated or forgotten, its very tones reminding +him and them of hardships together endured, pleasures shared, and +help willingly given. At night, notwithstanding, he found that in +talking with Blue Peter, he had forgotten all about his resolve, +and it vexed him with himself not a little. He now saw that if he +could but get into the way of speaking English to him, the victory +would be gained, for with no one else would he find any difficulty +then. + +The next morning he went down to the stairs at London Bridge, and +took a boat to the yacht. He had to cross several vessels to reach +it. When at length he looked down from the last of them on the deck +of the little cutter, he saw Blue Peter sitting on the coamings of +the hatch, his feet hanging down within. He was lost in the book +he was reading. Curious to see, without disturbing him, what it +was that so absorbed him, Malcolm dropped quietly on the tiller, +and thence on the deck, and approaching softly peeped over his +shoulder. He was reading the epistle of James the apostle. Malcolm +fell a-thinking. From Peter's thumbed bible his eyes went wandering +through the thicket of masts, in which moved so many busy seafarers, +and then turned to the docks and wharfs and huge warehouses lining +the shores; and while they scanned the marvellous vision, the +thoughts that arose and passed through his brain were like these: +"What are ye duin' here, Jeames the Just? Ye was naething but a +fisher body upon a sma' watter i' the hert o' the hills, 'at wasna +even saut; an' what can the thochts that gaed throu' your fish +catchin' brain hae to du wi' sic a sicht 's this? I won'er gien at +this moment there be anither man in a' Lon'on sittin' readin' that +epistle o' yours but Blue Peter here? He thinks there's naething +o' mair importance, 'cep' maybe some ither pairts o' the same buik; +but syne he's but a puir fisher body himsel', an' what kens he o' +the wisdom an' riches an' pooer o' this michty queen o' the nations, +thron't aboot him?--Is't possible the auld body kent something +'at was jist as necessar' to ilka man, the busiest in this croodit +mairt, to ken an' gang by, as it was to Jeames an' the lave o' the +michty apostles themsel's? For me, I dinna doobt it--but hoo it +sud ever be onything but an auld warld story to the new warld o' +Lon'on, I think it wad bleck Maister Graham himsel' til imaigine." + +Before this, Blue Peter had become aware that some one was near +him, but, intent on the words of his brother fisher of the old time, +had half unconsciously put off looking up to see who was behind +him. When now he did so, and saw Malcolm, he rose and touched his +bonnet. + +"It was jist i' my heid, my lord," he said, without any preamble, +"sic a kin' o' a h'avenly Jacobin as this same Jacobus was! He's +sic a leveller as was feow afore 'im, I doobt, wi' his gowd ringt +man, an' his cloot cled brither! He pat me in twa min's, my lord, +whan I got up, whether I wad touch my bonnet to yer lordship or +no." + +Malcolm laughed with hearty appreciation. + +"When I am king of Lossie," he said, "be it known to all whom it +may concern, that it is and shall be the right of Blue Peter, and +all his descendants, to the end of time, to stand with bonneted +heads in the presence of Lord or--no, not Lady, Peter--of the +house of Lossie." + +"Ay, but ye see, Ma'colm," said Peter, forgetting his address, and +his eye twinkling in the humour of the moment, "it's no by your +leave, or ony man's leave; it's the richt o' the thing; an' that +I maun think aboot, an' see whether I be at leeberty to ca' ye my +lord or no." + +"Meantime, don't do it," said Malcolm, "lest you should have to +change afterwards. You might find it difficult." + +"Ye're cheengt a'ready," said Blue Peter, looking up at him sharply. +"I ne'er h'ard ye speyk like that afore." + +"Make nothing of it," returned Malcolm. "I am only airing my +English on you; I have made up my mind to learn to speak in London +as London people do, and so, even to you, in the meantime only, I +am going to speak as good English as I can.--It's nothing between +you and me, Peter and you must not mind it," he added, seeing a +slight cloud come over the fisherman's face. + +Blue Peter turned away with a sigh. The sounds of English speech +from the lips of Malcolm addressed to himself, seemed vaguely to +indicate the opening of a gulf between them, destined ere long to +widen to the whole social width between a fisherman and a marquis, +swallowing up in it not only all old memories, but all later +friendship and confidence. A shadow of bitterness crossed the poor +fellow's mind, and in it the seed of distrust began to strike root, +and all because a newer had been substituted for an older form of +the same speech and language. Truly man's heart is a delicate piece +of work, and takes gentle handling or hurt. But that the pain was +not all of innocence is revealed in the strange fact, afterwards +disclosed by the repentant Peter himself, that, in that same moment, +what had just passed his mouth as a joke, put on an important, +serious look, and appeared to involve a matter of doubtful duty: +was it really right of one man to say my lord to another? Thus the +fisherman, and not the marquis, was the first to sin against the +other because of altered fortune. Distrust awoke pride in the heart +of Blue Pete; and he erred in the lack of the charity that thinketh +no evil. + +But the lack and the doubt made little show as yet. The two men +rowed in the dinghy down the river to the Aberdeen wharf to make +arrangements about Kelpie, whose arrival Malcolm expected the +following Monday, then dined together, and after that had a long +row up the river. + + + +CHAPTER XVII: A DIFFERENCE + + +Notwithstanding his keenness of judgment and sobriety in action, +Malcolm had yet a certain love for effect, a delight, that is, +in the show of concentrated results, which, as I believe I have +elsewhere remarked, belongs especially to the Celtic nature, and +is one form in which the poetic element vaguely embodies itself. +Hence arose the temptation to try on Blue Peter the effect of a +literally theatrical surprise. He knew well the prejudices of the +greater portion of the Scots people against every possible form of +artistic, most of all, dramatic representation. He knew, therefore, +also, that Peter would never be persuaded to go with him to +the theatre: to invite him would be like asking him to call upon +Beelzebub; but as this feeling was cherished in utter ignorance +of its object, he judged he would be doing him no wrong if he made +experiment how the thing itself would affect the heart and judgment +of the unsophisticated fisherman. + +Finding that The Tempest was still the play represented, he +contrived, as they walked together, so to direct their course that +they should be near Drury Lane towards the hour of commencement. +He did not want to take him in much before the time: he would not +give him scope for thought, doubt, suspicion, discovery. + +When they came in front of the theatre, people were crowding in, +and carriages setting down their occupants. Blue Peter gave a glance +at the building. + +"This'll be ane o' the Lon'on kirks, I'm thinkin'?" he said. "It's +a muckle place; an' there maun be a heap o' guid fowk in Lon'on, +for as ill's it's ca'd, to see sae mony, an' i' their cairritches, +comin' to the kirk--on a Setterday nicht tu. It maun be some kin' +o' a prayer meetin', I'm thinkin'." + +Malcolm said nothing, but led the way to the pit entrance. + +"That's no an ill w'y o' getherin' the baubees," said Peter, seeing +how the incomers paid their money. "I hae h'ard o' the plate bein' +robbit in a muckle toon afore noo." + +When at length they were seated, and he had time to glance reverently +around him, he was a little staggered at sight of the decorations; +and the thought crossed his mind of the pictures and statues he +had heard of in catholic churches; but he remembered Westminster +Abbey, its windows and monuments, and returned to his belief that +he was, if in an episcopal, yet in a protestant church. But he could +not help the thought that the galleries were a little too gaudily +painted, while the high pews in them astonished him. Peter's nature, +however, was one of those calm, slow ones which, when occupied by +an idea or a belief, are by no means ready to doubt its correctness, +and are even ingenious in reducing all apparent contradictions to +theoretic harmony with it--whence it came that to him all this +was only part of the church furniture according to the taste and +magnificence of London. He sat quite tranquil, therefore, until the +curtain rose, revealing the ship's company in all the confusion of +the wildest of sea storms. + +Malcolm watched him narrowly. But Peter was first so taken by surprise, +and then so carried away with the interest of what he saw, that +thinking had ceased in him utterly, and imagination lay passive +as a mirror to the representation. Nor did the sudden change from +the first to the second scene rouse him, for before his thinking +machinery could be set in motion, the delight of the new show +had again caught him in its meshes. For to him, as it had been to +Malcolm, it was the shore at Portlossie, while the cave that opened +behind was the Bailie's Barn, where his friends the fishers might +at that moment, if it were a fine night, be holding one of their +prayer meetings. The mood lasted all through the talk of Prospero +and Miranda; but when Ariel entered there came a snap, and the spell +was broken. With a look in which doubt wrestled with horror, Blue +Peter turned to Malcolm, and whispered with bated breath--"I'm +jaloosin'--it canna be--it's no a playhoose, this?" + +Malcolm merely nodded, but from the nod Peter understood that he +had had no discovery to make as to the character of the place they +were in. + +"Eh!" he groaned, overcome with dismay. Then rising suddenly-- +"Guid nicht to ye, my lord," he said, with indignation, and rudely +forced his way from the crowded house. + +Malcolm followed in his wake, but said nothing till they were in +the street. Then, forgetting utterly his resolves concerning English +in the distress of having given his friend ground to complain of +his conduct towards him, he laid his hand on Blue Peter's arm, and +stopped him in the middle of the narrow street. + +"I but thoucht, Peter," he said, "to get ye to see wi' yer ain een, +an' hear wi' yer ain ears, afore ye passed jeedgment; but ye're +jist like the lave." + +"An' what for sudna I be jist like the lave?" returned Peter, +fiercely. + +"'Cause it's no fair to set doon a' thing for wrang 'at ye ha'e +been i' the w'y o' hearing aboot by them 'at kens as little aboot +them as yersel'. I cam here mysel', ohn kent whaur I was gaein', +the ither nicht, for the first time i' my life; but I wasna fleyt +like you, 'cause I kent frae the buik a' 'at was comin'. I hae +h'ard in a kirk in ae ten meenutes jist a sicht o' what maun ha'e +been sair displeasin' to the hert a' the maister a' 's a'; but +that nicht I saw nae ill an' h'ard nae ill, but was weel peyed back +upo' them 'at did it an' said it afore the business was ower, an' +that's mair nor ye'll see i' the streets o' Portlossie ilka day. +The playhoose is whaur ye gang to see what comes o' things 'at ye +canna follow oot in ordinar' life." + +Whether Malcolm, after a year's theatre going, would have said +precisely the same is hardly doubtful. He spoke of the ideal theatre +to which Shakspere is true, and in regard to that he spoke rightly. + +"Ye decoy't me intill the hoose o' ineequity!" was Peter's indignant +reply; "an' it 's no what ye ever ga'e me cause to expec' o' ye, +sae 'at I micht ha'e ta'en tent o' ye." + +"I thoucht nae ill o' 't," returned Malcolm. + +"Weel, I div," retorted Peter. + +"Then perhaps you are wrong," said Malcolm, "for charity thinketh +no evil. You wouldn't stay to see the thing out." + +"There ye are at yer English again! an' misgugglin' Scriptur' +wi' 't an' a' this upo' Setterday nicht--maist the Sawbath day! +Weel, I ha'e aye h'ard 'at Lon'on was an awfu' place, but I little +thoucht the verra air o' 't wad sae sune turn an honest laad like +Ma'colm MacPhail intill a scoffer. But maybe it's the markis o' +'im, an' no the muckle toon 'at's made the differ. Ony gait, I'm +thinkin' it'll be aboot time for me to be gauin' hame." + +Malcolm was vexed with himself, and both disappointed and troubled +at the change which had come over his friend, and threatened to +destroy the lifelong relation between them; his feelings therefore +held him silent. Peter concluded that the marquis was displeased, +and it clenched his resolve to go. + +"What w'y am I to win hame, my lord?" he said, when they had walked +some distance without word spoken. + +"By the Aberdeen smack," returned Malcolm. "She sails on Tuesday. +I will see you on board. You must take young Davy with you, for I +wouldn't have him here after you are gone. There will be nothing +for him to do." + +"Ye're unco ready to pairt wi' 's noo 'at ye ha'e nae mair use for +'s," said Peter. + +"No sae ready as ye seem to pairt wi' yer chairity," said Malcolm, +now angry too. + +"Ye see Annie 'ill be thinkin' lang," said Peter, softening a +little. + +No more angry words passed between them, but neither did any +thoroughly cordial ones, and they parted at the stairs in mutual, +though, with such men, it could not be more than superficial +estrangement. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII: LORD LIFTORE + + +The chief cause of Malcolm's anxiety had been, and perhaps still +was, Lord Liftore. In his ignorance of Mr Lenorme there might +lie equal cause with him, but he knew such evil of the other that +his whole nature revolted against the thought of his marrying his +sister. At Lossie he had made himself agreeable to her, and now, +if not actually living in the same house, he was there at all hours +of the day. + +It took nothing from his anxiety to see that his lordship was +greatly improved. Not only had the lanky youth passed into a well +formed man, but in countenance, whether as regarded expression, +complexion, or feature, he was not merely a handsomer but looked +in every way a healthier and better man. Whether it was from some +reviving sense of duty, or that, in his attachment to Florimel, +he had begun to cherish a desire of being worthy of her, I cannot +tell; but he looked altogether more of a man than the time that had +elapsed would have given ground to expect, even had he then seemed +on the mend, and indeed promised to become a really fine looking +fellow. His features were far more regular if less informed than +those of the painter and his carriage prouder if less graceful and +energetic. His admiration of and consequent attachment to Florimel +had been growing ever since his visit to Lossie House the preceding +summer, and if he had said nothing quite definite, it was only +because his aunt represented the impolicy of declaring himself just +yet: she was too young. She judged thus, attributing her evident +indifference to an incapacity as yet for falling in love. Hence, +beyond paying her all sorts of attentions and what compliments he +was capable of constructing, Lord Liftore had not gone far towards +making himself understood--at least, not until just before +Malcolm's arrival, when his behaviour had certainly grown warmer +and more confidential. + +All the time she had been under his aunt's care he had had abundant +opportunity for recommending himself, and he had made use of the +privilege. For one thing, credibly assured that he looked well in +the saddle, he had constantly encouraged Florimel's love of riding +and desire to become a thorough horse woman, and they had ridden a +good deal together in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. This practice +they continued as much as possible after they came to London early +in the spring; but the weather of late had not been favourable, +and Florimel had been very little out with him. + +For a long time Lady Bellair had had her mind set on a match between +the daughter of her old friend the Marquis of Lossie and her nephew, +and it was with this in view that, when invited to Lossie House, +she had begged leave to bring Lord Meikleham with her. The young +man was from the first sufficiently taken with the beautiful girl +to satisfy his aunt, and would even then have shown greater fervour +in his attentions, had he not met Lizzy Findlay at the wedding +of Joseph Mair's sister, and found her more than pleasing. I will +not say that from the first he purposed wrong to her: he was too +inexperienced in the ways of evil for that; but even when he saw +plainly enough to what their mutual attraction was tending, he gave +himself no trouble to resist it; and through the whole unhappy affair +had not had one smallest struggle with himself for the girl's sake. +To himself he was all in all as yet, and such was his opinion of +his own precious being, that, had he thought about it, he would have +considered the honour of his attentions far more than sufficient +to make up to any girl in such a position for whatever mishap his +acquaintance might bring upon her. What were the grief and mortification +of parents to put in the balance against his condescension? what +the shame and the humiliation of the girl herself compared with +the honour of having been shone upon for a period, however brief, +by his enamoured countenance? Must not even the sorrow attendant upon +her loss be rendered more than endurable--be radiantly consoled +by the memory that she had held such a demigod in her arms? When +he left her at last, with many promises, not one of which he ever +had the intention of fulfilling, he did purpose sending her a present. +But at that time he was poor--dependent, indeed, for his pocket +money upon his aunt; and, up to this hour, he had never since his +departure from Lossie House taken the least notice of her either +by gift or letter. He had taken care also that it should not be +in her power to write to him, and now he did not even know that he +was a father. Once or twice the possibility of such being the case +occurred to him, and he thought within himself that if he were, +and it should come to be talked of, it might, in respect of his +present hopes, be awkward and disagreeable; for, although such a +predicament was nowise unusual, in this instance the circumstances +were. More than one of his bachelor friends had a small family +even, but then it was in the regular way of an open and understood +secret: the fox had his nest in some pleasant nook, adroitly masked, +where lay his vixen and her brood; one day he would abandon them +for ever, and, with such gathered store of experience, set up for +a respectable family man. A few tears, a neat legal arrangement, +and all would be as it had never been, only that the blood of the +Montmorencies or Cliffords would meander unclaimed in this or that +obscure channel, beautifying the race, and rousing England to noble +deeds! But in his case it would be unpleasant--a little--that +every one of his future tenantry should know the relation in which +he stood to a woman of the fisher people. He did not fear any +resentment--not that he would have cared a straw for it, on such +trifling grounds, but people in their low condition never thought +anything of such slips on the part of their women especially where +a great man was concerned. What he did fear was that the immediate +relations of the woman--that was how he spoke of Lizzy to himself +--might presume upon the honour he had done them. Lizzy, however, +was a good girl, and had promised to keep the matter secret until +she heard from him, whatever might be the consequences; and surely +there was fascination enough in the holding of a secret with such +as he to enable her to keep her promise. She must be perfectly +aware, however appearances might be against him, that he was not +one to fail in appreciation of her conduct, however easy and natural +all that he required of her might be. He would requite her royally +when he was Lord of Lossie. Meantime, although it was even now in +his power to make her rich amends, he would prudently leave things as +they were, and not run the risk that must lie in opening communications. + +And so the young earl held his head high, looked as innocent as +may be desirable for a gentleman, had many a fair clean hand laid +in his, and many a maiden waist yielded to his arm, while "the +woman" flitted about half an alien amongst her own, with his child +wound in her old shawl of Lossie tartan; wandering not seldom in +the gloaming when her little one slept, along the top of the dune, +with the wind blowing keen upon her from the regions of eternal +ice, sometimes the snow settling softly on her hair, sometimes the +hailstones nestling in its meshes; the skies growing blacker about +her, and the sea stormier, while hope retreated so far into the +heavenly regions, that hope and heaven both were lost to her view. +Thus, alas! the things in which he was superior to her, most of +all that he was a gentleman, while she was but a peasant girl-- +the things whose witchery drew her to his will, he made the means +of casting her down from the place of her excellency into the mire +of shame and loss. The only love worthy of the name ever and always +uplifts. + +Of the people belonging to the upper town of Portlossie, which +raised itself high above the sea town in other respects besides the +topical, there were none who did not make poor Lizzy feel they were +aware of her disgrace, and but one man who made her feel it by being +kinder than before. That man, strange to say, was the factor. With +all his faults he had some chivalry, and he showed it to the fisher +girl. Nor did he alter his manner to her because of the rudeness +with which her mother had taken Malcolm's part. + +It was a sore proof to Mr Crathie that his discharged servant was +in favour with the marchioness when the order came from Mr Soutar +to send up Kelpie. She had written to himself when she wanted her +own horse; now she sent for this brute through her lawyer. It was +plain that Malcolm had been speaking against him; and he was the +more embittered therefore against his friends. + +Since his departure he had been twice on the point of poisoning +the mare. + +It was with difficulty he found two men to take her to Aberdeen. +There they had an arduous job to get her on board and secure her. +But it had been done, and all the Monday night Malcolm was waiting +her arrival at the wharf--alone, for after what had passed between +them, he would not ask Peter to go with him, and besides he was no +use with horses. At length, in the grey of a gurly dawn, the smack +came alongside. They had had a rough passage, and the mare was +considerably subdued by sickness, so that there was less difficulty +in getting her ashore, and she paced for a little while in tolerable +quietness. But with every step on dry land, the evil spirit in her +awoke, and soon Malcolm had to dismount and lead her. The morning +was little advanced, and few vehicles were about, otherwise he could +hardly have got her home uninjured, notwithstanding the sugar with +which he had filled a pocket. Before he reached the mews he was +very near wishing he had never seen her. But when he led her into +the stable, he was a little encouraged as well as surprised to +find that she had not forgotten Florimel's horse. They had always +been a little friendly, and now they greeted each other with an +affectionate neigh; after which, with the help of all she could +devour, the demoness was quieter. + + + +CHAPTER XIX: KELPIE IN LONDON + + +Before noon Lord Liftore came round to the mews: his riding horses +were there. Malcolm was not at the moment in the stable. + +"What animal is that?" he asked of his own groom, catching sight +of Kelpie in her loose box. + +"One just come up from Scotland for Lady Lossie, my lord," answered +the man. + +"She looks a clipper! Lead her out, and let me see her." + +"She's not sound in the temper, my lord, the groom that brought her +says. He told me on no account to go near her till she got used to +the sight of me." + +"Oh! you're afraid, are you?" said his lordship, whose breeding +had not taught him courtesy to his inferiors. + +At the word the man walked into her box. As he did so he looked +out for her hoofs, but his circumspection was in vain: in a moment +she had wheeled, jammed him against the wall, and taken his shoulder +in her teeth. He gave a yell of pain. His lordship caught up a +stable broom, and attacked the mare with it over the door; but it +flew from his hand to the other end of the stable, and the partition +began to go after it. But she still kept her hold of the man. +Happily, however, Malcolm was not far off and hearing the noise, +rushed in. He was just in time to save the groom's life. Clearing +the stall partition, and seizing the mare by the nose with a mighty +grasp, he inserted a forefinger behind her tusk, for she was one of +the few mares tusked like a horse, and soon compelled her to open +her mouth. The groom staggered and would have fallen, so cruelly +had she mauled him, but Malcolm's voice roused him. + +"For God's sake gang oot, as lang's there twa limbs o' ye stickin' +thegither." + +The poor fellow just managed to open the door, and fell senseless +on the stones. Lord Liftore called for help, and they carried him +into the saddle room, while one ran for the nearest surgeon. + +Meantime Malcolm was putting a muzzle on Kelpie, which he believed +she understood as a punishment, and while he was thus occupied, +his lordship came from the saddle room and approached the box. + +"Who are you?" he said. "I think I have seen you before." + +"I was servant to the late Marquis of Lossie, my lord, and now I +am groom to her ladyship." + +"What a fury you've brought up with you! She'll never do for London." + +"I told the man not to go near her, my lord." + +"What's the use of her if no one can go near her?" + +"I can, my lord." + +"By Jove, she's a splendid creature to look at! but I don't know +what you can do with her here, my man. She's fit to go double with +Satan himself." + +"She'll do for me to ride after my lady well enough. If only I had +room to exercise her a bit!" + +"Take her into the park early in the morning, and gallop her round. +Only mind she don't break your neck. What can have made Lady Lossie +send for such a devil as that!" + +Malcolm held his peace. + +"I'll try her myself some morning," said his lordship, who thought +himself a better horseman than he was. + +"I wouldn't advise you, my lord." + +"Who the devil asked your advice?" + +"Ten to one she'll kill you, my lord." + +"That's my look out," said Liftore, and went into the house. + +As soon as he had done with Kelpie, Malcolm dressed himself in his +new livery, and went to tell his mistress of her arrival. She sent +him orders to bring the mare round in half an hour. He went back +to her, took off her muzzle, fed her, and while she ate her corn, +put on the spurs he had prepared expressly for her use--a spike +without a rowel, rather blunt, but sharp indeed when sharply used +--like those of the Gauchos of the Pampas. Then he saddled her, +and rode her round. + +Having had her fit of temper, she was, to all appearance, going to +be fairly good for the rest of the day, and looked splendid. She +was a large mare, nearly thoroughbred, but with more bone than +usual for her breeding, which she carried triumphantly--an animal +most men would have been pleased to possess--and proud to ride. +Florimel came to the door to see her, accompanied by Liftore, and +was so delighted with the very sight of her that she sent at once +to the stables for her own horse, that she might ride out attended +by Malcolm. His lordship also ordered his horse. + +They went straight to Rotten Row for a little gallop, and Kelpie +was behaving very well for her. + +"What did you have two such savages, horse and groom both, up from +Scotland for, Florimel?" asked his lordship, as they cantered gently +along the Row, Kelpie coming sideways after them, as if she would +fain alter the pairing of her legs.. + +Florimel turned and cast an admiring glance on the two. + +"Do you know I am rather proud of them," she said. + +"He's a clumsy fellow, the groom; and for the mare, she's downright +wicked," said Liftore. + +"At least neither is a hypocrite," returned Florimel, with Malcolm's +account of his quarrel with the factor in her mind. "The mare is +just as wicked as she looks, and the man as good. Believe me, my +lord, that man you call a savage never told a lie in his life!" + +As she spoke she looked him hard in the face--with her father in +her eyes. + +Liftore could not return the look with equal steadiness. It seemed +for the moment to be inquiring too curiously. + +"I know what you mean," he said. "You don't believe my professions." + +As he spoke he edged his horse close up to hers. + +"But," he went on, "if I know that I speak the truth when I swear +that I love every breath of wind that has but touched your dress +as it passed, that I would die gladly for one loving touch of +your hand--why should you not let me ease my heart by saying so? +Florimel, my life has been a different thing from the moment I saw +you first. It has grown precious to me since I saw that it might be +--Confound the fellow! what's he about now with his horse devil?" + +For at that moment his lordship's horse, a high bred but timid +animal, sprang away from the side of Florimel's, and there stood +Kelpie on her hind legs, pawing the air between him and his lady, +and Florimel, whose old confidence in Malcolm was now more than +revived, was laughing merrily at the discomfiture of his attempt +at love making. Her behaviour and his own frustration put him in +such a rage that, wheeling quickly round, he struck Kelpie, just +as she dropped on all fours, a great cut with his whip across the +haunches. She plunged and kicked violently, came within an inch of +breaking his horse's leg, and flew across the rail into the park. +Nothing could have suited Malcolm better. He did not punish her as +he would have done had she been to blame, for he was always just +to lower as well as higher animals, but he took her a great round +at racing speed, while his mistress and her companion looked on, +and everyone in the Row stopped and stared. Finally, he hopped her +over the rail again, and brought her up dripping and foaming to his +mistress. Florimel's eyes were flashing, and Liftore looked still +angry. + +"Dinna du that again, my lord," said Malcolm. "Ye're no my maister; +an' gien ye war, ye wad hae no richt to brak my neck." + +"No fear of that! That's not how your neck will be broken, my man," +said his lordship, with an attempted laugh; for though he was all +the angrier that he was ashamed of what he had done, he dared not +further wrong the servant before his mistress. + +A policeman came up and laid his hand on Kelpie's bridle. + +"Take care what you're about," said Malcolm; "the mare's not safe. +--There's my mistress, the Marchioness of Lossie." + +The man saw an ugly look in Kelpie's eye, withdrew his hand, and +turned to Florimel. + +"My groom is not to blame," said she. "Lord Liftore struck his +mare, and she became ungovernable." + +The man gave a look at Liftore, seemed to take his likeness, touched +his hat, and withdrew. + +"You'd better ride the jade home," said Liftore. + +Malcolm only looked at his mistress. She moved on, and he followed. + +He was not so innocent in the affair as he had seemed. The expression +of Liftore's face as he drew nearer to Florimel, was to him so +hateful, that he interfered in a very literal fashion: Kelpie had +been doing no more than he had made her until the earl struck her. + +"Let us ride to Richmond tomorrow," said Florimel, "and have a +good gallop in the park. Did you ever see a finer sight than that +animal on the grass?" + +"The fellow's too heavy for her," said Liftore. "I should very much +like to try her myself." + +Florimel pulled up, and turned to Malcolm. + +"MacPhail," she said, "have that mare of yours ready whenever Lord +Liftore chooses to ride her." + +"I beg your pardon, my lady," returned Malcolm, "but would your +ladyship make a condition with my lord that he shall not mount her +anywhere on the stones." + +"By Jove!" said Liftore scornfully. "You fancy yourself the only +man that can ride!" + +"It's nothing to me, my lord, if you break your neck; but I am +bound to tell you I do not think your lordship will sit my mare. +Stoat can't; and I can only because I know her as well as my own +palm." + +The young earl made no answer and they rode on--Malcolm nearer +than his lordship liked. + +"I can't think, Florimel," he said, "why you should want that fellow +about you again. He is not only very awkward, but insolent as well." + +"I should call it straightforward," returned Florimel. + +"My dear Lady Lossie! See how close he is riding to us now." + +"He is anxious, I daresay, as to your Lordship's behaviour. He is +like some dogs that are a little too careful of their mistresses-- +touchy as to how they are addressed--not a bad fault in dog--or +groom either. He saved my life once, and he was a great favourite +with my father: I won't hear anything against him." + +"But for your own sake--just consider:--what will people say +if you show any preference for a man like that?" said Liftore, who +had already become jealous of the man who in his heart he feared +could ride better than himself. + +"My lord!" exclaimed Florimel, with a mingling of surprise and +indignation in her voice, and suddenly quickening her pace, dropped +him behind. + +Malcolm was after her so instantly, that it brought him abreast of +Liftore. + +"Keep your own place," said his lordship, with stern rebuke. + +"I keep my place to my mistress," returned Malcolm. + +Liftore looked at him as it he would strike him. But he thought +better of it apparently, and rode after Florimel. + + + +CHAPTER XX: BLUE PETER + + +By the time he had put up Kelpie, Malcolm found that his only chance +of seeing Blue Peter before he left London, lay in going direct to +the wharf. On his road he reflected on what had just passed, and +was not altogether pleased with himself. He had nearly lost his +temper with Liftore; and if he should act in any way unbefitting +the position he had assumed, from the duties of which he was in no +degree exonerated by the fact that he had assumed it for a purpose, +it would not only be a failure in himself, but an impediment perhaps +insurmountable in the path of his service. To attract attention was +almost to insure frustration. When he reached the wharf he found +they had nearly got her freight on board the smack. Blue Peter +stood on the forecastle. He went to him and explained how it was +that he had been unable to join him sooner. + +"I didna ken ye," said Blue Peter, "in sic playactor kin' o' claes." + +"Nobody in London would look at me twice now. But you remember how +we were stared at when first we came," said Malcolm. + +"Ow ay!" returned Peter with almost a groan; "there's a sair cheenge +past upo' you, but I'm gauin' hame to the auld w'y o' things. The +herrin' 'll be aye to the fore, I'm thinkin'; an' gien we getna a +harbour we'll get a h'aven." + +Judging it better to take no notice of this pretty strong expression +of distrust and disappointment, Malcolm led him aside, and putting +a few sovereigns in his hand, said, + +"Here, Peter, that will take you home." + +"It's ower muckle--a heap ower muckle. I'll tak naething frae ye +but what'll pay my w'y." + +"And what is such a trifle between friends?" + +"There was a time, Ma'colm, whan what was mine was yours, an' what +was yours was mine, but that time's gane." + +"I'm sorry to hear that, Peter; but still I owe you as much as that +for bare wages." + +"There was no word o' wages when ye said, Peter, come to Lon'on +wi' me.--Davie there--he maun hae his wauges." + +"Weel," said Malcolm, thinking it better to give way, "I'm no abune +bein' obleeged to ye, Peter. I maun bide my time, I see, for ye +winna lippen till me. Eh man! your faith's sune at the wa'." + +"Faith! what faith?" returned Peter, almost fiercely. "We're tauld +to put no faith in man; an' gien I bena come to that yet freely, +I'm nearer till't nor ever I was afore." + +"Weel, Peter, a' 'at I can say is, I ken my ain hert, an' ye dinna +ken't." + +"Daur ye tell me!" cried Peter. "Disna the Scriptur' itsel' say the +hert o' man is deceitfu' an' despratly wickit: who can know it?" + +"Peter," said Malcolm, and he spoke very gently, for he understood +that love and not hate was at the root of his friend's anger and +injustice, "gien ye winna lippen to me, there's naething for't +but I maun lippen to you. Gang hame to yer wife, an' gi'e her my +compliments, an' tell her a' 'at's past atween you an' me, as near, +word for word, as ye can tell the same; an' say till her, I pray +her to judge atween you an' me--an' to mak the best o' me to ye +'at she can, for I wad ill thole to loss yer freenship, Peter." + +The same moment came the command for all but passengers to go ashore. +The men grasped each other's hand, looked each other in the eyes +with something of mutual reproach, and parted--Blue Peter down +the river to Scaurnose and Annie, Malcolm to the yacht lying still +in the Upper Pool. + +He saw it taken properly in charge, and arranged for having it +towed up the river and anchored in the Chelsea Reach. + +When Blue Peter found himself once more safe out at sea, with twelve +hundred yards of canvas spread above him in one mighty wing betwixt +boom and gaff; and the wind blowing half a gale, the weather inside +him began to change a little. He began to see that he had not been +behaving altogether as a friend ought. It was not that he saw reason +for being better satisfied with Malcolm or his conduct, but reason +for being worse satisfied with himself; and the consequence was +that he grew still angrier with Malcolm, and the wrong he had done +him seemed more and more an unpardonable one. + +When he was at length seated on the top of the coach running betwixt +Aberdeen and Fochabers, which would set him down as near Scaurnose +as coach could go, he began to be doubtful how Annie, formally +retained on Malcolm's side by the message he had to give her, +would judge in the question between them; for what did she know of +theatres and such places? And the doubt strengthened as he neared +home. The consequence was that he felt in no haste to execute +Malcolm's commission; and hence, the delights of greeting over, +Annie was the first to open her bag of troubles: Mr Crathie had +given them notice to quit at Midsummer. + +"Jist what I micht hae expeckit!" cried Blue Peter, starting up. +"Woe be to the man 'at puts his trust in princes! I luikit till +him to save the fisher fowk, an' no to the Lord; an' the tooer o' +Siloam 's fa'en upo' my heid:--what does he, the first thing, +but turn his ain auld freen's oot o' the sma beild they had! That +his father nor his gran'father, 'at was naither o' them God fearin' +men, wad never hae put their han' till. Eh, wuman! but my hert's +sair 'ithin me. To think o' Ma'colm MacPhail turnin' his back +upo' them 'at's been freens wi' 'im sin ever he was a wee loonie, +rinnin' aboot in coaties!" + +"Hoot, man! what's gotten intill yer heid?" returned his wife. +"It's no Ma'colm; it's the illwully factor. Bide ye till he comes +till 's ain, an' Maister Crathie 'll hae to lauch o' the wrang side +o' 's mou'." + +But thereupon Peter began his tale of how he had fared in London, +and in the excitement of keenly anticipated evil, and with his +recollection of events wrapped in the mist of a displeasure which +had deepened during his journey, he so clothed the facts of Malcolm's +conduct in the garments of his own feelings that the mind of Annie +Mair also became speedily possessed with the fancy that their friend's +good fortune had upset his moral equilibrium, and that he had not +only behaved to her husband with pride and arrogance, breaking +all the ancient bonds of friendship between them, but had tried to +seduce him from the ways of righteousness by inveigling him into +a playhouse, where marvels of wickedness were going on at the very +time. She wept a few bitter tears of disappointment, dried them +hastily, lifted her head high, and proceeded to set her affairs in +order as if death were at the door. + +For indeed it was to them as a death to leave Scaurnose. True, Annie +came from inland, and was not of the fisher race, but this part of +the coast she had known from childhood, and in this cottage all her +married years had been spent, while banishment of the sort involved +banishment from every place they knew, for all the neighbourhood +was equally under the power of the factor. And poor as their +accommodation here was, they had plenty of open air and land room; +whereas if they should be compelled to go to any of the larger ports, +it would be to circumstances greatly inferior, and a neighbourhood +in all probability very undesirable for their children. + + + +CHAPTER XXI: MR GRAHAM + + +When Malcolm at length reached his lodging, he found there a letter +from Miss Horn, containing the much desired information as to where +the schoolmaster was to be found in the London wilderness. It was +now getting rather late, and the dusk of a spring night had begun +to gather; but little more than the breadth of the Regent's Park +lay between him and his best friend--his only one in London-- +and he set out immediately for Camden Town. + +The relation between him and his late schoolmaster was indeed of +the strongest and closest. Long before Malcolm was born, and ever +since, had Alexander Graham loved Malcolm's mother; but not until +within the last few months had he learned that Malcolm was the son +of Griselda Campbell. The discovery was to the schoolmaster like +the bursting out of a known flower on an unknown plant. He knew +then, not why he had loved the boy, for he loved every one of his +pupils more or less, but why he had loved him with such a peculiar +tone of affection. + +It was a lovely evening. There had been rain in the afternoon +as Malcolm walked home from the Pool, but before the sun set it +had cleared up; and as he went through the park towards the dingy +suburb, the first heralds of the returning youth of the year met him +from all sides in the guise of odours--not yet those of flowers, +but the more ethereal if less sweet, scents of buds and grass, and +ever pure earth moistened with the waters of heaven. And to his +surprise he found that his sojourn in a great city, although as yet +so brief, had already made the open earth with its corn and grass +more dear to him and wonderful. But when he left the park, and +crossed the Hampstead Road into a dreary region of dwellings crowded +and commonplace as the thoughts of a worshipper of Mammon, houses +upon houses, here and there shepherded by a tall spire, it was hard +to believe that the spring was indeed coming slowly up this way. + +After not a few inquiries, he found himself at a stationer's shop, +a poor little place, and learned that Mr Graham lodged over it, +and was then at home. + +He was shown up into a shabby room, with an iron bedstead, a chest +of drawers daubed with sickly paint, a table with a stained red +cover, a few bookshelves in a recess over the washstand, and two +chairs seated with haircloth. On one of these, by the side of a +small fire in a neglected grate, sat the schoolmaster reading his +Plato. On the table beside him lay his Greek New Testament, and +an old edition of George Herbert. He looked up as the door opened, +and, notwithstanding his strange dress, recognising at once his +friend and pupil, rose hastily, and welcomed him with hand and +eyes, and countenance, but without word spoken. For a few moments +the two stood silent, holding each the other's hand, and gazing +each in the other's eyes, then sat down, still speechless, one on +each side of the fire. + +They looked at each other and smiled, and again a minute passed. +Then the schoolmaster rose, rang the bell, and when it was answered +by a rather careworn young woman, requested her to bring tea. + +"I'm sorry I cannot give you cakes or fresh butter, my lord," +he said with a smile, and they were the first words spoken. "The +former is not to be had, and the latter is beyond my means. But +what I have will content one who is able to count that abundance +which many would count privation." + +He spoke in the choice word, measured phrase, and stately speech +which Wordsworth says "grave livers do in Scotland use," but +under it all rang a tone of humour, as if he knew the form of his +utterance too important for the subject matter of it, and would +gently amuse with it both his visitor and himself. + +He was a man of middle height, but so thin that notwithstanding a +slight stoop in the shoulders, he looked rather tall; much on the +young side of fifty, but apparently a good way on the other, partly +from the little hair he had being grey. He had sandy coloured +whiskers, and a shaven chin. Except his large sweetly closed mouth, +and rather long upper lip, there was nothing very notable in his +features. At ordinary moments, indeed, there was nothing in his +appearance other than insignificant to the ordinary observer. His +eyes were of a pale quiet blue, but when he smiled they sparkled +and throbbed with light. He wore the same old black tailcoat he had +worn last in his school at Portlossie, but the white neckcloth he +had always been seen in there had given place to a black one: that +was the sole change in the aspect of the man. + +About Portlossie he had been greatly respected, notwithstanding +the rumour that he was a "stickit minister," that is, one who had +failed in the attempt to preach; and when the presbytery dismissed +him on the charge of heresy, there had been many tears on the part +of his pupils, and much childish defiance of his unenviable successor. + +Few words passed between the two men until they had had their tea, +and then followed a long talk, Malcolm first explaining his present +position, and then answering many questions of the master as to how +things had gone since he left. Next followed anxious questions on +Malcolm's side as to how his friend found himself in the prison of +London. + +"I do miss the air, and the laverocks (skylarks), and the gowans," +he confessed; "but I have them all in my mind, and at my age a man +ought to be able to satisfy himself with the idea of a thing in his +soul. Of outer things that have contributed to his inward growth, +the memory alone may then well be enough. The sights which, when +I lie down to sleep, rise before that inward eye Wordsworth calls +the bliss of solitude, have upon me power almost of a spiritual +vision, so purely radiant are they of that which dwells in them, +the divine thought which is their substance, their hypostasis. My +boy! I doubt if you can tell what it is to know the presence of +the living God in and about you." + +"I houp I hae a bit notion o' 't, sir," said Malcolm. + +"But believe me that in any case, however much a man may have of +it, he may have it endlessly more. Since I left the cottage where +I hoped to end my days under the shadow of the house of your ancestors, +since I came into this region of bricks and smoke, and the crowded +tokens too plain of want and care, I have found a reality in the +things I had been trying to teach you at Portlossie, such as I had +before imagined only in my best moments. And more still: I am now +far better able to understand how it must have been with our Lord +when he was trying to teach the men and women of Palestine to +have faith in God. Depend upon it, we get our best use of life in +learning by the facts of its ebb and flow to understand the Son of +Man. And again, when we understand Him, then only do we understand +our life and ourselves. Never can we know the majesty of the will +of God concerning us except by understanding Jesus and the work the +Father gave Him to do. Now, nothing is of a more heavenly delight +than to enter into a dusky room in the house of your friend, and +there, with a blow of the heavenly rod, draw light from the dark +wall--open a window, a fountain of the eternal light, and let +in the truth which is the life of the world. Joyously would a man +spend his life, right joyously even if the road led to the gallows, +in showing the grandest he sees--the splendid purities of the +divine religion--the mountain top up to which the voice of God +is ever calling his children. Yes, I can understand even how a man +might live, like the good hermits of old, in triumphant meditation +upon such all satisfying truths, and let the waves of the world's +time wash by him in unheeded flow until his cell changed to his +tomb, and his spirit soared free. But to spend your time in giving +little lessons when you have great ones to give; in teaching the +multiplication table the morning after you made at midnight a grand +discovery upon the very summits of the moonlit mountain range of the +mathematics; in enforcing the old law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour +as thyself when you know in your own heart that not a soul can ever +learn to keep it without first learning to fulfil an infinitely +greater one--to love his neighbour even as Christ hath loved him +--then indeed one may well grow disheartened, and feel as if he +were not in the place prepared for, and at the work required of +him. But it is just then that he must go back to school himself +and learn not only the patience of God who keeps the whole dull +obstinate world alive, while generation after generation is born +and vanishes, and of the mighty multitude only one here and there +rises up from the fetters of humanity into the freedom of the sons +of God--and yet goes on teaching the whole, and bringing every +man who will but turn his ear a little towards the voice that +calls him, nearer and nearer to the second birth--of sonship and +liberty--not only this divine patience must he learn, but the +divine insight as well, which in every form spies the reflex of +the truth it cannot contain, and in every lowliest lesson sees the +highest drawn nearer, and the soul growing alive unto God." + + + +CHAPTER XXII: RICHMOND PARK + + +The next day at noon, mounted on Kelpie, Malcolm was in attendance +upon his mistress, who was eager after a gallop in Richmond Park. +Lord Liftore, who had intended to accompany her, had not made his +appearance yet, but Florimel did not seem the less desirous of +setting out at the time she had appointed Malcolm. The fact was she +had said one o'clock to Liftore, intending twelve, that she might +get away without him. Kelpie seemed on her good behaviour, and they +started quietly enough. By the time they had got out of the park +upon the Kensington Road, however, the evil spirit had begun to +wake in her. But even when she was quietest, she was nothing to +be trusted, and about London Malcolm found he dared never let his +thoughts go, or take his attention quite off her ears. They got +to Kew Bridge in safety nevertheless, though whether they were to +get safely across was doubtful all the time they were upon it, for +again and again she seemed on the very point of clearing the stone +balustrade, but for the terrible bit and chain without which Malcolm +never dared ride her. Still, whatever her caracoles or escapades, +they caused Florimel nothing but amusement, for her confidence in +Malcolm--that he could do whatever he believed he could--was +unbounded. They got through Richmond--with some trouble, but +hardly were they well into the park, when Lord Liftore, followed +by his groom, came suddenly up behind them at such a rate as quite +destroyed the small stock of equanimity Kelpie had to go upon. She +bolted. + +Florimel was a good rider, and knew herself quite mistress of her +horse, and if she now followed, it was at her own will, and with a +design; she wanted to make the horses behind her bolt also if she +could. His lordship came flying after her, and his groom after him, +but she kept increasing her pace until they were all at full stretch, +thundering over the grass--upon which Malcolm had at once turned +Kelpie, giving her little rein and plenty of spur. Gradually +Florimel slackened speed, and at last pulled up suddenly. Liftore +and his groom went past her like the wind. She turned at right angles +and galloped back to the road. There, on a gaunt thoroughbred, with +a furnace of old life in him yet, sat Lenorme, whom she had already +passed and signalled to remain thereabout. They drew alongside of +each other, but they did not shake hands; they only looked each in +the other's eyes, and for a few moments neither spoke. The three +riders were now far away over the park, and still Kelpie held on +and the other horses after her. "I little expected such a pleasure," +said Lenorme. + +"I meant to give it you, though," said Florimel, with a merry laugh. +"Bravo, Kelpie! take them with you," she cried, looking after the +still retreating horsemen. "I have got a familiar since I saw you +last, Raoul," she went on. "See if I don't get some good for us out +of him!--We'll move gently along the road here, and by the time +Liftore's horse is spent, we shall be ready for a good gallop. I +want to tell you all about it. I did not mean Liftore to be here +when I sent you word, but he has been too much for me." + +Lenorme replied with a look of gratitude; and as they walked their +horses along, she told him all concerning Malcolm and Kelpie. + +"Liftore hates him already," she said, "and I can hardly wonder; +but you must not, for you will find him useful. He is one I can +depend upon. You should have seen the look Liftore gave him when he +told him he could not sit his mare! It would have been worth gold +to you." + +Lenorme winced a little. + +"He thinks no end of his riding," Florimel continued; "but if +it were not so improper to have secrets with another gentleman, I +would tell you that he rides--just pretty well." + +Lenorme's great brow gloomed over his eyes like the Eiger in a +mist, but he said nothing yet. + +"He wants to ride Kelpie, and I have told my groom to let him have +her. Perhaps she'll break his neck." + +Lenorme smiled grimly. + +"You wouldn't mind, would you, Raoul?" added Florimel, with a +roguish look. + +"Would you mind telling me, Florimel, what you mean by the impropriety +of having secrets with another gentleman? Am I the other gentleman?" + +"Why, of course! You know Liftore imagined he has only to name the +day." + +"And you allow an idiot like that to cherish such a degrading idea +of you." + +"Why, Raoul! what does it matter what a fool like him thinks?" + +"If you don't mind it, I do. I feel it an insult to me that he +should dare think of you like that." + +"I don't know. I suppose I shall have to marry him some day." + +"Lady Lossie, do you want to make me hate you?" + +"Don't be foolish, Raoul. It won't be tomorrow--nor the next day. +Freuet euch des Lebens!" + +"O Florimel! what is to come of this? Do you want to break my heart? +--I hate to talk rubbish. You won't kill me--you will only ruin +my work, and possibly drive me mad." + +Florimel drew close to his side, laid her hand on his arm, and +looked in his face with a witching entreaty. + +"We have the present, Raoul," she said. + +"So has the butterfly," answered Lenorme; "but I had rather be the +caterpillar with a future.--Why don't you put a stop to the man's +lovemaking? He can't love you or any woman. He does not know what +love means. It makes me ill to hear him when he thinks he is paying +you irresistible compliments. They are so silly! so mawkish! Good +heavens, Florimel! can you imagine that smile every day and always? +Like the rest of his class he seems to think himself perfectly +justified in making fools of women. I want to help you to grow +as beautiful as God meant you to be when he thought of you first. +I want you to be my embodied vision of life, that I may for ever +worship at your feet--live in you, die with you: such bliss, even +were there nothing beyond, would be enough for the heart of a God +to bestow." + +"Stop, stop, Raoul; I'm not worthy of such love," said Florimel, +again laying her hand on his arm. "I do wish for your sake I had +been born a village girl." + +"If you had been, then I might have wished for your sake that I +had been born a marquis. As it is I would rather be a painter than +any nobleman in Europe--that is, with you to love me. Your love +is my patent of nobility. But I may glorify what you love--and +tell you that I can confer something on you also--what none of +your noble admirers can.--God forgive me! you will make me hate +them all!" + +"Raoul, this won't do at all," said Florimel, with the authority +that should belong only to the one in the right. And indeed for the +moment she felt the dignity of restraining a too impetuous passion. +"You will spoil everything. I dare not come to your studio if you +are going to behave like this. It would be very wrong of me. And +if I am never to come and see you, I shall die--I know I shall." + +The girl was so full of the delight of the secret love between +them, that she cared only to live in the present as if there were no +future beyond: Lenorme wanted to make that future like but better +than the present. The word marriage put Florimel in a rage. She +thought herself superior to Lenorme, because he, in the dread of +losing her, would have her marry him at once, while she was more +than content with the bliss of seeing him now and then. Often and +often her foolish talk stung him with bitter pain--worst of all +when it compelled him to doubt whether there was that in her to +be loved as he was capable of loving. Yet always the conviction +that there was a deep root of nobleness in her nature again got +uppermost; and, had it not been so, I fear he would, nevertheless, +have continued to prove her irresistible as often as she chose to +exercise upon him the full might of her witcheries. At one moment +she would reveal herself in such a sudden rush of tenderness +as seemed possible only to one ready to become his altogether and +for ever; the next she would start away as if she had never meant +anything, and talk as if not a thought were in her mind beyond the +cultivation of a pleasant acquaintance doomed to pass with the +season, if not with the final touches to her portrait. Or she would +fall to singing some song he had taught her, more likely a certain +one he had written in a passionate mood of bitter tenderness, with +the hope of stinging her love to some show of deeper life; but +would, while she sang, look with merry defiance in his face, as +if she adopted in seriousness what he had written in loving and +sorrowful satire. + +They rode in silence for some hundred yards. At length he spoke, +replying to her last asseveration. "Then what can you gain, child," +he said-- + +"Will you dare to call me child--a marchioness in my own right!" +she cried, playfully threatening him with uplifted whip, in the +handle of which the little jewels sparkled. + +"What, then, can you gain, my lady marchioness," he resumed, with +soft seriousness, and a sad smile, "by marrying one of your own +rank?--I should lay new honour and consideration at your feet. I +am young. I have done fairly well already. But I have done nothing +to what I could do now, if only my heart lay safe in the port of +peace:--you know where alone that is for me my--lady marchioness. +And you know too that the names of great painters go down with +honour from generation to generation, when my lord this or my lord +that is remembered only as a label to the picture that makes the +painter famous. I am not a great painter yet, but I will be one if +you will be good to me. And men shall say, when they look on your +portrait, in ages to come: No wonder he was such a painter when he +had such a woman to paint." + +He spoke the words with a certain tone of dignified playfulness. + +"When shall the woman sit to you again, painter?" said Florimel-- +sole reply to his rhapsody. + +The painter thought a little. Then he said: + +"I don't like that tire woman of yours. She has two evil eyes-- +one for each of us. I have again and again caught their expression +when they were upon us, and she thought none were upon her: I can +see without lifting my head when I am painting, and my art has +made me quick at catching expressions, and, I hope, at interpreting +them." + +"I don't altogether like her myself," said Florimel. "Of late I am +not so sure of her as I used to be. But what can I do? I must have +somebody with me, you know.--A thought strikes me. Yes. I won't +say now what it is lest I should disappoint my--painter; but-- +yes--you shall see what I will dare for you, faithless man!" + +She set off at a canter, turned on to the grass, and rode to meet +Liftore, whom she saw in the distance returning, followed by the +two grooms. + +"Come on, Raoul," she cried, looking back; "I must account for you. +He sees I have not been alone." + +Lenorme joined her, and they rode along side by side. + +The earl and the painter knew each other: as they drew near, the +painter lifted his hat, and the earl nodded. + +"You owe Mr Lenorme some acknowledgment, my lord, for taking charge +of me after your sudden desertion," said Florimel. "Why did you +gallop off in such a mad fashion?" + +"I am sorry," began Liftore a little embarrassed. + +"Oh! don't trouble yourself to apologise," said Florimel. "I have +always understood that great horsemen find a horse more interesting +than a lady. It is a mark of their breed, I am told." + +She knew that Liftore would not be ready to confess he could not +hold his hack. + +"If it hadn't been for Mr Lenorme," she added, "I should have +been left without a squire, subject to any whim of my four footed +servant here." + +As she spoke she patted the neck of her horse. The earl, on his +side, had been looking the painter's horse up and down with a would +be humorous expression of criticism. + +"I beg your pardon, marchioness," he replied; "but you pulled up +so quickly that we shot past you. I thought you were close behind, +and preferred following.--Seen his best days, eh, Lenorme?" he +concluded, willing to change the subject. + +"I fancy he doesn't think so," returned the painter. "I bought him +out of a butterman's cart, three months ago. He's been coming to +himself ever since. Look at his eye, my lord." + +"Are you knowing in horses, then?" + +"I can't say I am, beyond knowing how to treat them something like +human beings." + +"That's no ill," said Malcolm to himself. He was just near enough, +on the pawing and foaming Kelpie, to catch what was passing.-- +"The fallow 'll du. He's worth a score o' sic yerls as yon." + +"Ha! ha!" said his lordship; "I don't know about that--He's not +the best of tempers, I can see. But look at that demon of Lady +Lossie's--that black mare there! I wish you could teach her some +of your humanity. + +"--By the way, Florimel, I think now we are upon the grass,"-- +he said it loftily, as if submitting to an injustice--"I will +presume to mount the reprobate." + +The gallop had communicated itself to Liftore's blood, and, besides, +he thought after such a run Kelpie would be less extravagant in +her behaviour. + +"She is at your service," said Florimel. + +He dismounted, his groom rode up, he threw him the reins, and called +Malcolm. + +"Bring your mare here, my man," he said. + +Malcolm rode her up half way, and dismounted. + +"If your lordship is going to ride her," he said, "will you please +get on her here. I would rather not take her near the other horses." + +"Well, you know her better than I do.--You and I must ride about +the same length, I think." + +So saying his lordship carelessly measured the stirrup leather +against his arm, and took the reins. + +"Stand well forward, my lord. Don't mind turning your back to her +head: I'll look after her teeth; you mind her hind hoof," said +Malcolm, with her head in one hand and the stirrup in the other. + +Kelpie stood rigid as a rock, and the earl swung himself up cleverly +enough. But hardly was he in the saddle, and Malcolm had just let +her go, when she plunged and lashed out; then, having failed to +unseat her rider, stood straight up on her hind legs. + +"Give her her head, my lord," cried Malcolm. + +She stood swaying in the air, Liftore's now frightened face half +hid in her mane, and his spurs stuck in her flanks. + +"Come off her, my lord, for God's sake. Off with you!" cried Malcolm, +as he leaped at her head. "She'll be on her back in a moment." + +Liftore only clung the harder. Malcolm caught her head--just in +time: she was already falling backwards. + +"Let all go, my lord. Throw yourself off." + +He swung her towards him with all his strength, and just as his +lordship fell off behind her, she fell sideways to Malcolm, and +clear of Liftore. + +Malcolm was on the side away from the little group, and their own +horses were excited, those who had looked breathless on at the +struggle could not tell how he had managed it, but when they expected +to see the groom writhing under the weight of the demoness, there +he was with his knee upon her head--while Liftore was gathering +himself up from the ground, only just beyond the reach of her iron +shod hoofs. + +"Thank God!" said Florimel, "there is no harm done.--Well, have +you had enough of her yet, Liftore?" + +"Pretty nearly, I think," said his lordship, with an attempt at a +laugh, as he walked rather feebly and foolishly towards his horse. +He mounted with some difficulty, and looked very pale. + +"I hope you're not much hurt," said Florimel kindly, as she moved +alongside of him. + +"Not in the least--only disgraced," he answered, almost angrily. +"The brute's a perfect Satan. You must part with her. With such +a horse and such a groom you'll get yourself talked of all over +London. I believe the fellow himself was at the bottom of it. You +really must sell her." + +"I would, my lord, if you were my groom," answered Florimel, whom +his accusation of Malcolm had filled with angry contempt; and she +moved away towards the still prostrate mare. + +Malcolm was quietly seated on her head. She had ceased sprawling, +and lay nearly motionless, but for the heaving of her sides with +her huge inhalations. She knew from experience that struggling was +useless. + +"I beg your pardon, my lady," said Malcolm, "but I daren't get up." + +"How long do you mean to sit there then?" she asked. + +"If your ladyship wouldn't mind riding home without me, I would +give her a good half hour of it. I always do when she throws herself +over like that.--I've gat my Epictetus?" he asked himself feeling +in his coat pocket. + +"Do as you please," answered his mistress. "Let me see you when +you get home. I should like to know you are safe." + +"Thank you, my lady; there's little fear of that," said Malcolm. + +Florimel returned to the gentlemen, and they rode homewards. On +the way she said suddenly to the earl, + +"Can you tell me, Liftore, who Epictetus was?" + +"I'm sure I don't know," answered his lordship. "One of the old +fellows." + +She turned to Lenorme. Happily the Christian heathen was not +altogether unknown to the painter. + +"May I inquire why your ladyship asks?" he said, when he had told +all he could at the moment recollect. + +"Because," she answered, "I left my groom sitting on his horse's +head reading Epictetus." + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Liftore. "Ha! ha! ha! In the original, I +suppose!" + +"I don't doubt it," said Florimel. + +In about two hours Malcolm reported himself. Lord Liftore had gone +home, they told him. The painter fellow, as Wallis called him, had +stayed to lunch, but was now gone also, and Lady Lossie was alone +in the drawing room. + +She sent for him. + +"I am glad to see you safe, MacPhail," she said. "It is clear your +Kelpie--don't be alarmed; I am not going to make you part with +her--but it is clear she won't always do for you to attend me +upon. Suppose now I wanted to dismount and make a call, or go into +a shop?" + +"There's a sort of a friendship between your Abbot and her, my +lady; she would stand all the better if I had him to hold." + +"Well, but how would you put me up again?" + +"I never thought of that, my lady. Of course I daren't let you come +near Kelpie." + +"Could you trust yourself to buy another horse to ride after me +about town?" + +"No, my lady, not without a ten days' trial. If lies stuck like +London mud, there's many a horse would never be seen again. But +there's Mr Lenorme! If he would go with me, I fancy between us we +could do pretty well." + +"Ah! a good idea," returned his mistress. "But what makes you think +of him?" she added, willing enough to talk about him. + +"The look of the gentleman and his horse together, and what I heard +him say," answered Malcolm. + +"What did you hear him say?" + +"That he knew he had to treat horses something like human beings. +I've often fancied, within the last few months, that God does with +some people something like as I do with Kelpie." + +"I know nothing about theology." + +"I don't fancy you do, my lady; but this concerns biography rather +than theology. No one could tell what I meant except he had watched +his own history, and that of people he knew." + +"And horses too?" + +"It's hard to get at their insides, my lady, but I suspect it must +be so. I'll ask Mr Graham." + +"What Mr Graham?" + +"The schoolmaster of Portlossie." + +"Is he in London, then?" + +"Yes, my lady. He believed too much to please the presbytery, and +they turned him out." + +"I should like to see him. He was very attentive to my father on +his death bed." + +"Your ladyship will never know till you are dead yourself what Mr +Graham did for my lord." + +"What do you mean? What could he do for him?" + +"He helped him through sore trouble of mind, my lady." + +Florimel was silent for a little, then repeated, "I should like to +see him. I ought to pay him some attention. Couldn't I make them +give him his school again?" + +"I don't know about that, my lady; but I am sure he would not take +it against the will of the presbytery." + +"I should like to do something for him. Ask him to call." + +"If your ladyship lays your commands upon me," answered Malcolm; +"otherwise I would rather not." + +"Why so, pray?" + +"Because, except he can be of any use to you, he will not come." + +"But I want to be of use to him." + +"How, if I may ask, my lady?" + +"That I can't exactly say on the spur of the moment. I must know +the man first--especially if you are right in supposing he would +not enjoy a victory over the presbytery. I should. He wouldn't take +money, I fear." + +"Except it came of love or work, he would put it from him as he +would brush the dust from his coat." + +"I could introduce him to good society. That is no small privilege +to one of his station." + +"He has more of that and better than your ladyship could give him. +He holds company with Socrates and St. Paul, and greater still." + +"But they're not like living people." + +"Very like them, my lady--only far better company in general. +But Mr Graham would leave Plato himself--yes, or St. Paul either, +though he were sitting beside him in the flesh, to go and help any +old washerwoman that wanted him." + +"Then I want him." + +"No, my lady, you don't want him." + +"How dare you say so?" + +"If you did, you would go to him." + +Florimel's eyes flashed, and her pretty lip curled. She turned to +her writing table, annoyed with herself that she could not find a +fitting word wherewith to rebuke his presumption--rudeness, was +it not?--and a feeling of angry shame arose in her, that she, the +Marchioness of Lossie, had not dignity enough to prevent her own +groom from treating her like a child. But he was far too valuable +to quarrel with. + +She sat down and wrote a note. + +"There," she said, "take that note to Mr Lenorme. I have asked him +to help you in the choice of a horse." + +"What price would you be willing to go to, my lady?" + +"I leave that to Mr Lenorme's judgment--and your own," she added. + +"Thank you, my lady," said Malcolm, and was leaving the room, when +Florimel called him back. + +"Next time you see Mr Graham," she said, "give him my compliments, +and ask him if I can be of any service to him." + +"I'll do that, my lady. I am sure he will take it very kindly." + +Florimel made no answer, and Malcolm went to find the painter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII: PAINTER AND GROOM + + +The address upon the note Malcolm had to deliver took him to a +house in Chelsea--one of a row of beautiful old houses fronting +the Thames, with little gardens between them and the road. The one +he sought was overgrown with creepers, most of them now covered +with fresh spring buds. The afternoon had turned cloudy, and a +cold east wind came up the river, which, as the tide was falling, +raised little waves on its surface and made Malcolm think of the +herring. Somehow, as he went up to the door, a new chapter of his +life seemed about to commence. + +The servant who took the note, returned immediately, and showed +him up to the study, a large back room, looking over a good sized +garden, with stables on one side. There Lenorme sat at his easel. + +"Ah!" he said, "I'm glad to see that wild animal has not quite torn +you to pieces. Take a chair. What on earth made you bring such an +incarnate fury to London?" + +"I see well enough now, sir, she's not exactly the one for London +use, but if you had once ridden her, you would never quite enjoy +another between your knees." + +"She's such an infernal brute!" + +"You can't say too ill of her. But I fancy a gaol chaplain sometimes +takes the most interest in the worst villain under his charge. I +should be a proud man to make her fit to live with decent people." + +"I'm afraid she'll be too much for you. At last you'll have to part +with her, I fear." + +"If she had bitten you as often as she has me, sir, you wouldn't +part with her. Besides, it would be wrong to sell her. She would +only be worse with anyone else. But, indeed, though you will hardly +believe it, she is better than she was." + +"Then what must she have been!" + +"You may well say that, sir!" + +"Here your mistress tells me you want my assistance in choosing +another horse." + +"Yes, sir--to attend upon her in London." + +"I don't profess to be knowing in horses: what made you think of +me?" + +"I saw how you sat your own horse, sir, and I heard you say you +bought him out of a butterman's cart, and treated him like a human +being: that was enough for me, sir. I've long had the notion that +the beasts, poor things, have a half sleeping, half waking human +soul in them, and it was a great pleasure to hear you say something +of the same sort. 'That gentleman,' I said to myself, '--he and +I would understand one another.'" + +"I am glad you think so," said Lenorme, with entire courtesy.--It +was not merely that the very doubtful recognition of his profession +by society had tended to keep him clear of his prejudices, but +both as a painter and a man he found the young fellow exceedingly +attractive;--as a painter from the rare combination of such +strength with such beauty, and as a man from a certain yet rarer +clarity of nature which to the vulgar observer seems fatuity until +he has to encounter it in action, when the contrast is like meeting +a thunderbolt. Naturally the dishonest takes the honest for a fool. +Beyond his understanding, he imagines him beneath it. But Lenorme, +although so much more a man of the world, was able in a measure +to look into Malcolm and appreciate him. His nature and his art +combined in enabling him to do this. + +"You see, sir," Malcolm went on, encouraged by the simplicity +of Lenorme's manner, "if they were nothing like us, how should we +be able to get on with them at all, teach them anything, or come +a hair nearer them, do what we might? For all her wickedness I +firmly believe Kelpie has a sort of regard for me--I won't call +it affection, but perhaps it comes as near that as may be possible +in the time to one of her temper." + +"Now I hope you will permit me, Mr MacPhail," said Lenorme, who had +been paying more attention to Malcolm than to his words, "to give +a violent wrench to the conversation, and turn it upon yourself. +You can't be surprised, and I hope you will not be annoyed, if I +say you strike one as not altogether like your calling. No London +groom I have ever spoken to, in the least resembles you. How is +it?" + +"I hope you don't mean to imply, sir, that I don't know my business," +returned Malcolm, laughing. + +"Anything but that! It were nearer the thing to say, that for all +I know you may understand mine as well." + +"I wish I did, sir. Except the pictures at Lossie House and those +in Portland Place, I've never seen one in my life. About most of +them I must say I find it hard to imagine what better the world +is for them. Mr Graham says that no work that doesn't tend to make +the world better makes it richer. If he were a heathen, he says, +he would build a temple to Ses, the sister of Psyche." + +"Ses?--I don't remember her," said Lenorme. + +"The moth, sir;--'the moth and the rust,' you know." + +"Yes, yes; now I know! Capital! Only more things may tend to make +the world better than some people think.--Who is this Mr Graham +of yours? He must be no common man." + +"You are right there, sir; there is not another like him in the +whole world, I believe." + +And thereupon Malcolm set himself to give the painter an idea of +the schoolmaster. + +When they had talked about him for a little while, + +"Well, all this accounts for your being a scholar," said Lenorme; "but--" + +"I am little enough of that, sir," interrupted Malcolm. "Any Scotch +boy that likes to learn finds the way open to him." + +"I am aware of that. But were you really reading Epictetus when we +left you in the park this morning?" + +"Yes, sir: why not?" + +"In the original?" + +"Yes, sir; but not very readily. I am a poor Greek scholar. But my +copy has a rough Latin translation on the opposite page, and that +helps me out. It's not difficult. You would think nothing of it if +it had been Cornelius Nepos, or Cordery's Colloquies. It's only a +better, not a more difficult book." + +"I don't know about that. It's not every one who can read Greek +that can understand Epictetus. Tell me what you have learned from +him?" + +"That would be hard to do. A man is very ready to forget how he +came first to think of the things he loves best. You see they are +as much a necessity of your being as they are of the man's who +thought them first. I can no more do without the truth than Plato. +It is as much my needful food and as fully mine to possess as his. +His having it, Mr Graham says, was for my sake as well as his own. +--It's just like what Sir Thomas Browne says about the faces of +those we love--that we cannot retain the idea of them because +they are ourselves. Those that help the world must be served like +their master and a good deal forgotten, I fancy. Of course they don't +mind it.--I remember another passage I think says something to +the same purpose--one in Epictetus himself," continued Malcolm, +drawing the little book from his pocket and turning over the leaves, +while Lenorme sat waiting, wondering, and careful not to interrupt +him. + +He turned to the forty-second chapter, and began to read from the +Greek. + +"I've forgotten all the Greek I ever had," said Lenorme. + +Then Malcolm turned to the opposite page and began to read the +Latin. + +"Tut! tut!" said Lenorme, "I can't follow your Scotch pronunciation." + +"That's a pity," said Malcolm: "it's the right way." + +"I don't doubt it. You Scotch are always in the right! But just +read it off in English--will you?" + +Thus adjured, Malcolm read slowly and with choice of word and phrase + +"'And if any one shall say unto thee, that thou knowest nothing, +notwithstanding thou must not be vexed: then know thou that thou +hast begun thy work.'--That is," explained Malcolm, "when you +keep silence about principles in the presence of those that are +incapable of understanding them.--'For the sheep also do not +manifest to the shepherds how much they have eaten, by producing +fodder; but, inwardly digesting their food, they produce outwardly +wool and milk. And thou therefore set not forth principles before +the unthinking, but the actions that result from the digestion of +them.'--That last is not quite literal, but I think it's about +right," concluded Malcolm, putting the book again in the breast +pocket of his silver buttoned coat. "--That's the passage I +thought of, but I see now it won't apply. He speaks of not saying +what you know; I spoke of forgetting where you got it." + +"Come now," said Lenorme, growing more and more interested in his +new acquaintance, "tell me something about your life. Account for +yourself.--If you will make a friendship of it, you must do that." + +"I will, sir," said Malcolm, and with the word began to tell him +most things he could think of as bearing upon his mental history +up to and after the time also when his birth was disclosed to him. +In omitting that disclosure he believed he had without it quite +accounted for himself. Through the whole recital he dwelt chiefly +on the lessons and influences of the schoolmaster. + +"Well, I must admit," said Lenorme when he had ended, "that you +are no longer unintelligible, not to say incredible. You have had +a splendid education, in which I hope you give the herring and +Kelpie their due share." + +He sat silently regarding him for a few moments. Then he said: + +"I'll tell you what now: if I help you to buy a horse, you must +help me to paint a picture." + +"I don't know how I'm to do that," said Malcolm, "but if you do, +that's enough. I shall only be too happy to do what I can." + +"Then I'll tell you.--But you're not to tell anybody: it's a +secret.--I have discovered that there is no suitable portrait of +Lady Lossie's father. It is a great pity. His brother and his father +and grandfather are all in Portland Place, in Highland costume, +as chiefs of their clan; his place only is vacant. Lady Lossie, +however, has in her possession one or two miniatures of him, which, +although badly painted, I should think may give the outlines of +his face and head with tolerable correctness. From the portraits +of his predecessors, and from Lady Lossie herself, I gain some +knowledge of what is common to the family; and from all together +I hope to gather and paint what will be recognizable by her as +a likeness of her father--which afterwards I hope to better by +her remarks. These remarks I hope to get first from her feelings +unadulterated by criticism, through the surprise of coming upon +the picture suddenly; afterwards from her judgment at its leisure. +Now I remember seeing you wait at table--the first time I saw +you--in the Highland dress: will you come to me so dressed, and +let me paint from you?" + +"I'll do better than that, sir," cried Malcolm, eagerly. "I'll get +up from Lossie Home my lord's very dress that he wore when he went +to court--his jewelled dirk, and Andrew Ferrara broadsword with +the hilt of real silver. That'll greatly help your design upon my +lady, for he dressed up in them all more than once just to please +her." + +"Thank you," said Lenorme very heartily; "that will be of immense +advantage. Write at once." + +"I will, sir.--Only I'm a bigger man than my--late master, and +you must mind that." + +"I'll see to it. You get the clothes, and all the rest +of the accoutrements--rich with barbaric gems and gold, and--" + +"Neither gems nor gold, sir;--honest Scotch cairngorms and plain +silver," said Malcolm. + +"I only quoted Milton," returned Lenorme. + +"Then you should have quoted correctly, sir.--'Showers on her kings +barbaric pearl and gold,'--that's the line, and you can't better +it. Mr Graham always pulled me up if I didn't quote correctly.-- +By the bye, sir, some say it's kings barbaric, but there's barbaric +gold in Virgil." + +"I dare say you are right," said Lenorme. "But you're far too +learned for me." + +"Don't make game of me, sir. I know two or three books pretty well, +and when I get a chance I can't help talking about them. It's so +seldom now I can get a mouthful of Milton. There's no cave here to +go into, and roll the mimic thunder in your mouth. If the people +here heard me reading loud out, they would call me mad. It's a mercy +in this London, if a working man get loneliness enough to say his +prayers in!" + +"You do say your prayers then?" asked Lenorme, looking at him +curiously. + +"Yes; don't you, sir? You had so much sense about the beasts I +thought you must be a man that said his prayers." + +Lenorme was silent. He was not altogether innocent of saying prayers; +but of late years it had grown a more formal and gradually a rarer +thing. One reason of this was that it had never come into his +head that God cared about pictures, or had the slightest interest +whether he painted well or ill. If a man's earnest calling, to +which of necessity the greater part of his thought is given, is +altogether dissociated in his mind from his religion, it is not +wonderful that his prayers should by degrees wither and die. The +question is whether they ever had much vitality. But one mighty +negative was yet true of Lenorme: he had not got in his head, still +less had he ever cherished in his heart, the thought that there was +anything fine in disbelieving in a God, or anything contemptible +in imagining communication with a being of grander essence than +himself. That in which Socrates rejoiced with exultant humility, +many a youth nowadays thinks himself a fine fellow for casting from +him with ignorant scorn. + +A true conception of the conversation above recorded can hardly be +had except my reader will take the trouble to imagine the contrast +between the Scotch accent and inflection, the largeness and +prolongation of vowel sounds, and, above all, the Scotch tone of +Malcolm, and the pure, clear articulation, and decided utterance +of the perfect London speech of Lenorme. It was something like the +difference between the blank verse of Young and the prose of Burke. + +The silence endured so long that Malcolm began to fear he had hurt +his new friend, and thought it better to take his leave. + +"I'll go and write to Mrs Courthope--that's the housekeeper, +tonight, to send up the things at once. When would it be convenient +for you to go and look at some horses with me, Mr Lenorme?" he +said. + +"I shall be at home all tomorrow," answered the painter, "and ready +to go with you any time you like to come for me." + +As he spoke he held out his hand, and they parted like old friends. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV: A LADY + + +The next morning, Malcolm took Kelpie into the park, and gave her +a good breathing. He had thought to jump the rails, and let her +have her head, but he found there were too many park keepers and +police about: he saw he could do little for her that way. He was +turning home with her again when one of her evil fits came upon +her, this time taking its first form in a sudden stiffening of +every muscle: she stood stock still with flaming eyes. I suspect +we human beings know but little of the fierceness with which the +vortices of passion rage in the more purely animal natures. This +beginning he knew well would end in a wild paroxysm of rearing and +plunging. He had more than once tried the exorcism of patience, +sitting sedate upon her back until she chose to move; but on these +occasions the tempest that followed had been of the very worst +description; so that he had concluded it better to bring on the +crisis, thereby sure at least to save time; and after he had adopted +this mode with her, attacks of the sort, if no less violent, had +certainly become fewer. The moment therefore that symptoms of an +approaching fit showed themselves, he used his spiked heels with +vigour. Upon this occasion he had a stiff tussle with her, but +as usual gained the victory, and was riding slowly along the Row, +Kelpie tossing up now her head now her heels in indignant protest +against obedience in general and enforced obedience in particular, +when a lady on horseback, who had come galloping from the opposite +direction, with her groom behind her, pulled up, and lifted her +hand with imperative grace: she had seen something of what had been +going on. Malcolm reined in. But Kelpie, after her nature, was now +as unwilling to stop as she had been before to proceed, and the +fight began again, with some difference of movement and aspect, +but the spurs once more playing a free part. + +"Man! man!" cried the lady, in most musical reproof, "do you know +what you are about?" + +"It would be a bad job for her and me too if I did not, my lady," +said Malcolm, whom her appearance and manner impressed with a +conviction of rank, and as he spoke he smiled in the midst of the +struggle: he seldom got angry with Kelpie. But the smile instead +of taking from the apparent roughness of his speech, only made his +conduct appear in the lady's eyes more cruel. + +"How is it possible you can treat the poor animal so unkindly +--and in cold blood too?" she said, and an indescribable tone of +pleading ran through the rebuke. "Why, her poor sides are actually--" +A shudder, and look of personal distress completed the sentence. + +"You don't know what she is, my lady, or you would not think it +necessary to intercede for her." + +"But if she is naughty, is that any reason why you should be cruel?" + +"No, my lady; but it is the best reason why I should try to make +her good." + +"You will never make her good that way." + +"Improvement gives ground for hope," said Malcolm. + +"But you must not treat a poor dumb animal as you would a responsible +human being." + +"She's not so very poor, my lady. She has all she wants, and does +nothing to earn it--nothing to speak of; and nothing at all with +good will. For her dumbness, that's a mercy. If she could speak she +wouldn't be fit to live among decent people. But for that matter, +if some one hadn't taken her in hand, dumb as she is, she would +have been shot long ago." + +"Better that than live with such usage." + +"I don't think she would agree with you, my lady. My fear is that, +for as cruel as it looks to your ladyship, take it altogether, she +enjoys the fight. In any case, I am certain she has more regard +for me than any other being in the universe." + +"Who can have any regard for you," said the lady very gently, +in utter mistake of his meaning, "if you have no command of your +temper? You must learn to rule yourself first." + +"That's true, my lady; and so long as my mare is not able to be a +law to herself, I must be a law to her too." + +"But have you never heard of the law of kindness? You could do so +much more without the severity." + +"With some natures I grant you, my lady, but not with such as she. +Horse or man--they never show kindness till they have learned +fear. Kelpie would have torn me to pieces before now if I had taken +your way with her. But except I can do a great deal more with her +yet she will be nothing better than a natural brute beast made to +be taken and destroyed." + +"The Bible again!" murmured the lady to herself. "Of how much +cruelty has not that book to bear the blame!" + +All this time Kelpie was trying hard to get at the lady's horse to +bite him. But she did not see that. She was much too distressed-- +and was growing more and more so. + +"I wish you would let my groom try her," she said, after a pitiful +pause. "He's an older and more experienced man than you. He has +children. He would show you what can be done by gentleness." + +From Malcolm's words she had scarcely gathered even a false meaning +--not a glimmer of his nature--not even a suspicion that he meant +something. To her he was but a handsome, brutal young groom. From +the world of thought and reasoning that lay behind his words, not +an echo had reached her. + +"It would be a great satisfaction to my old Adam to let him try +her," said Malcolm. + +"The Bible again!" said the lady to herself. + +"But it would be murder," he added, "not knowing myself what +experience he has had." + +"I see," said the lady to herself; but loud enough for Malcolm to +hear, for her tender heartedness had made her both angry and unjust, +"his self conceit is equal to his cruelty--just what I might have +expected!" + +With the words she turned her horse's head and rode away, leaving +a lump in Malcolm's throat. + +"I wuss fowk"--he still spoke in Scotch in his own chamber-- +"wad du as they're tell't, an' no jeedge ane anither. I'm sure it's +Kelpie's best chance o' salvation 'at I gang on wi' her. Stable men +wad ha'e had her brocken doon a'thegither by this time; an' life +wad ha'e had little relish left." + +It added hugely to the bitterness of being thus rebuked, that +he had never in his life seen such a radiance of beauty's softest +light as shone from the face and form of the reproving angel.-- +"Only She canna be an angel," he said to himself; "or she wad ha'e +ken't better." + +She was young--not more than twenty, tall and graceful, with a +touch of the matronly, which she must have had even in childhood, +for it belonged to her--so staid, so stately was she in all her +grace. With her brown hair, her lily complexion, her blue gray +eyes, she was all of the moonlight and its shadows--even now, in +the early morning, and angry. Her nose was so nearly perfect that +one never thought of it. Her mouth was rather large, but had gained +in value of shape, and in the expression of indwelling sweetness, +with every line that carried it beyond the measure of smallness. +Most little mouths are pretty, some even lovely, but not one have +I seen beautiful. Her forehead was the sweetest of half moons. Of +those who knew her best some absolutely believed that a radiance +resembling moonlight shimmered from its precious expanse. + +"Be ye angry and sin not," had always been a puzzle to Malcolm, +who had, as I have said, inherited a certain Celtic fierceness; +but now, even while he knew himself the object of the anger, +he understood the word. It tried him sorely, however, that such +gentleness and beauty should be unreasonable. Could it be that he +should never have a chance of convincing her how mistaken she was +concerning his treatment of Kelpie! What a celestial rosy red her +face had glowed! and what summer lightnings had flashed up in her +eyes, as if they had been the horizons of heavenly worlds up which +flew the dreams that broke from the brain of a young sleeping +goddess, to make the worlds glad also in the night of their slumber. + +Something like this Malcolm felt: whoever saw her must feel as he +had never felt before. He gazed after her long and earnestly. + +"It's an awfu' thing to ha'e a wuman like that angert at ye!", he +said to himself when at length she had disappeared, "--as bonny +as she is angry! God be praised 'at he kens a'thing, an' 's no +angert wi' ye for the luik o' a thing! But the wheel may come roon' +again--wha kens? Ony gait I s' mak' the best o' Kelpie I can.-- +I won'er gien she kens Leddy Florimel! She's a heap mair boontifu' +like in her beauty nor her. The man micht haud 's ain wi' an +archangel 'at had a woman like that to the wife o' 'm.--Hoots! +I'll be wussin' I had had anither upbringin', 'at I micht ha' won +a step nearer to the hem o' her garment! an' that wad be to deny +him 'at made an' ordeen't me. I wull not du that. But I maun hae a +crack wi' Maister Graham, anent things twa or three, just to haud +me straucht, for I'm jist girnin' at bein' sae regairdit by sic a +Revelation. Gien she had been an auld wife, I wad ha'e only lauchen: +what for 's that? I doobt I'm no muckle mair rizzonable nor hersel'! +The thing was this, I fancy it was sae clear she spak frae no ill +natur', only frae pure humanity. She's a gran' ane yon, only some +saft, I doobt." + +For the lady, she rode away sadly strengthened in her doubts whether +there could be a God in the world--not because there were in it +such men as she took Malcolm for, but because such a lovely animal +had fallen into his hands. + +"It's a sair thing to be misjeedged," said Malcolm to himself as +he put the demoness in her stall; "but it's no more than the Macker +o' 's pits up wi' ilka hoor o' the day, an' says na a word. Eh, +but God's unco quaiet! Sae lang as he kens till himsel' 'at he's +a' richt, he lats fowk think 'at they like--till he has time to +lat them ken better. Lord, mak' clean my hert within me, an' syne +I'll care little for ony jeedgement but thine." + + + +CHAPTER XXV: THE PSYCHE + + +It was a lovely day, but Florimel would not ride: Malcolm must go +at once to Mr Lenorme; she would not go out again until she could +have a choice of horses to follow her. + +"Your Kelpie is all very well in Richmond Park, and I wish I were +able to ride her myself, Malcolm, but she will never do in London." + +His name sounded sweet on her lips, but somehow today, for the first +time since he saw her first, he felt a strange sense of superiority +in his protection of her: could it be because he had that morning +looked unto a higher orb of creation? It mattered little to Malcolm's +generous nature that the voice that issued therefrom had been one +of unjust rebuke. + +"Who knows, my lady," he answered his mistress, "but you may ride +her some day! Give her a bit of sugar every time you see her-- +on your hand, so that she may take it with her lips, and not catch +your fingers." + +"You shall show me how," said Florimel, and gave him a note for Mr +Lenorme. + +When he came in sight of the river, there, almost opposite the +painter's house, lay his own little yacht! He thought of Kelpie +in the stable, saw Psyche floating like a swan in the reach, made +two or three long strides, then sought to exhale the pride of life +in thanksgiving. + +The moment his arrival was announced to Lenorme, he came down and +went with him, and in an hour or two they had found very much the +sort of horse they wanted. Malcolm took him home for trial, and +Florimel was pleased with him. The earl's opinion was not to be had, +for he had hurt his shoulder when he fell from the rearing Kelpie +the day before, and was confined to his room in Curzon Street. + +In the evening Malcolm put on his yachter's uniform, and set out +again for Chelsea. There he took a boat, and crossed the river +to the yacht, which lay near the other side, in charge of an old +salt whose acquaintance Blue Peter had made when lying below the +bridges. On board he found all tidy and shipshape. He dived into +the cabin, lighted a candle, and made some measurements: all the +little luxuries of the nest, carpets, cushions, curtains, and other +things, were at Lossie House, having been removed when the Psyche +was laid up for the winter: he was going to replace them. And +he was anxious to see whether be could not fulfil a desire he had +once heard Florimel express to her father--that she had a bed on +board, and could sleep there. He found it possible, and had soon +contrived a berth: even a tiny stateroom was within the limits of +construction. + +Returning to the deck, he was consulting Travers about a carpenter, +when, to his astonishment, he saw young Davy, the boy he had brought +from Duff Harbour, and whom he understood to have gone back with +Blue Peter, gazing at him from before the mast. + +"Gien ye please, Maister MacPhail," said Davy, and said no more. + +"How on earth do you come to be here, you rascal?" said Malcolm. +"Peter was to take you home with him!" + +"I garred him think I was gauin'," answered the boy, scratching +his red poll, which glowed in the dusk. + +"I gave him your wages," said Malcolm. + +"Ay, he tauld me that, but I loot them gang an' gae him the slip, +an' was ashore close ahint yersel', sir, jist as the smack set +sail. I cudna gang ohn hed a word wi' yersel', sir, to see whether +ye wadna lat me bide wi' ye, sir. I haena muckle wut, they tell +me, sir, but gien I michtna aye be able to du what ye tell't me to +du, I cud aye haud ohn dune what ye tell't me no to." + +The words of the boy pleased Malcolm more than he judged it wise +to manifest. He looked hard at Davy. There was little to be seen +in his face except the best and only thing--truth. It shone from +his round pale blue eyes; it conquered the self assertion of his +unhappy nose; it seemed to glow in every freckle of his sunburnt +cheeks, as earnestly he returned Malcolm's gaze. + +"But," said Malcolm, almost satisfied, "how is this, Travers? I +never gave you any instructions about the boy." + +"There's where it is, sir," answered Travers. "I seed the boy +aboard before, and when he come aboard again, jest arter you left, +I never as much as said to myself, It's all right. I axed him no +questions, and he told me no lies." + +"Gien ye please, sir," struck in Davy, "Maister Trahvers gied me +my mait, an' I tuik it, 'cause I hed no sil'er to buy ony: I houp +it wasna stealin', sir. An' gien ye wad keep me, ye cud tak it aft +o' my wauges for three days." + +"Look here, Davy," said Malcolm, turning sharp upon him, "can you +swim?" + +"Ay can I, sir,--weel that," answered Davy. + +"Jump overboard then, and swim ashore," said Malcolm, pointing to +the Chelsea bank. + +The boy made two strides to the larboard gunwale, and would have +been over the next instant, but Malcolm caught him by the shoulder. + +"That'll do, Davy; I'll give you a chance, Davy," he said, "and +if I get a good account of you from Travers, I'll rig you out like +myself here." + +"Thank you, sir," said Davy. "I s' du what I can to please ye, sir. +An' gien ye wad sen' my wauges hame to my mither, sir, ye wad ken +'at I cudna be gauin' stravaguin', and drinkin' whan yer back was +turn't." + +"Well, I'll write to your mother, and see what she says," said +Malcolm. "Now I want to tell you, both of you, that this yacht +belongs to the Marchioness of Lossie, and I have the command of +her, and I must have everything on board shipshape, and as clean, +Travers, as if she were a seventy-four. If there's the head of a +pail visible, it must be as bright as silver. And everything must +be at the word. The least hesitation, and I have done with that man. +If Davy here had grumbled one mouthful, even on his way overboard, +I wouldn't have kept him." + +He then arranged that Travers was to go home that night, and bring +with him the next morning an old carpenter friend of his. He would +himself be down by seven o'clock to set him to work. + +The result was that, before a fortnight was over, he had the +cabin thoroughly fitted up, with all the luxuries it had formerly +possessed, and as many more as he could think of--to compensate +for the loss of the space occupied by the daintiest little stateroom +--a very jewel box for softness and richness and comfort. In the +cabin, amongst the rest of his additions, he had fixed in a corner +a set of tiny bookshelves, and filled them with what books he knew +his sister liked, and some that he liked for her. It was not probable +she would read in them much, he said to himself, but they wouldn't +make the boat heel, and who could tell when a drop of celestial +nepenthe might ooze from one or another of them! So there they +stood, in their lovely colours, of morocco, russia, calf or vellum +--types of the infinite rest in the midst of the ever restless-- +the types for ever tossed, but the rest remaining. + +By that time also he had arranged with Travers and Davy a code of +signals. + +The day after Malcolm had his new hack, he rode him behind his +mistress in the park, and nothing could be more decorous than the +behaviour of both horse and groom. It was early, and in Rotten +Row, to his delight, they met the lady of rebuke. She and Florimel +pulled up simultaneously, greeted, and had a little talk. When +they parted, and the lady came to pass Malcolm, whom she had not +suspected, sitting a civilised horse in all serenity behind his +mistress, she cast a quick second glance at him, and her fair face +flushed with the red reflex of yesterday's anger. He expected her +to turn at once and complain of him to her mistress, but to his +disappointment, she rode on. + +When they left the park, Florimel went down Constitution Hill, and +turning westward, rode to Chelsea. As they approached Mr Lenorme's +house, she stopped and said to Malcolm--"I am going to run in and +thank Mr Lenorme for the trouble he has been at about the horse. +Which is the house?" + +She pulled up at the gate. Malcolm dismounted, but before he could +get near to assist her, she was already halfway up the walk-- +flying, and he was but in time to catch the rein of Abbot, already +moving off curious to know whether he was actually trusted alone. +In about five minutes she came again, glancing about her all ways +but behind, with a scared look, Malcolm thought. But she walked +more slowly and statelily than usual down the path. In a moment +Malcolm had her in the saddle, and she cantered away--past the +hospital into Sloane Street, and across the park home. He said to +himself, "She knows the way." + + + +CHAPTER XXVI: THE SCHOOLMASTER + + +Alexander Graham, the schoolmaster, was the son of a grieve, or +farm overseer, in the North of Scotland. By straining every nerve, +his parents had succeeded in giving him a university education, +the narrowness of whose scope was possibly favourable to the +development of what genius, rare and shy, might lurk among the +students. He had laboured well, and had gathered a good deal from +books and lectures, but far more from the mines they guided him to +discover in his own nature. In common with so many Scotch parents, +his had cherished the most wretched as well as hopeless of all +ambitions, seeing it presumes to work in a region into which no +ambition can enter--I mean that of seeing their son a clergyman. +In presbyter, curate, bishop, or cardinal, ambition can fare but as +that of the creeping thing to build its nest in the topmost boughs +of the cedar. Worse than that; my simile is a poor one; for the +moment a thought of ambition is cherished, that moment the man is +out of the kingdom. Their son with already a few glimmering insights, +which had not yet begun to interfere with his acceptance of the +doctrines of his church, made no opposition to their wish, but +having qualified himself to the satisfaction of his superiors, at +length ascended the pulpit to preach his first sermon. + +The custom of the time as to preaching was a sort of compromise +between reading a sermon and speaking extempore, a mode morally +as well as artistically false: the preacher learned his sermon by +rote, and repeated it--as much like the man he therein was not, +and as little like the parrot he was, as he could. It is no wonder, +in such an attempt, either that memory should fail a shy man, or +assurance an honest man. In Mr Graham's case it was probably the +former: the practice was universal, and he could hardly yet have +begun to question it, so as to have had any conscience of evil. +Blessedly, however, for his dawning truth and well being, he failed +--failed utterly--pitifully. His tongue clave to the roof of his +mouth; his lips moved, but shaped no sound; a deathly dew bathed +his forehead; his knees shook; and he sank at last to the bottom +of the chamber of his torture, whence, while his mother wept below, +and his father clenched hands of despair beneath the tails of his +Sunday coat, he was half led, half dragged down the steps by the +bedral, shrunken together like one caught in a shameful deed, and +with the ghastly look of him who has but just revived from the faint +supervening on the agonies of the rack. Home they crept together, +speechless and hopeless all three, to be thenceforth the contempt +and not the envy of their fellow parishioners. For if the vulgar +feeling towards the home born prophet is superciliousness, what +must the sentence upon failure be in ungenerous natures, to which +every downfall of another is an uplifting of themselves! But Mr +Graham's worth had gained him friends in the presbytery, and he +was that same week appointed to the vacant school of another parish. + +There it was not long before he made the acquaintance of Griselda +Campbell, who was governess in the great house of the neighbourhood, +and a love, not the less fine that it was hopeless from the first, +soon began to consume the chagrin of his failure, and substitute for +it a more elevating sorrow;--for how could an embodied failure, +to offer whose miserable self would be an insult, dare speak of +love to one before whom his whole being sank worshipping. Silence +was the sole armour of his privilege. So long as he was silent, the +terrible arrow would never part from the bow of those sweet lips; +he might love on, love ever, nor be grudged the bliss of such +visions as to him, seated on its outer steps, might come from any +chance opening of the heavenly gate. And Miss Campbell thought +of him more kindly than he knew. But before long she accepted the +offered situation of governess to Lady Annabel, the only child of +the late marquis's elder brother, at that time himself marquis, +and removed to Lossie House. There the late marquis fell in love +with her, and persuaded her to a secret marriage. There also she +became, in the absence of her husband, the mother of Malcolm. But +the marquis of the time, jealous for the succession of his daughter, +and fearing his brother might yet marry the mother of his child, +contrived, with the assistance of the midwife, to remove the infant +and persuade the mother that he was dead, and also to persuade +his brother of the death of both mother and child; after which, +imagining herself wilfully deserted by her husband, yet determined +to endure shame rather than break the promise of secrecy she had +given him, the poor lady accepted the hospitality of her distant +relative, Miss Horn, and continued with her till she died. + +When he learned where she had gone, Mr Graham seized a chance of +change to Portlossie that occurred soon after, and when she became +her cousin's guest, went to see her, was kindly received, and for +twenty years lived in friendly relations with the two. It was not +until after her death that he came to know the strange fact that the +object of his calm unalterable devotion had been a wife all those +years, and was the mother of his favourite pupil. About the same +time he was dismissed from the school on the charge of heretical +teaching, founded on certain religious conversations he had had with +some of the fisher people who sought his advice; and thereupon he +had left the place, and gone to London, knowing it would be next +to impossible to find or gather another school in Scotland after +being thus branded. In London he hoped, one way or another, to +avoid dying of cold or hunger, or in debt: that was very nearly +the limit of his earthly ambition. + +He had just one acquaintance in the whole mighty city, and no more. +Him he had known in the days of his sojourn at King's College, where +he had grown with him from bejan to magistrand. He was the son of +a linen draper in Aberdeen, and was a decent, good humoured fellow, +who, if he had not distinguished, had never disgraced himself. His +father, having somewhat influential business relations, and finding +in him no leanings to a profession, bespoke the good offices of a +certain large retail house in London, and sent him thither to learn +the business. The result was that he had married a daughter of +one of the partners, and become a partner himself. His old friend +wrote to him at his shop in Oxford Street, and then went to see +him at his house in Haverstock Hill. + +He was shown into the library--in which were two mahogany cases +with plate glass doors, full of books, well cared for as to clothing +and condition, and perfectly placid, as if never disturbed from +one week's end to another. In a minute Mr Marshal entered--so +changed that he could never have recognized him--still, however, +a kind hearted, genial man. He received his classfellow cordially +and respectfully--referred merrily to old times, and begged to +know how he was getting on, asked whether he had come to London with +any special object, and invited him to dine with them on Sunday. +He accepted the invitation, met him, according to agreement, at a +certain chapel in Kentish Town, of which he was a deacon, and walked +home with him and his wife. + +They had but one of their family at home--the youngest son, whom +his father was having educated for the dissenting ministry, in the +full conviction that he was doing not a little for the truth, and +justifying its cause before men, by devoting to its service the son +of a man of standing and worldly means, whom he might have easily +placed in a position to make money. The youth was of simple character +and good inclination--ready to do what he saw to be right, but +slow in putting to the question anything that interfered with his +notions of laudable ambition, or justifiable self interest. He was +attending lectures at a dissenting college in the neighbourhood, +for his father feared Oxford or Cambridge, not for his morals, but +his opinions in regard to church and state. + +The schoolmaster spent a few days in the house. His friend was +generally in town, and his wife, regarding him as very primitive +and hardly fit for what she counted society--the class, namely, +that she herself represented, was patronising and condescending; +but the young fellow, finding, to his surprise, that he knew a +great deal more about his studies than he did himself, was first +somewhat attracted and then somewhat influenced by him, so that at +length an intimacy tending to friendship arose between them. + +Mr Graham was not a little shocked to discover that his ideas +in respect of the preacher's calling were of a very worldly kind. +The notions of this fledgling of dissent differed from those of +a clergyman of the same stamp in this:--the latter regards the +church as a society with accumulated property for the use of its +officers; the former regarded it as a community of communities, each +possessing a preaching house which ought to be made commercially +successful. Saving influences must emanate from it of course-- +but dissenting saving influences. + +His mother was a partisan to a hideous extent. To hear her talk you +would have thought she imagined the apostles the first dissenters, +and that the main duty of every Christian soul was to battle for +the victory of Congregationalism over Episcopacy, and Voluntaryism +over State Endowment. Her every mode of thinking and acting was of +a levelling commonplace. With her, love was liking, duty something +unpleasant--generally to other people, and kindness patronage. But +she was just in money matters, and her son too had every intention +of being worthy of his hire, though wherein lay the value of the +labour with which he thought to counterpoise that hire, it were +hard to say. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII: THE PREACHER + + +The sermon Mr Graham heard at the chapel that Sunday morning in +Kentish Town was not of an elevating, therefore not of a strengthening +description. The pulpit was at that time in offer to the highest +bidder--in orthodoxy, that is, combined with popular talent. +The first object of the chapel's existence--I do not say in the +minds of those who built it, for it was an old place, but certainly +in the minds of those who now directed its affairs--was not to +save its present congregation, but to gather a larger--ultimately +that they might be saved, let us hope, but primarily that the +drain upon the purses of those who were responsible for its rent +and other outlays, might be lessened. Mr Masquar, therefore, to +whom the post was a desirable one, had been mainly anxious that +morning to prove his orthodoxy, and so commend his services. Not +that in those days one heard so much of the dangers of heterodoxy: +that monster was as yet but growling far off in the jungles of Germany; +but certain whispers had been abroad concerning the preacher which +he thought desirable to hush, especially as they were founded in +truth. He had tested the power of heterodoxy to attract attention, +but having found that the attention it did attract was not of a kind +favourable to his wishes, had so skilfully remodelled his theories +that, although to his former friends he declared them in substance +unaltered, it was impossible any longer to distinguish them from +the most uncompromising orthodoxy; and his sermon of that morning +had tended neither to the love of God, the love of man, nor +a hungering after righteousness--its aim being to disprove the +reported heterodoxy of Jacob Masquar. + +As they walked home, Mrs Marshal, addressing her husband in a tone +of conjugal disapproval, said, with more force than delicacy, + +"The pulpit is not the place to give a man to wash his dirty linen +in." + +"Well, you see, my love," answered her husband in a tone of apology, +"people won't submit to be told their duty by mere students, and +just at present there seems nobody else to be had. There's none +in the market but old stagers and young colts--eh, Fred? But Mr +Masquar is at least a man of experience." + +"Of more than enough, perhaps," suggested his wife. "And the young +ones must have their chance, else how are they to learn? You should +have given the principal a hint. It is a most desirable thing that +Frederick should preach a little oftener." + +"They have it in turn, and it wouldn't do to favour one more than +another." + +"He could hand his guinea, or whatever they gave him, to the one +whose turn it ought to have been, and that would set it all right." + +At this point the silk mercer, fearing that the dominie, as he +called him, was silently disapproving, and willing therefore to +change the subject, turned to him and said, + +"Why shouldn't you give us a sermon, Graham?" + +The schoolmaster laughed. + +"Did you never hear," he said, "how I fell like Dagon on the +threshold of the church, and have lain there ever since." + +"What has that to do with it?" returned his friend, sorry that +his forgetfulness should have caused a painful recollection. "That +is ages ago, when you were little more than a boy. Seriously," he +added, chiefly to cover his little indiscretion, "will you preach +for us the Sunday after next?" + +Deacons generally ask a man to preach for them. + +"No," said Mr Graham. + +But even as he said it, a something began to move in his heart-- +a something half of jealousy for God, half of pity for poor souls +buffeted by such winds as had that morning been roaring, chaff +laden, about the church, while the grain fell all to the bottom of +the pulpit. Something burned in him: was it the word that was as +a fire in his bones, or was it a mere lust of talk? He thought for +a moment. + +"Have you any gatherings between Sundays?" he asked. + +"Yes; every Wednesday evening," replied Mr Marshal. "And if you won't +preach on Sunday, we shall announce tonight that next Wednesday a +clergyman of the Church of Scotland will address the prayer meeting." + +He was glad to get out of it so, for he was uneasy about his +friend, both as to his nerve, which might fail him, and his Scotch +oddities, which would not. + +"That would be hardly true," said Mr Graham, "seeing I never got +beyond a licence." + +"Nobody here knows the difference between a licentiate and a placed +minister; and if they did they would not care a straw. So we'll +just say clergyman." + +"But I won't have it announced in any terms. Leave that alone, and +I will try to speak at the prayer meeting." + +"It won't be in the least worth your while except we announce it. +You won't have a soul to hear you but the pew openers, the woman +that cleans the chapel, Mrs Marshal's washerwoman, and the old +greengrocer we buy our vegetables from. We must really announce +it." + +"Then I won't do it. Just tell me--what would our Lord have +said to Peter or John if they had told Him that they had been to +synagogue and had been asked to speak, but had declined because +there were only the pew openers, the chapel cleaner, a washerwoman, +and a greengrocer present?" + +"I said it only for your sake, Graham; you needn't take me up so +sharply." + +"And ra-a-ther irreverently--don't you think--excuse me, sir?" +said Mrs Marshal very softly. But the very softness had a kind of +jellyfish sting in it. + +"I think," rejoined the schoolmaster, indirectly replying, "we +must be careful to show our reverence in a manner pleasing to our +Lord. Now I cannot discover that he cares for any reverences but +the shaping of our ways after his; and if you will show me a single +instance of respect of persons in our Lord, I will press my petition +no farther to be allowed to speak a word to your pew openers, +washerwoman, and greengrocer." + +His entertainers were silent--the gentleman in the consciousness +of deserved rebuke, the lady in offence. + +Just then the latter bethought herself that their guest, belonging +to the Scotch Church, was, if no Episcopalian, yet no dissenter, +and that seemed to clear up to her the spirit of his disapproval. + +"By all means, Mr Marshal," she said, "let your friend speak on +the Wednesday evening. It would not be to his advantage to have it +said that he occupied a dissenting pulpit. It will not be nearly +such an exertion either; and if he is unaccustomed to speak to +large congregations, he will find himself more comfortable with +our usual week evening one." + +"I have never attempted to speak in public but once," rejoined Mr +Graham, "and then I failed." + +"Ah! that accounts for it," said his friend's wife and the simplicity +of his confession, while it proved him a simpleton, mollified her. + +Thus it came that he spent the days between Sunday and Thursday in +their house, and so made the acquaintance of young Marshal. + +When his mother perceived their growing intimacy, she warned her +son that their visitor belonged to an unscriptural and worldly +community, and that notwithstanding his apparent guilelessness-- +deficiency indeed--he might yet use cunning arguments to draw him +aside from the faith of his fathers. But the youth replied that, +although in the firmness of his own position as a Congregationalist, +he had tried to get the Scotchman into a conversation upon church +government, he had failed; the man smiled queerly and said nothing. +But when a question of New Testament criticism arose, he came awake +at once, and his little blue eyes gleamed like glowworms. + +"Take care, Frederick," said his mother. "The Scriptures are not +to be treated like common books and subjected to human criticism." + +"We must find out what they mean, I suppose, mother," said the +youth. + +"You're to take just the plain meaning that he that runneth +may read," answered his mother.--"More than that no one has any +business with. You've got to save your own soul first, and then the +souls of your neighbours if they will let you; and for that reason +you must cultivate, not a spirit of criticism, but the talents +that attract people to the hearing of the Word. You have got a fine +voice, and it will improve with judicious use. Your father is now +on the outlook for a teacher of elocution to instruct you how to +make the best of it, and speak with power on God's behalf" + +When the afternoon of Wednesday began to draw towards the evening, +there came on a mist, not a London fog, but a low wet cloud, which +kept slowly condensing into rain; and as the hour of meeting drew +nigh with the darkness, it grew worse. Mrs Marshal had forgotten +all about the meeting and the schoolmaster: her husband was late, +and she wanted her dinner. At twenty minutes past six, she came +upon her guest in the hall, kneeling on the doormat, first on one +knee, then on the other, turning up the feet of his trousers. + +"Why, Mr Graham," she said kindly, as he rose and proceeded to look +for his cotton umbrella, easily discernible in the stand among the +silk ones of the house, "you're never going out on a night like +this?" + +"I am going to the prayer meeting, ma'am," he said. + +"Nonsense! You'll be wet to the skin before you get half way." + +"I promised, you may remember, ma'am, to talk a little to them." + +"You only said so to my husband. You may be very glad, seeing it has +turned out so wet, that I would not allow him to have it announced +from the pulpit. There is not the slightest occasion for your going. +Besides, you have not had your dinner." + +"That's not of the slightest consequence, ma'am. A bit of bread +and cheese before I go to bed is all I need to sustain nature, and +fit me for understanding my proposition in Euclid. I have been in +the habit, for the last few years, of reading one every night before +I go to bed." + +"We dissenters consider a chapter of the Bible the best thing to +read before going to bed," said the lady, with a sustained voice. + +"I keep that for the noontide of my perceptions--for mental high +water," said the schoolmaster, "Euclid is good enough after supper. +Not that I deny myself a small portion of the Word," he added with +a smile, as he proceeded to open the door--" when I feel very +hungry for it." + +"There is no one expecting you," persisted the lady, who could ill +endure not to have her own way, even when she did not care for the +matter concerned. "Who will be the wiser or the worse if you stay +at home?" + +"My dear lady," returned the schoolmaster, "when I have on good +grounds made up my mind to a thing, I always feel as if I had +promised God to do it; and indeed it amounts to the same thing very +nearly. Such a resolve then is not to be unmade except on equally +good grounds with those upon which it was made. Having resolved +to try whether I could not draw a little water of refreshment for +souls which if not thirsting are but fainting the more, shall I +allow a few drops of rain to prevent me?" + +"Pray don't let me persuade you against your will," said his hostess, +with a stately bend of her neck over her shoulder, as she turned +into the drawing room. + +Her guest went out into the rain, asking himself by what theory of +the will his hostess could justify such a phrase---too simple to +see that she had only thrown it out, as the cuttlefish its ink, to +cover her retreat. + +But the weather had got a little into his brain: into his soul it +was seldom allowed to intrude. He felt depressed and feeble and +dull. But at the first corner he turned, he met a little breath +of wind. It blew the rain in his face, and revived him a little, +reminding him at the same time that he had not yet opened his +umbrella. As he put it up he laughed. + +"Here I am," he said to himself, "lance in hand, spurring to meet +my dragon!" + +Once when he used a similar expression, Malcolm had asked him what +he meant by his dragon; "I mean," replied the schoolmaster, "that +huge slug, The Commonplace. It is the wearifulest dragon to fight +in the whole miscreation. Wound it as you may, the jelly mass of +the monster closes, and the dull one is himself again--feeding +all the time so cunningly that scarce one of the victims whom he +has swallowed suspects that he is but pabulum slowly digesting in +the belly of the monster." + +If the schoolmaster's dragon, spread abroad as he lies, a vague +dilution, everywhere throughout human haunts, has yet any headquarters, +where else can they be than in such places as that to which he was +now making his way to fight him? What can be fuller of the wearisome, +depressing, beauty blasting commonplace than a dissenting chapel in +London, on the night of the weekly prayer meeting, and that night +a drizzly one? The few lights fill the lower part with a dull, +yellow, steamy glare, while the vast galleries, possessed by an +ugly twilight, yawn above like the dreary openings of a disconsolate +eternity. The pulpit rises into the dim damp air, covered with +brown holland, reminding one of desertion and charwomen, if not +of a chamber of death and spiritual undertakers, who have shrouded +and coffined the truth. Gaping, empty, unsightly, the place is +the very skull of the monster himself--the fittest place of all +wherein to encounter the great slug, and deal him one of those +death blows which every sunrise, every repentance, every childbirth, +every true love deals him. Every hour he receives the blow that +kills, but he takes long to die, for every hour he is right carefully +fed and cherished by a whole army of purveyors, including every +trade and profession, but officered chiefly by divines and men of +science. + +When the dominie entered, all was still, and every light had +a nimbus of illuminated vapour. There were hardly more than three +present beyond the number Mr Marshal had given him to expect; and +their faces, some grim, some grimy, most of them troubled, and +none blissful, seemed the nervous ganglions of the monster whose +faintly gelatinous bulk filled the place. He seated himself in +a pew near the pulpit, communed with his own heart and was still. +Presently the ministering deacon, a humbler one in the worldly sense +than Mr Marshal, for he kept a small ironmongery shop in the next +street to the chapel, entered, twirling the wet from his umbrella +as he came along one of the passages intersecting the pews. Stepping +up into the desk which cowered humbly at the foot of the pulpit, +he stood erect, and cast his eyes around the small assembly. +Discovering there no one that could lead in singing, he chose out +and read one of the monster's favourite hymns, in which never a +sparkle of thought or a glow of worship gave reason wherefore the +holy words should have been carpentered together. Then he prayed +aloud, and then first the monster found tongue, voice, articulation. +If this was worship, surely it was the monster's own worship of +itself! No God were better than one to whom such were fitting words +of prayer. What passed in the man's soul, God forbid I should judge: +I speak but of the words that reached the ears of men. + +And over all the vast of London lay the monster, filling it like +the night--not in churches and chapels only--in almost all +theatres, and most houses--most of all in rich houses: everywhere +he had a foot, a tail, a tentacle or two--everywhere suckers that +drew the life blood from the sickening and somnolent soul. + +When the deacon, a little brown man, about five-and-thirty, had +ended his prayer, he read another hymn of the same sort--one of +such as form the bulk of most collections, and then looked meaningly +at Mr Graham, whom he had seen in the chapel on Sunday with his +brother deacon, and therefore judged one of consequence, who had +come to the meeting with an object, and ought to be propitiated: +he had intended speaking himself. After having thus for a moment +regarded him, + +"Would you favour us with a word of exhortation, sir?" he said, in +a stage-like whisper. + +Now the monster had by this time insinuated a hair-like sucker into +the heart of the schoolmaster, and was busy. But at the word, as +the Red Cross Knight when he heard Orgoglio in the wood staggered +to meet him, he rose at once, and although his umbrella slipped +and fell with a loud discomposing clatter, calmly approached the +reading desk. To look at his outer man, this knight of the truth +might have been the very high priest of the monster which, while +he was sitting there, had been twisting his slimy, semi-electric, +benumbing tendrils around his heart. His business was nevertheless +to fight him, though to fight him in his own heart and that of +other people at one and the same moment, he might well find hard +work. And the loathly worm had this advantage over the knight, that +it was the first time he had stood up to speak in public since his +failure thirty years ago. That hour again for a moment overshadowed +his spirit. It was a wavy harvest morning in a village of the north. +A golden wind was blowing, and little white clouds flying aloft in +the sunny blue. The church was full of well known faces, upturned, +listening, expectant, critical. The hour vanished in a slow mist +of abject misery and shame. But had he not learned to rejoice over +all dead hopes, and write Te Deums on their coffin lids? And now he +stood in dim light, in the vapour from damp garments, in dinginess +and ugliness, with a sense of spiritual squalor and destitution in +his very soul. He had tried to pray his own prayer while the deacon +prayed his; but there had come to him no reviving--no message +for this handful of dull souls--there were nine of them in all +--and his own soul crouched hard and dull within his bosom. How +to give them one deeper breath? How to make them know they were +alive? Whence was his aid to come? + +His aid was nearer than he knew. There were no hills to which he +could lift his eyes, but help may hide in the valley as well as +come down from the mountain, and he found his under the coal scuttle +bonnet of the woman that swept out and dusted the chapel. She was +no interesting young widow. A life of labour and vanished children +lay behind as well as before her. She was sixty years of age, seamed +with the smallpox, and in every seam the dust and smoke of London +had left a stain. She had a troubled eye, and a gaze that seemed +to ask of the universe why it had given birth to her. But it was +only her face that asked the question; her mind was too busy with +the ever recurring enigma, which, answered this week, was still an +enigma for the next--how she was to pay her rent--too busy to +have any other question to ask. Or would she not rather have gone +to sleep altogether, under the dreary fascination of the slug monster, +had she not had a severe landlady, who would be paid punctually, +or turn her out? Anyhow, every time and all the time she sat in +the chapel, she was brooding over ways and means, calculating pence +and shillings--the day's charing she had promised her, and the +chances of more--mingling faint regrets over past indulgences +--the extra half pint of beer she drank on Saturday--the bit +of cheese she bought on Monday. Of this face of care, revealing +a spirit which Satan had bound, the schoolmaster caught sight,-- +caught from its commonness, its grimness, its defeature, inspiration +and uplifting, for there he beheld the oppressed, down trodden, +mire fouled humanity which the man in whom he believed had loved +because it was his father's humanity divided into brothers, and +had died straining to lift back to the bosom of that Father. Oh +tale of horror and dreary monstrosity, if it be such indeed as the +bulk of its priests on the one hand, and its enemies on the other +represent it! Oh story of splendrous fate, of infinite resurrection +and uplifting, of sun and breeze, of organ blasts and exultation, +for the heart of every man and woman, whatsoever the bitterness +of its care or the weight of its care, if it be such as the Book +itself has held it from age to age! + +It was the mere humanity of the woman, I say, and nothing in her +individuality of what is commonly called the interesting, that +ministered to the breaking of the schoolmaster's trance. "Oh ye of +little faith!" were the first words that flew from his lips--he +knew not whether uttered concerning himself or the charwoman the +more; and at once he fell to speaking of him who said the words, +and of the people that came to him and heard him gladly;--how +this one, whom he described, must have felt, Oh, if that be true! +how that one, whom also he described, must have said, Now he means +me! and so laid bare the secrets of many hearts, until he had +concluded all in the misery of being without a helper in the world, +a prey to fear and selfishness and dismay. Then he told them how +the Lord pledged himself for all their needs--meat and drink and +clothes for the body, and God and love and truth for the soul, if +only they would put them in the right order and seek the best first. + +Next he spoke a parable to them--of a house and a father and his +children. The children would not do what their father told them, +and therefore began to keep out of his sight. After a while they +began to say to each other that he must have gone out, it was so +long since they had seen him--only they never went to look. And +again after a time some of them began to say to each other that they +did not believe they had ever had any father. But there were some +who dared not say that--who thought they had a father somewhere +in the house, and yet crept about in misery, sometimes hungry and +often cold, fancying he was not friendly to them, when all the time +it was they who were not friendly to him, and said to themselves +he would not give them anything. They never went to knock at his +door, or call to know if he were inside and would speak to them. +And all the time there he was sitting sorrowful, listening and +listening for some little hand to come knocking, and some little +voice to come gently calling through the keyhole; for sorely did +he long to take them to his bosom and give them everything. Only +if he did that without their coming to him, they would not care +for his love or him, would only care for the things he gave them, +and soon would come to hate their brothers and sisters, and turn +their own souls into hells, and the earth into a charnel of murder. + +Ere he ended he was pleading with the charwoman to seek her father +in his own room, tell him her troubles, do what he told her, and +fear nothing. And while he spoke, lo! the dragon slug had vanished; +the ugly chapel was no longer the den of the hideous monster; it +was but the dusky bottom of a glory shaft, adown which gazed the +stars of the coming resurrection. + +"The whole trouble is that we won't let God help us," said the +preacher, and sat down. + +A prayer from the greengrocer followed, in which he did seem to +be feeling after God a little; and then the ironmonger pronounced +the benediction, and all went--among the rest, Frederick Marshal, +who had followed the schoolmaster, and now walked back with him +to his father's, where he was to spend one night more. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII: THE PORTRAIT + + +Florimel had found her daring visit to Lenorme stranger and more +fearful than she had expected: her courage was not quite so masterful +as she had thought. The next day she got Mrs Barnardiston to meet +her at the studio.-But she contrived to be there first by some +minutes, and her friend found her seated, and the painter looking +as if he had fairly begun his morning's work. When she apologised +for being late, Florimel said she supposed her groom had brought +round the horses before his time; being ready, she had not looked +at her watch. She was sharp on other people for telling stories +--but had of late ceased to see any great harm in telling one to +protect herself. The fact however had begun to present itself in +those awful morning hours that seem a mingling of time and eternity, +and she did not like the discovery that, since her intimacy with +Lenorme, she had begun to tell lies: what would he say if he knew? + +Malcolm found it dreary waiting in the street while she sat to the +painter. He would not have minded it on Kelpie, for she was always +occupation enough, but with only a couple of quiet horses to hold, +it was dreary. He took to scrutinizing the faces that passed him, +trying to understand them. To his surprise he found that almost +everyone reminded him of somebody he had known before, though he +could not always identify the likeness. + +It was a pleasure to see his yacht lying so near him, and Davy on +the deck, and to hear the blows of the hammer and the swish of the +plane as the carpenter went on with the alterations to which he +had set him, but he got tired of sharing in activity only with his +ears and eyes. One thing he had by it, however, and that was--a +good lesson in quiescent waiting--a grand thing for any man, and +most of all for those in whom the active is strong. + +The next day Florimel did not ride until after lunch, but took her +maid with her to the studio, and Malcolm had a long morning with +Kelpie. Once again he passed the beautiful lady in Rotten Row, but +Kelpie was behaving in a most exemplary manner, and he could not +tell whether she even saw him. I believe she thought her lecture +had done him good. The day after that Lord Liftore was able to ride, +and for some days Florimel and he rode in the park before dinner, +when, as Malcolm followed on the new horse, he had to see his +lordship make love to his sister, without being able to find the +least colourable pretext of involuntary interference. + +At length the parcel he had sent for from Lossie House arrived. +He had explained to Mrs Courthope what he wanted the things for, +and she had made no difficulty of sending them to the address he +gave her. Lenorme had already begun the portrait, had indeed been +working at it very busily, and was now quite ready for him to sit. +The early morning being the only time a groom could contrive to +spare--and that involved yet earlier attention to his horses, +they arranged that Malcolm should be at the study every day by +seven o'clock, until the painter's object was gained. So he mounted +Kelpie at half past six of a fine breezy spring morning, rode across +Hyde Park and down Grosvenor Place, and so reached Chelsea, where +he put up his mare in Lenorme's stable--fortunately large enough +to admit of an empty stall between her and the painter's grand +screw, else a battle frightful to relate might have fallen to my +lot. + +Nothing could have been more to Malcolm's mind than such a surpassing +opportunity of learning with assurance what sort of man Lenorme +was; and the relation that arose between them extended the sittings +far beyond the number necessary for the object proposed. How the +first of them passed I must recount with some detail. + +As soon as he arrived, he was shown into the painter's bedroom, +where lay the portmanteau he had carried thither himself the night +before: out of it, with a strange mingling of pleasure and sadness, +he now took the garments of his father's vanished state--the +filibeg of the dark tartan of his clan, in which green predominated; +the French coat of black velvet of Genoa, with silver buttons; the +bonnet, which ought to have had an eagle's feather, but had only an +aigrette of diamonds; the black sporran of long goat's hair, with +the silver clasp; the silver mounted dirk, with its appendages, +set all with pale cairngorms nearly as good as oriental topazes; +and the claymore of the renowned Andrew's forging, with its basket +hilt of silver, and its black, silver mounted sheath. He handled +each with the reverence of a son. Having dressed in them, he drew +himself up with not a little of the Celt's pleasure in fine clothes, +and walked into the painting room. + +Lenorme started with admiration of his figure, and wonder at the +dignity of his carriage, while, mingled with these feelings, he was +aware of an indescribable doubt, something to which he could give +no name. He almost sprang at his palette and brushes: whether he +succeeded with the likeness of the late marquis or not, it would +be his own fault if he did not make a good picture! He painted +eagerly, and they talked little, and only about things indifferent. + +At length the painter said, + +"Thank you. Now walk about the room while I spread a spadeful of +paint: you must be tired standing." + +Malcolm did as he was told, and walked straight up to the Temple +of Isis, in which the painter had now long been at work on the +goddess. He recognised his sister at once, but a sudden pinch of +prudence checked the exclamation that had almost burst from his +lips. + +"What a beautiful picture!" he said. "What does it mean?-- +Surely it is Hermione coming to life, and Leontes dying of joy! +But no; that would not fit. They are both too young, and--" + +"You read Shakspere, I see," said Lenorme, "as well as Epictetus." + +"I do--a good deal," answered Malcolm. "But please tell me what +you painted this for." + +Then Lenorme told him the parable of Novalis, and Malcolm saw what +the poet meant. He stood staring at the picture, and Lenorme sat +working away, but a little anxious--he hardly knew why: had he +bethought himself he would have put the picture out of sight before +Malcolm came. + +"You wouldn't be offended if I made a remark, would you, Mr Lenorme?" +said Malcolm at length. + +"Certainly not," replied Lenorme, something afraid nevertheless of +what might be coming. + +"I don't know whether I can express what I mean," said Malcolm, +"but I'll try. I could do it better in Scotch, I believe, but then +you wouldn't understand me." + +"I think I should," said Lenorme. "I spent six months in Edinburgh +once." + +"Ow ay! but ye see they dinna thraw the words there jist the same +gait they du at Portlossie. Na, na! I maunna attemp' it." + +"Hold, hold!" cried Lenorme. "I want to have your criticism. I +don't understand a word you are saying. You must make the best you +can of the English." + +"I was only telling you in Scotch that I wouldn't try the Scotch," +returned Malcolm. "Now I will try the English.--In the first +place, then--but really it's very presumptuous of me, Mr Lenorme; +and it may be that I am blind to something in the picture." + +"Go on," said Lenorme impatiently. + +"Don't you think then, that one of the first things you would look +for in a goddess would be--what shall I call it?--an air of +mystery?" + +"That was so much involved in the very idea of Isis, in her +especially, that they said she was always veiled, and no man had +ever seen her face." + +"That would greatly interfere with my notion of mystery," said +Malcolm. "There must be revelation before mystery. I take it that +mystery is what lies behind revelation; that which as yet revelation +has not reached. You must see something--a part of something, +before you can feel any sense of mystery about it. The Isis for +ever veiled is the absolutely Unknown, not the Mysterious." + +"But, you observe, the idea of the parable is different. According +to that Isis is for ever unveiling, that is revealing herself, in +her works, chiefly in the women she creates, and then chiefly in +each of them to the man who loves her." + +"I see what you mean well enough; but not the less she remains the +goddess, does she not?" + +"Surely she does." + +"And can a goddess ever reveal all she is and has!" + +"Never." + +"Then ought there not to be mystery about the face and form of your +Isis on her pedestal?" + +"Is it not there? Is there not mystery in the face and form of +every woman that walks the earth?" + +"Doubtless; but you desire--do you not?--to show--that +although this is the very lady the young man loved before ever he +sought the shrine of the goddess, not the less is she the goddess +Isis herself?" + +"I do--or at least I ought; only--by Jove! you have already +looked deeper into the whole thing than I!" + +"There may be things to account for that on both sides," said +Malcolm. "But one word more to relieve my brain:--if you would +embody the full meaning of the parable, you must not be content that +the mystery is there; you must show in your painting that you feel +it there; you must paint the invisible veil that no hand can lift, +for there it is, and there it ever will be, though Isis herself +raise it from morning to morning." + +"How am I to do that?" said Lenorme, not that he did not see what +Malcolm meant, or agree with it: he wanted to make him talk. + +"How can I, who never drew a stroke, or painted anything but the +gunnel of a boat, tell you that?" rejoined Malcolm. "It is your +business. You must paint that veil, that mystery in the forehead, +and in the eyes, and in the lips--yes, in the cheeks and the +chin and the eyebrows and everywhere. You must make her say without +saying it, that she knows oh! so much, if only she could make you +understand it!--that she is all there for you, but the all is +infinitely more than you can know. As she stands there now," + +"I must interrupt you," cried Lenorme, "just to say that the picture +is not finished yet." + +"And yet I will finish my sentence, if you will allow me," returned +Malcolm. "--As she stands there--the goddess--she looks only +a beautiful young woman, with whom the young man spreading out his +arms to her is very absolutely in love. There is the glow and the +mystery of love in both their faces, and nothing more." + +"And is not that enough?" said Lenorme. + +"No," answered Malcolm. "And yet it may be too much," he added, +"if you are going to hang it up where people will see it." + +As he said this, he looked hard at the painter for a moment. The +dark hue of Lenorme's cheek deepened; his brows lowered a little +farther over the black wells of his eyes; and he painted on without +answer. + +"By Jove!" he said at length. + +"Don't swear, Mr Lenorme," said Malcolm. "--Besides, that's my +Lord Liftore's oath.--If you do, you will teach my lady to swear." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Lenorme, with offence plain enough +in his tone. + +Thereupon Malcolm told him how on one occasion, himself being +present, the marquis her father happening to utter an imprecation, +Lady Florimel took the first possible opportunity of using the very +same words on her own account, much to the marquis's amusement and +Malcolm's astonishment. But upon reflection he had come to see that +she only wanted to cure her father of the bad habit. + +The painter laughed heartily, but stopped all at once and said, +"It's enough to make any fellow swear though, to hear a--groom +talk as you do about art." + +"Have I the impudence? I didn't know it," said Malcolm, with some +dismay. "I seemed to myself merely saying the obvious thing, the +common sense, about the picture, on the ground of your own statement +of your meaning in it. I am annoyed with myself if I have been +talking of things I know nothing about." + +"On the contrary, MacPhail, you are so entirely right in what you +say, that I cannot for the life of me understand where or how you +can have got it." + +"Mr Graham used to talk to me about everything." + +"Well, but he was only a country schoolmaster." + +"A good deal more than that, sir," said Malcolm, solemnly. "He is +a disciple of him that knows everything. And now I think of it, I +do believe that what I've been saying about your picture, I must +have got from hearing him talk about the revelation, in which is +included Isis herself, with her brother and all their train." + +Lenorme held his peace. Malcolm had taken his place again +unconsciously, and the painter was working hard, and looking very +thoughtful. Malcolm went again to the picture. + +"Hillo!" cried Lenorme, looking up and finding no object in the +focus of his eyes. + +Malcolm returned directly. + +"There was just one thing I wanted to see," he said, "--whether +the youth worshipping his goddess, had come into her presence +clean." + +"And what is your impression of him?" half murmured Lenorme, without +lifting his head. + +"The one that's painted there," answered Malcolm, "does look as if +he might know that the least a goddess may claim of a worshipper +is, that he should come into her presence pure enough to understand +her purity. I came upon a fine phrase the other evening in your +English prayer book. I never looked into it before, but I found +one lying on a book stall, and it happened to open at the marriage +service. There, amongst other good things, the bridegroom says: +'With my body I thee worship.'--'That's grand,' I said to myself. +'That's as it should be. The man whose body does not worship +the woman he weds, should marry a harlot.' God bless Mr William +Shakspere!--he knew that. I remember Mr Graham telling me once, +before I had read the play, that the critics condemn Measure +for Measure as failing in poetic justice. I know little about the +critics, and care less, for a man who has to earn his bread and +feed his soul as well, has enough to do with the books themselves +without what people say about them; and Mr Graham would not tell +me whether he thought the critics right or wrong; he wanted me to +judge for myself. But when I came to read the play, I found, to +my mind, a most absolute and splendid justice in it. They think, I +suppose, that my lord Angelo should have been put to death. It just +reveals the low breed of them; they think death the worst thing, +therefore the greatest punishment. But Angelo prays for death, +that it may hide him from his shame: it is too good for him, and he +shall not have it. He must live to remove the shame from Mariana. +And then see how Lucio is served!" + +While Malcolm talked, Lenorme went on painting diligently, listening +and saying nothing. When he had thus ended, a pause of some duration +followed. + +"A goddess has a right to claim that one thing--has she not, +Mr Lenorme?" said Malcolm at length, winding up a silent train of +thought aloud. + +"What thing?" asked Lenorme, still without lifting his head. + +"Purity in the arms a man holds out to her," answered Malcolm. + +"Certainly," replied Lenorme, with a sort of mechanical absoluteness. + +"And according to your picture, every woman whom a man loves is a +goddess--the goddess of nature?" + +"Certainly;--but what are you driving at? I can't paint for you. +There you stand," he went on, half angrily, "as if you were Socrates +himself, driving some poor Athenian buck into the corner of his +deserts! I don't deserve any such insinuations, I would have you +know." + +"I am making none, sir. I dare never insinuate except I were +prepared to charge. But I have told you I was bred up a fisher lad, +and partly among the fishers, to begin with. I half learned, half +discovered things that tended to give me what some would count +severe notions: I count them common sense. Then, as you know, I +went into service, and in that position it is easy enough to gather +that many people hold very loose and very nasty notions about some +things; so I just wanted to see how you felt about such. If I had +a sister now, and saw a man coming to woo her, all beclotted with +puddle filth--or if I knew that he had just left some woman as +good as she, crying eyes and heart out over his child--I don't +know that I could keep my hands off him--at least if I feared she +might take him. What do you think now? Mightn't it be a righteous +thing to throttle the scum and be hanged for it?" + +"Well," said Lenorme, "I don't know why I should justify myself, +especially where no charge is made, MacPhail; and I don't know why +to you any more than another man; but at this moment I am weak, or +egotistic, or sympathetic enough to wish you to understand that, so +far as the poor matter of one virtue goes, I might without remorse +act Sir Galahad in a play." + +"Now you are beyond me," said Malcolm. "I don't know what you mean." + +So Lenorme had to tell him the old Armoric tale which Tennyson has +since rendered so lovelily, for, amongst artists at least, he was +one of the earlier borrowers in the British legends. And as he told +it, in a half sullen kind of way, the heart of the young marquis +glowed within him, and he vowed to himself that Lenorme and no other +should marry his sister. But, lest he should reveal more emotion +than the obvious occasion justified, he restrained speech, and +again silence fell, during which Lenorme was painting furiously. + +"Confound it!" he cried at last, and sprang to his feet, but without +taking his eyes from his picture, "what have I been doing all this +time but making a portrait of you, MacPhail, and forgetting what +you were there for! And yet," he went on, hesitating and catching +up the miniature, "I have got a certain likeness! Yes, it must be +so, for I see in it also a certain look of Lady Lossie. Well! I +suppose a man can't altogether help what he paints any more than +what he dreams. That will do for this morning, anyhow, I think, +MacPhail. Make haste and put on your own clothes, and come into the +next room to breakfast. You must be tired with standing so long. + +"It is about the hardest work I ever tried," answered Malcolm; +"but I doubt if I am as tired as Kelpie. I've been listening for +the last half hour to hear the stalls flying." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX: AN EVIL OMEN + + +Florimel was beginning to understand that the shield of the portrait +was not large enough to cover many more visits to the studio. Still +she must and would venture; and should anything be said, there at +least was the portrait. For some weeks it had been all but finished, +was never off its easel, and always showed a touch of wet paint +somewhere--he kept the last of it lingering, ready to prove +itself almost yet not altogether finished. What was to follow its +absolute completion, neither of them could tell. The worst of it +was that their thoughts about it differed discordantly. Florimel +not unfrequently regarded the rupture of their intimacy as a thing +not undesirable--this chiefly after such a talk with Lady Bellair +as had been illustrated by some tale of misalliance or scandal +between high or low, of which kind of provision for age the bold +faced countess had a large store: her memory was little better than +an ashpit of scandal. Amongst other biographical scraps one day +she produced the case of a certain earl's daughter, who, having +disgraced herself by marrying a low fellow--an artist, she +believed--was as a matter of course neglected by the man whom, +in accepting him, she had taught to despise her, and, before +a twelvemonth was over--her family finding it impossible to +hold communication with her--was actually seen by her late maid +scrubbing her own floor. + +"Why couldn't she leave it dirty?" said Florimel. + +"Why indeed," returned Lady Bellair, "but that people sink to their +fortunes! Blue blood won't keep them out of the gutter." + +The remark was true, but of more general application than she +intended, seeing she herself was in the gutter and did not know +it. She spoke only of what followed on marriage beneath one's natal +position, than which she declared there was nothing worse a woman +of rank could do. + +"She may get over anything but that," she would say, believing, +but not saying, that she spoke from experience. + +Was it part of the late marquis's purgatory to see now, as the natural +result of the sins of his youth, the daughter whose innocence was +dear to him exposed to all the undermining influences of this good +natured but low moralled woman, whose ideas of the most mysterious +relations of humanity were in no respect higher than those of a +class which must not even be mentioned in my pages? At such tales +the high born heart would flutter in Florimel's bosom, beat itself +against its bars, turn sick at the sight of its danger, imagine +it had been cherishing a crime, and resolve--soon--before very +long--at length--finally--to break so far at least with the +painter as to limit their intercourse to the radiation of her power +across a dinner table, the rhythmic heaving of their two hearts at +a dance, or the quiet occasional talk in a corner, when the looks +of each would reveal to the other that they knew themselves the +martyrs of a cruel and inexorable law. It must be remembered that +she had had no mother since her childhood, that she was now but +a girl, and that the passion of a girl to that of a woman is "as +moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine." Of genuine love +she had little more than enough to serve as salt to the passion; +and passion, however bewitching, yea, entrancing a condition, may +yet be of more worth than that induced by opium or hashish, and +a capacity for it may be conjoined with anything or everything +contemptible and unmanly or unwomanly. In Florimel's case, however, +there was chiefly much of the childish in it. Definitely separated +from Lenorme, she would have been merry again in a fortnight; and +yet, though she half knew this herself, and at the same time was +more than half ashamed of the whole affair, she did not give it up +--would not--only intended by and by to let it go, and meantime +gave--occasionally--pretty free flutter to the half grown wings +of her fancy. + +Her liking for the painter had therefore, not unnaturally, its +fits. It was subject in a measure to the nature of the engagements +she had--that is, to the degree of pleasure she expected from +them; it was subject, as we have seen, to skilful battery from the +guns of her chaperon's entrenchment; and more than to either was +it subject to those delicate changes of condition which in the +microcosm are as frequent, and as varied both in kind and degree, +as in the macrocosm. The spirit has its risings and settings of +sun and moon, its seasons, its clouds and stars, its solstices, its +tides, its winds, its storms, its earthquakes--infinite vitality +in endless fluctuation. To rule these changes, Florimel had +neither the power that comes of love, nor the strength that comes +of obedience. What of conscience she had was not yet conscience +toward God, which is the guide to freedom, but conscience toward +society, which is the slave of a fool. It was no wonder then that +Lenorme, believing--hoping she loved him, should find her hard +to understand. He said hard; but sometimes he meant impossible. He +loved as a man loves who has thought seriously, speculated, tried +to understand; whose love therefore is consistent with itself, +harmonious with its nature and history, changing only in form and +growth, never in substance and character. Hence the idea of Florimel +became in his mind the centre of perplexing thought; the unrest +of her being metamorphosed on the way, passed over into his, and +troubled him sorely. Neither was his mind altogether free of the +dread of reproach. For self reproach he could find little or no +ground, seeing that to pity her much for the loss of consideration +her marriage with him would involve, would be to undervalue the honesty +of his love and the worth of his art; and indeed her position was +so independently based that she could not lose it even by marrying +one who had not the social standing of a brewer or a stockbroker; +but his pride was uneasy under the foreseen criticism that his +selfishness had taken advantage of her youth and inexperience to +work on the mind of an ignorant girl--a criticism not likely to +be the less indignant that those who passed it would, without a +shadow of compunction, have handed her over, body, soul, and goods, +to one of their own order, had he belonged to the very canaille of +the race. + +The painter was not merely in love with Florimel: he loved her. +I will not say that he was in no degree dazzled by her rank, or +that he felt no triumph, as a social nomad camping on the No Man's +Land of society, at the thought of the justification of the human +against the conventional, in his scaling of the giddy heights of +superiority, and, on one of its topmost peaks, taking from her nest +that rare bird in the earth, a landed and titled marchioness. But +such thoughts were only changing hues on the feathers of his love, +which itself was a mighty bird with great and yet growing wings. + +A day or two passed before Florimel went again to the studio +accompanied, notwithstanding Lenorme's warning and her own doubt, +yet again by her maid, a woman, unhappily, of Lady Bellair's finding. +At Lossie House, Malcolm had felt a repugnance to her, both moral +and physical. When first he heard her name, one of the servants +speaking of her as Miss Caley, he took it for Scaley, and if that +was not her name, yet scaly was her nature. + +This time Florimel rode to Chelsea with Malcolm, having directed +Caley to meet her there; and, the one designing to be a little early, +and the other to be a little late, two results naturally followed +--first, that the lovers had a few minutes alone; and second, +that when Caley crept in, noiseless and unannounced as a cat, she +had her desire, and saw the painter's arm round Florimel's waist, +and her head on his bosom. Still more to her contentment, not hearing, +they did not see her, and she crept out again quietly as she had +entered: it would of course be to her advantage to let them know +that she had seen, and that they were in her power, but it might be +still more to her advantage to conceal the fact so long as there +was a chance of additional discovery in the same direction. Through +the success of her trick it came about that Malcolm, chancing to +look up from Honour's back to the room where he always breakfasted +with his new friend, saw in one of the windows, as in a picture, +a face radiant with such an expression as that of the woman headed +snake might have worn when he saw Adam take the apple from the hand +of Eve. + +Caley was of the common class of servants in this, that she +considered service servitude, and took her amends in selfishness; +she was unlike them in this, that while false to her employers, +she made no common cause with her fellows against them--regarded +and sought none but her own ends. Her one thought was to make the +most of her position; for that, to gain influence with, and, if it +might be, power over her mistress; and, thereto, first of all, to +find out whether she had a secret: she had now discovered not merely +that she had one, but the secret itself! She was clever, greedy, +cunning; equally capable, according to the faculty with which she +might be matched, of duping or of being duped. She rather liked +her mistress, but watched her in the interests of Lady Bellair. +She had a fancy for the earl, a natural dislike for Malcolm which +she concealed in distant politeness, and for all the rest of the +house, indifference. As to her person, she had a neat oval face, +thin and sallow, in expression subacid; a lithe, rather graceful +figure, and hands too long, with fingers almost too tapering--of +which hands and fingers she was very careful, contemplating them +in secret with a regard amounting almost to reverence: they were +her sole witnesses to a descent in which she believed, but of which +she had no other shadow of proof. + +Caley's face, then, with its unsaintly illumination, gave Malcolm +something to think about as he sat there upon Honour, the new horse. +Clearly she had had a triumph: what could it be? The nature of the +woman was not altogether unknown to him even from the first, and +he could not for months go on meeting her occasionally in passages +and on stairs without learning to understand his own instinctive +dislike: it was plain the triumph was not in good. It was plain +too that it was in something which had that very moment occurred, +and could hardly have to do with anyone but her mistress. Then her +being in that room revealed more. They would never have sent her +out of the study, and so put themselves in her power. She had gone +into the house but a moment before, a minute or two behind her +mistress, and he knew with what a cat-like step she went about: +she had surprised them---discovered how matters stood between +her mistress and the painter! He saw everything--almost as it +had taken place. She had seen without being seen, and had retreated +with her prize! Florimel was then in the woman's power: what was +he to do? He must at least let her gather what warning she could +from the tale of what he had seen. + +Once arrived at a resolve, Malcolm never lost time. They had turned +but one corner on their way home, when he rode up to her. + +"Please, my lady," he began. + +But the same instant Florimel was pulling up. + +"Malcolm," she said, "I have left my pocket handkerchief. I must +go back for it." + +As she spoke, she turned her horse's head. But Malcolm, dreading +lest Caley should yet be lingering, would not allow her to expose +herself to a greater danger than she knew. + +"Before you go, my lady, I must tell you something I happened to +see while I waited with the horses," he said. + +The earnestness of his tone struck Florimel. She looked at him with +eyes a little wider, and waited to hear. + +"I happened to look up at the drawing room windows, my lady, +and Caley came to one of them with such a look on her face! +I can't exactly describe it to you, my lady, but--" + +"Why do you tell me?" interrupted his mistress, with absolute +composure, and hard, questioning eyes. + +But she had drawn herself up in the saddle. Then, before he could +reply, a flash of thought seemed to cross her face with a quick +single motion of her eyebrows, and it was instantly altered and +thoughtful. She seemed to have suddenly perceived some cause for +taking a mild interest in his communication. + +"But it cannot be, Malcolm," she said, in quite a changed tone. "You +must have taken some one else for her. She never left the studio +all the time I was there." + +"It was immediately after her arrival, my lady. She went in about +two minutes after your ladyship, and could not have had much more +than time to go upstairs when I saw her come to the window. I felt +bound to tell your ladyship." + +"Thank you, Malcolm," returned Florimel kindly. "You did right to +tell me,--but--it's of no consequence. Mr Lenorme's housekeeper +and she must have been talking about something." + +But her eyebrows were now thoughtfully contracted over her eyes. + +"There had been no time for that, I think, my lady," said Malcolm. + +Florimel turned again and rode on, saying no more about the +handkerchief. Malcolm saw that he had succeeded in warning her, +and was glad. But had he foreseen to what it would lead, he would +hardly have done it. + +Florimel was indeed very uneasy. She could not help strongly suspecting +that she had betrayed herself to one who, if not an intentional +spy, would yet be ready enough to make a spy's use of anything she +might have picked up. What was to be done? It was now too late to +think of getting rid of her: that would be but her signal to disclose +whatever she had seen, and so not merely enjoy a sweet revenge, but +account with clear satisfactoriness for her dismissal. What would +not Florimel now have given for some one who could sympathise with +her and yet counsel her! She was afraid to venture another meeting +with Lenorme, and besides was not a little shy of the advantage +the discovery would give him in pressing her to marry him. And now +first she began to feel as if her sins were going to find her out. + +A day or two passed in alternating psychical flaws and fogs-- +with poor glints of sunshine between. She watched her maid, but her +maid knew it, and discovered no change in her manner or behaviour. +Weary of observation she was gradually settling into her former +security, when Caley began to drop hints that alarmed her. Might +it not be altogether the safest thing to take her into confidence? +It would be such a relief, she thought, to have a woman she could +talk to! The result was that she began to lift a corner of the veil +that hid her trouble; the woman encouraged her, and at length the +silly girl threw her arms round the scaly one's neck, much to that +person's satisfaction, and told her that she loved Mr Lenorme. She +knew of course, she said, that she could not marry him. She was +only waiting a fit opportunity to free herself from a connection +which, however delightful, she was unable to justify. How the maid +interpreted her confession, I do not care to enquire very closely, +but anyhow it was in a manner that promised much to her after +influence. I hasten over this part of Florimel's history, for that +confession to Caley was perhaps the one thing in her life she had +most reason to be ashamed of, for she was therein false to the +being she thought she loved best in the world. Could Lenorme have +known her capable of unbosoming herself to such a woman, it would +almost have slain the love he bore her. The notions of that odd +and end sort of person, who made his livelihood by spreading paint, +would have been too hideously shocked by the shadow of an intimacy +between his love and such as she. + +Caley first comforted the weeping girl, and then began to insinuate +encouragement. She must indeed give him up--there was no help +for that; but neither was there any necessity for doing so all at +once. Mr Lenorme was a beautiful man, and any woman might be proud +to be loved by him. She must take her time to it. She might trust +her. And so on and on--for she was as vulgar minded as the worst +of those whom ladies endure about their persons, handling their +hair, and having access to more of their lock fast places than they +would willingly imagine. + +The first result was that, on the pretext of bidding him farewell, +and convincing him that he and she must meet no more, fate and +fortune, society and duty being all alike against their happiness +--I mean on that pretext to herself, the only one to be deceived +by it--Florimel arranged with her woman one evening to go the next +morning to the studio: she knew the painter to be an early riser, +and always at his work before eight o'clock. But although she tried +to imagine she had persuaded herself to say farewell, certainly +she had not yet brought her mind to any ripeness of resolve in the +matter. + +At seven o'clock in the morning, the marchioness habited like a +housemaid, they slipped out by the front door, turned the corners +of two streets, found a hackney coach waiting for them, and arrived +in due time at the painter's abode. + + + +CHAPTER XXX: A QUARREL + + +When the door opened and Florimel glided in, the painter sprang to +his feet to welcome her, and she flew softly, soundless as a moth, +into his arms; for the study being large and full of things, she +was not aware of the presence of Malcolm. From behind a picture +on an easel, he saw them meet, but shrinking from being an open +witness to their secret, and also from being discovered in his +father's clothes by the sister who knew him only as a servant, he +instantly sought escape. Nor was it hard to find, for near where +he stood was a door opening into a small intermediate chamber, +communicating with the drawing room, and by it he fled, intending +to pass through to Lenorme's bedroom, and change his clothes. +With noiseless stride he hurried away, but could not help hearing +a few passionate words that escaped his sister's lips before Lenorme +could warn her that they were not alone--words which, it seemed +to him, could come only from a heart whose very pulse was devotion. + +"How can I live without you, Raoul?" said the girl as she clung to +him. + +Lenorme gave an uneasy glance behind him, saw Malcolm disappear, +and answered, + +"I hope you will never try, my darling." + +"Oh, but you know this can't last," she returned, with playfully +affected authority. "It must come to an end. They will interfere." + +"Who can? Who will dare?" said the painter with confidence. + +"People will. We had better stop it ourselves--before it all comes +out, and we are shamed," said Florimel, now with perfect seriousness. + +"Shamed!" cried Lenorme. "--Well, if you can't help being ashamed +of me--and perhaps, as you have been brought up, you can't-- +do you not then love me enough to encounter a little shame for my +sake? I should welcome worlds of such for yours!" + +Florimel was silent. She kept her face hidden on his shoulder, but +was already halfway to a quarrel. + +"You don't love me, Florimel!" he said, after a pause, little +thinking how nearly true were the words. + +"Well, suppose I don't!" she cried, half defiantly, half merrily; +and drawing herself from him, she stepped back two paces, and +looked at him with saucy eyes, in which burned two little flames +of displeasure, that seemed to shoot up from the red spots glowing +upon her cheeks. Lenorme looked at her. He had often seen her like +this before, and knew that the shell was charged and the fuse lighted. +But within lay a mixture even more explosive than he suspected; for +not merely was there more of shame and fear and perplexity mingled +with her love than he understood, but she was conscious of having +now been false to him, and that rendered her temper dangerous. + +Lenorme had already suffered severely from the fluctuations of +her moods. They had been almost too much for him. He could endure +them, he thought, to all eternity, if he had her to himself, safe +and sure; but the confidence to which he rose every now and then +that she would one day be his, just as often failed him, rudely +shaken by some new symptom of what almost seemed like cherished +inconstancy. If after all she should forsake him! It was impossible, +but she might. If even that should come, he was too much of a man +to imagine anything but a stern encounter of the inevitable, and +he knew he would survive it; but he knew also that life could never +be the same again; that for a season work would be impossible-- +the kind of work he had hitherto believed his own rendered for ever +impossible perhaps, and his art degraded to the mere earning of a +living. At best he would have to die and be buried and rise again +before existence could become endurable under the new squalid +condition of life without her. It was no wonder then if her behaviour +sometimes angered him; for even against a Will o' the Wisp that has +enticed us into a swamp, a glow of foolish indignation will spring +up. And now a black fire in his eyes answered the blue flash in +hers; and the difference suggests the diversity of their loves: +hers might vanish in fierce explosion, his would go on burning like +a coal mine. A word of indignant expostulation rose to his lips, +but a thought came that repressed it. He took her hand, and led +her--the wonder was that she yielded, for she had seen the glow +in his eyes, and the fuse of her own anger burned faster; but she +did yield, partly from curiosity, and followed where he pleased +--her hand lying dead in his. It was but to the other end of the +room he led her, to the picture of her father, now all but finished. +Why he did so, he would have found it hard to say. Perhaps the +Genius that lies under the consciousness forefelt a catastrophe, +and urged him to give his gift ere giving should be impossible. + +Malcolm stepped into the drawing room, where the table was laid as +usual for breakfast: there stood Caley, helping herself to a spoonful +of honey from Hymettus. At his entrance she started violently, and +her sallow face grew earthy. For some seconds she stood motionless, +unable to take her eyes off the apparition, as it seemed to her, +of the late marquis, in wrath at her encouragement of his daughter +in disgraceful courses. Malcolm, supposing only she was ashamed +of herself, took no farther notice of her, and walked deliberately +towards the other door. Ere he reached it she knew him. Burning +with the combined ires of fright and shame, conscious also that, by +the one little contemptible act of greed in which he had surprised +her, she had justified the aversion which her woman instinct had +from the first recognized in him, she darted to the door, stood +with her back against it, and faced him flaming. + +"So!" she cried, "this is how my lady's kindness is abused! The +insolence! Her groom goes and sits for his portrait in her father's +court dress!" + +As she ceased, all the latent vulgarity of her nature broke loose, +and with a contracted pff she seized her thin nose between her +thumb and forefinger, to the indication that an evil odour of fish +interpenetrated her atmosphere, and must at the moment be defiling +the garments of the dead marquis. + +"My lady shall know of this," she concluded, with a vicious clenching +of her teeth, and two or three nods of her neat head. + +Malcolm stood regarding her with a coolness that yet inflamed +her wrath. He could not help smiling at the reaction of shame in +indignation. Had her anger been but a passing flame, that smile +would have turned it into enduring hate. She hissed in his face. + +"Go and have the first word," he said; "only leave the door and +let me pass." + +"Let you pass indeed! What would you pass for?--The bastard of +old Lord James and a married woman!--I don't care that for you." +And she snapped her fingers in his face. + +Malcolm turned from her and went to the window, taking a newspaper +from the breakfast table as he passed, and there sat down to read +until the way should be clear. Carried beyond herself by his utter +indifference, Caley darted from the room and went straight into +the study. + +Lenorme led Florimel in front of the picture. She gave a great +start, and turned and stared pallid at the painter. The effect upon +her was such as he had not foreseen, and the words she uttered were +not such as he could have hoped to hear. + +"What would he think of me if he knew?" she cried, clasping her +hands in agony. + +That moment Caley burst into the room, her eyes lamping like a +cat's. + +"My lady!" she shrieked, "there's MacPhail, the groom, my lady, +dressed up in your honoured father's bee-utiful clo'es as he always +wore when he went to dine with the Prince! And, please, my lady, +he's that rude I could 'ardly keep my 'ands off him." + +Florimel flashed a dagger of question in Lenorme's eyes. The painter +drew himself up. + +"It was at my request, Lady Lossie," he said. + +"Indeed!" returned Florimel, in high scorn, and glanced again at +the picture. + +"I see!" she went on. "How could I be such an idiot! It was my +groom's, not my father's likeness you meant to surprise me with!" + +Her eyes flashed as if she would annihilate him. + +"I have worked hard in the hope of giving you pleasure, Lady Lossie," +said the painter, with wounded dignity. + +"And you have failed," she adjoined cruelly. + +The painter took the miniature after which he had been working, +from a table near, handed it to her with a proud obeisance, and +the same moment dashed a brushful of dark paint across the face of +the picture. + +"Thank you, sir," said Florimel, and for a moment felt as if she +hated him. + +She turned away and walked from the study. The door of the drawing +room was open, and Caley stood by the side of it. Florimel, too +angry to consider what she was about, walked in: there sat Malcolm +in the window, in her father's clothes, and his very attitude, reading +the newspaper. He did not hear her enter. He had been waiting till +he could reach the bedroom unseen by her, for he knew from the +sound of the voices that the study door was open. Her anger rose +yet higher at the sight. + +"Leave the room," she said. + +He started to his feet, and now perceived that his sister was in the +dress of a servant. He took one step forward and stood--a little +mazed--gorgeous in dress and arms of price, before his mistress +in the cotton gown of a housemaid. + +"Take those clothes off instantly," said Florimel slowly, replacing +wrath with haughtiness as well as she might. Malcolm turned to the +door without a word. He saw that things had gone wrong where most +he would have wished them go right. + +"I'll see to them being well aired, my lady," said Caley, with +sibilant indignation. + +Malcolm went to the study. The painter sat before the picture of +the marquis, with his elbows on his knees, and his head between +his hands. + +"Mr Lenorme," said Malcolm, approaching him gently. + +"Oh, go away," said Lenorme, without raising his head. "I can't +bear the sight of you yet." + +Malcolm obeyed, a little smile playing about the corners of his +mouth. Caley saw it as he passed, and hated him yet worse. He was +in his own clothes, booted and belted, in two minutes. Three sufficed +to replace his father's garments in the portmanteau, and in three +more he and Kelpie went plunging past his mistress and her maid as +they drove home in their lumbering vehicle. + +"The insolence of the fellow!" said Caley, loud enough for her +mistress to hear notwithstanding the noise of the rattling windows. +"A pretty pass we are come to!" + +But already Florimel's mood had begun to change. She felt that she +had done her best to alienate men on whom she could depend, and +that she had chosen for a confidante one whom she had no ground +for trusting. + +She got safe and unseen to her room; and Caley believed she had +only to improve the advantage she had now gained. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI: THE TWO DAIMONS + + +Things had taken a turn that was not to Malcolm's satisfaction, +and his thoughts were as busy all the way home as Kelpie would +allow. He had ardently desired that his sister should be thoroughly +in love with Lenorme, for that seemed to open a clear path out of +his worst difficulties; now they had quarrelled; and besides were +both angry with him. The main fear was that Liftore would now make +some progress with her. Things looked dangerous. Even his warning +against Caley had led to a result the very opposite of his intent +and desire. And now it recurred to him that he had once come upon +Liftore talking to Caley, and giving her something that shone like +a sovereign. + +Earlier on the same morning of her visit to the studio, Florimel +had awaked and found herself in the presence of the spiritual +Vehmgericht. Every member of the tribunal seemed against her. All +her thoughts were busy accusing, none of them excusing one another. +So hard were they upon her that she fancied she had nearly come to +the conclusion that, if only she could do it pleasantly, without +pain or fear, the best thing would be to swallow something and +fall asleep; for like most people she was practically an atheist, +and therefore always thought of death as the refuge from the ills +of life. But although she was often very uncomfortable, Florimel +knew nothing of such genuine downright misery as drives some people +to what can be no more to their purpose than if a man should strip +himself naked because he is cold. When she returned from her unhappy +visit, and had sent her attendant to get her some tea, she threw +herself upon her bed, and found herself yet again in the dark +chambers of the spiritual police. But already even their company +was preferable to that of Caley, whose officiousness began to enrage +her. She was yet tossing in the Nessus tunic of her own disharmony, +when Malcolm came for orders. To get rid of herself and Caley both, +she desired him to bring the horses round at once. + +It was more than Malcolm had expected. He ran: he might yet have a +chance of trying to turn her in the right direction. He knew that +Liftore was neither in the house nor at the stable. With the help +of the earl's groom, he was round in ten minutes. Florimel was all +but ready: like some other ladies she could dress quickly when she +had good reason. She sprang from Malcolm's hand to the saddle, and +led as straight northward as she could go, never looking behind her +till she drew rein on the top of Hampstead Heath. When he rode up +to her "Malcolm," she said, looking at him half ashamed, "I don't +think my father would have minded you wearing his clothes." + +"Thank you, my lady," said Malcolm. "At least he would have forgiven +anything meant for your pleasure." + +"I was too hasty," she said. "But the fact was, Mr Lenorme had +irritated me, and I foolishly mixed you up with him." + +"When I went into the studio, after you left it, this morning my +lady," Malcolm ventured, "he had his head between his hands and +would not even look at me." + +Florimel turned her face aside, and Malcolm thought she was sorry; +but she was only hiding a smile: she had not yet got beyond the +kitten stage of love, and was pleased to find she gave pain. + +"If your ladyship never had another true friend, Mr Lenorme is +one," added Malcolm. + +"What opportunity can you have had for knowing?" said Florimel. + +"I have been sitting to him every morning for a good many days," +answered Malcolm. "he is something like a man!" + +Florimel's face flushed with pleasure. She liked to hear him praised, +for he loved her. + +"You should have seen, my lady, the pains he took with that portrait! +He would stare at the little picture you lent him of my lord for +minutes, as if he were looking through it at something behind it; +then he would get up and go and gaze at your ladyship on the pedestal, +as if you were the goddess herself able to tell him everything +about your father; and then he would hurry back to his easel, and +give a touch or two to the face, looking at it all the time as if +he loved it. It must have been a cruel pain that drove him to smear +it as he did!" + +Florimel began to feel a little motion of shame somewhere in the +mystery of her being. But to show that to her servant, would be to +betray herself--the more that he seemed the painter's friend. + +"I will ask Lord Liftore to go and see the portrait, and if he +thinks it like, I will buy it," she said. "Mr Lenorme is certainly +very clever with his brush." + +Malcolm saw that she said this not to insult Lenorme, but to blind +her groom, and made no answer. + +"I will ride there with you tomorrow morning," she added in +conclusion, and moved on. + +Malcolm touched his hat, and dropped behind. But the next moment +he was by her side again. + +"I beg your pardon, my lady, but would you allow me to say one word +more?" + +She bowed her head. + +"That woman Caley, I am certain, is not to be trusted. She does +not love you, my lady." + +"How do you know that?" asked Florimel, speaking steadily, but +writhing inwardly with the knowledge that the warning was too late. + +"I have tried her spirit," answered Malcolm, "and know that it is +of the devil. She loves herself too much to be true." + +After a little pause Florimel said, + +"I know you mean well, Malcolm; but it is nothing to me whether +she loves me or not. We don't look for that nowadays from servants." + +"It is because I love you, my lady," said Malcolm, "that I know Caley +does not. If she should get hold of anything your ladyship +would not wish talked about,--" + +"That she cannot," said Florimel, but with an inward shudder. "She +may tell the whole world all she can discover." + +She would have cantered on as the words left her lips, but something +in Malcolm's looks held her. She turned pale; she trembled: her +father was looking at her as only once had she seen him--in doubt +whether his child lied. The illusion was terrible. She shook in her +saddle. The next moment she was galloping along the grassy border +of the heath in wild flight from her worst enemy, whom yet she could +never by the wildest of flights escape; for when, coming a little +to herself as she approached a sand pit, she pulled up, there was +her enemy--neither before nor behind, neither above nor beneath +nor within her: it was the self which had just told a lie to the +servant of whom she had so lately boasted that he never told one +in his life. Then she grew angry. What had she done to be thus +tormented? She a marchioness, thus pestered by her own menials +--pulled in opposing directions by a groom and a maid. She would +turn them both away, and have nobody about her, either to trust or +suspect. + +She might have called them her good and her evil demon; for she +knew, that is, she had it somewhere about her, but did not look +it out, that it was her own cowardice and concealment, her own +falseness to the traditional, never failing courage of her house, +her ignobility, and unfitness to represent the Colonsays--her +double dealing in short, that had made the marchioness in her own +right the slave of her woman, the rebuked of her groom! + +She turned and rode back, looking the other way as she passed +Malcolm. + +When they reached the top of the heath, riding along to meet them +came Liftore--this time to Florimel's consolation and comfort: +she did not like riding unprotected with a good angel at her heels. +So glad was she that she did not even take the trouble to wonder how +he had discovered the road she went. She never suspected that Caley +had sent his lordship's groom to follow her until the direction +of her ride should be evident, but took his appearance without +question, as a loverlike attention, and rode home with him, talking +the whole way, and cherishing a feeling of triumph over both Malcolm +and Lenorme. Had she not a protector of her own kind? Could she +not, when they troubled her, pass from their sphere into one beyond +their ken? For the poor moment, the weak lord who rode beside her +seemed to her foolish heart a tower of refuge. She was particularly +gracious to her lover as they rode, and fancied again and again +that perhaps the best way out of her troubles would be to encourage +and at last accept him, so getting rid of honeyed delights and +rankling stings together, of good and evil angels and low bred +lover at one sweep. Quiet would console for dulness, innocence for +weariness. She would fain have a good conscience toward Society-- +that image whose feet are of gold and its head a bag of chaff and +sawdust. + +Malcolm followed sick at heart that she should prove herself so +shallow. Riding Honour, he had plenty of leisure to brood. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII: A CHASTISEMENT + + +When she went to her room, there was Caley taking from a portmanteau +the Highland dress which had occasioned so much. A note fell, and +she handed it to her mistress. Florimel opened it, grew pale as she +read it, and asked Caley to bring her a glass of water. No sooner +had her maid left the room than she sprang to the door and bolted +it. Then the tears burst from her eyes, she sobbed despairingly, +and but for the help of her handkerchief would have wailed aloud. +When Caley returned, she answered to her knock that she was lying +down, and wanted to sleep. She was, however, trying to force further +communication from the note. In it the painter told her that he was +going to set out the next morning for Italy, and that her portrait +was at the shop of certain carvers and gliders, being fitted with +a frame for which he had made drawings. Three times she read it, +searching for some hidden message to her heart; she held it up +between her and the light; then before the fire till it crackled +like a bit of old parchment; but all was in vain: by no device, +intellectual or physical, could she coax the shadow of a meaning +out of it, beyond what lay plain on the surface. She must, she +would see him again. + +That night she was merrier than usual at dinner; after it, sang +ballad after ballad to please Liftore; then went to her room and +told Caley to arrange for yet a visit, the next morning, to Mr +Lenorme's studio. She positively must, she said, secure her father's +portrait ere the ill tempered painter--all men of genius were +hasty and unreasonable--should have destroyed it utterly, as he +was certain to do before leaving--and with that she showed her +Lenorme's letter. Caley was all service, only said that this time +she thought they had better go openly. She would see Lady Bellair +as soon as Lady Lossie was in bed, and explain the thing to her. + +The next morning therefore they drove to Chelsea in the carriage. +When the door opened, Florimel walked straight up to the study. +There she saw no one, and her heart, which had been fluttering +strangely, sank, and was painfully still, while her gaze went +wandering about the room. It fell upon the pictured temple of Isis: +a thick dark veil had fallen and shrouded the whole figure of the +goddess, leaving only the outline; and the form of the worshipping +youth had vanished utterly: where he had stood, the tesselated +pavement, with the serpent of life twining through it, and the +sculptured walls of the temple, shone out clear and bare, as if +Hyacinth had walked out into the desert to return no more. Again +the tears gushed from the heart of Florimel: she had sinned against +her own fame--had blotted out a fair memorial record that might +have outlasted the knight of stone under the Norman canopy in +Lossie church. Again she sobbed, again she choked down a cry that +had else become a scream. + +Arms were around her. Never doubting whose the embrace, she leaned +her head against his bosom, stayed her sobs with the one word "Cruel!" +and slowly opening her tearful eyes, lifted them to the face that +bent over hers. It was Liftore's. She was dumb with disappointment +and dismay. It was a hateful moment. He kissed her forehead and +eyes, and sought her mouth. She shrieked aloud. In her very agony +at the loss of one to be kissed by another!--and there! It was +too degrading! too horrid! + +At the sound of her cry someone started up at the other end of +the room. An easel with a large canvas on it fell, and a man came +forward with great strides. Liftore let her go, with a muttered +curse on the intruder, and she darted from the room into the arms +of Caley, who had had her ear against the other side of the door. +The same instant Malcolm received from his lordship a well planted +blow between the eyes, which filled them with flashes and darkness. +The next, the earl was on the floor. The ancient fury of the Celt +had burst up into the nineteenth century, and mastered a noble spirit. +All Malcolm could afterwards remember was that he came to himself +dealing Liftore merciless blows, his foot on his back, and his +weapon the earl's whip. His lordship, struggling to rise, turned +up a face white with hate and impotent fury. + +"You damned flunkie!" he panted. "I'll have you shot like a mangy +dog." + +"Meanwhile I will chastise you like an insolent nobleman," said +Malcolm, who had already almost recovered his self possession. "You +dare to touch my mistress!" + +And with the words he gave him one more stinging cut with the whip. + +"Stand off, and let it be man to man," cried Liftore, with a fierce +oath, clenching his teeth in agony and rage. + +"That it cannot be, my lord; but I have had enough, and so I hope +has your lordship," said Malcolm; and as he spoke he threw the +whip to the other end of the room, and stood back. Liftore sprang +to his feet, and rushed at him. Malcolm caught him by the wrist +with a fisherman's grasp. + +"My lord, I don't want to kill you. Take a warning, and let ill +be, for fear of worse," he said, and threw his hand from him with +a swing that nearly dislocated his shoulder. + +The warning sufficed. His lordship cast him one scowl of concentrated +hate and revenge, and leaving the room hurried also from the house. + +At the usual morning hour, Malcolm had ridden to Chelsea, hoping to +find his friend in a less despairing and more companionable mood +than when he left him. To his surprise and disappointment he learned +that Lenorme had sailed by the packet to Ostend the night before. +He asked leave to go into the study. There on its easel stood the +portrait of his father as he had last seen it--disfigured with a +great smear of brown paint across the face. He knew that the face +was dry, and he saw that the smear was wet: he would see whether +he could not, with turpentine and a soft brush, remove the insult. +In this endeavour he was so absorbed, and by the picture itself +was so divided from the rest of the room, that he neither saw nor +heard anything until Florimel cried out. + +Naturally, those events made him yet more dissatisfied with his +sister's position. Evil influences and dangers were on all sides +of her--the worst possible outcome being that, loving one man, +she should marry another, and him such a man as Liftore. Whatever +he heard in the servants' hall, both tone and substance, only +confirmed the unfavourable impression he had had from the first of +the bold faced countess. The oldest of her servants had, he found, +the least respect for their mistress, although all had a certain +liking for her, which gave their disrespect the heavier import. +He must get Florimel away somehow. While all was right between +her and the painter he had been less anxious about her immediate +surroundings, trusting that Lenorme would ere long deliver her. +But now she had driven him from the very country, and he had left +no clue to follow him up by. His housekeeper could tell nothing of +his purposes. The gardener and she were left in charge as a matter +of course. He might be back in a week, or a year; she could not +even conjecture. + +Seeming possibilities, in varied mingling with rank absurdities +passing through Malcolm's mind, as, after Liftore's punishment, +he lifted the portrait, set it again upon its easel, and went on +trying to clean the face of it--with no small promise of success. +But as he made progress he grew anxious--lest with the defilement, +he should remove some of the colour as well: the painter alone, +he concluded at length could be trusted to restore the work he had +ruined. + +He left the house, walked across the road to the riverbank, and +gave a short sharp whistle. In an instant Davy was in the dinghy, +pulling for the shore. Malcolm went on board the yacht, saw that +all was right, gave some orders, went ashore again, and mounted +Kelpie. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII: LIES + + +In pain, wrath, and mortification, Liftore rode home. What would +the men at his club say if they knew that he had been thrashed by +a scoundrel of a groom for kissing his mistress? The fact would +soon be out: he must do his best to have it taken for what it ought +to be--namely, fiction. It was the harder upon him that he knew +himself no coward. He must punish the rascal somehow--he owed it +to society to punish him; but at present he did not see how, and +the first thing was to have the first word with Florimel; he must +see her before she saw the ruffian. He rode as hard as he dared to +Curzon Street, sent his groom to the stables, telling him he should +want the horses again before lunch, had a hot bath, of which he +stood in dire need, and some brandy with his breakfast, and then, +all unfit for exercise as he was, walked to Portland Place. + +Mistress and maid rode home together in silence. The moment Florimel +heard Malcolm's voice she had left the house. Caley following had +heard enough to know that there was a scuffle at least going on +in the study, and her eye witnessed against her heart that Liftore +could have no chance with the detested groom if the respect of the +latter gave way: would MacPhail thrash his lordship? If he did, +it would be well she should know it. In the hoped event of his +lordship's marrying her mistress, it was desirable, not only that +she should be in favour with both of them, but that she should +have some hold upon each of a more certainly enduring nature: if +she held secrets with husband and wife separately, she would be +in clover for the period of her natural existence. As to Florimel, +she was enraged at the liberties Liftore had taken with her. But +alas! was she not in some degree in his power? He had found her +there, and in tears! How did he come to be there? If Malcolm's +judgment of her was correct, Caley might have told him. Was she +already false? She pondered within herself, and cast no look upon +her maid until she had concluded how best to carry herself towards +the earl. Then glancing at the hooded cobra beside her--"What +an awkward thing that Lord Liftore, of all moments, should appear +just then!" she said. "How could it be?" + +"I'm sure I haven't an idea, my lady," returned Caley. "My lord +has been always kind to Mr Lenorme, and I suppose he has been in +the way of going to see him at work. Who would have thought my lord +had been such an early riser! There are not many gentlemen like him +nowadays, my lady! Did your ladyship hear the noise in the studio +after you left it?" + +"I heard high words," answered her mistress, "--nothing more. +How on earth did MacPhail come to be there as well?--From you, +Caley, I will not conceal that his lordship behaved indiscreetly; +in fact he was rude; and I can quite imagine that MacPhail thought +it his duty to defend me. It is all very awkward for me. Who could +have imagined him there, and sitting behind amongst the pictures! +It almost makes me doubt whether Mr Lenorme be really gone." + +"It seems to me, my lady," returned Caley, "that the man is always +just where he ought not to be, always meddling with something he +has no business with. I beg your pardon, my lady," she went on, "but +wouldn't it be better to get some staid elderly man for a groom, +one who has been properly bred up to his duties and taught his +manners in a gentleman's stable? It is so odd to have a groom from +a rough seafaring set--one who behaves like the rude fisherman +he is, never having had to obey orders of lord or lady! The worst +of it is, your ladyship will soon be the town's talk if you have +such a groom on such a horse after you everywhere." + +Florimel's face flushed. Caley saw she was angry, and held her +peace. + +Breakfast was hardly over, when Liftore walked in, looking pale, +and, in spite of his faultless get up, somewhat disreputable: for +shame, secret pain, and anger do not favour a good carriage or +honest mien. Florimel threw herself back in her chair--an action +characteristic of the bold faced countess, and held out her left +hand to him in an expansive, benevolent sort of way. + +"How dare you come into my presence, looking so well pleased with +yourself, my lord, after giving me such a fright this morning?" +she said. "You might at least have made sure that there was--that +we were--" + +She could not bring herself to complete the sentence. + +"My dearest girl!" said his lordship, not only delighted to get off +so pleasantly, but profoundly flattered by the implied understanding, +"I found you in tears, and how could I think of anything else? It +may have been stupid, but I trust you will think it pardonable." + +Caley had not fully betrayed her mistress to his lordship, and +he had, entirely to his own satisfaction, explained the liking +of Florimel for the society of the painter as the mere fancy of a +girl for the admiration of one whose employment, although nothing +above the servile, yet gave him a claim something beyond that of +a milliner or hair dresser, to be considered a judge in matters of +appearance. As to anything more in the affair--and with him in +the field--of such a notion he was simply incapable: he could +not have wronged the lady he meant to honour with his hand, by +regarding it as within the bounds of the possible. + +"It was no wonder I was crying," said Florimel. "A seraph would +have cried to see the state my father's portrait was in." + +"Your father's portrait!" + +"Yes. Did you not know? Mr Lenorme has been painting one from a +miniature I lent him--under my supervision, of course; and just +because I let fall a word that showed I was not altogether satisfied +with the likeness, what should the wretched man do but catch up a +brush full of filthy black paint, and smudge the face all over!" + +"Oh, Lenorme will soon set it to rights again. He's not a bad fellow +though he does belong to the genus irritabile. I will go about it +this very day." + +"You'll not find him, I'm sorry to say. There's a note I had from +him yesterday. And the picture's quite unfit to be seen--utterly +ruined. But I can't think how you could miss it!" + +"To tell you the truth, Florimel, I had a bit of a scrimmage after +you left me in the studio." Here his lordship did his best to +imitate a laugh. "Who should come rushing upon me out of the back +regions of paint and canvas but that mad groom of yours! I don't +suppose you knew he was there?" + +"Not I. I saw a man's feet--that was all." + +"Well, there he was, for what reason the devil knows, perdu amongst +the painter's litter; and when he heard your little startled cry +--most musical, most melancholy--what should he fancy but that +you were frightened, and he must rush to the rescue! And so he did +with a vengeance: I don't know when I shall quite forget the blow +he gave me." And again Liftore laughed, or thought he did. + +"He struck you!" exclaimed Florimel, rather astonished, but hardly +able for inward satisfaction to put enough of indignation into her +tone. + +"He did, the fellow!--But don't say a word about it, for I thrashed +him so unmercifully that, to tell the truth, I had to stop because +I grew sorry for him. I am sorry now. So I hope you will take +no notice of it. In fact, I begin to like the rascal: you know I +was never favourably impressed with him. By Jove! it is not every +mistress that can have such a devoted attendant. I only hope his +over zeal in your service may never get you into some compromising +position. He is hardly, with all his virtues, the proper servant +for a young lady to have about her; he has had no training--no +proper training at all, you see. But you must let the villain nurse +himself for a day or two anyhow. It would be torture to make him +ride, after what I gave him." + +His lordship spoke feelingly, with heroic endurance indeed; and if +Malcolm should dare give his account of the fracas, he trusted to +the word of a gentleman to outweigh that of a groom. + +Not all to whom it may seem incredible that a nobleman should thus +lie, are themselves incapable of doing likewise. Any man may put +himself in training for a liar by doing things he would be ashamed +to have known. The art is easily learned, and to practise it well +is a great advantage to people with designs. Men of ability, indeed, +if they take care not to try hard to speak the truth, will soon +become able to lie as truthfully as any sneak that sells grease +for butter to the poverty of the New Cut. + +It is worth remarking to him who can from the lie factual carry +his thought deeper to the lie essential, that all the power of a +lie comes from the truth; it has none in itself. So strong is the +truth that a mere resemblance to it is the source of strength to +its opposite--until it be found that like is not the same. + +Florimel had already made considerable progress in the art, but +proficiency in lying does not always develop the power of detecting +it. She knew that her father had on one occasion struck Malcolm, +and that he had taken it with the utmost gentleness, confessing +himself in the wrong. Also she had the impression that for a menial +to lift his hand against a gentleman, even in self defence, was a +thing unheard of. The blow Malcolm had struck Liftore was for her, +not himself. Therefore, while her confidence in Malcolm's courage +and prowess remained unshaken, she was yet able to believe that +Liftore had done as he said, and supposed that Malcolm had submitted. +In her heart she pitied without despising him. + +Caley herself took him the message that he would not be wanted. As +she delivered it, she smiled an evil smile and dropped a mocking +courtesy, with her gaze well fixed on his two black eyes and the +great bruise between them. + +When Liftore mounted to accompany Lady Lossie, it took all the pluck +that belonged to his high breed to enable him to smile and smile, +with twenty counsellors in different parts of his body feelingly +persuading him that he was at least a liar. As they rode, Florimel +asked him how he came to be at the studio that morning. He told her +that he had wanted very much to see her portrait before the final +touches were given it. He could have made certain suggestions, he +believed, that no one else could. He had indeed, he confessed-- +and felt absolutely virtuous in doing so, because here he spoke +a fact--heard from his aunt that Florimel was to be there that +morning for the last time: it was therefore his only chance; but +he had expected to be there hours before she was out of bed. For +the rest, be hoped he had been punished enough, seeing her rascally +groom--and once more his lordship laughed peculiarly--had but +just failed of breaking his arm; it was all he could do to hold +the reins. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV: AN OLD ENEMY + + +One Sunday evening--it must have been just while Malcolm and Blue +Peter stood in the Strand listening to a voluntary that filled and +overflowed an otherwise empty church--a short, stout, elderly +woman was walking lightly along the pavement of a street of small +houses, not far from a thoroughfare which, crowded like a market +the night before, had now two lively borders only--of holiday +makers mingled with church goers. The bells for evening prayers were +ringing. The sun had vanished behind the smoke and steam of London; +indeed he might have set--it was hard to say without consulting +the almanac: but it was not dark yet. The lamps in the street were +lighted, however, and also in the church she passed. She carried a +small bible in her hand, folded in a pocket handkerchief and looked +a decent woman from the country. Her quest was a place where the +minister said his prayers and did not read them out of a book: she +had been brought up a Presbyterian, and had prejudices in favour +of what she took for the simpler form of worship. Nor had she gone +much farther before she came upon a chapel which seemed to promise +all she wanted. She entered, and a sad looking woman showed her to +a seat. She sat down square, fixing her eyes at once on the pulpit, +rather dimly visible over many pews, as if it were one of the +mountains that surrounded her Jerusalem. The place was but scantily +lighted, for the community at present could ill afford to burn +daylight. When the worship commenced, and the congregation rose to +sing, she got up with a jerk that showed the duty as unwelcome as +unexpected, but seemed by the way she settled herself in her seat +for the prayer, already thereby reconciled to the differences +between Scotch church customs and English chapel customs. She went +to sleep softly, and woke warily as the prayer came to a close. + +While the congregation again sang, the minister who had officiated +hitherto left the pulpit, and another ascended to preach. When he +began to read the text, the woman gave a little start, and leaning +forward, peered very hard to gain a satisfactory sight of his face +between the candles on each side of it, but without success; she +soon gave up her attempted scrutiny, and thence forward seemed to +listen with marked attention. The sermon was a simple, earnest, +at times impassioned appeal to the hearts and consciences of the +congregation. There was little attempt in it at the communication +of knowledge of any kind, but the most indifferent hearer must have +been aware that the speaker was earnestly straining after something. +To those who understood, it was as if he would force his way through +every stockade of prejudice, ditch of habit, rampart of indifference, +moat of sin, wall of stupidity, and curtain of ignorance, until he +stood face to face with the conscience of his hearer. + +"Rank Arminianism!" murmured the woman. "Whaur's the gospel o' that?" +But still she listened with seeming intentness, while something +of wonder mingled with the something else that set in motion every +live wrinkle in her forehead, and made her eyebrows undulate like +writhing snakes. + +At length the preacher rose to eloquence, an eloquence inspired by +the hunger of his soul after truth eternal, and the love he bore +to his brethren who fed on husks--an eloquence innocent of the +tricks of elocution or the arts of rhetoric: to have discovered +himself using one of them would have sent him home to his knees in +shame and fear--an eloquence not devoid of discords, the strings +of his instrument being now slack with emotion, now tense with +vision, yet even in those discords shrouding the essence of all +harmony. When he ceased, the silence that followed seemed instinct +with thought, with that speech of the spirit which no longer needs +the articulating voice. + +"It canna be the stickit minister!" said the woman to herself. The +congregation slowly dispersed, but she sat motionless until all +were gone, and the sad faced woman was putting out the lights. Then +she rose, drew near through the gloom, and asked her the name of +the gentleman who had given them such a grand sermon. The woman +told her, adding that, although he had two or three times spoken +to them at the prayer meeting--such words of comfort, the poor +soul added, as she had never in her life heard before--this was +the first time he had occupied the pulpit. The woman thanked her, +and went out into the street. + +"God bless me!" she said to herself, as she walked away; "it is +the stickit minister! Weel, won'ers 'ill never cease. The age o' +mirracles 'ill be come back, I'm thinkin'!" And she laughed an oily +contemptuous laugh in the depths of her profuse person. + +What caused her astonishment need cause none to the thoughtful +mind. The man was no longer burdened with any anxiety as to his +reception by his hearers; he was hampered by no necromantic agony +to raise the dead letter of the sermon buried in the tail pocket +of his coat; he had thirty years more of life, and a whole granary +filled with such truths as grow for him who is ever breaking up +the clods of his being to the spiritual sun and wind and dew; and +above all he had an absolute yet expanding confidence in his Father +in heaven, and a tender love for everything human. The tongue of +the dumb had been in training for song. And first of all he had +learned to be silent while he had nought to reveal. He had been +trained to babble about religion, but through God's grace had +failed in his babble, and that was in itself a success. He would +have made one of the swarm that year after year cast themselves +like flies on the burning sacrifice that they may live on its flesh, +with evil odours extinguishing the fire that should have gone up +in flame; but a burning coal from off the altar had been laid on +his lips, and had silenced them in torture. For thirty years he +had held his peace, until the word of God had become as a fire in +his bones: it was now breaking forth in flashes. + +On the Monday, Mrs Catanach sought the shop of the deacon that was +an ironmonger, secured for herself a sitting in the chapel for the +next half year, and prepaid the sitting. + +"Wha kens," she said to herself "what birds may come to gether +worms an' golachs (beetles) aboot the boody craw (scarecrow), Sanny +Grame!" + +She was one to whom intrigue, founded on the knowledge of private +history, was as the very breath of her being: she could not exist +in composure without it. Wherever she went, therefore--and her +changes of residence had not been few--it was one of her first +cares to enter into connection with some religious community, first +that she might have scope for her calling--that of a midwife, +which in London would probably be straightened towards that of mere +monthly nurse--and next that thereby she might have good chances +for the finding of certain weeds of occult power that spring mostly +in walled gardens, and are rare on the roadside--poisonous things +mostly, called generically secrets. + +At this time she had been for some painful months in possession of +a most important one--painful, I say, because all those months +she had discovered no possibility of making use of it. The trial +had been hard. Her one passion was to drive the dark horses of +society, and here she had been sitting week after week on the coach +box over the finest team she had ever handled, ramping and "foming +tarre," unable to give them their heads because the demon grooms +had disappeared and left the looped traces dangling from their +collars. She had followed Florimel from Portlossie--to Edinburgh, +and then to London, but not yet had seen how to approach her with +probable advantage. In the meantime she had renewed old relations +with a certain herb doctor in Kentish Town, at whose house she +was now accommodated. There she had already begun to entice the +confidences of maid servants, by use of what evil knowledge she +had, and pretence to more, giving herself out as a wise woman. Her +faith never failed her that, if she but kept handling the fowls of +circumstance, one or other of them must at length drop an egg of +opportunity in her lap. When she stumbled upon the schoolmaster, +preaching in a chapel near her own haunts, she felt something more +like a gust of gratitude to the dark power that sat behind and +pulled the strings of events--for thus she saw through her own +projected phantom the heart of the universe--than she had ever +yet experienced. If there were such things as special providences, +here, she said, was one; if not, then it was better luck than she +had looked for. The main point in it was that the dominie seemed +likely after all to turn out a popular preacher; then beyond a +doubt other Scotch people would gather to him; this or that person +might turn up, and anyone might turn out useful; one thread might +be knotted to another, until all together had made a clue to guide +her straight through the labyrinth to the centre, to lay her hand +on the collar of the demon of the house of Lossie. It was the biggest +game of her life, and had been its game long before the opening of +my narrative. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV: THE EVIL GENIUS + + +When Malcolm first visited Mr Graham, the schoolmaster had already +preached two or three times in the pulpit of Hope Chapel. His +ministrations at the prayer meetings had led to this. For every +night on which he was expected to speak, there were more people +present than on the last; and when the deacons saw this, they asked +him to preach on the Sundays. After two Sundays they came to him +in a body, and besought him to become a candidate for the vacant +pulpit, assuring him of success if he did so. He gave a decided +refusal, however, nor mentioned his reasons. His friend Marshal +urged him, pledging himself for his income to an amount which would +have been riches to the dominie, but in vain. Thereupon the silk +mercer concluded that he must have money, and, kind man as he was, +grew kinder in consequence, and congratulated him on his independence. + +"I depend more on the fewness of my wants than on any earthly store +for supplying them," said the dominie. + +Marshal's thermometer fell a little, but not his anxiety to secure +services which, he insisted, would be for the glory of God and the +everlasting good of perishing souls. The schoolmaster only smiled +queerly and held his peace. + +He consented, however, to preach the next Sunday, and on the +Monday, consented to preach the next again. For several weeks the +same thing occurred. But he would never promise on a Sunday, or +allow the briefest advertisement to be given concerning him. All +said he was feeling his way. + +Neither had he, up to this time, said a word to Malcolm about the +manner in which his Sundays were employed, while yet he talked much +about a school he had opened in a room occupied in the evenings +by a debating club, where he was teaching such children of small +shopkeepers and artisans as found their way to him--in part through +his connection with the chapel folk. When Malcolm had called on a +Sunday, his landlady had been able to tell him nothing more than that +Mr Graham had gone out at such and such an hour--she presumed to +church; and when he had once or twice expressed a wish to accompany +him wherever he went to worship, Mr Graham had managed somehow to +let him go without having made any arrangement for his doing so. + +On the evening after his encounter with Liftore, Malcolm visited +the schoolmaster, and told him everything about the affair. He +concluded by saying that Lizzie's wrongs had loaded the whip far +more than his sister's insult; but that he was very doubtful whether +he had had any right to constitute himself the avenger of either +after such a fashion. Mr Graham replied that a man ought never +to be carried away by wrath, as he had so often sought to impress +upon him, and not without success: but that, in the present case, +as the rascal deserved it so well, he did not think he need trouble +himself much. At the same time he ought to remind himself that +the rightness or wrongness of any particular act was of far less +consequence than the rightness or wrongness of the will whence +sprang the act; and that, while no man could be too anxious as to +whether a contemplated action ought or ought not to be done, at +the same time no man could do anything absolutely right until he +was one with him whose was the only absolute self generated purity +--that is, until God dwelt in him and he in God. + +Before he left, the schoolmaster had acquainted him with all that +portion of his London history which he had hitherto kept from him, +and told him where he was preaching. + +When Caley returned to her mistress after giving Malcolm the message +that she did not require his services, and reported the condition +of his face, Florimel informed her of the chastisement he had +received from Liftore, and desired her to find out for her how he +was, for she was anxious about him. Somehow Florimel felt sorrier +for him than she could well understand, seeing he was but a groom +--a great lumbering fellow, all his life used to hard knocks, +which probably never hurt him. That her mistress should care so +much about him added yet an acrid touch to Caley's spite; but she +put on her bonnet and went to the mews, to confer with the wife of +his lordship's groom, who, although an honest woman, had not yet +come within her dislike. She went to make her inquiries, however, +full of grave doubt as to his lordship's statement to her mistress; +and the result of them was a conviction that, beyond his facial +bruises, of which Mrs Merton had heard no explanation, Malcolm had +had no hurt. This confirmed her suspicion that his lordship had +received what he professed to have given: from a window she had +seen him mount his horse; and her woman's fancy for him; while it +added to her hate of Malcolm, did not prevent her from thinking of +the advantage the discovery might bring in the prosecution of her +own schemes. But now she began to fear Malcolm a little as well +as hate him. And indeed he was rather a dangerous person to have +about, where all but himself had secrets more or less bad, and +one at least had dangerous ones--as Caley's conscience, or what +poor monkey rudiment in her did duty for one, in private asserted. +Notwithstanding her hold upon her mistress, she would not have felt +it quite safe to let her know all her secrets. She would not have +liked to say, for instance, how often she woke suddenly with a +little feeble wail sounding in the ears that fingers cannot stop, +or to confess that it cried out against a double injustice, that +of life and that of death: she had crossed the border of the region +of horror, and went about with a worm coiled in her heart, like a +centipede in the stone of a peach. + +"Merton's wife knows nothing, my lady," she said on her return. +"I saw the fellow in the yard going about much as usual. He will +stand a good deal of punishing, I fancy, my lady--like that +brute of a horse he makes such a fuss with. I can't help wishing, +for your ladyship's sake, we had never set eyes on him. He 'll do +us all a mischief yet before we get rid of him. I've had a hinstinc' +of it, my lady; from the first moment I set eyes on him," Caley's +speech was never classic. When she was excited it was low.--" And +when I 'ave a hinstinc' of anythink, he's not a dog as barks for +nothink. Mark my words--and I'm sure I beg your pardon, my lady +--but that man will bring shame on the house. He's that arrergant +an' interferin' as is certain sure to bring your ladyship into public +speech an' a scandal: things will come to be spoke, my lady, that +hadn't ought to be mentioned. Why, my lady, he must ha' struck his +lordship, afore he'd ha' give him two such black eyes as them! And +him that good natured an' condescendin'!--I'm sure I don't know +what's to come on it, but your ladyship might cast a thought on +the rest of us females as can't take the liberties of born ladies +without sufferin' for it. Think what the world will say of us. It's +hard, my lady, on the likes of us." + +But Florimel was not one to be talked into doing what she did not +choose. Neither would she to her maid render her reasons for not +choosing. She had repaired her fortifications, strengthened herself +with Liftore, and was confident. + +"The fact is, Caley," she said, "I have fallen in love with Kelpie, +and never mean to part with her--at least till I can ride her +--or she kills me. So I can't do without MacPhail. And I hope she +won't kill him before he has persuaded her to let me mount her. The +man must go with the mare. Besides, he is such a strange fellow, +if I turned him away I should quite expect him to poison her before +he left." + +The maid's face grew darker. That her mistress had the slightest +intention of ever mounting that mare she did not find herself fool +enough to believe, but of other reasons she could spy plenty behind. +And such there truly were, though none of the sort which Caley's +imagination, swift to evil, now supplied. The kind of confidence +she reposed in her groom, Caley had no faculty for understanding, +and was the last person to whom her mistress could impart the fact +of her father's leaving her in charge to his young henchman. To the +memory of her father she clung, and so far faithfully that, even +now when Malcolm had begun to occasion her a feeling of awe and +rebuke, she did not the less confidently regard him as her good +genius that he was in danger of becoming an unpleasant one. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI: CONJUNCTIONS + + +As the days passed on, and Florimel heard nothing of Lenorme, the +uneasiness that came with the thought of him gradually diminished, +and all the associations of opposite complexion returned. Untrammelled +by fear, the path into a scaring future seeming to be cut off, her +imagination began to work in the quarry of her late experience, +shaping its dazzling material into gorgeous castles, with foundations +deep dug in the air, wherein lorded the person and gifts and +devotion of the painter. When lost in such blissful reveries, not +seldom moments arrived in which she imagined herself--even felt +as if she were capable, if not of marrying Lenorme in the flushed +face of outraged society, yet of fleeing with him from the judgment +of the all but all potent divinity to the friendly bosom of some +blessed isle of the southern seas, whose empty luxuriance they +might change into luxury, and there living a long harmonious idyll +of wedded love, in which old age and death should be provided +against by never taking them into account. This mere fancy, which, +poor in courage as it was in invention, she was far from capable +of carrying into effect, yet seemed to herself the outcome and sign +of a whole world of devotion in her bosom. If one of the meanest +of human conditions is conscious heroism, paltrier yet is heroism +before the fact, incapable of self realization! But even the poorest +dreaming has its influences, and the result of hers was that the +attentions of Liftore became again distasteful to her. And no wonder, +for indeed his lordship's presence in the actual world made a poor +show beside that of the painter in the ideal world of the woman +who, if she could not with truth be said to love him, yet certainly +had a powerful fancy for him: the mean phrase is good enough, even +although the phantom of Lenorme roused in her all the twilight +poetry of her nature, and the presence of Liftore set her whole +consciousness in the perpendicular shadowless gaslight of prudence +and self protection. + +The pleasure of her castle building was but seldom interrupted by +any thought of the shamefulness of her behaviour to him. That did +not matter much! She could so easily make up for all he had suffered! +Her selfishness closed her eyes to her own falsehood. Had she meant +it truly she would have been right both for him and for herself. +To have repented and become as noble a creature as Lenorme was +capable of imagining her--not to say as God had designed her, would +indeed have been to make up for all he had suffered. But the poor +blandishment she contemplated as amends, could render him blessed +only while its intoxication blinded him to the fact that it meant +nothing of what it ought to mean, that behind it was no entire, +heart filled woman. Meantime, as the past, with its delightful +imprudences, its trembling joys, glided away, swiftly widening the +space between her and her false fears and shames, and seeming to +draw with it the very facts themselves, promising to obliterate at +length all traces of them, she gathered courage; and as the feeling +of exposure that had made the covert of Liftore's attentions +acceptable, began to yield, her variableness began to re-appear, +and his lordship to find her uncertain as ever. Assuredly, as his +aunt said, she was yet but a girl incapable of knowing her own mind, +and he must not press his suit. Nor had he the spur of jealousy +or fear to urge him: society regarded her as his; and the shadowy +repute of the bold faced countess intercepted some favourable rays +which would otherwise have fallen upon the young, and beautiful +marchioness from fairer luminaries even than Liftore. + +But there was one good process, by herself little regarded, going +on in Florimel: notwithstanding the moral discomfort oftener than +once occasioned her by Malcolm, her confidence in him was increasing; +and now that the kind of danger threatening her seemed altered, she +leaned her mind upon him not a little--and more than she could +well have accounted for to herself on the only grounds she could +have adduced--namely that he was an attendant authorized by her +father, and, like herself loyal to his memory and will; and that, +faithful as a dog, he would fly at the throat of anyone who dared +touch her--of which she had had late proof, supplemented by his +silent endurance of consequent suffering. Demon sometimes looked +angry--when she teased him--had even gone so far as to bare his +teeth; but Malcolm had never shown temper. In a matter of imagined +duty, he might presume--but that was a small thing beside the +sense of safety his very presence brought with it. She shuddered +indeed at the remembrance of one look he had given her, but that +had been for no behaviour to himself; and now that the painter was +gone, she was clear of all temptation to the sort of thing that +had caused it; and never, never more would she permit herself to +be drawn into circumstances the least equivocal--If only Lenorme +would come back, and allow her to be his friend--his best friend +--his only young lady friend, leaving her at perfect liberty to do +just as she liked, then all would be well--absolutely comfortable! +In the meantime, life was endurable without him--and would be, +provided Liftore did not make himself disagreeable. If he did, there +were other gentlemen who might be induced to keep him in check: she +would punish him--she knew how. She liked him better, however, +than any of those. + +It was out of pure kindness to Malcolm, upon Liftore's representation +of how he had punished him, that for the rest of the week she +dispensed with his attendance upon herself. But he, unaware of +the lies Liftore had told her, and knowing nothing, therefore, of +her reason for doing so, supposed she resented the liberty he had +taken in warning her against Caley, feared the breach would go on +widening, and went about, if not quite downcast, yet less hopeful +still. Everything seemed going counter to his desires. A whole world +of work lay before him:--a harbour to build; a numerous fisher +clan to house as they ought to be housed; justice to do on all +sides; righteous servants to appoint in place of oppressors; and, +all over, to show the heavens more just than his family had in +the past allowed them to appear; he had mortgages and other debts +to pay off--clearing his feet from fetters and his hands from +manacles, that he might be the true lord of his people; he had +Miss Horn to thank, and the schoolmaster to restore to the souls +and hearts of Portlossie; and, next of all to his sister, he had +old Duncan, his first friend and father, to find and minister to. +Not a day passed, not a night did he lay down his head, without +thinking of him. But the old man, whatever his hardships, and +even the fishermen, with no harbour to run home to from the wild +elements, were in no dangers to compare with such as threatened his +sister. To set her free was his first business, and that business +as yet refused to be done. Hence he was hemmed in, shut up, +incarcerated in stubborn circumstance, from a long reaching range +of duties, calling aloud upon his conscience and heart to hasten +with the first, that he might reach the second. What rendered it +the more disheartening was, that, having discovered, as he hoped, +how to compass his first end, the whole possibility had by his +sister's behaviour, and the consequent disappearance of Lenorme, +been swept from him, leaving him more resourceless than ever. + +When Sunday evening came, he found his way to Hope Chapel, and +walking in, was shown to a seat by a grimy faced pew opener. It +was with strange feelings he sat there, thinking of the past, and +looking for the appearance of his friend on the pulpit stair. But +his feelings would have been stranger still had he seen who sat +immediately in the pew behind him, watching him like a cat watching +a mouse, or rather like a half grown kitten watching a rat, for +she was a little frightened at him, even while resolved to have +him. But how could she doubt her final success, when her plans +were already affording her so much more than she had expected? Who +would have looked for the great red stag himself to come browsing +so soon about the scarecrow! He was too large game, however, to be +stalked without due foresight. + +When the congregation was dismissed, after a sermon the power of +whose utterance astonished Malcolm, accustomed as he was to the +schoolmaster's best moods, he waited until the preacher was at +liberty from the unwelcome attentions and vulgar congratulations +of the richer and more forward of his hearers, and then joined him +to walk home with him.--He was followed to the schoolmaster's +lodging, and thence, an hour after, to his own, by a little boy +far too little to excite suspicion, the grandson of Mrs Catanach's +friend, the herb doctor. + +Until now the woman had not known that Malcolm was in London. When +she learned that he was lodged so near Portland Place, she concluded +that he was watching his sister, and chuckled over the idea of his +being watched in turn by herself. + +Every day for weeks after her declaration concerning the birth of +Malcolm, had the mind of Mrs Catanach been exercised to the utmost +to invent some mode of undoing her own testimony. She would have +had no scruples, no sense of moral disgust, in eating every one of +her words; but a magistrate and a lawyer had both been present at +the uttering of them, and she feared the risk. Malcolm's behaviour +to her after his father's death had embittered the unfriendly +feelings she had cherished towards him for many years. While she +believed him base born, and was even ignorant as to his father, +she had thought to secure power over him for the annoyance of the +blind old man to whom she had committed him, and whom she hated +with the hatred of a wife with whom for the best of reasons he +had refused to live; but she had found in the boy a rectitude over +which although she had assailed it from his childhood, she could +gain no influence. Either a blind repugnance in Malcolm's soul, or +a childish instinct of and revulsion from embodied evil, had held +them apart. Even then it had added to her vile indignation that she +regarded him as owing her gratitude for not having murdered him at +the instigation of his uncle; and when at length, to her endless +chagrin, she had herself unwittingly supplied the only lacking +link in the testimony that should raise him to rank and wealth, +she imagined, that by making affidavit to the facts she had already +divulged, she enlarged the obligation infinitely, and might henceforth +hold him in her hand a tool for further operations. When, therefore, +he banished her from Lossie House, and sought to bind her to silence +as to his rank by the conditional promise of a small annuity, she +hated him with her whole huge power of hating. And now she must make +speed, for his incognito in a great city afforded a thousandfold +facility for doing him a mischief. And first she must draw closer +a certain loose tie she had already looped betwixt herself and +the household of Lady Bellair. This tie was the conjunction of her +lying influence with the credulous confidence of a certain very +ignorant and rather wickedly romantic scullery maid with whom, +having in espial seen her come from the house she had scraped +acquaintance, and to whom, for the securing of power over her through +her imagination, she had made the strangest and most appalling +disclosures. Amongst other secret favours, she had promised to +compound for her a horrible mixture--some of whose disgusting +ingredients, as potent as hard to procure, she named in her awe +stricken hearing--which, administered under certain conditions +and with certain precautions, one of which was absolute secrecy in +regard to the person who provided it, must infallibly secure for +her the affections of any man on whom she might cast a loving eye, +and whom she could either with or without his consent, contrive to +cause partake of the same. This girl she now sought, and from her +learned all she knew about Malcolm. Pursuing her enquiries into +the nature and composition of the household, however, Mrs Catanach +soon discovered a far more capable and indeed less scrupulous +associate and instrument in Caley. I will not introduce my reader +to any of their evil councils, although, for the sake of my own +credit, it might be well to be less considerate, seeing that many, +notwithstanding the superabundant evidence of history, find it all +but impossible to believe in the existence of such moral abandonment +as theirs. I will merely state concerning them, and all the relations +of the two women, that Mrs Catanach assumed and retained the upper +hand, in virtue of her superior knowledge, invention, and experience, +gathering from Caley, as she had hoped much valuable information, +full of reactions, and tending to organic development of scheme in +the brain of the arch plotter. But their designs were so mutually +favourable as to promise from the first a final coalescence in some +common plan for their attainment. + +Those who knew that Miss Campbell, as Portlossie regarded her, had +been in reality Lady Lossie, and was the mother of Malcolm, knew as +well that Florimel had no legal title even to the family cognomen; +but if his mother, and therefore the time of his mother's death, +remained unknown, the legitimacy of his sister would remain +unsuspected even upon his appearance as the heir. Now there were +but three besides Mrs Catanach and Malcolm who did know who was his +mother, namely, Miss Horn, Mr Graham, and a certain Mr Morrison, a +laird and magistrate near Portlossie, an elderly man, and of late +in feeble health. The lawyers the marquis had employed on his death +bed did not know: he had, for Florimel's sake taken care that they +should not. Upon what she knew and what she guessed of these facts +regarded in all their relations according to her own theories of +human nature the midwife would found a scheme of action. + +Doubtless she saw, and prepared for it, that after a certain point +should be reached the very similarity of their designs must cause +a rupture between her and Caley; neither could expect the other to +endure such a rival near her hidden throne of influence; for the +aim of both was power in a great family, with consequent money, and +consideration, and midnight councils, and the wielding of all the +weapons of hint and threat and insinuation. There was one difference, +indeed, that in Caley's eye money was the chief thing, while power +itself was the Swedenborgian hell of the midwife's bliss. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII: AN INNOCENT PLOT + + +Florimel and Lady Clementina Thornicroft, the same who in the park +rebuked Malcolm for his treatment of Kelpie, had met several times +during the spring, and had been mutually attracted--Florimel as +to a nature larger, more developed, more self supporting than her +own, and Lady Clementina as to one who, it was plain, stood in sore +need of what countenance and encouragement to good and free action +the friendship of one more experienced might afford her. Lady +Clementina was but a few years older than Florimel, it is true, but +had shown a courage which had already wrought her an unquestionable +influence, and that chiefly with the best. The root of this courage +was compassion. Her rare humanity of heart would, at the slightest +appearance of injustice, drive her like an angel with a flaming +sword against customs regarded, consciously or unconsciously, as the +very buttresses of social distinction. Anything but a wise woman, +she had yet so much in her of what is essential to all wisdom-- +love to her kind, that, if as yet she had done little but blunder, +she had at least blundered beautifully. On every society that had +for its declared end the setting right of wrong or the alleviation +of misery, she lavished, and mostly wasted, her money. Every misery +took to her the shape of a wrong. Hence to every mendicant that +could trump up a plausible story, she offered herself a willing +prey. Even when the barest faced imposition was brought home to one +of the race parasitical, her first care was to find all possible +excuse for his conduct: it was matter of pleasure to her friends +when she stopped there, and made no attempt at absolute justification. + +Left like Florimel an orphan, but at a yet earlier age, she had been +brought up with a care that had gone over into severity, against +which her nature had revolted with an energy that gathered strength +from her own repression of its signs; and when she came of age, and +took things into her own hands, she carried herself in its eyes so +oddly, yet with such sweetness and dignity and consistency in her +oddest extravagances, that society honoured her even when it laughed +at her, loved her, listened to her, applauded, approved--did +everything except imitate her--which indeed was just as well, +for else confusion would have been worse confounded. She was always +rushing to defence--with money, with indignation, with refuge. It +would look like a caricature did I record the number of charities +to which she belonged, and the various societies which, in the +exuberance of her passionate benevolence, she had projected and +of necessity abandoned. Yet still the fire burned, for her changes +were from no changeableness: through them all the fundamental +operation of her character remained the same. The case was that, +for all her headlong passion for deliverance, she could not help +discovering now and then, through an occasional self assertion of +that real good sense which her rampant and unsubjected benevolence +could but overlay, not finally smother, that she was either doing +nothing at all, or more evil than good. + +The lack of discipline in her goodness came out in this, at times +amusingly, that she would always at first side with the lower or +weaker or worse. If a dog had torn a child, and was going to be +killed in consequence, she would not only intercede for the dog, +but absolutely side with him, mentioning this and that provocation +which the naughty child must have given him ere he could have been +goaded to the deed. Once when the schoolmaster in her village was +going to cane a boy for cruelty to a cripple, she pleaded for his +pardon on the ground that it was worse to be cruel than to be a +cripple, and therefore more to be pitied. Everything painful was +to her cruel, and softness and indulgence, moral honey and sugar +and nuts to all alike, was the panacea for human ills. She could +not understand that infliction might be loving kindness. On one +occasion when a boy was caught in the act of picking her pocket, +she told the policeman he was doing nothing of the sort--he was +only searching for a lozenge for his terrible cough; and in proof +of her asserted conviction, she carried him home with her, but lost +him before morning, as well as the spoon with which he had eaten +his gruel. + +As to her person I have already made a poor attempt at describing +it. She might have been grand but for loveliness. When she drew +herself up in indignation, however, she would look grand for the +one moment ere the blood rose to her cheek, and the water to her +eyes. She would have taken the whole world to her infinite heart, +and in unwisdom coddled it into corruption. Praised be the grandeur +of the God who can endure to make and see his children suffer. Thanks +be to him for his north winds and his poverty, and his bitterness +that falls upon the spirit that errs: let those who know him thus +praise the Lord for his goodness. But Lady Clementina had not yet +descried the face of the Son of Man through the mists of Mount +Sinai, and she was not one to justify the ways of God to men. Not +the less was it the heart of God in her that drew her to the young +marchioness, over whom was cast the shadow of a tree that gave but +baneful shelter. She liked her frankness, her activity, her daring, +and fancied that, like herself she was at noble feud with that +infernal parody of the kingdom of heaven, called Society. She did +not well understand her relation to Lady Bellair, concerning whom +she was in doubt whether or not she was her legal guardian, but +she saw plainly enough that the countess wanted to secure her for +her nephew, and this nephew had about him a certain air of perdition, +which even the catholic heart of Lady Clementina could not brook. +She saw too that, being a mere girl, and having no scope of choice +in the limited circle of their visitors, she was in great danger of +yielding without a struggle, and she longed to take her in charge +like a poor little persecuted kitten, for the possession of which +each of a family of children was contending. What if her father +had belonged to a rowdy set, was that any reason why his innocent +daughter should be devoured, body and soul and possessions, by +those of the same set who had not yet perished in their sins? Lady +Clementina thanked Heaven that she came herself of decent people, +who paid their debts, dared acknowledge themselves in the wrong, +and were as honest as if they had been born peasants; and she hoped +a shred of the mantle of their good name had dropped upon her, big +enough to cover also this poor little thing who had come of no such +parentage. With her passion for redemption therefore, she seized +every chance of improving her acquaintance with Florimel, and +it was her anxiety to gain such a standing in her favour as might +further her coveted ministration, that had prevented her from bringing +her charge of brutality against Malcolm as soon as she discovered +whose groom he was: when she had secured her footing on the peak of +her friendship, she would unburden her soul, and meantime the horse +must suffer for his mistress--a conclusion in itself a great step +in advance, for it went dead against one of her most confidently +argued principles, namely, that the pain of any animal is, in every +sense, of just as much consequence as the pain of any other, human +or inferior: pain is pain, she said; and equal pains are equal +wherever they sting;--in which she would have been right, I think, +if pain and suffering were the same thing; but, knowing well that +the same degree and even the same kind of pain means two very +different things in the foot and in the head, I refuse the proposition. + +Happily for Florimel, she had by this time made progress enough +to venture a proposal--namely, that she should accompany her to +a small estate she had on the south coast, with a little ancient +house upon it--a strange place altogether, she said--to spend +a week or two in absolute quiet--only she must come alone-- +without even a maid: she would take none herself. This she said +because, with the instinct, if not quite insight, of a true nature, +she could not endure the woman Caley. + +"Will you come with me there for a fortnight?" she concluded. + +"I shall be delighted," returned Florimel, without a moment +s hesitation. "I am getting quite sick of London. There's no room +in it. And there's the spring all outside, and can't get in here! +I shall be only too glad to go with you, you dear creature!" + +"And on those hard terms--no maid, you know?" insisted Clementina. + +"The only thing wanted to make the pleasure complete! I shall be +charmed to be rid of her." + +"I am glad to see you so independent." + +"You don't imagine me such a baby as not to be able to get on +without a maid! You should have seen me in Scotland! I hated having +a woman about me then. And indeed I don't like it a bit better now +--only everybody has one, and your clothes want looking after," +added Florimel, thinking what a weight it would be off her if she +could get rid of Caley altogether. "--But I should like to take +my horse," she said. "I don't know what I should do in the country +without Abbot." + +"Of course; we must have our horses," returned Clementina. "And-- +yes--you had better bring your groom." + +"Please. You will find him very useful. He can do anything and +everything---and is so kind and helpful!" + +"Except to his horse," Clementina was on the point of saying, but +thought again she would first secure the mistress, and bide her +time to attack the man. + +Before they parted, the two ladies had talked themselves into +ecstasies over the anticipated enjoyments of their scheme. It must +be carried out at once. + +"Let us tell nobody," said Lady Clementina, "and set off tomorrow." + +"Enchanting!" cried Florimel, in full response. + +Then her brow clouded. + +"There is one difficulty, though," she said. "--No man could ride +Kelpie with a led horse; and if we had to employ another, Liftore +would be sure to hear where we had gone." + +"That would spoil all," said Clementina. "But how much better it +would be to give that poor creature a rest, and bring the other I +see him on sometimes!" + +"And by the time we came back, there would not be a living creature, +horse or man, anything bigger than a rat, about the stable. Kelpie +herself would be dead of hunger, if she hadn't been shot. No, no; +where Malcolm goes Kelpie must go. Besides, she's such fun--you +can't think!" + +"Then I'll tell you what!" cried Clementina, after a moment's pause +of perplexity: "we'll ride down! It's not a hundred miles, and we +can take as many days on the road as we please." + +"Better and better!" cried Florimel. "We'll run away with each +other.--But what will dear old Bellair say?" + +"Never mind her," rejoined Clementina. "She will have nothing to +say. You can write and tell her as much as will keep her from being +really alarmed. Order your man to get everything ready, and I will +instruct mine. He is such a staid old fellow, you know, he will be +quite protection. Tomorrow morning we shall set out together for +a ride in Richmond Park--that lying in our way. You can leave a +letter on the breakfast table, saying you are gone with me for a +little quiet. You're not in chancery--are you?" + +"I don't know," answered Florimel. "I suppose I'm all right.-- +Any how, whether I'm in chancery or not, here I am, and going with +you; and if chancery don't like it, chancery may come and fetch +me." + +"Send anything you think you may want to my house. I shall get a +box ready, and we will write from some town on our way to have it +sent there, and then we can write for it from The Gloom. We shall +find all mere necessaries there." + +So the thing was arranged: they would start quite early the next +morning; and that there might be no trouble in the streets, Malcolm +should go before with Kelpie, and wait them in the park. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII: THE JOURNEY + + +Malcolm was overjoyed at the prospect of an escape to the country +--and yet more to find that his mistress wanted to have him with +her--more still to understand, that the journey was to be kept a +secret. Perhaps now, far from both Caley and Liftore, he might say +something to open her eyes; yet how should he avoid the appearance +of a tale bearer? + +It was a sweet fresh morning, late in the spring--those loveliest +of hours that unite the seasons, like the shimmering question of +green or blue in the feathers of a peacock. He had set out an hour +before the rest, and now, a little way within the park, was coaxing +Kelpie to stand, that he might taste the morning in peace. The +sun was but a few degrees above the horizon, shining with all his +heart, and the earth was taking the shine with all hers. "I too am +light," she was saying, "although I can but receive it." The trees +were covered with baby leaves, half wrapped in their swaddling clothes, +and their breath was a warm aromatic odour in the glittering air. +The air and the light seemed one, and Malcolm felt as if his soul +were breathing the light into its very depths, while his body was +drinking the soft spicy wind. For Kelpie, she was as full of life +as if she had been meant for a winged horse, but by some accident +of nature the wing cases had never opened, and the wing life was +for ever trying to get out at her feet. The consequent restlessness, +where there was plenty of space as here, caused Malcolm no more +discomposure than, in his old fishing days, a gale with plenty of +sea room. And the song of the larks was one with the light and the +air. The budding of the trees was their way of singing; but the +larks beat them at that. "What a power of joy," thought Malcolm, +"there must be in God, to be able to keep so many larks so full of +bliss!" He was going to say--"without getting tired;" but he saw +that it was the eternal joy itself that bubbled from their little +fountains: weariness there would be the silence of all song, would +be death, utter vanishment to the gladness of the universe. The +sun would go out like a spark upon burnt paper, and the heart of +man would forget the sound of laughter. Then he said to himself: +"The larks do not make their own singing; do mortals make their +own sighing?" And he saw that at least they might open wider the +doors of their hearts to the Perseus Joy that comes to slay the +grief monsters. Then he thought how his life had been widening out +with the years. He could not say that it was now more pleasant than +it had been; he had Stoicism enough to doubt whether it would ever +become so from any mere change of circumstances. Dangers and sufferings +that one is able for, are not misfortunes or even hardships--so +far from such, that youth delights in them. Indeed he sorely missed +the adventure of the herring fishing. Kelpie, however, was as good +as a stiff gale. If only all were well with his sister! Then he +would go back to Portlossie and have fishing enough. But he must be +patient and follow as he was led. At three and twenty, he reflected, +Milton was content to seem to himself but a poor creature, and +was careful only to be ready for whatever work should hereafter be +required of him: such contentment, with such hope and resolve at +the back of it, he saw to be the right and the duty both of every +man. He whose ambition is to be ready when he is wanted, whatever +the work may be, may wait not the less watchful that he is content. +His heart grew lighter, his head clearer, and by the time the two +ladies with their attendant appeared, he felt such a masterdom over +Kelpie as he had never felt before. + +They rode twenty miles that day with ease, putting up at the first +town. The next day they rode about the same distance. They next day +they rode nearly thirty miles. On the fourth, with an early start, +and a good rest in the middle, they accomplished a yet greater +distance, and at night arrived at The Gloom, Wastbeach--after +a journey of continuous delight to three at least of the party, +Florimel and Malcolm having especially enjoyed that portion of it +which led through Surrey, where England and Scotland meet and mingle +in waste, heathery moor, and rich valley. Much talk had passed +between the ladies, and Florimel had been set thinking about many +things, though certainly about none after the wisest fashion. + +A young half moon was still up when, after riding miles through +pine woods, they at length drew near the house. Long before they +reached it, however, a confused noise of dogs met them in the +forest. Clementina had written to the housekeeper, and every dog +about the place, and the dogs were multitudinous, had been expecting +her all day, had heard the sound of their horses' hoofs miles off +and had at once begun to announce her approach. Nor were the dogs +the only cognisant or expectant animals. Most of the creatures about +the place understood that something was happening, and probably +associated it with their mistress; for almost every live thing +knew her--from the rheumatic cart horse, forty years of age, and +every whit as respectable in Clementina's eyes as her father's old +butler, to the wild cats that haunted the lofts and garrets of the +old Elizabethan hunting lodge. + +When they dismounted, the ladies could hardly get into the house +for dogs; those which could not reach their mistress, turned to +Florimel, and came swarming about her and leaping upon her, until, +much as she liked animal favour, she would gladly have used her +whip--but dared not, because of the presence of their mistress. +If the theories of that mistress allowed them anything of a moral +nature, she was certainly culpable in refusing them their right to +a few cuts of the whip. + +Mingled with all the noises of dogs and horses, came a soft nestling +murmur that filled up the interspaces of sound which even their +tumult could not help leaving. Florimel was too tired to hear it, +but Malcolm heard it, and it filled all the interspaces of his soul +with a speechless delight. He knew it for the still small voice of +the awful sea. + +Florimel scarcely cast a glance around the dark old fashioned room +into which she was shown, but went at once to bed, and when the old +housekeeper carried her something from the supper table at which +she had been expected, she found her already fast asleep. By the +time Malcolm had put Kelpie to rest, he also was a little tired, +and lay awake no moment longer than his sister. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX: DISCIPLINE + + +What with rats and mice, and cats and owls, and creaks and cracks, +there was no quiet about the place from night to morning; and what +with swallows and rooks, and cocks and kine, and horses and foals, +and dogs and pigeons and peacocks, and guinea fowls and turkeys +and geese, and every farm creature but pigs, which, with all her +zootrophy, Clementina did not like, no quiet from morning to night. +But if there was no quiet, there was plenty of calm, and the sleep +of neither brother nor sister was disturbed. + +Florimel awoke in the sweetest concert of pigeon murmuring, duck +diplomacy, fowl foraging, foal whinnering--the word wants an r in +it--and all the noises of rural life. The sun was shining into +the room by a window far off at the further end, bringing with +him strange sylvan shadows, not at once to be interpreted. He must +have been shining for hours, so bright and steady did he shine. +She sprang out of bed--with no lazy London resurrection of the +old buried, half sodden corpse, sleepy and ashamed, but with the +new birth of the new day, refreshed and strong, like a Hercules +baby. A few aching remnants of stiffness was all that was left of +the old fatigue. It was a heavenly joy to think that no Caley would +come knocking at her door. She glided down the long room to the +sunny window, drew aside the rich old faded curtain, and peeped +out. Nothing but pines and pines--Scotch firs all about and +everywhere! They came within a few yards of the window. She threw +it open. The air was still, the morning sun shone hot upon them, +and the resinous odour exhaled from their bark and their needles +and their fresh buds, filled the room--sweet and clean. There +was nothing, not even a fence, between this wing of the house and +the wood. + +All through his deep sleep, Malcolm heard the sound of the sea +--whether of the phantom sea in his soul, or of the world sea to +whose murmurs he had listened with such soft delight as he fell +asleep, matters little the sea was with him in his dreams. But +when he awoke it was to no musical crushing of water drops, no half +articulated tones of animal speech, but to tumult and out cry from +the stables. It was but too plain that he was wanted. Either Kelpie +had waked too soon, or he had overslept himself: she was kicking +furiously. Hurriedly induing a portion of his clothing, he rushed +down and across the yard, shouting to her as he ran, like a nurse +as she runs up the stair to a screaming child. She stopped once to +give an eager whinny, and then fell to again. Griffiths, the groom, +and the few other men about the place, were looking on appalled. +He darted to the corn bin, got a great pottleful of oats, and shot +into her stall. She buried her nose in them like the very demon +of hunger, and he left her for the few moments of peace that would +follow. He must finish his dressing as fast as he could: already, +after four days of travel, which with her meant anything but a +straight forward jog trot struggle with space, she needed a good +gallop! When he returned, he found her just finishing her oats, +and beginning to grow angry with her own nose for getting so near +the bottom of the manger. While yet there was no worse sign, however, +than the fidgetting of her hind quarters, and she was still busy, +he made haste to saddle her. But her unusually obstinate refusal +of the bit, and his difficulty in making her open her unwilling +jaws, gave unmistakable indication of coming conflict. Anxiously +he asked the bystanders after some open place where he might let +her go--fields or tolerably smooth heath, or sandy beach. He dared +not take her through the trees, he said, while she was in such a +humour; she would dash herself to pieces. They told him there was +a road straight from the stables to the shore, and there miles of +pure sand without a pebble. Nothing could be better. He mounted +and rode away. + +Florimel was yet but half dressed, when the door of her room opened +suddenly, and Lady Clementina darted in--the lovely chaos of +her night not more than half as far reduced to order as that of +Florimel's. Her moonlight hair, nearly as long as that of the fabled +Godiva, was flung wildly about her in heavy masses. Her eyes were +wild also; she looked like a holy Maenad. With a glide like the +swoop of an avenging angel, she pounced upon Florimel, caught her +by the wrist and pulled her towards the door. Florimel was startled, +but made no resistance. She half led, half dragged her up a stair +that rose from a corner of the hall gallery to the battlements of +a little square tower, whence a few yards of the beach, through a +chain of slight openings amongst the pines, was visible. Upon that +spot of beach, a strange thing was going on--at which afresh +Clementina gazed with indignant horror, but Florimel eagerly stared +with the forward borne eyes of a spectator of the Roman arena. She +saw Kelpie reared on end, striking out at Malcolm with her fore +hoofs, and snapping with angry teeth--then upon those teeth +receive such a blow from his fist that she swerved, and wheeling, +flung her hind hoofs at his head. But Malcolm was too quick for +her; she spent her heels in the air, and he had her by the bit. +Again she reared, and would have struck at him, but he kept well +by her side, and with the powerful bit forced her to rear to her +full height. Just as she was falling backwards, he pushed her head +from him, and bearing her down sideways, seated himself on it the +moment it touched the ground. Then first the two women turned to +each other. An arch of victory bowed Florimel's lip; her eyebrows +were uplifted; the blood flushed her cheek, and darkened the blue +in her wide opened eyes. Lady Clementina's forehead was gathered +in vertical wrinkles over her nose, and all about her eyes was +contracted as if squeezing from them the flame of indignation, +while her teeth and lips were firmly closed. The two made a splendid +contrast. When Clementina's gaze fell on her visitor, the fire +in her eyes burned more angry still: her soul was stirred by the +presence of wrong and cruelty, and here, her guest, and looking her +straight in the eyes, was a young woman, one word from whom would +stop it all, actually enjoying the sight! + +"Lady Lossie, I am ashamed of you!" she said, with severest reproof; +and turning from her, she ran down the stair. + +Florimel turned again towards the sea. Presently she caught sight +of Clementina glimpsing though the pines, "now in glimmer and now +in gloom," as she sped swiftly to the shore, and, after a few short +minutes of disappearance, saw her emerge upon the space of sand +where sat Malcolm on the head of the demoness. But alas! she could +only see. She could hardly even hear the sound of the tide. + +"MacPhail, are you a man?" cried Clementina, startling him so that +in another instant the floundering mare would have been on her feet. +With a right noble anger in her face, and her hair flying like a +wind torn cloud, she rushed out of the wood upon him, where he sat +quietly tracing a proposition of Euclid on the sand with his whip. + +"Ay, and a bold one," was on Malcolm's lips for reply, but he +bethought himself in time. + +"I am sorry what I am compelled to do should annoy your ladyship," +he said. + +What with indignation and breathless--she had run so fast-- +Clementina had exhausted herself in that one exclamation, and stood +panting and staring. The black bulk of Kelpie lay outstretched on +the yellow sand, giving now and then a sprawling kick or a wamble +like a lumpy snake, and her soul commiserated each movement as +if it had been the last throe of dissolution, while the grey fire +of the mare's one visible fierce eye, turned up from the shadow +of Malcolm's superimposed bulk, seemed to her tender heart a mute +appeal for woman's help. + +As Malcolm spoke, he cautiously shifted his position, and, half rising, +knelt with one knee where he had sat before, looking observant at +Lady Clementina. The champion of oppressed animality soon recovered +speech. + +"Get off the poor creature's head instantly," she said, with dignified +command. "I will permit no such usage of living thing on my ground." + +"I am very sorry to seem rude, my lady," answered Malcolm, "but to +obey you would perhaps be to ruin my mistress's property. If the +mare were to break away, she would dash herself to pieces in the +wood." + +"You have goaded her to madness." + +"I'm the more bound to take care of her then," said Malcolm. "But +indeed it is only temper--such temper, however, that I almost +believe she is at times possessed of a demon." + +"The demon is in yourself. There is nothing in her but what your +cruelty has put there. Let her up, I command you." + +"I dare not, my lady. If she were to get loose she would tear your +ladyship to pieces." + +"I will take my chance." + +"But I will not my lady. I know the danger, and have to take care +of you who do not. There is no occasion to be uneasy about the +mare. She is tolerably comfortable. I am not hurting her--not +much. Your ladyship does not reflect how strong a horse's skull +is. And you see what great powerful breaths she draws!" + +"She is in agony," cried Clementina. + +"Not in the least, my lady. She is only balked of her own way, and +does not like it." + +"And what right have you to balk her of her own way? Has she no +right to a mind of her own?" + +"She may of course have her mind, but she can't have her way. She +has got a master." + +"And what right have you to be her master?" + +"That my master, my Lord Lossie, gave me the charge of her." + +"I don't mean that sort of right; that goes for nothing. What right +in the nature of things can you have to tyrannize over any creature?" + +"None, my lady. But the higher nature has the right to rule the +lower in righteousness. Even you can't have your own way always, +my lady." + +"I certainly cannot now, so long as you keep in that position. Pray, +is it in virtue of your being the higher nature that you keep my +way from me?" + +"No, my lady. But it is in virtue of right. If I wanted to take +your ladyship's property, your dogs would be justified in refusing +me my way.--I do not think I exaggerate when I say that, if my +mare here had her way, there would not be a living creature about +your house by this day week." + +Lady Clementina had never yet felt upon her the power of a stronger +nature than her own. She had had to yield to authority, but never +to superiority. Hence her self will had been abnormally developed. +Her very compassion was self willed. Now for the first time, she +continuing altogether unaware of it, the presence of such a nature +began to operate upon her. The calmness of Malcolm's speech and +the immovable decision of his behaviour told. + +"But," she said, more calmly, "your mare has had four long journeys, +and she should have rested today." + +"Rest is just the one thing beyond her, my lady. There is a volcano +of life and strength in her you have no conception of. I could +not have dreamed of horse like her. She has never in her life had +enough to do. I believe that is the chief trouble with her. What +we all want, my lady, is a master--a real right master. +I've got one myself; and--" + +"You mean you want one yourself," said Lady Clementina. "You've +only got a mistress, and she spoils you." + +"That is not what I meant, my lady," returned Malcolm. "But one +thing I know, is, that Kelpie would soon come to grief without me. +I shall keep her here till her half hour is out, and then let her +take another gallop." + +Lady Clementina turned away. She was defeated. Malcolm knelt there +on one knee, with a hand on the mare's shoulder, so calm, so +imperturbable, so ridiculously full of argument, that there was +nothing more for her to do or say. Indignation, expostulation, were +powerless upon him as mist upon a rock. He was the oddest, most +incomprehensible of grooms. + +Going back to the house, she met Florimel, and turned again with +her to the scene of discipline. Ere they reached it, Florimel's +delight with all around her had done something to restore Clementina's +composure: the place was precious to her, for there she had passed +nearly the whole of her childhood. But to anyone with a heart open +to the expressions of Nature's countenance, the place could not +but have a strange as well as peculiar charm. + +Florimel had lost her way. I would rather it had been in +the moonlight, but slant sunlight was next best. It shone through +a slender multitude of mast-like stems, whose shadows complicated +the wonder, while the light seemed amongst them to have gathered +to itself properties appreciable by other organs besides the eyes, +and to dwell bodily with the trees. The soil was mainly of sand, +the soil to delight the long tap roots of the fir trees, covered +above with a thick layer of slow forming mould, in the gradual +odoriferous decay of needles and cones and flakes of bark and knots +of resinous exudation. It grew looser and sandier, and its upper +coat thinner, as she approached the shore. The trees shrunk in +size, stood farther apart, and grew more individual, sending out +knarled boughs on all sides of them, and asserting themselves as +the tall slender branchless ones in the social restraint of the +thicker wood dared not do. They thinned and thinned, and the sea +and the shore came shining through, for the ground sloped to the +beach without any intervening abruption of cliff or even bank; they +thinned and thinned until all were gone, and the bare long yellow +sands lay stretched out on both sides for miles, gleaming and +sparkling in the sun, especially at one spot where the water of +a little stream wandered about over them, as if it had at length +found its home, but was too weary to enter and lose its weariness, +and must wait for the tide to come up and take it. But when Florimel +reached the strand, she could see nothing of the group she sought: +the shore took a little bend, and a tongue of forest came in between. + +She was on her way back to the house when she met Clementina, also +returning discomfited. Pleased as she was with them, her hostess +soon interrupted her ecstasies by breaking out in accusation of +Malcolm, not untempered, however, with a touch of dawning respect. +At the same time her report of his words was anything but accurate, +for as no one can be just without love, so no one can truly report +without understanding. But they had not time to discuss him now, +as Clementina insisted on Florimel's putting an immediate stop to +his cruelty. + +When they reached the spot, there was the groom again seated on +his animal's head, with a new proposition in the sand before him. + +"Malcolm," said his mistress, "let the mare get up. You must let +her off the rest of her punishment this time." + +Malcolm rose again to his knee. + +"Yes, my lady," he said. "But perhaps your ladyship wouldn't mind +helping me to unbuckle her girths before she gets to her feet. I want +to give her a bath--Come to this side," he went on, as Florimel +advanced to his request, "--round here by her head. If your +ladyship would kneel upon it, that would be best. But you mustn't +move till I tell you." + +"I will do anything you bid me--exactly as you say, Malcolm," +responded Florimel. + +"There's the Colonsay blood! I can trust that!" cried Malcolm, with +a pardonable outbreak of pride in his family. Whether most of his +ancestors could so well have appreciated the courage of obedience, +is not very doubtful. + +Clementina was shocked at the insolent familiarity of her poor +little friend's groom, but Florimel saw none, and kneeled, as if +she had been in church, on the head of the mare, with the fierce +crater of her fiery brain blazing at her knee. Then Malcolm lifted +the flap of the saddle, undid the buckles of the girths, and drawing +them a little from under her, laid the saddle on the sand, talking +all the time to Florimel, lest a sudden word might seem a direction, +and she should rise before the right moment had come. + +"Please, my lady Clementina, will you go to the edge of the wood. +I can't tell what she may do when she gets up. And please, my lady +Florimel, will you run there too, the moment you get off her head." + +When he got her rid of the saddle, he gathered the reins together +in his bridle hand, took his whip in the other, and softly and +carefully straddled across her huge barrel without touching her. + +"Now, my lady!" he said. "Run for the wood." + +Florimel rose and fled, heard a great scrambling behind her, and +turning at the first tree, which was only a few yards off, saw +Kelpie on her hind legs, and Malcolm, whom she had lifted with her, +sticking by his knees on her bare back. The moment her fore feet +touched the ground, he gave her the spur severely, and after one +plunging kick, off they went westward over the sands, away from +the sun; nor did they turn before they had dwindled to such a speck +that the ladies could not have told by their eyes whether it was +moving or not. At length they saw it swerve a little; by and by it +began to grow larger; and after another moment or two they could +distinguish what it was, tearing along towards them like a whirlwind, +the lumps of wet sand flying behind like an upward storm of clods. +What a picture it was only neither of the ladies was calm enough +to see it picturewise: the still sea before, type of the infinite +always, and now of its repose; the still straight solemn wood behind, +like a past world that had gone to sleep--out of which the sand +seemed to come flowing down, to settle in the long sand lake of +the beach; that flameless furnace of life tearing along the shore, +betwixt the sea and the land, between time and eternity, guided, +but only half controlled, by the strength of a higher will; and +the two angels that had issued--whether out of the forest of the +past or the sea of the future, who could tell?--and now stood, +with hand shaded eyes, gazing upon that fierce apparition of terrene +life. + +As he came in front of them, Malcolm suddenly wheeled Kelpie, so +suddenly and in so sharp a curve that he made her "turne close to +the ground, like a cat, when scratchingly she wheeles about after +a mouse," as Sir Philip Sidney says, and dashed her straight into +the sea. The two ladies gave a cry, Florimel of delight, Clementina of +dismay, for she knew the coast, and that there it shelved suddenly +into deep water. But that was only the better to Malcolm: it was the +deep water he sought, though he got it with a little pitch sooner +than he expected. He had often ridden Kelpie into the sea at +Portlossie, even in the cold autumn weather when first she came +into his charge, and nothing pleased her better or quieted her more. +He was a heavy weight to swim with, but she displaced much water. +She carried her head bravely, he balanced sideways, and they swam +splendidly. To the eyes of Clementina the mare seemed to be labouring +for her life. + +When Malcolm thought she had had enough of it, he turned her head +to the shore. But then came the difficulty. So steeply did the +shore shelve that Kelpie could not get a hold with her hind hoofs +to scramble up into the shallow water. The ladies saw the struggle, +and Clementina, understanding it, was running in an agony right +into the water, with the vain idea of helping them, when Malcolm +threw himself off, drawing the reins over Kelpie's head as he fell, +and swimming but the length of them shorewards, felt the ground +with his feet, and stood, Kelpie, relieved of his weight, floated +a little farther on to the shelf, got a better hold with her fore +feet, some hold with her hind ones, and was beside him in a moment. +The same moment Malcolm was on her back again, and they were +tearing off eastward at full stretch. So far did the lessening point +recede in the narrowing distance, that the two ladies sat down on +the sand, and fell a-talking about Florimel's most uncategorical +groom, as Clementina, herself the most uncategorical of women, to +use her own scarcely justifiable epithet, called him. She asked if +such persons abounded in Scotland. Florimel could but answer that +this was the only one she had met with. Then she told her about +Richmond Park and Lord Liftore and Epictetus. + +"Ah, that accounts for him!" said Clementina. "Epictetus was a +Cynic, a very cruel man: he broke his slave's leg once, I remember." + +"Mr Lenorme told me that he was the slave, and that his master +broke his leg," said Florimel. + +"Ah, yes! I daresay.--That was it. But it is of little consequence: +his principles were severe, and your groom has been his too ready +pupil. It is a pity he is such a savage: he might be quite an +interesting character.--Can he read?" + +"I have just told you of his reading Greek over Kelpie's head," +said Florimel, laughing. + +"Ah! but I meant English," said Clementina, whose thoughts were a +little astray. Then laughing at herself she explained "I mean, can +he read aloud? I put the last of the Waverley novels in the box we +shall have tomorrow, or the next day at latest, I hope: and I was +wondering whether he could read the Scotch--as it ought to be +read. I have never heard it spoken, and I don't know how to imagine +it." + +"We can try him," said Florimel. "It will be great fun anyhow. He +is such a character! You will be so amused with the remarks he will +make!" + +"But can you venture to let him talk to you?" + +"If you ask him to read, how will you prevent him? Unfortunately +he has thoughts, and they will out." + +"Is there no danger of his being rude?" + +"If speaking his mind about anything in the book be rudeness, he +will most likely be rude. Any other kind of rudeness is as impossible +to Malcolm as to any gentleman in the land." + +"How can you be so sure of him?" said Clementina, a little anxious +as to the way in which her friend regarded the young man. + +"My father was--yes, I may say so--attached to him--so much +so that he--I can't quite say what--but something like made +him promise never to leave my service. And this I know for myself, +that not once, ever since that man came to us, has he done a selfish +thing or one to be ashamed of. I could give you proof after proof +of his devotion." + +Florimel's warmth did not reassure Clementina; and her uneasiness +wrought to the prejudice of Malcolm. She was never quite so generous +towards human beings as towards animals. She could not be depended +on for justice except to people in trouble, and then she was very +apt to be unjust to those who troubled them. + +"I would not have you place too much confidence in your Admirable +Crichton of menials, Florimel," she said. "There is something about +him I cannot get at the bottom of. Depend upon it, a man who can +be cruel would betray on the least provocation." + +Florimel smiled superior--as she had good reason to do; but +Clementina did not understand the smile, and therefore did not +like it. She feared the young fellow had already gained too much +influence over his mistress. + +"Florimel, my love," she said, "listen to me. Your experience is +not so ripe as mine. That man is not what you think him. One day +or other he will, I fear, make himself worse than disagreeable. +How can a cruel man be unselfish?" + +"I don't think him cruel at all. But then I haven't such a soft +heart for animals as you. We should think it silly in Scotland. You +wouldn't teach a dog manners at the expense of a howl. You would +let him be a nuisance rather than give him a cut with a whip. What +a nice mother of children you will make, Clementina! That's how +the children of good people are so often a disgrace to them." + +"You are like all the rest of the Scotch I ever knew," said Lady +Clementina: "the Scotch are always preaching! I believe it is +in their blood. You are a nation of parsons. Thank goodness! my +morals go no farther than doing as I would be done by. I want to +see creatures happy about me. For my own sake even, I would never +cause pang to person--it gives me such a pang myself." + +"That's the way you are made, I suppose, Clementina," returned +Florimel. "For me, my clay must be coarser. I don't mind a little +pain myself, and I can't break my heart for it when I see it-- +except it be very bad--such as I should care about myself--But +here comes the tyrant." + +Malcolm was pulling up his mare some hundred yards off. Even now +she was unwilling to stop--but it was at last only from pure +original objection to whatever was wanted of her. When she did +stand she stood stock still, breathing hard. + +"I have actually succeeded in taking a little out of her at last, +my lady," said Malcolm as he dismounted. "Have you got a bit of +sugar in your pocket, my lady? She would take it quite gently now." + +Florimel had none, but Clementina had, for she always carried sugar +for her horse. Malcolm held the demoness very watchfully, but she +took the sugar from Florimel's palm as neatly as an elephant, and +let her stroke her nose over her wide red nostrils without showing +the least of her usual inclination to punish a liberty with death. +Then Malcolm rode her home, and she was at peace till the evening +--when he took her out again. + + + +CHAPTER XL: MOONLIGHT + + +And now followed a pleasant time. Wastbeach was the quietest of +all quiet neighbourhoods; it was the loveliest of spring summer +weather; and the variety of scenery on moor, in woodland, and on +coast, within easy reach of such good horsewomen, was wonderful. +The first day they rested the horses that would rest, but the next +day were in the saddle immediately after an early breakfast. They +took the forest way. In many directions were tolerably smooth rides +cut, and along them they had good gallops, to the great delight +of Florimel after the restraints of Rotten Row, where riding had +seemed like dancing a minuet with a waltz in her heart. Malcolm, so +far as human companionship went, found it dull, for Lady Clementina's +groom regarded him with the contempt of superior age, the most +contemptible contempt of all, seeing years are not the wisdom they +ought to bring, and the first sign of that is modesty. Again and +again his remarks tempted Malcolm to incite him to ride Kelpie, but +conscience, the thought of the man's family, and the remembrance +that it required all his youthful strength, and that it would +therefore be the challenge of the strong to the weak, saved him +from the sin, and he schooled himself to the endurance of middle +aged arrogance. For the learning of the lesson he had practice +enough: they rode every day, and Griffith did not thaw; but the +one thundering gallop he had every morning along the sands with +Kelpie, whom * no ordinary day's work was enough to save from the +heart burning ferment of repressed activity, was both preparation +and amends for the annoyance. + +* [According to the grammars, I ought to have written which, but +it will not do. I could, I think, tell why, but prefer leaving the +question to the reader.] + +When his mistress mentioned the proposal of her friend with regard +to the new novel, he at once expressed his willingness to attempt +compliance, fearing only, he said, that his English would prove +offensive and his Scotch unintelligible. The task was nowise alarming +to him, for he had read aloud much to the schoolmaster, who had also +insisted that he should read aloud when alone, especially verse, +in order that he might get all the good of its outside as well as +inside--its sound as well as thought, the one being the ethereal +body of the other. And he had the best primary qualifications for +the art, namely, a delight in the sounds of human speech, a value +for the true embodiment of thought, and a good ear, mental as +well as vocal, for the assimilation of sound to sense. After these +came the quite secondary, yet valuable gift of a pleasant voice, +manageable for reflection; and with such an outfit, the peculiarities +of his country's utterance, the long drawn vowels, and the outbreak +of feeling in chant-like tones and modulations, might be forgiven, +and certainly were forgiven by Lady Clementina, who, even in his +presence, took his part against the objections of his mistress. On +the whole, they were so much pleased with his first reading, which +took place the very day the box arrived, that they concluded to +restrain the curiosity of their interest in persons and events, +for the sake of the pleasure of meeting them always in the final +fulness of local colour afforded them by his utterance. While he +read, they busied their fingers with their embroidery; for as yet +that graceful work, so lovelily described by Cowper in his Task, +had not begun to vanish before the crude colours and mechanical +vulgarity of Berlin wool, now happily in its turn vanishing like +a dry dust cloud into the limbo of the art universe: + + +The well depicted flower, +Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn +Unfolds its bosom; buds, and leaves, and sprigs, +And curling tendrils, gracefully disposed, +Follow the nimble finger of the fair; +A wreath, that cannot fade, of flowers that blow +With most success when all besides decay. * + +* ["The Winter Evening."] + +There was not much of a garden about the place, but there was a +little lawn amongst the pines, in the midst of which stood a huge +old patriarch, with red stem and grotesquely contorted branches: +beneath it was a bench, and there, after their return from their +two hours' ride, the ladies sat, while the sun was at its warmest, +on the mornings of their first and second readings: Malcolm sat on a +wheelbarrow. After lunch on the second day, which they had agreed +from the first, as ladies so often do, when free of the more +devouring sex, should be their dinner, and after due visits paid +to a multitude of animals, the desire awoke simultaneously in them +for another portion of "St. Ronan's Well." They resolved therefore +to send for their reader as soon as they had had tea. But when they +sent he was nowhere to be found, and they concluded on a stroll. + +Anticipating no further requirement of his service that day, Malcolm +had gone out. Drawn by the sea, he took his way through the dim +solemn boughless wood, as if to keep a moonlight tryst with his +early love. But the sun was not yet down, and among the dark trees, +shot through by the level radiance, he wandered, his heart swelling +in his bosom with the glory and the mystery. Again the sun was in +the wood, its burning centre, the marvel of the home which he left +in the morning only to return thither at night, and it was now +a temple of red light, more gorgeous, more dream woven than the +morning. How he glowed on the red stems of the bare pines, fit +pillars for that which seemed temple and rite, organ and anthem in +one--the worship of the earth, uplifted to its Hyperion! It was +a world of faery; anything might happen in it. Who, in that region +of marvel, would start to see suddenly a knight on a great sober +warhorse come slowly pacing down the torrent of carmine splendour, +flashing it, like the Knight of the Sun himself in a flood from +every hollow, a gleam from every flat, and a star from every round +and knob of his armour? As the trees thinned away, and his feet +sank deeper in the looser sand, and the sea broke blue out of the +infinite, talking quietly to itself of its own solemn swell into +being out of the infinite thought unseen, Malcolm felt as if the +world with its loveliness and splendour were sinking behind him, +and the cool entrancing sweetness of the eternal dreamland of the +soul, where the dreams are more real than any sights of the world, +were opening wide before his entering feet. + +"Shall not death be like this?" he said, and threw himself upon +the sand, and hid his face and his eyes from it all. For there is +this strange thing about all glory embodied in the material, that, +when the passion of it rises to its height, we hurry from its +presence that its idea may perfect itself in silent and dark and +deaf delight. Of its material self we want no more: its real self +we have, and it sits at the fountain of our tears. Malcolm hid his +face from the source of his gladness, and worshipped the source of +that source. + +Rare as they are at any given time, there have been, I think, such +youths in all ages of the world--youths capable of glorying in +the fountain whence issues the torrent of their youthful might. +Nor is the reality of their early worship blasted for us by any +mistral of doubt that may blow upon their spirit from the icy region +of the understanding. The cold fevers, the vital agues that such +winds breed, can but prove that not yet has the sun of the perfect +arisen upon them; that the Eternal has not yet manifested himself +in all regions of their being; that a grander, more obedient, +therefore more blissful, more absorbing worship yet, is possible, +nay, is essential to them. These chills are but the shivers of the +divine nature, unsatisfied, half starved, banished from its home, +divided from its origin, after which it calls in groanings it knows +not how to shape into sounds articulate. They are the spirit wail +of the holy infant after the bosom of its mother. Let no man long +back to the bliss of his youth--but forward to a bliss that +shall swallow even that, and contain it, and be more than it. Our +history moves in cycles, it is true, ever returning toward the point +whence it started; but it is in the imperfect circles of a spiral +it moves; it returns--but ever to a point above the former: even +the second childhood, at which the fool jeers, is the better, the +truer, the fuller childhood, growing strong to cast off altogether, +with the husk of its own enveloping age, that of its family, its +country, its world as well. Age is not all decay: it is the ripening, +the swelling of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the +husk. + +When Malcolm lifted his head, the sun had gone down. He rose and +wandered along the sand towards the moon--at length blooming +out of the darkening sky, where she had hung all day like a washed +out rag of light, to revive as the sunlight faded. He watched the +banished life of her day swoon returning, until, gathering courage, +she that had been no one, shone out fair and clear, in conscious +queendom of the night. Then, in the friendly infolding of her +dreamlight and the dreamland it created, Malcolm's soul revived as +in the comfort of the lesser, the mitigated glory, and, as the moon +into radiance from the darkened air, and the nightingale into music +from the sleep stilled world of birds, blossomed from the speechlessness +of thought and feeling into a strange kind of brooding song. If the +words were half nonsense, the feeling was not the less real. Such +as they were, they came almost of themselves, and the tune came +with them. + + +Rose o' my hert, +Open yer leaves to the lampin' mune; +Into the curls lat her keek an' dert; +She'll tak' the colour but gi'e ye tune. + +Buik o' my brain, +Open yer neuks to the starry signs; +Lat the een o' the holy luik an' strain +An' glimmer an' score atween the lines. + +Cup o' my sowl, +Gowd an' diamond an' ruby cup, +Ye're noucht ava but a toom dry bowl, +Till the wine o' the kingdom fill ye up, + +Conscience glass, +Mirror the infinite all in thee; +Melt the bounded and make it pass +Into the tideless, shoreless sea. + +World of my life, +Swing thee round thy sunny track; +Fire and wind and water and strife-- +Carry them all to the glory back. + +Ever as he halted for a word, the moonlight, and the low sweet waves +on the sands, filled up the pauses to his ear; and there he lay, +looking up to the sky and the moon and the rose diamond stars, his +thoughts half dissolved in feeling, and his feeling half crystallised +to thought. + +Out of the dim wood came two lovely forms into the moonlight, and +softly approached him--so softly that he knew nothing of their +nearness until Florimel spoke. + +"Is that MacPhail?" she said. + +"Yes, my lady," answered Malcolm, and bounded to his feet + +"What were you singing?" + +"You could hardly call it singing, my lady. We should call it +crooning in Scotland." + +"Croon it again then." + +"I couldn't, my lady. It's gone." + +"You don't mean to pretend that you were extemporising?" + +"I was crooning what came--like the birds, my lady. I couldn't +have done it if I had thought anyone was near." + +Then, half ashamed, and anxious to turn the talk from the threshold +of his secret chamber, he said, "Did you ever see a lovelier night, +ladies?" + +"Not often, certainly," answered Clementina. + +She was not quite pleased and not altogether offended at his +addressing them dually. A curious sense of impropriety in the state +of things bewildered her--she and her friend talking thus, in +the moonlight, on the seashore, doing nothing, with her friend's +groom--and such a groom, his mistress asking him to sing again, +and he addressing them both with a remark on the beauty of the +night! She had braved the world a good deal, but she did not choose +to brave it where nothing was to be had, and she was too honest to +say to herself that the world would never know--that there was +nothing to brave: she was not one to do that in secret to which she +would not hold her face. Yet all the time she had a doubt whether +this young man, whom it would certainly be improper to encourage +by addressing from any level but one of lofty superiority, did +not belong to a higher sphere than theirs; while certainly no man +could be more unpresuming, or less forward even when opposing his +opinion to theirs. Still--if an angel were to come down and take +charge of their horses, would ladies be justified in treating him +as other than a servant? + +"This is just the sort of night," Malcolm resumed, "when I could +almost persuade myself I was not quite sure I wasn't dreaming. It +makes a kind of border land betwixt waking and sleeping, knowing +and dreaming, in our brain. In a night like this I fancy we feel +something like the colour of what God feels when he is making the +lovely chaos of a new world, a new kind of world, such as has never +been before." + +"I think we had better go in," said Clementina to Florimel, and +turned away. + +Florimel made no objection, and they walked towards the wood. + +"You really must get rid of him as soon as you can," said Clementina, +when again the moonless night of the pines had received them: "he +is certainly more than half a lunatic. It is almost full moon now," +she added, looking up. "I have never seen him so bad." + +Florimel's clear laugh rang through the wood. + +"Don't be alarmed, Clementina," she said. "He has talked like that +ever since I knew him; and if he is mad, at least he is no worse +than he has always been. It is nothing but poetry--yeast on the +brain, my father used to say. We should have a fish poet of him-- +a new thing in the world, he said. He would never be cured till he +broke out in a book of poetry. I should be afraid my father would +break the catechism and not rest in his grave till the resurrection, +if I were to send Malcolm away." + +For Malcolm, he was at first not a little mazed at the utter blankness +of the wall against which his words had dashed themselves. Then he +smiled queerly to himself, and said: + +"I used to think ilka bonny lassie bude to be a poetess--for hoo +sud she be bonnie but by the informin' hermony o' her bein'?--an' +what's that but the poetry o' the Poet, the Makar, as they ca'd a +poet i' the auld Scots tongue?--but haith! I ken better an' waur +noo! There's gane the twa bonniest I ever saw, an' I s' lay my heid +there's mair poetry in auld man faced Miss Horn nor in a dizzin +like them. Ech! but it's some sair to bide. It's sair upon a man to +see a bonny wuman 'at has nae poetry, nae inward lichtsome hermony +in her. But it's dooms sairer yet to come upo' ane wantin' cowmon +sense! Saw onybody ever sic a gran' sicht as my Leddy Clementina! +--an' wha can say but she's weel named frae the hert oot?--as +guid at the hert, I'll sweir, as at the een! but eh me! to hear +the blether o' nonsense 'at comes oot atween thae twa bonny yetts +o' music--an' a' cause she winna gi'e her hert rist an' time +eneuch to grow bigger, but maun aye be settin' at things richt afore +their time, an' her ain fitness for the job! It's sic a faithless +kin' o' a w'y that! I could jist fancy I saw her gaein' a' roon' +the trees o' a simmer nicht, pittin' hiney upo' the peers an' the +peaches, 'cause she cudna lippen to natur' to ripe them sweet eneuch +--only 'at she wad never tak the hiney frae the bees. She's jist +the pictur' o' Natur' hersel' turnt some dementit. I cud jist fancy +I saw her gaein' aboot amo' the ripe corn, on sic a nicht as this +o' the mune, happin' 't frae the frost. An' I s' warran' no ae +mesh in oor nets wad she lea' ohn clippit open gien the twine had +a herrin' by the gills. She's e'en sae pitifu' owre the sinner 'at +she winna gi'e him a chance o' growin' better. I won'er gien she +believes 'at there's ae great thoucht abune a', an' aneth a', an' +roon' a', an' in a'thing. She cudna be in sic a mist o' benevolence +and parritch hertitness gien she cud lippen till a wiser. It's na'e +won'er she kens naething aboot poetry but the meeserable sids an' +sawdist an' leavin's the gran' leddies sing an' ca' sangs! Nae mair +is 't ony won'er she sud tak' me for dementit, gien she h'ard what +I was singin'! only I canna think she did that, for I was but croonin' +till mysel'."--Malcolm was wrong there, for he was singing out +loud and clear.--"That was but a kin' o' an unknown tongue atween +Him an' me an' no anither." + + + +CHAPTER XLI: THE SWIFT + + +Florimel succeeded so far in reassuring her friend as to the +safety if not sanity of her groom, that she made no objection to +yet another reading from "St Ronan's Well"--upon which occasion +an incident occurred that did far more to reassure her than all +the attestations of his mistress. + +Clementina, in consenting, had proposed, it being a warm sunny +afternoon, that they should that time go down to the lake, and sit +with their work on the bank, while Malcolm read. This lake, like +the whole place, and some of the people in it, was rather strange +--not resembling any piece of water that Malcolm at least had ever +seen. More than a mile in length, but quite narrow, it lay on the +seashore--a lake of deep fresh water, with nothing between it and +the sea but a bank of sand, up which the great waves came rolling +in southwesterly winds, one now and then toppling over--to the +disconcerting no doubt of the pikey multitude within. + +The head only of the mere came into Clementina's property, and they +sat on the landward side of it, on a sandy bank, among the half +exposed roots of a few ancient firs, where a little stream that +fed the lake had made a small gully, and was now trotting over a +bed of pebbles in the bottom of it. Clementina was describing to +Florimel the peculiarities of the place, how there was no outlet +to the lake, how the water went filtering through the sand into +the sea, how in some parts it was very deep, and what large pike +there were in it. Malcolm sat a little aside as usual, with his +face towards the ladies, and the book open in his hand, waiting a +sign to begin, but looking at the lake, which here was some fifty +yards broad, reedy at the edge, dark and deep in the centre. All +at once he sprang to his feet, dropping the book, ran down to the +brink of the water, undoing his buckled belt and pulling off his +coat as he ran, threw himself over the bordering reeds into the +pool, and disappeared with a great plash. + +Clementina gave a scream, and started up with distraction in her +face: she made no doubt that in the sudden ripeness of his insanity +he had committed suicide. But Florimel, though startled by her +friend's cry, laughed, and crowded out assurances that Malcolm +knew well enough what he was about. It was longer, however, than +she found pleasant, before a black head appeared--yards away, +for he had risen at a great slope, swimming towards the other side. +What could he be after? Near the middle he swam more softly, and +almost stopped. Then first they spied a small dark object on the +surface. Almost the same moment it rose into the air. They thought +Malcolm had flung it up. Instantly they perceived that it was a +bird--a swift. Somehow it had dropped into the water, but a lift +from Malcolm's hand had restored it to the air of its bliss. + +But instead of turning and swimming back, Malcolm held on, and +getting out on the farther side, ran down the beach and rushed +into the sea, rousing once more the apprehensions of Clementina. +The shore sloped rapidly, and in a moment he was in deep water. He +swam a few yards out, swam ashore again, ran round the end of the +lake, found his coat, and got from it his pocket handkerchief. +Having therewith dried his hands and face, he wrang out the sleeves +of his shirt a little, put on his coat, returned to his place, and +said, as he took up the book and sat down, + +"I beg your pardon, my ladies; but just as I heard my Lady Clementina +say pikes, I saw the little swift in the water. There was no time +to lose. Swiftie had but a poor chance." + +As he spoke he proceeded to find the place in the book. + +"You don't imagine we are going to have you read in such a plight +as that!" cried Clementina. + +"I will take good care, my lady. I have books of my own, and I +handle them like babies." + +"You foolish man! It is of you in your wet clothes, not of the book +I am thinking," said Clementina indignantly. + +"I'm much obliged to you, my lady, but there's no fear of me. You +saw me wash the fresh water out. Salt water never hurts." + +"You must go and change nevertheless," said Clementina. + +Malcolm looked to his mistress. She gave him a sign to obey, and +he rose. He had taken three steps towards the house when Clementina +recalled him. + +"One word, if you please," she said. "How is it that a man who risks +his life for that of a little bird, can be so heartless to a great +noble creature like that horse of yours? I cannot understand it!" + +"My lady," returned Malcolm with a smile, "I was no more risking +my life than you would be in taking a fly out of the milk jug. And +for your question, if your ladyship will only think, you cannot fail +to see the difference. Indeed I explained my treatment of Kelpie +to your ladyship that first morning in the park, when you so kindly +rebuked me for it, but I don't think your ladyship listened to a +word I said." + +Clementina's face flushed, and she turned to her friend with a "Well!" +in her eyes. But Florimel kept her head bent over her embroidery; +and Malcolm, no further notice being taken of him walked away. + + + +CHAPTER XLII: ST RONAN'S WELL + + +The next day the reading was resumed, and for several days was +regularly continued. Each day, as their interest grew, longer time +was devoted to it. They were all simple enough to accept what the +author gave them, nor, had a critic of the time been present to +instruct them that in this last he had fallen off, would they have +heeded him much: for Malcolm, it was the first story by the Great +Unknown he had seen. A question however occurring, not of art but +of morals, he was at once on the alert. It arose when they reached +that portion of the tale in which the true heir to an earldom and +its wealth offers to leave all in the possession of the usurper, +on the one condition of his ceasing to annoy a certain lady, whom, +by villainy of the worst, he had gained the power of rendering +unspeakably miserable. Naturally enough, at this point Malcolm's +personal interest was suddenly excited: here were elements strangely +correspondent with the circumstances of his present position. Tyrrel's +offer of acquiescence in things as they were, and abandonment of +his rights, which, in the story, is so amazing to the man of the +world to whom it is first propounded, drew an exclamation of delight +from both ladies--from Clementina because of its unselfishness, +from Florimel because of its devotion: neither of them was at +any time ready to raise a moral question, and least of all where +the heart approved. But Malcolm was interested after a different +fashion from theirs. Often during the reading he had made remarks +and given explanations--not so much to the annoyance of Lady +Clementina as she had feared, for since his rescue of the swift, +she had been more favourably disposed towards him, and had judged +him a little more justly--not that she understood him, but that +the gulf between them had contracted. He paused a moment, then +said: + +"Do you think it was right, my ladies? Ought Mr Tyrrel to have made +such an offer?" + +"It was most generous of him," said Clementina, not without indignation +--and with the tone of one whose answer should decide the question. + +"Splendidly generous," replied Malcolm; "--but--I so well +remember when Mr Graham first made me see that the question of duty +does not always lie between a good thing and a bad thing: there +would be no room for casuistry then, he said. A man has very often +to decide between one good thing and another. But indeed I can hardly +tell without more time to think, whether that comes in here. If a +man wants to be generous, it must at least be at his own expense." + +"But surely," said Florimel, not in the least aware that she was +changing sides, "a man ought to hold by the rights that birth and +inheritance give him." + +"That is by no means so clear, my lady," returned Malcolm, "as +you seem to think. A man may be bound to hold by things that are +his rights, but certainly not because they are rights. One of the +grandest things in having rights is that, being your rights, you +may give them up--except, of course, they involve duties with +the performance of which the abnegation would interfere." + +"I have been trying to think," said Lady Clementina, "what can be +the two good things here to choose between." + +"That is the right question, and logically put, my lady," rejoined +Malcolm, who, from his early training, could not help sometimes +putting on the schoolmaster. "The two good things are--let me +see--yes--on the one hand the protection of the lady to whom he +owed all possible devotion of man to woman, and on the other what +he owed to his tenants, and perhaps to society in general--yes +--as the owner of wealth and position. There is generosity on the +one side and dry duty on the other." + +"But this was no case of mere love to the lady, I think," said +Clementina. "Did Mr Tyrrel not owe Miss Mowbray what reparation lay +in his power? Was it not his tempting of her to a secret marriage, +while yet she was nothing more than a girl, that brought the mischief +upon her?" + +"That is the point," said Malcolm, "that makes the one difficulty. +Still, I do not see how there can be much of a question. He could +have no right to do fresh wrong for the mitigation of the consequences +of preceding wrong--to sacrifice others to atone for injuries +done by himself." + +"Where would be the wrong to others?" said Florimel, now back to +her former position. "Why could it matter to tenants or society +which of the brothers happened to be an earl?" + +"Only this, that, in the one case, the landlord of his tenants, +the earl in society, would be an honourable man, in the other, a +villain--a difference which might have consequences." + +"But," said Lady Clementina, "is not generosity something more than +duty--something higher, something beyond it?" + +"Yes," answered Malcolm, "so long as it does not go against duty, +but keeps in the same direction, is in harmony with it. I doubt +much, though, whether, as we grow in what is good, we shall not +come soon to see that generosity is but our duty, and nothing very +grand and beyond it. But the man who chooses to be generous at the +expense of justice, even if he give up at the same time everything +of his own, is but a poor creature beside him who, for the sake of +the right, will not only consent to appear selfish in the eyes of +men, but will go against his own heart and the comfort of those +dearest to him. The man who accepts a crown may be more noble than +he who lays one down and retires to the desert. Of the worthies +who do things by faith, some are sawn asunder, and some subdue +kingdoms. The look of the thing is nothing." + +Florimel made a neat little yawn over her work. Clementina's hands +rested a moment in her lap, and she looked thoughtful. But she +resumed her work, and said no more. Malcolm began to read again. +Presently Clementina interrupted him. She had not been listening. + +"Why should a man want to be better than his neighbours, any more +than to be richer?" she said, as if uttering her thoughts aloud. + +"Why, indeed," responded Malcolm, "except he wants to become a +hypocrite?" + +"Then, why do you talk for duty against generosity?" + +"Oh!" said Malcolm, for a moment perplexed. He did not at once +catch the relation of her ideas. "Does a man ever do his duty," he +rejoined at length, "in order to be better than his neighbours." +If he does, he won't do it long. A man does his duty because he +must. He has no choice but do it." + +"If a man has no choice, how is it that so many men choose to do +wrong?" asked Clementina. + +"In virtue of being slaves and stealing the choice," replied Malcolm. + +"You are playing with words," said Clementina. + +"If I am, at least I am not playing with things," returned Malcolm. +"If you like it better, my lady, I will say that, in declaring he +has no choice, the man with all his soul chooses the good, recognizing +it as the very necessity of his nature." + +"If I know in myself that I have a choice, all you say goes for +nothing," persisted Clementina. "I am not at all sure I would not +do wrong for the sake of another. The more one preferred what was +right, the greater would be the sacrifice." + +"If it was for the grandeur of it, my lady, that would be for the +man's own sake, not his friend's." + +"Leave that out then," said Clementina. + +"The more a man loved another, then--say a woman, as here in +the story--it seems to me, the more willing would he be that she +should continue to suffer rather than cease by wrong. Think, my +lady: the essence of wrong is injustice: to help another by wrong +is to do injustice to somebody you do not know well enough to love +for the sake of one you do know well enough to love. What honest +man could think of that twice? The woman capable of accepting such +a sacrifice would be contemptible." + +"She need not know of it." + +"He would know that she needed but to know of it to despise him." + +"Then might it not be noble in him to consent for her sake to be +contemptible in her eyes?" + +"If no others were concerned. And then there would be no injustice, +therefore nothing wrong, and nothing contemptible." + +"Might not what he did be wrong in the abstract, without having +reference to any person?" + +"There is no wrong man can do but is a thwarting of the living +Right. Surely you believe, my lady, that there is a living Power +of right, whose justice is the soul of our justice, who will have +right done, and causes even our own souls to take up arms against +us when we do wrong." + +"In plain language, I suppose you mean--Do I believe in a God?" + +"That is what I mean, if by a God you mean a being who cares about +us, and loves justice--that is, fair play--one whom therefore +we wrong to the very heart when we do a thing that is not just." + +"I would gladly believe in such a being, if things were so that +I could. As they are, I confess it seems to me the best thing to +doubt it. I do doubt it very much. How can I help doubting it, when +I see so much suffering, oppression, and cruelty in the world? If +there were such a being as you say, would he permit the horrible +things we hear of on every hand?" + +"I used to find that a difficulty. Indeed it troubled me sorely +until I came to understand things better. I remember Mr Graham +saying once something like this--I did not understand it for +months after: 'Every kind hearted person who thinks a great deal of +being comfortable, and takes prosperity to consist in being well +off must be tempted to doubt the existence of a God.--And perhaps +it is well they should be so tempted,' he added." + +"Why did he add that?" + +"I think because such are in danger of believing in an evil God. +And if men believed in an evil God, and had not the courage to defy +him, they must sink to the very depths of savagery. At least that +is what I ventured to suppose he meant." + +Clementina opened her eyes wide, but said nothing. Religious people, +she found, could think as boldly as she. + +"I remember all about it so well!" Malcolm added, thoughtfully. +"We had been talking about the Prometheus of AEschylus--how he +would not give in to Jupiter." + +"I am trying to understand," said Clementina, and ceased--and +a silence fell which for a few moments Malcolm could not break. +For suddenly he felt as if he had fallen under the power of a +spell. Something seemed to radiate from her silence which invaded +his consciousness. It was as if the wind which dwells in the tree +of life had waked in the twilight of heaven, and blew upon his +spirit. It was not that now first he saw that she was beautiful; +the moment his eyes fell upon her that morning in the park, he saw +her beautiful as he had never seen woman before. Neither was it +that now first he saw her good, even in that first interview her +heart had revealed itself to him as very lovely. But the foolishness +which flowed from her lips, noble and unselfish as it was, had barred +the way betwixt his feelings and her individuality as effectually +as if she had been the loveliest of Venuses lying uncarved in the +lunar marble of Carrara. There are men to whom silliness is an +absolute freezing mixture; to whose hearts a plain, sensible woman +at once appeals as a woman, while no amount of beauty can serve as +sweet oblivious antidote to counteract the nausea produced by folly. +Malcolm had found Clementina irritating, and the more irritating +that she was so beautiful. But at the first sound from her lips that +indicated genuine and truthful thought, the atmosphere had begun +to change; and at the first troubled gleam in her eyes, revealing +that she pursued some dim seen thing of the world of reality, a +nameless potency throbbed into the spiritual space betwixt her and +him, and embraced them in an aether of entrancing relation. All +that had been needed to awake love to her was, that her soul, her +self should look out of its windows--and now he had caught a +glimpse of it. Not all her beauty, not all her heart, not all her +courage, could draw him while she would ride only a hobby horse, +however tight its skin might be stuffed with emotions. But now who +could tell how soon she might be charging in the front line of the +Amazons of the Lord--on as real a horse as any in the heavenly +army? For was she not thinking--the rarest human operation in +the world? + +"I will try to speak a little more clearly, my lady," said Malcolm. +"If ease and comfort, and the pleasures of animal and intellectual +being, were the best things to be had, as they are the only things +most people desire, then that maker who did not care that his +creatures should possess or were deprived of such, could not be a +good God. But if the need with the lack of such things should be +the means, the only means, of their gaining something in +its very nature so much better that--" + +"But," interrupted Clementina, "if they don't care about anything +better--if they are content as they are?" + +"Should he then who called them into existence be limited in his +further intents for the perfecting of their creation, by their +notions concerning themselves who cannot add to their life one +cubit?--such notions being often consciously dishonest? If he +knows them worthless without something that he can give, shall he +withhold his hand because they do not care that he should stretch +it forth? Should a child not be taught to ride because he is content +to run on foot?" + +"But the means, according to your own theory, are so frightful!" +said Clementina. + +"But suppose he knows that the barest beginnings of the good he +intends them would not merely reconcile them to those means, but +cause them to choose his will at any expense of suffering! I tell +you, Lady Clementina," continued Malcolm, rising, and approaching +her a step or two, "if I had not the hope of one day being good +like God himself, if I thought there was no escape out of the wrong +and badness I feel within me and know I am not able to rid myself +of without supreme help, not all the wealth and honours of the +world could reconcile me to life." + +"You do not know what you are talking of," said Clementina, coldly +and softly, without lifting her head. + +"I do," said Malcolm. + +"You mean you would kill yourself but for your belief in God?" + +"By life, I meant being, my lady. If there were no God, I dared +not kill myself, lest worse should be waiting me in the awful voids +beyond. If there be a God, living or dying is all one--so it be +what he pleases." + +"I have read of saints," said Clementina, with cool dissatisfaction +in her tone, "uttering such sentiments--" + +"Sentiments!" said Malcolm to himself. + +"--and I do not doubt such were felt or at least imagined by them; +but I fail to understand how, even supposing these things true, +a young man like yourself should, in the midst of a busy +world, and with an occupation which, to say the least,--" + + +Here she paused. After a moment Malcolm ventured to help her. + +"Is so far from an ideal one--would you say, my lady?" + +"Something like that," answered Clementina, and concluded, "I wonder +how you can have arrived at such ideas." + +"There is nothing wonderful in it, my lady," returned Malcolm. +"Why should not a youth, a boy, a child, for as a child I thought +about what the kingdom of heaven could mean, desire with all his +might that his heart and mind should be clean, his will strong, +his thoughts just, his head clear, his soul dwelling in the place +of life? Why should I not desire that my life should be a complete +thing, and an outgoing of life to my neighbour? Some people are +content not to do mean actions: I want to become incapable of a +mean thought or feeling; and so I shall be before all is done." + +"Still, how did you come to begin so much earlier than others?" + +"All I know as to that, my lady, is that I had the best man in the +world to teach me." + +"And why did not I have such a man to teach me? I could have learned +of such a man too." + +"If you are able now, my lady, it does not follow that it would +have been the best thing for you sooner. Some children learn far +better for not being begun early, and will get before others who +have been at it for years. As you grow ready for it, somewhere +or other you will find what is needful for you--in a book, or a +friend, or, best of all in your own thoughts--the eternal thought +speaking in your thought." + +It flashed through her mind, "Can it be that I have found it now +--on the lips of a groom?" + +Was it her own spirit or another that laughed strangely within her? + +"Well, as you seem to know so much better than other people," she +said, "I want you to explain to me how the God in whom you profess +to believe can make use of such cruelties. It seems to me more like +the revelling of a demon." + +"My lady!" remonstrated Malcolm, "I never pretended to explain. All +I say is, that, if I had reason for hoping there was a God, and if +I found, from my own experience and the testimony of others, that +suffering led to valued good, I should think, hope, expect to +find that he caused suffering for reasons of the highest, purest +and kindest import, such as when understood must be absolutely +satisfactory to the sufferers themselves. If a man cannot believe +that, and if he thinks the pain the worst evil of all, then of +course he cannot believe there is a good God. Still, even then, +if he would lay claim to being a lover of truth, he ought to give +the idea--the mere idea of God fair play, lest there should be +a good God after all, and he all his life doing him the injustice +of refusing him his trust and obedience." + +"And how are we to give the mere idea of him fair play?" asked +Clementina, rather contemptuously. But I think she was fighting +emotion, confused and troublesome. + +"By looking to the heart of whatever claims to be a revelation of +him." + +"It would take a lifetime to read the half of such." + +"I will correct myself, and say--whatever of the sort has best +claims on your regard--whatever any person you look upon as +good, believes and would have you believe--at the same time doing +diligently what you know to be right; for, if there be a God, that +must be his will, and, if there be not, it remains our duty." + +All this time, Florimel was working away at her embroidery, a little +smile of satisfaction flickering on her face. She was pleased to +hear her clever friend talking so with her strange vassal. As to +what they were saying, she had no doubt it was all right, but to +her it was not interesting. She was mildly debating with herself +whether she should tell her friend about Lenorme. + +Clementina's work now lay on her lap and her hands on her work, +while her eyes at one time gazed on the grass at her feet, at +another searched Malcolm's face with a troubled look. The light of +Malcolm's candle was beginning to penetrate into her dusky room, +the power of his faith to tell upon the weakness of her unbelief. +There is no strength in unbelief. Even the unbelief of what is +false is no source of might. It is the truth shining from behind +that gives the strength to disbelieve. But into the house where +the refusal of the bad is followed by no embracing of the good-- +the house empty and swept and garnished--the bad will return, +bringing with it seven evils that are worse. + +If something of that sacred mystery, holy in the heart of the +Father, which draws together the souls of man and woman, was at work +between them, let those scoff at the mingling of love and religion +who know nothing of either; but man or woman who, loving woman or +man, has never in that love lifted the heart to the Father, and +everyone whose divine love has not yet cast at least an arm round +the human love, must take heed what they think of themselves, for +they are yet but paddlers in the tide of the eternal ocean. Love +is a lifting no less than a swelling of the heart, What changes, +what metamorphoses, transformations, purifications, glorifications, +this or that love must undergo ere it take its eternal place in +the kingdom of heaven, through all its changes yet remaining, in +its one essential root, the same, let the coming redemption reveal. +The hope of all honest lovers will lead them to the vision. Only +let them remember that love must dwell in the will as well as in +the heart. + +But whatever the nature of Malcolm's influence upon Lady Clementina, +she resented it, thinking towards and speaking to him repellently. +Something in her did not like him. She knew he did not approve of +her, and she did not like being disapproved of. Neither did she +approve of him. He was pedantic--and far too good for an honest +and brave youth: not that she could say she had seen dishonesty or +cowardice in him, or that she could have told which vice she would +prefer to season his goodness withal, and bring him to the level +of her ideal. And then, for all her theories of equality, he was +a groom--therefore to a lady ought to be repulsive--at least +when she found him intruding into the chambers of her thoughts +--personally intruding--yes, and met there by some traitorous +feelings whose behaviour she could not understand. She resented +it all, and felt towards Malcolm as if he were guilty of forcing +himself into the sacred presence of her bosom's queen--whereas it +was his angel that did so, his Idea, over which he had no control. +Clementina would have turned that Idea out, and when she found she +could not, her soul started up wrathful, in maidenly disgust with +her heart, and cast resentment upon everything in him whereon it would +hang. She had not yet, however, come to ask herself any questions; +she had only begun to fear that a woman to whom a person from the +stables could be interesting, even in the form of an unexplained +riddle, must be herself a person of low tastes; and that, for all +her pride in coming of honest people, there must be a drop of bad +blood in her somewhere. + +For a time her eyes had been fixed on her work, and there had been +silence in the little group. + +"My lady!" said Malcolm, and drew a step nearer to Clementina. + +She looked up. How lovely she was with the trouble in her eyes! +Thought Malcolm, "If only she were what she might be! If the form +were but filled with the spirit! the body with life!" + +"My lady!" he repeated, just a little embarrassed, "I should like +to tell you one thing that came to me only lately--came to me +when thinking over the hard words you spoke to me that day in the +park. But it is something so awful that I dare not speak of it +except you will make your heart solemn to hear it." + +He stopped, with his eyes questioning hers. Clementina's first +thought once more was madness, but as she steadily returned his +look, her face grew pale, and she gently bowed her head in consent. + +"I will try then," said Malcolm. "--Everybody knows what few +think about, that once there lived a man who, in the broad face +of prejudiced respectability, truth hating hypocrisy, commonplace +religion, and dull book learning, affirmed that he knew the secret +of life, and understood the heart and history of men--who wept +over their sorrows, yet worshipped the God of the whole earth, +saying that he had known him from eternal days. The same said that +he came to do what the Father did, and that he did nothing but what +he had learned of the Father. They killed him, you know, my lady, +in a terrible way that one is afraid even to think of. But he +insisted that he laid down his life; that he allowed them to take +it. Now I ask whether that grandest thing, crowning his life, the +yielding of it to the hand of violence, he had not learned also from +his Father. Was his death the only thing he had not so learned? If +I am right, and I do not say if in doubt, then the suffering of +those three terrible hours was a type of the suffering of the Father +himself in bringing sons and daughters through the cleansing and +glorifying fires, without which the created cannot be made the very +children of God, partakers of the divine nature and peace. Then +from the lowest, weakest tone of suffering, up to the loftiest +pitch, the divinest acme of pain, there is not one pang to which +the sensorium of the universe does not respond; never an untuneful +vibration of nerve or spirit but thrills beyond the brain or the +heart of the sufferer to the brain, the heart of the universe; +and God, in the simplest, most literal, fullest sense, and not by +sympathy alone, suffers with his creatures." + +"Well, but he is able to bear it; they are not: I cannot bring +myself to see the right of it." + +"Nor will you, my lady, so long as you cannot bring yourself to +see the good they get by it.--My lady, when I was trying my best +with poor Kelpie, you would not listen to me." + +"You are ungenerous," said Clementina, flushing. + +"My lady," persisted Malcolm, "you would not understand me. You +denied me a heart because of what seemed in your eyes cruelty. I +knew that I was saving her from death at the least, probably from +a life of torture: God may be good, though to you his government may +seem to deny it. There is but one way God cares to govern--the +way of the Father King--and that way is at hand.--But I have yet +given you only the one half of my theory: If God feels pain, then +he puts forth his will to bear and subject that pain; if the pain +comes to him from his creature, living in him, will the endurance +of God be confined to himself, and not, in its turn, pass beyond +the bounds of his individuality, and react upon the sufferer to his +sustaining? I do not mean that sustaining which a man feels from +knowing his will one with God's and God with him, but such sustaining +as those his creatures also may have who do not or cannot know +whence the sustaining comes. I believe that the endurance of God +goes forth to uphold, that his patience is strength to his creatures, +and that, while the whole creation may well groan, its suffering +is more bearable therefore than it seems to the repugnance of our +regard." + +"That is a dangerous doctrine," said Clementina. + +"Will it then make the cruel man more cruel to be told that God +is caring for the tortured creature from the citadel of whose life +he would force an answer to save his own from the sphinx that must +at last devour him, let him answer ever so wisely? Or will it make +the tender less pitiful to be consoled a little in the agony of +beholding what they cannot alleviate? Many hearts are from sympathy +as sorely in need of comfort as those with whom they suffer. And +to such I have one word more--to your heart, my lady, if it will +consent to be consoled: The animals, I believe, suffer less than +we, because they scarcely think of the past, and not at all of the +future. It is the same with children, Mr Graham says they suffer less +than grown people, and for the same reason. To get back something +of this privilege of theirs, we have to be obedient and take no +thought for the morrow." + +Clementina took up her work. Malcolm walked away. + +"Malcolm," cried his mistress, "are you not going on with the book?" + +"I hope your ladyship will excuse me," said Malcolm. "I would rather +not read more just at present." + +It may seem incredible that one so young as Malcolm should have +been able to talk thus, and indeed my report may have given words +more formal and systematic than his really were. For the matter of +them, it must be remembered that he was not young in the effort to +do and understand; and that the advantage to such a pupil of such +a teacher as Mr Graham is illimitable. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII: A PERPLEXITY + + +After Malcolm's departure, Clementina attempted to find what +Florimel thought of the things her strange groom had been saying: +she found only that she neither thought at all about them, nor had +a single true notion concerning the matter of their conversation. +Seeking to interest her in it and failing, she found however that +she had greatly deepened its impression upon herself. + +Florimel had not yet quite made up her mind whether or not she +should open her heart to Clementina, but she approached the door +of it in requesting her opinion upon the matter of marriage between +persons of social conditions widely parted--"frightfully sundered," +she said. Now Clementina was a radical of her day, a reformer, +a leveller--one who complained bitterly that some should be so +rich, and some so poor. In this she was perfectly honest. Her own +wealth, from a vague sense of unrighteousness in the possession of +it, was such a burden to her, that she threw it away where often +it made other people stumble if not fall. She professed to regard +all men as equal, and believed that she did so. She was powerful +in her contempt of the distinctions made between certain of the +classes, but had signally failed in some bold endeavours to act as +if they had no existence except in the whims of society. As yet no +man had sought her nearer regard for whom she would deign to cherish +even friendship. As to marriage, she professed, right honestly, an +entire disinclination, even aversion to it, saying to herself that +if ever she should marry it must be, for the sake of protest and +example, one notably beneath her in social condition. He must be a +gentleman, but his claims to that rare distinction should lie only +in himself, not his position, in what he was, not what he had. But +it is one thing to have opinions, and another to be called upon to +show them beliefs; it is one thing to declare all men equal, and +another to tell the girl who looks up to you for advice, that she +ought to feel herself at perfect liberty to marry--say a groom; +and when Florimel proposed the general question, Clementina might +well have hesitated. And indeed she did hesitate--but in vain +she tried to persuade herself that it was solely for the sake of +her young and inexperienced friend that she did so. As little could +she honestly say that it was from doubt of the principles she had +so long advocated. Had Florimel been open with her, and told her +what sort of inferior was in her thoughts, instead of representing +the gulf between them as big enough to swallow the city of Rome; +had she told her that he was a gentleman, a man of genius and gifts, +noble and large hearted, and indeed better bred than any other man +she knew, the fact of his profession would only have clenched Lady +Clementina's decision in his favour; and if Florimel had been honest +enough to confess the encouragement she had given him--nay, the +absolute love passages there had been, Clementina would at once have +insisted that her friend should write an apology for her behaviour +to him, should dare the dastard world, and offer to marry him when +he would. But, Florimel putting the question as she did, how should +Clementina imagine anything other than that it referred to Malcolm? +and a strange confusion of feeling was the consequence. Her thoughts +heaved in her like the half shaped monsters of a spiritual chaos, +and amongst them was one she could not at all identify. A direct +answer she found impossible. She found also that in presence +of Florimel, so much younger than herself, and looking up to her +for advice, she dared not even let the questions now pressing for +entrance appear before her consciousness. She therefore declined +giving an answer of any sort--was not prepared with one, she +said; much was to be considered; no two cases were just alike. + +They were summoned to tea, after which she retired to her room, shut +the door, and began to think--an operation which, seldom easy if +worth anything, was in the present case peculiarly difficult, both +because Clementina was not used to it, and the subject object of +it was herself. I suspect that self examination is seldom the most +profitable, certainly it is sometimes the most unpleasant, and +always the most difficult of moral actions--that is, to perform +after a genuine fashion. I know that very little of what passes +for it has the remotest claim to reality; and I will not say it has +never to be done; but I am certain that a good deal of the energy +spent by some devout and upright people on trying to understand +themselves and their own motives, would be expended to better +purpose, and with far fuller attainment even in regard to that object +itself, in the endeavour to understand God, and what he would have +us to do. + +Lady Clementina's attempt was as honest as she dared make it. It +went something after this fashion: + +"How is it possible I should counsel a young creature like that, +with all her gifts and privileges, to marry a groom--to bring +the stable into her chamber? If I did--if she did, has she the +strength to hold her face to it?--Yes, I know how different he +is from any other groom that ever rode behind a lady! but does she +understand him? Is she capable of such a regard for him as could +outlast a week of closer intimacy? At her age it is impossible she +should know what she was doing in daring such a thing. It would +be absolute ruin to her. And how could I advise her to do what I +could not do myself?--But then if she's in love with him?" + +She rose and paced the room--not hurriedly--she never did anything +hurriedly--but yet with unleisurely steps, until, catching sight +of herself in the glass, she turned away as from an intruding and +unwelcome presence, and threw herself on her couch, burying her +face in the pillow. Presently, however, she rose again, her face +glowing, and again walked up and down the room--almost swiftly +now. I can but indicate the course of her thoughts. + +"If what he says be true!--It opens another and higher life. +--What a man he is! and so young!--Has he not convicted me of +feebleness and folly, and made me ashamed of myself?--What better +thing could man or woman do for another than lower her in her own +haughty eyes, and give her a chance of becoming such as she had +but dreamed of the shadow of?--He is a gentleman--every inch! +Hear him talk!--Scotch, no doubt,--and--well--a little +long winded--a bad fault at his age! But see him ride!--see +him swim!--and to save a bird!--But then he is hard--severe +at best! All religious people are so severe! They think they are +safe themselves, and so can afford to be hard on others! He would +serve his wife the same as his mare if he thought she required +it!--And I have known women for whom it might be the best thing. +I am a fool! a soft hearted idiot! He told me I would give a baby +a lighted candle if it cried for it--Or didn't he? I believe he +never uttered a word of the sort; he only thought it"--As she +said this, there came a strange light in her eyes, and the light +seemed to shine from all around them as well as from the orbs +themselves. + +Suddenly she stood still as a statue in the middle of the room, and +her face grew white as the marble of one. For a minute she stood +thus--without a definite thought in her brain. The first that +came was something like this: "Then Florimel does love him!--and +wants help to decide whether she shall marry him or not! Poor weak +little wretch!--Then if I were in love with him, I would marry +him--would I?--It is well, perhaps, that I'm not!--But she! +he is ten times too good for her! He would be utterly thrown away +on her! But I am her counsel, not his; and what better could come +to her than have such a man for a husband; and instead of that +contemptible Liftore, with his grand earldom ways and proud nose! +He has little to be proud of that must take to his rank for it! +Fancy a right man condescending to be proud of his own rank! Pooh! +But this groom is a man! all a man! grand from the centre out, as +the great God made him!--Yes, it must be a great God that made +such a man as that!--that is, if he is the same he looks--the +same all through!--Perhaps there are more Gods than one, and one +of them is the devil, and made Liftore! But am I bound to give her +advice? Surely not! I may refuse. And rightly too! A woman that +marries from advice, instead of from a mighty love, is wrong. I +need not speak. I shall just tell her to consult her own heart-- +and conscience, and follow them.--But, gracious me! Am I then going +to fall in love with the fellow?--this stable man who pretends +to know his maker!" + +"Certainly not. There is nothing of the kind in my thoughts. + +Besides, how should I know what falling in love means? I never was +in love in my life, and don't mean to be. If I were so foolish as +imagine myself in any danger, would I be such a fool as be caught +in it? I should think not indeed! What if I do think of this man +in a way I never thought of anyone before, is there anything odd +in that? How should I help it when he is unlike anyone I ever saw +before? One must think of people as one finds them. Does it follow +that I have power over myself no longer, and must go where any +chance feeling may choose to lead me?" + +Here came a pause. Then she started, and once more began walking +up and down the room, now hurriedly indeed. + +"I will not have it!" she cried aloud--and checked herself, dashed +at the sound of her own voice. But her soul went on loud enough for +the thought universe to hear. "There can't be a God, or he would +never subject his women to what they don't choose. If a God had +made them, he would have them queens over themselves at least-- +and I will be queen, and then perhaps a God did make me. A slave +to things inside myself!--thoughts and feelings I refuse, and +which I ought to have control over! I don't want this in me, yet I +can't drive it out! I will drive it out. It is not me. A slave on +my own ground! worst slavery of all!--It will not go.--That must +be because I do not will it strong enough. And if I don't will it +--my God!--what does that mean?--That I am a slave already?" + +Again she threw herself on her couch, but only to rise and yet +again pace the room. + +"Nonsense! it is not love. It is merely that nobody could help +thinking about one who had been so much before her mind for so long +--one too who had made her think. Ah! there, I do believe, lies +the real secret of it all!--There's the main cause of my trouble +--and nothing worse! I must not be foolhardy though, and remain in +danger, especially as, for anything I can tell, he may be in love +with that foolish child. People, they say, like people that are +not at all like themselves. Then I am sure he might like me!--She +seems to be in love with him! I know she cannot be half a quarter +in real love with him: it's not in her." + +She did not rejoin Florimel that evening: it was part of the +understanding between the ladies that each should be at absolute +liberty. She slept little during the night, starting awake as +often as she began to slumber, and before the morning came was a +good deal humbled. All sorts of means are kept at work to make the +children obedient and simple and noble. Joy and sorrow are servants +in God's nursery; pain and delight, ecstasy and despair minister in +it; but amongst them there is none more marvellous in its potency +than that mingling of all pains and pleasures to which we specially +give the name of Love. + +When she appeared at breakfast, her countenance bore traces of her +suffering, but a headache, real enough, though little heeded in +the commotion upon whose surface it floated, gave answer to the not +very sympathetic solicitude of Florimel. Happily the day of their +return was near at hand. Some talk there had been of protracting +their stay, but to that Clementina avoided any farther allusion. +She must put an end to an intercourse which she was compelled to +admit was, at least, in danger of becoming dangerous. This much she +had with certainty discovered concerning her own feelings, that her +heart grew hot and cold at the thought of the young man belonging +more to the mistress who could not understand him than to herself +who imagined she could; and it wanted no experience in love to see +that it was therefore time to be on her guard against herself, for +to herself she was growing perilous. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV: THE MIND OF THE AUTHOR + + +The next was the last day of the reading. They must finish the +tale that morning, and on the following set out to return home, +travelling as they had come. Clementina had not the strength of mind +to deny herself that last indulgence--a long four days' ride in +the company of this strangest of attendants. After that, if not +the deluge, yet a few miles of Sahara. + +"' It is the opinion of many that he has entered into a Moravian +mission, for the use of which he had previously drawn considerable +sums,'" read Malcolm, and paused, with book half closed. + +"Is that all?" asked Florimel. + +"Not quite, my lady," he answered. "There isn't much more, but +I was just thinking whether we hadn't come upon something worth a +little reflection--whether we haven't here a window into the mind +of the author of Waverley, whoever he may be, Mr Scott, or another." + +"You mean?" said Clementina, interrogatively, and looked up from +her work, but not at the speaker. + +"I mean, my lady, that perhaps we here get a glimpse of the author's +own opinions, or feelings rather, perhaps." + +"I do not see what of the sort you can find there," returned +Clementina. + +"Neither should I, my lady, if Mr Graham had not taught me how to +find Shakspere in his plays. A man's own nature, he used to say, +must lie at the heart of what he does, even though not another man +should be sharp enough to find him there. Not a hypocrite, the most +consummate, he would say, but has his hypocrisy written in every +line of his countenance and motion of his fingers. The heavenly +Lavaters can read it, though the earthly may not be able." + +"And you think you can find him out?" said Clementina, dryly. + +"Not the hypocrite, my lady, but Mr Scott here. He is only round +a single corner. And one thing is--he believes in a God." + +"How do you make that out?" + +"He means this Mr Tyrrel for a fine fellow, and on the whole approves +of him--does he not, my lady?" + +"Certainly." + +"Of course all that duelling is wrong. But then Mr Scott only half +disapproves of it.--And it is almost a pity it is wrong," remarked +Malcolm with a laugh; "it is such an easy way of settling some +difficult things. Yet I hate it. It's so cowardly. I may be a +better shot than the other, and know it all the time. He may know +it too, and have twice my courage. And I may think him in the +wrong, when he knows himself in the right.--There is one man I +have felt as if I should like to kill. When I was a boy I killed +the cats that ate my pigeons." + +A look of horror almost distorted Lady Clementina's countenance. + +"I don't know what to say next, my lady," he went on, with a smile, +"because I have no way of telling whether you looked shocked for +the cats I killed, or the pigeons they killed, or the man I would +rather see killed than have him devour more of my--white doves," +he concluded sadly, with a little shake of the head.--"But, please +God," he resumed, "I shall manage to keep them from him, and let +him live to be as old as Methuselah if he can, even if he should +grow in cunning and wickedness all the time. I wonder how he will +feel when he comes to see what a sneaking cat he is. But this is +not what we set out for.--Mr Tyrrel, then, the author's hero, +joins the Moravians at last." + +"What are they?" questioned Clementina. + +"Simple, good, practical Christians, I believe," answered Malcolm. + +"But he only does it when disappointed in love." + +"No, my lady; he is not disappointed. The lady is only dead." + +Clementina stared a moment--then dropped her head as if she +understood. Presently she raised it again and said, + +"But, according to what you said the other day, in doing so he was +forsaking altogether the duties of the station in which God had +called him." + +"That is true. It would have been a far grander thing to do his +duty where he was, than to find another place and another duty. An +earldom allotted is better than a mission preferred." + +"And at least you must confess," interrupted Clementina, "that he +only took to religion because he was unhappy." + +"Certainly, my lady, it is the nobler thing to seek God in the days +of gladness, to look up to him in trustful bliss when the sun is +shining. But if a man be miserable, if the storm is coming down +on him, what is he to do? There is nothing mean in seeking God +then, though it would have been nobler to seek him before.--But +to return to the matter in hand: the author of Waverley makes his +noble hearted hero, whom assuredly he had no intention of disgracing, +turn Moravian; and my conclusion from it is that, in his judgment, +nobleness leads in the direction of religion; that he considers +it natural for a noble mind to seek comfort there for its deepest +sorrows." + +"Well, it may be so; but what is religion without consistency in +action?" said Clementina. + +"Nothing," answered Malcolm. + +"Then how can you, professing to believe as you do, cherish such +feelings towards any man as you have just been confessing?" + +"I don't cherish them, my lady. But I succeed in avoiding hate better +than suppressing contempt, which perhaps is the worse of the two. +There may be some respect in hate." + +Here he paused, for here was a chance that was not likely to recur. +He might say before two ladies what he could not say before one. +If he could but rouse Florimel's indignation! Then at any suitable +time only a word more would be needful to direct it upon the villain. +Clementina's eyes continued fixed upon him. At length he spoke. + +"I will try to make two pictures in your mind, my lady, if you will +help me to paint them. In my mind they are not painted pictures +--A long seacoast, my lady, and a stormy night;--the sea horses +rushing in from the northeast, and the snowflakes beginning to +fall. On the margin of the sea a long dune or sandbank, and on the +top of it, her head bare, and her thin cotton dress nearly torn +from her by the wind, a young woman, worn and white, with an old +faded tartan shawl tight about her shoulders, and the shape of a +baby inside it, upon her arm." + +"Oh! she doesn't mind the cold," said Florimel. "When I was there, +I didn't mind it a bit." + +"She does not mind the cold," answered Malcolm; "she is far too +miserable for that." + +"But she has no business to take the baby out on such a night," +continued Florimel, carelessly critical. "You ought to have painted +her by the fireside. They have all of them firesides to sit at. I +have seen them through the windows many a time." + +"Shame or cruelty had driven her from it," said Malcolm, "and there +she was." + +"Do you mean you saw her yourself wandering about?" asked Clementina. + +"Twenty times, my lady." + +Clementina was silent. + +"Well, what comes next?" said Florimel. + +"Next comes a young gentleman;--but this is a picture in another +frame, although of the same night;--a young gentleman in evening +dress, sipping his madeira, warm and comfortable, in the bland +temper that should follow the best of dinners, his face beaming with +satisfaction after some boast concerning himself, or with silent +success in the concoction of one or two compliments to have at hand +when he joins the ladies in the drawing room." + +"Nobody can help such differences," said Florimel. "If there were +nobody rich, who would there be to do anything for the poor? It's +not the young gentleman's fault that he is better born and has more +money than the poor girl." + +"No," said Malcolm; "but what if the poor girl has the young +gentleman's child to carry about from morning to night." + +"Oh, well! I suppose she's paid for it," said Florimel, whose +innocence must surely have been supplemented by some stupidity, +born of her flippancy. + +"Do be quiet, Florimel," said Clementina. "You don't know what you +are talking about." + +Her face was in a glow, and one glance at it set Florimel's in a +flame. She rose without a word, but with a look of mingled confusion +and offence, and walked away. Clementina gathered her work together. +But ere she followed her, she turned to Malcolm, looked him calmly +in the face, and said, + +"No one can blame you for hating such a man." + +"Indeed, my lady, but some one would--the only one for whose +praise or blame we ought to care more than a straw or two. +He tells us we are neither to judge nor to hate. But--" + +"I cannot stay and talk with you," said Clementina. "You must pardon +me if I follow your mistress." + +Another moment and he would have told her all, in the hope of her +warning Florimel. But she was gone. + + + +CHAPTER XLV: THE RIDE HOME + + +Florimel was offended with Malcolm: he had put her confidence in +him to shame, speaking of things to which he ought not once to have +even alluded. But Clementina was not only older than Florimel, but +in her loving endeavours for her kind, had heard many a pitiful +story, and was now saddened by the tale, not shocked at the teller. +Indeed, Malcolm's mode of acquainting her with the grounds of the +feeling she had challenged pleased both her heart and her sense +of what was becoming; while, as a partisan of women, finding a man +also of their part, she was ready to offer him the gratitude of +all womankind--in her one typical self. + +"What a rough diamond is here!" she thought. + +"Rough!" echoed her heart: "how is he rough? What fault could the +most fastidious find with his manners? True, he speaks as a servant +--and where would be his manners if he did not? But neither in +tone, expression, nor way of thinking, is he in the smallest degree +servile. He is like a great pearl, clean out of the sea--bred, +it is true, in the midst of strange surroundings, but pure as the +moonlight; and if a man, so environed, yet has grown so grand, what +might he not become with such privileges as--" + +Good Clementina--what did she mean? Did she imagine that such +mere gifts as she might give him, could do more for him than the +great sea, with the torment and conquest of its winds and tempests? +more than his own ministrations of love, and victories over passion +and pride? What the final touches of the shark skin are to the +marble that stands lord of the flaming bow, that only can wealth +and position be to the man who has yielded neither to the judgments +of the world nor the drawing of his own inclinations, and so has +submitted himself to the chisel and mallet of his maker. Society +is the barber who trims a man's hair, often very badly too--and +pretends he made it grow. If her owner should take her, body and +soul, and make of her being a gift to his--ah, then, indeed! But +Clementina was not yet capable of perceiving that, while what she +had in her thought to offer might hurt him, it could do him little +good. Her feeling concerning him, however, was all the time far +indeed from folly. Not for a moment did she imagine him in love +with her. Possibly she admired him too much to attribute to him +such an intolerable and insolent presumption as that would have +appeared to her own inferior self. Still, she was far indeed from +certain, were she, as befits the woman so immeasurably beyond even +the aspiration of the man, to make him offer implicit of hand and +havings, that he would reach out his to take them. And certainly +that she was not going to do--in which determination, whether +she knew it or not, there was as much modesty and gracious doubt +of her own worth as there was pride and maidenly recoil. In one +resolve she was confident, that her behaviour towards him should +be such as to keep him just where he was, affording him no smallest +excuse for taking one step nearer: and they would soon be in London, +where she would see nothing, or next to nothing more of him. But +should she ever cease to thank God, that was, if ever she came to +find him, that in this groom he had shown her what he could do in +the way of making a man! Heartily she wished she knew a nobleman or +two like him. In the meantime she meant to enjoy--with carefulness +--the ride to London, after which things should be as before. + +The morning arrived; they finished breakfast; the horses came round +and stood at the door--all but Kelpie. The ladies mounted. Ah, +what a morning to leave the country and go back to London! The +sun shone clear on the dark pine woods; the birds were radiant in +song; all under the trees the ferns were unrolling each its mystery +of ever generating life; the soul of the summer was there whose +mere idea sends the heart into the eyes, while itself flits mocking +from the cage of words. A gracious mystery it was--in the air, +in the sun, in the earth, in their own hearts. The lights of heaven +mingled and played with the shadows of the earth, which looked like +the souls of the trees, that had been out wandering all night, and +had been overtaken by the sun ere they could re-enter their dark +cells. Every motion of the horses under them was like a throb of the +heart of the earth, every bound like a sigh of her bliss. Florimel +shouted almost like a boy with ecstasy, and Clementina's moonlight +went very near changing into sunlight as she gazed, and breathed, +and knew that she was alive. + +They started without Malcolm, for he must always put his mistress +up, and then go back to the stable for Kelpie. In a moment they +were in the wood, crossing its shadows. It was like swimming their +horses through a sea of shadows. Then came a little stream and the +horses splashed it about like children from very gamesomeness. Half +a mile more and there was a sawmill, with a mossy wheel, a pond +behind, dappled with sun and shade, a dark rush of water along +a brown trough, and the air full of the sweet smell of sawn wood. +Clementina had not once looked behind, and did not know whether +Malcolm had yet joined them or not. All at once the wild vitality +of Kelpie filled the space beside her, and the voice of Malcolm +was in her ears. She turned her head. He was looking very solemn. + +"Will you let me tell you, my lady, what this always makes me think +of?" he said. + +"What in particular do you mean?" returned Clementina coldly. + +"This smell of new sawn wood that fills the air, my lady." + +She bowed her head. + +"It makes me think of Jesus in his father's workshop," said Malcolm +"--how he must have smelled the same sweet scent of the trees of +the world broken for the uses of men, that is now so sweet to me. +Oh, my lady! it makes the earth very holy and very lovely to think +that as we are in the world, so was he in the world. Oh, my lady +I think:--if God should be so nearly one with us that it was +nothing strange to him thus to visit his people! that we are not +the offspring of the soulless tyranny of law that knows not even +its own self, but the children of an unfathomable wonder, of which +science gathers only the foambells on the shore--children in the +house of a living Father, so entirely our Father that he cares even +to death that we should understand and love him!" + +He reined Kelpie back, and as she passed on, his eyes caught a +glimmer of emotion in Clementina's. He fell behind, and all that +day did not come near her again. + +Florimel asked her what he had been saying, and she compelled +herself to repeat a part of it. + +"He is always saying such odd out of the way things!" remarked +Florimel. "I used sometimes, like you, to fancy him a little astray, +but I soon found I was wrong. I wish you could have heard him tell +a story he once told my father and me. It was one of the wildest +you ever heard. I can't tell to this day whether he believed it +himself or not. He told it quite as if he did." + +"Could you not make him tell it again, as we ride along? It would +shorten the way." + +"Do you want the way shortened?--I don't. But indeed it would not +do to tell it so. It ought to be heard just where I heard it--at +the foot of the ruined castle where the dreadful things in it took +place. You must come and see me at Lossie House in the autumn, and +then he shall tell it you. Besides, it ought to be told in Scotch, +and there you will soon learn enough to follow it: half the charm +depends on that." + +Although Malcolm did not again approach Clementina that day, he +watched almost her every motion as she rode. Her lithe graceful +back and shoulders--for she was a rebel against the fashion of +the day in dress as well as in morals, and, believing in the natural +stay of the muscles, had found them responsive to her trust-- +the noble poise of her head, and the motions of her arms, easy yet +decided, were ever present to him, though sometimes he could hardly +have told whether his sight or his mind--now in the radiance of +the sun, now in the shadow of the wood, now against the green of +the meadow, now against the blue of the sky, and now in the faint +moonlight, through which he followed, as a ghost in the realms +of Hades might follow the ever flitting phantom of his love. Day +glided after day. Adventure came not near them. Soft and lovely as +a dream the morning dawned, the noon flowed past, the evening came +and the death that followed was yet sweeter than the life that had +gone before. Through it all, daydream and nightly trance, radiant +air and moony mist, before him glode the shape of Clementina, its +every motion a charm. After that shape he could have been content, +oh, how content! to ride on and on through the ever unfolding vistas +of an eternal succession. Occasionally his mistress would call him +to her, and then he would have one glance of the day side of the +wondrous world he had been following. Somewhere within it must be +the word of the living One. Little he thought that all the time she +was thinking more of him who had spoken that word in her hearing. +That he was the object of her thoughts not a suspicion crossed +the mind of the simple youth. How could he imagine a lady like her +taking a fancy to what, for all his marquisate, he was still in his +own eyes, a raw young fisherman, only just learning how to behave +himself decently! No doubt, ever since she began to listen to +reason, the idea of her had been spreading like a sweet odour in +his heart, but not because she had listened to him. The very fulness +of his admiration had made him wrathful with the intellectual +dishonesty, for in her it could not be stupidity, that quenched +his worship, and the first dawning sign of a reasonable soul drew +him to her feet, where, like Pygmalion before his statue, he could +have poured out his heart in thanks, that she consented to be a +woman. But even the intellectual phantom, nay, even the very phrase +of being in love with her, had never risen upon the dimmest verge +of his consciousness--and that although her being had now become +to him of all but absorbing interest. I say all but, because Malcolm +knew something of One whose idea she was, who had uttered her from +the immortal depths of his imagination. The man to whom no window +into the treasures of the Godhead has yet been opened, may well +scoff at the notion of such a love, for he has this advantage, that, +while one like Malcolm can never cease to love, he, gifted being, +can love today and forget tomorrow--or next year--where is the +difference? Malcolm's main thought was--what a grand thing it +would be to rouse a woman like Clementina to lift her head into +the regions mild of + + 'calm and serene air, + Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot + Which men call Earth.' + +If anyone think that love has no right to talk religion, I answer +for Malcolm at least, asking, Whereof shall a man speak, if not +out of the abundance of his heart? That man knows little either of +love or of religion who imagines they ought to be kept apart. Of +what sort, I ask, is either, if unfit to approach the other? Has +God decreed, created a love that must separate from himself? Is Love +then divided? Or shall not love to the heart created, lift up the +heart to the Heart creating? Alas for the love that is not treasured +in heaven! for the moth and the rust will devour it. Ah, these +pitiful old moth eaten loves! + +All the journey then Malcolm was thinking how to urge the beautiful +lady into finding for herself whether she had a father in heaven +or not. A pupil of Mr Graham, he placed little value in argument +that ran in any groove but that of persuasion, or any value in +persuasion that had any end but action. + +On the second day of the journey, he rode up to his mistress, and +told her, taking care that Lady Clementina should hear, that Mr +Graham was now preaching in London, adding that for his part he +had never before heard anything fit to call preaching. Florimel +did not show much interest, but asked where, and Malcolm fancied +he could see Lady Clementina make a mental note of the place. + +"If only," he thought, "she would let the power of that man's faith +have a chance of influencing her, all would be well." + +The ladies talked a good deal, but Florimel was not in earnest about +anything, and for Clementina to have turned the conversation upon +those possibilities, dim dawning through the chaos of her world, +which had begun to interest her, would have been absurd--especially +since such was her confusion and uncertainty, that she could not +tell whether they were clouds or mountains, shadows or continents. +Besides, why give a child sovereigns to play with when counters +or dominoes would do as well? Clementina's thoughts could not have +passed into Florimel, and become her thoughts. Their hearts, their +natures must come nearer first. Advise Florimel to disregard rank, +and marry the man she loved! As well counsel the child to give away +the cake he would cry for with intensified selfishness the moment +he had parted with it! Still, there was that in her feeling for +Malcolm which rendered her doubtful in Florimel's presence. + +Between the grooms little passed. Griffith's contempt for Malcolm +found its least offensive expression in silence, its most offensive +in the shape of his countenance. He could not make him the simplest +reply without a sneer. Malcolm was driven to keep mostly behind. If +by any chance he got in front of his fellow groom, Griffith would +instantly cross his direction and ride between him and the ladies. +His look seemed to say he had to protect them. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI: PORTLAND PLACE + + +The latter part of the journey was not so pleasant: it rained. +It was not cold, however, and the ladies did not mind it much. It +accorded with Clementina's mood; and as to Florimel, but for the +thought of meeting Caley, her fine spirits would have laughed the +weather to scorn. Malcolm was merry. His spirits always rose at the +appearance of bad weather, as indeed with every show of misfortune +a response antagonistic invariably awoke in him. On the present +occasion he had even to repress the constantly recurring impulse +to break out in song. His bosom's lord sat lightly in his throne. +Griffith was the only miserable one of the party. He was tired, and +did not relish the thought of the work to be done before getting +home. They entered London in a wet fog, streaked with rain, and +dyed with smoke. Florimel went with Clementina for the night, and +Malcolm carried a note from her to Lady Bellair, after which, having +made Kelpie comfortable, he went to his lodgings. + +When he entered the curiosity shop, the woman received him with +evident surprise, and when he would have passed through to the +stair, stopped him with the unwelcome information that, finding he +did not return, and knowing nothing about himself or his occupation, +she had, as soon as the week for which he had paid in advance was +out, let the room to an old lady from the country. + +"It is no great matter to me," said Malcolm, thoughtful over the +woman's want of confidence in him, for he had rather liked her, +"only I am sorry you could not trust me a little." + +"It's all you know, young man," she returned. "People as lives in +London must take care of theirselves--not wait for other people +to do it. They'd soon find theirselves nowheres in partic'lar. +I've took care on your things, an' laid 'em all together, an' the +sooner you find another place for 'em the better, for they do take +up a deal o' room." + +His personal property was not so bulky, however, but that in ten +minutes he had it all in his carpet bag and a paper parcel, carrying +which he re-entered the shop. + +"Would you oblige me by allowing these to lie here till I come for +them?" he said. + +The woman was silent for a moment. + +"I'd rather see the last on 'em," she answered. "To tell the truth, +I don't like the look on 'em. You acts a part, young man. I'm on +the square myself. But you'll find plenty to take you in.--No, +I can't do it. Take 'em with you." + +Malcolm turned from her, and with his bag in one hand and the parcel +under the other arm, stepped from the shop into the dreary night. +There he stood in the drizzle. It was a bystreet into which gas had +not yet penetrated, and the oil lamps shone red and dull through +the fog. He concluded to leave the things with Merton, while he +went to find a lodging. + +Merton was a decent sort of fellow--not in his master's confidence, +and Malcolm found him quite as sympathetic as the small occasion +demanded. + +"It ain't no sort o' night," he said, "to go lookin' for a bed. +Let's go an' speak to my old woman: she's a oner at contrivin'." + +He lived over the stable, and they had but to go up the stair. Mrs +Merton sat by the fire. A cradle with a baby was in front of it. +On the other side sat Caley, in suppressed exultation, for here +came what she had been waiting for--the first fruits of certain +arrangements between her and Mrs Catanach. She greeted Malcolm +distantly, but neither disdainfully nor spitefully. + +"I trust you've brought me back my lady, MacPhail," she said; then +added, thawing into something like jocularity, "I shouldn't have +looked to you to go running away with her." + +"I left my lady at Lady Clementina Thornicroft's an hour ago" +answered Malcolm. + +"Oh, of course! Lady Clem's everything now." + +"I believe my lady's not coming home till tomorrow," said Malcolm. + +"All the better for us," returned Caley. "Her room ain't ready for +her.--But I didn't know you lodged with Mrs Merton, MacPhail," +she said, with a look at the luggage he had placed on the floor. + +"Lawks, miss!" cried the good woman, "wherever should we put him +up, as has but the next room?" + +"You'll have to find that out, mother," said Merton. "Sure you've +got enough to shake down for him! With a truss of straw to help, +you'll manage it somehow--eh, old lady?--I'll be bound!" And +with that he told Malcolm's condition. + +"Well, I suppose we must manage it somehow," answered his wife, +"but I'm afraid we can't make him over comfortable." + +"I don't see but we could take him in at the house," said Caley, +reflectively. "There is a small room empty in the garret, I know. +It ain't much more than a closet, to be sure, but if he could put +up with it for a night or two, just till he found a better, I would +run across and see what they say." + +Malcolm wondered at the change in her, but could not hesitate. The +least chance of getting settled in the house was a thing not to be +thrown away. He thanked her heartily. She rose and went, and they +sat and talked till her return. She had been delayed, she said, by +the housekeeper; "the cross old patch" had objected to taking in +anyone from the stables. + +"I'm sure," she went on, "there ain't the ghost of a reason why you +shouldn't have the room, except that it ain't good enough. Nobody +else wants it, or is likely to. But it's all right now, and if +you'll come across in about an hour, you'll find it ready for you. +One of the girls in the kitchen--I forget her name----offered +to make it tidy for you. Only take care--I give you warning: +she's a great admirer of Mr MacPhail." + +Therewith she took her departure, and at the appointed time Malcolm +followed her. The door was opened to him by one of the maids whom +he knew by sight, and in her guidance he soon found himself in +that part of a house he liked best--immediately under the roof. +The room was indeed little more than a closet in the slope of the +roof with only a skylight. But just outside the door was a storm +window, from which, over the top of a lower range of houses, he had +a glimpse of the mews yard. The place smelt rather badly of mice, +while, as the skylight was immediately above his bed, and he had +no fancy for drenching that with an infusion of soot, he could not +open it. These, however, were the sole faults he had to find with +the place. Everything looked nice and clean, and his education had +not tended to fastidiousness. He took a book from his bag, and read +a good while; then went to bed, and fell fast asleep. + +In the morning he woke early, as was his habit, sprang at once on +the floor, dressed, and went quietly down. The household was yet +motionless. He had begun to descend the last stair, when all at once +he turned deadly sick, and had to sit down, grasping the balusters. +In a few minutes he recovered, and made the best speed he could to +the stable, where Kelpie was now beginning to demand her breakfast. + +But Malcolm had never in his life before felt sick, and it seemed +awful to him. Something that had appeared his own, a portion +--hardly a portion, rather an essential element of himself; had +suddenly deserted him, left him a prey to the inroad of something +that was not of himself, bringing with it faintness of heart, +fear and dismay. He found himself for the first time in his life +trembling; and it was to him a thing as appalling as strange. +While he sat on the stair he could not think; but as he walked to +the mews he said to himself: + +"Am I then the slave of something that is not myself--something +to which my fancied freedom and strength are a mockery? Was +my courage, my peace, all the time dependent on something not me, +which could be separated from me, and but a moment ago was separated +from me, and left me as helplessly dismayed as the veriest coward +in creation? I wonder what Alexander would have thought if, as +he swung himself on Bucephalus, he had been taken as I was on the +stair." + +Afterwards, talking the thing over with Mr Graham, he said: + +"I saw that I had no hand in my own courage. If I had any courage, +it was simply that I was born with it. If it left me, I could not +help it: I could neither prevent nor recall it; I could only wait +until it returned. Why, then, I asked myself, should I feel ashamed +that, for five minutes, as I sat on the stair, Kelpie was a terror +to me, and I felt as if I dared not go near her? I had almost +reached the stable before I saw into it a little. Then I did see +that if I had had nothing to do with my own courage, it was quite +time I had something to do with it. If a man had no hand in his +own nature, character, being, what could he be better than a divine +puppet--a happy creature, possibly--a heavenly animal, like +the grand horses and lions of the book of the Revelation--but not +one of the gods that the sons of God, the partakers of the divine +nature, are? For this end came the breach in my natural courage-- +that I might repair it from the will and power God had given me, +that I might have a hand in the making of my own courage, in the +creating of myself. Therefore I must see to it." + +Nor had he to wait for his next lesson, namely, the opportunity of +doing what he had been taught in the first. For just as he reached +the stable, where he heard Kelpie clamouring with hoofs and teeth, +after her usual manner when she judged herself neglected, the +sickness returned, and with it such a fear of the animal he heard +thundering and clashing on the other side of the door, as amounted to +nothing less than horror. She was a man eating horse!--a creature +with bloody teeth, brain spattered hoofs, and eyes of hate! A flesh +loving devil had possessed her and was now crying out for her groom +that he might devour him. + +He gathered, with agonized effort, every power within him to an +awful council, and thus he said to himself: + +"Better a thousand times my brain plastered the stable wall than I +should hold them in the head of a dastard. How can God look at me +with any content if I quail in the face of his four footed creature! +Does he not demand of me action according to what I know, not what +I may chance at any moment to feel? God is my strength, and I will +lay hold of that strength and use it, or I have none, and Kelpie +may take me and welcome." + +Therewith the sickness abated so far that he was able to open the +stable door; and, having brought them once into the presence of their +terror, his will arose and lorded it over his shrinking quivering +nerves, and like slaves they obeyed him. Surely the Father of his +spirit was most in that will when most that will was Malcolm's +own! It is when a man is most a man, that the cause of the man, the +God of his life, the very Life himself the original life-creating +Life, is closest to him, is most within him. The individual, that +his individuality may blossom, and not soon be "massed into the common +clay," must have the vital indwelling of the primary Individuality +which is its origin. The fire that is the hidden life of the bush +will not consume it. + +Malcolm tottered to the corn bin, staggered up to Kelpie, fell up +against her hind quarters as they dropped from a great kick, but got +into the stall beside her. She turned eagerly, darted at her food, +swallowed it greedily, and was quiet as a lamb while he dressed +her. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII: PORTLOSSIE AND SCAURNOSE + + +Meantime things were going rather badly at Portlossie and Scaurnose; +and the factor was the devil of them. Those who had known him +longest said he must be fey, that is doomed, so strangely altered +was his behaviour. Others said he took more counsel with his bottle +than had been his wont, and got no good from it. Almost all the +fishers found him surly, and upon some he broke out in violent rage, +while to certain whom he regarded as Malcolm's special friends, +he carried himself with cruel oppression. The notice to leave at +midsummer clouded the destiny of Joseph Mair and his family, and +every householder in the two villages believed that to take them +in would be to call down the like fate upon himself. But Meg Partan +at least was not to be intimidated. Her outbursts of temper were +but the hurricanes of a tropical heart--not much the less true +and good and steadfast that it was fierce. Let the factor rage as +he would, Meg was absolute in her determination that, if the cruel +sentence was carried out, which she hardly expected, her house +should be the shelter of those who had received her daughter when +her severity had driven her from her home. That would leave her +own family and theirs three months to look out for another abode. +Certain of Blue Peter's friends ventured a visit of intercession +to the factor, and were received with composure and treated with +consideration until their object appeared, when his wrath burst forth +so wildly that they were glad to escape without having to defend +their persons: only the day before had he learned with certainty from +Miss Horn that Malcolm was still in the service of the marchioness, +and in constant attendance upon her when she rode. It almost maddened +him. He had for some time taken to drinking more toddy after his +dinner, and it was fast ruining his temper: his wife, who had from +the first excited his indignation against Malcolm, was now reaping +her reward. To complete the troubles of the fisher folk, the harbour +at Portlossie had, by a severe equinoctial storm, been so filled +with sand as to be now inaccessible at lower than half tide, nobody +as yet having made it his business to see it attended to. + +But, in the midst of his anxieties about Florimel and his interest +in Clementina, Malcolm had not been forgetting them. As soon as he +was a little settled in London, he had written to Mr Soutar, and +he to architects and contractors, on the subject of a harbour at +Scaurnose. But there were difficulties, and the matter had been +making but slow progress. Malcolm, however, had insisted, and in +consequence of his determination to have the possibilities of the +thing thoroughly understood, three men appeared one morning on +the rocks at the bottom of the cliff on the west side of the Nose. +The children of the village discovered them, and carried the news; +whereupon, the men being all out in the bay, the women left their +work and went to see what the strangers were about. The moment they +were satisfied that they could make nothing of their proceedings, +they naturally became suspicious. To whom the fancy first occurred, +nobody ever knew, but such was the unhealthiness of the moral +atmosphere of the place, caused by the injustice and severity of +Mr Crathie, that, once suggested, it was universally received that +they were sent by the factor--and that for a purpose only too +consistent with the treatment Scaurnose, they said, had invariably +received ever since first it was the dwelling of fishers! Had not +their fathers told them how unwelcome they were to the lords of +the land? And what rents had they not to pay! and how poor was the +shelter for which they did so much--without a foot of land to +grow a potato in! To crown all, the factor was at length about to +drive them in a body from the place--Blue Peter first, one of the +best as well as the most considerable men among them! His notice +to quit was but the beginning of a clearance. It was easy to see +what those villains were about--on that precious rock, their +only friend, the one that did its best to give them the sole shadow +of harbourage they had, cutting off the wind from the northeast +a little, and breaking the eddy round the point of the Nose! What +could they be about but marking the spots where to bore the holes +for the blasting powder that should scatter it to the winds, and let +death and destruction, and the wild sea howling in upon Scaurnose, +that the cormorant and the bittern might possess it, the owl and +the raven dwell in it? But it would be seen what their husbands and +fathers would say to it when they came home! In the meantime they +must themselves do what they could. What were they men's wives for, +if not to act for their husbands when they happened to be away? + +The result was a shower of stones upon the unsuspecting surveyors, +who forthwith fled, and carried the report of their reception to +Mr Soutar at Duff Harbour. He wrote to Mr Crathie, who till then +had heard nothing of the business; and the news increased both his +discontent with his superiors, and his wrath with those whom he had +come to regard as his rebellious subjects. The stiff necked people +of the Bible was to him always now, as often he heard the words, +the people of Scaurnose and the Seaton of Portlossie. And having +at length committed this overt outrage, would he not be justified +by all in taking more active measures against them? + +When the fishermen came home and heard how their women had conducted +themselves, they accepted their conjectures, and approved of their +defence of the settlement. It was well for the land loupers, they +said, that they had only the women to deal with. + +Blue Peter did not so soon hear of the affair as the rest, for +his Annie had not been one of the assailants. But when the hurried +retreat of the surveyors was described to him in somewhat graphic +language by one of those concerned in causing it, he struck his +clenched fist in the palm of his other hand, and cried, + +"Weel saired! There! that's what comes o' yer new--" + +He had all but broken his promise, as he had already broken his +faith to Malcolm, when his wife laid her hand on his mouth and +stopped the issuing word. He started with sudden conviction and +stood for a moment in absolute terror at sight of the precipice +down which he had been on the point of falling, then straightway +excusing himself to his conscience on the ground of non intent, was +instantly angrier with Malcolm than before. He could not reflect +that the disregarded cause of the threatened sin was the greater +sin of the two. The breach of that charity which thinketh no evil +maybe a graver fault than a hasty breach of promise. + +Peter had not been improving since his return from London. He found +less satisfaction in his religious exercises; was not unfrequently +clouded in temper, occasionally even to sullenness; referred +things oftener than formerly to the vileness of the human nature, +but was far less willing than before to allow that he might himself +be wrong; while somehow the Bible had no more the same plenitude +of relation to the wants of his being, and he rose from the reading +of it unrefreshed. Men asked each other what had come to Blue Peter, +but no one could answer the question. For himself, he attributed +the change, which he could not but recognise, although he did +not understand it, to the withdrawing of the spirit of God, in +displeasure that he had not merely allowed himself to be inveigled +into a playhouse, but, far worse, had enjoyed the wickedness +he saw there. When his wife reasoned that God knew he had gone in +ignorance, trusting his friend, he cried, + +"What 's that to him wha judges richteous judgment? What's a' oor +puir meeserable excuzes i' the een 'at can see throu' the wa's o' +the hert! Ignorance is no innocence." + +Thus he lied for God! pleading his cause on the principles of hell. +But the eye of his wife was single, and her body full of light; +therefore to her it was plain that neither the theatre nor his +conscience concerning it was the cause of the change: it had to do +with his feelings towards Malcolm. He wronged his Friend in his +heart, half knew it, but would not own it. Fearing to search himself, +he took refuge in resentment, and to support his hard judgment, +put false and cruel interpretations on whatever befell. So that, +with love and anger and wrong acknowledged, his heart was full of +bitterness. + +"It 's a' the drumblet (muddied, troubled) luve o' 'im!" said +Annie to herself. "Puir fallow! gien only Ma'colm wad come hame, +an' lat him ken he 's no the villain he taks him for. I'll no +believe mysel' 'at the laad I kissed like my ain mither's son afore +he gaed awa' wad turn like that upo' 's 'maist the meenute he was +oot o' sicht, an' a' for a feow words aboot a fulish play actin'. +Lord bliss us a'! markises is men. + +"We'll see, Peter, my man," she said, when the neighbour took her +leave, "whether the wife, though she hasna' been to the ill place, +an' that's surely Lon'on, canna tell the true frae the Cause full +better nor her man, 'at kens sae muckle mair nor she wants to ken? +Lat sit an' lat see." + +Blue Peter made no reply; but perhaps the deepest depth in his +fall was that he feared his wife might be right, and he have one +day to stand ashamed before both her and his friend. But there are +marvellous differences in the quality of the sins of different men, +and a noble nature like Peter's would have to sink far indeed to +be beyond redemption. Still there was one element mingling with his +wrongness whose very triviality increased the difficulty of long +delaying repentance: he had been not a little proud at finding +himself the friend of a marquis. From the first they had been +friends, when the one was a youth and the other a child, and had +been out together in many a stormy and dangerous sea. More than +once or twice, driven from the churlish ocean to the scarce less +inhospitable shore, they had lain all night in each other's arms +to keep the life awake within their frozen garments. And now this +marquis spoke English to him! It rankled! + +All the time Blue Peter was careful to say nothing to injure Malcolm +in the eyes of his former comrades. His manner when his name was +mentioned, however, he could not honestly school to the conveyance +of the impression that things were as they had been betwixt them. +Folk marked the difference, and it went to swell the general feeling +that Malcolm had done ill to forsake a seafaring life for one upon +which all fishermen must look down with contempt. Some in the Seaton +went so far in their enmity as even to hint at an explanation of +his conduct in the truth of the discarded scandal which had laid +Lizzy's child at his door. + +But amongst them was one who, having wronged him thus, and been +convinced of her error, was now so fiercely his partisan as to be +ready to wrong the whole town in his defence: that was Meg Partan, +properly Mistress Findlay, Lizzy's mother. Although the daughter had +never confessed, the mother had yet arrived at the right conclusion +concerning the father of her child--how, she could hardly herself +have told, for the conviction had grown by accretion; a sign here +and a sign there, impalpable save to maternal sense, had led her +to the truth; and now, if anyone had a word to say against Malcolm, +he had better not say it in the hearing of the Partaness. + +One day Blue Peter was walking home from the upper town of Portlossie, +not with the lazy gait of the fisherman off work, poised backwards, +with hands in trouser pocket, but stooping care laden with listless +swinging arms. Thus Meg Partan met him--and of course attributed +his dejection to the factor. + +"Deil ha'e 'im for an upsettin' rascal 'at hasna pride eneuch to haud +him ohn lickit the gentry's shune! The man maun be fey! I houp he +may, an' I wuss I saw the beerial o' 'im makin' for the kirkyaird. +It's nae ill to wuss weel to a' body 'at wad be left! His nose is +turnt twise the colour i' the last twa month. He'll be drinkin' +byous. Gien only Ma'colm MacPhail had been at hame to haud him in +order!" + +Peter said nothing, and his silence, to one who spake out whatever +came, seemed fuller of restraints and meanings than it was. She +challenged it at once. + +"Noo, what mean ye by sayin' naething, Peter? Guid kens it's the +warst thing man or woman can say o' onybody to haud their tongue. +It's a thing I never was blamed wi' mysel', an' I wadna du't." + +"That's verra true," said Peter. + +"The mair weicht's intill't whan I lay 't to the door o' anither," +persisted Meg. "Peter, gien ye ha'e onything again' my freen' Ma'colm +MacPhail, oot wi' 't like a man, an' no playac' the gunpoother plot +ower again. Ill wull's the warst poother ye can lay i' the boddom +o' ony man's boat. But say at ye like, I s' uphaud Ma'colm again' +the haill poustie o' ye. Gien he was but here! I say't again, honest +laad!" + +But she could not rouse Peter to utterance, and losing what little +temper she had, she rated him soundly, and sent him home saying +with the prophet Jonah, "Do I not well to be angry?" for that also +he placed to Malcolm's account. Nor was his home any more a harbour +for his riven boat, seeing his wife only longed for the return +of him with whom his spirit chode: she regarded him as an exiled +king, one day to reappear, and justify himself in the eyes of all, +friends and enemies. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII: TORTURE + + +Though unable to eat any breakfast, Malcolm persuaded himself +that he felt nearly as well as usual when he went to receive his +mistress's orders. Florimel had had enough of horseback--for +several days to come indeed--and would not ride. So he saddled +Kelpie, and rode to Chelsea to look after his boat. To get rid of +the mare, he rang the stable bell at Mr Lenorme's, and the gardener +let him in. As he was putting her up, the man told him that the +housekeeper had heard from his master. Malcolm went to the house +to learn what he might, and found to his surprise that, if he had +gone on the continent, he was there no longer, for the letter, +which contained only directions concerning some of his pictures, +was dated from Newcastle, and bore the Durham postmark of a week +ago. Malcolm remembered that he had heard Lenorme speak of Durham +cathedral, and in the hope that he might be spending some time +there, begged the housekeeper to allow him to go to the study to +write to her master. When he entered, however, he saw something that +made him change his plan, and, having written, instead of sending +the letter, as he had intended, inclosed to the postmaster at Durham, +he left it upon an easel. It contained merely an earnest entreaty +to be made and kept acquainted with his movements, that he might +at once let him know if anything should occur that he ought to be +informed concerning. + +He found all on board the yacht in shipshape, only Davy was absent. +Travers explained that he sent him on shore for a few hours every +day. He was a sharp boy, he said, and the more he saw, the more +useful he would be, and as he never gave him any money, there was +no risk of his mistaking his hours. + +"When do you expect him?" asked Malcolm. + +"At four o'clock," answered Travers. + +"It is four now," said Malcolm. + +A shrill whistle came from the Chelsea shore. + +"And there's Davy," said Travers. + +Malcolm got into the dinghy and rowed ashore. + +"Davy," he said "I don't want you to be all day on board, but I +can't have you be longer away than an hour at a time," + +"Ay, ay, sir," said Davy. + +"Now attend to me." + +"Ay, ay, sir." + +"Do you know Lady Lossie's house?" + +"No, sir; but I ken hersel'." + +"How is that?" + +"I ha'e seen her mair nor twa or three times, ridin' wi' yersel', +to yon hoose yon'er." + +"Would you know her again?" + +"Ay wad I--fine that. What for no, sir." + +"It's a good way to see a lady across the Thames and know her +again." + +"Ow! but I tuik the spy glaiss till her," answered Davy, reddening. + +"You are sure of her, then?" + +"I am that, sir." + +"Then come with me, and I will show you where she lives. I will +not ride faster than you can run. But mind you don't look as if +you belonged to me." + +"Na, na, sir. There's fowk takin' nottice." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"There's a wee laddie been efter mysel' twise or thrice." + +"Did you do anything?" + +"He wasna big eneuch to lick, sae I jist got him the last time an' +pu'd his niz, an' I dinna think he'll come efter me again." + +To see what the boy could do, Malcolm let Kelpie go at a good trot: +but Davy kept up without effort, now shooting ahead, now falling +behind, now stopping to look in at a window, and now to cast +a glance at a game of pitch and toss. No mere passerby could have +suspected that the sailor boy belonged to the horseman. He dropped +him not far from Portland Place, telling him to go and look at the +number, but not stare at the house. + +All the time he had had no return of the sickness, but, although +thus actively occupied, had felt greatly depressed. One main cause +of this was, however, that he had not found his religion stand him +in such stead as he might have hoped. It was not yet what it must +be to prove its reality. And now his eyes were afresh opened to +see that in his nature and thoughts lay large spaces wherein God +ruled not supreme--desert places, where who could tell what might +appear? For in such regions wild beasts range, evil herbs flourish, +and demons go about. If in very deed he lived and moved and had +his being in God, then assuredly there ought not to be one cranny +in his nature, one realm of his consciousness, one well spring of +thought, where the will of God was a stranger. If all were as it +should be, then surely there would be no moment, looking back on +which he could not at least say, + + +Yet like some sweet beguiling melody, +So sweet, we know not we are listening to it, +Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my thought, +Yea, with my life and life's own secret joy. + +"In that agony o' sickness, as I sat upo' the stair," he said to +himself, for still in his own thoughts he spoke his native tongue, +"whaur was my God in a' my thouchts? I did cry till 'im, I min' +weel, but it was my reelin' brain an' no my trustin' hert 'at cried. +Aih me! I doobt gien the Lord war to come to me noo, he wadna fin' +muckle faith i' my pairt o' the yerth. Aih! I wad like to lat him +see something like lippenin'! I wad fain trust him till his hert's +content. But I doobt it's only speeritual ambeetion, or better wad +hae come o' 't by this time. Gien that sickness come again, I maun +see, noo 'at I'm forewarned o' my ain wakeness, what I can du. It +maun be something better nor last time, or I'll tine hert a'thegither. +Weel, maybe I need to be heumblet. The Lord help me!" + +In the evening he went to the schoolmaster, and gave him a pretty +full account of where he had been and what had taken place since last +he saw him, dwelling chiefly on his endeavours with Lady Clementina. + +From Mr Graham's lodging to the northeastern gate of the Regent's +Park, the nearest way led through a certain passage, which, although +a thoroughfare to persons on foot, was little known. Malcolm had +early discovered it, and always used it. Part of this short cut was +the yard and back premises of a small public house. It was between +eleven and twelve as he entered it for the second time that night. +Sunk in thought and suspecting no evil, he was struck down from +behind, and lost his consciousness. When he came to himself he was +lying in the public house, with his head bound up, and a doctor +standing over him, who asked him if he had been robbed. He searched +his pockets, and found that his old watch was gone, but his money +left. One of the men standing about said he would see him home. He +half thought he had seen him before, and did not like the look of +him, but accepted the offer, hoping to get on the track of something +thereby. As soon as they entered the comparative solitude of the +park he begged his companion, who had scarcely spoken all the way, +to give him his arm, and leaned upon it as if still suffering, +but watched him closely. About the middle of the park, where not +a creature was in sight, he felt him begin to fumble in his coat +pocket, and draw something from it. But when, unresisted, he +snatched away his other arm, Malcolm's fist followed it, and the +man fell, nor made any resistance while he took from him a short +stick, loaded with lead, and his own watch, which he found in his +waistcoat pocket. Then the fellow rose with apparent difficulty, +but the moment he was on his legs, ran like a hare, and Malcolm +let him run, for he felt unable to follow him. + +As soon as he reached home, he went to bed, for his head ached +severely; but he slept pretty well, and in the morning flattered +himself he felt much as usual. But it was as if all the night that +horrible sickness had been lying in wait on the stair to spring upon +him, for, the moment he reached the same spot on his way down, he +almost fainted. It was worse than before. His very soul seemed to +turn sick. But although his heart died within him, somehow, in the +confusion of thought and feeling occasioned by intense suffering, +it seemed while he clung to the balusters as if with both hands he +were clinging to the skirts of God's garment; and through the black +smoke of his fainting, his soul seemed to be struggling up towards +the light of his being. Presently the horrible sense subsided as +before, and again he sought to descend the stair and go to Kelpie. +But immediately the sickness returned, and all he could do after +a long and vain struggle, was to crawl on hands and knees up the +stairs and back to his room. There he crept upon his bed, and was +feebly committing Kelpie to the care of her maker, when consciousness +forsook him. + +It returned, heralded by frightful pains all over his body, which +by and by subsiding, he sank again to the bottom of the black Lethe. + +Meantime Kelpie had got so wildly uproarious that Merton tossed her +half a truss of hay, which she attacked like an enemy, and ran to +the house to get somebody to call Malcolm. After what seemed endless +delay, the door was opened by his admirer, the scullery maid, who, +as soon as she heard what was the matter, hastened to his room. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX: THE PHILTRE + + +Before he again came to himself, Malcolm had a dream, which, although +very confused, was in parts more vivid than any he had ever had. +His surroundings in it were those in which he actually lay, and he +was ill, but he thought it the one illness he had before. His head +ached, and he could rest in no position he tried. Suddenly he heard +a step he knew better than any other approaching the door of his +chamber: it opened, and his grandfather in great agitation entered, +not following his hands, however, in the fashion usual to blindness, +but carrying himself like any sight gifted man. He went straight +to the wash stand, took up the water bottle, and with a look of +mingled wrath and horror dashed it on the floor. The same instant +a cold shiver ran through the dreamer, and his dream vanished. But +instead of waking in his bed, he found himself standing in the middle +of the floor, his feet wet, the bottle in shivers about them, and, +strangest of all, the neck of the bottle in his hand. He lay down +again, grew delirious, and tossed about in the remorseless persecution +of centuries. But at length his tormentors left him, and when he +came to himself, he knew he was in his right mind. + +It was evening, and some one was sitting near his bed. By the light +of the long snuffed tallow candle, he saw the glitter of two great +black eyes watching him, and recognised the young woman who had +admitted him to the house the night of his return, and whom he +had since met once or twice as he came and went. The moment she +perceived that he was aware of her presence, she threw herself +on her knees at his bedside, hid her face, and began to weep. The +sympathy of his nature rendered yet more sensitive by weakness and +suffering, Malcolm laid his hand on her head, and sought to comfort +her. + +"Don't be alarmed about me," he said, "I shall soon be all right +again." + +"I can't bear it," she sobbed. "I can't bear to see you like that, +and all my fault." + +"Your fault! What can you mean?" said Malcolm. + +"But I did go for the doctor, for all it may be the hanging of me," +she sobbed. "Miss Caley said I wasn't to, but I would and I did. +They can't say I meant it--can they?" + +"I don't understand," said Malcolm, feebly. + +"The doctor says somebody's been an' p'isoned you," said the girl, +with a cry that sounded like a mingled sob and howl; "an' he's been +a-pokin' of all sorts of things down your poor throat." + +And again she cried aloud in her agony. + +"Well, never mind; I'm not dead you see; and I'll take better care +of myself after this. Thank you for being so good to me; you've +saved my life." + +"Ah! you won't be so kind to me when you know all, Mr MacPhail," +sobbed the girl. "It was myself gave you the horrid stuff, but God +knows I didn't mean to do you no harm no more than your own mother." + +"What made you do it then?" asked Malcolm: + +"The witch woman told me to. She said that--that--if +I gave it you--you would--you would--" + +She buried her face in the bed, and so stifled a fresh howl of pain +and shame. + +"And it was all lies--lies!" she resumed, lifting her face again, +which now flashed with rage, "for I know you'll hate me worse than +ever now." + +"My poor girl, I never hated you," said Malcolm. + +"No, but you did as bad: you never looked at me. And now you'll +hate me out and out. And the doctor says if you die, he'll have it +all searched into, and Miss Caley she look at me as if she suspect +me of a hand in it; and they won't let alone till they've got me +hanged for it; and it's all along of love of you; and I tell you +the truth, Mr MacPhail, and you can do anything with me you like +--I don't care--only you won't let them hang me--will you ? +--Oh, please don't." + +She said all this with clasped hands, and the tears streaming down +her face. + +Malcolm's impulse was of course to draw her to him and comfort her, +but something warned him. + +"Well, you see I'm not going to die just yet," he said as merrily +as he could; "and if I find myself going, I shall take care the +blame falls on the right person. What was the witch woman like? +Sit down on the chair there, and tell me all about her." + +She obeyed with a sigh, and gave him such a description as he could +not mistake. He asked where she lived, but the girl had never met +her anywhere but in the street, she said. + +Questioning her very carefully as to Caley's behaviour to her, +Malcolm was convinced that she had a hand in the affair. Indeed, +she had happily, more to do with it than even Mrs Catanach knew, +for she had traversed her treatment to the advantage of Malcolm. +The midwife had meant the potion to work slowly, but the lady's +maid had added to the pretended philtre a certain ingredient in +whose efficacy she had reason to trust; and the combination, while +it wrought more rapidly, had yet apparently set up a counteraction +favourable to the efforts of the struggling vitality which it stung +to an agonised resistance. + +But Malcolm's strength was now exhausted. He turned faint, and the +girl had the sense to run to the kitchen and get him some soup. As +he took it, her demeanour and regards made him anxious, uncomfortable, +embarrassed. It is to any true man a hateful thing to repel a woman +--it is such a reflection upon her. + +"I've told you everything, Mr MacPhail, and it's gospel truth I've +told you," said the girl, after a long pause.--It was a relief +when first she spoke, but the comfort vanished as she went on, +and with slow, perhaps unconscious movements approached him.--"I +would have died for you, and here that devil of a woman has been +making me kill you! Oh, how I hate her! Now you will never love me +a bit---not one tiny little bit for ever and ever!" + +There was a tone of despairful entreaty in her words that touched +Malcolm deeply. + +"I am more indebted to you than I can speak or you imagine," he said. +"You have saved me from my worst enemy. Do not tell any other what +you have told me, or let anyone know that we have talked together. +The day will come when I shall be able to show you my gratitude." + +Something in his tone struck her, even through the folds of her +passion. She looked at him a little amazed, and for a moment the +tide ebbed. Then came a rush that overmastered her. She flung her +hands above her head, and cried, + +"That means you will do anything but love me!" + +"I cannot love you as you mean," said Malcolm. "I promise to be +your friend, but more is out of my power." + +A fierce light came into the girl's eyes. But that instant a +terrible cry, such as Malcolm had never heard, but which he knew +must be Kelpie's, rang through the air, followed by the shouts of +men, the tones of fierce execration, and the clash and clang of +hoofs. + +"Good God!" he exclaimed, and forgetting everything else, sprang +from the bed, and ran to the window outside his door. + +The light of their lanterns dimly showed a confused crowd in the +yard of the mews, and amidst the hellish uproar of their coarse +voices he could hear Kelpie plunging and kicking. Again she uttered +the same ringing scream. He threw the window open and cried to +her that he was coming, but the noise was far too great for his +enfeebled voice. Hurriedly he added a garment or two to his half +dress, rushed to the stair, passing his new friend, who watched +anxiously at the head of it, without seeing her, and shot from the +house. + + + +CHAPTER L: THE DEMONESS AT BAY + + +When he reached the yard of the mews, the uproar had nothing abated. +But when he cried out to Kelpie, through it all came a whinny of +appeal, instantly followed by a scream. When he got up to the lanterns, +he found a group of wrathful men with stable forks surrounding the +poor animal, from whom the blood was streaming before and behind. +Fierce as she was, she dared not move, but stood trembling, with +the sweat of terror pouring from her. Yet her eye showed that not +even terror had cowed her. She was but biding her time. Her master's +first impulse was to scatter the men right and left, but on second +thoughts, of which he was even then capable, he saw that they might +have been driven to apparent brutality in defence of their lives, +and besides he could not tell what Kelpie might do if suddenly +released. So he caught her by the broken halter, and told them +to fall back. They did so carefully--it seemed unwillingly. But +the mare had eyes and ears only for her master. What she had never +done before, she nosed him over face and shoulders, trembling all +the time. Suddenly one of her tormentors darted forward, and gave +her a terrible prod in the off hind quarter. But he paid dearly +for it. Ere he could draw back, she lashed out, and shot him half +across the yard with his knee joint broken. The whole set of them +rushed at her. + +"Leave her alone," shouted Malcolm, "or I will take her part. +Between us we'll do for a dozen of you." + +"The devil's in her," said one of them. + +"You'll find more of him in that rascal groaning yonder. You had +better see to him. He'll never do such a thing again, I fancy. +Where is Merton?" + +They drew off and went to help their comrade, who lay senseless. + +When Malcolm would have led Kelpie in, she stopped suddenly at the +stable-door, and started back shuddering, as if the memory of what +she had endured there overcame her. Every fibre of her trembled. He +saw that she must have been pitifully used before she broke loose +and got out. But she yielded to his coaxing, and he led her to her +stall without difficulty. He wished Lady Clementina herself could +have been his witness how she knew her friend and trusted him. Had +she seen how the poor bleeding thing rejoiced over him, she could +not have doubted that his treatment had been in part at least a +success. + +Kelpie had many enemies amongst the men of the mews. Merton had +gone out for the evening, and they had taken the opportunity of +getting into her stable and tormenting her. At length she broke +her fastenings; they fled, and she rushed out after them. + +They carried the maimed man to the hospital, where his leg was +immediately amputated. + +Malcolm washed and dried his poor animal, handling her as gently +as possible, for she was in a sad plight. It was plain he must not +have her here any longer: worse to her at least was sure to follow. +He went up, trembling himself now, to Mrs Merton. She told him she +was just running to fetch him when he arrived: she had no idea how +ill he was. But he felt all the better for the excitement, and after +he had taken a cup of strong tea, wrote to Mr Soutar to provide +men on whom he could depend, if possible the same who had taken +her there before, to await Kelpie's arrival at Aberdeen. There he +must also find suitable housing and attention for her at any expense +until further directions, or until, more probably, he should claim +her himself. He added many instructions to be given as to her +treatment. + +Until Merton returned he kept watch, then went back to the chamber +of his torture, which, like Kelpie, he shuddered to enter. The cook +let him in, and gave him his candle, but hardly had he closed his +door when a tap came to it, and there stood Rose, his preserver. +He could not help feeling embarrassed when he saw her. + +"I see you don't trust me," she said. + +"I do trust you," he answered. "Will you bring me some water. I +dare not drink anything that has been standing." + +She looked at him with inquiring eyes, nodded her head, and went. +When she returned, he drank the water. + +"There! you see I trust you," he said with a laugh. "But there are +people about who for certain reasons want to get rid of me: will +you be on my side?" + +"That I will," she answered eagerly. + +"I have not got my plans laid yet; but will you meet me somewhere +near this tomorrow night? I shall not be at home, perhaps, all +day." + +She stared at him with great eyes, but agreed at once, and they +appointed time and place. He then bade her good night, and the +moment she left him lay down on the bed to think. But he did not +trouble himself yet to unravel the plot against him, or determine +whether the violence he had suffered had the same origin with the +poisoning. Nor was the question merely how to continue to serve +his sister without danger to his life; for he had just learned what +rendered it absolutely imperative that she should be removed from +her present position. Mrs Merton had told him that Lady Lossie was +about to accompany Lady Bellair and Lord Liftore to the continent. +That must not be, whatever means might be necessary to prevent it. +Before he went to sleep things had cleared themselves up considerably. + +He woke much better, and rose at his usual hour. Kelpie rejoiced +him by affording little other sign of the cruelty she had suffered +than the angry twitching of her skin when hand or brush approached +a wound. The worst fear was that some few white hairs might by +and by in consequence fleck her spotless black. Having urgently +committed her to Merton's care, he mounted Honour, and rode to +the Aberdeen wharf. There to his relief, time growing precious, he +learned that the same smack in which Kelpie had come was to sail +the next morning for Aberdeen. He arranged at once for her passage, +and, before he left, saw to every contrivance he could think of for +her safety and comfort. He warned the crew concerning her temper, +but at the same time prejudiced them in her favour by the argument +of a few sovereigns. He then rode to the Chelsea Reach, where the +Psyche had now grown to be a feature of the river in the eyes of +the dwellers upon its banks. + +At his whistle, Davy tumbled into the dinghy like a round ball +over the gunwale, and was rowing for the shore ere his whistle had +ceased ringing in Malcolm's own ears. He left him with his horse, +went on board, and gave various directions to Travers; then took +Davy with him, and bought many things at different shops, which +he ordered to be delivered to Davy when he should call for them. +Having next instructed him to get everything on board as soon as +possible, and appointed to meet him at the same place and hour he +had arranged with Rose, he went home. + +A little anxious lest Florimel might have wanted him, for it was +now past the hour at which he usually waited her orders, he learned +to his relief that she was gone shopping with Lady Bellair, upon +which he set out for the hospital, whither they had carried the man +Kelpie had so terribly mauled. He went, not merely led by sympathy, +but urged by a suspicion also which he desired to verify or remove. +On the plea of identification, he was permitted to look at him for +a moment, but not to speak to him. It was enough: he recognised +him at once as the same whose second attack he had foiled in the +Regent's Park. He remembered having seen him about the stable, +but had never spoken to him. Giving the nurse a sovereign, and +Mr Soutar's address, he requested her to let that gentleman know +as soon as it was possible to conjecture the time of his leaving. +Returning, he gave Merton a hint to keep his eye on the man, and +some money to spend for him as he judged best. He then took Kelpie +for an airing. To his surprise she fatigued him so much that when +he had put her up again he was glad to go and lie down. + +When it came near the time for meeting Rose and Davy, he got his +things together in the old carpetbag, which held all he cared for, +and carried it with him. As he drew near the spot, he saw Davy +already there, keeping a sharp look out on all sides. Presently Rose +appeared, but drew back when she saw Davy. Malcolm went to her. + +"Rose," he said, "I am going to ask you to do me a great favour. +But you cannot except you are able to trust me." + +"I do trust you," she answered. + +"All I can tell you now is that you must go with that boy tomorrow. +Before night you shall know more. Will you do it?" + +"I will," answered Rose. "I dearly love a secret." + +"I promise to let you understand it, if you do just as I tell you." + +"I will." + +"Be at this very spot then tomorrow morning, at six o'clock. Come +here, Davy. This boy will take you where I shall tell him." + +She looked from the one to the other. + +"I'll risk it," she said. + +"Put on a clean frock, and take a change of linen with you and your +dressing things. No harm shall come to you." + +"I'm not afraid," she answered, but looked as if she would cry. + +"Of course you will not tell anyone." + +"I will not, Mr MacPhail." + +"You are trusting me a great deal, Rose; but I am trusting you too +--more than you think.--Be off with that bag, Davy, and be here +at six tomorrow morning, to carry this young woman's for her." + +Davy vanished. + +"Now, Rose," continued Malcolm, "you had better go and make your +preparations." + +"Is that all, sir?" she said. + +"Yes. I shall see you tomorrow. Be brave." + +Something in Malcolm's tone and manner seemed to work strangely +on the girl. She gazed up at him half frightened, but submissive, +and went at once, looking, however, sadly disappointed. + +Malcolm had intended to go and tell Mr Graham of his plans that same +night, but he found himself too much exhausted to walk to Camden +Town. And thinking over it, he saw that it might be as well if he +took the bold measure he contemplated without revealing it to his +friend, to whom the knowledge might be the cause of inconvenience. +He therefore went home and to bed, that he might be strong for the +next day. + + + +CHAPTER LI: THE PSYCHE + + +He rose early the next morning, and having fed and dressed Kelpie, +strapped her blanket behind her saddle, and, by all the macadamized +ways he could find, rode her to the wharf--near where the Thames +tunnel had just been commenced. He had no great difficulty with +her on the way, though it was rather nervous work at times. But of +late her submission to her master had been decidedly growing. When +he reached the wharf he rode her straight along the gangway on to +the deck of the smack, as the easiest if not perhaps the safest +way of getting her on board. As soon as she was properly secured, +and he had satisfied himself as to the provision they had made for +her, impressed upon the captain the necessity of being bountiful +to her, and brought a loaf of sugar on board for her use, he left +her with a lighter heart than he had had ever since first he fetched +her from the same deck. + +It was a long way to walk home, but he felt much better, and thought +nothing of it. And all the way, to his delight, the wind met him +in the face. A steady westerly breeze was blowing. If God makes +his angels winds, as the Psalmist says, here was one sent to wait +upon him. He reached Portland Place in time to present himself for +orders at the usual hour. On these occasions, his mistress not +unfrequently saw him herself; but to make sure, he sent up the +request that she would speak with him. + +"I am sorry to hear that you have been ill, Malcolm," she said +kindly, as he entered the room, where happily he found her alone. + +"I am quite well now, thank you, my lady," he returned. "I thought +your ladyship would like to hear something I happened to come to +the knowledge of the other day." + +"Yes? What was that?" + +"I called at Mr Lenorme's to learn what news there might be of him. +The housekeeper let me go up to his painting room; and what should +I see there, my lady, but the portrait of my lord marquis more +beautiful than ever, the brown smear all gone, and the likeness, +to my mind, greater than before!" + +"Then Mr Lenorme is come home!" cried Florimel, scarce attempting +to conceal the pleasure his report gave her. + +"That I cannot say," said Malcolm. "His housekeeper had a letter +from him a few days ago from Newcastle. If he is come back, I do +not think she knows it. It seems strange, for who would touch one +of his pictures but himself?--except, indeed, he got some friend +to set it to rights for your ladyship. Anyhow, I thought you would +like to see it again." + +"I will go at once," Florimel said, rising hastily. "Get the horses, +Malcolm, as fast as you can." + +"If my Lord Liftore should come before we start?" he suggested. + +"Make haste," returned his mistress, impatiently. + +Malcolm did make haste, and so did Florimel. What precisely was in +her thoughts who shall say, when she could not have told herself? +But doubtless the chance of seeing Lenorme urged her more than the +desire to see her father's portrait. Within twenty minutes they +were riding down Grosvenor Place, and happily heard no following +hoofbeats. When they came near the river, Malcolm rode up to her +and said, + +"Would your ladyship allow me to put up the horses in Mr Lenorme's +stable? I think I could show your ladyship a point or two that may +have escaped you." + +Florimel thought for a moment, and concluded it would be less +awkward, would indeed tend rather to her advantage with Lenorme, +should he really be there, to have Malcolm with her. + +"Very well," she answered. "I see no objection. I will ride round +with you to the stable, and we can go in the back way." + +They did so. The gardener took the horses, and they went up to +the study. Lenorme was not there, and everything was just as when +Malcolm was last in the room. Florimel was much disappointed, but +Malcolm talked to her about the portrait, and did all he could to +bring back vivid the memory of her father. At length with a little +sigh she made a movement to go. + +"Has your ladyship ever seen the river from the next room?" said +Malcolm, and, as he spoke, threw open the door of communication, +near which they stood. + +Florimel, who was always ready to see, walked straight into the +drawing room, and went to a window. + +"There is that yacht lying there still!" remarked Malcolm. "Does +she not remind you of the Psyche, my lady?" + +"Every boat does that," answered his mistress. "I dream about her. +But I couldn't tell her from many another." + +"People used to boats, my lady, learn to know them like the faces +of their friends.--What a day for a sail!" + +"Do you suppose that one is for hire?" said Florimel. + +"We can ask," replied Malcolm; and with that went to another window, +raised the sash, put his head out, and whistled. Over tumbled Davy +into the dinghy at the Psyche's stern, unloosed the painter, and +was rowing for the shore ere the minute was out. + +"Why, they're answering your whistle already!" said Florimel. + +"A whistle goes farther, and perhaps is more imperative than any +other call," returned Malcolm evasively, "Will your ladyship come +down and hear what they say?" + +A wave from the slow silting lagoon of her girlhood came washing +over the sands between, and Florimel flew merrily down the stair +and across ball and garden and road to the riverbank, where was a +little wooden stage or landing place, with a few steps, at which +the dinghy was just arriving. + +"Will you take us on board and show us your boat?" said Malcolm. + +"Ay, ay, sir," answered Davy. + +Without a moment's hesitation, Florimel took Malcolm's offered +hand, and stepped into the boat. Malcolm took the oars, and shot +the little tub across the river. When they got alongside the cutter, +Travers reached down both his hands for hers, and Malcolm held one +of his for her foot, and Florimel sprang on deck. + +"Young woman on board, Davy?" whispered Malcolm. + +"Ay, ay, sir--doon i' the fore," answered Davy, and Malcolm stood +by his mistress. + +"She is like the Psyche," said Florimel, turning to him, "only the +mast is not so tall." + +"Her topmast is struck, you see my lady--to make sure of her +passing clear under the bridges." + +"Ask them if we couldn't go down the river a little way," said +Florimel. "I should so like to see the houses from it!" + +Malcolm conferred a moment with Travers and returned. + +"They are quite willing, my lady," he said. + +"What fun!" cried Florimel, her girlish spirit all at the surface. +"How I should like to run away from horrid London altogether, and +never hear of it again!--Dear old Lossie House! and the boats! +and the fishermen!" she added meditatively. + +The anchor was already up, and the yacht drifting with the falling +tide. A moment more and she spread a low treble reefed mainsail +behind, a little jib before, and the western breeze filled and +swelled and made them alive, and with wind and tide she went swiftly +down the smooth stream. Florimel clapped her hands with delight. +The shores and all their houses fled up the river. They slid past +rowboats, and great heavy barges loaded to the lip, with huge red +sails and yellow, glowing and gleaming in the hot sun. For one +moment the shadow of Vauxhall Bridge gloomed like a death cloud, +chill and cavernous, over their heads; then out again they shot +into the lovely light and heat of the summer world. + +"It's well we ain't got to shoot Putney or Battersea," said Travers +with a grim smile, as he stood shaping her course by inches with +his magic-like steering, in the midst of a little covey of pleasure +boats: "with this wind we might ha' brought either on 'em about +our ears like an old barn." + +"This is life!" cried Florimel, as the river bore them nearer and +nearer to the vortex--deeper and deeper into the tumult of London. + +How solemn the silent yet never resting highway!--almost majestic +in the stillness of its hurrying might as it rolled heedless past +houses and wharfs that crowded its brinks. They darted through under +Westminster Bridge, and boats and barges more and more numerous +covered the stream. Waterloo Bridge, Blackfriars' Bridge they +passed. Sunlight all, and flashing water, and gleaming oars, and +gay boats, and endless motion! out of which rose calm, solemn, +reposeful, the resting yet hovering dome of St Paul's, with its +satellite spires, glittering in the tremulous hot air that swathed +in multitudinous ripples the mighty city. + +Southwark Bridge--and only London Bridge lay between them and the +open river, still widening as it flowed to the aged ocean. Through +the centre arch they shot, and lo! a world of masts, waiting to +woo with white sails the winds that should bear them across deserts +of water to lands of wealth and mystery. Through the labyrinth led +the highway of the stream, and downward they still swept--past +the Tower, and past the wharf where that morning Malcolm had said +goodbye for a time to his four footed subject and friend. The +smack's place was empty. With her hugest of sails, she was tearing +and flashing away, out of their sight, far down the river before +them. + +Through dingy dreary Limehouse they sank, and coasted the melancholy, +houseless Isle of Dogs; but on all sides were ships and ships, +and when they thinned at last, Greenwich rose before them. London +and the parks looked unendurable from this more varied life, more +plentiful air, and above all more abundant space. The very spirit +of freedom seemed to wave his wings about the yacht, fanning full +her sails. + +Florimel breathed as if she never could have enough of the sweet +wind; each breath gave her all the boundless region whence it blew; +she gazed as if she would fill her soul with the sparkling gray +of the water, the sun melted blue of the sky, and the incredible +green of the flat shores. For minutes she would be silent, her +parted lips revealing her absorbed delight, then break out in a +volley of questions, now addressing Malcolm, now Travers. She tried +Davy too, but Davy knew nothing except his duty here. The Thames +was like an unknown eternity to the creature of the Wan Water-- +about which, however, he could have told her a thousand things. + +Down and down the river they flew, and not until miles and miles of +meadows had come between her and London, not indeed until Gravesend +appeared, did it occur to Florimel that perhaps it might be well +to think by and by of returning. But she trusted everything to +Malcolm, who of course would see that everything was as it ought +to be. + +Her excitement began to flag a little. She was getting tired. The +bottle had been strained by the ferment of the wine. She turned to +Malcolm. + +"Had we not better be putting about?" she said. "I should like to +go on for ever--but we must come another day, better provided. +We shall hardly be in time for lunch." + +It was nearly four o'clock, but she rarely looked at her watch, +and indeed wound it up only now and then. + +"Will you go below and have some lunch, my lady?" said Malcolm. + +"There can't be anything on board!" she answered. + +"Come and see, my lady," rejoined Malcolm, and led the way to the +companion. + +When she saw the little cabin, she gave a cry of delight. + +"Why, it is just like our own cabin in the Psyche," she said, "only +smaller! Is it not, Malcolm?" + +"It is smaller, my lady," returned Malcolm, "but then there is a +little state room beyond." + +On the table was a nice meal--cold, but not the less agreeable in +the summer weather. Everything looked charming. There were flowers; +the linen was snowy; and the bread was the very sort Florimel liked +best. + +"It is a perfect fairy tale!" she cried. "And I declare here is our +crest on the forks and spoons!--What does it all mean, Malcolm?" + +But Malcolm had slipped away, and gone on deck again, leaving her +to food and conjecture, while he brought Rose up from the fore +cabin for a little air. Finding her fast asleep, however, he left +her undisturbed. + +Florimel finished her meal, and set about examining the cabin more +closely. The result was bewilderment. How could a yacht, fitted with +such completeness, such luxury, be lying for hire in the Thames? +As for the crest on the plate, that was a curious coincidence: many +people had the same crest. But both materials and colours were like +those of the Pysche! Then the pretty bindings on the book shelves +attracted her: every book was either one she knew or one of which +Malcolm had spoken to her! He must have had a hand in the business! +Next she opened the door of the stateroom; but when she saw the +lovely little white berth, and the indications of every comfort +belonging to a lady's chamber, she could keep her pleasure to herself +no longer. She hastened to the companionway, and called Malcolm. + +"What does it all mean?" she said, her eyes and cheeks glowing with +delight. + +"It means, my lady, that you are on board your own yacht, the Pysche. +I brought her with me from Portlossie, and have had her fitted up +according to the wish you once expressed to my lord, your father, +that you could sleep on board. Now you might make a voyage of many +days in her." + +"Oh, Malcolm!" was all Florimel could answer. She was too pleased +to think as yet of any of the thousand questions that might naturally +have followed. + +"Why, you've got the Arabian Nights, and all my favourite books +there!" she said at length.--"How long shall we have before we +get among the ships again?" + +She fancied she had given orders to return, and that the boat had +been put about. + +"A good many hours, my lady," answered Malcolm. + +"Ah, of course!" she returned; "it takes much longer against wind +and tide.--But my time is my own," she added, rather in the manner +of one asserting a freedom she did not feel, "and I don't see why +I should trouble myself. It will make some to do, I daresay, if +I don't appear at dinner; but it won't do anybody any harm. They +wouldn't break their hearts if they never saw me again." + +"Not one of them, my lady," said Malcolm. + +She lifted her head sharply, but took no farther notice of his +remark. + +"I won't be plagued any more," she said, holding counsel with +herself, but intending Malcolm to hear. "I will break with them +rather. Why should I not be as free as Clementina? She comes and +goes when and where she likes, and does what she pleases." + +"Why, indeed?" said Malcolm; and a pause followed, during which +Florimel stood apparently thinking, but in reality growing sleepy. + +"I will lie down a little," she said, "with one of those lovely +books." + +The excitement, the air, and the pleasure generally had wearied +her. Nothing could have suited Malcolm better. He left her. She +went to her berth, and fell fast asleep. + +When she awoke, it was some time before she could think where she +was. A strange ghostly light was about her, in which she could see +nothing plain; but the motion helped her to understand. She rose, +and crept to the companion ladder, and up on deck. Wonder upon wonder! +A clear full moon reigned high in the heavens, and below there was +nothing but water, gleaming with her molten face, or rushing past +the boat lead coloured, gray, and white. Here and there a vessel +--a snow cloud of sails--would glide between them and the moon, +and turn black from truck to waterline. + +The mast of the Psyche had shot up to its full height; the reef +points of the mainsail were loose, and the gaff was crowned with +its topsail; foresail and jib were full; and she was flying as if +her soul thirsted within her after infinite spaces. Yet what more +could she want? All around her was wave rushing upon wave, and +above her blue heaven and regnant moon. Florimel gave a great sigh +of delight. + +But what did it--what could it mean? What was Malcolm about? +Where was he taking her? What would London say to such an escapade +extraordinary? Lady Bellair would be the first to believe she had +run away with her groom--she knew so many instances of that sort +of thing! and Lord Liftore would be the next. It was too bad of +Malcolm! But she did not feel very angry with him, notwithstanding, +for had he not done it to give her pleasure? And assuredly he had +not failed. He knew better than anyone how to please her--better +even than Lenorme. + +She looked around her. No one was to be seen but Davie, who was +steering. The mainsail hid the men, and Rose, having been on deck +for two or three hours, was again below. She turned to Davy. But +the boy had been schooled, and only answered, + +"I maunna sae naething sae lang's I'm steerin', mem." + +She called Malcolm. He was beside her ere his name had left her +lips. The boy's reply had irritated her, and, coming upon this +sudden and utter change in her circumstances, made her feel as one +no longer lady of herself and her people, but a prisoner. + +"Once more, what does this mean, Malcolm?" she said, in high +displeasure. "You have deceived me shamefully! You left me to +believe we were on our way back to London--and here we are out +at sea! Am I no longer your mistress? Am I a child, to be taken +where you please?--And what, pray, is to become of the horses +you left at Mr Lenorme's?" + +Malcolm was glad of a question he was prepared to answer. + +"They are in their own stalls by this time, my lady. I took care +of that." + +"Then it was all a trick to carry me off against my will!" she +cried, with growing indignation. + +"Hardly against your will, my lady," said Malcolm, embarrassed and +thoughtful, in a tone deprecating and apologetic. + +"Utterly against my will!" insisted Florimel. "Could I ever have +consented to go to sea with a boatful of men, and not a woman on +board? You have disgraced me, Malcolm." + +Between anger and annoyance she was on the point of crying. + +"It's not so bad as that, my lady.--Here, Rose!" + +At his word, Rose appeared. + +"I've brought one of Lady Bellair's maids for your service, my +lady," Malcolm went on. "She will do the best she can to wait on +you." + +Florimel gave her a look. + +"I don't remember you," she said. + +"No, my lady. I was in the kitchen." + +"Then you can't be of much use to me." + +"A willing heart goes a long way, my lady," said Rose, prettily. + +"That is fine," returned Florimel, rather pleased. "Can you get me +some tea?" + +"Yes, my lady." + +Florimel turned, and, much to Malcolm's content vouchsafing him +not a word more, went below. + +Presently a little silver lamp appeared in the roof of the cabin, +and in a few minutes Davy came, carrying the tea tray, and followed +by Rose with the teapot. As soon as they were alone, Florimel began +to question Rose; but the girl soon satisfied her that she knew +little or nothing. + +When Florimel pressed her how she could go she knew not where at the +desire of a fellow servant, she gave such confused and apparently +contradictory answers, that Florimel began to think ill of both +her and Malcolm, and to feel more uncomfortable and indignant; and +the more she dwelt upon Malcolm's presumption, and speculated as +to his possible design in it, she grew the angrier. + +She went again on deck. By this time she was in a passion--little +mollified by the sense of her helplessness. + +"MacPhail," she said, laying the restraint of dignified utterance +upon her words, "I desire you to give me a good reason for your +most unaccountable behaviour. Where are you taking me?" + +"To Lossie House, my lady." + +"Indeed!" she returned with scornful and contemptuous surprise. "Then +I order you to change your course at once and return to London." + +"I cannot, my lady." + +"Cannot! Whose orders but mine are you under, pray?" + +"Your father's, my lady." + +"I have heard more than enough of that unfortunate--statement, +and the measureless assumptions founded on it. I shall heed it no +longer." + +"I am only doing my best to take care of you, my lady, as I promised +him. You will know it one day if you will but trust me." + +"I have trusted you ten times too much, and have gained nothing in +return but reasons for repenting it. Like all other servants made +too much of you have grown insolent. But I shall put a stop to it. +I cannot possibly keep you in my service after this. Am I to pay +a master where I want a servant?" + +Malcolm was silent. + +"You must have some reason for this strange conduct," she went on. +"How can your supposed duty to my father justify you in treating +me with such disrespect. Let me know your reasons. I have a right +to know them." + +"I will answer you, my lady," said Malcolm. "--Davy, go forward; +I will take the helm.--Now, my lady, if you will sit on that +cushion.--Rose, bring my lady a fur cloak you will find in the +cabin.--Now, my lady, if you will speak low that neither Davy +nor Rose shall hear us.--Travers is deaf--I will answer you." + +"I ask you," said Florimel, "why you have dared to bring me away +like this. Nothing but some danger threatening me could justify +it." + +"There you say it, my lady." + +"And what is the danger, pray?" + +'You were going on the continent with Lady Bellair and Lord Liftore +--and without me to do as I had promised." + +"You insult me!" cried Florimel. "Are my movements to be subject +to the approbation of my groom? Is it possible my father could give +his henchman such authority over his daughter? I ask you again, +where was the danger?" + +"In your company, my lady." + +"So!" exclaimed Florimel, attempting to rise in sarcasm as she rose +in wrath, lest she should fall into undignified rage. "And what +may be your objection to my companions?" + +"That Lady Bellair is not respected in any circle where her history +is known; and that her nephew is a scoundrel." + +"It but adds to the wrong you heap on me, that you compel me +to hear such wicked abuse of my father's friends," said Florimel, +struggling with tears of anger. But for regard to her dignity she +would have broken out in fierce and voluble rage. + +"If your father knew Lord Liftore as I do, he would be the last +man my lord marquis would see in your company." + +"Because he gave you a beating, you have no right to slander him," +said Florimel spitefully. + +Malcolm laughed. He must either laugh or be angry. + +"May I ask how your ladyship came to hear of that?" + +"He told me himself," she answered. + +"Then, my lady, he is a liar, as well as worse. It was I who gave +him the drubbing he deserved for his insolence to my--mistress. +I am sorry to mention the disagreeable fact, but it is absolutely +necessary you should know what sort of man he is." + +"And, if there be a lie, which of the two is more likely to tell +it?" + +"That question is for you, my lady, to answer." + +"I never knew a servant who would not tell a lie," said Florimel. + +"I was brought up a fisherman," said Malcolm. + +"And," Florimel went on, "I have heard my father say no gentleman +ever told a lie." + +"Then Lord Liftore is no gentleman," said Malcolm. "But I am not +going to plead my own cause even to you, my lady. If you can doubt +me, do. I have only one thing more to say: that when I told you +and my Lady Clementina about the fisher girl and the gentleman--" + +"How dare you refer to that again? Even you ought to know there +are things a lady cannot hear. It is enough you affronted me with +that before Lady Clementina--and after foolish boasts on my part +of your good breeding! Now you bring it up again, when I cannot +escape your low talk!" + +"My lady, I am sorrier than you think; but which is worse--that +you should hear such a thing spoken of, or make a friend of the +man who did it--and that is Lord Liftore?" + +Florimel turned away, and gave her seeming attention to the moonlit +waters, sweeping past the swift sailing cutter. + +Malcolm's heart ached for her: he thought she was deeply troubled. +But she was not half so shocked as he imagined. Infinitely worse +would have been the shock to him could he have seen how little the +charge against Liftore had touched her. Alas! evil communications +had already in no small degree corrupted her good manners. Lady +Bellair had uttered no bad words in her hearing: had softened to +decency every story that required it; had not unfrequently tacked +a worldly wise moral to the end of one; and yet, and yet, such had +been the tone of her telling, such the allotment of laughter and +lamentation, such the acceptance of things as necessary, and such +the repudiation of things as Quixotic, puritanical, impossible, +that the girl's natural notions of the lovely and the clean had +got dismally shaken and confused. + +Happily it was as yet more her judgment than her heart that was +perverted. But had she spoken out what was in her thoughts as she +looked over the great wallowing water, she would have merely said +that for all that Liftore was no worse than other men. They were +all the same. It was very unpleasant; but how could a lady help +it? If men would behave so, were by nature like that, women must +not make themselves miserable about it. They need ask no questions. +They were not supposed to be acquainted with the least fragment of +the facts, and they must cleave to their ignorance, and lay what +blame there might be on the women concerned. The thing was too +indecent even to think about. + +Ostrich-like they must hide their heads--close their eyes and +take the vice in their arms--to love, honour, and obey, as if it +were virtue's self, and men as pure as their demands on their wives. + +There are thousands that virtually reason thus: Only ignore the +thing effectually, and for you it is not. Lie right thoroughly +to yourself, and the thing is gone. The lie destroys the fact. So +reasoned Lady Macbeth--until conscience at last awoke, and she +could no longer keep even the smell of the blood from her. What +need Lady Lossie care about the fisher girl, or any other concerned +with his past, so long as he behaved like a gentleman to her! +Malcolm was a foolish meddling fellow, whose interference was the +more troublesome that it was honest + +She stood thus gazing on the waters that heaved and swept astern, +but without knowing that she saw them, her mind full of such nebulous +matter as, condensed, would have made such thoughts as I have set +down. And still and ever the water rolled and tossed away behind +in the moonlight. + +"Oh, my lady!" said Malcolm, "what it would be to have a soul as +big and as clean as all this!" + +She made no reply, did not turn her head, or acknowledge that she +heard him, a few minutes more she stood, then went below in silence, +and Malcolm saw no more of her that night. + + + +CHAPTER LII: HOPE CHAPEL + + +It was Sunday, during which Malcolm lay at the point of death some +three stories above his sister's room. There, in the morning, while +he was at the worst, she was talking with Clementina, who had called +to see whether she would not go and hear the preacher of whom he +had spoken with such fervour. Florimel laughed. + +"You seem to take everything for gospel Malcolm says, Clementina!" + +"Certainly not," returned Clementina, rather annoyed. "Gospel +nowadays is what nobody disputes and nobody heeds; but I do heed +what Malcolm says, and intend to find out, if I can, whether there +is any reality in it. I thought you had a high opinion of your +groom!" + +"I would take his word for anything a man's word can be taken for," +said Florimel. + +"But you don't set much store by his judgment?" + +"Oh, I daresay he's right. But I don't care for the things you +like so much to talk with him about. He's a sort of poet, anyhow, +and poets must be absurd. They are always either dreaming or talking +about their dreams. They care nothing for the realities of life. +No--if you want advice, you must go to your lawyer or clergyman, +or some man of common sense, neither groom nor poet." + +"Then, Florimel, it comes to this--that this groom of yours +is one of the truest of men, and one who possessed your father's +confidence, but you are so much his superior that you are capable +of judging him, and justified in despising his judgment." + +"Only in practical matters, Clementina." + +"And duty towards God is with you such a practical matter that you +cannot listen to anything he has got to say about it." + +Florimel shrugged her shoulders. + +"For my part, I would give all I have to know there was a God worth +believing in." + +"Clementina!" + +"What?" + +"Of course there is a God. It is very horrible to deny it." + +"Which is worse--to deny it, or to deny him? Now, I confess to +doubting it--that is, the fact of a God; but you seem to me to +deny God himself, for you admit there is a God--think it very +wicked to deny that, and yet you don't take interest enough in him +to wish to learn anything about him. You won't think, Florimel. I +don't fancy you ever really think." + +Florimel again laughed. + +"I am glad," she said, "that you don't judge me incapable of that +high art. But it is not so very long since Malcolm used to hint +something much the same about yourself, my lady!" + +"Then he was quite right," returned Clementina. "I am only just +beginning to think, and if I can find a teacher, here I am, his +pupil." + +"Well, I suppose I can spare my groom quite enough to teach you all +he knows," Florimel said, with what Clementina took for a marked +absence of expression. She reddened. But she was not one to defend +herself before her principles. + +"If he can, why should he not?" she said. "But it was of his friend +Mr Graham I was thinking---not himself." + +"You cannot tell whether he has got anything to teach you." + +"Your groom's testimony gives likelihood enough to make it my duty +to go and see. I intend to find the place this evening." + +"It must be some little ranting methodist conventicle. He would +not be allowed to preach in a church, you know." + +"Of course not! The church of England is like the apostle that +forbade the man casting out devils, and got forbid himself for it +--with this difference that she won't be forbid. Well, she chooses +her portion with Dives and not Lazarus. She is the most arrant +respecter of persons I know, and her Christianity is worse than a +farce. It was that first of all that drove me to doubt. If I could +find a place where everything was just the opposite, the poorer it +was the better I should like it. It makes me feel quite wicked to +hear a smug parson reading the gold ring and the goodly apparel, +while the pew openers beneath are illustrating in dumb show the +very thing the apostle is pouring out the vial of his indignation +upon over their heads;--doing it calmly and without a suspicion, +for the parson, while he reads, is rejoicing in his heart over the +increasing aristocracy of his congregation. The farce is fit to +make a devil in torment laugh." + +Once more, Florimel laughed aloud. + +"Another revolution, Clementina, and we shall have you heading the +canaille to destroy Westminster Abbey." + +"I would follow any leader to destroy falsehood," said Clementina. +"No canaille will take that up until it meddles with their stomachs +or their pew rents." + +"Really, Clementina, you are the worst Jacobin I ever heard talk. +My groom is quite an aristocrat beside you." + +"Not an atom more than I am. I do acknowledge an aristocracy-- +but it is one neither of birth nor of intellect nor of wealth." + +"What is there besides to make one?" + +"Something I hope to find before long. What if there be indeed a +kingdom and an aristocracy of life and truth!--Will you or will +you not go with me to hear this schoolmaster?" + +"I will go anywhere with you, if it were only to be seen with such +a beauty," said Florimel, throwing her arms round her neck and +kissing her. + +Clementina gently returned the embrace, and the thing was settled. + +The sound of their wheels, pausing in swift revolution with the +clangor of iron hoofs on rough stones at the door of the chapel, +refreshed the diaconal heart like the sound of water in the desert. +For the first time in the memory of the oldest, the dayspring of +success seemed on the point of breaking over Hope Chapel. The ladies +were ushered in by Mr Marshal himself, to Clementina's disgust and +Florimel's amusement, with much the same attention as his own shop +walker would have shown to carriage customers--How could a man +who taught light and truth be found in such a mean entourage? But +the setting was not the jewel. A real stone might be found in a +copper ring. So said Clementina to herself as she sat waiting her +hoped for instructor. + +Mrs Catanach settled her broad back into its corner, chuckling +over her own wisdom and foresight. Her seat was at the pulpit end +of the chapel, at right angles to almost all the rest of the pews +--chosen because thence, if indeed she could not well see the +preacher, she could get a good glimpse of nearly everyone that +entered. Keen sighted both physically and intellectually, she +recognized Florimel the moment she saw her. + +"Twa doos mair to the boody craw!" she laughed to herself. "Ae +man thrashin', an' twa birdies pickin'!" she went on, quoting the +old nursery nonsense. Then she stooped, and let down her veil. +Florimel hated her, and therefore might know her. + +"It's the day o' the Lord wi' auld Sanny Grame!" she resumed +to herself, as she lifted her head. "He's stickit nae mair, but a +chosen trumpet at last! Foul fa' 'im for a wearifu' cratur for a' +that! He has nowther balm o' grace nor pith o' damnation. + +"Yon laad Flemin', 'at preached i' the Baillies' Barn aboot the +dowgs gaein' roon' an' roon' the wa's o' the New Jeroozlem, gien +he had but hauden thegither an' no gean to the worms sae sune, wad +hae dung a score o' 'im. But Sanny angers me to that degree 'at but +for rizons--like yon twa--I wad gang oot i' the mids o' ane o' +'s palahvers, an' never come back, though I ha'e a haill quarter o' +my sittin' to sit oot yet, an' it cost me dear, an' fits the auld +back o' me no that ill." + +When Mr Graham rose to read the psalm, great was Clementina's +disappointment: he looked altogether, as she thought, of a sort +with the place--mean and dreary--of the chapel very chapelly, +and she did not believe it could be the man of whom Malcolm had +spoken. By a strange coincidence however, a kind of occurrence as +frequent as strange, he read for his text that same passage about +the gold ring and the vile raiment, in which we learn how exactly +the behaviour of the early Jewish churches corresponded to that +of the later English ones, and Clementina soon began to alter her +involuntary judgment of him when she found herself listening to +an utterance beside which her most voluble indignation would have +been but as the babble of a child. + +Sweeping, incisive, withering, blasting denunciation, logic +and poetry combining in one torrent of genuine eloquence, poured +confusion and dismay upon head and heart of all who set themselves +up for pillars of the church without practising the first principles +of the doctrine of Christ--men who, professing to gather their +fellows together in the name of Christ, conducted the affairs of +the church on the principles of hell--men so blind and dull and +slow of heart, that they would never know what the outer darkness +meant until it had closed around them--men who paid court to +the rich for their money, and to the poor for their numbers--men +who sought gain first, safety next, and the will of God not at all +--men whose presentation of Christianity was enough to drive the +world to a preferable infidelity. + +Clementina listened with her very soul. All doubt as to whether +this was Malcolm's friend, vanished within two minutes of his +commencement. If she rejoiced a little more than was humble or +healthful in finding that such a man thought as she thought, she +gained this good notwithstanding--the presence and power of a +man who believed in righteousness the doctrine he taught. Also she +perceived that the principles of equality he held, were founded +on the infinite possibilities of the individual--and of the race +only through the individual; and that he held these principles +with an absoluteness, an earnestness, a simplicity, that dwarfed +her loudest objurgation to the uneasy murmuring of a sleeper. She +could not but trust him, and her hope grew great that perhaps for +her he held the key of the kingdom of heaven. She saw that if what +this man said was true, then the gospel was represented by men who +knew nothing of its real nature, and by such she bad been led into +a false judgment of it. + +"If such a man," said the schoolmaster in conclusion, "would but +once represent to himself that the man whom he regards as beneath +him, may nevertheless be immeasurably above him--and that after +no arbitrary judgment, but according to the absolute facts of +creation, the scale of the kingdom of God, in which being is rank; +if he could persuade himself of the possibility that he may yet +have to worship before the feet of those on whom he looks down as +on the creatures of another and meaner order of creation, would it +not sting him to rise, and, lest this should be one of such, make +offer of his chair to the poor man in the vile raiment? Would he +ever more, all his life long, dare to say, 'Stand thou there, or +sit here under my footstool?'" + +During the week that followed, Clementina reflected with growing +delight on what she had heard, and looked forward to hearing more +of a kind correspondent on the approaching Sunday. Nor did the shock +of the disappearance of Florimel with Malcolm abate her desire to +be taught by Malcolm's friend. + +Lady Bellair was astounded, mortified, enraged. Liftore turned grey +with passion, then livid with mortification, at the news. Not one +of all their circle, as Florimel had herself foreseen, doubted for +a moment that she had run away with that groom of hers. Indeed, +upon examination, it became evident that the scheme had been for +some time in hand: the yacht they had gone on board had been lying +there for months; and although she was her own mistress, and might +marry whom she pleased, it was no wonder she had run away, for how +could she have held her face to it, or up after it? + +Lady Clementina accepted the general conclusion, but judged it +individually. She had more reason to be distressed at what seemed +to have taken place than anyone else; indeed it stung her to the +heart, wounding her worse than in its first stunning effects she was +able to know; yet she thought better rather than worse of Florimel +because of it. What she did not like in her with reference to the +affair was the depreciatory manner in which she had always spoken +of Malcolm. If genuine, it was quite inconsistent with due regard +for the man for whom she was yet prepared to sacrifice so much; +if, on the other hand, her slight opinion of his judgment was a +pretence, then she had been disloyal to the just prerogatives of +friendship. + +The latter part of that week was the sorest time Clementina had +ever passed. But, like a true woman, she fought her own misery and +sense of loss, as well as her annoyance and anxiety,--constantly +saying to herself that, be the thing as it might, she could never +cease to be glad that she had known Malcolm MacPhail. + + + +CHAPTER LIII: A NEW PUPIL + + +The sermon Lady Clementina heard with such delight had followed one +levelled at the common and right worldly idea of success harboured +by each, and unquestioned by one of the chief men of the community: +together they caused a strange uncertain sense of discomfort in +the mind diaconal. Slow to perceive that that idea, nauseous in +his presentment of it, was the very same cherished and justified +by themselves; unwilling also to believe that in his denunciation +of respecters of persons they themselves had a full share, they yet +felt a little uneasy from the vague whispers of their consciences +on the side of the neglected principles enounced, clashing with +the less vague conviction that if those whispers were encouraged +and listened to, the ruin of their hopes for their chapel, and +their influence in connection with it, must follow. They eyed each +other doubtfully, and there appeared a general tendency amongst +them to close pressed lips and single shakes of the head. But there +were other forces at work--tending in the same direction. + +Whatever may have been the influence of the schoolmaster upon the +congregation gathered in Hope Chapel, there was one on whom his +converse, supplemented by his preaching, had taken genuine hold. +Frederick Marshal had begun to open his eyes to the fact that, +regarded as a profession, the ministry, as they called it in their +communion, was the meanest way of making a living in the whole +creation, one deserving the contempt of every man honest enough to +give honourable work, that is, work worth the money, for the money +paid him. Also he had a glimmering insight, on the other hand, into +the truth of what the dominie said--that it was the noblest of +martyrdoms to the man who, sent by God, loved the truth with his +whole soul, and was never happier than when bearing witness of +it, except, indeed, in those blessed moments when receiving it of +the Father. In consequence of this opening of his eyes the youth +recoiled with dismay from the sacrilegious mockery of which he had +been guilty in meditating the presumption of teaching holy things +of which the sole sign that he knew anything was now afforded by +this same recoil. At last he was not far from the kingdom of heaven, +though whether he was to be sent to persuade men that that kingdom +was amongst them, and must be in them, remained a question. + +On the morning after the latter of those two sermons, Frederick, +as they sat at breakfast, succeeded, with no small effort, for he +feared his mother, in blurting out to his father the request that +he might be taken into the counting house; and when indignantly +requested, over the top of the teapot, to explain himself, declared +that he found it impossible to give his mind to a course of education +which could only end in the disappointment of his parents, seeing +he was at length satisfied that he had no call to the ministry. +His father was not displeased at the thought of having him at the +shop; but his mother was for some moments speechless with angry +tribulation. Recovering herself, with scornful bitterness she +requested to know to what tempter he had been giving ear--for +tempted he must have been ere son of hers would have been guilty +of backsliding from the cause; of taking his hand from the plough +and looking behind him. The youth returned such answers as, while +they satisfied his father he was right, served only to convince +his mother, where yet conviction was hardly needed, that she had to +thank the dominie for his defection, his apostasy from the church +to the world. + +Incapable of perceiving that now first there was hope of a genuine +disciple in the child of her affection, she was filled with the gall +of disappointment, and with spite against the man who had taught +her son how worse than foolish it is to aspire to teach before one +has learned; nor did she fail to cast scathing reflections on her +husband, in that he had brought home a viper in his bosom, a wolf +into his fold, the wretched minion of a worldly church to lead her +son away captive at his will; and partly no doubt from his last +uncomfortable sermons, but mainly from the play of Mrs Marshal's +tongue on her husband's tympanum, the deacons in full conclave +agreed that no further renewal of the invitation to preach "for +them" should be made to the schoolmaster--just the end of the +business Mr Graham had expected, and for which he had provided. On +Tuesday morning he smiled to himself, and wondered whether, if he +were to preach in his own schoolroom the next Sunday evening, anyone +would come to hear him. On Saturday he received a cool letter of +thanks for his services, written by the ironmonger in the name of +the deacons, enclosing a cheque, tolerably liberal as ideas went, +in acknowledgment of them. The cheque Mr Graham returned, saying +that, as he was not a preacher by profession, he had no right to +take fees. It was a half holiday: he walked up to Hampstead Heath, +and was paid for everything, in sky and cloud, fresh air, and a +glorious sunset. + +When the end of her troubled week came, and the Sunday of her +expectation brought lovely weather, with a certain vague suspicion +of peace, into the regions of Mayfair and Spitalfields, Clementina +walked across the Regent's Park to Hope Chapel, and its morning +observances; but thought herself poorly repaid for her exertions +by having to listen to a dreadful sermon and worse prayers from Mr +Masquar--one of the chief priests of Commonplace--a comfortable +idol to serve, seeing he accepts as homage to himself all that any +man offers to his own person, opinions, or history. But Clementina +contrived to endure it, comforting herself that she had made a +mistake in supposing Mr Graham preached in the morning. + +In the evening her carriage once again drew up with clang and clatter +at the door of the chapel. But her coachman was out of temper at +having to leave the bosom of his family circle--as he styled the +table that upheld his pot of beer and jar of tobacco--of a Sunday, +and sought relief to his feelings in giving his horses a lesson in +crawling; the result of which was fortunate for his mistress: when +she entered, the obnoxious Mr Masquar was already reading the hymn. +She turned at once and made for the door. + +But her carriage was already gone. A strange sense of loneliness +and desolation seized her. The place had grown hateful to her, and +she would have fled from it. Yet she lingered in the porch. The +eyes of the man in the pulpit, with his face of false solemnity +and low importance--she seemed to feel the look of them on her +back, yet she lingered. Now that Malcolm was gone, how was she to +learn when Mr Graham would be preaching? + +"If you please, ma'am," said a humble and dejected voice. + +She turned and saw the seamed and smoky face of the pew opener, +who had been watching her from the lobby, and had crept out after +her. She dropped a courtesy, and went on hurriedly, with an anxious +look now and then over her shoulder--"Oh, ma'am! we shan't see +'im no more. Our people here--they're very good people, but they +don't like to be told the truth. It seems to me as if they knowed +it so well they thought as how there was no need for them to mind +it." + +"You don't mean that Mr Graham has given up preaching here?" + +"They've given up askin' of 'im to preach, lady. But if ever there +was a good man in that pulpit, Mr Graham he do be that man!" + +"Do you know where he lives?" + +"Yes, ma'am; but it would be hard to direct you." Here she looked +in at the door of the chapel with a curious half frightened glance, +as if to satisfy herself that the inner door was closed. "But," +she went on, "they won't miss me now the service is begun, and I +can be back before it's over. I'll show you where, ma'am." + +"I should be greatly obliged to you," said Clementina, "only I am +sorry to give you the trouble." + +"To tell the truth, I'm only too glad to get away," she returned, +"for the place it do look like a cementery, now he's out of it." + +"Was he so kind to you?" + +"He never spoke word to me, as to myself like, no, nor never gave +me sixpence, like Mr Masquar do; but he give me strength in my +heart to bear up, and that's better than meat or money." + +It was a good half hour's walk, and during it Clementina held what +conversation she might with her companion. It was not much the +woman had to say of a general sort. She knew little beyond her +own troubles and the help that met them, but what else are the two +main forces whose composition results in upward motion? Her world +was very limited--the houses in which she went charing, the chapel +she swept and dusted, the neighbours with whom she gossipped, the +little shops where she bought the barest needs of her bare life; +but it was at least large enough to leave behind her; and if she +was not one to take the kingdom of heaven by force, she was yet +one to creep quietly into it. The earthly life of such as she-- +immeasurably less sordid than that of the poet who will not work +for his daily bread, or that of the speculator who, having settled +money on his wife, risks that of his neighbour--passing away like +a cloud, will hang in their west, stained indeed, but with gold, +blotted, but with roses. Dull as it all was now, Clementina yet +gained from her unfoldings a new outlook upon life, its needs, its +sorrows, its consolations, and its hopes; nor was there any vulgar +pity in the smile of the one, or of degrading acknowledgment in +the tears of the other, when a piece of gold passed from hand to +hand, as they parted. + +The Sunday sealed door of the stationer's shop--for there was no +private entrance to the house--was opened by another sad faced +woman. What a place to seek the secret of life in! Lovelily enfolds +the husk its kernel; but what the human eye turns from as squalid +and unclean may enfold the seed that clasps, couched in infinite +withdrawment, the vital germ of all that is lovely and graceful, +harmonious and strong, all without which no poet would sing, no +martyr burn, no king rule in righteousness, no geometrician pore +over the marvellous must. + +The woman led her through the counter into a little dingy room +behind the shop, looking out on a yard a few feet square, with a +water butt, half a dozen flower pots, and a maimed plaster Cupid +perched on the windowsill. There sat the schoolmaster, in conversation +with a lady, whom the woman of the house, awed by her sternness and +grandeur, had, out of regard to her lodger's feelings, shown into +her parlour and not into his bedroom. + +Cherishing the hope that the patent consequences of his line of action +might have already taught him moderation, Mrs Marshal, instead of +going to chapel to hear Mr Masquar, had paid Mr Graham a visit, +with the object of enlisting his sympathies if she could, at all +events his services, in the combating of the scruples he had himself +aroused in the bosom of her son. What had passed between them I +do not care to record, but when Lady Clementina--unannounced of +the landlady--entered, there was light enough, notwithstanding +the non reflective properties of the water butt, to reveal Mrs +Marshal flushed and flashing, Mr Graham grave and luminous, and +to enable the chapel business eye of Mrs Marshal, which saw every +stranger that entered "Hope," at once to recognise her as having +made one of the congregation the last Sunday evening. + +Evidently one of Mr Graham's party, she was not prejudiced in her +favour. But there was that in her manner which impressed her-- +that something ethereal and indescribable which she herself was +constantly aping, and, almost involuntarily, she took upon herself +such honours as the place, despicable in her eyes, would admit of. +She rose, made a sweeping courtesy, and addressed Lady Clementina +with such a manner as people of Mrs Marshal's ambitions put off +and on like their clothes. + +"Pray, take a seat, ma'am, such as it is," she said, with a wave +of her hand. "I believe I have had the pleasure of seeing you at +our place." + +Lady Clementina sat down: the room was too small to stand in, and +Mrs Marshal seemed to take the half of it. + +"I am not aware of the honour," she returned, doubtful what the +woman meant--perhaps some shop or dressmaker's. Clementina was +not one who delighted in freezing her humbler fellow creatures, as +we know; but there was something altogether repulsive in the would +be grand but really arrogant behaviour of her fellow visitor. + +"I mean," said Mrs Marshal, a little abashed, for ambition is not +strength, "at our little Bethel in Kentish Town! Not that we live +there!" she explained with a superior smile. + +"Oh! I think I understand. You must mean the chapel where this +gentleman was preaching." + +"That is my meaning," assented Mrs Marshal. + +"I went there tonight," said Clementina, turning with some timidity +to Mr Graham. "That I did not find you there, sir, will, I hope, +explain--"Here she paused, and turned again to Mrs Marshal. "I see +you think with me, ma'am, that a true teacher is worth following." + +As she said this she turned once more to Mr Graham, who sat listening +with a queer, amused, but right courteous smile. + +"I hope you will pardon me," she continued, "for venturing to +call upon you, and, as I have the misfortune to find you occupied, +allow me to call another day. If you would set me a time, I should +be more obliged than I can tell you," she concluded, her voice +trembling a little. + +"Stay now, if you will, madam," returned the schoolmaster, with a +bow of oldest fashioned courtesy. "This lady has done laying her +commands upon me, I believe." + +"As you think proper to call them commands, Mr Graham, I conclude +you intend to obey them," said Mrs Marshal, with a forced smile +and an attempt at pleasantry. + +"Not for the world, madam," he answered. "Your son is acting the +part of a gentleman--yes, I make bold to say, of one who is very +nigh the kingdom of heaven, if not indeed within its gate, and before +I would check him I would be burnt at the stake--even were your +displeasure the fire, madam," he added, with a kindly bow. "Your +son is a line fellow." + +"He would be, if he were left to himself. Good evening, Mr Graham. +Goodbye, rather, for I think we are not likely to meet again." + +"In heaven, I hope, madam; for by that time we shall be able to +understand each other," said the schoolmaster, still kindly. + +Mrs Marshal made no answer beyond a facial flash as she turned to +Clementina. + +"Good evening, ma'am," she said. "To pay court to the earthen +vessel because of the treasure it may happen to hold, is to be a +respecter of persons as bad as any." + +An answering flash broke from Clementina's blue orbs, but her speech +was more than calm as she returned, + +"I learned something of that lesson last Sunday evening, I hope, +ma'am. But you have left me far behind, for you seem to have learned +disrespect even to the worthiest of persons. Good evening, ma'am." + +She looked the angry matron full in the face, with an icy regard, +from which, as from the Gorgon eye, she fled. + +The victor turned to the schoolmaster. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," she said, "for presuming to take your +part, but a gentleman is helpless with a vulgar woman." + +"I thank you, madam. I hope the sharpness of your rebuke--but +indeed the poor woman can hardly help her rudeness, for she is very +worldly, and believes herself very pious. It is the old story-- +hard for the rich." + +Clementina was struck. + +"I too am rich and worldly," she said. "But I know that I am not +pious, and if you would but satisfy me that religion is common +sense, I would try to be religious with all my heart and soul." + +"I willingly undertake the task. But let us know each other a +little first. And lest I should afterwards seem to have taken an +advantage of you, I hope you have no wish to be nameless to me, for +my friend Malcolm MacPhail had so described you that I recognized +your ladyship at once." + +Clementina said that, on the contrary, she had given her name to +the woman who opened the door. + +"It is because of what Malcolm said of you that I ventured to come +to you," she added. + +"Have you seen Malcolm lately?" he asked, his brow clouding a +little. "It is more than a week since he has been to me." + +Thereupon, with embarrassment, such as she would never have felt except +in the presence of pure simplicity, she told of his disappearance +with his mistress. + +"And you think they have run away together?" said the schoolmaster, +his face beaming with what, to Clementina's surprise, looked almost +like merriment. + +"Yes, I think so," she answered. "Why not, if they choose?" + +"I will say this for my friend Malcolm," returned Mr Graham composedly, +"that whatever he did I should expect to find not only all right +in intention, but prudent and well devised also. The present may +well seem a rash, ill considered affair for both of them, but--" + +"I see no necessity either for explanation or excuse," said +Clementina, too eager to mark that she interrupted Mr Graham. "In +making up her mind to marry him, Lady Lossie has shown greater +wisdom and courage than, I confess, I had given her credit for." + +"And Malcolm?" rejoined the schoolmaster softly. "Should you say +of him that he showed equal wisdom?" + +"I decline to give an opinion upon the gentleman's part in the +business," answered Clementina, laughing, but glad there was so +little light in the room, for she was painfully conscious of the +burning of her cheeks. "Besides, I have no measure to apply to +Malcolm," she went on, a little hurriedly. "He is like no one else +I have ever talked with, and I confess there is something about +him I cannot understand. Indeed, he is beyond me altogether." + +"Perhaps, having known him from infancy, I might be able to explain +him," returned Mr Graham, in a tone that invited questioning. + +"Perhaps, then," said Clementina, "I may be permitted, in jealousy +for the teaching I have received of him, to confess my bewilderment +that one so young should be capable of dealing with such things as +he delights in. The youth of the prophet makes me doubt his prophecy." + +"At least," rejoined Mr Graham, "the phenomenon coincides with what +the master of these things said of them--that they were revealed +to babes and not to the wise and prudent. As to Malcolm's wonderful +facility in giving them form and utterance, that depends so +immediately on the clear sight of them, that, granted a little of +the gift poetic, developed through reading and talk, we need not +wonder much at it." + +"You consider your friend a genius?" suggested Clementina. + +"I consider him possessed of a kind of heavenly common sense, +equally at home in the truths of divine relation, and the facts of +the human struggle with nature and her forces. I should never have +discovered my own ignorance in certain points of the mathematics +but for the questions that boy put to me before he was twelve years +of age. A thing not understood lay in his mind like a fretting +foreign body. But there is a far more important factor concerned +than this exceptional degree of insight. Understanding is the reward +of obedience. Peter says 'the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given them +that obey him.' Obedience is the key to every door. I am perplexed +at the stupidity of the ordinary religious being. In the most practical +of all matters, he will talk, and speculate, and try to feel, but +he will not set himself to do. It is different with Malcolm. From +the first he has been trying to obey. Nor do I see why it should be +strange that even a child should understand these things, if they +are the very elements of the region for which we were created and +to which our being holds essential relations, as a bird to the +air, or a fish to the sea. If a man may not understand the things +of God whence he came, what shall he understand?" + +"How, then, is it that so few do understand?" + +"Because where they know, so few obey. This boy, I say, did. If +you had seen, as I have, the almost superhuman struggles of his +will to master the fierce temper his ancestors gave him, you would +marvel less at what he has so early become. I have seen him, white +with passion, cast himself on his face on the shore, and cling with +his hands to the earth as if in a paroxysm of bodily suffering; +then after a few moments rise and do a service to the man who had +wronged him. Were it any wonder if the light should have soon gone +up in a soul like that? When I was a younger man I used to go out +with the fishing boats now and then, drawn chiefly by my love for +the boy, who earned his own bread that way before he was in his +teens. One night we were caught in a terrible storm, and had to +stand out to sea in the pitch dark. He was then not fourteen. 'Can +you let a boy like that steer?' I said to the captain of the boat. +'Yes; just a boy like that,' he answered. 'Ma'colm 'ill steer +as straucht's a porpus.' When he was relieved, he crept over the +thwarts to where I sat. 'Is there any true definition of a straight +line, sir?' he said. 'I can't take the one in my Euclid.'--'So +you're not afraid, Malcolm?' I returned, heedless of his question, +for I wanted to see what he would answer. 'Afraid, sir!' he rejoined +with some surprise, 'I wad ill like to hear the Lord say, O thou +o' little faith!'--'But,' I persisted, 'God may mean to drown +you!'--'An' what for no?' he returned. 'Gien ye war to tell me +'at I micht be droon't ohn him meant it, I wad be fleyt eneuch.' +I see your ladyship does not understand: I will interpret the dark +saying: 'And why should he not drown me? If you were to tell me +I might be drowned without his meaning it, I should be frightened +enough.' Believe me, my lady, the right way is simple to find, +though only they that seek it first can find it. But I have allowed +myself," concluded the schoolmaster, "to be carried adrift in my +laudation of Malcolm. You did not come to hear praises of him, my +lady." + +"I owe him much," said Clementina. "--But tell me then, Mr Graham, +how is it that you know there is a God, and one--one--fit to +be trusted as you trust him?" + +"In no way that I can bring to bear on the reason of another so as +to produce conviction." + +"Then what is to become of me?" + +"I can do for you what is far better. I can persuade you to look +and see whether before your own door stands not a gate--lies not +a path to walk in. Entering by that gate, walking in that path, +you shall yourself arrive at the conviction, which no man can give +you, that there is a living Love and Truth at the heart of your +being, and pervading all that surrounds you. The man who seeks +the truth in any other manner will never find it. Listen to me a +moment, my lady. I loved that boy's mother. Naturally she did not +love me--how could she? I was very unhappy. I sought comfort +from the unknown source of my life. He gave me to understand his +Son, and so I understood himself, knew that I came of God, and was +comforted." + +"But how do you know that it was not all a delusion--the product +of your own fervid imagination? Do not mistake me; I want to find +it true." + +"It is a right and honest question, my lady. I will tell you. + +"Not to mention the conviction which a truth beheld must carry with +itself and concerning which there can be no argument either with +him who does or him who does not see it, this experience goes far +with me, and would with you if you had it, as you may--namely, +that all my difficulties and confusions have gone on clearing +themselves up ever since I set out to walk in that way. My consciousness +of life is threefold what it was; my perception of what is lovely +around me, and my delight in it, threefold; my power of understanding +things and of ordering my way, threefold also; the same with my +hope and my courage, my love to my kind, my power of forgiveness. +In short, I cannot but believe that my whole being and its whole +world are in process of rectification for me. Is not that something +to set against the doubt born of the eye and ear, and the questions +of an intellect that can neither grasp nor disprove? I say nothing +of better things still. To the man who receives such as I mean, +they are the heart of life; to the man who does not, they exist +not. But I say--if I thus find my whole being enlightened and +redeemed, and know that therein I fare according to the word of +the man of whom the old story tells: if I find that his word, and +the result of action founded upon that word, correspond and agree, +opening a heaven within and beyond me, in which I see myself +delivered from all that now in myself is to myself despicable and +unlovely; if I can reasonably--reasonably to myself not to another +--cherish hopes of a glory of conscious being, divinely better +than all my imagination when most daring could invent--a glory +springing from absolute unity with my creator, and therefore with +my neighbour; if the Lord of the ancient tale, I say, has thus held +word with me, am I likely to doubt much or long whether there be +such a lord or no?" + +"What, then, is the way that lies before my own door? Help me to +see it." + +"It is just the old way--as old as the conscience--that of +obedience to any and every law of personal duty. But if you have +ever seen the Lord, if only from afar--if you have any vaguest +suspicion that the Jew Jesus, who professed to have come from God, +was a better man than other men, one of your first duties must +be to open your ears to his words, and see whether they commend +themselves to you as true; then, if they do, to obey them with your +whole strength and might, upheld by the hope of the vision promised +in them to the obedient. This is the way of life, which will lead +a man out of the miseries of the nineteenth century, as it led Paul +out of the miseries of the first." + +There followed a little pause, and then a long talk about what the +schoolmaster had called the old story; in which he spoke with such +fervid delight of this and that point in the tale; removing this +and that stumbling-block by giving the true reading--or the +right interpretation; showing the what and why and how--the very +intent of our Lord in the thing he said or did, that, for the first +time in her life, Clementina began to feel as if such a man must +really have lived, that his blessed feet must really have walked +over the acres of Palestine, that his human heart must indeed have +thought and felt, worshipped and borne, right humanly. Even in the +presence of her new teacher, and with his words in her ears, she +began to desire her own chamber that she might sit down with the +neglected story and read for herself. + +The schoolmaster walked with her to the chapel door. There her +carriage was already waiting. He put her in, and, while the Reverend +Jacob Masquar was still holding forth upon the difference between +adoption and justification, Clementina drove away, never more to +delight the hearts of the deacons with the noise of the hoofs of +her horses, staying the wheels of her yellow chariot. + + + +CHAPTER LIV: THE FEY FACTOR + + +When Mr Crathie heard of the outrage the people of Scaurnose had +committed upon the surveyors, he vowed be would empty every house +in the place at Michaelmas. His wife warned him that such a wholesale +proceeding must put him in the wrong with the country, seeing they +could not all have been guilty. He replied it would be impossible, +the rascals hung so together, to find out the ringleaders +even. She returned that they all deserved it, and that a correct +discrimination was of no consequence; it would be enough to the +purpose if he made a difference. People would then say he had done +his best to distinguish. The factor was persuaded and made out a +list of those who were to leave, in which he took care to include +all the principal men, to whom he gave warning forthwith to quit +their houses at Michaelmas. I do not know whether the notice was +in law sufficient, but exception was not taken on that score. + +Scaurnose, on the receipt of the papers, all at the same time, by +the hand of the bellman of Portlossie, was like a hive about to +swarm. Endless and complicated were the comings and goings between +the houses, the dialogues, confabulations, and consultations, in +the one street and its many closes. In the middle of it, in front +of the little public house, stood, all that day and the next, a group +of men and women, for no five minutes in its component parts the +same, but, like a cloud, ever slow dissolving, and as continuously +reforming, some dropping away, others falling to. Such nid nodding, such +uplifting and fanning of palms among the women, such semi-revolving +side shakes of the head, such demonstration of fists, and such cursing +among the men, had never before been seen and heard in Scaurnose. +The result was a conclusion to make common cause with the first +victim of the factor's tyranny, namely Blue Peter, whose expulsion +would arrive three months before theirs, and was unquestionably +head and front of the same cruel scheme for putting down the fisher +folk altogether. + +Three of them, therefore, repaired to Joseph's house, commissioned +with the following proposal and condition of compact: that Joseph +should defy the notice given him to quit, they pledging themselves +that he should not be expelled. Whether he agreed or not, they were +equally determined, they said, when their turn came, to defend the +village; but if he would cast in his lot with them, they would, in +defending him, gain the advantage of having the question settled +three months sooner for themselves. Blue Peter sought to dissuade +them, specially insisting on the danger of bloodshed. They laughed. +They had anticipated objection, but being of the youngest and +roughest in the place, the idea of a scrimmage was, neither in +itself nor in its probable consequences, at all repulsive to them. +They answered that a little blood letting would do nobody any harm, +neither would there be much of that, for they scorned to use any +weapon sharper than their fists or a good thick rung: the women +and children would take stones of course. Nobody would be killed, +but every meddlesome authority taught to let Scaurnose and fishers +alone. Peter objected that their enemies could easily starve them +out. Dubs rejoined that, if they took care to keep the sea door open, +their friends at Portlossie would not let them starve. Grosert said +he made no doubt the factor would have the Seaton to fight as well +as Scaurnose, for they must see plainly enough that their turn would +come next. Joseph said the factor would apply to the magistrates, +and they would call out the militia. + +"An' we'll call out Buckie," answered Dubs. + +"Man," said Fite Folp, the eldest of the three, "the haill shore, +frae the Brough to Fort George, 'll be up in a jiffie, an' a' the +cuintry, frae John o' Groat's to Berwick, 'ill hear hoo the fisher +fowk 's misguidit; an' at last it'll come to the king, an' syne +we'll get oor richts, for he'll no stan' to see't, an' maitters 'll +sane be set upon a better futtin' for puir fowk 'at has no freen' +but God an' the sea." + +The greatness of the result represented laid hold of Peter's +imagination, and the resistance to injustice necessary to reach it +stirred the old tar in him. When they took their leave, he walked +halfway up the street with them, and then returned to tell his wife +what they had been saying, all the way murmuring to himself as he +went, "The Lord is a man of war." And ever as he said the words, +he saw as in a vision the great man of war in which he had served, +sweeping across the bows of a Frenchman, and raking him, gun after +gun, from stem to stern. Nor did the warlike mood abate until +he reached home and looked his wife in the eyes. He told her all, +ending with the half repudiatory, half tentative words. + +"That's what they say, ye see, Annie." + +"And what say ye, Joseph?" returned his wife. + +"Ow! I'm no sayin'," he answered. + +"What are ye thinkin' than, Joseph?" she pursued. "Ye canna say +ye're no thinkin'." + +"Na; I'll no say that, lass," he replied, but said no more. + +"Weel, gien ye winna say," resumed Annie, "I wull; an' my say is, +'at it luiks to me unco like takin' things intil yer ain han'." + +"An' whase han' sud we tak them intil but oor ain?" said Peter, +with a falseness which in another would have roused his righteous +indignation. + +"That's no the p'int. It's whase han' ye're takin' them oot o'," +returned she, and spoke with solemnity and significance. + +Peter made no answer, but the words Vengeance is mine began to ring +in his mental ears instead of The Lord is a man of war. + +Before Mr Graham left them, and while Peter's soul was flourishing, +he would have simply said that it was their part to endure, and +leave the rest to the God of the sparrows. But now the words of +men whose judgment had no weight with him, threw him back upon the +instinct of self defence--driven from which by the words of his +wife, he betook himself, not alas! to the protection, but to the +vengeance of the Lord! + +The next day he told the three commissioners that he was sorry to +disappoint them, but he could not make common cause with them, for +he could not see it his duty to resist, much as it would gratify +the natural man. They must therefore excuse him if he left Scaurnose +at the time appointed. He hoped he should leave friends behind him. + +They listened respectfully, showed no offence, and did not even +attempt to argue the matter with him. But certain looks passed +between them. + +After this Blue Peter was a little happier in his mind, and went +more briskly about his affairs. + + + +CHAPTER LV: THE WANDERER + + +It was a lovely summer evening, and the sun, going down just beyond +the point of the Scaurnose, shone straight upon the Partan's door. +That it was closed in such weather had a significance--general as +well as individual. Doors were oftener closed in the Seaton now. +The spiritual atmosphere of the place was less clear and open +than hitherto. The behaviour of the factor, the trouble of their +neighbours, the conviction that the man who depopulated Scaurnose +would at least raise the rents upon them, had brought a cloud +over the feelings and prospects of its inhabitants--which their +special quarrel with the oppressor for Malcolm's sake, had drawn +deeper around the Findlays; and hence it was that the setting sun +shone upon the closed door of their cottage. + +But a shadow darkened it, cutting off the level stream of rosy red. +An aged man, in Highland garments, stood and knocked. His overworn +dress looked fresher and brighter in the friendly rays, but they +shone very yellow on the bare hollows of his old knees. It was +Duncan MacPhail, the supposed grandfather of Malcolm. He was older +and feebler, I had almost said blinder, but that could not be, +certainly shabbier than ever. The glitter of dirk and broadsword at +his sides, and the many coloured ribbons adorning the old bagpipes +under his arms, somehow enhanced the look of more than autumnal, +of wintry desolation in his appearance. + +Before he left the Seaton, the staff he carried was for show rather +than use, but now he was bent over it, as if but for it he would +fall into his grave. His knock was feeble and doubtful, as if unsure +of a welcoming response. He was broken, sad, and uncomforted. + +A moment passed. The door was unlatched, and within stood the +Partaness, wiping her hands in her apron, and looking thunderous. +But when she saw who it was, her countenance and manner changed +utterly. + +"Preserve's a'! Ye're a sicht for sair e'en, Maister MacPhail!" she +cried, holding out her hand, which the blind man took as if he saw +as well as she. "Come awa' but the hoose. Wow! but ye're walcome." + +"She thanks your own self, Mistress Partan," said Duncan, as he +followed her in; "and her heart will pe thanking you for ta coot +welcome; and it will pe a long time since she'll saw you howefer." + +"Noo, noo!" exclaimed Meg, stopping in the middle of her little +kitchen, as she was getting a chair for the old man, and turning +upon him to revive on the first possible chance what had been a +standing quarrel between them, "what can be the rizon 'at gars ane +like you, 'at never saw man or wuman i' yer lang life, the verra +meenute ye open yer mou', say it's lang sin' ye saw me. A mensefu' +body like you, Maister MacPhail, sud speyk mair to the p'int." + +"Ton't you'll pe preaking her heart with ta one hand while you'll +pe clapping her head with ta other," said the piper. "Ton't be +taking her into your house to pe telling her she can't see. Is it +that old Tuncan is not a man as much as any woman in ta world, tat +you'll pe telling her she can't see? I tell you she can see, and +more tan you'll pe think. And I will tell it to you, tere iss a pape +in this house, and tere was pe none when Tuncan she'll co away." + +"We a' ken ye ha'e the second sicht," said Mrs Findlay, who had +not expected such a reply; "an' it was only o' the first I spak. +Haith! it wad be ill set o' me to anger ye the moment ye come back +to yer ain. Sit ye doon there by the chimla neuk, till I mask ye +a dish o' tay. Or maybe ye wad prefar a drap o' parritch an' milk? +It's no muckle I ha'e to offer ye, but ye cudna be mair walcome." + +As easily appeased as irritated, the old man sat down with a +grateful, placid look, and while the tea was drawing Mrs Findlay, by +judicious questions, gathered from him the history of his adventures. + +Unable to rise above the disappointment and chagrin of finding +that the boy he loved as his own soul, and had brought up as his +own son was actually the child of a Campbell woman, one of the +race to which belonged the murderer of his people in Glencoe, and +which therefore he hated with an absolute passion of hatred, unable +also to endure the terrible schism in his being occasioned by the +conflict between horror at the Campbell blood, and ineffaceable +affection for the youth in whose veins it ran, and who so fully +deserved all the love he had lavished upon him, he had concluded to +rid himself of all the associations of place and people and event +now grown so painful, to make his way back to his native Glencoe, +and there endure his humiliation as best he might, beheld of the +mountains which had beheld the ruin of his race. He would end the +few and miserable days of his pilgrimage amid the rushing of the +old torrents, and the calling of the old winds about the crags and +precipices that had hung over his darksome yet blessed childhood. +These were still his friends. But he had not gone many days' +journey before a farmer found him on the road insensible, and took +him home. As he recovered, his longing after his boy Malcolm grew, +until it rose to agony, but he fought with his heart, and believed +he had overcome it. The boy was a good boy, he said to himself; +the boy had been to him as the son of his own heart; there was no +fault to find with him or in him; he was as brave as he was kind, +as sincere as he was clever, as strong as he was gentle; he could +play on the bagpipes, and very nearly talk Gaelic, but his mother +was a Campbell, and for that there was no help. To be on loving terms +with one in whose veins ran a single drop of the black pollution +was a thing no MacDhonuill must dream of. He had lived a man of +honour, and he would die a man of honour, hating the Campbells to +their last generation. How should the bard of his clan ever talk to +his own soul if he knew himself false to the name of his fathers! +Hard fate for him! As if it were not enough that he had been doomed +to save and rear a child of the brood abominable, he was yet further +doomed, worst fate of all, to love the evil thing! he could not +tear the lovely youth from his heart. But he could go further and +further from him. + +As soon as he was able, he resumed his journey westward, and at +length reached his native glen, the wildest spot in all the island. +There he found indeed the rush of the torrents and the call of the +winds unchanged, but when his soul cried out in its agonies, they +went on with the same song that had soothed his childhood; for the +heart of the suffering man they had no response. Days passed before +he came upon a creature who remembered him; for more than twenty +years were gone, and a new generation had come up since he forsook +the glen. Worst of all, the clan spirit was dying out, the family +type of government all but extinct, the patriarchal vanishing in +a low form of the feudal, itself already in abject decay. The hour +of the Celt was gone by, and the long wandering raven, returning +at last, found the ark it had left afloat on the waters dry and +deserted and rotting to dust. There was not even a cottage in which +he could hide his head. The one he had forsaken when cruelty and +crime drove him out, had fallen to ruins, and now there was nothing +of it left but its foundations. The people of the inn at the mouth +of the valley did their best for him, but he learned by accident +that they had Campbell connections, and, rising that instant, walked +from it for ever. He wandered about for a time, playing his pipes, +and everywhere hospitably treated; but at length his heart could +endure its hunger no more: he must see his boy, or die. He walked +therefore straight to the cottage of his quarrelsome but true friend, +Mrs Partan--to learn that his benefactor, the marquis, was dead, +and Malcolm gone. But here alone could he hope ever to see him +again, and the same night he sought his cottage in the grounds of +Lossie House, never doubting his right to re-occupy it. But the door +was locked, and he could find no entrance. He went to the House, +and there was referred to the factor. But when he knocked at his +door, and requested the key of the cottage, Mr Crathie, who was +in the middle of his third tumbler, came raging out of his dining +room, cursed him for an old Highland goat, and heaped insults +on him and his grandson indiscriminately. It was well he kept the +door between him and the old man, for otherwise he would never have +finished the said third tumbler. That door carried in it thenceforth +the marks of every weapon that Duncan bore, and indeed the half of +his sgian dhu was the next morning found sticking in it, like the +sting which the bee is doomed to leave behind her. He returned to +Mistress Partan white and trembling, in a mountainous rage with +"ta low pred hount of a factor." Her sympathy was enthusiastic, for +they shared a common wrath. And now came the tale of the factor's +cruelty to the fishers, his hatred of Malcolm, and his general +wildness of behaviour. The piper vowed to shed the last drop of his +blood in defence of his Mistress Partan. But when, to strengthen +the force of his asseveration, he drew the dangerous looking dirk +from its sheath, she threw herself upon him, wrenched it from his +hand, and testified that "fules sudna hae chappin' sticks, nor yet +teylors guns." It was days before Duncan discovered where she had +hidden it. But not the less heartily did she insist on his taking +up his abode with her; and the very next day he resumed his old +profession of lamp cleaner to the community. + +When Miss Horn heard that he had come and where he was, old feud +with Meg Partan rendering it imprudent to call upon him, she watched +for him in the street, and welcomed him home, assuring him that, +if ever he should wish to change his quarters, her house was at +his service. + +"I'm nae Cam'ell, ye ken, Duncan," she concluded, "an' what an auld +wuman like mysel' can du to mak ye coamfortable sail no fail, an' +that I promise ye." + +The old man thanked her with the perfect courtesy of the Celt, +confessed that he was not altogether at ease where he was, but said +he must not hurt the feelings of Mistress Partan, "for she'll not +pe a paad womans," he added, "but her house will pe aalways in ta +flames, howefer." + +So he remained where he was, and the general heart of the Seaton was +not a little revived by the return of one whose presence reminded +them of a better time, when no such cloud as now threatened them +heaved its ragged sides above their horizon. + +The factor was foolish enough to attempt inducing Meg to send her +guest away. + +"We want no landloupin' knaves, old or young, about Lossie," he +said. "If the place is no keepit dacent, we'll never get the young +marchioness to come near's again." + +"'Deed, factor," returned Meg, enhancing the force of her utterance +by a composure marvellous from it's rarity, "the first thing to +mak' the place--I'll no say dacent, sae lang there's sae mony +claverin' wives in't, but mair dacent nor it has been for the last +ten year, wad be to sen' factors back whaur they cam' frae." + +"And whaur may that be?" asked Mr Crathie. + +"That's mair nor I richtly can say," answered Meg Partan, "but auld +farand fouk threepit it was somewhaur 'ithin the swing o' Sawtan's +tail." + +The reply on the factor's lips as he left the house, tended to +justify the rude sarcasm. + + + +CHAPTER LVI: MID OCEAN + + +There came a breath of something in the east. It was neither wind +nor warmth. It was light before it is light to the eyes of men. +Slowly and slowly it grew, until, like the dawning soul in the +face of one who lies in a faint, the life of light came back to +the world, and at last the whole huge hollow hemisphere of rushing +sea and cloud flecked sky lay like a great empty heart, waiting, +in conscious glory of the light, for the central glory, the coming +lord of day. And in the whole crystalline hollow, gleaming and +flowing with delight, yet waiting for more, the Psyche was the +only lonely life bearing thing--the one cloudy germ spot afloat +in the bosom of the great roc egg of sea and sky, whose sheltering +nest was the universe with its walls of flame. + +Florimel woke, rose, went on deck, and for a moment was fresh born. +It was a forescent--even this could not be called a foretaste, +of the kingdom of heaven; but Florimel never thought of the kingdom +of heaven, the ideal of her own existence. She could however half +appreciate this earthly outbreak of its glory, this incarnation of +truth invisible. Round her, like a thousand doves, clamoured with +greeting wings the joyous sea wind. Up came a thousand dancing +billows, to shout their good morning. Like a petted animal, importunate +for play, the breeze tossed her hair and dragged at her fluttering +garments, then rushed in the Psyche's sails, swelled them yet +deeper, and sent her dancing over the dancers. The sun peered up +like a mother waking and looking out on her frolicking children. +Black shadows fell from sail to sail, slipping and shifting, and +one long shadow of the Psyche herself shot over the world to the +very gates of the west, but held her not, for she danced and leaned +and flew as if she had but just begun her corantolavolta fresh +with the morning, and had not been dancing all the livelong night +over the same floor. Lively as any newborn butterfly, not like a +butterfly's, flitting and hovering, was her flight, for still, like +one that longed, she sped and strained and flew. The joy of bare +life swelled in Florimel's bosom. She looked up, she looked around, +she breathed deep. The cloudy anger that had rushed upon her like a +watching tiger the moment she waked, fell back, and left her soul +a clear minor to reflect God's dream of a world. She turned, and +saw Malcolm at the tiller, and the cloudy wrath sprang upon her. +He stood composed and clear and cool as the morning, without sign +of doubt or conscience of wrong, now peeping into the binnacle, +now glancing at the sunny sails, where swayed across and back the +dark shadows of the rigging, as the cutter leaned and rose, like +a child running and staggering over the multitudinous and unstable +hillocks. She turned from him. + +"Good morning, my lady! What a good morning it is!" As in all his +address to his mistress, the freedom of the words did not infect the +tone; that was resonant of essential honour. "Strange to think," +he went on, "that the sun himself there is only a great fire, +and knows nothing about it! There must be a sun to that sun, or +the whole thing is a vain show. There must be one to whom each is +itself, yet the all makes a whole--one who is at once both centre +and circumference to all." + +Florimel cast on him a scornful look. For not merely was he +talking his usual unintelligible rubbish of poetry, but he had the +impertinence to speak as if he had done nothing amiss, and she had +no ground for being offended with him. She made him no answer. A +cloud came over Malcolm's face; and until she went again below, he +gave his attention to his steering. + +In the meantime Rose, who happily had turned out as good a sailor +as her new mistress, had tidied the little cabin; and Florimel +found, if not quite such a sumptuous breakfast laid as at Portland +Place, yet a far better appetite than usual to meet what there +was; and when she had finished, her temper was better, and she was +inclined to think less indignantly of Malcolm's share in causing +her so great a pleasure. She was not yet quite spoiled. She was +still such a lover of the visible world and of personal freedom, +that the thought of returning to London and its leaden footed +hours, would now have been unendurable. At this moment she could +have imagined no better thing than thus to go tearing through the +water--home to her home. For although she had spent little of +her life at Lossie House, she could not but prefer it unspeakably +to the schools in which she had passed almost the whole of the preceding +portion of it. There was little or nothing in the affair she could +have wished otherwise except its origin. She was mischievous enough +to enjoy even the thought of the consternation it would cause at +Portland Place. She did not realize all its awkwardness. A letter +to Lady Bellair when she reached home would, she said to herself, +set everything right; and if Malcolm had now repented and put about, +she would instantly have ordered him to hold on for Lossie. But it +was mortifying that she should have come at the will of Malcolm, +and not by her own--worse than mortifying that perhaps she would +have to say so. If she were going to say so, she must turn him away +as soon as she arrived. There was no help for it. She dared not +keep him after that in the face of society. But she might take the +bold, and perhaps a little dangerous measure of adopting the flight +as altogether her own madcap idea. Her thoughts went floundering +in the bog of expediency, until she was tired, and declined from +thought to reverie. + +Then dawning out of the dreamland of her past, appeared the image +of Lenorme. Pure pleasure, glorious delight, such as she now felt, +could not long possess her mind, without raising in its charmed +circle the vision of the only man except her father whom she had +ever--something like loved. Her behaviour to him had not yet roused +in her shame or sorrow or sense of wrong. She had driven him from +her; she was ashamed of her relation to him; she had caused him +bitter suffering; she had all but promised to marry another man; +yet she had not the slightest wish for that man's company there and +then: with no one of her acquaintance but Lenorme could she have +shared this conscious splendour of life. + +"Would to God he had been born a gentleman instead of a painter!" +she said to herself when her imagination had brought him from the +past, and set him in the midst of the present. + +"Rank," she said, "I am above caring about. In that he might be +ever so far my inferior, and welcome, if only he had been of a good +family, a gentleman born!" + +She was generosity, magnanimity itself in her own eyes! Yet he +was of far better family than she knew, for she had never taken +the trouble to inquire into his history. And now she was so much +easier in her mind since she had so cruelly broken with him, that +she felt positively virtuous because she had done it, and he was not +at that moment by her side. And yet if he had that moment stepped +from behind the mainsail, she would in all probability have thrown +herself into his arms. + +The day passed on: Florimel grew tired and went to sleep; woke and +had her dinner; took a volume of the "Arabian Nights," and read +herself again to sleep; woke again; went on deck; saw the sun +growing weary in the west. And still the unwearied wind blew, and +still the Psyche danced on, as unwearied as the wind. + +The sunset was rather an assumption than a decease, a reception of +him out of their sight into an eternity of gold and crimson; and +when he was gone, and the gorgeous bliss had withered into a dove +hued grief, then the cool, soft twilight, thoughtful of the past +and its love, crept out of the western caves over the breast of the +water, and filled the dome and made of itself a great lens royal, +through which the stars and their motions were visible; and the +ghost of Aurora with both hands lifted her shroud above her head +and made a dawn for the moon on the verge of the watery horizon-- +a dawn as of the past, the hour of inverted hope. + +Not a word all day had been uttered between Malcolm and his mistress: +when the moon appeared, with the waves sweeping up against her +face, he approached Florimel where she sat in the stern. Davy was +steering. + +"Will your ladyship come forward and see how the Psyche goes?" +he said. "At the stern, you can see only the passive part of her +motion. It is quite another thing to see the will of her at work +in the bows." + +At first she was going to refuse; but she changed her mind, or +her mind changed her: she was not much more of a living and acting +creature yet than the Psyche herself. She said nothing, but rose, +and permitted Malcolm to help her forward. + +It was the moon's turn now to be level with the water, and as +Florimel stood on the larboard side, leaning over and gazing down, +she saw her shine through the little feather of spray the cutwater +sent curling up before it, and turn it into pearls and semiopals. + +"She's got a bone in her mouth, you see, my lady," said old Travers. + +"Go aft till I call you, Travers," said Malcolm. + +Rose was in Florimel's cabin, and they were now quite alone. + +"My lady," said Malcolm, "I can't bear to have you angry with me." + +"Then you ought not to deserve it," returned Florimel. + +"My lady, if you knew all, you would not say I deserved it." + +"Tell me all then, and let me judge." + +"I cannot tell you all yet, but I will tell you something which +may perhaps incline you to feel merciful. Did your ladyship ever +think what could make me so much attached to your father?" + +"No indeed. I never saw anything peculiar in it. Even nowadays +there are servants to be found who love their masters. It seems to +me natural enough. Besides he was very kind to you." + +"It was natural indeed, my lady--more natural than you think. +Kind to me he was, and that was natural too." + +"Natural to him, no doubt, for he was kind to everybody." + +"My grandfather told you something of my early history--did he +not, my lady?" + +"Yes--at least I think I remember his doing so." + +"Will you recall it, and see whether it suggests nothing?" + +But Florimel could remember nothing in particular, she said. She had +in truth, for as much as she was interested at the time, forgotten +almost everything of the story. + +"I really cannot think what you mean," she added. "If you are going +to be mysterious, I shall resume my place by the tiller. Travers +is deaf, and Davy is dumb: I prefer either." + +"My lady," said Malcolm, "your father knew my mother, and persuaded +her that he loved her." + +Florimel drew herself up, and would have looked him to ashes if +wrath could burn. Malcolm saw he must come to the point at once or +the parley would cease. + +"My lady," he said, "your father was my father too. I am a son of +the Marquis of Lossie, and your brother--your ladyship's half +brother, that is." + +She looked a little stunned. The gleam died out of her eyes, and +the glow out of her cheek. She turned and leaned over the bulwark. +He said no more, but stood watching her. She raised herself suddenly, +looked at him, and said, + +"Do I understand you?" + +"I am your brother," Malcolm repeated. + +She made a step forward, and held out her hand. He took the little +thing in his great grasp tenderly. Her lip trembled. She gazed at +him for an instant, full in the face, with a womanly, believing +expression. + +"My poor Malcolm!" she said, "I am sorry for you." + +She withdrew her hand, and again leaned over the bulwark. Her heart +was softened towards her groom brother, and for a moment it seemed +to her that some wrong had been done. Why should the one be a +marchioness and the other a groom? Then came the thought that now +all was explained. Every peculiarity of the young man, every gift +extraordinary of body, mind, or spirit, his strength, his beauty, +his courage, and honesty, his simplicity, nobleness, and affection, +yes, even what in him was mere doggedness and presumption, +all, everything explained itself to Florimel in the fact that the +incomprehensible fisherman groom, that talked like a parson, was +the son of her father. She never thought of the woman that was his +mother, and what share she might happen to have in the phenomenon +--thought only of her father, and a little pitifully of the half +honour and more than half disgrace infolding the very existence of +her attendant. As usual her thoughts were confused. The one moment +the poor fellow seemed to exist only on sufferance, having no +right to be there at all, for as fine a fellow as he was; the next +she thought how immeasurably he was indebted to the family of the +Colonsays. + +Then arose the remembrance of his arrogance and presumption +in assuming on such a ground something more than guardianship-- +absolute tyranny over her, and with the thought pride and injury at +once got the upper hand. Was she to be dictated to by a low born, +low bred fellow like that--a fellow whose hands were harder than +any leather, not with doing things for his amusement but actually +with earning his daily bread--one that used to smell so of fish +--on the ground of right too--and such a right as ought to +exclude him for ever from her presence!--She turned to him again. + +"How long have you known this--this--painful--indeed I must +confess to finding it an awkward and embarrassing fact? I presume +you do know it?" she said, coldly and searchingly. + +"My father confessed it on his deathbed." + +"Confessed!" echoed Florimel's pride, but she restrained her tongue. + +"It explains much," she said, with a sort of judicial relief. +"There has been a great change upon you since then. Mind I only +say explains. It could never justify such behaviour as yours-- +no, not if you had been my true brother. There is some excuse, I +daresay, to be made for your ignorance and inexperience. No doubt +the discovery turned your head. Still I am at a loss to understand +how you could imagine that sort of--of--that sort of thing gave +you any right over me!" + +"Love has its rights, my lady," said Malcolm. + +Again her eyes flashed and her cheek flushed. "I cannot permit you +to talk so to me. You must not fancy such things are looked upon +in our position with the same indifference as in yours. You must +not flatter yourself that you can be allowed to cherish the same +feelings towards me as if--as if--you were really my brother. +I am sorry for you, Malcolm, as I said already; but you have +altogether missed your mark if you think that can alter facts, or +shelter you from the consequences of presumption." + +Again she turned away. Malcolm's heart was sore for her. How +grievously she had sunk from the Lady Florimel of the old days! It +was all from being so constantly with that wretched woman and her +vile nephew. Had he been able to foresee such a rapid declension, +he would have taken her away long ago, and let come of her feelings +what might. He had been too careful over them. + +"Indeed," Florimel resumed, but this time without turning towards +him, "I do not see how things can possibly, after what you have +told me, remain as they are. I should not feel at all comfortable +in having one about me who would be constantly supposing he had +rights, and reflecting on my father for fancied injustice, and +whom I fear nothing could prevent from taking liberties. It is very +awkward indeed, Malcolm--very awkward! But it is your own fault +that you are so changed, and I must say I should not have expected +it of you. I should have thought you had more good sense and regard +for me. If I were to tell the world why I wanted to keep you, people +would but shrug their shoulders and tell me to get rid of you; and +if I said nothing, there would always be something coming up that +required explanation. Besides, you would for ever be trying to convert +me to one or other of your foolish notions. I hardly know what to +do. I will consult--my friends on the subject. And yet I would +rather they knew nothing of it, My father you see--" She paused. +"If you had been my real brother it would have been different." + +"I am your real brother, my lady, and I have tried to behave like +one ever since I knew it." + +"Yes; you have been troublesome. I have always understood that +brothers were troublesome. I am told they are given to taking upon +them the charge of their sisters conduct. But I would not have even +you think me heartless. If you had been a real brother, of course +I should have treated you differently." + +"I don't doubt it, my lady, for everything would have been different +then. I should have been the Marquis of Lossie, and you would have +been Lady Florimel Colonsay. But it would have made little difference +in one thing: I could not have loved you better than I do now-- +if only you would believe it, my lady!" + +The emotion of Malcolm, evident in his voice as he said this, seemed +to touch her a little. + +"I believe it, my poor Malcolm," she returned, "quite as much as +I want, or as it is pleasant to believe it. I think you would do a +great deal for me, Malcolm. But then you are so rude! take things +into your hands, and do things for me I don't want done! You will +judge, not only for yourself, but for me! How can a man of your +training and position judge for a lady of mine! Don't you see the +absurdity of it? At times it has been very awkward indeed. Perhaps +when I am married it might be arranged; but I don't know." + +Here Malcolm ground his teeth, but was otherwise irresponsive as +block of stone. + +"How would a gamekeeper's place suit you? That is a half gentlemanly +kind of post. I will speak to the factor, and see what can be +done.--But on the whole I think, Malcolm, it will be better you +should go. I am very sorry. I wish you had not told me. It is very +painful to me. You should not have told me. These things are not +intended to be talked of--Suppose you were to marry--say--" + +She stopped abruptly, and it was well both for herself and Malcolm +that she caught back the name that was on her lips. + +The poor girl must not be judged as if she had been more than a +girl, or other than one with every disadvantage of evil training. +Had she been four or five years older, she might have been a good +deal worse, and have seemed better, for she would have kept much +of what she had now said to herself, and would perhaps have treated +her brother more kindly while she cared even less for him. + +"What will you do with Kelpie, my lady?" asked Malcolm quietly. + +"There it is, you see!" she returned. "So awkward! If you had not +told me, things could have gone on as before, and for your sake I +could have pretended I came this voyage of my own will and pleasure. +Now, I don't know what I can do--except indeed you--let me see +--if you were to hold your tongue, and tell nobody what you have +just told me--I don't know but you might stay till you got her +so far trained that another man could manage her. I might even be +able to ride her myself.--Will you promise?" + +"I will promise not to let the fact come out so long as I am in +your service, my lady." + +"After all that has passed, I think you might promise me a little +more! But I will not press it." + +"May I ask what it is, my lady?" + +"I am not going to press it, for I do not choose to make a favour +of it. Still, I do not see that it would be such a mighty favour +to ask--of one who owes respect at least to the house of Lossie. +But I will not ask. I will only suggest, Malcolm, that you should +leave this part of the country--say this country altogether, and +go to America, or New South Wales, or the Cape of Good Hope. If +you will take the hint, and promise never to speak a word of this +unfortunate--yes, I must be honest, and allow there is a sort +of relationship between us; but if you will keep it secret, I will +take care that something is done for you--something, I mean, more +than you could have any right to expect. And mind, I am not asking +you to conceal anything that could reflect honour upon you or +dishonour upon us." + +"I cannot, my lady." + +"I scarcely thought you would. Only you hold such grand ideas about +self denial, that I thought it might be agreeable to you to have +an opportunity of exercising the virtue at a small expense and a +great advantage." + +Malcolm was miserable. Who could have dreamed to find in her such +a woman of the world! He must break off the hopeless interview. + +"Then, my lady," he said, "I suppose I am to give my chief attention +to Kelpie, and things are to be as they have been." + +"For the present. And as to this last piece of presumption, I will +so far forgive you as to take the proceeding on myself--mainly +because it would have been my very choice had you submitted it to +me. There is nothing I should have preferred to a sea voyage and +returning to Lossie at this time of the year. + +"But you also must be silent on your insufferable share in the +business. And for the other matter, the least arrogance or assumption +I shall consider to absolve me at once from all obligation towards +you of any sort. Such relationships are never acknowledged." + +"Thank you--sister," said Malcolm--a last forlorn experiment; +and as he said the word he looked lovingly in her eyes. + +She drew herself up like the princess Lucifera, "with loftie eyes, +halfe loth to looke so lowe," and said, cold as ice, + +"If once I hear that word on your lips again, as between you and +me, Malcolm, I shall that very moment discharge you from my service, +as for a misdemeanour. You have no claim upon me, and the world +will not blame me." + +"Certainly not, my lady. I beg your pardon. But there is one who +perhaps will blame you a little." + +"I know what you mean; but I don't pretend to any of your religious +motives. When I do, then you may bring them to bear upon me." + +"I was not so foolish as you think me, my lady. I merely imagined +you might be as far on as a Chinaman," said Malcolm, with a poor +attempt at a smile. + +"What insolence do you intend now?" + +"The Chinese, my lady, pay the highest respect to their departed +parents. When I said there was one who would blame you a little, +I meant your father." + +He touched his cap, and withdrew. + +"Send Rose to me," Florimel called after him, and presently with +her went down to the cabin. + +And still the Psyche soul-like flew. Her earthly birth held her to +the earth, but the ocean upbore her, and the breath of God drove +her on. Little thought Florimel to what she hurried her! A queen in +her own self sufficiency and condescension, she could not suspect +how little of real queendom, noble and self sustaining, there was +in her being; for not a soul of man or woman whose every atom leans +not upon its father fact in God, can sustain itself when the outer +wall of things begins to tumble towards the centre, crushing it in +on every side. + +During the voyage no further allusion was made by either to what +had passed. By the next morning Florimel had yet again recovered +her temper, and, nothing fresh occurring to irritate her, kept it +and was kind. + +Malcolm was only too glad to accept whatever parings of heart she +might offer. By the time their flight was over, Florimel almost felt +as if it had indeed been undertaken at her own desire and motion, +and was quite prepared to assert that such was the fact. + + + +CHAPTER LVII: THE SHORE + + +It was two days after the longest day of the year, when there is no +night in those regions, only a long twilight, in which many dream +and do not know it. There had been a week of variable weather, +with sudden changes of wind to east and north, and round again by +south to west, and then there had been a calm for several days. + +But now the little wind there was blew from the northeast; and +the fervour of June was rendered more delicious by the films of +flavouring cold that floated through the mass of heat. All Portlossie +more and less, the Seaton especially, was in a state of excitement, +for its little neighbour, Scaurnose, was more excited still. There +the man most threatened, and with greatest injustice, was the only +one calm amongst the men, and amongst the women his wife was the +only one that was calmer than he. Blue Peter was resolved to abide +the stroke of wrong, and not resist the powers that were, believing +them in some true sense, which he found it hard to understand when +he thought of the factor as the individual instance, ordained of +God. He had a dim perception too that it was better that one, that +one he, should suffer, than that order should be destroyed and law +defied. Suffering, he might still in patience possess his soul, +and all be well with him; but what would become of the country if +everyone wronged were to take the law into his own hands? Thousands +more would be wronged by the lawless in a week than by unjust powers +in a year. But the young men were determined to pursue their plan +of resistance, and those of the older and soberer who saw the +uselessness of it, gave themselves little trouble to change the +minds of the rest. + +Peter, although he knew they were not for peace, neither inquired +what their purpose might be, nor allowed any conjecture or suspicion +concerning it to influence him in his preparations for departure. +Not that he had found a new home. Indeed he had not heartily set +about searching for one; in part because, unconsciously to himself +he was buoyed up by the hope he read so clear in the face of his +more trusting wife--that Malcolm would come to deliver them. His +plan was to leave her and his children with certain friends at Port +Gordon; he would not hear of going to the Partans to bring them +into trouble. He would himself set out immediately after for the +Lewis fishing. + +Few had gone to the Hebrides that year from Scaurnose or Portlossie. +The magnitude of the events that were about to take place, yet more +the excitement and interest they occasioned, kept the most of the +men at home--to content themselves with fishing the waters of +the Moray Frith. And they had notable success. But what was success +with such a tyrant over them as the factor, threatening to harry +their nests, and turn the sea birds and their young out of their +heritage of rock and sand and shingle? They could not keep house +on the waves, any more than the gulls! Those who still held their +religious assemblies in the cave called the Baillies' Barn, met +often, read and sang the comminatory psalms more than any others, +and prayed much against the wiles and force of their enemies both +temporal and spiritual; while Mr Crathie went every Sunday to +Church, grew redder in the nose, and hotter in the temper. + +Miss Horn was growing more and more uncomfortable concerning +events, and dissatisfied with Malcolm. She had not for some time +heard from him, and here was his most important duty unattended to-- +she would not yet say neglected--the well being of his tenantry, +namely, left in the hands of an unsympathetic, self important underling, +who was fast losing all the good sense he had once possessed! Was +the life and history of all these brave fishermen and their wives +and children to be postponed to the pampered feelings of one girl, +and that because she was what she had no right to be, his half +sister forsooth? said Miss Horn to herself--that bosom friend to +whom some people, and those not the worst, say oftener what they +do not mean than what they do. She had written to him within the +last month a very hot letter indeed, which had afforded no end of +amusement to Mrs Catanach, as she sat in his old lodging over the +curiosity shop, but, I need hardly say, had not reached Malcolm: +and now there was but one night, and the best of all the fisher +families would have nowhere to lie down! Miss Horn, with Joseph +Mair, thought she did well to be angry with Malcolm. + +The blind piper had been very restless all day. Questioned again +and again by Meg Partan as to what was amiss with him, he had always +returned her odd and evasive answers. Every few minutes he got up +--even from cleaning her lamp--to go to the shore. He had but +to cross the threshold, and take a few steps through the close, +to reach the road that ran along the sea front of the village: on +the one side were the cottages, scattered and huddled, on the other +the shore and ocean wide outstretched. He would walk straight across +this road until he felt the sand under his feet; there stand for a +few moments facing the sea, and, with nostrils distended, breathing +deep breaths of the air from the northeast; then turn and walk +back to Meg Partan's kitchen, to resume his ministration of light. +These his sallies were so frequent, and his absences so short, that +a more serene temper than hers might have been fretted by them. +But there was something about his look and behaviour that, while +it perplexed, restrained her; and instead of breaking out upon him, +she eyed him curiously. + +She had found that it would not do to stare at him. The instant +she began to do so, he began to fidget, and turned his back to her. +It had made her lose her temper for a moment, and declare aloud as +her conviction that he was after all an impostor, and saw as well +as any of them. + +"She has told you so, Mistress Partan, one hundred thousand times," +replied Duncan with an odd smile: "and perhaps she will pe see a +little petter as any of you, no matter." + +Thereupon she murmured to herself "The cratur 'ill be seein' something!" +and with mingled awe and curiosity sought to lay restraint upon +her unwelcome observation of him. + +Thus it went on the whole day, and as the evening approached, he +grew still more excited. The sun went down, and the twilight began; +and, as the twilight deepened, still his excitement grew. + +Straightway it seemed as if the whole Seaton had come to share in +it. Men and women were all out of doors; and, late as it was when +the sun set, to judge by the number of red legs and feet that trotted +in and out with a little shadowy flash, with a dull patter pat on +earthen floor and hard road, and a scratching and hustling among +the pebbles, there could not have been one older than a baby in +bed; while of the babies even not a few were awake in their mothers' +arms, and out with them on the sea front. + +The men, with their hands in their trouser pockets, were lazily +smoking pigtail, in short clay pipes with tin covers fastened to +the stems by little chains, and some of the women, in short blue +petticoats and worsted stockings, doing the same. + +Some stood in their doors, talking with neighbours standing in their +doors; but these were mostly the elder women: the younger ones-- +all but Lizzy Findlay--were out in the road. One man half leaned, +half sat on the window sill of Duncan's former abode, and round him +were two or three more, and some women, talking about Scaurnose, +and the factor, and what the lads would do tomorrow; while the hush +of the sea on the pebbles mingled with their talk, like an unknown +tongue of the infinite--never articulating, only suggesting-- +uttering in song and not in speech--dealing not with thoughts, +but with feelings and foretastes. No one listened: what to them +was the Infinite with Scaurnose in the near distance! It was now +almost as dark as it would be throughout the night if it kept as +clear. + +Once more there was Duncan, standing as if looking out to sea, and +shading his brows with his hand as if to protect his eyes from the +glare of the sun, and enable his sight! + +"There's the auld piper again!" said one of the group, a young +woman. "He's unco fule like to be stan'in that gait (way), makin' +as gien he cudna weel see for the sun in 's e'en." + +"Haud ye yer tongue, lass," rejoined an elderly woman beside her. +"There's mair things nor ye ken, as the Beuk says. There's een 'at +can see an' een 'at canna, an' een 'at can see twise ower, an' een +'at can see steikit what nane can see open." + +"Ta poat! ta poat of my chief!" cried the seer. "She is coming like +a tream of ta night, put one tat will not tepart with ta morning." + +He spoke as one suppressing a wild joy. + +"Wha'll that be, lucky deddy (grandfather)?" inquired, in a respectful +voice, the woman who had last spoken, while those within hearing +hushed each other and stood in silence. And all the time the ghost +of the day was creeping round from west to east to put on its +resurrection body, and rise new born. It gleamed faint like a cold +ashy fire in the north. + +"And who will it pe than her own son, Mistress Reekie?" answered +the piper, calling her by her husband's nickname, as was usual, +but, as was his sole wont, prefixing the title of respect, where +custom would have employed but her Christian name. + +"Who'll should it pe put her own Malcolm?" he went on. "I see his +poat come round ta Tead Head. She flits over the water like a pale +ghost over Morven. But it's ta young and ta strong she is pringing +home to Tuncan. O m'anam, beannuich!" + +Involuntarily all eyes turned towards the point called the Death's +Head, which bounded the bay on the east. + +"It's ower dark to see onything," said the man on the window sill. +"There's a bit haar (fog) come up." + +"Yes," said Duncan, "it'll pe too tark for you who haf cot no eyes +only to speak of. Put your'll wait a few, and you'll pe seeing as +well as herself. Och, her poy! her poy! O m'anam! Ta Lort pe praised! +and she'll tie in peace, for he'll pe only ta one half of him a +Cam'ell, and he'll pe safed at last, as sure as there's a heafen to +co to and a hell to co from. For ta half tat's not a Cam'ell must +pe ta strong half and it will trag ta other half into heafen-- +where it will not pe ta welcome, howefer." + +As if to get rid of the unpleasant thought that his Malcolm could +not enter heaven without taking half a Campbell with him, he turned +from the sea and hurried into the house--but only to catch up his +pipes and hasten out again, filling the bag as he went. Arrived once +more on the verge of the sand, he stood again facing the northeast, +and began to blow a pibroch loud and clear. + +Meantime the Partan had joined the same group, and they were talking +in a low tone about the piper's claim to the second sight, for, +although all were more or less inclined to put faith in Duncan, +there was here no such unquestioning belief in the marvel as would +have been found on the west coast in every glen from the Mull +of Cantyre to Loch Eribol--when suddenly Meg Partan, almost the +only one hitherto remaining in the house, appeared rushing from +the close. + +"Hech, sirs!" she cried, addressing the Seaton in general, +"gien the auld man be i' the richt,--" + +"She'll pe aal in ta right, Mistress Partan, and tat you'll pe +seeing," said Duncan, who, hearing her first cry, had stopped his +drone, and played softly, listening. + +But Meg went on without heeding him any more than was implied in +the repetition of her exordium. + +"Gien the auld man be i' the richt, it'll be the marchioness hersel' +'at's h'ard o' the ill duin's o' her factor, an's comin' to see +efter her fowk! An' it'll be Ma'colm's duin', an' that'll be seen. +But the bonny laad winna ken the state o' the herbour, an' he'll be +makin' for the moo' o't, an' he'll jist rin 's bonny boatie agrun' +'atween the twa piers, an' that'll no be a richt hame comin' for +the leddy o' the lan', an' what's mair, Ma'colm 'ill get the wyte +(blame) o' 't, an' that'll be seen. Sae ye maun some o' ye to the +pier-heid, an' luik oot to gie 'im warnin'." + +Her own husband was the first to start, proud of the foresight of +his wife. + +"Haith, Meg !" he cried, "ye're maist as guid at the lang sicht as +the piper himsel'!" + +Several followed him, and as they ran, Meg cried after them, giving +her orders as if she had been vice admiral of the red, in a voice +shrill enough to pierce the worst gale that ever blew on northern +shore. + +"Ye'll jist tell the bonnie laad to haud wast a bit an' rin her +ashore, an' we'll a' be there an' hae her as dry's Noah's ark in a +jiffie. Tell her leddyship we'll cairry the boat, an' her intil't, +to the tap o' the Boar's Tail, gien she'll gie's her orders.-- +Winna we, laads?" + +"We can but try!" said one. "--But the Fisky 'ill be waur to +get a grip o' nor Nancy here," he added, turning suddenly upon the +plumpest girl in the place, who stood next to him. She foiled him +however of the kiss he had thought to snatch, and turned the laugh +from herself upon him, so cleverly avoiding his clutch that he +staggered into the road, and nearly fell upon his nose. + +By the time the Partan and his companions reached the pier head, +something was dawning in the vague of sea and sky that might be a +sloop and standing for the harbour. Thereupon the Partan and Jamie +Ladle jumped into a small boat and pulled out. Dubs, who had come +from Scaurnose on the business of the conjuration, had stepped into +the stern, not to steer but to show a white ensign--somebody's +Sunday shirt he had gathered, as they ran, from a furze bush, where +it hung to dry, between the Seaton and the harbour. + +"Hoots! ye'll affront the marchioness," objected the Partan. + +"Man, i' the gloamin' she'll no ken 't frae buntin'," said Dubs, +and at once displayed it, holding it by the two sleeves. + +The wind had now fallen to the softest breath, and the little +vessel came on slowly. The men rowed hard, shouting, and waving +their flag, and soon heard a hail which none of them could mistake +for other than Malcolm's. In a few minutes they were on board, +greeting their old friend with jubilation, but talking in a subdued +tone, for they perceived by Malcolm's that the cutter bore their +lady. + +Briefly the Partan communicated the state of the harbour, and +recommended porting his helm, and running the Fisky ashore about +opposite the brass swivel. + +"A' the men an' women i' the Seaton," he said, "'ill be there to +haul her up." + +Malcolm took the helm, gave his orders, and steered further westward. +By this time the people on shore had caught sight of the cutter. +They saw her come stealing out of the thin dark like a thought half +thought, and go gliding along the shore like a sea ghost over the +dusky water, faint, uncertain, noiseless, glimmering. It could be +no other than the Fisky! Both their lady and their friend Malcolm +must be on board, they were certain, for how could the one of them +come without the other? and doubtless the marchioness, whom they +all remembered as a good humoured handsome young lady, never shy +of speaking to anybody, had come to deliver them from the hateful +red nosed ogre, her factor! Out at once they all set along the +shore to greet her arrival, each running regardless of the rest, +so that from the Seaton to the middle of the Boar's Tail there was +a long, straggling broken string of hurrying fisher folk, men and +women, old and young, followed by all the current children, tapering +to one or two toddlers, who felt themselves neglected and wept their +way along. The piper, too asthmatic to run, but not too asthmatic +to walk and play his bagpipes, delighting the heart of Malcolm, +who could not mistake the style, believed he brought up the rear, +but was wrong; for the very last came Mrs Findlay and Lizzy, carrying +between them their little deal kitchen table, for her ladyship to +step out of the boat upon, and Lizzy's child fast asleep on the +top of it. + +The foremost ran and ran until they saw that the Psyche had chosen +her couch, and was turning her head to the shore, when they stopped +and stood ready with greased planks and ropes to draw her up. + +In a few moments the whole population was gathered, darkening, in +the June midnight, the yellow sands between the tide and dune. The +Psyche was well manned now with a crew of six. On she came under +full sail till within a few yards of the beach, when, in one and +the same moment, every sheet was let go, and she swept softly up +like a summer wave, and lay still on the shore. + +The butterfly was asleep. But ere she came to rest, the instant +indeed that her canvas went fluttering away, thirty strong men had +rushed into the water and laid hold of the now broken winged thing. +In a few minutes she was high and dry. + +Malcolm leaped on the sand just as the Partaness came bustling up +with her kitchen table between her two hands like a tray. She set +it down, and across it shook hands with him violently; then caught +it up and deposited it firm on its four legs beneath the cutter's +waist. + +"Noo, my leddy," said Meg, looking up at the marchioness, "set ye +yer bit fut upo' my table, an' we'll think the mair o't efter whan +we tak' oor denner aff o' 't." + +Florimel thanked her, stepped lightly upon it, and sprang to the +sand, where she was received with words of welcome from many, and +shouts which rendered them inaudible from the rest. The men, their +bonnets in their hands, and the women courtesying, made a lane +for her to pass through, while the young fellows would gladly have +begged leave to carry her, could they have extemporised any suitable +sort of palanquin or triumphal litter. + +Followed by Malcolm, she led the way over the Boar's Tail--nor +would accept any help in climbing it--straight for the tunnel: + +Malcolm had never laid aside the key to the private doors his father +had given him while he was yet a servant. They crossed by the +embrasure of the brass swivel. That implement had now long been +silent, but they had not gone many paces from the bottom of the +dune when it went off with a roar. The shouts of the people drowned +the startled cry with which Florimel, involuntarily mindful of old +and for her better times, turned to Malcolm. She had not looked +for such a reception, and was both flattered and touched by it. +For a brief space the spirit of her girlhood came back. Possibly, +had she then understood that hope rather than faith or love was at +the heart of their enthusiasm, that her tenants looked upon her as +their saviour from the factor, and sorely needed the exercise of +her sovereignty, she might have better understood her position, +and her duty towards them. + +Malcolm unlocked the door of the tunnel, and she entered, followed +by Rose, who felt as if she were walking in a dream. As he stepped +in after them, he was seized from behind, and clasped close in an +embrace he knew at once. + +"Daddy, daddy!" he said, and turning threw his arms round the piper. + +"My poy! my poy! Her nain son Malcolm!" cried the old man in a +whisper of intense satisfaction and suppression. "You'll must pe +forgifing her for coming pack to you. She cannot help lofing you, +and you must forget tat you are a Cam'ell." + +Malcolm kissed his cheek, and said, also in a whisper: + +"My ain daddy! I ha'e a heap to tell ye, but I maun see my leddy +hame first." + +"Co, co, this moment co," cried the old man, pushing him away. "To +your tuties to my leddyship first, and then come to her old daddy." + +"I'll be wi' ye in half an hoor or less." + +"Coot poy! coot poy! Come to Mistress Partan's." + +"Ay, ay, daddy!" said Malcolm, and hurried through the tunnel. + +As Florimel approached the ancient dwelling of her race, now her +own to do with as she would, her pleasure grew. Whether it was +the twilight, or the breach in dulling custom, everything looked +strange, the grounds wider, the trees larger, the house grander +and more anciently venerable. And all the way the burn sang in the +hollow. The spirit of her father seemed to hover about the place, +and while the thought that her father's voice would not greet her +when she entered the hall, cast a solemn funereal state over her +simple return, her heart yet swelled with satisfaction and far +derived pride. + +All this was hers to work her pleasure with, to confer as she +pleased! No thought of her tenants, fishers or farmers, who did +their strong part in supporting the ancient dignity of her house, +had even an associated share in the bliss of the moment. She had +forgotten her reception already, or regarded it only as the natural +homage to such a position and power as hers. As to owing anything +in return, the idea had indeed been presented to her when with +Clementina and Malcolm she talked over "St Ronan's Well," but it +had never entered her mind. + +The drawing room and the hall were lighted. Mrs Courthope was at +the door as if she expected her, and Florimel was careful to take +everything as a matter of course. + +"When will your ladyship please to want me?" asked Malcolm. + +"At the usual hour, Malcolm," she answered. + +He turned, and ran to the Seaton. + +His first business was the accommodation of Travers and Davy, but he +found them already housed at the Salmon, with Jamie Ladle teaching +Travers to drink toddy. They had left the Psyche snug: she was +high above high water mark, and there were no tramps about; they +had furled her sails, locked the companion door, and left her. + +Mrs Findlay rejoiced over Malcolm as if he had been her own +son from a far country; but the poor piper between politeness and +gratitude on the one hand, and the urging of his heart on the other, +was sorely tried by her loquacity: he could hardly get in a word. +Malcolm perceived his suffering, and, as soon as seemed prudent, +proposed that he should walk with him to Miss Horn's, where he was +going to sleep, he said, that night. Mrs Partan snuffed, but held +her peace. For the third or fourth time that day, wonderful to +tell, she restrained herself! + +As soon as they were out of the house, Malcolm assured Duncan, to +the old man's great satisfaction, that, had he not found him there, +he would, within another month, have set out to roam Scotland in +search of him. + +Miss Horn had heard of their arrival, and was wandering about +the house, unable even to sit down until she saw the marquis. To +herself she always called him the marquis; to his face he was always +Malcolm. If he had not come, she declared she could not have gone +to bed--yet she received him with an edge to her welcome: he +had to answer for his behaviour. They sat down, and Duncan told a +long sad story; which finished, with the toddy that had sustained +him during the telling, the old man thought it better, for fear +of annoying his Mistress Partan, to go home. As it was past one +o'clock, they both agreed. + +"And if she'll tie tonight, my poy," said Duncan, "she'll pe lie +awake in her crave all ta long tarkness, to pe waiting to hear ta +voice of your worrts in ta morning. And nefer you mind, Malcolm, +she'll has learned to forgife you for peing only ta one half of +yourself a cursed Cam'ell." + +Miss Horn gave Malcolm a wink, as much as to say, "Let the old +man talk. It will hurt no Campbell," and showed him out with much +attention. And then at last Malcolm poured forth his whole story, +and his heart with it, to Miss Horn, who heard and received it with +understanding, and a sympathy which grew ever as she listened. At +length she declared herself perfectly satisfied, for not only had +he done his best, but she did not see what else he could have done. +She hoped, however, that now he would contrive to get this part +over as quickly as possible, for which, in the morning, she would, +she said, show him cogent reasons. + +"I ha'e no feelin's mysel', as ye weel ken, laddie," she remarked +in conclusion, "an' I doobt, gien I had been i' your place, I wad +na hae luikit to a' sides o' the thing at ance as ye hae dune.-- +An' it was a man like you 'at sae near lost yer life for the hizzy!" +she exclaimed. "I maunna think aboot it, or I winna sleep a wink. +But we maun get that deevil Catanach (an' cat eneuch!) hangt. Weel, +my man, ye may haud up yer heid afore the father o' ye, for ye're +the first o' the race, I'm thinkin', 'at ever was near han' deein' +for anither. But mak ye a speedy en' till 't noo, laad, an' fa' +to the lave o' yer wark. There's a terrible heap to be dune. But I +maun haud my tongue the nicht, for I wad fain ye had a guid sleep, +an' I'm needin' ane sair mysel', for I'm no sae yoong as I ance +was, an' I ha'e been that anxious aboot ye, Ma'colm, 'at though I +never hed ony feelin's, yet, noo 'at a' 's gaein' richt, an' ye're +a' richt, and like to be richt for ever mair, my heid's just like +to split. Gang yer wa's to yer bed, and soon may ye sleep. It's +the bed yer bonny mither got a soon' sleep in at last, and muckle +was she i' the need o' 't! An' jist tak tent the morn what ye say +whan Jean's i' the room, or maybe o' the ither side o' the door, for +she's no mowse. I dinna ken what gars me keep the jaud. I believe +'at gien the verra deevil himsel' had been wi' me sae lang, I wadna +ha'e the hert to turn him aboot his ill business. That's what comes +o' haein' no feelin's. Ither fowk wad ha'e gotten rid o' her half +a score years sin' syne." + + + +CHAPTER LVIII: THE TRENCH + + +Malcolm had not yet, after all the health giving of the voyage, +entirely recovered from the effects of the ill compounded potion. +Indeed, sometimes the fear crossed his mind that never would he be +the same man again, that the slow furnace of the grave alone would +destroy the vile deposit left in his house of life. Hence it came +that he was weary, and overslept himself the next day--but it was +no great matter; he had yet time enough. He swallowed his breakfast +as a working man alone can, and set out for Duff Harbour. At Leith, +where they had put in for provisions, he had posted a letter to Mr +Soutar, directing him to have Kelpie brought on to his own town, +whence he would fetch her himself. The distance was about ten +miles, the hour eight, and he was a good enough walker, although +boats and horses had combined to prevent him, he confessed, from +getting over fond of Shanks' mare. To men who delight in the +motions of a horse under them, the legs of a man are a tame, dull +means of progression, although they too have their superiorities; +and one of the disciplines of this world is to have to get out of +the saddle and walk afoot. He who can do so with perfect serenity, +must very nearly have learned with St Paul in whatsoever state he is +therein to be content. It was the loveliest of mornings, however, +to be abroad in upon any terms, and Malcolm hardly needed the +resources of one who knew both how to be abased and how to abound +--enviable perfection---for the enjoyment of even a long walk. +Heaven and earth were just settling to the work of the day after +their morning prayer, and the whole face of things yet wore something +of that look of expectation which one who mingled the vision of +the poet with the faith of the Christian might well imagine to be +their upward look of hope after a night of groaning and travailing +--the earnest gaze of the creature waiting for the manifestation +of the sons of God and for himself, though the hardest thing was +yet to come, there was a satisfaction in finding himself almost up +to his last fence, with the heavy ploughed land through which he +had been floundering nearly all behind him--which figure means +that he had almost made up his mind what to do. + +When he reached the Duff Arms, he walked straight into the yard, +where the first thing he saw was a stable boy in the air, hanging +on to a twitch on the nose of the rearing Kelpie. In another instant +he would have been killed or maimed for life, and Kelpie loose, +and scouring the streets of Duff Harbour. When she heard Malcolm's +voice and the sound of his running feet, she stopped as if to +listen. He flung the boy aside and caught her halter. Once or twice +more she reared, in the vain hope of so ridding herself of the pain +that clung to her lip and nose, nor did she, through the mist of +her anger and suffering, quite recognize her master in his yacht +uniform. But the torture decreasing, she grew able to scent his +presence, welcomed him with her usual glad whinny, and allowed him +to do with her as he would. + +Having fed her, found Mr Soutar, and arranged several matters with +him, he set out for home. + +That was a ride! Kelpie was mad with life. Every available field +he jumped her into, and she tore its element of space at least +to shreds with her spurning hoofs. But the distance was not great +enough to quiet her before they got to hard turnpike and young +plantations. He would have entered at the grand gate, but found no +one at the lodge, for the factor, to save a little, had dismissed +the old keeper. He had therefore to go on, and through the town, +where, to the awe stricken eyes of the population peeping from +doors and windows, it seemed as if the terrible horse would carry +him right over the roofs of the fisher cottages below, and out to +sea. + +"Eh, but he's a terrible cratur that Ma'colm MacPhail!" said the old +wives to each other, for they felt there must be something wicked +in him to ride like that. But he turned her aside from the steep +hill, and passed along the street that led to the town gate of +the House.--Whom should he see, as he turned into it, but Mrs +Catanach!--standing on her own doorstep, opposite the descent +to the Seaton, shading her eyes with her hand, and looking far out +over the water through the green smoke of the village below. As +long as he could remember her, it had been her wont to gaze thus; +though what she could at such times be looking for, except it were +the devil in person, he found it hard to conjecture. + +At the sound of his approach she turned; and such an expression +crossed her face in a momentary flash ere she disappeared in the +house, as added considerably to his knowledge of fallen humanity. +Before he reached her door she was out again, tying on a clean +white apron as she came, and smiling like a dark pool in sunshine. +She dropped him a low courtesy, and looked as if she had been +occupying her house for months of his absence. But Malcolm would +not meet even cunning with its own weapons, and therefore turned +away his head, and took no notice of her. She ground her teeth with +the fury of hate, and swore that she would yet disappoint him of +his purpose, whatever it were, in this masquerade of service. Her +heart being scarcely of the calibre to comprehend one like Malcolm's, +her theories for the interpretation of the mystery were somewhat +wild, and altogether of a character unfit to see the light. + +The keeper of the town gate greeted Malcolm, as he let him in, with +a pleased old face and words of welcome; but added instantly, as +if it was no time for the indulgence of friendship, that it was a +terrible business going on at the Nose. + +"What is it?" asked Malcolm, in alarm. + +"Ye ha'e been ower lang awa', I doobt," answered the man, "to ken +hoo the factor--But, Lord save ye! haud yer tongue," he interjected, +looking fearfully around him. "Gien he kenned 'at I said sic a +thing, he wad turn me oot o' hoose an' ha'." + +"You've said nothing yet," rejoined Malcolm. + +"I said factor, an' that same 's 'maist eneuch, for he's like +a roarin' lion an' a ragin' bear amang the people, an' that sin' +ever ye gaed. Bow o' Meal said i' the meetin' the ither nicht 'at +he bude to be the verra man, the wickit ruler propheseed o' sae +lang sin syne i' the beuk o' the Proverbs. Eh! it's an awfu' thing +to be foreordeent to oonrichteousness!" + +"But you haven't told me what is the matter at Scaurnose," said +Malcolm impatiently. + +"Ow, it's jist this--at this same's midsimmer day, an' Blew +Peter, honest fallow! he's been for the last three month +un'er nottice frae the factor to quit. An' sae, ye see,--" + +"To quit!" exclaimed Malcolm. "Sic a thing was never h'ard tell o'!" + +"Haith! it's h'ard tell o' noo," returned the gatekeeper. "Quittin' +'s as plenty as quicken (couch grass). 'Deed there's maist naething +ither h'ard tell o' bit quittin'; for the full half o' Scaurnose +is un'er like nottice for Michaelmas, an' the Lord kens what it +'ll a' en' in!" + +"But what's it for? Blue Peter's no the man to misbehave himsel'." + +"Weel, ye ken mair yersel' nor ony ither as to the warst fau't there +is to lay till's chairge; for they say--that is, some say, it's +a' yer ain wyte, Ma'colm." + +"What mean ye, man? Speyk oot," said Malcolm. + +"They say it's a' anent the abduckin' o' the markis's boat, 'at +you an' him gaed aff wi' thegither." + +"That'll hardly haud, seeing the marchioness hersel' cam' hame in +her the last nicht." + +"Ay, but ye see the decree's gane oot, an' what the factor says is +like the laws o' the Medes an' the Prussians, 'at they say's no to +be altert; I kenna mysel'." + +"Ow weel! gien that be a', I'll see efter that wi' the marchioness." + +"Ay, but ye see there's a lot o' the laads there, as I'm tellt, +'at has vooed 'at factor nor factor's man s'all ever set fut in +Scaurnose fine this day furth. Gang ye doon to the Seaton, an' see +hoo mony o' yer auld freen's ye'll fin' there. Man, they're a' oot +to Scaurnose to see the plisky. The factor he's there, I ken, an' +some constables wi' 'im--to see 'at his order 's cairried oot. +An' the laads they ha'e been fortifeein' the place--as they ca' +'t--for the last oor. They've howkit a trenk, they tell me, 'at +nane but a hunter on 's horse cud win ower, an' they're postit +alang the toon side o' 't wi' sticks an' stanes, an' boat heuks, an' +guns an' pistils. An' gien there bena a man or twa killt a'ready,--" + +Before he finished his sentence, Kelpie was levelling herself for +the sea gate. + +Johnny Bykes was locking it on the other side, in haste to secure +his eye share of what was going on, when he caught sight of Malcolm +tearing up. Mindful of the old grudge, also that there was no marquis +now to favour his foe, he finished the arrested act of turning the +key, drew it from the lock, and to Malcolm's orders, threats, and +appeals, returned for all answer that he had no time to attend to +him, and so left him looking through the bars. Malcolm dashed across +the burn, and round the base of the hill on which stood the little +windgod blowing his horn, dismounted, unlocked the door in the wall, +got Kelpie through, and was in the saddle again before Johnny was +halfway from the gate. When the churl saw him, he trembled, turned, +and ran for its shelter again in terror--nor perceived until he +reached it, that the insulted groom had gone off like the wind in +the opposite direction. + +Malcolm soon left the high road and cut across the fields--over +which the wind bore cries and shouts, mingled with laughter and the +animal sounds of coarse jeering. When he came nigh the cart road +which led into the village, he saw at the entrance of the street +a crowd, and rising from it the well known shape of the factor on +his horse. Nearer the sea, where was another entrance through the +back yards of some cottages, was a smaller crowd. Both were now +pretty silent, for the attention of all was fixed on Malcolm's +approach. As he drew up Kelpie foaming and prancing, and the group +made way for her, he saw a deep wide ditch across the road, on whose +opposite side was ranged irregularly the flower of Scaurnose's younger +manhood, calmly, even merrily prepared to defend their entrenchment. +They had been chaffing the factor, and loudly challenging the +constables to come on, when they recognised Malcolm in the distance, +and expectancy stayed the rush of their bruising wit. For they +regarded him as beyond a doubt come from the marchioness with +messages of goodwill. When he rode up, therefore, they raised a +great shout, everyone welcoming him by name. But the factor, who, +to judge by appearances, had had his forenoon dram ere he left +home, burning with wrath, moved his horse in between Malcolm and the +assembled Scaurnoseans on the other side of the ditch. He had self +command enough left, however, to make one attempt at the loftily +superior. + +"Pray what is your business?" he said, as if he had never seen +Malcolm in his life before, "I presume you come with a message." + +"I come to beg you, sir, not to go further with this business. +Surely the punishment is already enough!" said Malcolm respectfully. + +"Who sends me the message?" asked the factor, his teeth clenched, +and his eyes flaming. + +"One," answered Malcolm, "who has some influence for justice, and +will use it, upon whichever side the justice may lie." + +"Go to hell," cried the Factor, losing utterly his slender self +command, and raising his whip. + +Malcolm took no heed of the gesture, for he was at the moment beyond +his reach. + +"Mr Crathie," he said calmly, "you are banishing the best man in +the place." + +"No doubt! no doubt! seeing he's a crony of yours," laughed the +factor in mighty scorn. "A canting, prayer meeting rascal!" he +added. + +"Is that ony waur nor a drucken elyer o' the kirk?" cried Dubs from +the other side of the ditch, raising a roar of laughter. + +The very purple forsook the factor's face, and left it a corpse-like +grey in the fire of his fury. + +"Come, come, my men! that's going too far," said Malcolm. + +"An' wha ir ye for a fudgie (truant) fisher, to gi'e coonsel ohn +speired?" shouted Dubs, altogether disappointed in the poor part +Malcolm seemed taking. "Haud to the factor there wi' yer coonsel." + +"Get out of my way," said Mr Crathie, still speaking through his +set teeth, and came straight upon Malcolm. "Home with you! or-r-r" + +Again he raised his whip, this time plainly with intent. + +"For God's sake, factor, min' the mere," cried Malcolm. "Ribs an' +legs an' a' 'ill be to crack, gien ye anger her wi' yer whuppin." + +As he spoke, he drew a little aside that the factor might pass if +he pleased. A noise arose in the smaller crowd, and Malcolm turned +to see what it meant: off his guard, he received a stinging cut +over the head from the factor's whip. Simultaneously, Kelpie stood +up on end, and Malcolm tore the weapon from the treacherous hand. + +"If I gave you what you deserve, Mr Crathie, I should knock you and +your horse together into that ditch. A touch of the spur would do +it. I am not quite sure that I ought not. A nature like yours takes +forbearance for fear." + +While he spoke, his mare was ramping and kicking, making a clean +sweep all about her. Mr Crathie's horse turned restive from sympathy, +and it was all his rider could do to keep his seat. As soon as he +got Kelpie a little quieter, Malcolm drew near and returned him +his whip. He snatched it from his outstretched hand, and essayed +a second cut at him, which Malcolm rendered powerless by pushing +Kelpie close up to him. Then suddenly wheeling, he left him. + +On the other side of the trench the fellows were shouting and +roaring with laughter. + +"Men," cried Malcolm, "you have no right to stop up this road. I +want to go and see Blue Peter." + +"Come on," cried one of the young men, emulous of Dubs's humour, +and spread out his arms as if to receive Kelpie to his bosom. + +"Stand out of the way then," said Malcolm, "I am coming." + +As he spoke, he took Kelpie a little round, keeping out of the way +of the factor, who sat trembling with rage on his still excited +animal, and sent her at the trench. + +The Deevil's Jock, as they called him, kept jumping, with his arms +outspread, from one place to another, as if to receive Kelpie's +charge, but when he saw her actually coming, in short, quick +bounds, straight to the trench, he was seized with terror, and, +half paralysed, slipped as he turned to flee, and rolled into the +ditch, just in time to let Kelpie fly over his head. His comrades +scampered right and left, and Malcolm, rather disgusted, took no +notice of them. + +A cart, loaded with their little all, the horse in the shafts, +was standing at Peter's door, but nobody was near it. Hardly was +Malcolm well into the close, however, when out rushed Annie, and, +heedless of Kelpie's demonstrative repellence, reached up her hands +like a child, caught him by the arm, while yet he was busied with +his troublesome charge, drew him down towards her, and held him +till, in spite of Kelpie, she had kissed him again and again. + +"Eh, Ma'colm! eh, my lord!" she said, "ye ha'e saved my faith. I +kenned ye wad come!" + +"Haud yer tongue, Annie. I mauna be kenned," said Malcolm. + +"There's nae danger. They'll tak' it for sweirin'," answered Annie, +laughing and crying both at once. + +Out next came Blue Peter, his youngest child in his arms. + +"Eh, Peter man! I'm blythe to see ye," cried Malcolm. "Gie's a grup +o' yer honest han'." + +More than even the sight of his face beaming with pleasure, more +than that grasp of the hand that would have squeezed the life out +of a polecat, was the sound of the mother tongue from his lips. The +cloud of Peter's long distrust broke and vanished, and the sky of +his soul was straightway a celestial blue. He snatched his hand from +Malcolm's, walked back into the empty house, ran into the little +closet off the kitchen, bolted the door, fell on his knees in the +void little sanctuary that had of late been the scene of so many +foiled attempts to lift up his heart, and poured out speechless +thanksgiving to the God of all grace and consolation, who had +given him back his friend, and that in the time of his sore need. +So true was his heart in its love, that, giving thanks for his +friend, he forgot that friend was the Marquis of Lossie, before +whom his enemy was but as a snail in the sun. + +When he rose from his knees, and went out again, his face shining +and his eyes misty, his wife was on the top of the cart, tying a +rope across the cradle. + +"Peter," said Malcolm, "ye was quite richt to gang, but I'm glaid +they didna lat ye." + +"I wad ha'e been half w'y to Port Gordon or noo," said Peter. + +"But noo ye'll no gang to Port Gordon," said Malcolm. "Ye'll jist +gang to the Salmon for a feow days, till we see hoo things gang." + +"I'll du onything ye like, Ma'colm," said Peter, and went into the +house to fetch his bonnet. + +In the street arose the cry of a woman, and into the close rushed +one of the fisherwives, followed by the factor. He had found a +place on the eastern side of the village, where, jumping a low earth +wail, he got into a little back yard, and was trampling over its +few stocks of kail, and its one dusty miller and double daisy, when +the woman to whose cottage it belonged caught sight of him through +the window, and running out fell to abusing him in no measured +language. He rode at her in his rage, and she fled shrieking +into Peter's close, where she took refuge behind the cart, never +ceasing her vituperation, but calling him every choice name in her +vocabulary. Beside himself with the rage of murdered dignity, he +rode up, and struck at her over the corner of the cart, whereupon, +from the top of it, Annie Mair ventured to expostulate. + +"Hoot, sir! It's no mainners to lat at a wuman like that." + +He turned upon her, and gave her a cut on the arm and hand, so +stinging that she cried out, and nearly fell from the cart. Out +rushed Peter and flew at the factor, who from his seat of vantage +began to ply his whip about his head. But Malcolm, who, when the +factor appeared, had moved aside to keep Kelpie out of mischief, +and saw only the second of the two assaults, came forward with a +scramble and a bound. + +"Haud awa, Peter," he cried. "This belangs to me. I ga'e him back +'s whup, an' sae I'm accoontable.--Mr Crathie,"--and as he spoke +he edged his mare up to the panting factor, "the man who strikes +a woman must be taught that he is a scoundrel, and that office I +take. I would do the same if you were the lord of Lossie instead +of his factor." + +Mr Crathie, knowing himself now in the wrong, was a little frightened +at the set speech, and began to bluster and stammer, but the swift +descent of Malcolm's heavy riding whip on his shoulders and back +made him voluble in curses. Then began a battle that could not last +long with such odds on the side of justice. It was gazed at from +the mouth of the close by many spectators, but none dared enter +because of the capering and plunging and kicking of the horses. In +less than a minute the factor turned to flee, and spurring out of +the court, galloped up the street at full stretch. + +"Haud oot o' the gait," cried Malcolm, and rode after him. But more +careful of the people, he did not get a good start, and the factor +was over the trench and into the fields before he caught him +up. Then again the stinging switch buckled about the shoulders of +the oppressor, driven with all the force of Malcolm's brawny arm. +The factor yelled and cursed and swore, and still Malcolm plied +the whip, and still the horses flew--over fields and fences and +ditches. At length in the last field, from which they must turn into +the high road, the factor groaned out--"For God's sake, Ma'colm, +ha'e mercy!" + +The youth's uplifted arm fell by his side. He turned his mare's +head, and when the factor turned his, he saw the avenger already +halfway back to Scaurnose, and the constables in full flight meeting +him. + +While Malcolm was thus occupied, his sister was writing to Lady +Bellair. She told her that, having gone out for a sail in her yacht, +which she had sent for from Scotland, the desire to see her home +had overpowered her to such a degree that of the intended sail she +had made a voyage, and here she was, longing just as much now to +see Lady Bellair; and if she thought proper to bring a gentleman +to take care of her, he also should be welcomed for her sake. It +was a long way for her to come, she said, and Lady Bellair knew +what sort of a place it was; but there was nobody in London now, +and if she had nothing more enticing on her tablets, &c., &c. She +ended with begging her, if she was mercifully inclined to make her +happy with her presence, to bring to her Caley and her hound Demon. +She had hardly finished when Malcolm presented himself. + +She received him very coldly, and declined to listen to anything +about the fishers. She insisted that, being one of their party, +he was prejudiced in their favour; and that of course a man of Mr +Crathie's experience must know better than he what ought to be done +with such people, in view of protecting her rights, and keeping +them in order. She declared that she was not going to disturb the +old way of things to please him; and said that he had now done +her all the mischief he could, except, indeed, he were to head the +fishers and sack Lossie House. + +Malcolm found that, by making himself known to her as her brother, +he had but given her confidence in speaking her mind to him, and set +her free from considerations of personal dignity when she desired +to humiliate him. But he was a good deal surprised at the ability +with which she set forth and defended her own view of her affairs, +for she did not tell him that the Rev. Mr Cairns had been with her +all the morning, flattering her vanity, worshipping her power, and +generally instructing her in her own greatness--also putting in +a word or two anent his friend Mr Crathie and his troubles with her +ladyship's fisher tenants. She was still, however, so far afraid +of her brother--which state of feeling was, perhaps, the main +cause of her insulting behaviour to him--that she sat in some +dread lest he might chance to see the address of the letter she +had been writing. + +I may mention here that Lady Bellair accepted the invitation with +pleasure for herself and Liftore, promised to bring Caley, but +utterly declined to take charge of Demon, or allow him to be of the +party. Thereupon Florimel, who was fond of the animal, and feared +much, as he was no favourite, that something would happen to him, +wrote to Clementina, praying her to visit her in her lovely loneliness +--good as The Gloom in its way, though not quite so dark--and +to add a hair to the weight of her obligations if she complied, by +allowing her deerhound to accompany her. Clementina was the only +one, she said, of her friends for whom the animal had ever shown +a preference. + +Malcolm retired from his sister's presence much depressed, saw Mrs +Courthope, who was kind as ever, and betook himself to his own room, +next to that in which his strange history began. There he sat down +and wrote urgently to Lenorme, stating that he had an important +communication to make, and begging him to start for the north the +moment he received the letter. A messenger from Duff Harbour well +mounted, he said, would ensure his presence within a couple of +hours. + +He found the behaviour of his old acquaintances and friends in the +Seaton much what he had expected: the few were as cordial as ever, +while the many still resented, with a mingling of the jealousy of +affection, his forsaking of the old life for a calling they regarded +as unworthy of one bred at least if not born a fisherman. A few +there were besides who always had been, for reasons perhaps best +known to themselves, less than friendly. The women were all cordial. + +"Sic a mad-like thing," said old Futtocks, who was now the leader +of the assembly at the barn, "to gang scoorin' the cuintry on that +mad brute o' a mere! What guid, think ye, can come sic like?" + +"H'ard ye him ever tell the story aboot Colonsay Castel yon'er?" + +"Ay hey!" + +"Weel, isna his mere 'at they ca' Kelpie jist the pictur' o' the +deil's ain horse 'at lay at the door an' watched, whan he flaw oot +an' tuik the wa' wi' 'im ?" + +"I cudna say till I saw whether the deil himsel' cud gar her lie +still." + + + +CHAPTER LIX: THE PEACEMAKER + + +The heroes of Scaurnose expected a renewal of the attack, and in +greater force, the next day, and made their preparations accordingly, +strengthening every weak point around the village. They were put in +great heart by Malcolm's espousal of their cause, as they considered +his punishment of the factor; but most of them set it down in their +wisdom as resulting from the popular condemnation of his previous +supineness. It did not therefore add greatly to his influence with +them. When he would have prevailed upon them to allow Blue Peter +to depart, arguing that they had less right to prevent than the +factor had to compel him, they once more turned upon him: what +right had he to dictate to them? he did not belong to Scaurnose! + +He reasoned with them that the factor, although he had not justice, +had law on his side, and could turn out whom he pleased. They +said--"Let him try it!" He told them that they had given great +provocation, for he knew that the men they had assaulted came +surveying for a harbour, and that they ought at least to make some +apology for having maltreated them. It was all useless: that was +the women's doing, they said; besides they did not believe him; and +if what he said was true, what was the thing to them, seeing they +were all under notice to leave? + +Malcolm said that perhaps an apology would be accepted. They told +him, if he did not take himself off, they would serve him as he had +served the factor. Finding expostulation a failure, therefore, he +begged Joseph and Annie to settle themselves again as comfortably +as they could, and left them. + +Contrary to the expectation of all, however, and considerably to +the disappointment of the party of Dubs, Fite Folp, and the rest, +the next day was as peaceful as if Scaurnose had been a halcyon +nest floating on the summer waves; and it was soon reported that, +in consequence of the punishment he had received from Malcolm, the +factor was far too ill to be troublesome to any but his wife. This +was true, but, severe as his chastisement was, it was not severe +enough to have had any such consequences but for his late growing +habit of drinking whisky. As it was, fever had followed upon the +combination of bodily and mental suffering. But already it had +wrought this good in him, that he was far more keenly aware of the +brutality of the offence of which he had been guilty than he would +otherwise have been all his life through. To his wife, who first +learned the reason of Malcolm's treatment of him from his delirious +talk in the night, it did not, circumstances considered, appear +an enormity, and her indignation with the avenger of it, whom she +had all but hated before, was furious. + +Malcolm, on his part, was greatly concerned to hear the result +of his severity. He refrained, however, from calling to inquire, +knowing it would be interpreted as an insult, not accepted as +a sign of sympathy. He went to the doctor instead--who, to his +consternation, looked very serious at first. But when he learned all +about the affair, he changed his view considerably, and condescended +to give good hopes of his coming through, even adding that it would +lengthen his life by twenty years if it broke him of his habits of +whisky drinking and rage. + +And now Malcolm had a little time of leisure, which he put to the +best possible use in strengthening his relations with the fishers. +For he had nothing to do about the House, except look after Kelpie; +and Florimel, as if determined to make him feel that he was less +to her than before, much as she used to enjoy seeing him sit his +mare, never took him out with her--always Stoat. He resolved +therefore, seeing he must yet delay action a while in the hope of +the appearance of Lenorme, to go out as in the old days after the +herring, both for the sake of splicing, if possible, what strands +had been broken between him and the fishers, and of renewing for +himself the delights of elemental conflict. + +With these views, he hired himself to the Partan, whose boat's +crew was short handed. And now, night after night, he revelled in +the old pleasure, enhanced by so many months of deprivation. Joy +itself seemed embodied in the wind blowing on him out of the misty +infinite while his boat rocked and swung on the waters, hanging +between two worlds, that in which the wind blew, and that other +dark swaying mystery whereinto the nets to which it was tied went +away down and down, gathering the harvest of the ocean. + +It was as if nature called up all her motherhood to greet and embrace +her long absent son. When it came on to blow hard, as it did once +and again during those summer nights, instead of making him feel +small and weak in the midst of the storming forces, it gave him a +glorious sense of power and unconquerable life. And when his watch +was out, and the boat lay quiet, like a horse tethered and asleep +in his clover field, he too would fall asleep with a sense of +simultaneously deepening and vanishing delight such as be had not +at all in other conditions experienced. + +Ever since the poison had got into his system, and crept where it +yet lay lurking in hidden corners and crannies, a noise at night +would on shore startle him awake, and set his heart beating hard; +but no loudest sea noise ever woke him; the stronger the wind +flapped its wings around him, the deeper he slept. When a comrade +called him by name, he was up at once and wide awake. + +It answered also all his hopes in regard to his companions and the +fisher folk generally. Those who had really known him found the +same old Malcolm, and those who had doubted him soon began to see +that at least he had lost nothing in courage or skill or goodwill: +ere long he was even a greater favourite than before. On his part, +he learned to understand far better the nature of his people, +as well as the individual characters of them, for his long (but +not too long) absence and return enabled him to regard them with +unaccustomed, and therefore in some respects more discriminating +eyes. + +Duncan's former dwelling happening to be then occupied by a lonely +woman, Malcolm made arrangements with her to take them both in; so +that in relation to his grandfather too something very much like the +old life returned for a time--with this difference, that Duncan +soon began to check himself as often as the name of his hate, with +its accompanying curse, rose to his lips. + +The factor continued very ill. He had sunk into a low state, in +which his former indulgence was greatly against him. Every night the +fever returned, and at length his wife was worn out with watching, +and waiting upon him. + +And every morning Lizzy Findlay, without fail, called to inquire +how Mr Crathie had spent the night. To the last, while quarrelling +with every one of her neighbours with whom he had anything to do, +he had continued kind to her, and she was more grateful than one +in other trouble than hers could have understood. But she did not +know that an element in the origination of his kindness was the +belief that it was by Malcolm she had been wronged and forsaken. + +Again and again she had offered, in the humblest manner, to ease +his wife's burden by sitting with him at night; and at last, finding +she could hold up no longer, Mrs Crathie consented. But even after +a week she found herself still unable to resume the watching, and +so, night after night, resting at home during a part of the day, +Lizzy sat by the sleeping factor, and when he woke ministered to +him like a daughter. Nor did even her mother object, for sickness +is a wondrous reconciler. + +Little did the factor suspect, however, that it was partly for +Malcolm's sake she nursed him, anxious to shield the youth from +any possible consequences of his righteous vengeance. + +While their persecutor lay thus, gradually everything at Scaurnose, +and consequently at the Seaton, lapsed into its old way, and the +summer of such content as before they had possessed, returned to +the fishers. I fear it would have proved hard for some of them, +had they made effort in that direction, to join in the prayer, if +prayer it may be called, put up in church for him every Sunday. What +a fearful canopy the prayers that do not get beyond the atmosphere +would make if they turned brown with age! Having so lately seen the +factor going about like a maniac, raving at this piece of damage +and that heap of dirt, the few fishers present could never help +smiling when Mr Cairns prayed for him as "the servant of God and +his church now lying grievously afflicted--persecuted, but not +forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed;"--having found the fitting +phrases he seldom varied them. + +Through her sorrow, Lizzy had grown tender, as through her shame +she had grown wise. That the factor had been much in the wrong only +rendered her anxious sympathy the more eager to serve him. Knowing +so well what it was to have done wrong, she was pitiful over him, +and her ministrations were none the less devoted that she knew +exactly how Malcolm thought and felt about him; for the affair, +having taken place in open village and wide field and in the light +of midday, and having been reported by eyewitnesses many, was +everywhere perfectly known, and Malcolm therefore talked of it +freely to his friends, amongst them both to Lizzy and her mother. + +Sickness sometimes works marvellous changes, and the most marvellous +on persons who to the ordinary observer seem the least liable +to change. Much apparent steadfastness of nature, however, is +but sluggishness, and comes from incapacity to generate change or +contribute towards personal growth; and it follows that those whose +nature is such can as little prevent or retard any change that has +its initiative beyond them. The men who impress the world as the +mightiest are those often who can the least--never those who can +the most in their natural kingdom; generally those whose frontiers +lie openest to the inroads of temptation, whose atmosphere is most +subject to moody changes and passionate convulsions, who, while +perhaps they can whisper laws to a hemisphere, can utter no decree +of smallest potency as to how things shall be within themselves. +Place Alexander ille Magnus beside Malcolm's friend Epictetus, ille +servorum servus; take his crutch from the slave and set the hero +upon his Bucephalus--but set them alone and in a desert: which +will prove the great man? which the unchangeable? The question +being what the man himself shall or shall not be, shall or shall +not feel, shall or shall not recognize as of himself and troubling +the motions of his being, Alexander will prove a mere earth bubble, +Epictetus a cavern in which pulses the tide of the eternal and +infinite Sea. + +But then first, when the false strength of the self imagined great +man is gone, when the want or the sickness has weakened the self +assertion which is so often mistaken for strength of individuality, +when the occupations in which he formerly found a comfortable +consciousness of being have lost their interest, his ambitions +their glow, and his consolations their colour, when suffering has +wasted away those upper strata of his factitious consciousness, and +laid bare the lower, simpler, truer deeps, of which he has never +known or has forgotten the existence, then there is a hope of his +commencing a new and real life. + +Powers then, even powers within himself of which he knew nothing, +begin to assert themselves, and the man commonly reported to possess +a strong will, is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and +tossed. This factor, this man of business, this despiser of humbug, +to whom the scruples of a sensitive conscience were a contempt, +would now lie awake in the night and weep. + +"Ah!" I hear it answered, "but that was the weakness caused by his +illness." True: but what then had become of his strength? And was +it all weakness? What if this weakness was itself a sign of returning +life, not of advancing death--of the dawn of a new and genuine +strength! For he wept because, in the visions of his troubled brain, +he saw once more the cottage of his father the shepherd, with all +its store of lovely nothings round which the nimbus of sanctity +had gathered while he thought not of them; wept over the memory of +that moment of delight when his mother kissed him for parting with +his willow whistle to the sister who cried for it: he cried now in +his turn, after five and fifty years, for not yet had the little +fact done with him, not yet had the kiss of his mother lost its +power on the man: wept over the sale of the pet lamb, though he had +himself sold thousands of lambs, since; wept over even that bush +of dusty miller by the door, like the one he trampled under his +horse's feet in the little yard at Scaurnose that horrible day. +And oh, that nest of wild bees with its combs of honey unspeakable! +He used to laugh and sing then: he laughed still sometimes--he +could hear how he laughed, and it sounded frightful--but he never +sang! Were the tears that honoured such childish memories all of +weakness? Was it cause of regret that he had not been wicked enough +to have become impregnable to such foolish trifles? Unable to mount +a horse, unable to give an order, not caring even for his toddy, +he was left at the mercy of his fundamentals; his childhood came up +and claimed him, and he found the childish things he had put away +better than the manly things he had adopted. It is one thing for +St Paul and another for Mr Worldly Wiseman to put away childish +things. The ways they do it, and the things they substitute, are +both so different? And now first to me, whose weakness it is to +love life more than manners, and men more than their portraits, +the man begins to grow interesting. Picture the dawn of innocence +on a dull, whisky drinking, commonplace soul, stained by self +indulgence, and distorted by injustice! Unspeakably more interesting +and lovely is to me such a dawn than the honeymoon of the most +passionate of lovers, except indeed I know them such lovers that +their love will outlast all the moons. + +"I'm a poor creature, Lizzy," he said, turning his heavy face one +midnight towards the girl, as she sat half dozing, ready to start +awake. + +"God comfort ye, sir!" said the girl. + +"He'll take good care of that!" returned the factor. "What did I +ever do to deserve it?--There's that MacPhail, now--to think +of him! Didn't I do what man could for him? Didn't I keep him about +the place when all the rest were dismissed? Didn't I give him the +key of the library, that he might read and improve his mind? And +look what comes of it!" + +"Ye mean, sir," said. Lizzy, quite innocently, "'at that 's the +w'y ye ha'e dune wi' God, an' sae he winna heed ye?" + +The factor had meant nothing in the least like it. He had merely +been talking as the imps of suggestion tossed up. His logic was +as sick and helpless as himself. So at that he held his peace-- +stung in his pride at least--perhaps in his conscience too, only +he was not prepared to be rebuked by a girl like her, who had-- +Well, he must let it pass: how much better was he himself? + +But Lizzy was loyal: she could not hear him speak so of Malcolm +and hold her peace as if she agreed in his condemnation. + +"Ye'll ken Ma'colm better some day, sir," she said. + +"Well, Lizzy," returned the sick man, in a tone that but for +feebleness would have been indignant, "I have heard a good deal of +the way women will stand up for men that have treated them cruelly, +but you to stand up for him passes!" + +"He's been the best friend I ever had," said Lizzy. + +"Girl! how can you sit there, and tell me so to my face?" +cried the factor, his voice strengthened by the righteousness +of the reproof it bore. "If it were not the dead of the night--" + +"I tell ye naething but the trowth, sir," said Lizzy, as the +contingent threat died away. "But ye maun lie still or I maun gang +for the mistress. Gien ye be the waur the morn, it'll be a' my +wyte, 'cause I cudna bide to hear sic things said o' Ma'colm." + +"Do you mean to tell me," persisted her charge, heedless of her +expostulation, "that the fellow who brought you to disgrace, and +left you with a child you could ill provide for--and I well know +never sent you a penny all the time he was away, whatever he may +have done now, is the best friend you ever had?" + +"Noo God forgi'e ye, Maister Crathie, for threipin' sic a thing!" +cried Lizzy, rising as if she would leave him; "Ma'colm MacPhail +'s as clear o' ony sin like mine as my wee bairnie itsel'." + +"Do ye daur tell me he's no the father o' that same, lass?" + +"No, nor never will be the father a' ony bairn whase mither 's no +his wife!" said. Lizzy, with burning cheeks and resolute voice. + +The factor, who had risen on his elbow to look her in the face, +fell back in silence; and neither of them spoke for what seemed to +the watcher a long time; When she ventured to look at him, he was +asleep. + +He lay in one of those troubled slumbers into which weakness and +exhaustion will sometimes pass very suddenly; and in that slumber +he had a dream which he never forgot. He thought he had risen from +his grave with an awful sound in his ears, and knew he was wanted +at the judgment seat. But he did not want to go, therefore crept into +the porch of the church, and hoped to be forgotten. But suddenly +an angel appeared with a flaming sword and drove him out of the +churchyard away to Scaurnose where the judge was sitting. And as +he fled in terror before the angel, he fell, and the angel came +and stood over him, and his sword flashed torture into his bones, +but he could not and dared not rise. At last, summoning all his +strength, he looked up at him, and cried out, "Sir, ha'e mercy, +for God's sake." Instantly all the flames drew back into the sword, +and the blade dropped, burning like a brand, from the hilt, which +the angel threw away.--And lo! it was Malcolm MacPhail, and he +was stooping to raise him. With that he awoke, and there was Lizzy +looking down on him anxiously. + +"What are you looking like that for?" he asked crossly. + +She did not like to tell him that she had been alarmed by his dropping +asleep: and in her confusion she fell back on the last subject. + +"There maun be some mistak, Mr Crathie," she said. "I wuss ye wad +tell me what gars ye hate Ma'colm MacPhail as ye du." + +The factor, although he seemed to himself to know well enough, +was yet a little puzzled how to commence his reply; and therewith +a process began that presently turned into something with which +never in his life before had his inward parts been acquainted--a +sort of self examination to wit. He said to himself, partly in the +desire to justify his present dislike--he would not call it hate, +as Lizzy did--that he used to get on with the lad well enough, +and had never taken offence at his freedoms, making no doubt his +manner came of his blood, and he could not help it, being a chip +of the old block; but when he ran away with the marquis's boat, +and went to the marchioness and told her lies against him--then +what could he do but dislike him? + +Arrived at this point, he opened his mouth and gave the substance +of what preceded it for answer to Lizzy's question. But she replied +at once. + +"Nobody 'ill gar me believe, sir, 'at Ma'colm MacPhail ever tellt +a lee again' you or onybody. I dinna believe he ever tellt a lee +in 's life. Jist ye exem' him weel anent it, sir. An' for the boat, +nae doobt it was makin' free to tak it; but ye ken, sir, 'at hoo he +was maister o' the same. It was in his chairge, an' ye ken little +aboot boats yersel,' or the sailin' o' them, sir." + +"But it was me that engaged him again, after all the servants at +the House had been dismissed: he was my servant." + +"That maks the thing luik waur, nae doobt," allowed Lizzy,--with +something of cunning. "Hoo was't 'at he cam to du 't ava' (of all; +at all), sir? Can ye min'?" she pursued. + +"I discharged him." + +"An' what for, gien I may mak' hold to speir, sir?" she went on. + +"For insolence." + +"Wad ye tell me hoo he answert ye? Dinna think me meddlin', sir. +I'm clear certain there's been some mistak. Ye cudna be sae guid +to me, an' be ill to him, ohn some mistak." + +It was consoling to the conscience of the factor, in regard of his +behaviour to the two women, to hear his own praise for kindness +from woman's lips. He took no offence therefore at her persistent +questioning, but told her as well and as truly as he could remember, +with no more than the all but unavoidable exaggeration with which +feeling will colour fact, the whole passage between Malcolm and +himself concerning the sale of Kelpie, and closed with an appeal to +the judgment of his listener, in which he confidently anticipated +her verdict. + +"A most ridic'lous thing! ye can see yersel' as weel 's onybody, +Lizzy! An' sic a thing to ca' an honest man like mysel' a hypocrete +for! ha! ha! ha! There's no a bairn 'atween John o' Groat's an' +the Lan's En' disna ken 'at the seller a horse is b'un' to reese +(extol) him, an' the buyer to tak care o' himsel'. I'll no say +it's jist allooable to tell a doonricht lee, but ye may come full +nearer till't in horse dealin', ohn sinned, nor in ony ither kin' +o' merchandeze. It's like luve an' war, in baith which, it's weel +keened, a' thing's fair. The saw sud rin--Luve an' war an' horse +dealin'.--Divna ye see, Lizzy?" + +But Lizzy did not answer, and the factor, hearing a stifled sob, +started to his elbow. + +"Lie still, sir," said Lizzy. "It's naething. I was only jist +thinkin' 'at that wad be the w'y 'at the father o' my bairn rizoned +wi' himsel' whan he lee'd to me." + +"Hey!" said the astonished factor, and in his turn held his peace, +trying to think. + +Now Lizzy, for the last few months, had been going to school, +the same school with Malcolm, open to all comers, the only school +where one is sure to be led in the direction of wisdom, and there +she had been learning to some purpose--as plainly appeared before +she had done with the factor. + +"Whase kirk are ye elder o', Maister Crathie?" she asked presently. + +"Ow, the kirk o' Scotlan', of coorse!" answered the patient, in +some surprise at her ignorance. + +"Ay, ay," returned Lizzy; "but whase aucht (owning, property) is +'t?" + +"Ow, whase but the Redeemer's!" + +"An' div ye think, Mr Craithie, 'at gien Jesus Christ had had a +horse to sell, he wad ha'e hidden frae him 'at wad buy, ae hair a +fau't 'at the beast hed? Wad he no ha'e dune till's neiper as he +wad ha'e his neiper du to him?" + +"Lassie! lassie! tak care hoo ye even him to sic like as hiz (us). +What wad he hae to du wi' horse flesh?" + +Lizzy held her peace. Here was no room for argument. He had flung +the door of his conscience in the face of her who woke it. But it +was too late, for the word was in already. Oh! that false reverence +which men substitute for adoring obedience, and wherewith they +reprove the childlike spirit that does not know another kingdom +than that of God and that of Mammon! God never gave man thing to +do concerning which it were irreverent to ponder how the son of +God would have done it. + +But, I say, the word was in, and, partly no doubt from its following +so close upon the dream the factor had had, was potent in its +operation. He fell a thinking, and a thinking more honestly than +he had thought for many a day. And presently it was revealed to +him that, if he were in the horse market wanting to buy, and a man +there who had to sell said to him--"He wadna du for you, sir; +ye wad be tired o' 'im in a week," he would never remark, "What a +fool the fellow is!" but--"Weel noo, I ca' that neibourly!" He +did not get quite so far just then as to see that every man to whom +he might want to sell a horse was as much his neighbour as his own +brother; nor, indeed, if he had got as far, would it have indicated +much progress in honesty, seeing he would at any time, when needful +and possible, have cheated that brother in the matter of a horse, +as certainly as he would a Patagonian or a Chinaman. But the warped +glass of a bad maxim had at least been cracked in his window. + +The peacemaker sat in silence the rest of the night, but the factor's +sleep was broken, and at times he wandered. He was not so well the +next day, and his wife, gathering that Lizzy had been talking, and +herself feeling better, would not allow her to sit up with him any +more. + +Days and days passed, and still Malcolm had no word from Lenorme, +and was getting hopeless in respect of that quarter of possible +aid. But so long as Florimel could content herself with the quiet +of Lossie House, there was time to wait, he said to himself. She +was not idle, and that was promising. Every day she rode out with +Stoat. Now and then she would make a call in the neighbourhood, +and, apparently to trouble Malcolm, took care to let him know that +on one of these occasions her call had been upon Mrs Stewart. + +One thing he did feel was that she made no renewal of her friendship +with his grandfather: she had, alas! outgrown the girlish fancy. +Poor Duncan took it much to heart. She saw more of the minister +and his wife, who both flattered her, than anybody else, and was +expecting the arrival of Lady Bellair and Lord Liftore with the +utmost impatience. They, for their part, were making the journey +by the easiest possible stages, tacking and veering, and visiting +everyone of their friends that lay between London and Lossie: +they thought to give Florimel the little lesson, that, though they +accepted her invitation, they had plenty of friends in the world +besides her ladyship, and were not dying to see her. + +One evening, Malcolm, as he left the grounds of Mr Morrison, on +whom he had been calling, saw a travelling carriage pass towards +Portlossie; and something liker fear laid hold of his heart than +he had ever felt except when Florimel and he on the night of the +storm took her father for Lord Gernon the wizard. As soon as he +reached certain available fields, he sent Kelpie tearing across +them, dodged through a fir wood, and came out on the road half a +mile in front of the carriage: as again it passed him he saw that +his fears were facts, for in it sat the bold faced countess, and +the mean hearted lord. Something must be done at last, and until +it was done good watch must be kept. + +I must here note that, during this time of hoping and waiting, +Malcolm had attended to another matter of importance. Over every +element influencing his life, his family, his dependents, his +property, he desired to possess a lawful, honest command: where +he had to render account, he would be head. Therefore, through Mr +Soutar's London agent, to whom he sent up Davy, and whom he brought +acquainted with Merton, and his former landlady at the curiosity +shop, he had discovered a good deal about Mrs Catanach from her +London associates, among them the herb doctor, and his little boy +who had watched Davy, and he had now almost completed an outline +of evidence, which, grounded on that of Rose, might be used against +Mrs Catanach at any moment. He had also set inquiries on foot in +the track of Caley's antecedents, and had discovered more than the +acquaintance between her and Mrs Catanach. Also he had arranged +that Hodges, the man who had lost his leg through his cruelty to +Kelpie, should leave for Duff Harbour as soon as possible after his +discharge from the hospital. He was determined to crush the evil +powers which had been ravaging his little world. + + + +CHAPTER LX: AN OFFERING + + +Clementina was always ready to accord any reasonable request Florimel +could make of her; but her letter lifted such a weight from her +heart and life that she would now have done whatever she desired, +reasonable or unreasonable, provided only it was honest. She had +no difficulty in accepting Florimel's explanation that her sudden +disappearance was but a breaking of the social gaol, the flight of +the weary bird from its foreign cage back to the country of its +nest; and that same morning she called upon Demon. The hound, feared +and neglected, was rejoiced to see her, came when she called him, +and received her caresses: there was no ground for dreading his +company. It was a long journey, but if it had been across a desert +instead of through her own country, the hope that lay at the end +of it would have made it more than pleasant. She, as well as Lady +Bellair, had friends upon the way, but no desire to lengthen the +journey or shorten its tedium by visiting them. + +The letter would have found her at Wastbeach instead of London, +had not the society and instructions of the schoolmaster detained +her a willing prisoner to its heat and glare and dust. Him only in +all London must she see to bid goodbye. To Camden Town therefore +she went that same evening, when his work would be over for the +day. As usual now, she was shown into his room--his only one. +As usual also, she found him poring over his Greek Testament. +The gracious, graceful woman looked lovelily strange in that mean +chamber--like an opal in a brass ring. + +There was no such contrast between the room and its occupant. +His bodily presence was too weak to "stick fiery off" from its +surroundings, and to the eye that saw through the bodily presence +to the inherent grandeur, that grandeur suggested no discrepancy, +being of the kind that lifts everything to its own level, casts +the mantle of its own radiance around its surroundings. Still to +the eye of love and reverence it was not pleasant to see him in +such entourage, and now that Clementina was going to leave him, +the ministering spirit that dwelt in the woman was troubled. + +"Ah!" he said, and rose as she entered; "this is then the angel +of my deliverance!" But with such a smile he did not look as if he +had much to be delivered from. "You see," he went on, "old man as +I am, and peaceful, the summer will lay hold upon me. She stretches +out a long arm into this desert of houses and stones, and sets me +longing after the green fields and the living air--it seems dead +here--and the face of God--as much as one may behold of the +Infinite through the revealing veil of earth and sky and sea. Shall +I confess my weakness, my poverty of spirit, my covetousness after +the visual? I was even getting a little tired of that glorious God +and man lover, Saul of Tarsus--no, not of him, never of him, only +of his shadow in his words. Yet perhaps, yes I think so, it is God +alone of whom a man can never get tired. Well, no matter; tired +I was; when lo! here comes my pupil, with more of God in her face +than all the worlds and their skies he ever made!" + +"I would my heart were as full of him, too, then, sir!" answered +Clementina. "But if I am anything of a comfort to you, I am more +than glad,--therefore the more sorry to tell you that I am going +to leave you--though for a little while only, I trust." + +"You do not take me by surprise, my lady. I have of course been +looking forward for some time to my loss and your gain. The world +is full of little deaths, deaths of all sorts and sizes, rather +let me say. For this one I was prepared. The good summer land calls +you to its bosom, and you must go." + +"Come with me," cried Clementina, her eyes eager with the light of +the sudden thought, while her heart reproached her grievously that +only now first had it come to her. + +"A man must not leave the most irksome work for the most peaceful +pleasure," answered the schoolmaster. "I am able to live--yes, and +do my work, without you, my lady," he added with a smile, "though +I shall miss you sorely." + +"But you do not know where I want you to come," she said. + +"What difference can that make, my lady, except indeed in the amount +of pleasure to be refused, seeing this is not a matter of choice? +I must be with the children whom I have engaged to teach, and whose +parents pay me for my labour--not with those who, besides, can +do well without me." + +"I cannot, sir--not for long, at least." + +"What! not with Malcolm to supply my place?" + +Clementina blushed, but only like a white rose. She did not turn +her head aside; she did not lower their lids to veil the light +she felt mount into her eyes; she looked him gently in the face as +before, and her aspect of entreaty did not change. + +"Ah! do not be unkind, master," she said. + +"Unkind!" he repeated. "You know I am not. I have more kindness +in my heart than my lips can tell. You do not know, you could not +yet imagine the half of what I hope of and for and from you." + +"I am going to see Malcolm," she said, with a little sigh. "That +is, I am going to visit Lady Lossie at her place in Scotland-- +your own old home, where so many must love you.--Can't you come? +I shall be travelling alone, quite alone, except my servants." + +A shadow came over the schoolmaster's face. + +"You do not think, my lady, or you would not press me. It pains +me that you do not see at once it would be dishonest to go without +timely notice to my pupils, and to the public too. But, beyond that +quite, I never do anything of myself. I go, not where I wish, but +where I seem to be called or sent. I never even wish much--except +when I pray to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom +and knowledge. After what he wants to give me I am wishing all day +long. I used to build many castles, not without a beauty of their +own--that was when I had less understanding: now I leave them +to God to build for me--he does it better and they last longer. +See now, this very hour, when I needed help--could I have contrived a +more lovely annihilation of the monotony that threatened to invade +my weary spirit, than this inroad of light in the person of my lady +Clementina? Nor will he allow me to get over wearied with vain +efforts. I do not think he will keep me here long, for I find I +cannot do much for these children. They are but some of his many +pagans--not yet quite ready to receive Christianity, I think-- +not like children with some of the old seeds of the truth buried +in them, that want to be turned up nearer to the light. This +ministration I take to be more for my good than theirs--a little +trial of faith and patience for me--a stony corner of the lovely +valley of humiliation to cross. True, I might be happier where I +could hear the larks, but I do not know that anywhere have I been +more peaceful than in this little room, on which I see you so often +cast round your eyes curiously--perhaps pitifully, my lady?" + +"It is not at all a fit place for you," said Clementina, with a +touch of indignation. + +"Softly, my lady----lest, without knowing it, your love should +make you sin! Who set thee, I pray, for a guardian angel over my +welfare? I could scarce have a lovelier--true! but where is thy +brevet? No, my lady! it is a greater than thou that sets me the +bounds of my habitation. Perhaps he may give me a palace one day. +If I might choose, it would be the things that belong to a cottage +--the whiteness and the greenness and the sweet odours of cleanliness. +But the father has decreed for his children that they shall know +the thing that is neither their ideal nor his. Who can imagine how +in this respect things looked to our Lord when he came and found +so little faith on the earth! But, perhaps, my lady, you would +not pity my present condition so much, if you had seen the cottage +in which I was born, and where my father and my mother loved each +other, and died happier than on their wedding day. There I was +happy too until their loving ambition decreed that I should be a +scholar and a clergyman. Not before then did I ever know anything +worthy of the name of trouble. A little cold and a little hunger +at times, and not a little restlessness always was all. But then +--ah then, my troubles began! Yet God, who bringeth light out of +darkness, hath brought good even out of my weakness and presumption +and half unconscious falsehood!--When do you go?" + +"Tomorrow morning--as I purpose." + +"Then God be with thee. He is with thee, only my prayer is that +thou mayest know it. He is with me and I know it. He does not find +this chamber too mean or dingy or unclean to let me know him near +me in it." + +"Tell me one thing before I go," said Clementina: "are we not +commanded to bear each other's burdens and so fulfil the law of +Christ? I read it today." + +"Then why ask me?" + +"For another question: does not that involve the command to those +who have burdens that they should allow others to bear them?" + +"Surely, my lady. But I have no burden to let you bear." + +"Why should I have everything, and you nothing?--Answer me that?" + +"My lady, I have millions more than you, for I have been gathering +the crumbs under my master's table for thirty years." + +"You are a king," answered Clementina. "But a king needs a +handmaiden somewhere in his house: that let me be in yours. No, I +will be proud, and assert my rights. I am your daughter. If I am +not, why am I here? Do you not remember telling me that the adoption +of God meant a closer relation than any other fatherhood, even his +own first fatherhood could signify? You cannot cast me off if you +would. Why should you be poor when I am rich?--You are poor. You +cannot deny it," she concluded with a serious playfulness. + +"I will not deny my privileges," said the schoolmaster, with a smile +such as might have acknowledged the possession of some exquisite +and envied rarity. + +"I believe," insisted Clementina, "you are just as poor as the +apostle Paul when he sat down to make a tent--or as our Lord +himself after he gave up carpentering." + +"You are wrong there, my lady. I am not so poor as they must often +have been." + +"But I don't know how long I may be away, and you may fall +ill, or--or--see some--some book you want very much, or--" + +"I never do," said the schoolmaster. + +"What! never see a book you want to have?" + +"No; not now. I have my Greek Testament, my Plato, and my Shakspere +--and one or two little books besides, whose wisdom I have not +yet quite exhausted." + +"I can't bear it!" cried Clementina, almost on the point of weeping. +"You will not let me near you. You put out an arm as long as the +summer's and push me away from you. Let me be your servant." + +As she spoke, she rose, and walking softly up to him where he sat +kneeled at his knees, and held out suppliantly a little bag of +white silk, tied with crimson. + +"Take it--father," she said, hesitating, and bringing the word +out with an effort; "take your daughter's offering--a poor thing +to show her love, but something to ease her heart." + +He took it, and weighed it up and down in his hand with an amused +smile, but his eyes full of tears. It was heavy. He opened it. A +chair was within his reach, he emptied it on the seat of it, and +laughed with merry delight as its contents came tumbling out. + +"I never saw so much gold in my life, if it were all taken together," +he said. "What beautiful stuff it is! But I don't want it, my dear. +It would but trouble me." And as he spoke, he began to put it in +the bag again. "You will want it for your journey," he said. + +"I have plenty in my reticule," she answered. "That is a mere nothing +to what I could have tomorrow morning for writing a cheque. I am +afraid I am very rich. It is such a shame! But I can't well help +it. You must teach me how to become poor.--Tell me true: how much +money have you?" + +She said this with such an earnest look of simple love that the +schoolmaster made haste to rise, that he might conceal his growing +emotion. + +"Rise, my dear lady," he said, as he rose himself, "and I will show +you." + +He gave her his hand, and she obeyed, but troubled and disappointed, +and so stood looking after him, while he went to a drawer. Thence, +searching in a corner of it, he brought a half sovereign, a few +shillings, and some coppers, and held them out to her on his hand, +with the smile of one who has proved his point. + +"There!" he said; "do you think Paul would have stopped preaching +to make a tent so long as he had as much as that in his pocket? I +shall have more on Saturday, and I always carry a month's rent in +my good old watch, for which I never had much use, and now have +less than ever." + +Clementina had been struggling with herself; now she burst into +tears. + +"Why, what a misspending of precious sorrow!" exclaimed the +schoolmaster. "Do you think because a man has not a gold mine he +must die of hunger? I once heard of a sparrow that never had a worm +left for the morrow, and died a happy death notwithstanding." + +As he spoke he took her handkerchief from her hand and dried her +tears with it. But he had enough ado to keep his own back. + +"Because I won't take a bagful of gold from you when I don't want +it," he went on, "do you think I should let myself starve without +coming to you? I promise you I will let you know--come to you if +I can, the moment I get too hungry to do my work well, and have no +money left. Should I think it a disgrace to take money from you? +That would show a poverty of spirit such as I hope never to fall +into. My sole reason for refusing it now is that I do not need it." + +But for all his loving words and assurances Clementina could not +stay her tears. She was not ready to weep, but now her eyes were +as a fountain. + +"See, then, for your tears are hard to bear, my daughter," he said, +"I will take one of these golden ministers, and if it has flown from +me ere you come, seeing that, like the raven, it will not return +if once I let it go, I will ask you for another. It may be God's +will that you should feed me for a time." + +"Like one of Elijah's ravens," said Clementina, with an attempted +laugh that was really a sob. + +"Like a dove whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers +with yellow gold," said the schoolmaster. + +A moment of silence followed, broken only by Clementina's failures +in quieting herself. + +"To me," he resumed, "the sweetest fountain of money is the hand of +love, but a man has no right to take it from that fountain except +he is in want of it. I am not. True, I go somewhat bare, my lady; +but what is that when my Lord would have it so?" + +He opened again the bag, and slowly, reverentially indeed, drew +from it one of the new sovereigns with which it was filled. He put +it into a waistcoat pocket, and laid the bag on the table. + +"But your clothes are shabby, sir," said Clementina, looking at +him with a sad little shake of the head. + +"Are they?" he returned, and looked down at his lower garments, +reddening and anxious. "--I did not think they were more than +a little rubbed, but they shine somewhat," he said. "--They are +indeed polished by use," he went on, with a troubled little laugh; +"but they have no holes yet--at least none that are visible," he +corrected. "If you tell me, my lady, if you honestly tell me that +my garments"--and he looked at the sleeve of his coat, drawing +back his head from it to see it better--"are unsightly, I will +take of your money and buy me a new suit." + +Over his coat sleeve he regarded her, questioning. + +"Everything about you is beautiful!" she burst out "You want nothing +but a body that lets the light through!" + +She took the hand still raised in his survey of his sleeve, pressed +it to her lips, and walked, with even more than her wonted state, +slowly from the room. He took the bag of gold from the table, and +followed her down the stair. Her chariot was waiting her at the door. +He handed her in, and laid the bag on the little seat in front. + +"Will you tell him to drive home," she said, with a firm voice, and +a smile which if anyone care to understand, let him read Spenser's +fortieth sonnet. And so they parted. The coachman took the queer +shabby un-London-like man for a fortune teller his lady was in the +habit of consulting, and paid homage to his power with the handle +of his whip as he drove away. The schoolmaster returned to his +room, not to his Plato, not even to Saul of Tarsus, but to the Lord +himself. + + + +CHAPTER LXI: THOUGHTS + + +When Malcolm took Kelpie to her stall the night of the arrival +of Lady Bellair and her nephew, he was rushed upon by Demon, and +nearly prostrated between his immoderate welcome and the startled +rearing of the mare. The hound had arrived a couple of hours +before, while Malcolm was out. He wondered he had not seen him with +the carriage he had passed, never suspecting he had had another +conductress, or dreaming what his presence there signified for him. + +I have not said much concerning Malcolm's feelings with regard to +Lady Clementina, but all this time the sense of her existence had +been like an atmosphere surrounding and pervading his thought. He +saw in her the promise of all he could desire to see in woman. His +love was not of the blind little boy sort, but of a deeper, more +exacting, keen eyed kind, that sees faults where even a true mother +will not, so jealous is it of the perfection of the beloved. + +But one thing was plain even to this seraphic dragon that dwelt +sleepless in him, and there was eternal content in the thought, +that such a woman, once started on the right way, would soon leave +fault and weakness behind her, and become as one of the grand +women of old, whose religion was simply what religion is--life +--neither more nor less than life. She would be a saint without +knowing it, the only grand kind of sainthood. + +Whoever can think of religion as an addition to life, however glorious +--a starry crown, say, set upon the head of humanity, is not yet +the least in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever thinks of life as a +something that could be without religion, is in deathly ignorance +of both. Life and religion are one, or neither is anything: I will +not say neither is growing to be anything. Religion is no way of +life, no show of life, no observance of any sort. It is neither +the food nor the medicine of being. It is life essential. To think +otherwise is as if a man should pride himself on his honesty, or +his parental kindness, or hold up his head amongst men because he +never killed one: were he less than honest or kind or free from +blood, he would yet think something of himself! The man to whom +virtue is but the ornament of character, something over and above, +not essential to it, is not yet a man. + +If I say then, that Malcolm was always thinking about Lady Clementina +when he was not thinking about something he had to think about, +have I not said nearly enough on the matter? Should I ever dream +of attempting to set forth what love is, in such a man for such a +woman? There are comparatively few that have more than the glimmer +of a notion of what love means. God only knows how grandly, how +passionately yet how calmly, how divinely the man and the woman he +has made, might, may, shall love each other. One thing only I will +dare to say: that the love that belonged to Malcolm's nature was +one through the very nerves of which the love of God must rise and +flow and return, as its essential life. If any man think that such +a love could no longer be the love of the man for the woman, he +knows his own nature, and that of the woman he pretends or thinks +he adores, but in the darkest of glasses. + +Malcolm's lowly idea of himself did not at all interfere with his +loving Clementina, for at first his love was entirely dissociated +from any thought of hers. When the idea--the mere idea of her +loving him presented itself, from whatever quarter suggested, he +turned from it with shame and self reproof: the thought was in its +own nature too unfit! That splendour regard him! + +From a social point of view there was of course little presumption +in it. The Marquis of Lossie bore a name that might pair itself +with any in the land; but Malcolm did not yet feel that the title +made much difference to the fisherman. He was what he was, and that +was something very lowly indeed. Yet the thought would at times dawn +up from somewhere in the infinite matrix of thought, that perhaps, +if he went to college, and graduated, and dressed like a gentleman, +and did everything as gentlemen do, in short, claimed his rank, and +lived as a marquis should, as well as a fisherman might,--then +--then--was it not--might it not be within the bounds of +possibility--just within them--that the great hearted, generous, +liberty loving Lady Clementina, groom as he had been, menial as he +had heard himself called, and as, ere yet he knew his birth, he +had laughed to hear, knowing that his service was true,--that +she, who despised nothing human, would be neither disgusted nor +contemptuous nor wrathful, if, from a great way off, at an awful +remove of humility and worship, he were to wake in her a surmise +that he dared feel towards her as he had never felt and never could +feel towards any other? + +For would it not be altogether counter to the principles he had +so often heard her announce and defend, to despise him because he +had earned his bread by doing honourable work--work hearty, and +up to the worth of his wages? Was she one to say and not see--to +opine and not believe? or was she one to hold and not practise-- +to believe for the heart and not for the hand--to say I go, and +not go--I love, and not help? If such she were, then there were +for him no further searchings of the heart upon her account; he +could but hold up her name in the common prayer for all men, only +praying besides not to dream about her when he slept. + +At length, such thoughts rising again and again, and ever accompanied +by such reflections concerning the truth of her character, and by +the growing certainty that her convictions were the souls of actions +to be born them, his daring of belief in her strengthened until he +began to think that perhaps it would be neither his early history, +nor his defective education, nor his clumsiness, that would prevent +her from listening to such words wherewith he burned to throw open +the gates of his world, and pray her to enter and sit upon its +loftiest throne--its loftiest throne but one. And with the thought +he felt as if he must run to her, calling aloud that he was the +Marquis of Lossie, and throw himself at her feet. + +But the wheels of his thought chariot, self moved, were rushing, +and here was no goal at which to halt or turn!--for, feeling +thus, where was his faith in her principles? How now was he treating +the truth of her nature? where now were his convictions of the +genuineness of her professions? Where were those principles, that +truth, those professions, if after all she would listen to a marquis +and would not listen to a groom? To suppose such a thing was to +wrong her grievously. To herald his suit with his rank would be to +insult her, declaring that he regarded her theories of humanity as +wordy froth. And what a chance of proving her truth would he not +deprive her of, if, as he approached her, he called on the marquis +to supplement the man!--But what then was the man, fisherman or +marquis, to dare even himself to such a glory as the Lady Clementina? +--This much of a man at least, answered his waking dignity, that +he could not condescend to be accepted as Malcolm, Marquis of +Lossie, knowing he would have been rejected as Malcolm MacPhail, +fisherman and groom. + +Accepted as marquis, he would for ever be haunted with the channering +question whether she would have accepted him as groom? And if in +his pain he were one day to utter it, and she in her honesty were +to confess she would not, must she not then fall prone from her +pedestal in his imagination? Could he then, in love for the woman +herself condescend as marquis to marry one who might not have married +him as any something else he could honestly have been, under the +all enlightening sun: but again! was that fair to her yet? Might +she not see in the marquis the truth and worth which the blinding +falsehoods of society prevented her from seeing in the groom? +Might not a lady--he tried to think of a lady in the abstract-- +might not a lady, in marrying a marquis, a lady to whom from her +own position a marquis was just a man on the level, marry in him +the man he was, and not the marquis he seemed? Most certainly, he +answered: he must not be unfair.--Not the less however did he +shrink from the thought of taking her prisoner under the shield of +his marquisate, beclouding her nobility, and depriving her of the +rare chance of shining forth as the sun in the splendour of womanly +truth. No; he would choose the greater risk of losing her, for the +chance of winning her greater. + +So far Malcolm got with his theories; but the moment he began to +think in the least practically, he recoiled altogether from the +presumption. Under no circumstances could he ever have the courage +to approach Lady Clementina with a thought of himself in his mind. +How could he have dared even to raise her imagined eidolon for his +thoughts to deal withal. She had never shown him personal favour. +He could not tell whether she had listened to what he had tried +to lay before her. He did not know that she had gone to hear his +master; Florimel had never referred to their visit to Hope Chapel; +his surprise would have equalled his delight at the news that she +had already become as a daughter to the schoolmaster. + +And what had been Clementina's thoughts since learning that +Florimel had not run away with her groom? It were hard to say with +completeness. Accuracy however may not be equally unattainable. +Her first feeling was an utterly inarticulate, undefined pleasure +that Malcolm was free to be thought about. She was clear next that +it would be matter for honest rejoicing if the truest man she had +ever met except his master, was not going to marry such an unreality +as Florimel--one concerning whom, as things had been going of +late, it was impossible to say that she was not more likely to turn +to evil than to good. + +Clementina with all her generosity could not help being doubtful +of a woman who could make a companion of such a man as Liftore, a +man to whom every individual particle of Clementina's nature seemed +for itself to object. But she was not yet past befriending. + +Then she began to grow more curious about Malcolm. She had already +much real knowledge of him, gathered both from himself and from Mr +Graham;--as to what went to make the man, she knew him indeed, +not thoroughly, but well; and just therefore, she said to herself, +there were some points in his history and condition concerning which +she had curiosity. The principal of these was whether he might not +be engaged to some young woman in his own station of life. It was +not merely possible, but was it likely he could have escaped it? +In the lower ranks of society, men married younger--they had no +false aims to prevent them that implied earlier engagements. On the +other hand, was it likely that in a fishing village there would be +any choice of girls who could understand him when he talked about +Plato and the New Testament? If there was one however, that might +be--worse--Yes, worse; she accepted the word. Neither was it +absolutely necessary in a wife that she should understand more of +a husband than his heart. Many learned men had had mere housekeepers +for wives, and been satisfied, at least never complained. + +And what did she know about the fishers, men or women--there were +none at Wastbeach? For anything she knew to the contrary, they +might all be philosophers together, and a fitting match for Malcolm +might be far more easy to find amongst them than in the society +to which she herself belonged, where in truth the philosophical +element was rare enough. Then arose in her mind, she could not +have told how, the vision, half logical, half pictorial, of a whole +family of brave, believing, daring, saving fisher folk, father, +mother, boys and girls, each sacrificing to the rest, each sacrificed +to by all, and all devoted to their neighbours. + +Grand it was and blissful, and the borders of the great sea alone +seemed fit place for such beings amphibious of time and eternity! +Their very toils and dangers were but additional atmospheres to +press their souls together! It was glorious! Why had she been born +an earl's daughter,--never to look a danger in the face--never +to have a chance of a true life--that is, a grand, simple, noble +one?--Who then denied her the chance? Had she no power to order +her own steps, to determine her own being? Was she nailed to +her rank? Or who was there that could part her from it? Was she a +prisoner in the dungeons of the House of Pride? + +When the gates of paradise closed behind Adam and Eve, they had +this consolation left, that "the world was all before them where +to choose." Was she not a free woman--without even a guardian to +trouble her with advice? She had no excuse to act ignobly!--But +had she any for being unmaidenly?--Would it then be--would +it be a very unmaidenly thing if? The rest of the sentence did not +take even the shape of words. But she answered it nevertheless in +the words: "Not so unmaidenly as presumptuous." And alas there was +little hope that he would ever presume to? He was such a modest +youth with all his directness and fearlessness! If he had no respect +for rank,--and that was--yes, she would say the word, hopeful +--he had, on the other hand, the profoundest respect for the +human, and she could not tell how that might, in the individual +matter, operate. + +Then she fell a-thinking of the difference between Malcolm and any +other servant she had ever known. She hated the servile. She knew +that it was false as well as low: she had not got so far as to see +that it was low through its being false. She knew that most servants, +while they spoke with the appearance of respect in presence, altered +their tone entirely when beyond the circle of the eye--theirs +was eye service--they were men pleasers--they were servile. +She had overheard her maid speak of her as Lady Clem, and that not +without a streak of contempt in the tone. + +But here was a man who touched no imaginary hat while he stood in +the presence of his mistress, neither swore at her in the stable +yard. He looked her straight in the face, and would upon occasion +speak--not his mind--but the truth to her. Even his slight +mistress had the conviction that if one dared in his presence but +utter her name lightly, whoever he were he would have to answer +to him for it. What a lovely thing was true service--Absolutely +divine! + +But, alas, such a youth would never, could never dare offer other +than such service! Were she even to encourage him as a maiden +might, he would but serve her the better--would but embody his +recognition of her favour, in fervour of ministering devotion.-- +Was it not a recognized law, however, in the relation of superiors +and inferiors, that with regard to such matters as well as others +of no moment, the lady? + +Ah, but! for her to take the initiative, would provoke the conclusion +--as revolting to her as unavoidable to him--that she judged +herself his superior--so greatly his superior as to be absolved +from the necessity of behaving to him on the ordinary footing of +man and woman. What a ground to start from with a husband! The idea +was hateful to her. She tried the argument that such a procedure +arrogated merely a superiority in social standing; but it made her +recoil from it the more. He was so immeasurably her superior, that +the poor little advantage on her side vanished like a candle in +the sunlight, and she laughed herself to scorn. + +"Fancy," she laughed, "a midge, on the strength of having wings, +condescending to offer marriage to a horse !" It would argue the +assumption of equality in other and more important things than +rank, or at least the confidence that her social superiority not +only counterbalanced the difference, but left enough over to her +credit to justify her initiative. And what a miserable fiction that +money and position had a right to the first move before greatness +of living fact! that having had the precedence of being! That +Malcolm should imagine such her judgment--No--let all go-- +let himself go rather! And then he might not choose to accept her +munificent offer! Or worse--far worse!--what if he should be +tempted by rank and wealth, and, accepting her, be shorn of his +glory and proved of the ordinary human type after all! A thousand +times rather would she see the bright particular star blazing +unreachable above her! What! would she carry it about a cinder in +her pocket?--And yet if he could be "turned to a coal," why should +she go on worshipping him?--alas! the offer itself was the only +test severe enough to try him withal, and if he proved a cinder, +she would by the very use of the test be bound to love, honour, +and obey her cinder. + +She could not well reject him for accepting her--neither could +she marry him if he rose grandly superior to her temptations. No; +he could be nothing to her nearer than the bright particular star. + +Thus went the thoughts to and fro in the minds of each. Neither +could see the way. Both feared the risk of loss. Neither could hope +greatly for gain. + + + +CHAPTER LXII: THE DUNE + + +Having put Kelpie up, and fed and bedded her, Malcolm took his way +to the Seaton, full of busily anxious thought. Things had taken a +bad turn, and he was worse off for counsel than before. The enemy +was in the house with his sister, and he had no longer any chance +of judging how matters were going, as now he never rode out with +her. But at least he could haunt the house. He would run therefore +to his grandfather, and tell him that he was going to occupy his +old quarters at the House that night. + +Returning directly and passing, as had been his custom, through the +kitchen to ascend the small corkscrew stair the servants generally +used, he encountered Mrs Courthope, who told him that her ladyship +had given orders that her maid, who had come with Lady Bellair, +should have his room. + +He was at once convinced that Florimel had done so with the intention +of banishing him from the house, for there were dozens of rooms +vacant, and many of them more suitable. It was a hard blow! How he +wished for Mr Graham to consult! And yet Mr Graham was not of much +use where any sort of plotting was wanted. He asked Mrs Courthope +to let him have another room; but she looked so doubtful that he +withdrew his request, and went back to his grandfather. + +It was Saturday, and not many of the boats would go fishing. +Findlay's would not leave the harbour till Sunday was over, and +therefore Malcolm was free. But he could not rest, and would go +line fishing. + +"Daddy," he said, "I'm gaein oot to catch a haddick or sae to oor +denner the morn. Ye micht jist sit doon upo' ane o' the Boar's +Taes, an' tak a play o' yer pipes. I'll hear ye fine, an' it'll du +me guid." + +The Boar's Toes were two or three small rocks that rose out of the +sand near the end of the dune. Duncan agreed right willingly, and +Malcolm, borrowing some lines, and taking the Psyche's dinghy, +rowed out into the bay. + +The sun was down, the moon was up, and he had caught more fish +than he wanted. His grandfather had got tired, and gone home, and +the fountain of his anxious thoughts began to flow more rapidly. +He must go ashore. He must go up to the House: who could tell what +might not be going on there? He drew in his line, purposing to take +the best of the fish to Miss Horn, and some to Mrs Courthope, as +in the old days. + +The Psyche still lay on the sands, and he was rowing the dinghy +towards her, when, looking round to direct his course, he thought +he caught a glimpse of some one seated on the slope of the dune. +Yes, there was some one there, sure enough. The old times rushed +back on his memory: could it be Florimel? Alas! it was not likely +she would now be wandering about alone! But if it were? Then for +one endeavour more to rouse her slumbering conscience! He would +call up all the associations of the last few months she had spent +in the place, and, with the spirit of her father, as it were, +hovering over her, conjure her, in his name, to break with Liftore. + +He rowed swiftly to the Psyche--beached and drew up the dinghy, +and climbed the dune. Plainly enough it was a lady who sat there. +It might be one from the upper town, enjoying the lovely night; it +might be Florimel, but how could she have got away, or wished to +get away from her newly arrived guests? The voices of several groups +of walkers came from the high road behind the dune, but there was +no other figure to be seen all along the sands. He drew nearer. The +lady did not move. If it were Florimel, would she not know him as +he came, and would she wait for him? + +He drew nearer still. His heart gave a throb. Could it be? Or was +the moon weaving some hallucination in his troubled brain? If it +was a phantom, it was that of Lady Clementina; if but modelled of +the filmy vapours of the moonlight, and the artist his own brain, +the phantom was welcome as joy! His spirit seemed to soar aloft in +the yellow air, and hang hovering over and around her, while his +body stood rooted to the spot, like one who fears by moving nigher +to lose the lovely vision of a mirage. She sat motionless, her +gaze on the sea. Malcolm bethought himself that she could not know +him in his fisher dress, and must take him for some rude fisherman +staring at her. He must go at once, or approach and address her. +He came forward at once. + +"My lady!" he said. + +She did not start. Neither did she speak. She did not even turn +her face. She rose first, then turned, and held out her hand. Three +steps more, and he had it in his, and his eyes looked straight +into hers. Neither spoke. The moon shone full on Clementina's face. +There was no illumination fitter for that face than the moonlight, +and to Malcolm it was lovelier than ever. Nor was it any wonder +it should seem so to him, for certainly never had the eyes in it +rested on his with such a lovely and trusting light in them. + +A moment she stood, then slowly sank upon the sand, and drew her +skirts about her with a dumb show of invitation. The place where she +sat was a little terraced hollow in the slope, forming a convenient +seat. Malcolm saw but could not believe she actually made room for +him to sit beside her--alone with her in the universe. It was +too much; he dared not believe it. And now by one of those wondrous +duplications which are not always at least born of the fancy, +the same scene in which he had found Florimel thus seated on the +slope of the dune, appeared to be passing again through Malcolm's +consciousness, only instead of Florimel was Clementina, and instead +of the sun was the moon. And creature of the sunlight as Florimel +was, bright and gay and beautiful, she paled into a creature of +the cloud beside this maiden of the moonlight, tall and stately, +silent and soft and grand. + +Again she made a movement. This time he could not doubt her +invitation. It was as if her soul made room in her unseen world +for him to enter and sit beside her. But who could enter heaven in +his work day garments? + +"Won't you sit by me, Malcolm?" seeing his more than hesitation, +she said at last, with a slight tremble in the voice that was music +itself in his ears. + +"I have been catching fish, my lady," he answered, "and my clothes +must be unpleasant. I will sit here." + +He went a little lower on the slope, and laid himself down, leaning +on his elbow. + +"Do fresh water fishes smell the same as the sea fishes, Malcolm?" +she asked. + +"Indeed I am not certain, my lady. Why?" + +"Because if they do,--You remember what you said to me as we +passed the sawmill in the wood?" + +It was by silence Malcolm showed he did remember. + +"Does not this night remind you of that one at Wastbeach when we +came upon you singing?" said Clementina. + +"It is like it, my lady--now. But a little ago, before I saw you, +I was thinking of that night, and thinking how different this was." + +Again a moon filled silence fell; and once more it was the lady +who broke it. + +"Do you know who are at the house?" she asked. + +"I do, my lady," he replied. + +"I had not been there more than an hour or two," she went on, "when +they arrived. I suppose Florimel--Lady Lossie thought I would +not come if she told me she expected them." + +"And would you have come, my lady?" + +"I cannot endure the earl." + +"Neither can I. But then I know more about him than your ladyship +does, and I am miserable for my mistress." + +It stung Clementina as if her heart had taken a beat backward. But +her voice was steadier than it had yet been as she returned--"Why +should you be miserable for Lady Lossie?" + +"I would die rather than see her marry that wretch," he answered. + +Again her blood stung her in the left side. + +"You do not want her to marry, then?" she said. + +"I do," answered Malcolm, emphatically, "but not that fellow." + +"Whom then, if I may ask?" ventured Clementina, trembling. + +But Malcolm was silent He did not feel it would be right to say. +Clementina turned sick at heart. + +"I have heard there is something dangerous about the moonlight," +she said. "I think it does not suit me tonight. I will go--home." + +Malcolm sprung to his feet and offered his hand. She did not take +it, but rose more lightly, though more slowly than he. + +"How did you come from the park, my lady?" he asked. + +"By a gate over there," she answered, pointing. "I wandered out +after dinner, and the sea drew me." + +"If your ladyship will allow me, I will take you a much nearer way +back," he said. + +"Do then," she returned. + +He thought she spoke a little sadly, and set it down to her hating +to go back to her fellow guests. What if she should leave tomorrow +morning! he thought He could never then be sure she had really been +with him that night. He must then sometimes think it a dream. But +oh, what a dream! He could thank God for it all his life, if he +should never dream so again. + +They walked across the grassy sand towards the tunnel in silence, +he pondering what he could say that might comfort her and keep her +from going so soon. + +"My lady never takes me out with her now," he said at length. + +He was going to add that, if she pleased, he could wait upon her +with Kelpie, and show her the country. But then he saw that, if +she were not with Florimel, his sister would be riding everywhere +alone with Liftore. Therefore he stopped short. + +"And you feel forsaken--deserted?" returned Clementina, sadly +still. + +"Rather, my lady." + +They had reached the tunnel. It looked very black when he opened +the door, but there was just a glimmer through the trees at the +other end. + +"This is the valley of the shadow of death," she said. "Do I walk +straight through?" + +"Yes, my lady. You will soon come out in the light again," he said. + +"Are there no steps to fall down?" she asked. + +"None, my lady. But I will go first if you wish." + +"No, that would but cut off the little light I have," she said. +"Come beside me." + +They passed through in silence, save for the rustle of her dress, +and the dull echo that haunted their steps. In a few moments they +came out among the trees, but both continued silent. The still, +thoughtful moonlight seemed to press them close together, but +neither knew that the other felt the same. + +They reached a point in the road where another step would bring +them in sight of the house. + +"You cannot go wrong now, my lady," said Malcolm. "If you please +I will go no farther." + +"Do you not live in the house?" she asked. + +"I used to do as I liked, and could be there or with my grandfather. +I did mean to be at the House tonight, but my lady has given my +room to her maid." + +"What! that woman Caley?" + +"I suppose so, my lady. I must sleep tonight in the village. If you +could, my lady," he added, after a pause, and faltered, hesitating. +She did not help him, but waited. "If you could--if you would +not be displeased at my asking you," he resumed, "--if you could +keep my lady from going farther with that--I shall call +him names if I go on--" + +"It is a strange request," Clementina replied, after a moment's +reflection. "I hardly know, as the guest of Lady Lossie, what answer +I ought to make to it. One thing I will say, however, that, though +you may know more of the man than I, you can hardly dislike him +more. Whether I can interfere is another matter. Honestly, I do +not think it would be of any use. But I do not say I will not. Good +night." + +She hurried away, and did not again offer her hand. + +Malcolm walked back through the tunnel, his heart singing and +making melody. Oh how lovely, how more than lovely, how divinely +beautiful she was! And so kind and friendly! Yet she seemed just the +least bit fitful too. Something troubled her, he said to himself. +But he little thought that he, and no one else, had spoiled +the moonlight for her. He went home to glorious dreams--she to +a troubled half wakeful night. Not until she had made up her mind +to do her utmost to rescue Florimel from Liftore, even if it gave +her to Malcolm, did she find a moment's quiet. It was morning then, +but she fell fast asleep, slept late, and woke refreshed. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII: CONFESSION OF SIN + + +Mr Crathie was slowly recovering, but still very weak. He did not, +after having turned the corner, get well so fast as his medical +minister judged he ought, and the reason was plain to Lizzy, dimly +perceptible to his wife: he was ill at ease. A man may have more +mind and more conscience, and more discomfort in both or either, +than his neighbours give him credit for. They may be in the right +about him up to a certain point in his history, but then a crisis, +by them unperceived, perhaps to them inappreciable, arrived, after +which the man to all eternity could never be the same as they had +known him. Such a change must appear improbable, and save on the +theory of a higher operative power, is improbable because impossible. +But a man who has not created himself can never secure himself +against the inroad of the glorious terror of that Goodness which +was able to utter him into being, with all its possible wrongs and +repentances. The fact that a man has never, up to any point yet, +been aware of aught beyond himself, cannot shut him out who is beyond +him, when at last he means to enter. Not even the soul benumbing +visits of his clerical minister could repress the swell of the slow +mounting dayspring in the soul of the hard, commonplace, business +worshipping man, Hector Crathie. + +The hireling would talk to him kindly enough--of his illness, or +of events of the day, especially those of the town and neighbourhood, +and encourage him with reiterated expression of the hope that ere +many days they would enjoy a tumbler together as of old, but as to +wrong done, apology to make, forgiveness to be sought, or consolation +to be found, the dumb dog had not uttered a bark. + +The sources of the factor's restless discomfort were now two; the +first, that he had lifted his hand to women; the second, the old +ground of his quarrel with Malcolm, brought up by Lizzy. + +All his life, since ever he had had business, Mr Crathie had prided +himself on his honesty, and was therefore in one of the most dangerous +moral positions a man could occupy--ruinous even to the honesty +itself. Asleep in the mud, he dreamed himself awake on a pedestal. +At best such a man is but perched on a needle point when he thinketh +he standeth. Of him who prided himself on his honour I should expect +that one day, in the long run it might be, he would do some vile +thing. Not, probably, within the small circle of illumination +around his wretched rushlight, but in the great region beyond it, +of what to him is a moral darkness, or twilight vague, he may be or +may become capable of doing a deed that will stink in the nostrils +of the universe--and in his own when he knows it as it is. The +honesty in which a man can pride himself must be a small one, for +more honesty will ever reveal more defect, while perfect honesty +will never think of itself at all. The limited honesty of the +factor clave to the interests of his employers, and let the rights +he encountered take care of themselves. Those he dealt with were to +him rather as enemies than friends, not enemies to be prayed for, +but to be spoiled. Malcolm's doctrine of honesty in horse dealing +was to him ludicrously new. His notion of honesty in that kind +was to cheat the buyer for his master if he could, proud to write +in his book a large sum against the name of the animal. He would +have scorned in his very soul the idea of making a farthing by it +himself through any business quirk whatever, but he would not have +been the least ashamed if, having sold Kelpie, he had heard--let +me say after a week of possession--that she had dashed out her +purchaser's brains. He would have been a little shocked, a little +sorry perhaps, but nowise ashamed. "By this time," he would have +said, "the man ought to have been up to her, and either taken care +of himself--or sold her again,"--to dash out another man's +brains instead! + +That the bastard Malcolm, or the ignorant and indeed fallen fisher +girl Lizzy, should judge differently, nowise troubled him: what +could they know about the rights and wrongs of business? The fact +which Lizzy sought to bring to bear upon him, that our Lord would +not have done such a thing, was to him no argument at all. He said +to himself with the superior smile of arrogated common sense, that +"no mere man since the fall" could be expected to do like him; that +he was divine, and had not to fight for a living; that he set us +an example that we might see what sinners we were; that religion +was one thing, and a very proper thing, but business was another, +and a very proper thing also--with customs and indeed laws +of its own far more determinate, at least definite, than those of +religion, and that to mingle the one with the other was not merely +absurd--it was irreverent and wrong, and certainly never intended +in the Bible, which must surely be common sense. + +It was the Bible always with him,--never the will of Christ. +But although he could dispose of the question thus satisfactorily, +yet, as he lay ill, supine, without any distracting occupation, +the thing haunted him. + +Now in his father's cottage had lain, much dabbled in of the children, +a certain boardless copy of the Pilgrim's Progress, round in the +face and hollow in the back, in which, amongst other pictures was +one of the Wicket Gate. This scripture of his childhood, given by +inspiration of God, threw out, in one of his troubled and feverish +nights, a dream bud in the brain of the man. He saw the face of +Jesus looking on him over the top of the Wicket Gate, at which he +had been for some time knocking in vain, while the cruel dog barked +loud from the enemy's yard. But that face, when at last it came, +was full of sorrowful displeasure. And in his heart he knew that +it was because of a certain transaction in horse dealing, wherein +he had hitherto lauded his own cunning--adroitness, he considered +it--and success. One word only he heard from the lips of the Man +--. "Worker of iniquity,"--and woke with a great start. From +that moment truths began to be facts to him. The beginning of the +change was indeed very small, but every beginning is small, and +every beginning is a creation. Monad, molecule, protoplasm, whatever +word may be attached to it when it becomes appreciable by men, being +then, however many stages, I believe, upon its journey, beginning +is an irrepressible fact; and however far from good or humble even +after many days, the man here began to grow good and humble. His +dull unimaginative nature, a perfect lumber room of the world and +its rusting affairs, had received a gift in a dream--a truth +from the lips of the Lord, remodelled in the brain and heart of +the tinker of Elstow, and sent forth in his wondrous parable to +be pictured and printed, and lie in old Hector Crathie's cottage, +that it might enter and lie in young Hector Crathie's brain until +he grew old and had done wrong enough to heed it, when it rose +upon him in a dream, and had its way. Henceforth the claims of +his neighbour began to reveal themselves, and his mind to breed +conscientious doubts and scruples, with which, struggle as he +might against it, a certain respect for Malcolm would keep coming +and mingling--a feeling which grew with its returns, until, by +slow changes, he began at length to regard him as the minister of +God's vengeance--for his punishment,--and perhaps salvation-- +who could tell? + +Lizzy's nightly ministrations had not been resumed, but she often +called, and was a good deal with him; for Mrs Crathie had learned +to like the humble, helpful girl still better when she found she +had taken no offence at being deprived of her post of honour by +his bedside. One day, when Malcolm was seated, mending a net, among +the thin grass and great red daisies of the links by the bank of +the burn, where it crossed the sands from the Lossie grounds to +the sea, Lizzy came up to him and said, + +"The factor wad like to see ye, Ma'colm, as sune's ye can gang till +'im." + +She waited no reply. Malcolm rose and went + +At the factor's, the door was opened by Mrs Crathie herself, who, +looking mysterious, led him to the dining room, where she plunged +at once into business, doing her best to keep down all manifestation +of the profound resentment she cherished against him. Her manner +was confidential, almost coaxing. + +"Ye see, Ma'colm," she said, as if pursuing instead of commencing +a conversation, "he's some sore about the little fraicass between +him 'an you. Jest make your apoalogies till 'im and tell 'im you +had a drop too much, and your soary for misbehavin' yerself to +wann sae much your shuperrior. Tell him that, Ma'colm, an' there's +a half croon to ye." + +She wished much to speak English, and I have tried to represent the +thing she did speak, which was neither honest Scotch nor anything +like English. Alas! the good, pithy, old Anglo Saxon dialect is +fast perishing, and a jargon of corrupt English taking its place. + +"But, mem," said Malcolm, taking no notice either of the coin or +the words that accompanied the offer of it, "I canna lee. I wasna +in drink, an' I'm no sorry." + +"Hoot!" returned Mrs Crathie, blurting out her Scotch fast enough +now, "I s' warran' ye can lee well eneuch whan ye ha'e occasion. +Tak' yer siller, an' du as I tell ye." + +"Wad ye ha'e me damned, mem?" + +Mrs Crathie gave a cry and held up her hands. She was too well +accustomed to imprecations from the lips of her husband for any but +an affected horror, but, regarding the honest word as a bad one, +she assumed an air of injury. + +"Wad ye daur to sweir afore a leddy," she exclaimed, shaking her +uplifted hands in pretence of ghasted astonishment. + +"If Mr Crathie wishes to see me, ma'am," rejoined Malcolm, taking +up the shield of English, "I am ready. If not, please allow me to +go." + +The same moment the bell whose rope was at the head of the factor's +bed, rang violently, and Mrs Crathie's importance collapsed. + +"Come this w'y," she said, and turning led him up the stair to the +room where her husband lay. + +Entering, Malcolm stood astonished at the change he saw upon +the strong man of rubicund countenance, and his heart filled with +compassion. The factor was sitting up in bed, looking very white +and worn and troubled. Even his nose had grown thin and white. He +held out his hand to him, and said to his wife, "Tak the door to +ye, Mistress Crathie," indicating which side he wished it closed +from. + +"Ye was some sair upo' me, Ma'colm," he went on, grasping the +youth's hand. + +"I doobt I was ower sair," said Malcolm, who could hardly speak +for a lump in his throat. + +"Weel, I deserved it. But eh, Ma'colm! I canna believe it was me: +it bude to be the drink." + +"It was the drink," rejoined Malcolm; "an' eh sir! afore ye rise +frae that bed, sweir to the great God 'at ye'll never drink nae +mair drams, nor onything 'ayont ae tum'ler at a sittin'." + +"I sweir't; I sweir't, Ma'colm!" cried the factor. + +"It's easy to sweir't noo, sir, but whan ye're up again it'll be +hard to keep yer aith.--O Lord!" spoke the youth, breaking out +into almost involuntary prayer, "help this man to haud troth wi' +thee.--An' noo, Maister Crathie," he resumed, "I'm yer servan', +ready to do onything I can. Forgi'e me, sir, for layin' on ower +sair." + +"I forgi'e ye wi' a' my hert," returned the factor, inly delighted +to have something to forgive. + +"I thank ye frae mine," answered Malcolm, and again they shook +hands. + +"But eh, Ma'colm, my man!" said the factor, "hoo will I ever shaw +my face again?" + +"Fine that!" returned Malcolm, eagerly. "Fowk's terrible guid natur'd +whan ye alloo 'at ye're i' the wrang. I do believe 'at whan a man +confesses till 's neebour, an' says he's sorry, he thinks mair o' +'im nor afore he did it. Ye see we a' ken we ha'e dune wrang, but we +ha'ena a' confessed. An' it's a queer thing, but a man'll think it +gran' o' 's neebour to confess, whan a' the time there's something +he winna repent o' himsel' for fear o' the shame o' ha'ein' to +confess 't. To me, the shame lies in no confessin' efter ye ken +ye're wrang. Ye'll see, sir, the fisher fowk 'll min' what ye say +to them a heap better noo." + +"Div ye railly think it, Ma'colm?" sighed the factor with a flush. + +"I div that, sir. Only whan ye grow better, gien ye'll alloo me to +say't, sir, ye maunna lat Sawtan temp' ye to think 'at this same +repentin' was but a wakeness o' the flesh, an' no an enlichtenment +o' the speerit." + +"I s' tie mysel' up till 't," cried the factor, eagerly. "Gang +an' tell them i' my name, 'at I tak' back ilka scart o' a nottice +I ever ga'e ane o' them to quit, only we maun ha'e nae mair stan'in' +o' honest fowk 'at comes to bigg herbours till them.--Div ye +think it wad be weel ta'en gien ye tuik a poun' nott the piece to +the twa women?" + +"I wadna du that, sir, gien I was you," answered Malcolm. "For yer +ain sake, I wadna to Mistress Mair, for naething wad gar her tak' +it--it wad only affront her; an' for Nancy Tacket's sake, I wadna +to her, for as her name so's her natur': she wad not only tak it, +but she wad lat ye play the same as aften 's ye likit for less +siller. Ye'll ha'e mony a chance o' makin' 't up to them baith, +ten times ower, afore you an' them pairt, sir." + +"I maun lea' the cuintry, Ma'colm." + +"'Deed, sir, ye'll du naething o' the kin'. The fishers themsel's +wad rise, no to lat ye, as they did wi' Blew Peter! As sune's +ye're able to be aboot again, ye'll see plain eneuch 'at there's no +occasion for onything like that, sir. Portlossie wadna ken 'tsel' +wantin' ye. Jist gie me a commission to say to the twa honest women +'at ye're sorry for what ye did, an' that's a' 'at need be said +'atween you an them, or their men aither." + +The result showed that Malcolm was right; for, the very next day, +instead of looking for gifts from him, the two injured women came +to the factor's door, first Annie Mair, with the offering of a few +fresh eggs, scarce at the season, and after her Nancy Tacket, with +a great lobster. + + + +CHAPTER LXIV: A VISITATION + + +Malcolm's custom was, first, immediately after breakfast, to give +Kelpie her airing--and a tremendous amount of air she wanted for +the huge animal furnace of her frame, and the fiery spirit that +kept it alight; then, returning to the Seaton, to change the dress +of the groom, in which he always appeared about the house, lest by +any chance his mistress should want him, for that of the fisherman, +and help with the nets, or the boats, or in whatever was going +on. As often as he might he did what seldom a man would--went to +the long shed where the women prepared the fish for salting, took +a knife, and wrought as deftly as any of them, throwing a marvellously +rapid succession of cleaned herrings into the preserving brine. It +was no wonder he was a favourite with the women. Although, however, +the place was malodorous and the work dirty, I cannot claim so +much for Malcolm as may at first appear to belong to him, for he +had been accustomed to the sight and smell from earliest childhood. +Still, as I say, it was work the men would not do. He had such a +chivalrous humanity that it was misery to him to see man or woman +at anything scorned, except he bore a hand himself. He did it half +in love, half in terror of being unjust. + +He had gone to Mr Crathie in his fisher clothes, thinking it better +the sick man should not be reminded of the cause of his illness +more forcibly than could not be helped. The nearest way led past a +corner of the house overlooked by one of the drawing room windows, +Clementina saw him, and, judging by his garb that he would probably +return presently, went out in the hope of meeting him; and as he +was going back to his net by the sea gate, he caught sight of her +on the opposite side of the burn, accompanied only by a book. He +walked through the burn, climbed the bank, and approached her. + +It was a hot summer afternoon. The burn ran dark and brown and +cool in deep shade, but the sea beyond was glowing in light, and +the laburnum blossoms hung like cocoons of sunbeams. No breath of +air was stirring; no bird sang; the sun was burning high in the +west. Clementina stood waiting him, like a moon that could hold +her own in the face of the sun. + +"Malcolm," she said, "I have been watching all day, but have not +found a single opportunity of speaking to your mistress as you +wished. But to tell the truth, I am not sorry, for the more I think +about it, the less I see what to say. That another does not like +a person, can have little weight with one who does, and I know +nothing against him. I wish you would release me from my promise. +It is such an ugly thing to speak to one's hostess to the disadvantage +of a fellow guest!" + +"I understand," said Malcolm. "It was not a right thing to ask of +you. I beg your pardon, my lady, and give you back your promise, +if such you count it. But indeed I do not think you promised." + +"Thank you, I would rather be free. Had it been before you left +London.--Lady Lossie is very kind, but does not seem to put +the same confidence in me as formerly. She and Lady Bellair and that +man make a trio, and I am left outside. I almost think I ought to +go. Even Caley is more of a friend than I am. I cannot get rid of +the suspicion that something not right is going on. There seems a +bad air about the place. Those two are playing their game with the +inexperience of that poor child, your mistress." + +"I know that very well, my lady, but I hope yet they will not win," +said Malcolm. + +By this time they were near the tunnel. + +"Could you let me through to the shore?" asked Clementina. + +"Certainly, my lady.--I wish you could see the boats go out. From +the Boar's Tail it is a pretty sight. They will all be starting +together as soon as the tide turns." + +Thereupon Clementina began questioning him about the night fishing, +and Malcolm described its pleasures and dangers, and the pleasures +of its dangers, in such fashion that Clementina listened with +delight. He dwelt especially on the feeling almost of disembodiment, +and existence as pure thought, arising from the all pervading +clarity and fluidity, the suspension, and the unceasing motion. + +"I wish I could once feel like that," exclaimed Clementina. "Could +I not go with you--for one night--just for once, Malcolm?" + +"My lady, it would hardly do, I am afraid. If you knew the discomforts +that must assail one unaccustomed--I cannot tell--but I doubt +if you would go. All the doors to bliss have their defences of +swamps and thorny thickets through which alone they can be gained. +You would need to be a fisherman's sister--or wife, I fear, my +lady, to get through to this one." + +Clementina smiled gravely, but did not reply, and Malcolm too was +silent, thinking. + +"Yes," he said at last, "I see how we can manage it. You +shall have a boat for your own use, my lady, and--" + +"But I want to see just what you see, and to feel, as nearly as +I may, what you feel. I don't want a downy, rose leaf notion of +the thing. I want to understand what you fishermen encounter and +experience." + +"We must make a difference though, my lady. Look what clothes, what +boots we fishers must wear to be fit for our work! But you shall +have a true idea as far as it reaches, and one that will go a long +way towards enabling you to understand the rest. You shall go in +a real fishing boat, with a full crew and all the nets, and you +shall catch real herrings; only you shall not be out longer than +you please.--But there is hardly time to arrange for it tonight, +my lady." + +"Tomorrow then?" + +"Yes. I have no doubt I can manage it then." + +"Oh, thank you!" said Clementina. "It will be a great delight." + +"And now," suggested Malcolm, "would you like to go through the +village, and see some of the cottages, and how the fishers live?" + +"If they would not think me inquisitive, or intrusive," answered +Clementina. + +"There is no danger of that," rejoined Malcolm. "If it were my Lady +Bellair, to patronize, and deal praise and blame, as if what she +calls poverty were fault and childishness, and she their spiritual +as well as social superior, they might very likely be what she +would call rude. She was here once before, and we have some notion +of her about the Seaton. I venture to say there is not a woman in +it who is not her moral superior, and many of them are her superiors +in intellect and true knowledge, if they are not so familiar with +London scandal. Mr Graham says that in the kingdom of heaven every +superior is a ruler, for there to rule is to raise, and a man's +rank is his power to uplift." + +"I would I were in the kingdom of heaven, if it be such as you and +Mr Graham take it for," said Clementina. + +"You must be in it, my lady, or you couldn't wish it to be such as +it is." + +"Can one then be in it, and yet seem to be out of it, Malcolm?" + +"So many are out of it that seem to be in it, my lady, that one +might well imagine it the other way with some." + +"Are you not uncharitable, Malcolm?" + +"Our Lord speaks of many coming up to his door confident of admission, +whom yet he sends from him. Faith is obedience, not confidence." + +"Then I do well to fear." + +"Yes, my lady, so long as your fear makes you knock the louder." + +"But if I be in, as you say, how can I go on knocking?" + +"There are a thousand more doors to knock at after you are in, my +lady. No one content to stand just inside the gate will be inside +it long. But it is one thing to be in, and another to be satisfied +that we are in. Such a satisfying as comes from our own feelings +may, you see from what our Lord says, be a false one. It is one +thing to gather the conviction for ourselves, and another to have +it from God. What wise man would have it before he gives it? He who +does what his Lord tells him, is in the kingdom, if every feeling +of heart or brain told him he was out. And his Lord will see that +he knows it one day. But I do not think, my lady, one can ever be +quite sure, until the king himself has come in to sup with him, +and has let him know that he is altogether one with him." + +During the talk of which this is the substance, they reached the +Seaton, and Malcolm took her to see his grandfather. + +"Taal and faer and chentle and coot!" murmured the old man as he +held her hand for a moment in his. With a start of suspicion he +dropped it, and cried out in alarm--"She'll not pe a Cam'ell, +Malcolm?" + +"Na, na, daddy--far frae that," answered Malcolm. + +"Then my laty will pe right welcome to Tuncan's heart," he replied, +and taking her hand again led her to a chair. + +When they left, she expressed herself charmed with the piper, but +when she learned the cause of his peculiar behaviour at first, she +looked grave, and found his feeling difficult to understand. + +They next visited the Partaness, with whom she was far more amused +than puzzled. But her heart was drawn to the young woman who sat +in a corner, rocking her child in its wooden cradle, and never +lifting her eyes from her needlework: she knew her for the fisher +girl of Malcolm's picture. + +From house to house he took her, and where they went, they were +welcomed. If the man was smoking, he put away his pipe, and the +woman left her work and sat down to talk with her. They did the +honours of their poor houses in a homely and dignified fashion. +Clementina was delighted. But Malcolm told her he had taken her +only to the best houses in the place to begin with. The village, +though a fair sample of fishing villages, was no ex-sample, he said: +there were all kinds of people in it as in every other. It was a +class in the big life school of the world, whose special masters +were the sea and the herrings. + +"What would you do now, if you were lord of the place?" asked +Clementina, as they were walking back by the sea gate; "--I mean, +what would be the first thing you would do?" + +"As it would be my business to know my tenants that I might rule +them," he answered, "I would first court the society and confidence of +the best men among them. I should be in no hurry to make changes, +but would talk openly with them, and try to be worthy of their +confidence. Of course I would see a little better to their houses, +and improve their harbour: and I would build a boat for myself that +would show them a better kind; but my main hope for them would be +the same as for myself--the knowledge of him whose is the sea +and all its store, who cares for every fish in its bosom, but for +the fisher more than many herrings. I would spend my best efforts +to make them follow him whose first servants were the fishermen of +Galilee, for with all my heart I believe that that Man holds the +secret of life, and that only the man who obeys him can ever come +to know the God who is the root and crown of our being, and whom +to know is freedom and bliss." + +A pause followed. + +"But do you not sometimes find it hard to remember God all through +your work?" asked Clementina. + +"Not very hard, my lady. Sometimes I wake up to find that I have +been in an evil mood and forgetting him, and then life is hard until +I get near him again. But it is not my work that makes me forget +him. When I go a-fishing, I go to catch God's fish; when I take +Kelpie out, I am teaching one of God's wild creatures; when I read +the Bible or Shakspere, I am listening to the word of God, uttered +in each after its kind. When the wind blows on my face, what matter +that the chymist pulls it to pieces! He cannot hurt it, for his +knowledge of it cannot make my feeling of it a folly, so long as +he cannot pull that to pieces with his retorts and crucibles: it +is to me the wind of him who makes it blow, the sign of something +in him, the fit emblem of his spirit, that breathes into my spirit +the breath of life. When Mr Graham talks to me, it is a prophet +come from God that teaches me, as certainly as if his fiery chariot +were waiting to carry him back when he had spoken; for the word +he utters at once humbles and uplifts my soul, telling it that God +is all in all and my God--that the Lord Christ is the truth and +the life, and the way home to the Father." + +After a little pause, + +"And when you are talking to a rich, ignorant, proud lady?" said +Clementina, "--what do you feel then?" + +"That I would it were my lady Clementina instead," answered Malcolm +with a smile. + +She held her peace. + +When he left her, Malcolm hurried to Scaurnose and arranged with +Blue Peter for his boat and crew the next night. Returning to his +grandfather, he found a note waiting him from Mrs Courthope, to +the effect that, as Miss Caley, her ladyship's maid, had preferred +another room, there was no reason why, if he pleased, he should +not re-occupy his own. + + + +CHAPTER LXV: THE EVE OF THE CRISIS + + +It was late in the sweetest of summer mornings when the Partan's boat +slipped slowly back with a light wind to the harbour of Portlossie. +Malcolm did not wait to land the fish, but having changed his +clothes and taken breakfast with Duncan, who was always up early, +went to look after Kelpie. When he had done with her, finding some +of the household already in motion, he went through the kitchen, +and up the old corkscrew stone stair to his room to have the sleep +he generally had before his breakfast. Presently came a knock at +his door, and there was Rose. + +The girl's behaviour to Malcolm was much changed. The conviction +had been strengthened in her that he was not what he seemed, and +she regarded him now with a vague awe. She looked this way and +that along the passage, with fear in her eyes, then stepped timidly +inside the room to tell him, in a hurried whisper, that she had +seen the woman who gave her the poisonous philtre, talking to Caley +the night before, at the foot of the bridge, after everybody else +was in bed. She had been miserable till she could warn him. He +thanked her heartily, and said he would be on his guard; he would +neither eat nor drink in the house. She crept softly away. He +secured the door, lay down, and trying to think fell asleep. + +When he woke his brain was clear. The very next day, whether +Lenorme came or not, he would declare himself. That night he would +go fishing with Lady Clementina, but not one day longer would +he allow those people to be about his sister. Who could tell what +might not be brewing, or into what abyss, with the help of her +friends, the woman Catanach might not plunge Florimel? + +He rose, took Kelpie out, and had a good gallop. On his way back +he saw in the distance Florimel riding with Liftore. The earl was +on his father's bay mare. He could not endure the sight, and dashed +home at full speed. + +Learning from Rose that Lady Clementina was in the flower garden, +he found her at the swan basin, feeding the gold and silver fishes. +An under gardener who had been about the place for thirty years, +was at work not far off. The light splash of the falling column +which the marble swan spouted from its upturned beak, prevented +her from hearing his approach until he was close behind her. She +turned, and her fair face took the flush of a white rose. + +"My lady," he said, "I have got everything arranged for tonight." + +"And when shall we go?" she asked eagerly. + +"At the turn of the tide, about half past seven. But seven is your +dinner hour." + +"It is of no consequence.--But could you not make it half an hour +later, and then I should not seem rude?" + +"Make it any hour you please, my lady, so long as the tide is +falling." + +"Let it be eight then, and dinner will be almost over. They will +not miss me after that. Mr Cairns is going to dine with them. I +think, except Liftore, I never disliked a man so much. Shall I tell +them where I am going?" + +"Yes, my lady. It will be better.--They will look amazed--for +all their breeding!" + +"Whose boat is it, that I may be able to tell them if they should +ask me?" + +"Joseph Mair's. He and his wife will come and fetch you. Annie +Mair will go with us--if I may say us: will you allow me to go +in your boat, my lady?" + +"I couldn't go without you, Malcolm." + +"Thank you, my lady. Indeed I don't know how I could let you go +without me! Not that there is anything to fear, or that I could +make it the least safer; but somehow it seems my business to take +care of you." + +"Like Kelpie?" said Clementina, with a merrier smile than he had +ever seen on her face before. + +"Yes, my lady," answered Malcolm; "--if to do for you all and the +best you will permit me to do, be to take care of you like Kelpie, +then so it is." + +Clementina gave a little sigh. + +"Mind you don't scruple, my lady, to give what orders you please. +It will be your fishing boat for tonight." + +Clementina bowed her head in acknowledgment. + +"And now, my lady," Malcolm went on, "just look about you for a +moment. See this great vault of heaven, full of golden light raining +on trees and flowers--every atom of air shining. Take the whole +into your heart, that you may feel the difference at night, my lady +--when the stars, and neither sun nor moon, will be in the sky, +and all the flowers they shine on will be their own flitting, +blinking, swinging, shutting and opening reflections in the swaying +floor of the ocean,--when the heat will be gone, and the air +clean and clear as the thoughts of a saint." + +Clementina did as he said, and gazed above and around her on the +glory of the summer day overhanging the sweet garden, and on the +flowers that had just before been making her heart ache with their +unattainable secret. But she thought with herself that if Malcolm +and she but shared it with a common heart as well as neighboured +eyes, gorgeous day and ethereal night, or snow clad wild and sky +of stormy blackness, were alike welcome to her spirit. + +As they talked they wandered up the garden, and had drawn near the +spot where, in the side of the glen, was hollowed the cave of the +hermit. They now turned towards the pretty arbour of moss that +covered its entrance, each thinking the other led, but Malcolm not +without reluctance. For how horribly and unaccountably had he not +been shaken, the only time he ever entered it, at the sight of the +hermit! The thing was a foolish wooden figure, no doubt, but the +thought that it still sat over its book in the darkest corner of the +cave, ready to rise and advance with outstretched hand to welcome +its visitor, had, ever since then, sufficed to make him shudder. He +was on the point of warning Clementina lest she too should be worse +than startled, when he was arrested by the voice of John Jack, the +old gardener, who came stooping after them, looking a sexton of +flowers. + +"Ma'colm, Ma'colm!" he cried, and crept up wheezing. "--I beg +yer leddyship's pardon, my leddy, but I wadna ha'e Ma'colm lat ye +gang in there ohn tellt ye what there is inside." + +"Thank you, John. I was just going to tell my lady," said Malcolm. + +"Because, ye see," pursued John, "I was ae day here i' the gairden +--an' I was jist graftin' a bonny wull rose buss wi' a Hector o' +France--an' it grew to be the bonniest rose buss in a' the haul +gairden--whan the markis, no the auld markis, but my leddy's +father, cam' up the walk there, an' a bonny young leddy wi' his +lordship, as it micht be yersel's twa--an' I beg yer pardon, +my leddy, but I'm an auld man noo, an' whiles forgets the differs +'atween fowk--an' this yoong leddy 'at they ca'd Miss Cam'ell-- +ye kenned her yersel' efterhin', I daursay, Ma'colm--he was unco +ta'en with her, the markis, as ilka body cud see ohn luikit that +near, sae 'at some saich 'at hoo he hed no richt to gang on wi' +her that gait, garrin' her believe, gien he wasna gaein' to merry +her. That's naither here nor there, hooever, seein' it a' cam' to +jist naething ava'. Sae up they gaed to the cave yon'er, as I was +tellin' ye; an' hoo it was, was a won'er, for I s' warran' she had +been aboot the place near a towmon (twelvemonth), but never had +she been intil that cave, and kenned no more nor the bairn unborn +what there was in 't. An' sae whan the airemite, as the auld minister +ca'd him, though what for he ca'd a muckle block like yon an airy +mite, I'm sure I never cud fathom--whan he gat up, as I was sayin', +an' cam' foret wi' his han' oot, she gae a scraich 'at jist garred +my lugs dirl, an' doon she drappit, an' there, whan I ran up, was +she lyin' i' the markis his airms, as white 's a cauk eemege, an' +it was lang or he brought her till hersel', for he wadna lat me +rin for the hoosekeeper, but sent me fleein' to the f'untain for +watter, an' gied me a gowd guinea to haud my tongue aboot it a'. +Sae noo, my leddy, ye're forewarnt, an' no ill can come to ye, for +there's naething to be fleyt at whan ye ken what's gauin' to meet +ye." + +Malcolm had turned his head aside, and now moved on without remark. +Struck by his silence, Clementina looked up, and saw his face very +pale, and the tears standing in his eyes. + +"You must tell me the sad story, Malcolm," she murmured. "I could +scarcely understand a word the old man said." + +He continued silent, and seemed struggling with some emotion. But +when they were within a few paces of the arbour, he stopped short, +and said--"I would rather not go in there today. You would oblige +me, my lady, if you would not go." + +She looked up at him again, with wonder but more concern in her +lovely face, put her hand on his arm, gently turned him away, and +walked back with him to the fountain. Not a word more did she say +about the matter. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI: SEA + + +The evening came; and the company at Lossie House was still seated +at table, Clementina heartily weary of the vapid talk that had +been going on all through the dinner, when she was informed that a +fisherman of the name of Mair was at the door, accompanied by his +wife, saying they had an appointment with her. She had already +acquainted her hostess, when first they sat down, with her arrangements +for going a-fishing that night, and much foolish talk and would +be wit had followed; now, when she rose and excused herself, they +all wished her a pleasant evening, in a tone indicating the conviction +that she little knew what she was about, and would soon be longing +heartily enough to be back with them in the drawing room, whose +lighted windows she would see from the boat. But Clementina hoped +otherwise, hurriedly changed her dress, hastened to join Malcolm's +messengers, and almost in a moment had made the two childlike people +at home with her, by the simplicity and truth of her manner, and +the directness of her utterance. They had not talked with her five +minutes before they said in their hearts that here was the wife +for the marquis if he could get her. + +"She's jist like ane o' oorsel's," whispered Annie to her husband +on the first opportunity, "only a hantle better an bonnier." + +They took the nearest way to the harbour--through the town, and +Lady Clementina and Blue Peter kept up a constant talk as they went. +All in the streets and at the windows stared to see the grand lady +from the House walking between a Scaurnose fisherman and his wife, +and chatting away with them as if they were all fishers together. + +"What's the wordle comin' till!" cried Mrs Mellis, the draper's +wife, as she saw them pass. + +"I'm glaid to see the yoong wuman--an' a bonny lass she is!--in +sic guid company," said Miss Horn, looking down from the opposite +side of the way. "I'm thinkin' the han' o' the markis 'ill be i' +this, no'!" + +All was ready to receive her, but in the present bad state of +the harbour, and the tide having now ebbed a little way, the boat +could not get close either to quay or shore. Six of the crew were +on board, seated on the thwarts with their oars shipped, for Peter +had insisted on a certain approximation to man of war manners +and discipline for the evening, or at least until they got to the +fishing ground. The shore itself formed one side of the harbour, +and sloped down into it, and on the sand stood Malcolm with a young +woman, whom Clementina recognised at once as the girl she had seen +at the Findlays'. + +"My lady," he said, approaching, "would you do me the favour to let +Lizzy go with you. She would like to attend your ladyship, because, +being a fisherman's daughter, she is used to the sea, and Mrs Mair +is not so much at home upon it, being a farmer's daughter from +inland." + +Receiving Clementina's thankful assent, he turned to Lizzy and said +-- + +"Min' ye tell my lady what rizon ye ken whaurfor my mistress at +the Hoose sudna be merried upo' Lord Liftore--him 'at was Lord +Meikleham. Ye may speyk to my lady there as ye wad to mysel'-- +an' better, haein' the hert o' a wuman." + +Lizzy blushed a deep red, and dared but the glimmer of a glance at +Clementina, but there was only shame, no annoyance in her face. + +"Ye winna repent it, Lizzy," concluded Malcolm, and turned away. + +He cherished a faint hope that, if she heard or guessed Lizzy's +story, Clementina might yet find some way of bringing her influence +to bear on his sister even at the last hour of her chance--from +which, for her sake, he shrunk the more the nearer it drew. Clementina +held out her hand to Lizzy, and again accepted her offered service +with kindly thanks. + +Now Blue Peter, having been ship's carpenter in his day, had constructed +a little poop in the stern of his craft; thereon Malcolm had laid +cushions and pillows and furs and blankets from the Psyche,--a +grafting of Cleopatra's galley upon the rude fishing boat--and +there Clementina was to repose in state. Malcolm gave a sign: Peter +took his wife in his arms, and walking through the few yards of +water between, lifted her into the boat, which lay with its stern +to the shore. Malcolm and Clementina turned to each other: he was +about to ask leave to do her the same service, but she spoke before +him. + +"Put Lizzy on board first," she said. + +He obeyed, and when, returning, he again approached her--"Are +you able, Malcolm?" she asked. "I am very heavy." + +He smiled for all reply, took her in his arms like a child, and +had placed her on the cushions before she had time to realize the +mode of her transference. Then taking a stride deeper into the +water, he scrambled on board. The same instant the men gave way. +They pulled carefully through the narrow jaws of the little harbour, +and away with quivering oar and falling tide, went the boat, gliding +out into the measureless north, where the horizon was now dotted +with the sails that had preceded it. + +No sooner were they afloat than a kind of enchantment enwrapped and +possessed the soul of Clementina. Everything seemed all at once +changed utterly. The very ends of the harbour piers might have +stood in the Divina Commedia instead of the Moray Frith. Oh that +wonderful look everything wears when beheld from the other side! +Wonderful surely will this world appear--strangely more, when, +become children again by being gathered to our fathers--joyous +day! we turn and gaze back upon it from the other side! I imagine +that, to him who has overcome it, the world, in very virtue of his +victory, will show itself the lovely and pure thing it was created-- +for he will see through the cloudy envelope of his battle to the +living kernel below. The cliffs, the rocks, the sands, the dune, the +town, the very clouds that hung over the hill above Lossie House, +were in strange fashion transfigured. To think of people sitting +behind those windows while the splendour and freedom of space with +all its divine shows invited them--lay bare and empty to them! +Out and still out they rowed and drifted, till the coast began to +open up beyond the headlands on either side. + +There a light breeze was waiting them. Up then went three short +masts, and three dark brown sails shone red in the sun, and Malcolm +came aft, over the great heap of brown nets, crept with apology +across the poop, and got down into a little well behind, there to +sit and steer the boat; for now, obedient to the wind in its sails, +it went frolicking over the sea. + +The bonnie Annie bore a picked crew; for Peter's boat was to him a +sort of church, in which he would not with his will carry any Jonah +fleeing from the will of the lord of the sea. And that boat's +crew did not look the less merrily out of their blue eyes, or carry +themselves the less manfully in danger, that they believed a lord +of the earth and the sea and the fountains of water cared for his +children and would have them honest and fearless. + +And now came a scattering of rubies and topazes over the slow +waves, as the sun reached the edge of the horizon, and shone with +a glory of blinding red along the heaving level of green, dashed +with the foam of their flight. Could such a descent as this be +intended for a type of death? Clementina asked. Was it not rather +as if, from a corner of the tomb behind, she saw the back parts +of a resurrection and ascension: warmth, out shining, splendour; +departure from the door of the tomb; exultant memory; tarnishing +gold, red fading to russet; fainting of spirit, loneliness; deepening +blue and green; pallor, grayness, coldness; out creeping stars; +further reaching memory; the dawn of infinite hope and foresight; +the assurance that under passion itself lay a better and holier +mystery? Here was God's naughty child, the world, laid asleep and +dreaming--if not merrily, yet contentedly; and there was the +sky with all the day gathered and hidden up in its blue, ready to +break forth again in laughter on the morrow, bending over its skyey +cradle like a mother! and there was the aurora, the secret of life, +creeping away round to the north to be ready! Then first, when the +slow twilight had fairly settled into night, did Clementina begin +to know the deepest marvel of this facet of the rose diamond +life! God's night and sky and sea were her's now, as they had been +Malcolm's from childhood! And when the nets had been paid out, +and sank straight into the deep, stretched betwixt leads below and +floats and buoys above, extending a screen of meshes against the +rush of the watery herd; when the sails were down, and the whole +vault of stars laid bare to her eyes as she lay; when the boat was +still, fast to the nets, anchored as it were by hanging acres of +curtain, and all was silent as a church, waiting, and she might +dream or sleep or pray as she would, with nothing about her but peace +and love and the deep sea, and over her but still peace and love +and the deeper sky, then the soul of Clementina rose and worshipped +the soul of the universe; her spirit clave to the Life of her life, +the Thought of her thought, the Heart of her heart; her will bowed +itself to the creator of will, worshipping the supreme, original, +only Freedom--the Father of her love, the Father of Jesus Christ, +the God of the hearts of the universe, the Thinker of all thoughts, +the Beginner of all beginnings, the All in all. It was her first +experience of speechless adoration. + +Most of the men were asleep in the bows of the boat; all were lying +down but one. That one was Malcolm. He had come aft, and seated +himself under the platform leaning against it. + +The boat rose and sank a little, just enough to rock the sleeping +children a little deeper into their sleep; Malcolm thought +all slept. He did not see how Clementina's eyes shone back to the +heavens--no star in them to be named beside those eyes. She knew +that Malcolm was near her, but she would not speak; she would not +break the peace of the presence. A minute or two passed. Then softly +woke a murmur of sound, that strengthened and grew, and swelled +at last into a song. She feared to stir lest she should interrupt +its flow. And thus it flowed: + + +The stars are steady abune; +I' the water they flichter an' flee; +But steady aye luikin' doon, +They ken themsel's i' the sea. + +A' licht, an' clear, an' free, +God, thou shinest abune; +Yet luik, an' see thysel' in me, +God, whan thou luikest doon. + +A silence followed, but a silence that seemed about to be broken. +And again Malcolm sang: + +There was an auld fisher--he sat by the wa', +An' luikit oot ower the sea; +The bairnies war playin', he smilit on them a', +But the tear stude in his e'e. + +An' it's oh to win awa', awa'! +An' it's oh to win awa' +Whaur the bairns come home, an' the wives they bide, +An' God is the Father o' a'! + +Jocky an' Jeamy an' Tammy oot there, +A' i' the boatie gaed doon; +An' I'm ower auld to fish ony mair, +An' I hinna the chance to droon. +An' it's oh to win awa', awa'! &c. + +An' Jeanie she grat to ease her hert, +An' she easit hersel' awa' +But I'm ower auld for the tears to stert, +An' sae the sighs maun blaw. +An' it's oh to win awa', awa'! &c. + +Lord, steer me hame whaur my Lord has steerit, +For I'm tired o' life's rockin' sea +An' dinna be lang, for I'm nearhan' fearit +'At I'm 'maist ower auld to dee. +An' it's oh to win awa', awe'! &c. + +Again the stars and the sky were all, and there was no sound but +the slight murmurous lipping of the low swell against the edges of +the planks. Then Clementina said: + +"Did you make that song, Malcolm?" + +"Whilk o' them, my leddy?--But it's a' ane--they're baith +mine, sic as they are." + +"Thank you," she returned. + +"What for, my leddy?" + +"For speaking Scotch to me." + +"I beg your pardon, my lady. I forgot your ladyship was English." + +"Please forget it," she said. "But I thank you for your songs too. +It was the second I wanted to know about; the first I was certain +was your own. I did not know you could enter like that into the +feelings of an old man." + +"Why not, my lady? I never can see living thing without asking it +how it feels. Often and often, out here at such a time as this, +have I tried to fancy myself a herring caught by the gills in the +net down below, instead of the fisherman in the boat above going +to haul him out." + +"And did you succeed?" + +"Well, I fancy I came to understand as much of him as he does +himself. It's a merry enough life down there. The flukes--plaice, +you call them, my lady,--bother me, I confess. I never contemplate +one without feeling as if I had been sat upon when I was a baby. +But for an old man!--Why, that's what I shall be myself one day +most likely, and it would be a shame not to know pretty nearly how +he felt--near enough at least to make a song about him." + +"And shan't you mind being an old man, then, Malcolm?" + +"Not in the least, my lady. I shall mind nothing so long as I can +trust in the maker of me. If my faith should give way--why then +there would be nothing worth minding either! I don't know but I +should kill myself." + +"Malcolm!" + +"Which is worse, my lady--to distrust God, or to think life worth +having without him?" + +"But one may hope in the midst of doubt--at least that is what +Mr Graham--and you--have taught me to do." + +"Yes, surely, my lady. I won't let anyone beat me at that, if I can +help it. And I think that so long as I kept my reason, I should be +able to cry out, as that grandest and most human of all the prophets +did--'Though he slay me yet will I trust in him.' But would you +not like to sleep, my lady?" + +"No, Malcolm. I would much rather hear you talk,--Could you not +tell me a story now? Lady Lossie mentioned one you once told her +about an old castle somewhere not far from here." + +"Eh, my leddy!" broke in Annie Mair, who had waked up while they +were speaking, "I wuss ye wad gar him tell ye that story, for my +man he's h'ard 'im tell't, an' he says it's unco gruesome: I wad +fain hear 't.--Wauk up, Lizzy," she went on, in her eagerness +waiting for no answer; "Ma'colm's gauin' to tell 's the tale o' +the auld castel o' Colonsay.--It's oot by yon'er, my leddy-- +'no that far frae the Deid Heid.--Wauk up, Lizzy." + +"I'm no sleepin', Annie," said Lizzy, "--though like Ma'colm's +auld man," she added with a sigh, "I wad whiles fain be." + +Now there were reasons why Malcolm should not be unwilling to tell +the strange wild story requested of him, and he commenced it at +once, but modified the Scotch of it considerably for the sake of +the unaccustomed ears. When it was ended Clementina said nothing; +Annie Mair said "Hech, sirs!" and Lizzy with a great sigh, remarked, + +"The deil maun be in a'thing whaur God hasna a han', I'm thinkin'." + +"Ye may tak yer aith upo' that," rejoined Malcolm. + +It was a custom in Peter's boat never to draw the nets without +a prayer, uttered now by one and now by another of the crew. Upon +this occasion, whether it was in deference to Malcolm, who, as he +well understood, did not like long prayers, or that the presence +of Clementina exercised some restraint upon his spirit, out of the +bows of the boat came now the solemn voice of its master, bearing +only this one sentence: + +"Oh Thoo, wha didst tell thy dissiples to cast the net upo' the side +whaur swam the fish, gien it be thy wull 'at we catch the nicht, +lat 's catch; gien it binna thy wull, lat 's no catch.--Haul +awa', my laads." + +Up sprang the men, and went each to his place, and straight a torrent +of gleaming fish was pouring in over the gunwale of the boat. Such +a take it was ere the last of the nets was drawn, as the oldest of +them had seldom seen. Thousands of fish there were that had never +got into the meshes at all. + +"I cannot understand it," said Clementina. "There are multitudes +more fish than there are meshes in the nets to catch them: if they +are not caught, why do they not swim away?" + +"Because they are drowned, my lady," answered Malcolm. + +"What do you mean by that? How can you drown a fish?" + +"You may call it suffocated if you like, my lady; it is all the +same. You have read of panic stricken people, when a church or a +theatre is on fire, rushing to the door all in a heap, and crowding +each other to death? It is something like that with the fish. They +are swimming along in a great shoal, yards thick; and when the first +can get no farther, that does not at once stop the rest, any more +than it would in a crowd of people; those that are behind come +pressing up into every corner, where there is room, till they are +one dense mass. Then they push and push to get forward, and can't +get through, and the rest come still crowding on behind and above +and below, till a multitude of them are jammed so tight against +each other that they can't open their gills; and even if they could, +there would not be air enough for them. You've seen the goldfish +in the swan basin, my lady, how they open and shut their gills +constantly: that's their way of getting air out of the water by +some wonderful contrivance nobody understands, for they need breath +just as much as we do: and to close their gills is to them the same +as closing a man's mouth and nose. That's how the most of those +herrings are taken." + +All were now ready to seek the harbour. A light westerly wind was +still blowing, with the aid of which, heavy laden, they crept slowly +to the land. As she lay snug and warm, with the cool breath of the +sea on her face, a half sleep came over Clementina, and she half +dreamed that she was voyaging in a ship of the air, through infinite +regions of space, with a destination too glorious to be known. +The herring boat was a living splendour of strength and speed, its +sails were as the wings of a will, in place of the instruments of +a force, and softly as mightily it bore them through the charmed +realms of dreamland towards the ideal of the soul. And yet the +herring boat but crawled over the still waters with its load of +fish, as the harvest waggon creeps over the field with its piled +up sheaves; and she who imagined its wondrous speed was the only +one who did not desire it should move faster. + +No word passed between her and Malcolm all their homeward way. +Each was brooding over the night and its joy that enclosed them +together, and hoping for that which was yet to be shaken from the +lap of the coming time. + +Also Clementina had in her mind a scheme for attempting what Malcolm +had requested of her; the next day must see it carried into effect; +and ever and anon, like a cold blast of doubt invading the bliss +of confidence, into the heart of that sea borne peace darted the +thought, that, if she failed, she must leave at once for England, +for she would not again meet Liftore. + + + +CHAPTER LXVII: SHORE + + +At last they glided once more through the stony jaws of the harbour, +as if returning again to the earth from a sojourn in the land of +the disembodied. When Clementina's foot touched the shore she felt +like one waked out of a dream, from whom yet the dream has not +departed--but keeps floating about him, waved in thinner and yet +thinner streams from the wings of the vanishing sleep. + +It seemed almost as if her spirit, instead of having come back to +the world of its former abode, had been borne across the parting +waters and landed on the shore of the immortals. There was the +ghostlike harbour of the spirit land, the water gleaming betwixt its +dark walls, one solitary boat motionless upon it, the men moving +about like shadows in the star twilight! Here stood three women +and a man on the shore, and save the stars no light shone, and from +the land came no sound of life. Was it the dead of the night, or +a day that had no sun? It was not dark, but the light was rayless. +Or, rather, it was as if she had gained the power of seeing in the +dark. + +Suppressed sleep wove the stuff of a dream around her, and the +stir at her heart kept it alive with dream forms. Even the voice +of Peter's Annie, saying, "I s' bide for my man. Gude nicht, my +leddy," did not break the charm. Her heart shaped that also into +the dream. Turning away with Malcolm and Lizzy, she passed along +the front of the Seaton. + +How still, how dead, how empty like cenotaphs, all the cottages +looked! How the sea which lay like a watcher at their doors, murmured +in its sleep! Arrived at the entrance to her own close, Lizzy next +bade them good night, and Clementina and Malcolm were left. + +And now drew near the full power, the culmination of the mounting +enchantment of the night for Malcolm. When once the Scaurnose +people should have passed them, they would be alone--alone as in +the spaces between the stars. There would not be a living soul on +the shore for hours. From the harbour the nearest way to the House +was by the sea gate, but where was the haste--with the lovely +night around them, private as a dream shared only by two? Besides, +to get in by that, they would have had to rouse the cantankerous +Bykes, and what a jar would not that bring into the music of the +silence! Instead, therefore, of turning up by the side of the stream +where it crossed the shore, he took Clementina once again in his +arms unforbidden, and carried her over. Then the long sands lay +open to their feet. Presently they heard the Scaurnose party behind +them, coming audibly, merrily on. As by a common resolve they turned +to the left, and crossing the end of the Boar's Tail, resumed their +former direction, with the dune now between them and the sea. The +voices passed on the other side, and they heard them slowly merge +into the inaudible. At length, after an interval of silence, on the +westerly air came one quiver of laughter--by which Malcolm knew +his friends were winding up the red path to the top of the cliff. +And now the shore was bare of presence, bare of sound save the soft +fitful rush of the rising tide. But behind the long sandhill, for +all they could see of the sea, they might have been in the heart +of a continent. + +"Who would imagine the ocean so near us, my lady!" said Malcolm, +after they had walked for some time without word spoken. + +"Who can tell what may be near us?" she returned. + +"True, my lady. Our future is near us, holding thousands of things +unknown. Hosts of thinking beings with endless myriads of thoughts +may be around us. What a joy t' know that, of all things and all +thoughts, God is nearest to us--so near that we cannot see him, +but, far beyond seeing him, can know of him infinitely!" + +As he spoke they came opposite the tunnel, but he turned from it +and they ascended the dune. As their heads rose over the top, and +the sky night above and the sea night beneath rolled themselves out +and rushed silently together, Malcolm said, as if thinking aloud: + +"Thus shall we meet death and the unknown, and the new that breaks +from the bosom of the invisible will be better than the old upon +which the gates close behind us. The Son of man is content with my +future, and I am content." + +There was a peace in the words that troubled Clementina: he wanted +no more than he had--this cold, imperturbable, devout fisherman! +She did not see that it was the confidence of having all things +that held his peace rooted. From the platform of the swivel, they +looked abroad over the sea. Far north in the east lurked a suspicion +of dawn, which seemed, while they gazed upon it, to "languish into +life," and the sea was a shade less dark than when they turned from +it to go behind the dune. They descended a few paces, and halted +again. + +"Did your ladyship ever see the sun rise?" asked Malcolm. + +"Never in open country," she answered. + +"Then stay and see it now, my lady. He'll rise just over yonder, +a little nearer this way than that light from under his eyelids. +A more glorious chance you could not have. And when he rises, just +observe, one minute after he is up, how like a dream all you have +been in tonight will look. It is to me strange even to awfulness +how many different phases of things, and feelings about them, and +moods of life and consciousness, God can tie up in the bundle of +one world with one human soul to carry it." + +Clementina slowly sank on the sand of the slope, and like lovely +sphinx of northern desert, gazed in immovable silence out on the yet +more northern sea. Malcolm took his place a little below, leaning +on his elbow, for the slope was steep, and looking up at her. Thus +they waited the sunrise. + +Was it minutes or only moments passed in that silence--whose +speech was the soft ripple of the sea on the sand? Neither could +have answered the question. At length said Malcolm, + +"I think of changing my service, my lady." + +"Indeed, Malcolm!" + +"Yes, my lady. My--mistress does not like to turn me away, but +she is tired of me, and does not want me any longer." + +"But you would never think of finally forsaking a fisherman's life +for that of a servant, surely, Malcolm?" + +"What would become of Kelpie, my lady?" rejoined Malcolm, smiling +to himself. + +"Ah!" said Clementina, bewildered; "I had not thought of her.-- +But you cannot take her with you," she added, coming a little to +her senses. + +"There is nobody about the place who could, or rather, who would do +anything with her. They would sell her. I have enough to buy her, +and perhaps somebody might not object to the encumbrance, but hire +me and her together.--Your groom wants a coachman's place, my +lady." + +"O Malcolm! do you mean you would be my groom?" cried Clementina, +pressing her palms together. + +"If you would have me, my lady; but I have heard you say you would +have none but a married man." + +"But--Malcolm--don't you know anybody that would?--Could you +not find some one--some lady--that?--I mean, why shouldn't +you be a married man?" + +"For a very good and to me rather sad reason, my lady; the only +woman I could marry, or should ever be able to marry,--would not +have me. She is very kind and very noble, but--it is preposterous +--the thing is too preposterous. I dare not have the presumption +to ask her." + +Malcolm's voice trembled as he spoke, and a few moments' pause +followed, during which he could not lift his eyes. The whole heaven +seemed pressing down their lids. The breath which he modelled into +words seemed to come in little billows. + +But his words had raised a storm in Clementina's bosom. A cry broke +from her, as if driven forth by pain. She called up all the energy +of her nature, and stilled herself to speak. The voice that came +was little more than a sob scattered whisper, but to her it seemed +as if all the world must hear. + +"Oh Malcolm!" she panted, "I will try to be good and wise. Don't +marry anybody else--anybody, I mean; but come with Kelpie and be +my groom, and wait and see if I don't grow better." + +Malcolm leaped to his feet and threw himself at hers. He had heard +but in part, and he must know all. + +"My lady," he said, with intense quiet, "Kelpie and I will be your +slaves. Take me for fisherman--groom--what you will. I offer +the whole sum of service that is in me." He kissed her feet. + +"My lady, I would put your feet on my head," he went on, "only then +what should I do when I see my Lord, and cast myself before Him?" + +But Clementina, again her own to give, rose quickly, and said with +all the dignity born of her inward grandeur, + +"Rise, Malcolm; you misunderstand me." + +Malcolm rose abashed, but stood erect before her, save that his head +was bowed, for his heart was sunk in dismay. Then slowly, gently, +Clementina knelt before him. He was bewildered, and thought she +was going to pray. In sweet, clear, unshaken tones, for she feared +nothing now, she said, + +"Malcolm, I am not worthy of you. But take me--take my very soul +if you will, for it is yours." + +Now Malcolm saw that he had no right to raise a kneeling lady; all +he could do was to kneel beside her. When people kneel, they lift +up their hearts; and the creating heart of their joy was forgotten +of neither. And well for them, for the love where God is not, be +the lady lovely as Cordelia, the man gentle as Philip Sidney, will +fare as the overkept manna. + +When the huge tidal wave from the ocean of infinite delight had +broken at last upon the shore of the finite, and withdrawn again +into the deeps, leaving every cistern brimming, every fountain +overflowing, the two entranced souls opened their bodily eyes, +looked at each other, rose, and stood hand in hand, speechless. + +"Ah, my lady!" said Malcolm at length, "what is to become of this +delicate smoothness in my great rough hand? Will it not be hurt?" + +"You don't know how strong it is, Malcolm. There!" + +"I can scarcely feel it with my hand, my lady; it all goes through +to my heart. It shall lie in mine as the diamond in the rock." + +"No, no, Malcolm! Now that I am going to be a fisherman's wife, +it must be a strong hand--it must work. What homage shall you +require of me, Malcolm? What will you have me do to rise a little +nearer your level? Shall I give away lands and money? And shall I +live with you in the Seaton? or will you come and fish at Wastbeach?" + +"Forgive me, my lady; I can't think about things now--even with +you in them. There is neither past nor future to me now--only +this one eternal morning. Sit here, and look up, Lady Clementina: +--see all those worlds:--something in me constantly says that +I shall know every one of them one day; that they are all but rooms +in the house of my spirit, that is, the house of our Father. Let +us not now, when your love makes me twice eternal, talk of time +and places. Come, let us fancy ourselves two blessed spirits, lying +full in the sight and light of our God,--as indeed what else are +we?--warming our hearts in his presence and peace; and that we +have but to rise and spread our wings to sear aloft and find--what +shall it be, my lady? Worlds upon worlds? No, no. What are worlds +upon worlds in infinite show until we have seen the face of the +Son of Man?" + +A silence fell. But he resumed. + +"Let us imagine our earthly life behind us, our hearts clean, love +all in all.--But that sends me back to the now. My lady, I know +I shall never love you aright until you have helped me perfect. When +the face of the least lovely of my neighbours needs but appear to +rouse in my heart a divine tenderness, then it must be that I shall +love you better than now. Now, alas! I am so pervious to wrong! +so fertile of resentments and indignations! You must cure me, my +divine Clemency.--Am I a poor lover to talk, this first glorious +hour, of anything but my lady love? Ah! but let it excuse me that +this love is no new thing to me. It is a very old love. I have +loved you a thousand years. I love every atom of your being, every +thought that can harbour in your soul, and I am jealous of hurting +your blossoms with the over jubilant winds of that very love. +I would therefore behold you folded in the atmosphere of the Love +eternal. My lady, if I were to talk of your beauty, I should but +offend you, for you would think I raved, and spoke not the words +of truth and soberness. But how often have I not cried to the God +who breathed the beauty into you that it might shine out of you, +to save my soul from the tempest of its own delight therein. And +now I am like one that has caught an angel in his net, and fears to +come too nigh, lest fire should flash from the eyes of the startled +splendour, and consume the net and him who holds it. But I will +not rave, because I would possess in grand peace that which I lay +at your feet. I am yours, and would be worthy of your moonlight +calm." + +"Alas! I am beside you but a block of marble!" said Clementina. +"You are so eloquent, my--" + +"New groom," suggested Malcolm gently. + +Clementina smiled. + +"But my heart is so full," she went on, "that I cannot think the +filmiest thought. I hardly know that I feel. I only know that I +want to weep." + +"Weep then, my word ineffable!" cried Malcolm, and laid himself +again at her feet, kissed them, and was silent. + +He was but a fisher poet; no courtier, no darling of society, no +dealer in the fine speeches, no clerk of compliments. All the words +he had were the living blossoms of thought rooted in feeling. His +pure clear heart was as a crystal cup, through which shone the red +wine of his love. To himself Malcolm stammered as a dumb man, the +string of whose tongue has but just been loosed; to Clementina his +speech was as the song of the Lady to Comus, "divine enchanting +ravishment." The God of truth is surely present at every such +marriage feast of two radiant spirits. Their joy was that neither +had fooled the hope of the other. + +And so the herring boat had indeed carried Clementina over into +paradise, and this night of the world was to her a twilight of +heaven. God alone can tell what delights it is possible for him to +give to the pure in heart who shall one day behold him. Like two +that had died and found each other, they talked until speech rose +into silence, they smiled until the dews which the smiles had +sublimed claimed their turn and descended in tears. + +All at once they became aware that an eye was upon them. It was +the sun. He was ten degrees up the slope of the sky, and they had +never seen him rise. + +With the sun came a troublous thought, for with the sun came +"a world of men." Neither they nor the simple fisher folk, their +friends, had thought of the thing, but now at length it occurred to +Clementina that she would rather not walk up to the door of Lossie +House with Malcolm at this hour of the morning. Yet neither could +she well appear alone. Ere she had spoken Malcolm rose. + +"You won't mind being left, my lady," he said, "for a quarter of +an hour or so--will you? I want to bring Lizzy to walk home with +you." + +He went, and Clementina sat alone on the dune in a reposeful rapture, +to which the sleeplessness of the night gave a certain additional +intensity and richness and strangeness. She watched the great strides +of her fisherman as he walked along the sands, and she seemed not +to be left behind, but to go with him every step. The tide was again +falling, and the sea shone and sparkled and danced with life, and +the wet sand gleamed, and a soft air blew on her cheek, and the +lordly sun was mounting higher and higher, and a lark over her +head was sacrificing all nature in his song; and it seemed as if +Malcolm were still speaking strange, half intelligible, altogether +lovely things in her ears. She felt a little weary, and laid her +head down upon her arm to listen more at her ease. + +Now the lark had seen all and heard all, and was telling it again +to the universe, only in dark sayings which none but themselves +could understand; therefore it is no wonder that, as she listened, +his song melted into a dream, and she slept. And the dream was +lovely as dream needs be, but not lovelier than the wakeful night. +She opened her eyes, calm as any cradled child, and there stood +her fisherman! + +"I have been explaining to Lizzy, my lady," he said, "that your +ladyship would rather have her company up to the door than mine. +Lizzy is to be trusted, my lady." + +"'Deed, my leddy," said Lizzy, "Ma'colm's been ower guid to me, no +to gar me du onything he wad ha'e o' me, I can haud my tongue whan +I like, my leddy. An' dinna doobt my thouchts, my leddy, for I ken +Ma'colm as weel's ye du yersel', my leddy." + +While she was speaking, Clementina rose, and they went straight +to the door in the bank. Through the tunnel and the young wood and +the dew and the morning odours, along the lovely paths the three +walked to the house together. And oh, how the larks of the earth +and the larks of the soul sang for two of them! And how the burn +rang with music, and the air throbbed with sweetest life! while +the breath of God made a little sound as of a going now and then +in the tops of the fir trees, and the sun shone his brightest and +best, and all nature knew that the heart of God is the home of his +creatures. + +When they drew near the house Malcolm left them. After they had +rung a good many times, the door was opened by the housekeeper, +looking very proper and just a little scandalized. + +"Please, Mrs Courthope," said Lady Clementina, "will you give +orders that when this young woman comes to see me today she shall +be shown up to my room?" + +Then she turned to Lizzy and thanked her for her kindness, and they +parted--Lizzy to her baby, and Clementina to yet a dream or two. +Long before her dreams were sleeping ones, however, Malcolm was out +in the bay in the Psyche's dinghy, catching mackerel: some should +be for his grandfather, some for Miss Horn, some for Mrs Courthope, +and some for Mrs Crathie. + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII: THE CREW OF THE BONNIE ANNIE + + +Having caught as many fish as he wanted, Malcolm rowed to the +other side of the Scaurnose. There he landed and left the dinghy in +the shelter of the rocks, the fish covered with long broad leaved +tangles, climbed the steep cliff, and sought Blue Peter. The brown +village was quiet as a churchyard, although the sun was now growing +hot. Of the men some were not yet returned from the night's fishing, +and some were asleep in their beds after it. Not a chimney smoked. +But Malcolm seemed to have in his own single being life and joy +enough for a world; such an intense consciousness of bliss burned +within him, that, in the sightless, motionless village, he seemed +to himself to stand like an altar blazing in the midst of desert +Carnac. But he was not the only one awake: on the threshold of +Peter's cottage sat his little Phemy, trying to polish a bit of +serpentine marble upon the doorstep, with the help of water, which +stood by her side in a broken tea cup. + +She lifted her sweet gray eyes, and smiled him a welcome. + +"Are ye up a'ready, Phemy?" he said. + +"I ha'ena been doon yet," she answered. "My mither was oot last +nicht wi' the boat, an' Auntie Jinse was wi' the bairn, an' sae I +cud du as I likit." + +"An' what did ye like, Phemy?" + +"A'body kens what I like," answered the child: "I was oot an' aboot +a' nicht. An' eh, Ma'colm! I hed a veesion." + +"What was that, Phemy?" + +"I was upo' the tap o' the Nose, jist as the sun rase, luikin' +aboot me, an' awa' upo' the Boar's Tail I saw twa angels sayin' +their prayers. Nae doobt they war prayin' for the haill warl', i' +the quaiet o' the mornin' afore the din begud. Maybe ane them was +that auld priest wi' the lang name i' the buik o' Genesis, 'at +hed naither father nor mither--puir man!--him 'at gaed aboot +blissin' fowk." + +Malcolm thought he might take his own time to set the child right, +and asked her to go and tell her father that he wanted to see him. +In a few minutes Blue Peter appeared, rubbing his eyes--one of +the dead called too early from the tomb of sleep. + +"Freen' Peter," said Malcolm, "I'm gaein' to speak oot the day." + +Peter woke up. + +"Weel," he said, "I am glaid o' that, Ma'colm,--I beg yer pardon, +my lord, I sud say.--Annie!" + +"Haud a quaiet sough, man. I wadna hae 't come oot at Scaurnose +first. I'm come noo 'cause I want ye to stan' by me." + +"I wull that, my lord." + +"Weel, gang an' gether yer boat's crew, an' fess them doon to the +cove, an' I'll tell them, an' maybe they'll stan' by me as weel." + +"There's little fear o' that, gien I ken my men," answered Peter, +and went off, rather less than half clothed, the sun burning hot +upon his back, through the sleeping village, to call them, while +Malcolm went and waited beside the dinghy. + +At length six men in a body, and one lagging behind, appeared coming +down the winding path--all but Peter no doubt wondering why they +were called so soon from their beds, on such a peaceful morning, +after being out the night before. Malcolm went to meet them. + +"Freen's," he said, "I'm in want o' yer help." + +"Onything ye like, Ma'colm, sae far 's I'm concernt, 'cep' it be +to ride yer mere. That I wull no tak in han'," said Jeames Gentle. + +"It's no that," returned Malcolm. "It's naething freely sae hard's +that, I'm thinkin'. The hard 'll be to believe what I'm gaein' to +tell ye." + +"Ye'll no be gaein' to set up for a proaphet?" said Girnel, with +something approaching a sneer. + +Girnel was the one who came down behind the rest. + +"Na, na; naething like it," said Blue Peter. + +"But first ye'll promise to haud yer tongues for half a day?" said +Malcolm. + +"Ay, ay; we'll no clype."--"We s' haud ower tongues," cried one +and another and another, and all seemed to assent. + +"Weel," said Malcolm, "My name 's no Ma'colm MacPhail, but--" + +"We a' ken that," said Girnel. + +"An' what mair du ye ken?" asked Blue Peter, with some anger at +his interruption. + +"Ow, naething." + +"Weel, ye ken little," said Peter, and the rest laughed. + +"I'm the Markis o' Lossie," said Malcolm. + +Every man but Peter laughed again: all took it for a joke +precursive of some serious announcement. That which it would have +least surprised them to hear, would have been that he was a natural +son of the late marquis. + +"My name 's Ma'colm Colonsay," resumed Malcolm, quietly; "an' I'm +the saxt Markis o' Lossie." + +A dead silence followed, and in doubt, astonishment, bewilderment, +and vague awe, accompanied in the case of two or three by a strong +inclination to laugh, with which they struggled, belief began. Always +a curious observer of humanity, Malcolm calmly watched them. From +discord of expression, most of their faces had grown idiotic. But +after a few moments of stupefaction, first one and then another +turned his eyes upon Blue Peter, and perceiving that the matter was +to him not only serious but evidently no news, each began to come +to his senses, the chaos within him slowly arranged itself, and +his face gradually settled into an expression of sanity--the +foolishness disappearing while the wonder and pleasure remained. + +"Ye mauna tak it ill, my lord," said Peter, "gien the laads be ta'en +aback wi' the news. It's a some suddent shift o' the win, ye see, +my lord." + +"I wuss yer lordship weel," thereupon said one, and held out his +hand. + +"Lang life to yer lordship," said another. + +Each spoke a hearty word, and shook hands with him--all except +Girnel, who held back, looking on, with his right hand in his +trouser pocket. He was one who always took the opposite side-- +a tolerably honest and trustworthy soul, with a good many knots +and pieces of cross grain in the timber of him. His old Adam was +the most essential and thorough of dissenters, always arguing and +disputing, especially on theological questions. + +"Na," said Girnel; "ye maun saitisfee me first wha ye are, an' what +ye want o' me. I'm no to be drawn into onything 'at I dinna ken a' +aboot aforehan'. I s' no tie mysel' up wi' ony promises. Them 'at +gangs whaur they kenna, may lan' at the widdie (gallows)." + +"Nae doobt," said Malcolm, "yer ain jeedgement 's mair to ye nor +my word, Girnel; but saw ye ever onything in me 'at wad justifee +ye in no lippenin' to that sae far 's it gaed?" + +"Ow na! I'm no sayin' that naither. But what ha'e ye to shaw anent +the privin' o' 't?" + +"I have papers signed by my father, the late marquis, and sealed +and witnessed by well known gentlemen of the neighbourhood." + +"Whaur are they?" said Girnel, holding out his hand. + +"I don't carry such valuable things about me," answered Malcolm. +"But if you go with the rest, you shall see them afterwards." + +"I'll du naething i' the dark," persisted Girnel. "Whan I see the +peppers, I'll ken what to du." + +With a nod of the head as self important as decisive, he turned +his back. + +"At all events," said Malcolm, "you will say nothing about it before +you hear from one of us again?" + +"I mak nae promises," answered Girnel, from behind his own back. + +A howl arose from the rest. + +"Ye promised a'ready," said Blue Peter. + +"Na, I didna that. I said never a word." + +"What right then had you to remain and listen to my disclosure?" +said Malcolm. "If you be guilty of such a mean trick as betray me +and ruin my plans, no honest man in Portlossie or Scaurnose but +will scorn you." + +"There! tak ye that!" said Peter. "An' I s' promise ye, ye s' +never lay leg ower the gunnel o' my boat again. I s' hae nane but +Christian men i' my pey." + +"Ye hired me for the sizon, Blew Peter," said Girnel, turning +defiantly. + +"Oh! ye s' ha'e yer wauges. I'm no ane to creep oot o' a bargain, +or say 'at I didna promise. Ye s' get yer reward, never fear. But +into my boat ye s' no come. We'll ha'e nae Auchans i' oor camp. +Eh, Girnel, man, but ye ha'e lost yersel' the day! He'll never loup +far 'at winna lippen. The auld worthies tuik their life i' their +han', but ye tak yer fit (foot) i' yours. I'm clean affrontit 'at +ever I hed ye amo' my men." + +But with that there rushed over Peter the recollection of how he +had himself mistrusted, not Malcolm's word indeed, but his heart. +He turned, and clasping his hands in sudden self reproach, + +"My lord, I saired ye ill mysel' ance," he cried; "for I misdoobted +'at ye wasna the same to me efter ye cam to yer ain. I beg yer +pardon, my lord, here i' the face o' my freen's. It was ill temper +an' pride i' me, jist the same as it's noo in Girnel there; an' ye +maun forgi'e him, as ye forga'e me, my lord, as sune 's ye can." + +"I'll du that, my Peter, the verra moment he wants to be forgi'en," +said Malcolm. + +But Girnel turned with a grunt, and moved away towards the cliff. + +"This 'll never du," said Peter. "A man 'at 's honest i' the main +may play the verra dog afore he gets the deevil oot o' 'im ance +he 's in like that. Gang efter 'im, laads, an' kep (intercept) 'im +an' keep 'im. We'll ha'e to cast a k-not or twa aboot 'im, an' lay +'im i' the boddom o' the boat." + +The six had already started after him like one man. But Malcolm +cried, + +"Let him go: he has done me no wrong yet, and I don't believe will +do me any. But for no risk must we prevent wrong with wrong." + +So Girnel was allowed to depart--scarcely in peace, for he was +already ashamed of himself. With the understanding that they were +to be ready to his call, and that they should hear from him in the +course of the day, Malcolm left them, and rowed back to the Psyche. +There he took his basket of fish on his arm, which he went and +distributed according to his purpose, ending with Mrs Courthope at +the House. Then he fed and dressed Kelpie, saddled her and galloped +to Duff Harbour, where he found Mr Soutar at breakfast, and arranged +with him to be at Lossie House at two o'clock. On his way back he +called on Mr Morrison, and requested his presence at the same hour. +Skirting the back of the House, and riding as straight as he could, +he then made for Scaurnose, and appointed his friends to be near +the House at noon, so placed as not to attract observation and yet +be within hearing of his whistle from door or window in the front. + +Returning to the House, he put up Kelpie, rubbed her down and fed +her; then, as there was yet some time to spare, paid a visit to +the factor. He found his lady, for all his present of fish in the +earlier morning, anything but friendly. She did all she could to +humble him; insisted on paying him for the fish; and ordered him, +because they smelt of the stable, to take off his boots before he +went upstairs--to his master's room, as she phrased it. But Mr +Crathie was cordial, and, to Malcolm's great satisfaction, much +recovered. He had better than pleasant talk with him. + + + +CHAPTER LXIX: LIZZY'S BABY + + +While they were out in the fishing boat together, Clementina had, +with less difficulty than she had anticipated, persuaded Lizzy to +tell Lady Lossie her secret. It was in the hope of an interview +with her false lover that the poor girl had consented so easily. + +A great longing had risen within her to have the father of her child +acknowledge him--only to her, taking him once in his arms. That +was all. She had no hope, thought indeed she had no desire for +herself. But a kind word to him would be welcome as light. The love +that covers sins had covered the multitude of his, and although +hopelessness had put desire to sleep, she would gladly have given +her life for a loving smile from him. But mingled with this longing +to see him once with his child in his arms, a certain loyalty to the +house of Lossie also influenced her to listen to the solicitation +of Lady Clementina, and tell the marchioness the truth. + +She cherished no resentment against Liftore, but not therefore was +she willing to allow a poor young thing like Lady Lossie, whom they +all liked, to be sacrificed to such a man, who would doubtless at +length behave badly enough to her also. + +With trembling hands, and heart now beating wildly, now failing for +fear, she dressed her baby and herself as well as she could, and, +about one o'clock, went to the House. + +Now nothing would have better pleased Lady Clementina than that +Liftore and Lizzy should meet in Florimel's presence, but she +recoiled altogether from the small stratagems, not to mention the +lies, necessary to the effecting of such a confrontation. So she +had to content herself with bringing the two girls together, and, +when Lizzy was a little rested, and had had a glass of wine, went +to look for Florimel. + +She found her in a little room adjoining the library, which, on +her first coming to Lossie, she had chosen for her waking nest. +Liftore had, if not quite the freedom of the spot, yet privileges +there; but at that moment Florimel was alone in it. Clementina +informed her that a fisher girl, with a sad story which she wanted +to tell her, had come to the house; and Florimel, who was not only +kind hearted, but relished the position she imagined herself to +occupy as lady of the place, at once assented to her proposal to +bring the young woman to her there. + +Now Florimel and the earl had had a small quarrel the night before, +after Clementina left the dinner table, and for the pleasure +of keeping it up Florimel had not appeared at breakfast, and had +declined to ride with his lordship, who had therefore been all the +morning on the watch for an opportunity of reconciling himself. It +so happened that from the end of one of the long narrow passages +in which the house abounded, he caught a glimpse of Clementina's +dress vanishing through the library door, and took the lady for +Florimel on her way to her boudoir. + +When Clementina entered with Lizzy carrying her child, Florimel +instantly suspected the truth, both as to who she was and as to the +design of her appearance. Her face flushed, for her heart filled +with anger, chiefly indeed against Malcolm, but against the two +women as well, who, she did not doubt, had lent themselves to his +designs, whatever they might be. She rose, drew herself up, and +stood prepared to act for both Liftore and herself. + +Scarcely however had the poor girl, trembling at the evident +displeasure the sight of her caused in Florimel, opened her mouth +to answer her haughty inquiry as to her business, when Lord Liftore, +daring an entrance without warning, opened the door behind her, +and, almost as he opened it, began his apology. + +At the sound of his voice Lizzy turned with a cry, and her small +remaining modicum of self possession vanished at sight of him +round whose phantom in her bosom whirred the leaves of her withered +life on the stinging blasts of her shame and sorrow. As much from +inability to stand as in supplication for the coveted favour, she +dropped on her knees before him, incapable of uttering a word, but +holding up her child imploringly. Taken altogether by surprise, +and not knowing what to say or do, the earl stood and stared for +a moment, then, moved by a dull spirit of subterfuge, fell back on +the pretence of knowing nothing about her. + +"Well, young woman," he said, affecting cheerfulness, "what do you +want with me? I didn't advertise for a baby. Pretty child, though!" + +Lizzy turned white as death, and her whole body seemed to give a +heave of agony. Clementina had just taken the child from her arms +when she sunk motionless at his feet. Florimel went to the bell. +But Clementina prevented her from ringing. + +"I will take her away," she said. "Do not expose her to your servants. +Lady Lossie, my Lord Liftore is the father of this child: and if +you can marry him after the way you have seen him use its mother, +you are not too good for him, and I will trouble myself no more +about you." + +"I know the author of this calumny!" cried Florimel, panting and +flushed. "You have been listening to the inventions of an ungrateful +dependent! You slander my guest." + +"Is it a calumny, my lord? Do I slander you?" said Lady Clementina, +turning sharply upon the earl. + +His lordship made her a cool obeisance. Clementina ran into +the library, laid the child in a big chair, and returned for the +mother. She was already coming a little to herself; and feeling +about blindly for her baby, while Florimel and Liftore were looking +out of the window, with their backs towards her. Clementina raised +and led her from the room. But in the doorway she turned and said +--"Goodbye, Lady Lossie. I thank you for your hospitality, but I +can of course be your guest no longer." + +"Of course not. There is no occasion for prolonged leave taking," +returned Florimel, with the air of a woman of forty. + +"Florimel, you will curse the day you marry that man!" cried +Clementina, and closed the door. + +She hurried Lizzy to the library, put the baby in her arms, and +clasped them both in her own. A gush of tears lightened the oppressed +heart of the mother. + +"Lat me oot o' the hoose, for God's sake!" she cried; and Clementina, +almost as anxious to leave it as she, helped her down to the hall. +When she saw the open door, she rushed out of it as if escaping +from the pit. + +Now Malcolm, as he came from the factor's, had seen her go in +with her baby in her arms, and suspected the hand of Clementina. +Wondering and anxious, but not very hopeful as to what might come +of it, he waited close by; and when now he saw Lizzy dart from the +house in wild perturbation, he ran from the cover of the surrounding +trees into the open drive to meet her. + +"Ma'colm!" groaned the poor girl, holding out her baby, "he winna +own till't. He winna alloo 'at he kens oucht aboot me or the bairn +aither!" + +Malcolm had taken the child from her, and was clasping him to his +bosom. + +"He's the warst rascal, Lizzy," he said, "'at ever God made an' +the deevil blaudit." + +"Na, na," cried Lizzy; "the likes o' him whiles kills the wuman, +but he wadna du that. Na, he's nae the warst; there's a heap waur +nor him." + +"Did ye see my mistress?" asked Malcolm. + +"Ow ay; but she luikit sae angry at me, I cudna speyk. Him an' her +'s ower thrang for her to believe onything again' him. An' what +ever the bairn 's to du wantin' a father!" + +"Lizzy," said Malcolm, clasping the child again to his bosom. "I +s' be a father to yer bairn--that is, as weel's ane 'at's no yer +man can be." + +And he kissed the child tenderly. + +The same moment an undefined impulse--the drawing of eyes probably +--made him lift his towards the house: half leaning from the open +window of the boudoir above him, stood Florimel and Liftore; and +just as he looked up, Liftore was turning to Florimel with a smile +that seemed to say--"There! I told you so! He is the father +himself." + +Malcolm replaced the infant in his mother's arm, and strode towards +the house. Imagining he went to avenge her wrongs, Lizzy ran after +him. + +"Ma'colm Ma'colm!" she cried; "--for my sake!--He's the father +o' my bairn!" + +Malcolm turned. + +"Lizzy," he said solemnly, "I winna lay han' upon 'im." + +Lizzy pressed her child closer with a throb of relief. + +"Come in yersel' an' see," he added. + +"I daurna! I daurna!" she said. But she lingered about the door. + + + +CHAPTER LXX: THE DISCLOSURE + + +When the earl saw Malcolm coming, although he was no coward, and +had reason to trust his skill, yet knowing himself both in the wrong +and vastly inferior in strength to his enemy, it may be pardoned +him that for the next few seconds his heart doubled its beats. But +of all things he must not show fear before Florimel! + +"What can the fellow be after now?" he said. "I must go down to +him." + +"No, no; don't go near him--he may be violent," objected Florimel, +and laid her hand on his arm with a beseeching look in her face. +"He is a dangerous man." + +Liftore laughed. + +"Stop here till I return," he said, and left the room. + +But Florimel followed, fearful of what might happen, and enraged +with her brother. + +Malcolm's brief detention by Lizzy gave Liftore a little advantage, +for just as Malcolm approached the top of the great staircase, +Liftore gained it. Hastening to secure the command of the position, +and resolved to shun all parley, he stood ready to strike. Malcolm, +however, caught sight of him and his attitude in time, and, fearful +of breaking his word to Lizzy, pulled himself up abruptly a few +steps from the top--just as Florimel appeared. + +"MacPhail," she said, sweeping to the stair like an indignant +goddess, "I discharge you from my service. Leave the house instantly." + +Malcolm turned, flew down, and ran to the servants' stair half the +length of the house away. As he crossed the servants' hall he saw +Rose. She was the only one in the house except Clementina to whom +he could look for help. + +"Come after me, Rose," he said without stopping. + +She followed instantly, as fast as she could run, and saw him +enter the drawing room. Florimel and Liftore were there. The earl +had Florimel's hand in his. + +"For God's sake, my lady!" cried Malcolm, "hear me one word before +you promise that man anything." + +His lordship started back from Florimel, and turned upon Malcolm +in a fury. But he had not now the advantage of the stair, and +hesitated. Florimel's eyes dilated with wrath. + +"I tell you for the last time, my lady," said Malcolm, "if you +marry that man, you will marry a liar and a scoundrel." + +Liftore laughed, and his imitation of scorn was wonderfully successful, +for he felt sure of Florimel, now that she had thus taken his part. + +"Shall I ring for the servants, Lady Lossie, to put the fellow +out?" he said. "The man is as mad as a March hare." + +Meantime Lady Clementina, her maid having gone to send her man to +get horses for her at once, was alone in her room, which was close +to the drawing room: hearing Malcolm's voice, she ran to the door, +and saw Rose in a listening attitude at that of the drawing room. + +"What are you doing there?" she said. + +"Mr MacPhail told me to follow him, my lady, and I am waiting here +till he wants me." + +Clementina went into the drawing room, and was present during all +that now follows. Lizzy also, hearing loud voices and still afraid +of mischief had come peering up the stair, and now approached the +other door; behind Florimel and the earl. + +"So!" cried Florimel, "this is the way you keep your promise to my +father!" + +"It is, my lady. To associate the name of Liftore with his would be +to blot the scutcheon of Lossie. He is not fit to walk the street +with men: his touch is to you an utter degradation. My lady, in +the name of your father, I beg a word with you in private." + +"You insult me." + +"I beg of you, my lady--for your own dear sake." + +"Once more I order you to leave my house, and never set foot in it +again." + +"You hear her ladyship?" cried Liftore. "Get out." He approached +threateningly. + +"Stand back," said Malcolm. "If it were not that I promised +the poor girl carrying your baby out there, I should soon--" + +It was unwisely said: the earl came on the bolder. For all Malcolm +could do to parry, evade, or stop his blows, he had soon taken several +pretty severe ones. Then came the voice of Lizzy in an agony from +the door-- + +"Haud aff o' yersel', Ma'colm. I canna bide it. I gi'e ye back yer +word." + +"We'll manage yet Lizzy," answered Malcolm, and kept warily +retreating towards a window. Suddenly he dashed his elbow through +a pane, and gave a loud shrill whistle, the same instant receiving +a blow over the eye which the blood followed. Lizzy made a rush +forward, but the terror that the father would strike the child he +had disowned, seized her, and she stood trembling. Already, however, +Clementina and Rose had darted between, and, full of rage as he +was, Liftore was compelled to restrain himself. + +"Oh!" he said, "if ladies want a share in the row, I must yield my +place," and drew back. + +The few men servants now came hurrying all together into the room. + +"Take that rascal there, and put him under the pump," said Liftore. +"He is mad." + +"My fellow servants know better than touch me," said Malcolm. + +The men looked to their mistress. + +"Do as my lord tells you," she said, "--and instantly." + +"Men," said Malcolm, "I have spared that foolish lord there for +the sake of this fisher girl and his child, but don't one of you +touch me." + +Stoat was a brave enough man, and not a little jealous of Malcolm, +but he dared not obey his mistress. + +And now came the tramp of many feet along the landing from the +stair head, and the six fisherman entered, two and two. Florimel +started forward. + +"My brave fisherman!" she cried. "Take that bad man MacPhail, and +put him out of my grounds." + +"I canna du't, my leddy," answered their leader. + +"Take Lord Liftore," said Malcolm, "and hold him, while I make him +acquainted with a fact or two which he may judge of consequence to +him." + +The men walked straight up to the earl. He struck right and left, +but was overpowered in a moment, and held fast. + +"Stan' still," said Peter, "or I ha'e a han'fu' o' twine i' my +pooch 'at I'll jist cast a k-not aboot yer airms wi' in a jiffey." + +His lordship stood still, muttering curses. + +Then Malcolm stepped into the middle of the room approaching his +sister. + +"I tell you to leave the house," Florimel shrieked, beside herself +with fury, yet pale as marble with a growing terror for which she +could ill have accounted. + +"Florimel!" said Malcolm solemnly, calling her sister by name for +the first time. + +"You insolent wretch!" she cried, panting. "What right have you, +if you be, as you say, my base born brother, to call me by my name." + +"Florimel!" repeated Malcolm, and the voice was like the voice of +her father, "I have done what I could to serve you." + +"And I want no more such service!" she returned, beginning to +tremble. + +"But you have driven me almost to extremities," he went on, heedless +of her interruption. "Beware of doing so quite." + +"Will nobody take pity on me?" said Florimel, and looked round +imploringly. Then, finding herself ready to burst into tears, she +gathered all her pride, and stepping up to Malcolm, looked him in +the face, and said, + +"Pray, sir! is this house yours or mine?" + +"Mine," answered Malcolm. "I am the Marquis of Lossie, and while I +am your elder brother and the head of the family, you shall never +with my consent marry that base man--a man it would blast me to +the soul to call brother." + +Liftore uttered a fierce imprecation. + +"If you dare give breath to another such word in my sister's presence, +I will have you gagged," said Malcolm. "If my sister marries him," +he continued, turning again to Florimel, "not one shilling shall +she take with her beyond what she may happen to have in her purse +at the moment. She is in my power, and I will use it to the utmost +to protect her from that man." + +"Proof!" cried Liftore sullenly. But Florimel gazed with pale +dilated eyes in the face of the speaker. She knew his words were +true. Her soul assured her of it. + +"To my sister," answered Malcolm, "I will give all the proof she +may please to require; to Lord Liftore I will not even repeat my +assertion. To him I will give no shadow of proof. I will but cast +him out of my house. Stoat, order horses for Lady Bellair." + +"Gien ye please, sir, my Lord," replied Stoat, "the Lossie Airms +horses is ordered a'ready for Lady Clementina." + +"Will my Lady Clementina oblige me by yielding her horses to Lady +Bellair?" said Malcolm, turning to her. + +"Certainly, my lord," answered Clementina. + +"You, I trust, my lady," said Malcolm, "will stay a little longer +with my sister." + +Lady Bellair came up. + +"My lord," she said, "is this the marquis or the fisherman's way +of treating a lady?" + +"Neither. But do not drive me to give the rein to my tongue. Let +it be enough to say that my house shall never be what your presence +would make it." + +He turned to the fishermen. + +"Three of you take that lord to the town gate, and leave him on the +other side of it. His servant shall follow as soon as the horses +come." + +"I will go with you," said Florimel, crossing to Lady Bellair. + +Malcolm took her by the arm. For one moment she struggled, but +finding no one dared interfere, submitted, and was led from the +room like a naughty child. + +"Keep my lord there till I return," he said as he went. + +He led her into the room which had been her mother's boudoir, and +when he had shut the door, + +"Florimel," he said, "I have striven to serve you the best way I +knew. Your father, when he confessed me his heir, begged me to be +good to you, and I promised him. Would I have given all these months +of my life to the poor labour of a groom, allowed my people to be +wronged and oppressed, my grandfather to be a wanderer, and my best +friend to sit with his lips of wisdom sealed, but for your sake? I +can hardly say it was for my father's sake, for I should have done +the same had he never said a word about you. Florimel, I loved +my sister, and longed for her goodness. But she has foiled all my +endeavours. She has not loved or followed the truth. She has been +proud and disdainful, and careless of right. Yourself young and +pure, and naturally recoiling from evil, you have yet cast from you +the devotion of a noble, gifted, large hearted, and great souled +man, for the miserable preference of the smallest, meanest, vilest +of men. Nor that only! for with him you have sided against the woman +he most bitterly wrongs: and therein you wrong the nature and the +God of women. Once more, I pray you to give up this man; to let +your true self speak and send him away." + +"Sir, I go with my Lady Bellair, driven from her father's house by +one who calls himself my brother. My lawyer shall make inquiries." + +She would have left the room, but he intercepted her. + +"Florimel," he said, "you are casting the pearl of your womanhood +before a swine. He will trample it under his feet and turn again +and rend you. He will treat you worse still than poor Lizzy, whom +he troubles no more with his presence." + +He had again taken her arm in his great grasp. + +"Let me go. You are brutal. I shall scream." + +"You shall not go until you have heard all the truth." + +"What! more truth still? Your truth is anything but pleasant." + +"It is more unpleasant yet than you surmise. Florimel, you have +driven me to it. I would have prepared you a shield against the +shock which must come, but you compel me to wound you to the quick. +I would have had you receive the bitter truth from lips you loved, +but you drove those lips of honour from you, and now there are +left to utter it only the lips you hate, yet the truth you shall +receive: it may help to save you from weakness, arrogance, and +falsehood.--Sister, your mother was never Lady Lossie." + +"You lie. I know you lie. Because you wrong me, you would brand me +with dishonour, to take from me as well the sympathy of the world. +But I defy you." + +"Alas! there is no help, sister. Your mother indeed passed as Lady +Lossie, but my mother, the true Lady Lossie, was alive all the +time, and in truth, died only last year. For twenty years my mother +suffered for yours in the eye of the law. You are no better than +the little child his father denied in your presence. Give that man +his dismissal, or he will give you yours. Never doubt it. Refuse +again, and I go from this room to publish in the next the fact that +you are neither Lady Lossie nor Lady Florimel Colonsay. You have +no right to any name but your mother's. You are Miss Gordon." + +She gave a great gasp at the word, but bravely fought the horror +that was taking possession of her. She stood with one hand on the +back of a chair, her face white, her eyes starting, her mouth a +little open and rigid--her whole appearance, except for the breath +that came short and quick, that of one who had died in sore pain. + +"All that is now left you," concluded Malcolm, "is the choice between +sending Liftore away, and being abandoned by him. That choice you +must now make." + +The poor girl tried to speak, but could not. Her fire was burning +out, her forced strength fast failing her. + +"Florimel," said Malcolm, and knelt on one knee and took her hand. +It gave a flutter as if it would fly like a bird; but the net of +his love held it, and it lay passive and cold. "Florimel, I will +be your true brother. I am your brother, your very own brother, to +live for you, love you, fight for you, watch and ward you, till a +true man takes you for his wife." Her hand quivered like a leaf. +"Sister, when you and I appear before our father, I shall hold up +my face before him: will you?" + +"Send him away," she breathed rather than said, and sank on the +floor. He lifted her, laid her on a couch, and returned to the +drawing room. + +"My lady Clementina," he said, "will you oblige me by going to my +sister in the room at the top of the stair?" + +"I will, my lord," she answered, and went. + +Malcolm walked up to Liftore. + +"My lord," he said, "my sister takes leave of you." + +"I must have my dismissal from her own lips." + +"You shall have it from the hands of my fishermen. Take him away." + +"You shall hear from me, my lord marquis, if such you be," said +Liftore. + +"Let it be of your repentance, then, my lord," said Malcolm. "That +I shall be glad to hear of." + +As he turned from him, he saw Caley gliding through the little +group of servants towards the door. He walked after her, laid his +hand on her shoulder, and whispered a word in her ear, she grew +gray rather than white, and stood still. + +Turning again to go to Florimel, he saw the fishermen stopped with +their charge in the doorway by Mr Morrison and Mr Soutar, entering +together. + +"My lord! my lord!" said the lawyer, coming hastily up to him, +"there can be surely no occasion for such--such--measures!" + +Catching sight of Malcolm's wounded forehead, however, he supplemented +the remark with a low exclamation of astonishment and dismay-- +the tone saying almost as clearly as words, "How ill and foolishly +everything is managed without a lawyer!" + +Malcolm only smiled, and went up to the magistrate, whom he led +into the middle of the room, saying, + +"Mr Morrison, every one here knows you: tell them who I am." + +"The Marquis of Lossie, my lord," answered Mr Morrison; "and from +my heart I congratulate your people that at length you assume the +rights and honours of your position." + +A murmur of pleasure arose in response. Ere it ceased, Malcolm +started and sprung to the door. There stood Lenorme! He seized him +by the arm, and, without a word of explanation, hurried him to the +room where his sister was. He called Clementina, drew her from the +room, half pushed Lenorme in, and closed the door. + +"Will you meet me on the sand hill at sunset, my lady?" he said. + +She smiled assent. He gave her the key of the tunnel, hinted that +she might leave the two to themselves for awhile, and returned to +his friends in the drawing room. + +Having begged them to excuse him for a little while, and desired +Mrs Courthope to serve luncheon for them, he ran to his grandfather, +dreading lest any other tongue than his own should yield him +the opened secret. He was but just in time, for already the town +was in a tumult, and the spreading ripples of the news were fast +approaching Duncan's ears. + +Malcolm found him, expectant and restless. When he disclosed himself +he manifested little astonishment, only took him in his arms and +pressed him to his bosom, saying, "Ta Lort pe praised, my son! and +she wouldn't pe at aal surprised." Then he broke out in a fervent +ejaculation of Gaelic, during which he turned instinctively to +his pipes, for through them lay the final and only sure escape for +the prisoned waters of the overcharged reservoir of his feelings. +While he played, Malcolm slipped out, and hurried to Miss Horn. + +One word to her was enough. The stern old woman burst into tears, +crying, + +"Oh, my Grisel! my Grisel! Luik doon frae yer bonny hoose amo' the +stars, an' see the braw laad left ahint ye, an' praise the lord 'at +ye ha'e sic a son o' yer boady to come hame to ye whan a' 's ower." + +She sobbed and wept for a while without restraint. Then suddenly +she rose, dabbed her eyes indignantly, and cried, + +"Hoot! I'm an auld fule. A body wad think I hed feelin's efter a'!" + +Malcolm laughed, and she could not help joining him. + +"Ye maun come the morn an' chise yer ain room i' the Hoose," he +said. + +"What mean ye by that, laddie?" + +"At ye'll ha'e to come an' bide wi' me noo." + +"'Deed an' I s' du naething o' the kin', Ma'colm! H'ard ever onybody +sic nonsense! What wad I du wi' Jean? An' I cudna thole men fowk +to wait upo' me. I wad be clean affrontit." + +"Weel, weel! we'll see," said Malcolm. + +On his way back to the House, he knocked at Mrs Catanach's door, +and said a few words to her which had a remarkable effect on the +expression of her plump countenance and deep set black eyes. + +When he reached home, he ran up the main staircase, knocked at +the first door, opened it, and peeped in. There sat Lenorme on the +couch, with Florimel on his knees, nestling her head against his +shoulder, like a child that had been very naughty but was fully +forgiven. Her face was blotted with her tears, and her hair was +everywhere; but there was a light of dawning goodness all about her, +such as had never shone in her atmosphere before. By what stormy +sweet process the fountain of this light had been unsealed, no one +ever knew but themselves. + +She did not move when Malcolm entered--more than just to bring +the palms of her hands together, and look up in his face. + +"Have you told him all, Florimel?" he asked. + +"Yes, Malcolm," she answered. "Tell him again yourself." + +"No, Florimel. Once is enough." + +"I told him all," she said with a gasp; then gave a wild little +cry, and, with subdued exultation, added, "and he loves me yet! He +has taken the girl without a name to his heart!" + +"No wonder," said Malcolm, "when she brought it with her." + +"Yes," said Lenorme, "I but took the diamond casket that held my +bliss, and now I could dare the angel Gabriel to match happinesses +with me." + +Poor Florimel, for all her worldly ways, was but a child. +Bad associates had filled her with worldly maxims and words and +thoughts and judgments. She had never loved Liftore, she had only +taken delight in his flatteries. And now had come the shock of +a terrible disclosure, whose significance she read in remembered +looks and tones and behaviours of the world. Her insolence to +Malcolm when she supposed his the nameless fate, had recoiled in +lurid interpretation of her own. She was a pariah--without root, +without descent, without fathers to whom to be gathered. She was +nobody. From the courted and flattered and high seated and powerful, +she was a nobody! Then suddenly to this poor houseless, wind beaten, +rain wet nobody, a house--no, a home she had once looked into +with longing, had opened, and received her to its heart, that it +might be fulfilled which was written of old, "A man shall be as an +hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." Knowing +herself a nobody, she now first began to be a somebody. She had +been dreaming pleasant but bad dreams: she woke, and here was a +lovely, unspeakably blessed and good reality, which had been waiting +for her all the time on the threshold of her sleep! She was baptized +into it with the tears of sorrow and shame. She had been a fool, +but now she knew it, and was going to be wise. + +"Will you come to your brother, Florimel?" said Malcolm tenderly, +holding out his arms. + +Lenorme raised her. She went softly to him, and laid herself on +his bosom. + +"Forgive me, brother," she said, and held up her face. + +He kissed her forehead and lips, took her in his arms, and laid +her again on Lenorme's knees. + +"I give her to you," he said, "for you are good." + +With that he left them, and sought Mr Morrison and Mr Soutar, who +were waiting him over a glass of wine after their lunch. An hour +of business followed, in which, amongst other matters, they talked +about the needful arrangements for a dinner to his people, fishers +and farmers and all. + +After the gentlemen took their leave, nobody saw him for hours. +Till sunset approached he remained alone, shut up in the Wizard's +Chamber, the room in which he was born. Part of the time he occupied +in writing to Mr Graham. + +As the sun's orbed furnace fell behind the tumbling waters, Malcolm +turned his face inland from the wet strip of shining shore on which +he had been pacing, and ascended the sandhill. + +From the other side Clementina, but a moment later, ascended also. +On the top they met, in the red light of the sunset. They clasped +each the other's hand, and stood for a moment in silence. + +"Ah, my lord!" said the lady, "how shall I thank you that you kept +your secret from me! But my heart is sore to lose my fisherman." + +"My lady," returned Malcolm, "you have not lost your fisherman; +you have only found your groom." + +And the sun went down, and the twilight came, and the night followed, +and the world of sea and land and wind and vapour was around them, +and the universe of stars and spaces over and under them, and +eternity within them, and the heart of each for a chamber to the +other, and God filling all--nay, nay--God's heart containing, +infolding, cherishing all--saving all, from height to height of +intensest being, by the bliss of that love whose absolute devotion +could utter itself only in death. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI: THE ASSEMBLY + + +That same evening, Duncan, in full dress, claymore and dirk at his +sides, and carrying the great Lossie pipes, marched first through +the streets of the upper, then through the closes of the lower +town, followed by the bellman who had been appointed crier upon +his disappearance. At the proper stations, Duncan blew a rousing +pibroch, after which the bellman, who, for the dignity of his calling, +insisted on a prelude of three strokes of his clapper, proclaimed +aloud that Malcolm, Marquis of Lossie, desired the presence of each +and every of his tenants in the royal burgh of Portlossie, Newton +and Seaton, in the town hall of the same, at seven of the clock +upon the evening next following. + +The proclamation ended, the piper sounded one note three times, +and they passed to the next station. When they had gone through the +Seaton, they entered a carriage waiting for them at the sea gate, +and were driven to Scaurnose, and thence again to the several other +villages on the coast belonging to the marquis, making at each in +like manner the same announcement. + +Portlossie was in a ferment of wonder, satisfaction, and pleasure. +There were few in it who were not glad at the accession of Malcolm, +and with every one of those few the cause lay in himself. In +the shops, among the nets, in the curing sheds, in the houses and +cottages, nothing else was talked about; and stories and reminiscences +innumerable were brought out, chiefly to prove that Malcolm +had always appeared likely to turn out somebody, the narrator not +seldom modestly hinting at a glimmering foresight on his own part +of what had now been at length revealed to the world. His friends +were jubilant as revellers. For Meg Partan, she ran from house to +house like a maniac, laughing and crying. It was as if the whole +Seaton had suddenly been translated. The men came crowding about +Duncan, congratulating him and asking him a hundred questions. +But the old man maintained a reticence whose dignity was strangely +mingled of pomp and grace; sat calm and stately as feeling the +glow of reflected honour; would not, by word, gesture, tone, or +exclamation, confess to any surprise; behaved as if he had known it +all the time; made no pretence however of having known it, merely +treated the fact as not a whit more than might have been looked +for by one who had known Malcolm as he had known him. + +Davy, in his yacht uniform, was the next morning appointed the +marquis's personal attendant, and a running time he had of it for +a fortnight. + +Almost the first thing that fell to him in his office was to show +into the room on the ground floor where his master sat--the same +in which for ages the lords of Lossie had been wont to transact +what little business any of them ever attended to--a pale, feeble +man, bowed by the weight of a huge brass clasped volume under each +arm. His lordship rose and met him with outstretched hand. + +"I am glad indeed to see you, Mr Crathie," he said, "but I fear +you are out too soon." + +"I am quite well since yesterday, my lord," returned the factor, his +face shining with pleasure. "Your lordship's accession has made a +young man of me again. Here I am to render account of my stewardship." + +"I want none, Mr Crathie--nothing, that is, beyond a summary +statement of how things stand with me." + +"I should like to satisfy your lordship that I have dealt honestly +"--here the factor paused for a moment, then with an effort added +--"by you, my lord." + +"One word," said Malcolm "--the last of the sort, I believe, that +will ever pass between us. Thank God! we had made it up before +yesterday.--If you have ever been hard upon any of my tenants, +not to say unfair, you have wronged me infinitely more than if +you had taken from me. God be with me as I prefer ruin to wrong. +Remember, besides, that my tenants are my charge and care. For +you, my representative, therefore, to do one of them an injury is +to do me a double injury--to wrong my tenant, and to wrong him +in my name." + +"Ah, my lord! you don't know how they would take advantage of you, +if there were nobody to look after your interests." + +"Then do look after them, sir. It would be bad for them to succeed, +as well as crippling to me. Only be sure, with the thought of the +righteous God to elevate your sense of justice, that you are in +the right. If doubtful, then give in.--And now, if any man thinks +he has cause of complaint, I leave it to you, with the help of the +new light that has been given you, to reconsider the matter, and, +where needful, to make reparation. You must be the friend of my +tenant as much as of his landlord. I have no interests inimical to +those of my tenants. If any man comes to me with complaint, I will +send him to restate his case to you, with the understanding that, +if you will not listen to him, he is to come to me again, when I +shall hear both sides and judge between. If after six months you +should desire me to go over the books with you, I will do so. As +to your loyalty to my family and its affairs, of that I never had +a shadow of suspicion." + +As he ended, Malcolm held out his hand. The factor's trembled in +his strong grasp. + +"Mistress Crathie is sorely vexed, my lord," he said, rising to +take his leave, "at things both said and done in the dark." + +Malcolm laughed. + +"Give Mrs Crathie my compliments," he said, "and tell her a man +is more than a marquis. If she will after this treat every honest +fisherman as if he might possibly turn out a lord, she and I shall +be more than quits." + +The next morning he carried her again a few mackerel he had just +caught, and she never forgot the lesson given her. That morning, I +may mention, he did not go fishing alone, but had a lady with him +in the dinghy; and indeed they were together, in one place and +another, the most of the day--at one time flying along the fields, +she on the bay mare, and he on Kelpie. + +When the evening came, the town hall was crammed--men standing +on all the window sills; and so many could not get in that Malcolm +proposed they should occupy the square in front. A fisherman in +garb and gesture, not the less a gentleman and a marquis, he stood +on the steps of the town hall and spoke to his people. They received +him with wild enthusiasm. + +"The open air is better for everything," he began. "Fishers, I have +called you first, because you are my own people. I am, and shall be +a fisherman, after such fashion, I trust, as will content my old +comrades. How things have come about, I shall not now tell you. Come +all of you and dine with me, and you shall hear enough to satisfy +at least lawful curiosity. At present my care is that you should +understand the terms upon which it is possible for us to live +together as friends. I make no allusion to personal friendships. +A true friend is for ever a friend. And I venture to say my old +friends know best both what I am and what I shall be. As to them I +have no shadow of anxiety. But I would gladly be a friend to all, +and will do my endeavour to that end. + +"You of Portlossie shall have your harbour cleared without delay." + +In justice to the fishers I here interrupt my report to state that +the very next day they set about clearing the harbour themselves. +It was their business--in part at least, they said, and they were +ashamed of having left it so long. This did much towards starting +well for a new order of things. + +"You of Scaurnose shall hear the blasting necessary for your harbour +commence within a fortnight; and every house shall ere long have a +small piece of land at a reasonable rate allotted to it. But I feel +bound to mention that there are some among you upon whom, until +I see that they carry themselves differently, I must keep an eye. +That they have shown themselves unfriendly to myself in my attempts +to persuade them to what they knew to be right, I shall endeavour +to forget, but I give them warning that whoever shall hereafter +disturb the peace or interfere with the liberty of my people, shall +assuredly be cast out of my borders, and that as soon as the law +will permit. + +"I shall take measures that all complaints shall be heard, and all +save foolish ones heeded; for, as much as in me lies, I will to +execute justice and judgment and righteousness in the land. Whoever +oppresses or wrongs his neighbour shall have to do with me. And +to aid me in doing justice, I pray the help of every honest man. +I have not been so long among you without having in some measure +distinguished between the men who have heart and brain, and the +men who have merely a sense of their own importance--which latter +class unhappily, always takes itself for the former. I will deal +with every man as I find him. I am set to rule, and rule I will. +He who loves righteousness, will help me to rule; he who loves it +not, shall be ruled, or depart." + +The address had been every now and then interrupted by a hearty +cheer; at this point the cheering was greatly prolonged; after it +there was no more. For thus he went on: + +"And now I am about to give you proof that I mean what I say, and +that evil shall not come to the light without being noted and dealt +with. + +"There are in this company two women--my eyes are at this moment +upon them where they stand together. One of them is already well +known to you all by sight: now you shall know, not what she looks, +but what she is. Her name, or at least that by which she goes among +you, is Barbara Catanach. The other is an Englishwoman of whom you +know nothing. Her name is Caley." + +All eyes were turned upon the two. Even Mrs Catanach was cowed by +the consciousness of the universal stare, and a kind of numb thrill +went through her from head to foot. + +"Well assured that if I brought a criminal action against them, it +would hang them both, I trust you will not imagine it revenge that +moves me thus to expose them. In refraining from prosecuting them, +I bind myself of necessity to see that they work no more evil. +In giving them time for repentance, I take the consequences upon +myself. I am bound to take care that they do not employ the respite +in doing mischief to their neighbours. Without precaution I could +not be justified in sparing them. Therefore those women shall not +go forth to pass for harmless members of society, and see the life +and honour of others lie bare to their secret attack. They shall +live here, in this town, thoroughly known; and absolutely distrusted. +And that they may thus be known and distrusted, I publicly declare +that I hold proof against these women of having conspired to kill +me. From the effects of the poison they succeeded in giving me, +I fear I shall never altogether recover. I can prove also, to the +extreme of circumstantial evidence, that there is the blood of one +child at least upon the hands of each; and that there are mischiefs +innumerable upon their lying tongues, it were an easy task to convince +you. If I wrong them, let them accuse me; and whether they lose or +gain their suit, I promise before you for witnesses, I will pay +all; only thereby they will compel me to bring my actions for murder +and conspiracy. Let them choose. + +"Hear what I have determined concerning them. The woman Catanach +shall take to her cottage the woman Caley. That cottage they shall +have rent free: who could receive money from such hands? I will +appoint them also a sufficiency for life and maintenance, bare indeed, +for I would not have them comfortable. But they shall be free to +work if they can find any to employ them. If, however, either shall +go beyond the bounds I set, she shall be followed the moment she +is missed, and that with a warrant for her apprehension. And I beg +all honest people to keep an eye upon them. According as they live +shall their life be. If they come to repentance, they will bless +the day I resolved upon such severe measures on their behalf. Let +them go to their place." + +I will not try to describe the devilish look, mingled of contempt +and hate, that possessed the countenance of the midwife, as, with +head erect, and eyes looking straight before her, she obeyed the +command. Caley, white as death, trembled and tottered, nor dared +once look up as she followed her companion to their appointed hell. +Whether they made it pleasant for each other my reader may debate +with himself. Before many months had gone by, stared at and shunned +by all, even by Miss Horn's Jean, driven back upon her own memories, +and the pictures that rose out of them, and deprived of every chance +of indulging her dominant passion for mischievous influence, the +midwife's face told such a different tale, that the schoolmaster +began to cherish a feeble hope that within a few years Mrs Catanach +might get so far as to begin to suspect she was a sinner--that +she had actually done things she ought not to have done. One of +those things that same night Malcolm heard from the lips of Duncan, +a tale of horror and dismay. Not until then did he know, after all +he knew concerning her, what the woman was capable of. + +At his own entreaty, Duncan was formally recognized as piper to the +Marquis of Lossie. His ambition reached no higher. Malcolm himself +saw to his perfect equipment, heedful specially that his kilt and +plaid should be of Duncan's own tartan of red and blue and green. +His dirk and broadsword he had new sheathed, with silver mountings. +A great silver brooch with a big cairngorm in the centre, took +the place of the brass one, which henceforth was laid up among the +precious things in the little armoury, and the badge of his clan +in gold, with rubies and amethysts for the bells of the heather, +glowed on his bonnet. And Malcolm's guests, as long as Duncan +continued able to fill the bag, had to endure as best they might, +between each course of every dinner without fail, two or three +minutes of uproar and outcry from the treble throat of the powerful +Lossie pipes. By his own desire, the piper had a chair and small +table set for him behind and to the right of his chief, as he called +him; there he ate with the family and guests, waited upon by Davy, +part of whose business it was to hand him the pipes at the proper +moment, whereupon he rose to his feet, for even he with all his +experience and habitude was unable in a sitting posture to keep +that stand of pipes full of wind, and raised such a storm of sound +as made the windows tremble. A lady guest would now and then venture +to hint that the custom was rather a trying one for English ears; +but Clementina would never listen to a breath against Duncan's +music. Her respect and affection for the old man were unbounded. + +Malcolm was one of the few who understand the shelter of light, the +protection to be gained against lying tongues by the discarding of +needless reticence, and the open presentation of the truth. Many +men who would not tell a lie, yet seem to have faith in concealment: +they would rather not reveal the truth; darkness seems to offer +them the cover of a friendly wing. But there is no veil like light +--no adamantine armour against hurt like the truth. To Malcolm +it was one of the promises of the kingdom that there is nothing +covered that shall not be revealed. He was anxious, therefore, to +tell his people, at the coming dinner, the main points of his story, +and certain that such openness would also help to lay the foundation +of confidence between him and his people. The one difficulty in +the way was the position of Florimel. But that could not fail to +appear in any case, and he was satisfied that even for her sake +it was far better to speak openly; for then the common heart would +take her in and cover her. He consulted, therefore, with Lenorme, +who went to find her. She came, threw her arms round his neck and +begged him to say whatever he thought best. + +To add the final tinge to the rainbow of Malcolm's joy, on the +morning of the dinner the schoolmaster arrived. It would be hard +to say whether Malcolm or Clementina was the more delighted to see +him. He said little with his tongue, but much with his eyes and +face and presence. + +This time the tables were not set in different parts of the grounds, +but gathered upon the level of the drive and the adjacent lawny +spaces between the house and the trees. Malcolm, in full highland +dress as chief of his clan, took the head of the central table, with +Florimel in the place of honour at his right hand, and Clementina +on his left. Lenorme sat next to Florimel, and Annie Mair next to +Lenorme. On the other side, Mr Graham sat next to Clementina, Miss +Horn next to Mr Graham, and Blue Peter next to Miss Horn. Except +Mr Morrison, he had asked none who were not his tenants or servants +or in some way connected with the estates, except indeed a few +whom he counted old friends, amongst them some aged beggar folk, +waiting their summons to Abraham's bosom--in which there was no +such exceptional virtue on the marquis's part, for, the poor law +not having yet invaded Scotland, a man was not without the respect +of his neighbours merely because he was a beggar. He set Mr Morrison +to preside at the farmers' tables, and had all the fisher folk +about himself. + +When the main part of the dinner was over, he rose, and with as +much circumstance as he thought desirable, told his story, beginning +with the parts in it his uncle and Mrs Catanach had taken. It was, +however, he said, a principle in the history of the world, that +evil should bring forth good, and his poor little cock boat had +been set adrift upon an ocean of blessing. For had he not been +taken to the heart of one of the noblest and simplest of men, who +had brought him up in honourable poverty and rectitude? When he had +said this, he turned to Duncan, who sat at his own table behind him, +with his pipe on a stool covered with a rich cloth by his side. + +"You all know my grandfather," he went on, "and you all respect +him." + +At this rose a great shout. + +"I thank you, my friends," he continued. "My desire is that every +soul upon land of mine should carry himself to Duncan MacPhail +as if he were in blood that which he is in deed and in truth, my +grandfather." + +A second great shout arose, which wavered and sank when they saw +the old man bow his head upon his hands. + +He went on to speak of the privileges he alone of all his race had +ever enjoyed--the privileges of toil and danger, with all their +experiences of human dependence and divine aid; the privilege of +the confidence and companionship of honourable labouring men, and +the understanding of their ways and thoughts and feelings; and, +above all, the privilege of the friendship and instruction of the +schoolmaster, to whom he owed more than eternity could reveal. + +Then he turned again to his narrative, and told how his father, +falsely informed that his wife and child were dead, married Florimel's +mother; how his mother, out of compassion for both of them, held +her peace; how for twenty years she had lived with her cousin Miss +Horn, and held her peace even from her; how at last, when, having +succeeded to the property, she heard he was coming to the House, +the thought of his nearness yet unapproachableness--in this way +at least he, the child of both, interpreted the result--so worked +upon a worn and enfeebled frame, that she died. + +Then he told how Miss Horn, after his mother's death, came upon +letters revealing the secret which she had all along known must +exist, but after which, from love and respect for her cousin, she +had never inquired. + +Last of all he told how, in a paroxysm of rage, Mrs Catanach had +let the secret of his birth escape her; how she had afterwards made +affidavit concerning it; and how his father had upon his death bed, +with all necessary legal observances, acknowledged him his son and +heir. + +"And now, to the mighty gladness of my soul," he said, looking on +Florimel at his side, "my dearly loved and honoured sister, loved +and honoured long before I knew she was my own, has accepted me as +her brother, and I do not think she greatly regrets the loss of +the headship of the house which she has passed over to me. She will +lose little else. And of all women it may well be to her a small +matter to lose a mere title, seeing she is so soon to change her +name for one who will bring her honour of a more enduring reality. +For he who is about to become her husband is not only one of the +noblest of men, but a man of genius whose praises she will hear +on all sides. One of his works, the labour and gift of love, you +shall see when we rise from the table. It is a portrait of your +late landlord, my father, painted partly from a miniature, partly +from my sister, partly from the portraits of the family, and partly, +I am happy to think, from myself. You must yourselves judge of the +truth of it. And you will remember that Mr Lenorme never saw my +father. I say this, not to excuse, but to enhance his work. + +"My tenants, I will do my best to give you fair play. My friend +and factor, Mr Crathie, has confided to me his doubts whether he +may not have been a little hard: he is prepared to reconsider some +of your cases. Do not imagine that I am going to be a careless man +of business. I want money, for I have enough to do with it, if only +to set right much that is wrong. But let God judge between you and +me. + +"My fishermen, every honest man of you is my friend, and you shall +know it. Between you and me that is enough. But for the sake of +harmony, and right, and order, and that I may keep near you, I shall +appoint three men of yourselves in each village, to whom any man +or woman may go with request or complaint. If two of those three +men judge the matter fit to refer to me, the probability is that +I shall see it as they do. If any man think them scant of justice +towards him, let him come to me. Should I find myself in doubt, +I have here at my side my beloved and honoured master to whom to +apply for counsel, knowing that what oracle he may utter I shall +receive straight from the innermost parts of a temple of the Holy +Ghost. Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest +with each other. + +"And, in conclusion, why should you hear from any lips but my +own, that this lady beside me, the daughter of an English earl of +ancient house, has honoured the house of Lossie by consenting to +become its marchioness? Lady Clementina Thornicroft possesses large +estates in the south of England, but not for them did I seek her +favour--as you will be convinced when you reflect what the fact +involves which she has herself desired me to make known to you-- +namely, that it was while yet she was unacquainted with my birth +and position, and had never dreamed that I was other than only a +fisherman and a groom, that she accepted me for her husband.-- +I thank my God." + +With that he took his seat, and after hearty cheering, a glass or +two of wine, and several speeches, all rose, and went to look at +the portrait of the late marquis. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII: KNOTTED STRANDS + + +Lady Clementina had to return to England to see her lawyers, and +arrange her affairs. Before she went, she would gladly have gone +with Malcolm over every spot where had passed any portion of his +history, and at each heard its own chapter or paragraph; but Malcolm +obstinately refused to begin such a narration before Clementina +was mistress of the region to which it mainly belonged. After that, +he said, he would, even more gladly, he believed, than she, occupy +all the time that could be spared from the duties of the present in +piecing together the broken reflections of the past in the pools of +memory, until they had lived both their lives over again together, +from earliest recollection to the time when the two streams flowed +into one, thenceforth to mingle more and more inwardly to endless +ages. + +So the Psyche was launched. Lady Clementina, Florimel, and Lenorme +were the passengers, and Malcolm, Blue Peter, and Davy the crew. +There was no room for servants, yet was there no lack of service. +They had rough weather a part of the time, and neither Clementina +nor Lenorme was altogether comfortable, but they made a rapid +voyage, and were all well when they landed at Greenwich. + +Knowing nothing of Lady Bellair's proceedings, they sent Davy +to reconnoitre in Portland Place. He brought back word that there +was no one in the house but an old woman. So Malcolm took Florimel +there. Everything belonging to their late visitors had vanished, +and nobody knew where they had gone. + +Searching the drawers and cabinets, Malcolm, to his unspeakable +delight, found a miniature of his mother, along with one of his +father--a younger likeness than he had yet seen. Also he found +a few letters of his mother--mostly mere notes in pencil; but +neither these nor those of his father which Miss Horn had given +him, would he read: + +"What right has life over the secrets of death ?" he said. "Or +rather, what right have we who sleep over the secrets of those who +have waked from their sleep and left the fragments of their dreams +behind them?" + +Lovingly he laid them together, and burned them to dust flakes. + +"My mother shall tell me what she pleases, when I find her," he said. +"She shall not reprove me for reading her letters to my father." + +They were married, at Wastbeach, both couples in the same ceremony. +Immediately after the wedding, the painter and his bride set out +for Rome, and the marquis and marchioness went on board the Psyche. +For nothing would content Clementina, troubled at the experience +of her first voyage, but she must get herself accustomed to the +sea, as became the wife of a fisherman; therefore in no way would +she journey but on board the Psyche; and as it was the desire of +each to begin their married life at home, they sailed direct for +Portlossie. After a good voyage, however, they landed, in order to +reach home quietly, at Duff Harbour, took horses from there, and +arrived at Lossie House late in the evening. + +Malcolm had written to the housekeeper to prepare for them the +Wizard's Chamber, but to alter nothing on walls or in furniture. +That room, he had resolved, should be the first he occupied with +his bride. Mrs Courthope was scandalized at the idea of taking an +earl's daughter to sleep in the garret, not to mention that the +room had for centuries had an ill name; but she had no choice, and +therefore contented herself with doing all that lay in the power of +woman, under such severe restrictions, to make the dingy old room +cheerful. + +Alone at length in their somewhat strange quarters, concerning +which Malcolm had merely told her that the room was that in which +he was born--what place fitter, thought Clementina, wherein to +commence the long and wonderful story she hungered to hear. Malcolm +would still have delayed it, but she asked question upon question +till she had him fairly afloat. He had not gone far, however, +before he had to make mention of the stair in the wall, which led +from the place where they sat, straight from the house. + +"Can there be such a stair in this room?" she asked in surprise. + +He rose, took a candle, opened a door, then another, and showed +her the first of the steps down which the midwife had carried him, +and descending which, twenty years after, his father had come by +his death. + +"Let us go down," said Clementina. + +"Are you not afraid? Look," said Malcolm. + +"Afraid, and you with me!" she exclaimed. + +"But it is dark, and the steps are broken." + +"If it led to Hades, I would go with my fisherman. The only horror +would be to be left behind." + +"Come then," said Malcolm, "Only you must be very careful." He laid +a shawl on her shoulders, and down they went, Malcolm a few steps +in front, holding the candle to every step for her, many being +broken. + +They came at length where the stair ceased in ruin. He leaped down; +she stooped, put her hands on his shoulder, and dropped into his +arms. Then over the fallen rubbish, out by the groaning door, they +went into the moonlight. + +Clementina was merry as a child. All was so safe and peaceful with +her fisherman! She would not hear of returning. They must have +a walk in the moonlight first! So down the steps and the winding +path into the valley of the burn, and up to the flower garden they +wandered, Clementina telling him how sick the moonlight had made +her feel that night she met him first on the Boar's Tail, when his +words concerning her revived the conviction that he loved Florimel. +At the great stone basin Malcolm set the swan spouting, but the +sweet musical jargon of the falling water seemed almost coarse in +the soundless diapason of the moonlight. So he stopped it again, +and they strolled farther up the garden. + +Clementina venturing to remind him of the sexton-like gardener's +story of the lady and the hermit's cave, which because of its +Scotch, she was unable to follow. Malcolm told her now what John +Jack had narrated, adding that the lady was his own mother, and that +from the gardener's tale he learned that morning at length how to +account for the horror which had seized him on his first entering +the cave, as also for his father's peculiar carriage on that occasion: +doubtless he then caught a likeness in him to his mother. He then +recounted the occurrence circumstantially. + +"I have ever since felt ashamed of the weakness," he concluded: +"but at this moment I believe I could walk in with perfect coolness." + +"We won't try it tonight," said Clementina, and once more turned +him from the place, reverencing the shadow he had brought with him +from the spirit of his mother. + +They walked and sat and talked in the moonlight, for how long +neither knew; and when the moon went behind the trees on the cliff, +and the valley was left in darkness, but a darkness that seemed alive +with the new day soon to be born, they sat yet, lost in a peaceful +unveiling of hearts, till a sudden gust of wind roused Malcolm, +and looking up he saw that the stars were clouded, and knew that +the chill of the morning was drawing near. + +He kept that chamber just as it was ever after, and often retired +to it for meditation. He never restored the ruinous parts of the +stair, and he kept the door at the top carefully closed. But he +cleared out the rubbish that choked the place where the stair had +led lower down, came upon it again in tolerable preservation a +little beneath, and followed it into a passage that ran under the +burn, appearing to lead in the direction of the cave behind the +Baillies' Barn. Doubtless there was some foundation for the legend +of Lord Gernon. + +There however, he abandoned the work, thinking of the possibility +of a time when employment would be scarce, and his people in want +of all he could give them. And when such a time arrived, as arrive +it did before they had been two years married, a far more important +undertaking was found needful to employ the many who must earn or +starve. Then it was that Clementina had the desire of her heart, +and began to lay out the money she had been saving for the purpose, +in rebuilding the ancient Castle of Colonsay. Its vaults were emptied +of rubbish and ruin, the rock faced afresh, walls and towers and +battlements raised, until at last, when the loftiest tower seemed +to have reached its height, it rose yet higher, and blossomed in +radiance; for, topmost crown of all, there, flaming far into the +northern night, shone a splendid beacon lamp, to guide the fisherman +when his way was hid. + +Every summer for years, Florimel and her husband spent weeks in +the castle, and many a study the painter made there of the ever +changing face of the sea. + +Malcolm, as he well might, had such a strong feeling of the power +for good of every high souled schoolmaster, that nothing would serve +him but Mr Graham must be reinstated. He told the presbytery that +if it were not done, he would himself build a school house for +him, and the consequence, he said, needed no prediction. Finding, +at the same time, that the young man they had put in his place was +willing to act as his assistant, he proposed that he should keep +the cottage, and all other emoluments of the office, on the sole +condition that, when he found he could no longer conscientiously +and heartily further the endeavours of Mr Graham, he should say +so; whereupon the marquis would endeavour to procure him another +appointment; and on these understandings the thing was arranged. + +Mr Graham thenceforward lived in the House, a spiritual father to +the whole family, reverenced by all, ever greeted with gladness, +ever obeyed. The spiritual dignity and simplicity, the fine sense +and delicate feeling of the man, rendered him a saving presence in +the place; and Clementina felt as if one of the ancient prophets, +blossomed into a Christian, was the glory of their family and +house. Like a perfect daughter, she watched him, tried to discover +preferences of which he might not himself be aware, and often waited +upon him with her own hands. + +There was an ancient building connected with the house, divided +now for many years into barn and dairy, but evidently the chapel +of the monastery: this Malcolm soon set about reconverting. It made +a lovely chapel--too large for the household, but not too large +for its congregation upon Wednesday evenings, when many of the +fishermen and their families, and not a few of the inhabitants of +the upper town, with occasionally several farm servants from the +neighbourhood, assembled to listen devoutly to the fervent and loving +expostulations and rousings, or the tender consolings and wise +instructions of the master, as every one called him. The hold he +had of their hearts was firm, and his influence on their consciences +far reaching. + +When there was need of conference, or ground for any wide expostulation, +the marquis would call a meeting in the chapel; but this occurred +very seldom. Now and then the master, sometimes the marquis himself, +would use it for a course of lectures or a succession of readings +from some specially interesting book; and in what had been the +sacristy they gathered a small library for the use of the neighbourhood. + +No meeting was held there of a Sunday, for although the clergyman +was the one person to whom all his life the marquis never came any +nearer, he was not the less careful to avoid everything that might +rouse contention or encourage division. + +"I find the doing of the will of God," he would say, "leaves me +no time for disputing about his plans--I do not say for thinking +about them." + +Not therefore, however, would he waive the exercise of the inborn +right of teaching, and anybody might come to the house and see the +master on Sunday evenings. As to whether people went to church or +stayed away, he never troubled himself in the least; and no more +did the schoolmaster. + +The chapel had not been long finished when he had an organ built in +it. Lady Lossie played upon it. Almost every evening, at a certain +hour, she played for a while; the door was always open, and any +one who pleased might sit down and listen. + +Gradually the feeling of the community, from the strengthening and +concentrating influence of the House, began to bear upon offenders; +and any whose conduct had become in the least flagrant soon felt +that the general eye was upon them, and that gradually the human tide +was falling from them, and leaving them prisoned in a rocky basin +on a barren shore. But at the same time, all three of the powers at +the House were watching to come in the moment there was a chance; +and what with the marquis's warnings, his wife's encouragements, +and the master's expostulations, there was no little hope of the +final recovery of several who would otherwise most likely have sunk +deeper and deeper. + +The marchioness took Lizzy for her personal attendant, and had her +boy much about her; so that by the time she had children of her +own, she had some genuine and worthy notion of what a child was, and +what could and ought to be done for the development of the divine +germ that lay in the human egg; and had found that the best she +could do for any child, or indeed anybody, was to be good herself. + +Rose married a young fisherman, and made a brave wife and mother. +To the end of her days she regarded the marquis almost as a being +higher than human, an angel that had found and saved her. + +Kelpie had a foal, and, apparently in consequence, grew so much +more gentle that at length Malcolm consented that Clementina, who +was an excellent horsewoman, should mount her. After a few attempts +to unseat her, not of the most determined kind however, Kelpie, on +her part, consented to carry her, and ever after seemed proud of +having a mistress that could ride. Her foal turned out a magnificent +horse. Malcolm did not allow him to do anything that could be +called work before he was eight years old, and had the return at +the other end, for when Goblin was thirty he rode him still, and +to judge by appearances, might but for an accident have ridden him +ten years more. + +It was not long ere people began to remark that no one now ever +heard the piper utter the name Campbell. An ill bred youth once +--it was well for him that Malcolm was not near--dared the evil +word in his presence: a cloud swept across the old man's face, but +he held his peace; and to the day of his death, which arrived in +his ninety-first year, it never crossed his lips. He died with the +Lossie pipes on his bed, Malcolm on one side of him, and Clementina +on the other. + +Some of my readers may care to know that Phemy and Davy were +married, and made the quaintest, oldest fashioned little couple, +with hearts which king or beggar might equally have trusted. + +Malcolm's relations with the fisher folk, founded as they were in +truth and open uprightness, were not in the least injured by his +change of position. He made it a point to be always at home during +the herring fishing. Whatever might be going on in London, the +marquis and marchioness, their family and household, were sure +to leave in time for the commencement of that. Those who admired +Malcolm, of whom there were not a few even in Vanity Fair, called +him the fisher king: the wags called him the kingfisher, and laughed +at the oddity of his taste in preferring what he called his duty +to the pleasures of the season. But the marquis found even the +hen pecked Partan a nobler and more elevating presence than any +strutting platitude of Bond Street. And when he was at home, he was +always about amongst the people. Almost every day he would look in +at some door in the Seaton, and call out a salutation to the busy +housewife--perhaps go in and sit down for a minute. Now he would +be walking with this one, now talking with that--oftenest with +Blue Peter; and sometimes both their wives would be with them, +upon the shore, or in the grounds. Nor was there a family meal to +which any one or all together of the six men whom he had set over +the Seaton and Scaurnose would not have been welcomed by the marquis +and his Clemency. The House was head and heart of the whole district. + +A conventional visitor was certain to feel very shruggish at first +sight of the terms on which the marquis was with "persons of that +sort;" but often such a one came to allow that it was no great +matter: the persons did not seem to presume unpleasantly, and, +notwithstanding his atrocious training, the marquis was after all +a very good sort of fellow--considering. + +In the third year he launched a strange vessel. Her tonnage was +two hundred, but she was built like a fishing boat. She had great +stowage forward and below: if there was a large take, boat after +boat could empty its load into her, and go back and draw its nets +again. But this was not the original design in her. + +The after half of her deck was parted off with a light rope rail, +was kept as white as holystone could make it, and had a brass railed +bulwark. She was steered with a wheel, for more room; the top of +the binnacle was made sloping, to serve as a lectern; there were +seats all round the bulwarks; and she was called the Clemency. + +For more than two years he had provided training for the fittest +youths he could find amongst the fishers, and now he had a pretty +good band playing on wind instruments, able to give back to God a +shadow of his own music. The same formed the Clemency's crew. And +every Sunday evening the great fishing boat with the marquis, and +almost always the marchioness on board, and the latter never without +a child or children, led out from the harbour such of the boats as +were going to spend the night on the water. + +When they reached the ground, all the other boats gathered about +the great boat, and the chief men came on board, and Malcolm stood +up betwixt the wheel and the binnacle, and read--always from the +gospel, and generally words of Jesus, and talked to them, striving +earnestly to get the truth alive into their hearts. Then he would +pray aloud to the living God, as one so living that they could +not see him, so one with them that they could not behold him. When +they rose from their knees; man after man dropped into his boat, +and the fleet scattered wide over the waters to search them for +their treasure. + +Then the little ones were put to bed; and Malcolm and Clementina +would sit on the deck, reading and talking, till the night fell, +when they too went below, and slept in peace. But if ever a boat +wanted help, or the slightest danger arose, the first thing was to +call the marquis, and he was on deck in a moment. + +In the morning, when a few of the boats had gathered, they would +make for the harbour again, but now with full blast of praising +trumpets and horns, the waves seeming to dance to the well ordered +noise divine. Or if the wind was contrary, or no wind blew, the +lightest laden of the boats would take the Clemency in tow, and, +with frequent change of rowers, draw her softly back to the harbour. + +For such Monday mornings, the marquis wrote a little song, and his +Clemency made an air to it, and harmonized it for the band. Here +is the last stanza of it: + +Like the fish that brought the coin, +We in ministry will join-- +Bring what pleases thee the best; +Help from each to all the rest. + + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Marquis of Lossie, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE *** + +This file should be named 7174.txt or 7174.zip + +This etext was produced by Martin Robb + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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