-•"';" WILLIAM BLACK iiP;: (Hmmll mmtrmltg Jilr«g BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1S91 ^>\-e-^^11 •z.n m an PR 4 124. WbTms""'^"" '■'"^'^ a|*venfures, an The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013435510 WILD EELIN HER ESCAPADES, ADVENT- URES, & BITTER SORROWS By WILLIAM BLACK Author of "J. Princess of ThuW'' ILLUSTEATED BY T. DE THULSTRUP HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON 1898 /\. 123 ^ WILLIAM BLACK'S NOVELS. LIBRAItY EDITION. A DAUGHTER OF HETH. A PRINCESS OF THULE. DONALD KOSS OF HEIMRA. GREEN PASTURES AND PICCA- DILLY. IN FAR LOCHABER. IN SILK ATTIRE. JUDITH SHAKESPEARE. Illus- trated by Abbey. KILMENY. MACLEOD OF DARE. Illastrnted. MADCAP VIOLET. PRINCE FORTUNATUS. IlluBtrated, SABINA ZEMBRA, SHANDON BELLS. Illnstratod. 13mo, Cloth, $1 STAND FAST, CRAIO-ROYSTON IlluBtrated. SUNRISE. THAT BEAUTIFUL WRETCH. Il- lustrated. THE MAGIC INK, AND OTHER STORIES. Illustrated. THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A HOUSE-BOAT. Illustrated. THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PHAETON. THREE FEATHERS. WHITE HEATHER. WHITE WINGS. Illustrated. YOLANDE. IlluBtrntod. 25 per volume. WOLFENEERG.— THE HANDSOME HUMES. Illustrated. 12ino,CIoth, $1 50 each. HIGHLAND COUSINS- — BRISEIS. Illustrated. ISmo, Cloth, $1 75 each. HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK AND LONDON. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Aliens 1 II. From Over the Sea 11 III. " So Young, my Lobd, and True " 24 IV. In Twilight Land 35 V. A Caged Linnet 46 VL " The Glen's Mine !" 58 VII. The Devil's Kirn 71 VIII. A Commission 82 IX. Hither and Thither 94 X. A Harbor of Ebpuge 106 XI. A Morning Call Ho XII. At the Brae Pool 127 XIII. Plating with Fire 136 XIV. An Innocent Betrayal 146 XV. "But to Stab Deep" 155 XVI. "There Cam' a Young Man" 166 XVII. Deeper and Deeper 175 XVIII. TiMEO Danaos ... 186 XIX. A Situation of Peril 195 XX. At the Play 204 XXL " Cam' Seeking Mb to Woo, O I" 213 XXII. An Escapade. 232 XXIII. A Friend and Ally 232 XXIV. Cross-Purposes 243 XXV. An Answer 250 XXVI. ' ' Here all Eyes Gaze on Us " 260 XXVII. A Wild Plunge 270 XXVIII. Engaged Lovers 280 XXIX. Brunhilde 287 iii CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXX. RuMOKS AND Tidings . 295 XXXI. On the Castle Hill 303 XXXII. An Arrival. . ' 309 XXXIII. " Sbi MiB Gegkusst, Marosa !" ... 816 XXXIV. The Green Woman. . . ... 833 XXXV. Outside the Law . . .341 XXXVI. A Purchaser . 853 XXXVII. A Deed of Gift. . . . 368 XXXVIII. A Letter 374 XXXIX. The Friars' Walk . . 882 XL. Persisterare ... . . 392 XLI. An Expedition 402 XLIL " By MuDAL Water " . 411 XLIII. Town and River 423 XLIV. "The Wat TO Woo" 434 XLV. A Morning Plunge ... . 443 XL VI. "The Braes of Glenbraon" ; 452 XL VII. Labykinths . . .... . 464 XL VIII. The Pates . . 472 XLIX. The Devil's Kirn 481 L. Two Lovers . . . . . . . . 491 LI. "To every Maid her Lover" 501 LII. Farewell . . 509 "T.RUNNIIILDE COULD NOT IIAVK BEEN LEFT MOKE ENTIltEI.Y IIISR OWN mistress" WILD EELIN CHAPTER I ALIENS The calm of a Sabbath morning lay all along the wide valley ; not a sonnd disturbed the perfect silence, save now and again the call of a curlew or the soft winnowing of a pesewepe's wings ; the pools in the Garva River — deep and dark and tea-brown under the wooded banks, but of a bold clear turquoise blue out in the open — were still as glass ; while the shallows down by the ford, where the water raced and chased and glanced and glittered over the beds of pebbles, were so far away that the continuous smooth murmur of them was hardly audible in the basking and sunlit air. The heather was just getting to its richest bloom ; so that the knolls and slopes and lower heights showed every hue and gi'adation of warm rose-lilac, touched here and there with the yellowish-green of the bracken ; but above and beyond these the mountainous hills stretch- ing to the west — the great undulating masses that looked out and over to Knoidart, and Glenelg, and Skye — were of a pale and ethereal azure, receding, billow after billow, and billow after billow, under the cloudless dome. In the midst of this strath stands Kinvaig House, once the plain, and bare, and unpretentious ancestral home of the Macdonalds of Kinvaig, but now transformed into a modern shooting - lodge, with bay- windowed additions, kennels, and keepers' cottages, all complete. And on this WILD EELIN particular morning the profound sleep and silence that prevailed within the main building appeared to have ex- tended to the outlying dependencies as well. There was no sign of life anywhere ; if the people were awake — and surely they were awake at this hour — they did not choose to stir abroad ; the little hamlet was as the home of the dead. Indeed, it is a peculiarity of the Scottish peasant that, except in going to or returning from church — when there happens to be a church within reach — he is shy of showing himself on Sundays. He prefers the inside of his dwelling, and a godly book. But of a sudden the all-pervading stillness was broken in upon; the front door of the lodge was thrown open with a clang ; and there stepped forth a young man, bare- headed, and in evening dress. He was about six-and- twenty; undersized and stout; of irregular and podgy feat- ures and pasty complexion ; clean-shaven ; his blue-gray eyes looking bleared and bemused in unexpectedly facing the light ; his close-cropped fair hair unkempt ; his white neck-tie awry. In short, this person — who bore no less a name and title than George Reginald Talbot Fitz-Ingram Taylyour, 5th Marquess of Mountmahon — ^had a general aspect of being partly butler and partly prize-fighter, with a dash of potboy thrown in ; while it was pretty evident that he had been asleep in these evening garments ; and this in truth was the literal fact, for he had just stumbled along from the gun - room, where he had passed the last half-dozen hours. And at once the uproar began. " Here ! Hi ! Macalister ! — Sandy ! — Colin ! — where the deuce have you got to?" he bellowed. "I want the dogs let out ! Hi ! Angus ! — where the blazes are you ?" He stepped back into the hall, and returned with a whip, the horn handle of which contained a whistle ; and on this instrument he blew and blew with a ferocity that sent the echoes flying along the hollow glen. In the midst of the clamor the under-sash of a window was raised, and a head looked out. It was the head of a young woman of 2 ALIENS rather attractive appearance, only that the beraddled face gave evidence that her pillow had not wholly robbed her complexion of its over-night powder and rouge. " Oh, kennel up, you silly fool !" she called down to him, in accents of equal anger and scorn. "You silly idiot, why don't you let other people sleep, if you can't sleep yourself ! Go and smother your head in a haystack !" He did not pay any attention to her taunts ; but at this very moment her ladyship's pet spaniel, excited by the noise and confusion, came rushing and barking along the hall. Whether it did really mean to tear the podgy young man's clothing it is impossible to say ; but at all events he seemed to think so ; for directly it reached the doorstep he struck at it viciously with his whip, and the next sec- ond it was howling and yelping through the hall again. " You dreadful brute !" said the young woman with the patch-work face, and her eyes were glittering with rage. She vanished for an instant, and immediately reappeared ; and now she held in both hands a large ewer, which she heaved bodily out. It missed the young man by just an inch or two, falling on the flagstone with a terrific crash, and splintering into a thousand fragments. He noticed the smash, of course, but otherwise he did not seem to comprehend what had occurred. This poor, stupid, be- sotted oaf standing there did not know that he had been within an ace of discovering the Great Secret — the secret that has absorbed the longings and aspirations of the wisest of the earth since ever the human race began to think and wonder. But the bawling and yelling had not been without result. There emerged into the sunlight, from the door of one of the cottages, a tall, thin, quiet-visaged elderly man, who looked to see what was the matter ; and then, in obedience to a further peremptory summons, he crossed the open space of greensward and came along the carriage - drive. As he drew nearer, he regarded in a concerned and scarfed way tlte shattered fragments of the ewer that lay about on n WILD EELIN the flagstone and on the adjacent gravel ; but his lordship did not vouchsafe any explanation. "Here, you, Angus," he said, abruptly, "go and put my rod together, and bring it- down to the Corran Pool. And the gaff, and my fly-book." The old man seemed hardly willing to believe his ears. "I'm sure," said he, very gently and respectfully, "your lordship will not be remembering — it's the Sabbath morn- ing—" "What's that to me, or to you, either ? — go and get the rod — and at once !" "I am not wishing to displease your lordship," said the gray-haired man with the deeply lined brow and rather sad and sunken eyes, " I am not wishing that at all — " " Then you refuse ?" said the pot-boy. "Your lordship," pleaded the other, "I am not wishing to displease your lordship ; but I have lived in Glengarva for over sixty years, and I was never asked before to go flshing with a gentleman on the Sabbath day. And I would not like my daughter to be hearing of it — or any that's related to me — or the minister — " "Hold your row, then. You refuse ?" There was no answer — and no show of stubbornness: only silence, and resignation. " Very well," continued the pot-boy, vindictively — or as vindictively as his thick speech allowed—" very well. Out you pack. Do yon hear ? I'll give you twenty minutes to start off from this neighborhood ; and you can send for your things when you like. Do you understand, now ? And don't you imagine Sir Charles Orme will interfere. He knows when he has a good tenant. I'm the master here. Do you understand, now? Out you go — I give you twenty minutes." The grave-faced old fisherman probably saw that no pro- test would avail him. "As your lordship wills," he said, submissively; and with that he turned and left. A few minutes thereafter his lordship might have been 4 ALIENS seen wending his solitary way across the wide sbrath — a strange, black, bizarre figure in this sunlit world of light yellows and grays and greens. Apparently his dazed brain had abandoned or forgottfen his project of going fishing, for he carried no rod, but all the same his uncertain steps were leading him to the river. And at length, when he did reach the Corran Pool — at this point the stream is shallow on the hither side, with level banks of sand, but on the further side it runs deep and dark under a steep brae hanging with birches — at this point he stopped and looked vaguely and aimlessly about him, as if not knowing how he had come there. Then he began to strip, throwing his clothes carelessly to the ground; then the mother-naked man waded in ; then the yielding shingle gave underneath his feet ; finally he plunged forward into the deeper water, and struck out. He was a good swimmer — his body being built that way ; and presently he was going well, hand over hand, with his legs Jerking behind him like the legs of a frog, and yellow as the legs of a frog, by rea- son of the brown of the water. But if he was fat, he was also scant of breath ; ere long he was on the bank again, puffing and blowing, and wiping the water from his eyes and from the short and stubbly hair of his bullet head. And then — as the morning was sunny and warm — and as he was fatigued — and as he had a habit of humoring the whim of the moment — he pulled on part of his underclothing, to dry himself, he rolled up his waist- coat and put it on the sand to serve as a pillow, he lay down and dragged his crumpled dress-coat over him, and in about a couple of seconds was fast asleep. And now it was that two others came strolling across the spacious valley. The one was Lady Mountmahon, who had found time to reincarnadine her cheeks, and make up her heavily marked eyebrows and eyelashes, and arrange the abundant masses of chaff -colored hair that flaunted themselves to the sun. She wore a loose morning-gown of light-green satin, and a Balmoral bonnet of rose -red velvet that had an eagle's feather stuck on one side of it. 5 WILD EELIN Her companion was a short and slim young man, of ca- daverous hue, whose odd expression of eye and twisted mouth seemed to say that if he were not a comic actor then he had thrown away the chances' bestowed upon him by a beneficent fate : indeed there was little doubt of his being what he himself would probably have called a "pro." of some kind or other, just as Lady Monntmahon herself had been, when she was famous as Carrie Milton of the metro- politan music-halls. This Mr. Arthur Hoskins, now walk- ing with her, was clad in a knickerbocker suit of the most violent pattern — just about sufficient to bring down a grouse -cock at fifty yards ; but as he had not attempted the kilt, much must be forgiven him. Both of them were talking and jesting merrily ; their laughter was loud in the hushed autumn air. But presently she said : " Arthur, mon vieux, I'm afraid the whole of us are a bit dotty this morning, after the wild games of last night. Do you know I came near to splitting open Mounty's skull about an hour ago — though you mayn't think that possible. Oh, but it's true ! He slashed my poor Tartarin with that heavy dog - whip of his ; and I was so mad with rage I pitched an empty ewer at him from the window — " "Ewer the pitcher, in fact," he observed, with a profes- sional grin. " You don't appear to recognize the gravity of the situa- tion," she replied, coolly. " It was very near kingdom come with that gay youth. And then what does he go and do ? Why, he goes and sacks old Angus ! What next ? First the head keeper ; now the water-bailiff. Do yon think Sir Charles Orme will stand it ? No, he won't ! lie's. not such a Jay. These people look after his interests. But I suppose Mounty wants to get every decent and re- spectable person turned off the estate, so that we shall be left to ourselves. And we're a pretty crew !" " Some of us are, your ladyship," her companion said, politely. " Others of us have no pretensions that way." " Well, I won't let Angus go !" she said, with frowning ALIENS brows. "Blessed if I do ! He's a pal o' mine. A decent, respectable old man like that ; why, there's not one of ns fit to black his boots — " " I am — I admit it," Hoskins put in, penitently. " Well, he's not going to leave !" she continued, hotly. " The decent old man ! He shall not leave— he shall not ! I'll see Mounty first— and that's all about it !" Her eyes were at this moment attracted by some black object lying ahead of them. " And what's he up to now ? What is he up to now ?" she cried, in tones of hopeless vexation. "Look at him ! Sleeping on the ground ! Another dress-suit gone — twenty guineas chucked— when you've got to take a corkscrew to get a fiver out of him — " But as they drew nearer and nearer to that motionless heap that lay prone on the sand, her scrutiny had been growing more and more curious and suspicious ; and at last she uttered a piercing shriek, and stopped, and shrank back. " He's dead !" she screamed, regarding the lifeless bundle with horror. "It's a corpse ! I won't go near it ! I won't touch it !— " Her companion went quickly on. "He's all right. Lady Mountmahon," he said; "only a little out of gear. If your ladyship will kindly turn your head for a minute, I'll set him on his pins, and get him into his clothes." It was a difficult matter, for the drowsy man was sulky and sullen ; but after a time — with much patience on one side, and a good deal of cursing on the other — the task was accomplished. And then his lordship had to face his wife. " Aren't you sober yet, old SleepitofE ?" she demanded, scornfully. " I'm hungry," he said, with half-opened eyes. " Hungry ?" she retorted — and she had a raucous tongue when she chose. "Then it's whiskey-hunger, and that's what it is. You had supper at five o'clock this morning, sand you were gorging like a hog and drinking like a fish." 7 WILD EELIN " Oh, hold your jaw, or I'll brain you !" he muttered. " Here, Arthur, give me a cigar." " Arthur, you won't do anything of the kind," she inter- posed, peremptorily. "As for you, old muddle-head, do you want to be made sick ? And I wonder how we're going to get you smuggled into the house without the servants seeing you ! An elegant object you are, to be sure ! They might set you up for a scarecrow, if only you looked a little more like a man — " "Will you hold your row, you gutter-snipe, or 111 gouge your eyes out !" his lordship growled. But there was no great danger in the threat — and she knew it. Indeed something else now claimed her attention, as she kept glancing eagerly forward. The silent lodge they had left amid its pastoral surroundings had been transformed into a scene of feverish activity ; the members of the house- party had all come outside, and were as busy as ants ; the gentlemen were carrying dishes, joints, knives, forks, crystal, and the like ; the ladies were engaged in laying out a table that had been brought on to the lawn ; this one called to that, and that to this ; gaudy costumes flit- ted to and fro ; a kind of witches' carnival seemed in progress, with an abundance of bandied gibes and gig- gling- "And. why the — who the— what the — mischief are they doing now ?" exclaimed the hostess of these people. " I should say they were going to give us breakfast, or luncheon, or whatever it is, out-of-doors," replied Arthur Hoskins. "Oh, very well," she said, good-naturedly. And then she turned to her husband : " Here, wake up, Mounty, man ! Wake up, and give yourself a show. You know you're not such a beCa old crock, if you wouldn't go and drink yourself blind." She dusted the sand from his clothes, and tried to make him look a little more presentable. " We'll start you on a tumbler of fizz, and that will put some life into you. I see they've told the servants to keep in -doors. Quite right. You'll have to take the head of the table, and I'm 8 ALIENS sure you'll be a beautiful example to all of us, in the way of sobriety, and wisdom, and wit." And at last the things were ready ; the host and hostess took their places ; and at once the riffraff crowd began their carouse. There was a tea-urn on the table, it is true ; but it was not brought into requisition; for standing well in evidence were a few bottles of champagne, and when these had been passed round and exhausted. Lady Mount- mahonkept sending one of her "boys," as she called them, for more, and more, and more ; so that in time the fictitious mirth rose to an extraordinary pitch. Every one was talk- ing at once ; no one heeding the other ; even a loudly challenged statement gave no pause ; jeers and derisive laughter provoked no retort ; so fiercely and furiously did the wassail rage. But when the delights of eating and drinking were beginning to pall, it occurred to a cunning youth who had brought out his banjo with him that he could not only vary the programme but also check this flooded torrent of excited verbiage. He got the instrument from under his chair, and twanged a few chords, which were instantly recognized. " Let's have it, Johnny !" bawled his lordship, who was now as vociferous and hilarious as any of them. The tumult momentarily ceased ; and in the unnatural calm that followed, a thin, cracked voice arose, recounting the adventures of a certain Sairey Jane. It was a poor, weak, contemptible performance — the only strength of it lying in its coarse suggestiveness ; but at the end of each verse the whole table came in with an exultant, strident, discordant chorus — Now mind you, Sairey Jane, Whatever you may do, Tliat the missus, O the missus. That the missus can play pranlfs as well as you. Then some one called out "A Barn-Door I" — and some one else called out "Yes, a Barn-Door !" — and their host- A* 9 WILD EELIN ess, jumping to her feet, cried alond, "Very well; get your partners !" — at which there was a scrambling up from the table, and a general snatching and pushing and shuf- fling that gradually resolved itself until the expectant coup- les waited the signal from the banjo. Ifow the "Barn- Door " can be danced with perfect propriety ; it can also be danced with impropriety, not to say indecency, accord- ing to the temperament of the on-looker ; and on this oc- casion, as soon as the banjo had started them off, it was pretty obvious that these people meant to " let themselves go." Nay, they warmed to their work — those hot-eyed Bacchanals and frenzied Oorybantes ; there were collisions, and shrieks that startled the still air ; the women vied with each other in their display of white under-skirt ; the men roared with laughter in encouraging them. In short — for the subject is not an alluring one — it looked as if hell had broken loose in Glengarva, on this peaceful Sabbath morn- ing ; but a tawdry, vulgar, sordid hell ; the hell of Picca- dilly Circus when the music-halls have vomited forth their vilest. CHAPTER II PROM OVER THE SEA On this same day an open landau was being driven out from Invergarva, bringing two strangers into the secluded glen. One of them was an old man of striking appearance — an old man of quite unusual staj;ure ; his long, flowing beard of a yellowish-white ; his pinched and pinkish feat- ures speaking of habitual exposure to the weather ; a dark blue Balmoral bonnet crowning his picturesque head. His companion was a much younger man — about thirty or so — and not nearly so tall, but of great muscular breadth of frame ; his face thoughtful and refined ; his clear brown eyes steady and contemplative, and kindly withal. These two were father and son ; and the latter was describing to the former — who appeared to be stone-blind — the various points of the landscape as they came into view ; though he was continually being interrupted, for the old man kept eagerly suggesting this or that detail borrowed from his own mental picture, to find out if he had remembered rightly, through the long interval of years. "Yes, yes," he was saying, in an excited fashion — and, if he did not see, he certainly seemed to see, and vividly — " that's the Brae Pool— the steep bank and the bushes — a terrible place for losing flies. And there's a big rock up at the corner — can you make it out. Lad ? — and a great black hole underneath — I wonder none of us boys were ever drowned there — when we were after rowans or nuts ; and then from the corner there's a wide stretch of shingle and sand leading away along to the Whirl Pool — isn't that so, Somerled ?" 11 WILD EELIN "Quite right, father," the other made answer. "And in the middle of the valley, on the shingle, there are the stumps of one or two uprooted trees — nearly white — and half buried—" "What, still there ?" he exclaimed. " Why, man, these were trees that came down in the great flood ! — well I mind it — the water was up to the door-step of Kinvaig House — and the ferry-boat was whirled away along to Par- lies. So the big roots are still sticking out of the sand ? — to think of that now ! — a fine hiding-place they were for lis boys for anything the keepers were not to see." " There appears to be a small church on the top of the hill just in front of us." " Of course, man, of course ! Kinvaig church ! But how should you know ? And it's a pity there's no service to- day ; maybe one or two of the old folk might have remem- bered the tall teacher. That was my name in the Gaelic — the tall teacher. Ay, I was a long-legged lad ; I could put the miles behind me. And so we've come to the steep hill — and the church; there used to be a row of Scotch firs — along the crest — " "Just beyond the church — yes." "Well I mind, them ^:well, well; and larches sloping down the other side^a faiilous place for the roe when we were beating the woods. And the firs — the Scotch firs — they're a landmark : they're visible all the way from Ben- an-Sloich, or Ben Vera, or even as far west as Strathgorm, and they tell to every one that near by is the old burying- place of the Macdonalds of Kinvaig. My word for it, Somerled, when we bade good-bye a week or two ago to the Macdonalds of the Canadian Kinvaig, I warrant you there were many of them thinking of the Scotch firs on the crest of the hill." The horses toiled up the long ascent, and when they had reached the summit, the driver was bidden to halt, in front of the entrance to the church and church-yard. Som- erled Macdonald got out first, to assist his father; but indeed when the splendid old man stood in the road, bear- 18 FROM OVER THE SEA ing his six feet four of height right nobly, he did not look as if he were much in need of help — had it not been for his lack of vision. Then the younger man opened a wooden box that was on the front seat of the carriage, and took therefrom a wreath of evergreens ; this he handed to his father ; then he placed his fingers lightly on the old man's arm, and the two of them entered the small graveyard on the hill. These were humble and unpretentious tombstones for the most part, and nearly all of them bearing the name of Macdonald ; but there was one of somewhat more impor- tance — a tall lona cross it was, of red granite — and to this the younger man made his way. His surmise was correct : he read the legend "^neas John Macdonald of Kin- vaig." " It is Just in front of you, father," he said. The old man felt for his footing, and put out his hand and touched the stone ; then he removed his cap, he knelt down on one knee, and reverently placed the wreath at the foot of the cross. In the midst of the cunningly inter- twisted evergreens there was a simply written card bearing these words: "Homage at the grave of our Chief — from the Macdonalds of Kinvaig, Ontario, Canada." Old Allan Macdonald remained kneeling there for several minutes ; then he rose — ready to be led away. "Father," said his son, "the flowers on the grave are quite fresh — they have been recently tended." "Ay, do ye say that ?" the old man responded, quickly. "Maybe, then, the Bean-an-Tighearn* herself and Miss Belin have been here : it would have been strange if we had met them just at the goal of our pilgrimage. But it is of little matter if we have missed them : they will surely not take it ill if I make so bold as to call on them when we get to Invernish, and tell them of your errand." Then he paused for a moment, standing very erect, as if he were gazing abroad with his sightless eyes. * Pronounced Ben-an-tyearn— the Laird's Lady. 13 WILD EELIN " Somerled, tell me all you can see. Tell me all yon can see, out to the farthest hills." It was a difficult task; for Somerled Macdonald had never been in this country-side before, and could only de- scribe by appearances, not by names ; but the blind man appeared to recognize feature after feature of the land- scape, and followed the recapitulation with intensest inter- est. And then — having burned the vision into his brain — he suffered himself to be taken back to the carriage ; and they resumed their journey. "For you must see the big house. Lad," he said ; "and we'll put. up the horses at Bridge of Kinvaig ; and maybe we'll find some old body wlio remembers the tall teacher. And then I would like to go down to the G-arva, and sit on the banks for a while. Indeed that is what has made me drive out on a Sunday — at the risk of offending some of the stricter folk ; but I wanted to hear once more the Sab- bath silence of Glengarva. It's the strangest thing. I've never heard it anywhere else ; but I remember it well as a boy — the Sabbath morning stillness that you could sit and listen to. Just as if all the world was whispering to itself. I wonder if I shall be able to hear it now. Perhaps it's only in youth you can hear it, when you are wandering about alone, and thinking of many things. But I should like to try — now that I am in Glengarva once more — and on a still Sabbath morning. I'm thinking, Somerled, we'll take a bit of a stroll down the strath when once we've left the landau at the inn ; I suppose the quiet corners by the river-side are just the same as ever they were." And so they drove on along the winding valley, until, from the lofty road they were following, they came to over- look a moderately sized mansion and its dependencies, set in a level space some way back from the stream. But though Somerled Macdonald guessed readily enough that this was Kinvaig House, he did not speTik ; his whole at- tention was absorbed by a motley group of people who were lounging in various attitudes around the table out on the lawn, while the array of champagne-bottles on the white 14 "HOMAGE AT THE GTSAVE OF OUR CHIEF" FEOM OVEK THE SEA cloth looked incomprehensible enough at this early hour. Moreover, he could see that one of those persons was twanging away at a banjo ; and prasently there came the echo — so faint as to be almost inaudible — of a raucous chorus. And then — as he stared and better stared in amazement — behold ! those half-recumbent figures sprang to their feet ; there were scurryings this way and that ; and finally the whole gang broke into a witches' dance of capering and kicking, with flying toes and tossing skirts, while now and again, even at this distance, the hushed air brought the sound of a brainless yelp or scream. Now young Macdonald had tumbled about the world a good deal ; he was tolerant of the manners and customs of other people ; but the question was how to get the old man past without his becoming aware of what would doubtless ap- pear to him an absolute horror of desecration. The Sab- bath silence of G-lengarva ? — a Carmagnole instead ! And as ill-luck would have it, old Allan Macdonald's re- membrance of his native strath proved to be only too accurate. " Surely, Lad, we should be about opposite Kinvaig House now ?" "Just down below us, father — out there in the open." Then the old man would have the carriage stopped, and would have the house minutely described to him — the little square old building audits ivy, the modern wings with their bay-windows, the background of shrubbery, and so forth. " I suppose there's no one about V "Not a soul," his son answered, desperately. " A singular thing now," the old man continued, "I fan- cied a moment or two ago I heard a sound of singing — dis- tant singing — " " Oh, that is quite a common delusion, when there's a wide space around you," Somerled rejoined instantly. " I've often seemed to hear that at sea. The fact is, the ear is quite as imaginative as the eye. It plays tricks. It hears imaginary music, just as the eye sees imaginary ghosts — " 15 WILD EELIN "Strange — strange," the old man said — and he was evi- dently listening with the concentration peculiar to the blind, "I could almosit swear that even now there is some kind of measured tapping — like some musical instru- ment — " "Father," said the yonnger man, affecting to laugh the matter away, "your ear is too fanciful; you'll hear the grass growing next — or Knight Eoland blowing his magic horn. Go ahead, driver !" And for the moment that danger was escaped. But worse was in store. For as they descended from these lofty heights to Bridge of Kinvaig, and crossed the river, the solitary little inn came in view ; and here also there was an unwonted tumult. Two men, bareheaded and in shirt-sleeves, were out in the middle of the road, playing -pitch -and -toss with half-crowns; a third sat cross-legged on the gravel ; a fourth lay at full length on the long box used for holding fishing-rods; and all of them were bawling bets at each other, and cursing each other with a cheerful lack of discrimination. Through these worthies a general family resemblance ran — short stature, heavy shoulders, hairless face, bullet head, and more or less broken nose ; and if they were too bulbous to be pugilists in proper training, pugilists of some kind they undoubtedly were — pugilists carousing, in fact, for there was a plenitude of tumblers about, and some half -empty champagne -bottles stood ranged along the window-sill of the inn. Of course, as the landau drove up, the curiosity of this sorry crew overcame the prevailing clamor ; and in the temporary truce Somerled Macdonald hurried his father into the small hostelry — hoping that he had heard nothing. Fortunately the two travellers were able to secure a tiny back parlor to themselves ; and when the younger man had rung the bell and asked the servant-lass to get ready what luncheon was procurable, he thought he would saun- ter out by himself to see what manner of persons these were who had invaded this remote Highland glen. They 16 FROM OVER THE SEA themselves were not likely to inform him, for as he paused on the threshold he discovered that a savage quarrel had by this time broken out, over the betting, so that the air was thick with oaths and assevei-ations and crimson ad- jectives. Indeed, they took no notice of him ; and so he strolled on, towards the river ; he perceived that a man his father and he had passed on the way was now coming down to the bridge — a decent -looking elderly man with whom he planned to have a few words. "I beg your pardon, but may I ask if you belong to these parts ?" he said to the new-comer. "I did, sir, until this morning," replied old Angus the fisherman. " I have been living in this strath ever since I was a boy, but I am sent away now." " How is that ?" This younger Macdonald had a curi- ously direct way of speech, and straightforward eyes ; he had the air of one accustomed to govern men. The story was briefly told. " Her ladj^ship was asking me to stay," old Angus added, honestly. " But I am not wishing to make any quarrel." " And what are you going to do now ?" was the next abrupt question. "I'm going out west to Ben Vora,"said the old gillie, in a quiet, resigned way. " My daughter is in service there, at the lodge. And she's a good lass ; she will put up with me for a while, until I get a new place. But may- be — maybe — I have been thinking — I will be too far on in years to seek for a new place now." " You need not trouble yourself about that," said Somer- led Macdonald, in his curt fashion. "And you need not trouble your daughter either. I will get you a new place, or its equivalent — if you like to trust me." The old man looked bewildered ; he was not used to find good fortune drop from the skies. " Would the gentleman be telling me his name ?" he said, timidly. " My name ? Oh, that's nothing. I dare say you never heard of me. But you've heard of my father, no doubt. 17 WILD EELIN He ought to be known in this district. You've heard of Mr. Allan Macdonald, of Canada — " " Him that was sending the free passes?" " The same. Well, he is my father. And he is in the inn there. Come along and see him : I shouldn't wonder if you and he had many recollections in common, of former days and the old people. Then we'll get a bit of some- thing to eat ; and you'll drive back with us to Invergarva ; and to-morrow you'll go on with us to Invernish. I sup- pose there are several of the Kinvaig Macdonalds in In- vernish?" "Oh yes, that, sir." "And you wouldn't mind living in a town? If you were to get some employment in Invernish you would feel yourself just as much at home there as here ?" "Par more, sir — far more. There's no home here for me now," answered old Angus. "Then set your mind at rest," said the younger man, in a kind of authoritative way — but perhaps his bluntness was due to business habits and a long-acquired babit of saving every minute of time. "I'll get some place for you in Invernish, with not too heavy work ; and if you still crave for the river-side, you can have a turn at the Nish, on the free days, you know. So come along and see my father. But first of all, tell me, who are these men in the roadway there ?" "They're the prize-fighters, sir, that his lordship keeps at the inn," was the reply, uttered in a low voice, so that no one should overhear. "And in the evening they go down to the big house, to amuse the gentry." "God help us all," said Somerled, half to himself, "I wonder how I am going to get my father out of this infer- nal den, without his suspecting anything ? And this is what has come to Glengarva, and to the old home of the Macdonalds of Kinvaig !" They got through the brawling gang without molestar tion, and entered the little back parlor ; and greatly de- lighted -was old Allan Macdonald to find a fellow-clansman 18 FROM OVER THE SEA who could remember the small thajched cottage in which the tall teacher had taught his elementary class, five-and- forty years before. There were all sorts of reminiscences and eager questions and willing answers ; but ever and anon the home-comer from Canada would bring the talk back to the Bean-an-Tig'hearn and Miss Eelin, the mother and daughter who in a way represented the sentimental chieftainship of the Kinvaig Macdonalds. Were they ap- proachable ladies ? They would not take it ill if two strangers — claiming to be of the clan — and hailing from a far country — wished to call on them and pay their respects to them ? Or perhaps they would rather not be reminded of the proud position once held by their family ? They might resent intrusion ? Well, these were rather recon- dite questions for the old water-bailiff^ who, besides, with all a Highlander's caution, was anxious not to commit him- self and give offence ; but on one point old Angus was ex- plicit enough. " There is not in ahl the Highlands," he said, " two led- dies that are as kind as them : I am sure of it. There is nothing they will not try to do for the poor people and the old people of Glengarva : the sewing, and the knitting, and the sending of wool, and the buying of the stockings when they are made. And every one knows it is not because they are rich, for it is many a day since the estate passed away from the family; but the Bean - an - Tighearn and Miss Eelin they will always be having a little help for any one that is sick. And there is the parcels-post nowadays — they have not to come aweh down from Invernish — " " But I suppose they sometimes pay the old place a visit ?" " Is it Kinvaig ?" said old Angus, in obvious surprise — perhaps even in a kind of hurt way. " The Bean- an- Tighearn and Miss Eelin would not be coming near the big house now — " He stopped suddenly ; and then he said in an evasive manner : " When they are driving out from Invergarva to put flowers on the gravestone, mebbe there is not much time to get back to catch the evening 19 WILD EELIN steamer. And I am not thinking they are very well ac- queut with his lordship." "And when you were sent adrift this morning — as my son tells me — had you no idea of turning to the Bean-an- Tighearn for assistance of one kind or another ?" "While I have my two hands left to me," said Angus, with quiet dignity, " it is not me that would be troubling the Bean-an-Tighearn for anything ; she has plenty of oth- ers to look after." At this point luncheon was brought in ; and the servant- lass was bidden to set another place at table. But they could not persuade the old fisherman to sit down with them ; he said he would go into the kitchen and get a bite ; and he would be waiting outside for the gentlemen, if they were so kind as to think of taking him with them to the town of Invernish. When he had gone, the tall teacher said, proudly — " You see. Lad, I'm not quite forgotten in my native glen, even apart from the emigration business. And when we've finished luncheon, we'll just stroll down to the river- side, and wander along for a while, to find out if my memory serves. And if we were to get as far as Kinvaig House, I might chance to see his lordship : I'm sure it was only a bit of temper his dismissing the old gillie that has been water-bailiff for so many years." "■ Surely you're not going to beg that he should be taken back !" the son said, indignantly. • " Oh, well, no — no. He'll be better with you, if you have undertaken to look after him : he'll discover he has got into safe hands. We'll merely take a stroll alorig the strath, as far as Kinvaig House — " But at this point Somerled Macdonald broke out, in des- peration. "Father, you're not going any where near Kinvaig House; and I'll tell you why. I have been concealing the {ruth from you ; and it's better you should know it. You did hear music as we came by— the strumming of a banjo at least ; and there was a crowd of men and women on the 20 FROM OVER THE SEA lawn at Kinvaig, dancing, and shrieking, and kicking their heels in the air— most of. them drunk, I should say, from the number of bottles on the table. And this very inn is the headquarters of a lot of prize-fighters ; and at this mo- ment they're out at the front, bawling, blaspheming, and drinking, and gambling ; and they're maintained here by iiis lordship that they may amuse the ladies and gentle- men at the lodge. Pah, the whole place reeks with abom- inations—a sink of iniquity ; and if you want to have the Grlengarva of your youth restored, why, you'll just have to buy the strath from end to end, and flood it down with carbolic acid, and clear out this mangy riffrafE, and bring back a few decent Highland folk, either from Invernish or from Ontario — " "What's this you're saying. Laddie? Are ye out of your senses ?" the older man cried in bewilderment. So there had to be a more minute and detailed descrip- tion ; but the refrain was ever the same — "Buy back the glen, father — and sweep out that scum !" "Na, na, lad," said the other, more quietly. "That's a scheme that springs quickly enough to a young brain like yours. It's nothing to you — you the great pioneer — the great railroad-king — to think of drafting a population here or there ; but such enterprises are not for me at my years — " " And who founded Kinvaig in Ontario ?" demanded his son. " That was a while ago — a while ago," he answered, ab- sently. And then he said : " Well, Somerled, if this is the state of afEairs in Glengarva, we'd better quit. Let's go away back at once. Eing and send word to have the horses put to." So they prepared to leave, but they were not to be al- lowed to depart in peace. When they got outside, they found the landau awaiting them, and Angus Macdonald on the box beside the driver ; and they were about to cross the intervening few yards to enter the cai'riage, when one of the bullet-headed by-standers called out— " You, there, Conky, give the bloomin' giant a drink !" 21 WILD EELIN The person called Conky, who had possessed himself of a bottle and glass for his own private use, at once inter- posed between the blind man and the door of the landau. "Here y'are, sir!" and he thrust forward a half- filled glass. "No, thanks — no, thanks I" said Somerled Macdonald, impatient and frowning, as he tried to guide his father into the carriage. But the crop-haired fool would not budge ; so there was nothing for it but to push him aside — gently but firmly to push him aside. And in an instant peace had become war. " Who are you a-shovin' of, you ? You a gemman — you ? I'll give you half a minute to take off your coat — half a minute, neither more nor less, you ." And with that he dashed the bot- tle and glass on to the gravel, and came striding forward, not even allowing the thirty seconds of proffered truce. Now here was the problem to be solved. Given A, a per- fectly pacific person, ignorant of fisticuffs, and B, a profes- sional bruiser, bent on furious fight : how is A to escape from the situation with any measure of safety ? The solu- tion is simple, if A have sufficient nerve. All he has to do is suddenly, with his left hand, to snatch off his hat or cap, and bring it violently down on B's face — and the man is not of woman born who can avoid flinging up both arms to guard himself against such an amazing attack ; at the same moment A drives his right fist into whatever portion of B's carcass is nearest him ; and the next second B is prone in the roadway, a doubled-up and amorphous heap. It is not, perhaps, an altogether sportsmanlike manoeuvre ; but in certain circumstances it is distinctly legitimate ; and it is undoubtedly effective. On this occasion what happened happened all in the twinkling of an eye ; and the broken- nosed bully went swinging into the gutter, where he lay with his elbows interclasped, like a monkey embracing a cocoanut. The strange thing was that his chums made no effort to take his part. Nay, they jeered and scoffed 23 FROM OVER THE SEA at him. "Served him right, the ! Why didn't he let the gemman alone ? Come out o' there, Conky, or the horses '11 be on the top o' you !" " Somerled," said old Allan Macdonald, as they drove away, " what was all that about ?" " Oh, nothing, father, nothing," was the reply. " I thought I heard a man go down with a crash." " Oh, well — " and here Somerled Macdonald did smile a little — " perhaps he's thinking now he has got toothache — but it isn't in the place where toothache is usually felt." CHAPTER III "SO YOUNG, MY LOED, AND TRUE" " I AM good, I am beautiful, and I am modest," said Wild Eelin, entering the room, "but it is a cruel and a wicked world, and I am not appreciated." She took the big, black, green-eyed tomcat from her shoulder, and threw it on to a couch. " Beelzebub, if you have no far- ther news for me from the place below, I have no further use for you — shoo ! — away, impostor !" And then she turned to her mother, who was reading a newspaper. . "Mother, I am going into the town: do you want any- thing sent out?" She was a young girl of about nineteen or twenty, hardly over middle height, of slim and graceful figure, and of un- mistakably Highland aspect — Highland in the clear white- ness of her skin, that had rather over than under its due of rose-leaf tint in the cheeks, but above all Highland in her large, liquid, lustrous deep - blue eyes that, set about with their Idark eyelashes, were of a quite indescribable loveliness — they seemed to suggest somehow the wild and strange beauty of a moonlight night at sea. Perhaps her straight nose" and full and finely cut mouth might have lent something imperative and commanding to her appear- ance ; but she was not quite tall enough for that ; besides she was young — younger even than her years; and then again her general expression seemed to say of her that her heart was wholly rippling over with laughter, and frolicsomeness, and the abundant deliglit of living. With three or four inches added to her stature, and with a duaen years added to her age, she might have posed as a sibyl : as 34 "SO YOUNG, MY LORD, AND TRUE" things were — well, she was just Wild Eelin, as her compan- ions often called her, though her Gaelic-speaking friends had a finer name for her than that: to them she was "Eelin of the sea -blue eyes." For the rest, she was dressed with extreme simplicity and neatness — her blouse being of the Macdonald tartan ; and the circular silver brooch she wore at her neck was not set with any precious stones; it merely had these three words engraved on it, "The Eagle's Crag" — which is the slogan of the Macdon- alds of Kinvaig. Her mother glanced upward from the paper. She was a slight, silver-haired, sweet-voiced lady, who mayhap looked all the more fragile, and delicate, and timid in contrast with the robuster color and brave demeanor of her daughter. "Eeallyj Eelin," she said, in almost piteous tones, "I must protest — " " What is it now, mother ?" "I have just been reading the last of these White Cockade articles! Eeally — really, Eelin, you don't seem to know the lengths you're going. Why, you are openly making love to this young man !" "He is not a young man, mother," she responded, with much placidity. " He is a phantom — a ghost — a wandering voice ! I have not even seen him in dreams ; I meet him only in the columns of the Invernish Observer, published every Saturday, price one penny." "You don't appear to understand !" remonstrated the anxious mother. "Behind all this farrago of moonlight walks, and pretended correspondence, and assignations, there is an actual person ; and you have no means of know- ing who or what that person may be." " An actual person ! — a common and ordinary person ! — why, mother, he's not a person at all — he's a poet ! And you want me to stop giving him that little bit of encourage- ment and approval for which every poet pines ! How can you be so cruel ? And another thing, look at the conse- quences of suppressing a poet ! Have you ever thought of B 35 WILD EELIN the awful consequences of suppressing a poet ? He might burst I" " I dare say he" knows perfectly well who you are, if you don't know who he is/' continued the mother; "and sooner or later there will be an introduction, brought about by somebody — there is always that possibility ; and then what will you have to say ?" For answer the young lady walked up to a large scroll framed and hung on the wall — a genealogical tree with its wide-spreading branches dotted all over with white circu- lar spots like so many sixpenny-bits ; and with her fore- finger pointing, she began at the base of the stem, proceed- ing gradually upward, and proudly naming one name after another. " Somerled, Thane of Argyle : married the daughter of the King of the Isles — Keginald, King of the Isles — Donald, Lord of the Isles, 1214 — Angus, Lord of the Isles — Alex- ander, Lord of the Isles — Angus, Lord of the Isles — Angus Og, Lord of the Isles— John, Lord of the Isles — Ranald of Dunluce — ^neas Gorm Macdonald of Kinvaig — Donald Macdonald of Kinvaig — Alasdair Glas Macdonald of Kin- vaig — Lewis Macdonald of Kinvaig — Somerled Macdonald of Kinvaig — Eanald John Macdonald of Kinvaig — and more — and more ; and all of them kin and sib to Kinloch- moidart, and Keppoch, and Glencoe, and Glengarry ; and you ask me, their descendant, to be afraid of meeting face to face some young divinity student — some lawyer's clerk — some town-councillor's son — whatever or whoever he may be ! You forget, mother. If I am not ' the daugh- ter of a hundred Earls,' I am the daughter of a thousand Thanes; and by the Red Book of Clanranald I fear no mortal man !" She dropped her heroics. " Mummie, dar- ling, the fact is, you are a hen with only one chick, and you keep cluck-clucking when there's no danger about at all. I don't see the slightest chance of my ever meeting this young gentleman who writes the pretty verses. They'll keep my secret safe enough at the Observer oflace. And even if I were to meet him some day, what would happen ? 26 "SO YOUNG, MY LORD, AND TRUE" I have a small graiu of common - sense. I'm not nearly such a fool as I look. So you get rid of all that unneces- sary alarm, my dear, sweet, excellent mother ; and tell me what you want ordered in Invernish, for I've a lot of things to do before dinner-time." And thus it was that a little while thereafter Miss Eelin Macdonald of Kinvaig (alas ! there now remained to them nothing of Kinvaig save the style and title accorded them in courtesy by friends and neighbors) was marching briskly along the banks of the wide and full -flowing river, on this still and peaceful and golden August afternoon. She crossed the vibrating suspension-bridge ; she continued her way by the side of the stream ; then she climbed the steep Castle Hill, and had a casual look round at the distant mountain ranges, from the ethereal Mealfourvonie in the south to the darker Ben Wyvis in the north ; and finally she went on and into the town, to execute her mother's commissions. But when these had all been got through, she found herself (as she had planned) with a little time of her own ; and so, to begin with, she went into a small grocer's shop. "A pound of tea, Mrs. Fordyce, and two pounds of sugar ; and as quick as you can, please, for I'm rather in a hurry." The big, buxom, good-natured-looking woman behind the counter seemed more inclined to pause and have a chat with Miss Belin than to despatch her business ; and so she had again to be urged. " And how much will that come to ?" " One and eightpence, if ye please. Miss Eelin." The girl took out her purse, and searched all through it. "Dear me," she said, "how stupid I I have only got one-and-sixpence-halfpenny with me. You'll just have to take out some of the tea, Mrs. Fordyce." "I'm sure you'll not be wanting to affront me. Miss Eelin," said the big, soft-featured woman, who appeared to be of a sensitive temperament. " When you know that anything in the shop is at your service — and no question of money at all !" 37 WILD EELIN "Well, well, Mrs. Fordyce," said the young lady, blithely, "if you carry on your shop on sentimental prin- ciples of that kind, I wonder how long you'll have a roof over your head. But I'll owe you the three halfpence — I won't ask you to open the packet — for I want to get along at once to old Granny Sinclair." "Ay, I thought it was something of that kind," said Mrs. Fordyce, with a smile. "And you'll just owe me the three halfpence until I ask you for it. Miss Eelin." Miss Eelin now left the shop, went quickly along to an- other thoroughfare, passed up a narrow entry, ascended a stair, and knocked at a door and opened it. Apparently she knew her way well, for the next minute found her in a small and rather dusky room, the sole occupant of which was a shrivelled little old woman, who lay huddled up in a dilapidated rocking-chair. The window at which she sat looked out upon a court-yard, above the high wall of which some rowan-trees and poplars showed — their sunlit foliage almost motionless against the flecked blue and white of the sky ; but she was not regarding these ; she had been help- lessly staring at her brown and bony fingers, clasped in her lap, until the arrival of this visitor had suddenly aroused her attention. "Well, Granny," said the new-comer, in her buoyant and matter-of-fact fashion, "has there been no one looking in for a moment to cheer you up, on this fine afternoon ?" " I've just been wearyin' for ye. Miss Eelin," said the old woman, in a quavering voice, "and wonderin' hour by hour whether ye would come. It's a long, long day, now that they're keeping Jean so late : sometimes it's near ten o'clock before she gets home." " Well, I'm going to make you a cup of tea now," con- tinued Miss Eelin, briskly, " and we'll pull your chair back a bit, and open the window to freshen the air, you know ; and I see your cushion is all slouched down^— you must let me help you over to the bed until I get things put straight; and if there's any fire in the kitchen, we'll soon have sotisl hot water — " 28 "SO YOUNG, MY LORD, AND TRUE" And thereupon she set busily to work ; and that with a wise motherliness, and dexterity, and tact beyond all praise. If in outward seeming she was even younger than her years, in her judgment, her sagacity, her patient tolerance of weakness or stupidity, her good-humored dealing with fractious tempers, she was a grown woman of quite excep- tional gifts and qualities. Perhaps, indeed, her very youth- fulness — or that appearance of fresh and light - hearted youthf uluess — stood her in good stead. People who other- wise might have been inclined to stand on their rights and dignities (which are jealously guarded among certaiu sec- tions of the poorer classes) became more amenable when it was only a mischief - loving, whimsical, domineering slim slip of a girl who was determined on having her own way. In her home and out of it this domineering had come to be a recognized kind of thing ; every one, or nearly every one, submitted to it : who was going to take Miss Eelin too se- riously, and run all the unimagined risks of offending her and quarrelling with her ? But sometimes the timid and apprehensive mother thought of the future — and of a future that might be near. And on this occasion the intruder forthwith took upon herself the entire control of the little dwelling and its soli- tary occupant too ; she got the hot water and made the tea ; she laid the cloth ; she went to the cupboard and brought out what remained of a cold leg of mutton (that small joint had made a most desperate hole in Wild Eelin's finances — and all unknown to the Bean - an - Tighearn); she cut one or two thin and neatly trimmed slices ; she added some lettuce leaves, and sprinkled the same with pepper and salt and vinegar ; she drew the old dame^s chair close to the table ; she pulled the window- blind right to the top, for a more cheerful light ; and then she said — "Now, Gj'anny, there you are. And what shall I read to you while you're having your tea ?" " Jean was leaving me a paper there, but I'm feart the print is getting to be too little for my old eyes — " 29 WILD EELIN "This one, is it ? Oh, the Observer. And what would you like to hear about first — the Births, Deaths, and Mar- riages, I suppose — " "Maybe," said old Granny Sinclair, "maybe there's something more about that young lass — her that was wear- ing the white rosette — " "Oh, the White Cockade creature — why, you're not in- terested in her, surely ! — " " Ay, but she's a smart lass, that one," said the old wom- an, with a dim sort of smile, for these comfortable things before her had enlivened her spirits somewhat — " ay, she has some spunk, that one ; and who Was telling her all the old stories — and how was she knowing all about the '45 and the wild men of Glenmoriston — " Miss Eelin burst out laughing. " Granny, Granny, have you never guessed ? Why, that's me I Don't you know that I'm a great authoress ? I write poetry, and prose, and lots of other things ; and I'm going to write about you ; I'm going to describe you as one of the notable heroines of the nineteenth century, because you take everything that happens with such a brave heart, and you never complain — here have I been in the house nearly half an hour, and you've never even mentioned the pains in your back, whereas anybody else would have been groan- ing and whining and yaumering. Have you never guessed — not even when you saw your own recollections put into print ?" The old dame had ceased stirring her tea : she looked stupefied. "You, Miss Eelin? — is it you ?— is it you that's her that stands up for Prince Charlie ?" " And what for no ? Bring the ghost of Lord President Forbes before me this minute, and you'll hear the talking I'll give him !" "And— and— was it yourself that was listening for Isea- bal Bheag nan Brecaig ?" * * Little Isabel of Ibe Bannocks. 30 "SO YOUNG, MY LORD, AND TRUE" " Why, Granny, that was one of your own tales ! It was you who told me of the Provost's murder, and how little Isabel happened to see the murderers at work, and how she gave information — that led to her own murder; and how her cries are heard to this day when the evenings are still, along the woods there by the river — " "And was you hearing them, Miss Belin ?" the old woman said, eagerly. " Well — that is to say — you know — the girl who signs herself ' White Cockade ' makes some kind of pretence of having been listening — and of having heard something; but I wouldn't believe too much, Granny, of what's in the papers. I myself never heard Iseabal Bheag nan Brecaig, though I've come past the woods many a time in the very stillest of evenings ; but then the girl in the Observer, per- haps she has more imagination than I have — and more time to spend along the river-side." These mystifications seemed to puzzle old Granny Sin- clair ; and yet she would keep thinking back to what she had been told of the young lass who in these degenerate days had the courage to wear the White Cockade. "Maybe," she said, "maybe I am not understanding very well, Miss Eelin. Is it yourself that was walking through the Islands — and there was the young man that would be there to read his books — were you seeing him ?" "Bless me, Granny, you're as bad as my mother !" the young lady cried, in an injured way. "How often must I tell you that there's no real young man — it's only a kind of ghost, you know — and so is the girl of the White Cockade, if it comes to that. It's all nonsense and make-believe. I don't know any young man who haunts the Islands — I don't indeed : the only person I know who is always there is Mr. Jameson the Keeper — Curator I would call him if I were the Town Council — poor man, he's about out of his mind just now with rheumatism in his shoulder, and I am going along this very evening with a new kind of embro- cation to see if that '11 do him any good. The idea that I 31 WILD EELIN would walk out to the Islands — or anywhere else — to meet any young man — " " She was sedng him, if they were not speaking," said the old dame, still vaguely thinking back. "Yes, yes, the White Cockade girl ! Don't you under- stand ? The White Cockade girl may have been up at the Islands, and may have seen a young man pacing about under the trees, and reading a book ; but that is all non- sense — that is what they call a romance, and it really doesn't exist. Come, Granny, you must put all these fan- cies out of your head — though I'm afraid I am responsible for putting them into your head ; and you must take me to be just m.e, and nobody else ; and you mustn't imagine I would go out to the Islands expecting to find any young man strolling about, whether he was a poet or only a com- mon person. I should think not indeed ! And here we've been chatting and chatting, and I haven't even read you the Births, Deaths, and Marriages yet — so let's get to work!" But this gossip about the young lady of the White Cock- ade had occupied much of her available time ; and when she had finished the slow reading of the newspaper an- nouncements — slow, so that Mrs. Sinclair might recognize any familiar name — she found that she must hurry off home or be late for dinner. So she removed the tea- things ; she brought the big-type Bible, which was the old Highland woman's easiest reading, and placed it on the table, dong with her spectacles ; she shook up the cush- ion, and generally put things to rights ; and then, with mtoy farewell admonitions, grave and gay, she took her departure, leaving behind her in the solitary little room a prevailing atmosphere of thankfulness and satisfaction and content. When she got home, she found she had only a few min- utes in which to dress for dinner, but in this brief interval she managed to supplement her costume with a novel form of decoration. This was an oval plaque cast in lead, some three and a half inches by two and a half, and bearing the following legend in bold relief : 82 "SO YOUNG, MY LOllD, AND TRUE" PARISH OF HUNTLY No. 6. It -was, in fact, one of the badges granted in former days by certain parishes in Scotland to superannuated and de- serving persons, licensing them to beg within prescribed boundaries. Miss Eelin slipped a bit of blue ribbon through the hole at the top ; she fastened the ribbon round her neck, so that the beggar's warrant was suspended in front ; and then she made haste down into the dining- room, into which her mother had already preceded her. They were only the two of them at table ; it was not often they had visitors. And at first the gentle, and placid, and smooth-voiced Bean-an-Tighearn did not notice ; but presently her eye happened to light on that ominous intimation and mute prayer. She knew what the dark medal meant. "Eeally, Eelin," she said, in acc^ts of hurt remon- strance, " I don't know what to make of you ! Already ? — and this only the eighth of the month ! What do you do with your pocket-money ? I never see you buying the nicknacks that other girls get for themselves ; and yet your purse is always empty. I don't understand it, except that your are incurably careless and extravagant." The culprit said not a word ; doubtless she thought that silence was her best policy. And, indeed, when the elder lady had made a sufiScient show of annoyance and re- proach, she took out her purse, and selected a sovereign, and pushed it along the table-cloth. That was the signal for Eelin of the wave - blue ej^es. In a second she had jumped to her feet, the leaden medallion was thrown aside, and the next moment her arms were round her mother's neck. " Dearest mammie, you're just goodness itself ! And I know that money slips through my fingers : I don't believe it's made of silver, or gold, or copper at all ; I believe it's B* 33 WILD. EELIN made of the gossamer stuff you see on the hedges on the autumn mornings. But this time — this time there will be a difference ! Sixpence by sixpence — sixpence by six- pence ; you will be fairly amazed at the lasting powers of this sovereign ! And thank you, dear little mother, again and again I" So that matter was happily settled. But there were other adventures lying in wait for Wild Eeliu, before she had got through with this evening. CHAPTER IV IN TWILIGHT LAND For she had promised to carry along to Mr. Jameson, the Keeper of the Islands, some sort of liniment of strange and startling efficacy ; and she impatiently waited for din- ner to be over to be allowed to go. And of course the ever - timorous mother would have her take one of the maids with her ; and of course this Daughter of a thou- sand Thanes, who had an excellent opinion of her capacity to look after herself, would have none of such feeble es- cort. "For the sake of appearances, Eelin," said the gentle mother. "Appearances !" she retorted, proudly. " I wonder who is to be judge of the. conduct of any one going out from this house! Mother, mother," the girl went on, "some- times it almost makes me laugh — but just as often I am nearer crying with vexation — to see the way you submit to the airs and pretensions of the snobocracy of this town ! You — you — with your cultivation, and yoiir knowledge of foreign cities^ and your friendship with famous people — you, to listen meekly to these provincial nobodies, and have never a word of protest when they presume upon you with their bourgeois prejudices, their empty opinions, and their parochial ideas of precedence and importance and showing off. ' The dear Princesses !' I don't believe any one of them ever saw a Princess, except perhaps on a steamboat on the' Caledonian Canal ! And you ! mother— you — when they are inflating themselves before you — why don't you quietly say to them, 'I saw something of the Princesses 35 WILD EELIN wlien I was Maid of Honor to the Queen ; but of course they were much younger then ; only they don't forget old friends ' ; and why don't you take them up to the wall of your own drawing-room, and point to this water-color and that water-color, with their inscriptions, and again you could say, 'You see they don't forget old friends — '" "Eelin," said the mother, half laughing (but yet secretly inclined to be just a little bit pleased over the fierce indig- nation of her champion), " if I were to do anything of that kind, what would it be but self-assertion, and what is self- assertion but the safest and surest mark of the parvenu all over the world ?" "Oh, but, mummie, you do allow yourself to be jumped on so completely — " " They might not find themselves so successful if they tried the operation on you, Eelin," the elder woman said, with a smile. At this the sea-blue black-lashed eyes were opened wide. " What are you talking about, mother ? Me ? But I am nobody ! I am nobody and nothing. I am like themselves. I am stupid, and ignorant, and provincial, like themselves ; they can jump upon me if they choose. But it is you — it is you, mother — when I see their presumption towards you — their thick-headed misunderstanding of your refinement, and your shy ways, and the gracious qualities that just make all the world of a difference between you and them — then my blood boils ; and sooner or later — " " Yes— sooner or later ?" said the Bean-an-Tighearn, now laughing outright. " Sooner or later — when I see them imposing upon yon with their affectations, and gentilities, and professions of acquaintance witH the fashionable world— well, I will give them a word or two of enlightenment. Yes, I will. I will say to them, 'Do you know who my mother is ? — do you know who you're talking to ?'" "The grammar, Eelin !" "The grammar's good enough for them; it's the kind they're used to," she replied, disdainfully. " Although I 86 IN TWILIGHT LAND suppose there isn't one of them who wonldu't pretend to be able to correct your reading of Dante — yes, and give you a few hints about Spanish assonances — or be kind enough to tell you what was the proper way of addressing Her Majesty—" "And now, my dear 'Whirlwind," said the slight, silver- haired, gentle-mannered lady, rising from her place, "now that you have finished your tirade against the highly respect- able society of Invernish — not that you know anything whatever about the people, for you won't go near them — " "I would go near them soon enough if they would treat you with proper consideration !" the