^^■ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 
 jTrniErmrcK
 
 « - 
 
 fi
 
 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 **A PRINCESS OF THULE," " M \CLEOD OP DARE," ETC., ETC 
 
 FOURTH THOUSAND. 
 
 LONDON 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY 
 
 LIMITED 
 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, K.G. 
 1894
 
 LONDON ; 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED 
 STAMFORD sriSEEr AND CHAUING CR0a3.
 
 'U. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A Convoy 
 
 II. A Poor Student 
 
 III. Signals of Distress. 
 
 IV. On a Kock 
 V. The "Firefly" 
 
 VI. The Day After 
 
 VII. A Ceilidh 
 
 VII r. Bakbarossa 
 
 IX. Problems and Dreams 
 
 X. The Sun-god . 
 
 XI. "The Wild Tears fall", 
 
 XII. In Sore Straits 
 
 XIII. Out op the Deeps . 
 
 XIV. A Visitor 
 XV. Encounters 
 
 XVI. Schemes and Forecasts 
 
 XVII. A Ptarmigan Brooch 
 
 XVIII. A Lecture and Thereafter 
 
 XIX. Councillor v. Station-master 
 
 XX. An Intruder . 
 
 XXI. A Raid on the Sanctuary 
 
 XXI r. An Informer . 
 
 XXIII. At an Open Door . 
 
 XXIV. On the Verge . 
 XXV. Prince Beelzebub . 
 
 XXVI. La Belle Dajie sans Merci 
 
 P.I c, r. 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 1(5 
 
 2S 
 
 oO 
 
 39 
 
 46 
 
 55 
 
 63 
 
 71 
 
 80 
 
 89 
 
 97 
 
 105 
 
 113 
 
 121 
 
 129 
 
 136 
 
 145 
 
 154 
 
 162 
 
 171 
 
 180 
 
 191 
 
 200 
 
 209 
 
 177 
 
 ^' 
 
 ■645
 
 iv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 CHAPTI-n 
 
 TAG I', 
 
 XXYII. 
 
 Dakk Deai.ixgs ...... 217 
 
 XXYIII. 
 
 The Red Parasol . 
 
 
 
 . 225 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 A Half-holiday and Thereafter 
 
 
 
 . 234 
 
 XXX. 
 
 An Assignation 
 
 
 
 . 243 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Sunlight Abroad 
 
 
 
 . 250 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 The Fool's Revenge 
 
 
 
 . 258 
 
 XXX til. 
 
 Perplexities .... 
 
 
 
 . 266 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 A Ri\G ..... 
 
 
 
 . 275 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 On a Summer's Evening . 
 
 
 
 . 288 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 On Board a Steamer 
 
 
 
 291 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 A Public Sacrifice . 
 
 
 
 300 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Best Man and Bridegroom 
 
 
 
 309 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Forebodings .... 
 
 
 
 319 
 
 XL. 
 
 In Peril ..... 
 
 
 
 . 327 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Husband, Wife, and Friend 
 
 
 
 336 
 
 XLII. 
 
 The Pleading Diet. 
 
 
 
 343 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 A Breaking and Entering 
 
 
 
 351 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Asphodels and Gowans . 
 
 
 
 360 
 
 XI.V. 
 
 On the Eve ..... 
 
 
 
 363 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Arraigned ..... 
 
 
 
 376 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Day and Night .... 
 
 
 
 381 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Pauline ..... 
 
 
 
 . 392 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 A Summons .... 
 
 
 
 401 
 
 L. 
 
 Farewell ! . . . . 
 
 
 
 409 
 
 LI. 
 
 "At each Remove". 
 
 
 
 418 
 
 LII. 
 
 A Sail 
 
 
 
 427
 
 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A CONVOY. 
 
 Away out at the edge of the world, facing the wild Atlantic 
 seas, a small and black procession was striving hard to 
 make headway against a blinding gale of rain and sleet. 
 First came a horse and cart, and in the cart was a young- 
 woman, seated on a sack of straw, and ^Yrapped up in a 
 thick blue-green tartan shawl that in a measure protected 
 her from the driving gusts ; then followed a straggling- 
 company of middle-aged men, their figures pitched forward 
 against the wind, their teeth clenched, the salt spindrift 
 dripping from shaggy eyebrows and beard, while now and 
 again the tail-end of a plaid, escaping from the clutch of 
 frozen fingers, would go flying aloft in the air. Occasion- 
 ally one of the men, from mere force of habit, would stop 
 for a moment to try to light his pipe ; but even if his 
 horny palms were sulficicnt to shelter the sulphur match, 
 the wet tobacco would not burn, and the pipe was mechani- 
 cally returned to its owner's pocket. There were two or 
 three collies, trotting by the side of their respective 
 masters ; but what with the drenching showers and the 
 bewilderment of the tumultuous waves, there was not a 
 snap or a snarl left amongst them. 
 
 At length, however, the road the travellers were follow- 
 ing, which hitherto had wound along the shore, struck 
 inland ; and at this corner stood a solitary and dismal- 
 looking habitation. There Avas no sign of any kind to
 
 2 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 denote that liere was offered entertainment for either man 
 or beast ; but no doubt the company knew the place ; for 
 as with one accord they left the highway and thronged into 
 the narrow passage, pressing and jostHng against each 
 other. All of them, that is to say, except one — an elderly 
 man, of respectable appearance, who seemed to hesitate 
 about leaving the girl in the cart. 
 
 " Will you not come down, Barbara," said he, addressing 
 her in the Gaelic tongue, " and step into the house ? " 
 
 The young girl with the dark-blue Highland eyes and 
 raven-black hair merely shook her head. 
 
 " Then will I bring you out a dram," said he, " or a piece 
 of oatcake and cheese ? " 
 
 " I am not wishing for anything," she answered, also 
 speaking in Gaelic ; and thereupon the elderly shepherd, 
 considering himself relieved of present responsibility, 
 followed his companions into the inn. 
 
 Apparently it was but a cold welcome they had received. 
 There seemed to be no one about ; nor was there any fire 
 in the grate of this bare, damp-smelling, comfortless 
 chamber into which they had crowded themselves. But 
 they did not appear to mind much ; all the pent-up speech 
 suppressed by the storm had now broken loose ; and there 
 Avas a confused and high-surging babblement about funeral 
 expenses — arrears of rent — the sale of stock — the intentions 
 of the factor — and what not ; all of them talking at once, 
 and at cross-purposes ; contradicting, asseverating, with 
 renewed striking of matches and sucking of dilficult pipes. 
 Indeed, so vehement and vociferous was the hubbub that 
 when a timid-looking young lass of about fourteen came 
 along, bearing before her a shovel-full of burning peats, 
 she could hardly -win attention, until one of them called 
 out — 
 
 " Make way for the lass there ! Come in, Isabel. And 
 where is your mother and the whiskey ? " 
 
 " My mother is not so well to-day," the girl replied, as 
 she put the peats in the grate. 
 
 " But you can get us the whiskey ? " was the instant and 
 anxious imiuiry. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed." 
 
 " Then make haste and bring it to us, for there is more
 
 A CONVOY 3 
 
 warmth iu a glass of whiskey llian in all the peats iu the 
 island." 
 
 " And have you any oatcake in the house ? " asked 
 another. 
 
 " No, there is no oatcake in the house," the lass made 
 answer. " It is at this very moment that my grandmother 
 is baking." 
 
 She left the room, and shortly returned with a tray on 
 ■which were ranged a number of thick tumblers and 
 measures, the latter filled with a dull straw-coloured fluid ; 
 whereupon each man apportioned his own and paid for the 
 same. There was no drinking of healths, for they had 
 come away from a solemn occasion ; but this additional 
 stimulant, following previous and liberal potations, awoke a 
 fresh enthusiasm of eager speech — about pasture land and 
 arable, the Crofters' Commission, the price of calves, and 
 similar things. And perhaps it was to rebuke them that 
 Lauchlan MacTntyre the shoemaker, a tall gaunt man of 
 melancholy mien, pushed his way through and placed his 
 fist on the table, the better to steady himself. 
 
 " A shame it is," he said, in Oaelic that might have been 
 fluent if it had not been interrupted l»y apprehensions of 
 hiccougli — •" A shame it is — that we should be talking of 
 such worldly matters. Ay, ay, indeed, when we should be 
 mourning with onr friend — mourning — as Rachel — mourn- 
 ing, and refusing to be comforted. It is this day that 
 my heart is sore for Donald Maclean — that has seen the 
 last of his family put away from him into the earth. A 
 fine lass she was — ay, ay, indeed, not a handsomer in these 
 islands — and a handy and a useful creature about the 
 croft ; but we are as the grass that perisheth and the 
 flower that withereth ; and Donald — Donald Avill be a 
 sorrowful man — when he finds himself among the folk of 
 Duntroone — so that the saying will be fulfilled that was 
 written : ' Sad is— the lowing — of a cow— on a strange 
 pasture ' " 
 
 He tilted forward : but ho did not fall ; for a powerful 
 pair of hands had got hold of him by the shoulders, and he 
 was dragged away from the table, and thrown unceremoni- 
 ously into a corner. The elderly shepherd, who had thus 
 interfered, and who was about the only one of them with 
 
 B 2
 
 4 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 any remaining pretensions to sobriety, now addressed him 
 with bitter scorn : 
 
 " Yes, you are the fine man to have yonr wits and jndg- 
 ment in such a state. You do not know that it is Donald 
 Maclean that we have been burying ; you do not know that 
 his daughter is alive and well, and waiting for us outside in 
 the cart ; you do not know it is she who is going to 
 Duntroone. And you are the fine man to have the charge 
 of her : sure I am you will be in a drunken sleep as soon as 
 you get on board the steamer -" 
 
 " Let be — let be," said Lauchlan, fumbling in his pocket 
 for his pipe. " I am not for quarrelling. I am a peaceable 
 man. Duncan, have you a match ? " 
 
 " A match ! " exclaimed the other, with disdain. " Is it 
 nothing you can think of but whiskey and tobacco ? — " 
 
 " Whiskey ? " repeated Lauchlan, with an amazing- 
 alertness. " AVell, now, it is your head that has the good 
 sense in it, Duncan, sometimes — and that is the Bible's 
 truth. And I say what you say ; another good glass of 
 whiskey will do us no harm, since we have to walk across 
 the island to Kilree. Oh, yes, do not fear ; I will look 
 after the young lass and her father ; I will take them safely 
 to Duntroone. Have you a match, Duncan ? " 
 
 The older man did not answer. 
 
 " It is I that must try to get a glass of mUk for 
 Barbara," he said to himself, as he moved away, " if there 
 is no oatcake in the house." 
 
 But meanwhile Lauchlan — long Lauchlan the shoemaker 
 he was called in Duntroone on the mainland — Lauchie, 
 while fumbling about for his pipe, had come upon a Jew's- 
 harp ; and this was a new inspiration. With heroic en- 
 deavour he struggled to his feet ; he balanced himself ; he 
 placed the instrument to his lips ; and began to play, in a 
 thin, (juavering strain, ' Lord Lovat's Lament.' Nay, he 
 affected to give himself something of the airs of a piper ; in 
 the limited space at his command, he paced backwards and 
 forwards, with slow and solemn steps ; there was an inward 
 look on his face, as if he was forgetful, or disdainful, of 
 these vain roysterers. Moreover, there was a kind of 
 nebulous grandeur about the tall and melancholy figure ; 
 for since ever the peats had been put in the grate, the wind
 
 A CONVOY 5 
 
 had been steadily Ijlowiui;- down the chimney, and now the 
 apartment was thick with smoke — peat-smoke and tobacco- 
 smoke combined ; so that the performer, with his slow, 
 funereal steps of about three inches in length, was as the 
 dark ghost of a piper, moving to and fro unheeded and 
 apart. And he might very well have been left to his harm- 
 less diversion ; but that was not to be. In spite of the din, 
 the tremulous, wiry sound of the Jew's-harp had caught the 
 ear of a huge red-bearded drover from Mull who was on the 
 other side of the table ; and for some reason or another he 
 became irritated. 
 
 " You there, Long Lauchlau," he called, " why do you 
 play that foolish thing ? If the Free Church will not let 
 you play the pipes, a man who is a man at all would refuse 
 to play on any instrument ! It is the great piper you are — 
 with a child's toy at your mouth ! " 
 
 The piper — or harper, rather — paused, advanced to the 
 table, steadied himself, and fixed his gaze on his enemy. 
 
 " What — is it you say — about the Free Church ? " he 
 demanded, with his small black eyes beginning to glitter. 
 
 " This it is I am saying," responded the big red-bearded 
 giant, with his brows lowering ominously, " that when the 
 Free Church will be for putting down the pipes throughout 
 the islands, then the man is not a man, but a dog every 
 inch of him, who will give up the pipes and take in the 
 place of the pipes what is allowed him, and that is the low, 
 pitiful, vile toy-instrument you have there." 
 
 " Then you are a liar," said the shoemaker, with 
 decision. 
 
 " I am a liar ? " repeated the other in an access of fury. 
 " But you are worse, for you are a son of the devil and a 
 liar besides — and I will smash your d— — d Free Church 
 toy ! " 
 
 He made a sudden snatch across the table, caught the 
 Jew's-harp out of the shoemaker's hand, and dashed it on 
 the floor, dancing on it with his heavy-nailed boots. Then 
 the tumult began. The shoemaker would get round the 
 table. His friends held him back. He broke away, with 
 imprecations, and howls of rage. The drover — Ptcd 
 Murdoch — equally frantic, was desperately striving to dis- 
 possess himself of those who clung to him or who bravely
 
 6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 interposed themselves between the two combatants ; while 
 random blows on lioth sides did nothing worse, so far, than 
 beat the air. But what portended evil was that the angry 
 passions thus aroused showed a tendency to become general. 
 There were excited cries and remonstrances — the invariable 
 prelude of a faction fight. And then, as it chanced, by 
 some accidental swaying of the crowd, the table went over 
 • — went over with a trecmje fit to wake the dead : the tray, 
 the glasses, the measures, the unnecessary water-bottle 
 hurling themselves into the little black fire-place. 
 
 It was in the midst of all this indescribable uproar that a 
 new figure suddenly appeared on the scene — an old woman 
 with unkempt silver-white locks and visage of terrible 
 import. She came in quickly; she was armed with the 
 rolling-pin she had been using at the bake-board ; and 
 with some strange sort of instinct she seemed to make 
 straight for the two chief offenders. 
 
 "What is this, now," she exclaimed, in shrill Gaelic, 
 " what is this going on, and my daughter lying ill ! Out 
 with you, you drunken savages ! Out of the house with 
 you, you heathen crew !— ay, every one of you ! — out of 
 the house with you ! — out !^out ! — •" And these panting 
 ejaculations were accompanied by strokes so energetic and 
 unexpected that a universal bewilderment and confusion 
 instantly prevailed. No man's joerson, nor any part of it, 
 however inferior, was safe from this merciless weapon ; 
 though it was mainly on the Mull drover and on the 
 astonished shoemaker that her valiant belabouring fell. 
 
 "In the name of God, woman, have peace ! " cried one 
 of them. 
 
 But there was no peace — there was war — war implacable 
 and ferocious — war that ended in a decisive victory ; for 
 in an incredibly short space of time she had driven forth 
 the whole invertebrate crowd of them, and slammed-to the 
 outer door. They found themselves in the rain, they 
 hardly knew how or why. They regarded each other, as if 
 something had occurred, that they were trying to recollect. 
 Then their eyes fell upon the cart. The young lass was 
 still patiently waiting there, the thick blue-green shawl not 
 entirely confining the tags of raven-black hair that had 
 been loosened by the storm. And then Duncan the
 
 A CONVOY 7 
 
 shepherd — choosing to ignore this wild thing that had jnst 
 happened — said discreetly : 
 
 " We'd better be getting on, lads. It would be a great 
 pity if we were to miss the Sanda.'''' 
 
 They now followed the road that cut across the island ; 
 and a dismal road it was — leading through sombre wastes 
 of swampy peat-moss and half-frozen tarns ; with rarely a 
 symptom of life anywhere, except the occasional clanging-by 
 overhead of a string of wild-swans on their way to the 
 western seas. But at any rate the rain had stopped ; and 
 the wind, instead of being dead ahead, was now on their 
 quarter, as a sailor might say ; so that they made very good 
 progress — Lauchie the shoemaker clinging on to the tail-end 
 of the cart, and talking to himself the while. 
 
 As the day Avaned, of a sudden they encountered the 
 strangest sound— a long-protracted wiiil that rose and fell, 
 as if it were some spirit of the dusk in immeasurable pain. 
 
 "May the Good Being save us, but what is that ! " w^as 
 the pious ejaculation of one of the company. 
 
 Lauchie, holding on to the cart, and still talking to 
 himself, laughed and chuckled. 
 
 " Oh, you are the clever boys, and no mistake ! " he said, 
 without looking at them. " You are the clever ones, that 
 would squeeze paraffin oil out of the peat ; and you would 
 make your own sheep-dip ; and you would write to the 
 Queen complaining of the Commission and the rents. And 
 yet you do not know the new steam-whistle — you have never 
 heard the siren steam-whistle before — and the Sanda has 
 given you a splendid fright ! — " 
 
 " The Sanda ! " exclaimed a neighbour in dismay, and 
 inadvertently he relapsed into English. " Is she unn ? " 
 
 " Ay, she's unn," responded Lauchie, giggling to himself, 
 " and very soon she'll be off again, and w^e'll hef to tek 
 Barbara Maclean aid the weh back to Knockalanish." 
 
 But this dire threat stimulated them ; they pushed ahead 
 and urged on the ancient animal in the shafts ; and ere 
 long they came in sight of the eastern shores of the island 
 — with the strip of cottages called Kilree— the bay — the 
 rude quay and landing-slip— and, lying some few hundred 
 yards out, a stumpy one-funnelled steamer that was again 
 sending forth its alarming call. And was not yonder the
 
 
 8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 last boat already left ? They 'waved their plaids ; they 
 whistled ; some of them ran — and one of them fell, and 
 picked himself np again. The end of it was that the horse 
 and cart were stopped at the top of the heach ; the young 
 lass was helped to descend ; the foremost two or three of 
 the company, hurrying along, had become possessed of a 
 boat lying by the slip ; and when Barbara Maclean and her 
 modest bundle had been deposited in the stern, the pro- 
 miscuous crew unloosed the painter, shoved off the bow, 
 plunged their oars into the water, and proceeded to pull 
 away with a desperate resolution to overtake the departing 
 steamer. 
 
 They pulled and they pulled and they pulled ; and they 
 were men of strength and sinew ; the oars creaked and 
 groaned in the thole-pins. They tugged and they strained 
 and they splashed — heads down and teeth clenched ; they 
 put their shoulders into the work with a will ; they would 
 have cheered but that they dared not waste their breath ; 
 and again came a long howl from the Sancla to encourage 
 them- — -doubtless she had perceived them through the 
 gathering dusk, and might be disposed to grant them a few 
 moments of grace. 
 
 But at this moment an appalling thing occurred. Long 
 Lauchie the shoemaker, who had roused himself from his 
 placid acquiescence of the last hour or two, and was now 
 madly and heroically pulling stroke, chanced to raise his 
 head — and behold there was some phantasmal object con- 
 fronting his bleared eyes. 
 
 "Aw, God," he cried, terror-stricken, "we have pulled 
 the quay away with us ! " 
 
 For there, undoubtedly, was the landing-slip, not a dozen 
 yards off ! And the beach, and the cottages — just above — • 
 were these also phantoms in the twilight ? Surely they 
 could not have hauled the Avhole island after them, out into 
 the deep ? 
 
 Then came one running down to the shore, gesticulating, 
 shouting. 
 
 " There's a line astern ! The boat's tied astern, man I 
 Throw off the line ! " 
 
 And at last it dawned upon Lauchie's dimly-rotating 
 brain that the boat must have been moored both fore and
 
 A POOR STUDENT 9 
 
 aft alongside tlie slip — that they had only released the 
 painter at the how — and that all their frantie pulling had 
 gone for nothing : in point of fact they had not moved a 
 yard beyond the length of this still attaching line. So 
 blindly and mechanically he nndid the rope from the iron 
 ring, and cast it into the water ; then he resumed his place 
 and his strenuous work — this time with considerably less 
 weight dragging behind. And in due course they reached 
 the steamer ; the young lass, Long Lauchie, and Red 
 Murdoch from Mull got on board ; the others returned with 
 the boat to the shore. And thus it was that Barbara 
 Maclean left her native island to seek a home anions; her 
 relatives in Duntroono, i^J'-aM^j 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 
 
 The aunt of this Barbara Maclean kept a tobacconist's 
 shop in Campbell Street, which is the main thoroughfare in 
 the small seaside town of Duntroone ; and one evening 
 Mrs. Maclean and her daughter Jess were seated in the 
 parlour behind the shop, from which, through a window in 
 the intervening door, they could observe when any customer 
 entered. Mrs. Maclean was a spruce and trim little body, 
 fresh-complexioned, grey-haired, and bright and alert of 
 look ; her daughter Jessie, or Jess as she was called by her 
 intimates, was a young woman of about twenty, flaxen- 
 haired and freckled, of pleasant features and expression, 
 and with grey eyes, ordinarily tranquil and kindly, that 
 could on occasion show themselves merry and humorous 
 enough, not to say malicious. For the rest, this was quite 
 a snug and cheerful apartment on so cold a night ; a brisk 
 coal-fire was burning in the grate ; a kettle simmered on 
 the hob ; and there were tea-things on the table. 
 
 " Ay," said the little Highland widow, as she continued 
 busy with her knitting-needles, " it's a sad thing for a young 
 lass to be left dissolute in the Avorld "
 
 lo HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Desolate, mother ! " Jess said, impatiently, for her 
 mother's happy carelessness of speech was at times a som-ce 
 of considerable embarrassment when neighbours were about. 
 " Ay, jist that," the widow said, contentedly, " it's a sad 
 thing for a young lass to be left dissolute. But it's no so 
 bad when she has friends to turn to ; and I'm sure when 
 Barbara Maclean comes to us, there v^ill not be a penny- 
 worth of grudging in her welcome. No, no, my sister and 
 me we had our quarrels in the old days ; but my sister's 
 lass will not want for a shelter while I have four walls 
 round me and a fire to warm my hands. And I would not 
 wonder if she took kindly to the ways of living here. 
 She'll find a difference between Knockalanish and Dun- 
 troone, in the living and the housing. For well you know, 
 Jess, it's not me that's given to the over-praising of creature 
 comforts ; still, at the same time, I like what is Christian ; 
 and I say that having cattle and human beings under the 
 same roof is not Christian. It may be very healthy ; 
 but it is not Christian. And never will I forget the 
 fortnight I spent at Knockalanish when my sister was in 
 her last illness ; the damp and the cold ; the peats soaked 
 through with the snow ; the supper of mashed potatoes and 
 milk r aud the breathing of the cows in the night. For of 
 course my sister had the ben * of the house ; and the rest 
 of us we had to put up with what beds and screens we could 
 get ; and night after night I was lying awake, fearing to 
 iiear the tick of the death-watch, or the howling of a dog, 
 and it was the breathing of the cows you could hear, and 
 not so far away. Ay. And Donald Maclean he was never 
 the good manager, nor my poor sister either, but after her 
 death he lost heart altogether, and how he was getting the 
 rent, or whether there was more and more of debt, no one 
 could tell ; only this I am sure of, that when his daughter 
 Barbara comes to us, she will not bring with her anything 
 
 more than what she stands up in ■'' 
 
 At this moment some one entered the shop, and Jess 
 hurried away to attend. It was a clerkly-looking youth, 
 who wanted a brier-root pipe ; and very jjarticular he was ; 
 but at length he was satisfied ; whereupon Jess returned to 
 the parlour. 
 
 * Tlio inner apartment.
 
 A POOR STUDENT 1 1 
 
 " Then there's the lad Allan," coutiimed the wanu-hcartL'tl 
 little widow, still busy with her knitting. " Well, now, I 
 am glad that he sometimes looks in of an evening ; and he 
 is one the more to show to Barbara that she has come 
 among her own kith and kin, though his mother married a 
 Lowlandcr and he has partly a Lowland name. But this is 
 it now, Jess, my lass, that when he stays to supper I wish 
 you would be pressing a little more on him — yes, yes — I 
 wish you would be pressing a little more on him ■" 
 
 Jessie Maclean's fair face flushed somewhat. 
 
 " Allan Henderson is very proud, mother," she said. 
 " And if he suspected anything he would never come 
 back."_ 
 
 " Pride and an empty stomach," said the small dame, 
 sententiously, " are not even cousins twenty times removed. 
 Starvation is the worst of training for any one, I do not 
 care who he is ; and the young man is foolish who refuses 
 when there is plenty before him on the table. But I have 
 heard of Allan and his ways ; oh, yes, indeed : both his 
 father and his mother have told me ; that when he was at 
 the College at Glasgow he was costing them nothing — well, 
 next to nothing beyond the fees for the classes, and the 
 books, and a lodging ; and now he is paying back, and 
 paying back, though they are not asking for anything, and 
 the post-offus keeping them very comfortable now, and I 
 dare say he has paid them far more than ever they lent 
 him. Besides," she went on, " it's a poor trade the school- 
 mastering. It's very little the School Board give him, after 
 his hard work at the classes. And my heart is sore to see a 
 young man going about at this time of the year without an 
 overcoat — when it's I myself would gladly buy him one — ■ 
 and why should he not take it as a present, from his 
 mother's cousin ■" 
 
 The flush on the girl's face had deepened : she turned to 
 trim the fire by way of hiding her vexation. 
 
 " You could not do that, mother ! " she exclaimed, in a 
 low voice. " You would not insult him ? — and turn him 
 away from the house ? — when he has not too many friends. 
 And as for schoolmastering," she continued, raising her 
 head — and at times speaking with an involuntary tremor of 
 pride in her tones, " he may not be always a schoolmaster,
 
 12 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 tliongh there are many schoolmasters that are great and 
 famous men, at tlie large schools throughout the country. 
 But if Allan is only a poor schoolmaster at jircsent, it will 
 not be always so, you may take my word for that. Of 
 course he has not told me his plans and his hopes — why 
 should he ? — I think he is too shy to tell them to any one ; 
 bat I can see what he is ; I can see what there is in him ; 
 and I know this, mother, that many a long day hence, yon 
 and I will be wondering that the Allan Henderson they are 
 all talking of in London used to come into our parlour in 
 Duntroone and smoke his pipe of an evening. It may be a 
 long time yet ; but it will be a great day for ns — even if he 
 has no recollection of us ; and you'll bear me out, mother, 
 
 that I prophesied it " Some slight noise arrested her 
 
 attention, and she looked up. " Mercy on us, here's Allan 
 himself ! " she ejaculated, in an undertone ; and therewith 
 she rose to open the door for him — the colour not yet quite 
 gone from her face. 
 
 He was a tall young man of about three or four-and- 
 twenty, his figure slim and spare but well-knit, his head 
 bent forward slightly, his features distinctly ascetic, yet 
 with plenty of firmness about the lines of his mouth, his 
 forehead square and capable, and showing a premature line 
 or two, no doubt the result of hard and perhaps injudicious 
 study. But it was his eyes that chiefly claimed attention : 
 large, soft, brown eyes, that were usually contemplative and 
 absent, but that could become singularly penetrating when 
 his attention was challenged. It was a concentration, in 
 obedience to any such summons, that appeared to demand 
 some brief effort ; but his perceptions, once aroused, were 
 swift ; he seemed instantly to divine whether this person or 
 this utterance was worth heeding or to be turned away from 
 with indifference and contempt. Jess used laughingly to 
 say of him, when she was grown spiteful — 
 
 " Poor Allan, the matter with him is that there's a cloud 
 betwixt him and all the world around him ; and when you 
 think he is looking over to Lismore, or to Morven, or 
 Kingairloch, it's the cloud he's staring at, and the grand 
 things he sees there — Roman battles, and such like, I 
 suppose. And some day he Avill be staring at the fine 
 things before him, and he'll step over the end of the cpiay.
 
 A POOR STUDENT 
 
 13 
 
 aud that will be the last of poor Allan ! " And she would 
 continue her flouting : " Going on for four-and-twenty, 
 and as big a baby as ever he was in his childhood ! He 
 has not got accustomed to anything ! Everything is new 
 to him — and everything wonderful — if he comes on a fox- 
 glove growing in the woods — or w'atches a young foal 
 following its mother — or he'll pick up a shell from the 
 shore, and that's quite enough to stare at and wonder at 
 too ! And what he gets to laugh at, passes me ! — he'll burst 
 out laughing when there was no amusement intended at all, 
 and that is not pleasant to people's feelings ; or again, 
 when the young folk are a little merry, and mocking at 
 each other, he will sit as glum as if he was looking at his 
 own funeral going by. Temper ? — temper, indeed ! — he is 
 the worst-tempered young man in Duntroone ! " 
 
 Yet the visitor who now came in did not look as if he 
 had an evil temper ; rather he seemed diffident as he took 
 the seat that the widow cheerfully offered him. 
 
 "I was passing," said he, by way of apology, "and I 
 thought I would step in to ask if you had heard of your 
 niece. Do you know if the Sanda was able to call at 
 Ivilree ? — the weather has been bad out there." 
 
 "Well, it's little I am likely to hear," responded the 
 widow, " until Barbara and Lauchlan Maclntyre walk 
 straight into the shop, or come knocking at the door of 
 the house ; though maybe some one will run up from the 
 quay to tell us when the Sanda show^s round the point. 
 There's Tobermory, to be sure, and they might have tele- 
 graphed from Tobermory ; but dear me, what does that 
 poor lass understand about the telegraph ? and Lauchlan — 
 well, Lauchlan would be amongst his friends. And yet I 
 was cautioning him too. ' Lauchie,' I was saying to him, 
 ' this time at least it is absolutely comparative that you 
 keep a hold on yourself, and behave yourself at the funeral, 
 and in bringing away the lass.' And he was saying 'Yes, 
 yes, mistress,' again and again. But I have had experience 
 of Lauchie, that is a good enough man and a sensible man 
 until the whiskey gets over him ; and when he begins 
 laughing, then it's a sign you need not try to talk any 
 more to him ; and afterwards, when he comes out of it and 
 is sober again, oh, the poor, down-hearted crayture that he
 
 14 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 is ! — as if he had committed every sin in the Cata- 
 logue " 
 
 " You mean the Decalogue, mother ! " Jess remonstrated. 
 
 " Ay : sometimes they say the one and sometimes the 
 other," the widow went on, with blithe effrontery. " But. 
 I'm thinking the Sanda should be in ere long now ; and 
 there's a bit supper waiting over the way ; and it would be 
 very agreeable to us, Allan, if you would step across with 
 us, when the shop is shut, and take your place at the table, 
 to show Barbara that she has come amongst several 
 friends " 
 
 But he seemed to shrink back from this proposal. 
 
 " No, no, thanks to you all the same," he said — and he 
 had a grave, gentle, impressive voice, that Jess listened to 
 as if every word were of value. " When a girl coines to a 
 new home in this way, surely she would rather be Avith her 
 own people, and have no half-strangers to meet. After- 
 wards there will be plenty of time for her to make 
 acquaintances." 
 
 " And it is very ill done of you, Allan Henderson," said 
 the little widow, l)oldly and indignantly, " to speak of 
 yourself as a stranger, or half -stranger, in my house. 
 Perhaps these are the ways they have at the College ; but 
 I am not understanding such ways. Jess, she must be for 
 ever making excuses ; and it's this one's pride, and that 
 one's pride ; but I am not understanding such pride when 
 there is the family-relationship between us. Oh, yes, every 
 one has heard of the old saying about the Macleans and 
 their pride and their poverty ; ' Though I am poor, I am 
 well-born ; God be thanked I am a Maclean ! ' But where 
 is the place for such things between cousins ? And when 
 you know very well, Allan, that over the way, and every 
 night in the week, there is a place at the table for you, and 
 Jessie and me sitting by ourselves, and perhaps you alone 
 in your lodgings, and maybe without a fire, too — -for I have 
 heard of such things with young men eager to get on in 
 the world — well, then, it may be College manners for you 
 to stay away, but it is not good Highland manners. And 
 that is the truth I am telling you at last." 
 
 Jess Maclean looked apprehensive and troubled ; but the 
 young man took all this in good part.
 
 A POOR STUDENT 15 
 
 " One is not always one's own master," he answered, 
 quietly. " I can only give yon my best thanks for so 
 kindly asking me. And I am sure you know another old 
 saying : ' If a man cannot get to his own country, it is a 
 good thing to be in sight of it ' ? " 
 
 " Will you not light your pipe now, Allan ? " Jess put in 
 skilfully— to get away from a ticklish subject. 
 
 But at this suggestion, Mrs. Maclean, who had been 
 regarding the young man (perhaps with some little com- 
 punction, for she was not accustomed to scold), quickly rose 
 from her seat and left the room, disappearing into the front 
 shop, and evidently bent on some errand. 
 
 " I hope you are not vexed with my mother, Allan," said 
 Jess, at once. 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed," he made answer. " Every one knows 
 that she is the kindest of women. And when your cousin 
 comes from the islands, she Avill soon find that she is in a 
 friendly home." 
 
 Presently J\Irs. Maclean reappeared, bringing with her an 
 unopened tin canister. 
 
 " This is a new mixture, Allan," said she, as she placed 
 the box before the young man, " that has been sent me 
 from Glasgow, and I would be glad if you would take the 
 canister home with you, and try the mixture, and tell me 
 your opinion, so that I could be advising my customers 
 when they come in. Will you put it in your pocket, or 
 will I send Christina along with it to you in the morning ? " 
 
 Jess looked swiftly and in alarm from one to the other 
 of them. But if his stubborn Scotch independence prompted 
 him to refuse the gift, the Highland blood that also flowed 
 in his veins forbade that the refusal should be in any way 
 discourteous. He hesitated for a second — to find some 
 excuse ; and there was some colour of embarrassment 
 visible on his forehead. 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you, Mrs. Maclean," said 
 he, after this involuntary pause. " But — but I have been 
 thinking of giving up my pipe altogether." 
 
 And now the anxiety of the younger woman gave place 
 to an infinite distress and pity : was he — simply because he 
 had been driven into a corner, and found himself unable to 
 refuse in any other manner this proffered kindness — was
 
 1 6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 he going- to deprive himself of the chief, perhaps the only, 
 comfort of a poor and solitary student ? 
 
 But at this moment her attention was distracted. Some 
 one entered the shop, and approached the dividing door ; 
 and a glance through the half-curtained pane told her who 
 this was — this was Mr. Peter McFadyen, coal merchant and 
 town-councillor. She rose to receive the new visitor : but 
 she did so w'ith impatient anger in her heart : for she knew 
 that now in a very few minutes the proud and contemptuous 
 Allan would be on his homeward way. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SIGNALS OP DISTllESS. 
 
 Yet Peter McFadyen hiinself was about the last man in 
 the world to imagine that he could be unwelcome any- 
 where ; and as he now, after salutations and inquiries, 
 proceeded to make himself comfortable in front of the 
 lire — pulling out his pipe and tobacco-pouch the while — he 
 Avent on to give these neighbours a vivid account of his 
 day's doings on the golf-links, nothing doubting of their 
 sympathy and keen interest. He was a little man, round 
 and chubby, with eager, twinkling eyes, a clipped sandy- 
 brown beard, and hair becoming conspicuously scant on the 
 top. For the rest, the rumour in Duntroone was that 
 McFadyen, who was an old bachelor, had it in view to 
 amalgamate his fortunes with those of the wddow ; l)ut 
 some there were wdio surmised that Peter cherished other 
 and more romantic designs. 
 
 " Dod," he said, with a triumphant chuckle, " I'm 
 thinking the station-master and me we were showing the 
 young fellows something this afternoon ! Not that I 
 would call either JMr. (lilmour or myself elderly folk " 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. McFadyen," said the widow, politely, " it 
 will be many a long day before you can think of such a 
 thing." 
 
 " A few years one way or the other is nothing at all,"
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS 17 
 
 responded Mr. McFadyen, with obvious satisfaction. '• Just 
 nothing at all ! It is a question of keeping yourself in 
 good fettle ; and if one of they young fellows and myself 
 were to start away from Taynuilt, I wonder which of us 
 would be the first to reach the top of Cruachan Ben. Ay, 
 or throwing the hammer : that is a capital test of what is 
 in a man's shoulders ; and I should not be afraid of a 
 match with some of them — not me ! I've got a practising- 
 place marked out in the backyard — though it's rather 
 narrow — and if anybody was a bit careless, the hammer 
 would make a fearfu' smash of the little greenhouse — — " 
 
 " Did I ever thank you for the christmas-anthemuras, 
 Mr. McFadyen ? " the widow interposed. " They were just 
 beautiful — though Jessie was sorry you should be cutting 
 them " 
 
 But Peter was not to be diverted from vaunting his 
 physical prowess. 
 
 " Ennning— jumping — pulling an oar," he continued, 
 with buoyant assurance (and perhaps widening out his chest 
 a little, for he must have known that Jessie Maclean's 
 " grey eyes feminine " were now regarding'him), " give me 
 a week or two's training, and I'm not afraid of any of they 
 boasting young chaps. But it's the links, Mrs. Maclean, 
 it's the links I was coming to ; and we did well there this 
 afternoon, I can tell you ! We did well, both Gilmour and 
 me ; but I beat him — the fact is, Gilmour is a little thing 
 stiff in the joints, though he doesna like to hear it said. 
 Well, we started from the teeing-ground just behind the 
 Dunchoillie farm ; and you know Colquhoun's meadow, 
 Mrs. Maclean, there's a burn comes down through the 
 middle, and then there's a bank covered with whin-bushes : 
 it's just a desperate bunker to get into. Very well : I put 
 the ball on the tee — a little sand ; not too much sand ; too 
 much sand's a great mistake — and I let drive ! Dod, that 
 was a drive ! Away she went with a ping like a rifle- 
 bullet — sailing and sailing — sailing and sailing — and getting 
 smaller and smaller — until my eyes were filled wi' water 
 staring against the white clouds — and Gilmour he lost sight 
 of the ball altogether. ' It's down in the whins ! ' he cries. 
 ' Ye gomeril,' I answers him, ' it's more near the putting- 
 green, if not close up to the hole ! ' — for I was just certain 
 
 c
 
 1 8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 I had got far away over the bum and the whins, and was 
 safe on to the higher land. Would you believe it ? — when 
 we got up, the ball was witliin twenty yards of the flag ; and 
 in three more strokes I was out ; the first hole for four ! — 
 and me that never touched a golf-club until last summer ! " 
 
 Peter had been growing excited : he now moderated his 
 warmth. 
 
 " I did not do so Avell at the second hole," he observed 
 darkly, " Maybe it was the wind ; or maybe I toed the 
 ball when I was driving from the tee ; anyway it got over 
 the dyke and into the road, ay, and into the cart-rut, and 
 I thought I was never going to get it over the dyke again. 
 Bother the thing, I smashed my iron niblick clean in two — 
 but — but I'm thinking there must have been a flaw in the 
 wood ^" 
 
 He hastened away from these deplorable reminiscences. 
 
 " The Pinnacle ! " he said, laughing with eager anticipa- 
 tion. " We had a rare game at the Pinnacle ! For that's 
 a most desperate place, Mrs. Maclean, and no mistake — as 
 steep as the side of a house^and all soomin with water — 
 and unless you get clear away on to the top, what happens is 
 that your ball strikes the face of the hill, and doesna lie 
 there, but just comes quietly trintle, trintle, trintliug down 
 the slope and back to your feet again. And there was I up 
 on the top — right up on the putting-green, after a fine long 
 drive — looking down on Gilmour ; and I declare there never 
 was such an angry man ! — hacking away with his cleek- — • 
 splashing the mud^ — and sweerin' every time the ball would 
 come trintle, trintling back down to his feet. ' Gilmour,' I 
 cries to him, ' put the ball in your pocket, man, and bring 
 it up with ye ; it's the only way at the Pinnacle ! ' And he 
 would not speak, so angry he was ; and still angrier was he 
 when we started away for the next hole ; for he forgot it 
 was blowing up there on the top — blowing right across 
 from Mull and Morven and the Frith of Lorn ; and he put 
 far too much sand on the tee — far too much sand, for he's 
 an obstinate man, Gilmour, and- will not take a telling — ■ 
 and in his anger he made a drive that should have sent the 
 ball over; to Li^nore ! Did it ? " Peter asked — and he 
 roared with laughter, and his small eyes twinkled, and he 
 rubbed his hands. " There was just a blash of sand ! — a
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS 19 
 
 blash of sand — that rose in the an" — and back it came in his 
 face — just filUlig his eyes, and filKng his month, so that he 
 went about sphitterin', and could not even sweer ! Dod, 
 the station-master was an angry man this afternoon ! — it's 
 a fearfu' place the Pinnacle ! " 
 
 At this point the tall and grave young schoolmaster rose 
 to go, notwithstanding a half-concealed deprecatory glance 
 from Jess. 
 
 " Allan, my lad," said Mr, McFadyeu, familiarly, " have 
 you heard of the dance that Mr. and Mrs. McAskill of the 
 Argyll Arms are going to give to the Gaelic Choir ? " 
 
 " ISTo," said the schoolmaster, somewhat curtly. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, then," continued Peter, with much im- 
 portance. " In the Volunteer Drill-Hall. A great affair, 
 for the Choir will sing glees between the dances, and there'll 
 be plenty of pipers. And sure I am that every one in this 
 room at this minute will have an invite ; and I have been 
 thinking, Mi-s. Maclean, that if you would let me call for 
 you and Miss Jessie, I woidd bring a machine and drive 
 you up to the Drill-Hall, for it's a bad road in the dark, and 
 it Avould never do for you and Miss Jessie to get yom- feet 
 wet " 
 
 " Mr. McFadyeu," said Jess, with some touch of resent- 
 ment, " I think you are forgetting what has just happened 
 in our family " 
 
 " Oh, but the dance is a long way off yet ! " said Peter. 
 And then he went on, with humorous shyness : " Maybe, 
 if any one should have a doubt al)out going, maybe that 
 one's myself : maybe they'll be saying that my dancing days 
 should be over " 
 
 " And who could be saying that ! " interposed the widow, 
 promptly. " That would be nonsense indeed ! I should 
 not wonder, noAV, if you could give le?sons to some of those 
 young lads and lasses," 
 
 He turned to her with sudden seriousness. 
 
 "If there's one thing surer than another, Mrs. Maclean," 
 he said, " it's this— that a well -trained step is never for- 
 gotten. Begin well — that's everything in dancing ; and ye 
 acquire a grace — an elegance, I might say — that becomes a 
 kind of second nature. Not that I object to a rough-and- 
 tumble reel now and again ; no, no ; I'm not more afraid 
 
 c 2
 
 20 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 of a foursome reel than I am of a fom'some round on the 
 links. But there's something finer — Miss Jessie, do you 
 know the Varsoviana ? " 
 
 " I have seen it," Jess Maclean answered coldly. 
 
 " But it's the simplest thing — the simplest thing in the 
 world ! " he vehemently urged. " Just stand up for a 
 minute, now, and I'll show ye " 
 
 He himself got up, put his toes into the first position, and 
 held out his hand to encourage her. But she declined to 
 move. 
 
 " If you please, I would rather not, Mr. McFadyen," she 
 said, with flushed face. 
 
 " But look ! " said he. And therewith, whistling an air 
 with pursed lips, he proceeded to execute certain short, 
 stiff, marionette-like movements, as well as he could in the 
 circumscribed space at his disposal. 
 
 " D'you see now ? — as simple as simple ! — then lead off 
 with the nest foot — the other foot at every turn — d'ye see 
 how simple it is ?— and the most elegant thing that ever 
 was seen, with a lot of couples in a ball-room." He ceased 
 from these valorous efforts, and resumed his chair, proud, 
 breathless, and happy. " We'll get you to have a try at it 
 some other evening. Miss Jessie," said he, gaily. " I'm 
 thinking we'll be able to show them something the night 
 of Mi-s.^McAskill's dance ! " 
 
 Allan Henderson had been waiting patiently, not wishiiig 
 to interrupt. 
 
 "I will bid you good-evening now, Mrs. Maclean," said he. 
 
 " Good-night, Allan," she made answer, holding out her 
 hand. 
 
 But Jess followed him into the front shop, shutting the 
 door behind her. 
 
 " I am sorry if Mr. McFadyen and his blethers have 
 driven you away, Allan : you do not come to see us as 
 much as you might." 
 
 " I must get home to my books," he answered her, 
 evasively. 
 
 " And I hope, Allan," she said, regarding him with 
 anxious and earnest eyes, " that you are not working too 
 hard at your studies." 
 
 " Well," said he, " when one is young one must work
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS 
 
 21 
 
 biird. It is the only time : there is no after time. But I'll 
 be looking in to see yon and your mother again one of these 
 evenings. Good-night, Jessie." 
 
 " Good-night, Allan ! " said she ; and when he had gone, 
 she lingered a while : she did not care to return at once to 
 the parlour, where donbtless Mr. McFadyen was still engaged 
 in magnifying his strength, his agility, and innumerable 
 accomplishments. 
 
 On the other hand, Allan, when he left the tobacconist's 
 shop, did not immediately return to his lodging and his 
 books. He was at an age, and in circumstances, that 
 imperatively demanded close and strenuous self-communion ; 
 and that he was accustomed to seek in solitary walks along 
 the seashore, or up on the moorland w^astes, especially at 
 night, when darkness and silence were abroad. And 
 tumultuous indeed were the problems he found confronting 
 him in these lonely rambles. There were deep and inscrut- 
 able searchings of heart, for no matter what his training 
 and his traditions may have been, he was resolute and 
 uncompromising in his search after such truth as might be 
 discovgrable — about human nature, and the surroundings of 
 human nature, and the more awful mysteries beyond ; there 
 were ambitious projects springing thick from an over-active 
 brain — elusive, distracting phantoms that just as often as 
 not beat wild wings against the res angusta domi ; the res 
 angusta domi itself came in with its sordid cares and 
 pinchings — the need of a pair of weather-proof boots — the 
 counting the cost of a holiday-trip to see his father and 
 mother, who kept the post-office at Inverblair — this latest 
 project of giving up tobacco — and the like ; while ever- 
 recurrent were the vague and harassing visions of youth — 
 that troubled questioning of the future, with all its tanta- 
 lising hopes, its looming anxieties, its hidden dangers and 
 pitfalls. But happily for him, in this seething-time, in 
 this time of storm and stress, he had been spared the crown- 
 ing misery of all. The " cruel madness of love " had not 
 overtaken him : that honeyed poison-cup at all events had 
 not been placed to his lips. 
 
 He passed through the noAv half-dormant town, went 
 round the obscure and silent quays, ascended a steep incline, 
 and eventually, emerging from the black shadow of some
 
 i 
 
 22 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 larches, stepped out upon a little plateau on the summit of 
 the Gallows Hill. It was a favourite resort of his : here he 
 could pace up and down, exorcising the demons of unrest and 
 doubt and despondency, and bidding the great surrounding 
 mountains lend some little measure of their invulnerable 
 calm. On this particular night, it is trne, the darkness was 
 such that nothing was visible of all those vast mountain- 
 ranges ; but well he knew the whereabouts of the mighty 
 peaks and shoulders, from Ben Buie and Creachbeinn and 
 Dun-da-gu, over in Mull, to Glashven and Fuar Bheinn up 
 in Morven, from the far giants of Glencoe, murmuring to 
 each other across the silence of the valleys, round to Ben 
 Cruachan and Ben Eunaich, above the lonely and ghostly 
 solitudes of Glen-strae. August companions, to be sure, 
 even if unseen ; they appeared to lift the soul away from the 
 trivial tasks and frettings of everyday life ; these he seemed 
 for the moment to have left behind him — down in yonder 
 little town, that he could now make out only by certain 
 gloAYWorm dots scattered here and there, indicating the 
 semicircular sweep of the bay. 
 
 Of a sudden his eyes were attracted elsewhither. Far 
 away at the back of Kerrara island a white shaft of fire had 
 sprung into the mirk of the night — a distant, trembling, 
 curving, silent thing that glared for a second or so, and 
 then vanished, leaving the darkness as impenetrable as 
 before. And for a moment he asked himself Avhether the 
 Mull people — the people down about Duart — were setting 
 otf fireworks. But what occasion could there be for fire- 
 works ? The next instant another slender white shaft rose 
 silent into the air ; and now, judging by the position of the 
 Lismore light— the one steady, radiant star in all this wide, 
 black picture — these signals seemed to be coming from some 
 point between Lismore and Mull ? But signals ? — 'Uot 
 fireworks at all. And if signals, then signals from some 
 vessel m distress ? And what vessel was now expected, 
 except the Sanda, that was bringing to the household of the 
 Macleans the young girl from the outer isles ? 
 
 He sped away down the hill-side and gained the dusky 
 thoroughfares. The few people about had not noticed the 
 signals — perhaps the northern end of Kerrara island had 
 prevented their being seen. But soon there Avas sufficient
 
 ON A ROCK 23 
 
 commotion iu the little town ; and one old sailor, liuiTyin,i>- 
 along with his companions to a commanding point, to 
 discover what had happened or was happening, was heard 
 to say to himself — 
 
 "the Sanda? But the Sancla would be coming over 
 from Oraigenure ? And how the dufile could she get so far 
 down to the west ? " 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON A ROCK. 
 
 Now when the Sanda left Oraigenure, Long Lauchlan the 
 shoemaker was down in the fore-cabin, snugly huddled up 
 in a corner ; and he was nursing a soda-water bottle half- 
 filled with whiskey, while he softly sang to himself. It was 
 not a lugubrious song ; but lugubriously and slowly he sang 
 it, especially the refrain — ■ 
 
 " If yell wall:. 
 If ye'll icalJc, 
 If ye'll walk ivitli me anytvliere" 
 
 the r/'s in which he pronounced as the a in darJc, dwelling 
 on them indefinitely. Eed Murdoch the Mull drover, who 
 had been having a royal time of it since these two left 
 Kilree, and who chanced to be the only other occupant of 
 the cabin, at length interrupted angrily. 
 
 " To the devil with your south-country songs ! " he cried, 
 in Gaelic. 
 
 But the long, melancholy-visaged shoemaker took no 
 offence ; he was too happy. 
 
 " It's a beautiful song — a beautiful song," he said, also in 
 Gaelic. " And if it is a south-country song, it is a song 
 that is known to every fisherman from Peterhead to Buckie. 
 There is no more favourite song." He raised his forefinger, 
 to beat the sIoav time. " A beautiful song — 
 
 ' Ifs I tvill buy you a iiennyioortli of preens. 
 If ye'll uKilh, 
 If ye'll loalli, 
 If ye'll icalk icith me anyivliere' "
 
 24 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " The man is a fool that would sing such a song ! " said 
 the red-bearded drover, bluntly. 
 
 Whereupon Lauchie laughed and chuckled quietly to 
 himself. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I may be a fool. But I would rather be a fool 
 than a man with bad luck." 
 
 " Who is a man with bad luck ? " demanded Murdoch, 
 his bushy eyebrows drawing together. 
 
 Lauchie appeared to be secretly amused. 
 
 " Then you do not know you are of the same name with 
 the man of bad luck ? " he went on. " Oh, you do not know 
 what they say of the luck of Red Murdoch ? They say to 
 any one ' You have the luck of Eed Murdoch ; for when 
 Red Murdoch is in the north, then the herring are in the 
 south.' " 
 
 "If I knew the man that said that of me," rejoiucd 
 Murdoch, with fiery eyes — and he even thrust forth a 
 massive and hairy fist, clenched, to give emphasis to his 
 threat, " I would bash his head against a stone wall." 
 
 "Have a dram, Murdoch," said Lauchie, tendering the 
 bottle, which was not refused. " It's not I that am going 
 out of the house to-night, no, not to fight anyone. I am a 
 peaceable person. Better a warm fireside than a cold hill- 
 side, that is what the wise man of Ross was saying. 
 Murdoch," he continued, suddenly reverting to the blissful 
 days that were now nearing an end, "it was a beautiful 
 funeral. That is what I am thinking. It was a beautiful 
 funeral. There was no parsimony. How many gallons of 
 whiskey, would you say ? — seven ? — ay, ay, and maybe more 
 like seven and a half. There was two or three glasses apiece 
 when we came together ; and there was two more at the 
 house ; well, that Avas right and proper ; and although it is 
 not easy for eight men to keep in step, when they have 
 a heavy coffin on their shoulders, there was not a siugle 
 man fell into the road, and each time the coffin was set 
 down, it was set down as gently as if it were a cradle, not 
 a coffin at all. And two more glasses to each man at the 
 gate of the cemetery. And two more coming away. After 
 that — aw, God, I am not rememl)ering much — there was 
 
 little use in counting but sure I am there was no 
 
 parsimony ; and it was the fine funeral that was given to
 
 ON A ROCK 25 
 
 Donald Maclean of Knockalanish. Have yoa a niatcli, 
 Mnrdoch F " 
 
 " I am tired of giving matches to a fool of a man that 
 will not carry them for himself," answered lied Murdoch, 
 sulkily and tauntingly. 
 
 But Lauchio would not quarrel. He resignedly put his 
 pipe in his pocket again ; he settled himself in a corner, his 
 head drooping somewhat ; and he resumed his placid and 
 happy communing with himself. 
 
 " A beautiful song — not a fisherman from Peterhead to 
 Buckie but knows it — a beautiful song — 
 
 ' IVs I will buy you a hraw netv goivit, 
 With buttons so fine, and flounces to the ground, 
 If ye'll icaak, 
 If ye^ll icaak, 
 If ye'll icaak ivith me anywhere.^ 
 
 A beautiful song. . . . And a beautiful funeral . . . no 
 parsimony at all " 
 
 Then his head fell wholly : he was fast asleep. Eed 
 Murdoch glanced at him with angry scorn ; threw a parting 
 oath at him ; and turned to leave the cabin. And this he 
 managed, after several efforts — for the steps of the com- 
 panion were narrow and exceedingly steep — to do : hands, 
 knees, and feet were all brought into requisition ; and 
 eventually he emerged into the upper air. 
 
 Meanwhile what had become of the young lass from the 
 outer isles whom these two worthies were convoying to 
 ])untroone ? Once or twice she had been invited to go 
 down into the fore-cabin ; but she had refused — for the 
 odour of the place was overpowering ; she preferred to 
 remain on deck ; and the steward had considerately brought 
 her some tea and some food. She had got into a more or 
 less sheltered place well away forward ; and there she sate 
 with her tartan shawl drawn close around her, silent and 
 solitary, and half-terrified by the strange things around her. 
 For she had never been on a steamer before ; and although 
 the monotony of the long voyage had produced a state of 
 semi-stupefaction, she remained nervously alive to all her 
 surroundings — to the throbbing of the screw, the lash of 
 the waves along the vessel's side, and the dusky figures 
 moving about the deck. The night was obscure and
 
 26 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 squally ; bub at least there was no rain ; and the high 
 bulwarks were a sorb of jDrotection to her against the 
 hurling gusts of wind. 
 
 Now there had come on board at Craigenure two gentle- 
 men who were returning home to Duntrooue — one of them, 
 indeed, the principal doctor there, the other a well-known 
 bailie ; and these two had wandered up to the bow of the 
 ship to look around them ; and they were chatting to each 
 other. Barbara Maclean heard every word. 
 
 " Surely we're keeping a long way from Lismore, Bailie," 
 the Doctor said, regarding the steady and golden ray of 
 the lighthouse that Avas shining boldly through the mirk of 
 the night. " I wonder hoAv many times I have crossed 
 from Craigenure, and yet I never saw a course like this 
 taken before." 
 
 " Maybe Pattison is trying to cheat the tide," replied the 
 Bailie. " There's fearful tides running here at times." 
 
 "Well, Captain Pattison should know his own business 
 best," the Doctor was saying — when of a sudden he gripped 
 his companion's arm. " What's that there — right ahead ! " 
 he exclaimed, staring with amazement and consternation at 
 some vague, half-invisible, dark object that seemed to loom 
 up out of the water. And then again, instantly recognising 
 what was about to happen, he called out — " It's the Lady 
 Rock ! For God's sake, man, hold on ! — hold on to some- 
 thing ! " — while he himself caught at the nearest portion 
 of the standing rigging, and braced himself as best he 
 might to withstand the coming crash. 
 
 There appeared to be no interval. Almost simultaneously 
 with his shouted warning came the inevitable, the terrific 
 shock that seemed to rive the ship from stem to stern ; 
 then she lurched forward and upward, with a hideous 
 grinding sound ; then she dipped somewhat ; and then she 
 hung— hung there for one dreadful second of silence, as if 
 she were* some dumb animal mutely asking what was next 
 required of her — whether she should carry on some half- 
 dozen yards farther, and, Avith smashed boAA's and started 
 plates, go headlong to the bottom, in fifty fathoms of AA-ater. 
 But no : she remained firm : and she remained upright, 
 though Avith a strong list to starboard ; and now, after that 
 one moment of paralysed silence and suspense, an inde-
 
 ON A ROCK 27 
 
 scribable clamour and commotion ensued— women shrieking 
 and running hither and thither for their relatives, the 
 sailors hurrying along with lanterns, the captain calling his 
 orders from the bridge. And all through this bewilder- 
 ment of noise and confusion there ran the ominous hoarse 
 surge of the tide on the isolated rocks beneath and around 
 them ; it was as a voice out of the unseen ; and it was a 
 clamorous and an angry voice — a voice that threatened 
 doom. 
 
 Barbara Maclean had been thrown violently on to the 
 deck ; but when she raised herself, she had no thought of 
 rushing about, claiming protection and succour. Her 
 faculties had been stunned and blunted by these terrors of 
 the sea and of the night ; and when she resumed her place, 
 she only pulled her shawl around her, cowering, and 
 perhaps crying a little in her helplessness. She knew 
 nothing of what was going forward. She saw dark figures 
 going quickly about with lanterns ; but they did not chance 
 to come near her ; and even in that case she would have 
 been too timid to put any question. It is true, she did 
 utter a brief cry of dismay when the first rocket, with a 
 shrill and sudden scream, sprung high and blinding into 
 the gloom ; but in time she got used even to that ; while 
 the intermittent thunder of the signal-cannon only seemed 
 to shake her frame physically. She was too dazed to feel 
 further or acute alarm ; what might happen would have to 
 happen ; she was far away from her own land, and from 
 things with which she was familiar. As for the two men 
 A\ho had in a kind of fashion undertaken to see her safely 
 to Duntroone, neither was of near relationship to her, and 
 she could not expect much care from them ; besides she 
 knew the ways of people who had been to a Highland 
 fnneral out in the west ; and she was content to remain 
 unassisted and alone. 
 
 The odd thing was that in such a crisis of danger Red 
 Murdoch should have thought first, not of this forlorn 
 creature, but of his boon companion, with whom he was 
 constantly quarrelling. He stumbled along to the fore- 
 cabin ; he steadied himself at the top of the companion ; 
 he howled aloud his warning ; and then, finding there was 
 no reply, he made his way— to speak plainly, he fell — down
 
 28 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the steps ; lie crossed the floor, and seized Laiichie Mac- 
 Intyre by the coat-collar. 
 
 " Here, man, come away ! — do you not miderstand ? — 
 we may all of us be at the bottom of the sea in a 
 minute ! — " 
 
 Lauchie endeavoured, but in a gentle manner, to repel 
 this interference. 
 
 " No," he said, slowly, but firmly, " I will not stir from 
 the house this night. It is I that am knowing when I am 
 well off. Go away yourself, Murdoch. It's a warm house 
 I am in ; and a Avarm house is better than a cold bill- 
 side " 
 
 " Son of the Devil ! " roared Murdoch, furiously. " Do 
 you not know that we are on a rock ? " 
 
 " And the house that is founded on a rock is a beautiful 
 house," said Lauchie, solemnly. " Have you a match, 
 Murdoch ? " 
 
 Murdoch did not answer, but now with both hands he 
 seized the coat-collar of the shoemaker, and by main force 
 dragged him to the foot of the companion. Then first he 
 tried to shove him up the steps ; next he tried to drag him 
 up ; presently they both fell together ; and it is impossible 
 to say what might have happened had not a sailor, hearing 
 some noise, come to the top of the companion, and called 
 down — 
 
 " Uss there any one below there ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," called Murdoch in reply. " Come here 
 and give me a little assustance with a friend of mine, that 
 uss rather too sleepy to go ashore by himself." 
 
 The sailor came running down the companion ; and 
 fortunately he was a powerfully built man. 
 
 " Going ashore ? " said he, grimly, as he proceeded to 
 hoist and shoulder these two up the steps. " It's miles 
 aweh from any shore you are ! And the sooner you are 
 out of this boat the better : would you like to be left 
 behind ? " 
 
 For now it aj^peared that the captain had decided that 
 the passengers, at least, should descend from the steamer, 
 taking such precarious chance of safety as might be 
 afforded by the solitary reef on which they had struck. 
 The gangway was open ; a ladder affixed ; and by the
 
 ON A ROCK 29 
 
 dusky glare of two lamps woman after woman, and man 
 after man, went down the side, to seek out for some footing 
 among the wet and slippery seaweed and the hidden pools 
 of salt water. They crowded together, these poor wretches, 
 deafened by the rush and roar of the tides all around them ; 
 and perhaps wondering when those baleful forces would 
 arise out of the dark and seize and engulf them. They 
 dared hardly move, for a single false step might plunge them 
 into unknown deeps ; and the lights of the steamer were 
 dim. Those indeed were best off who could cling on to 
 the massive iron bars of the beacon that marks the rock — ■ 
 a flameless skeleton of a structure that towered away above 
 them into the sombre skies. And meanwhile, at intervals, 
 from the deck of the ship, the rockets went screaming into 
 the night, and the signal cannon boomed its reverberations 
 across the waste of Avaves. But half-hour after half-hour 
 went by, and there was no response. 
 
 " They can neither see nor hear us," the Doctor said to 
 his neighbour. " We are too far away for the sound to 
 carry. And Kerrara lies between us and Duntrooue : they 
 will not see the rockets." 
 
 " But surely the people at Lismore light must see them ! " 
 said the Bailie. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, that is possible. But they have no 
 telegraph there." 
 
 " No telegraph at the lighthouse ? " exclaimed the Bailie, 
 indignantly. " Then it is a monstrous and mischievous 
 shame ! A fine piece of economy ! Who is responsible for 
 that — the Board of Trade ? " And then he added : " But 
 at least they have a boat at the lighthouse ? " 
 
 " Ay, but not a boat that would be of much use to us, 
 across that driving sea." 
 
 Nevertheless the captain was about to tempt those stormy 
 waters, in hopes of obtaining assistance from the mainland. 
 In the dull glow of the lamps, the shipwrecked crowd could 
 perceive the boat being lowered from the side of the stranded 
 vessel ; presently the mate and two of the hands had got 
 into it ; and in a few minutes it had disappeared — into the 
 mysterious surrounding chaos. There was no cheer raised 
 as the boat departed ; this small assemblage of folk, hardly 
 visible to each other, and hardly to be distinguished from
 
 30 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the blackness of the reef, was too dispirited and perturbed ; 
 Duntroone and the possibihties of help were miles away ; 
 while the dangers immediately encompassing them were 
 pressing and near. 
 
 " When the tide rises, how many of us could clamber 
 up and hold on to the beacon ? " asked the Bailie of his 
 companion. 
 
 Barbara ]\Iaclean heard this question put, Ijut did not 
 divine its import. She was standing alone and friendless 
 and helpless ; weeping silently ; her shawl not much of a 
 protection now against the blasts of wind tearing across the 
 exposed reef. She was benumbed with cold and misery ; 
 not knowing what might happen : conscious, too, that all 
 her little possessions — her chest, containing everything she 
 owned in the world — had been left on board the steamer — 
 the steamer that at any moment might slip forward and 
 vanish from before their eyes, into fifty fathoms of ocean. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIREFLY. 
 
 When the young schoolmaster, alarmed by those signals of 
 distress that rose white and silent into the distant night, 
 sped away down from the (! allows Hill, he made straight 
 for the house of the agent of the Steam Packet Company. 
 
 " It may be the Sanda,''^ said the agent, at once hurrying 
 off to get his overcoat and hat. " She's hours late as it is. 
 Anyway we must run out to see what is the matter ; and 
 luckily the Fireflij lighter is lying at the quay : she'll not 
 be long in getting up steam." 
 
 " Would you let me go with you, Mr. Stewart ? " Allan 
 asked. 
 
 " Why not ? Why not ? You're the first to bring the 
 news " 
 
 " For there's a young lass," Allan explained, " coming by 
 the Sanda from Kilree ; she's a niece of Mrs. Maclean in 
 Campbell Street ; and the Macleans would take it as a friendly
 
 THE ''FIREFLY'' \\ 
 
 thing if I went out to see if there was anything to be done 
 for her " 
 
 " Why not ? " said the good-natured agent ; and he took 
 up his stick, which was his symbol of authority, and opened 
 the door for himself and his companion. 
 
 " And would there be time for me to run round to 
 J^Irs. Maclean's and get a few wraps and things of that 
 kind ? " continued Allan. " The night is cold." 
 
 " Well, yes, if you are quick about it ; but you must not 
 keep me waiting," said the agent, as he hastened away on 
 his own errand, along the dark and wet sea-front. 
 
 It took the tall young schoolmaster but a minute or two 
 to reach Mrs. Maclean's house — the shop being now shut. 
 
 " And is the Sanda coming in at last ? " cried the 
 cheerful little widow. " And will there be time for Jessie 
 and me to go down to meet Barbara ? " 
 
 " Well, no," said Allan, with a trifle of hesitation. " The 
 Sanda is not in sight yet. But there's a ship out there iu 
 some kind of trouble ; and I'm going out with Mr. Stewart, 
 in a lighter ; and I was thinking — if it was the Sanda — 
 well, I might take a few things that might be of use to your 
 niece, for the weather has been very wet and rough 
 lately—" 
 
 At the mere suggestion that anything had happened, or 
 might be happening, to the steamer bringing her niece 
 Barbara to Duutroone, the widow became quite unnerved 
 with fright ; and her anxious and irrelev^ant questions, to 
 which there was no possible answer, were nothing but a 
 stumbling-block in the way. It was Jess who was the 
 helpful one — who instantly divined what was wanted. In 
 the briefest space of time she had cleverly put together a 
 serviceable bundle of shawls and wraps, to say nothing of 
 a pair of mittens, a paper bag of sweet biscuits, and a flask 
 of some innocent cordial. And with these things he was 
 speeding away — indeed, he had got well down the staircase 
 — when at the last moment Jess called to him again. 
 
 " Allan !— Allan ! " 
 
 He looked up. She came running down the stone steps 
 (for the Macleans lived in a small tenement of flats) and by 
 the uncertain light he saw that she held something in her 
 hand.
 
 33 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " If you are going out in the steamer," said she, " will 
 you not put this muflfier round your neck ? It may be a 
 coarse night outside the bay." 
 
 Well, he was loth to offend this gentle half-cousiu of his ; 
 but still — still — there was something in the man's nature 
 that drove him to refuse. 
 
 " No, thank you, Jessie," he said. " No, thank you — I 
 am not afraid of the cold." 
 
 " Oh," said she, " if you will not take it because you 
 think it is one of the things that women wear, then that is 
 not very frieudly. If I were you, I would not be so 
 proud!" 
 
 The light in the stairway was dim ; it was the tone of 
 her voice that told him he had vexed her. 
 
 " Oh, then, I will take it," he said, " and maybe it will 
 be of use to your cousin Barbara." And therewith he 
 hurried off again, for he was anxious not to keep Mr. Stewart 
 waiting. 
 
 As he passed along, it became apparent that the news had 
 spread through the little town of something having happened 
 to the Sanda—ox perhaps some other vessel — outside ; and 
 when he reached the quay, there was quite a group of folk, 
 mostly superannuated fishermen, eagerly discussing the 
 possibilities. The steam-lighter was ready to start ; as soon 
 as he got on board, the ropes were thrown off, the blades 
 of the screw began to lash the water, and the high-bowed, 
 unwieldy craft was soon moving crescent-wise out into the 
 bay. And then, as she gathered speed, the dull orange 
 points that told of the window-panes of Duntroone — along 
 the shore and up on the hill-side — gradually receded ; and 
 ahead of them was a great black world of invisible mountain 
 and sea and sky, wuth ever and always the solitary ray of 
 Lismore lighthouse burning steadfast and clear. 
 
 " If the Saiida's engines have broken down over there," 
 said Mr. Stewart, " the mouth of the Sound of Mull is a 
 bad place. There w^ill be a strong ebb tide running, and 
 she may drift just anywhere." 
 
 " But the rockets I saw," Allan made answer, " seemed 
 all to rise from the same spot ; and as far as I could make 
 out, that would be over near the Lady Rock, or somewhere 
 in that direction."
 
 THE ^'FIREFLY'' 
 
 33 
 
 " If Pattison has got the Sanda on to the Lady Rock," 
 observed the agent, "the sooner he sends in his certificate 
 to the ]]oard of Trade the better. But it's not believable ! 
 — he's an experienced man " 
 
 The remarkable thing, however, was that though they 
 had by this time rounded Kerrara point, there was no sign 
 of any vessel anywhere — no repetition of those swift white 
 messengers that had attracted Allan Henderson's attention 
 when he was on the top of the Gallows Hill. The night, 
 it is true, was pitch dark and squally, and there were 
 occasional gusts of rain flying about ; but all the same they 
 were now out in the open, and a ship's rocket ought to 
 have been visible a great distance off. 
 
 " Allan, lad," said Mr. Stewart, " I hope you have not 
 brought us on a wild-goose chase." 
 
 And Allan himself began to think back. His eyes could not 
 have deceived him "i He had never been subject to halluci- 
 nations, even when he was working hardest at his studies 
 — with scant fuel for the engine. And surely there could 
 be no mistake about his actually having beheld those long- 
 shafts of silvery fire spring into the black heavens ? 
 
 " I think I wass seeing a light," called the man who was 
 peering over the bows, " just about right ahead, and no so 
 far aweh." 
 
 All eyes were now eagerly turned in one direction. 
 
 " Ay, there it is ! — there it is ! " called one after the 
 other- — as an ineffectual glimmer flickered just above the 
 waves, and then vanished, 
 
 " It's a small boat — most likely with a message," said 
 Mr. Stewart to the owner of the lighter. " Slack down 
 yoiu' speed, Thomson, and let them take their own time 
 about coming near." 
 
 The next instant there was another brief flare among the 
 unseen waves ahead, but only for an instant : the people in 
 the rowing boat had presumably lit a bunch of paper, to 
 warn the steamer of their whereabouts, and the wind had 
 directly blown out the flame. Nevertheless they at last got 
 within hailing distance — though with great caution, for the 
 unwieldy lighter was rolling heavily. 
 
 " We're from the Sandn^'' came a hoarse voice through 
 the darkness. 
 
 D
 
 34 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 " The mate and two of the hauds." 
 
 " Where is she ? " 
 
 " On the Lady Rock." 
 
 " Bless me, how did she get on to the Lady Rock ? " 
 
 Silence. 
 
 " N"o harm to passengers or crew ? " 
 
 " Not yet," was the evasive answer. 
 
 " Steamer damaged ? " 
 
 " Ay. I'm thinking her back's brokken. The passengers 
 are ahl out on the rock." 
 
 " Well, we'll go over and fetch them off." 
 
 " Is it Mr. Stewart ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Are we to go on to Dmitroone ? " 
 
 " No. We'll want your boat ; and we'll want yon too. 
 Come on board ; and we'll tow the boat astern." 
 
 It was a difficult business on so rough and dark a night ; 
 for the men in the smaller boat had a wholesome fear of 
 the lurching and pitching of this great heavy brute of a 
 thing ; but at last they managed it ; and the Firefly was 
 sent on again, with such speed as she was capable of making. 
 It turned out that the mate had no story to tell. How the 
 Sanda had got on to the Lady Rock was all a mystery. Or 
 perhaps he deemed it prudent, in the circumstances, to hold 
 his peace. 
 
 Then in course of time they began to make out, through 
 the mirk and the wet, certain minute dots of light, dim and 
 wavering in the distance, and sometimes almost disappear- 
 ing, as a thick squall of rain would drive by. But when 
 they drew nearer they perceived that certain of these tremu- 
 lous points of fire appeared to be stationary, while others 
 Avere moving like mysterious will-o'-the-wisps over the 
 l)lack water ; and they guessed that the sailors, furnished 
 with lanterns, were perhaps making sach small provision of 
 comfort as Avas possible for the peoj^le huddled together 
 on the reef. And here were two other lights, one red and 
 one green : the port and starboard lights of the stranded 
 ship. 
 
 " Well, I'm sure ! " exclaimed Mr. Stewart. " She's 
 right on the top of the rock ! 
 
 55
 
 THE ''FIREFLY''' 35 
 
 " Ay," said the mate, who was standing by him, " she's 
 well np and over. She's on this side — and lying nearly due 
 east and west." 
 
 " Was the man trying to steeplechase her ! " the agent 
 demanded — -but the mate was discreetly deaf. 
 
 Meanwhile the speed of the steam-lighter had been slowed 
 down until she was doing little more than holding her own 
 against the wind and the fierce running tide — the owner 
 having no kind of wish to go nearer that dangerous reef 
 than he could help. 
 
 " AVe'll try the first landing with your boat," said 
 Mr. Stewart to the mate. "Since you came away, you 
 should know the road back. And do not take us too close 
 under the bows of the Sanda, for she might slip forward 
 even yet." 
 
 " If she slips forward a few yards," said the mate, " she'll 
 go straight to the bottom." 
 
 " And will you go with us, Allan, lad ? " continued 
 Mr. Stewart. " Or will you wait on board the lighter ? " 
 
 " \Yell, I would rather go with you," the schoolmaster 
 said, " and take an oar. There'll be somebody wanted up at 
 the bow anyway." 
 
 And so, after some delay, the boat was hauled alongside ; 
 and they jumped or scrambled into it, and got out the oars, 
 and no doubt were glad enough to shove away from the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the lumbering craft. As yet 
 no figures were discernible on the black reef ahead of them ; 
 but the dots of yellow light were there — and they were kept 
 briskly moving : this was the last form of signalling left to the 
 stranded folk, after the rockets had all been expended. 
 
 And now, even though they were creeping in under the 
 lee, they could hear the appalling roar of the surf all around 
 these rocks ; and they imagined that their coming would 
 not be unwelcome to the castaways. Apparently for their 
 better guidance, those golden glow-worms that had been 
 scattered about now seemed to converge ; they appeared to 
 be coming close down to the water ; and yet they were 
 kept moving, as if to indicate where some creek had been 
 discovered ; while the man at the bow of the boat, as she 
 got closer and closer, from time to time called aft to his 
 companions. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 HIGHLAND COUSlNS 
 
 " No so hard, Hughie ! Back-watter, man ! Back-watter, 
 both of you ! No— you pull a stroke, Mr. Henderson ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, in here — in here ! " shouted the voices from the 
 rock — and the glow-worms were clustered together now, 
 shedding a dull glare on the seaweed and the dark water 
 and on a small group of phantasmal figures. 
 
 Well, they were willing hands that were laid on the gun- 
 wale of the boat, when the swirl of an eddying wave lifted 
 her near enough to be caught ; and up she went on the 
 slippery seaweed, until she was found to be secure ; then 
 the rescuers stepped out, and Allan got hold of his bundle. 
 It was the strangest sight that met his eyes. The black 
 reef ; the massive black hull of the steamer — chiefly 
 indicated by the obscure illumination still remaining in the 
 ports of the saloon and fore-cabin ; the black bars of the 
 beacon, that rose away up into the pitchy skies ; the ])lack 
 figures that stood about in detached groups, or stepped 
 warily forward through the seaweed to hear what the new- 
 comers proposed to do : all these were surrounded by a 
 wavering, uncertain, half-impenetrable gloom, for the air 
 was thick with spray and rain, and the wind was blowing 
 hard. Presently, however, one or two of the lamps were 
 brought along, and the sombre phantoms began to take 
 more recognisable shape. Here, for example, was Long 
 Lauchie Maclntyre, contentedly seated in a pool of water, 
 and fumbling about his pockets in search of his pipe ; while 
 the man who stood by him (it was Red Murdoch, but he 
 was not of Allan's acquaintance) was gazing out seaward, with 
 a hand held over one of his eyes, doubtless in the hope of 
 reducing to their real number the sailing lights of the 
 rescuing steamer. But the young girl from Kilree ? — how 
 was he to discover which she was .'' — ^for the women were 
 cowering away from the blast, their faces mostly hidden. 
 
 " Is there one Barbara Maclean ? " he made bold to ask. 
 
 " I am here," said one of those dark figures, in a timid 
 and tearful voice ; and at once he w^ent up to her. 
 
 " There's a few things here that your aunt and your 
 cousin have sent out to you," said he, " and I am sure you 
 will be glad of them, for the night is so wet. Yes, indeed, 
 now," he went on, " you must take off your shawl, and I will 
 put it over my arm, and here is a dry one. And here is a
 
 THE '' FIREFLY'' 37 
 
 muffler to go round your neck, and a pair of mittens for 
 your hands. For you must not think they were forgetting 
 you — neither Mrs. Maclean nor Jessie would be likely to do 
 that " 
 
 " I am far aweh from my own home," the girl said, with 
 a sob. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," said he, in a kindly fashion, "but you 
 are going to another home, and a very friendly home. 
 They could not come out to you ; but they let me bring 
 these things out to you ; and I am glad to find that matters 
 are no worse. For we will soon have you on board the 
 lighter now, and you will be quite safe." 
 
 In common circumstances he was inordinately shy with 
 women ; but this poor creature was quite supine and help- 
 less ; and in her eyes — those beautiful Highland eyes — 
 large, dark blue, with raven-black lashes — there were piteous 
 tears. He treated her as if she was a child. By the aid 
 of the nearest lamp, he got out these dry wraps, and sub- 
 stituted them for her clinging wet shawl ; he made her 
 put the muffler round her neck, and the mittens on her 
 hands ; and then he said : 
 
 "Now maybe we will get away in the next boat— or at 
 least you will. And mind your footing. Do not move on 
 the seaweed — do not move until you find that your feet are 
 on the limpets." — As if it were necessary to teach a West 
 Highland girl how to cross a slippery rock ! 
 
 However, they struggled along and reached the water's 
 edge, and, by favour of Mr. Stewart, Allan was allowed to 
 accompany his half-cousin or quarter-cousin in the next 
 boat returning to the Firefly. He talked to her a little, to 
 give her courage. He assisted her to get into the plunging 
 and rolling lighter ; and there he guided her aft, and 
 procured for her a warm and comfortable seat by the boiler, 
 himself standing by her side, so as not to take up room. 
 And then he would have her partake of the little delicacies 
 that Jess Maclean had sent out for her ; but she only shook 
 her head ; and he was not importunate. 
 
 Of a sudden she looked up, timorously. 
 
 " Have you the Gaelic ? " she asked. 
 
 " Indeed I have ! " said he, answering her in that tongue. 
 
 Instantly a grateful light leapt to her eyes ; find at "the
 
 38 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 same moment, somehow or other, she put out her hand, and 
 touched his hand, as if thereby she was recognising some 
 bond or current of sympathy between them. It was a 
 trifling little action, perhaps quite invoUmtary and in- 
 advertent, and meaning nothing at all ; but it thrilled him 
 strangely, 
 
 " It is my thanks to you," said she, now speaking in 
 Gaelic — and she had a shy and softly-modulated voice. 
 " It is not every one that would be so kind to a stranger." 
 
 " But you are no stranger," said the young schoolmaster, 
 in an encouraging way. " For it is many a time I have 
 heard the Macleans speak of you ; and besides, I am myself 
 a relative of yours, though not of the same name." 
 
 And thereupon, to beguile the weary time of waiting, he 
 began and gave her a few particulars about himself, and 
 about his relations with the Macleans, and about their ways 
 and modes of life. She did not respond much ; but she 
 mutely regarded him now and again. Indeed it seemed as 
 if it was not necessary for her to answer him ; her eyes did 
 all that ; they were the most wonderful eyes — it was not 
 merely that they were beautiful with a mystic and pathetic 
 beauty, but they appeared capable of saying anything, 
 without a word spoken from her lips. For the most part, 
 however, her expression was grave and diffident, as she 
 looked at him from time to time, and listened. 
 
 And at last all the passengers— the captain, mate, and 
 most of the crew were remaining by the stranded steamer — 
 had been rescued from their perilous position and conveyed 
 on board the Firefly ; the blades of the screw began to slash 
 into the tumbling waves ; and the vessel moved slowly 
 forward. No farther adventure befell them until they were 
 all safely landed on Dnntroone quay — a sorely wet and 
 bedraggled little assemblage ; and although it was now 
 about one o'clock in the morning, there were plenty of 
 anxious friends and relatives waiting to receive and welcome 
 them. And Mrs. Maclean and Jess would fain have had 
 Allan Henderson come into the house and sit down Avith 
 them at the cheerful and hospitable board that had been 
 prepared for the entertainment of their cousin from the 
 outer isles. But he refused. For some time back he had 
 been drenched to the skin ; the only thing now for him
 
 THE DA V AFTER 39 
 
 was to speed away home, and get to bed. As for the drying 
 of his clothes, well, they wonld have to take their chance : 
 there was no means of making up a fire, at this hour, in 
 these poor lodgings. 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 THE DAY AFTEE. 
 
 Next morning opened tranquil and serene ; a few flakes of 
 saffron cloud that hung high in the heavens hardly moved 
 through the clear expanse. The mists were slowly rising 
 from Mull and Morven, the hill-sides reveahng themselves 
 in hues of ethereal rose-grey, the snow-sprinkled peaks not 
 yet visible. From the eastern skies, just over the early 
 smoke of Duntroone, the golden light of the dawn went 
 level across the bay, and touched the tall spars and the hulls 
 of the vessels moored at Ardentrive, and shone warm along 
 the olive-green slopes of Kerrara ; while a small red-sailed 
 boat, coming home from the cod-fishing, made its appear- 
 ance at the point, creeping along through the steel-blue, 
 rippling sea. 
 
 And perhaps it was to refresh his eyes with these beauti- 
 ful colours, after the black visions of the night — or perhaps 
 it was, more practically, to see what the sun could do in the 
 way of drying his outer garments — that Allan Henderson, 
 before beginning his daily round in the Board School, 
 strolled away round by the quays, and then made up for his 
 favourite plateau on the top of the Gallows Hill. And 
 truly it was a different scene that now met his eyes ! Last 
 night the solitary and commanding feature in all the form- 
 less gloom was the bold and steady glare of Lismore 
 lighthouse ; now Lismore lighthouse was an insignificant 
 little grey object, away at the end o-f the long, low, green 
 island ; while' the important things were the ranges of the 
 mountains, velvet-soft in their dappled colours, with faint 
 cloud-shadows here and there — the wide calm spaces of the 
 sea, trembling in pale and li(|uid azure, with one vivid red
 
 40 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 spot of a painted Ijeacoii at Kerrara point — the ivied castle 
 on its picturesque rock — the wintry woods of green pine 
 and brown larch — the sunlight glinting cheerfully on this 
 or that window in the town — the broad sweep of the bay, 
 with a scarlet-funnelled steamer coming slowly through the 
 blue, from this lofty pinnacle looking a mere mite of a 
 thing, with a touch of white at its bows. A fair picture — 
 shining, reposeful, benign ; no lurid and ghastly vision of 
 the night, with black phantasms huddled together on a 
 cruel rock, the sombre heavens hurling wind and rain at 
 them, the roar and whirl of the unseen surge all around 
 them. 
 
 Yet it was to that darker vision, and to the incidents 
 connected with it, that his mind would return, with a 
 singular and incomprehensible fascination. He gazed 
 abroad upon this wide-stretching and placid panorama with 
 eyes that beheld not. A new element — a perturbing 
 element — had entered into his existence ; something he did 
 not understand ; something nevertheless powerful enough 
 to thrust into the background all his ordinary hopes and 
 ambitions and anxieties, his restless speculations, his heroic 
 or despondent forecasts as to the future. What was this 
 new force, then, that threatened to upset the whole tenor of 
 his life — distracted as that had already sufficiently been ? 
 He knew not ; or he would not confess ; or he feared to 
 think. Happily he could turn his back on the enigma ; 
 and was even compelled to do so ; for yonder in the town, 
 overlooking the squalid playground, stood the dingy grey 
 building where his day's labour was shortly to begin. And 
 so, with his brows knit, and his head thrown a little further 
 forward than usual, the schoolmaster strode away down 
 from this wooded hill ; and ere long, in that depressing and 
 murmuring room, he had once more taken up his unloved 
 toil. 
 
 It was some hours thereafter, it was about mid-day, that 
 Lauchie Maclntyre awoke to find himself in a disused hay- 
 loft attached to the distillery. How he had come thither 
 on the preceding night he knew not, nor was there any one 
 to tell him ; but that was a minor question ; for it is to be 
 imagined that as the shoemaker now sat up and looked 
 about him, there was no more sick and penitent man,
 
 THE DA V AFTER 41 
 
 bodily and mentally sick and sorry, in all the three king- 
 doms. "Where had he been ? — what had he done ? — what 
 money had he spent ? — nay, what had become of his 
 companion, Eed Murdoch ? — Red Murdoch, who ought to 
 have gone ashore at Tobermory, but would come on to 
 Salen ; and again, after Salen — well, after Saleu it was 
 difficult to say anything about Eed Murdoch : he seemed to 
 have vanished away in a mysterious manner. Then there 
 was the young girl, Barbara ]\Iaclean — and here Long 
 Lauchie's conscience became filled with a vague alarm — • 
 what had become of her ? — what had he done with her ? — 
 whither had she, too, disappeared ? He had a dim recollec- 
 tion, of her at some point in the Sound of Mull — for the 
 steward had come to ask about some tea for her : perhaps, 
 indeed, the steward had looked after her when the San da 
 arrived at Duntroone ? All the same, as these remorseful 
 pangs kept urging him, it would be better for him to go 
 along to Mrs. Maclean's, just to see how the land might lie. 
 
 He rose to his feet with a prolonged sigh that was almost 
 a groan ; and, with his ten trembhng fingers acting as 
 an ineffectual lirush, he tried to remove from his sodden 
 garments the too evident traces of his having passed the 
 night on an unswept floor. Then he left the loft, and with 
 shaky knees descended the flight of wooden steps — fortu- 
 nately there was no one about. Finally, summoning to 
 him such air of confidence as he could command, he passed 
 along the main street until he came to Mrs. Maclean's shop, 
 which he entered. 
 
 " I hope you are very well the day, Mrs. Maclean," said 
 he, rather nervously. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," said the widow with her accustomed 
 cheerfulness. " And you yourself ? But you are not looking 
 quite so well. Come away in and sit down " 
 
 " No, no, thank you," said he, shrinking back from the 
 possibility of meeting strangers. 
 
 " There's no one in," said she. " Not even Jessie — Jessie 
 has gone over to the house." 
 
 Thus assured he stepped into the little parlour, and she 
 followed him, leaving the door a bit open, in case a customer 
 should appear. 
 
 "It's little wonder you should be looking not quite so
 
 42 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 well," she continued, "after such a night as last night. 
 And you'll just take a little drop of something." With 
 ■which she went to the cupboard. 
 
 Now the very soul of Lauchie was crying aloud and in 
 anguish for a glass of whisky ; hut sternly he held up his 
 hand. 
 
 "No, Mrs. Maclean," said he, "I'll no touch it. I 
 wouldna touch a drop. It's a terrible bad thing, whisky. 
 It's the very curse and ruin of the kintry. If I was havmg 
 my way, I would shut up every public-house in the kingdom ; 
 ay, and I would have every distiller put into djile." 
 
 All the same, she put the decanter and the glass on the 
 table — though she did not press him further. 
 
 "And have you got your things come ashore from the 
 wreck ? " she asked. 
 
 He looked up, in a dazed and yet cautiously inquisitive 
 manner. 
 
 " Ay : the wreck ? " he said. 
 
 Had there been a wreck, then ? And was that the cause 
 of Barbara Maclean's vanishing into the unknown ? But 
 here was her aunt sitting quite sprightly and content. 
 And himself .^ — if there had been a WTCck, how was he come 
 safely here ? 
 
 " It must have been a fearful time for you," the widow 
 continued, unheeding. " And how the captain managed to 
 ]int the Sanda on to the Lady Eock, just passes comprehen- 
 sion : that's what every one is saying — " 
 
 " Was the Sanda on a rock ? " he demanded, in a 
 bewildered fashion. 
 
 Happily she mistook the question. 
 
 " Oh, yes, she's on the rock still — the high tide has not 
 moved her. But who knows how long she'll be there, if 
 any rough Aveather comes ? And they're saying that if she 
 had struck the rock a few yards to the left, she would not 
 have held at all, but would have gone straight to the bottom. 
 I cannot make it out — for there was no such dreadful bad 
 Aveather. It Avas bad weather enough," continued the widow, 
 " that you liad out in the west, so I am hearing ; and a bad 
 day for the funeral — Avith such a long AA'ay from the house 
 to the seminary." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," said the shoemaker, quickly, for here
 
 THE DAY AFTER 43 
 
 he was on firmer ground. " Terrible bad weather ; aw, 
 terrible bad weather ; and as you say, Mrs. Maclean, a long 
 way from the house to the cemetery " 
 
 A customer entered the shop, and Mrs. Maclean left the 
 parlour. The moment her back was turned Long Lauchie, 
 overcome by the tragic temptation of the opportunity, 
 hastily seized the decanter, with tremulous fingers poured 
 out a glass of whisky, and gulped it down. When she 
 returned he was beginning to feel a bit reassured : if only 
 now he could find out what had become of the young lass 
 Barbara ! 
 
 "Mrs. Maclean," said he, tentatively, "it was a bad 
 night for a wreck, was it not ? — very wet and uncomfortable 
 ■ — indeed I'm feeling my clothes a Avee thing damp even 
 uow " 
 
 "And will you not take a drop of the whisky, then, 
 Lauchlan ? " said the widow, considerately. 
 
 " Aw, Mrs. Maclean," said the shoemaker, with great 
 solemnity, "that you could propose such a thing, and me 
 just telling you that whisky was the curse of the kintry ! 
 You have a bad opinion of me if you think I would be 
 touching any such thing ! As sure's death, I would sooner 
 walk barefoot to the top of Ben Cruachan than drink a 
 glass of whisky. But as I was saying : it was a coarse 
 night — and — and the Avreck — ay, at the wreck, now — that 
 young lass, your niece — I hope she had plenty round 
 her " 
 
 " Oh, well, indeed," said Mrs. Maclean, " the bundle that 
 Allan Henderson, the schoolmaster, took out to her, was 
 useful enough, no doubt. And it was a friendly thing of 
 the lad to do, seeing that she was a stranger to him. Oh, 
 yes, he is a good lad, he is a kind-hearted lad, is Allan, 
 though he is very stiff-necked, and proud, and ill to manage 
 at times. And when he brought her ashore last night — or 
 rather this morning — and when he brought her up to the 
 house, he would not come in — no — the stubborn chiel that 
 he is ! — but he half-promised to look in and see us this 
 
 evemng." 
 
 Here, indeed, was welcome news : he began to feel the 
 world more solid beneath his feet. 
 
 " Well, it's very glad I am to hear that your niece has
 
 44 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 not suffered anything from the shipwreck," Lanchie ven- 
 tured to say, as he rose to take his departure. " I was 
 looking after her as well as I could — ay — but when there is 
 a wreck — a wreck is a bad thing — a wreck is a terrible bad 
 thing — a man would forget what, his own brother was like 
 when there's so many running backwards and forwards and 
 mekkin a noise. And now I must be going home, for 
 they'll be wondering at not seeing me ahl this time." 
 
 It was an unfortunate admission. 
 
 ""Were you not home last night, Lauchlan ? " the widow 
 said — her eyes attracted to his clothes, which still showed 
 traces of the hayloft. 
 
 He hesitated. 
 
 " Well, well — not exactly," said he, " I had to pass the 
 night with a friend. He was very seeck ; and he wanted 
 me to sit up with him. And I was sitting up with him." 
 
 She held the door open for him to pass. 
 
 " You'll not take a dram .'' " said she, finally. 
 
 " No, no," he made answer, shaking his head. " No. It 
 would be a bad encouragement for ithers. There's no sich 
 things as that for me." And therewithal he said good-bye, 
 and left the shop, and got out into the open day, his eyes 
 blinking at the stronger light. And perhaps he did go 
 home. 
 
 Meanwhile Jess, in her gentle and almost motherly way, 
 had taken under her charge the solitary creature who had 
 been confided to their care ; and very glad was she to find 
 that her cousin had sufi^'ered but little from her recent 
 experiences : no doubt the island-nurtured frame of the girl 
 was pretty well used to cold and wet and considerable spells 
 of fasting. Moreover Barbara Maclean did not at all appear 
 to be too grievously overwhelmed by her bereavement ; she 
 hardly ever referred to her father or the funeral ; at the 
 present moment, in truth, she seemed mostly concerned 
 about the wooden chest which contained all her little 
 belongings and which had been left on board the Sanda. 
 
 " But you are sure to get it to-day, Barbara," Jess said, 
 in her persuasive tones. "The lighter is bringing every- 
 thing ashore from the wreck ; and they will send your box 
 up to you. And in the meantime here are my things, and 
 you are welcome to choose just whatever you like,"
 
 THE DA Y AFTER 45 
 
 The large, dark -blue, pathetic eyes of the girl had been 
 drawn to the two white strips that terminated Jess's sleeves. 
 
 " Would you lend me a pair of cuffs like them ? " said 
 she — rather slowly, for her English was not fluent. " I was 
 never seeing such beautiful ironing. And do you wear cuffs 
 like that all through the week, and every day in the 
 week ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " said Jess, with a laugh. " I iron them 
 myself. But I will give you a far nicer pair of cuffs than 
 these, Barbara, yes, and a set of tortoiseshell sleeve-links. 
 For, you see, Allan Henderson, that brought you home last 
 night, he is coming in this evening, and perhaps Mr. 
 McFadyen, a friend of ours, as well ; and you must be 
 looking very nice and smart. And I am sure you will give 
 a word of thanks to Allan, for his kindness of last night. 
 He is rather a shy and proud and sensitive lad, and not 
 caring to say much for himself before strangers ; and a 
 word of thanks would please him, I am sure of that. Mind 
 this. Barbara, it is not every one that Mr. Stewart would 
 have allowed to go out with him in the lighter ; so you 
 were fortunate to have some one to look after you on such 
 a night." 
 
 For a second the beautiful eyes of the girl — that seemed 
 to say so much, even when they were really saying nothing 
 at all — were raised to her companion's face ; but presently 
 she had withdrawn them, inattentive. 
 
 " Will you be going out now, Jessie ? " said she. " And 
 will you walk down to the quay, until I see if my box is 
 come over from the wreck ? " 
 
 Jess at once and good-naturedly assented ; they made 
 such trifling preparations as were necessary ; and in a short 
 space of time the two cousins were passing along the main 
 street of Duntroone.
 
 46 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A CEILIDH. 
 
 Eventually the box was found and sent along to tlie 
 house ; and, on the return of the two girls, it was opened ; 
 and Jess Maclean was somewhat diffidently invited to look 
 over her cousin's small stock of millinery treasures. These 
 were not sumptuous ; for the most part they had been pro- 
 cured at the solitary 'merchant's' shop in Kilree, where 
 feminine finery had to be sought for amidst a heterogeneous 
 display of brown soap, candles, figs, sweetmeats, patent 
 starch, paraffin lamps, and the like ; they had seen a good 
 deal of weather out there in the west ; and now, as Barbara 
 produced them for inspection, it was with a growing sense 
 of disappointment. 
 
 " Everything you have seems so neat and clean and so 
 stiffly-ironed," she said to her cousin, almost resentfully. 
 
 " Well, then," said Jess, with the utmost good-nature, 
 " you must just take any of my things that are of use to you. 
 And especially when there are visitors coming to the 
 house " 
 
 " They would be thinking I should be in mourning," said 
 Barbara. 
 
 " And I am sure they will think nothing of the kind ! " 
 responded Jess. " They know, as the rest of us know, that 
 it is very easy for rich people to buy black silks and black 
 bonnets and things of that kind ; but it is not so easy for 
 poorer people ; and where could any one get mourning at 
 Knockalanish ? As for Allan Henderson, the schoolmaster," 
 Jess went on, with a demure laugh, " it is of little conse- 
 quence what you wear. He would never see it. If you 
 were dressed as a beggar in the streets, or like the Queen on 
 her throne, he would not know the dilference. When he 
 fixes those great eyes of his on you — like burning coals — it 
 isn't your dress he is heeding ; he is trying to understand 
 Avhat you are thinking — that is all he cares about."
 
 A CEILIDH 47 
 
 " You talk a good deal about the schoolmaster, Jessie," 
 observed Barbara. 
 
 Jess Maclcau flushed quickly, and turned her head away ; 
 but she betrayed no anger. 
 
 " I think that every one will be talking of him," said she, 
 quietly, " before many years are over." 
 
 And thus it was with Jessie's help, and with the loan of 
 a few trifling articles of adornment, that the Highland 
 cousin was got ready for the evening, and very smart and 
 trim and elTective she looked. She was indeed a beautiful 
 creature, quite apart from those wondei'ful, mysterious, 
 appealing eyes ; her features were refined, and even dis- 
 tinguished ; she had the fresh, clear, healthily-tinted com- 
 plexion that not unfrequently in the western isles is found 
 in conjunction with raven-black hair ; and when she moved, 
 her step was graceful. Her hands, it is true, bore evidence 
 of rough kitchen-work ; but she did not seem conscious of 
 this defect ; nay, she appeared rather inclined to put them 
 forward a little, so that she could better admire the pair 
 of extremely pretty cnfPs and the tortoiseshell links that Jess 
 had given her. 
 
 Of the two visitors the fii'st to arrive was Mr. Peter 
 McFadyen, who, for a second or so, on being introduced to 
 the stranger, was somewhat disconcerted and taken aback. 
 For this was not at all the mere crofter's lass he had 
 expected to meet — this young lady in becoming attire, 
 whose manner, if shy and reserved, at least betrayed no 
 great embarrassment. But Peter prided himself on being a 
 man of the world ; he had soon recovered his self-confidence ; 
 he would hear from herself further details of the shipwreck ; 
 and, finding that she was somewhat silent — the conversation 
 being now in English — he proceeded to give authoritative 
 views on tides, currents, beacons, and the proper navigation 
 of Dnntroone harbour, yet with a touch of jocosity now and 
 again, to show his lightness of heart. Barbara Maclean 
 listened mutely, and sometimes she looked at her cuflfs. 
 
 Then the blithe little widow appeared, the shop having 
 been shut ; and she was almost immediately followed by the 
 young schoolmaster, who, after having gravely greeted 
 these friends, seemed in a measure disposed to keep away 
 from this newly-found half-cousin of his. He sate some-
 
 48 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 what removed ; and if by chance, or by some subtle instinct, 
 his eyes were raised to regard the face of the girl, they were 
 almost instantly withdrawn, as if he were afraid. Of course 
 this was Mr. McFadyen's opportunity. With these women- 
 folk to impress, he was called upon for display ; he was de- 
 termined to shine ; he would show them he could talk 
 about other matters than golf. And now — while Mrs. 
 Maclean was stirring up the fire to briskness, and Jess was 
 laying the snow-white table-cloth — it was the marvels of 
 modern science that he had got on to ; and in particular he 
 was informing them — as if the illustration were his own — 
 of the astronomers having brought within their ken stars 
 so distant that if, on the day of the battle of Waterloo, news 
 of the victory could have been dispatched to one of these 
 suns, the telegram would not even now have arrived. 
 
 " Ay, and that's not all ! " he exclaimed — as a pre- 
 monitory odour of minced collops and onions wandered in 
 from the kitchen. " They're saying there's no end — no end 
 to the universe — you might go on for ever and ever and 
 only come to more worlds and more worlds, and more space 
 and more space — ^infinite space — infinite — Just think of it — 
 isn't it terrible to realise " 
 
 " But you can't realise it," said Allen, with a touch of his 
 scornful impatience. 
 
 " You can't what ? " demanded the toAvn-councillor. 
 
 "It is unthinkable," said the schoolmaster, briefly. "The 
 mind cannot conceive the idea of infinite space." 
 
 " Ah ? " said Mr. McFadyen, Avith an inquiring glance. 
 " Ah ? You've got to imagine a boundary .^ — -You can't 
 help thinking of a boundary ? Is that it ? " 
 
 " Yes, but you're no further forward that way either," 
 said the younger man, imperturbably. " For you can't 
 imagine a final boundary : if you think of a boundary you 
 must think of something outside the boundary : you build 
 a wall, but there must be somethiug outside the wall as well 
 as in. And so it goes on ; and the mischief is that you can 
 neither think of space having an end nor yet of its being 
 endless " 
 
 Peter looked a little dazed — and also suspicious ; but he 
 solved the difficulty by breaking into a loud laugh. 
 
 " Is that metapheesics ? " he cried. " Is that metapheesics,
 
 A CEILIDH 49 
 
 Allan ? Dod, man, you're a clever chiel ; and the School 
 Board '11 have to be raising your salary ! An annual 
 increment of £5 is no half enough." 
 
 " I'm sure I'm not caring how many worlds there are," 
 said the contented little widow, as she brought the cruet- 
 stand and put it on the table. " This is the only one that's 
 handy ; and I doubt whether a better one ever was made. 
 Draw in your chair, Barbara, my lass ; and you, Allan ; and 
 you, Mr. McFadyeu. It is well for us that we are under a 
 roof, and with a good fire — and not out on the Lady 
 Eock." 
 
 Minced collops and onions, a dish of spinach garnished 
 with boiled eggs, and bottled stout : these were the materials 
 of the repast ; and a bountiful feast it must have appeared 
 in the eyes of the young lass f]-om the Knockalanish croft. 
 The gay little widow proved a pertinacious hostess ; she 
 would take no refusals, would make no concessions to 
 shamefacedness ; ^ivhafs ijootl for the Jura factor u'ill do no 
 harm to Fleecy ]\PPhail,^ she said, as she helped lierself and 
 others, with here a rallying word, and there a friendly 
 remonstrance. Indeed this small party that had been 
 brought together to give Barbara Maclean a welcome on 
 her home-coming performed its duty well ; surely she must 
 have perceived that it was not amongst strangers she had 
 fallen ; only the young schoolmaster remained somewhat 
 aloof and reserved, and of him she did not take much 
 notice. Then again, when Mrs. Maclean, in her frank and 
 ()!f-hand way, came to discuss the girl's position and 
 prospects, she showed a tact that she had not always at 
 command. She would not have Barbara look upon herself 
 in the light of a dependent. Not at all. Serious duties 
 would be expected of her. She would have to manage this 
 house, for example — the young thing Kirsty was hardly to 
 be trusted. And there -was more than that. It appeared 
 that the Macleans, mother and daughter, were in the habit 
 of contracting with the tol^acco-manufactory for consider- 
 able quantities of Lurgan twist ; and this they dispatched 
 in lesser consignments to the ' merchants ' in the outer 
 isles. The correspondence attached to this part of the 
 business was carried on by Jess ; but Jess knew little Gaelic, 
 and could write none at all ; whereas, now, if Barbara 
 
 E
 
 50 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 would undertake to translate these letters into Gaelic, it 
 would be a great advantage and recommendation to a good 
 many of the customers with whom English was practically 
 a foreign tongue. And what had Barbara to say to all 
 this? 
 
 " I am sure," the girl said, speaking rather slowly, as was 
 her wont, " that I am very willing to do anything that I 
 can do. But I cannot write the Gaelic. I know it very well 
 — oh, yes — better than English a great deal ; but I have 
 never tried to ^^^.■ite it. It was always English they were 
 having in the school at Kilree." 
 
 And now, and almost for the first time this evening, 
 Allan Henderson addressed her. 
 
 " If that is all," said he, " there is no trouble. It would 
 be a very easy thing for you to learn the Gaelic spelling, 
 when you know the language well. You would not find it 
 very difficult, after you had got the rules." He hesitated 
 — for the large, beautiful eyes were regarding him calmly, 
 perhaps even curiously. " If you would like," he went on, 
 " I would come along in the evening to give you some 
 lessons. An hour each evening would do. It is a pity 
 you should know Gaelic so well, and not be able to 
 "write it." 
 
 She did not answer him at the moment : it was Jess 
 Maclean who looked up, startled. For could this really be 
 Allan Henderson, who ordinarily was so backward, or 
 impatient, or scornfully indifferent wherever young women 
 were concerned, yet who now proposed to devote an hour 
 each evening in the week to this solitary converse ? And 
 that was most assuredly what this private tuition would 
 mean. No one else wanted to learn Gaelic spelling. And 
 would the class, consisting of teacher and pupil, be held in 
 the house here, while she and her mother wouki iDe over the 
 way in the shop ? 
 
 At this point Peter McFadyen interposed in a stormily 
 good-humoured fashion. 
 
 " Mrs. Maclean," he cried, " I call you to order. Sm'ely 
 there has been enough of business — enough of business ; 
 and I would not have Miss Barbara bothered with threats 
 of lessons the moment she sets foot in yom- house. It's all 
 very well for you, AUan, my lad ; everyone to his trade ;
 
 A CEILIDH 51 
 
 but at the proper time ; and the proper time is uot every 
 time. No, no ; there are other things ; there are amuse- 
 ments ; we cannot have all work and no play ; I may not 
 be very well skilled in metaphecsics, but I know when we 
 should have a dance and a song and a merry-making, to 
 keep the game of life going. And let me see : what is 
 there to the fore now " 
 
 He appeared to be siunmoning up to his mind the 
 innumerable gaieties of Duntroone in the winter. 
 
 " Well, now, for example, there's the Gaelic Choir to- 
 morrow night — the practising in the Drill-Hail — and we 
 could not do better than go there, to hear the practising for 
 Mrs. McAskill's soree. I'm going ; I must go ; I must 
 make my voice heard to-morrow evening " 
 
 " Oh, are you going to sing, Mr. McFadyen ? " said the 
 widow, encouragingly. 
 
 " To sing ? " he repeated. " Well — Avell — no — for I am 
 not one of the Choir. But as for a song," he proceeded, 
 refusing to confess himself abashed, "if it is a song you 
 would like, well, when we are round the fire in a little 
 while, I will try a song, just as if we were at an old- 
 fashioned ceilidh* There is not half enough of spirit 
 among the younger men of the present day " 
 
 " And do you call yourself anything else than one of the 
 younger men ! " the widow protested, in a kind fashion. 
 
 "Why, in the former days," continued Mr. McFadyen, 
 affecting not to have overheard this agreeable compliment, 
 " when you were at supper, and there were fowls at supper, 
 and if you found a particular bone, you would send it to 
 such or such a one, and he would have to make verses in 
 Gaelic there and then. So I have heard. I am not good 
 at the Gaelic myself ; but as for a song, I would uot spoil 
 any merry party by refusing — not at all ! And what I was 
 saying was this — to-morrow night, when the Gaelic Choir 
 are at the Urill-Hall I am going to put a question to them ; 
 I am indeed. What kind of songs are they going to sing 
 at Mrs. McAskill's soree — that's what I want to know. 
 Dod's bless my soul, is there any use in being muzzerable ? 
 Is there any use in being muzzerable, Mrs. Maclean ? — " 
 
 * Ceilidh — a friendly gathering. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Well, I never found any myself," said the little Avidow, 
 suavely. " And I'm told that giving way to it is fearfu' 
 bad for the congestion " 
 
 " There's some truth in that anyway," observed the 
 schoolmaster, in a kind of grim undertone. 
 
 " Now what's the favourite songs all through the AVest 
 Highlands ? " demanded Peter, indignantly. " I'll tell you, 
 then. There's three in particular. There's the Fear a 
 Bhata — the Farewell to the Boatman ; there's the Farewell 
 to Fuinary ; there's Farewell to Mackrimmon — all of them 
 Farewells ; and are we to have nothing but Farewells and 
 Farewells and Farewells, when a few friends have met 
 together, to pass a merry hour or two ? And I know the 
 Choir have plenty of other songs. I can see them in their 
 own books. If I cannot make quite clear sense out of the 
 Gaelic, at least I can read the translation ; and there's 
 plenty of sensible songs, instead of Farewells and Fare- 
 wells." 
 
 He suddenly turned to his neighbour. 
 
 " Miss Barbara," said he, " do you know the ' Return, my 
 darling ' ? " 
 
 The colour came swiftly to the face of the young 
 Highland girl on her being thus unexpectedly addressed. 
 
 " No I do not," she said, with downcast eyes. 
 
 " It is the 0, till, a leannain, Barbara," said Jess — who 
 was a member of the Choir. 
 
 " Well, now, there is a sensible song ! " continued Mc- 
 Fadyen, with spirit. " Some night I will sing it to you — at 
 present I am not sure of the air. But listen to words like 
 this — 
 
 ' If you on my dear one should gaze, sliould gaze. 
 If you ivere to hear what she says, she says, 
 
 If you heard my 'pretty 
 
 One sinfjing her ditty 
 Your hosom would get in a Maze, a Maze.'' 
 
 That's sense. That's sensible. That docsna belong to the 
 devil's clan of Farewells ! And I must make my voice 
 heard to-morrow evening at the Choir— oh, yes, indeed. 
 We are going to have a merry evening at Mrs. McAskill's — ■ 
 and it is useless lamenting for Mackrimmon, and Mackin- 
 tosh, and Lovat, and the rest of them. And sure I am
 
 A CEILIDH 53 
 
 tliat if Miss Barbara here will go with us, there will be an 
 invite for her too ; yes, yes ; Mrs. McAskill is an old friend 
 of mine ; and my friends are her friends. We'll make np 
 a little party, and we'll all go together ; and I'm thinking 
 it might be just as well if I brought a machine." 
 
 Nor did Peter, in his determination to keep things going 
 gaily, forget his promise about singing them a song, when 
 they had left the table and were seated in a cosy semicircle 
 round the fire. The others had forgotten, it is true ; for 
 Allan Henderson had chanced to ask of the widow the origin 
 of a saying she had accidentally used — ' Step for step to 
 thee, old woman, and the odd step to Ewen ' ; and she was 
 telling them the story : how Ewen Cameron of Lochiel 
 was returning home late one night ; how he was followed 
 by a w^tch, wdio tried to overtake him ; how he made use 
 of this phrase, and held on his way successfully, keeping 
 one step in advance of her, until he reached the ferry ; how 
 he had jumped into the boat, while the ferryman drove the 
 witch-hag back ; how she had called to Lochiel ' My heart's 
 desire to thee, dear Ewen ! ' and how he, divining her 
 purpose, had called in return ' Thy heart's desire to the big 
 rock yonder ' — whereupon the big rock split into two pieces, 
 visible even unto this day at Ballachulish Ferry. To all 
 this Jess listened half-laughing — she was familiar with 
 most of her mother's old-world sayings and tales ; but 
 Barbara's eyes were intent and awe-stricken ; and it was 
 the expression of her face, rather than the legend, that held 
 the schoolmaster's attention fascinated and enthralled. Of 
 course the town-councillor was too polite to interrupt. 
 But as soon as Mrs. Maclean had finished her narrative, he 
 put his hand over his mouth and coughed significantly. 
 
 " It is not so easy," said he, " to sing without an 
 accompaniment ; but a promise is a promise ; and I will do 
 my best." 
 
 Whereupon he began, in a curious falsetto voice that 
 seemed to come from just behind his teeth, instead of from 
 his chest or throat : 
 
 ' Tlie sun has gane doion o'er the lofty Ben Lomond ' 
 
 — this was his song ; and he was evidently proud of his 
 performance ; for he took plenty of time, and introduced
 
 54 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 all manner of ornate trills of execution, that could only 
 have been acquired by long practice — 
 
 ' And left the red clouds to preside der the scene, 
 While lanely I stray in the calm simmer gloamin,' 
 To muse on sioeet Jessie, the flower o' iJumhlane.' 
 
 The dog ! — pretending to sing the praises of Jessie the 
 Flower of Duniblaue, when it Avas as clear as noonday that 
 it was Jessie the Flower of Dnntroone he had in his mind. 
 However, there was no covert look or smile ; it was too 
 serious a matter for that ; for now when he came to the 
 second half of the verse he fairly outdid himself — those 
 flourishes and grace-notes were so abundant that the tune 
 got hopelessly lost amongst them — never had words been so 
 embroidered — ■ 
 
 ' Sow siceet is the hrier, lui' its saft faidding blossom , 
 And sweet is the hirk, wi' its mantle o' green; 
 Yet sweeter and fairer, and dear to this bosom, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o' Dumhlane. 
 Is lovely young Jessie, Is lovely young Jessie, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o' Dumblane.' 
 
 Nay, when he arrived at the final repetition of the phrase 
 ' lovely young Jessie '^ — which is rather high-pitched in the 
 music, he actually opened his mouth, and the consequence 
 was a prolonged and shrill scream : indeed so effective and 
 overwhelming was the climax of this last line that the 
 widow, carried away by her enthusiasm, called out 'Well 
 done ! — well done ! ' and clapped her hands. 
 
 "Mother," said Jess, blushing furiously, "there's more 
 verses ! " 
 
 " No, no," said Mr. McFadyen, modestly, " I'll not sing 
 any more the night. I got into rather a high key — and — 
 and my voice is a little out of practice " 
 
 " You did well — you did just famously ! " the widow 
 maintained. But Peter had given evidence of his possession 
 of musical powers, and was blandly satisfied. 
 
 Altogether it appeared to be a very happy evening for 
 every one concerned, though, to be sure, the young girl 
 from the outer isles remained distant and silent. And to 
 the young schoolmaster that silence of hers was far more 
 impressive than anything else could have been ; it accorded
 
 BARBAROSSA 55 
 
 with a certain iudefiiiable quality, a certain mysterious 
 element of remoteness that seemed to surround her. And 
 what was the origin, he asked himself as he wandered away 
 homeward through the sleeping town — but not to his books ; 
 ms thoughts w^ere too perturbed and quick-changing for 
 any application to books — what was the origin of this 
 strange influence she appeared to convey, even without a 
 single spoken word ? Was it the mere sense of her loneli- 
 ness ? Or had it anything to do with the circumstances in 
 which he had first encountered her — finding the solitary 
 and forsaken creature on that black reef, with the darkness 
 all around, and the noise of hm-rying Avaters ? And what 
 was it that her eyes said, that no mortal eyes had ever said 
 to him before ? Those beautiful blue deeps under the 
 raven lashes — so calm, so still, so mystic in their very 
 apathy — did they not bring some revelation, some message 
 wholly apart from mere human emotions and affections ? 
 
 " They seem to speak of the sea and of the night," he 
 said to himself, in the long and sleepless hours of recalling 
 and remembering. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 BAEBAEOSSA. 
 
 The very next day, to Jess Maclean's astonishment, Allan 
 Henderson walked into the shop : it was a most unusual 
 hour for him to make an appearance. 
 
 " There is a half -holiday at the school," he said, " the 
 Head-Master has had great news about his son who is at 
 Oxford. And I was thinking, Jessie, if you w^ere free for 
 an hour or so, you might like to go across to Kerrara, and 
 climb up the hill, and find out if anything further has 
 happened to the Sancla. I have got Angus Mclsaac's boat 
 — it's down at the slip " 
 
 Jess Maclean's kindly grey eyes were lit up with pleasure : 
 in Dnntroone it is a special compliment and mark of favour 
 for a young man to ask a young woman to go for a row
 
 56 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 with him. And this suggestion about the Sanda was 
 obviously the merest excuse : every one knew what was 
 happening to the Sanda ; she was found to be irremovably 
 jammed on to the rock, and irretrievably damaged ; and 
 the steam-lighter was kept engaged in bringing ashore any 
 of her fittings that might be of value — before the next gale 
 came along to hammer her to bits. 
 
 "Well, I am not so busy," said Jess, laying down her 
 book-keeping pen. " There is little doing at this time of 
 the year." 
 
 " And would your cousin Barbara care to go too "^ " the 
 young schoolmaster added, somewhat dii!idently. 
 
 The light vanished from Jess Maclean's face. 
 
 " I should think that Barbara had had enough of boats 
 for a while," she said, somewhat coldly. 
 
 Yet she she was the soul of goodhumour and unselfish- 
 ness. The hurt and disappointed look did not last a second. 
 Was it to be wondered at that he should have conceived a 
 sudden interest in this beautiful creature who had come 
 into their little circle, and who had, by fortune of accident, 
 made especial claim on his attention and pity ? 
 
 " Barbara ? " said Jess, after a moment, in her usual 
 bland way. " Oh, yes, indeed, I am sure she will be glad 
 to go ; and I will run across the way and tell her — if you 
 will step into the parlour and talk to my mother for a 
 moment or two, while Barbara and I are getting ready." 
 For there was no kind of grudging in this woman's nature : 
 if it was really on account of Barbara that he had made 
 this proposal — well, Barbara was the more fortunate. 
 
 Now Barbara did not respond to this invitation with the 
 gratitude that might have been expected ; but Jess at last 
 induced her to go ; and when both the girls were ready, 
 they crossed over to the shop, and Allan and they proceeded 
 down to the beach, where the boat was awaiting them. 
 They took their places in the stern ; he followed in, and 
 got hold of the oars ; then they shoved off, and he set out 
 to pull them across the bay. On the whole it was a most 
 auspicious start ; for if the morning had been somewhat 
 squally, all the world was now a blaze of splendour ; the 
 Mull mountains, clear to the top, were of an almost summer- 
 like blue ; summer-like was the blue of the lapping and
 
 BARBAROSSA 57 
 
 flashing waters around them ; while between these brilliant 
 breadths of colour ran the long spur of Kerrara, its russet 
 and russet-yellow slopes basking in the sun. It is true that 
 Jess, knowing the climate, had brought a thick plaid with 
 her ; it now lay unheeded over their knees. 
 
 And for a considerable time all went well, and they made 
 good progress across to the island. Allan was a capable 
 oarsman ; the tall young schoolmaster, despite his slight 
 stoop, possessed a wiry frame ; and everybody along this 
 coast can handle a boat. But by-and-bye, and almost 
 imperceptibly, the aspect of things began to alter a little, 
 
 " Allan," said. Jess, " I think we arc going to have a 
 shower," 
 
 " No, no — no shower," said he, confidently ; for of course 
 he was looking back to the land — and there all was placid 
 sunlight, from the white houses dotted along the terraced 
 cliffs out to the ivied castle at the point. 
 
 Jess laughed. 
 
 " Allan," said she, " where is the island of Mull ? " 
 
 He turned his head. There was no island of Mull, The 
 mountains of tender, ethereal rose-purple and azure had all 
 disappeared ; and in their place there was a far-stretching 
 film of silvery-grey, entirely shutting out the world beyond, 
 
 " And what's that down the Sound ? " Jess demanded 
 again. 
 
 He turned and looked in the other direction. Off the 
 mouth of Loch iFcochan a broad black band lay on the 
 water — a band of almost inky hue ; but even as they 
 regarded it, it began to resolve itself — it came creeping 
 stealthily along, leaving a vague indistinctness in its wake. 
 Then Kerrara itself appeared to undergo gradual transfor- 
 mation ; the low-lying hills took loftier and mystic forms ; 
 through this ever-advancing veil they looked strange and 
 remote. And was there not some darkness assembling 
 overhead ? — some pervading gloom all round ? The blue 
 had gone from the sea. 
 
 " Quick !— quick ! " cried Jess— and she opened out the 
 thick plaid and threw it round Barbara and herself, the two 
 of them crouching together, their heads bent down. 
 
 Then with a cold and angry swirl of wind came the first 
 rattle of the rain — splashing on thwarts and gunwale, and
 
 58 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 hissing on the leaden sea ; the gloom around them increased ; 
 the island they were making for seemed to recede and 
 recede, until it appeared to be a hopeless distance aAvay ; 
 and then again — in about another couple of minutes— they 
 could descry that same island of Kerrara shining a beautiful 
 golden-green behind the grey folds of the wet ; the world 
 lightened and still further lightened ; and as they once 
 more emerged into blue water and warm sunshine, behold ! 
 the mountains of Mull had returned — the velvet-hued 
 shoulders of purple and soft rose-grey showing along their 
 summits a slight sprinkling of snow, left by the swift- 
 drifting shower. 
 
 And now they were come to Ardentrive, the solitary and 
 secluded bay in which the yachts of this part of the coast 
 are laid up for the winter. Very forlorn and ghostly looked 
 those silent, dismantled vessels ; yet they were interesting in 
 a way ; it was like walking past empty rooms, thinking of 
 vanished glories. And as they went from one to the other, 
 Allan chanced to notice that the gangway of a certain 
 schooner had not been properly fixed down. 
 
 " Would you like to go on board aiid ha\^e a look about 
 the deck .? " said he to his companions. " It would not be 
 difficult." 
 
 " If you're sure there's no one on the yacht," said Jess, 
 doubtfnlly. 
 
 " There cannot be," he pointed out. " There's no boat 
 astern. And who would be on board a yacht at this time 
 of year ? " 
 
 And yet, when at length he had clambered over the gun- 
 wale, and opened the gangway, and had got the two girls 
 hauled up on deck, and when they began (to peer about, 
 there was some unusual symptoms observable. 
 
 " I never saw a boat left like this," said he — for every- 
 l)ody in Duntroone knows something about l3oats. " Look 
 at the tarpaulin of the skylight — it lias been taken off and 
 thrown back again ; what is to prevent a gust of wind from 
 blowing it overboard ? " 
 
 He pursued his investigations. 
 
 " Look here," he called again, " the doors of the com- 
 panion-way iiave been left open. Lot us go down and see 
 the saloon ! "
 
 BARBAROSSA 59 
 
 He shoved back the hatch of the companiou-way, and 
 proceeded to descend the steps, the two girls rather timorously 
 following. Indeed there was something uncanny in finding 
 themselves in possession of this deserted ship ; moreover, 
 beneath them was a vague and mysterious gloom, for the 
 tarpaulin, loose as it might be, quite sufficiently covered the 
 deck skylight. 
 
 But the next moment this indefinite apprehension had 
 given way to the most violent alarm and terror. For no 
 sooner had Allan reached the open door of the saloon than 
 he suddenly stopped short, and instinctively threw out both 
 arms, as if to bar the further progress of the women. 
 
 " What in the name of God is that ! " he exclaimed, 
 gazing with awe-stricken eyes into the dim obscurity. 
 
 " It's a dead man ! " cried Barbara, with a piercing shriek. 
 " Come away — Jess ! — Jess ! " 
 
 But Jess was too terrified to move : she could only stare 
 into the semi-darkness at the ghastly object that there 
 presented itself. And Allan, also, stood and stared— 
 wondering Avhether they had stumbled into dream-land, and 
 broken in upon the slumbers of the Emperor Barbarossa. 
 For at the further end of the sombre saloon, half-reclining 
 against the cushions, and apparently dead asleep, there was 
 an upright figure clad in a white mantle ; some kind of 
 crown surmounted his brows ; and on the table before him 
 lay a metal instrument, brass or gold it seemed to be in 
 the prevailing dusk. The red-bearded sleeper did not stir 
 or show any sign of life ; and the silence around him was 
 as the silence of the grave. 
 
 " Jess ! — Jess ! " said Barbara, with ashen lips. " Come 
 away — it is a work of the devil ! " 
 
 But Jess, trembling though she was, Avould not leave 
 Allan ; she felt safer standing by him than in trying to flee 
 from the neighbourhood of that appalling phantasm ; un- 
 known to herself she had put her hand on the young man's 
 arm, and would have dragged him back, when he advanced 
 a step. 
 
 " Who are you ? — and what are you ? " he demanded, in 
 a loud voice. 
 
 The white figure slowly moved ; a pallid face appeared 
 to regard the intruders ; then of a sudden the unknown
 
 6o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 snatched up the sceptre-looking instrument that lay on the 
 table, and brandished it before him. 
 
 "Away, away!" he called shrilly, in Gaelic. "It's I 
 that will not be satisfied till the Bay of Duntroone is filled 
 with blood — with blood ! — with blood ! Ten thousand 
 down from the Gallows Hill — ten thousand hurled over the 
 Minard cliffs— sweep them, sweep them into the sea — till 
 they know the power of the King ! The power of the 
 King ! — that must walk on the neck of his enemies, and 
 splash the lintels of his door with their blood, till not one 
 of them be left in the land ! Hurl them over — crush 
 them — mangle them — slaves, away now, and do my bidding ! 
 —for the bloody slaughter shall not cease till the going 
 down of the sun ! — " 
 
 In his frantic gesticulation, the red beard, which |was 
 merely a strip of cow's hide, got disarranged, and fell to the 
 floor. 
 
 " It's Niall Gorach,* " cried Jess in amazement. 
 
 But the poor half-witted lad, hearing this real voice, 
 began dimly to perceive that these strangers were actual 
 human beings, not the ghosts and hallucinations he had been 
 accustomed to command, in his madder moments, from this 
 throne of state. He peered curiously at them, in a 
 frightened way, and now he was all trembling. 
 
 " Have you come for me ? " he said, in pitiful and 
 whimpering tones — and he humbly laid down his sceptre, 
 which was none other than the brass poker belonging to the 
 stove. 
 
 " Why, how did you get here ? " demanded Allan. 
 
 " I took a boat from the Corran shore," he answered — 
 looking furtively and apprehensively from one to the other 
 in this obscure twilight. 
 
 " And where did you get the oars for her ? " 
 
 " I took a piece of wood from the Dunchoillie fence — and 
 — and I watched the tides." 
 
 " And what have you done with her now ? " 
 
 " I shoved her away." 
 
 " And left yourself to starve ! Why, how long have you 
 been on board this yacht ? " 
 
 " I am not knowing — a long time, I think — many 
 * Half-witted Neil.
 
 BARBAROSSA 6i 
 
 tliousands of people were coming to see me " But here 
 
 he checked himself ; his visionary kingdom was over ; and 
 the world of fact and substance had found him. 
 
 " And have you had anything to eat and drink ? " 
 
 " I brought a bag of meal and a cask of water," he said ; 
 and then he added, in an appealing way : " I will give you 
 some if you will not hurt me, or put me in jail." Nay, so 
 abject and penitent was he, that he took the tinselly crown 
 from his forehead and timidly placed it on the table : it was 
 the last sign and symbol of his abdication. 
 
 Well, they were not disposed, to be too hard on the poor 
 wretch, whose royal government of spectral armies, in this 
 solitary cabin, could not have done much harm to anybody ; 
 and, indeed, as it turned out, Niall was the means, the 
 unintentional means, of doing Allan Henderson an excellent 
 good turn this afternoon. For of course they had. to take 
 him Avith them — after they had dispossessed him of his 
 blanket-robe and returned it to a locker, and after they had 
 shut up and made secure everything on board the yacht as 
 well as they could, with some comments on the negligence 
 of caretakers. Then they pulled ashore and landed on 
 Kerrara, leaving Niall in charge of the boat drawn up on 
 the beach. They next proceeded to climb the nearest hill 
 from which they might have a view of the distant Lady 
 Rock, this being the ostensible aim of their excursion. It 
 was, in truth, very little they could see of the unfortunate 
 Handa beyond a touch of red that revealed her funnel ; 
 however, they had come to look at the steamer ; and, now 
 that they had. accomplished their object, there was nothing 
 for them but to go away home again — Allan could, find 
 no further excuse for prolonging this all too delightful 
 lingering and its secret and magnetic association. 
 
 Of a sudden Jess Maclean, who was a sharp-eyed lass, 
 began to giggle, and then to laugh outright. 
 
 " Do youknow what has happened ? " she said. " Where 
 is your boat, Allan ? " 
 
 The schoolmaster wheeled round. There was no doubt 
 about what had happened. The young rascal Niall, seizing 
 his opportunity, had shoved off, jumped into the boat, and 
 was now making for the mainland, as hard as ever he could 
 pull.
 
 62 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " The scoiuidrcl ! " said Allan — not a litttle disconcerted. 
 " But it is no matter. Angus Maclsaac will catch him 
 when he gets ashore, and Angus will bring the boat back 
 for us." 
 
 " Oh, do you think so ? " said Jess, with merriment in 
 her pretty grey eyes. " Well, now, do you see where the 
 daft lad is going ? For he is not so daft as to try 
 landing at the quay or any of the slips ; no, no ; he is 
 making for the little bay at Dunchoillie, and as soon as he has 
 got ashore, he will escape away through the woods. Allan, 
 how many miles is it we'll have to walk to the ferry ? " 
 
 Clearly this was now what stared them in the face. 
 Other hope for them there was none. They waited a long 
 time to see if any sane creature should chance to capture 
 the runaway, and have the understanding to send back the 
 boat ; but nothing of the kind occurred ; and so they set 
 out — Allan secretly rejoicing — to walk away over the rough 
 island to the ferry that crosses Kerrara Sound. 
 
 He bore Niall no ill-will for having played them this 
 trick. The world was full of wonder and a subtle fascination 
 all through the hours of this enchanted afternoon ; and 
 when eventually they got across to the mainland there were 
 more of magic spells ; for they walked home through a 
 laml)ent twilight, with a crescent moon of clear gold nearly 
 overhead ; while far away in the west, high above the mystic 
 glooms and phantom-shapes of the Mull hills, there was a 
 stormy glare of rose-pink, that sent a warm flush across the 
 now approaching DuntrooUe, its houses, and woods, and 
 scant gardens. Yes, and all his life seemed likewise to have 
 burst into flame : whether a consuming flame it was for the 
 inscrutable Fates to determine and declare.
 
 PROBLEMS AND DREAMS 63 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TROBLE^IS AXD DREA1\IS. 
 
 Xow on the Sabbath day it was the custom of the good 
 folk of Duntroone, excepting the ultra-strict amongst them, 
 to permit themselves a little walk along the sea-front after 
 morning service ; and this was the next opportunity to 
 which the schoolmaster could look for resuming — without 
 any appearance of intrusive haste — his acquaintance with 
 the wonderful stranger from the outer isles : perchance in 
 the vague hope of inveigling Jess and her to go with him 
 for some brief landward stroll. But alas ! for these fond 
 desires. On the Saturday evening there was a filmy and 
 mysterious halo round the crescent moon ; an hour or two 
 later the wind began to rise — with a vague premonitory 
 howl ; before midnight a full gale was raging, shaking the 
 house to its very foundations ; and through the long dark 
 there was a clattering of windows aiid a succession of 
 deluges of rain that told of what was happening outside. 
 Then his first despairing glimpse of the new day seemed to 
 say that all was over. The driven and turbulent sea was 
 of a livid green, with the white crests of the chasing waves 
 whirled aloft and scattered in spindrift ; the water was 
 surging heavily aloug the quays and springing high in 
 foam ; the roadways were deep in mud ; and a solitary 
 pedestrian, a womau, with her head butted down, and her 
 ineffectual waterproof blown up into a black balloon, was 
 being dragged hither and thither as she strove against the 
 gusts of the storm. A cheerless prospect, truly ; for Dun- 
 troone, on a wet Sunday, is the wettest-looking place in all 
 the wild and wet "West Highlands. 
 
 Ne^•crtheless, the weather was not likely to imprison the 
 young schoolmaster ; out-of-doors could be no colder than 
 this fireless and miserable room of his ; besides, he was 
 restless, ill-at-ease, and longing to be away in free and open 
 solitude ; and so, making some inward excuse about having 
 a look round to see if there was any chance of the day
 
 64 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 bettering, he set forth, and eventually found himself climb- 
 ing to the summit of the Gallows Hill. There he made 
 sure he would have all the world to himself alone. 
 
 But it was not so. To his astonishment he discovered 
 that he had been forestalled. Lauchie Maclntyre, the 
 shoemaker, was seated on the bench at the foot of the 
 flagstaff. 
 
 " Well, Lauchlan," said he, " you're early astir. And 
 Avhat's brought you up here ? " 
 
 " My head is not so well," said Lauchlan, sadly, and he 
 took his cap off and laid it on his knees. " And I thought 
 there would be a fine cold wdnd blowing on the hill." 
 
 " Maybe you had a little drop last night, then ? " Allan 
 suggested. 
 
 The melancholy-visaged shoemaker glanced reproachfully 
 at the younger man. 
 
 " Aw, Mr. Henderson, that you would think the likes of 
 that of me !— me that's a Rechabite, and was at a Band of 
 Hope meeting only the night before last. There's no such 
 things as that for me — no, no. Now look at this : there's 
 many a man would have tekken to drink long ago in my 
 place. There's many a man w^ould have tekken to drink 
 when his wife run aweh from him. But not me — not me ; 
 says I to myself ' Lauchie, let the duvvle go, and welcome 
 to her.' And this one and that was saying I should go 
 through to Fort William, and bash the head of that little 
 bandy-legged carpenter ; but says I to myself ' No, no ; if 
 he's willing to tek up with a duvvle like that, it is you, 
 Lauchie, that is well rid of them both, and bo tammed to 
 them ! ' What W'ould I be going to Fort William for ? 
 It's not to Fort William I would be going, when I might 
 have to bring her back again ! " 
 
 " Yes, I've heard you were a married man," said x\llan, 
 absently. And he did not go on his way, as he had pur- 
 posed doing, to secure silence and solitude for himself. He 
 sate down on the bench, beside the shoemaker. For here 
 at least was a human being, who had come through, in 
 however blind and bleared a fashion, certain of the great 
 crises and experiences of life — had perhaps even, unknown 
 to himself, been face to face with problems and mysteries. 
 What, for example, was the origin of this disenchantment
 
 PROBLEMS AND DREAMS 
 
 65 
 
 and repulsion tliat he had so freely confessed ? And Allan 
 had no fear of making- any humiliating or disturbing dis- 
 coveries. It was the truth he wanted, seen from whatever 
 side. He was well aware that a Sancho Panza element 
 exists in human nature, and that not to its detriment : 
 the gargoyle does not detract from the majesty of the 
 cathedral. 
 
 " Yet I warrant," said he to Long Lauchie, " that you 
 sang a different song when she was your sweetheart — when 
 you believed her to be the finest creature in all the country 
 — -when you cared for nothing, for nothing in the world, so 
 much as to see her eyes look kindly at you when you came 
 near. Isn't that so ? Am I right ? " he went on, seeing 
 that the dejected shoemaker was silent. " I'm thinking 
 there was a time when you wouldn't have contentedly seen 
 her go away with another man. No ; you would rather 
 have been for breaking the head of any man that wanted 
 even to be a little friendly with her. There must have 
 been a time when the madness was on you. They tell me 
 that when a man sees the one woman in all the world that 
 he must have for his wife, it is a kind of madness that 
 comes over him " 
 
 i( 
 
 A madness ? " said Lauchlan, gloomily. " Ay. There 
 was ten days of it. Her father he keepit a public-house in 
 Tobermory ; and when I came to myself at the end of the 
 ten days, they were saying that I had promised to marry 
 Jean. Ay, tliey were saying that. And mebbe I had. 
 And mebbe I had not. But it was of little matter ; for her 
 father he was a decent man ; and there was ahlways a glass 
 for a friend ; and there was a talk of a fine wedding — so I 
 said no more." 
 
 Tinkle-tankle — tinkle-tankle went the bell of the Catholic 
 chapel ; and one or two small dark figures began to appear 
 in the distant thoroughfares. 
 
 " But no doubt you hoped for the best," continued Allan. 
 " And what was't, think you, made the marriage turn out 
 ill ? " 
 
 " The drink," replied Long Lauchie, with mournful 
 resignation. " She was just like the rest. Ahl the weemen 
 are alike. They're ahl alike. They're ahl at the drink, or 
 worse. There's a cousin of mine that is a gamekeeper over
 
 66 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 on Locli Awe-side, and he says the two classes that mek ahl the 
 mischief of the kintry are weemen and meenisters, and that 
 it's a pity there does not break out a grouse-disease among 
 them to sweep them ahl aweh. Ay, indeed." 
 
 It was without anger that Lauchlan delivered himself of 
 these quite desperate views of life and feminine human 
 nature : he had escaped from the toils, and was merely a 
 passive spectator now. 
 
 " And do you mean to say," Allan demanded, " that you 
 allowed your wife to run away from you without making 
 the least effort to bring her back ? " 
 
 " Well, now," said the shoemaker, with greater anima- 
 tion, " I will just tell you what happened that day, and I 
 will ask you if I did not do right. I was down at the 
 North Quay, with a friend of mine that was going to 
 Ballachulish, and we were waiting for the Fusilier to come 
 over from the South Quay. And when the Fusilier was 
 l)rought alongside, then one of the lads of the steamer he 
 comes running up the gangway, and he says ' Lauchie, do 
 you know that your wife is in the f ore-caybin ? ' ' No,' 
 says I, ' I do not.' 'Well she is,' says he, ' and him that's 
 along with her is MacKillop, the carpenter, from Fort 
 William ; and I'm thinking it's not ahl right, from the 
 look of them.' ' And do you tell me now,' says I, ' that 
 my wife is rinning aweh with MacKillop the carpenter ? ' 
 ' It is not for me to answer such a question,' says he. ' It 
 is for you to come on board and get hold of your wife.' 
 'Is it ? ' says I. ' Then I will see her tammed first. If 
 she's rinning aweh with the bandy-legged carpenter, let the 
 duvvle go and welcome ! ' Then says Johnnie : ' They are 
 carrying a big bundle between them.' Well, at that, Mr. 
 Henderson, at that something came over me. ' Johnnie, 
 lad,' says I, ' come aweh down quick to the fore-caybin, and 
 you'll seize hold of the bundle, and I'll give the carpenter a 
 clout that well mek him think it's the Day of Chidgment.' 
 That's what I was saying ; and my foot was on the gang- 
 way ; but I stopped. Ay, indeed, I stopped. Says I to 
 myself : ' Is it not a good thing to be rid of a lot of 
 weemen's clothes ? Does any one want a lot weemen's 
 clothes hanging about one's house ? ' And back I stepped 
 from the gangway, ' T^et them go to Fort William, or to
 
 PROBLEMS AND DREAMS 67 
 
 tlic duvvlc, bundle and all ! ' says I — and in a few minutes 
 aweh went the Fusilier, and I've never set eyes on either of 
 them since. And there's many a man would have made 
 that excuse for tekkin to drink ; but I'm not wan of that 
 kind ; no, no ; I would rather do wdiat little I can to 
 banish ahl that sin and shame from our kiutry. Ay, that's 
 jist what it is : drink is the sin and shame of the kiutry. 
 Have you a fill of tol)acco, Mr. Henderson ? " 
 
 But Allan had left his pouch behind him. So Lauchie 
 with a patient sigh put his pipe in his pocket again, and 
 rose to his feet. 
 
 " I am thinking I will be getting home now. My head 
 is not so well. Mebbe I will try lying down on my bed 
 for a while — there is little hope of meeting in with a 
 friend on a day like this." So Long Lauchie departed ; 
 and the young schoolmaster was left alone with this great, 
 wide, far-stretching world of moving shapes and vaporous 
 glooms. 
 
 Nevertheless there was still some small glimmering of 
 hope. Occasionally there would come a suffused silvery look 
 into a portion of the eastern skies ; the lurid and formless 
 heavens would show symptoms of banking up ; while the 
 slopes of Kerrara, catching this or that wandering gleam, 
 would burn an intense russet-yellow against the blue-black 
 of the Mull mountains. Then again a gradual fading of 
 that wild glare ; a gathering darkness ; an advancing 
 murmur of wind and water ; and forthwith a white smoke 
 of rain would go tearing across the bay, the squall whirling 
 onwards with the hurrying waves. There was not a dog 
 visible along all the deserted sea-front of Duntroone. 
 
 However, storm or shine, the people would soon be 
 coming out of the churches now, and so he slowly and 
 watchfully made his way downward from these gusty 
 heights. As the first of the worshippers began to appear, 
 he quickened his pace ; he would have to intercept the two 
 girls — yet in a casual kind of way ; most likely they would 
 make straight for home, instead of attempting any pro- 
 menade along the wet concrete, that w'as now all littered 
 with seaweed. And this was precisely what happened. 
 Another minute or two and he would have missed them. 
 Jle encountered them at the corner of the street. They 
 
 F 2 ' 
 
 o
 
 68 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 had had no thought of going along by the sea-front on such 
 a morning. 
 
 " Well, now, Allan," said Jess, with her grej eyes 
 smiling benignly (Barbara paid little heed to him : she 
 seemed more concerned about keeping her waterproof- 
 sleeves well over her wristbands), " this is not a day for any 
 one to be outside. Will you come home with us, and take 
 a little bit of dinner with us ? " 
 
 " It is very kind of you, Jessie," he was beginning to say 
 with some embarrassment, when she interrupted him. 
 
 " But you are going to refuse, as usual. Do you think 
 it is very friendly, Allan ? I know that we cannot talk 
 about anything that would interest you, for the President 
 of the Duntroone Literary and Scientific Society is such a 
 great person ; but we would make you welcome ; and 
 cousins, cousins in the Highlands especially, should not be 
 so ceremonious." 
 
 Well, the President of the Duntroone Literary and 
 Scientific Society might or might not have been a great and 
 learned person ; but at least he had not the heart to refuse 
 this cunningly -worded invitation ; and the next minute he 
 was accompanying the two girls on their homeward way. 
 
 " And who knows," continued Jess, in her kindly fashion, 
 " but that the afternoon may clear up a bit, and Barbara 
 and you and I might go for a walk over to Ganavan ? Oh, 
 yes, it is just as likely as not to clear up a little ! " 
 
 And eventually, as it turned out, her cheerful optimism 
 was rewarded ; for by three o'clock the state of affairs 
 looked sufficiently promising to induce them to leave the 
 house ; and deep was the joy in Allan's heart when they 
 had actually set forth upon this excursion. They took an 
 inland route to begin with, but it mattered little to him 
 whither they went. Perhaps it was merely chance that 
 placed him by Barbara's side as they started off ; at any 
 rate, he found himself once more subject to the over- 
 mastering spell of her mere presence — the inexplicable, 
 extraordinary entrancement of being near her — the wonder 
 and delight of being able to- regard the wind stirring the 
 wisps and tangles of her raven-black hair. And indeed 
 that was about all of her companionship that she vouchsafed 
 to him. She rarely spoke, except to answer a question : it
 
 PROBLEMS AMD DREAMS 69 
 
 & 
 
 was Jess who did all the talking, teasing him and mockiug 
 him, and yet becoming sympathetic enough when she 
 happened to touch upon anything really affecting himself or 
 his future. 
 
 They left the highway — they followed a farm road — 
 crossed some heights and knolls — and came in sight of the 
 western seas again. A sombre day, perhaps, for a country 
 walk ; and yet there was plenty of colour in the wintry 
 landscape — the yellow of the pastures, the dank crimson of 
 the withered bracken, the intense green of the whins, the 
 blood-red of the bramble-stems trailing across the swollen 
 brook. And when, as they were descending from the 
 heights towards the shore, a sudden fire broke through the 
 heavy clouds lying over the mountains in Mull, why, all the 
 world around them grew radiant, and even the leafless ash- 
 trees caught something of the welcome light, a shimmering 
 touch of silver on the branches that stretched away up into 
 the leaden-hued sky. A most comforting gleam ; it was 
 full of promise ; it seemed to speak of a general breaking 
 up of those louring heavens : perhaps, by the time they 
 were returning home they might have for company the 
 crescent moon. 
 
 At the foot of the hill the burn runs at right angles, and 
 as they were crossing the rude little bridge Allan happened 
 to espy, under the straggling blood-red stems of the 
 brambles, a small white star. 
 
 " Why," he said, " there is the first wild-flower I have 
 seen this year ! " 
 
 He stepped down the slippery bank, reached under the 
 bushes, and brought away the tiny prize. It was only a 
 daisy — not ' crimson tipped ' at all — but pale and colourless ; 
 none the less the first timid harbinger of the spring was 
 surely an interesting thing, with its mystic message of 
 wonder and hope. Then it was in its way a rarity ; he was 
 bound to present it to one of his companions. To which of 
 them ? Jess rather stood aside a little, looking askance. 
 
 " Would you care to have it .? " said he to Barbara, and 
 he shyly offered her this humble little token. 
 
 Yes, she took it ; and she thanked him in a kind of 
 fashion — that is to say, with her voice, not with any glance 
 of her unfathomable eyes ; then they went on again. And
 
 70 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Jess had uot lingered behind to wipe away any sudden tears 
 of mortification and reproach ; for she was a sensible lass ; 
 and she had but the smallest sense of her own importance 
 and value in the world. Only, for a little time, she was 
 silent and preoccupied. 
 
 They went down to the shore, and the sands, and the 
 rocks, round which the dark green sea was monotonously 
 washing, with crisp white flashes of foam here and there. 
 A lonely place ; as the calling of the startled birds bore 
 witness— curlews, oyster-catchers, sandpipers, and the like ; 
 while everywhere there was dispersal — the black and white 
 gleam of a pair of arrow-flighted mergansers, the slow- 
 flapping laboured progress of a heron, the cautious retreat 
 of a deep-swimming skart that was already a mile out from 
 shore, dipping its head from time to time, and paddling 
 still further away. But in a very few minutes silence 
 Ijrevailed again ; several of the flocks of birds returned to 
 their feeding-grounds ; and when the three strangers, 
 having sought out a convenient seat for ihemselves on the 
 rocks, took their places, there was no further cry or sign of 
 protest against the intrusion. 
 
 And of what did these young folk talk, in the gathering 
 twilight ? Allan Henderson hardly knew. The folds of 
 her dress were visible to him, that was enough ; the 
 magnetic, alarming consciousness that she was almost 
 within touch of him ; the secret wistful hope that sooner 
 or later she might turn towards him more friendly, more 
 interested, eyes. It was Jess who rather came to the 
 rescue ; and so also on their way back to the town ; she 
 had heard of the great German mediaeval poem that Allan 
 was endeavouring to translate ; and she wanted to know- 
 how he was getting on with the laborious task ; and sought 
 to reassure him about his doubts as to whether he should 
 be able to find a publisher. For she was a kindly, helpful 
 sort of creature ; and she had a resolute faith in the future 
 of this young man. 
 
 The last of the twilight was vanishing as he parted from 
 them at the house in Campbell-street. And it was with a 
 heavy heart, it was with a bitter sense of disappointment 
 and despondency that he turned away and set out for home. 
 For too surely he had observed that the first little tentative
 
 THE SUN-GOD 71 
 
 token of frieudsliip he had offered to Barlbara Maclean she 
 no longer carried in her hand. Doubtless she had tossed 
 the worthless thing aside into the highway, to be trampled 
 in the mud ; or perhaps she had idly dropped it into one of 
 the brackish pools — half rain, half sea-water — out on the 
 dark rocks where they had been sitting during an enchanted 
 but hopeless hour. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SUN-GOD. 
 
 Then the great evening drew near on which the McAskills 
 of the Argyll Arms were to entertain the members of the 
 Graelic Choir and other friends ; and Peter McFadyeu had 
 been as good as his word, he had procured an invitation 
 for Barbara. At first Jess was doubtful as to whether it 
 would be quite fitting for their family, in view of recent 
 events, to be present at any such festivity ; but she found 
 that Barbara was not at all sensitive on the point ; and the 
 compromise finally suggested by Mrs. Maclean Avas to the 
 effect that the two girls should go to the soiree and concert, 
 but should cither come away, or remain for a little while as 
 mere spectators, when the dancing began. And Jessie was 
 indefatigably kind in looking after Barbara's costume, and 
 lending her some small trifles in the way of feminine finery. 
 
 " Every one will look at Barbara," said she, laughing, to 
 her mother, " and no one will look at me ; so it's but right 
 she should have the choosing of anything I have." 
 
 And again Mr. McFadyeu was as good as his word : on 
 the momentous evening in question, and for mere extrava- 
 gance and display, he brought a ' machine ' to take the two 
 girls round to the Volunteer Drill-Hall ; and Barbara, 
 stepping across the pavement, found herself ushered into a 
 vehicle the like of which she had never entered before — a 
 vehicle with luxuriously-cushioned seats, and windows that 
 could be shut up against the rain, and lamps that sent out 
 a soft glow out into the black night. Mr. McFadyen, 
 fussy, eager, proud of the charge that had been bestowed on
 
 72 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 him — for Mrs. Maclean had begged to be allowed to remain 
 at home — 'Was in the highest of spirits ; and there were 
 more triumphs, more feats of prowess, to announce : 
 Gilmour had again been beaten on the links that very 
 afternoon. 
 
 " It's the Pinnacle," cried Peter, chuckling and grinning, 
 and he rubbed his hands in delight. " It's the Pinnacle that 
 bashes Gilmour every time ! And the angry man he is ! — 
 smashing at the ball with the lofting-iron, and then grind- 
 ing his teeth as he watches it come trintle, trintle down the 
 hill again, right back to his feet ! Dod, that Pinnacle '11 
 be the death o' the station-master, as sure's I'm living." 
 
 The way up to the Drill-Hall was along an obscure back- 
 lane ; and in the prevailing darkness the ' machine ' moved 
 cautiously ; but at length it stopped at the foot of some 
 steps in front of a large, oblong building, and Mr. McFadyen 
 descended to hand out his companions. And what was 
 this sound that came from the interior of the hall ? — this 
 was no feeble trembling of a Jew's-harp — this was the shrill 
 and warlike scream of the pipes — it was the ' Athole 
 Gathering ' that was being played to welcome the now- 
 arriving guests. The proud McFadyen, when they got up 
 to the door, would fain have entered with one of his charges 
 on each arm ; but clearly there was no room for this osten- 
 tatious parade ; and so, as Jessie hung back a little, in her 
 usual fashion, it was Barbara whom he found himself 
 escorting in — Barbara, whose great, beautiful eyes looked 
 with dumb wonder and astonishment on this gay spectacle — 
 at the brilliant illuminations, the walls and ceiling hung 
 Avith flags of resplendent colour, the long tables sumptuously 
 set forth and decorated. She was bewildered, but not 
 frightened. She shook hands with her host and hostess 
 witliout perturbation. And then the three new-comers 
 moved on to an open space from which they could the 
 better observe the subsequent arrivals. 
 
 " So you say Allan Henderson is not to be here to-night," 
 Mr. McFadyen remarked to Jess. " Why that ? Maybe 
 he thinks his clothes are not quite smart enough for such a 
 fine gathering." 
 
 Jess flushed quickly — ^perhaps angrily, despite the habitual 
 gentleness of her nature.
 
 THE SUN-GOD y^, 
 
 " He has no need to think of any such thing," said she. 
 " He would look well wherever he went, and in whatever 
 clothes. It's not clothes that give a man a distinguished 
 appearance." 
 
 There was more than a touch of indignation in her tone. 
 And then she went on again, proudly — 
 
 "Perhaps there may be something of more importance 
 for him to he thinking about than a concert and a dance in 
 a drill-hall. Do you know this, Mr. McFadyen — that he is 
 preparing a lecture on the Folk-Songs of Germany, and he 
 is translating the lesser-known amongst them himself ? 
 Any one else would take the Folk-Songs that have already 
 been translated and be content with them ; but that is not 
 Allan's way ; he is too thorough, too much in earnest for 
 that ; and suppose, now, when the lecture has been delivered 
 to the Society, it was afterwards to be put into shape and 
 sent to one of the great magazines in London — and per- 
 haps with his name too — that would be something for one 
 to speak of, and him only a schoolmaster in Duntroone." 
 
 " You seem to be very familiar with Allan's plans," said 
 the town-councillor, rather spitefully. 
 
 " Then it is not from any boasting on his part," Jess 
 retorted, with a fine courage. "It is not boasting that he 
 is given to. And some day we may not be wondering quite 
 so much that he found something more important to do 
 than come to a merry-making of this kind." 
 
 "Ay, well, well," said Peter. "x\llan is a good lad. 
 There's many a worse lad than Allan, whether he has a 
 small salary or a^ big one. And I'll buy the magazine, yes, 
 that I will. I would not be surprised if I bought six 
 copies of it, and gave them about. He's a good enough 
 lad is Allan." For he would not have had this unfortunate 
 little disagreement continued on so auspicious an occasion ; 
 especiaUy as every moment new friends were arriving, and 
 he was eager to show that he had been entrusted with this 
 guardianship. Which of the younger men would have been 
 so favoured ? 
 
 Meanwhile Barbara had not overheard a single word, so 
 wholly engrossed was she with the kaleidoscopic and many- 
 coloured scene before her. But amongst all the guests who 
 were now assembled there was one whom her eyes followed
 
 74 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 with a curiosity that at Icugth becaniu a species of fascina- 
 tion. He was a young man of about five-and-tweuty, fair- 
 complexioned, with close-cropped curly or rather wavy hair 
 of a light golden-brown. He seemed to be acquainted with 
 every one ; as he went about he was laughing and talking 
 to this one and that ; he had a happy, good-natured, con- 
 fident air ; he was much at his ease ; his manner seemed to 
 say that lie Avas pretty sure of his welcome wherever he 
 went. Then what rendered him not less conspicuous was 
 that among all the men in the room he alone wore evening 
 dress. Barbara had never seen evening dress before — 
 except, perhaps, as j)ictured in some stray copy of a penny 
 illustrated paper ; but now here, amid these brilliant lights, 
 in this fine company, it appeared to her altogether beautiful. 
 Beautiful was the tine, smooth, black cloth that seemed to 
 show oflf the young man's figure so elegantly ; beautiful the 
 shining shirt-front, with its neat little single stud of gold ; 
 necktie and collar and cuffs^all were perfection, and all 
 were worn with such freedom and grace. In dress, in 
 manner, in appearance, he was so wholly different from the 
 others. Could he be the son of some great laird, she asked 
 herself, with a kind of awe. And intently her eyes followed 
 him, as he moved hither and thither, shaking hands with 
 this one, nodding to that — a radiant being — an apparition : 
 had the time come back for the gods to descend and appear 
 among men ? 
 
 And then Barbara found herself all trembling — and 
 wishing to be away — and yet powerless to escape. He was 
 clearly coming to this corner ; and quickly too ; he had a 
 card in his hand. 
 
 " How are you, Mr. McFadyen ? — I've got you at last," 
 said he, aud his voice had a cheerful ring. Then he seemed 
 to recognise the fact that the town-councillor had com- 
 panions. " Oh, how do you do. Miss Maclean ! — I hope 
 you are going to give me a dance to-night " 
 
 " This is my cousin Barbara, Mr. Ogilvie," said Jess. 
 
 He turned towards her with the briefest glance, and 
 bowed. The poor lass — overcome by the splendour of his 
 presence — her eyes abashed and fixed on the ground — made 
 some bungling little effort at a curtsy. It was all she knew ; 
 she could do no batter ; and probal)ly she was hardly aware
 
 THE SUN-GOD 75 
 
 of what she did. And most likely he did not notice ; for 
 he had turned again to McFadyeu. 
 
 " We've put you down for a toast, Mr. McFadyen," said 
 the young Master of Ceremonies. " You have to propose 
 the ladies " 
 
 " No, no — na, na," said Peter, in sudden fright. " No 
 speech-making from me — — " 
 
 " But why not ? — why not ? " remonstrated the young 
 man. " You can make fine speeches about water-rates and 
 gas-lamps — I read the reports in the paper every week ; 
 and you're the ladies' man^you're the very one for this 
 toast " 
 
 The councillor had been disconcerted only for a moment. 
 He was not going to play craven, with Jess looking on. 
 
 " Well, I'll not deny," said he, pulling himself up a bit, 
 " that I can say a few words at a fitting time. I'm not an 
 orator, perhaps " 
 
 " You'll do just splendid," said the light-hearted M.C., 
 hurrying away to get his other business finished — and 
 leaving poor Barbara with an overwhelming conviction 
 that she had been guilty of a stupidity and awkwardness too 
 dreadful to be recalled or even thought of. 
 
 And a very merry, happy, excited, loquacious assemblage- 
 this was that eventually got itself seated at the long tables ; 
 and right gallantly did the town-councillor proceed to look 
 after and entertain his two companions. It is true that at 
 times a thought of his appointed speech would suddenly 
 penetrate him ; he would collapse and sink into himself — ■ 
 no doubt desperately hunting in the dark spaces of his 
 mind for impromptus ; but then again he would rouse 
 himself and shake off these vain anxieties, and would strive 
 to convince his neighbours that for wit, and sarcasm, and 
 apposite raillery there was not one of the younger men in 
 Duntroone to come anywhere near him. And Jess was 
 willing to be pleased ; it was an animated, inspiriting scene 
 — what with the radiant lights, the festooned flags, the 
 decorated tables ; while for variety's sake the general 
 hubbub of conversation would be broken in upon at in- 
 tervals by the wild skirl of the pipes — the three tartaned 
 heroes marching round the hall playing ' The Hills of 
 Glenorchy,' or 'Hoop her and Gird her,' or 'Mrs. Ronald
 
 76 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Graham's Welcome Home.' As for Barbara, she sate as 
 one isolated and estranged. Her eyes followed the sun-god 
 ■ — covertly and intently regarding every smile and glance 
 and gestm'e. And she had ample opportunity for this secret 
 observation ; for the young Master of Ceremonies seemed 
 to be looking after everybody but himself ; he went from 
 table to table, joking and laughing, and keeping things 
 moving generally. And Barbara's heart sank within her 
 when she saw that those women he spoke to — maids and 
 matrons alike — were all so splendidly dressed, and had such 
 line adornments about their sleeves, and their necks, and 
 the doing-up of their hair. She became conscious that her 
 cousin Jess and herself were the two most simply-attired 
 young people in the room — a simplicity that appeared to 
 her a distressing plainness. Had the sun-god taken notice ? 
 At least he had not stayed talking to them, as he now 
 stayed talking to those others. 
 
 " Jessie," said Barbara, at length — and her eyes were 
 cast down, and she spoke in tremulous hesitation, "who 
 was the — the young gentleman — that came up to you ? " 
 
 Jess had forgotten. 
 
 " Which one ? When .? " she asked. 
 
 " Before we sate down," continued Barbara. And she 
 ventured to raise her eyes a little. " He is standing over 
 there by the door." 
 
 Jess glanced in the direction indicated. 
 
 " Oh, that's Johnnie Ogilvie," said she, blithely. " He's 
 the Purser of the Aros Castled 
 
 Barbara was silent for a second or two, gazing furtively 
 the while. 
 
 " Does he live in Duntroone ? " 
 
 " Well, he'll very soon be living in Duntroone, for they 
 put the Aros Castle on again at the beginning of next 
 month. And I suppose that is why he has come through 
 here to-night — though he is a great friend of the McAskills 
 whatever." Then Jess laughed. " But you must not be 
 casting your eyes that way, Barbara. He's a fearful lad is 
 Johnnie Ogilvie, for breaking young girls' hearts. At least 
 so they say. I do not believe the lad is any worse than 
 others." 
 
 Here silence was called for by a tumultuous hammering
 
 THE SUN-GOD 77 
 
 on the tables that made the crystal jump, for Mr. McAskill 
 had risen to say a word of welcome to his guests and to 
 ask them to drink a glass with him. And this was the 
 beginning of the speech-making ; but in truth there was 
 not much of it ; for there were many things to be got 
 through. It ought to be recorded, however, that Mr. 
 McFadyen acquitted himself well ; he was jocose within 
 due moderation ; he paid a manly tribute to the charms of 
 youth and beauty ; and he earned great applause by saying 
 he would not detain his audience, because they were all 
 looking forward to seeing those bewitching creatures who 
 now sate expectant by their side — those divine creatures 
 who were the sweeteners of man's destiny here below — they 
 were all looking forward to beholding those angelic forms 
 to still better advantage in the mazy intricacies of the dance. 
 Then the members of the Gaelic Choir withdrew and 
 re-assembled on the platform ; the remaining visitors also 
 rising from the tables, to allow the attendants to clear the 
 hall. And soon this large, hollow-sounding place was filled 
 with music less ear-splitting than that of the pipes ; the 
 sonorous, softened part-singing of the trained choir was an 
 admirable feature of the evening's entertainment ; the 
 guests could not have thanked their host in happier fashion. 
 It may be admitted that the majority of these concerted 
 pieces were of a mournful cast ; one of them, in especial — 
 'The Braes of Glen-Braon' — in its heart-breaking wail 
 seemed to give expression to all the sadness and loneliness 
 of the remote and sea-swept isles ; but those present were 
 familiar with the prevailing character of Highland min- 
 strelsy ; they were not too much cast down by those 
 successive 'Farewells' against which Mr. McFadyen had 
 energetically protested. ' Farewell, Farewell to Fuinary ! ' 
 sang those harmoniously-modulated voices ; then came the 
 ' Lament of MacCrimmon ' — with one woman's voice 
 ringing clear and high above the low-rumbling refrain, as 
 if it were some wild note heard from the surge of tumultuous 
 waves ; they repeated the plaint of the distant lover — 
 
 ' could I he, love, in form of sea-gull. 
 That sails so freely heyond the sea, 
 Td visit Islay, for there ahiding 
 Is that sivett Jtind one I pine to see '
 
 78 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ■ — with many another favourite. Meanwhile the great hall 
 had l)een prepared for the dancing ; and the pipers were 
 awaiting the word. 
 
 " Suas cC phtob ! " called out the impatient McAskill. 
 
 And presently, after a discordant tnning-up of the drones, 
 the pipes broke clear away into ' The Marchioness of 
 Tweeddale's Delight ' ; and that Avas the signal for the 
 Choir to come hurrying down from the platform, to secure 
 partners, or to be chosen as partners, for the Grand March 
 was about to take place. Then Mr. McAskill and his 
 sister-in-law led the way ; the other couples fell in ; the 
 pipers blew their bravest ; and down the long hall went the 
 joyous procession, every one elated with thoughts of the 
 gaiety that was about to follow. There had been enough of 
 speech-making and of singing of Farewells ; in due course 
 the reel-stage would be aiTived at ; and the pipers would 
 have encouragement to put fire and glow into the pro- 
 ceedings, if an occasional dram would help. 
 
 Now of all the people here gathered together, only three 
 remained apart. 
 
 " Eeally, Mr. McFadyen," said Jess, " I am quite 
 ashamed to be keeping you away from the dancing, and 
 you so fond of it " 
 
 " Xot at all — not at all ! " protested the gallant Peter. 
 " I undertook a charge, and I must fulfil it. And gladly 
 too. I'm just quite proud and pleased to stay here with 
 you. They'll be plenty of capering later on : five o'clock 
 will not see the last of them out o' this place." 
 
 " But if we went away now, it would leave you free," 
 said Jess ; and then again, observing that Barbara's 
 attention was so completely absorbed by the pageant taking 
 place before her that it seemed merciless to tear her away, 
 she added : " Well, maybe Barbara would like to stay just 
 a little while yet." 
 
 This, at all events, Barbara heard. She turned her 
 great, mystic, ap[)ealing eyes to her companions, and said — 
 
 " Oh, yes — yes, I would ! A little while more, Jessie ! " 
 
 For it was not only the pageant ; better now than before 
 her rapt observation could dwell on the young Master of 
 the Ceremonies, who seemed to combine in himself all the 
 elegancies and graces of youthful manhood — elegancies and
 
 THE SUN-GOD 79 
 
 graces of ii kind she had never hitherto dreamed of. Even 
 ins patent-leather hoots — the wonderful polish— the pointed 
 and symmetrical shape— the liglitness they seemed to lend 
 to his step : this also was another marvel, an allurement, a 
 mystery of fascination. And when the Grand March was 
 over and the pipes had ceased, when the band had come on 
 to the platform, and a quadrille was being- formed, it 
 appeared to her as though he were the moving spirit in all 
 this brilliant throng : no'wonder those finely-dressed dames, 
 and the younger women with their hair done up in fashion- 
 able ways, regarded him with favouring looks and answered 
 him with smiling words. 
 
 But Jack Ogilvie, Purser of the Aros Castle, would have 
 been a very poor Master of Ceremonies had he allowed 
 those three to remain neglected : he swooped down upon 
 them, with urgent remonstrances, until Mr. McFadyen got 
 a chance of interposing an explanation as to why they were 
 taking no part in the programme. Then the young man 
 went away again, for it was a busy night with him. To 
 Barbara it was as if she had been in a 'dwawm '—a dim, 
 half-conscious swoon — while he was so near her, while the 
 sound of his voice was in her ears. 
 
 At length, however, the prudent Jess thought it was time 
 for them to depart ; Barbara mutely yielded — with some 
 lingering, backward glances ; Peter McFadyen had the 
 ' machine ' in waiting ; and the girls were driven home 
 under his escort. He left them at the open door — for he 
 was returning to the Drill-Hail, where there might yet Ije 
 a chance for him to shine in the Varsoviana or the Gua- 
 racha ; and they entered the house to find the blithe little 
 widow awaiting them, with the inevitable tea-pot on the 
 hob. 
 
 " And who, think you," said Mrs. Maclean, as the girls 
 were taking off their things, "who, think you, was here all 
 the evening ? Who but Allan Henderson ! Isn't he the 
 sober, quiet lad to think of coming to talk to an old woman, 
 when you young folks were away gallivanting by your- 
 selves ? Poor Allan," she continued, as she put the tea- 
 cups on the table, " I'm afraid he's not very happy and 
 settled at present. He was wondering whether he should 
 not try another country, where there might ]:)e a better
 
 8o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 opening for Jiim. But we cannot allow that — we cannot 
 allow that at all ! For Allan to leave Duntroone would be 
 just a public calumny " 
 
 " Is it a public calamity you mean, mother ? " Jess inter- 
 posed. 
 
 " Ay, that's what I said," the widow went on, in her 
 complacent fashion. " And I was telling him, instead of 
 going to another country, he should just start a small 
 boarding-house in Duntroone, so that some of the farmers 
 at a distance could send in their children that they wanted 
 to have regularly at school. Only, Allan would need to 
 have a wife to manage for him ; and there's more than one 
 lass would be willing, that I'm sure of ; for he's a good 
 lad is Allan ; and you're always saying yourself, Jessie, 
 that he's astonishing clever, and will do great things yet. 
 AVell well, I hope the struggle will not bear too hard on 
 him." 
 
 Barbara Maclean took no part in this discussion. She 
 was standing in front of the fire, staring into it. It was 
 not of the schoolmaster, and of the poor outlook of his life, 
 that she was thinking — there were more luminous, fasci- 
 nating, wonderful pictures burning in her brain. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 "the wild tears fall." 
 
 Barbaea Maclean's household duties were light ; prac- 
 tically she had the mid-day to herself ; and she had got 
 into a habit of stealing out and wandering along to the 
 triple windows of the chief draper's shop in the town, 
 where she would stand gazing with entranced and covetous 
 eyes. This was indeed different from the " merchant's " 
 store at Kilree ; here were beautiful kid gloves with furred 
 wrists and many buttons, silk kerchiefs of every hue, 
 ribbons and laces, boas, muffs, tartan scarves, elegant black 
 hats with surmounting black feathers, and a hundred things 
 each more wonderful than the other. And occasionally a
 
 ''-THE WILD TEARS FALL'' 8i 
 
 waggonette would drive up, bringing in some family of 
 gentlefolk from the neighbouring country ; and as mother 
 and daughters descended, and crossed the pavement, Barbara 
 would watch them with an eager and furtive scrutiny, 
 marking every detail of their deportment and dress. And 
 then she would return to the study of this resplendent 
 finery — which was all so far away from her ; for although 
 her aunt had insisted on her accepting a small salary, it 
 was merely to save the girl's sense of independence, and did 
 not bring these fascinating things any nearer her. 
 
 Now by some means or other Allan the schoolmaster had 
 become aware of this trait in Barbara's character, and it 
 greatly interested and pleased him. A man is tolerant and 
 buient where a woman has thrown the magic glamour of 
 her eyes over him ; this peculiarity, the young schoolmaster 
 said to himself, only proved her to be a daughter of Eve ; 
 she was human, she was one of ourselves ; she was no 
 impossible and visionary maiden come out of the night and 
 the sea. And on a certain afternoon he went along to Jess, 
 whom he found at the counter. 
 
 "Jessie," said he, with even more than his usual diffi- 
 dence, " if your mother is in, could you come with me for a 
 few minutes to McLennan's the draper's ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed ! " said the ever-good-natured Jess ; 
 but she looked up wondering : what concern could the 
 grave and studious Allan have with a haberdasher's shop ? 
 
 "I want you to help me to choose a little present — some- 
 thing a young girl would like — something pretty and smart 
 that she could wear " 
 
 Jessie's face flushed quickly ; and she seemed to draw 
 back in confusion. 
 
 " But why should you think of such things, Allan ? " she 
 said, in a tone of remonstrance. " Why should you wish to 
 give finery to anyone ? I know your own tastes are all 
 very simple ; and it is not right for you to be spending 
 money in this way " 
 
 " But, Jessie," he answered her, though still with a 
 certain shyness, " I am anxious that Barbara should feel 
 she was amongst people who wish her well. She is a young 
 girl— and still partly a stranger — and I was thinking if I 
 could get something that would please her— a little present 
 
 G
 
 82 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 of that kind would at least show a friendly intention — and 
 she would understand it." 
 
 He did not notice the swift change of expression — of 
 alarm, almost — that had passed over Jess Maclean's face 
 the instant he had mentioned Barbara's name. 
 
 " Oh, yes," she said, in eager haste. " You are quite 
 right, Allan. I am sure it would please Barbara. And as 
 you say, she may be feeling a little strange yet in Duu- 
 troone. Oh, yes, for Barbara. It's quite ditferent with 
 Barbara. And will you be going now ? For I will get 
 ready at once." And with that she disappeared into the 
 back-parlour, to fetch her things. 
 
 He never knew what keen arrow he had driven through 
 her heart. For she was a brave kind of a lass and naturally 
 cheerful ; and by the time these two were walking along 
 the pavement, on their way to the draper's, she was making 
 merry over the idea of the austere and absent-minded 
 student going to buy millinery, and was teasing him, and 
 mocking him with her mischievous eyes. But she was 
 very friendly all the same ; and in the shop her counsel 
 was sage and prudent — for she knew that, though his means 
 were scant and his own habits as regarded himself sparing 
 enough, there was Highland blood in his veins, and there 
 was no saying but that he might do something reckless. 
 Eventually they decided upon ^ fichu of black silk, trimmed 
 with black lace, and adorned with black glass bugles. It 
 was Jess Maclean's inward surmise that the bugles would 
 prove attractive to Barbara. 
 
 Then arose the question of presentation ; and here again 
 Jess unselfishly came to his aid ; she could see that he was 
 awkward and unskilled in such affairs, and perhaps also a 
 little apprehensive. 
 
 "Why not come along in the evening ? " said she, " and 
 smoke a pipe as usual ; and I will send over to the house 
 for Barbara ; and you can give her your present without 
 any great formality. Sure I am she will be very proud 
 of it." 
 
 " That's what I will do, then, Jessie," said he. " And I 
 am very much obliged to you." And then, having seen her 
 as far as the door of the shop, he turned and made his way 
 home to his books — or to such wild fancies and hopes and
 
 " THE WILD TEARS FALL " 83 
 
 fears as would obstinately thrust themselves between him 
 and the printed page. 
 
 But he need not have been at all apprehensive as to the 
 manner in which Barbara would receive his present. When, 
 later on, he was in the little parlour, and when, in answer 
 to a message, Barbara came over from the house, any one 
 could have seen that she knew what was going to happen : 
 there was a tinge of pretty embarrassment in her face, and 
 she shook hands with him in a shy kind of way, and for a 
 second — wonder of wonders ! — the beautiful dark-blue 
 eyes, from under their jet-black lashes, glanced at the young 
 man with quite unusual and modest friendliness. He was 
 bewildered — his heart went beating — so that he could 
 scarce explain to her his reasons for begging her to accept 
 this simple gift ; but Jess proceeded to open the small 
 packet ; and Mrs. Maclean was loud in praises of tlxQficlbu ; 
 while Barbara's mystic and unfathomable eyes were filled 
 with pleasure when she beheld the silk and the lace and the 
 glittering beads. Then she turned to the young man. 
 She hesitated. And it was in Gaelic that she had to speak 
 her thanks to him, the English not coming freely enough 
 or not being expressive enough ; and for another ineffable 
 moment her glance dwelt upon him with the kindliest 
 regard. And if he was bewildered before, he was bereft of 
 his senses now. He had it in mind to sell his books and 
 all his belongings and lay out every farthing in McLennan's 
 shop. But at this point the town-councillor made his 
 appearance, and something like sanity was restored. 
 
 Peter McFadyen, as it turned out, was an angry man. 
 Nay, did not some tone of complaint and reproach run 
 through his tale of injury — seeing that Lauchie the shoe- 
 maker was an especial friend of Mrs. Maclean's ? 
 
 " I just went into the Argyll Arms " — such was his 
 indignant story — " to say to Mrs. McAskill what everybody 
 has been saying ever since the dance, that it was one of the 
 greatest successes ever known in Duutroone ; and I was not 
 inside but a few minutes ; and when I came out, here was 
 this man Lauchlan Maclntyre — your friend Lauchlan, 
 Mrs. Maclean — and he was waiting for me round the corner. 
 Confound his imj)udence ! ' Oh, Mr. McFadyen,' says ho, 
 ' I'm sorry to see ye gang that gate. You've been into the 
 
 G 2
 
 84 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 very ante-room of hell. And you a man of poseetion, that 
 should be an example to all of us ! But there is time — 
 there is time for yon to hold back — you may escape destruc- 
 tion yet. There's a meeting of the Rechabites to-morrow 
 night, and if ye'd come with me, ye might be persuaded 
 to join us. Drink is a terrible thing, but it can be 
 mastered ' " 
 
 Mr. McFadyen suddenly broke off. 
 
 "Ay, do ye think it is a laughing matter. Miss Jessie ? " 
 he demanded — for Jess had been quietly giggling to herself. 
 " That impudent drunken scoundrel ! — and me, a town- 
 councillor — and one o' the most temperate men in Dun- 
 troone. Find me a more temperate man than I am, in the 
 whole of Duntroone — and I'll cat him ! " 
 
 " Poor Lauchie ! " said the little widow, with easy com- 
 passion. " Sometimes I think he is going to keep on the 
 straight road ; and maybe he is that way now ; but I am 
 never very sanguinary- 
 
 55 
 
 " Sanguine, you mean, mother ! 
 
 " Ay, just that. You can never be sure about Lauchie. 
 And it's a bad sign when he takes to the preaching. It's a 
 sign he is likely to break out again. But he's not a bad 
 kind of man, Lauchie : there's many a worse man than 
 Lauchie." 
 
 Now the town-councillor, when he had made his protest, 
 and asserted his dignity, had no mind to let Jess Maclean 
 think that he was one to bear ill-will ; he dismissed the 
 subject of Long Lauchie altogether ; and very soon he was 
 giving his audience, with many chucklings of satisfaction, a 
 description of how he had that very afternoon triumphed over 
 all his opponents at throwing the hammer in his backyard. 
 Nevertheless he did not wholly monopolise the conversation ; 
 and the chubby and chirrupy little man was sharp-sighted 
 enough ; it was not long ere he perceived that now, when 
 the schoolmaster addressed Barbara Maclean, she turned to 
 him with a kindly and friendly attention she had never 
 hitherto paid him. And did not Jess notice ? Ay, and 
 Mrs. Maclean ? As for Peter, he was delighted. If this 
 was the way things were going, so much the better for his 
 own daring schemes. 
 
 " Dod, man, Allan," said he, as these two were walking
 
 ''THE WILD TEARS FALL'' 85 
 
 home, through a somewhat wet aud blustering- night, " ye're 
 on the track at last. Ye've made your mark. You'll have her. 
 She's yours — if you've the courage to go in and win. I can 
 see it, I'm not blind. The lass is well-disposed towards ye. 
 But ye'll have to speak — ^ye'll have to speak, man ! " 
 
 "I understand what ye mean, Mr, McFadyen," said Hen- 
 derson, in his grave and deliberate fashion, "But these 
 are hardly matters to be guessed at in so light a way. One 
 must not hope for too much, merely on account of a little 
 friendliness. And even if what you say were possible, 
 there are many perplexities around me and ahead of me. 
 It's all very well for you that have a fine position, an assured 
 position, to talk in the heroic strain ; but I have to consider 
 that I might bo dragging into misery, and uncertainty, and 
 wretchedness, one that's of far more importance than 
 myself—" 
 
 " No, no, man ! " returned the sprightly councillor. " Ye 
 take far too serious a view of life. Young folk must have 
 courage and run risks. And if you don't, why, in the case 
 of a handsome lass like that, somebody else will be coming 
 along and snapping her up. Here, Allan, lad," he said, 
 halting — for they had just arrived at his dwelling-house, 
 which adjoined his office. " Ye'll just come in and sit down 
 for a few minutes, for I've something to say to ye that may 
 be of importance to ye by-and-bye." 
 
 The young man did not refuse. He had no great love 
 for McFadyen — in fact he was rather inclined to treat him 
 with impatience and disdain ; but there were momentous 
 issues at stake ; and perhaps some talk with this older man, 
 who had seen more of the world, might make matters a 
 little clearer. So he waited until Peter fumbled in his 
 pockets for his latch-key — both of them no doubt looking 
 forward to a quiet and confidential chat, perhaps with some 
 little solace of tobacco. 
 
 There was to be no such thing, at this time and place. 
 McFadyen put the key in the lock, turned it, and was about 
 to enter, wdien immediately behind the door there was a low 
 and savage growl. He sprang back incontinently, dragging 
 the door to with him. 
 
 " Lord's sake alive ! " he exclaimed, when he had partly 
 recovered himself, " It's that dog ! "
 
 86 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " What dog ? " 
 
 " The bull-dog I bought from Jamie Nicholson yester- 
 day ; and it "was to be sent home this afternoon ; and that 
 idiot of a servant-lass seems to have left it free in the house 
 ii]stead of tying it up in the backyard. What's to be done ? 
 It's a fearfu' beast. Some rascals have been stealing my 
 coals, and I thought I would pay them out " 
 
 " And the dog is strange to you 1 " 
 
 " I never saw it but three minutes yesterday," said the 
 distressed councillor, " and it would not know me from 
 Adam, even if the house was not in darlvuess ! " 
 
 Here the schoolmaster broke into one of those portentous 
 guffaws that had so perplexed Jess Maclean ; he roared and 
 laughed ; he better roared and laughed ; while the coun- 
 cillor's temper, amid all his distractions, began to grow 
 warm. 
 
 "A man shut out of his house by his own dog ! " Allan 
 cried, with another prodigious fit of laughter. "Well, 
 there's but the one thing for it. Maybe he'll recognise you 
 as the master of the place. Go boldly by him " 
 
 "Go boldly by him yourself ! " retorted the councillor 
 angrily. 
 
 " But you cannot stand in the street all night ! Where's 
 the maidservant ? " 
 
 " She's in her bed long ago ! " 
 
 " Well, then, you must go round by the back and get in 
 that way." 
 
 " How can I ? What's the use of talking nonsense ? " 
 answered McFadycn, with savage fretfulness. " Do you 
 til ink I would leave my coal-ree open, when I got this 
 infernal beast for the very purpose o' protecting it ? And 
 the key of the gate's in the office ; there's no way round by 
 the back at all ! " 
 
 " Well, then," said Allan, " you'll have to try gentleness. 
 Go in a little bit, and try to humour him " 
 
 " Go in a little bit yourself, if you're so clever I " said the 
 councillor, peevishly. 
 
 " What are you going to do ? Or will you ask the police- 
 man's advice ? — there's sure to be a policeman round by the 
 station." 
 
 " T would not allow any policeman to go into that passage
 
 ''THE WILD TEARS FALL" 87 
 
 — it's as much as his life would be worth ! " Peter rejoined 
 in his despair, 
 
 " You'll have to send for the man who sold the dog to 
 jou." 
 
 " Yes ! — very likely ! — and him at Taynuilt ! He went 
 back to Taynuilt yesterday afternoon." 
 
 " Very well," said Allan, more seriously, " I'll tell you 
 what we'll do. You cannot stand in front of this house all 
 night. You'll just come along to my room, and you can 
 have my bed, and I'll get a shake-down, or a chair's good 
 enough for me in any case. For you were kind enough, 
 Mr. McFadyen, to hint that there was something you had 
 to say to me ; and if it affects what you and I were talking 
 about, I would rather hear of it before going to sleep. It's 
 an anxious time with me. There is not much hospitality I 
 can offer you ; but you are welcome." 
 
 " Have you plenty of tobacco, Allan ? " the councillor 
 asked, still regarding his own impossible door. 
 
 " Yes, I have that," responded the younger man. " It's 
 the one thing I can offer you." 
 
 " Well and good, then," said he ; but before he turned 
 away to follow his companion, and while he was still con- 
 templating the shut door, he added, bitterly : " You'll see 
 if I haven't that beast chained up to-morrow, if there's a 
 blacksmith in Duntroone can fasten a rivet into a stone 
 
 Willi." 
 
 ****** 
 
 Meanwhile the two girls and Mrs. Maclean had slnit the 
 shop, and gone over the way, and partaken of their frugal 
 supper, and were now enjoying a friendly chat along with 
 their needlework and knitting. Barbara was evidently 
 greatly elated over her present, and was more talkative than 
 usual ; and Jess, who knew not grudging, was cheerfully 
 responsive. Then the little widow kept throwing out merry 
 and mysterious hints. 
 
 " Ay, indeed, Barbara," said she, as she was busy with 
 her needle, " ye may well set yourself up. There may l)e 
 more in that present than you're dreaming of yet. For 
 Allan Henderson has so far paid but little heed to the young 
 lasses about ; and they've rather been inclined to look 
 asklant at him, and toss their head, for you know the old
 
 88 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 saying : ' Crone, ivill you have the Idng ? I will not, as he 
 tvonH have me.'' And so the king has thrown the handker- 
 chief at last, has he ? Well, well ! And what will they 
 say now, all them he has passed over ? Not a lass in 
 Duntroone good enough for him, but the minute one comes 
 in from the outer isles, the misan — the misanthrope comes 
 out of his cell, and all the world is changed, and there's a 
 miracle for you ! Well, well, indeed ! " 
 
 And so she went on, and Jess listened in silence. For 
 the girl hud long ago given up any secret and wistful hope 
 that Allan might look her way ; nay, she had argued and 
 steeled herself into the belief that she ought to set herself 
 resolutely against any such thing, even if it were possible. 
 She had formed other plans for him : she knew something 
 of his ambitions. Duntroone was no place for him. He 
 was to go away ; he was to win to the front ; he was to 
 conquer London ; and when he was become a great man 
 and famous, perhaps he might have a single backward and 
 friendly thought for that cousin Jess who had believed in 
 him and urged him on. And in the meantime, and with 
 pride and with a warm sisterly affection she would watch 
 his career. 
 
 Apparently this was a very happy evening. But that 
 same night, in the mid-watches, in the darkness, Jess was 
 lying awake. And at such times the nerves are apt to get 
 unstrung and fall away from their ordinary firmness ; self- 
 control is not so easy ; and certain dreams that she had 
 been ready enough to sacrifice in her auguries of his great 
 future would come back unbidden. Also some lines she 
 had read in an American magazine, that had seemed to her 
 to have in them a curious suggestion of Celtic remoteness, 
 and solitariness, and longing. Why would the Irish girl's 
 song so haunt her brain ? — ■ 
 
 " I try to knead and spin, but my life is low the wliile ; 
 Oh, I long to be alone, and walk abroad a mile ; 
 Yet when I walk alone, and think of naught at all, 
 Why from me that's young should the wild tears fall? 
 
 The cabin door looks down a furze -lighted hill, 
 And far as Leighlin cross the fields are green and still ; 
 But once I hear a blackbird in Leighlin hedges call, 
 'f he foolishness is op me, and the wild tears fall ! "
 
 IN SORE STRAITS 89 
 
 Well, the * foolishness ' was on her ; and she buried her 
 head in the pillow, that was soaked with her tears ; and she 
 made desperate efforts to subdue her sobbing. For Barbara 
 was in the other bed ; and she would not awaken Barbara 
 with this unavailing grief. Barbara, who was no doultt 
 placidly dreaming of drapers' windows and black glass 
 bugles. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IN SORE STRAITS. 
 
 The apartment into which the schoolmaster ushered his 
 o-iiest bore evidence of a hard and rigid economy, not to 
 say downright penury. There was no fire in the grate ; 
 there was but the one gas jet ; the furniture was scant and 
 bare. There were piles of books, to be sure ; but they 
 were all work-like volumes ; not a gay binding amongst 
 them. 
 
 " Now this is what I like to see," said McFadyen, rubbing 
 his hands with satisfaction as he took a seat and looked 
 around. " This is what I Hke to see. And I know what 
 it means. When I observe a young man that's sober and 
 industrious, and that has got a reasonable salary, when I 
 observe him living pinched and poor, then 1 know what it 
 means : he's saving up to get married." 
 
 " It has not been like that with me, then, Mr. McFadyen," 
 the younger man said, as he produced a small jar of tobacco, 
 the only luxury in the place, " I've had to pay back to my 
 folks at home what they lent me for the classes — and that 
 was the least part of what I owed and owe them. And 
 then I undertook the schooling of my two younger brothers ; 
 but one of them has just got a situation, and the other one 
 will soon be looking about too ; so that I may find myself 
 a little freer -" 
 
 " Exactly that ! " said the councillor, cheerfully. " Some- 
 thing freer to tackle the great problem — the choosing 
 yourself a mate. It's what we are all bent on, though some 
 may be a little later than others "
 
 90 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " And it will have to be a little later, if ever, with me," 
 rejoined Allan — who was in an nnusnally confidential mood ; 
 he did not often deign to speak of his private affairs. " In 
 my position how conld I ask any young girl to take snch a 
 risk ? " 
 
 " God bless my soul ! " cried the other, " did ye never 
 hear of snch a thing as life-insurance ? " 
 
 " That is some safeguard for the future, no doubt. But 
 the question is as to the meantime. And if I were to ask 
 any girl to look my way, I should have to tell her my 
 present prospects ; and what inducement could I lay before 
 her ?". 
 
 " Tuts, tuts, tuts, man ! " broke in the happy and hopeful 
 Peter. " That's no the way to talk ! Do ye think a young 
 lass is to be won over by a parade of gilded furniture ? It's 
 not that she has in her mind when her fancy settles on a 
 lad. Na, na. It's not tliat will tempt her to kilt up her 
 coats o' green satin, like Leezie Lindsay, and be off with 
 him through bush and briar. It's love well won, and the 
 world well lost — that's more like the ticket, man ! Pros- 
 pects ? Life-insurance ? Is that what you think she has 
 in her mind ? Is that what she answers when he asks her 
 the great question ? Not a bit. This is more like what 
 her answer '11 be — " And here the councillor raised his 
 hand triumphantly, and sang in a brave fashion, and with 
 many trills — ■ 
 
 ' Gang down the burn, Davie, love, 
 Down the burn, Davie, love, 
 Gang down tlic burn, Davie, love, 
 And I will follow thee ! ' 
 
 Then Peter moderated his enthusiasm. 
 
 " Listen to me, Allan. I will not conceal from ye that I 
 sometimes thought ye had other intentions, when ye came 
 so much about the widow's shop. And then again I said to 
 myself, No, it was only that you were related to the family, 
 and maybe you had not too many friends in the town, and 
 it was but natural ye should foregather with your own kith 
 and kin. And yet again I would say to myself, Yes, there's 
 danger : he's a young man, he has eyes, he cannot fail to 
 see what a fine creature Jessie Maclean is — so good-
 
 TN SORE STRAITS 91 
 
 hiimonrcd, and clever, and bright-looking — just one in 
 twenty thousand " 
 
 " You may say that, Mr. McFadycn," observed the young 
 schoolmaster, gravely. " Ay, or one in fifty thousand." 
 
 " But now that I see your thoughts are turned in another 
 direction," continued the councillor, " it's a great relief to 
 me ; for, to tell you the truth, I'm not without hopes that 
 I might get Jessie for myself. That would be a fine ploy, 
 wouldn't it ? — the two weddings on the same day ! And 
 I'll tell ye what I'll do with ye, Allan, lad, just to ' mak 
 sikker.' Mrs. Maclean says your best chance is to get 
 married, and start a boarding-house for scholars sent in 
 from the country. And that would need some little capital 
 — the plenishing and what not. Very well ; I'm not a rich 
 man ; but I have a bit of a nest-egg laid by ; and I wouldna 
 mind lending you £50, or even £100, to help you at the 
 start. And I'm sure if there was an understanding between 
 Jessie and me, she would not grudge it either. She's a 
 half-cousin of yours ; and you've been great friends together ; 
 I'm sm-e she would not object " 
 
 A quick flush had come over Allan's forehead. 
 
 " I thank ye, I thank ye, ]\Ir. McFadyen," he said, 
 hastily, and with lowering brows. " But it is not to be 
 thought of." 
 
 And therewith he closed his mouth and would say no 
 farther word about these poor affairs of his : so that Peter, 
 who was evidently in a state of buoyant anticipation, was 
 forced to talk about his own share in this great project, 
 and to describe those personal qualifications — physical 
 strength, skill, tact, knowledge of the world, and the like — ■ 
 "which, as he contended, were fairly entitled to put the mere 
 question of years aside. And then, becoming still more 
 sanguine, he grew enthusiastic over the delights of court- 
 ship, and the enchantments of love's young dream. 
 
 Now although Allan Henderson had somewhat rudely 
 and abruptly repulsed this friendly offer, it was nevertheless 
 a wonderful thing for him to think of that one or two 
 onlookers had actually been considering the possibility of 
 Barbara's being favourably inclined towards him. All 
 through the uncongenial toil of the next day there ran as it 
 were little flashes of roseate- flame ; his eyes would become
 
 92 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 blind to those monotonous forms and their occupants ; the 
 grey hours had occasional startling moments when the out- 
 side world was revealed to him as in a vivid dream. And 
 when at last it was all over, when he could emerge into the 
 clearer air, instead of returning to his lodging, he struck 
 away on a solitary ramble by sea and shore : there was a 
 lifetime of contingencies to be faced and resolutely examined, 
 so long as that was possible while those quivering, rose- 
 tinted flashes — those fascinating and elusive will-o'-the-wisps 
 — would break in upon his sight and bewilder him. 
 
 He left the town by way of the harbour, climbed the 
 Gallows Hill, and proceeded along the edge of the steep 
 cliffs overlooking the sea. The rain of the previous night 
 and moruing had long ago ceased ; the clouds were now 
 banked up ; there was a brooding silence ; the click of the 
 oars of a small boat crossing the bay could be distinctly 
 heard, even at this height. And in the prevailing calm of 
 sky and sea and mountain there was something that seemed 
 in a measure to allay the agitation of his mind ; there was 
 peace in those great spaces of the universe ; a quiet that 
 conduced to a serener and saner contemplation. Wild 
 hopes were dazzling and exciting things, no doubt ; but 
 the destruction of them could also be met and endured, by 
 a man. 
 
 As it chanced, he had been so profoundly plunged in 
 these meditations that he had followed the coast-line too 
 mechanically, and now he came to the brink of a chasm 
 that struck inland for some little way. He did not think 
 it worth while going round in order to continue his route ; 
 instead he sate down on the verge of this deep cavity, letting 
 his legs dangle over ; and there he gave himself up to still 
 further wrestling with the problems and distractions that 
 beset him. For one thing, if he were to incur these great 
 responsibilities, he would have to give up many cherished 
 ambitions — some snatch of foreign travel — the issue of his 
 version of the Nibelungenlied — and the like : towards which 
 he had been hoarding up his savings. But after all, what 
 were such trivial considerations when compared with the 
 very crown and joy of life, supposing that were now to be 
 put within his reach ? He could hardly believe it possible. 
 He had been bewildered out of his calmer judgment by this
 
 IN SORE STRAITS 93 
 
 sudden friend liuess she had shown him during but one 
 evening. Was it not too much to hope for that the one 
 creature in the world whom he longed to have for his life- 
 companion should on her part turn towards him and choose 
 him out from amongst all others ? How could such a 
 thing happen ? It was incredible. It was too marvellous 
 a coincidence. Yet what of the marriages of the people he 
 saw around him ? In what proportion of cases — or in 
 every case — had the man and the woman found each other 
 in this inscrutable, inexplicable way ? 
 
 And so, with his under lip firmly set, his forehead drawn 
 together, and his eyes distant, he sate and pondered ; until 
 at length he appeared to make an effort to throw off this 
 weight of thinking in a determination to arise and get 
 home : it Avas long past the hour for his chief daily meal. 
 But at this moment, whether it was that his foot had been 
 resting on some loose stone, or that his leg had got be- 
 numbed, as he attempted to get up something seemed to 
 give way beneath him, and the next instant he found him- 
 self slipping down a few inches. He caught at the nearest 
 object — it was a small rowan bush — to steady himself ; but 
 the bush came away in his grasp : nay, this very movement 
 appeared to make his case worse, and he felt himself help- 
 lessly going. Then he threw himself back, and thrust out 
 both hands in some desperate endeavour to grip anything 
 that would check his descent ; he clutched and clung, but 
 all to no purpose, for the sides of this chasm were almost 
 sheer ; and the next thing he knew — or half-knew — w'as 
 that he was hurtling down into this black hole — then came 
 a dull crash — a sharp agony of pain— then silence — and a 
 strange, not unblissful sinking out of consciousness. 
 
 When he came to himself again, stunned and dazed, he 
 slowly and gradually became aware of his position. He was 
 at the bottom of one of those fissures in the conglomerate 
 rock that abound along this coast, and that mostly run 
 down to the sea. This one also trended towards the shore ; 
 but there was no escape for him that way ; for the mouth 
 of the cavern was barred by an enormous mass of the same 
 rock. However, he was not much alarmed. He would be 
 able to scramble up again, somewhere or other. The sides 
 of the chasm, if they were steep, were not at all bare ; there
 
 94 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 was a kind of stuuted vegetation — bits of rowan bnshes, 
 heather, birch, and broom — between hiin and the strip of 
 daylight ; he would choose his upward path when his head 
 was a little clearer. 
 
 Then he essayed to rise ; but to his consternation he 
 found himself incapable of movement, or only of such 
 movement as caused him indescribable torture. The truth 
 flashed in on him. Something was broken. And then for 
 a moment a frantic resolve to get out of this death-trap 
 possessed him — at any cost of agony he must win up to the 
 open again — surely he could drag the broken limb from 
 point to point, until his fingers clasped the edge, and he 
 could raise himself into the blessed freedom of the outer 
 world. And again and again he tried, making super- 
 human efforts, and again and again he was baffled by over- 
 mastering pain ; until he sank back exhausted and half- 
 despairing on his narrow bed of withered and sodden fern. 
 
 Thus he lay for a while spent and done ; but of a sudden 
 something occurred that caused his heart to leap. There 
 was a sound in the road below — the road that skirted the 
 shore ; the footfalls drew nearer ; he could even in a dull 
 kind of way hear voices — apparently the voices of two men. 
 Surely this meant rescue for him. And when he judged 
 that the men were about opposite to him, he called and 
 shouted ; but even as he did so he had a dreadful conscious- 
 ness that the shouts were muffled — that they did not seem 
 to travel out of this cavern. Nevertheless he continued to 
 call as loudly as he could ; until the footfalls gradually 
 ceased ; and he was left once more with silence, and the 
 gathering over of the twilight. 
 
 He began to reason with himself against unnecessary 
 dismay. He was not much more than two miles from the 
 town. Some children would be sure to come wandering 
 along, if not this evening then on the following morning or 
 afternoon. Or a shepherd's dog would discover him, and 
 its barking would fetch its master to his aid. Or surely, 
 when his friends missed him from his usual haunts, they 
 would organise a search-party. So long as he retained 
 some power of calling to any chance passer-by, he would 
 not abandon himself to despair : whatever might happen, a 
 stout heart could not harm.
 
 IN SORE STRAITS 95 
 
 Night came early over this deep gap ; and the darkness 
 seemed to last for ever and ever. He listened to the 
 moaning of the wind in the bushes overhead, and to the 
 long-protracted hiss of the waves along the shore. Towards 
 morning — he guessed it must be towards morning, after 
 those immeasurable hours — a few small silver points began 
 to glimmer in the black opening above ; but the starlight 
 was of little use to him except in so far as it showed the 
 skies were clearing. Further hours, as it seemed to him, 
 passed ; and then, with a great rejoicing and reawakening 
 of hope, he perceived that the dawn was really drawing 
 near. Stealthily, imperceptibly, such strip of the heavens 
 as he could see became of a pearly-blue grey. A little 
 while, and that was more opalescent iu tone. Again, a 
 touch of saffron appeared — ^soft, and distant, and luminous : 
 some bit of slowly -moving vapour looking over to the opening 
 east. Finally the new day declared itself, in a splendour of 
 mottled rose-grey clouds — and he thought of the happy 
 folk in Duntroone. 
 
 No, he would not give in. Down here in the cold-hued 
 twilight, amid the livid greens and the wet russet of the 
 bracken, there were thin threads of half-melted snow here 
 and there ; and some of these he could reach ; and very 
 welcome was the chill moisture to his parched lips. Then 
 again, as the morning wore on, there was the distraction of 
 listening to the occasional faint sounds in the road below ; 
 but he had abadoned all hope of aid from that quarter ; he 
 knew he could not make himself heard. His only chance 
 was in attracting the attention of some one passing along 
 the summit of the cUffs ; and so from time to time, at 
 random, he called aloud, and paused to listen. But hour 
 after hour went by, and no one came near. At times he 
 grew faint. There was an odour from some decayed herb — ■ 
 St. John's-wort, most likely — that seemed to stifle him. 
 Now and again it appeared to him that he was becoming 
 light-headed ; the strangest fancies crowded into his brain ; 
 he was possessed with a wild desire to shout songs — students' 
 songs : Gaudcamus — Vive la comiiuijnie — and even dafter 
 ditties than these — temporal mores! — Per secale 
 olvenisset, Corpus corpori. He had had no food since the 
 previous morning ; his wild efforts to drag himself out of
 
 96 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 this abyss — the agony he had endured — had left him hope- 
 lessly weak ; and now, with these delirious impulses and 
 imaginations taking possession of him, he could only say to 
 himself, " If my senses go from me, that will indeed be the 
 end." 
 
 And thus it was that when, some time during the after- 
 noon, he saw a head cautiously protrude itself through the 
 twigs and withered grass at the top of the chasm, he did 
 not believe there was anything or anybody there. That 
 was but another of the fantastic visions that had begun to 
 haunt him. Nevertheless, he called out as hitherto he had 
 been calling out at intervals — though now not so loudly as 
 heretofore, for he was enfeebled and listless — ■ 
 
 " Help ! help ! " 
 
 The head was instantly withdrawn. But at the very 
 moment of its withdrawal something convinced him that it 
 was a real human face that had been cautiously peering 
 down, and that it was the face of Niall Gorach. 
 
 "Niall! Niall ! " he cried, with all his remaining 
 strength. " Come back ! Come back, man ! Or go and 
 fetch somebody ! Tell them ! Tell them I cannot 
 move ! " 
 
 There was no reappearance of that mysterious, peering 
 and prying face ; but he comforted himself with the fancy 
 that the frightened Naill had ran away into the town, and 
 that soon succour would be at hand. He waited, listening 
 intently, minute after minute, half-hour after half-hour, 
 hour after hour ; and there was no sign. And again the 
 night fell, and the dark. 
 
 ]3ut this blackness around him was no longer like the 
 blackness of the previon? night ; it was all filled with light 
 and colour and moving phantasms ; there were sounds of 
 music also, some mournful, some gay. Jess Maclean 
 brought him a pitcher of ice-cold water, and he drank and 
 drank, and thanked her, and he did not know why she was 
 crying. Barbara Maclean hung back a little ; and he tried 
 to speak to her ; but could not. McFadyen came to him 
 with a copy of a great review in his hand ; there was an 
 article in it on the new translation of the Nibelungenlied ; 
 it was a friendly writing. Again there were students sing- 
 ing in a room in Glasgow — there was a roaring chorus ;
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS 97 
 
 *' The Old Folks at Home " — then some one sang " Liel) 
 Vaterland, magst ruhig sein ! " — and this phrase kept 
 repeating itself more and more distantly and softly — magst 
 ruhig sein — magst ruhig sein — until the lights grew dim — 
 and the apparitions vanished — and there was silence — and 
 oblivion. 
 
 CHAPTER xni. 
 
 OrT OF THE DEEPS. 
 
 Next day about noon Niall Gorach put his head into the 
 little crib of a shop where Long Lauchie was eugaged at his 
 cobbling. 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre," said he, in a pleading kind of way, 
 " will ye gie me a piece of leather to make a sooker ? " 
 
 Lauchie looked up only for a second. 
 
 " Away wi' ye, ye idle vagabond 1 " he said, sullenly. 
 " Better ye would take to some work than come asking for 
 children's playthings. Away wi' ye ! " 
 
 The half-witted lad had probably expected this rebuff. 
 But he did not go away. On the contrary, with a cautious 
 look round, he advanced a step ; and then he said, in a 
 mysterious voice — 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre, if ye'll gie me the piece of leather, I'll 
 show ye the opening into the Bad Place." 
 
 " Ay, ye'll find yourself there soon enough ! " said the 
 shoemaker, grimly. 
 
 " But I'll show it to ye," continued Niall, with his eyes 
 longingly fixed on the scraps of leather lying about the 
 floor. "And they've got Henderson the schoolmaster 
 there : if ye go near enough, ye'll hear him crying out." 
 
 " What's that ye say ? " exclaimed the now startled 
 Lauchie — for, like all the rest of Duntroone, he had heard 
 of the inexplicable disappearance of the young schoolmaster. 
 " What's that ye say about Henderson — Allan Henderson, 
 do you mean ? " 
 
 " Ay, just that," said Niall. " They've got him in the 
 Bad Place, and ye'll hear him crying for help, away down 
 
 H
 
 98 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 below. And I'll show ye wliere it is, and there's flames 
 and brimstone, and little devils running about Avi' their 
 pitchforks, and the Big Devil, too, and he has fire coming 
 out of his mouth " 
 
 By this time Long Lauchie was on his feet. 
 
 " I'm no sure what to believe o' your haverings," he said, 
 and he paused irresolutely, revolving possibilities in his 
 mind. "Do ye mean to tell me that you actually heard 
 Allan Henderson crying out somewhere ? " 
 
 "Ay, that I did ! " answered Niall, eagerly — he saw the 
 ' sooker ' coming within reach. 
 
 " Where, then ? " 
 
 " It's a black hole away down past the Gallows Hill. It's 
 the opening into the Bad Place " 
 
 " Come away this minute," said the shoemaker, reaching 
 over for his cap. 
 
 " But I'll no go near — I'll no go near ! " cried Xiall, 
 shrinking back. " There's the Big Devil — and the 
 flames " 
 
 " Ye'll take me to the very spot," said the shoemaker, 
 peremptorily. " And if I find ye've been telling me lies, 
 I'll give ye the finest leatherin' you ever got in your life. 
 And that will be better for you than playing with a sooker." 
 
 It was an unlucky threat ; for as they set out it was 
 plain that daft Niall followed with the greatest unwilling- 
 ness : there was a curious, furtive look in his eyes as if he 
 Avere watching for the first opportunity of escape. But in 
 the meantime Long Lauchlau was a proud man. Had it 
 been reserved for him, then, to discover the missing school- 
 master, while all the others had been searching about and 
 telegraphing in vain ? And if that Averc so, Avas it not 
 OAving to his shrcAvdness in perceiving that there might be 
 some basis of fact in the murky imaginings of this half- 
 Avitted gangrel "i Lauchie saw himself rising in the esteem 
 of Duntroone, and stepped out boldly. 
 
 And then — for they had to go round by the railway- 
 station and the quay to get to the GalloAvs Hill — his glance 
 ha])pened to light on the red baize door of the refreshment- 
 room. It Avas a terrible temptation ; and instantly all sorts 
 of devil's logic leapt into his brain. Was not this a great 
 occurrence ? Ought he not to fortify himself against Avhat-
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS 99 
 
 ever might bufall by swallowing a good, stiff dram ? It is 
 true that his conscience as a Rcchabite said No. But what 
 was this conscience, after all — this unbidden and unwelcome 
 guest ? His conscience was only a part of himself ; whereas 
 he was the whole ; and surely the whole is greater than any 
 part ? Why should he be dictated to by any mere section 
 of himself ? Besides, the Avhisky of that refreshment-room 
 was a most superior whisky. And arduous duties might 
 be demanded of him, if the poor lad Allan had chanced 
 
 into trouble. And — and Then of a sudden he shut 
 
 his lips firm and hard ; he kept his eyes straight Ijcforo 
 him ; and walking stiifly and erect, he got safely past the 
 station. 
 
 The next moment, however, he awoke to the fact that 
 his companion had vanished. He looked everywhere 
 around ; there was uo Niall visible. He could not at all 
 understand this piece of deviltry, until his wandering gaze 
 fell on the bridge they had crossed iu coming along — a 
 bridge that here spans a burn, or rather an open ditch ; and 
 it occurred to him that perhaps the young rascal had slipped 
 over the parapet, clambered down, and hidden himself in 
 that unsavoury refuge. He hurried back. He searched 
 hither and thither. At length he saw two elfish eyes 
 peering from under the archway. 
 
 " Come out o' that, ye limb 0' Satan ! " he called angrily. 
 " Come out o' that, will ye ? " 
 
 Instead there was an instant disappearance. And then 
 the baffled and irate shoemaker began to pick up stones 
 from the road ; and these he endeavoured to shy into that 
 dusky recess. But it was an awkward, angle ; most of the 
 missiles struck the bridge ; and at last, seeing there was 
 nothing else for it, Long Lauchie had himself to get over, 
 and scramble down, and make for the twilight of the arch. 
 When at last he had dragged Niall out by the scruff of the 
 neck, and had him up into the open air again, he said — 
 
 " That's one leatheriu' I owe ye ; and maybe there'll be 
 six more before the day's done. Ye imp o' Satan, wi' your 
 witch's tricks ! But wait till I get ye home again, I'll give 
 ye something better than a sooker — ay, ay, I'll give ye 
 something better than a sooker ! " 
 
 And thereafter he drove him on in front, the better to 
 
 II 2
 
 loo HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 keep an eye on him ; and in this wise they climbed the 
 Gallows Hill, and made their way along the summit of the cliffs. 
 
 In time Niall began to move more and more reluctantly ; 
 he was evidently creeping forward with much apprehension. 
 
 " Whereabouts now ? " demanded the shoemaker. 
 
 The daft laddie pointed vaguely with his finger. 
 
 " Well, go on — go on, man ! What are you feared of ? " 
 said the gloomy and impatient Lauchie. 
 
 " Maybe they'll come out," said Niall, in a whisper, and 
 his eyes were staring ahead, " They hae grippit the school- 
 master, and maybe they'll come out for us. They can run 
 quick, the small ones, though there's no so much flame 
 about them." 
 
 " Get on, man, get on ! — and let me see the place where 
 ye heard Henderson crying out," said Lauchie ; and then 
 he added, in a more persuasive tone, " And maybe there'll 
 no be a leatherin' for ye at all. Maybe I'll make ye a fine 
 big sooker, and when ye've got the string into it, and when 
 ye've soaked it, it will be strong enough to lift a paving- 
 stone out o' the street. Think o' that, now ! " 
 
 But Niall was no longer occupied with playthings. His 
 eyes were full of dread — and his brain was full of cunning, 
 
 " Stand still," he said, in the same cautious Avhisper, 
 " stand still where ye are, and ye'll hear Henderson. The 
 black hole is just along there. Stand still and listen." 
 And as the shoemaker thoughtlessly obeyed — with his own 
 eyes thrown forward — Niall seized the opportunity to dart 
 away from him, flying off with remarkable swiftness. 
 
 Long Lauchie uttered an imprecation, and started in 
 pursuit. But his cramped calling had left him little of a 
 runner ; Avherea's the half-witted creature had the speed of 
 a roe and the agility of a wild-cat. Moreover, he had no 
 intention of making this a race in the open. At a certain 
 point he swerved towards the edge of the cliifs, and suddenly 
 disappeared ; and Lauchie, arriving a few moments later, 
 found that he must have boldly attacked the descent, 
 swinging from one leafless bush to another, until he reached 
 the road below. Lauchie, under his breath, called down 
 more curses, and in a morose mood set out to resume his 
 researches alone. He was not quite sure now but that the 
 imp had befooled him from the beginning.
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS loi 
 
 Nevertheless, to satisfy his own mind, he went forward in 
 the direction that Niall Gorach had indicated, spying every- 
 where about ; and in a very brief space he came to the edge 
 of the chasm. At first, in inspecting this deep gap, ho 
 could make out hardly anything ; but in time, his eyes 
 growing more accustomed, he thought there was some 
 object of unusual blackness lying away down there, at the 
 foot of the narrowing fissure. And the better to examine, 
 he laid himself prone on the heather, just as Niall had done, 
 and pushed his head over the brink : the next moment ho 
 was convinced that the huddled black mass down there 
 was human. 
 
 " Allan — Allan Henderson — is that you '^. " ho called 
 aloud. 
 
 Then he was silent, and awe-stricken. For there was no 
 answer ; and it seemed to him that he was in the presence 
 of death. He stealthily retreated from the edge of the 
 chasm, he regained his feet, he set out for Duntroone — 
 something frightened, no doubt, but still considering rapidly 
 in his own mind what ought now to be done. 
 
 He had to go round by the railway-station, and about 
 the first person he met was Mr. Gilmour, who promptly 
 offered to send a couple of his men, with a coil of rope. 
 But Lauchie deemed it advisable to go on and tell his tale 
 at the police-station, and there the sergeant on duty at 
 once ordered two of the officers to get ready a stretcher and 
 coverlet. Finally, Lauchie, after a good deal of tracking 
 from house to house, succeeded in discovering the doctor ; 
 and the doctor, on hearing the story, immediately went 
 home to provide himself with some splints, cotton wool, 
 bandages, and the like, and also a flask of brandy. Thus 
 equipped, the little posse comitatus set out. Long Lauchie 
 being guide. And it ought to be noted that in these 
 hurryings to and fro the shoemaker had to pass the red 
 baize door of the refreshment-room no fewer than four 
 times, yet not once did he succumb. With clenched mouth 
 and immovable head he went resolutely by — human 
 weakness only revealing itself, after each achievement, in a 
 long, sad sigh of resignation. 
 
 It turned out that one of the railway-servants had been a 
 sailor ; and when they arrived at the deep cleft in the rock,
 
 I02 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 he volunteered to descend. And a tedious and difficult 
 business it was to get this limp and insensible body hoisted 
 carefully into the upper air ; but at last the hapless young 
 schoolmaster lay extended on the heather ; and the doctor 
 proceeded to his examination. The faintest moan now and 
 again was the only sign of life lingering in that jDrostrate 
 form ; there was no movement — not even a twitch of agony 
 as the doctor was passing his hand over this or that limli, 
 to ascertain the whereabouts of any fracture ; his eyes were 
 closed as in profound est sleep. 
 
 And meanwhile there were two other persons who had 
 heard of this discovery and were now hurrying out from 
 Duntroone. The one was a strongly-built elderly man, 
 whose natural freshness of complexion w\as for the moment 
 overmastered by a look of vague and anxious alarm ; the 
 other, also with apprehension written in every line of her 
 face, was Jess Maclean. They hardly spoke to each other ; 
 their thoughts were too intent on what might be awaiting 
 them ahead. And thus they hastened round by the 
 harbour ; they ascended the Gallows Hill ; they got out on 
 to the bleak and open and undulating moorland. It was a 
 picture of utter desolation: for the afternoon had turned 
 out wild and wet and squally ; the livid green waters of the 
 Sound were dark and driven ; the heather bent in waves 
 before the blasts of wind ; the sea-gulls were calling and 
 screaming in the gusty and lowering skies. But into this 
 picture of loneliness and gloom there came something still 
 more sombre — a small black group of figures who seemed 
 to be carefully carrying some horizontal object. It looked 
 so like a funeral procession that Jess Maclean uttered a 
 piteous little exclamation, and laid a trembling hand on her 
 companion's arm ; but this man with the haggard eyes and 
 the now almost bloodless face, did not pause ; he went 
 forward, perhaps a little more slowly ; and Jess accompanied 
 him, their gaze fixed upon that gradually advancing train. 
 
 The doctor had lingered behind, by the side of the chasm, 
 to gather together his surgical appliances, and the station- 
 master had remained with him. ISTone the less, when the 
 men who were bringing along this sad burden arrived at 
 the spot where the new-comers were now standing, they did 
 not wait for orders ; instinctively they came to a halt ; they
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS 103 
 
 guessed that the stranger who was with Jessie Maclean 
 must be the young man's father. And at the first glimpse 
 of the grey and lifeless features, and the hand hanging 
 limp and loose from under the coverlet, a spasm of agony 
 crossed the father's face ; he seemed paralysed ; he could 
 not step forward, nor did he ask any question ; with shaking 
 lingers he reverently removed his hat from his head ; and 
 as lie did so, he murmured something to himself : 
 
 " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : 
 blessed be the name of the I-iord. But it will bear hard on 
 the lad's mother." 
 
 It was Jess who came to his aid. Slio advanced timidly ; 
 she took the hand that hung so limply there ; and the next 
 moment she gave a slight short cry. 
 
 "He lives"!— Uncle, he lives !— there is hope for us!" 
 And at this moment the doctor came up. " Doctor," she 
 said, with tears swimming in her eyes, " is there a chance 
 for him ? — is there hope for us ? " 
 
 " Indeed yes, indeed yes," the doctor made answer, "Go 
 on, lads, go on ; but gently. Indeed yes," he resumed, 
 turning to Jess. " Lying out for two days and nights in 
 this cold and wet weather is bad enough ; and the poor lad 
 has been smashed about sadly ; but I know Allan— I know 
 him well— he's as hard as nails when he gives himself fair 
 treatment. And we'll see him through this, or I'm mistaken. 
 There's not so much damage done — a simple fracture of the 
 leg and a sprained foot ; but there's the extreme exhaustion, 
 of^ourse. AVell, we must hope for the best, ]\Iiss Maclean." 
 
 " Where are you taking him to now, sir ? " Allan's father 
 
 asked. 
 
 " To the poor-house hospital," was the answer. " It's 
 not the best that could be desired ; but it's the only hospital 
 
 we've got," 
 
 " His mother will be sore grieved to hear that," the 
 older man said. "There's never been one of the family 
 near a poor-house ; and this one— this one was just the pride- 
 of her life." 
 
 "It is mainly a question of attendance," observed the 
 doctor. " If you would prefer that your son should be taken 
 to his own lodgings, maybe I could make some arrange- 
 ment "
 
 I04 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Could I be of any use, Doctor ? " Jess interposed, 
 diffidently and yet anxiously. 
 
 " Would you be willing to help ? " he said, at once turning 
 to her. 
 
 " Ay, that I would ! — that I would ! " said she, with an 
 involuntary tremor of the lip. 
 
 " Very well — very well," said he ; and he stepped on to 
 give the men altered directions. 
 
 They were now come to the top of the Gallows Hill, the 
 descent from which had to be managed with the greatest 
 caution. When, at length, they arrived at the foot of the 
 steep incline, the doctor was not surprised to discover that 
 Jessie Maclean was no longer of the company ; he thought 
 it but natural she should wish to avoid the publicity of 
 walking through the town with this funeral-like cortege ; 
 and assumed that she had gone on ahead to her own home. 
 He was mistaken. She had gone on ahead, it is true, and 
 with great swiftness ; but it was to Allan Henderson's 
 lodging. And when at last the doctor and his charge 
 arrived, it was clear how busy and alert and dexterous she 
 had been in the interval. Allan's own room was all smartly 
 tidied up ; the gas lit — for the dusk had fallen now ; a coal 
 fire burning briskly in the grate ; the bed carefully made 
 and folded down. Moreover, she had requisitioned the 
 adjacent room, which chanced to be vacant ; and here also 
 the gas was lit ; while a wicker-work easy-chair had been 
 brought in, for the convenience of any nurse who might 
 want to sit up, and read, and listen. The doctor, busy as 
 
 he was, looked round, and nodded approval. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Later on that evening Long Lauchie the shoemaker and 
 an old crony of his, Donald Crane — that is to say, Donald 
 that worked the crane at the quay, his real name being 
 Donald Macdonald — were seated together in a corner of a 
 favourite howff of theirs ; and Lauchlan was happy. It 
 was the stupidity of the people of Duntroone that seemed 
 to be amusing him most ; he laughed and chuckled to 
 himself ; while there were glasses and a pewter measure on 
 the table before him that ought not to have been there. 
 
 " Donald," said he, in Gaelic, to the crane-worker — and 
 the crane-worker was a thin little hard man, with a thin
 
 A VISITOR 
 
 105 
 
 hard red face and steel-blue eyes — " Donald, it is yon that 
 have some knowledge in your head. But the other people 
 in Duntroone — well, I will give you my opinion about the 
 other people in Duntroone ; and it is this — that they were 
 not at home when the sense was shared. To go seeking 
 away along the shore ; when the schoolmaster was not a 
 sailor, nor a fisherman, and when it was known he had not 
 taken a boat anywhere : was not that the work of fools ? 
 And for a poor idiot lad to get the better of them — well, I 
 am laughing at that, and no mistake ! Donald," he went 
 on, suddenly pretending to be sober, " are you not coming 
 up to Fort AVilliam with me to-morrow ? You will see 
 something : aw, as sure as death you will see something 
 worth while ! For I am going to smash the head of the 
 carpenter. I do not want my wife back ; and I will not 
 take her back ; but it is the head of the carpenter I am 
 going to smash for him— aw, Dyea, will not that be a pretty 
 sight ! " He laughed again and again, softly and quietly, 
 in humorous anticipation ; then he made a grasp at the 
 pewter measure, but found it empty. " Donald, my noble 
 hero, we will now have another mutchkin — ay, by the piper 
 of Moses, we will have another mutchkin — and I will drink 
 your health. Donald, it is you that are the son of my 
 heart ; and it is you that are coming to Fort William with 
 me ; and we will see if there is not a drop of Long John 
 left somewhere about in Lochaber ! " 
 
 He reached over, and rang the bell ; and a servant-lass 
 appeared. Long Lauchie had broken out with a vengeance 
 this time. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A VISITOE. 
 
 So Jess was installed as nurse ; and the ' foolishness ' was 
 no longer upon her ; she was brisk and active and cheerful 
 — especially cheerful when she saw that the care she bestowed 
 on this intractable patient was being rewarded by a steady 
 convalescence, For the young man had naturally a tough
 
 io6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and wiry physique, if only he had allowed it a little more 
 nourishment and a little less tobacco ; and now there was 
 no tobacco, while there was as much nourishment as was 
 deemed prudent ; and the progress made was in every way 
 satisfactory. But intractable he assuredly was. He fretted 
 over the waste of time ; he fretted over the expense of 
 certain little delicacies which, as a matter of fact, never cost 
 him a farthing, for they were sent along out of the kindly 
 thoughtfulness of Mrs. Maclean ; and he fretted over the 
 rules and regulations that Jess, under the doctor's orders, 
 had to impose. Nay, to tell the truth, he Avas sometimes 
 not over civil to Jess herself. Bat she only laughed. 
 
 " A grumbling patient is a recovering patient," she would 
 say to the town-councillor, Avho called frequently. 
 
 It was not his grumbling that hurt her and opened old 
 wounds. Oftentimes, when she went in to sit with him for 
 half-an-hour, he would talk of nothing but her cousin 
 Barbara ; and the questions he asked showed clearly enough 
 what was running in his mind, and what was the future 
 towards which he was looking. He had got it into his 
 head that a woman must necessarily know ^nore of the 
 character, and disposition, and views of a woman than a 
 man possibly could ; and when he was not himself talking 
 about Barbara, he would have Jess talk of her ; while Jess, 
 in framing her replies to his questions, naturally could 
 speak no word of Barbara that was not hearty commen- 
 dation. 
 
 " And you say she has courage ? " he proceeded, on one 
 occasion. " You imagine she would not be afraid to face 
 straitened circumstances ? " 
 
 " As for that," Jess responded, " she has faced nothing 
 else all her life long ! " 
 
 "Yes, perhaps," he said, after a moment's hesitation, 
 "but I was thinking if she came to consider the question of 
 marrying. She might very fairly look for some better 
 position— some assurance as to the future : marriage is a 
 big enough risk in any case, Avithout any added un- 
 certainty " 
 
 " She would have to take her chance like other folk," 
 said Jess, a little tartly. 
 
 But Jess Maclean went and pondered over these things ;
 
 A VISITOR 107 
 
 and when in the cvcnino- she took him in his bit of liuht 
 supper, she said — 
 
 "Now, Allan, you must not keep worryinof about your 
 circumstances and your future, as I think you do. It is 
 merely that this accident has driven you to consider possi- 
 bilities that are never likely to happen. You are none so 
 ill off, as it is. Mr. ]\IcFadyen has made it all right with 
 the School Board, and they've got a substitute, and you are 
 to put aside all anxiety to get about again, until you are 
 perfectly well and strong. Then there's another thing. 
 You must give up the scheme about the boarding-house. 
 It would never do. It would want a great deal of capital ; 
 and there w^ould be a great responsibility ; and if, as mother 
 suggests, you thought of taking a Avife to manage it for 
 you, well, then, how could you go to a girl and say ' Will 
 you become my housekeeper ? I will marry you, so that 
 yon may look after my boarders ? ' " 
 
 As she spoke thus Jessie's fair and freckled face showed 
 some colour ; but she was determined to have her say out ; 
 she had more than a casual interest in this young man and 
 his designs. 
 
 " Now this is what I would advise you, Allan, if you think 
 it is not too impertinent of me to offer one like you advice 
 on any matter at all. In a town like Duntroone there must 
 be plenty of clever young lads, in the shops and the offices, 
 who have never had any chance of the better kind of 
 schooling, and perhaps some of them half-expecting to have 
 a winter or two at college by-and-bye. Well, now, why not 
 start a Latin class for those lads — from eight till half-past 
 nine in the evening, or from half-past eight till ten ? Thei'c 
 A\-ould be no risk in it ; thero would be no expense except 
 the rent of a big room, and the gas, and the price of an 
 advertisement in the Duntroone Times and Telegraph. They 
 would buy their OAvn grammar-books ; and the fees would 
 be all found money to you, once the rent was paid. Now 
 will you consider that, if you must go planning and 
 planning about the future ? " 
 
 He was immensely grateful. And next morning, when 
 she made her appearance, he said — 
 
 " Jessie, you are the wisest creature in the world — and 
 the kindest, I have been lying awake half the night.
 
 io8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 considering what the advertisement should be, and wonder- 
 ing where I could get a room, and how long it might be 
 before I could begin " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " said she. " Well, if it's going to lead to 
 your lying awake at night, I'm not for intermeddling any 
 more in your schemes — or for taking any interest in your 
 affairs. Why should I ? " she added, saucily. 
 
 " Why should you ? " he repeated, with a friendly glance 
 towards her. " Because I don't deserve it. That's the way 
 of women." 
 
 And yet it was hard on Jess that she should be deputed 
 to coax and persuade Barbara Maclean into paying him a 
 visit. For a considerable time he had kept this secret 
 desire of his to himself ; perhaps in the hope that Barbara 
 would of her own accord come along to see him ; jierhaps 
 through some fear that she might be unfavourably impressed 
 by the poor and mean appearance of his dwelling. But the 
 ideas of an invalid are pertinacious ; they grow in importance 
 through the long hours of thinking ; and at last, with some 
 little diffidence, he revealed to Jess what he was most of 
 all longing for, and timidly asked her whether she thought 
 such a thing was possible. 
 
 For a second Jess remained silent. Then she looked at 
 him rather askance. 
 
 " Perhaps," said she, " perhaps you would like Barbara 
 to take my place ? " 
 
 He seemed startled by the suggestion — but only for a 
 moment. 
 
 " No, no," said he, " I could not be so ungrateful. There's 
 no one like you, Jessie ; there's no one could be so kind, 
 and forgiving, and good-humoured, in the face of all sorts 
 of unreasonableness, and ill-temper, and ill-treatment " 
 
 " Oh, you treat me Avell enough, if only you would treat 
 yourself a little better," said Jess, bluntly. " I declare it's 
 most provoking to see you busying away with your books 
 and papers and pencil, when it's stories you should be 
 reading if you must read at all. I wish your mother were 
 able to come through to Duutroone, to give you a talking 
 to, for my scolding is no use^ — you pay no heed. Well, I 
 am going along to the house now, to see if the blanc- 
 mange is ready ; and I will try and get Barbara to come
 
 A VISITOR 109 
 
 back with nie." Aud therewith she depaitctl, leaving him 
 to wait and He and listen, anxiously and half-doubtingly 
 and wonderingly, for the first sound of footsteps on the 
 stairs without. 
 
 AVhen Jess had gone along to the house aud got ready 
 the carrageen blanc-mange for conveyance to her patient, 
 she turned to Barbara. 
 
 " Barbara," she said, " w^ould you not like to go back with 
 me now, and look in on Allan, and talk to him for a little 
 while ? " 
 
 Barbara hardly raised her eyes from her sewing. 
 " I am sure that would do no good," said she, uuw'illingly. 
 " It would be more of an annoyance than anything else. 
 And when he has the doctor, and the landlady, and you all 
 looking after him, surely that is enough." 
 
 Jess hesitated. 8he would rather have avoided confessing 
 that it was at Allan's express entreaty she was making this 
 suggestion. But she saw no other way : Barbara was 
 clearly indisposed to go. 
 
 " It would be a friendly thing on your part," she said ; 
 " for it is very dull for him lying there day after day, and 
 hardly seeiug any one. And — and to tell you the truth, 
 Barbara, he asked me to ask you. Come, now ! — if it is 
 only for a few minutes." 
 
 With evident reluctance the girl put her sewing aside ; 
 she got up and fetched her out-of-door things ; and 
 presently the two of them had left the house. But they had 
 not gone over a hundred yards when something happened 
 that effectually aroused Barbara from her apathetic ac- 
 quiescence. There was a distant whistle, repeated again 
 and again — the echo sounding along the shores of Kerrara : 
 aud by-and-bye a steamer with flags flying came round the 
 point of the mainland. Jessie's pretty and gentle grey eyes 
 were keen-sighted as well. 
 
 " Barbara," said she, " you have been asking me sometimes 
 when Jack Ogilvie was coming back to Duntroone. Well, 
 now, if I am not mistaken, that is the Aros Castle — they 
 are going to put her on her station next week, to Tobermory 
 and Strontian on Loch Sunart. And no doubt Ogilvie is 
 on board of her at this minute." 
 Barbara suddenly stood stock still.
 
 HO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Will he be coming ashore ? "Will he ba coming along 
 through the town ? " she demanded, hurriedly. 
 
 " Very likely," said Jess. " The young man has plenty 
 of friends." 
 
 " Jessie," said the other, quickly, " I have forgotten 
 something : I must go back home for a few minutes. Will 
 you come with me, or will you wait here ? " 
 
 " I will wait here, then," said Jess — for she was at the 
 window of the stationer's shop, and there were plenty of 
 photographs for her to look at. 
 
 Then Barbara hastened away back and got to her room ; 
 and the first thing she did was to get out from a drawer 
 the handsome /^("//^^ that Allan Henderson had given her. 
 She whipped off her cloth jacket ; she draped herself in that 
 piece of finery ; she put on her jacket again, leaving it 
 partly open in front, so that at least a portion of the silk 
 and the lace and the bugles remained visible. Next she 
 went to the mirror, and rapidly and yet carefully attended 
 to her hair, regardiug herself from various angles, and slow 
 to be satisfied. From another drawer she took out a pair of 
 kid gloves — whereas when she first set forth her hands had 
 been bare ; she provided herself with a silk parasol that she 
 had borrowed on some occasion or another from Mrs. 
 Maclean ; she had a final look into the mirror at the set of 
 her hat and its feather ; and when she descended into the 
 street, she was quite a smart young lady in appearance. 
 The Aros CasfJe was now lying alongside the quay. 
 
 Jessie's quick eyes immediately perceived the change 
 in her cousin's attire ; and she said to herself, ' Now, that 
 is a friendly thing to do : Allan will be pleased to see her 
 wearing his present.' And Avhen at length this beautiful 
 creature entered his room, and went forward in rather a 
 perfunctory way to give him her hand, and then retired 
 to a seat a few yards back, the young schoolmaster was not 
 only bewildered and entranced by the mere fact of her 
 being there — by the occasional glance of those large, mystic, 
 deep blue eyes — he was also overjoyed to see that she wore 
 his gift. He made no doubt it was a piece of kindly 
 thoughtfulness on her part ; it was an indication of the 
 amiability and sympathy of her nature ; it was a token of 
 goodwill that was worth all the world to him. He was
 
 A VISITOR III 
 
 so grateful to her for coming — so thrilled and enthralled by 
 the sight of her — that he did not take particular heed of her 
 silence, nor yet of the somewhat cold scrutiny with ^^•hich 
 she regarded the furniture of this meagre apartment. 
 
 Indeed he was all too anxious to interest and entertain 
 her ; and for that very reason he found it embarrassingly 
 difficult. Small talk was not in his way. "What he really 
 longed to say was : ' Do you know how wonderful and 
 beautiful you arc ? Do you know that your sitting in that 
 chair — even when you are silent —makes a kind of splendour 
 in this poor room ! ' But at least he managed to ask her 
 if she had been to the recent practisings of the Gaelic 
 Choir and whether they had sung the Fear a lliata, or The 
 Brown-liaired Maid, or any other of the songs familiar in 
 the outer isles ; and this led him on to speak of his lecture on 
 the German Volkslieder, which had actually been announced 
 for the 15th of the following month. 
 
 " And will you be quite well and going about by that 
 time ? " she asked, turning her great, glorious eyes upon 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, yes, and before then, the doctor says," he made 
 answer. 
 
 " I am very glad to hear it," she said, rather listlessly — 
 But he did not notice that : the sound of her voice was like 
 music in his ear. 
 
 " And I hope you will come to the lecture, Miss Barbara," 
 he went on, presently. " The Committee of the Society 
 have got the loan of the Masonic Hall, that has been all 
 newly decorated — indeed they say now it is the most 
 beautiful hall in all the west country " 
 
 " Oh, then, it- is to be a very grand affair ? " she said, 
 nitli a trifle more of attention. 
 
 "Well, not such a gay affair as Mr. McAskill's dance," 
 said he, laughing, " that I heard was a great sight for you. 
 But we are to have dignities present. The rank and fashion 
 of Duntroone have been very kind in sending for tickets ; 
 and. the Committee are trying to persuade the Provost to 
 take the chair. Then I want the front row of seats, next 
 the platform, kept for my own particular friends ; I should 
 feel more at home that way ; and you and Jessie, if you are 
 so kind as to come, must have seats there — Mr. McFadyen
 
 112 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 will look after you— and I shall feel that I am among my 
 own folk " 
 
 " Allan, lad," said Jess, who was placing a small refection 
 on the little table by the side of the bed, " are you trying 
 to persuade Barbara you are so shy and sensitive before an 
 audience that you need private help and sympathy ? Oh, 
 yes, indeed ! But I know better. I know. I've seen you 
 preside over a meeting, more than once. And I've seen 
 a dispute arise — cross-argmnents, confusion, words flying ; 
 and then I've seen the chairman get up, with a face as 
 black as thunder ; and weren't the quarrelsome folk pretty 
 soon quieted down — ordered to the right about, and every 
 one of them feeling he had made a fool of himself ! It 
 is not only in the school that the schoolmaster must lay 
 down the law, and hector, and have everything his own 
 way " 
 
 "• Jessie ! " the young man remonstrated, blushing furiously. 
 " What's this you're saying ? What will Barbara think ? " 
 
 " Keep your temper, Allan," Jess responded, coolly. " If 
 ye lost it, it would be a bad thing for the one that 
 found it." 
 
 At this point Barbara rose, intimating that it was now 
 time for her to go ; she advanced to the bedside and bade 
 him good-bye ; she said a word or two in passing to Jessie ; 
 and with that she left. 
 
 " There, you see, you've frightened her away with your 
 nonsense ! " he exclaimed, fretfully and angrily. 
 
 " Better she should go now," Jess said, in her usual placid 
 way, " before she got tired : she is all the more likely to 
 
 come agam." 
 
 "And do you think she will come again ?" he . asked, 
 with a sudden alteration in his tone. 
 
 " Why not ? " answered Jess, good-naturedly. " She is 
 not kept over busy. I dare say she is away back home now 
 to hem handkerchiefs for herself." 
 
 However, Barbara Maclean had not returned home to 
 resume her sewing. When she got outside, she lingered 
 about the pavement, pretending to study the shopwindows, 
 but in reality glancing furtively up and down the thorough- 
 fare, with an occasional look across the bay towards a certain 
 red-funnelled steamer moored at the opposite quay. After
 
 ENCOUNTERS 113 
 
 a while, and with an affectation of c vrelessness as though she 
 hardly knew whither she was going, she proceeded along 
 the esplanade in the direction of the railway-station ; and 
 when she reached the railway-station, she went to the 
 bookstall, and seemed to be wholly engrossed in contem- 
 plating the periodical literature displayed there. But close 
 to the bookstall there is a large gateway opening on to the 
 road that here skirts the harbour ; and along this road 
 anyone coming either to or from the South Quay must 
 necessarily pass, whether he chooses to look into the railway- 
 station or not. And it w^as at the South Quay that the 
 Aros Castle was now lying. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ENCOUNTERS. 
 
 Loxa Lauchlan the shoemaker did not at once put into 
 execution his threat of going to Fort William to smash the 
 head of the carpenter ; but the idea remained hidden in the 
 dim recesses of his brain ; and one day, having provided 
 himself with a soda-water bottle which was not filled with 
 soda-water, he walked down to the quay, and stepped on 
 board the Fusilier. There was no savage purpose visible in 
 his face ; on the contrary, he wore an expression of bland 
 content ; and when he had gone forward to the bow, and 
 made himself comfortable in a corner, Avitli his hack resting 
 against the bulwarks, he was laughing and talking to him- 
 self — chuckling over the folly of the contemporary race 
 of mankind — smiling at his own grim little jokes — and 
 occasionally breaking into gentle song. For Lauchie had 
 not as yet returned to the fold of the Rechabites ; the 
 rescue of the schoolmaster had been a great event ; and 
 ever since, with but a few intervals of unwilling labour, he 
 had devoted himself to a " terrible keeping-up o' the New 
 Year." 
 
 The gangway was withdrawn, the hawsers cast off, the 
 paddles struck the green water into a seething white, and 
 
 I
 
 TI4 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the steamer slowly moved away from the quay, Laiichie 
 was now plaintively singing to himself — 
 
 ' There's nae sorrow there, Jean, 
 There's neither cauld nor care, Jean, 
 The day's aye fair 
 In the Land o' the Leal ! ' 
 
 " It's a beautiful song — a beautiful, beautiful song," he 
 murmured. Then he burst out laughing. "That foolish 
 idiot of a lass ! ' Mr. Maclntyre, how dare you mention 
 such a thing to me, and you a married man ! ' And then 
 says I : ' But a man that has not got a wife is not a married 
 man ; and a man that is not married has as much right to 
 get married as anyone else ; and if that is not the law, then 
 it is them that makes the law that have no sense in their 
 head.' " He chuckled again, softly and gleefully. " ' 
 ]\[r. Maclntyre, you should not say such things ! I am 
 quite frightened to hear you say such things ! ' " His 
 merriment suddenly ceased. A diligent search had revealed 
 the disastrous fact that in not one of his pockets could a 
 single match be found. And so he was forced to struggle 
 up from that snug corner, and make away for the cabin, 
 where some friendly steward might give him a light for his 
 pipe. And if — as he was in the cabin in any case — and 
 there being a refreshment bar there — if he should take 
 
 advantage of the opportunity — why . But Lauchie had 
 
 disappeared. 
 
 "When the steamer reached Fort William, he was as blithe 
 and unconcerned as ever ; and though he said to himself 
 ' Aw, Dyea, I will make the bandy-legged carpenter dance a 
 little dance ! — I will make his bandy legs jump ! ' — it Avas 
 said with perfect good humour. And in this happy mood 
 he landed, passed along the quay, and entered the little town 
 that lies at the foot of the great Ben Nevis. He knew that 
 if he were to find the carpenter at all, he would find liim 
 alone ; for MacKillop Avas in a very small way of business, 
 ordinarily working as his own journeyman. 
 
 At length he turned into an alley, and came upon a yard 
 filled with all sorts of rubbish — old barrels, broken boats, 
 and sodden shavings — at the further end of which was a 
 shed. The shed was empty ; and there was no one about. 
 But there was also a workshop ; and without a moment's
 
 ENCOUNTERS 115 
 
 hesitation, Lanchic went over to it, and raised the latch, 
 and opened the door. The next moment the two men were 
 staring at each other — the one in paralysed alarm, the other 
 with a grim sort of humour. Then Lauchie began to loolc 
 about him for some instrument ; and the little, bandy- 
 legged, red-headed carpenter, instantly divining his enemy's 
 jDurpose, and seeing no way of escape by the door, which 
 was blocked by Lauchie's tall form, made a single spring 
 for the window, and frantically tried to raise the lower sash. 
 But he tugged and shook in vain, for in his haste he had 
 forgotten to undo the catch ; and meanwhile Lauchie had 
 got hold of a portentous beam ; so that the luckless car- 
 penter, finding himself caught like a trapped rat, could only 
 throw himself under the table at which he had been planing, 
 in some desperate hope of shelter from the imminent blows. 
 And these came quickly enough ; and thud after thud re- 
 sounded of the unequal fray ; but what with his laughing, 
 and what with his somewhat unsteady gait, Lauchie's aim 
 was uncertain. 
 
 "Aw, Dyea," he called aloud — but without the least 
 apparent animosity — rather with a kind of hilarious enjoy- 
 ment — " come out of your hole, yoa red-headed weasel, and 
 I will smash your brains in ! " and therewith he aimed 
 another blow at the carpenter which would undoubtedly 
 have accomplished that object had it not fortunately 
 descended on a crossbar supporting the table. " Come out 
 from your shavings, will you, till I knock yom* head oft' 
 your shoulders ! Will you come out, now ! Do you hear 
 me ? Do you think I have come ahl the way to Fort 
 AVilliam for nothing ? Come away, now ! You red-headed 
 weasel, will you come out from your hole ? " 
 
 And again with a tremendous crash the beam descended 
 ■ — this time, happily, hitting the table itself. Lauchie 
 laughed loudly. 
 
 " Aw, Dyea, that a weasel should be afraid to come out 
 like that ! Will I get the dogs and worry you out ? But 
 ]io — no, no ! — you red-haired son of the devil, I will reach 
 you yet, if I have to keep hammering ahl the day long." 
 
 Then something tumultuous, amazing, inconceivable 
 happened. Lauchie vaguely knew that the carpenter had 
 darted out from liis retreat and hurled himself against his 
 
 I 2
 
 n6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 (Lauchie's) legs ; there was a wild scuffle and scramble ; the 
 carpenter managed to regain his feet and make for the door ; 
 and when the injured husband, seeking to pursue him and 
 belabour him, would have followed, he — that is to say, 
 Lauchlan Maclntyre — tripped over a plank of wood, he 
 lurched heavily forward, he came down like a log, and there 
 was a splintering crash of glass that told of an appalling 
 and irremediable catastrophe. 
 
 For a time Lauchie lay motionless, while the peccant 
 carpenter was fleeing away into safety. And when he slowly 
 rose, there could be no doubt as to the calamity that had 
 occurred ; his nether garments were saturated ; a pocket of 
 his coat was filled with broken glass. More in sorrow than 
 in anger, he pulled out these fragments of the soda-water 
 bottle, and dropped them in the yard ; then with an ever- 
 increasing dejection he made his way along the chief 
 thoroughfare in the direction of the quay ; and it was a 
 perfectly heart-broken man that seated himself on an empty 
 herring-barrel, to await the return of the steamer from 
 Corpach. 
 
 When Lauchlan stepped on board the Fusilier, on her 
 homeward voyage, he looked neither to the right nor to the 
 left, but went away forward and sate down, his naturally 
 dismal countenance now heavy with gloom. It was at this 
 moment that. a little man dressed all in Sunday black, and 
 with a tall hat on his head, came up to him and said, 
 sympathetically — 
 
 " How are ye, Mr. Maclntyre ? I'm afraid ye look 
 rather down in the mouth." 
 
 " I've had a sad loss, Mr. Eobertson," answered Lauchie 
 — but he paid little heed to the Free Kirk elder, who was 
 returning from Achnasheen, where he had been engaged 
 with others in protesting against the Declaratory Act. 
 
 " So I have heard — so I have heard," said the elder, with 
 compassion ; he knew the story of Lauchie's domestic 
 misfortunes. 
 
 " The best Glenlennan," Lauchie murmured to himself. 
 
 " Do ye say that now .'' " rejoined the other. " The best 
 in all the glen, was she ? It's grievous to think how time 
 changes us poor mortal creatures ! " 
 
 " Seven years in bond," continued the doleful shoemaker.
 
 ENCOUNTERS 117 
 
 " Indeed, indeed ! " said the elder, shaking his head 
 sadly. " Seven years in the bonds of iniquity. I had little 
 idea there were such goings-on, over so long a time." 
 
 " But there was no help for it — no help," Lauchie 
 murmured again, talking to himself mostly, with his eyes 
 bent on the deck. " It was bound to happen the moment 
 I fell." 
 
 The elder started. 
 
 " You fell likewise ? " he exclaimed, in an awestricken 
 voice. " Dear, dear, that ye should have to tell me that ! 
 But the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and 
 desperately wicked." 
 
 "Nothing left but bits o' glass — and all the fine stuff 
 gone. There was nearly a whole mutchkin. I \vas saving 
 it up for the trip home. Seven years- old Glenlennan ! " 
 
 The elder stared at him, partly in amazement, partly in 
 
 anger. 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre, are ye in your senses ? In the name of 
 mercy what are ye talking about ? " 
 
 " Seven years old Glenlennan," Lauchie repeated mourn- 
 fully. "And when I fell the bottle went all to splinters." 
 
 "Ay, the bottle," replied the other, sharply. "I'm 
 thinking ye've been paying too much attention to the bottle 
 of late. And you that was a Eechabite " 
 
 "And I am a Eechabite. From this moment I am a 
 Eechabite," continued Lauchlan, doggedly. "As sure as 
 death, Mr. Eobertson. I'm determined this time. From 
 this moment, not a drop. You'll see — you'll see. And on 
 the strength of it, now, we'll just go down below and have 
 a tasting " 
 
 " Me ? " said the elder. " Me, that has an example to 
 set — unworthy as I am " 
 
 " Then I draw back," interposed Lauchie, with decision. 
 And he went on, assuming a certain solemnity of air : " And 
 who will be responsible for that ? Who but yourself, 
 Mr. Eobertson ? It it you that have refused to pluck a 
 brand from the burning." 
 
 The argument was irresistible. Together they went down 
 to the cabin to celebrate and confirm the most recent of 
 Lauchie's many conversions ; and as the story of Allan 
 Henderson's mishap and rescue had to be told all over again,
 
 iiS HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 they were still sitting in the cabin when the Fusilier arrived 
 at Duntroone. 
 
 One day at this time, Barbara Maclean was seated at the 
 Avindow of her room, sewing, with an occasional glance into 
 the street below, when she saw Jack Ogilvie pass along the 
 other side of the thoroughfare. It was a chance she had 
 been looking forward to, perhaps watching for : imme- 
 diately she rose, threw aside her work, and began with 
 great rapidity to array herself in such out-of-door finery as 
 she possessed, not forgetting to lay her cousin Jessie's stock 
 under contribution. For hitherto she had been unsuccessful 
 in obtaining even a few words of speech with the all too 
 handsome Purser, who had bewildered her senses away on 
 the evening of Mrs. McAskill's dance. Once or twice she 
 liad wandered round in the direction of the South Quay ; 
 and she had actually in the distance seen Ogilvie — smarter 
 than ever in his uniform of navy blue and brass buttons — 
 standing by the gangway of the Aros Castle, superintending 
 the embarkation of p;issengers ; but she had not had the 
 courage to go nearer. Perhaps he had forgotten that he 
 had ever met her. He might not even know her name. 
 He had to encounter so many people in the course of his 
 dudes. 
 
 IJut now that he had gone along this Campbell Street 
 alone, and would probably return the same way, he might 
 possibly recognise her as he passed. Accordingly, as soon 
 as she had Jidiv, jacket, hat, gloves, and parasol complete, 
 she stole downstairs, and went out on to the pavement. 
 Of course, she could not remain here ; for her aunt's shop 
 Avas just opposite ; and Mrs. Maclean might happen to look 
 out, and espy her, and Avouder what she Avas doing. But a 
 short AA^ay along there Avas a watchmaker's Avindow into 
 AA'hich she had been in the habit of staring ever since she 
 came to Duntroone ; for in it Avas an ingenious little clock 
 the time of Avhich Avas kept or rather marked by a tiny gold 
 ball that rolled down an inclined j^lane, the plane reversing 
 itself at the end of every quarter of a minute ; and this toy 
 had fascinated her so that she Avould stand unweariedly 
 following the zig-zag course of the small gold sphere. It 
 Avas in front of this window that she now lingered, her
 
 ENCOUNTERS 119 
 
 eyes peeping corner-wise. And before long she became 
 conscious that someone was approaching ; a furtive glance 
 assured her that this was indeed none other tlian Ogilvie ; 
 and so, with apparent carelessness forsaking the toy-clock, 
 she continued on her way, as if she were not expecting to 
 meet anyone. 
 
 It was a quick, light, elate step that now sounded along 
 the pavement : she made certain that in his youthful and 
 joyous audacity and unconcern he would not recollect her 
 or even look her way. As he approached, her heart beat 
 wildly ; her trembling fingers grasped the handle of her 
 parasol as if for support. He drew nearer — she could not 
 raise her eyes — he would go by without a word or a glance. 
 And as a matter of fact he did pass her ; then almost at 
 the same moment he seemed to pause ; she managed to turn 
 her head the least little bit ; and forthwith he came forward 
 to her, in a manner doubtingly, yet with a propitiatory 
 smile. 
 
 " Miss Maclean ? " said he, and he raised his cap and 
 held out his hand. " I beg your pardon — I was nearly 
 being very rude — but you remained so short a time the 
 night of Mrs. McAskill's dance. And how is your cousin, 
 Miss Jessie ? " he went on — for he could see that she was 
 overwhelmingly eml)arrassed and self-conscious ; and l;e 
 was a good-natured lad ; and the spectacle of beauty in 
 distress aroused his sympathy. " I heard from her the 
 other day — about the lecture in the Masonic Hall — ^Allan 
 Henderson the schoolmaster is a great friend of hers and 
 her mother's, and they are anxious he should have a good 
 audience." 
 
 " And are you going to the lecture ? " said Barbara, 
 finding her voice at last, and even succeeding in letting her 
 eyes question him for a moment. 
 
 " AYell, I am not so sure," he made answer. " It is not 
 much in my line ; but if the boat is in in good time, I may 
 go. And 1 will take one or two tickets whatever." 
 
 Now at this point he ought to have said good-bye, and 
 gone away. But she was a remarkably pretty girl. 
 
 " I hope. Miss Maclean," said he, " that the next time 
 you come to any such gathering, you will stay and join in 
 the dancing. It was quite a disappointment to many of us
 
 120 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 that yon and your cousin left so early. And 1 suppose you 
 are as fond of dancing as most other young ladies." 
 
 " There was not much dancing in Kilree," said Barbara, 
 blushing furiously. 
 
 And then at last he did say good-bye, and raised his cap, 
 and departed ; and Campbell Street — though it was high 
 noon — seemed to her to grow dark. 
 
 No sooner was he gone than she hurried back to her 
 room, and there she went straight to the mirror, to examine 
 her appearance and her costume from every possible point 
 of view. And then, taking off some of her things, she sate 
 down and pondered — until it was time for her to see about 
 getting ready the mid-day meal. 
 
 In the afternoon she was once more alone — that is to 
 say, she was free to leave the house in charge of the girl 
 Christina ; and again she wandered out, this time making 
 by a circuitous way for a certain back street. Arrived 
 there, she stopped in front of an entry where a small brass 
 plate informed the public that ' Professor Sylvester, teacher 
 of dancing and calisthenics,' abode within ; she hesitated 
 for a second or so : then, summoning up courage, she passed 
 into the dark entry, rang a bell, and inquired if Professor 
 Sylvester were at home. The next thing was that she 
 found herself the sole occupant of a large and empty apart- 
 ment, almost destitute of furniture save for a bench that 
 went along two of the walls, and a table on which were 
 ranged a number of stone ginger-beer bottles and tumblers. 
 
 The door opened, and the professor appeared, violin in 
 hand. He was an elderly, spare, careworn-looking man : 
 his demeanour was submissive and deprecatory ; he spoke 
 with a slightly foreign accent when he addressed her. And 
 his terms, when Barbara timidly asked for them, were of 
 the most modest character. 
 
 " But I must see where yon will begin — I must see what 
 lessons you will need before joining the class," he said. 
 " And I will call in my daughter to be your partner." 
 
 He rang the bell. A sandy-haired and rather sulky- 
 looking girl appeared, who, recognising the situation at a 
 glance, took down from a peg on the door a sailor's jacket, 
 and this she donned, no doubt intimating that she had 
 now become a male partner, and was ready, in an impassive
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS 12\ 
 
 and perfunctory way, to go through her share of the per- 
 formance. Barbara betrayed the greatest shame and con- 
 fusion. 
 
 " No," said she, " I cannot dance at all. I must begin 
 at the beginning. And could I have lessons without any 
 one looking on ? " 
 
 " Certainly— certainly," said the grave and worn-eyed 
 professor. " And what time of the day would it please you 
 to come ? — for there are generally some young people hero 
 in the evening." 
 
 There was no difficulty about making final arrangements ; 
 and when these were completed, Barbara, leaving the 
 dancing-master's house, returned home by a roundabout 
 route, for she had resolved upon keeping this matter a dark 
 secret from her aunt and her cousin. And so apt and 
 assiduous did she prove to be that in less than ten days' 
 time the professor said to his daughter — 
 
 " Eugenie, I do not think in all my life I have kno^\^l a 
 pupil like that — so quick, so clever, so graceful in every 
 movement. It all comes naturally to her — no effort — no 
 constraint — it is a pleasure to teach her. If she had been 
 trained from infancy she might have had a career." 
 
 Eugenie the sulky did not respond. She had formed an 
 unreasoning dislike towards the new pupil — perhaps through 
 jealousy of her elegant figure and her all-conquering and 
 pathetic eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SCHEMES A-^B FORECASTS. 
 
 That was a great occasion when the young schoolmaster, 
 though still something of a cripple, made his first reap- 
 pearance in Mrs. Maclean's back parlour. The kind- 
 hearted little widow, with covert tears in her lashes, did not 
 know how to tend him and pet him enough ; would have 
 him sit in her own armchair ; feared he was too near the 
 fire, or too far away from the tire ; and generally made such 
 a fuss over him that he had shamefacedly to protest again and
 
 122 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 iigciiu, for he did uot like being treated as a child before 
 Jess. 
 
 "Well, indeed," said the widow, as she brought out 
 currant-bun, shortbread, and other elements of festivity, 
 " when something terrible bad has happened, they proclaim 
 a day of general mutilation throughout the country " 
 
 " Humiliation you mean, mother," Jess said, impatiently 
 — she did not mind at other times, but when Allan waa 
 present these harmless little mistakes vexed her. 
 
 " Exactly that," continued the widow, with much content. 
 " And when something terrible fine happens, like Allan here 
 getting about again, there should be a general rejoicing 
 among us, if one could only manage it. But in the mean- 
 time, Jessie, you'll just step across the way and bid Barbara 
 smarten herself up, and come over, directly. Oh, well I know 
 what pleases young folk ! "When a lad and a lass are think- 
 ing of each other, it's little else they think of. Give them a 
 look at each other, and that's enough — so off ye go, Jess." 
 
 Despite herself, a shade of mortification passed over Jess 
 Maclean's face when she was thus ordered to go and summon 
 Barbara ; for in her capacity of nurse she had established a 
 sort of proprietary right in this fractions invalid ; and 
 now that he had come to report himself convalescent, she 
 thought it hard that any half-stranger should be allowed to 
 intervene. But she was a biddable lass ; she whipped on 
 her shawl and bonnet, and went away to execute her mission ; 
 the only thing was that on her return she did not accom- 
 pany Barbara into the parlour. She remained in the front 
 shop. And at the same moment — whether out of mischief 
 or out of sympathetic consideration — Mrs. Maclean made 
 some excuse and joined her daughter ; so that Barbara 
 Maclean and the young schoolmaster found themselves alone 
 too-ether in the hushed little room. 
 
 " It is I that am pleased to see you going about again," 
 she said in Gaelic, and she gave him her hand for a moment, 
 and then composedly took a seat. 
 
 " And surely," said he in the same tongue, " my first 
 visit Avas due to the house that has been so kind to me." 
 
 He had paled slightly on her entrance ; but now the 
 joy of actually beholding her had recalled something of 
 colour and animation to his face ; his dark and glowing
 
 SCHEMES AND EOKECASTS 123 
 
 eyes drauk their till of her, and yet were never satisfied. 
 How beantifnl she was — so mneh more beautiful than the 
 phantom image of her that had oceupied his waking dreams ; 
 his covetous longing to secure this glorious creature all to 
 himself seemed to run riot in mad fancies ; something 
 appeared to whisper to him that, now when at last she was 
 so near him, he must seize her hands, and hold them tight, 
 and say to her ' You are mine — you are mine — you cannot 
 go away from me — not any more, for ever.' Meanwhile 
 Barbara was twiddling with the lace frills of her cuffs. 
 
 " And you," he continued — getting some mastery over 
 himself, and dismissing these delirious imaginings, " You I 
 am sure have found the house a kind house, with a warui 
 hearth for you." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," replied Barbara, rather indifferently. 
 
 " The night of the wreck of the Scmda,''^ he went on — 
 his glowing eyes still dwelling on her — his nostrils sensitive 
 to the scent of her costume — " I thought you were lonely 
 and sad enough ; but I told you you were going to a 
 friendly home, and I knew" that a friendly home you would 
 find it. And who but I was the first one to meet you ? — so 
 that ever since I have thought of you, and been anxious to 
 know that you were well looked after ; and not like one 
 strayed into a strange fold. Many is the time I would like 
 to have sent along to ask you to come and see me, that you 
 might talk about yourself ; but I was not so bold, to disturb 
 vou. But I often heard of you ; and I was sure that from 
 your aunt and your cousin you would have the kindest of 
 treatment " 
 
 " Indeed I have nothing to complain of," Barbara said^ — • 
 with a glance towards the glass door : perhaps she was 
 surprised that she was being left alone in this fashion. 
 
 " When a man lies sick in bed he has time to think of 
 many things," the schoolmaster proceeded — not quite know- 
 ing how to make use of these invaluable moments — having 
 so much to say, and yet in a bewilderment of hesitation as 
 to how far he dared go — "and above all things I was 
 anxious you should understand and be sure that you were 
 among people who wished you well. And perhaps, here or 
 there, might be one whose interest in you vras warmer than 
 that — if the time was come to speak "
 
 124 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Perhaps she comprehended his meaning ; perhaps not ; 
 at all events she somewhat abruptly rose, and said — 
 
 " I am wondering what my aunt is about, and Jessie : it 
 is not usual for them to neglect you in this way." 
 
 And with that she went to the Avindowed door, and 
 opened it, and looked into the front shop. But at this 
 moment the arrival of a new visitor — a stormy visitor — 
 absorbed attention : it was the town-councillor, who had 
 come hastily along on hearing of Allan's having adventured 
 forth ; and now he was all excitement and importance in 
 his desire to dominate such a situation ; he drove the 
 Macleans before him into the parlour — the door being left a 
 bit open as was customary. 
 
 " Man, Allan," he cried. " I'm just delighted to see ye 
 here again, among your own kith and kin, and in a cosy 
 circle too. And I've news for ye, lad, I've news for ye ; if 
 ye'll not think I have been taking too great a liberty ; but 
 I hardly expected to see ye about so soon, and so I have 
 been making inquiries on your behalf. Yes, indeed," con- 
 tinued Mr. McFadyen, with great vivacity — regarding him- 
 self as the hero of the hour, no doubt, and conscious that 
 Jess Maclean's eyes were upon him — " the moment Miss 
 Jessie put that idea of the Latin class into my head says I 
 to myself, ' Well, if Allan is laid by the heels, and cannot 
 look after this matter, it's just me that's going to do it for 
 him.' And I've found a splendid room for ye — the very 
 ticket : the top floor at Ross and Maclagan's, the lawyers ; 
 and I'm sure they'll be reasonable about it, for it's empty, 
 and not a bit of use to them. And just as I was thinking 
 it would cost ye a stiff penny to put benches and desks into 
 it, then I chanced to hear of the Masonic Hall folk wanting 
 to sell off a lot of their old chairs, and says I to myself ' If 
 we can get them cheap, they'll just do fine.' Then I Avent 
 to the office of the Times and Telcgrapli, and saw the 
 manager, and he says if ye'll give him the advertisement by 
 the year, he'll take it on the easiest terms ; in fact, he was 
 hinting it might not cost ye anything if you would do some 
 writing for the paper at odd hours 
 
 
 No, no," said Allan, frowning, " I will not have it that 
 
 n 
 
 way. 
 
 But Peter McFadyen was not the man to be daunted.
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS 125 
 
 " Just as yo like — ^just as ye like," he said, blithely. 
 "And that's not all the news. For I've been asking a 
 question here and there, I hope in a discreet kind of way, 
 and I find there's several of my own friends would like their 
 boys to get an hour or two's Latin after the office-work or 
 the shop-work w^as over ; and that's how it stands, Allan, 
 my lad, that as soon as you care to start, I'll guarantee ye'll 
 have quite a respectable size of a class within a fortnight ; 
 and there's no reason why such a class should not go on 
 growing bigger and bigger, for I find it is greatly wanted 
 in Duntroone." 
 
 " I am sure I am very much obliged to you, Mr. McFad- 
 yen," the young schoolmaster said, " and especially to 
 Miss Jessie, for it was she that first thought of it. It's a 
 good thing to have friends." 
 
 He ventured to glance towards Barbara. Was she be- 
 traying any interest in these poor schemes of his ? Nay, 
 could he dare to hope that she was personally concerned in 
 them ? But Barbara was staring into the fire, with 
 abstracted gaze. 
 
 The councillor, who evidently regarded himself as the 
 founder of Allan's fortunes, now proceeded to prophesy 
 great things ; and he was in a humorous mood as well ; 
 those were gay pictures he drew of the future. Even the 
 little widow was constrained to remark — 
 
 " Well, Mr. McFadyen, it's you that are in high spirits 
 the night. But take care. Do you remember the old 
 saying ' You are too merry, you'll have to marry.'' " 
 
 The warning only increased the councillor's jocosity. 
 
 " Faith, that's a good one ! " he cried, with a prodigious 
 laugh. " Me marrying ? Is that your advice, Mrs. Mac- 
 lean ? That's a fine idea, to be sure — the idea of mo 
 marrying ! " 
 
 " I do not see what there is to laugh at ! " the widow 
 protested. 
 
 " AYell, then, I'll tell you what stands in the way," he 
 said, with sudden gravity — but it was only part of his pro- 
 found facetiousness. " There's one very good reason, and 
 one's enough ; and the reason is that I'm too bashful. Ay, 
 there it is — that's the truth." 
 
 With beaming face and demurely twinkling eyes he
 
 126 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 glanced from one to the other : to himself the notion of his 
 being bashful — a man of the world like himself being bashful 
 ■ — was irresistibly comic. 
 
 " I do not knoAv about that," said the downright little 
 widow ; " but when I was young, if a man had made u]) his 
 mind about the girl he wanted to marry, I'm thinking 
 there was not much difficulty about his finding words to 
 ask her. Maybe it is different nowadays. Nowadays it 
 seems to be money first, and your sweetheart second. Here 
 have you yourself, Mr. McFadyen, been planning out all 
 that Allan is to be, and the grand things he is to do ; and 
 yet never a word about his taking a wife — though perhaps 
 there would be no great need for him to go far afield." 
 
 These words were spoken with smiling significance — the 
 widow being clearly proud of her diplomacy ; but nothing 
 short of consternation ensued. Jessie looked particularly 
 distressed ; Barbara betrayed less confusion — indeed she 
 appeared to treat this open innuendo as of little import. 
 As for the young man who had thus been almost invited to 
 choose one of the cousins, he maintained a stern silence. It 
 was the councillor who came to the general relief. 
 
 " If there's one thing in the world I would like," he said, 
 " it's just this — that the five of us that are here at this 
 moment could get away for a trip to London to see the 
 sights. Wouldn't that be worth while ? — just by ourselves 
 
 — a little party — and I've been to London myself ■ I 
 
 know my ways about — I could show ye all the fine things 
 that belong to the nation, and therefore they belong just as 
 much to you or to me as to anybody else." 
 
 " Indeed there's truth in what ye say, Mr. McFadyen," 
 the schoolmaster put in. " And maybe John Smith — the 
 common man, the poor man — would be a little better con- 
 tented with his lot if he only remembered what great 
 possessions are his, and what has been done to please him. 
 If John Smith were a philosopher, he would begin and 
 ask questions. For whose delight, for whose use, arc 
 splendid public buildings built, and bridges thrown across 
 rivers, and handsome embankments made ? These belong 
 to him — the poor man — to John Smith. What Prince or 
 Duke has a collection of pictures like the National Gallery ? 
 — that is John Smith's. The gems and antiquities and
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS 127 
 
 books of the British Mnseiim, the art treasures at South 
 Kensington — what i:)rivate collection has anything to com- 
 pare with them ?— and they all belong to John Smith, who 
 has no trouble about them, no fear of being swindled, the 
 best experts of the world Ijuying for him everywhere. The 
 Queen has a fine garden behind Buckingham Palace ; but 
 it's not a third as big as Hyde Park — which is John Smith's 
 domain. For I've been to London too, Mr. McFadyen," 
 continued the schoohnaster, who could talk freely and 
 spiritedly enough when his sombre fits of silence were aban- 
 doned, "and I've seen the Green Park, Regent's Park, 
 Battersea Park, and the rest of them, and their ornamental 
 waters, and their great staff of gardeners — all kept up for 
 the public use. What Duke or Marquis has a hall to com- 
 pare with "VYestminster Hall — where plain John Smith can 
 walk up and down at any time of the day and eat an orange 
 in contentment ? Eoyal Processions to St. Paul's — Lord 
 Mayor's Shows — pageants of that kind are designed for the 
 poor man, not the rich. And if we here, Mr. Councillor, 
 should ever go to London together, and when you'll be 
 taking us to the British Museum or to South Kensington, 
 you'll just have to drop a word now and again reminding us 
 that these are our own collections, and better than any 
 other in the land, and kept up for us with the greatest care. 
 I wonder now," he said, turning to Mrs. Maclean, " I 
 wonder, when Mr. McFadyen goes with us to the National 
 Gallery, if he'll remember his position. Will he take us up 
 to the famous Raphael, and say to us : ' This is my last 
 great acquisition : I had to pay a little trifle of £70,000 
 before I could get it away from Blenheim Palace.' " 
 
 The practical little widow was puzzled by these vagaries : 
 her answer was more to the point. 
 
 " So you would be off to London, the lot of you .? " she 
 said, cheerfully enough. " AVeh, well, that's natural for 
 young folk ; but such gaddings about are no for an old 
 body like me. I'm tied to the premises ; I'm a fixture here 
 as much as a shelf or a gasalier " 
 
 " Xot at all— we'll not stir without ye," Peter insisted, 
 gallantly. " ISTot one step will we stir. You'll just have to 
 get somebody ye can trust to take your place in the shop ; 
 tlien off we go — like schuol-children {i^x a holiday. It's
 
 128 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 but right— it's but right, Mrs. Maclean. Year after year 
 we keep on working and working : are we never to give 
 ourselves a bit treat ? I'll undertake to say there's not one 
 in this room has seen the Queen. Bat we've a right to see 
 her ; for she's a part of the Constitution that we pay for. 
 Dod, man, Allan, ye put bold ideas into folks' heads ; for 
 if everything belongs to John Smith, and if I am John 
 Smith^ — as ye plainly intimate — then I am the richest man 
 in Europe ; and surely the richest man in Europe should be 
 able to afford a trip to London. What d'ye say, Mrs. 
 Maclean ? And you're coming with us, mind. Not a foot 
 will we stir without ye. My ^^ord, we'll make things lively 
 in the big town ! " 
 
 But it was not until Mr. McEadyen and Allan had left 
 the hospitable little parlour, and started off for home, that 
 the councillor revealed the secret reason for his thus 
 insisting on a quite chimerical project. 
 
 " Did ye see how I managed it ? " he said, with great 
 exultation. " Did ye see how natural-like I led them on to 
 look on us all as forming a family-party — that's you and 
 Barbara, and me and Jessie, with the old lady as general 
 friend and adviser. Eor it doesna do to frighten them at 
 first. It's like taming a wild animal — ye must be cautious 
 and slow and cunning. Dod, man," exclaimed the coun- 
 cillor, honestly, " I think I showed a Httle skill ! Did I 
 not, now ? — did I not ? " 
 
 Allan was silent : his thoughts were elsewhere. But 
 Mr. McEadyen was not to be discouraged. 
 
 " What care I," he continued, gleefully, " whether such 
 a trip as that to London is impracticable or no ? Jessie 
 and Barbara have been led into thinking of the four of us 
 being there together, with perhaps the old lady left behind 
 in Duntroone. And of course that would mean two wed- 
 dings — two weddings, you rascal ! — and when the two 
 weddings come about, you'll just tell me if I did not show 
 a little tact and address in paving the way and making 
 everything easy." 
 
 "I do not like the sound of the wind," said Allan, 
 absently staring out towards the moaning and inscrutable 
 sea. " It is going to be a wild night." 
 
 " Ye're a clever chiel," Allan," continued the complacent
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH 129 
 
 councillor, as the two men paused for a second at the 
 parting of their ways, " and your head is just filled with 
 learning- and knowledge. But it takes experience of the 
 world, it takes experience of human nature, to manage a 
 difficult affair like this ; and maybe you'll be the first to 
 acknowledge as much — maybe you'll be ready to confess that 
 much — when you and Barbara and Jessie and myself find 
 ourselves in a carriage together, driving about and seeing 
 the sights of London." 
 
 The schoolmaster did not reply. With a brief " Good- 
 night ! " he turned away — and disappeared into the 
 darkness. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 
 
 It was indeed a wild night — the wind howling in the 
 chimneys and shaking the windows, the rain falling in 
 torrents, the long swish of the waves heard all along the 
 shore ; but towards morning there came a sudden and 
 unaccountable calm ; and daybreak revealed a brooding- 
 stillness over land and sea — revealed a slate-hued world, 
 vague, and dull, and sombre, with the mountains of Mull 
 and Morven hidden behind a dark, formless, impenetrable 
 wall of vapour. Nevertheless, sullen as the outlook might 
 be, there was steady progress towards the light. Up in the 
 high portals of the east, a curious kind of glare began to 
 elbow its way through the heavy masses of cloud ; the 
 slopes of Kerrara answered in warm tones of saffron and 
 orange and golden-greeu ; as the hours went by, the heavens 
 became more and more broken up ; by noon there were 
 shafts of sunlight here and there, and a vivid and welcome 
 blue in the far stretches of water outside the bay ; wdiile the 
 Mull and Morven hills were gradually returning into the 
 visible universe, after their sojourn in unknown space. 
 
 And perhaps it was merely this unexpected clearing -up of 
 the morning that drew Barbara Maclean away from her 
 household duties ; but at all events, before going out, she 
 
 K
 
 I30 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 dressed herself with unusual care, for the better display of 
 such small articles of finery as she possessed. When 
 eventually she left the house, she took her way along the 
 sea front, apparently with no very set purpose. She passed 
 the railway-station. She reached the South Quay, at which 
 the Aros Castle was lying ; but, as a single swift and covert 
 glance assured her, no officer was visible on board ; it was 
 not yet time for the steamer to sail, and at present the only 
 work going forward was the trundling-in of barrow-loads 
 of coal from the adjoining trucks. She continued her 
 seemingly aimless stroll. She arrived at the foot of the 
 Gallows Hill ; and here she lingered about for some little 
 time, looking at the nets and boats and white-washed 
 cottages that are a survival from the time when Duntroone 
 was little more than a fishing village. The sunlight was 
 becoming more and more general. There was a spring-like 
 mildness and sweetness in the air. The waters of the bay 
 were now a shining azure as well as the fiu-ther plain ; and 
 the long spur of Kerrara shooting out into them, was of 
 burning gold. 
 
 And when she turned to make her way back again, she 
 was regarding an equally cheerful scene — the wooded hills, 
 the houses dotted on the slopes, the ivied castle at the 
 point, the ethereal mountains of Morven beyond the blue ; 
 and it was but natural that when she came to the coal- 
 trucks, she should go outside, otherwise her view would 
 have been debarred. But passing outside the coal-trucks 
 brought her close to the Aros Castle — indeed, she had to go 
 by within touching distance of the gangway ; and it was 
 at this moment that she chanced to raise her eyes — and 
 behold ! here was the Purser, talking to a friend. He 
 immediately turned from his companion, and addressed her 
 as she approached. 
 
 " Are you going a trip with us to-day. Miss Maclean ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered, in pretty confusion ; " I — I 
 only went to have a look at the old part of the town." 
 
 " Then if you will come on board," said he, politely, " we 
 will take you across to the North Quay, and it will save you 
 the walk round. We are off in a few minutes now." 
 
 " Oh, thank you indeed," said she, with modest and 
 smiling eyes ; and forthwith she passed along the gangway,
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH 131 
 
 he following ; and she stepped on to the upper deck — which 
 was very different from any part of the old Sanda, for here 
 everything was trim and smart, the paint and varnish fresh 
 and clean, the brass-work as brilliant as polish could make 
 it. And Ogilvie fetched a deck-chair for her, though she 
 did not care to be seated ; the run across to the North Quay 
 would not be of long duration. 
 
 He chatted pleasantly to her for a little while, about the 
 ordinary topics of Duntroone ; and Barbara did her best to 
 answer with animation and accord, though at times she was 
 a little hampered for want of the proper English phrase. 
 One thing she did manage : she cured him of the habit of 
 calling her " Miss Maclean." 
 
 " My name is Barbara," she said, almost with reproach. 
 
 " I'm sure I beg your pardon. Miss Barbara — I ought to 
 have remembered — • — ■" 
 
 " But how could you remember ? " said she, coyly ; " I am 
 sure now you do not recollect where it was that we first 
 met." 
 
 " Indeed, I do, then," he answered at once. " And the 
 next time we meet on such an occasion, I will look to you 
 to give me a dance." 
 
 "I hope so," murmured Barbara, with some touch of 
 colour, and lowered eyes. 
 
 The train crept into the station ; and presently a few 
 passengers made their appearance, coming towards the Aros 
 Castle. Among the first of these to reach the gangway 
 were a lady and her two daughters, the latter tall, fair- 
 haired, English-looking girls, with good features and dis- 
 tinguished bearing. As the little stout mamma stepped on 
 deck, she bestowed a brief nod of recognition upon the 
 Purser, who respectfully raised his cap ; then she and her 
 charges went below to the saloon, to deposit there their 
 Avraps and rugs and books. 
 
 " That is Mrs. Stewart of Innistroan," said Jack Ogilvie 
 to Barbara, in a confidential whisper. 
 
 Almost immediately thereafter the three ladies re- 
 appeared ; and the mother, coming over to where the 
 Purser was standing, said — perhaps a trifle brusquely — 
 
 " Can I speak with you for a moment, Mr. Ogilvie ? " 
 
 Barbara was thus left alone ; but she could all the more 
 
 K 2
 
 132 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 carefully study the dress and bearing of these three new- 
 comers, whom Ogilvie seemed to regard with considerable 
 deference. Ordinarily he was rather off-hand in his manner ; 
 but now, in speaking to this Mrs. Stewart — probably about 
 some business-matter — he was quite subdued and attentive. 
 And as for the two girls, about whom Barbara was chiefly 
 curious : she could not but be conscious of their air of dis- 
 tinction, however simply and plainly they might be dressed . 
 Something, she knew not what, told her they were of " the 
 gentry." With intense but concealed scrutiny she watched 
 their demeanour as they listened to the Purser ; she observed 
 the half-indifferent look, the occasional glance towards the 
 surrounding neighbourhood. As for their costume, it seemed 
 to be the perfection of unostentatious neatness and fitness ; 
 the only ornament that each wore — so far as she could 
 see — was an insignificant little brooch consisting of a 
 ptarmigan's foot set in silver, that fastened the collar of the 
 \Aw& serge jacket. 
 
 But by this time the hawsers had been thrown off, and 
 the Aros Castle was moving across to the other Quay. 
 Ogilvie came back to Barbara. 
 
 " This is a very short sail you have taken with us," he 
 said to her, in his easy and familiar Avay, as they were 
 approaching the pier. " Some other time you and Miss 
 Jessie must go for a run with us to Tobermory, and there 
 we will pick you up on our way back. I know that Mrs. 
 Maclean has friends at Tobermory." 
 
 The steamer was now slowing ; and it turned out that 
 Barbara was the only passenger that meant to land. When 
 the gangway had been shoved out, she timidly took her 
 purse from her pocket — it was probably but poorly 
 furnished. 
 
 " Will you tell me " she said, bashfully, when he 
 
 interrupted her : he had noticed that little movement. 
 
 " No, no ; no, no," said he, smiling, and he put up his 
 hand in a deprecatory fashion. " You must not think of 
 such a thing. We shall only be too glad to take you across 
 the bay, any time you happen to be on the other side. 
 And tell Miss Jessie she must bring you for a longer sail." 
 
 She said good-bye, and stepped ashore ; she watched the 
 passengers embark, and the Aros Castle steam away again ;
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH 133 
 
 soon she lost sight of Ogilvie, who had apparently gone 
 below ; and the last flgnrcs she could make out were those 
 of the two tall young ladies, who had seemed to possess so 
 strange and mysterious a quality of attraction and per- 
 fection, even to the fancy of a girl. 
 
 When she went up into the town, she met her cousin 
 Jess, who had been along to buy some wool ; and as they 
 proceeded home together, they encountered Lauchlan Mac- 
 Intyre. The shoemaker was of morose aspect. 
 
 " You'll be coming to the lecture to-morrow night, Mr. 
 Maclntyre ? " said Jess, pleasantly. 
 
 " I'm not so sure," responded Long Lauchie, in melan- 
 choly tones. " It seems a fearfn' waste of opportunity. 
 To think of a lecture on such things as songs, when there's 
 but the one subject that is of tremendous concern to us, 
 and that's the crying evil that is ruining us as a nation. 
 Ay, just ruining us — ruining us — the curse of drink that is 
 destroying the kintry from end to end. And what can we 
 do, but wrestle with it, in Parliament and out of Parlia- 
 ment, in season and out of season, ay, and mek every 
 election turn on it, and every candidate pledged for total 
 abolition, ay, and have a section of the Kechabites in every 
 fullage everywhere, until we put down and stamp out this 
 terrible, terrible drink. There must be no peace until the 
 whisky traffic is wholly rooted out ; and until a brand is 
 put on a man that would be seen to enter a public-house — 
 ay, a just persecution — a lawful persecution — there must be 
 no moderation — no mercy 
 
 u 
 
 But you'll drive common-sense folk into rebellion," 
 Jess said, good-humouredly. " Would you have them take 
 to drink in self-defence ? " 
 
 " Aw, to hear you talk like that, and you at your years ! " 
 said the shoemaker, almost in despair. "As sure's death 
 it's just fearful to hear one of your years talk like that. 
 And to think that you are on the side of the drunkards, 
 and the licensed victuallers, and Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 But there's time for ye yet. If you'll tek a warning, ye 
 may turn yet. You'll come over to us — ay — you'll come 
 over to us and be saved — as sure as death, you'll be saved." 
 
 "Well, indeed, Mr. Maclntyre," said Jess — and her 
 pretty grey eyes, that at times were rather inclined to
 
 134 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 sarcasm, were now perfectly demure, " I'm not afflicted with 
 any great craving except now and again for a cup of tea ; 
 but when the hour of trial comes — when I have to fight 
 the demon — it will be a great thing for me to have an 
 example to look to. And you'll give me a word of en- 
 couragement " 
 
 " I will, I will," said the shoemaker, solemnly and sadly ; 
 and with that he continued on his way ; while Jess turned 
 to her cousin Barbara, who had for some time been staring 
 into the window of the jeweller's shop. 
 
 It was a favourite resort of hers. For here she could 
 feast her eyes on treasures that were far beyond her means 
 — silver fastening-pins set with lemon-yellow, and white, 
 and clear lilac cairngorms — scent-bottles inlaid with the 
 various clan tartans — brooches, bracelets, necklets studded 
 with lona stones — ear-rings, finger -rings, sleeve-links, 
 lockets — tray after tray of fascinating nick-nacks of the 
 very names of many of which she was entirely ignorant. 
 And at this moment, when Jess said — 
 
 " Will you wait a moment, Barbara, or will you come 
 into the shop ? I want Mr. Boyd to see what is the matter 
 with my watch " 
 
 — Barbara accepted the invitation with a secret joy ; 
 though it was in a timorous kind of fashion that she 
 followed her cousin into this magician's palace of wonders 
 and splendours. She looked all round the jeweller's shop 
 with an awe-stricken air ; and then her eyes came back to 
 the glass cases on the counter, where there was an endless 
 variety of surprisingly beautiful objects. Not only that, 
 but a tray of brooches, that a customer had been inspecting 
 just before they came in, remained open on the top of one 
 of the cases ; so that if she chose- she could take up any 
 one of those marvels for closer examination. And so while 
 Mr. Boyd — who was an old friend of the Macleans, and a 
 solicitous, kindly, amiable sort of man — was inquiring into 
 the state and condition of Jessie's watch, Barbara was 
 passing in review these priceless things, comparing and 
 admiring and coveting. But in especial she was attracted 
 by the brooch that occupied the place of honour in the 
 middle of the tray It was formed of a ptarmigan's foot, 
 set iu gold, with a deep yellow cairngorm above and
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH 135 
 
 another stone of the same kind and colour fixed in the 
 middle claw. Now the ptarmigan brooches worn by the 
 two yoimg ladies who were on board the Aros (Jastle — and 
 whom Jack Ogilvie seemed to treat with so much respect — 
 were very plain and simple ornaments ; here was something 
 of a similar cliaracter, but more rich and resplendent, and 
 better calculated for purposes of display. Alas ! she knew 
 too well that it was far away out of the reach of her small 
 savings ; such means and methods of drawing attention, of 
 compelling admiration, were for people whose purses were 
 abundantly filled. 
 
 Ultimately it was decided that the recusant watch should 
 be left behind ; and then, business over, Mr. Boyd pro- 
 ceeded to a little neighbourly gossip, in the course of which 
 Barbara was introduced to him, her beautiful eyes winning 
 favour as usual. The friendly jeweller sent his best regards 
 to the widow ; and finally Jessie and Barbara left the shop. 
 
 But they had gone only a few yards when Mr. Boyd 
 came after them — he had not stayed to put on any kind of 
 head-covering. 
 
 " Miss Maclean," said he, and simultaneously both girls 
 turned. " I beg your pardon, but did you happen to 
 notice a gold ptarmigan-brooch — it was in a tray on the 
 counter " 
 
 At the same moment there was a slight click as of 
 something dropping on the pavement. He glanced down- 
 wards. 
 
 " Oh, here it is," he said ; and he stooped and picked 
 it up. 
 
 For a second there was silence. The watchmaker looked 
 grave and troubled ; Jess appeared to be astonished and 
 perplexed rather than frightened ; Barbara, timid as a fawn 
 as she ordinarily was, alone remained perfectly impassive in 
 countenance. 
 
 " It must have caught on to some part of your dress," 
 said Mr. Boyd, slowly, and with some constraint. " Well, 
 I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble." And there- 
 upon and with no further Avord he returned to his shop. 
 
 But on the evening of this same day, sitting by his 
 fireside, John Boyd seemed thoughtful and depressed ; and 
 his wife would insist on knowing the reason. And at last,
 
 136 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 under severe injunctions of secrecy, lie revealed to her the 
 story. 
 
 " I cannot tell what to think," he continued, as if 
 communing with himself. " I made the excuse, then and 
 there, for the sake of my old friend Mrs. Maclean. And 
 maybe it was true : maybe their dress did catch up the 
 brooch. Such things have happened. For how can I 
 believe that Jessie Maclean, or this cousin of hers, that 
 seems a nice, modest, quiet sort of a girl, would knowingly 
 lift a piece of jewellery from the counter and carry it away ? 
 I cannot believe it. And then, ye see, goodwife, I did not 
 actually find it in the possession of either of them. If I 
 had, it would have been my duty to have called in the 
 ptolice " 
 
 " John ! " exclaimed his wife. " Have ye taken leave of 
 your wits ? Ay, and if it was the half of your shop in 
 question, would ye bring scandal and disgrace on the 
 remaining years of an old friend ? No, no ! — not for half 
 the shop, or whole of the shop ! I'm better acquainted 
 with ye than ye are yourself, man ! And no doubt it was 
 the tassels and bugles that the young girls are so fond of 
 nowadays that catched on to the brooch — no doubt at all 
 that was it ! " 
 
 " Maybe so, Jean, maybe so," said the watchmaker, who 
 seemed to have been quite unhinged and upset by this 
 incident. " But mind, not one word to any living creature. 
 That is my charge to ye. Not one single word about it to 
 any living creature." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A LECTURE AND THEEEAFTER. 
 
 Ir wanted but an hour to the lecture, yet Jess Maclean did 
 not stir ; she sate silent and absorbed — an unusual mood 
 with her, for she was naturally of a merry temperament ; 
 her head was bent over her needlework, and she did not 
 look up when she was spoken to. 
 
 " Jess," said her mother, " what has ailed you all the day
 
 A LECTURE AND THEREAFTER 137 
 
 long ? Anyone would think this should be a great occasion 
 for yon — you that has always been so proud of Allan 
 Heudersou, and telling us what we might expect of him. 
 And now he is appearing before the public — and a great 
 many people coming to see him — and who should be more 
 pleased than yourself — ay, and more to tlie front at such a 
 time, for Allan is never tired of saying that you are the best 
 friend and adviser he has got " 
 
 " I am not going to the lecture, mother," said Jess. 
 
 " Well, well, now, and what is the meaning of it all ? " 
 the Avidow demanded. She regarded her daughter a little 
 more narrowly, and was alarmed to see that there were tears 
 in her eyes. " What is the matter, Jess ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " What is the matter, mother ? — what is the matter ? " 
 the girl cried, suddenly bursting into a passionate fit of 
 weeping and sobbing. " How can I go to the lecture — how 
 can I face those people — when I am a suspected thief ? " 
 
 And there and then, in incoherent fashion, she told the 
 story of the incident of the previous day, over which she 
 had been brooding for four-and-twenty hours and more. 
 Meanwhile the little widow's indignation was like to have 
 altogether overcome her powers of utterance. 
 
 " And that's John Boyd— that's John Boyd ! " she 
 managed to say at last — though she was about breathless 
 with anger and scorn. " And who but your own father 
 was it that helped him when he had to make a composition 
 with his creditors over twenty years ago, ay, helped to make 
 him the well-to-do man he is this day ; and the best of 
 friends we were supposed to be ; and now it's this John 
 Boyd — it's this John Boyd that comes forward and accuses 
 one of my girls of being a thief ! " She rose from her 
 chair and threw aside her work. "Well," said she, with 
 resolute lips, " this very minute I am going along to have a 
 word with John Boyd. I will see what he means by calling 
 either of my girls a thief " 
 
 "Mother," interposed Jess, piteously, "he did not say 
 that — he did not say anything of the kind. When he spoke 
 it was to make an excuse. It was Mr. Boyd himself that 
 suggested it was likely the brooch had caught on to the 
 dress of one or other of us. That's what he said. But 
 all the same I could sec what he was thinkinc:. I saw liis
 
 138 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 look — though I (lid not quite understand it till afterwards. 
 And ever since I have been going over what happened ; 
 and now — now I know what he was thinking when he 
 picked up the brooch from the pavement. I know it — I 
 know it — I could see it — and — and I never thought to be 
 taken for a thief." And here there was a fresh burst of 
 crying. " It isn't for a thief," she said, between her 
 sobs, "to go to hear Allan's lecture — and face all those 
 people " 
 
 " Jess," said Mrs. Maclean, firmly, " you'll do as I bid ye. 
 You'll go across to the house, and get yourself dressed and 
 ready, and you'll put out my best things, and you'll send 
 Kirsty over to help me to shut up the shop. I was not 
 going to the lecture ; but now I am going ; and I do not 
 care who the people are, but I will show them, when 
 Barbara and you go in, that you can hold up yom' heads 
 with any. And as for John Boyd " 
 
 " Mother, you must not quarrel with Mr. Boyd," pleaded 
 Jess. " It was only natural he should be startled. And he 
 is an old friend " 
 
 " Ay, and you do not know the saying, then ? " retorted 
 the little widow, sharply, " ' Friendship is as ifs Jcept.^ The 
 man that suspects either you or Barbara of being a thief 
 is no friend of mine. But away with ye, now, and get 
 ready — if Barbara will let you have five minutes of the 
 looking-glass, for she's a fearfu' creature for making much 
 of herself and decking herself up. And when Mr. McFadyen 
 comes, you will tell him he must get me a ticket and I will 
 pay him for it afterwards." 
 
 Peter McFadyen was an important and a consequential 
 man this night. The provost, who had consented to preside 
 at the meeting, had been summoned away to Edinburgh on 
 business connected with the town ; and the senior councillor, 
 nothing loth, had been prevailed on to take his place. 
 And fully sensible of his responsibility was Peter. When 
 the members of the Literary and Scientific Association, and 
 their friends, with many of the towns-folk, and a few 
 representatives of the neighbouring gentry, Avere at length 
 assembled in the Masonic Hall, the chairman was in nowise 
 facetious and droll — as if he were in Mrs. Maclean's back- 
 parlour ; he was dignified, and measured of speech. And
 
 A LECTURE AND THEREAFTER 139 
 
 when, in formally iutroduciug the lecturer to the audience, 
 he had pronounced a pompous little eulogium, which caused 
 Allan to look particularly uncomfortable, Mr, McFadyen 
 thereafter glanced down towards the Macleans, who were 
 seated in the front row, it was plain he would have said — 
 ' Do you perceive that now ? A man may be sprightly and 
 jocular enough in the freedom of private society, and yet 
 know how to perform his public duties with proper state 
 and decorum.' Alas ! Jessie Maclean never looked his way 
 — paid no heed to him. She was intently regarding Allan 
 • — she was tremblingly anxious that he should betray no 
 nervousness — in her heart she was beseeching this audience 
 to be kind and attentive and sympathetic. Barbara, 
 who had adorned herself with her most effective finery, 
 kept covertly watching the door : the handsome Purser 
 had not yet put in an appearance — perhaps the Aro^ 
 Castle was late, perhaps he had forgotten the half-implied 
 promise. 
 
 Jess need not have been concerned. When the young 
 schoolmaster rose and placed the sheets of his MS. on the 
 stand before him, there was not a trace of nervousness 
 about him ; he acknowledged, and barely acknowledged, 
 the friendly reception accorded him ; and at once, and in a 
 business-like way, proceeded with his lecture — the main 
 thesis of which was to the effect that, if the G-erman people 
 were to vanish from the face of the earth, leaving only this 
 invaluable collection of Volkslieder, the philosopher of 
 future centuries could reconstruct the nation, with all its 
 desires, aims, habits, and occupations, from these various 
 and artless utterances. But it was when he proceeded to 
 give specimens of the folk-songs — using for the most part 
 his own translations — songs of fiery patriotism, songs of 
 plaintive home-yearning, love-songs and sad farewells, songs 
 of simple family life, songs of baiiter and merriment, more 
 rarely of sarcasm, joyous drinking songs, songs and choruses 
 of the hunter's craft, legends and old-world tales— then it 
 was that he captured the interest of his audience, and was 
 rewarded by frequent if timid outbursts of applause. It 
 was the non-literary ballad that he chose by preference — 
 the voice of the common people ; but he could not well 
 exclude Heine's ' Pilgrimage to Kevlaar,' or Uhland's
 
 140 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ' Landlady's Daughter,' for tlicy also were of the people. 
 And Avhen he repeated a lover's passionate appeal to his 
 sweetheart, or told some pathetic story of half-forgotten 
 times, was he not really addressing, out of all this audience, 
 only one ? There was some comparison of these German 
 folk-songs with the Gaelic songs of the West Highlands, 
 and mention made of one or two well-known favourites : 
 all this was meant for Barbara — since she had been so 
 graciously kind as to come to the lecture. 
 
 And yet it may be doubted whether Barbara heard any- 
 thing more than an occasional word or phrase, conveying 
 next to nothing. She had abandoned any hope she may 
 liave entertained of seeing Jack Ogilvie appear at the door 
 of the hall ; and now her attention was turned to the hall 
 itself, the like of which she had never beheld before. For 
 over the deep red walls hung a wonderful ceiling of clear 
 grey-blue ; and at the further end of the ceiling a golden sun 
 sent out flashing rays, while at the other extreme shone a 
 silver moon surrounded by seven stars. Then all round the 
 room were mysterious devices ; and there were painted pillars ; 
 and an arch ; and in the keystone of the arch an eye that 
 glared at her as if out of some vague immensity. Compass, 
 square, and trowel she might or might not understand — 
 they were commonplace emblems ; but this immovable eye 
 seemed to have some incomprehensible and compelling power 
 of scrutiny ; it fascinated her ; she could not get away from 
 that relentless gaze. And so, if she did listen at all, it 
 was in a mechanical fashion. ' Prinz Eugen der edle 
 'Hitter,' ' Doctor Eisenbart,' ' Der Jiiger aus Ivurpfalz,' had 
 apparently but little interest for her. 
 
 Nevertheless, something did at last happen to arouse her 
 from her apathetic dreaming. The lecturer had been giving 
 examples of the better-known of the German bacchanalian 
 songs — ' Crambambuli,' ' Im kiihlen Keller,' and the like — 
 when, to everybody's amazement, a tall and gaunt form was 
 seen to rise in the very midst of the assemblage. It was 
 Long Lauchie, the shoemaker. For a moment he seemed 
 frightened at his own temerity, and looked round in a help- 
 less way ; but there was an inward monitor to support him ; 
 the next second he had found his speech. 
 
 " I am not wishing to interrupt," he said, in Gaelic, but
 
 A LECTURE AND THEREAFTER 141 
 
 every man has his duty, and I will not stand by and be 
 listening in silence •" 
 
 " Order, order," called the chairman, with a portentous 
 frown. 
 
 But the shoemaker, pale as he was on finding himself in 
 this novel position, with all eyes turned towards him, was 
 not to be deterred. 
 
 "It is I that must make my protest, if there is to be 
 such praise for drinking, and not a word of warning to the 
 young ■" 
 
 " Order, order," the chairman called out again ; and then 
 he added, with still greater severity : " Maclntyrc, sit down, 
 and behave yourself ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the lecturer had stopped, and was calmly 
 waiting to hear what Long Laiichie had to say. It was 
 Mrs. Maclean who was most violently indignant over the 
 interruption. 
 
 " That tipsymauiac ! " she exclaimed, in an undertone. 
 " Will nobody put him out ? To bring disgrace on a meet- 
 ing like this, and Allan going on just splendid ! " 
 
 " Such praise of the sin of drinking," continued the shoe- 
 maker, doggedly, " I will set my face against, no matter 
 how many there may be to cry me down. I have no word 
 to say against the young man, Allan Henderson ; it is not 
 I that have a word to say against him ; but when I hear 
 such fearful things repeated, I am bound to lift up my 
 voice. Yes, indeed. Is there anyone here that knows what 
 drink is doing in this land — what terrible, terrible things 
 are happening all through the whisky ? " 
 
 "Lauchlan Maclntyre," called out the chairman — who 
 was beside himself with rage and shame on finding his 
 authority thus scouted, " if you do not instantly resume 
 your seat, I will ask one or two of the young men near you 
 to remove you from this assembly. Do you hear me, now ? 
 Will you sit down ? " 
 
 " Drink," the shoemaker went on, " is the ruin and curse 
 of this country — it is bringing a judgment upon us " 
 
 " Then I do call on the young men," broke in Peter, witli 
 concealed fury. " Eeniove him ! You there near him, 
 remove that person ! Put him out. I, as chairman of this 
 meeting, authorise you to put him out."
 
 142 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 "Well, there were two or three of the younger lads only 
 too glad to have a little bit of fun ; and the luckless shoe- 
 maker — offering no physical resistance, it is true, but still 
 insisting on his conscientious protest against anything that 
 savoured of the praise of drink — ^was haled away and 
 conducted to the door, and ejected into the night. There- 
 after peace and harmony were restored : and the lecture was 
 continued and ended in the most satisfactory manner, a 
 unanimous vote of thanks to the schoolmaster bringing the 
 proceedings to a close. 
 
 And very lively and content was the little supper-party 
 that later on assembled at Mrs. Maclean's— a supper-party 
 limited to five, at the cunning suggestion of the councillor. 
 For, said he they could be much merrier, with less of re- 
 straint, when they were 'by themselves'; and ' by them- 
 selves ' had come to mean himself and Jess, and Allan and 
 Barbara, with the widow as hostess and guardian. This, 
 therefore, was the circle now gathered round the hospitable 
 board ; and a very happy little circle it seemed to be. Jess, 
 in especial, was in great spirits ; she was delighted with the 
 way everything had gone off, and at the reception accorded 
 to her hero ; "though, as usual, she could not help jibing 
 and mocking at him. 
 
 " There's some that pretend to be very masterful, and 
 cool, and undisturbed," said she, darkly. "But when I 
 see a young man that is impatient of every word of in- 
 troduction — though all kinds of fine things are being said 
 about him — and that is anxious to plunge at once into the 
 business before him, I can tell that he is just as timorous 
 as a mouse, for all his affectation of composure." 
 
 "If you mean me, Jessie," said the schoolmaster, 
 laughing, " I will confess this to you, that I think I must 
 have been nervous. I did not know it at the time ; but 
 I guess that it must have been so, from the sensation of 
 relief I have now that it's all over." 
 
 " I hope," observed Mr. McFadyen, who still preserved 
 a certain air of state, " I hope I was not too severe in 
 rebuking that fool of a man, Maclntyrc " 
 
 " Severe ! " cried the little widow, with returning 
 indignation. " lie should have been locked up by 
 the police ! To interrupt a meeting in that way ! I
 
 A LECTURE AND THEREAFTER 143 
 
 declare it made me feel quite historical — I was like to 
 choke " 
 
 "And I trust there was no undue violence," continued 
 the councillor, still with something of a grand air, " on the 
 part of the joung men who removed him. It was a painful 
 duty that devolved upon me ; but I had to execute it ; and 
 I trust there was no undue violence " 
 
 " Oh, you need not trouble about that, Mr. McFadyen," 
 Jess said, blithely. " The young lads who carried out your 
 orders — and the shoemaker — did it as peaceably as was 
 possible." 
 
 "Ah, well, ah, well," said Peter, with a sigh of satis- 
 faction, " it was but a trifling incident, after all ; and one 
 may fairly say that the Avhole evening was a distinct success. 
 And though in a measure I was responsible for the conduct 
 of the proceedings, still, I do not think I am taking credit 
 to myself when I maintain that everything went off just 
 beautiful. And, mind you, Allan, lad, it's a great thing for 
 you to keep yourself before the public — you that's starting 
 the Latin class, and having a fine career before ye, as we all 
 of us hope. It's a great thing to be known and respected by 
 your fellow-townsmen ; and I was well pleased to see, when 
 ye stood up, that ye had a friendly welcome from 
 them " 
 
 "And what did you think of the Masonic Hall, Miss 
 Barbara ? " said the young schoolmaster, turning abruptly to 
 his neighbour — for he did not like this talk about himself. 
 
 " I was never seeing any place like that before," the girl 
 said. "And I could not understand the meaning of the 
 things on the walls. There was one, in front of me, that 
 was very strange — it looked like a large eye, single and 
 staring " 
 
 " Oh, that is the All-seeing Eye — I suppose, for I am 
 not a mason," he said. 
 
 She regarded him for a moment, doubtfully. 
 
 " All-seeing ? " she repeated ; and then she said, with 
 some petulance : " But how can it be All-seeing, when it is 
 only painted on tlie wall ? " 
 
 " It is merely an emblem," he replied, with great gentle- 
 ness. " It does not pretend to be anything but a 
 symbol "
 
 144 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Is it put there to frighten people ? " she demanded, 
 resentfully. 
 
 " Why, surely not ! " 
 
 " Then what is the use of it ? — though anyone knows 
 that an eye painted on a wall cannot be seeing anything ! " 
 she said. And this was her last word on the subject ; and 
 sufficiently enigmatic it was ; for he knew nothing of what 
 secret imaginings had been passing through her mind, as 
 she sate and half listened to the discourse about German 
 folk-songs. 
 
 Altogether a cheerful and pleasant hour or so, after the 
 serious labours of the evening were over ; but it was grow- 
 ing late ; and at length Mr. McFadyen and Allan rose to 
 go. Nevertheless, the councillor was still loquacious ; for 
 there Avas to be a great match at golf between the station- 
 master and himself, on the following Monday afternoon ; 
 and he was anxious that Jessie, and Barbara, and Mrs. 
 Maclean, too, if that were possible, should witness the 
 contest ; and he was discussing this project as he went to 
 the door, both Jess and her mother accompanying him. 
 This was Allan's opportunity — Barbara having remained 
 behind : it was an opportunity thrust upon him, as it were 
 chance-wise — an opportunity he could not, and did not 
 care to, avoid. For he was in a perturbed and reckless 
 mood ; the events of the evening had in some measure 
 excited him ; still more so the bewilderment of having once 
 again been sitting next this beautiful creature, with 
 glimpses of the raven-black tangles of her hair, and an 
 occasional glance from the deep, clear, mystic eyes. And 
 now, when the others had gone on, he turned to her ; she 
 became aware of his approach ; a sudden touch of appre- 
 hension appeared in her face. 
 
 " Barbara," he said — and his tones were low and impas- 
 sioned, " is it too soon for me to speak ? " 
 
 She uttered no word — she looked afraid. 
 
 "Did you hear what some of those lovers said in the 
 songs ? " he went on. " And did you not take it to your- 
 self — as if I were appealing to you ? For — for surely you 
 understand. You came to me out of the night and the 
 dark ; and now I want you to go with me through the 
 long day — the lonu' day that I hope lies before us two
 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER 145 
 
 together. Will you do that, Barbara ? Or is it too soon 
 to ask ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes," she said, with quick relief, " it is that it 
 
 is too soon yet •" 
 
 " But only too soon ? " he urged, seeking in vain for 
 some answering message from those downcast eyes. " Later 
 on, when you have got used to thinking of it, you will not 
 fear to say yes — you will let me hope for that ? " 
 
 But again she was silent ; and here were Jess and lier 
 inother returning from the outer staircase ; so that for the 
 present there was no assurance for him — only the solace 
 that now she knew what lay in his mind, burning there 
 like a consuming fire. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER. 
 
 Early one afternoon, the councillor, the station-master, 
 the station-master's wife, Jess Maclean, and Barbara left 
 the town by way of the Dunstaffnage road, making for the 
 golf-links facing the western sea. And of course Peter 
 McFadyen was the life and soul of this little group ; he 
 was overjoyed at Jessie's condescension in coming — indeed 
 this was but part of the marked favour she had shown him 
 ever since he had begun to take an active interest in Allan's 
 welfare ; and he was looking forward with delight to 
 another opportunity of displaying his prowess ancl skill. 
 He talked and laughed and made merry jests ; he was all 
 eager anticipation ; and when they faced the steep high- 
 way leading away from Duntroone, he it was who led, with 
 his chest manfully puffed out. 
 
 " There's nothing," he maintained, " like a good stiff 
 walk for giving free play to the muscles ; and free play to 
 the muscles is the seeny qucih non on the links. A soople 
 wrist and a springy ankle — and there ye are ! What's the 
 use of standing up like a stick ? Dod, I'd like to take half 
 the golfers I see and send them to get lessons from a 
 dancing-master ! "
 
 146 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Nor were his high spirits at all damped when the little 
 party had to pass the Cemetery. 
 
 " The poor bodies in tliere," said he, with much cheerful- 
 ness, " are at rest ; and we'll be the same in our turn. 
 But in the meantime — in the meantime," Peter remarked, 
 with a twinkle in his eye, " my opinion is like that of the 
 idiot-laddie at the funeral : ' I'm glad it's no me.' " 
 
 And again when they left the highway to cross Col- 
 qiihoun's farm he kept in front in order to open the gates ; 
 and thus he was enabled to discover that aliead of them 
 there was nothing more formidable than a number of cows, 
 the bull being away down in a hollow near a small loch. 
 Whereupon the cunning Peter affected to regard those 
 animals with some caution. 
 
 "That bull of Colquhoun's," said he, turning to the 
 women-folk, " is a terrible ill-natured beast ; but the only 
 way is to pay no heed to him ; you must not shrink back 
 on any account. You just follow me now when I open the 
 gate " 
 
 Here the station-master — a tall, thin, angular man, with 
 fiery red hair — burst out laughing. 
 
 " Peter, my friend," said he, " you need not be afraid of 
 a lot of cows. Yonder's the bull away down by the loch." 
 
 Peter looked round and elevated his eyebrows in well- 
 simulated astonishment. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," he observed. " I do believe you're right. 
 Not that it matter whether he's there or here. The one 
 way with a bull is to pay no heed to him. If he had been 
 within a yard of this gate, you'd have seen me open it in 
 his face. There's but the one way with a bull," reiterated 
 Peter — ^as he piloted the Avomen past the coavs. 
 
 Presently they came within view of the wide western 
 seas and the hills ; and a wonderful sight it was ; for while 
 all the world around them, both land and water, lay under 
 a mysterious, brooding semi-darkness, because of one un- 
 broken cloud that stretched across the whole of the over- 
 arching heavens, away out by Mull and Morven there 
 appeared to be another world altogether, a world of 
 mountains shining as it were behind a soft Acil of sun- 
 light, in ethereal tones of orange-red and silver-grey and 
 rose. No wonder the idle wanderers paused to look ; but
 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER 147 
 
 the conuoillor was impatient for the fray, and hurried 
 them on. 
 
 Of a sudden Jess stopped. 
 
 " What's that ? " said she, staring at a whin-bush a little 
 way up the bank. " Is there somebody there ? I'm sure I 
 saw something or somebody looking at me — just for a 
 moment " 
 
 " I'll soon find out," said the councillor, valiantly — for 
 in the protection of weak feminine human nature he was 
 afraid of neither robber nor rabbit. At once he sprang up 
 the bank, with surprising agility ; he went round by the 
 back of the whins ; and there he found Niall Gorach, 
 crouching down like a hare in her form. He got hold of 
 the half-witted lad by the collar, and hauled him into the 
 road. 
 
 " Ye young scoundrel, I'll teach ye to go frightening 
 folk in that way " 
 
 But Jess directly interposed. 
 
 " Indeed, you will not harm him," said she. " I have 
 not seen Niall since the time he found Allan Henderson 
 lying out among the rocks ; and I'm sure we are all very 
 much indebted to him ; and, Mr. McFadyen, it would be 
 wiser-like if you were to give the lad a sixpence and he 
 would carry your clubs for you round the links." 
 
 Niall looked from one to the other — with perhaps a side 
 glance to see if there was any way of escape from both. 
 But when McFadyen, delighted to obey Jess in all things, 
 promptly unslung from his shoulder his bag of golfing 
 implements and handed it over, the half-witted creature 
 took possession of it in quite a docile way, and then he 
 turned to her who had interceded for him. 
 
 " Am I to get a sixpence ? " he asked, timidly. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Jess, in friendly fashion. 
 
 " And he'll not strike me ? " 
 
 " He is not thinking of any such thing ! " she answered 
 him — and the assurance seemed suflicient. 
 
 A few minutes thereafter Niall sidled up to her again, 
 and said in an undertone — 
 
 " I'll show ye the white stag." 
 
 " What white stag ? " she asked, with her grey eyes 
 smiling in a way that generally inspired confidence. 
 
 L 2
 
 f4S HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " The white stag that's in the sanctuary of the Creannoch 
 Forest, There's none but me has seen it. I'll take you 
 there — I'll show it to ye." But at this point Niall's 
 services were required ; they had arrived at the teeing- 
 ground ; the great contest was about to begin. 
 
 And now the councillor, to whom had been accorded the 
 honour of opening the game, selected his driver and took 
 out from the pocket one of the cream-white balls. But he 
 was very jocular all the same ; he wished to show that, 
 even in the presence of these fair spectators, he was not in 
 the least nervous ; other players might play in solemn 
 silence — ^he was not to be tyrannised over by either precept 
 or custom. And he was still talking and jesting as he 
 stooped down to fomi a little tee of sand, on the top of 
 which he placed his ball ; and even when he rose again, 
 and got hold of his club, the inward seriousness that 
 had possession of him was not allowed to appear on his 
 face. 
 
 " You'll just stand well back," said he, facetiously, " for 
 golf-clubs sometimes run away wi' the player, and I would 
 not like to do you an injury." 
 
 Then he addressed himself to the ball ; he heaved his 
 shoulders slightly, to make sure that everything was free ; 
 he took a last look at the far height which it was his aim 
 to reach ; he clenched his teeth ; with his left heel slightly 
 raised, and his eyes fixed determinedly on the white object 
 before him, he elevated his club — up, and up, and up — ■ 
 until from well behind his back it came forward and down 
 again with a most mighty ' swipe.' There was a whistle 
 of cleft air ; the councillor spun round on his left foot, so 
 prodigious had been the force of the stroke ; and when 
 everybody's gaze had returned from asking what had 
 hai^pened, it was startlingly evident that the ball still 
 remained on the tee. Peter broke into a laugh. It was a 
 hearty laugh — not like the ironical grin that appeared on 
 the features of the station-master. 
 
 " Dod," said he, in humorous self-disparagement, " that's 
 a fine one ! That's well done ! That's a good beginning ! 
 But better late luck than no luck " 
 
 " Man, Peter," said his opponent, " were ye for driving 
 the ball to Banavie ? "
 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER 149 
 
 " Keep your breath to cool your own parritcli," retorted 
 McFadyen, confidently. " I'm no done with you yet, 
 Jamie. The game's young." 
 
 For he was again addressing himself to the ball. And 
 this time he did manage to hit it, and that with savage 
 energy ; but somehow something went wrong ; it flew off 
 at an oblique angle, it rose unnecessarily high, and almost 
 immediately dropped at the foot of the meadow, where 
 there was a ditch covered over with whins and withered 
 flag and fern. 
 
 " Ye're in a mess this time, Peter," observed the station- 
 master, grimly, as he proceeded to make a tee for himself. 
 
 But Peter had too much dignity, and was too anxious to 
 stand well in the eyes of the fair, to betray resentment or 
 exasperation. 
 
 " This driver's fit for nothing," said he, regarding the 
 club with great disfavour. " It's forever heeling or toeing. 
 The only tool that's fit to drive with is a bulger : catch mc 
 coming out with anything else again ! Well, let's see what 
 you can do, Jamie." 
 
 For Grilmour was now about to play his first stroke. And 
 when he did so the ball flew away with a fine metallic 
 ' pirr ' that sounded pleasantly to all ears but Peter's, it 
 skimmed the wide meadow, slightly rising before the end of 
 its flight, it got clear over a dangerous hazard formed by a 
 burn banked with whins, and on falling it was conspicuous 
 on the face of the declivity beyond. This patent success 
 of his enemy was even more trying to the councillor's 
 temper than anything that had happened before. But 
 he bore up well. He said not a word. And it was with 
 a certain air of calm composure that he walked away 
 towards the ditch to look for his ball, his companions 
 following. 
 
 When they came up there was a different story to tell. 
 The councillor could not find the ball, nor was it likely he 
 should ever find it, amid this waste of withered herbage 
 and pools of stagnant water ; yet nevertheless he was 
 hunting and jorobing hither and thither, and viciously 
 hacking at the whins with his iron deck, whilst the anger 
 at his heart was now becoming outwardly visible. 
 
 " Do not mind it, Mr. McFadyen," said the sympathetic
 
 I50 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Mrs. Grilmonr. " Take another ball and go on from ^Yllere 
 you are." 
 
 But Peter^ speechless with vexation, would continue his 
 probing and hacking. 
 
 " Three minutes gone out of the five," said the station- 
 master, playfully, holding his watch in his hand. 
 
 " James ! " remonstrated his wife, in indignant tones. 
 " Ye would not claim any such thing ! Mr. McFadyen 
 must take another ball, and go on from where he is." 
 
 " And who in all creation ever heard of women laying 
 down the law on a golf-links ? " cried the ungallant 
 Gilmour ; and then he added, with a cruel smile : " Four 
 minutes gone, Peter." 
 
 And at last the embittered councillor had to abandon the 
 unavailing search. 
 
 " The first hole is yours, Gilmour," he said, gloomily. 
 " But the first hole is not the game, I would have ye 
 remember that." 
 
 Well I am aware of it," said the station-master, blithely. 
 And you know what they say : A good ending is better 
 than a bad beginning." 
 
 And indeed fortune was not disposed to keep up a 
 perpetual quarrel with the councillor ; it would hardly have 
 l)een fair, considering who were looking on, and considering 
 his eager desire to shine. At the" very outset of their 
 progress to the next hole the station-master got into trouble ; 
 the drive which he led off was a good drive in every respect 
 except direction ; at the end of its flight the ball dis- 
 appeared over a stone wall and had no doubt dropped 
 into the farm-road on the other side. This raised Mr. 
 McFadyen's spirits not a little. AVhen he came to play, he 
 paid scrupulous attention to his tee ; he placed the ball most 
 carefully ; he paused for a second or two to make sure of the 
 lie of the land ; and when he struck it was with all the swing 
 and freedom and art he could command. Away went the 
 small white globe, in a gradually rising curve ; they watched 
 and watched it ; they watched and watched it — against the 
 softly grey sky ; and when at length it subsided, at a great 
 distance off, and out in the open, joy returned to the coun- 
 cillor's heart once more. 
 
 " Well done ! " said Jess, quite honestly. 

 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER 151 
 
 " Well done indeed ! " cried Mrs. Gilmour. 
 And even Barbara, who had been gazing away towards 
 the Sound of Mull, turned to see what was going on. 
 
 " It's a little better— a little better," said Mr. McFadyen, 
 with a fine indifference. " One cannot always be playing like 
 a Iwrn idiot. Now let's go and see what Gilmour is about." 
 By this time the station-master had clambered over the 
 dyke, and had succeeded in finding his ball, which lay in a 
 deep rut in the road. And now the secret exultation of the 
 councillor could hardly be any longer suppressed. He called 
 up the women-folk to look over the wall at Gilmour's most 
 miserable plight. For truly the station-master w^as in ill- 
 luck. Twicehe got the ball well out of the rut, and twice 
 it struck the top of the wall, falling back into the road 
 again. Peter laughed loud and long over this amusing 
 spectacle. 
 
 " Hit him again, Jimmie ! " he cried. " Dod, it's grand 
 exercise for ye ! But keep your temper ! — Keep your temper 
 now ! — I've seen more than one club bashed in that road." 
 Eventually the station-master got out of all his diffi- 
 culties ; but they had sadly handicapped him ; and when 
 at length he and the councillor had reached the green, 
 there could be little doubt about the result ; the proud and 
 pleased Peter won this hole easily. 
 
 And so, with varying success and mishap they made their 
 way along and across these rude and untutored links, until 
 they were nearing the dreaded Pinnacle. 
 
 "Wait till ye see Gilmour at the Pinnacle," Peter had 
 said, with a sly wink, to Jess Maclean. " Jamie's temper 
 can stand anything and everything — except the Pinnacle." 
 
 They were now come to a rising slope beyond which was 
 an unseen hollow, while beyond the hollow again rose a 
 considerable height the steep face of which was scarred 
 across by little ridges, of a muddy and sloppy nature. The 
 temptation here placed before the iugenuous player is to try 
 to get over this desperate hazard by one daring drive from 
 the tee — the common result of which is that he lands in 
 the intervening valley, or strikes the impossible face of the 
 hill, a still more hopeless fate ; while the cunning practi- 
 tioner, playing a half-stroke from the tee, is content to 
 reach the top of the hither slope, from which he has a
 
 152 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 better chance of sending his ball right on to the summit of 
 the Pinnacle. It was with a subdued smile that Peter 
 watched the station-master make his preparations. 
 
 " Now for a good one, Jamie," said he, with diabolical 
 guile. " The Pinnacle's always making a fool of ye ! Let's 
 see what you can do now ! " 
 
 But, whether by accident or design the station-master 
 made no sort of display ; his ball landed at the top of the 
 near slope, lying well for the next drive, and considerably 
 dashing the councillor's baleful anticipations. Peter now 
 played, getting to about the same place. Then came 
 Grilmour's opportunity ; and with a very excellent ' swipe,' 
 that earned the generous applause of the spectators, he 
 sent his ball saihng away over that ugly chasm until it 
 dropped on the opposite crest : at last he had conquered 
 the Pinnacle ! 
 
 Now of com-se Peter could do no better, but at least he 
 might do as well ; and so, with anxious heart but resolute 
 mien, he made ready. He looked at the horrid cliff, with 
 its steps and stairs of sloppy herbage ; he looked at the 
 tiny white globe before him ; he pursed up his lips firmly — 
 he raised his club — he struck a manful stroke. Alas ! that 
 such things should be — the ball did indeed clear the chasm, 
 but all too unmistakably did it alight on the opposite face ; 
 it hesitated for a moment ; then the white spot was seen to 
 come hopping slowly and quietly into the valley below. It 
 was now the station-master's turn to jeer ; and jeer he did 
 — in such a fashion that his wife had angrily and shame- 
 facedly to protest. 
 
 What followed is almost too painful for narration ; except 
 in tliis way, that the spectacle of a man wrestling with his 
 agony has always been understood to arouse woman's 
 sympathy ; and Jess Maclean was looking on. No matter 
 how the councillor fought and strove, changing the trusted 
 niblick for the crafty sand-iron, or entrusting his fortunes 
 to the useful cleek, that small white sphere, with a remorse- 
 less and malignant pertinacity, would return from the 
 greatest height he could reach, sliding, hopping, rolling, 
 until it lay contentedly in front of him. 
 
 "Put it in your pocket, Peter — put the ball in your 
 pocket, man ! " tlic station-master shouted from the top of
 
 COUNCILLOR V. STATION-MASTER 153 
 
 the Pinnacle — mercilessly returning the taunts that had so 
 often been addressed to himself. 
 
 And this, after a few more frantic trials, Peter was 
 constrained to do, for by this time the evening was wearing 
 on ; but all the same he was determined to conceal his bitter 
 mortification ; Jess must see that in the most tragic circum- 
 stances he could preserve his equanimity. 
 
 " Jamie," he called, " come away down out 0' that, man : 
 it's time to be making for home. The afternoon's yours ; 
 Ave'll live to fight another dav." 
 
 So the Homeric contest was ended, and the shades of 
 evening fell ; but the overhead sky was clearing, as they 
 made their way to the sea shore ; and by the time they 
 entered the Avoods skirting the coast there was some sugges- 
 tion of moonlight wandering down through the black stems, 
 and causing a shadow here and there on the ancient-worn 
 pathway. When they got into the open again, the moon 
 -was found to be high in the south-east, with a halo of pale 
 lemon hue around it ; there were a few solitary clouds 
 hanging high that still had a lingering touch of saffron 
 about them ; the waters down the Sound of Kerrara were 
 of a cold metallic grey. The councillor was in great form. 
 This was quite a picturesque and romantic ending to their 
 afternoon's diversion. In the woods he had lifted up his 
 voice and sang ; and now, fronting the open bay, he sang ; 
 and the burden of his song, shrill as it might be, was the 
 praise of young Jessie the Flower of Dunblane. He might 
 just as well have said Duntroone : they all knew. 
 
 ' 1% loveJy young Jessie, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the Floiver of Dunblane.^ 
 
 — thus he skirled away, with many gay flourishes, until 
 they were nearing the town, when decorum demanded 
 silence. 
 
 And of course the first thing they did, when they got 
 into Campbell Street, was to go and report themselves to 
 the widow ; and the first person they saw — or at least the 
 most conspicuous — when they entered the little parlour, 
 was Jack Ogilvie, the purser of the Aros Castle. Barbara 
 seemed to wakcu out of a dream.
 
 154- HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AN INTRUDEK. 
 
 " AxD how arc you yourself, Mr, McFadyen ? " said Ogilvie, 
 when he had paid his respects to the two girls, and resumed 
 his seat, " I'm glad to see by the newspaper that you can 
 hold your own at the Council — that you're not afraid even 
 of the Provost himself," 
 
 Now there was a kind of gay assurance — a happy-go- 
 lucky fashion of making himself at home — about the young 
 man that the councillor keenly resented ; but at the same 
 time this compliment to his courage in debate somewhat 
 mollified Peter. 
 
 " I'll not deny," said he, sententiously, " that there are 
 occasions when it is one's duty to stand by one's opinions, 
 even at the risk of being considered quarrelsome. When a 
 man has convictions he must maintain them. And I have 
 never budged from my position that, with regard to the 
 water-supply, Loch-a-Voulin is the only and proper 
 loch " 
 
 " What is this your Gaelic Choir are after ? " Jack Ogilvie 
 asked, turning lightly to Jess Maclean. 
 
 " I have not heard of anything, then," she answered. 
 
 " Oh, they are meditating great doings," said he. " It 
 appears that a number of members of the Glasgow Choir 
 are coming through ; and your Choir want to entertain 
 them — a concert and ball, or something of the sort ; and 
 they have already asked me to act as M.C. Well, I was 
 not quite sure to say yes or no, when I remembered that 
 Miss Barbara had promised me a dance on the first oppor- 
 tunity of the kind, and of course that decided me." 
 
 Instantly all eyes were turned to Barbara, with surprised 
 inquiry. Where had Barbara learnt to dance ? And how 
 could this conversation between her and the Purser have 
 taken place ? The girl herself, showing the greatest distress 
 and confusion, was silent.
 
 AN INTRUDER 155 
 
 " Ay, and where did you find a dancing master at 
 Kuockalanish ? " asked Mrs. Maclean, smiling good- 
 naturedly enough. 
 
 But Barbara seemed to consider the question a taunt. 
 
 " There's plenty on the island can dance very Avell," said 
 she, " and the one can show the other." 
 
 So the mystery remained a mystery ; for Jack Ogilvie, 
 perceiving that his chance remark had caused some trouble, 
 immediately came to the rescue and turned the conversation 
 into another channel. Moreover, he could talk well. Before 
 securing his present employment, he had made many voyages, 
 and seen many places and things ; he had an abundance of 
 amusing experiences ; he was accustomed, because of his 
 good looks and his pleasant manners, to be made much of ; 
 and he chatted away — to Mrs. Maclean, to Jess, to Barbara 
 — freely and cheerfully, and as one who knew he was 
 welcome. All this but increased the councillor's profound 
 chagrin. AVhat right had this intruder to come into the 
 sacred circle ? There was an air of audacious youth about 
 him that was in itself offensive. Then Mr. McFadyen, who 
 was accustomed to boast of his knowledge of the world, 
 found himself driven into a narrow and cramped little pro- 
 vincial corner by this gay conversationalist who had been 
 everywhere and had seen everything. What was the use of 
 vaunting Ben Nevis and Ben Cruachan before one who had 
 l)eheld the pale snows of Mount Etna towering above the 
 burnt and torrid slopes of Sicily ? AVhat was the use of 
 talking about the Government gunboat just come into the 
 bay to one who had watched a Mediterranean squadron 
 steam into the Piraus ? The hilly semicircle of Duntroone 
 looked well enough as one came sailing into the harbour ; 
 but perhaps it was hardly so impressive as the domes aud 
 minarets and gardens of Stamboul seen from across the 
 waters of the Golden Horn. And, though Mr. Boyd's 
 cairngorms were no doubt very fine, and l)is settings of 
 lona stones ingenious and intricate, they could not well be 
 compared with the treasures of the museums which this 
 young man had carelessly visited in his various wanderings. 
 And the worst of it was that he had no swagger about him. 
 He had no need of swagger ; he was too handsome, too 
 good-humoured, too used to favouring glances and smiles.
 
 156 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 And alas ! he Avas dowered with the terrible dower of youth, 
 that is so merciless in its victories. 
 
 But if the councillor fretted and fiuned in his provincial 
 corner, that was not the mood in which Barbara Maclean, 
 who had entirely recovered from her momentary confusion, 
 sate and listened to all this easy, brilliant, discursive talk. 
 Never before had she had such an opportunity of studyino; 
 Ogilvie's appearance, of observing all those elegancies and 
 refinements and perfections that in her eyes appeared to 
 separate him from the rest of mankind. New fascinations, 
 new attractions, were every moment being revealed to her. 
 For example, his hair, that was of a light golden-brown, 
 with something more than a tendency to curl, was cut 
 particularly short about the nape of the neck ; but, short 
 as it was, there was no suggestion of stubble ; on the 
 contrary it lay about in little silken waves on the fair and 
 sun-tanned skin. His laugh, too, was honest and un- 
 affected ; it seemed to be the expression of a naturally 
 happy temperament ; life appeared to go well with him. And 
 of course Jack Ogilvie, whatever he might be talking or 
 laughing about, could not but be conscious of the presence 
 of an extremely pretty girl, who, besides, paid him rapt 
 attention ; and if he did not exactly lay himself out to 
 capitvate, at least he had no thought of hiding his light 
 under a bushel. The councillor, disappointed and angry, 
 had relapsed into a sullen silence. 
 
 But Mr. McFadyen had his innings when the dazzling 
 sun-god had departed. 
 
 " There is nothing I despise so much," he declared with 
 emphasis, "as a flippant young man. For where there is 
 flippancy there is no depth ; and where there is no depth 
 there is no stabeelity, and where there is no stabeelity, 
 there can be nothing to look forward to but the downward 
 road to wreck and ruin. The creature of a summer day 
 ■ — a fluff of a candle — a butterfly blown by the wind ! I 
 appeal to you, Mrs. Maclean," he went on earnestly. " What 
 would happen to us if we took no heed of the serious 
 interests of life ? Look at the questions that press close 
 on us — look at the water-supply — look at vaccination — 
 look at the housing of the poor : did ye see the last 
 report ? — the terribly overcrowding "
 
 AN INTRUDER I57 
 
 "Indeed I did," said the little widow. "And I was 
 just shocked to see the rate of infant immortality — it's 
 fearful to think of " 
 
 " Did not I say so — did not I say so ? " he exclaimed — 
 as though he had discovered some dark connection between 
 Jack Ogilvie and that Herodiau slaughter. " If we do not 
 face the problems of existence, we perish ; it's the one 
 thing or the other ; gallivanting about like a butterfly will 
 not " do. The world's not made up of idleness and 
 amusement " 
 
 At this point ]\Ir. McFadyen stopped. It may have 
 occurred to him that he was entirely on the wrong tack. 
 For had he not consistently been, especially before these 
 young folk, the foremost champion of all sorts of gaieties 
 and sports and pastimes, and anxious to display his own 
 proficiency therein ? These gloomy preachments did not 
 become one who excelled in the graceful Varsoviana, who 
 sang " When other lips " with touching pathos, who could 
 throw the hammer against any of the younger men, or drive 
 a ball from the Pinnacle right on to the next green. 
 Happily, at this moment, Barbara stepped in to afford him 
 the means of retrieving his error. 
 
 "If the Gaelic Choir are to have dancing," said she, 
 " will it be in the Drill Hall ? " 
 
 " Ah, there now," rejoined the councillor, with some 
 return to his ordinary buoyancy ; " there, now, will be 
 a fine evening ; and no doubt it will be in the Drill Hall ; 
 and I should not wonder if the Glasgow Choir gave us some 
 part-singing before the dance. Of course, it may be pre- 
 sumptuous in me to assume that I am to be invited " 
 
 " They could not do without ye, Mr. ]\IcFadyen ! " cried 
 the widow. 
 
 " But if all goes well," continued the councillor, modestly, 
 " I hope to have Miss Jessie and her cousin under my escort, 
 just as we were before." 
 
 "And this time," said Barbara, glancing somewhat 
 nervously from the one to the other, " this time will we wait 
 a little while for the dancing ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, if you would like," the widow responded, with 
 her usual magnanimity. " I will trust to Mr. McFadyen to 
 look after you both and bring you safe home." — Almost
 
 158 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 immediately thereafter, with some trifling excuse, Barbara 
 left those others to themselves ; she crossed the street, went 
 up the stair, and entered the house ; and there she made 
 straight for her own room, and for the two drawers in 
 which lay the odds and ends of millinery she had managed 
 to acquire since the occasion of Mrs. McAskill's ball. 
 
 Apparently the handsome young Purser had found the 
 hour or so he had passed in Mrs. Maclean's parlour pleasant 
 enough ; for he got into the way of looking in of an 
 evening, especially when he had any intelligence to convey 
 about the visit of the Glasgow Choir ; while Barbara, under 
 pretext that she wished to learn how to become useful in 
 the shop, went regularly over at the close of each day, 
 whoever might chance to call. On the other hand, Allan 
 Henderson was conspicuously absent ; he was busy about 
 the starting of his Latin Class ; and he was keen to have 
 all things well in train before bringing his budget of news 
 to this little circle of friends. Perhaps, if success were 
 assured, or even seen to be probable, Barbara might be 
 attracted ? Hitherto she had shown the scantiest interest 
 in his doings ; but perchance these larger schemes might 
 win her attention ? And she knew what was spurring him 
 on — she knew what hopes he had formed : it might be that 
 this future to which he was looking she would recognise as 
 also her own. 
 
 At length one evening the schoolmaster, his brain a chaos of 
 wild anticipations, went along to the tobacconist's shop, and 
 entered, and tapped at the partly-opened door of the parlour. 
 
 " Come in, Allan," the widow called at once. 
 
 But already he had perceived that a stranger was there — - 
 a stranger in one sense, though of course every one in 
 Duntroone knew by sight the Purser of the Aro& Castle. 
 
 " Where have you been all this while ? " continued 
 Mrs. Maclean, cheerfully, "We were thinking of sending 
 round the bellman to lind you out. And surely you know 
 Mr. Ogilvie ? " 
 
 The two young men nodded — the one lightly and 
 carelessly, the other stiffly enough. 
 
 " And is the rain off yet ? " she asked again — for there 
 was an awkward pause. 
 
 Allan made some kind of answer. Already his mind was
 
 AN INTRUDER 159 
 
 filled with vague misgiviugs. This stranger appeared to be 
 but little of a stranger ; he seemed to be on the most 
 friendly and familiar terms with everybody ; he had 
 installed himself and made himself at home in a surprisingly 
 short time. And what now happened, simple as the incident 
 was, only served to increase the schoolmaster's nebulous 
 apprehensions. 
 
 " Oh, was it raining when you came in ? " Barbara said, 
 iu a very amiable way, to Ogilvie. Therewith she crossed 
 over to the peg on which he had hung his ca]), and she 
 took down the cap and examined it. " Yes, indeed," said 
 she, " And how careless you are ! " With that she went 
 and got a cloth ; she brought the cap along to the gasalier ; 
 and very carefully she polished the two brass buttons and 
 the narrow band of glazed leather. It was a good naturcd 
 little action, perhaps of no import ; but in the eyes of Allan 
 Henderson this betrayal of sympathetic interest, on the part 
 of one ordinarily so reserved and indifferent, was of startling 
 significance. As for Ogilvie, he only laughed. 
 
 " In my trade," said he, " we don't mind a few drops of 
 water, whether salt or fresh." 
 
 " But when you are on shore, you should do as shore-folk 
 do," she said ; and thereupon she went and returned the 
 cap to its peg. Henderson remembered afterwards that he 
 had never seen her figure look so bewitchingiy graceful 
 as when she was holding the brass buttons up to the 
 gaslight, the better to polish them and the glazed leather 
 band. 
 
 No, it was not Jack Ogilvie, purser of the Aros Gastle, 
 who was the stranger ; it was he, Allan Henderson, who 
 found himself, or imagined himself to be, a stranger. He 
 felt himseh" isolated and companionless ; his poor little 
 budget of news, so all-important to himself, neither asked 
 for nor thought of ; all the talk was of the festivities in 
 connection with the forthcoming visit of the Glasgow Choir. 
 Jess, it is true, would occasionally try to say a word or 
 two to him, or would proffer him the matches, or the like ; 
 but he was proud and hurt ; it was in stern silence that he 
 listened to all this babblement about dancing and partners 
 and dress. Strangest thing of all, it was Barbara — Barbara 
 the apathetic and morose — who was now most animated ;
 
 i6o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 her liquid dark -blue eyes were full of life, lier parted lips 
 smiling, a pleased and eager interest giving a fresh bloom 
 to her complexion, 
 
 " I am sure the waltz country-dance is as pretty as any," 
 she was saying. 
 
 " Yes, when you have plenty of good waltzers," Ogilvie 
 interposed, with a laugh. 
 
 " And the figure is so simple," she continued, addressing 
 him alone, " there is no difficulty in trying to remember. 
 But the figures of the quadrille — and worse still, the figures 
 of the Lancers — well, who can remember them ? " 
 
 " Who ? " he repeated gaily. " Why, your partner, to be 
 sure ! That's his business. You should be taken through 
 a quadrille without a moment's trouble ; it's for your 
 partner to tell you what is coming next. That is the good 
 fortune of being a young lady — everything is done for you 
 — you have no bother. But I'm afraid that what is con- 
 sidered the best use of a dance in the great houses in 
 London would not be practicable at the Drill Hall. A couple 
 of partners wouldn't find it easy to ' sit out,' and have a 
 confidential chat by themselves — unless they went down the 
 steps into the lane, and that would be awkward, among the 
 mud, with perhaps an arriving carriage or two " 
 
 " But surely Mr. McFadyen will see that everything is 
 done in a proper way," observed Mrs. Maclean, not quite 
 understanding the point. " It would be a great pity if the 
 young people were not allowed to enjoy themselves — it's not 
 so many chances they have in the course of a year." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you may trust the councillor," said Ogilvie, 
 lightly. "All the financial questions have been confided 
 to him ; and the refreshment department as well ; though 
 there will be nothing so grand as what the McAskills gave, 
 for a hotel-keeper has a lot of servants, and knows how to 
 do things." 
 
 " I am sure no one will be busier than yourself, Mr. 
 Ogilvie," said Barbara, with approving eyes. "For I 
 remember at the other dance you were looking after every 
 one " 
 
 " Busy ? " said he. " But not too busy to remember 
 promises ; and you've promised me a dance. Miss Barbara ; 
 and maybe we'll make it into two or three. McFadyen is a
 
 AN INTRUDER i6i 
 
 desperate man for the dancing ; he'll be glad enough to 
 stay on ; and you hurried away far too soon last time. 
 This time we must treat you better ; and you'll not be 
 flying olf just when the fun is going to begin." 
 
 " And you, now, Allan, my lad," put in the widow, with 
 the most kindly intention, " are you not thinking of going 
 with them ? The life of a young man should not be 
 altogether made up of books and classes." 
 
 The black look on Allan's face was blended now with an 
 active displeasure. 
 
 " No, no," said he, impatiently. " Let them that can 
 enjoy such amusements do so, and welcome : there's no 
 blame to them. But other folks have other ways — that 
 is all." 
 
 And thereupon he rose from his seat, to take his leave. 
 The widow urged him to remain, but he refused, with stiff 
 courtesy. Jess alone followed him into the front shop. 
 
 " What is it that has vexed you, Allan ? " she asked, with 
 direct frankness. 
 
 " There are some things in human nature that I do not 
 understand yet," he replied, and that dark and absent look 
 on his face was as sombre as ever. " And perhaps I shall 
 never be able to understand them. Good night, Jessie ! " 
 
 He held out his hand for a moment, and she pressed it. 
 As he left, her gentle grey eyes followed him, and there 
 was more than sympathetic concern in them. She did not 
 at once return to the parlour. 
 
 Outside the rain was still falling heavily, and there was a 
 cold wind blowing in from the sea. The schoolmaster was 
 grateful for this stinging wet that struck about his ears ; it 
 seemed to bewilder him in some kind of way, and to repress 
 and chill down the hot turmoil of his brain. 
 
 M
 
 i62 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 A RAID ON THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 A BROODING twilight lay over the hills and the lonely corries 
 as two men — the one of them being Lauchlan the shoe- 
 maker, the other his cousin Colin, a keeper from Loch-Awe 
 side — made their way along the shores of a solitary and 
 voiceless sea-loch. The keeper was a short person, of extra- 
 ordinary breadth of shoulder and muscular development 
 about the legs ; he looked indeed liice a compressed giant ; 
 and he w'alked with the long swinging stride of one used to 
 the heather. Both men spoke in undertones, though that 
 seemed unnecessary enough in this silent and trackless 
 solitude. 
 
 " It is I," said Lauchlan, gloomily, in Gaelic, " that am 
 not liking this affair." 
 
 " With your leave, then," rejoined his companion, in the 
 same tongue, "you are a fool. Why, the doings of this 
 night will l)e talked of throughout the West Highlands for 
 years and years to come ! And you yourself, Lauchlan," he 
 went on, with a grim jocosity, " you yourself will be made 
 famous, if names should leak out. As Lauchlan the shoe- 
 maker, you could never become famous ; but as one that 
 helped to drive the deer out of the Creannoch sanctuary, 
 you will become famous. The poets will sing of you, 
 Lauchlan " 
 
 Lauchlan was peevish. He expressed an opinion about 
 poets in general, and a wish as to their future fate, that 
 betrayed his ill-temper. 
 
 "There was one of them," he continued, "living in 
 Duntroone ; and for two years I was mending boots and 
 shoes for him ; and he went away ; and never a penny of 
 his money was I seeing before or since. And if any names 
 leak out, as you say, it w-ill more likely put us into jail than 
 anything else. That will be a fine thing, to be in jail ! " 
 He turned his head, as if suddenly remembering. " Is there 
 a drop in the bottle, Colin ? "
 
 A RAID ON THE SANCTUARY 163 
 
 " Indeed there is," said the keeper, pausing for a moment. 
 " But there's more than a drop or two drops where we are 
 going. Oh, I tell you, Lord Esme is the boy ! He is the 
 boy ! If there's any devihnent in the country, he must be 
 at it ; and fearing for nothing ; the lion's heart the young 
 man has got, and no mistake. Was I telling you what 
 happened last year on the Strin, when the water was too 
 low for the fishing ? " continued the keeper, as they resumed 
 their progress. " Well, now, if there's any kind of poaching 
 that is not known to Lord Esme Carruthers, then I am not 
 aware of it. And a fine trick he has, if the pools are low, 
 and the salmon are hiding, and you cannot see them so as 
 to drop the snatching-hooks over them ; for he will bring a 
 spaniel with him, and he will put the spaniel into the water, 
 and fling stones here and there, with the spaniel swimmhig 
 after them, and crossing every inch of the pool ; and do 
 you not think a salmon will imagine it is the devil overhead 
 when he sees the four paws of a spaniel going like the 
 paddles of a steamer ? — he will be very glad to make a 
 
 move of it " 
 
 " I will take a little drop more, Colin ; I am not used to 
 such long travelling as you." 
 
 Again they halted, and again they resumed — each con- 
 tentedly wiping his mouth with his coat-sleeve. 
 
 " Yery well, then ; at the time I am telling you of, we 
 managed at length to get sight of a salmon, and Lord Esme 
 he put the line over him, and struck, and sure enough we 
 had him fast. ' Here, Colin,' says his lordship, ' you play 
 this fish, and I'll gaff him for you ; ' for he never cares 
 about playing a fish, whether he has hooked him by fair 
 means or any means. Then he takes the gaff down to the 
 water's edge ; and I was standing over him — with no great 
 strain on the fish either ; when, by the holy piper, away 
 comes the line into the air ; and the first thing I saw Avas 
 that the triangle had struck his lordship in the face. And 
 maybe you do not know what a triangle is, Lauchlan, but 
 it is three hooks, each as long as your finger, and they are 
 bound back to back with a band of iron ; and what do you 
 think now — one of the hooks had gone right into Lord 
 Esme's cheek. If it had been an ordinary salmon-fly, I 
 could have stripped the dressing off, and pushed the barb 
 
 M 2
 
 i64 HIGHLAND COUSIMS 
 
 through, and got the hook out that way ; but, bless, inc, 
 there were the other two hooks, and I could not break them 
 off, or do anything with them. 'Your lordship,' says I, 
 ' you will have to go into Inverness, to get a doctor to cut 
 it out.' ' You scoundrel,' says he — but speaking was not 
 easy for him, the poor young man — ' do you want me to 
 advertise myself as a poacher all over the country, and me 
 known to every station-master on the Highland Line ? 
 Take your knife in your hand now, and dig this thing out ! ' 
 And with that he lay down, and put his head on the heather. 
 Lauchlan, my son, it was a terrible job. More than once 
 have I had to cut a hook out of my own finger ; but it was 
 nothing at all to that job. And did he utter a word 
 or a groan all the time ? — not one ! — not a movement 
 of a muscle^and my handkerchief and his handkerchief 
 smothered. And, do you know what he says when he is on 
 his feet again, and I have the triangle out : 'Well, Colin,' 
 he says, and he was laughing, ' I do not think it is on this 
 side of my head I will sleep to-night ! ' Was not that a 
 hero now ? I tell you, Lord Esme is the boy ! — he's the 
 boy for any devilment that's going ! " 
 
 " Ay, and are you sure he will be here this night ? " 
 asked Lauchie — whose undertones had sunk almost to a 
 whisper, for the darkness was coming on, and they were in 
 a lonely neighbourhood. 
 
 "Sure I am of that," his friend answered, "if Niall 
 riorach can find out the Black Bothy in Glen Etherick ; 
 and there are few things about this district unknown to the 
 half-witted lad. ' Colin, my old friend,' says his lordship 
 to me — and if there's anyone can speak better Gaelic than 
 Lord Esme, I am not acquainted with him — ' Colin,' says 
 he, ' maybe that is a foolish tale of Niall G orach about the 
 white stag in Creannoch ; but anyway you must get a few 
 of your friends that you can trust, and we will go into the 
 Forest, and we will drive out every living head of deer 
 that's in the sanctuary, and scatter them far and wide ; and 
 if there is any white stag there, he will soon be seen 
 wandering about by somebody." 
 
 " Ay — when we are in jail," murmured Lauchie, in 
 sombre tones. 
 
 "I do not care," said the telescoped giant, defiantly.
 
 A RAID ON THE SANCTUARY 165 
 
 "If his lordship came to me, aud said, 'Colin, wc ayIII go 
 now and knock at the door of the Bad Place, and see what 
 they will do to ns,' it's I that would be answering him, 
 ' Very well, your lordship : where you go I will be at your 
 side.' And maybe they would be quite civil to him after 
 all ; for there's no one can withstand liord Esme when he 
 wishes to be merry and friendly — every one knows that," 
 
 By this time they had got well away from the sea-loch, 
 and were gradually ascending into a wild upland region that 
 looked dreary enough in the gathering dark. An absolute 
 silence prevailed in these mountain solitudes, save for the 
 trickling of some unseen burn ; and Lauchlan, laboriously 
 toiling after his guide, was not disposed to waste his breath 
 in speech. But at last he said disconteutedly — 
 
 " Was there no easier way of getting to Glen Etherick 
 than this way ? " 
 
 " There are many ways of getting to Glen Etherick, as is 
 well known," responded Colin, with quiet dignity. " But 
 when you will be planning an expedition of this kind, it 
 must l)e done with judgment ; and if all of us had gone 
 together to the Black Bothy*, do you not think that every 
 keeper within ten miles of the Creannoch Forest would have 
 become aware of it ? No, no, Lauchlan, my son ; that is 
 not the way we manage ; for one will come from here, and 
 another from there ; and the Black Bothy has been chosen 
 as a trysting-place so that a small keg or two of whisky 
 could be sent on beforehand. For I tell you that Lord 
 Esme is the boy ; ay, that indeed ; and anyone that does 
 him a service — well, he will not die of thirst," 
 
 " It is I that am wishing we were there," responded 
 Lauchie, with a heartfelt sigh, as he plunged and stumbled 
 and fought his way along through rocks and heather. 
 
 After" protracted and weary toil they at length began to 
 descend from these solitary heights, eventually getting into 
 a deep and narrow ravine the sides of which were lined with 
 birch trees that made their progress more and more difficult. 
 And the darkness had grown profound. 
 
 " I am thinking this is the right corrie," said the keeper, 
 "but I am not sure. And maybe we will have to wait till 
 
 the moon rises " 
 
 * Black Bothy — an illicit still.
 
 1 66 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 At this moment he uttered a brief exclamation, and 
 invohnitarily stopped short. For a human figure had 
 suddenly become visible, peering from among the birch 
 trees. Then he recognised who this was. 
 
 " Son of the devil," he growled angrily, " what do you 
 mean by haunting the woods like a wild-cat ? Well, where 
 is the Black Bothy, then ? " 
 
 " It is lower down," answered Niall Gorach ; but he did 
 not wait for any more questions ; he vanished into the 
 gloom again, not even the crackling of a twig betraying his 
 whereabouts. 
 
 However, even without Mall Gorach's guidance, the 
 keeper and his companion experienced but little trouble in 
 discovering the appointed rendezvous ; for when they had 
 still further descended the chasm, a muffled sound of voices 
 proved to be a sufficient clue ; and after crossing the waters 
 of a small stream, they made their way to the entrance 
 of the dismantled still. Indeed the half-dozen or so of 
 shepherds, gillies, and the like who had taken possession 
 of the Bothy did not appear to have aimed at much 
 concealment ; they had lit a fire of chips and branches in 
 the middle of the floor ; two or three candles, stuck in 
 black bottles, also helped to light up the spacious cavern ; 
 while the hilarious talking and laughing going on was 
 quite unrestrained. Beyond the red glare of the fire, and 
 seated on a log of wood, was a young man who was clearly 
 king of the company : a handsome young fellow, with a 
 devil-may-care air about him, and a merry twinkle in his 
 eye. He alone of the group had neither cup nor glass by 
 him ; he hardly even cared to keep his pipe alit, as he 
 listened, with evident diversion, to the clamorous argument 
 going forward, in which gibes and jests and sarcasms were 
 being freely exchanged. 
 
 " Welcome to the hearth ! " he called out, in excellent 
 Gaelic, when he caught a glimpse of the two dusky figures 
 at the door. " Come away in, Colin, and you Lauchlan ; 
 and make yourselves at home ; for we will not start till the 
 moon is up. And pass the keg now, lads ; CoUu, a seat on 
 the floor is better than no seat ; and when you have been 
 in the night air, John Barleycorn is a good friend." 
 
 " I am drinking." reioined the keeper, slowly and
 
 A RAID ON THE SANCTUARY 167 
 
 formally, as he filled his leathern cup, " I am drinking to 
 your lordship, and to the finding- of the white stag." 
 
 The young man burst out laughing. 
 
 "We will say nothing about the white stag," said he, 
 " for fear the half-witted lad may have been making fools 
 of us. But this I know that it will be a fine thing to send 
 the Creannoch deer on then* travels. People who go on 
 their travels see many wonders ; and it is not good to have 
 either deer or men shut up in a sanctuary ; we will give 
 the Creannoch stags an opportunity of beholding the world. 
 But in the meantime, lads of my heart, send round that 
 keg ; and I will give you another toast now — ' The land of 
 hills and glens and heroes ! ' " 
 
 He himself did not drink ; but the others did, with a 
 will ; they were all talking vociferously, and laughing, and 
 arguing ; they had been well primed for this enterprise. 
 
 " And now for a song ! " his young lordship called aloud, 
 to still the tumult. " The sons of the Gael must have their 
 bard with them. Who is it, Colin — is it your friend of the 
 shoes ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, indeed ! " they all of them cried^rejoiced to 
 find a scape goat. 
 
 And Lauchlan, staring with bemused eyes into the red- 
 flickering flames, had no thought of declining the honour. 
 As soon as he comprehended that a song was required of 
 him, he began. It was a mournful song ; and in slow and 
 melancholy tones he sang — his gaze absently fixed on the 
 glowing embers — • 
 
 ' The wind is fair, tlie day is fine, 
 Swiftly, swiftly runs the time; 
 The boat is floating on the tide 
 That wafts me oflf from Fiuuary.' 
 
 Then all of them caught at the chorus — for there is no 
 strain in all the West Highlands so well-known as the 
 Farewell to Fiuuary — 
 
 ' Eiricli agus tiugainn 0, 
 Eirich agus tiugainn 0, 
 Eirich agus tiugainn 0, 
 Mo shoraidh slan le Fionn-Airiclh ! ' 
 
 Lauchlan was near crying through this universal sympathy ;
 
 i68 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and it was with a still more plaintive pathos that he 
 proceeded — 
 
 ' A thousand thousand tender ties 
 Accept this day my plaintive sighs; 
 My heart withiu mo almost dies 
 At tliought of leaving Fiunary.' 
 
 And again the hoarse wail of the chorus rewarded him — 
 
 • JiJirich agus tiugainn 0, 
 Eirich agus tiugainn 0, 
 Eirich agus tiugainn 0, 
 
 Mo slioraidh shin le Fionn-Airidli I ' 
 
 Bnt there was a young gillie present, who was either 
 drunk, or envious, or jocular, or perhaps all three combined, 
 for he interposed spitefully — 
 
 " That is very well sung for a wintering sheep." 
 
 Now, Lauchlan Maclntyre, as everyone knew, was a 
 native of Lismore ; and Lismore is an island to which 
 sheep from the higher districts are sent for the winter ; 
 and, for some occult reason or another, the most deadly 
 insult that can be paid to a Lismore man is to say, 
 " Meh-h-h " to him, or to ask him the question, " How are 
 you now, you wintering sheep ? " In the present case, 
 when it dawned upon Lauchie's understanding that this 
 atrocious epithet had been bestowed on him, he ceased his 
 song. He regarded the facetious young gillie. He looked 
 around. There was no weapon of any kind at hand. But 
 with a sudden inspiration he whipped off one of his heavy- 
 nailed shoes ; he poised it only for an instant ; he hurled 
 it across the fire at the face of his enemy. Nor had the 
 jocose young gillie been expecting any such attack ; he had 
 no time to ward off the blow ; his nose received the missile ; 
 and before he could stagger up to his feet he was a sad 
 spectacle. And in fact he was not allowed to get to his 
 feet ; they pinned him down ; and by the time they had 
 threatened, and expostulated, and curbed the raging wild 
 beast within him, the signal had come for them to start, 
 Niall Gorach having appeared at the Bothy, with the 
 announcement that the moon was over the hill. 
 
 And very soon, after leaving the secret haunt that the 
 gaugers had discovered and harried, they entered upon a
 
 A RAID ON THE SANCTUARY 169 
 
 much more desolate country than any tliey had come 
 through. A ghostly country, moreover ; for now the moon 
 was up ; and a pale and spectral light shone along the 
 treeless wastes and showed peak after peak of mountains 
 receding into tlie wan and cloudless skies. Of course there 
 were shadowy hollows here and there ; and it was along l:»y 
 them, for the most part, that they stealthily made their 
 way ; but on the whole their j)rogress was steadily upwards, 
 into far-reaching and sterile altitudes that were plunged in 
 profoundest silence. 
 
 "Now, you will remember, Lauchie," said Colin the 
 keeper — whose gait was a little uncertain, though he 
 managed to get over the ground — "you will remember, 
 when you are left by yourself, not to be too eager. It will 
 be enough if the deer get our wind ; and maybe they will 
 pass out by his lordship — though I am not believing much 
 in the white stag ; anyway the driving of the Sanctuary 
 will be a noble frolic " 
 
 " Aw, Dyeea," said Lauchie, who was giggling and 
 chuckling to himself, " the Eechabites are the clever boys ; 
 but the Eechabites have many things to learn ; it is little 
 they know of a sport like this. There is no sport in the 
 drinking of water ; and that is the truth I am telling you, 
 
 Colin, my hero. What is the use of water— and be 
 
 to it ! Lord Esme is the lad ! Colin, lend me your cup." 
 
 For on leaving the Bothy the black bottles that had 
 served as candle-sticks had been filled from the kegs ; and 
 Lauchie had become possessed of one of them ; so that he 
 was now enabled to give his friend and companion a 
 stalwart dram. In return Colin would have repeated his 
 instructions about the driving of the Sanctuary ; but his 
 speech was rather thick and involved ; while Lauchlan was 
 far too happy to pay any heed to him. Lauchlan was 
 singing little songs to himself ; and laughing ; and making 
 merry at the expense of the Eechabites. He had no 
 quarrel with any deer ; he had no concern about any white 
 stag ; the two moons that lit up this ghostly world shed a 
 gentle and friendly radiance around ; and the black bottle 
 sticking out of his breast pocket comforted his heart with 
 pleasm'able anticipations. 
 
 " Aw, Dyeea, the Eechabites are the clever boys," he
 
 I/O HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 kept repeating to himself, with unholy glee, " and it is I 
 that would like to see the whole of the Tent No. 3182 here 
 at this moment, and every man of them with a black bottle 
 in his hand. That would be a new kind of dance for 
 them — the clever boys that they are ! " 
 
 By this time the marauders were well within the Crean- 
 noch Forest, and approaching the Sanctuary— a vast hollow 
 formed by the concave sides of two adjoining mountains ; 
 and it was at this point that the straggling little band 
 began to separate. Here, also. Long Lauchie received his 
 orders. He was not to stir from his post for at least an 
 hour ; then he was to go gently and slowly in the direction 
 of the Sanctuary, down wind. There was to be no calling 
 or signalling of any kind ; indeed, the probability was that 
 he would not again see any of his companions until he 
 might chance to meet them in Duntroone. His own way 
 back thither was left to his own discretion. 
 
 And so Lauchlan sate down on the heather, and let the 
 others go ; and ere long he was quite alone in this phantom 
 world of rock and peak and grey moonlight. He did not 
 listen anxiously for the swift patter of hoofs, nor watch for 
 the startled upraising of an antlered head ; he was content 
 with himself and his own company ; he was carefully 
 nursing the black bottle ; he was crooning to himself the 
 Lcis an Lurgainn' — 
 
 ' Idaij looming, o liee. 
 
 In the gloaming, a ho. 
 
 Our shi])'s r-onyjrtss set ire. 
 
 And our lights we did show;* 
 
 the two or three moons over there in the south, as they 
 
 looked down upon him, were of a friendly aspect ; and his 
 
 heart, jogging on warmly and equably, was at peace with 
 
 all mankind. 
 
 ***** 
 
 When Lauchlan Maclntyre awoke, the dawn was declaring 
 itself, and he looked around with dazed eyes wondering. 
 For this world in which he found himself was in no wise or 
 seeming the world with which he was familiar ; he recog- 
 nised no feature of it, nor the conditions of it. Had he 
 been translated, then ? Was this the new heaven and the 
 new earth of which he had vaguely heard in slumberous
 
 AN INFORMER 171 
 
 discourses ? But there was no living creature visible ; 
 there was the strangest silence ; and a thin rain, almost 
 imperceptible in its fineness, had become glorified by the 
 early sunlight, and hung between him and the east as if it 
 were some magic silver veil, hiding him from the knowledge 
 of mortals. And there were other perplexing things. If 
 he had been spirited away into fairy-laud, what had become 
 of his shoe ? One foot had shoe and stocking ; the other 
 its stocking only ; and a continuous hot throb seemed to 
 say that in his unknown passage from the inhabited regions 
 of the universe his toes must seriously have encountered 
 stones. And the black bottle — alas ! it was empty— the black 
 bottle appeared to be connected with transactions which he 
 could not in the least remember. Then he looked round 
 once more — this poor orphan unit of humanity transferred 
 to an inhospitable sphere that did not even offer him a cup 
 of water wherewith to slake his thirst. And then he put 
 his head on the heather, and fell peacefully asleep again ; 
 the rain might rain as it liked. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AN INFORMER. 
 
 The rumour ran through Buntroone that some accident- 
 some slight accident — had happened to the Aros Castle. ; 
 certain it is that instead of continuing her voyage as usual, 
 she had slowly steamed back, and was now lying alongside 
 the quay. And Barbara, as soon as the mid-day meal was 
 over, and herself more or less set at liberty, put on her 
 things quickly and went out, no doubt wishing to hear the 
 latest news. 
 
 But she had not gone a dozen yards when she saw in the 
 distance none other than Jack Ogilvie himself ; he was 
 coming along in his usual leisurely fashion, smoking his 
 pipe. She instantly paused. She glanced across towards 
 the tobacconist's shop, to see if there was any one at the 
 door. Then she retreated into the entry from which she
 
 172 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 had just emerged ; and there she remained, hiding herself 
 in the dusk, until she knew that Ogilvie must have passed 
 and be well on his way, wherever that might be leading 
 him. And then she came out again ; and, with another 
 nervous glance across the street, she proceeded to follow in 
 the direction he had taken, and that with an idle and 
 indifferent air, as though she were merely going for a 
 haphazard stroll. 
 
 There was no need for her to quicken her pace ; she 
 knew that any one leaving Duntroone by this road must 
 necessarily return by it, the pathway round the shore being 
 blocked ; and so she had ample time to an'ange her cuffs 
 and smooth her hair — and also to summon up some trifle of 
 courage, in view of a possible meeting. Nevertheless when 
 her anxious eyes discovered for her that Jack Ogilvie had 
 taken advantage of a wayside seat to rest for a few seconds 
 in order to fill his pipe, her heart began beating in a 
 painful fashion, and once or twice she hesitated, as if afi-aid 
 to go further. Then she went on more boldly, looking at 
 the brushwood, and at the mossgrown wall, and at the deep 
 hollow with its cottages and gardens, as if her attention 
 were wholly occupied by these. 
 
 She drew near. He did not look up. She came abreast 
 of him — irresolute— her eyes conscious of his every move- 
 ment and attitude, yet pretending to be fixed far ahead. 
 And then something — perhaps the passing of her skirts — 
 attracted his notice ; there was an upward glance ; the next 
 instant he was on his feet. 
 
 " Oh, how do you do. Miss Barbara ? " he said, in his 
 ready and pleasant fashion. 
 
 Her face was afire as she timidly gave him her hand. If 
 she had been sure that she could safely address him in 
 Gaelic, perhaps she would have been less embarrassed. 
 
 " I hear there was an accident to the Aros Castle,'''' she 
 managed to say, in her confusion ; " I hope there was no 
 one hurt." 
 
 " Oh, no ; not at all," he answered her, lightly. " Very 
 little of an accident — leaking steam-tubes, or something of 
 that kind. But I may have a day or two's holiday ; and, 
 of course, getting so much of the salt water ordinarily, 
 it is but natural I should turn landward when I have
 
 AM IN FORM Ek 173 
 
 an hour for a stroll. And wliicli way were you going, 
 Miss Barbara ? " he continued, in the same free-and-easy 
 manner. " Towards Cowal, perhaps ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I was thinlving " she said ; and there she 
 
 stopped. She seemed frightened ; for the next word on 
 either side might involve a suggestion that they should 
 walk on together, Ilcr shyness and alarm were equally 
 unperceived by the Purser. 
 
 " Well, I had some half idea of going there myself," he 
 said, cheerfnlly. " And two's company, and one's none — 
 if you don't mind." 
 
 He appeared to take her acquiescence for granted ; for 
 without more ado he placed himself by her side, and they 
 proceeded on their way : she trembling, breathless, over- 
 joyed, he rather glad that, as he was sauntering towards 
 Cowal Ferry anyway, he had encountered a very pretty girl 
 who could walk and chat with him. 
 
 And then, as in duty bound, he began to ask after the 
 health of her aunt ; and he would most likely have spoken 
 of Jess ; and perhaps expressed a hope that the tobacconist 
 business continued to flourish ; but Barbara would have 
 none of these petty and common-place details ; she hastily 
 brushed them aside ; she wanted to know all about the 
 forthcoming ball to be given to the Glasgow Gaelic Choir ; 
 she asked him, rather nervously, how he proposed to secure 
 any dances for himself, if he had to act as Master of the 
 Ceremonies ; and then, with a certain coyness, she supposed 
 that on so great an occasion he would have no time to come 
 and speak to his friends. Well, if that was her cue, he was 
 willing enough to respond ; it mattered little to him what 
 the conversation was about. And thus it was that visions 
 of festivities began to form themselves before Barbara's 
 eyes ; and there were melodious strains, and the continuous 
 whisper of swift-gliding feet ; her brain became exalted with 
 the excitement of l)rilliant lights and fine dresses and the 
 kaleidoscopic groupings of colour. And it was the hero and 
 chief figure of that gay world who was beside her ; who 
 was devoting himself to her entertainment ; who had pretty 
 plainly intimated that on the eventful evening in question 
 she and her immediate companions were not likely to be 
 neglected.
 
 174 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 By this time they were well away from the little town, 
 and out in the silence of the country- — a silence so hushed 
 and still that the crunching of cartwheels on the road could 
 be heard at a surprising distance. It was an ideal day for a 
 lovers' ramble — an April day so fine and rare and clear that 
 it seemed as if summer had already taken possession of the 
 land ; the heavens a dome of fleckless sapphire ; the slopes 
 of heather and pasture basking and breeding in the grateful 
 warmth ; far away beyond the waters of Loch Linnhe the 
 long range of mountains become etherealised and dream-like 
 — the mountains of Kingairloch, of Morven, of ' Muile nam 
 mor-bheann,' Mull of the great hills. And then they came 
 in sight of the lower end of Lismore, and the lighthouse, 
 and the entrance to the Sound. 
 
 " That is a beautiful way your steamer goes," said she, 
 "and I am sure you must be pleased to be on so fine 
 a boat." 
 
 " I'm sick-tired of the whole thing," he answered her, 
 bluntly. And then, seeing that she looked startled, he went 
 on : " I'm sick-tired of looking after the landing of herring- 
 boxes, and collecting ninepences and eighteenpences from 
 half-drunk drovers. And as for any position or considera- 
 tion : now and again a shore acquaintance will come up 
 and pretend to be friendly, expecting me to let him off for 
 half-fare ; and the laird's wife, when she comes along the 
 gangway, may toss me a civil word, if she thinks I can help 
 her with her luggage ; but the daughters — the young ladies 
 — oh, dear, no ! — if they take any notice of me at all, they 
 stare at me as they would stare at a policeman. But look 
 at the purser on one of the Australian liners, for example : 
 there's a position, now — there's consideration : maybe two 
 or three hundred first-class passengers on board, and the 
 purser of far more consequence to them than the captain — 
 getting up dances and entertainments for them, and taking 
 a chief part — and every evening at the head of his own 
 table in the saloon, in dress uniform, with his particular 
 friends dining along with him. That is something ; that 
 is not like landing herring-boxes, or getting the passengers 
 out of the way to have half-a-dozen stirks driven on board. 
 Yes, indeed, I'm sick-tired of it — whatever the tourists and 
 people of that sort may say about the beautiful mountains
 
 AN INFORMER 175 
 
 and the islands. Give me a chance, and I tell you 
 I'm off ! " 
 
 "Are you — are you wishing to go away from here 
 altogether ! " she said — with the strangest look on her face. 
 
 Probably he did not notice. He answered her with much 
 equanimity — 
 
 " Give me the chance, as I say. There's more fun and 
 frolic in foreign parts — and more to see " 
 
 " But — but one should be fondest of one's own country," 
 she said, rather faintly. 
 
 " Oh, yes," he replied, " when one's own country finds one 
 a good berth. But the fact is that the purserships of the 
 Australian liners don't grow on blackberry bushes ; and in 
 the meantime. Miss Barbara, I've just to put up with what 
 I've got, as best I can." 
 
 And so, with varied discourse — quite unconcerned on his 
 part, on hers more strained and nervously anxious — they 
 continued on their way, and eventually reached Cowal 
 Ferry, which was the goal of their fortuitous excm'sion. 
 But at this point there is a solitary little inn, overlooking 
 the low-murmuring rapids of the sea-loch ; and it occurred 
 to Jack Ogilvie that he ought not to let his companion set 
 out on the return journey without oifering her some slight 
 refreshment. 
 
 "Will you not step inside," said he, in his off-hand 
 fashion, " and sit down for a few minutes, and have a cup 
 of tea, or a glass of milk, or something of the kind ? It's 
 a good long way back — and the afternoon is drawing on." 
 
 She hesitated, but only for a moment. Being with him, 
 walking with him, was the astounding and bewildering 
 thing : to go into a room and sit down seemed nothing 
 different from that, nothing more remarkable. So quite 
 obediently she followed him into the narrow passage ; and 
 when he opened the door of an apartment that was clearly 
 intended for the public — for there were tea-things on the 
 table, and scones, and marmalade, and the like — she went 
 in there too, and took a modest seat. As for him, he made 
 himself entirely at home. He rang the bell, and ordered 
 tea. Then he turned to examine the pictures — mostly 
 chromo-lithographs of German origin. He brought her the 
 surprising and miraculous ornaments from the mantel-piece,
 
 176 HIGHLAND COt/SINS 
 
 and he was laughing at the snow-white poodles and the 
 whiskered pards. And again, when the simple repast was 
 placed before them, he drew in a chair for her, and seated 
 himself at the head of the table, and proceeded to help her, 
 with an amiable solicitude. It was all like a dream to 
 Barbara. She hardly knew how she had come hither. The 
 scones were scones of magic — when the sun-god himself was 
 laughing and talking to her. 
 
 In the midst of all this the door was opened and there 
 appeared — Long Lauchie the shoemaker. Lauchlan was in 
 a genial mood ; he did not stay to apologise for any 
 intrusion ; he shut the door behind him, and advanced to 
 the table, and pulled in a chair. 
 
 " Aw, it's a fine thing to come among friends," he said ; 
 and he was smiling with a vague benignity, " and I was 
 seeing you in the distance, before you came near the house. 
 Ay, if it had not been for friends and for a friendly glass 
 here or there, where would I be now ? Ay, Dyeea, I 
 thought I was never to be back in a Christian country 
 again ! — and if it had not been for the farmer at the head 
 of Glen Sharay — well, I will pay him that bottle back as 
 sure as I am a living man." He stopped, and regarded the 
 Purser with a look of mysterious significance. " Now, Mr. 
 Ogilvie, was you hearing any news ? " 
 
 " News ? What news ? " inquired Ogilvie, who bore the 
 interruption quite good-humouredly. 
 
 "Ay, was you hearing any news ? " he repeated. 
 
 " News ? — news about what ? " said the Purser. 
 
 "Aw, well, there might be news about many things — and 
 maybe about deer," Lauchlan said, evasively, and there was 
 a dark merriment in his eyes. " I am not saying anything, 
 but maybe there might be news " 
 
 Here the young servant lass came in, and Lauchlan's face 
 at once became solemn and impenetrable. But when she 
 had placed the whisky and the tumbler before him, and 
 departed, he burst into a fit of soft and happy laughter. 
 
 " Aw, yes, indeed, there may be news in a day or two," 
 he went on, and clearly he was chuckling over this secret 
 that he would not reveal. " But I was not saying anything 
 to any one — how could I, when there ^vas no one from one 
 gleu to t-he next, and from one hill to the nest ? — as sure as
 
 AN INFORMER lyj 
 
 death you would not believe that the country is such a wide 
 country, with roads leading to no place at ahl. And if it 
 had not been for the farmer at Glen Sharay — he's the man 
 for me — with many and many's the good song, sitting at 
 the table ahl the night through— and a parting glass at the 
 door in the morning— — ■" 
 
 " Well, Mr, Maclntyre," said the Purser, pleasantly, " you 
 seem to have met with some adventures ; but what in 
 heaven's name is that kind of shoe you're wearing ? " 
 
 Lauchlan looked down at his left foot, which was encased 
 in an old battered shoe of portentous dimensions, with 
 straws sticking out at the top, 
 
 " That was the farmer too," said he, vaguely. " He lent 
 it to me — and it was rayther large — and we put some straw 
 into it " 
 
 " Yes, but what has become of your own shoe ? " was the 
 next and natural question. 
 
 " I am not remembering," said Lauchlan, with a kind of 
 abstracted look in his eyes. " I am not remembering, just 
 at the moment. Maybe 1 gave it to a beggar, poor man." 
 
 It was Barbara who now interposed to say it was time for 
 them to go, and Ogilvie at once acceded ; but Lauchlan 
 Maclntyre wanted to finish his liquor in peace ; so they 
 were well content to leave him. And as these two now 
 walked away into Duntrooue, the rosy evening shone along 
 the blood-red leafless heather ; and the withered pasture- 
 slopes, not yet answering to the summons of the spring, 
 burned a warm gold. But if the world around them seemed 
 all aflame, the heavens above them were of a pure and pale 
 lilac hue, with not even a fleck of cloud visible anywhere. 
 The silence had grown still more profound with the dying 
 down of the day ; and all the birds were mute, save for one 
 solitary thrush, on some distant bough, that kept charming 
 his mate with his clear and silvery trills. Twilight was 
 around them as they entered the small town ; and here and 
 there a golden star appeared among the rigging in the 
 harbour. When Barbara got upstairs to the semi-darkness 
 of her own room, she sat down without taking off any of 
 her finery : the gates of wonderland had just been closed, it 
 is true, but the glory and glamour were still before her 
 dazzled eyes. 
 
 N
 
 178 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 On this same evening the schoolmaster was seated in Mrs. 
 Maclean's parlour, and he was in an unusually cheerful 
 mood. He was endeavouring to show, as he placidly smoked 
 his pipe, and watched Jessie's nimble fingers busy with her 
 needle ; the little widow attending to the shop when 
 necessary — he was endeavouring to show that the world was 
 progressively and surely becoming wiser, this happy result 
 being brought about by the gradual and inevitable elimina- 
 tion of fools. The fools having become extinct, must not 
 the residue of mankind enjoy a larger average of wisdom ? 
 x\nd then he began to enumerate the various classes aud 
 sections and subsections of fools who were by degrees extin- 
 guishing themselves out of the universe. There were, for 
 example, the people who went with a lighted candle to 
 discover the origin of an escape of gas ; undoubtedly they 
 were removing themselves from amongst us. And there 
 were the people who made fast the main-sheet of a sailing- 
 boat. And there were the people who ate tinned lobster. 
 And the people who got into or out of a train in motion. 
 And the people who made parachute descents, who 
 performed with wild beasts, who dived from bridges, and 
 the like. 
 
 " And the people who muddle their brains with whisky," 
 he added, in an undertone, as the tall form of the shoemaker 
 appeared at the half-opened door. 
 
 But Long Lauchlan did not overhear this remark ; if he 
 had overheard it, he probably would have taken no notice ; 
 he was in a benignant mood. For he had been wandering 
 along from one crony's house to another, rejoiced to be back 
 again in human society, and nursing the secret aud blissful 
 consciousness of having been engaged in an exploit that 
 would soon be the talk and astonishment of all the West 
 Highlands. And when he had established himself among 
 this further group of friends, he was as darkly mysterious 
 as ever ; but very happy. 
 
 " It is a great thing," he was saying complacently (with 
 one foot hidden beneath his chair), " it is a great thing to 
 be meeting with adventures. Here have I been out of the 
 world for two days and more — ay, maybe three days, but 
 I am not so sure, for it was a wild country. Aud it's not 
 so long since I went through to Fort William, and made
 
 AN INFORMER 179 
 
 the red-headed carpenter flee like a hare — aw, Dyeea, you 
 should have seen liim run down the street as if the duvvle 
 was after him ; and not long before that again I was at 
 the bringing of you home, Mr. Henderson, from among the 
 rocks ; and not long before that was the wreck of the 
 Sanda, ay, and the funeral of Knockalanish, and the 
 coming away with Miss Barbara. And I'm sure I could 
 scarce believe my eyes when I sah her this evening — her 
 and Ogilvie just like lad and lass — as they were drawing 
 near to Cowal Eerry ; and then afterwards the two of them 
 sitting very comfortable-like in the parlour of the inn " 
 
 " Lauchlan Maclntyre, what are you talking about ? " 
 the widow broke in, angrily. " Are you havering ? Are 
 you out of your senses ? Barbara — in the inn at Cowal 
 Ferry ? '' 
 
 Thus unexpectedly and sharply challenged, the shoemaker 
 was constrained to make good his veracity ; he had to give 
 details ; he insisted on the truth of his story ; while Jess 
 Maclean became more and more indignant. 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre, you have been asleep and dreaming ! " 
 she exclaimed. " Barbara sitting in the inn-parlour with 
 Ogilvie the Purser ? — you never saw any such thing, that 
 I know ! Barbara had plenty to do about the house this 
 afternoon : she could not have gone out — to Cowal or 
 anywhere else " 
 
 But the shoemaker was obdurate. 
 
 " Very well, then," said Jess, promptly, " I will go over 
 this very minute, and see Barbara — I will hear from 
 herself." 
 
 And therewith she rose, and flung a shawl rouud her 
 shoulders, and passed through the front shop. 
 
 Meanwhile, amid all this insistence and indignant denial, 
 Allan Henderson had remained sternly silent, the hard- 
 lined ascetic face perhaps a trifle greyer than usual. And 
 now that Jess had gone, he paid no heed to the others ; he 
 seemed to listen with a morbid intensity for her return ; 
 his gaze was fixed furtively but unswervingly on the door. 
 
 Jess Maclean was absent for only a fcAV minutes. AVhcii 
 she came back into the room, she turned to Long Lauchie ; 
 her eyes were averted ; she dared not look in Allan's 
 direction. 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Maclntyrc," said she, humbly, 
 and with the most painful embarrassment, " you were quite 
 right. Barbara was at Cowal Ferry this evening — and — 
 and I suppose she met Ogilvie by accident." 
 
 And then the schoolmaster knew his doom. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AT AN OPEN DOOR. 
 
 And yet he would know it from herself. On the following 
 afternoon, as soon as his school-work was over, he left the 
 dull grey building and at once and hurriedly walked along 
 to the house in Campbell Street. It was a wild and stormy 
 evening ; and wild and stormy were the conflicting passions 
 that strove for mastery in his heart — black hate and jealousy 
 of the man who had entrapped an innocent girl into these 
 clandestine relations — a stung pride that even now prompted 
 him to turn, and go back home, and have done with her 
 for ever — and then again a sort of desperate hope that all 
 might yet be well, that some explanation would be forth- 
 coming, that the beautiful eyes might still have a friendly 
 look for him. This way and that surged these emotions 
 <uid fancies — perhaps with the darker predominating. For 
 she had allowed him to believe that he might win her for 
 his wife ; and she had listened to his schemes, in which she 
 Avas supposed to have a personal interest ; and if, while 
 thus giving him tacit encouragement, she was holding 
 secret communication with that other ? When Allan 
 Henderson proceeded up the narrow stairway and knocked 
 at the door, his brows were sombre enough ; and he was 
 steeling himself to indignation and reproach. 
 
 The girl Christina admitted him, and, in answer to his 
 question, showed him into the parlour, where he found 
 Barbara alone, engaged in needle-work. On his entering, 
 she looked up startled, and even apprehensive, for he had 
 never called in this fashion before ; but at all events she 
 rose to bid him welcome ; and then she civillv asked him
 
 A T AN OPEN DOOR l8i 
 
 to take a chair. Her manner was cold and reserved ; she 
 seemed to be on her guard ; it was for him to speak. 
 
 But whither had fled all the anger and reprobation with 
 which he bad come armed ? The mere sight of her had 
 dispelled all that ; the touch of her hand had thrilled him 
 strangely ; and now that she had returned to her work — 
 now that he could with impunity regard the modestly 
 lowered lashes, the fresh and sweet complexion, the graceful 
 outline of forehead and cheek and throat — in place of any 
 wrathful upbraiding there was only an irresistible longing 
 to possess and defend. She was a solitary creatm-e — 
 untaught in the ways of the world — she wanted someone to 
 protect her from harm. And then, and above all, slie was 
 so maddeningly beautiful that his heart seemed to suffocate 
 within him : it was he, not she, who was stunned and 
 bewildered by this sudden juxtaposition. 
 
 " That is a very pretty dress," said he — as the outcome 
 of all his tumultuous wrongs ! 
 
 " I am altering it a little," she answered, without raising 
 her eyes. 
 
 There was a moment or two of silence. 
 
 " It is clever of you to be able to do that for yourself," 
 he observed, anxious to propitiate. 
 
 " I have been used to it all my life," she made answer. 
 " My mother was ill two or three years before she died ; 
 and I had to do everything." 
 
 And now she had recovered somewhat from her vague 
 apprehension, and was inclined to be a little more friendly. 
 He had no reproaches to make, then ? It was only a visit 
 from a sweetheart, or one wishing to be a sweetheart ? — 
 and that any girl could take only as a compliment. 
 
 " I suppose there was not much fine dressmaking at 
 Ivilree ? " he remarked again. 
 
 " We could not have afforded it in any case," she replied. 
 "And indeed I am rather frightened about what 1 am 
 doing now ; for this is the dress I am to wear on the 
 evening of the Glasgow Choir being here." 
 
 It was an unintentional shaft, but it struck deep. For 
 that was the evening the Purser had talked so much of ; 
 and Barbara would be there- — -attracting attention, no 
 doubt, if not by this costume she was now working at, then
 
 i82 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 at least by the symmetry of her figm'e and the elegance of 
 her gait. He was almost driven to ask her whether she 
 thought it seemly to go to a dance within a certain number 
 of months of her father's funeral ; but he forbore : he 
 would not quarrel with her ; it was so wonderful to find 
 her in some small measure gracious. 
 
 " Have you been over the way ? " she went on. " I 
 heard from Jessie that you looked in yesterday." 
 
 And this also was unlucky : it re-awoke his jealous 
 tortures of the previous afternoon. He could no longer 
 be silent. 
 
 " It was then," he said, in measured tones — and he 
 watched her — " it Avas then I was told of your having been 
 at Cowal Ferry with Ogilvie the purser." 
 
 She flushed hotly, but she replied with some touch of 
 disdain — 
 
 " Yes, they make a great deal of that, for a small 
 matter." 
 
 " That is no small matter," said he, slowly and seriously, 
 " that may affect a girl's good name." 
 
 At this she fired up — her cheeks still crimson. 
 
 " And who says anything against my good name ? " she 
 demanded. 
 
 His breath came and went ; he did not know what to 
 say — ^whether to let the darker passions in his heart have 
 utterance — or whether it was still possible to forget and 
 forgive, on account of the beauty of her raven hair, her 
 liquid eyes, and the splendid lines of her throat. 
 
 " For myself I care little what Ogilvie's character may 
 be," said he, stiffly and ominously ; " but a young girl 
 would look better after her reputation who did not happen 
 to be found with him in a wayside public-house." 
 
 She raised her head quickly ; her eyes were merciless ; 
 her lips were pale. 
 
 "As for my reputation," she said — hesitating a little in 
 her excitement to find proper expression in English, " I am 
 glad — it is not in the hands of such friends as you ! " 
 
 " Barbara ! " he exclaimed — as if she had struck him. 
 
 But she was passionate also. 
 
 " And as for Mr. Ogilvie," she continued, in the same 
 taunting and angry fashion, " if you have anything to say
 
 AT AN OPEN DOOR 183 
 
 against him, why do you not say it to himself ? Why do 
 you come to me witli the story ? — and suspcctini^^ harm 
 Avhere there is no harm. I do not wish for any more friends 
 of that kind. Is it a great thing to have a cup of tea at 
 Cowal Ferry ? — well, that is my business, and not the 
 business of any one else : and I will look after my own 
 good name, and no thanks to anyone — no thanks to my 
 friends ! And if you have any complaint against Mr. 
 Ogilvie, I think you would do better to go to himself ; and 
 maybe he will have his answer for you " 
 
 Henderson rose to his feet, his dark eyes aflame, his 
 cheeks ashen-grey. 
 
 " There you have spoken a true word, Barbara," said he 
 — though the effort of speech appeared almost to stifle him. 
 "It is with Ogilvie I will deal. With you I have no 
 quarrel. If he is trying to take advantage of your 
 ignorance, I will settle scores with him. He knows, if you 
 do not know. I will ask him a question, and I will make 
 him answer " 
 
 Again she looked up quickly : there was something in 
 the expression of his face that caused her alarm. 
 
 " What— what will you do ? " 
 
 " Well, with you I have no quarrel," was his only reply. 
 " At any rate you and I can part as friends." 
 
 But at this her eyes fell again, and she would take no 
 notice of his extended hand. 
 
 " I am friends with my friends," said she, sullenly, " and 
 not with others." 
 
 He stood for a moment, irresolute, gazing at her ; then 
 
 he abruptly turned on his heel — his brows black and drawn 
 
 together, his under-jaw stern almost to savageness ; and 
 
 in another couple of seconds he had quitted the house. 
 ****** 
 
 On the morning of the day on which the members of the 
 Glasgow Gaelic Choir were to be entertained by their 
 Highland comrades, Mr. McFadyen walked along to the 
 railway-station. The hush of noon had fallen over the place ; 
 there were no trains either arriving or departing ; and when 
 the town-councillor stepped into the station-master's oflice, 
 Mr. Gilmour looked up from his work as if interruption were 
 welcome.
 
 i84 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Can ye spare me a few minutes, James ? " the visitor 
 inquired. 
 
 " Directly — in a second," answered the station-master. 
 He signed the document he had been scanning, and returned 
 it to the messenger who was standing by. Then he rose 
 from from his desk. " Now I'm with you, Peter," he said, 
 blithely. 
 
 " I Avant you to come along to the house — there's 
 something I w^ould like your advice about," said Peter, 
 with quite unusual shyness. 
 
 The good natured station-master at once assented ; he 
 took down his cap ; and presently the two friends were 
 outside and making round by the harbour. 
 
 " I say, Jamie," observed the councillor, with an assump- 
 tion of indifference, "What do you think, now, of the 
 Highland dress for showing off the figure ? " 
 
 "That depends on the figure, I would say," responded 
 the station-master, bluntly. 
 
 " A fine answer ! " said Mr. McFadyen, with scorn. 
 " Cannot ye understand whab I mean ? I mean the 
 Highland dress as compared with any other dress " 
 
 " Are you going to sport the kilt, Peter — is that what 
 you are aiming at ? " cried the station-master, " Are you 
 going to make a chieftain of yourself ? Are you going to 
 wear two feathers in your cap ? Or three, and make 
 yourself a chief '^. Dod, ye might as well be a chief as a 
 chieftain, when it's only an imaginary clan you've got at 
 your back. For who ever heard of the clan McFadyen .? " 
 
 " Who ever heard of the clan Gilmour ? " retorted the 
 councillor, angrily. 
 
 " There you're out of it," said the tall thin man with the 
 bright red hair. " There you're out of it, Peter, my 
 friend," he repeated, in saturnine triumph. " For at least 
 my name is Highland. ' Gilmour '— ' Gilliemore ' — the big 
 young man. But McFadyen — McFadyen ! — who on God's 
 earth could ever find out the meaning of a name like that ? 
 And maybe you'll be for saying next that there's a McFadyen 
 tartan ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you're very clever ! " remarked the councillor, 
 peevishly. " Do you know what they say about people that 
 are as clever as you ? — they say ' You're so clever you could
 
 AT AN OPEN DOOR 185 
 
 steal the eggs from under a heron, with her two eyes watch- 
 ing you.' But although you're so mighty clever, Mr. Jamie, 
 perhaps you don't know that there are three tartans, the clan 
 tartan, the hunting tartan, and the dress tartan ; and 
 when it comes to the dress tartan, you can choose for your- 
 self " 
 
 "Peter," said Crilmour, with a cackle of irreverent 
 laughter. " I would give my best pair of breeks to see 
 ye going through the town rigged out iw the royal 
 Stewart ! " 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Peter, contemptuously. " But if you 
 were still a little more clever, you would understand that 
 people do not go about the streets in a dress tartan." 
 
 Nevertheless, when they reached the councillor's house, 
 this tone of acerbity could not be maintained ; for Peter 
 was seriously anxious for advice, and perhaps even hoping 
 for sympathetic approval ; and so, when he had ushered 
 the station-master into his principal room, he said, in a 
 more amicable fashion — 
 
 " I'll tell ye the truth, Jamie. There's the entertainment 
 to the Glasgow Choir this evening, and the dance, and all 
 the rest of it ; and I was saying to myself that that young 
 spark of an Ogilvie was giving himself too many airs with 
 his swallow-tail coat and his studs and the like. I've a 
 coat of that kind myself, that I got about a dizzen years 
 ago for the deputation to Glasgow ; but I was trying it on 
 the other day, and it made me look fearfu' like a Free Kirk 
 minister on a platform. And then says I to myself, ' Well, 
 there's other ways 0' taking the shine out of that young- 
 sprig ' " He paused. " They came home last night," 
 
 he resumed, rather timidly glancing towards his friend. 
 " Man, I wish ye would tell me whether you think they'll 
 do " 
 
 " Let's have a look at them, then ! " said Gilmour. 
 
 Thereupon Mr. McFadyen left the room, returning 
 shortly with a number of parcels, which he opened and 
 displayed on the table. Everything was here to make up a 
 correct Highland costume — cap, doublet, vest, kilt, sporran, 
 hose, and shoes ; while dirk and sgean-dubh were brave 
 with cairngorms and silver. 
 
 " But put them on, man I " the station-master remon-
 
 i86 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 strated. "Go away and put them on, and let's see how yc 
 look ! " 
 
 " I'm not sure whether the dirk and the sgean-dubh 
 should be worn at such a gathering," said the councillor, 
 with some diffidence. 
 
 " Oh, go away and get the things on ! " his friend said, 
 impatiently. " I want to see if ye look at home in them." 
 
 Well, when Mr. McFadyen, after a good ten minutes' 
 absence, reappeared at the door of the parlour, he certainly 
 did not look at home in this resplendent costume ; for he 
 was extremly embarrassed, and anxious, and self-conscious ; 
 but all the same the station-master had not the heart to 
 criticise, much less to smile. It was so abnormal to find 
 Peter — the self-confident, self-assertive Peter — in this sensi- 
 tive and almost supplicatory mood that out of mere com- 
 passion and to encourage him Gilmour said he thought 
 the general effect was just first-rate. Peter was immensely 
 relieved. 
 
 " You've got to get accustomed to it, of com'se," said he. 
 "Naturally, you've got to get accustomed to it. And 
 what's more, you've got to get used to people looking at 
 you." 
 
 " Man, you'll cut a dash at the Highland Games ! " 
 continued Gilmour, with friendly approval. " It suits ye, 
 Peter — I tell ye it suits ye." 
 
 And now Mr. McFadyen, still further flattered and puffed 
 up, was determined to show that he was not afraid to 
 challenge alien scrutiny. He rang the bell. Presently 
 there appeared the maidservant Sarah, a great, big, stupid- 
 looking, porridge-fed rubicund lass, with staring blue eyes. 
 
 " Sarah " said her master, with lofty unconcern. 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Ye'll go along to Mr. Dunbar " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " And tell him " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 The fact is, the tall lass was saying *' Yes, sir," quite in- 
 coherently, and without in the least listening to the message 
 that was being delivered to her — so wholly engrossed was 
 she by the startling spectacle that her master now presented. 
 
 " And tell him to have a machine here to night at a
 
 A T AN OPEN DOOR 187 
 
 quarter to eight. A quarter to eight — do ye hear me ? — 
 not a minute later, for I liave to call for some friends before 
 
 going on to the coucert " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Sarah, her eyes all-devouring. 
 " Go away, then," said her master, sharply, " and mind : 
 not a minute after a quarter to eight." 
 
 She made a sudden jerky effort to retire — apparently 
 overcome by some extraordinary emotion ; she succeeded in 
 getting the door between her and the two men ; and then, 
 the moment it was shut, they heard in the passage a 
 tremendous explosion of long-suppressed, incontrollable, 
 half-choked giggling. The infection was irresistible. In 
 spite of himself the station-master burst into a wild gufPaw 
 of laughter ; he roared aud roared ; he could not stop — 
 though his face was purple with shame ; his long, angular 
 carcase was shaken by the violence of this ungovernable 
 merriment, and he struck his knees with his fists. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Peter," he gasped — with tears 
 running down his cheeks. " I did not intend it — upon my 
 soul I did not intend it — it was that daft lass— I'm sure 
 she's half-witted — " And here he set to roaring and 
 laughing again. " That daft idiot of a lass ! — what on 
 earth did she break out like that for — a giggling idiot ! — 
 I see nothing myself to laugh at — except — except that 
 she's just a downright born idiot ! " 
 
 " Ay, and idiotcy seems to be catching," said Mr. 
 McFadyen, who had preserved a calm dignity as the best 
 answer to this disgraceful ebullition. 
 
 "Well, I must be going," the penitent station-master 
 said, as he glanced at his watch and rose. ''Never you 
 mind, Peter : I think you look fine in the tartan — and — 
 and I'm sure I beg your pardon for a bit friendly laugh." 
 
 " You're welcome — you're welcome," said the councillor, 
 with much state ; and ceremoniously aud stiffly he con- 
 ducted the station-master to the door, and bade him 
 good-day. 
 
 But all that afternoon Peter McFadyen was tormented 
 by a thousand vacillating decisions and arguments and 
 fears. He could not attend to his business ; he would 
 leave his office, and run upstairs to his bedroom, and 
 contemplate that distracting, tempting, dreaded costume.
 
 188 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Then, as the hour arrived at which he had perforce to 
 dress one way or another for the concert, he grew desperate. 
 Was he to be deterred by the imbecile hilarity of a turnip- 
 headed scullery wench ? The Highland garb was no 
 novelty in Duntroone ; why should he shrink from obser- 
 vant eyes ? And at last, in a fit of morose anger, the 
 result of his reflections over human vacuity and buffoonery, 
 he deliberately arrayed himself in the tartan ; and punctu- 
 ally at a quarter to eight he descended, got into the 
 'machine,' and set out for Campbell Street. On this 
 occasion the big, porridgy servant-lass exercised a little 
 more self-control ; and her master drove away with some- 
 thing of a lighter heart. 
 
 But as he was ascending the stair towards the widow's 
 rooms, his courage once more oozed away from him ; and 
 when he was shown into the parlour, in which Jessie 
 Maclean was waiting, a dreadful consciousness broke over 
 him that he had made a mistake. Jess, poor girl, tried to 
 pretend that she did not notice anything unusual in his 
 attire ; but there was a slight flush of embarrassment on 
 her face ; and the councillor knew — somehow he knew— 
 that in her heart she was contemplating with dismay the 
 prospect of having to go to the concert with him in this 
 guise. 
 
 " Barbara will be ready in a few minutes," Jess said, 
 uneasily, and with her eyes downcast. 
 
 But this casual remark was an inspiration. There was 
 still a precious interval ? — there was still a blessed chance 
 of escape ? Peter's decision was taken at once. He began 
 to laugh. 
 
 " So I have not frightened ye, Miss Jessie ? " said he, 
 with a jocosely humorous air. " I thought I would have 
 a little bit of fun ; I thought ye'd get a fright if ye fancied 
 I was going to the concert and the dance as a Highland 
 chief. But I'm not so far off my head ; no, no ; I'm not 
 so far left to myself as to wear things like these — except 
 for a joke, ye understand — except for a joke. And ye may 
 tell Miss Barbara not to hurry ; though I'll no be long — 
 no — I'll be back in a jiff." And therewith the councillor, 
 his soul greatly uplifted within him, hurried downstairs, 
 jumped into the ' machine ' that had brought him, was
 
 AT AN OPEN DOOR 189 
 
 driven off home, and there rapidly exchanged his Highland 
 rig for a more sober outfit. When he returned to Mrs. 
 Maclean's house, Barbara was fully equipped ; and the 
 three of them drove away to the Drill Hall, Mr. McFadyen 
 being the merriest of the merry. 
 
 It was altogether a most successful evening. The 
 Glasgow Choir sang beautifahy ; at supper Mr. McFadyen 
 welcomed them in a speech that was universally applauded ; 
 and when at length the hall was cleared for dancing, 
 everyone was in the highest of spirits. Barbara, in 
 especial, was all animation ; she seemed to drink in excite- 
 ment from this gay scene ; there was a tinge of colour in 
 her cheek, a glow in her great eyes, that told of her delight. 
 Moreover, Jack Ogilvie had not forgotten his promise ; he 
 made Barbara and Jess and the councillor objects of 
 special attention ; any one could see they were a favoured 
 group. And at supper, if he did not actually sit with them 
 • — for he had to look chiefly after the guests from a 
 distance — at least he came along and chatted with them 
 at times. 
 
 " And what dances are you going to give me. Miss 
 Barbara ? " said he, on one of these occasions. " No, 1 is 
 a quadrille : Suppose we make up a party for that ? And 
 you must give me a waltz — and maybe two before the 
 night is out. No. 9 is a mazourka '-'' 
 
 " We must not stay here late," interposed Jess — seeing 
 that Barbara was ready to accept all the dances that the 
 Purser proposed. 
 
 " Come, come, it is I that am in authority here," the 
 councillor insisted, "and I'll have no spiriting away of 
 Cinderellas before the proper time. We'll begin with the 
 first quadrille — the four of us here vis-si-vis — and we'll see 
 about the other dances as they come. I'm just in the 
 mood for enjoying myself the night ; yes, I'm that ; and 
 we'll show them how to keep it u]) ! " 
 
 But of all the varied features of this memorable evening 
 none was more remarkable, in Jessie Maclean's eyes, than 
 the ease and elegance with which Barbara danced. Where 
 and how had the Highland lass, away out in the rude 
 island, picked up such an accomplishment, and attained to 
 such a proficiency ? Her naturally graceful figure was
 
 IQO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 seen to the best advantage in all these evolutions ; no 
 wonder (Jess said to herself) that the young men regarded 
 her with covertly admiring glances, and appeared proud 
 and pleased when they were privileged to join hands with 
 her in coming and going. Never before had the councillor 
 found himself so much sought after by those young sparks 
 of whom he was naturally inclined to be somewhat jealous. 
 
 There was one other who, for a few terrible seconds, 
 beheld Barbara in this her hour of display and triumph. 
 The Drill Hall of Duntroone is situated in an out-of-the- 
 way and ill-lighted lane ; and the schoolmaster, wandering 
 aimlessly about in the dark, found himself, he hardly knew 
 why, drawn to that long and dusky building from ^hich 
 sounds of music issued into the hollow air. He approached 
 nearer and nearer. The entrance-door, for the sake of 
 ventilation, had been left half-open ; there were two or 
 three idle lads hanging about and looking in ; he also, if 
 he chose, might gaze upon that brilliant throng, himself 
 unseen. He wished to go away, and could not ; some 
 powerful fascination dragged him onward ; at last the dark 
 and glowing eyes were staring in, from this outer gloom. 
 And as it chanced it was a waltz that was being performed ; 
 the couples circling swiftly and easily ; the music rising 
 and falling in cadence. And then his eyes seemed to be 
 seared as with a red-hot iron : there was Barbara, in all the 
 flush of her youthful grace and beauty ; and Ogilvie it was 
 who held her one hand clasped in his, whose arm encircled 
 her yielding form. It was plaintive music that sounded 
 down the long hall — so plaintive that there almost appeared 
 to be some cry of human agony in it — some despairing note 
 of severance and loss and farewell. Trembling and haggard 
 of visage, the onlooker drew himself away and hid himself 
 in the night : it was as if he had been blinded, and knew 
 not whither he was going.
 
 ( 191 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ON THE VERGE. 
 
 All throngli the black hours of that night he wandered 
 round the shore and the rocks, while the moving world of 
 waters moaned in the dark, and the golden ray of Lismore 
 burned steadily. And still he seemed to hear the low and 
 piteous strains of waltz-music, that spoke of tragic separa- 
 tion and farewell ; and still he seemed to be at a half-open 
 door, sheltered by the obscurity, and gazing in upon that 
 brilliant throng, with one figure there receding from him, 
 as it were, and being lost to him for ever. When would 
 they have done with their dancing ? When would the 
 colours fade, and the lights go out, and the hush of sleep 
 fall over the small town ? The sound of the revelry 
 appeared to follow him : he heard it all through the un- 
 varied, incessant, mysterious murmur of the sea. 
 
 The long night went by ; a pale and wan glow slowly 
 grew in the east ; the hills and woods became dimly dis- 
 tinguishable ; the trembling plain of water gradually 
 revealed itself, livid and solitary ; beyond, the mountains of 
 Mull and Morven were still swathed in heavy folds of cloud. 
 And what was this object nearer at hand — this first sign of 
 human habitation — what but the grey little inn at Cowal 
 Ferry, surrounded by its silent homestead ? At this time 
 of the morning it appeared but as the ghost of a house ; 
 and the tale connected with it seemed to have likewise 
 acquired a kind of remoteness ; would the day break into 
 clear and white light, and show firmer and hopefuller 
 things, and drive away those distracting phantoms of the 
 past ? 
 
 Towards eight o'clock or thereabouts he knew that Jess 
 Maclean and the young girl Christina would come down- 
 stairs in order to open the shop ; and a little before that 
 hour he returned to Duntroone, passing along Campbell 
 Street. He saw the two girls appear and cross the half- 
 em])ty thoroughfare. He watched Christina take down the 
 shutters. And when, after a few minutes, she went back
 
 192 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 to the house, leaving Jess in sole possession, he walked 
 forward more quickly. Jess was in the front shop when he 
 entered. 
 
 " You are early astir, Jessie, after your last night's 
 gaieties," said he, with apparent calm ; but despite this 
 forced composure, there was something in his tone, some- 
 thing in his aspect, too, that caused her serious disquiet. 
 
 " AVhat is the matter, Allan ? " she demanded at once. 
 
 "Well, I have come to you in my trouble," said he. 
 "Does that surprise you .^ It seems but natural I should 
 come to you. Your own life is so placid and happy that 
 suffering and tortured wretches come to you as if by some 
 kind of instinct, for consolation and sympathy. And you 
 can tell me — Jess, I'm sure you can tell me," he went on, 
 in a more hurried and anxious manner, "whether there 
 is anything between Barbara and Ogilvie. What is it .? 
 What is there ? Why should there be any secrecy 1 How 
 did she come to be with him in the inn at Cowal ; and how 
 did neither your mother nor you know she was going ? 
 What does he mean by it ? He can have his pick and 
 choice of so many — so they say — he gives himself the airs 
 of a lady-killer — why should he turn aside for a simple girl 
 like Barbara ? I went to her, and asked her," he continued, 
 in his too evident distress, " and she had nothing for me 
 but angry words and taunts. Plainly enough she told me 
 it was none of my business — that I had no right to interfere. 
 And perhaps I have not ; I had hoped for some better 
 understanding with her ; but now, it seems, I must not even 
 speak. And yet how can one stand by and look on — when 
 you see a young girl ignorant of the ways of the world 
 being made a fool of, made sport of, for the amusement of 
 an empty-headed fribble ? Is that what it is ? Or what 
 else is it ? What does it mean ? " 
 
 " Come into the parlour, Allan, and sit down," said Jess 
 Maclean, in her gentle fashion ; and he followed her into 
 the room — but he remained standing, his eyes eagerly 
 searching for an answer in the expression of her face. 
 
 And yet it was about himself that she was mostly 
 concerned. 
 
 " You are not looking well," said she — and somehow she 
 half-o'uessed that he had been wandering to and fro during
 
 ON THE VERGE 193 
 
 the night. "Have you had your breakfast this moruiug, 
 
 Allan?" 
 
 " Never mind about that," he replied. And then he 
 proceeded, rapidly : " Tell me, Jessie — what am I to believe 
 about Barbara ? Is there anything between her and 
 Ogilvie ? And is she concealing it ? — and why ? You 
 must know. You are with her constantly. And I can 
 appeal to you for an honest answer and a friendly answer. 
 You will tell me the truth — whatever it is ; and whatever it 
 is, the sooner it is known the better. To you anyway I 
 can appeal, without being taunted and scorned." 
 
 Jess was quietly and quickly stirring up the fire, and 
 putting on the kettle, and getting out the tea-pot and the 
 like ; and as she went on with these little preparations — the 
 object of which was in nowise perceived by the schoolmaster 
 — she said in her tranquil way : 
 
 " I Avould not bother much about Ogilvie, if I were you, 
 Allan. I don't suppose he means anything. He is always 
 running after one pretty face or another ; and there's safety 
 in numbers ; I hardly imagine he can mean anything serious 
 with regard to Barbara. A bit of amusement, perhaps " 
 
 " Amusement ? " he repeated, vehemently. " Amusement 
 that may wreck her peace of mind — that may ruin her life ? 
 If that is the state of afPairs, it is time for one of us to step 
 in ; and whether I have the right or not, I will assume the 
 right. She shall not be left defenceless, simply through her 
 ignorance. And perhaps," he said, " perhaps you, too, will 
 tell me it is none of my business " 
 
 " I don't think, Allan, you ever found me blaming you 
 for anything," Jess made answer : she was putting a white 
 cloth over the little table. 
 
 " Jess, I beg your pardon ! " he said, with instant remorse. 
 " If I have one friend, it's you. I am always safe in coming 
 to you. But I am all at sixes and sevens ; worried and 
 harassed ; unable to understand what is happening around 
 me. I wonder if you know how other people must envy 
 you your quiet and peaceful life — how you make one wish 
 to be rid for ever of maddening hopes and aims. It must 
 bo so fine to be contentedly happy — to be without a care." 
 
 " Without a care," murmm-ed Jess, almost to herself. 
 " Ay, just that, Allan. Without a care. You may well 
 
 o
 
 194 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 say that. Without a care." Her back was towards him, 
 for she was about to fetch doAvn a cruet-stand from the 
 cupboard ; so that unobserved she managed to brusli away 
 a tear or two that had started to her lashes. Then she 
 turned. " Now, Allan," said she, cheerfully, " sit down at 
 once. It's but little we keep over here ; only you can't go 
 along to the school without a mouthful by way of breakfast." 
 
 He would have refused, but she insisted ; and eventually, 
 out of mere gratitude, he was forced to sit down. 
 
 " I looked in at the Drill Hall," he said, slowly and in 
 sombre fashion — and small was the heed he paid to these 
 things before him, though Jess stood by him waitiug- upon 
 him, as if lie were an infant. " I saw Barbara— she was 
 dancing with Ogilvie." 
 
 "Well, now," observed Jess, with much blitheness of 
 manner, " is it not surprising that she should have learnt 
 to dance so well, away out in such a place as Kilree ! And 
 no one suspecting it either. But that is the strange thing 
 about Barbara : if you do not find out for yourself, she will 
 never tell you " 
 
 " Ay, have you discovered that ? " he said, glancing 
 towards her quickly. " Have you discovered that too .? " 
 And then he continued — it was a relief to talk — " Do you 
 know that sometimes she seems to me altogether an enigma ; 
 I cannot make her out ; it is as if she had depths of 
 character that no one around her understands as yet. And 
 then again these appear to me mere formless and vacant 
 spaces — the vacant spaces of youth, that time and experience 
 will fill up. Besides, her natiu'al shyness has to be taken 
 into account — a shyness only to be expected in one brought 
 up in that solitary island, and then coming among 
 strangers " 
 
 " I am sure," said Jess, " mother and I do not wish her to 
 regard us as strangers — far indeed from that ; but I think 
 she hides herself from us as much as from others ; and of 
 course when any one prefers to keep their own counsel, it 
 would only be impertinence to press questions." 
 
 " Then Barbara has said nothing to you about Ogilvie ? " 
 he asked, of a sudden. 
 
 " Not a word," was the definite answer. " Not a word — • 
 and until she offers us her confidence, we are not likely to
 
 ON THE VERGE 195 
 
 make oiu'sulves intrusive. If Barbara wishes to keep her 
 own secrets, she is welcome." 
 
 He had pushed aAvay his plate. His hands were resting 
 on his knees ; his eyes were downcast, in profound 
 meditation. 
 
 " She is a strange creature," said he. " I had done 
 nothing to anger her. Well, yes : porhaps she was in the 
 right in resenting my interference. When I warned her — 
 w4en I presumed to warn her — perhaj^s it was only her 
 maidenly pride that retorted. As you say, w'hen she chooses 
 to keep silent, that may be merely her natural habit ; and 
 of course she would be indignant on being pressed with 
 questions. It is quite wonderful, Jessie, how you find 
 excuses for people ; how you seek for the best that is in 
 them ; your disposition is so gocd-natured ; you want the 
 world to go easily with every one. And indeed, wdienever 
 I have a talk with you, it does seem as if things were more 
 hopeful, as if troubles and difficulties could be overcome ; 
 and you must never think that I am nob grateful to you 
 because I am a bad hand at making pretty speeches. You 
 must just understand. When you meet a human being who 
 seems to have the faculty of reconciling you to the harsh 
 terms of existence, it is a marvellous kind of thing, and you 
 ought to he grateful — ^but perhapg you have not quite got 
 the knack of saying so " 
 
 " Enough, enough, Allan," said Jess — her face burning 
 v.ith pleasure : for when had she received such praise from 
 l;im before ? 
 
 Then he got to his feet. 
 
 " I must along to the school now, Jessie," said he. 
 
 " And do not put yourself out about the Purser," she 
 observed to him, as her parting word. " He has too many 
 strings to his bow. And besides, I have heard him say that 
 he wanted to leave this place altogether. Surely, Barbara 
 must have too much sense to attach herself to a sailor-lad, 
 that may be off to the West Indies to-morrow. And if you 
 and she have had a quarrel, you'll just have to set to work 
 to make it up again." 
 
 He went away much lighter of heart because of her 
 sisterly kindness and wise talk ; but his temperament was 
 brooding rather than sanguine ; and during the long school- 
 
 2
 
 196 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 hours of mechanical and ungrateful toil, his thoughts would 
 go back to the position in which he had been placed by 
 Barbara's disdainful challenge. ' If you want any explana- 
 tions — if you think you have been injured,' she had 
 practically said, ' go to Ogilvie : he will answer you — he 
 will answer for us both.' It was scornful advice, but it 
 fitted in only too readily with his own humour. He had 
 not got that under-jaw for nothing ; and the longer that the 
 linecl and knit brows pondered over the problem now before 
 him, the more definite became his resolve that Ogilvie 
 should not go on his way without one word of question, 
 perhaps even of menace. For the moment, indeed, that 
 was impossible : on the day following the concert and dance, 
 the Aros, Castle^ her steam-tubes mended, sailed for Loch 
 Sunart. 
 
 But, as it chanced, on the very afternoon of her return, 
 the schoolmaster caught sight of Jack Ogilvie, who was 
 apparently leaving the outskirts of the town for a stroll ; 
 and in an instant all Jess's persuasive and kindly counsels 
 had vanished from his mind : he saw in the distance only 
 the man who had, from vanity, or devilment, or mere 
 thoughtless disregard of consequences, been leading an 
 inexperienced girl astray, and alienating her from her nearest 
 friends. Without any very clear intention he followed. By 
 the lodge-gate Ogilvie passed into the grounds surrounding 
 the ruins of Duntroone Castle : these are thrown open to 
 the public on certain days of the week ; but at this season 
 of the year, when there were no tourists abroad, the place 
 was quite deserted ; and in point of fact the Purser con- 
 tinued on his way through the woods without meeting a 
 human being, whether or not he may have been aware that 
 some one was behind him. In due course of time he came 
 in sight of the sea again, and of the castle hill, with the 
 ivied ruins lofty and dark against the west. He skirted a 
 small bay, went along an avenue of elms, and began to 
 ascend a steep slope. And all this time Henderson was in 
 his wake : the schoolmaster knowing not what to think or 
 what to do, so diverse were the doubts and impulses that 
 occupied his brain. But momentarily his face was growing 
 darker. 
 
 Of course he could not always maintain this equal distance
 
 ON THE VERGE 197 
 
 between himself and his enemy, for tlie Purser, having 
 reached the summit of the iiill, stopped short, and began to 
 look around him — at the wide panorama, stretching from 
 Ardencaple in the south to Morven and Kingairloch in the 
 north. It was towards the close of the day ; there was a 
 steely light in the breaks of the clouded sky, and a metallic 
 gleam on the restlessly lapping water ; but over Mull way 
 there were great masses of soft rain-cloud slowly advancing, 
 that threatened to blot out the livid glare and bring on 
 premature night. And seemingly Ogilvie had no intention 
 of remaining on this solitary eminence ; having walked to 
 the edge of the plateau and glanced downwards and around 
 he idly turned to come away again ; and then it was that 
 he found himself face to face with Allan Henderson. 
 
 For a second the two men regarded each other ; and 
 instinctively no phrase of greeting was passed. 
 
 " I am glad to have the chance of a word with yon alone," 
 the schoolmaster said, after this momentarv silence. 
 
 " You need not have come so far," said the Purser, who 
 began to guess that his footsteps had been dogged. 
 
 " I was considering what I ought to say," Henderson 
 proceeded, apparently determined to keep a firm hold over 
 himself. 
 
 "And have you considered ? — for it is about time for me 
 to be getting home," Ogilvie made answer. Not a syllable 
 had been uttered that could cause otfence to either ; but 
 already the two men were in open antagonism. 
 
 " It is about Barbara Maclean " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " 
 
 " And I have a question to ask of you " 
 
 " Suppose I don't choose to answer it." 
 
 " I will make you answer it." 
 
 " Making ? Making ? That is easily said ! " 
 
 The schoolmaster was breathing a little more hardly : 
 that was all. Ogilvie had assumed a certain jaunty in- 
 difference of air. 
 
 " You've got to tell me what you mean," Allan went on — 
 with the dark eyes beginning to flame. 
 
 " Mean by what ? " said the other, scornfully. 
 
 " "Well enough you know ! And don't you think I am 
 going to stand by, and let you make a plaything of a girl
 
 198 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 like that, who does not know what all this nonsense may 
 lead to. For I suppose it is nonsense. I do not imagine 
 a fine gentleman like you could have any serious inten- 
 tions—" 
 
 " And who made it your business to interfere ? " the 
 Purser said, defiantly. 
 
 " I have made it my business ; and I mean to make it 
 my business," was the stern rejoinder. " If you have no 
 regard for the good name of the girl, it is for others to see 
 that she is warned, and that you are checked " 
 
 " A rare fuss to make about nothing ! " Ogilvie interjected 
 again. " Why, anyone can call in at a tobacconist's shop 
 who has the price of an ounce of ])ird's-eye." 
 
 " Docs the price of an ounce of bird's-eye entitle you to 
 sit in the parlour — or make assignations ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm sick of this rubbish ! " the Purser exclaimed — • 
 and he made as if he would pass. But Henderson planted 
 himself in front of him. 
 
 " No, you are not going yet. Yon are not going until 
 you have given me explanations and made me certain 
 promises. But how could I believe your promises — 'the 
 promises of a miserable hound like you, that would lead 
 a thoughtless girl into a compromising situation ! What 
 were she and you doing at Cowal Ferry ? " he demanded, 
 with increasing vehemence. " You considered it fine, I 
 suppose, to have the story told about you ! You considered 
 it a joke, I suppose, that her good name should be put in 
 peril — that she should become a byword •" 
 
 " You he ! " 
 
 The words were hardly out of his month when the school- 
 master had hurled himself upon him and seized him by the 
 throat ; and so sudden and so violent was the onset that 
 both men rolled to the ground, the Purser writhing and 
 struggling to free himself from this wild-cat grip, Hender- 
 son striving to pinion him to the earth. Ogilvie was no 
 doubt the bulkier of the two ; but the schoolmaster's muscles 
 were of iron, while hate and jealousy combined lent him a 
 yet fiercer strength ; so that it was in vain that the under- 
 most of the adversaries fought and tore and flung himself 
 this way and that in trying to liberate himself from this 
 merciless grasp. And then something happened to Allan
 
 ON THE VERGE 199 
 
 Ileudersou. lu their savage wrestling they had unwittingly 
 approached the edge of the precipitous cliff ; and of a 
 sudden it chanced that the schoolmaster caught sight of a 
 dull red patch, far below him, in the old garden lying 
 between the castle-rock and the sea. It was probal)ly a 
 patch of withered herbage ; but with a startling vividness 
 it recalled to him what he had seen one day when in the 
 company of a gamekeeper-friend— a wounded roe-deer having 
 rolled over and down into a deep chasm, where it lay 
 motionless and hardly to be distinguished from a heap of 
 rusted bracken. And at this same instant it flashed through 
 his brain that the man whose very life he now held in pawn 
 might in another moment be lying away doAvn there, without 
 movement, an inanimate, indistinguishable thing, a horror 
 to the eyes. He relaxed his grip. 
 
 " Come back," he said, hoarsely. " There shall be no 
 murder." 
 
 And it was not until he was released that Jack Ogilvie 
 perceived how near he had been to his doom. Thoroughly 
 cowed — without a solitary word of threatening or bravado 
 — he retreated from that ghastly verge, and shook his clothes 
 straight, and departed down the hill, disappearing among 
 the trees. After a while, amid the gathering dusk, the 
 schoolmaster followed. As he slowly made his way back to 
 the town, an orange spot here and there told of a lighted 
 window and the coming night. And it may have seemed 
 to him, in his sombre reverie, that it was more easy to seize 
 an enemy, and pin him by the throat, and hold the power 
 of life and death over him — it was more easy to do that 
 than to win a single friendly look from a woman whose 
 heart had wandered elsewhither.
 
 203 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PEINCE BEELZEBUB. 
 
 It was a brilliant morning — the hills all the way from 
 IMuU to Kingairloch clear to the top — the sea a vivid and 
 trembling blue — the sunlight warm on the yellow-green 
 slopes of Kerrara. And the councillor, rejoicing in the 
 sweet air and in the proud consciousness of manly vigour, 
 was gaily humming to himself — 
 
 ' Ij you on my dear one sliould gaze, should gaze, 
 Jf you icere to hear tvhat she says, she says. 
 If you heard my pretty 
 One singing her ditty. 
 Your "bosom would get in a Naze, a blaze.' 
 
 Nevertheless he had business on hand, for he carried a 
 small parcel tucked under his elbow ; and in due course he 
 left the harbour-front, and passed along a side-street, until 
 he came to Long Lauchie's shop, which he entered. Mac- 
 Intyre looked up from his work, the sallow face more sunken 
 and melancholy than ever. 
 
 "Good morning, friend Lauchlan," said the councillor, 
 blithely, as he undid the parcel, producing a pair of dancing 
 shoes. " I've a bit job here I wish ye'd do fur me. The 
 fact is, once or twice lately, when I've been at a little 
 merrymaking, the next day I've noticed my toes hurt mc 
 round the outside — not that it's gout or anything of that 
 sort — for I'm a very moderate drinker — though the doctor 
 says I might as well give up beer ^" 
 
 " Beer," observed Lauchlan, sadly shaking his head, 
 " beer is a mocker. And moderate drinking, Mr. McFadyen, 
 that's the worst of any. That's the fatal thing. Look at 
 the insurance companies — look at the per centage in favour 
 of the total abstainer " 
 
 " Oh, hang your insurance companies ! " cried the coun- 
 cillor. " Listen to me now. I've been thinking you could 
 make a bit slit along the side — close to the sole — and it 
 would not be seen if I wore black stockings. Do you 
 understand? A little bit easement, as it were; for I'm
 
 PRINCE BEELZEBUB 201 
 
 just dcspciatc disinclined to get a new pair — a new pair of 
 shoes is tortm-e to me I'or months. Do ye understand, 
 I^auehlan — a slit that will not be seen " 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," said Long Lanchie. He examined tlie 
 shoes, and carelessly put them aside : it was not a paying- 
 job. Then he rose, and as his visitor was leaving, Lauchic 
 accompanied him ont to the front. 
 
 " It's fine weather," remarked the shoemaker, as he glanced 
 up and down the pavement. 
 
 But of a sudden his countenance underwent an extra- 
 ordinary change. Amazement first, then terror — abject 
 terror — was in his eyes. 
 
 " God help us," he exclaimed, as he instantly slunk back 
 into the entry, "there's that woman ! Mr. McFadyen, tell 
 her I'm dead ! — tell her I'm not living here any more." 
 And with that he vanished, leaving the councillor not a 
 little bewildered. 
 
 There now appeared on the scene a woman rather short 
 of figure, with sharp and angular features, sandy hair, and 
 vindictive grey eyes. 
 
 "Was that him? Did I see him?" she demanded of 
 the astonished McFadyen ; but she did not Avait for an 
 answer ; she whisked by him, and went straight into the 
 cobbler's shop, which was apparently empty. " Where are 
 you, you scoundrel ! " she called aloud — looking round at 
 the vacant spaces. "I'm for seeing ye face-to-face this 
 time ! No more banishment for me, and living on friends, 
 when there's a drunken vagabond should be supporting me ! " 
 
 The councillor had followed her — she was partly addressing 
 him. 
 
 " I've heard of his goings-on ! " she cried. " I've heard 
 of his practices ! But I'll see to it that there's no woman 
 coming about this house— a decent, respectable house it was 
 until I was forced to leave it by that drinking ne'er-do- 
 weel. And just let me find the hussy : my word, I'll put 
 my ten commandments on her, that will I ! And whero 
 is he ? — where is he ? — let me get at him now ! " 
 
 She marched along the passage ; with swift and bodeful 
 steps she ascended the staircase ; she flung open the door. 
 But apparently the shoemaker's apartments, which consisted 
 of a kitchen and bedroom, were tenantlcss.
 
 202 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Where are yon, you scoundrel ! " she called again, in 
 menacing tones. " Let me see ye ! — let my ten nails get 
 at ye ! " 
 
 " My good woman," the councillor protested, " this is 
 entirely reprehensible ! If you have a complaint to make, 
 let it be done in order. There's law and civilised custom in 
 this town " 
 
 " Ay, would ye defend him, you old reprobate ? " she 
 retorted, furiously. " Ye're as bad as he is, I can see by 
 your looks ! Blackguards both o' ye, that's what ye are ! 
 ■ — But yc'U not hinder me ! " 
 
 From the empty kitchen she swept into the empty bed- 
 room ; and there the first object that appeared to attract 
 her attention and her wrath, was a small mirror standing on 
 the top of a chest of drawers. 
 
 " Ay," she exclaimed, " and has she been decking herself 
 in front of my glass, the brazen trollop ? — But she'll deck 
 herself at my glass no more ! " She lifted a cane-bottomed 
 chair and with one drive sent the mirror, glass and woodwork 
 and all, into a hundred fragments. " And looking at my 
 pictures too ? " the virago screamed in her rage ; and this 
 time the legs of the cane-bottomed chair went crashing 
 through a framed and glazed coloured print of St. John 
 the Baptist. " And my ewer — and my soap-dish— and my 
 tumbler — " The work of devastation proceeded apace ; 
 the noise was like the falling of tenements during an earth- 
 quake ; until at length, when nothing breakable had been 
 left, the shoemaker's wife put down the chair in the midst 
 of the ruins, and seated herself on it, a smile of pitiless 
 triumph on her face. 
 
 " Let her come now ! " she said, with cruel irony. " Let 
 her come and take possession ! Maybe she'll deck herself 
 at my glass, and be keeking into my press, and thinking 
 that I'm going to stop at Fort William for ever and ever, 
 and let him and her and their fine jigmaleeries pass by 
 without a word ! But maybe she'll not find it so easy now 
 to put on her ribbons in front of my glass ■" 
 
 " Keally — really," said the councillor — who for prudential 
 reasons had remained at the door — "really — if you are 
 Mrs. Maclntyre -" 
 
 " If I am Mrs. ]\[aclntyre ? " she cried — her small grey
 
 PRINCE BEELZEBUB 203 
 
 Gjes glittering with anger. " Who am I, then, if I am not 
 Mrs. Maclntyre ? "What do you take me for ? Do ye 
 think I am one of the low cvoatiu'cs you and he consort 
 wi' ? Away with ye about your business, you old profligate ! 
 Here I am ; and here I sit ; until that man comes home." 
 
 But at this point she seemed to change her mind. She 
 rose, seized the chair, and advanced to the door ; and when 
 the councillor — only too ready to give her a wide berth — ■ 
 had made way for her on the landing, she proceeded down 
 the staircase and took up a position in the entry. 
 
 " Let him try to get into either shop or house," said she, 
 as she planted herself again on the chair. " I'm ready for 
 him. I've liad enough of living upon friends, and him 
 spending every penny in the public-houses " 
 
 " Really, Mrs. Maclntyre," said the councillor, as he 
 sidled past her, in order to have free access to the street, 
 "if you consider yourself injured, this is not the proper 
 manner " 
 
 "Away with ye, ye wicked old wretch !" she broke in, 
 scornfully. " You're worse than he is — you're a hundred 
 times W'Orse than he is, or you wouldna' be making excuses 
 for him. But you need not come with your excuses to me. 
 What I want is Lauchlan ]\laclntyre ; and face-to-face will 
 I have him before me, if I wait here till the Judgment- 
 day. Here I am ; and here I sit ; if he has anything to 
 say to me, I am ready for him." 
 
 Confronted by this implacable resolution, the councillor 
 found himself helpless ; but indeed he did not feel called 
 upon to interfere further, for he was no particular friend of 
 the shoemaker's. Accordingly, and not unwillingly, he 
 took his leave — reflecting that married life appeared 
 occasionally to have its drawbacks, and wondering by 
 what mysterious means Long Lauchie had managed to 
 escape. 
 
 But at this precise moment Long Lauchie had not yet 
 escaped, he was only on the point of escaping. It was not 
 until the wild commotion of the furniture-breaking had 
 subsided — it was not until peace once more reigned in the 
 demolished room — that a black head and yellow visage were 
 slowly and cautiously protruded from under the counter- 
 pane of the bed. A careful look round— and the prone
 
 204 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 fisrurc of tlie shoemaker followed. As Laiichie rose to his 
 
 a 
 
 feet, the last rumblings of the storm were still audible 
 below ; for he could hear his injured wife announcing to 
 the councillor her determination to remain a fixture ; but 
 here, in this little room, a painful stillness prevailed ; the 
 tornado had expended itself, leaving behind it nothing but 
 wreckage and ruin. Lauchlan did not stay to contemplate 
 this lamentable spectacle. For a moment or two he listened 
 intently ; then on tiptoe and stealthily he crossed over to 
 the window ; he listened again ; and presently, and with 
 the greatest wariness, he began to raise the lower sash. 
 One inch — two inches — and there was no creaking. A few 
 inches further — and there was room for him to put out his 
 head and reconnoitre : he perceived that with the aid of a 
 rain-water barrel it was possible for him to reach the ground. 
 So again he raised the window a few inches, and this also 
 was accomplished in blessed silence ; he put one leg over the 
 sill ; its fellow followed ; then the long, lank body ; in a 
 second or so Lauchlan's feet were resting on the solid 
 wooden covering of the water-butt. From thence he 
 dropped into the yard ; he scrambled over the stone Avail ; 
 he pursued his way swiftly along the lane until he gained a 
 side-street ; and there he found safe haven in a public- 
 house with which he seemed to be familiar. 
 
 " A glass of whisky, Mr. Pattison," he gasped — for these 
 unwonted exertions had rendered him breathless. 
 
 " But what have ye done with your hat, Mr. 
 Maclntyre ? " said the publican, as he proceeded to get the 
 cordial. 
 
 Then Lauchlan remembered that he had nothing on his 
 head save its natural covering. 
 
 " Oh," said he, uneasily, " the — the wind blew it away. 
 But I'm sure you'll be lending me one, Mr. Pattison, until 
 I get home." 
 
 And then it sadly occurred to him that for him there was 
 no returning home, while that fearful being barred the 
 way ; and in his perplexity and helplessness he resolved upon 
 confessing the truth to Mr. Pattison. 
 
 " No," said he, " I will not tell you any lies. And the 
 fact is, Mr. Pattison, that I have ran aweh from the house, 
 for my wife is there, and raging like a she-duvvle, and ahl
 
 PRINCE BEELZEBUB 205 
 
 the furniture brokken, and I do not know what more she 
 wonkl be doing if I went back." 
 
 " "Well, that is a pretty pass ! " said the sympathisino- 
 publican. "Ye'll have to take Sandy the policeman with 
 ye, and drive her out." 
 
 " Sandy ? — the lad Sandy ? " remonstrated the shoe- 
 maker, in accents of reproach. " The poor lad ! — could I 
 ask him to face a raging teeger like that ? " 
 
 " And what will you do, then ? " was the next question. 
 
 " Ay, that is what I am not knowing myself," answered 
 Lauchlan, with something of a melancholy air ; and there- 
 upon, having borrow^ed a liat from Mr. Pattison, he set out 
 once more on his travels. 
 
 Now it happened during his subsequent wanderings from 
 one howff to another that the homeless shoemaker encoun- 
 tered Niall Gorach ; and it occurred to him that he could 
 not do better than engage the half-witted youth to go and 
 pry about and discover whether Mrs. Maclntyre had as yet 
 taken it into her head to vacate the premises. When Niall 
 had been got to understand what was wanted, he went 
 otf ; but on his return his report was discouraging ; the 
 " wumman " was still in the entry seated on a chair. The 
 disconsolate shoemaker now took Niall with him as the 
 only companion that was available ; and as a few glasses of 
 whisky, taken at various points and stages, had made him 
 communicative, not to say amiably garrulous, he described 
 to the lad the unhappy predicament in which he was placed. 
 
 " It is I that could drive her out of the house," said Niall, 
 in a darkly meditative manner. He spoke in Gaelic. 
 
 " You ? " rejoined the shoemaker, in the same tongue, 
 and he Avas laughing now and very merry. " Oh, yes, it is 
 your head that has the sense in it, and no mistake ! And 
 do you know what she would do to you, my fine boy ? — she 
 would eat you at a mouthful ! Oh, yes, you are the grand 
 one to drive her out of the house 1 " 
 
 " What will you give me ? — will you give me a sixpence ? " 
 said Niall, paying no heed to his playful irony. 
 
 " But before I give you a sixpence, or the half of a six- 
 pence," said the shoemaker, with contemptuous mirth, 
 " maybe you would be for telling me how you are going near 
 her ? Niall, my fine lad, you do not know what that kind
 
 2o6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 of a woman is, or twenty liuudrcd sixpences wonld be no 
 temptation for yon " 
 
 " As soon as it is dark," said Niall Gorach, doggedly, " it 
 is I that conld drive lier ont, if there is a back way into the 
 house." 
 
 " And how wonkl yon do it, my noble hero — how wonld 
 yon do it ? " he asked — bnt he was fumbling about in his 
 pocket for a match. 
 
 " I wonld show her the Prince," said Niall, with his elfin 
 eyes peering upwards to his companion's face. 
 
 Long Lauchie only langlied and giggled the more. 
 
 " It's little yon understand, my brave youth, what kind 
 of a woman that is. Aw, Dyeca, she would eat you at a 
 mouthful ! Do you think I wonld allow it ? — no, not if 
 Sandy tlie policeman went with you " 
 
 " A\^ill yon give me the sixpence ? " said Niall : and then 
 he added, in a mysterious whisper : " I would show her 
 ]*rincc Beelzebub ; and anyone that is seeing him will go 
 mad. There was a man at Taynuilt that struck me with a 
 whip ; and one night Prince Beelzebub went to see him, 
 and he was ill in bed for more than a week after it. May- 
 be — well, maybe he was not for striking me with a whip 
 during that week." 
 
 The shoemaker began to show a little more attention, 
 though he was still incredulous and vaguely amused. 
 
 " iSTow Avhat is the witch's cantrip you wonld be after, you 
 limb of Satan ! " he exclaimed. "Well I know there are 
 queer things get into that noddle of yours ; but sure I am, 
 my famous warrior, that yon would make the greatest 
 mistake of your life if yon tried to go near the she-devil 
 that is in my house. Niall, my son, I will tell you the 
 truth, and this is the truth — that when she is in the 
 inside of the dwelling, the outside of the dwelling is the best 
 place." 
 
 Niall was still stealthily and eagerly scrutinising his 
 companion's features ; but the fact is that Long Lauchie 
 seemed now too vacuously happy to pay much heed to any- 
 thing. It was his search after a match that chiefly 
 concerned him. There even appeared some probability that 
 he wou'd forget all about his wife being in possession of liis 
 home.
 
 PRINCE BEELZEBUB 207 
 
 " It is not the head of a niau," continued Niall, titill 
 ^glowering' and watchful, "that Prince Beelzebub has on 
 hini, but it is something more terrible than any head, and 
 there are two eyes, and the light is on them " 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," said the shoemaker, contemptuously, 
 " and it is a wise lad you arc to think of frightening 
 people with a hollowed turnip and a candle." Then of a 
 sudden some idea seemed to strike him. " Niall," said he, 
 in an undertone, and his bemused eyes were mirthful nov;, 
 " could you give that devil of a woman a fearful fright ? 
 Could you now ? Is that your intention ? For if you do 
 it well, I will pay you not one sixpence but two sixpences, 
 and that as sure as death. Will you make her jump ? 
 Will you make her spring out of her senses "i Niall, you are 
 the son of my heart ! Will you make her fly ? Will you 
 make her scream ? Aw, Dyeea, it would be worth a 
 hundred pounds to see her jumping with terror ! " 
 
 " If there is a back way into the house," said Niall, slowly, 
 " the Prince could get at her ^" 
 
 " There is — there is ! " said Lauchlan, in great excitement, 
 " There is the rain barrel — and the window I left open — 
 Niall, will you make her jump ? — will she scream out, do 
 you think ? — it is I that would be laughing, if I could hide 
 somewhere on the other side of the street " 
 
 " Give me one of the sixpences now," said Niall, regarding 
 him furtively. " Maybe I will have to offer something to 
 the Prince." 
 
 Lauchlan put his hand in his pocket. 
 
 " And mind you this, you imp of a warlock," said he, 
 " if it is lies you are telling me I will break every bone in 
 your body." 
 
 It was some two hours thereafter, as the twilight was 
 deepening into dark, that Niall Gorach cautiously clambered 
 over the wall of Long Lauchie's backyard, and crossed to 
 the rain barrel, and ascended to the open window. 
 Between his teeth he held the end of a piece of string ; and 
 when he had reached the sill, and peered into the room to 
 make sure no one was there, he noiselessly hauled up after 
 him a bundle to which the cord was attached. The 
 demolished apartment was now shrouded deep in gloom ; 
 and a profound silence prevailed. In this ghostly stillness
 
 208 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Niall began to undo his bundle ; and not a whisper of a 
 sound betrayed his presence. 
 
 About ten minutes or a quarter of an hour later there 
 emerged on to the landing one of the most extraordinary 
 apparitions that the sick brain of any mortal creature ever 
 conceived. It was a hgure of more than normal height, 
 draped entirely in black, the shoulders, or what might pass 
 for shoulders, square, the two extended arms bearing each a 
 lighted caudle. But the astonishing and alarming feature 
 of this phenomenon was that instead of having anything 
 like a human head on its square shoulders, the head was 
 that of some owl-like animal ; and the two eyes, each in its 
 hollow recess, caught the light of the candles, and seemed to 
 burn with some infernal flame. This hideous and ghastly 
 manifestation now proceeded to descend the stairway, not 
 even a rustic of the black drapery giving notice of its 
 approach ; and when within two steps of the foot it paused. 
 
 " Pentateuch ! — -Pentateuch ! " said a mournful voice. 
 
 There was a woman sitting in the dusk of the passage. 
 At this sound she turned her head ; the next moment, with 
 a wild scream of terror, she had sprang to her feet ; the 
 next moment, with shriek after shriek — and shriek after 
 shriek — she had fled into the outer air, and was blindly 
 rushing down the street, as if all the fiends of pande- 
 monium were after her. She did not seem to know whither 
 she was going ; she waited for no answer to her piercing- 
 cries ; to get away from this horiible, unnameable, appalling 
 thing was her only aim. And meanwhile Long Lauchlan 
 the shoemaker, hidden in the friendly shelter of a door over 
 the way, was slapping his thighs, and shaking and laughing 
 with inextinguishable laughter.
 
 ( 209 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCT. 
 
 Ox one of these evenings Mrs. Maclean was us usual iu the 
 little parlour, seated in her easy-chair, and placidly knitting-, 
 and Jess, at the central table, was engaged with her busi- 
 ness accounts, when Barbara, dressed up in all her finery, 
 appeared at the partially opened door. After a single glance 
 round the room, she seemed to hesitate about an excuse for 
 withdrawing again. 
 
 " I was just looking in — " she said. 
 
 " And finding nobody," suggested the little widow, with 
 sly sarcasm. 
 
 This was something of a challenge ; and Barbara at once 
 went into the parlour, and sate down. 
 
 " Not but that we're rather dull company," the widow 
 continued, " for there's not so many coming about as there 
 used to be. The lad Allan I can understand ; he is busy 
 with his classes ; and right glad am I that he is getting on 
 so well. But Ogilvie — what have ye been doing to Johnnie 
 Ogilvie, Barbara .'' They tell me he paid ye great attention 
 at the ball of the Gaelic Choir ; and he used to look in 
 of an evening pretty regular ; but now one hears or sees 
 nothing of him ^" 
 
 " And perhaps it is better I should hear or see nothing of 
 him," said Barbara, sharply, " if there is to be such a work 
 about my taking a cup of tea at Cowal Ferry ! " 
 
 "I did not know there was any such work made/' 
 rejoined the widow, with her customary good-humour, 
 " though a young lass cannot be too careful about appear- 
 ances." She looked up from her knitting, and scanned the 
 girl's costume for a moment. " But are ye sure you were 
 not expecting any one, Barbara ? You're finely decked out, 
 to be merely going down the town on an errand or two. 
 In my young days I would not have thought of putting on 
 a hat and feathers if I was only going for a can of 
 mulattoes to flavour the rice for supper " 
 
 " Mother," interposed -Jess, glancing up from her accounts.
 
 2IO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " you may have Avhat you like ; but rice flavoured with 
 mulattoes will be no supper for me. Is it molasses you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, just that," the widow proceeded, cheerfully. " And 
 has there been a quarrel between you and Ogilvie, Barbara ? 
 And are you thinking- to fetch him back with a hat and 
 feathers ? Well, well : Every one must have her own way 
 of managing her sweetheart. When I was young they used 
 to say ' Goat's milk and sweet violets to wash your face 
 with ; and there's not a king's son in the world but then 
 will be running after you.' " 
 
 "Perhaps I am not wishing for any sweetheart," said 
 Barbara, sullenly. 
 
 "And yet," observed Mrs. Maclean, her eyes demurely 
 bent on her work, " and yet you took a present — and a very 
 handsome present — from Allan Henderson." 
 
 " Allan Henderson ? " retorted Barbara. " I do not care 
 to have anything to do with him and his ill-temper." 
 
 But at this Jess Maclean fired up. 
 
 " Ill-temper ? " said she. " And what do you mean by 
 ill-temper ? If to have scorn and contempt for meanness, 
 and cunning, and despicable things generally, if that is to 
 be ill-tempered, then he is ill-tempered, but not in any 
 other way. Allan Henderson is a man who has his own 
 opinions, his own charactei', his own standards of what is 
 Avorth seeking for ; he is not a mere copy and echo of other 
 people ; and if he does not strive to please, and say pretty 
 things, I respect him all the more for it. Striving to 
 please ! — any empty-headed coxcomb can do that — • — •" 
 
 " Oh, yes, you are always on the side of the school- 
 master ! " Barbara said, tauntingly ; and at that Jess 
 Maclean's fair and freckled face became suffused with 
 colour, and she was proudly silent. The widow did not 
 notice this confusion ; she had returned to the subject of 
 sweethearts ; and she was relating the story of the northern 
 maiden whose lover, on the eve of their wedding, was 
 drowned at sea : how the girl pined away and died, her last 
 request being that she also should have an ocean grave ; 
 how her relatives refused, preferring that she should be 
 buried in the churchyard of a neighbouring island ; how, 
 on their setting sail, they encountered a dreadful storm that
 
 LA BELLE DAME SANS MERC I 211 
 
 they interpreted as a warning from Heaven; and how, 
 Avhen they at length carried out her wishes and consigned 
 the corpse to the deep, the phantom of her lover was seen 
 to arise from the waves and clasp her in his arms. It is an 
 old and familiar tale that has been told round many a peat 
 lire ; but Babara had not heard it ; and she listened to it 
 with the entranced eyes of a child. 
 
 The narrative had hardly been finished when there was a 
 tapping at the door, and the next moment the tall and 
 spare form of the young schoolmaster appeared. He looked 
 startled, almost dismayed, when he perceived that Barbara 
 was seated there ; but no escape was possible for him ; for 
 in an instant the little widow had dashed aside her work, 
 and ran to him, and caught him by one hand, while with 
 the other, as she dragged him into the room, she patted him 
 affectionately on the shoulder. 
 
 "Welcome indeed to the hearth, as they say in the 
 Gaelic," she cried. " Ahan, my lad, I never see you but I 
 feel that blood is thicker than water ; and ii is only a few 
 minutes ago I was talking of your absence ; though some 
 would say I should not complain since it is plenty of work 
 that has been keeping you away. And here is your own 
 chair, that always looks empty when you are not here ; and 
 you Avill light your pipe now, and give us your news ; for 
 though Jessie is always telling us of the great things you 
 are doing and going to do, sure I am you will not show 
 yourself proud and forgetful of your own people. And I 
 hope the classes are getting bigger and bigger, and the boys 
 keeping obedient " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Jess, with a laugh. " Allan is a fine one 
 to be teaching those young lads the humanities ! It is 
 much of the humanities they are likely to learn ! I know 
 the humanities they are likely to have set before them — 
 impatience, and browbeating, and contempt of the whole of 
 the rest of the civilised world " 
 
 " You've never a good word for me, Jessie," said he, as 
 he took his scat. 
 
 " And that's true —that's true ! " interposed her mother, 
 quickly. " She never has a good word for you — before your 
 face, Allan ; but behind your back — you should just hear 
 her ! Behind your back — that's another story ! Was it 
 
 p 2
 
 212 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ten minutes since, was it as much as ten minutes since she 
 was defending you, and praising you, and telling us how 
 you were different from other people, and everything 
 splendid, and just the one single person in the world to be 
 admired. Oh, yes," continued the garrulous little widow, 
 in her terrible indiscretion, and now she had turned upon 
 Jess, " yes, yes, you may show as much pink in your face as 
 ye like ; but when my cousin's son comes to the house, I 
 will see that he is treated with proper civility " 
 
 " I am sure I have little to complain of," Allan said. 
 " Jessie and I understand each other pretty well, I think." 
 
 " Will you take a cup of tea now, Allan ? " the widow 
 asked. 
 
 " I should be glad of it," he made answer, " if it is not 
 too much trouble." And thereupon Mrs. Maclean rose and 
 went to the cupboard : she was delighted that the stiff- 
 necked young man had condescended to accept something at 
 her hands. 
 
 All this while he had hardly dared to look Barbara's way ; 
 though his whole being was conscious of her presence, and 
 thrilled in response to it ; he knew that her eyes, pitiless 
 though they might be, were possibly, even by chance, 
 wandering in his direction. And by subtle degrees the 
 magnetism of this mere proximity had again got hold of 
 him with all its accustomed and mysterious force ; his 
 obduracy melted ; he was ready to forgive her everything 
 bygone — her open preference of another, her bitter words 
 and taunts — if only there was a hope of his winuing a 
 friendly look from under the beautiful, long lashes. And it 
 seemed so easy and reasonable for her to be kind. Surely 
 one so bountifully gifted by nature ought to have been 
 grateful to the existing fabric of things, and ready to do a 
 good turn anywhere .'' How could one so graciously formed 
 be so merciless and cold and distant ? Nay, in what 
 inscrutable way did she continue to exercise this irresistible 
 allurement and glamour, if her attitude towards him was 
 intentionally repellent .? 
 
 " Here, Barbara," said the light-hearted little widow, 
 " take off your black hat and feathers, and not sit there like 
 a tragedy empress. Get out the cups and saucers ; and Jess 
 — away wi' those books o' yours. ' It's a' to pleasure our
 
 LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI 213 
 
 guidinan : ' he'll be somebody's guidman all in good time ; 
 and I trust she'll treat him well after such thankless work 
 as teaching a lot of idle laddies." 
 
 " No, no, you must not say that," Allan protested. " The 
 school-work during the day may be tiresome enough, and 
 thankless enough ; but as for my own lads that come to mo 
 in the evening, I am just proud of them. I had no idea 
 that in a small place like Duntroone there would be so many 
 worthy young fellows determined on self-improvement in 
 spite of their poor and hard circumstances. Where they 
 get time to prepare their tasks I cannot imagine, unless 
 they snatch an hour or two in the early morning, before 
 going to their desk or the counter. And well-behaved in 
 their manner, too " 
 
 " They'd better be ! " said Jess spitefully. 
 " — civil, and attentive, and anxious to win approval. 
 Poor lads," he continued, with a bit of a sigh, and he 
 appeared to relapse into a profound reverie, " one cannot 
 but sympathise with their ambition ; but if they only knew 
 how little a knowledge of books will avail them when they 
 come to live their lives — when they come to discover how 
 inexorable fate is — and how hopeless and cross-grained the 
 world is " 
 
 " Now I'll not have ye talk like that, Allan ! " the widow 
 exclaimed. " I'll not have ye give way to your black moods— 
 though it's but natural, living in such a solitary fashion, and 
 not coming among your friends as much as ye ought. See, 
 try what this will do for you —and a slice or two of cake " 
 
 He paid little attention. His prematurely-lined forehead 
 remained dark and meditative ; until Jess — whose keen 
 grey eyes could read his face as if it were a book — thought 
 fit to interfere. She said to him, with frank good-nature — 
 
 " Come, now, Allan, listen to me, and I will tell you 
 something. Your evening classes promise so well that they 
 will soon become an institution ; and there is one thing an 
 institution cannot do without, and that is an annual soiree. 
 The young men will invite their friends, and their sisters, 
 and sweethearts ; and there will be addresses and songs ; 
 and a report in the newspaper, so that your classes will 
 be recognised as one of the established institutions of 
 Duntroone "
 
 214 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Indeed, you can talk common-sense when yon like, 
 Jess," her mother said, approvingly, " if ye would not keep 
 bickering at Allau, poor lad. Just a fine advertisement — a 
 fine advertisement to help him in the public notice — most 
 useful— most useful — for if I may say so, Allan, ye're just a 
 little bit inclined to be reserved and unmanageable " 
 
 (( 
 
 A little bit inclined ! " said Jess, with a laugh ; but 
 immediately she added : " Well, now, Allan, if you think 
 such a thing would be liked by the lads themselves, you 
 might have the first soiree before the summer vacation." 
 
 " It's not much of a vacation my youths will expect, or 
 want," the schoolmaster answered her, and he roused himself 
 somewhat. " They are too anxious and eager to get on. I 
 hear now and again of some of their schemes and enterprises 
 — most of them translations and useless things they could 
 never get published, if they had any desire of that kind. 
 But happily there do not seem to be many of them aiming 
 at a literary career ; I hope none of them, indeed ; that will 
 be one disappointment the less for them, on their way 
 through the world " 
 
 "Your article on the German Folk-songs," said Jess, 
 skilfully intervening, " when will that be published ? " 
 
 "It is not a subject of much importance," he made 
 answer ; " they may hold it over for any length of time. 
 Mr. McFadyen seems more impatient about it than I am." 
 
 " I think all of us," said Jess, with her gentle grey eyes 
 glistening with pride and pleasure. " I think all of us will 
 be interested enough when that number comes out ! " 
 
 It was now about time for the schoolmaster to be getting 
 along to his Latin class ; and as he rose to take his leave, 
 the warm-hearted little widow was urgent in her entreaties 
 that he should come oftcncr to see theni. The strange 
 thing was that Barbara, who had barely spoken a word 
 during the visit, and hardly seemed to regard herself as one 
 of the company, rose also, and said that she too would be 
 going. Of course he could not assume that she was leaving 
 with him — that he was even to be allowed to hold the door 
 open for her. "When he had bade good-bye to the others, he 
 bade good-bye to her ; and she coldly and formally gave him 
 her hand. And then he passed through the shop and out 
 into the lamp-lit street : he was on his way home, alone.
 
 LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI 215 
 
 lie had not gone a dozen yards when he heard light and 
 swift footsteps behind him. 
 
 " Mr. Henderson ! " 
 
 The voice startled him ; he turned instantly ; and then 
 some wild, bewildering hope flashed through his brain. Had 
 she relented ? Had her heart softened after all ? Was he 
 now to take her and claim her as his own ? Why was she 
 advancing towards him— here in the magical dusk — if all 
 tlie possibilities of all the world were not wrapped np in that 
 slim and elegant figure ? 
 
 It was but a momentary madness that possessed him. 
 Just behind him there was one of the street-lamps ; and the 
 dull light it shed npon her features showed all too clearly 
 that it was no compassion, no kindness, that had moved her 
 to this sudden act. The tone of her voice, when she spoke, 
 gave the final deathblow to that distracting fancy. 
 
 " I wish to know something from yon," she said, rather 
 breathlessly, and yet with obvious determination. " AVe — we 
 had some talk about Mr. Ogilvie. And you threatened. 
 What is it you have said or done to him ? Something has 
 happened : what is it that has happened ? Why does he 
 keep away ? It is through you. I know it is through you. 
 What is it you have done ? " 
 
 He stood irresolute. Even with her face cruel, she looked 
 so winsome ! And then to be alone with her — when he 
 could seize both her hands, and hold her, and tell her 
 at last what was in his burning heart. But then again 
 came the despairing consciousness that it was all in vain ; 
 her voice was angry and menacing ; her demeanour was 
 a challenge. 
 
 " Whatever I did, Barbara," he said, quite humbly, " it 
 was through no wish to injure you : it was far dilferent 
 from that." 
 
 " And who asked you to intermeddle ? " she demanded, 
 with her lips grown pale. "And who made you the judge ? 
 Who gave you the right to say what would injure me or 
 not injure me ? " 
 
 " I told you, Barbara," he said, gently. " I told you that 
 I could not stand by and see you being led into a false 
 position through your ignorance of the world. Do you 
 know what people would say "
 
 2i6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " I do not care what people would say ! " slic broke in, 
 snllenly. 
 
 " Then it is for your friends," said he, Avith something- 
 more of firmness, " if yon are so wilfnl, it is for your friends 
 to see that this man Ogilvie will not take advantage of your 
 recklessness — '■ — " 
 
 " What did you do ? " she broke in again. " What have 
 you done ? Why does he keep away from us ? It is owing 
 to you— it is you that have done it— well I know that ! " " 
 
 " He can best tell you himself," Henderson said, calmly, 
 " why he keeps away from yon. But a young woman would 
 be more regardful of her character who did not show herself 
 so anxious about the visits of a young man." 
 
 " My character is my own," said she, hotly, " and I do 
 not wish for friends that have bad suspicions, and that 
 interfere where they are not wanted. I do not wish for 
 such friends. And if you will not tell me what has hap- 
 pened, then I will find out for myself. Yes, indeed ! I 
 will get some one to help me — but not your help — I can 
 do without that ! If you have said anything to him in my 
 name, I will find it out ; and if you have done anything 
 to him, I will find someone who will take my part — but not 
 you — not you ! — " 
 
 There Avere some people coming along the almost deserted 
 pavement : she turned from him without another word, and 
 disappeared into the dusk. And then he made his way 
 home — to those busy and eager lads whose confident and 
 courageous interest in the future lying before them was such 
 a beautiful thing, with its touch of sadness too.
 
 ( 217 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 DAEK DEALINGS. 
 
 One morning Barbara Maclean was up on the top of the 
 f! allows Hill, and she was regarding with fixed gaze a 
 small and faintly-red speck that was slowly creeping into 
 this wide panorama of aerial blues and greys. It was tlu' 
 funnel of the Aros Castle, that was now on her way across 
 from the Sound of Mull to Duntroone ; and as she came 
 along by Lismore light, the dim spot of red gradually tooh 
 definite shape and brightened in hue, while the black hull 
 of the steamer was now visible amid the w^aste of waves. 
 Onwards she came — past the Maiden Island — past the end 
 of Kerrara — under the ivied ruins of the Castle — and 
 through the smooth waters of the bay ; and by the time 
 she had got in to the South Pier, been made fast there, and 
 discharged her passengers and cargo, Barbara had descended 
 from her lofty pinnacle, and was proceeding along the 
 harbour-front with apparent unconcern, carelessly glancing 
 at the railway-trucks, the lorries, and the herring barrels. 
 This is not the part of Duntroone ordinarily chosen by 
 young ladies out for a morning walk ; nevertheless she 
 seemed bent on no very precise errand ; while there was 
 something of a holiday look about her attire. 
 
 Ogilvie, his work finished for the moment, had stepped 
 ashore, and was now standing talking to an acquaintance. 
 When Barbara drew near, he glanced towards her with 
 some little surprise ; then he raised his cap ; evidently he 
 assumed that she would continue on her way. But when 
 she paused, hesitated, and seemed inclined to address him, 
 he at once dismissed his companion, and turned to her. 
 
 " It is some time since," she said, slowly, V it is some 
 time since you have been to see us." Her eyes were down- 
 cast, and she was nervously smoothing the forefinger of her 
 glove. 
 
 " I have been rather busy," he said, evasively. 
 
 " I was thinking," said she, " I was thinking — if there 
 was any reason." 
 
 "Oh, nothing particular — nothing particular," he made
 
 2i8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 answer. There was no shyness about him, at all events : 
 he was contentedly scannini>- the various articles of her 
 costume. 
 
 For a second she was silent ; then she ventured to raise 
 her eyes, the better to question him. 
 
 " Was Allan Henderson — speaking to you ? " 
 
 At this he laughed rather uneasily. 
 
 " Well, yes, we had a few words, by way of a joke. Only 
 the joke might have had a bad ending ; for both of us were 
 precious near rolling over the edge of the Castle hill." 
 
 " Was there a tight ? " she demanded, with breathless 
 eagerness. 
 
 " A tight ? No. But there was a scrimmage — a ridiculous 
 scrimmage. A fuss about nothing. If I may be allowed 
 to say so, ]\Iiss Barbara, I'm afraid your friends are just a 
 little bit too officious ! " 
 
 There was something of a taunt in this last phrase, 
 notwithstanding the assumed inditference of the speaker. 
 As for her, her cheeks were burning hot with resentment : 
 her surmises had been only too clearly confirmed, 
 
 " Yes," she went on, in bitter indignation, " it is what 
 you say — my friends are a good deal too officious. What 
 i-ight have they to interfere on my account ? What right 
 has Allan Henderson to meddle with anything that concerns 
 me ? Let him keep to his school. He is not my master. 
 I am not in any of his classes " 
 
 " But, really, really," said he, with abundant goodhumour, 
 " it is not a matter to make any worry about. It is of no 
 consequence one way or the other. It is a trifle " 
 
 " I will not have anyone speaking for me — any one that 
 has not the right to do it," she continued, with the 
 beautiful lucent eyes grown sullen with wrath. " And what 
 M'as it he said ? Yes, I guessed that he was going from me 
 to you — I have been thinking of it — I am sure he would 
 be doing that. And now I want to know what it was he 
 said " 
 
 The Purser smiled tolerantly. 
 
 " Don't you bother yourself about nothing. Miss Barbara," 
 said he. " Things are very well as they are : are they not ? 
 I for one am perfectly satisfied." 
 
 She regarded him boldly.
 
 DARK DEALINGS 219 
 
 " If I were a man," said she, " I would not let another 
 man frighten me away from any honse," 
 
 He winced nnder this reproach ; bnt all the same he 
 answered her with a sufficiently confident air — 
 
 "No, no, Miss Barbara : it isn't that at all. There's not 
 a man in Dnntroone, or anywhere else, wonld keep nie 
 away from any honse that I wished to visit " 
 
 " Then why " 
 
 " Then why have I not been looking in of late to see yon 
 and your folks ? " he said, anticipating her question; and 
 then he proceeded, carelessly : " Oh, well, I hate fuss and 
 disturbance. I'm for a quiet life. There's no use in 
 seeking trouble when you can avoid it. It isn't worth 
 while. I don't see the object — — " 
 
 She appeared to withdraw a little ; and her manner 
 changed. 
 
 " Oh, of course ; I understand," she said stiffly and 
 proudly. " If it is not worth while, why should you come 
 to see us ? If there is no object, I can very well understand. 
 And it is much better as it is " 
 
 " Besides, as I tell you, I have been busy," he added, with 
 something of apology in his tone. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I understand," she said. " I understand very 
 well. And as you say, it is of little consequence. Good 
 morning, Mr. Ogilvie ! " 
 
 She was for moving away when he intercepted her. 
 
 " One moment, Miss Barbara," said he, as if rather 
 deprecating her displeasure. "You have never fixed yet 
 when yon are coming for a sail with us. We spoke of it 
 before — your going up to Tobermory — and staying the night 
 with Mrs. Maclean's friends— and coming back with us the 
 next day. The weather appears quite settled at present ; 
 and I would see that you were well looked after " 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you," said she, in the same 
 stiff and cold fashion. " But before I could do that, you 
 would have to come and ask permission for me from Mrs. 
 Maclean : and as she lives in a house that you dare not 
 come near, there is no possibility of it." 
 
 He flushed red with vexation. 
 
 " I can go near any house that I choose to go near," he 
 said, shortly.
 
 220 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Oh, well, indeed now that is a good thing," she rejoined, 
 with great coolness. " For it is a pity that any one should 
 be afraid to come near the house of a friend." And with 
 another formal word of farewell, she turned from him and 
 walked away, resolute and apparently unconcerned. She even 
 made a show of opening the small leathern reticule she 
 carried, as if to refresh her memory about her next errand ; 
 but her fingers shook so that she could hardly undo the clasp. 
 
 Some little time thereafter, on her way home, Barbara 
 called in at the shop to leave a message ; and there she found 
 Jessie Maclean talking across the counter to Niall Gorach 
 When Barbara entered, Jess looked up and laughed. 
 
 " Now is your chance, Barbara," said she. " Here is 
 Niall that offers to take me to a wonderful spae-wife " 
 
 " And what is that ? " Barbara asked. 
 
 " A spae-wife — a wise woman — who will tell you whether 
 you are going to marry a prince or a chimney-sweep. She 
 will tell you everything that is to happen to you, and 
 perhaps something more. Well, now, I have no curiosity 
 about myself ; I am content to be as I am ; but you — I'm 
 thinking you might want to know the strange and fine 
 things that are to come your way. Though I am not sure 
 that it is safe, Barbara : you might see too much, and lose 
 your senses " 
 
 Niall was looking from the one to the other of them. At 
 last he said to Jess — ■ 
 
 " It was you that was keeping the man from striking me ; 
 and besides I got a suxpence ; and I was to show you the 
 white stag in Creannoch. But that is a long weh aweh. 
 Mebbe you would come to the wise woman ; and I will see 
 that the policeman is not noticing anything " 
 
 Barbara stared at him and listened, in silence. And 
 without a word — as if this chance proposal were a matter of 
 complete indifference to her — she left the shop. But a few 
 minutes afterwards, when Niall Gorach was going along the 
 street, he found himself overtaken. 
 
 " Have you the Gaelic ? " said a voice close to him. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," he answered in that tongue, as he turned 
 and beheld Barbara Maclean confronting him : no doubt 
 in his eyes she seemed a grand and noble lady, with her fine 
 hat and feathers.
 
 DARK DEALINGS 221 
 
 " Will you take me to the wise woman ? " she said, 
 hurriedly. 
 
 The half-witted lad regarded her with slow suspicion, 
 
 "What you do not do to-day, you will not repent 
 to-morrow : that is what they are always saying to me," he 
 replied. 
 
 "But I am Jessie Maclean's cousin, and you are very 
 friendly with her," contimied Barbara. " And besides that, 
 I will be giving you something." 
 
 Still he hesitated. 
 
 " You would have to go after it is dark," said he. 
 
 " I will go at any time," she responded eagerly. " Tell 
 me where I am to meet you." 
 
 " And you will not be speaking of it to anyone ? " he 
 asked of her, with cautious and peering eyes. 
 
 "As sure as the Good Being lives, not a word will I 
 pass to any person." 
 
 This seemed at length to pacify him ; and, after a glance 
 up and down the thoroughfare, he told her when and where 
 she should find him. Then Barbara hurried off home, for 
 Mrs. Maclean would soon be coming over for her mid-day 
 meal. The little widow, when she did ajipear, found her 
 niece more pre-occupied and silent even than usual : she 
 did not know that the girl, trembling at her own temerity, 
 had it in mind to lay an impious hand on the veil of the 
 future. 
 
 At the appointed hour, when darkness had fallen and the 
 street lamps were lit, Barbara stole out and along to the 
 rendezvous, her finery being now all discarded for a thick 
 tartan plaid which she wore round her head and shoulders, 
 and with which she could pretty effectually conceal her face. 
 Niall was awaiting her. 
 
 " Does the woman — does the wise woman — ever do 
 anyone harm ? " Barbara asked of her companion as they 
 set forth — and she spoke in an undertone. 
 
 " You will have to give her money," was the reply. 
 
 " Will you come into the house with me ? " she asked 
 again, timidly. 
 
 " No. I will be on the outside. And if I see the officer, 
 I will let you have warning. But it is a very secret place, 
 and perhaps they will not be observing anything."
 
 222 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Ho led the way towards a back slum in the poorer part of 
 the town ; and there, with all sorts of stealthy precautions 
 against being remarked, he brought her to the mouth of a 
 ' close ' or entry, and whispered to her to go in. As for 
 himself, he seemed at the same moment to vanish. Barbara, 
 thus thrown on her own resources, did advance a step or 
 two ; but the place w^as pitch dark ; and it is probable that 
 in her vague apprehension she would have retreated and got 
 into the open air again, but that suddenly a hand was laid 
 upon her arm. She shrieked in terror. 
 
 " Be quiet — be still — ye're safe enough," said a woman's 
 voice. " I'll show ye the way." 
 
 Hardly knowing what was happening to her, she suffered 
 herself to be led by this unknown grasp ; she was conducted 
 along a narrow passage ; she was warned about the descent 
 of some steps ; she found herself in a stone-paved court ; 
 and then a door was opened, and presently she knew that 
 she had come into some confined space. The next moment 
 her guide struck a match and proceeded to light a candle : 
 and Barbara, looking around with bewildered eyes, discovered 
 that she was in a low-roofed cellar-looking place that was 
 apparently empty, while her companion turned out to be 
 a little old ^yoman of slatternly appearance and unkempt 
 grey hair. The ancient witch now shut the door behind 
 them, and fixed the candle on to the wall. 
 
 " There will be no one to disturb us," she said, after 
 a swift and cunning scrutiny of the features of her visitor. 
 " And if anything should appear — there in the middle of 
 the floor — you will raiud not to give a cry." 
 
 At these words the figure of the girl bcgau to shiver 
 slightly. 
 
 " I am not wishing for anythiug to appear," she said, in 
 a low voice. 
 
 "Maybe there will no— maybe there will uo," the crone 
 proceeded, as she began to get out the implements of her 
 craft. " But at least I can tell ye some things that's before 
 you ; and that I can do because I have read the Book of 
 the Law ; ay, and I have heard the Voice ; and open now 
 is all that was shut, and shut is all that was open. Be 
 attentive now — the time is at hand." 
 
 What followed — the palmistry, the divination by cards,
 
 DARK DEALINGS 223 
 
 and the like — was of the most poor and paltry description ; 
 that is to say, tlie old beldame's tricks and pretences would 
 have appeared tawdry and commonplace to a landward-bred 
 girl, who would have regarded them with a mixture of 
 laughing incredulity and curiosity, the incredulity pre- 
 dominating ; but Barbara had been brought up in a lonely 
 island, with moaning seas around, and the awful silence of 
 the starlight nights ; and her imaginative and impressionable 
 temperament yielded readily to a fear of the supernatural. 
 The gibberish the old woman talked was to her something 
 terrible and strange ; the mysterious hints of what was in 
 store for her were communications from the unseen ; it 
 needed no caldrons with green flames, nor spectral figures, 
 nor pentagrams with phantom goats to convince her that 
 these blurred glimpses into the future were true. Nay, in 
 her tremulous agitation she almost seemed to think that 
 this revealer of coming events had some power of control 
 over them. 
 
 " No, no ! — he's not to be away for so many years ! " she 
 exclaimed, piteously. " Don't say that ! He may change 
 his mind. He may find enough attraction at home. Not 
 for years and years " 
 
 " But, as I tell ye, there's a lady in the ploy," continued 
 the hag, and she shuffled the dirty bits of pasteboard again, 
 and affected to be examining them profoundly. "Ay, 
 indeed, a grand lady, and richly dressed. And what is a 
 tartan shawl against a velvet gown ? " 
 
 " But I have better than a tartan shawl ! " said Barbara, 
 (juickly. I only put on the plaid to hide my face in the 
 street. I have far finer things — it need not be for that he 
 will go away and stay away for years. Is there not enough 
 attraction at home, that he should be going away .'' "What 
 will I do, then, that he is not to go away ? " 
 
 "But the dark sweetheart — you have been thinking of 
 him as well ? " said the withered beldame, watching her 
 prey by the dull light of the solitary candle. 
 
 " Him ! " said the girl, with unguarded vehemence. "It 
 is nothing but mischief he has been doing, coming between 
 us ! No, no, do not tell me about him — do not waste time 
 — tell me about the other one ! How many years is he to 
 be away ? He will forget all about me ! "
 
 224 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 "Well, well, now," said the ferret-eyed old woman, 
 insidiously, " but there's the rich old gentleman you have 
 the chance of " 
 
 " I would rather be dead ! " Barbara broke in, passion- 
 ately. 
 
 " Ay, ay, but carriages and horses are fine things, and 
 ribbons and satins. You will come to me again now, and 
 bring me a little more money ; and I will tell ye about the 
 rich old gentleman, and the estate, and the grand pew in the 
 church " 
 
 " I would rather be dead ! — I would rather be dead ! " 
 the girl cried — out of her mind with this torture of hopes 
 and "fears. " Tell me about the other one — about the fair 
 one : how many years is he to be away .'' — and maybe he 
 will not go if ho finds enough attraction at home ? What 
 is it that will keep him ? What am I to do ? Are you 
 sure that he is going ? He never said that to me. Only 
 that he was not satisfied, as mauy a young man is not 
 satisfied, and wishing for better opportunities " 
 
 There was a tapping at the door. The old witch instantly 
 blew out the light, 
 
 " There's a policeman at the corner," Niall Gorach 
 whispered in to them, in Gaelic, "and it is I that am 
 thinking he is on the watch for us. Well, now, if he comes 
 here, as soon as he puts his foot on the steps, I will trip 
 him up ; and you must run " 
 
 " No, no ! " exclaimed Barbara, in still further alarm. 
 " I cannot do that. Every one will know. Will I give 
 him money ? — I have still a little — — " 
 
 " Give it to me ! " said the beldame, eagerly. " Give it 
 to me — and I will make him quiet " 
 
 "May the devil eat you ! " growled Niall Gorach, using 
 a familiar Gaelic imprecation. " If you take another penny 
 of her money, it is I that will make your life too hard to be 
 borne. I will put more wild beasts into your house than 
 you ever saw in a pack of cards. Now be still — and maybe 
 the officer will go by." 
 
 They stood silent and unseen by each other in the dark, 
 Barbara hardly daring to breathe. And then, after a little 
 while, Niall Gorach crept away from the cellar, and 
 ascended the steps, and passed out to the front : he returned
 
 THE RED PARASOL 225 
 
 witli the welcome intelligence that the coast was clear — 
 Barbara was free to go. A second or two thereafter the 
 shawled figure was again passing swiftly along the thorough- 
 fare — her face concealed from the light of the lamps — and 
 many a wild fancy claiming possession of her brain. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE BED PARASOL. 
 
 " I AM of opeenion," said the councillor, seated in Mrs. 
 Maclean's back-parlour, and giving himself considerable 
 airs before the women-folk, " I am of opeenion that in 
 human life there's a great deal to be done with imagination. 
 For example, now, when I want to go to sleep at night — and 
 if there's a grander thing in the world than a sound night's 
 rest, I don't know where you'll find it — when I want to get 
 to sleep, I double up the pillow to give a rounded edge to 
 it, and then I put my cheek quietly and softly on it, and 
 then I try to imagine that my head is a golf ball placed on 
 the tee : not a ball among prickly whins, nor a ball in a 
 cart-rut, nor a ball in a puddle o' water, but a ball carefully 
 and gently and securely placed on the tee " 
 
 " Ay," said Jess, " and do ye never dream that it's sent 
 Avhirling into the air with one 0' they heavy clubs ? " 
 
 " Xa, na," he responded, slily. " By the time it comes 
 to dreaming I'm dreaming of something quite different. 
 It's the getting to sleep is the question, and that's where 
 imagination steps in, and does the trick. Talking of golf- 
 balls," he went on, " the new links are nearly completed ; 
 and when they're open. Miss Jessie, I want you and Miss 
 Barbara to come and look on at another match between me 
 and Jamie Gilmour. Ye see, I had rather bad luck the last 
 
 time " He stopped ; and then proceeded again, with a 
 
 sudden burst of honesty : " No, I'll not say that. I will 
 not say that. If a man can beat me at golf, he can beat 
 me ; and there's an end of it. I cannot do better than my 
 best. Dod bless me, I see people worrying and worrying 
 
 Q
 
 226 HIGHLAND 00 US INS 
 
 because they're not cijiuil to their neighbours ! there's no 
 philosophy in that — no philoso])hy " 
 
 " I'm sure, Mr. McFadyen," observed the pohte little 
 widow, " there's few can beat ye at golf, or at anything else." 
 
 " Well," said the councillor, modestly, " I'm not saying 
 but that I try to keep myself up to the mark. And maybe 
 I'll show Jamie something on the new links. I've been 
 over the ground. I've been studying the bunkers. I think 
 I can see my way to make a light of it — if Gilmour does 
 not put me out wi' that cackling laugh of his " 
 
 At this point Barbara made her appearance, and he 
 instantly jumped to his feet to shake hands with her and to 
 pull in a chair for her. 
 
 " I thought I saw you this morning," he said, with adroit 
 flattery, " for there was a young lady going down the street 
 before me that had a very elegant figure and was nicely 
 dressed, and thinks I to myself ' If that's not Miss Barbara, 
 I'm a Dutchman ! ' But when I got nearer I discovered 
 who she was — it was one of the Miss Murrays of Inveruran 
 ■ — the younger daughter, I think " 
 
 Barbara's face flushed with pleasure : the Murrays of 
 Inveruran were great people in those parts, the ladies of the 
 family being quite the leaders of fashion. 
 
 " It was her red parasol that had hidden her face," 
 explained the councillor. " And I will say this," he con- 
 tinued, with an air of conviction, "that any young lady 
 that carries a scarlet parasol does nothing more nor less 
 than confer a favour on every one coming within sight of 
 her. And I will just explain to ye now why a red parasol 
 should be such a beautiful thing, and grateful to the eye. 
 What is the general colour of the earth ? It's green. And 
 what is the complementary colour of green"? It's red. 
 And that's the reason of the harmony — that's why the eye 
 welcomes it — Dod, I tell ye that a brilliant red parasol, on 
 the dullest day ye like, looks to me just like a blaze o' 
 summer, though the young lady may be only standing on 
 the pavement and looking in at McLennan's windows.'' 
 
 Barbara had been listening intently— in silence ; but the 
 widow said — 
 
 " It's very clever of you, Mr. McFadyen, to understand 
 the meaning of such things."
 
 THE RED FARASOL 227 
 
 " ISTo, no," he responded, with some touch of deprecation, 
 " only there's a why and a wherefore to everything, and one 
 is none the worse for being aware of it." 
 
 It was a few days after this that Barljara was again 
 waiting and watching for the Aros Casik — this time from 
 the rocky promontory nnderneath the Gallows Hill. Iti 
 addition to her ordinary attire, she had a shawl hanging 
 over her arm, though the warmth of early suunncr was now 
 in the air ; while there could be little fear of rain on such a 
 morning, for sea and sky were alike of a faultless blue, 
 while the hills of Mull and Morven and Kingairloch had 
 that peculiar remoteness and aerial quality that tells of 
 settled fine weather. And it Avas into this world of shiuiug 
 azure that the red speck of a funnel eventually and slowly 
 made its way ; until, as the ship drew nearer and nearer, 
 the throb of her paddles could be heard, echoing up among 
 the ruins of Duntroone Castle. Then she churned her way 
 across the smooth waters of the harbour ; she was made 
 fast alongside the quay ; and the work of discharging 
 passengers and cargo began. 
 
 Barbara lingered and still lingered out on the rocks ; and 
 when anyone chanced to pass — for there was a boatbuilder's 
 shed down at the shore — she would leisurely walk a few 
 steps one way or another, as though she were entirely 
 engrossed with the seaward view. But by-and-bye slie 
 turned her back on that brilliant picture ; she left the 
 rocks ; she went along by the fishermen's cottages ; and 
 now before her was the South Pier, with the Aros Castle 
 lying idle, though there were still a few stragglers busy 
 amongst the landed cargo. At this point she paused for a 
 moment to take out something from under the folded 
 shawl. It was a scarlet sunshade ; and when she had 
 opened it and raised it over her head, very fine it looked, 
 for the sharp black rays of the framework only made the 
 translucency of the silk more apparent, and there was a soft 
 rose-red glow under this splendid canopy. Perhaps her 
 eyes were a little timid as she went forward again ; but she 
 could lower the sunshade an inch or tAVO and screen herself 
 from observation if she chose. And in this wise she 
 approached the Aros Castle. 
 
 There was little doing on board the steamer, the train 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 not yet having come in : the Captain was seated near the 
 bridge, smoking his pipe, while the Purser was standing 
 by, with a bundle of papers in his hand. But Ogilvie, at 
 the moment, was not looking at these papers ; and it is 
 quite certain that as Barbara approached, his attention must 
 have been drawn to such a conspicuous object as a scarlet 
 sunshade — conspicuous among the squalor of a quay. More- 
 over, if he had been in the mind to intercept her, even in 
 the way of ordinary friendliness, a couple of seconds would 
 have brought him to the landward end of the gangway. 
 And yet he made no sign ; while she on her part, apparently 
 taking no heed of his discourtesy, passed on, the proud 
 elegance of her gait losing nothing of its accent. 
 
 " Who's that flaunting her feathers at ye, Jack ? " the 
 Captain said, with a glance after her, 
 
 " That was one of the Maclean girls," he answered, 
 carelessly. 
 
 But of a sudden Barbara turned ; she came deliberately 
 back to the steamer ; and of course, as soon as he saw her 
 put her foot on the gangway, he stepped forward to meet 
 her. 
 
 " Are you going over to the North Pier soon ? " she 
 asked, somewhat stiffly. 
 
 " JSTot very long now," he answered her ; " the train is 
 nearly due." 
 
 " I am tired — I have been for a long walk," she said. 
 
 "Then you could not do better than let us take you 
 across," said he ; and he went and fetched a camp-stool for 
 her. The Captain, a taciturn man, put his ])i]ie \\\ his 
 waistcoat pocket, and got up and walked away, his hands 
 behind his back. 
 
 She hardly knew what to do or say. Sullen and wrathful 
 as she was over his indifference, she yet feared to widen the 
 breach between them, 
 
 " I suppose you have more and more people coming every 
 day," she said. 
 
 " Oh, yes, the season has well begun now," he answered 
 her. " The fine weather brings out the tourists like horse- 
 flies," 
 
 " You need not quarrel with what gets you your living," 
 she said, again.
 
 THE RED PARASOL 229 
 
 " It's a pretty poor living," he rejoined — but lie was 
 looking away towards the station, into whicli the train had 
 just slowly crept. 
 
 " And I suppose," she continued, with just the suspicion 
 of a taunt, " that you are kept as busy during the evenings 
 as during the day ? " 
 
 " One has got to work," he said. And then he glanced 
 at her costume, and the splendour of the rose-red parasol. 
 "You are better off. You can take your holidays when 
 you like." 
 
 "I would not be a slave at all hours," she retorted. " I 
 would not be a slave for any one." 
 
 " You are lucky," he said. " Some of us have got to bo 
 slaves." And with that he left her, and went to the head 
 of the gangway ; for the first of the hotel omnibuses had 
 just arrived, and the people were descending. 
 
 She did not have further talk with him for some time ; 
 she could only sit patiently and follow him with her eyes, 
 especially noting his demeanour towards the young ladies 
 and their mammas who came on board. He himself had 
 half -jestingly complained of their treatment of him — that 
 at the very most they would throw him a word of civility as 
 they would throw a bone to a dog ; but Barbara's observa- 
 tion did not tell her that such was the case ; he seemed to 
 be known to many ; and the greetings that were exchanged, 
 as this one or that came along and stepped on to the deck, 
 were quite sufficiently pleasant and friendly. And why 
 would he not smile in that fashion upon her ? The beams 
 of the sun -god could so easily have dissipated her anger ! 
 
 She waited and waited, and still he did not return to her. 
 The steamer's bell was rung a third time ; there was a brief 
 interval ; a last passenger or two came running ; and then 
 the gangway was withdrawn, the captain signalled down to 
 the engine-room, and the paddle-wheels began to revolve. 
 There remained now but the breadth of Duntroone Bay — 
 so short a space for speech ! With feverish impatience she 
 watched him go hither and thither ; and apparently he had 
 no great business on hand ; for eventually he stood idly 
 chatting and laughing with a man she knew very well by 
 sight — the chief draper in Duntroone. Nay, his neglect of 
 her seemed intentional — an open insult ; she already saw
 
 230 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 herself leave tlic bo;it in proud silence, with a bitter resolve 
 that henceforth they should be absolute strangers to each 
 other. And indeed it was not until the very last minute, as 
 the steamer was nearing the North Pier, that he came 
 quickly along to her and said : 
 
 " Well, now. Miss Barbara, I'm very glad we had the 
 chance of bringing you across ; and you must make use of 
 the steamer whenever you are over on the other side. And 
 remember me to your aunt and Miss Jessie — Jessie the 
 Flower of Duntroone, as Mr. McFadyeu would say." 
 
 He spoke in his usual free and off-hand fashion ; and 
 her keen mortification and resentment, that had been long- 
 ing for expression in some indignant act or look, got all 
 blunted and subdued and dispelled. 
 
 " I hope you will come in some evening and see them," 
 she said, as she stepped on to the gangway — and for a 
 moment her eyes did seek his with some timid appeal. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," he answered her, good-naturedly enough ; 
 and then she passed along, and got ashore, and was lost in 
 the crowd. She did not stay to look at the departing 
 steamer. She hurriedly shut up the red sunshade, and 
 carefully hid it under the shawl hanging over her arm ; and, 
 thus shorn of her glory, she left the quay and made her 
 way home. 
 
 That same evening Mrs. Maclean, Jess, and Barbara, the 
 varied toil of the day over, were seated at their frugal meal ; 
 and the widow was talking in an unusually concerned and 
 anxious manner. It appeared that some time during the 
 afternoon, on her way to the shipping office to pay freights, 
 she had chanced to meet Allan Henderson ; and she had 
 been greatly struck by the serious change in his looks ; he 
 seemed ill, and careworn, and depressed, though he would 
 not admit that anything was Avrong. 
 
 " And I feel kind of responsible for the lad," she con- 
 tinned, " for we are all the kith and kin he has near him. 
 Bat he's that stubborn ; he'll not take advice ; he thinks 
 he can do anything with his constitution — that has served 
 him well so far, I admit ; but how long is it going to stand 
 out against careless treatment and overwork ? I'm sure I 
 hope the warning has not come now — poor lad, my heart 
 was sore to see him ; Init would he say there was anything
 
 THE RED PARASOL 231 
 
 wrong- ? — uut a bit ! — he ouly laiiglicd and declared he had 
 no tune to imagine himself an invalid. It was not a happy 
 kind of a laugh either — there's something on the lad's 
 mind ; that I'm convinced of " 
 
 "Mother," said Jess, "if he is looking so ill, don't yon 
 thing we could send Dr. McGillivray — Allan could not well 
 refuse to see him " 
 
 " But he would- — he would," the little wddow rejoined. 
 " I just begged and prayed him to insult a doctor — if only 
 to save us from anxiety ; but as I tell ye, he's that stub- 
 born ; and he thinks he's made of cast-iron. And a more 
 perneecious idea cannot get hold of a young man." 
 
 She paused for a moment or two ; and then resumed, in 
 a more cheerful tone — 
 
 " Well, for another reason I was pleased to meet the lad, 
 and glad to find him just as simple and honest and straight- 
 spoken as ever. He has not been near us for a while now ; 
 and I was rather wondering whether his college-learning 
 and his classes might not be beginning to make him a little 
 set up, so that he would not care about being seen coming 
 into a tobacco shop and sitting down among friends 
 there " 
 
 " It's little you know Allan," said Jess, proudly, " if you 
 could suspect him of any such thing ! " 
 
 "Ah, but there's curious ideas get into the minds of 
 young folks," said the widow, shaking her head. Then she 
 added pointedly : And I would ask you this, Jess ; sup- 
 posing that Allan was ever to give himself airs like that, 
 who w^ould be accountable for it ? — who but you yourself ? 
 Who but you — talking of the great things he's to look 
 forward to, and setting him on, and making so much of 
 him ? Many's the time I've watched him with his great 
 eyes glowering into the fire, wdiile you were telling him of 
 this one and the other that had gone away to London and 
 become famous ; and w^as it not you yourself, Jessie — and 
 that not so long ago either — was it not you yourself that 
 Avas saying there w^ould come a day when we would be 
 wondering that Allan Henderson ever used to come into 
 our parlour, and sit down and chat with us, and smoke his 
 pipe ? " 
 
 But Jess was in nowise abashed.
 
 232 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " And if I did ? " slic replied promptly. " That is saying 
 one thing. But it is quite a different thing to suppose that 
 Allan would ever show himself ashamed of us, no, not if he 
 were coming back from dining with the Queen at Windsor 
 Castle. It is not in his nature to be like that ; he would 
 not understand it ; he is too thorough through and through ; 
 meanness and pretence of that kind he simply could not 
 comprehend. You might as well " 
 
 " Ay, Jess," her mother interposed, drily, " You've aye 
 got a fair word for Allan behind his back ; it's a pity you're 
 not more civil to him before his face." 
 
 To which there was no reply ; for now supper was over ; 
 Mrs. Maclean took up the Duntroone Times and TeUgrapli, 
 to read the news from the outer isles ; the girl Christina 
 was called in to clear the table ; while Jess went away to 
 her own room to fetch some piece of dress that she wished 
 to mend. Barbara sate down and began to plait a collar 
 for a kitten that had recently been presented to her. 
 
 It was a quiet evening and apparently uneventful ; and 
 yet something strange occurred, under that placid surface. 
 Jess Maclean was away for a considerable time before she 
 returned with the garment she had been seeking ; and 
 when she appeared at the door again, she said, in accents of 
 surprise — 
 
 " Barbara, where did you get that red sunshade ? I 
 could not find my pelisse, and I thought it might have 
 been put into your drawer " 
 
 Barbara had started to her feet, her face betraying the 
 most vivid alarm ; and instantly she stepped across the 
 room before Jess could add another word. Indeed, so quick 
 were her movements, and so deeply was Mrs. Maclean 
 engrossed with her newspaper, that the widow, who had not 
 chanced to overhear Jessie's question, did not even noAv 
 notice that both girls had disappeared. Barbara dragged 
 her cousin into the adjacent room. 
 
 " I am not wishing your mother to know," she said, in 
 the greatest confusion ; and she went hurriedly to the 
 drawer, and opened it, and proceeded to securely cover over 
 the sunshade, which'.was down at the bottom. 
 
 Jess was astonished beyond measure. 
 
 " I am sure, Barbara," she said, " I did not intend to
 
 THE RED PARASOL 233 
 
 pry into any secret. But I iliouglifc my pelisse might be 
 there. And how do you think my mother is not to know ? 
 — she will see you carrying the sunshade when you go out." 
 
 " No, no," said Barbara, who seemed terrified. " I can 
 hide it — perhaps I will not use it often " 
 
 " Why," said Jess, goodnaturedly, " you would not have 
 such a tine thing as that, and keep it locked up in a drawer ? 
 What did it cost you, Barbara ? " 
 
 The eyes of the girl looked frightened and bewildered. 
 
 " The cost ? " she repeated, " the cost— it was fifteen 
 shillings." 
 
 " Well, that is a good deal of money " 
 
 "No, it was twelve shillings," Barbara broke in, in a 
 breathless kind of way, " I have not paid for it yet — it is 
 to-morrow that I am to pay for it — the twelve shillings." 
 
 " And even that," said Jess, laughing — though she was 
 still unable to account for her cousin's confusion and dis- 
 tress — " even that is a good deal to pay for something you 
 mean to keep locked up in a drawer. It is not a good 
 investment, Barbara. I think you would be better Avith 
 the money. A sunshade is not quite the right thing to lay 
 up for a rainy day, is it ? " 
 
 " But you will not tell your mother, Jessie ? " Barbara 
 demanded quickly. 
 
 " Oh, no," Jess responded. " If it is a secret, it is a 
 secret. But I do not understand why you should have 
 l)ought such an expensive thing, only to cover it up in a 
 drawer. Barbara, you are a spendthrift — that is what you 
 
 are." 
 
 " Do not speak of it to any one, Jessie," the girl said, in 
 a low voice. " There is no use in speaking of it." 
 
 And with that she lowered the gas, and the two girls 
 returned to the parlour and to their respective occupations : 
 Barbara silent and constrained — Jess, though without any 
 deep pondering on the subject, remaining somewhat puzzled.
 
 234 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 A. HALF-HOLIDAY AND THEREAFTEE. 
 
 When at length the new links were completed and thrown 
 open to the members of the Golfing Club, the councillor and 
 the station-master managed to secure a vacant couple oT 
 hours for their long-talked-of match ; while Mrs. Gibnour 
 and Jess Maclean — Barbara having declined — had been 
 persuaded to accompany them, to spur them on to honour- 
 aljle emulation. And auspicious and exhilarating was the 
 morning on which they left the town and climbed away up 
 to the breezy heights on wliich the greens and the teeing- 
 grounds had Iseen carefully planned out ; the surrounding 
 undulations of larch-wood were stirring, and yet no more 
 than stirring, in the soft summer air ; the peaks of Ben 
 Cruachan, clear to the top, were of a faint and transparent 
 azure in the luminous silver skies. Peter of course rose 
 to such an occasion ; he was emphatically insisting on the 
 value of physical exercise ; he made merry jests at the 
 expense of the tall, grim, red-haired station-master ; he 
 playfully wanted to know what reward the fair spectators 
 had in store for the victor in the contest. ISTay, as now 
 falls to be related, his high spirits eventually got the 
 better of him, and landed him in a predicament the like 
 of which it is to be hoped no golfer had ever before 
 encountei'ed. 
 
 For Mr. McFadyen had been over the links, whereas 
 the station-master had not ; and accordingly, when they 
 had secured the services of a caddie, the councillor under- 
 took to lead the way and show his friendly enemy the 
 whereabouts of the holes. His first drive was an excellent 
 one. 
 
 " That's something like, now — if you keep that up you'll 
 do," Gilmour cried, encouragingly — though the remark 
 seemed rather to reflect on previous performances. 
 
 " I'll bet ye half-a-crown on this hole ! " interposed the 
 councillor, in a taunting fashion.
 
 A HALF-HOLIDAY AND THEREAFTER ^i 
 
 -J3 
 
 " Away wi' your half-crowns ! " the other said witli con- 
 tempt. " It would be wiser-like if ye'd walk on, and keep 
 an eye on my ball." 
 
 This Peter proceeded to do, though with what secret 
 thoughts- — -whether of mere devilment or of deliberate 
 revenge — will probably never be known. He went away 
 forward and got on to the top of a knoll ; with word and 
 gesture he indicated the whereabouts of the green ; and 
 then he waited for the station-master's drive. This also 
 was an excellent one ; the ball came sailing and sailing 
 along, triumphantly clearing a wide extent of rushy ground 
 that might have proved a formidable hazard ; until liually, 
 out of sight of everybody but the councillor, it landed in 
 a slight hollow, fair on the way to the hole. What followed, 
 was remarkable, Mr. McFadyen, instead of remaining by 
 his own ball and waiting until the others came up, now 
 walked cprickly across to where the station-master's ball had 
 fallen ; he picked up that small white sphere, and slipped it 
 into his pocket ; and when his companions arrived, he was 
 diligently striking with his club at patches of ragwort, and 
 hunting all about. 
 
 " Dod," said he, seriously, " I could ha' sworn your ball 
 fell just here, Jamie — it must be in the weeds somewhere — 
 it's just extraordinary how a ball gets covered sometimes — 
 and the next day you'll find it easily enough — lying in the 
 open " 
 
 They were all looking about now — the station-master 
 inclined to be angry at this unexpected check. 
 
 " Ye might have kept an eye on it, man ! " he said to 
 the councillor. 
 
 " But I did ! " retorted Peter. " I tell ye I saw it fall 
 just about here " 
 
 " Ay, and did ye observe the earth open and swallow it 
 up ? " demanded the long, thin, fiery-headed man, peevishly. 
 " A fine one you are to keep an eye on a ball ! " 
 
 "You'd better find it anyway," remarked Peter, with 
 great composure, " or the hole's mine." 
 
 They could not find the ball ; they pried and prodded ; 
 they kicked at the little clumps of ragwort ; they pressed 
 their foot on the long grass. And meanwhile the coun- 
 cillor was jeering.
 
 236 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Jamie, my man, if yc lose five minutes for every drive 
 ye make, it's little ye'll sec of the twelve-twenty train the 
 day." 
 
 " I give ye the hole," the station-master said snappishly. 
 " Let's get on to the next teeing-ground." 
 
 And again the small group moved on — Jess openly sym- 
 pathizing with the station-master over his misfortune. Foi' 
 she could not hut observe that there was about Mr. McFadyen 
 a look of mysteriously reticent diversion ; he did not say 
 anything, but his eyes were covertly amused and laughing ; 
 while his face remained portentously grave. She did not 
 think it becoming that he should inwardly rejoice over the 
 misadventure of a lost ball. 
 
 They reached the next teeing-ground, and here Peter 
 gave his antagonist general directions as to the lie of the 
 second hole, betwixt which and them ran at rig'ht angles a 
 considerably high stone wall. Clearly the object of the 
 opening drive was to get Avell over this dangerous obstruc- 
 tion ; and the councillor, having the ' honour,' got away 
 in capital style. 
 
 " Ye're doing fine, Mr. McFadyen," said the station- 
 mastea-'s wife, approvingly, and unmindful of her husband's 
 morose looks. 
 
 " Sometimes I'm better than at other times," the coun- 
 cillor responded, modestly. And then he gave a sharp little 
 snort of a giggle, without apparent cause. 
 
 It was now Gilmour's turn ; and it was obvious that he 
 meant to secure this next hole, or perish in the attempt. 
 He was most cautious about the tec ; he patted down the 
 ground behind it ; he took a long look forward ; he raised 
 his club slowly, and then down it came with a slashing 
 " swipe " ; away went the ball in a beautiful curve, the 
 size of it dAvindling and dwindling, until it disappeared. 
 
 " You're no over, Jamie," remarked the councillor. 
 
 " Not over ? " the station-master rejoined angrily. " I'm 
 over, and halfway up the other side." 
 
 " You're no over," repeated Peter, with confidence ; and 
 again they moved forward. 
 
 Now for the convenience of players and their friends the 
 constructors of the links had placed a flight of wooden steps 
 on each side of the wall ; and this little party of four were
 
 A HALF-HOLIDAY AND THEREAFTER 237 
 
 just about to ascend and descend when the unspeakable 
 councillor, taking from his pocket the ball (the station- 
 master's) which he had previously picked up, managed to 
 drop it unseen, and that close in to the foot of the stone 
 dyke. 
 
 " Here, Jamie, man," he called to his foe. " Here ye 
 are. Did not I tell ye ye did not get over ? " 
 
 The station-master turned and stared. There certainly 
 was a ball lying there. 
 
 "God bless me !" he exclaimed. "I would have bet a 
 hundred pounds I was over, and well over. Did ye not 
 think I was well over. Miss Jessie ? " 
 
 " Indeed, then, I did," answered Jess. 
 
 " My fine chappie, that's all the length ye've got," the 
 councillor maintained. " Take up the ball and look." 
 
 There could be no doubt about it ; for whereas Mr. 
 McFadyen, being in such matters of an economical turn of 
 mind, was in the habit of using re-made balls, Gilmour 
 wiis extravagant enough to treat himself to the genuine 
 SilvertowD. 
 
 " I never saw the like — I could have bet a thousand 
 pounds I was well over ! " the mortified station-master 
 exclaimed again. " Well, I must try to get the brute over 
 somehow." 
 
 Alas ! his efforts in this direction were a series of ghastly 
 failures ; his score mounted up dreadfully ; Avhile Peter 
 ^IcFadyen, throwing all decency to the W'iuds, abandoned 
 himself to shrieks and roars of hysterical laughter. It was 
 a disgraceful exhibition ; for the oftener Gilmour's ball 
 struck the dyke, rebounding on the hither side, the more 
 incontinent became Peter's mirth ; his doublcd-up frame 
 shook with his wild guffaws ; he dashed the fist of one hand 
 into the palm of the other ; tears were running down his 
 cheeks. 
 
 " Oh, Jamie, Jamie," he cried, " if ye hammer long 
 enough, ye'U have the wall down ; but over it ye'll not get 
 this day." 
 
 Nevertheless the incensed and savage station-master did 
 at length succeed in surmounting this hateful obstacle ; and 
 then it was that the councillor, getting over the dyke, forged 
 rapidly on ahead. Apparently he was looking for his ball ;
 
 238 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and one ball he certainly did find — a l3all tliat he swiftly 
 and furtively slipped into his pocket ; then he continued his 
 search, until he joyfully called out — ■ 
 
 " Yes, here I am. Where are you, Jamie ? " 
 
 " I may as well give up this hole too," said the statiou- 
 mastcr, gloomily. 
 
 " No, no, never say die ! " rejoined the councillor, in 
 whose twinkling eyes there was still a dark and inscrutable 
 merriment. "Maybe you'll beat me on the green after 
 all." 
 
 " Beat you on the green when I'm nine already ! " the 
 station-master growled. Indeed, he had no chance at all ; 
 for as it turned out, the councillor got on to the green with 
 his next stroke ; and by a perfectly marvellous ' put ' holed 
 out in three. The station-master's wife and Jess were 
 unstinted in their applause. 
 
 And now it was that the victorious McFadyen found 
 himself in the predicament which was the natural and 
 fitting requital of his infamy. It is quite possible that he 
 had intended confessing the double trick he had so shame- 
 fully played on the station-master, and proposing that they 
 should go back and start fair from the beginning ; but 
 now — now that he had won the second hole in three — now 
 that he had received the congratulations of the spectators — ■ 
 ]iow that there was a chance of his making a splendid 
 score — the temptation to silence was terrible. The only 
 point was — Had the sharp-eyed caddie noticed his picking 
 up Gilmour's ball, and his subsequently depositing it at the 
 foot of the dyke ? AYould the imp go away among his 
 fellows and tell the tale ? Would they talk amongst them- 
 selves about the ' cheating man ' — and perhaps, some day, 
 reveal the story to one of the members .^ These were -wild 
 and whirling thoughts ; and yet there was no time for 
 deliberation ; Peter had again to lead off ; and his com- 
 panions were already on the teeing-ground. The councillor 
 went forward and took up his position ; the caddie. made a 
 tee for him and carefully placed the ball ; the spectators 
 were all attention. And even now, at this last moment, if 
 he had made a bad stroke, he would probably have owned 
 up, and insisted on beginning all over again ; but unfortu- 
 nately he led oft" with a magnificent drive ; to sacrifice such
 
 A HALf-HOLIDAY AND THEREAFTER 239 
 
 fascinatiDg chance of the third hole would be too heart-- 
 rending ; without a word — just as if everything had been 
 fah", square, and aboveboard — he waited for the station- 
 master to follow. And this third hole also Peter won easily. 
 
 " Well, indeed, Mr. McFadyen," said Jessie, " you arc 
 carrying everything before you to-day. I think you must 
 have been concealing your skill all this time." 
 
 He glanced at her quickly and nervously ; but there >Yas 
 no guile in Jess's honest grey eyes. 
 
 " Oh, I know something of the game," said he ; " 1 
 admit I know a little of the game — but I'm not always at 
 my best." 
 
 The strange thing was that although success continued 
 to reward his efforts, and that in quite a remarkable manner, 
 his spirits did not rise in proportion ; there was no more 
 wild laughter over Gilmour's disappointment ; there was no 
 bravado on the putting-green. Occasionally, when his 
 triumphant career was winning general approval, he would 
 turn suddenly and scan the face of the caddie ; but that 
 phlegmatic youth returned no answering glance ; if he had 
 seen that which he ought not to have seen, he made no 
 sign. And so the game went on ; and fortune all the way 
 through favoured the unjust ; Gilmour was hopelessly 
 beaten ; Peter was the hero of the hour — though he bore 
 his honours with unusual modesty. 
 
 When at length they reached the little wooden shanty 
 belonging to the Club, Gilmom-, his wife, and Jess re- 
 mained outside, while the caddie w^ent inside to hang up 
 the bags. Mr. McFayden, observing the opportunity, 
 slipped in after him. 
 
 " Well, my lad," said he, in an offhand and merry way 
 — and he pretended to be tightening up a leather strap, 
 " that was a fine trick, wasn't it ? " 
 
 The eyes of the youth answered with a blank stare, which 
 so far was a comforting thing. But Peter was determined 
 to make sure. 
 
 " A good joke, wasn't it — at the two first holes ? " said he, 
 encouragingly. 
 
 And again there was a blank stare : no hideous and 
 self-conscious grin. A heavy weight seemed to be removing 
 itself from Peter's sinful soul.
 
 240 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " Why, don't ye remember," lie said, with quite bhthe 
 hypocrisy, " don't ye remember the hash Mr. Gilmour made 
 of it at the dyke ? A great joke that was : I'll be bound 
 ye don't often see such an angry man. Well, here's an 
 extra shilling for ye : ye need not say anything about it, 
 for it's against the rules ; but a discreet tongue is just the 
 best thing a decent, quiet, sensible laddie like you can have." 
 
 And therewith he went out and rejoined his companions ; 
 and as they walked away across the heights and down 
 towards the town, the chubby and cheerful councillor was 
 more like his natural self. At times, indeed, a thoughtful 
 shade would come over his face — perhaps the small, still 
 voice was reminding him how he had hasely deceived these 
 trusting friends ; but then again the glory of being the 
 conqueror — the delight of having so thoroughly routed the 
 station-master — the sw'eet praises from smiling lips — all 
 combined to stifle his conscience, until he appeared actually 
 to rejoice in his iniquity. When finally they parted to go 
 their several ways, Peter was laughing without and within : 
 never had he seen Jamie Gilmour so completely crest- 
 fallen. 
 
 It was seldom at this busy time of the year that Jess 
 Maclean allowed herself the luxury of even a half-holiday ; 
 and to make up for the morning on the links she was 
 devoting the evening to her account-books, when a tapping 
 at the j)arlour door announced a visitor. She looked up. 
 It was the schoolmaster. But the sunlight that leapt into 
 her face — and especially into her eyes — at the mere sight of 
 him, soon vanished when she heard his news. 
 
 " It's a great chance for me," he said, in an absent kind 
 of way, when he had explained the offer of a travelling- 
 tutorship that had been made him : " and I owe it to the 
 kindness of Professor Menzies, who was always very friendly 
 towards me when I was in Glasgow. Two years of European 
 travel- — all expenses paid — and a handsome salary besides : 
 I never could have dreamed of such a chance. And the 
 young gentleman, I am told, is a most modest, good-natured, 
 w ell-mannered lad " 
 
 " Oh, as for that," said Jess, who, even in her dismay at 
 the prospect of this long separation, could not forego her
 
 A HALF-HOLIDAY AND THEREAFTER 241 
 
 gibes, " as for that, if there is to be any bear -leading I know 
 which of you will l)e the bear." 
 
 "No, I never dreamed of such a chance," he went on, 
 " when I was cutting out pictures of the capitals of Europe, 
 and pasting them in a scrap-book, and wondering whether 
 my small savings and a few weeks' holiday would ever carry 
 me to those places. Of course, there will be the giving up 
 of my classes ; and that will bs a sacrifice ; for I am in- 
 terested in many of the lads — their eagerness, their deter- 
 mination, is something fine — " He stopped short. " I 
 beg your pardon, Mrs. Maclean," he said, humbly, "for 
 bothering you about my poor afl'airs — they're of little enough 
 concern to any one " 
 
 "Allan Henderson, I wonder to hear ye ! " exclaimed the 
 little widow ; and then she proceeded, Avitli considerable 
 warmth : " Concern ? I should think they were of very 
 near concern to us. And what is this you are talking of 
 now but two years' banishment — nothing but two years' 
 banishment — away among a lot of heathens, with their 
 concerts and dancing and theatres on the blessed Sabbath- 
 day. I'm thinking it would be sensibler-like of you to stay 
 among your own folk, and wi' your own kith and kin ; and 
 be thankful for the opportunities. But well I know," she 
 continued, with an indignant look towards her daughter, 
 " w'ell I know who is driving you to this. It's none but 
 Jess there, that has her head filled wi' flighty notions, and 
 will not let things be, but would have ye go away among 
 strangers " 
 
 " Mother ! " said Jess, in protest — and tears sprang to 
 her eyes. "If ever I said — that Allan should go away from 
 among us — at least — it was with no thought or wish that 
 harm should come to him -" 
 
 She was not a very emotional young woman ; but at tin's 
 point she did break down somewhat ; and to hide her shame 
 and distress she rose quickly and went away from the room. 
 When Allan, after a few minutes more of talk with the 
 widow, bade her good-night and passed into the front 
 shop, he found Jess sitting there, shy, embarrassed and 
 silent. 
 
 " Indeed, Jessie," said he, " I'm very sorry you should 
 have been hurt. Your mother did not mean anything.
 
 243 HICHLAND COUSINS 
 
 And if I am t^'oiug away, you know very well what it is 
 that is driving me away." 
 
 She looked up — the grey eyes timid. 
 
 " I can see there is no hope for me now," he went on, in 
 a sombre kind of fashion. " If I were a rich man, it might 
 be different. Have you noticed that about Barljara, Jessie ? 
 — how easily her fancy is captivated by a pretty thing — 
 ?ome piece of dress — some article of display. If it is a 
 Vvcakness, it is only a harmless and childish Aveakncss : it is 
 not very blameable. A beautiful creature like that must 
 know that people like to look at her ; and it is but natural 
 for her to think of adornment ; it is but natural she should 
 wish to be admired. And if I were a rich man, perhaps I 
 could please her that way ; gratitude is very near to affec- 
 tion ; perhaps I could win her regard that way. But as it 
 is " 
 
 He did not finish the sentence. She was looking at him 
 strangely and wistfully. 
 
 " And are you really leaving us, Allan — and for two long 
 years ? " 
 
 " I cannot remain in this town," he answered her. " It 
 has become an absolute hell to me — an inconceivable and 
 unceasing torture. I must get away — and here is such a 
 chance as I never could have hoped for. But in two years' 
 time, Jessie," he continued, heartening himself up some- 
 what, " one will have forgotten a great deal ; and when I 
 come back to Duntroone, the very first thing I will do will 
 bo to come in here, and ask for you, and report myself sane. 
 And this I know well, that I shall find you just as friendly 
 and kindly as ever, just as unselfish and generous as ever. 
 For it is not necessary that in two years' time one should 
 forget everything ; and that is what I am not likely to 
 forget — your gentleness, and your goodness, and your 
 toleration of a thrawn and thankless wretch." 
 
 Her face brightened and flushed with pleasure : it was 
 rarely that he spoke out in such a fashion. And she had it 
 in mind to ask him if she might write to him and give him 
 the Duntroone news when he was away in the great and 
 busy capitals ; but at this moment a customer entered the 
 shop ; whereupon Allan shook hands with her, and ^ bade her 
 good-night and took his leave. On his homeward way his
 
 AN ASSIGNATION 243 
 
 heart ^Yas uofc quite so heavy : a chat with Jess — even when 
 she was in a spiteful mood— was a reassuring, inspiriting 
 sort of thing ; and he could not but be grateful to her for 
 the solicitude and the well-wishing so clearly visible in her 
 kindly grey eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 AN ASSIGNATION. 
 
 EvpJNTS were now clearly marching on to a climax, if not 
 to a catastrophe ; though these various personages, occupied 
 with the pressing and immediate demands of every-day life, 
 may not themselves have perceived it, Barbara had most 
 time for reflection, if that could be called reflection that 
 was more like the frantic struggling of some wild animal 
 with an environing net. And it was in these dark hours of 
 reverie, with their clinging hopes, their piteous longings, 
 and sometimes their bitter and fierce resentment, that she 
 at length arrived at a definite resolve : she Avould remain 
 in this angnish of doubt no longer ; she would force the 
 hand of fate, let come what might. As it chanced, the 
 opportunity was soon enough to present itself. 
 
 For there now appeared in Duntroone a certain Mr. and 
 Mrs. McKcchnie, who were in some distant way related to 
 the Macleans. Mr. McKechnie Avas a manufacturer of 
 aerated-waters in Greenock, a well-to-do man, and a person 
 of consequence in the eyes of the widow ; and when the 
 McKechnies came along to the tobacconist's shop to pay a 
 friendly visit, and to propose that both mother and daughter 
 should dine with them that evening at the Commercial 
 Hotel, the invitation was accepted with alacrity. Then 
 something was said about Barbara — for Mrs. Maclean was 
 ever mindful of her kith and kin ; and the soda-water man 
 at once and generously said that she must also be of the 
 party. So when Jess went across to the house for her mid- 
 day meal, she made sure that Barbara would be highly 
 pleased. 
 
 To her astonishment, however, she found that Barbara, 
 
 it w
 
 244 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 HS soon as she had ascertaiucd that Mrs. Maclean and Jess 
 were to spend the evening at the Commercial Hotel — 
 Barbara obdurately refused to go, and ^YOuld not be 
 persuaded. 
 
 " Why," said Jess, laughing, " I thought it was just what 
 would delight you, Barbara ! The chance of seeing the gay 
 world — and of wearing your best things " 
 
 " I have a lot to do," said Barbara, hurriedly and con- 
 fusedly. " And my head is not very well to-day — I would 
 rather stay at home. What hour will it be before you are 
 back, Jessie ? " 
 
 " Oh, well," said Jess, " Mr. McKechnie thinks a good 
 deal of himself, and he is very fond of talking ; and if he 
 has a private room, and some toddy, he may keep us till 
 half -past ten or eleven." 
 
 " You will not be back before half -past ten anyway ? " 
 Barbara asked again. 
 
 " It is not likely," said Jess — attaching no weight to the 
 question. 
 
 All that afternoon, whatever her duties happened to be, 
 Barbara would from time to time take out from her pocket 
 a scrap of paper and anxiously scrutinise the words scribbled 
 on it. She seemed perturbed and restless ; occasionally 
 she would desist from her tasks altogether, and lapse into 
 profound meditation ; then she would resume her work, 
 with a heavy sigh. Or again she would take out the frag- 
 ment of paper and tear it up, substituting for it another 
 scrap with a different message written on it. The finally 
 amended words— carefully transcribed, and folded, and 
 placed in an envelope— were these : ' Will you meet me 
 to-night at nine o'clock, at the small gate under the Castle 
 hill ? I have something of importance to say to you. — 
 Barbara.' 
 
 In the evening, Mrs. Maclean and Jess — leaving the girl 
 Christina in charge of the shop — came over to get ready for 
 their dinner-party ; and directly after they had left the 
 house, Barbara also stole out. It was a beautiful evening 
 — a golden evening in June ; there were plenty of people 
 strolling to and fro, and the quays were still busy ; but she 
 paid little heed to what was passing around her until she 
 reached the South Pier. The Aros Castle was now coming
 
 A.V ASSIGNATION 245 
 
 iu ; she was already half-way across the bay ; the throb of 
 her paddles was repeated in the echoing hollows of the 
 (fallows Hill. Barbara got hold of a small boy who was 
 playing with his companions about one of the wooden 
 sheds. 
 
 " Do you know Ogilvie the purser ? " she asked of him. 
 
 " Ay, line," was the prompt reply. 
 
 "AVill you take this letter to him if I give you a 
 penny ? " 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 " But you'll make sure that you give it to himself ? " 
 
 " Ay," said the urchin — with eager eyes watching for the 
 unusual coin. 
 
 He got the letter and the penny ; the Aros Oastle came 
 slowly in to the quay ; and Barbara, from the corner of the 
 shed, could see that Ogilvie was on the upper deck. But 
 still she waited to satisfy herself of the delivering of the 
 message — waited until the steamer had been made fast — 
 until the passengers had come ashore — until she saw the 
 small boy go along the gangway and give the white envelope 
 into the Parser's bauds. That was enough. She withdrew 
 from her shelter so that she herself could not be perceived ; 
 she hurried round by the harbour ; and when she reached 
 home again, she sank into a chair, and remained there a 
 long time, thinking back as to what she had done. But 
 presently she had to think forward — as the clock on the 
 mantelpiece reminded her troubled and anxious eyes ; and 
 she went away to her room to array herself in her best. As 
 she stood before the mirror her fingers were shaking so that 
 she could hardly hold a pin. 
 
 At half-past eight or thereabouts she again left the 
 house, and, taking advantage of such back approaches as 
 were available, she made for the point at which the grounds 
 of Duntroone Castle came nearly up to the last of the 
 gardened villas. Further than this point there is no right 
 of way ; but an occasional stranger passing along by the 
 rocks is not much objected to ; and it was by the rocks 
 that she now proceeded — before her the sheltered little bay, 
 beyond that the old-fashioned garden beneath the Castle 
 hill, and, towering over all, the ruined keep, dark with its 
 ivy against the splendour of the west. For although the
 
 246 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Sim liad gone down behind the mountains, at this time of 
 the year in those latitudes the marvellous twilights may be 
 said to last almost the night through ; and even now, as 
 the solitary figure went along by the shelving beach, there 
 was a glory around her — all the world was aflame with 
 colour. And then as she drew near to the wind-stunted 
 trees at the foot of the Castle Rock, the jet-black stems and 
 sombre foliage served but to increase the brilliancy of the 
 western heavens ; these were as a wide sea of clear and 
 luminous steel-grey, wdth long cloud-islands of pale rose- 
 purple, whose golden strands looked down upon the unseen 
 horizon. Overhead the skies were of a faint and exquisite 
 azure, flecked here and there with vaporous fragments of 
 saffron hue, that appeared as if they could still behold the 
 sunset fires. And in the east the wooded hills were all 
 aglow. 
 
 She opened the small wicket-gate, and stepped in under 
 the dense canopy of leaves ; from this shadowed retreat, 
 herself unobserved, she could look back over the way she 
 had come — by the out- jutting rocks, and round the semi- 
 circular sW'Cep of the shore. It was a peaceful and secluded 
 scene ; there was not a sign of life anywhere ; an occasional 
 sound, that spoke of distant human habitation, was softened 
 and remote. But there was another sound, all around her, 
 and especially out towards the west : the mysterious 
 murmur of the moving tides, as if the islands were talking 
 to each other of the coming darkness — the strange clear 
 darkness that would later on melt into the white dawn. As 
 yet there was no token of change. The safl'ron flakes of 
 cloud were still lambent in the azure vault ; the hanging 
 woods, of beech, and ash, and fir, glowed Avarm above the 
 tranquil Avaters of the bay. 
 
 Surely it was a fitting time and place for a meeting of 
 lovers ; and yet Barbara, gazing across those placid waters, 
 began to tremble at the thought of seeing the single figure 
 she Avas looking for appear at the verge of the rocks. What 
 she had done she had done in a sort of desperation ; but 
 now, as minute after minute seemed to bring him nearer, 
 she grew more and more vaguely apprehensive ; until at 
 times a Avild impulse AA'ould seize her to turn and flee away 
 through the woods, and hide herself, and make good lier
 
 AN ASSIGNATION 247 
 
 return to Duntroone by some circuitous route. And then 
 again slic bad already dared so mucb. And if she were to 
 escape now, and get borne in safety, would not to-morrow 
 be but as yesterday — witb its agonising consciousness tbat 
 she could not speak witb Ogilvie except on tbe deck of a 
 crowded steamer, with strangers all around, and himself 
 liable to be called away hither and thither ; whereas here, 
 in this gracious solitude and silence, there would be the 
 charm and magnetism of personal appeal, eyes answering 
 eyes, and speech, no longer cold and conventional, attuned 
 to every varying mood. The anticipation of this meeting 
 made her heart beat violently ; and when her straining 
 eyes fancied they could detect a dark figure out at the rocky 
 promontory, her whole frame shivered. And yet she held 
 her ground. Her lips were dry ; her breathing came and 
 went with difficulty, as if there were some Aveight on her 
 chest. 
 
 Of a sudden she uttered a sharp, half-stifled scream of 
 terror, and wheeled round, for some one had noiselessly and 
 stealthily approached her from behind. It was Niall 
 Gl orach. And the moment she recognised who this was, 
 her fear gave way to wrath. 
 
 " Is it a weasel you are, that you come stealing through 
 the woods like that ? " she said to him, in Gaelic ; and the 
 beautiful eyes were now blazing with anger. " What is it 
 you want ? " 
 
 He regarded her doubtfully. 
 
 " 1 have two rabbits," he said, also in Gaelic, " I have 
 them back there in the bushes." 
 
 " Away with you, you imp of mischief ! " she said. " Is 
 it I that would be wishing for two rabbits ! " 
 
 "You could hide them in your dress," said he, in an 
 undertone, and he was intently watching the expression of 
 her face. " They are for the other girl — the one that was 
 kind to me. You could take them into the town, and give 
 them to her in the shop — no one would see you." 
 
 " Go away — go away at once ! " she said, with frowning 
 brows. " It is the gamekeeper who will be after you and 
 your rabbits — and the sooner you are in jail the better." 
 
 Mall needed no further word than that. He instantly 
 retreated, by the wav he came, disappearing through tho
 
 248 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 trees and bushes ; and once more she was alone. But this 
 interruption had at least startled her out of the tremulous, 
 apprehensive, half -hysterical mood that had taken possession 
 of her ; she returned to her post of observation with a 
 bolder spirit ; she would no longer be afraid if she saw a 
 dark-clad figure appear at the point of the rocks. Nay, it 
 was something quite different that she began to fear ; a 
 haunting possibility that had more than once crept into her 
 mind, only to be dismissed with quick alarm and trepida- 
 tion. And now it would recur with bewildering distinctness. 
 Had he resolved to treat her appeal with scorn ? Would he 
 refuse to come near her ? Would he revenge himself on 
 her because she had been the innocent cause of some 
 quarrelling and fighting between him and the schoolmaster ? 
 
 No, she tried to persuade herself, it was inconceivable ; 
 he could not be so merciless and unjust. He would in any 
 case come and hear what she had to say ; it was the smallest 
 grace he could accord her ; any stranger would do as much. 
 And he had been far from acting the stranger toAvards her. 
 He had sought her society, and made much of her, and paid 
 her compliments : it was no stranger who had entirely 
 devoted himself to her on the evening of the dance given 
 by the Gaelic Choir. And when she could talk face-to-face 
 with him, here in the happy and favouring twilight, it 
 would be otherwise with them both than on the open 
 passenger-deck of the Aros Castle. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the time went slowly and remorselessly 
 by, a pitiful yearning arose in her heart. It could not bo 
 that he meant to forsake her — that he meant to put this 
 cruel slight upon her ! He had misread the hour. He had 
 been detained by friends. Something had happened to 
 hinder him, perhaps even after he had set out. Another 
 minute — another couple of minutes — and he would become 
 visible yonder at the verge of the rocks, hastening to bring 
 apologies and pacifications. For he was not one to strike 
 a woman — and to strike deep. 
 
 The inexorable moments stole on, one after another— 
 though there was little change in this magic world of light 
 and colour ; and now that piteous craving and desire had 
 grown to be an aching that seemed bitterer than death 
 itself. If only he would appear in sight — if only he would
 
 AN ASSIGNATION 219 
 
 coine along by the shore there, no matter in what mood of 
 impatience, or sarcasm, or even contempt — ^she wonld abase 
 herself before him ; she would plead for pardon ; she would 
 beg for kindness. She knew that she had been stiff-necked, 
 and flighty, and wayward ; she had held her head too high ; 
 she had taunted him — when he was not to blame. But now, 
 if only he would come to her, she would receive his re- 
 proaches with meekness ; she wonld do anything he wished ; 
 she wonld be his abject slave. Let him impose his demands, 
 and she would accede — only, he could not mean to desert 
 her for ever ! Had she not humbled herself already, in 
 seeking for this assignation ? And life was a pleasant and 
 gay thing for him ; he could not wish to stab her to the 
 heart. 
 
 She withdrew her eyes from the distant promontory, and 
 in a dazed fashion looked around her, asking what time of 
 the night had arrived. There was no darkness, nor any- 
 thing approaching to darkness, as yet. The heavens over- 
 head had grown to be of the rarest rose-grey ; all the 
 fragments of cloud had disappeared ; and through the 
 scarcely-moving leaves of the trees — through the jet-black 
 stems — there gleamed the vivid and burning gold of a 
 crescent moon. And still the creeping tides along the coast 
 murmured and whispered to themselves in the silence ; but 
 elsewhere all was still ; not the faintest sound came from the 
 unseen Duntroone. She judged that she had waited there 
 an hour ; it must be now ten o'clock. 
 
 Then suddenly a strange pallor overspread her features, 
 and her mouth was set hard. She pushed open the small 
 gate in front of her, and passed out into the clear twilight. 
 With head erect — and not looking in the, direction of the 
 rocks at all — she continued on her way, along by the wall 
 of the old garden, and round by the curve of the shore. It 
 is true that there were tears in her lashes ; but they were 
 tears of rage and mortification ; they W'Cre not bidden there, 
 nor did they betoken any weakness or self-pity. Her 
 naturally proud gait had no lassitude in it — though she had 
 been standing under those trees for nigh an hour. 
 
 Nay, when Mrs. Maclean and Jess came home, they found 
 Barbara in a mood of most unusual sprightliness and con- 
 tent. She would make tea for them — she would insist on
 
 250 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 making tea for them, though neither of them wanted it ; 
 and as she went about the parlour, she was singing to licv- 
 self. She had but little of a voice, to be sure ; nevertheless, 
 it was well that the girl should be of a light heart ; and 
 Mrs. Maclean listened pleased and benignant : 
 
 He gave me rihhons for my neclc. 
 
 And side-combs for my hair, 
 lie qave me ear-rings for my ears, 
 
 With pearl drops rich and rare ; 
 No tvonder that I love my lad 
 
 Tliat's sailing the salt sea ' 
 
 "Av," said the shrewd little widow, in her kindliest 
 inanner, " and is that the Purser you are singing about, 
 IJarbara ? " 
 
 Barbara turned round, and stared, as bold as brass. 
 
 " The Purser ? " she said. " Do you mean Ogilvie — ^liinr 
 that Mr. McFadyeu was calling an empty-headed dandy ? 
 It would be a strange thing indeed if I was thinking of any 
 one like that ! " 
 
 And she went on with her ministrations, affecting to sing 
 l)Uthcly and carelessly. The widow, not understanding what 
 all this meant, did not say a word. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SUNLIGHT ABEOAD. 
 
 It was between eleven and twelve on the forenoon of the 
 following day that the scholars in Allan Henderson's class 
 were aroused from the weariful monotony of their toil l)y 
 an amazing apparition — for the advent of a stranger at the 
 door of the hall could hardly be accounted less. Head after 
 head was surreptitiously turned until the Avhole school was 
 covertly staring at this new-comer, who stood there irreso- 
 lute : the Master alone remained unconscious — he was 
 working out on a slate before him some arithmetical pro- 
 blem, while two or three lads clustered around. A kind of 
 hush of curiosity had fallen upon the dull, grey benches ;
 
 SUNLIGHT ABROAD 251 
 
 tlie apparition of a visitor was an almost unprecedented 
 tiling ; moreover this visitor was a yonng woman. So 
 nnnsnal, indeed, was snch an event that no one knew what 
 to do : they waited for the Master himself to find out that 
 a caller was there. 
 
 The slate was handed back to its owner ; at the same 
 moment, by some freak of chance, Allan Henderson became 
 aware that the distant doorway framed a human fignre ; the 
 nest instant his startled vision had told him who this was. 
 At once and hurriedly he quitted the narrow platform, 
 passed doAvn the middle of the room, and went out upon 
 the £tone staircase, whither Barbara had retreated as soon 
 as she saw that he was coming. She was rather breathless, 
 but she was trying to look pleased : the bewilderment was 
 all on his side. 
 
 " "When will you be leaving the school ? " she said. 
 
 "At one o'clock," he answered her — for this was a 
 Saturday. 
 
 " Could you not come away rather earlier — about a 
 quarter to one ? " she said ; " I am Avishing to speak to you, 
 if it is not too much trouble. My aunt she was telling me 
 you are thinking of going away from this country for two 
 years or the like of that ; and she was saying it was a great 
 pity, to be going away from your own people and your 
 friends ; and maybe you have not considered it. If you 
 would come for a little walk, when the school is over, then 
 there would be the chance of talking about it — and perhaps 
 you will not go away from your friends " 
 
 For a moment he was speechless : he could hardly believe 
 his senses. Here, in the dusk of the stairway, was a sort of 
 radiant creature ; and the marvel was that her voice, instead 
 of being angry and taunting, was soft and ingratiating ; 
 while her eyes, no longer darting scornful flames, were quite 
 amiable, with a modest and conciliatory appeal in them. 
 She was a trifle excited, it is true ; her sentences were some- 
 what disconnected ; but there was nothing save goodwill in 
 her aspect. Nay, she seemed anxious he should clearly 
 understand that he had aAvakeucd her interest and sympathy ; 
 her looks, timid as they might be, were yet smilingly 
 benignant ; he could not but perceive that her heart was 
 warm and well-intentioned towards him. The schoolmaster
 
 252 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 forgot his wondering school ; he forgot all the rest of the 
 universe — Minded as he was by those beautiful, appealing, 
 kindly eyes. 
 
 " Indeed, I would not have sought to bother you with my 
 poor affairs," he managed to say, with great embarrassment 
 — when she interrupted him— 
 
 "But you can come a little before one?" she asked, 
 (|uickly. 
 
 " Yes, I think I can do that " 
 
 " And I will be waiting for you in front of the railway- 
 station — we could have a little walk round by the shore — 
 and by the Gallows Hill — or anywhere you pleased " 
 
 It was an inconceivable kind of thing ; and yet surely he 
 had heard aright ? And surely nothing could exceed the 
 friendliness of her manner — if those liquid, clear-shining 
 eyes spoke true ? 
 
 " I hope you are not vexed with me for interrupting 
 you," she said, and the slight hesitation in her speech, 
 along with its accent, was like music in his ears ; " but I 
 am sure it would be a pity if yon went away from your 
 own country, without a little consideration. And I will be 
 there, waiting, if it is not too much trouble for you." 
 
 " The trouble ? " said he — and even now he had not 
 recovered from his stupefaction. " I do not understand 
 why you should concern yourself about me, or about any- 
 thing that is likely to happen to me. I cannot understand 
 your kindness. But I will meet you there " 
 
 " And at a quarter to one ? " she asked again. 
 
 " Yes, as soon as that, I hope," he answered her. And 
 then, without bidding him good-bye, but with a parting- 
 glance and a smile, she turned and left. What further 
 instruction his pupils received that day may have been of 
 any sort : it was little he knew. There was much that was 
 ' taken for granted ' so as to hurry on ; and by a quarter to 
 one he had dismissed his class, and was himself- free and in 
 the outer air. 
 
 Yet that had been no incorporeal vision — no trick of the 
 brain — no waking day-dream in the midst of the weary 
 hours ; for now as he drew rapidly near the railway- 
 station, he could see the actual and living Barbara un- 
 doubtedly standing there, just within the door of the ticket-
 
 SUNLIGHT ABROAD 253 
 
 ofHce, where she could occupy herself iu watching the 
 passers-by. Moreover, it was also clear that she had made 
 use of the interval to deck herself out very bravely ; and 
 did not that mean something too ? A wild confusion of 
 joy arose in his heart ; he thought of the student's phrase 
 in ' Faust ' — ' eine Magd ini Putz ' ; surely it was something 
 more than a mere friendly solicitude about his immediate 
 plans that had led her to array herself so smartly in order 
 to keep this appointment and go for a walk with him ? 
 N"ay, when she became conscious of his approach, the soft 
 and rare shell-pink of her cheek deepened ; it was with a 
 pretty bashfulness that she offered him her hand ; and quite 
 naturally and lover-like she set herself by his side to accom- 
 pany him. They passed out from the railway-station and 
 took their way round by the harbour ; but in truth he did 
 not heed which direction they followed : it was enough 
 that some miracle had been wrought — and the world was 
 filled with sunlight. 
 
 The strange thing was that although she had made this 
 tryst with him ostensibly to discuss his future schemes, now 
 that the opportunity had arrived she had not a word to say 
 about them. She was talking to him, it is true, and with 
 unusual eagerness and vivacity ; she was addressing him 
 with glances as well as with speech ; she was smiling and 
 laughing, and apparently she was greatly delighted to have 
 him for her companion ; but all through this light-hearted- 
 ness and affectation of interest, there was a forced note. 
 Especially as they drew near to the South Quay — from 
 which the Aros Castle was just about to depart — especially 
 then did this half-hysterical merriment become more pro- 
 nounced — until she hardly seemed to know what she was 
 saying. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," she continued — and never once were 
 her eyes tm'ned in the direction of the steamer — " yes, 
 indeed — about Mr. McFadyen— the poor man must have 
 suffered a great deal — before he was driven to confess. It 
 was to Jessie that he came — and he told her he never meant 
 to cheat — it was only a joke, picking up Mr. Gilmour's ball 
 — but he was led into it — he was led into it ; and they 
 did not notice the trick — and so, when it was too late, he 
 let them think he had won the game fairly."
 
 25) HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " And how long did his conscience slumber ? " the school- 
 master asked. 
 
 " Never at all — never at all," said Barbara, laughing and 
 giggling in that curiously excited manner. At this mouieut 
 they were passing along the quay, close to the shore end of 
 the gangway ; and if Barbara scrupulously kept her gaze 
 lixed on the ground or turned towards the face of her 
 companion, Allan Henderson at least was well aware that 
 the Purser, on the upper dock of the vessel, was staring at 
 them as they went by. *' The poor man — I am sorry for 
 him," Barbara went on — and her feverish gaiety sounded 
 far from natural. " It was to Jessie that he came first — to 
 confess — maybe he Avas not able to sleep at nights for 
 thinking of what he had done — and he was asking Jess 
 whether he ought to tell Mr. Gilraour — or maybe it was 
 enough if he confessed to her " 
 
 " And did she grant him absolution, Barbara ? Or did 
 she impose a penance ? " asked the schoolmaster, lightly. 
 By this time, behind them, the Aros Castle had moved 
 away from the quay, and was now steaming across to the 
 North Pier. Allan could not understand why Barbara had 
 so resolutely ignored the existence of the Purser : perhaps 
 she was really preoccupied with this tale of hers about the 
 dejection of the conscience-stricken councillor. Anyhow, 
 it was as well that the steamer had gone ; there would be 
 no fear of interruption now. 
 
 But presently, when they had got past the quay and 
 were approaching the Gallows Hill, her mood changed ; 
 her demonstrative hilarity vanished ; she had nothing 
 further to tell about the councillor and his remorse ; 
 she seemed rather inclined to be proud, and morose, and 
 petulant. 
 
 " I do not understand," she said, " why you should wish 
 to go away from your own country." 
 
 " It is something to sec the world," he answered her, 
 but with no great enthusiasm : how easy it was for her to 
 say the word that would have held him back ! 
 
 " The day and the night there," she continued, " are the 
 same as the day and the night here ; you cannot live more 
 there than you can here. And if it is for money, well, I am 
 hearing from more than one that your classes in the evening
 
 SUNLIGHT A U ROAD 255 
 
 are doing line ; and why should you make such a sacrifice 
 — that is what I hear them asking " 
 
 " Money is not everything," he made answer. And tlion 
 lie hesitated. He dared not imperil these wonderful new 
 relations that had been so suddenly established. It was so 
 surprising and unaccountable a thing to find himself walking 
 \\\i\\ Barbara in this sweetheart fashion — herself neatly 
 ]iranked out for the occasion — her eyes and voice betraying 
 at least some measure of amiability towards him — that he 
 dreaded to destroy his chances by any precipitancy. And 
 yet he said : " There is one that could bid me stay, if she 
 wished." 
 
 " And who is that one ? " she asked. 
 
 They were now ascending the Callows Hill; and she 
 stooped and picked up a wild-flower — a bit of red campion 
 it was — from the foot of the trees. Without waiting for 
 his answer — if he had intended to answer — she presented 
 him with the fragment of blossom, and said in rather an 
 offhand way — 
 
 " Will you wear it ? But it is not good enough for to- 
 morrow — you would want something far better for your 
 coat if you were to come along to-morrow, after the church 
 i 5 out, and walk up and down to look at the people. Maybe 
 Jessie and me we would be out too ; and it is very nice to 
 see a young man have a flower in his coat." 
 
 " I do not care about wearing such things," he said ; 
 "but this little gift of yours, Barbara, I can treasure." 
 And therewith he took out his pocket-book, and carefully 
 ])laced the scrap of weed in it. Nor even now would be- 
 speak unguardedly : though the mysterious magnetism of 
 her presence — the fascination of the movement of her dress 
 even — was stealing over him and enthralling his senses ; 
 and wild indeed were the hopes that were thronging thick 
 into his brain. 
 
 Then again, when they had reached the summit of the 
 hill, and gone along and sate down on the circular bench 
 at the foot of the flagstaff — it was a calm and summer-like 
 scene that lay stretched out before them, from Dun-da-gu 
 and the far Glashven in the north round to the silver-grey 
 peaks of Cruachan in the east — then again she said : 
 
 " It is very strange that you should be so different from
 
 256 HIGHLAND COUSIN^ 
 
 other young men, and your ways so different ; but maybe 
 it is better that you are so busy with your studies and your 
 classes ; for Jessie she is always speaking of the great and 
 proud position you are to have, and I hope soon. Oh, yes, 
 I hope soon ; and it is a fine thing to be ambitious, and 
 have people talk about you " 
 
 " There are other things of perhaps greater importance 
 in human life," he interposed ; but that was all ; he would 
 not startle her away from him by any passionate appeal : it 
 sul!iced that she allowed him to be near her, to be even 
 trembliugly conscious of the touch of her gown, on this 
 morning of marvels. 
 
 " Barbara," he said, presently, " do you remember the 
 night the Sanda struck on the Lady Rock ? I was up 
 here that night. It was from here that I saw the white 
 things shoot up into the black sky ; and many's the time 
 since then I have thought that they were a sort of message 
 from you to me." 
 
 " And what could you be doing up here at such an hour ? " 
 said she, indifferently glancing at the wide waters of the 
 bay and the hills. 
 
 " Well, I have always been used to going about a good 
 deal by myself," he answered her, in a more absent tone. 
 " There are many matters that a man has to thresh out, 
 and the night is the best time for thinking : the dark is 
 quiet. It is well for you that you have not to face these 
 problems and perplexities. All you have to do is to look 
 beautiful and winning — that is your place in nature — that 
 is enough ; and if you add to that the showing a little 
 kindness here and there, then you become of quite inesti- 
 mable value to the people around you. Look at my own 
 case," he went on, " look at what you have done for me 
 this morning. I hardly cared whether I went away for two 
 years or stayed at home ; but if you take any interest in 
 these poor affairs of mine, then it would be very different, 
 then it would be worth considering. A single word from 
 you — would be enough " 
 
 " Oh, as for that," she said, somewhat saucily, " I do not 
 know that I could be interfering. My aunt and Jessie 
 would tell you that I was too stupid and ignorant to under- 
 stand about the ambitions of a young man "
 
 SUNLIGHT ABROAD 257 
 
 " There arc other hopes of far more importance," ho 
 said, hastily. " Barbara, don't yon nnderstand that yon 
 have brouo'ht them all back to me airain, tliront-h vour 
 friendliness of this morning ? J)Ut — but I will not alarm 
 yon ; that wonld be a poor retnrn. I will not even ask you 
 to say the word that ^Y0uld keep me in this country." 
 
 " I was only telling yon what I was hearing," she replied, 
 evasively, " that it would be a great sacrifice for you to give 
 np your classes — and your friends would be sorry yon went 
 away " 
 
 " And would you be sorry, too, Barbara ? " he asked, 
 making bold to regard her. 
 
 " I would be like the others, I snppose," she answered, 
 toying with the black bugles that adorned the front of her 
 dress. 
 
 But this maiden coyness did not deceive or discourage 
 him ; on the contrary, his heart was filled with a transport 
 that seemed to demand utterance, in spite of his rigorous 
 self-restraint. 
 
 " Barbara," said he, of a sudden, " I have decided I will 
 not accept the tutorship. I will remain where I am, and 
 get on with my classes, and have a word now and again 
 Avith one or two friends I care for. And it's many thanks 
 to yon for concerning yourself about snch poor trilies." 
 
 She rose. 
 
 " I must be going now," she said. 
 
 " But, Barbara," he protested — for he could not let her 
 return to the town without seeking to secure a continuance 
 of her favour, without bargaining for a repetition of this 
 bewildering and enchanting interview, " you must tell me 
 when I am to see you again." 
 
 '• Well, to-morrow, then," she answered, cheerfully, " if 
 you come aloug the front, after the churches are out. And 
 I will be looking for some one wearing a very nice flower iu 
 his coat, for yon must not forget that." 
 
 Nay, so kind was she, and snch an interest did she show 
 in his affairs, that, as they walked back into Duntroone 
 together, she even ventured to remonstrate with him about 
 his costume — which was of a simple, plain, workaday 
 character ; and she hinted that on special occasions, such as 
 the next day's after-church promenade, he ought to dress 
 
 S
 
 258 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 like the fashionable youug men, who on Sundays wore 
 coloured kid gloves and smart neckties, and tall hats. 
 Allan laughed and shook his head ; but all the same he 
 was exceedingly grateful to her for her advice ; indeed, 
 w^hen he had bade farewell to her at the entrance to the 
 house in Campbell Street, and turned to come away again, 
 so overjoyed Avas he, so happily iu love with all the world 
 was he, that a vague and general wish possessed him to give 
 somebody something. And the first person that he chanced 
 to encounter was Niall Gorach. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE fool's revenge. 
 
 Niall was in a sorry plight. His clothes were dishevelled 
 and smothered with dust ; his face was scratched and 
 bruised ; and the ])alms of his hands, and his wrists, which 
 he ruefully regarded from time to time, were torn and 
 bleeding. 
 
 " AVhat's all this now ? " said the schoolmaster. 
 
 Then the half-witted lad told his tale. He had been 
 outside the town, at the foot of the Dunach hill when the 
 Melfort coach came along. On the top of it was a certain 
 farmer-youth named Dan Kingarra — that is Dan of the 
 Kingarra farm — ^with one or two of his companions ; and it 
 occurred to this facetious person that he would invite Niall 
 to get np beside them, no doubt for purpose of providing 
 them with sport. Things appeared to have gone on well 
 enough while they were slowly ascending the hill, and 
 driving along the level summit ; but when they were rapidly 
 descending the steep incline on the townward side, the 
 motive of Dan Kingarra's kindness became clear. He would 
 have Niall jump olf behind — while the coach was tearing 
 down the hill ; and this the poor chap was eventually 
 compelled to do, with the inevitable consequences : he was 
 hurled along the stony highway, face downward, his hands 
 and wrists shot out in vain, while the lout of a farmer.
 
 THE FOOL'S REVENGE 259 
 
 ensconced amoug his companions, lauglied aloud at tlie 
 merry jest. 
 
 " If I had l)ecn there," said the schoohnaster, with a flash 
 of flame in his dark eyes, " I'd soon have had that tom-fool 
 headfirst into the road. There would have been a second 
 one rolling' among the stones." 
 
 " Maybe," said Niall, slowly, " maybe something will be 
 coming to him, and before long." 
 
 "Well, here is a shilling for you, anyway," the school- 
 master continued, goodnaturedly, " and you can go into 
 the chemist's and get some lint and some ointment for. your 
 hands. No," said he, on second thoughts — for had not 
 this poor lad done him a good turn when he was hopelessly 
 immured in the chasm ? — " No ; you can Iceep the shilling ; 
 but you'd better come along Avith me to the doctor, and 
 we'll get the thing done properly for you." And to the 
 doctor's they accordingly went ; and there Niall was patched 
 and mended up as well as might be ; and ])resently Allan 
 Henderson was again on his way home — his brain filled 
 with recollections that had little to do with Niall Gorach. 
 
 But when Niall was once more his own master he re- 
 sumed his appai'ently aindess wanderings, and these in due 
 coarse of time led him to the neighbourhood of the Kingarra 
 farm, which lay just outside the town. Here he became 
 more circumspect ; he crept and slouched aloug by the side 
 of walls and hedges ; and when he came to the iron gate 
 leading into the farm-yard, he hid behind a clump of elder- 
 bushes — which had doubtless been planted there in former 
 days for the confusion of ghosts and evil spirits. From 
 this safe retreat, he could command a view — through the 
 slender spars of the gate — of all that was happening in the 
 large and open square, that was surrounded by the usual 
 Ijuildings and outhouses. 
 
 Then a little while thereafter Niall withdrew from his 
 hiding, and cautiously and circuitously returned to Dun- 
 troone ; and the first place he made for was Long Lauchie's 
 shop. The shoemaker Avas at Avork, or pretending to be at 
 Avork ; but there Avas a confused and yet half-comical look 
 about his eyes, when he glanced up and saAV who his visitor 
 Avas, that seemed to suggest that Lauchlan muse have of 
 late been straying from the strait and narroAV path. And 
 
 S 2
 
 26o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 it ^Yas not at all in his usual gloomy tones that he now 
 exclaimed, in Gaelic — 
 
 " Is it you, you graudson of the AVitcli of Endor ! — and 
 I am of opinion hy the look of you that you have been in 
 the wars ! " 
 
 Niall answered him in the same tongue : 
 
 "Will you be lending me a long piece of cord, Mr. 
 Maclntyre, and a bit of rosin to make it dark ? " 
 
 " And what devil's cantrip is this now ? — and who has 
 been pulling a harrow over you ? " 
 
 " AVill you give me the string ? " said the lad with the 
 curious, peering, elfin eyes. " When the woman was here, 
 it was I that frightened her away for you." 
 
 " My hero, do you think I am forgetting ? " said Lauchie, 
 with an inhuman chuckle. " Aw Dyeea, many is the time 
 I have been laughing over that ; ay, and waking up in the 
 middle of the night, laughing. Oh, you are the champion 
 of the sorcerers, and no mistake ; and I am sure she ran all 
 the way shrieking to Fort William — and swimming over 
 Cowal Ferry and Oreran Ferry. And if she was drowned, 
 who will be crying over it ? — if she is drowned, she is 
 silent ; and a silent woman is a very good thing, that 
 Providence does not always give us. And maybe I will be 
 for letting you have the string, if you will tell me what you 
 are going to do with it, and if you will tell me who has been 
 injuring you." 
 
 Thereupon Niall — without whimpering, but with a malig- 
 nant glitter in his eyes — repeated the story he had related 
 to the schoolmaster, and Lauchlan promptly said — 
 
 "Well, it is myself that would like to be giving that 
 fellow a bash on the head. Bat what about the string now 
 — what about the string, son of my heart ? " 
 
 I was up at the farm," said INiali, slowly and darkly. 
 I was looking at the yard. In the middle of it there is a 
 great l)arrcl to drain the l)yres and the stables ; and the to}) 
 of the barrel is even with the ground. If I was to tie the 
 string to the pump, and be hidden somewhere with the 
 other end, then maybe Big Dan would be coming along, and 
 I w^ould pull the string, and trip him " 
 
 " And he would fall into the barrel of wash ? " cried 
 Lauchie — and instantly he threw aside his work. "May 
 
 a 
 ((
 
 THE FOOVS REVENGE 261 
 
 the Good Being preserve ns, hnt I would walk half roiiud 
 the world to see such a thing- as that ! Niall, it is your 
 head that has the invention in it. Do not mind them if 
 they say you were not at home when the sense was shared ; 
 you have as much sense as many ; and it is I that will be 
 laughing when I see Dan Kingarra fall into the wash. Do 
 yon know now what colour he will bo when he scrambles 
 out ? he will be as brown as treacle ; and not a curse 
 coming from him, for his mouth will be choking. Aw, the 
 brown man ! — Niall, I am going with you to see the brown 
 man ! — I would not miss it for the best part of my 
 existence." 
 
 Long Lauchie was softly chuckling and giggling to him- 
 self as he set about getting the twine and the rosin ; but by 
 the time he was ready to start, he had grown solemn 
 again. He opened a press, and took down a black bottle 
 and a soda-water bottle ; and the latter he filled from the 
 former. 
 
 " Niall," said he, " I will give you advice. Maybe you 
 have not as much wisdom as others ; but I will tell you 
 how you can make up for it ; and what you must do is to 
 keep away from the drink. It is drink that is the ruin of 
 lialf of them around you ; and if you keep aw^ay from it, 
 you will be the equal of many, sense or no sense. For 
 myself now, I Avas taking a drop or two to-day — the tooth- 
 ache being such a terrible, terrible thing." He put the 
 soda-water bottle to his lips, and had a long pull ; then, 
 with a sigh of satisfaction, he corked the flask and placed it 
 in his pocket. " Keep away from the drink, Niall, and 
 there is no fear of you : it is drink that is the scourge and 
 disgrace of this country— a sad, sad thing to think of ! " 
 
 But then again, as they were on their way to Kingarra, 
 on this shining afternoon, his spirits recovered considerably ; 
 and although his toothache seemed to be troubling him at 
 times — and he had to seek the necessary relief — he by-and- 
 bye became quite gay. 
 
 " Niall," said he — and he was quietly laughing now — 
 " did you ever behold a brown man ? I am thinking that 
 a brown man will be a sight to see ! Do you not imagine 
 that his pockets will be very wet when he will put his hands 
 into them "
 
 262 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Maybe," said Niall, " maybe he will not be for pushing 
 me off a coach again." 
 
 " Aw, the brown man," continued Lauchie — and he could 
 nob restrain his hilarity — '"the brown man! — it is I that 
 will l)e laughing to see the brown man climb up out of the 
 barrel, and if he will be using bad words, would not you do 
 the same ? No, not you, not you, Niall, my son ; for there 
 are many things you must avoid ; and the two tilings that 
 YOU must avoid most of all are the drink and the women. 
 The drink I have told you about ; and the women — well, 
 now, my hero, perhaps it is not so bad for you to be a little 
 weak in the head, if that will keep the women away from 
 you. Anything to keep them away from you ; for they 
 are the devil's own children, and no mistake ; and I wish 
 he had the lot of them, and would keep them at home with 
 himself. I am not saying," proceeded Lauchlan, " that 
 you may not find one here and there that is pleasing to 
 look at — so long as you do not marry her ; it is the marrying 
 that is the mischief. Aw, yes, I have seen one or two ; I 
 had my young days ; well I remember that some of the 
 girls were not always so shy and innocent as you might 
 think, when there was a bunch of nettles to be put in your 
 bed, and a ghost waiting for you behind the door. We had 
 the fine evenings those evenings." Here Long Lauchie, 
 moved to sentiment by his recollections, burst into gentle 
 melody ; but there was not much of sadness — there was 
 rather triumph — in his singing : 
 
 '^T'was 011 a simmer'' s afternoon, 
 A wee before the situ gaed clou-n. 
 My leiasie, in ei hraio new goivn, 
 Cam^ o^er the hills to Gowrie.' 
 
 Tjauchlau, looking all round the landscape, smiled 
 mysteriously at these reminiscences of his. But presently 
 he resumed : 
 
 " Oh, yes, I tell you, my brave champion, I have seen 
 many pretty girls in my time, brown-haired, and yellow- 
 haired, and black-haired ; and all of them so smooth-spoken 
 and pleasing ; and giving themselves airs as if they had the 
 tail of a peacock to display. But it is a different thing — • 
 and now I am telling you the Bible truth — it is a very
 
 THE FOODS REVENGE 263 
 
 different thing when yon take one of them and make a wife 
 of her, and then the devil's danghter lets yon know where 
 she came from. Niall, my boy, you will be saved from all 
 that, as it is my hope ; and you will be thankful to 
 Providence that you are a little weak in the head. Not 
 that I am so sure about that either. For I have heard of 
 the great commanders — I have heard of Wellington, and 
 Lord Raglan, and Colin Carapbell that was at the Alma ; 
 but could any one of them have driven that fearful woman 
 fleeing out of the house ? Not one of them ; they would 
 have run away themselves ; and the faster they went the 
 better for them — that is my o];)inion. But you — it is you 
 that have a head on your shoulders — and plenty of invention 
 in it — and no mistake ! And now we will see if we can 
 make the farmer's son dance — aw, Dyeea, how I am wishing 
 to see the brown mau climbing out of the barrel ! " 
 
 At this point Lauchlan began to moderate liis too 
 garrulous mirth ; for they were getting near to Kiugarra ; 
 and he understood from Mali's stealthy and furtive manner 
 that there might be some danger of their being observed. 
 But they reached the shelter of the elder-bushes in safety ; 
 and then it was that Lauchlan, out of thankfulness — -or 
 perhaps owing to another twinge of toothache — brought 
 forth the soda-water bottle again. At present there was 
 nothing else to be done, for there was an old woman in 
 possession of the farm-yard — an old woman in a red jacket 
 who was hurling stones and execrations at a terrier that she 
 had caught in the act of scattering a brood of young turkeys. 
 
 But in a minute or two, when the old woman had dis- 
 appeared into one of the out-houses, Niall stole from his 
 hiding-place ; and after a careful and cat-like scrutiny he 
 clambered over the gate. He went quickly across the 
 S(|uare. In the middle, towards which fom* shallow troughs 
 — one from each corner of the yard — sloped down and con- 
 verged, there was a huge tun, the top of which was flush 
 with the ground ; while on the further side rose an iron 
 pump. To this pump Niall rapidly affixed one eud of the 
 rosined cord, and then he retreated, paying out the string, 
 and dabbing it down on the earth and stones so that it 
 should be innnovable and invisible. When he came 
 crouching back behind the elder-bushes, he had the other
 
 264 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 end in his Land ; at any moment a powei'ful jerk would 
 raise tlie darkened twine some t^yo or three inches from 
 the ground, so that an nuvvary passer-by must inevitably 
 go over. 
 
 And as it chanced the very next person to put in an 
 appearance was the fanner's son — a great hulking lout of a 
 fellow — who had a pitchfork over his shoulder. The shoe- 
 maker, holding his breath, was sniggering in spite of 
 himself ; b it his companion was in a different mood — the 
 strange, elfin eyes were burning with fire — they were like 
 the eyes of some wild animal intently watching its prey. 
 The unhappy thing was that though the lumbering, 
 heavy-shouldered youth seemed to have plenty of half -idle 
 jobs to do about the yard, never once did he approach the 
 drainage barrel ; if he crossed the string, it was at such a 
 distance from the black hole that tripping him up would 
 have been of no avail. They waited and watched, and 
 Avaited and watched ; but wnth a maddening persistence he 
 kept away from the neighbourhood of that most unholy well. 
 At last Long Lauchie whispered — 
 
 " Niall, my son, it is you that have the invention ; but 
 this time it is not going to succeed " 
 
 " Quiet — quiet ! " retorted the half-witted lad, trembling 
 with excitement. " Now he is coming — now — now " 
 
 But again the unsuspecting yokel sheered off ; and at this 
 Lauchie rose from his cramped position, 
 
 " Niall," he said, laughing covertly, " now I w'ill take my 
 turn ; for it is into that hole the devil must go somehow. 
 Stay where you are — stay where you are, my son — and 
 maybe you will be seeing something." 
 
 He now issued boldly from his ambush ; he opened the 
 gate ; he staggered into the yard. Perhaps he was pre- 
 tending to be a good deal more intoxicated than was really 
 the case ; he held the almost empty bottle in his hand ; he 
 swayed up to the farmer's son — who regarded this intruder 
 with evident disfavour. 
 
 " It is not ahl feenished yet," said Lauchie, in English. 
 " Will yon be for having a drop .? — I was on my weh home 
 — and how is your father, Dan ? — ay, and your mother 
 too ?— " 
 
 " Oh, what are you bletherin about ! " returned the other,
 
 THE FOOVS REVENGE 265 
 
 with impatient siilkiness, " My mother has been dead these 
 seven years " 
 
 "Ay, tliat's what I was thinldnc,'," Tiaucliie wenton, most 
 good-naturedly — though his speech Avas interrupted now and 
 again by an occasional hiccough. " And — and I'm glad to 
 hear that ; and you will give her my compliments, and tell 
 her that I was asking after her. And you will hef a drop 
 with me now — it is not ahl feenished ■" 
 
 " I am not tasting," was the morose answer. 
 
 "Well, well, then, there's the more for me," said 
 Lauchlan, cheerfully, and he put the bottle in his pocket. 
 " And your father now, is he well ? — and your mother — are 
 they both of them pretty well ? " 
 
 " Oh, get out of this — get away home ! " was the scornful 
 rejoinder. 
 
 " And I was hearing of you to-day," proceeded Lauchie. 
 " I was hearing of the fine trick you were playing on Niall 
 Gorach — and — and he would be rolling along the road like 
 a football " 
 
 The big booby condescended to grin. But of a sudden 
 Lauchlan grew preternatural ly grave. 
 
 " Maybe," said he, half articulately, " maybe I was having 
 a drop too much the day. Give me your arm, Dan, my lad 
 — give me yor.r arm to the gate — I am wishing to get a\Yay 
 home " 
 
 " Ay, the sooner ye're in bed the better," answered the 
 facetious bumpkin ; but by this time Lauchie had fastened 
 on to him, and rather unwillingly he was being dragged 
 across the yard. 
 
 " Here, do ye want to drown yourself ! " he exclaimed 
 angrily, as Lauchie's reeling and staggering took them both 
 dangerously near the pump. 
 
 The next moment the intoxicated shoemaker gave a 
 heavy lurch forward — his companion was thrown over and 
 could not recover himself — there was a mighty souse and a 
 kicking and splashing — and the last that Lauchie saw of 
 the farmer was a pair of hands frantically clinging to the 
 edge of the unspeakable tun. He made aAvay for the gate, 
 and haled Niall Gorach out of his hiding-place. 
 
 " Aw, Dyeea, did you see that now ?" he cried, as they 
 hastened along the road — and he laughed and better
 
 266 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 laughed until he brought ou the hiccough so violently that 
 it threatened to choke him. " Mall, my son, hurry, hurry ; 
 but as soon a? we are near the houses we are safe ; for you 
 do not think a brown iciau would come near the houses ? 
 The brown man — aw, the brown man ! — it is I who would 
 like to sec him chasing us through Duntroone, and his 
 clothes dripping, and all the people standing and laughing. 
 And what do you think, now, my hero ? — he was very 
 clever when he pushed you down from the coach — oh, 
 yes, he was very clever — but maybe he is not considering 
 liimself so clever now. What do you say to that, my 
 son ? " 
 
 " AYill he get any of it into his mouth ? " said Niall Gorach, 
 with his eyes burning again. 
 
 Bub the shoemaker was not in the least inclined to be 
 vindictive. He was far too happy. He was giggling to 
 himself, and singing little snatches of song, all the way in 
 to Dnntroone ; and when he arrived he made straight for 
 one of his favourite howll's, sure of finding there on a 
 Saturday evening some jiarticular crony, to whom, over a 
 friendly glass or two, he could relate his exploit, with such 
 mirthful embellishments as happened to occur to him. And 
 thus it was that Niall Gorach was avenged. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 TERPLEXITIES. 
 
 AVhen the two Maclean girls came out of church on the 
 following day, Jess seemed disinclined to accede to Barbara's 
 proposal that they should go for a stroll along the sea-front ; 
 indeed, at this time of the year, when the hotels and villas 
 were filled with visitors, the townspeople mostly kept away 
 from the fashionable throng. 
 
 " Do you want to see some one ? " Jessie demanded. 
 " Or do you wish to have your head turned with fine bonnets 
 and the new style of jackets ? I never knew the like of 
 you, Barbara, for thinking about dress."
 
 PERPLEXITIES 267 
 
 " I do not wish to sit in the house all day reading books," 
 said Barbara, resentfully. 
 
 " Oh, well, I will go with you," said Jess, with her usual 
 good-nature. " I need not be over shy ; they're not likely 
 to look much at me, Barbara, when they've you to look at." 
 
 But hardly had they got down to the front when Jess 
 exclaimed— 
 
 " Why, there is Allan ! Who would have expected to find 
 him here ! " 
 
 At the same moment Barbara's face flushed with vexation. 
 For where was the flower she had counselled him to wear in 
 his button-hole ; and where were the smart gloves and the 
 tall hat ? He did not seem to have altered his dress in 
 any one particular ; he had taken no trouble to fit himself 
 for this promenade ; it Avas as if he had risen from his 
 musty books and come out without a thought of apjiear- 
 ances. And this was the result — that she had dressed her- 
 self in her best — and brought her scarlet sunshade too — to 
 walk up and down with a long, gawky, ill-attired student. 
 
 When he came u]) she received liim with the most marked 
 coldness ; she would hardly look his way ; she left him to 
 talk to Jess — while she regarded, covertly, the people passing 
 to and fro along the parade. And it was in this fashion 
 also that these three set out together — keeping rather to 
 the roadway, for the gay world had possession of the pave- 
 ment. Allan could not but be conscious of the inexplicable 
 change in her manner ; but he did not betray either sur- 
 prise or chagrin ; while Jessie remained kind as always. 
 
 " I finished the Memoirs this morning," said she, " and I 
 will send you the book back to-morrow, with many thanks." 
 
 " And what do you think of the great Benvenuto ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " I would not like to say anything disrespectful," Jess 
 answered, demurely, " but — but I was thinking to myself 
 once or twice that ' aiblins he was a leear.' Do you 
 remember," she went on, with a laugh — and she had a 
 pretty laugh, quiet, and happy, and humorous — ■" do you 
 remember the story of the salamander ? He says that when 
 he was a small boy he saw a salamander in the fire ; and 
 that there and then his father struck him a blow on the side 
 of the head, so that he should never forget it. That is
 
 268 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 liis story. But I suspect what really happened was this — 
 that he declared he saw a salamander ; and that there and 
 then his father hit him on the side of the head to try 
 to cure him of lyino'. Isn't that the more likely story, 
 Allan ? " 
 
 " Indeed it is," said he. " And you're quite ri^-ht : we've 
 got to guess at what really happened iu former times. 
 How do you think, now, that Socrates came by his broken 
 nose ? " 
 
 " His wife ? " Jess suggested vaguely. 
 
 " No, no. It is perfectly clear what happened. Socrates 
 had got hold of an honest citizen, and right or wrong, 
 would engage him in argument, just for showing off. Then 
 the poor man, finding himself being driven into a corner by 
 a mere trick of logic — feeling that he was being entrapped, 
 and yet not clever enough to get out — and not liking to be 
 bullied and made a fool of before his friends — then he got 
 angry : he up with his fist and gave the philosopher a 
 bloody nose. That was the angumentum ad hominem, you 
 see ; and I suppose Socrates thought he had had enough for 
 that day." 
 
 Jienvenuto Cellini — Socrates : no wonder Barbara ceased 
 to listen ; and turned away with proud indifference from 
 her two companions ; and devoted her attention to the 
 fashionable crowd, whose costume, and gait, and bearing 
 had ever and always for her the profonndest interest. She 
 was accustomed to being left by herself in this way. When 
 those two got together, there seemed to be no end to the 
 subjects on which they could talk ; while she was relegated 
 to silence. And perhaps on this particular morning — seeing 
 that every now and again she was aware of a scrutinising 
 glance sent across from the passers-by — perhaps it was just 
 as well that Allan Henderson should pass for Jess's especial 
 friend ; his appearance (in Barbara's eyes) did not confer 
 distinction on his associate for the time being. 
 
 Indeed, she got away from this too public thoroughfare 
 as soon as ever she could ; and the moment she and Jess 
 were back home again and in the seclusion of their own 
 room, her petulance broke forth. 
 
 " He was a fine-like sight to come walking with any 
 one ! " she said, in mingled wrath and scorn.
 
 PERPLEXITIES 269 
 
 " Do you mean Allan ? " said Jess, wondering. " He was 
 just as usual." 
 
 "But people arc not supposed to be dressed as usual," 
 retorted Barbara, " when they go along the esplanade 011 a 
 Sunday." 
 
 " Dressed ? " repeated her cousin, rather angrily. " lie 
 was well enough dressed. He was pei'fectly well dressed. 
 And, in any case, those that know Allan will not judge of 
 him by his coat." 
 
 " And how is a stranger to judge of him except by his 
 coat ? " demanded Barbara : she did not notice that Jessie's 
 fair and fine complexion had acquired an unusual touch of 
 colour. 
 
 " If a stranger," said Jess, with proud lips, " does not see 
 that Allan Henderson is a man of strong and remarkable 
 character — if he does not see that in every line of his face 
 — then the stranger is a fool. And the opinion of a fool is 
 not worth considering." 
 
 " Oh, you need not get into a temper," observed Barbara, 
 tauntingly. " It would be of better use if you lent the 
 schoolmaster a clothes-brush." 
 
 " His clothes are perfectly w^ell brushed," said Jess, hotly, 
 " and perfectly l)ecoming. Perfectly becoming ! I wish 1 
 could say as much for every one who was there this morn- 
 ing. For there are people who deck themselves out above 
 their station, in imitation of their betters." 
 
 It was a cruel speech — and utterly unlike Jess : nay, she 
 stopped abruptly and hesitated. After all, this cousin of 
 hers had been thrown upon their generosity and hospitality ; 
 and she was a solitary kind of creature. 
 
 " Barbara," Jess went on, after this momentary pause, 
 " I am sorry I said that. I was not meaning ''it. You 
 provoked me." 
 
 " Oh, you may say what you like," replied Barbara, with 
 assumed indifference, as she put the red parasol down at the 
 bottom of the drawer and covered it over ; " it is an old 
 story — that nobody must utter a word about the school- 
 master if you are anywhere near by." 
 
 That same evening Allan Henderson was alone in his 
 own room, seated at an open window, and plunged in 
 profound meditation. For there were mauy problems he
 
 270 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 had to face at this crisis. His reason was battling for the 
 mastery ; and was pointing out to him that if he wished to 
 withdraw from what he vaguely felt to be a false position, 
 Barbara's inexplicably capricious conduct offered an oppor- 
 tune excuse. Even in the midst of his infatuation — even 
 as he dreaded to think of losing her — he was haunted by a 
 distressing consciousness that she was in no sense his equal, 
 that she was not the mate he would have chosen if there 
 had been a choice in the matter. But was there a choice ? 
 Or was the pairing of men and women a haphazard thing ; 
 and was its accidental character the cause of all the 
 mistakes and tragedies that were visible around .? And 
 what was the nature of this subtle allurement and fascina- 
 tion that was so much more powerful than the will of a 
 man, and that paid no heed whatever to his judgment ? 
 But then again, if he was driven to confess to himself that 
 Barbara could be no intellectual helpmeet for him — that 
 she was ignorant and simple in a hundred directions — 
 might not that be part of her mysterious charm ? Here 
 was a child of nature, to be taken by the hand and led ; 
 here was a virgin tablet on which the finer wisdom of the 
 world could be written anew ; here was a wild blossom, to 
 be trained and guided, while one wonderiugly watched its 
 growth. And after all, was not the over -riding of reason — 
 the yielding to a blind intoxication of the senses — at a 
 particular juncture in life — was not that but obeying one of 
 the fundamental laws of existence ? Who could tell but 
 that there were other powers at work in this business of 
 selection — inscrutable and inexorable powers ? Could there 
 be any sorrier spectacle than that of some poor item of 
 humanity, hanging back, consulting his judgment, with " I 
 will — I Avill not," while the inherited influences of millions 
 of centuries were imperatively saying to him, " There is 
 the woman we have chosen for you : her yon must seek to 
 gain, and none other. H you fail, then you have balked 
 our purpose — aAvay with you to the liml)o of discomfiture 
 and despair ! " 
 
 These dark and intricate communings were broken in 
 upon : Mr. McFadycn appeared — merry eyed, alert, self- 
 confident. 
 
 " Well, to be su<i'e ! " he exclaimed. -' All by yourself, on
 
 PERPLEXITIES 271 
 
 a fine evening like this ! I made sure you would be enter- 
 taining your friends at supper, or something of the kind, 
 after what I saw yesterday. Did I not ],)rophesy it, many's 
 the day ago ? And a smart young madam to go walking 
 through the town wi' ! — Dod, she's a clipper ! — there's 
 style about her, I tell ye — a regular young Queen of 
 
 Sheba " 
 
 " Are you talking of Barbara Maclean ? " said the school- 
 master. " But that was twenty-four hours ago. And 
 twenty-four hours in the life of a woman " 
 
 ;( 
 
 What — what now ? " cried the councillor, in great 
 surprise : he could see that something had occurred. 
 
 " I saw her this morning," said Allan, briefly. " She had 
 hardly a word for me." 
 
 " Man, man, is that all ? " responded Peter, with hearty 
 cheerfulness. " Do ye no understand ? That's only their 
 tricks, man ! They're all like that. They're well aware 
 that if they kept aye in the same temper, they would lose 
 interest for ye ; and so one day it's all smiles and sunshine, 
 and the next day it's nothing but discontent and perversity. 
 Come away, now — come away this very minute ; and we'll 
 go along to the widow's " 
 
 Well, Allan was in a half-reckless mood ; he hardly know 
 what was happening to him, what toils and snares were 
 surrounding him. They went to the widow's. And from 
 her, at least, they had a most friendly Avelcome. 
 
 " And so the holidays begin to-morrow, Allan, lad," said 
 she. " I'm sure they'll do you good : you've been too hard 
 at work at your classes. And how is your greenhouse 
 getting on, 1\x. McFadyen ? " 
 
 " Oh, line ; just fine," responded the councillor. " There's 
 some may be laughing at me for keeping a bit green-house, 
 and a few out-of-door plants cheek by jowl with a coal-yard ; 
 but if they had any }>hilosophy they would know it's jast 
 there such a thing is wanted. A touch of verdure — a touch 
 of verdure — it's wonderful how refreshing to the eye it is. 
 And the euonyinus bushes are doing well — it's strange they 
 have not oftener been tried in this climate — I'm lookino- 
 forward to having them green all through the Avinter. 
 That's the only drawback about the tree-fuchsias — withering 
 doAvn in the winter "
 
 2/2 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " It's quite true what ye say, Mr. McFadyen," observed 
 tlie widow, placidly. " And one o' these days I must come 
 along and look at your anonymous bushes, when it's such 
 an interesting experiment " 
 
 " The sooner the better," returned the councillor, politely. 
 " The sooner the better. And in the meantime I am going 
 to insist on Miss Jessie and Miss Barbara here putting on 
 their things and coming away for half-an-hour's stroll : it's 
 just sinful they should be sitting indoors on so splendid an 
 evening." 
 
 And he did insist — stormily, overbearingly — until he had 
 his way ; Jess was the first to give a laughing consent ; 
 then she and Barbara quitted the room to get ready. AVhen 
 the four of them by-and-bye set out, the councillor was 
 quite gay and triumphant ; and it ought to be added that 
 he wore a most dapper and summerlike costume — Avhite 
 vest, cutaway coat, and variegated necktie. They left the 
 town by the Dunstaffnage road — making for the upland 
 heights overlooking the western and northern seas. 
 
 They walked two and two ; and the schoolmaster, who 
 had at first been inclined to coldness if not to austerity, 
 very speedily found, and that greatly to his surprise, that his 
 companion wished to be complaisant, and even ingratiating. 
 
 " You have never told me," said she, in rather a low 
 voice, when there was some little space between them and 
 the couple ahead of them, " of the fight between you and 
 Ogilvie. I want to know. How did it begin .'' " 
 
 It was the very last thing in the world he woidd have 
 wished to talk about ; but she was insidiously persistent ; 
 she betrayed the straiig'cst curiosity about tlic smallest 
 details ; however reluctantly, he \vas forced to relate to her, 
 Int by bit, what had occurred. 
 
 " And you had him at the very edge ? " she asked, with 
 ' glowering ' eyes. 
 
 " It was too near for both of us." 
 
 " But he was the undermost — you had the mastery over 
 him ? " she demanded. 
 
 He would not say. 
 
 " He was the undermost — did yon not tell me that ? " she 
 demanded again. 
 
 " Well— he was."
 
 PERPLEXITIES 273 
 
 " Then why did you not let him go over ? " she said, with 
 set teeth. 
 
 He was astounded. 
 
 " Barbara, do you know what you are saying ! Would 
 you have had murder committed ? " 
 
 " It would have been no murder ! " she said, passionately. 
 " It was a fair fight — he would have had you over if he 
 could. Well, maybe you will be serving him belter some 
 other day — and more to the purpose ! " 
 
 He could not understand this savage outburst ; but he 
 dared not question her further : for the two in front of 
 them had paused iu the roadway, to inquire which route 
 they should now adopt. It was by this time nearly nine ; 
 the sun had sot ; but there was no lack of light — the after- 
 glow seemed to have set the whole world on fire. Indeed, 
 when they had decided to go onwards and downwards to the 
 sea, and when they had reached the heights above Penyfuir, 
 a most extraordinary spectacle lay stretched out before 
 them : the smooth waters of Loch Linnhe were as a lake oi" 
 blood, the heavens overhead were an indescribable glory of 
 flame, while between the resplendent crimson sea and tlie 
 dazzling crimson sky stood ranged the mountains of 
 JMorven, of the richest, deepest, softest plum-colour, the 
 only apparently solid thing in this wild and general 
 conflagration. The night was yet far off — if there was to 
 be any night ; they would have abundant leisure for their 
 return through the woods along the shore. 
 
 And so they descended from these uplands to the coast, 
 making their way round by Ganavan and Camas Ban and 
 through the trees that encircle the base of the CasLle Hill. 
 The councillor was in great form ; he was drawing 
 attention, as if he owned them, to the various objects that 
 came within view ; he Avas displaying bis knowledge of 
 natural history. A large dark bird with noiseless wings 
 went sailing from one branch to another ; then a sharp, 
 discordant yelp — a strange sound in tlic prevailing silence 
 ^proclaimed the tawny owl. A smaller creatnre--black as 
 jet against that blaze of crimson light — kept jerkily 
 fluttering over their heads ; and Peter repeated the "boyish 
 rhyme ' Bat, bat, come into my hat ! ' ; though, having 
 attained to years of wisdom, he did uot frnitlessly attempt 
 
 T
 
 274 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 to capture the flitter-mouse. A b&lated weasel stole along 
 the pathway some distance ahead of them, and then dis- 
 appeared in among the heaps of stones tumbled down from 
 the lofty ruins. But it was when they had got round by the 
 old-fashioned garden to the coi-ner of the bay that the coun- 
 cillor had an opportunity of really distinguishing himself ; 
 for at this point a rabbit, closely followed by a black collie, 
 ran across just in front of them, the pursued animal making 
 for the ivied and precipitous cliff underneath the Castle. 
 
 " Ah, do you see that now ? " cried Mr. McFadyen, 
 grasping his stick by the ferrule end. " That poaching 
 rascal of a dog ! — if I could get at him I'd teach him a 
 lesson ! The mongrel beasts !^ — they don't belong to the 
 place — they come in from the town — I wonder the keeper 
 does not shoot every one o' them — and that black thief of a 
 brute, I'd just like to get near it — • — " 
 
 Nay, so indignant was he that he left his companions and 
 began to ascend the steep hill. Both rabbit and collie had 
 got out of sight : no doubt the former had reached the 
 shelter of the ivy, and made its way into one of the 
 numerous crevices well-known in these parts to the coney 
 of the rock. But the dog ? — well, the dog must be some- 
 where about — and here was the valiant Peter, determined 
 on lawful castigation. The next moment McFadyen 
 paused. The black collie having relinquished the chase, 
 was now returning ; and when it caught sight of this 
 stranger, it stopped short. The two glared at each other — 
 and ]\rr. McFadyen did not advance. 
 
 " I'm not so sure," he called down to Jess, "that this is a 
 town dog. It may belong to the place, after all " 
 
 There was a low growl, ending in a sharp and menacing 
 bark. 
 
 " What do ye think ? " the councillor called again. 
 " I would not like to harju a dog that belonged here ^" 
 
 The barking was renewed, with a more savage accent ; 
 the collie, showing angry teeth, was drawing nearer. 
 
 " He deserves a thrashing, of course," called Peter, with 
 some tone of apology. " No doubt about that. But — but 
 maybe it woukl be best to leave that to the keeper. What 
 do ye think ? I Avould not like to harm the dog if I 
 thought it belonged to the place. What do ye think 1- "
 
 A RING 275 
 
 " Oil, come away, Mr. MoFadyen, and leave the dog 
 alouc ! " Jess called to him. 
 
 It was with a certain caution that Peter began to hack 
 down the slope ; and when he rejoined his companions his 
 face was extremely red — perhaps with the exertion of 
 climbing and descending again. 
 
 " I'm not sure I was right in letting him off," he said, 
 doubtfully. "Maybe I was wrong in letting him off. 
 "When you catch a poaching dog in the very act, ye should 
 thrash him then and there. But on the other hand, ye see, 
 I would not like to punish a dog that belonged to the place 
 ■ — that would hardly be my business, would it ? Oh, well," 
 he concluded, with a magnanimous air, " maybe it was 
 better to let him go for this once anyway : I thought he 
 might have the benefit of the doubt." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; why should you want to harm the poor 
 beast ? " said Jess ; and therewith they continued on their 
 route — round by the curve of the shore, towards the out- 
 jutting rocks. 
 
 Barbara was silent and self-absorbed on the way home. 
 For while these others had been watching the encounter 
 between Mr. McFadyen and the black collie, she liad been 
 regarding the steep cliff that towered away upwards to tlie 
 ruins of the ancient castle. It was over that cliff tliat 
 Ogilvie would have fallen headlong if the schoolmaster had 
 not released him and given him his life. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 A RING. 
 
 Next morning, to Barbara's surprise, Allan Henderson 
 presented himself ; and the lirst glimpse she had of him 
 showed her that there was a marked change in his outward 
 apipearance — he wore a suit of light grey Harris homespun, 
 and he had discarded his slouched felt hat for a wideawake 
 of the ordinary kind. He at once explained the object of 
 his visit ; the summer-school vacation had begun ; he was 
 
 T 2
 
 276 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 a free man once more ; and now lie wanted to know whether 
 she would not lay aside her work and come away with him 
 for an hour or two's ramble in the country. It was a bold 
 request, truly, considering the capricious and uncertain 
 fashion in which she had been treating him of late ; but 
 perhaps with this newly-found liberty certain daring, or 
 even desperate, hopes and fancies had got hold of him. 
 
 She seemed to regard the holiday look — the off-duty look 
 — of his attire with distinct approval. 
 
 " But what is the use of the country ? " she said. " There 
 is nothing to see. And it is too early. If you come l)ack 
 about half-past twelve, I can be ready then ; and we will go 
 somewhere." 
 
 He was far too well pleased with her compliance to think 
 of hurrying her ; he went away, and loitered up and down 
 the esplanade, scanning the various yachts ; then at the 
 appointed hour he returned. It was obvious that some 
 portion at least of the interval Barbara had devoted to 
 decorating herself for this expedition. The young Queen of 
 Sheba, as Mr. McFadyen had called her, was well bedight. 
 
 Nor had he ever before found her so gracious. They 
 had got but a little way from the house when they came to 
 the chief fruit-and-flower shop in Duntroone ; and here she 
 stopped. 
 
 " Come in for a moment," said she, " and I will get you 
 something to wear in your buttonhole." 
 
 " Thank you, Barbara," said he, hanging back — with 
 something of an impatient frown as well — " but I do not 
 care about such things." 
 
 She would not be denied. She bade him wait. She 
 went into the shop, and chose one or two flowers, tying the 
 stems together ; and when she came out again, she herself 
 pinned the little nosegay into tbc lapel of his coat. He 
 forgot his ill-temper — her kindness was so manifest, and so 
 unexpected. 
 
 " You are no longer a schoolmaster," she said with a 
 laugh ; "you arc just like the other young men now. And 
 some day when I have enough pocket-money I will be 
 buying you a pair of gloves." 
 
 " Gloves ? " he repeated. " They are not much in my 
 wav, Barbara."
 
 A RING 277 
 
 *' All, l)nt I see that you can make yourself very nice- 
 looking when you choose," she went on. " And now you 
 are no longer the schoolmaster ; now it is the holidays ; 
 and you will be having plenty of time to dress well and 
 look after yourself when you go out for a walk." 
 
 Indeed, she was quite animated ; and as they passed 
 round by the harbour and approached the South Pier— to 
 which the Aros CaMle had just come in — she became still 
 more blithe and communicative. The schoolmaster had not 
 chosen this route ; she had, unperceived by him, led the 
 Avay ; it mattered little to him whither they wandered, so 
 long as he and she were together. But on this occasion it 
 became clear that Barbara did not mean to ignore the 
 j)resence of the Purser. On the contrary, as they were 
 passing the moored steamer, she stared boldly at him — until 
 Ogilvie averted his eyes, and went on with his work ; and 
 she talked floutingly and with open scorn ; it seemed as 
 though she was not at all unwilling that her taunts should 
 be overheard. 
 
 " The poor fellow ! " she exclaimed. " No wonder he is 
 angry that he has to look after herring-barrels ! He is not 
 much better than a railway-porter — do you think it is being 
 any better than a railway-porter ? ^" 
 
 " Quiet, quiet, Barbara ! " her companion said. " Let 
 him alone. You need not look his way, nor he yours." 
 
 " Some day will you take Jessie and me for a sail to 
 Tobermory ? " she demanded. 
 
 In other circumstances he would gladly have welcomed 
 the proposal ; but there was something he did not under- 
 stand about the relations between Barbara and the Parser ; 
 a trip to Tobermory — if it was to be on board the Aros 
 Castle, with Qgilvie passing to and fro — might involve a 
 good deal of embarrassment. But in the meantime they 
 were leaving the South Pier behind ; Barbara, for the sake 
 of her pride, appeared to make some effort to recover her 
 equanimity ; and soon they were toiling up the slopes of 
 the Gallows Hill, on their way to the lofty plateau and its 
 spacious view of mountain, cloud, and sea. 
 
 And surely this was a day fitted for the allaying of 
 tempestuous passions — now as these two seated themselves 
 on the bench at the foot of the flagstaff ; a brooding, calm,
 
 278 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and peaceful day ; nor yet a day of gloom, for the soft, 
 white, woolly skies showed here and there a silvery glow as 
 if the snn were trying to break through the thin transparent 
 veil. There was hardly a breath of wind ; the pale leaden- 
 hued or lilac plain of w'aters did not stir ; a solitary yacht 
 hung idle off the point of Lismore. The ivied ruins of the 
 Castle were dark and distinct and intense against the 
 luminous heavens ; but the far hills in the west and north 
 seemed to have receded until they had grown aerial and 
 visionary — mere ghosts of mountains. And everywhere a 
 prevailing silence, in which could be heard the throb of the 
 paddles of the steamer, on her way across to the North Pier. 
 
 And whither had fled now all the problems, the doubts 
 and hesitations, the perplexities with which he had been 
 torturing himself ? He and she were together, the sweet 
 summer air around them ; the world lay brilliant and 
 beautiful before them ; the mysterious attraction and allure- 
 ment of youth was a trembling and inexplicable delight. 
 And she was bland and complaisant ; a marvellous thing ; 
 he knew not how it had all come about. What did it 
 matter if abstruse mental and moral enigmas were all a 
 blank to her, so long as the wisps and curls of her raven- 
 black hair clung caressingly about her ears and neck, so 
 long as her smile said more than any words, so long as 
 heaven seemed to shine in the liquid deeps of her eyes ? 
 Perhaps she did not know much of the story of dead and 
 gone generations ; but for every man and woman the all- 
 important time was their own time ; the universe for them 
 was the universe in which they found themselves alive ; and 
 here was one who could surround herself- — and perhaps a 
 neighbour or two — with an atmosphere of unimaginable 
 glamour. The charm of books, and forgotten languages, 
 and distant peoples ? — there was a stranger charm when she 
 tm-ned her out-curving lashes towards him, timid, shy, half- 
 coquettish as she might chance to be. 
 
 Little need was there for talk ; to be so near to her was 
 enough ; and yet the one consuming thought and desire of 
 his mind drove him on to speech. 
 
 " Barbara," he said, in a low voice — for there were one 
 or two people seated on another bench some dozen or fifteen 
 yards away — " you were kind enough to offer me a pair of
 
 A RING 279 
 
 gloves. I wisli you would accept a little present from me — • 
 that would mean more than that — that would mean a good 
 deal more than that " 
 
 " A present ? " she repeated— and her eyes were pleased 
 and expectant. 
 
 " A ring," he said. " Would you wear a ring if I gave it 
 to you ? "^ 
 
 "Oh, yes," she answered, Avithout a moment's hesitation. 
 
 " But do you understand ? " he went on. " Do you 
 understand what the significance would be ? " 
 
 The jet-black lashes were lowered now. 
 
 " Maybe — I do not know," she said. 
 
 " Well, your wearing the ring would be a promise — a 
 promise that you will be my wife. Will you wear the ring, 
 Barbara ? " 
 
 " Yes," she said. 
 
 There was no affectation of coyness or fluttering alarm ; 
 there was a touch of pride, of defiance almost, in her tone ; 
 but in his delirium of happiness he took no heed of such 
 trifles. Nay, so anxious and eager was he to make secure 
 the prize he |had thus unexpectedly won — and won in such 
 an amazingly simple fashion — that he would have her go 
 away down with him, there and then, to ]\Ir. Boyd the 
 jeweller's, that this fateful trinket might straightway be 
 chosen. And Barbara seemed nothing loth ; she rose to 
 her feet. 
 
 " Will they be thinking it strange ? " said she, " if they 
 see me wearing a ring ? " 
 
 " Why, of course not," he said, joyfully enough. " An 
 engagement-ring is nothing out of the common. If any 
 one is curious, you can explain ; but they will all get to 
 know — and the sooner the better." 
 
 She did not appear to be at all overwhelmed by the 
 gravity of the step she had just taken. As they were going 
 away down and into the town, he was recalling to her 
 certain things that had happened since the night of the 
 wreck of the Sanda, to prove to her that this goal he had 
 triumphantly reached at last he had been aiming at all 
 along. But she interrupted him. 
 
 " Oh," she said, " it is no use looking back. All that is 
 gone away and done. The present is enough.
 
 23o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Indeed it is," said lie. " And it would be marvellous 
 if I were not to think so." 
 
 When these two went into the shop, Mr, Boyd, glancing 
 from one to the other, seemed a little astonislied ; but of 
 conrse he made no remark ; it was only when Allan asked 
 to be shown one or two plain gold rings that the jeweller 
 revealed what was passing in his mind. 
 
 " Ay, is it a wedding-ring then ? " he asked. 
 
 At this Barbara did betray some slight confusion ; but 
 Allan stepped in to shield her. 
 
 " No, no," said he, goodhumouredly. " Not yet. You're 
 in a hurry, Mr. Boyd. It's only a little present I was 
 thinking of " 
 
 " Oh, yes, to be sure," said the shopkeeper, instantly 
 retreating from his false position, and finding safety in a 
 study of his window, from which he presently extracted a 
 small case of his glittering wares. 
 
 Now in the natural course of things it was for Allan to 
 make his choice, subject to her approval ; but it very soon 
 appeared that these two were not of one mind in this 
 matter. The schoolmaster's fancy had been attracted by a 
 simple gold hoop — a piece of delicate chain-work set in a 
 narrow band ; 18-carat the metal was, and the price marked 
 on the little ticket was twenty-five shillings. But Barbara 
 was clearly disappointed. 
 
 " It is so plain," said she, with just a touch of petulance. 
 '' It is nothing — no one would notice it — ■ — " 
 
 " Maybe you would like something more showy ? " ]\Tr. 
 Bovd suggested — and he brought out another case. " This 
 is a very nice one." 
 
 Well, the ring he now placed before her was certainly a 
 more gaudy ornament — it professed to be of rubies and 
 diamonds, the stones alternating ; while the ticketed price 
 was only fifteen shillings. When Barbara took it in her 
 hand, her eyes lit up with unmistakeable pleasure. 
 
 " Yes," she said, that is something to look at — that is 
 something that can be seen." 
 
 " But, Barbara," remonstrated the schoolmaster, almost 
 angrily, " you don't want to wear imitation things, do you ? 
 These stones are not real, Mr. Boyd ?— of course not, at 
 that price."
 
 yl RING 23 1 
 
 " Oil, no ; they're imitations ; but they're very good 
 imitations," answered the jeweller. " And the setting is 
 gold — 12 carat gold." 
 
 "It is very pretty, whatever," said Barbara, regarding 
 the bauble with fascinated eyes ; and she tried it on her 
 linger to see how it looked there also, 
 
 Allan was vexed and chagrined ; but how could he quarrel 
 with her on this morning of all mornings ? She had just 
 given herself to him — he had just won the crown of life ; 
 and was he to refuse her her choice of a trumpery gewgaw ? 
 
 " Well, if you wish it," he said. " But I should have 
 thought you would have preferred something real — not bits 
 of glass " 
 
 " Then if I am not to have it, I am not to have it," she 
 said, shortly ; and she pulled the ring off her finger, and 
 tossed it aside. " 8how me some others." 
 
 " But if you would rather have it, Barbara " he was 
 
 saying, to pacify her, when she again interrupted him. 
 
 " I am not caring for it any longer. Some other one — 
 it is no matter which it is." 
 
 And eventually a compromise was arrived at. It is true 
 that the ring she ultimately accepted cost more than either 
 of the others — cost him well over a week's salary ; but at 
 least the rosette of garnets which it bore consisted of genuine 
 stones. And there certainly was more display in this deep 
 crimson ornament than in the plain gold hoop that he had 
 at first offered her. 
 
 They did not continue their expedition further at this 
 time ; but before they parted, Allan promised to come along 
 in the evening : he was impatient to let Mrs. Maclean and 
 Jessie know of the great change that had taken place in his 
 fortunes and prospects. They were to learn of it before 
 then. On her way home Barbara called in at the shop ; 
 and Jess, from behind the counter, was not slow in descrying 
 the pretty trinket. 
 
 " Well, Barbara, yon are the one for setting yourself off ! " 
 she exclaimed, "And where did you get such a beautiful 
 thing as that ? " 
 
 " The schoolmaster," said Barbara, with a laugh and a 
 blush. 
 
 Jess was silent only for a second.
 
 282 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Then — then it is settled between him and you ? " she 
 asked, diflidently. 
 
 " Oh, yes, we are to be married," replied Barbara — still 
 regarding the ring. "Will you tell your mother, Jessie, 
 that Allan is coming along to-night ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will tell her. But— but don't you expect mc to 
 say something, Barbara ? For I am sure I wish that both 
 of you may be very happy — I am sure I wish that." 
 
 " Aud I am sure of this," said the girl — touched by the 
 t(me in which these words were spoken — " I am sure of this, 
 Jessie, that no one can say you are not very kind to those 
 about you." And therewith she left. 
 
 All that long afternoon — after she had confided theso 
 tidings to her mother — the ordinarily light-hearted Jess was 
 strangely pre-occupied and silent. 
 
 " It is my head — it is nothing," she would say, in answer 
 to her mother's inquiries ; and then again she would struggle 
 on with her accounts. 
 
 But at last she gave up. 
 
 " Would you mind attending to the shop, mother .? " she 
 said, with rather a tired air. " I would like to go for a 
 little walk " 
 
 " But you will be back when Allan calls ? " the widow 
 said. " He will be expecting your congratulations ^" 
 
 " Yes, maybe I will be back," Jess said. " Maybe. But 
 if I am not, you will give him my best wishes, mother, and 
 tell him I hope they will both be very happy. But he 
 knows that — he know^s that is what I am wishing for both 
 of them." 
 
 And so she got away ; and by unfrequented paths she 
 stole out into the moorland country, where she was alone, 
 and giad to be alone. For perhaps ' the foolishness was on 
 her ; ' and if the ' wild tears ' must fall, she would not have 
 any one know her shame.
 
 ( 283 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ON A summer's evening. 
 
 To no one was the great news more welcome than to tlie 
 councillor, who saw in it but another step towards tlie 
 realisation of his own far-reaching schemes. And to cele- 
 brate the event, and perhaps — for certain dark reasons — to 
 familiarise Jess with the spectacle of a pair of affianced 
 lovers, he came bustling along on the following afternoon, 
 and would have the schoolmaster and the two girls go away 
 with him for a sail in Angus Maclsaac's boat, the Kelpie. 
 There was a fine brisk breeze blowing ; they would adven- 
 ture out into the golden regions of the west ; and the clear 
 twilight would bring them home. 
 
 Well, there was nothing of the spoil-sport about Jess 
 Maclean : if, on some rare occasion, the ' foolishness ' got 
 hold of her, then she took care to hide herself away in 
 solitude. Moreover these were Allan's holidays ; and during 
 the working times of the year there Avas little enough diver- 
 sion for him. So Jess at once and cheerfully put on her 
 smartest things ; Barbara did the same ; the schoolmaster 
 was summoned ; and the councillor, having marshalled his 
 forces, proceeded to escort them down to the sea-front. He 
 was in the noblest of spirits ; it was as if he were leading 
 them on to the conquest of Mexico or the capture of the 
 last of the Incas. 
 
 Unfortunately, when they reached the esplanade, they 
 found that the Kelim was away somewhere, and Angus with 
 her ; but there was an alternative cutter, the Osprey, lying 
 at her moorings ; and Maclsaac's representative, a young 
 lad named Malcolm, was on the beach. To do this youth 
 justice, he seemed to hesitate a little about the responsibility 
 of letting the boat ; but Mr. McFadyen, in his stormily 
 heroic mood, would take no refusal. 
 
 " You'll come with us, man," he exclaimed, " and at least 
 ye know how to manage the things at the bow. I'll do the 
 rest ; we'll get on splendid ; anybody can sail a boat on a
 
 284 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 fine summer eveninsj like this. Oh, I know somethino; 
 about a boat — I've kept my eyes open — you'll sec we'll just 
 get on splendid." 
 
 He would have no hanging back ; he carried everything 
 before him ; he had himself and his companions pulled out 
 ill adingay ; they got on board ; and the councillor straight- 
 way took up his post at the tiller. Columbus, calm and 
 resolved in face of his insurgent followers, could not have 
 looked more imposing. It is true he regarded the move- 
 ments of the youth Malcolm with a curiosity not unmixed 
 with impatience ; for, the commander being at the helm, 
 why was nothing going forward — why was not the vessel 
 making response ? But at length Malcolm got the little 
 lialf-decked cutter slipped from her moorings ; and she 
 began to creep slowly away before the wind. 
 
 It was an altogether auspicious setting-out ; for although 
 there was a stormy look about the skies — the ' sun had set 
 up his backstays ' over the western hills, the spreading rays 
 of light striking downwards from the moving clouds — there 
 was nothing to denote that the breeze would remain other- 
 wise than benign and steady : the prospect was that after a 
 pleasant run through the wild sunset-fires they would come 
 gliding back through the still more wonderful afterglow, to 
 walk homeward in the pearly dusk. There was at this 
 starting only one little mischance. 
 
 " Am I trusting my life to you, Mr. McFadyen ? " Jess 
 happened to say, blithely, as she made herself a snug seat in 
 the cockpit.'' 
 
 " Ay, Miss Jessie," he answered her, " I wish ye would 
 do that for altogether." 
 
 But the confusion caused by this inadvertent remark was 
 only momentary ; Jess pretended to have heard nothing ; 
 while Peter McFadyen was now, and rather angrily, trying 
 to make out what the youth Malcolm meant by certain 
 bashfully-suggested hints. 
 
 " Will I haul up the main tack, sir ? " 
 
 " What's that ye say ? " 
 
 " Will I haul up the main tack ? " 
 
 " Oh, we're doing well enough — we're doing fine ! " said 
 Peter, fretfully — of course he did not like being interrupted 
 in his task of entertaining his companions.
 
 ON A SUMMER'S EVENING 285 
 
 Nevertheless the youth — shy and diffident as he was— 
 would still interfere. He came aft. 
 
 " AVill I slack out the boom a bit more, sir ? " 
 
 " We're doing fine — we're doing fine, I tell ye ! " retorted 
 Peter with obvious irritability. " You go and attend to the 
 things at the bow ; I'll manage the rest." 
 
 Malcolm was a biddable lad. He went forward again. 
 He only ventured to say, as he stood by the mast — 
 
 " Will I hoist the foresail, sir .? " 
 
 " What ? " bawled Peter. 
 
 " Will I hoist the foresail ? " 
 
 " Oh, hoist your grandmother ! Do ye not see that we're 
 just fleein' ? " 
 
 And, indeed, they were just fleeing. For the wind was 
 from the east ; and now that they were getting out from 
 the bay, the gusts from over the cliffs struck frequent and 
 hard, so that the Osprey went tearing along at an admirable 
 pace, the foam churning at her bows. And Jess was merry ; 
 and the councillor was delighted ; and Barbara could show 
 off her ring, with its rosette of garnets ; the schoolmaster 
 alone seemed to have doubts about the wisdom, and the 
 possible result, of this performance. 
 
 " I say, my friend," he observed to the steersman, " this 
 is all very well, but how are we going to get back ? Don't 
 you think we'd better keep up to windward — and try along 
 the Sound, if you like " 
 
 " Down the Sound of Kerrara — and a squally east wind 
 blowing ? " cried Peter, with explosive hilarity. " Na, n.i 
 ■ — not me ! I wasna born yesterday ! It's just the very 
 mischief when the squalls come down on ye in the Sound ; 
 whereas here we're in the open ; and if there's anything to 
 make a bother, ye can see it before it strikes ye. Man, it's 
 a fine thing to feel a boat just lieein' beneath ye ! And an 
 east wind's a land wind ; where can the trouble be ? — tell 
 me that ! Come, Miss Jessie, sing us a song, now ! Ay, 
 you can sing, for all that you're so blate about it, and it's so 
 difficult to get ye to open your mouth. AV'e're just fleeiu'. 
 It's a fine boat, this. Give us a song, Miss Barbara — come, 
 now ! A fine boat — she answers to the helm just as if she was 
 a living thing. I tell ye, it's a grand thing to be in a healthy 
 climate like this — I could near sing a song myself "
 
 55 
 
 286 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " We're all waiting for you, Mr. McFadyen ! " said Jess 
 
 " Ay, and do yo want me to make an ass of myself ? 
 demanded Peter. " Well, I will. I would rather make an 
 ass of myself than not keep the thing going, when I'm out 
 on a frolic of this kind. What is it to bo ? Dod, I'll 
 make an ass of myself, if ye like — — " 
 
 " Why every one knows you sing very well, Mr. 
 McFadyen," said Jess, with not a thought of sarcasm in 
 her mind. 
 
 " I'll tell ye a good one now," said Mr. McFadyen — and 
 his small, roguish eyes were twinkling mirthfully, " a real 
 good one. Tliere was a chap I knew and he was boasting 
 of his fine teeth, and says he, ' I never once beheld the face 
 of a dentist — I mean in anger.' ' In anger,' says he. 
 'Never beheld the face of a dentist — in anger' — " And 
 here Peter burst into such a guffaw of laughter, and paid 
 such small attention to the swaying tiller that only the 
 merciful little cherub that sits up aloft could have said how 
 a most rnthlcss gybe was avoided. 
 
 " But the song, Mr. McFadyen ? " said Jess. 
 
 For a second Peter grew grave ; he was considering. 
 Then arose an unearthly howl — ■ 
 
 ' Cam' ye by Atliol, lad wi' the philabeg, 
 Down by the Tnramel, or banks o' the Garry? 
 Saw he the lads wi' tiieir bonnets and white cockades, 
 Leaviu!? their mountains to follow Prince Charlie ? 
 
 Follow thoe, follow thee, wha wadna follow thee— 
 Lang hast thou loved and trusted us fairly ! 
 Charlie, Charlie, wha wadna follow thee — 
 King o' the Highland hearts, Bonnie Prince Charlie ! ' 
 
 The high-pitched 'wha' was almost beyond him; l)ut 
 Mr. McFadyen was not the man to give in ; he attacked it 
 gallaiUly ; and the result was a screech that must liave 
 startled the distant jackdaws far uj) among the ivied ruins 
 of Duiitroone Castle. 
 
 " It's a little thing high for me," he remarked, with an 
 air of apology ; and he did not venture on a second verse ; 
 he was again observing the movements of the lad Malcolm 
 — who had come aft to haul in the main-sheet, now that 
 they were taking a more southerly course, with the wind on 
 their beam.
 
 ON A SUMMER'S EVENING 287 
 
 " Well, Barbara," said the schoolmaster, " do you see the 
 Lady Eock over yonder ? " 
 
 The girl looked up in quick alarm. 
 
 " We're not going near there ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " No, no," said the councillor, gaily. " We'll just hold 
 right on, and give ye a look at the Mull coast. It's a 
 desolate place : a passing glimpse is all ye'll want." 
 
 However, as it turned out, they were to have more than 
 a passing glimpse. For as time went on, those squalls from 
 the east became more and more violent and vicious, and 
 with each successive gust the too heavily canvassed boat 
 would go heeling over, with a prodigious rattle of the loose 
 spars on deck. The schoolmaster did not at all like the 
 aspect of affairs ; but he was loth to call in question the 
 councillor's seamanship, lest he should frighten the young 
 women ; while the lad Malcolm had ceased to make any 
 further suggestions — he watched those tearing and howling 
 blasts, and then glanced uneasily towards the steersman to 
 see what he would do. Mr. McFadyen of course was not 
 to be daunted by any buffeting of wind and waves ; out- 
 wardly at least he maintained a perfectly careless demeanour ; 
 he was even facetious at times ; but it was too evident that 
 his jocundity was forced. And meanwhile Barbara Avas 
 beginning to show signs of abject teiTor. 
 
 " I say, McFadyen, this'll never do," Allan interposed at 
 last. " We should have taken down a couple of reefs before 
 coming out in this squally weather. Or couldn't you lower 
 the peak, to take the strain off her ? Anyhow we must try 
 to work our way back." 
 
 " Ay, just that," responded the councillor, with assumed 
 equanimity. "Oh, yes, I suppose we may as well go back 
 now. We've had a fine spin — and now we'll go back." 
 
 Which was all very well ; bub to run before a series of 
 squalls is one thing, and to tight back against them is 
 another. And now these gusts conthiued to increase in 
 fury, insomuch that the councillor, hardly concealing his 
 dismay, would seek a precarious safety iu jamming the 
 boat's head into the wind, where she would stagger "for a 
 second or so with the sails cracking and flapping. Then 
 just as often as not she would till on the other side — with 
 her weather sheets home ; and here again would be further
 
 288 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 commotion — the clinging folk in the cockpit being flung 
 about like peas in a bladder. And all this time the cutter 
 was steadily drifting — drifting on to a lee shore ; and that 
 lee shore the east coast of Mull. 
 
 "Here, you," called out McFadyen, in his anger and 
 desperation, " what's the price of this boat ? " 
 
 The lad Malcolm did not answer : he seemed bewildered. 
 
 " I've a great mind," Peter called out again, savag-ely, 
 " to run her over to Mull there, and bang her up on the 
 beach ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ! " cried Barbara, piteously ; " anywhere 
 that we can get ashore ! " 
 
 " Would I not be doing right ? — would I not be doing 
 right ? " he said, eagerly appealing to her for confirmation. 
 " What do I care for the cost of a boat ? Human lives are 
 of more value. I am responsib'e for your safety ; what do 
 I care for this rotten old beast of a boat, that cannot sail 
 any more than a cow ? You lad, there, get out an oar, and 
 put her head away from the wind : I'm going to run her up 
 on the nearest shore, that's what I'm going to do, and ye 
 may get the splinters back to Duntroone as best ye can." 
 
 Almost immediately thereafter there seemed to fall around 
 them an amazing calm and quiet ; the tumult appeared to 
 cease ; they were gUdiug smoothly along with the hurrying 
 waves, the main-sheet slacked, out, the jib drawing steadily. 
 Nor had Allan the heart to protest against this ignominious 
 surrender, when he saw the agony of fright that Barbara 
 was in ; her sole prayer was to get to land ; she did not care 
 where or how. And the councillor, smarting under the 
 humiliating consciousness of defeat, was as good as his 
 word ; his teeth were set hard, his looks sullen ; he steered 
 neither to the right nor to the left, for the navigation of 
 Loch Speliv and that of Ijoch Don were C(|ualiy unknown 
 to him ; he was resolved upon running this unmanageable 
 boat right up on the nearest shore — and he did it. 
 
 Not that it was accomplished without a good deal of con- 
 fusion. As they neared the beach there was a thunder of 
 breaking waves all around ; then of a sudden the bow of 
 the cutter seemed to rise in the air ; she swung over to 
 starboard, the boom splashing into the water ; spray began 
 to break over the stern ; and the wrecked company pro-
 
 ON A SUMMER'S EVENING 2S9 
 
 oeedcd to get forward and cluml:»cr down by the bowsprit 
 slirouds and the bobstay. Of course they got pretty well 
 wet in the tumbHng surf ; but at least they had now 
 gained solid land — in a strange twilight, under the shadows 
 of the hills. And the boat ? 
 
 " Let the boat go to the devil ! " said Peter, furiously, as 
 he knocked the water out of his nether garments. " Let 
 her go to the bottom ! She's not fit for anything else. A 
 boat that cannot sail is better at the bottom of the sea than 
 anywhere else." 
 
 " Well," said Allan, with a more philosophic air, " I 
 suppose we'll have to search for some farmhouse or some 
 cottar's hut, where Jessie and Barbara can be sheltered for 
 the night ; and I will make my way to Craigenure or some 
 such place, and try to get a telegram sent to Mrs. Maclean." 
 
 " But the lad — what about the young lad ? " asked the 
 ever considerate Jess, 
 
 The lad jVIalcolm, who had not made any remark during, 
 all this transaction, was now engaged in getting down the 
 mainsail ; and as the bow of the boat was firmly imbedded 
 in seaweed and shingle — and as the jib remained sheeted 
 home — it appeared quite possible that she would not swing 
 broadside on to the beach. They called to him to come 
 ashore ; but he answered something about a kedge. At all 
 events he was in no danger — when he chose he could 
 clamber down from the bowsprit with no greater damage 
 than wet knees. 
 
 But this was the most uncanny region in which they now 
 found themselves ; a solitary and voiceless region — no sign 
 of any human habitation — no sign of any road — nothing 
 but undulations of rocky moorland and heather leading up 
 to precipitous and sterile crags. And no less remarkable 
 was it when they turned from this clear, intense twilight to 
 regard the glowing and warm-coloured world they had left 
 behind ; for the storm seemed already to have abated con- 
 siderably, and aw'ay over by Cruachan and Cruach Lerags 
 and Loch Feochan the skies were quite serene. 
 
 "Barbara," said the schoolmaster, timidly — not wishing 
 to provoke her to any petulance, " don't you think you 
 would make another trial ? We may be wandering about 
 this coast all through the night before coming to a house — ■ 
 
 u
 
 2go HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and Mrs. Miicleau will be very anxious. The wind seems 
 to be slackening- down " 
 
 " Will you keep away from the Lady liock ? " she said, 
 with terrified eyes. 
 
 " Yes, yes," he answered her. " I quite understand why 
 }ou should be nervous — I quite understand that ; but we 
 can keep well away from the Lady Rock ; we will be makinsf 
 across for Kerrara and the entrance to the bay. If the lad 
 has put out a kedge, we mig'ht get the boat floated off, for 
 the tide is on the flood ; and anything would be l^etter than 
 wandering about the shore of Mull all night." 
 
 And eventually he did persuade her to go down to the 
 beach again, though she still looked on the disabled Osprey 
 with evident apprehension. There could be no doubt that 
 meanwhile the S(:[ualls had moderated in vehemence. 
 
 "Allan," said Jess, demurely, "do you not think that 
 IMr. McFadyen has had enough of the hard work ? Why 
 should you not sail the boat back ? " 
 
 He looked at her ; and whenever the eyes of those two 
 met there was an instant intelligence between them. 
 
 " Oh, I'll take my turn," said he. " Yes, I'll take my 
 turn. And we'll try her with a little less canvas on her." 
 
 It was a tedious and difficult business getting the boat 
 floated off again ; but at last they had her under way, with 
 her mainsail double-reefed ; and as Allan was now in 
 charge of the tiller, it fell to the gay McFadyen to beguile 
 the time and cheer his companions with song. He sang of 
 ' Craigie Burn Wood ; ' he sang ' My Nannie's awa' ; ' he 
 sang ' There grows a bonnie brier-bush,' and ' Flow gently, 
 sweet Afton,' and ' Logic o' Buchan, Logie the laird,' and 
 many another well-established favourite. And all the 
 while they were sailing through an enchanted world of fire 
 and splendour ; and when, after the long beat to windward, 
 they entered Uuntroone Bay, there was a golden moon in 
 the south, and the lapping waters glanced and shivered in 
 this new radiance. 
 
 " All's well that ends well," said Peter, as he courageously 
 stepped ashore. " We've had a splendid sail, and a fine 
 adventure. And after all, maybe it's better for us to be 
 back on the mainland rather than passing the night in some 
 lonely wee public-house in the east of Mull."
 
 ( 291 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 ON BOARD A STEAMER. 
 
 These ought to have been halcyon days for the schoolmastei- •. 
 vacation time — a newly-won and beautiful sweetheart — and 
 the winding; shores, the solitary bays, and the wild hills of 
 the West Highlands for their long summer rambles. Then 
 he had found an easy way of propitiating her to kindness 
 and even to gratitude : when he brought her some little 
 bit of millinery ornament she was as pleased as an infant 
 with a new toy. Nor did he greatly deprecate the love of 
 linery, and the love of display, that appeared to have 
 gradually taken possession of her since she came to live in 
 Duutroone. In many respects she was but a child ; and 
 in her very childishness and ignorance there was for him 
 a mysterious charm. Philosophy — poetry — history : these 
 were all written about human life ; but here was that 
 strangest of all strange things, a human life itself — won- 
 derful, incomprehensible, and yet dowered with an increasing 
 and enthralling fascination. Halcyon days indeed — ' the 
 golden age — the golden age come back.' 
 
 No, he did not grudge her these pretty trifles — though 
 he would rather have been saving up the cost of them for 
 more important ends ; and he was glad to see her wearing 
 them ; and proud of her appearance at all times. But now a 
 much more serious matter intervened. When they came 
 to discuss the question of choosing a house, he found that 
 Barbara's ideas and claims were of a kind to take his breath 
 away. 
 
 " You will be giving up your lodgings," said she, boldly, 
 "and why should you not gi^'c up the rooms for your 
 classes as well, and put everything in one, so that you could 
 have a good house like Rose Bank ? " 
 
 " Rose Bank ? " said he, in astonishment. Do you know 
 what the rent of Rose Bank is likely to be, Barbara ? " 
 
 " They are telling me," she responded, without flinching, 
 " that your classes are sure to Ije getting bigger and biyger." 
 
 U 2 ^
 
 292 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " I wonder," said he, good-naturedly, " who ever heard of 
 a poor schoolmaster behig able to pay for a view ! " 
 
 " Yes, it is a very fine view," said Barbara. " And I 
 would like to see the steamers coming into the bay and 
 going out ; and every one coming in and going out would 
 see the house." 
 
 " And what would they think .? They would think I had 
 married a fortune ! " 
 
 "And why not then ? " she retorted audaciously. " Let 
 tliem thiidv that, if they like ! They are welcome to think 
 that, if they like ! " 
 
 He did not pursue the argument further, for she was apt 
 to grow ])etulant when opposed ; ])ut on the earliest possible 
 opportunity he went along to call on Mr. McFadyen, who 
 he imagined would be sure to know all about rents, and 
 rates and taxes, and the cost of furniture. Mr. IVlcFadyen 
 was in his office ; and when he was told of Barl)ara's 
 ambitious project, he openly laughed. 
 
 " Rose Bank ? " said the merry councillor. " I'm thinking 
 Allan, lad, ye'd soon be Rose Bankrupt ! What would be 
 the use of that big garden to you ? See, now, I'll just take 
 down my hat, and we'll go out for a half-hour's stroll here 
 and there, and have a look round : maybe we may light on 
 something a little more practicable than Rose Bank."' 
 
 So the two left the office together, and set out on their 
 house-hunting expedition ; though it soon began to look as 
 if this freak of generosity on the part of the councillor had 
 not been wholly altruistic. He, also, seemed anxious to 
 have advice and assurance. 
 
 " You're a clever fellow, Allan," he went on to say, " and 
 learned and deep in mctapheesics and the like o' that ; and 
 I've been wanting to put a question to you. I've been 
 wanting to ask you whether it is his real self that a man 
 reveals to himself in his dreams. Ye see, it's this way, I 
 don't boast that I have more courage than other folk ; I 
 wouldna do that ; but I hope I have my share— it's reason- 
 able to hope I have my share. Well, then, if in a dream ye 
 feel yourself a terrible, terrible coward, and if ye act as a 
 coward, is that your real self— is that how ye would act if 
 the circumstances were to happen to ye in real life ? Ye 
 see, it's this way. The night before last I had a long and
 
 ON BOARD A STEAMER 293 
 
 harassing dream ; I thouglit I was a soldier — and there was 
 going to be a battle — and we were all drawn up in ranks — 
 in a half kind of darkness, for the daylight Avas not yet 
 declared. The enemy — savages — was coming near ; every 
 moment we expected to hear the firing begin. I tell ye, the 
 mortal fear that I was in I cannot describe to ye. There was 
 a great big man in front of me, and I kept behind him as 
 well as I could, and thought he might shelter me from the 
 bullets. And then there was a corporal, or a captain, or 
 somebody like that standing behind us ; and says I to him, 
 in a clever, offhand sort of way ' Ye need not think I'm 
 frightened ; I'm just going along to sharpen my swoid on 
 tlie doorstep — it's a wee thing blunt.' And then I moved 
 off to an empty house that was hard by ; and I passed i)i, 
 and went away up to an attic ; and thinks I to myself 
 ' Now I'll crouch down here in the dark ; and when it's all 
 over, I'll go out again, and flourish my sword, and they'll 
 think I was through everything." And then, thinks I ' But 
 if the savages drive back our men, will the black devils 
 come up the stair, and find me, and drag me out ? ' Dod, 
 I was in a terrible way ; but I hid close all the same ; and 
 the firing began — crack ! crack ! — until I couldna help 
 creeping up and looking out of the window ; and as sure as 
 death, along with our men, facing the savages, there was a 
 woman. And says I to myself ' Have ye not as much 
 courage as that woman ? ' — and even then I would have gone 
 downthe stair, and gone out, but I declare to ye my knees 
 were shaking so that I could not cross the floor. AVhat 
 happened after that I'm no sure ; but I ask ye — Was that 
 me ? Was that my real self ? Is that what I would have 
 felt, what I would have done, in a real battle ? It's been 
 distressing me, man, beyond measure ! Was that my real 
 
 self ? " 
 
 "Oh, no, not necessarily ! " Allan replied, and the councillor 
 seemed instantly to experience considerable relief. " Just 
 as often as not a man does things in dreams that he would 
 never think of in real life — is a perfectly different person, 
 in short. The chances are you are dreaming when your 
 vitality is at its lowest point — the bravest man may imagine 
 himself as timorous as a mouse — the wandering brain may 
 suggest all kinds of horrors • "
 
 294 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Because," said Mr. McFadyen, thoughtfully, " I would 
 not like to think myself just such a coward as all that comes 
 to. And yet — well, I have been tryhig to screw up \\\: 
 courage — and — and slackening away again. And I havj 
 been wondering — yes, I will confess this to you — I have 
 been wondering what was the best way to ask a young 
 woman if she will marry you ? " 
 
 " I suppose every man laas to find that out for himself," 
 Allan answered. 
 
 " Ay, do ye say that ? " the councillor rejoined, with a 
 meditative air. " Do ye say that ? Every man to find out 
 for himself." And then he heaved a pensive sigh. "I'm 
 thinking it's a terrible business," said he, absently. 
 
 On the first expedition they were unsuccessf ul^it was not 
 a good time of year for house-hunting, when nearly every 
 place, big or little, was let ; but within the next day or two 
 Allan heard of a small villa up in Battery Terrace that 
 would become vacant in about a month's time, and he 
 persuaded Barbara to go with him to look at it. Barbara 
 was at first clearly disappointed by the size of this two- 
 storeyed tenement ; but its position — the position of the 
 whole of the Terrace, indeed — was certainly conspicuous 
 enough ; it commanded a view over the whole of the bay. 
 The lady in occupation — who was merely a summer tenant 
 —appeared to recognise the situation of affairs ; she dis- 
 played quite a friendly interest in this shy and beautiful- 
 eyed young creature ; and was most amiable in showing her 
 the not over numerous apartments. The strange thing was 
 that when they came out again, Barbara's first remark had 
 no reference to this house they had been examining. 
 
 " When will you be taking Jessie and me to Tobermory ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Tobermory will not run away," he said, trying to get 
 out of it in this fashion, " It w'ill wait for us. There's no 
 hurry." 
 
 " You said you would take us," she persisted. 
 
 " But if you wish for a sail, why not take the Grenadier, 
 and let us go all the way round, and have a look at Staff a, 
 and lona, and the islands ? " 
 
 " I do not wish to see islands," she said, almost sullenly ; 
 " I have had enough of islands. I wish to see the people
 
 ON BOARD A STEAMER 295 
 
 in Tobermory who are Mrs. Maclean's relatives, for they are 
 my relatives too." 
 
 Well, he was most reluctant— though he could hardly 
 have explained why — to go anywhere in the Aros Castle ; 
 yet after all this was but a trilling favour ; whereas she 
 had granted to him the greatest he could have demanded 
 of her. Had she not acceded to his prayer that the wedding 
 should take place in these present summer holidays — 
 though many a girl would have insisted on a longer 
 engagement ? 
 
 " Very well, then," he said, " as soon as you like " — and 
 without more ado she would have him at once go down 
 with her to see Jess, and make plans for the trip. 
 
 And thus it was that on one of these mornings the school- 
 master called for the two girls, and together they set forth, 
 leaving the precincts of the town, and making for the South 
 Pier, where the Aros Castle was lying. For this excursion 
 Barbara had certainly decked herself out in her best and 
 bravest ; and again she had compelled him to wear a flower 
 in the lapel of his light grey coat ; indeed he and she 
 might well be taken for bride and bridegroom away on their 
 honeymoon tour, had it not been for the presence of Jess, 
 whose costume, neat and trim as always, was nevertheless 
 not of a showy kind. And yet, in spite of the general 
 holiday appearance of this little party, Allan Henderson's 
 face was grave. He could not but remember what had 
 happened on a recent occasion. 
 
 " Barbara," said he, in something of an undertone, when 
 they were approaching the steamer, " I do not know what 
 quarrel you have with Ogilvie ; but I hope at least you will 
 not make any public display of it." 
 
 " I am not wishing to have anything whatever to do with 
 Ogilvie," she said, with her head erect. 
 
 And here, sure enough, was the Purser, who regarded 
 them with not a little surprise, especially when he saw that 
 they were actually coming on board. All the same he 
 advanced to meet them — with a kind of doubtful look on 
 his face. It was Barbara who went first along the gang- 
 way. He raised his cap — waiting for her to decide whether 
 there was to be any further greeting : iu response to his 
 salutation she accorded him tlie briefest and frigidest of
 
 296 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 little bows, then she turned haughtily away, without a 
 word. Jess came next ; but with the ever-friendly Jess 
 there was no trouble ; he shook hands with her ; and said 
 " I ho]ie you are very well. Miss Jessie " ; and she pas-ed 
 blithely and smilingly on. As between the two men there 
 Avas but the common aud familiar nod, which meant no- 
 thing : it bespoke neither friendship nor eumity. Alto- 
 gether, whatever embarrassment may have been felt, none 
 was allowed to become manifest ; besides, the Parser had 
 his multifarious duties to attend to ; there was every excuse 
 for his not coming and paying further attention to these 
 ac(|uaintances of his. 
 
 Barbara would remain on this upper deck, so Allan went 
 and fetched three camp-stools. She was quite gay and 
 talkative ; she was in holiday mood as well as in holiday 
 attire ; indeed, Jess had an uneasy feeling that she was 
 making a parade of her high spirits and general satisfaction. 
 However, theie was a good deal of bustle going on around ; 
 for now the passengers had arrived from the train ; the 
 cables were being thrown off ; and presently the Aros Castle 
 was steaming across to the North Pier. Then, after a brief 
 delay, the voyage was resumed ; slowly, but with increasing 
 speed, they crept away from the houses ; they passed the 
 lofty rock with its time-worn ruins ; they stood away out 
 into the swift-glancing blue waters of the Frith of Lorn. 
 It was a perfect day ; the colours on the hills were of a 
 velvet softness, with here and there a stain of ethereal 
 purple from some high and almost motionless cloud. The 
 air was sweet and fresh, with a sharp and keen sea-flavour 
 in it. 
 
 But as they drew towards Mull, Barbara's ostentatious 
 en joyment became moderated somewhat ; and once or twice 
 she looked apprehensively forward. 
 
 "Don't you be afraid, Barbara," the schoolmaster said to 
 her, reassuringly ; " we are not going anywhere near the 
 Lady Ilock. Of course I can well understand your being 
 nervous : that must have been a bad hour or two you spent 
 on the rocks there, in the darkness, though there was not 
 so much cause for alarm, if you had only known. Now," 
 he went on — talking for the sake of talk, to distract her 
 attention from the solitary reef, round whjch the calm
 
 ON BOARD A STEAMER 297 
 
 summer seas were now peacefully lapping — "there might 
 have been something to terrify you on the night that Mr. 
 McFadyeii run us ashore on the coast of Mull. Did you 
 ever hear of Ewen of the little head ? " 
 
 " No," said she, looking up. 
 
 " Well, that is the district he haunts — from Duart to 
 Lochbuie," he proceeded, " and if we had had to wander 
 about during the night, you might have seen the wild horse- 
 man, leaping over chasms, and spurring up the sides of 
 precinitous cliffs. That might indeed have terrified 
 you^-" 
 
 " But who was he ? " she demanded : her eyes were 
 beginning to ' glower,' as they always did when a phantom 
 story was told her. 
 
 " Ewen of the little head ? " he repeated. " Eobhann a' 
 chinn bhig — he was the eldest son of one of the Maclaines 
 of Lochbuie ; and as he was rebellious and turbulent, his 
 father was forced to call in his kinsman, Maclean of Duart, 
 to subdue him. Duart got together his men and marched 
 down towards Lochbuie ; and there was to be a great 
 battle ; and the night before the battle, Ewen of the little 
 head went to a witch to ask her if he was to win on the 
 morrow. But I should have told you that Ewen was 
 married to a woman of great meanness and parsimony. 
 Very well. AVhen he had asked the witch she says to him 
 ' To-morrow morning, at breakfast, if your wife gives you 
 butter without your asking for it, then you will win the 
 battle.' Next morning at breakfast Ewen Avaited and 
 waited, and his wife offered him nothing. ' Why are you 
 drum-drumming with your feet on the ground ? ' says she 
 ■ — for he was in a terrible rage. ' It is better for a man to 
 be slain,' says he, ' than live indoors with a bad wife.' And 
 with that he rushed out, and called his followers to the 
 battle ; and almost at the very first onset, he had his head 
 slashed from his shoulders with one stroke of a broadsword. 
 And then it was that his horse tore away, and galloped and 
 galloped through the glens and over the hills — for days and 
 days he Avas seen — the headless horseman in full armour, 
 galloping across impossible places, at a fearful speed. Ay, 
 and he is seen now. He is seen whenever any harm is 
 going to happen to one of the Maclaines of Lochbuie. And
 
 298 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 that would indeed have been something to terrify yon, if 
 you had encountered Eohhann a' chiun bhig, the night wc 
 were ashore on Mull." 
 
 " It is to frighten children that they are telling sm^li 
 stories," she said — though she herself seemed considerably 
 impressed. 
 
 "No, no, Barbara," Jess said, with the shrewd and 
 pleasant grey eyes smiling. " That is not why the story is 
 told. The story is told by husbands to warn their wives 
 not to be too miserly with them." 
 
 And with this desultory talk, varied by an occasional 
 glance at their fellow-passengers, they called in at Craige- 
 nure, and left again and went onwards and across to Loch 
 Aline — Locli Aluinn, the beautiful loch — and resumed their 
 course up the Sound of Mull, the day all radiant around 
 them. At the same time Jess could not but be conscious 
 that she Avas the thh'd person here. These two must of 
 necessity have many things to speak of — their wedding — 
 the house in Battery Terrace — their future plans — that they 
 would prefer to talk over by themselves ; and so she by- 
 and-bye got up and began to stroll about a little, looking 
 at this and that, until at length, in the course of her 
 apparently aimless peregrinations, she went down the steps 
 leading to the main-deck, and there she took her place on a 
 seat by the gunwale, just aft of the companion descending 
 to the saloon. Now they were free to talk as they chose ; 
 she could not see them, nor they her ; probably by this time 
 they had already forgotten her existence. 
 
 But there was some one else who had observed her 
 retreat to this sheltered spot. In a little while the Purser 
 came up to her. 
 
 " Miss Jessie," said he, " I am very glad to liavc the 
 chance of a word with you. I think your cousin Barbara 
 has got off her head." 
 
 " AVhat do you mean, Mr. Ogilvie ? " said Jess, rather 
 bridling up. 
 
 " Well, she came down to the quay the other day," he 
 went on bluntly enough, " and she was as insulting as she 
 could be — aloud— so that there was no mistake but that I 
 should hear. And what I say is, she'd better keep a quiet 
 tongue. I do not want to make mischief ; but T will not
 
 ON BOARD A STEAMER 299 
 
 suffer that kind of thing from any young madam, I do 
 not care wlio she is. And that is wliat I say : your cousin 
 had better keep a quiet tongue. I have a piece of paper 
 in my pocket at this moment ; it was lucky I did not tear 
 it up and throw it away. But there was a bit of a tussle 
 between Henderson and me ; and I did not know what 
 might come of it ; and I thought I might as well keep this 
 scrap of writing." He brought out a leather pocket-book. 
 " I am not vindictive," he proceeded ; " but I will not 
 have insolence from anybody. And I wonder wh;;t 
 Henderson would say if he saw this ? " 
 
 He extracted from the pocket-book a folded piece of 
 paper, and opened it, and handed it to her. She recognised 
 Barbara's handwriting readily enough — ' 117// you meet mo 
 to-night at nine o'^doclc, at the small gate under the Castle 
 Hill? I have something of importance to sag to gou. — 
 Barbara.^ 
 
 " Do you see what that means ? " he said. " I can hear 
 her talking and boasting about a house in Battery Ter- 
 race, whenever I chance to pass by ; but she docs not know 
 that I have that litble message in my pocket. And of 
 course I did not go ; I did not even answer her ; I'm for a 
 quiet life ; I refuse to be dragged into trouble to please her 
 or anybody else." 
 
 For a moment or two Jess was silent, as she stared 
 blankly at the words before hei-, and her fingers were 
 slightly trembling ; she began to understand certain matters 
 that had of late been strange to her. 
 
 " But you told me — you did not wish to make mischief ? " 
 she said, slowly. 
 
 " No," he replied, with a certain hesitation. " I do 
 not particularly want to make mischief. At the same 
 time " 
 
 Quick as thought she tore the paper twice across and 
 pitched the fragments over the side : they floated away on 
 the seething foam in the wake of the vessel. And almost 
 as white as that foam were her firm-set lips. 
 
 He looked mortified only for a second. 
 
 " I suppose you think you've done your cousin a very 
 good turn ? " he said, with an appearance of equanimity. 
 " Perhaps so. But if the writing has been destroyed, the
 
 300 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 facts remain. And I tell you the young madam had better 
 take care." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 A rUBLIC SACRIFICE. 
 
 It was on one of these afternoons, as Allan Henderson 
 and Barbara were returning homewards by the shores of 
 the solitary and beautiful Loch Sleochan, that they beheld 
 a marvellous apparition steal slowly into the still landscape. 
 Far away, beyond the glassy waters of the lake, far away 
 beyond the swampy morass where the curlews were calling, 
 down the lonely moorland road came a long, undulatory, 
 straggling assemblage, dark in hue as contrasted with the 
 surrounding country, yet showing tags and dots of colour 
 here and there. 
 
 "What is that ? " asked Barbara, with her eyes staring. 
 
 " Terrible as an army with banners," said the school- 
 master. " It is a revolution, Barbara. No, it is a resur- 
 rection — of all the hosts slain in the time of Eobhan a' 
 chinn bhig " 
 
 He paused. Surely there was some faint and measured 
 throb borne to them on the listening air ? — and was there not 
 a glint of sunlit brass at the head of the long and serpentine 
 procession ? The martial music became more audible. 
 
 " Whoever they are, friends or foes, we must meet them, 
 Barbara," said the schoolmaster. 
 
 But that was precisely what did not happen. For at this 
 point the road wound round one or two promontories 
 jutting out into the mirror-like lake, so that they lost 
 sight of that distant concourse of folk ; and when in 
 process of time they again came in view of the head of the 
 loch, there was not a human being anyAvhere visible. It 
 looked as if the earth had suddenly opened and swallowed 
 them up. 
 
 " 1 )id I not tell you they were ghosts ? " said Allan. 
 
 " They have gone into the grounds of Inveruran House," 
 retorted Barbara. " I can hear the band still playing."
 
 A PUBLIC SACRIFICE 301 
 
 Well, when these two arrived at the lodge-gate, Allan 
 made bold to ask the woman in charge what was meant by 
 this portentous invasion of so secluded a neighbourhood ; 
 and she answered him that the young laird had invited the 
 temperance societies of Duntroone to come out and listen to 
 an address and witness a ceremony ; and that a number of 
 the townspeople had accompanied them. From the way she 
 hung back she evidently expected that Allan and his com- 
 panion would also pass in ; and Barbara was curious ; 
 spectacular displays of any kind are rare in that country- 
 side ; so the two new-comers accepted the mute invitation, 
 and entered. As it chanced, they were well repaid. 
 
 For when they had reached the end of the winding 
 avenue, and emerged into the open, a remarkable scene pre- 
 sented itself. On the steps in front of the open hall door 
 stood four persons : a tall, elderly lady dressed in deep 
 mourning, two younger ladies in more cheerful attire, and 
 an oldish-looking young man of about eight-and-twenty, 
 with clean-shaven face and rather tired eyes. At the foot 
 of the wide steps, on the carriage drive, were ranged rows 
 of large vats and barrels. Then all ai'ound stood the crowd, 
 in a sort of loose semi-circle, most of the men wearing 
 badges and insignia, conspicuous amongst which were the 
 red and white and blue and white sashes of the Rechabites. 
 When the schoolmaster and Barbara drew near the motley 
 gathering, about the first person they recognised w^as Long 
 Lauchie, the shoemaker ; and by him they remained ; 
 doubtless he could tell them as well as anyone what was 
 going forward. 
 
 At first, indeed, there was nothing but an ordinary 
 temperance lecture, which the young man with the grey, 
 worn face was delivering, if not with eloquence, at least 
 with a convincing simplicity and earnestness. But if these 
 statements he was making were familiar, they were none 
 the less welcomed by his audience with an extraordinary 
 enthusiasm ; cheer after cheer arose at the end of each 
 telling sentence ; and even the lads and boys who formed 
 the fringe of the throng contributed their reckless hurrahs. 
 All save Long Lauchie seemed to share in the general 
 excitement. The unhappy Lauchlan was silent and de- 
 pressed ; his eyes were lustreless ; a melancholy ' of Cerberus
 
 302 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 and blackest Midnight born,' appeared to have possession of 
 his soul. His gay sash was hardly in keeping with this air 
 of profound despondency. 
 
 But it was now that young Murray of Inveruran pro- 
 ceeded to explain the chief reason why he had asked these 
 good folk to assemble. He would not, he said, utter a 
 single word against those who had gone before him ; other 
 times had other manners ; and there was no doubt that our 
 forefathers had been in the habit of drinking more than 
 was good for them. In these present days the national 
 conscience had become awakened ; serious attention had 
 been called to the widespread misery and ruin resulting 
 from the use of alcohol ; and man's duty to his fellow man 
 had become part of the accepted moral law. Long ago, he 
 went on, he had resolved that when in the course of nature 
 he came to succeed to the Inveruran estate, one of his first 
 acts would be to see that every butt and bin of wine, every 
 cask of ale and spirits, found in the cellar should be 
 destroyed ; and if circumstances had detained him in foreign 
 liarts during the last few years, and delayed the execution 
 of this project, the time had at length arrived. It was not, 
 he said, a trifling sacrifice. Large sums could have been 
 obtained for the various wines that, for convenience sake, 
 had now been decanted and emptied into the vats before 
 them. There were ports, sherries, madeiras of almost in- 
 credible age ; there were Burgundies, clarets, Rhine wines 
 of inestimable quality ; there were brandies and whiskies 
 that had been handed down from generation to generation, 
 and carefully tended and replenished. But no pecuniary 
 inducement could tempt him to the dissemination of poison. 
 It must be destroyed ! 
 
 [Here there was an indescribable commotion throughout 
 the crowd ; the yelling and cheering became tumultuous ; 
 the small boys threw their caps in the air, with more wild 
 hurrahs. Long Lauchie sighed heavily.] 
 
 It had been suggested to him, the young laird proceeded, 
 that he might have sent these wines and spirits to the great 
 hospitals in the south. l>ut medical men did not seem to 
 agree as to the efficacy of alcohol in cases of illness ; and 
 even if it could be proved that here and there some slight 
 advantage might accrue, the counterbalancing risk of sowing
 
 A PUBLIC SACRIFICE 303 
 
 tlie seeds of fatal habits was of far greater import. No ; he 
 would have no half-measures ; he would carry his i)riii- 
 ciples into practiec ; there was nothing' for it but the utter 
 extermination, so far as lay in one's power, of those per- 
 nicious fluids that were wrecking the body and soul of our 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 " John ! " 
 
 There was a little old man standing by, a little old man 
 with short side-whiskers, who held a hammer in his hand. 
 
 "Perhaps," said the young laird, with a dry smile coming 
 over his prematurely desiccated face, "perhaps it may 
 interest you, gentlemen, to know that the first cask to be 
 opened contains between twenty and thirty dozen of 
 Madeira, that made several long voyages in my great-grand- 
 father's time. It has come to the end of its travels at last." 
 
 He signed with his finger to the little old man, who in a 
 nervous and tremulous fashion went along to the furthest 
 vat. There, after some tugging and hammering, the bung 
 was extracted, and at once there gushed forth a stream of 
 clear amber fluid. A hoarse roar of rejoicing arose from 
 the crowd. " Hurrah ! — hurrah ! " shouted the small boys. 
 And Lauchlan Maclntyre, when he observed the turbid 
 rivulet come along the channel for draining the carriage 
 drive — so close under their feet that Barbara had to step on 
 to the lawn to save her skirts — Lauchlan regarded it with 
 an air of still deeper dejection, and sighed more heavily 
 than before. 
 
 " I admire that young man," said the schoolmaster. " It 
 may be idiotey — but there's earnestness at the back of it. 
 And he's a weakly-looking creature, too." 
 
 Barrel after barrel followed — red streams, golden streams, 
 white streams, commingling and rushing away down the 
 sloping drive ; while the din and clamour of the exultant 
 Rechabites filled the quiet evening air. 
 
 " Poor old Sandy Livingstone ! " said the schoolmaster, 
 absently. "There's now one water the less for him to 
 poach. Til is stuff will have killed every sea-trout in the 
 Uran burn." 
 
 " It is a sin and a shame ! " said Barbara, in sharper 
 tones. " There are many poor people who might have had 
 the benefit, in the cold of the winter."
 
 304 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " What, what ? — you must not talk Uke that, BarLara ! " 
 her companion remonstrated. " You have been greatly 
 privileged. You have witnessed a sacred rite. You have 
 beheld a libation poured out in honour of one of the new 
 gods ; and ^Yllo knows but that the new god may be well 
 worthy of worship ? Anyhow, the worship itself is the 
 valuable thing : think with what a serene conscience that 
 young man will fall asleep to-night." 
 
 " Ay, the conscience," murmured Lauchlau, from the 
 depths of his woe. " Y^ou may well say that — you may 
 well say that. It's the conscieuce that has to be obeyed — 
 though the flesh cries out in its wakeness." 
 
 And at length the work of destruction was complete ; 
 there remained nothing but the empty tuns and the purple 
 and brown stains on the gravel. Then the hero of the 
 hour thanked the assemblage for having responded to his 
 invitation ; they gave him three cheers, and one cheer 
 more ; the band took up position ; the ranks Averc re- 
 formed ; and to the stirring strains of 'Neil Gow's Fare- 
 Avell to Whisky ' the whole concourse, small boys and all, 
 set out again for Duntroone. There was no very strict 
 order kept on this line of march ; stragglers from the crowd 
 joined in the procession so as to chat with tlieir friends ; 
 and thus it was that Lauchie Maclntyre could still have 
 with him the two young people whose society, in his present 
 dolorous state, had proved something of a solace to him. 
 
 " I'm afraid," said Allan — in an interval of peace allowed 
 them by the band — " I'm afraid you're not looking so well, 
 Lauchlan." 
 
 "No, I am not well at ahl," replied Lauchlan, with 
 another heavy sigh. " I have been eating nothing, or next 
 to nothing, for some time l)ack. I'm not fit to be here 
 the day — but it was a great occasion — for giving testi- 
 mony " 
 
 The band broke in upon them with ' Johnny Cope ' — a 
 fine marching tune. When quiet had been restored 
 Lauchlan turned to the other and younger of his com- 
 panions. 
 
 " I was hearing of the wedding. Miss Barbara," he said. 
 "And there's a little present I have waiting for you — will 
 you come into the house, and take it home with you ? "
 
 A PUB L/C SACRIFICE 365 
 
 " Indeed I am obliged to you, Mr. Maclntyi'e," responded 
 Barbara, with glad assent. Allan looked a little discon- 
 certed : it \Yas scarcely for one in Long Lauchie's circum- 
 stances to be buying wedding-presents. But the school- 
 master did not at the moment put in an objection ; he was 
 unwilling to rob Barbara of any little pleasure ; and perhaps 
 after all the gift might not be of much value. 
 
 So Avhen they had got back to Duntroone, the three of 
 them made for the shoemaker's humble dwelling, and 
 ascended to the room on the first floor. It was a cheerless- 
 looking place ; and perhaps it was the doleful aspect of it, 
 or perhaps it was the fatigue of the march, that seemed to 
 overcome Lauchlan ; with a hopeless groan he sank down 
 upon a wooden chair. And then again he raised his head, 
 and began to look round the apartment, warily and fear- 
 fully. 
 
 " Sometimes," he said, in a sombre fashion, " sometimes 
 I am seeing thuigs that are not there." 
 
 Then he appeared to remember why he had invited these 
 guests to come indoors ; he got up from the chair, and 
 went away, slowly and dejectedly, to a cupboard in the 
 passage. 
 
 " Barbara," said the schoolmaster, in a quick undertona, 
 " Lauchlan Maclntyre is far from well. Could you not 
 oft'er to make him some tea ? " 
 
 " I could not offer to make tea in another person's house," 
 she replied, not too civilly. 
 
 Almost at the same moment Lauchlan returned, holding 
 in both hands (for they were shaking a little) his wedding- 
 gift. It was an old-fashioned four-tubed Scandinavian 
 liqueur-bottle, that originally had been something rather 
 fine ; but it had been debased by the addition of a flaunting 
 electro-plated handle and stopper ; and was now apparently 
 serving as a whisky-decanter. 
 
 " It belonged to my wife," said he, " and she might come 
 back to tek it aweh." 
 
 " Oh, thank you indeed ! " said Barbara, receiving the 
 gift with manifest gratification. 
 
 " Barbara — you cannot ! " interposed the schoolmaster, 
 with an angry and impatient frown. " It is ]\Irs. 
 Maclntyre's ! " 
 
 X
 
 3o6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Ay, that is the reason — that is just the reason," said 
 Lauchlan, as he sank into the chair again. "She might 
 come back. I am not wishing for it to be here. And it is 
 of no use to me now," he went on mournfully. " It is of 
 no use any more — never any more. It is a sign of evil 
 things that have been thrown aside ; I am not wishing to 
 see it again." 
 
 " Barbara," the schoolmaster once more protested, •'' put 
 that decanter back in the cupboard. It belongs to Mrs. 
 ]\[aclntyre." 
 
 " But if Mr. Maclutyre is wishing it out of the house," 
 Barbara rejoined — and she showed no disposition to part 
 with her present — " it is for him to decide." 
 
 " Ay, ay, tek it awch," said or moaned the shoemaker, 
 and he disconsolately shook his head. " There will be no 
 bottles of any kind in this house, not any more — never any 
 
 more." 
 
 Well, the schoolmaster would not interfere further ; but 
 as he and Barbara walked away home to Campbell Street, 
 there were black looks on his face ; and barely a word was 
 spoken between them. Barbara did not seem to be much 
 concerned ; she carried the electro-plated decanter wrapped 
 np in a half -sheet of the Duntroone Times ; she was doubtless 
 looking forward to a further contemplation of her treasure. 
 And indeed Allan, still in one of his dark moods, was 
 disposed to leave her to her own devices ; when they reached 
 the house, he bade her good-bye curtly, without offering to 
 accompany her upstairs ; and when she had gone, he forth- 
 with betook himself to the shop over the way, where he 
 found Jess behind the counter. 
 
 At sight of Jess the ' dour ' look on his face softened 
 considerably ; and it was in a kind of appealing fashion 
 that he told her all about the shoemaker and his disastrous 
 plight. 
 
 " the poor man ! " she exclaimed. " If he is as ill as 
 that, and not having anything to eat, he will get worse and 
 worse. This is what I will do now, Allan ; I will take 
 along a few things, and see if he cannot be tempted — a 
 Finuan-haddie and some strong tea would do him good, I 
 am sure — and then he could go to his bed. And you must 
 come with me, to compel him," she added, laughing at him
 
 A PUBLIC SACRIFICE 307 
 
 US iisuul. " It will be quite a relief to you to have someone 
 to hector and overmaster ; it must be very dull for you in 
 the holidays, when you have no one to browbeat and 
 threaten." 
 
 "Will you do that, Jessie?" he said — not heeding her 
 j ibes. 
 
 Her answer was prompt and decisive. She went into the 
 parlour to apprise her mother ; she whipped on a hat and 
 jacket ; she got a basket and put a number of things into 
 it ; and presently these two were on their way to the shoe- 
 maker's, though Jess had to stop here and there to make a 
 few purchases. Then, when they w^ere in the house, she 
 directed him to go- in to the room where the hapless Lauchie 
 was still sitting, while she took possession of the kitchen. 
 Lauchlan was not a cheerful companion ; and Allan, waiting- 
 there, could hear quite plainly what she was about : he 
 could hear the sticks being put into the grate ; he could 
 hear them beginning to crackle in the flames ; he could hear 
 her getting forth plates and knives and forks from the cup- 
 board. And not only that, but he could make out that Jess 
 as she went hither and thither, was contentedly and blithely 
 singing to herself the song of the ' Twa Bonnie Maidens ' — 
 
 ' Tlicre are tica honnie maidens, and three hnnnie maidens. 
 Cam' over the Minch and cam' over the main; 
 Wi' the wind for their way, and the corrie for their hame. 
 And they are dearly tcelcome to Shye again.' 
 
 And well he knew the meaning of the enigmatic refrain — ■ 
 
 ' Come along, come along, toi' your hoatie and your song, 
 My ain honnie maidens, my twa honnie maidens. 
 For the night it is dark, and the red-coat is gone, 
 And' ye are dearly welcome to Sl:ye again.' 
 
 " She's a good-hearted lass, that," said Allan, almost to 
 himself. 
 
 " Did ye speak ? " asked Lauchlan — trying to rouse him- 
 self out of this stupor of abject misery. 
 
 " I say this," continued the schoolmaster, " that Jessie 
 Maclean has taken a great deal of trouble in bringing you 
 these things ; and you're not going to oifend her by refusing 
 them." 
 
 Kefuse them ? He could not ! — they would have awakened 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the pangs of hunger in the interior of a Caryatid. For here 
 was Jess with a snow-white cloth for the small table ; and 
 here were plates and knives and forks all bright and clean ; 
 and here was a golden-shining Finnan haddock, smoking 
 hot and well peppered ; and here was crisp brown toast, 
 with pats of fresh butter ; and here were young lettuces 
 plentifully besprinkled with vinegar. Then the tea, not 
 over-sweetened, was strong enough to have galvanised a 
 mummy ; so that gradually, when Lauchlan had eaten and 
 drank a little, the apprehensions of imminent death — 
 alternating perhaps with some vague longing for the same 
 — appeared to fade away somewhat from his features. 
 
 " it is a kind woman you are," he said to her, in Gaelic, 
 " and it is I that am thankful to you for coming here this 
 evening." 
 
 " Then you must go to bed soon, and have a sound 
 night's rest," Jessie answered him. 
 
 "Ay, ay, just that," he said, reverting to English— "and 
 maybe — maybe I'll not be seeing them things that are not 
 there." 
 
 They left him much comforted in body and mind ; and 
 as Allan accompanied Jess back to the shop, he was en- 
 deavouring to express his gratitude to her for her charity 
 towards the unhappy shoemaker. But Jess did not seem to 
 think much of what she had done ; when she bade him 
 good-bye, she returned to the little parlour and to her placid 
 knitting ; and as the ' Twa Bonnie Maidens ' had got into 
 her head, she occasionally beguiled herself with a phrase or 
 a stanza. 
 
 ' There^s a loind on the tree, and a sMp on the sea. 
 My ain honnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens; 
 Your cradle III rock on the lea of the rock, 
 And ye' II aye be icelcome to Skye again.' 
 
 "You're crooning there like a cushie doo," said her 
 mother, looking up from her newspaper. " Has any one 
 asked ye to marry him ? " 
 
 " They're not likely to do that, mother," she answered, 
 with great contentment. " And I'm well enough without."
 
 ( 309 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 BEST MAN AND BEIDEGROOM. 
 
 But Jess was mistaken. There was at least one person 
 whose sole and consuming anxiety at this moment was to 
 ask lier to become his wife, if only he could summon up his 
 courage and also find an opportune occasion. The latter 
 point was the councillor's chief difficulty. As for courage, 
 he had resolved to discard the shadowy evidence of dreams ; 
 if at times he had found his physical nerve not quite what 
 it might be, he had on the other hand a sufficiency of moral 
 will ; he made no doubt that when the great crisis came he 
 would be able to acquit himself. But how was he to have 
 private speech with Jess when she was either sitting in the 
 parlour with her mother, or walking out with Barbara, or 
 consulting with AUan about the window-hangings of his 
 new house .'* And then every day the schoolmaster's wedding 
 Avas drawing nearer ; and he, Peter, was to be best man — ■ 
 with this supreme problem of his life left unsolved. The 
 councillor grew desperate. He determined that he would 
 take the very first chance that presented itself, no matter 
 how, when, or where, to free himself from this terrible 
 perplexity. 
 
 And yet it was not an auspicious chance, as it turned 
 out. One morning he was walking along Campbell Street, 
 and in passing the tobacconist's shop he glanced in and 
 noticed that Jessie was behind the counter, and that she 
 was standing there alone. A sort of vertigo of bravery 
 rushed to McFadycn's head : he would dare his fate then 
 and there. He stood stock-still for only a second ; perhaps 
 it was to collect himself for the plunge ; then he entered 
 the shop. Jess received him with the kindliest greeting. 
 
 " Have you heard," he said, after a brief bewildered 
 pause, " that I am to be Allan's best man ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," she answered, " Barbara was telling me 
 that." 
 
 "Ay " And here there was another pause. He
 
 5IO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 seemed trying to ntter sometliing, " Ay," lie managed to 
 say at length, " bnt I wonld rather be going to the wedding 
 in anotlier capacity." 
 
 " Well, well," said Jess, with a touch of wonder in her 
 benignant grey eyes, " would you like to be the bridegroom 
 yourself ? But I am not astonished ; all the young men 
 are daft about Barbara — every one of them ; they cannot 
 keep their eyes off her when she is in church -" 
 
 " No, no, I did not mean that at all," the council'.or 
 broke in, hurriedly. " Do ye not understand. Miss Jessie 
 — it is not as anybody's best mau I would like to go to the 
 wedding — there's something else possible " 
 
 " I want two ounces of cut cavendish and a clay pipe," 
 said a thin small voice, and a little red-headed lassie came 
 timidly forward and put a silver coin on the counter. 
 
 Mr. McFadyeu glared at this youthful emissary as though 
 he could have strangled her ; but there was nothing for it 
 but the smothering of his wrath ; he had perforce to wait 
 in silence until she was served and had gone away. 
 
 " Do ye not understand. Miss Jessie ? " he resumed. " If 
 there were two weddings on the same day, would not tliat 
 be better ? I would rather go in the capacity of bride- 
 groom than as best man — that's what I'm driving at. If 
 Allan and me had our weddings on the same day, that 
 would be something like. And how can you speak of 
 Barbara ? How can ye imagine I was ever thinking of 
 Barbara ? I'll not deny that she's an attractive kind of 
 lass — ay, and well set up — the young Queen of Sheba I was 
 calling her to Allan the other day — but, bless me, there's 
 liner qualities than a slim waist and a silk gown " 
 
 At this moment the door was darkened, and no less a 
 person than the Provost — a big, burly man, Avith a frank, 
 broad face and a loud, honest voice — looked in. 
 
 " Good morning, Miss Jessie ! " said he. 
 
 '' Good morning. Provost." 
 
 " Ay, ye're there, friund McPadyen — -I got a glimpse of 
 you ; and I was wanting to see you," the Provost continued, 
 briskly. " Have ye drawn out your notice about the North 
 Pier "i — I would like to have a look at it before ye submit 
 it to the Council. But we're all with you ; there'll be no 
 opposition ; we must just pay the £50 to the Board of
 
 BEST MAN AND BRIDEGROOM 311 
 
 Trade and get an examination ; and I'll be surprised if thoy 
 find that the conditions of the grant of the foreshore have 
 been comphed witli. Everyone admits that the state of the 
 North Pier is a scandal and a disgrace to the town ; there'U 
 be no opposition ; but I'd just like to have a look at the 
 terms of the motion — if ye do not mind, that is •" 
 
 Mr. McFadyen was choking with rage and vexation ; but 
 what could he do ? He could not throw the Provost into 
 the street ; for the Provost was a man of large build. He 
 could not bring his all-important conversation with Jess to 
 its proper climax in presence of a stranger. And if lie 
 remained boxed-up in this corner, to be talked-to about the 
 North Pier, his anger, that he with the greatest difficulty 
 kept under control, would inevitably break forth and causj 
 an amazing scene. 
 
 " Come away, then — come away," he said at last, with 
 concealed ferocity. " The paper is in my desk ; come along 
 to the office, and I'll show it to ye there. Good-bye, Miss 
 Jessie — I hope I will see you soon." And therewith the 
 luckless councillor departed — no doubt inwardly ciu'sing 
 the North Pier and the foreshore and everybody connected 
 with Ijoth. 
 
 But fortune was more friendly towards him on the 
 evening of this same day ; for as he was passing along the 
 front he perceived that the schoolmaster, Jess, and Barbara 
 had all of them just got into a rowing-boat, bent on some 
 excursion or another. He quickened his pace, got down 
 upon the beach, and hailed them before they had gone any 
 distance. 
 
 " Will ye ship another passenger ? " he cried. 
 
 " If ye'll take an oar," Allan called in return— and he 
 proceeded to back the stem in and on to the shingle. 
 
 " That will I ! " said the councillor, blithely, and pre- 
 sently he had got into the boat and taken up his post at th-j 
 bow. " I would not enter myself at a regatta," he pro- 
 ceeded ; " I'm not for showing off ; but in an ordinary kind 
 of way I can take an oar with anybody. Dod, some 0' the 
 young fellows at the Gymnasium can do most astounding 
 tricks ! — but what's the use 0' them ? It's steady work 
 that pays in the end ; and I could go on like this jast ihe 
 whole day. Did I tell ye they had made me treasurer ?
 
 312 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Ay, that's my proud title : Treasurer of the Gymnastic 
 Section of the Young j\ren's Guild. It's all very well for 
 lads at their time of life to twirl themselves round wooden 
 bars ; but when it comes to accounts, they have to call in 
 ngc and experience. A little longer stroke, Allan — slow 
 and steady — that's it — that's it now — man, I could go on 
 like this for four-and-twenty hours.". 
 
 Now oddly enough all of these remarks were addressed 
 exclusively to the school-master. The moment of his 
 entaring the boat the quick eyes of the councillor had 
 observed that Jess Maclean looked most unusually embar- 
 rassed. It could not be that he was unwelcome 1 Or had 
 she divined what he had been about to say to her when the 
 burly Provost put in his unfortunate appearance ? The 
 latter was the more probable ; and so much the better, 
 Mr. McFadyen said to himself ; she must have had time to 
 consider ; she would not be startled when next he had an 
 opportunity of urging his suit. 
 
 But when and how was any such opportunity to be 
 secured ? His companions seemed to have neither aim nor 
 destination ; there was not even a hand-line in the boat ; 
 they appeared to be quite content with sailing out into this 
 world of strange and mystic splendour. And they had 
 reason to be content. For if the sun had gone down 
 l)ehind the deep rose-purple hills, there was still plenty of 
 light and radiance ; the after-glow was all around them ; 
 the bay and the outer seas as well formed but one vast lake 
 of molten gold ; while there was a warmth of hue along the 
 lianging woods and the terraced gardens and houses they 
 were leaving behind. Dark and clear were the lofty ruins 
 of the Castle ; dark and clear were the outjutting rocks in 
 shadow ; soft and clear was the twilight of the Maiden 
 Island ; bnt out in the open — far out on that golden lake 
 - — the one or two small boats that lay at the fishing banks 
 were of the intensest black. These were magical evenings 
 for lovers ; no wonder the councillor longed to be of the 
 company. 
 
 And after all Mr. McFadyen did find his chance ; fur 
 when they had pulled away round by Camas Ban, Allan 
 proposed that they should get ashore and go for a sti-oll 
 along the level sands. Jess was the only one who hung
 
 BEST MAN AND BRIDEGROOM 313 
 
 back ; she said she would rather remain in the boat ; then 
 they remonstrated ; and finally, not to seem singular, she 
 landed with them. And almost immediately the four 
 became two and two ; it could hardly be lielped ; in view 
 of the imminent wedding, every one knew that the school- 
 master and Barbara must have many tilings to talk over ; 
 and it was but common civility to leave them to them- 
 selves. 
 
 " Jessie," said the councillor, when some little space 
 intervened between the two couples, " did ye not understand 
 what I was going to say to ye when the Provost came in 
 this morning ? " 
 
 " Maybe t guessed what it was — and maybe I was sorry 
 to be guessing," answered Jess, in a low voice. 
 
 " Ah, but you must not say that ! " the councillor went 
 on, anxiously and earnestly. " I'm not an ill-hearted man ; 
 and I'm not a spendthrift ; ye would find a comfortable 
 home ; and I've waited a long time for ye, Jessie. I know 
 there's younger men than me ; and it's l)ut natural ye 
 should think of someone younger ; but maybe they would 
 not put such a value on you as I do. To me you're just 
 the one in ten thousand ; the best I ever knew, and the 
 best-dispositioned ; when you try to say a spiteful thing, 
 there's aye a laugh in it, and no harm done " 
 
 " Oh, Mr. McFadyen," said Jessie, in great distress, " you 
 must not talk like that ; and you must not speak of this 
 any more ; we can be friends just as we have been for so 
 long. And you must not think I am not sensible of your 
 uncommon kindness, not only to us but to Allan — your 
 helping him about the classes — and seeing about the new 
 house for him ■" 
 
 " It was for your sake, Jessie," he interposed. 
 
 " But," she said, quickly, " you will not let your relations 
 with Allan be altered now, whatever else hajipens ? " 
 
 " Whether it is to be yes or no from you, Jessie," he 
 answered her. " I'm not going back from anything I 
 undertook to do for Allan, you may be sure of that. I'll 
 stand by him, if he should want a friend " 
 
 Her hand stole timidly towards his, for a second, in mute 
 token of thanks. 
 
 "But, Jessie," he exclaimed, though still iu an under-
 
 3r4 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 tone, "I cannot see why ifc slioulcln'o be yes. I have heen 
 coming- about your house for a long while, and on the best 
 of terms with you and your mother, and I'm sure I wasna 
 noticing there was any one you had fixed your fancies 
 on ^" 
 
 " Oh, there's no one — there's no one ! " said Jess — and 
 she was crying a little. " You need not think of that. 
 It's just that — well, I cannot explain — but, Mr. McFadyen, 
 you have been so kind to us, to all of us, that I will ask 
 something more of your kindness, and it is to put away that 
 idea from your head, once and for all, and let us bo the 
 same friends that we have been for so long a time." 
 
 The councillor hesitated for a second. Then he said — 
 
 " I will take your answer, Jessie, for the present. And 
 I will not bother you. But I am a patient man — and I 
 have seen strange things happen, through waiting. Only, 
 I will not bother you, until you yourself give some sign." 
 
 And therewith for a few moments they walked on in 
 silence until they rejoined their companions, who were on 
 the point of turning at the end of the sands ; and together 
 the four of theni strolled Irick to the l)oat : and presently 
 tlicy had set off for home a,gain, through an enchanted 
 twilight — fur now the goklen moon had sailed into the lilac 
 heavens, and golden was the pathway of fiame that lay on 
 the smooth water all the way over to the black shores of 
 Kerrara. Clear and lambent as the night was, none of 
 them noticed that Jess had been crying. 
 
 And thus it happened that, not as bridegroom but as best 
 man, ]Mr. McFadyen beheld the wedding-day approach ; 
 and indefatigable and important was he in the discharge of 
 his duties ; and handsome indeed were the presents he 
 bestowed on the young couple. Then the little widow 
 would not have her niece leave the house quite penniless — 
 she must have her modest dowry ; and Jess also contril)uted 
 from her slender store — at the same time persuading 
 Barbara that plum-coloured velveteen was hardly suitable 
 as a travelling-dress ; and the shoemaker showed his 
 interest and concern by calling once or twice to beg and 
 implore them not to permit the use of alcohol on the day 
 of the ceremony. Amidst all this bustle of preparation a 
 most remarkable piece of luck (as she considered it) fell in
 
 BEST MAN AND BRIDEGROOM 
 
 J'D 
 
 Jess Maclean's way. Slie was not mncli of a reader of 
 newspapers ; and it was by the merest accident that her eye 
 happened to light on an advertisement of the new nninl)er 
 of a certain great quarterly, giving the list of contents ; and 
 there she saw, to her inexpressible joy, that the first article 
 was entitled " The Volkslieder of Germany." AVithin a 
 couple of minutes she was out of the shop and on her way 
 to the railway-station. 
 
 " Can you get me that," she said, showing the advertise- 
 ment to the young man at the book-stall, " Can ye get me 
 that and make sure that I'm to have it by the day after 
 to-morrow .'' " 
 
 " I'll try," said he. " I will write at once." 
 
 " No, no," said she. " That will not do. There must be 
 no mistake about it. You must telegraph ; and I will pay 
 you for the telegram." She took out her purse. " Surely, 
 if you telegraph now to Glasgow, the magazine should be 
 here by to-morrow night, or the next morning at the 
 latest." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; there's little doul)t," the young man said. 
 
 "And you will send it along to me the moment it 
 comes ? " 
 
 He promised to do so ; and Jess, her face radiant with 
 satisfaction, hurried away back again. ]]ut she did not 
 reveal to a living soul what she had discovered and Avhat 
 she had done. 
 
 The wedding ceremony, as is usual in Scotland, was to 
 take place in the bride's home ; and no doubt it would have 
 been quite modest and unpretentious but that Mr. McFadycn, 
 by virtue of his ofhce, overrode all their scruples and pro- 
 tests, and insisted on having things managed well and 
 properly. He meant to show Jess that he could be as good 
 as his word ; and naturally he was a free-handed kind of a 
 man ; 'vhen,for example, there arose the question of getting 
 help at the breakfast — the girl Christina having to attend 
 over the way at the shop — he promptly solved the difficulty 
 by going along to the Argyll Arms and engaging at his 
 own cost two of IMrs. McAskill's waiters. Then he greatly 
 pleased Barbara by consenting to arrange for an open 
 carriage to take them from the house to the railway-station, 
 whereas Allan had been pleading for a closed cab. And
 
 3x6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 when the schoobnaster was grumbling and growling against 
 the proposal to have speechmaking at the breakfast, Peter 
 paid but little attention ; speechmaking he would have ; he 
 was already priming himself by the study of a little six- 
 penny guide to that art. 
 
 At length the fateful day arrived ; and the young Queen 
 of Sheba was arrayed in all her splendour ; and the minister 
 was merciful as to the length of his address. Then, when 
 the simple rites were over, and a decent interval had 
 elapsed, Mrs. McAskill's waiters appeared on the scene ; 
 the table was hauled into the room again : and presently 
 there was furnished forth a quite elegant little feast — the 
 presentation decanters, and the crystal, and the tiny bouquets 
 of flowers making a most bright and cheerful show on the 
 white cloth. The minister presided ; Mr. McFadyen acted 
 as ' croupier ' ; and when the small company had taken their 
 seats, it was seen that the cunning councillor had so arranged 
 matters that Jess found herself placed next to himself — ■ 
 Jess, whose friendly grey eyes were at their kindliest towards 
 every one present. All went merry as a marriage bell, 
 indeed ; the minister told humorous stories hoary with age ; 
 the councillor was so extremely facetious that the nimblest 
 wit could hardly follow him ; healths and toasts were pro- 
 posed and answered ; and Mrs. Maclean, though she was 
 a little overawed by the presence of the two waiters, was 
 nevertheless delighted with the careful way in which they 
 handed round her trembling jellies. In the midst of this 
 prevailing and joyous tumult a tall and melancholy figure 
 presented itself at the door. 
 
 " Aw, it's a sad sight — a sad sight ! " exclaimed a mournful 
 voice. " It's a sorrowful thing to see two young lives begin- 
 ning like this " 
 
 The councillor looked up quickly. lie was just about to 
 rise to ask them to drink the health of Mrs. Maclean ; and 
 he had the opening sentences of his speech ready and pat on 
 the tip of his tongue ; so that the interruption entirely 
 disconcerted him. 
 
 " Well, what do you want ? " he demanded, with his 
 eyes glaring. 
 
 " It's my duty to protest," said Long Lauchic, regarding 
 dismally the decanters and the glasses on the tal>le ; " I was
 
 BEST MAN AND BRIDEGROOM 317 
 
 thinkhif^' it would be like this — ay, and it's a peetiful thing 
 to SCO the two young people with ruin and destruction 
 staring them in the face " 
 
 " Oh, go to the mischief ! " cried the councillor — his 
 eyes now fairly glittering with rage. " Here, you waiters, 
 pitch that man down the stair ! — fling him down the 
 stair ! " 
 
 But Allan interposed, lie rose and went to the door, 
 and got hold of Lauchlan by the arm, and led him out. 
 
 " My good friend," he said, " your zeal does you every 
 credit ; but it lacks discretion. Tlierc's no drunkenness 
 going on there, nor anything approaching to it. As for 
 Barbara and myself, we are next door to teetotallers." 
 
 " Ay, that's just it — that's just it," said the shoemaker, 
 Avith a deep sigh. " Ye do not understand your danger ; 
 ye think you're safe because of such treacherous guides a^, 
 temperance and moderation ; ye do not see that they are 
 leading you to the brink of the pit. It's an ahfu' thing 
 to think of, how near you are to perdition and dis- 
 
 gracc- 
 
 " Tuts, tuts, man ! " said the schoolmaster, with angry 
 brows. " Listen to me now. If you'll come in and sit 
 down and have a bite and sup with us — water if you like — ■ 
 you'll be heartily welcome ; but we wish for none 0' this 
 havering " 
 
 "Ay, ay, just that," responded Lauchlan, with a lament- 
 able shake of the head. " But I'll not trouble ye. I've 
 done my duty. Maybe you'll see your grievous mistake 
 before the destruction comes upon ye. I'm hoping that — 
 yes, yes, I'm hoping that — for I wish ye well — I wish ye 
 
 well " And therewith he departed — as miserable a 
 
 human being as any in Duntroone ; but at least he had 
 done what he could ; if the young couple were rushing on 
 their doom, it was not for want of warning. 
 
 This brief interruption was soon forgotten among the 
 general festivities, which were, indeed, prolonged until it 
 was about time for the young folk to think of their train. 
 Moreover it had been arranged that while the rest of the 
 company should say good-bye here in the house, or at 
 furthest on the pavement below, Mr. McFadyen and Jess, 
 as the two special friends, were to drive in a cab to the
 
 3i8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 railway station, to bid farewell there. When Jess and her 
 companion arrived on the platform, she was carrying a 
 small parcel wrapped np in paper. 
 
 There was no time to lose ; the guard was coming along, 
 examining the tickets. Barbara got into the compartment, 
 and began assorting her travelling paraphernalia. 
 
 " Allan," said Jess, shyly, " I eonld not get yon any 
 Avcdding-present that I thought you would like " 
 
 " AVhat's that, Jessie ? " he made answer, in accents of 
 reproach. " When your kindness of these past weeks has 
 been one continual wedding-present ! " 
 
 " Rut I have brought you a little thing here," she 
 proceeded, " that maybe will please you — and surprise you 
 • — if you have been too busy lately to notice much in the 
 newspapers- • " 
 
 She undid the packet that she carried, and handed to him 
 the new number of the quarterly that had been telegraphed 
 for from Glasgow. He took it from her — and the next 
 mon^ent he gave a sudden little start of astonishment. 
 
 " God bless me," he exclaimed, in a boyish rapture of 
 delight, " they've given me the first place ! " 
 
 And ho would turn over the pages — or rather, the sheaves 
 of pages, for the edges of the review Avere uncut — his 
 fingers holding the sheets open, his entranced eyes following 
 this or that sentence, this or that paragraph, as if it were 
 all a marvel and wonder to him. He forgot about the 
 urgent guard ; he forget about the thanks due to Jessie for 
 her ingenious thoughtfalness ; he even forgot about his 
 impatient, and perhaps petulant, bride. And then amongst 
 them they got him bundled into the carriage, his treasure 
 clasped tightly under his arm ; the door was slammed to ; 
 there was a shriek of a whistle, and the train began to 
 move ; finally came a fluttering of handkerchiefs so long 
 as a certain window remained visible. Then Jess turned 
 away. 
 
 " I'm going back to the house wath you, Jessie," said the 
 councillor. " You and your mother will be a wee thing 
 dull after so much excitement ; and 1 just mean to take 
 the privilege of an old friend to intrude on you."
 
 ( 3>9 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 FORE BODING, S. 
 
 IIeee surely was an idyllic scene : a silvery lake stretcliino; 
 far away to the south — the ruins of an ancieut castle on a 
 solitary island — a fislierman standing up in a drifting boat 
 and leisurely sending his line out and on to the quiet 
 ripples — his sole companion (for the boy at the oars need 
 not be counted) a beautiful young creature seated in the 
 stern, whose pensive dark-blue eyes had wandered off from 
 the book lying idly in her lap. An all-pervading silence 
 was in the soft summer air ; if a heron made its heavy 
 flight from one promontory to the next, it was on slow- 
 moving and noiseless wings. 
 
 " Come, now," said the schoolmaster to Barbara, who had 
 spoken hardly a word during the last two hours. "You'll 
 do yourself a mischief if you go on in that wild way, 
 Barbara. Your high spirits will be the death of you. 
 When you kee]3 up such a rattle of laughing and jokiug, 
 it is just bewildering to the brain." Then of a sudden lie 
 changed his tone. " But really now — tell me the truth, 
 Barl)ara — do you really find it dull here ? " 
 
 "There is nothing to see," she said. 
 
 " Gracious heavens ! " he exclaimed. " Xothing to see ! 
 All around you lies one of tbe most beautiful lochs in 
 Scotland ; over there is the I'ass of Brander ; yonder is 
 Xilcburn Castle ; and above you are the slopes and peaks of 
 Ben Cruachan. Plenty of folk would tell you that Jjoch 
 Awe is about as near to fairyland as anything you could 
 find on the face of the earth " 
 
 " I do not understand the need of living in a farmhouse," 
 she said, rather sulkily, " when wo have a better house of 
 our own that we could live in." 
 
 He Avas so astonished that he forgot to recover his line ; 
 the flies began to sink in tbe water. 
 
 " Do you mean that ? " said he. " Would you rather go 
 back to Duutroouc now ? "
 
 326 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Yes," said she, curtly. 
 
 " Well," lie proceeded, after a moment, " people may 
 wonder at our cutting short our honeymoon almost before 
 it has beo-nn ; but, indeed, it is none of their business. 
 And there's a great deal to be done to the liouse yet ; and 
 I have some literary work I should like to begin hammering 
 at." He was slowly reeling in his line now. " Maybe I have 
 not been quite considerate, Barl)ara. Of course you could 
 not be expected to interest yourself in trout fishing " 
 
 " What is the use of catching fish that no one thinks of 
 eating ? " she answered him. 
 
 He was taking off the casting-line to wind it round his 
 cap, for the better diyiug of the flies. 
 
 " Yes, there's always common sense in what you say, 
 Barbara — always common sense in what you say. And I 
 should have remembered that you might tire of a quiet 
 place like this. You like looking at people. Well, we'll 
 pack up and be off the first thing to-morrow morning. 
 And you'll get on with the decking out of the house ; and 
 I'll take to my books." 
 
 And thus it was that, to Jessie's great surprise, when she 
 was least expected, Barbara walked into the shop. 
 
 " Have you quarrelled already ? " said Jess, laughing. 
 
 "Oh, no ; but I was wearied of sitting in a boat and 
 doing nothing," answered Barbara. " And there are a 
 number of things wanted for the house yet — I have a list 
 here — will you come with me, Jessie, and help me to choose 
 them .? " 
 
 " If you are going to make your purchases in such fine 
 clothes as that, Barbara," said Jess, regarding her cousin's 
 showy attire, "they'll be charging you the highest prices 
 everywhere." 
 
 " There is little advantage," retorted Barbara, with a 
 slight toss of her head, " in having nice things, and putting 
 them away in a drawer, instead of wearing them." 
 
 Jess was never very anxious to have the last word ; her 
 sole reply was to go and fetch her hat and jacket ; and 
 together the two cousins set forth on their expedition. 
 
 Now all through the furnishing of the house in Battery 
 Terrace Jess Maclean had been the chosen adviser of tlie 
 young couple ; and lucky it was for them that she could
 
 FOREBODINGS 321 
 
 spare the time ; for Barbara's ideas were of a large and 
 liberal order ; while Allan— always shy in money matters 
 — was simply unable to deny his betrothed 'anything. 
 Generally speaking, when Barbara's childish love of finery 
 and display was like to have led them into serious extrava- 
 gance, some compromise was effected more in accordance 
 with the schoolmaster's limited means. But on this par- 
 ticular morning, Barbara, now armed with the authority of 
 a wife, seemed to know no restraint ; whilst Jess, finding 
 her remonstrances unheeded, became frightened at her own 
 complicity. 
 
 " Barbara," she said, on coming out of one of the shops, 
 " are you sure your husband would like yoiw opening 
 accounts in that way ? " 
 
 " It is impossible to carry money in your pocket to pay 
 for all these things," responded Barbara at once. 
 
 " I know there is nothing he abhors so much as debt," 
 Jess ventured to say. 
 
 " Everyone thinks that the classes will be growing bigger 
 and bigger," Barbara made answer. 
 
 " But they are not meeting just now ; and there is no 
 income from them " 
 
 " And that is why the people can put the things down in 
 a book ; and then, when the classes meet again, they will 
 be paid." 
 
 "I hope at least you will tell Allan," Jess once more 
 ventured to say. 
 
 " Whether I tell hi^n or whether I do not tell him is of 
 little matter — he has the use of the things I am buying as 
 much as any one else." And with that Jessie's protests 
 were for the moment dismissed. 
 
 By this time it was nearing a quarter to one ; and 
 Barbara said she would like to go into the railway-station, 
 to call at the book-stall. 
 
 " The book-stall ? " repeated Jess, with some surprise. 
 
 " I was reading," her cousin explained, " that if you wish 
 to make a parlour or drawing-room look home-like, you 
 should put two or three illustrated papers about, and I may 
 as well get them when I am here." 
 
 She got the papers, and had them rolled up ; but when 
 she came out of the station again, she said — ■ 
 
 "o"
 
 322 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Now we will go along to the South Pier and cross the 
 bay in the Aros Castle.'''' 
 
 " It will be quite as quick to walk back," Jess pointed 
 out ; " and you are not half through your list yet." 
 
 " But I would rather cross over in the steamer," she said, 
 impatiently ; and of course a young bride, petted and spoilt 
 by every one, expects to have her own way : Jess smiled 
 assent, said ' Very well,' and accompanied her — not knowing 
 what all this might mean. 
 
 She was soon to learn. For no sooner had Barbara got 
 on to the upper-deck of the Aros GastJe than she began to 
 give herself airs of ostentation ; she affected great gaiety of 
 spirits ; and wherever the Purser, in the pursuance of his 
 duties, happened to pass by, she would manage somehow or 
 other to be talking of the house in Battery Terrace. 
 
 "Can you see the curtains in the windows, Jessie ? " she 
 would say, as if she were oblivious of everything around 
 her, and all intent upon straining her eyes towards the 
 distant villa. " Maybe red is easier seen than anything 
 else. Or maybe it is because Battery Terrace is above the 
 smoke of the town that you can make out things or guess 
 at them. I am going to have lace curtains up as well, 
 when I have time. But the red looks very well, when you 
 are passing along the Terrace." 
 
 Ogilvie paid no heed to her. He had greeted Jess 
 Maclean when she came on board ; Barbara he had ignored 
 altogether — he did not even raise his cap. Whether or 
 not he surmised that he was being ' talked at,' he looked 
 sullen and annoyed. 
 
 But she forced him to take notice of her. For when 
 they had crossed the bay and were approaching the North 
 Pier, she went bodly up to him. 
 
 " How much for my cousin and me ? " she said ; and she 
 produced her purse, and took out from it a sovereign. In 
 doing so she could hardly help displaying not only her 
 wedding-ring but also the keeper-ring with its rosette of 
 garnets. 
 
 " Oh, nothing, nothing," he answered her — but his face 
 had flushed red with vexation. For this was an open 
 insult. She knew as well as he that there was no recog- 
 nised charge for a mere passage from pier to pier ; again
 
 FOREBODINGS , 323 
 
 and again on former occasions lie had asked her to accept 
 the few minutes' sail as a compliment. 
 
 " I wish to pay," she said, coldly, and she offered him 
 the sovereign. 
 
 Anger burned in his eyes. 
 
 " I have not enough change," he said, shortly, and ho 
 turned on his heel and left her. When the gangway was 
 shoved on board, Barbara was the first person to go on 
 shore, and she certainly had a proud and erect carriage. 
 Jess followed — with some vague, half-alarmed notion that 
 in the circumstances silence was best. 
 
 It was about eight or ten days thereafter that Allan 
 Henderson went down to call on Mr. McFadyen, The 
 servant-maid who opened the door told him that her master 
 was in the yard behind ; so he passed through the house, 
 and found himself in a large open space, the further end of 
 which was occupied by massive stacks of coal, while at tlie 
 nearer end appeared a smart little greenhouse. But it was 
 the group in front of him that caused Allan's eyes to open 
 wide ; for here was the chubby councillor standing in front 
 of a large horse — a great, big, raw-boned creature, with 
 prominent knees and shaggy pasterns — while hanging by 
 was a long loutish lad who had the appearance of an ostler's 
 apprentice. 
 
 " It's a present, what d'ye think ! " said McFadyen to 
 his visitor, as he contemplated with a curious expression of 
 face this uncouth quadruped and its rusty saddle and bridle. 
 " Dod, I think I could have done without it ; but, ye see, 
 Mrs. Dugald up at the Rinns she declares that the beast is 
 no manner 0' use to them now, since her husband died ; 
 and she cannot bear to sell it, for it's an old favourite. 
 Well, if I have to pay for its keep, I must make some use 
 of the creature ; and at present I am getting the stable- 
 lad here to bring it along for an odd half-hour, nows and 
 again, so that I can practise mounting and dismounting. 
 Man, it's grand exercise ! — just famous ! — and I tell ye I'll 
 soon be a dab at it. See this now " 
 
 He boldly advanced to the animal, and, without bothering 
 about the reins, he twisted a tuft of the mane round the 
 fingers and thumb of his left hand ; then he managed, with 
 a little difficulty — for he was a short man and rather corpu- 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 HIGHLAND COUSmS 
 
 lent — to get his left foot in the stirrup ; with a clutch at 
 the can tie and a spring from his right foot he rose in the 
 air ; there was a moment of dreadful suspense ; and then 
 with a brief but frantic effort he succeeded in throwing his 
 leg over, while the protuljerant part of his person, coming in 
 contact with the pommel, prevented his pitching forward and 
 down the other side. He was quite proud of the performance. 
 " Dod, I tell ye it's a grand exercise ! " said he, sitting 
 serene and happy in the saddle. " It's fifty times better 
 than twirling round a wooden bar. It's just splendid for 
 the liver ! " 
 
 And then he clambered down. And then he sprang and 
 clambered up again ; and all the while the patient brute 
 only turned its head occasionally to see what was going on 
 — never once did its ears fall wickedly back, never once did 
 its hind heels lash out. Probably in its day it had beheld 
 many strange things, the meaning of which had never been 
 very clear to its poor old brain. 
 
 But at this point a stranger appeared on the scene, 
 coming out from the house and bringing with him a tripod, 
 a box, and a black cloth. At sight of him, the councillor, 
 even in his pride of place, seemed to be a little uncomfort- 
 able — he even blushed somewhat. 
 
 " Ye'll not be thinking," he said to Allan, " that I want 
 a photograph to show about and pretend I am a great 
 horseman. No, no ; but what I say is that a man cannot 
 have any idea of what he looks like on horseback — it's 
 impossible for him to tell what appearance he makes — until 
 he has a photograph taken. Then he sees. Maybe his 
 figure does not suit the back of a horse ; and if that is so, 
 it's better he should be aware of it ; and take to shoe- 
 leather again. So ye'll not mind, Allan, my lad, waiting 
 for a minute or two longer ; I'll be with you directly ; it's 
 a fjuiet beast — there'll be no trouble." 
 
 There was no trouble. The sober-minded animal stood 
 as if it were of bronze and set up in a public square ; Mr. 
 McFadyen, for all his professions of modesty, maintained 
 a lofty and commanding attitude ; the photographer got 
 through with his work quickly ; and then, as the ostler-lad 
 came forward to the horse's head, the councillor dismounted, 
 and ushered his visitor into the house.
 
 FOREBODINGS 325 
 
 " And how are ye at home, Allan ? " he asked, cheerfully, 
 as he threw open the parlour door. 
 
 " That's what I have come to speak to you about," the 
 schoolmaster made reply, " if you can give me a few 
 moments." 
 
 " Sit down and light your pipe, then ; I hope yeVe the 
 best of news," Peter observed, as he drew forward a chair 
 and put the tobacco-canister on the table. 
 
 But the schoolmaster did not light his pipe. He seemed 
 unusually grave and concerned ; and his eyes were bent on 
 the floor. Presently he said — 
 
 " Maybe you could tell me this, McFadyen. If you've 
 been paying the premiums on a life-insurance policy for a 
 number of years, what proportion of the paid-up money 
 would the company give you back if you offered to sur- 
 render the policy ? Have you any idea ? This is how the 
 thing stands : ten years ago I took out a policy — no great 
 amount either — but I thought, if anything happened to me, 
 it might make up to the old folk a little of the cost of my 
 schooling and classes ; and I've sent in the premiums 
 regularly. And now I've been wondering how much they 
 would return me if I handed over the policy " 
 
 " Man alive, what are ye talking about ! " exclaimed the 
 councillor, with open indignation. " You, in your position, 
 a young man just married, to be thinking of giving up your 
 hfe-policy — ay, when ye should rather be thinking of 
 doubhng it ! I'm just astonished to hear ye ! And why 
 come to me ? I'll tell ye the one that has the first right to 
 be consulted— I'll tell ye the one that has the right to 
 forbid ye — and that is your young wife. Ask her, and 
 she'll soon stop ye from any such preposterous madness." 
 
 Allan did not raise his eyes from the floor. He merely 
 said, in a resigned sort of fashion — 
 
 " It's on Barbara's account that I am asking. Of course 
 the policy belongs to her now ; and she would rather have 
 the ready money— at least I gather as much. You see," he 
 continued, and he looked up with some air of apology, " she 
 has a fine courage of temperament. She is not nervously 
 anxious about the future. And she's young — she likes to 
 make much of the present hour " 
 
 McFadyen appeared to bo wholly dumbfounded.
 
 326 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " It's madness — it's sheer madness ! " he reiterated, with 
 unmistakable conviction. "To sacrifice such a safeguard 
 for the trifling proportion they would return ye ! And 
 what does she want the money for ? Bless me, what does 
 she want the money for ? Bat no — it's not my business to 
 inquire." 
 
 The schoolmaster rose from his chair and began to pace 
 slowly up and down the room, his hands behind his back, 
 his brow contracted. 
 
 " There are strange things in human nature," he said, in 
 a half absent kind of way, " and one has to make allow- 
 ances. And perhaps it's not so difficult to understand how 
 a girl brought up as she was at Knockalanish, and coming 
 to a place like Dnntroone, should have her brain turned a 
 little bit — for the time being — for the time being, I mean. 
 Duutroone must have seemed a rich and splendid place to 
 her ; and perhaps it was but natural she should wish to 
 dress with the best of them, and have as fine a house as 
 others. She is by nature fond of pretty things, showy 
 things ; and it is hard to refuse her, when you see her as 
 proud of her finery as a child might be. I'm not com- 
 plaining. No. As for myself, I could willingly live on 
 oat-cake and water — but — but I could not ask her to do 
 that — I could as soon think of asking her to sell those bits 
 of ornaments and trifles she's so fond of ■ " 
 
 " What does it all mean, AUan ? " cried the older man, 
 in something like consternation. " What has happened ? 
 Are ye not seeing your way quite clear before ye ? " 
 
 " The way clear before me ? " said Allan, suddenly, 
 stopping short in his nervous pacings to and fro. " God 
 help us all, I see nothing but ruin staring us in the face ! " 
 And then he checked his vehemence. " No, no ; I should 
 not say that. Maybe it is only temporary ; her head is 
 turned a little just for the time being ; maybe her own good 
 sense will show her that we cannot go on as we are living 
 at present. But it is a terrible thing to have to remon- 
 strate " 
 
 " And it is a dangerous thing to come between husband 
 and wife," said Mr. McFadyen, " even with the best- 
 intentioned of advice. But yet — yet I'm not such a coward 
 as to keep silent altogether ; and I tell ye, Allan, that to
 
 IN PERIL 3^7 
 
 give up your life-policy would be most unjustifiable — would 
 be downright wicked. It's on her account I speak. It 
 matters nothing to you — only that a man does not like to 
 think that his wife will be left penniless in the case of _ any- 
 thing happening to him. And that's what I maintain — I 
 maintain it — that you've no right to sacrifice such a safe- 
 guard, I don't care for what purpose " 
 
 " In any case," said Allan, as he took up his hat again, 
 "you seemed to think the commutation would be but a 
 small affair ? " 
 
 " That's my impression — but small or large is not to the 
 point," McFadyen insisted, as he accompanied his visitor to 
 the door ; and he was still reiterating his emphatic counsel 
 when Allan, with many thanks, bade him good-bye. 
 
 But events were now about to liappen that speedily put 
 the question of the insurance policy out of the schoolmaster's 
 mind. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 IN PERIL. 
 
 It was next day about noon that Jess, hearing some slight 
 noise in the front-shop, rose from her seat in the parlour, 
 and stepped forward. She found Niall G orach awaiting 
 
 her. 
 
 " And what do you want now, you rascal ? " she said, in 
 her usual light-hearted fashion. "You are the fine one 
 indeed — promising to give me a sight of the white stag in 
 
 the Creannoch Forest " She paused for a second : 
 
 there was something uncanny about the appearance of the 
 half-witted youth : his eyes seemed starting out of his head. 
 " What is it, then ? Have you seen a warlock ? " 
 
 " It's the other one," he blurted out at last. " The black- 
 haired girl — that was living here " 
 
 " Do you mean my cousin Barbara ? " said Jess. 
 
 " Ay, just that — and — and they've tekken her away to 
 the polus-offus." 
 
 " Oil, what are you havering about ! " said Jess, good-
 
 328 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 humouredly : she was stooping to get some books out of a 
 drawer, and not paying much heed to him. 
 
 " As sure as death — as sure as death 1 " Niall eagerly 
 protested, now he had found his touguo. " They were 
 tekken her down the street — a polusman on one side, and 
 — and — McLennan's shopman on the other — and they were 
 going to the pokis-office " 
 
 Jess regarded him more seriously. 
 
 " If you're telling me a story, I'll give it to you ! " said 
 she. "But maybe some one has been stealing from 
 Barbara's new house ; and I'd better go along and sec 
 what is the matter. Are you quite certain now they were 
 going to the police-office ? " 
 
 " As sure as death — I wass seeing them myself ! " the 
 lad insisted ; and therewith Jess stepped into the back- 
 parlour, told her mother that she was going out for a few 
 minutes, and, slipping on some slight Particles of attire, she 
 left the shop. 
 
 Quickly, but with no great alarm in her heart, she went 
 along the front of the harbour, crossed over by the railway 
 garden-plots, and approached the police-station. There 
 was no sign of Barbara anywhere about. She hesitated for 
 a minute or two, looking up and down ; but this small 
 thoroughfare, lying somewhat back from the rest of the 
 houses, was wholly deserted ; and so at length, overmaster- 
 ing a curious kind of reluctance, she forced herself to 
 ascend the few steps, and entered. She found herself in a 
 large, gaunt, bare apartment, the walls placarded with 
 notices and regulations, a wide counter shutting out the 
 public, a desk behind, and seated at the desk the sergeant 
 in charge. He was a little, grizzled-haired man, with a 
 sharp, observant, bird-like eye. 
 
 " Has my cousin Barbara been here ? " said Jess. 
 " That's Mrs. Henderson — the schoolmaster's wife " 
 
 " Ay ; and she's here now," was the laconic answer. 
 
 " Here ? Where ! " 
 
 " In the cells." 
 
 "What is't ye mean?" cried Jess— but rather faintly; 
 and her face had grown suddenly pale. 
 
 The officer glanced mechanically towards the foli ) 
 volume lying open on the desk beside him.
 
 IN PERIL 329 
 
 " She's charged wi' theft," said he. 
 
 " Bat — but it's a mistake ! " Jess exclaimed, hm-riedly. 
 " And — and you'll let her come away with me now ; and if 
 there has been a mistake, my mother and me will pay what- 
 ever is wanted. She's a young lass ; she's not used to the 
 ways of a town ; and we will have it all put right before 
 her husband can hear anything about it. Where is she ? 
 Can I see her ? You will let her come away with me, and 
 my mother will make sure that no one is wronged, even if 
 there has been a mistake " 
 
 The sergeant, as it chanced, was no ill-conditioned jack- 
 in-office ; besides, he knew the Macleans quite well by 
 sight. And this young woman who now addressed him had 
 pleading grey eyes and a soft and conciliatory voice. 
 
 "You should get an agent," said he; "that's the first 
 thing to be done. And in the meantime you can see your 
 cousin now, if you wish " 
 
 " And she will come away with me," interposed Jess, 
 quickly, " before any one is told — before her husband can 
 hear anything about it ? " 
 
 There was a shake of the head. 
 
 " No, no ; not that way. The charge has been made 
 against her. There'll have to be the declaration diet as 
 soon as possible ; and both the Sheriff-substitute and the 
 Procurator Fiscal are in the town; there's no need for 
 delay. But you should get an agent. Miss Maclean ; that's 
 the first thing " 
 
 " And Barbara — can I see her now ? " 
 
 He turned to a constable that was standing by, and said 
 a word or two to him. 
 
 " If you will follow this officer, he will take you to the 
 cells," he said to Jess — and thereupon he raised a portion 
 of the counter to let her pass through. 
 
 It was hard on Jess Maclean that she had hid no 
 opportunity of preparing herself for this interview. All 
 the circumstances were a bewilderment to her ; she only 
 knew vaguely that something terrible had occurred that 
 must at any hazard be concealed from the proud and severe 
 schoolmaster ; Barbara, poor lass, had got into this in- 
 comprehensible trouble, but surely there was still a chance 
 of spiriting her away before the neighbours' tongues began
 
 JJ 
 
 ^o HIGHLAND COUSHYS 
 
 to wag ? And yet when Jess, following the constable, 
 stepped out into the exercLse-yard of the prison, a cold chill 
 struck at her heart. It was a dismal, deserted-looking 
 place, this cindered court open to the sky and enclosed by 
 lofty and sombre walls ; and again, when she regarded the 
 long, low, grey building in front of her, she perceived a 
 series of small, isolated, high windows barred across with 
 iron bars. She guessed that Barbara was behind one of 
 these — the poor, fluttering wild-bird from the distant 
 islands that had come waudering hither to this sorry doom. 
 Nevertheless Jess was in no over-piteous and tremulous 
 mood. By this time she had strung herself together. It 
 was rescue she was bent on — ere Allan could hear of what 
 had happened. 
 
 The officer who led the way rang a bell ; and the door 
 was opened by a big, burly, gooduatured-looking man iu 
 uniform, who proved to be the warder. Almost before he 
 was told he seemed to divine the mission on which Jess had 
 come ; and at once he called his wife, handing her his 
 bunch of keys. Presently Jess found herseM being con- 
 ducted by this woman along a narrow, dimly-lit, stone- 
 paved passage, on one side of which Avere several doors, 
 each marked with a number, and each furnished with a 
 small square aperture covered with a flap, as well as with a 
 still smaller eye-hole commanding the interior of the cell. 
 There was not a sound — not a sob nor a groan — to tell 
 which of those silent and unknown cavities contained a 
 broken human life. 
 
 At length the warder's wife stopped ; she inserted a key 
 into a large iron lock and undid the heavy bolt ; and the 
 next moment Jess beheld in front of her a small, bare, 
 oblong chamber, at the further end of which, in the dusky 
 twilight, and seated on a transverse bench, was a crouching 
 and downcast figure, that made no sign whatever even at 
 this abrupt interruption. 
 
 " Barbara ! " she cried, and she flew forward, and went 
 down on her knees, and took her cousin's hand iu hers. 
 " What is it ! What has brought you here ! What is the 
 mistake about ! Tell me — and we will get it cleared up at 
 once. And maybe you would rather I did not send for 
 Allan — just as you like, Barbara -"
 
 IN PERIL 331 
 
 A shiver seemed to run through the girl's frame. 
 
 " No, no — not him — not him ! " And then she looked 
 up strangely and fearfully. " Jess, what will they do to me ? 
 — what will they do to me ? Will Ogilvie get to hear of it ? " 
 
 "I wonder you should think of Ogilvie," said Jess, 
 almost indignantly, " in trouble like this ! What concern 
 has he with you, or with us ? But they're saying I should 
 employ an agent for ye — and maybe he will get everything 
 put right before any one knows of it. And you have not 
 told me yet what the mistake was all about, Barbara : how 
 did you come here ? " 
 
 Barbara was trembling from head to foot now ; and her 
 head was bent down. 
 
 " It was in McLennan's shop," she said, in a low and 
 heavily-breathing voice. " It was a blouse — a silk tartan 
 blouse — and they were saying I took it — but — but it fell 
 from the counter, xind then there was the policeman : 
 they brought him in. What will they do, Jess ? — what 
 will they do to me ? And will Ogilvie hear of it ? " 
 
 " Oh, put Ogilvie out of your mind ! " said Jess, as 
 sharply as she could find it in her heart to speak to this 
 hapless creature. " Have ye not Allan to think of first of 
 all ? And then my mother — what will she be saying, that 
 has held up her head high enough all her life long ? But 
 never mind, Barbara : I'm going now to get the agent : 
 maybe I'll no be long before I'm back. You see, they'll 
 not let me take you away home just at once ; but the agent 
 — surely the agent will manage it — and nobody be any the 
 wiser. So I'll not tell Allan ; and I'll not tell your auntie, 
 either ; my word, my word, if she was to hear of this, I'm 
 thinking Mr. McLennan would be getting his kail through 
 the reek, as they say in the south ! So keep up your heart, 
 Barbara — keep up your heart, lass ! — and never you think 
 about Ogilvie — there's others that's more to be considered 
 than him." 
 
 And then and swiftly Jess left this dreadful nightmare 
 of a place, and sped away through the town, until she came 
 to the offices of Grant and Lawrie, solicitors. She was 
 fortunate enough to find the senior partner, who was a 
 friend of Mrs. Maclean's, in his rooms ; and forthwith she 
 told her story.
 
 332 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " And will you get her out at once, Mr. Grant ? " said 
 she, gazing anxiously and earnestly at this tall, thin, sandy- 
 haired man, whose quiet, attentive, steel-blue eyes seemed 
 to respond so coldly to her urgent prayer. " The sergeant 
 at the police-office he was saying something about the 
 Sheriff and the Fiscal ; but surely there's no need of that 
 when the mistake can be explained ! The tartan blouse fell 
 from the counter ; and maybe they thought she had taken 
 it ; but she will tell you what really happened ; and— and 
 if there's anything to pay, my mother and me we will gladly 
 pay it." In spite of herself some moisture gathered about 
 her lashes ; and she covertly put up her hand to remove the 
 glistening drops. " It's only £3 lO.s., Mr. Grant ! " she 
 went on. " I know that, for Barbara was telling me about 
 the blouse a week or two ago ; and my mother would rather 
 pay the money, ay, many times over, than have any disgrace 
 come upon Allan " 
 
 "There's no disgrace at all if she can be proved 
 innocent," the lawyer interposed. 
 
 '• But there is — there is ! " said Jess, passionately. 
 " There will be all the people talking — and think what that 
 would be to one that's as proud and sensitive as Allan 
 Henderson. And the young lads at the classes, they will 
 be speaking among themselves. Mr. Grant, can you not 
 get her away ? Never mind what money it will be ! — — " 
 
 The long, hard-visaged lawyer slowly rose from his chair. 
 
 " Just rest ye where ye are, Miss Jessie," said he, " for a 
 few minutes ; and I'll step along and see the Fiscal." 
 
 So Jess was left alone in this musty-smelling chamber, 
 with its rows of japanncd-tin boxes. The solitary window 
 looked to the back ; and there were the steep slopes behind 
 Duntroone, with their terraced gardens and an occasional 
 walled-in villa. She saw a summer-house, too ; and a 
 young mother seated in front of it, knitting ; while a small 
 boy of five or six, to whom she called from time to time, 
 trundled a toy-barrow up and down the gravel. There werj 
 some people who seemed to have never a care. 
 
 By-and-bye she heard a sound of footsteps on the stair- 
 case without, and her heart began to beat rapidly ; but 
 when the door was opened she perceived that Mr. Grant 
 had returned as he went, unaccompanied.
 
 IN PERIL 333 
 
 " Where is she ? " Jess demanded, l)reatlilessly. 
 
 " In about an hour's time," responded the lawyer, as he 
 leisurely resumed his seat, " or maybe less, she will be takeu 
 before the Sheriff, for declaration. I will be there to look 
 after her " 
 
 " Could not I be with her, too, Mr. Grant ? " Jess put 
 in. " She's used to me ! She'll be terrified going before 
 all these people, by herself. Will you let me go with you, 
 Mr. Grant ? " 
 
 " Impo:^sible," was the answer. " The proceedings are 
 private — and quite simple. There will be nobody present 
 in the Sheriff's room but the Sheriff himself, his clerk, the 
 Procurator Fiscal, your cousin, myself, and a constable or 
 two. And I will strongly advise her to say nothing at all. 
 She will merely have to sign the declaration." 
 
 " And she's not coming back home now ? " cried Jess. 
 " When, then— when ? " 
 
 "I can apply for liberation on bail, if you wish " 
 
 Jess eagerly assented. " — and if the Fiscal does not 
 oppose, then we could find caution for her to appear at any 
 diet she may be cited for " 
 
 " Caution money ? Yes, yes, surely that ! — there's my 
 mother — and Mr. McFadyen, that's ever been a good friend 
 to us — and Mr. Stewart, of the Steam Packet Com- 
 pany- 
 
 ti 
 
 But I am afraid. Miss Jessie," the lawyer continued, 
 bending grave eyes on her, " that your desire to keep all 
 tliis hidden from your cousin's husband will not answer. I 
 certainly think he ought to be informed " 
 
 " But if Barbara is let out on bail," said Jess, in this last 
 extremity, "could we not manage to get everything settled 
 wiLhoub it coming to his ears at all ? AYhy should he be 
 told ? lie can do uo good. You will be there to look 
 after her, Mr. Grant ■" 
 
 There was little further time for argument ; the solicitor 
 had to return to attend to the interests of his client. Nor 
 would Jess remain longer in this solitary room ; she said 
 she would rather go and wander about until she could meet 
 him in front of the Court-house, to learn the result of his 
 application for bail. And indeed, when she had parted 
 from him outside the office, she neither knew nor cared in
 
 334 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ■which direction her steps were turned. Blankly she gazed 
 at the traffic going on in the harbour ; at the steamers 
 coming and going ; at the shifting glooms and splendours 
 that filled the world. For this was one of those rare days 
 on this windy and changeable coast — a day of slow-moving 
 sea-fog ; and while for a time the silent white mists would 
 come mysteriously creeping up the Sound of Kerrara — - 
 obliterating headland after headland, hiding away the boats 
 in Ardentrive Bay, and gradually smurring and blotting out 
 craft lying still nearer at hand, so that amid the prevailing 
 gloom stretching all around one waited to feel the first ting- 
 ling touch of the rain — none the less would the interfusing 
 sunlight begin stealthily and imperceptibly to declare itself 
 again, the floating vapours would roll themselves into 
 softly-rounded clouds, until here and there a space of calm 
 blue sea would reveal itself, with the white sails of a 
 schooner or cutter reflected on the perfect azure plain. It 
 was all like a dream, like a vision, to Jess : the real thing 
 she saw before her eyes was a narrow cell, a dusky figure 
 downcast and shuddering, and a small barred window 
 that seemed to shut out hope as well as the light of 
 heaven. 
 
 Then, long before the appointed time, her unconscious 
 steps led her along to the Court-house ; and there she waited. 
 The first person who came down the wide stone stairs was 
 Mr. Grant himself. 
 
 " But where is she ? " demanded Jess, in accents of 
 surprise and reproach. 
 
 " She has been taken back to the cells," he answered her, 
 with just the least touch of embarrassment. " The fact is, 
 there are some peculiar features in the case ; and the 
 Procurator Fiscal — well, he rather opposed the application 
 for bail ; and the Sheriff declined. But it's of little con- 
 sequence. Miss Jessie ; Ave must just do our best for your 
 cousin, and help her to clear herself of the charge ; and in 
 the meantime you cannot do better than let her husband 
 know " 
 
 " But — but what is to happen next ? " said Jess, in blank 
 dismay. 
 
 " There'll be the trial," said the lawyer, not quite 
 meeting her eyes. " First of all there will be the Pleading
 
 IN PERIL 335 
 
 Diet six days hence ; and then the trial by jury nine days 
 after that " 
 
 It seemed to Jess as if Barbara were being inexorably 
 withdrawn from them ; as if she had been grasped in iron 
 clutches ; as if barriers, far more terrible than those across 
 the small window, were being interposed between her and 
 her friends. And now there remained nothing but for Jess 
 to go away back to the shop, to let her mother understand 
 what this was that had befallen them, 
 
 " Mother," she said, at the door of the parlour— and she 
 appeared to speak in almost a light-headed way — "you and 
 I — -we have had many years together — with very little 
 trouble. There's been many with far more trouble and 
 suffering — and sorry enough we have been if we could not 
 help. And now — now that we may have to take our share 
 — like the others in the world — well, we must not repine 
 too much — and — and we must face whatever is before 
 us " 
 
 The little widow had risen from her seat : it was not like 
 the gay-hearted Jess to be talking in this half-hysterical 
 fashion. 
 
 " What is it, Jess ? " 
 
 Then Jess told her tale. But the widow, when she had 
 heard the news, so far from being frightened, was moved 
 only to violent anger and indignation. 
 
 " It's a conspiracy — I tell ye, it's a conspiracy amongst 
 them, Jess," she exclaimed, " to drag down our name into 
 shame and disgrace. What harm have Ave done to any o' 
 them ? And yet I can see it — first this one and then that 
 — it's McLennan now ; but how long ago is't since it was 
 Boyd the jeweller — Boyd that came out of his shop and 
 accused one of my girls of stealing a brooch from him ? 
 — I declare to ye it's a conspiracy to bring disgrace on us, 
 Jess " 
 
 Nay, it was not the widow, it was Jess herself, who now 
 betrayed a sudden alarm. 
 
 " Mother, mother, what are you saying ? " she cried. " I 
 thought that was all forgotten — forgotten by every one but 
 me. And forgotten it must be by you now ; there must be 
 no word of it : do ye understand ? Do ye understand, 
 mother ? " she went on, earnestly. " There must be not a
 
 336 HIGHLAND COUSINS' 
 
 word of that to any living soul. For there may be 
 suspicion on every side now ; and hunting- up of bygone 
 things ; you would not injure Barbara, would you, mother, 
 by speaking indiscreetly ? We must . be watchful and 
 careful — and — and help Mr. Grant every way we can ; and 
 maybe he'll be able to get all of us — Allan, and Barbara, 
 and ourselves out of this sore trouble." 
 
 " Ay, and ye say that Allan has not been told yet ? " 
 her mother proceeded. " And who is going to tell him, 
 then ? " 
 
 Jess said nothing : she turned her eyes towards the floor, 
 and some slight colour suffused her cheek. 
 
 " There's just none but yourself, Jess, and that's the 
 truth," her mother said. " Ye'rc such a wise kind of 
 creature ; and Allan will pay heed to you when he would 
 not listen to any one of the rest of us. Will ye go up to 
 Battery Terrace, Jess ? " 
 
 " If you like, mother," she answered, after a moment's 
 hesitation. And presently she had set forth again — her 
 eyes still downcast — for she had to consider, with some 
 trembling apprehension, how she was to carry this message 
 to the schoolmaster. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HUSBAND, WIFE, AND FRIEND. 
 
 When Jess went up to Battery Terrace, and asked if the 
 schoolmaster were at home, she was at once shown into the 
 the front room ; but nevertheless she paused at the half- 
 opened door ; for she perceived that Allan, up by the window, 
 was pacing to and fro, apparently in orcat agitation, while 
 he looked from time to time at a letter he held in his hand. 
 Then, when he became aware of her presence, he said 
 hurriedly, and in something of a broken voice — 
 
 " Is't you, Jessie ? Ay, ay, you're always at hand to 
 help when there is trouble. And you'll look after Barbara — - 
 I cannot imagine where she has got to — but you'll find her, 
 and tell her I had to leave for Glasgow by the four-thirty
 
 HUSBAXD, WIFE, AND FRIEND 337 
 
 train. Ecad this letter, Jess — read it — did you ever hear 
 anything so pitiable ? " 
 
 He handed her the double sheet of paper, and abruptly 
 turned away towards the window. It was strange to find 
 the usually stern aiid proud schoolmaster so bereft of self- 
 control. Then her eyes followed the feeljle, sprawling 
 caligraphy that rambled across the blue pages, 
 
 " Glasgow, 48, Hamerton Street, 
 " Tuesday morning. 
 
 " Dear Old ^Jhap, 
 
 " This is my last message to you. I'm done. 
 And yet it should be a message of congratulation ; moriturus 
 tc saluto ; I heard from Tom Dallas all about your wedding ; 
 and just about the same time I read your cpiarterly article, 
 and 1 called out to you ' Bravo !' in a fit of coughing, and 
 drank your health in a table -spoonful of doctor's stuff. But 
 did not I always say it, when we were at college together, 
 that you were one of the strong ones, one of the lucky ones ; 
 and now that ' you've taen the high road, and I've taen tlic 
 low road,' all I can send you as a legacy is my share of the 
 grand things we used to talk about and purpose doing. 
 
 Last night, in the middle of the night, in the darkness — 
 with jusD a wee bit blob of red light at the tip of the gas- 
 burner — I made these verses ; and I thought them fine ; 
 for through the gloom I could see the dear old island, and 
 the running seas all round it, and the white skies. Fine 
 enough I thought them ; ' to mak a body greet,' almost, 
 when you're lying alone in the dark and thinking of what 
 you'll never see again on this earth. Here they are : 
 
 In Colousay ray heart remains ! — • 
 
 Colonsay, ah, Colonsay ! 
 My weary heart that went from nie. 
 And fled afar across the sea, 
 Where the wild gulls are flying free 
 
 By Colonsay, ah, Colonsay ! 
 
 And here am I with many pains : 
 
 Colonsay, ah, Colonsay ! 
 The heavy footfalls in the street 
 Scarce heavier than uiy pulses beat: 
 The louiing heavens the house-tups meet: 
 
 Colonsay, ah, Colonsay !
 
 338 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 The people traflSc in their gains: 
 
 Colonsay, ah, Colonsay ! 
 Dear God, this is my only cry, 
 Show me hut once before I die, 
 The long white sands — the silver sky — • 
 
 Colonsay !— loved Colonsay ! 
 
 But now when I look at them^ — as you will be looking 
 at them — in the cold aud unsparing daylight — I can see 
 well enough what they are : not an atom of spunlc iu them 
 — no more than there is left in myself — nothing but a sick, 
 tired, aimless cry. And yet what I've been thinking is : 
 If my old chum Allan Henderson would only say to himself 
 — ' Mir trdumf : ich I'm cler Uehe Gott.'' Do you understand, 
 Allan ? Will you take me to Colonsay ? — there's the 
 question, with its bold face of brass. The doctor talks 
 about Torquay— he might as well talk about Terra del 
 Fuego : I've neither the means, nor the strength, nor the 
 desire. My old grandmother, the last of the stock, she 
 still pretends to have faith in drugs and nursing ; but I'm 
 far past all that. No, there's only one thing left me to 
 wish for iu this world ; and if you, my old friend, would 
 come through to Glasgow, and if you would tuke me down 
 to Greenock, and carry me on board the Dunara Castle, and 
 maybe you would go as far as Colonsay with me, and help 
 me out there, and lay me down on the sands, so that for a 
 few minutes I could see the clear water again, and the white 
 clouds, and smell the peat-reek coming along from the 
 cottages — ay, just for five minutes — then I would lie down 
 and shut my eyes, and trouble no one any more. You need 
 not think I am any weight to carry now ; and you were 
 always the best of us at the gymnasium ; you would have 
 nothing to lift along the gangway but a rickle o' banes. 
 Will you do it, Allan, lad — for the sake of old times — and 
 let me shut my eyes in peace " 
 
 She did not need to read any further ; she knew what had 
 been demanded of him ; she saw how all the old comrade- 
 ship was calling upon him to respond to this piteous cry of 
 despair. 
 
 " Well indeed I am sorry for the poor man," said she, 
 gently ; but he broke in upon her in an excited sort of 
 wav.
 
 HUSBAND, WIFE, AND FRIEND 339 
 
 "They're often mistaken — the doctors arc continually 
 mistaken," he said. " Consumption is especially deceptive ; 
 I've known most remarkable recoveries. And who can tell 
 — if I could get poor Alec taken away back to the island 
 air — and the sweet milk and potatoes — and hearing his own 
 tongue spoken around him " 
 
 " But just now, Allan," said Jess, timidly regarding him, 
 " your duty lies nearer at hand " 
 
 And then, with her eyes anxiously watching him, she 
 told him in a roundabout way of what had happened. At 
 first he hardly seemed to follow her, so intently was his 
 mind preoccupied with that pitiful sickbed in Glasgow ; but 
 at length he got to understand that some incomprehensible 
 mistake had been made, and that Barbara had actually been 
 arrested, and was now locked up in one of the police-cells. 
 
 " Yes, yes, it is as you say, Jessie," he answered her. " I 
 cannot go to Glasgow. We must look after Barbara first, 
 and get her out of this extraordinary mishap. And will you 
 come down to the police-station with me, Jessie ? — you seem 
 always to know what is the best thing to be done." 
 
 She assented at once ; he went and fetched his caj) ; and 
 together they left the house. And even now he said some- 
 thing about the Glasgow train — showing that certain of his 
 thoughts were still drawn away towards the dim sick-room 
 and his dying friend. Then, by some effort of will, he 
 seemed to recall himself. 
 
 " Tell me, Jessie, what this frightful blunder is all about, 
 what is it they accuse Barbara of stealing ? " 
 
 " It's a blouse in tartan silk," Jess made answer ; " and I 
 can see very well how the error may have arisen. For 
 Barbara was speaking to me several times about that blouse ; 
 she had a great fancy for it ; the Eoyal Stewart it was, and 
 very pretty in the silk ; and if she had asked them to show 
 it to her again, and if she was getting other things, then 
 what more likely than that it might have been dragged 
 away by her sleeve, and might have slipped off the counter, 
 and fallen on the floor " 
 
 " It is simply inconceivable that she should try to steal it 
 or want to steal it ! " he exclaimed. " Simply inconceivable ! 
 Even if it were in her nature to covet and steal, where 
 could the object have been ? She has had everything she 
 
 z 3
 
 340 HIGHLAi\'D COUSINS 
 
 could think of — nothing grudo-ed her — why, it was only 
 yesterday that I was asking Mr. MacFadyen if I could 
 commute my life insurance policy just to leave her a little 
 more free in her expenditure. She is fond of finery — \vc 
 all of us know that ; and fond of appearances — well, who 
 was ever blaming her ? It always seemed to me a pretty 
 kind of thing to see her decking herself out— a kind of 
 childish vanity that was harmless enough ; and there was 
 no one checking her and finding fault with her, so that she 
 should take to secrecy or underhand ways to appease this 
 innocent craving. Jessie, it is not believable ! If she 
 had come to me I would have bought the silk tartan 
 blouse for her, ay, even if I had to sell the half of my 
 books ■" 
 
 " Poor girl ! " said Jess. " To think she'll have to be in 
 that terrible place for two whole weeks yet before she can 
 be proved innocent and set free ! " 
 
 They went down through the town ; and Jess Maclean 
 had got into a way of regarding the passers-by furtively and 
 suspiciously — as if wondering whether they knew. It was 
 not like Jess ; but she seemed already to feel that some 
 black shadow of disgrace hung over her and hers, no matter 
 what the jury might say. And she did not talk much to 
 Allan ; these present events were too serious, too tragic, to 
 admit of idle gossip, or even of make-believe professions of 
 assurance and confidence. 
 
 Jess and her quiet and simple straightforwardness had 
 found favour in the eyes of the Superintendent ; when she 
 and her companion entered the police-station, he at once 
 called a constable and bade him conduct the visitors through 
 to the cells. The warder's wife also proved to be friendly ; 
 as soon as she had gone along the narrow corridor, and 
 turned back the heavy bolt, it was clear that she meant her 
 espionage to be entirely perfunctory ; while Jess, with just 
 as little mind to be a spectator of the meeting between 
 husband and wife, remained with her, ti'ying to frame an 
 indifferent sentence or two. Allan advanced into the cell 
 alone. 
 
 And yet there was no wild scene : Barbara did not spring 
 to her feet and rush into her husband's arms, eager to seek 
 shelter there from all the perils that encompassed her.
 
 HUSBAND, WIFE, AND FRIEND 341 
 
 Nay, when she saw who tliis was, slic rather cowered away 
 from him, until he went forward, and sate down by licr, and 
 took her hand in both of his. 
 
 " This is a sad affair, Barbara," he said to her, gently, 
 " but we will soon get you free, and no great harm done. 
 And did you not tell the McLennan 's people they were 
 making a mistake ? Or maybe it was this way — maybe you 
 were frightened — and not quite so quick with the English 
 as the Gaelic — and very likely they would put a wrong 
 construction on your confusion and alarm. But I will 
 point all this out to Mr. Grant ; you were bewildered for 
 the moment, no doubt ; and not ready with an explanation 
 in English " 
 
 ►She appeared hardly to listen. 
 
 " Is Jessie there ? " she said, in a low voice. 
 
 " She is just outside the door — with the woman that has 
 the keys," he answered her. " But you can tell me anything 
 you like, Barbara — they are not hearkening " 
 
 " I Avant Jess to come in," she said. 
 
 He rose from the bench and went to the door. 
 
 " Jessie," he said, " will you go to her ? She wants you. 
 And you know better than I what to say." 
 
 For a second Jess Maclean seemed to hesitate ; it was 
 like an intrusion between husband and wife ; but the next 
 moment she had stepped into the cell, while Allan shyly 
 lingered Avithout. 
 
 " Now you'll be of better heart, Barbara ! " said she, 
 cheerfully. "You'll be of better heart now, Avith your 
 husband come to stand by you." 
 
 " He Avas not so angry as I expected," the girl responded, 
 Avithout raising her eyes. 
 
 " Angry ? Who thought he Avould be angry ? Who 
 gave him the right to be angry ? That is a fine thing to 
 think of ! Are we angry AAdtli any one that has a slate 
 fall on him from the roof — or that is knocked down by a 
 runaway horse ? Angry because of an accident ? It is 
 hardly a time to be angry ! No ; bat I am sure of this, 
 that he is A'cry, very sorry, as we all are ; and every one of 
 us Avill be doing our best to make amends to you, Barbara, 
 when once we have got you set free, and the sooner that 
 hour is here the better I "
 
 342 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Barbara remained silent for a little Avhile ; then she said 
 — 'in an undertone — 
 
 " Will the people be coming into the Court when there is 
 the trial ? " 
 
 " I suppose so," said Jess, doubtfully. " I'm not sure — I 
 will ask Mr. Grant — but I think any one can come in that 
 likes " 
 
 " And they will be looking at me ? " said Barbara, 
 with a kind of shiver. " Jessie, could you be with me ? 
 Would they let you do that ? Could you come and sit 
 Avith me ? " 
 
 " If there's any one to be by your side, it ought to be 
 your husband " 
 
 " No, no — you, Jessie ! " she said, hurriedly. " You. 
 Could you come here for me, and go into the Court with 
 me, and stay by me ? I am frightened, Jessie — and the 
 people will be staring ; but if you were with me, it might 
 be different — a little different. And did you say any one 
 that liked ? Any one ? Mr. MacFadyen, maybe ? " 
 
 " And if he did," said Jess, warmly, " be sure he would 
 come as a friend ! " 
 
 " Ay — him — but there might be others — there might be 
 others not so friendly — others may be glad to see you in 
 such a position." She glanced towards the partly-opened 
 door. "Jess," she said in a whisper, "do you think — 
 Ogilvie — will be among the people in the Court ? " 
 
 And Jess also glanced quickly towards the door : happily 
 she could hear that Allan was talking to the warder's 
 wife. 
 
 " I wonder at you, Barbara ! " she said, under her breath. 
 "It is not of Ogilvie you should be thinking at such a 
 time ! " 
 
 Some few minutes thereafter Jess Maclean and Allan 
 left together ; and there was little speech between these 
 two — there was none at all on the part of Jess, indeed, for 
 her latest interview with Mr. Grant, the solicitor, had 
 aroused in her certain strange misgivings, that for the 
 present at least she kept resolutely locked away in the 
 unconfessed recesses of her mind. But as they crossed over 
 by the railway-station, there was some sHght disturbance — 
 one or two laggard travellers hurrying to the ticket-office.
 
 THE PLEADING DIET 343 
 
 the lialf-past fonv train for the Sonth being just about to 
 start. 
 
 " Poor Alec MacNeil ! " said the schoolmaster, in an 
 absent kind of fashion. "But I will telegraph to him. 
 And if everything is going well with Barbara, then maybe 
 after all I'll be able to run through to Glasgow, and see 
 if I cannot get him taken away to his beloved Colonsay." 
 
 And Jess — whose first thought was ever and always for 
 him who was at this moment her companion, and for his 
 lonely life— that now seemed to be lonelier than it had 
 ever been before — Jess said in quick communing with 
 herself : 
 
 " A good thing. For if this matter goes ill with Barbara 
 — if the worst should come to the worst — it will be some 
 distraction for Allan that from time to time he must needs 
 keep thinking of his distant friend." 
 
 CHAPTER XLir. 
 
 THE PLEADING DIET. 
 
 Dark and sinister rumours and exaggerations of rumours 
 went flying through Duntroone with regard to the unhappy 
 young woman now under arrest ; and while the friends and 
 acquaintances of Mrs. Maclean indignantly scouted these 
 fatuities, they nevertheless rather refrained from looking in 
 upon Jess and her mother : to offer sympathy in present 
 circumstances might prove to be invidious ; on the other 
 hand, when the verdict of acquittal had been pronounced, 
 they could come forward to tender their congratulations 
 without reserve. The little widow said nothing, but she 
 was well aware of this temporary desertion ; occasionally, 
 when she thought nobody was by, a tear would trickle 
 down her cheek ; and the small well-worn Bible that she 
 kept in the back-parlour now frequently took the place of 
 the county paper. Once, when she had been summoned 
 across the way, she left the volume open on the table ; and, 
 when she had gone, Jess slipped round to see what passages
 
 344 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 her mother had been communius: with. Tliese were the 
 verses that caught her eye : ' Cast me not off in the time of 
 old age ; forsake me not when my strength faileth. . . . 
 For mine enemies speak against me ; and they that lay wait 
 for my soul take counsel together, , . . Saying, God hath 
 forsaken him : persecute and take him ; for there is none 
 to deliver him. ... God, be not far from me : my 
 God, make haste for my help.' 
 
 Not that all her neighbours held aloof. One morning 
 Long Lauchlan the shoemaker called, stepped into the 
 parlour, and, unasked, took a seat. 
 
 " I am sorry, Mrs. Maclean," said he, in English, "for the 
 trouble that has come upon your niece Barbara. Ay, I was 
 jist fearing something of the kind might happen. For 
 when her father's funeral was getting near to the cemetery, 
 at Knockalanish, there was a black collie ran right across the 
 road in front of us ; and we couldna put down the coffin 
 from om' shoulders to chase after the dog and get him 
 killed ; and Avhen we came out again we could not see the 
 beast anywhere ; and more than one was saying ' Well, until 
 that dog is killed there will be ill-luck for the family of 
 poor Donald Maclean.' That's what they were saying ; and 
 that is what has come about. But we must jist do for the 
 best ; and it's m.e that's wishing to help ; and when the poor 
 lass is brought to the trial — well, I would like to be a witness 
 to character " 
 
 " You, Lauchie ? " 
 
 " Ay, me," continued Lauchlan, detecting no surprise in 
 tlie widow's tone. " And you would be astonished, Mrs. 
 Maclean, if I was telling you the proportion of Eechabites 
 there is to the people of this country-side. And do you 
 not think that out of the fifteen jurymen there will be three 
 or four Eechabites ? — ay, and mebbe the chancellor of the 
 jury himself ? Then they will see me — and I hef been 
 made a Guardian of our Tent — I am an office-bearer " 
 
 "I'm sure I'm glad to hear of anything that keeps you 
 from the whisky, Lauchlan," said the widow, absently. 
 
 " Me !— Mrs. Maclean !— the whisky ? " ejaculated Lauch- 
 lan, sorely hurt. " I wonder you would say that ! Mebbe 
 in former days I might tek a glass when they were hard at 
 me and forcin' me to it ; but now — now — ah, me, my good
 
 THE PLEADING DIET 345 
 
 friend, I wish I could get ye to understand what a perfect 
 heaven upon earth the strict teetotalism is ! It is so, 
 indeed ! Aw, but it's sweet, sweet, to rise in the mornin', 
 and there's no thirst in your throat, and there's no fearful 
 seeckness in your inside, and your head is as clear as a bell 
 — ye must try it — -I'm sure ye Avould be thanking me if ye'd 
 only try it, Mrs. ]\Iaclean " 
 
 " Hand your haverings ! " said Jess, breaking in angrily. 
 " My mother's as temperate as anyone in Duntroonc — and 
 far more than most " 
 
 But Lauchlan shook his head, in a despairing way. 
 
 " She doesna belong to the fold yet. There's ahlways the 
 fear of backsliding. I hef myself seen a bottle standing on 
 that very table now before me. And at the wedding — ^there 
 was sad doings at the schoolmaster's wedding — I sah the 
 glasses and the bottles spread out — fearful — fearful " 
 
 "We've a great many things to think of at present, Mr. 
 Maclntyre," said Jess, sharply. 
 
 " Ay, jist that," responded Lauchlan, with good-natured 
 acquiescence, and he rose from his chair. " Ye'll not forget, 
 then, Mrs. Maclean, that I'll be a witness to character, if the 
 lawyers want me. Ye see, I'm in an official poseetion now. 
 And there's sure to be some Rechabites on the jury — mebbe 
 the chancellor himself. Well, good-bye to you ; and to you, 
 Miss Jessie ; and I am hoping there will be good luck at 
 the trial, in spite of the black dog that ran across the funeral 
 at Knockalanish." 
 
 But the one friend who at this crisis stood indefatigably 
 and assiduously by them was distinctly the town-councillor. 
 Mr. McFadycn, eager, important, restless, buzzed about the 
 little parlour, and hurried along for consultation with J\rr. 
 Grant, and hurried back ; and all his talk was as of one 
 learned in the law ; he fairly astounded the women with his 
 display of legal knowledge — about the precognitions of the 
 witnesses — the warrants for citations — lists of articles 
 labelled and to be produced — service copies of indictments — 
 pleas admitted in bar of trial — objections to relevancy of 
 the libel — -and so forth ; and Mrs. Maclean, if she did not 
 quite, or even half, understand, was at least profoundly 
 grateful for his intervention and championship. Jess, on 
 the other hand, silent and watchful, began to suspect that
 
 346 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 a good part of this brave juagniloqueuce was used as a 
 cloak of concealment. He could not, for example, be 
 brought to give them precise details of the story told by 
 McLennan the draper. He would rather come back to the 
 mere mechanism of the trial ; and above all he would insist 
 that neither mother nor daughter should go to the Court- 
 house on either of the two days, 
 
 " What could you do ? " he said, addressing himself 
 especially to the widow. " The Pleading Diet in particular 
 is a mere matter of form. Barbara will simply have to 
 say she is Not Guilty ; and then she will be taken back to 
 the cells, to await the real trial. There'll be no jury for 
 you to look at, to see if there might be a friend or two 
 amongst them. And forbye that, Mrs. Maclean, I'm sure 
 ye would just be shocked and distressed beyond measure at 
 the common-place, ordinary, business-like character of the 
 whole proceedings. You would think the people heartless. 
 And so they are, and necessarily so ; the law is a machine, 
 of cogs, and wheels, and levers ; and it turns out this, or 
 turns out that, without caring a straw. Dod, I tell ye the 
 fellows can sign away a poor creature's life just as if it was 
 a barrel o' raisins " 
 
 " Mr. McFadyen," said the widow, " where will they put 
 my poor lass ? — where will she be, when she comes before all 
 the people ? " 
 
 Mr. McFadyen was silent for a second, and his face 
 burned red ; none the less he was equal to the occasion ; 
 he managed to answer her without mentioning the word 
 'dock.' 
 
 " Oh, well, Mrs. Maclean, it's this way," he said. " She 
 will be in what you might call the well of the Court ; Mr. 
 (irant will be there, and the Fiscal, and the Sheriif -clerk at 
 the table ; and if she is in a kind of pew by herself, you see 
 that is like the jury — they have boxes for themselves along 
 one side of the central square. It's the Sheriff who is the 
 big man — he is up on the platform " 
 
 " She'll not be in a prison-dress ? " asked the widow, with 
 troubled looks. 
 
 At this the councillor laughed, strenuously and stormily. 
 
 " Prison-dress ! " he said. " In the eye of the law she is 
 as innocent as you or me ! Prison-dress indeed ! The only
 
 THE PLEADING DIET 347 
 
 prison-dress ye' re likely to see about any wlicrc in Duntrooue 
 the now is the over-all Johnnie Stevenson has for saving his 
 clothes up on the links ; and indeed an angry man at golf 
 is the better of some such covering, when he's striking and 
 smashing half the county of Argyll into the air." 
 
 At length the morning arrived on which Barbara was to 
 appear in court for the first time ; and at an early hour 
 Jess stole away up to the house in Battery Terrace. During 
 these past few days she had been in the habit of paying 
 hidden little visits, especially at such times as she thought 
 the schoolmaster was likely to be absent, so that she could 
 see that things were being properly looked after. But on 
 this occasion, when she had finished with the maidservant, 
 she sent word to Allan to apprise him of her being there ; 
 and as soon as he had made his appearance the two of them 
 set out together, making down for the town. And very 
 speedily she discovered that her companion was bitterly 
 impatient over the law's delay. 
 
 "What is the object of all this tomfoolery?" he 
 demanded. "The prisoner should be allowed to plead 
 ' Guilty ' or ' Not Gruilty ' when the first declaration is made ; 
 and the case brought for trial directly — or with a fair time 
 for getting the witnesses together. Just think, Jessie, of 
 these days and days going by ; and poor Alec MacNeil_ in 
 his lonely lodgings, wondering why I do not come for him. 
 Of course, I could not tell him the real reason. He would 
 not believe such a story. Do you remember, Jess ? — he was 
 accusing me of being one of the lucky ones ! Ah, well ; 
 perhaps some night he may fall asleep ; and when his eyes 
 open, they may find before them shores whiter even than 
 the shores of Colonsay " 
 
 " Allan," said Jess, after a moment, " could I not be of 
 some use ? Could I not go through to Glasgow ? IMy 
 mother knows the Captain of the Diinara Gasile very well ; 
 and if I could get your friend that is so ill taken as far as 
 Greenock, then I am sure he would want nothing in the 
 way of kindness " 
 
 " Ah, no, no, Jessie," he said, hastily. " That is where I 
 would like to be myself— giving poor Alec a last chance ; 
 but you — you must be here — we could not be without you 
 here ; when Barbara wants anything done for her, it
 
 348 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 is you that she asks for. And I do not wonder — I do not 
 wonder." 
 
 They were now nearing the Court-house ; and as Jess 
 Maclean's quick and apprehensive scrutiny told her that 
 there were certain idlers gathered about the entrance, scorn 
 and black hatred burned in her heart, and were only too 
 visible in her eyes as well. 
 
 " The dolts ! " she said, between her teeth. " Have they 
 no work to do, that they must come to stare at a poor 
 creature in distress ! " 
 
 But the schoolmaster took no heed of these people — no 
 more than if they had been empty wheelbarrows and pick- 
 axes cumbering the highway. He went by them unnotic- 
 ing ; he ascended the wide, hollow-sounding, stone steps ; 
 he entered the lofty, bare-looking hall ; and took one of the 
 nearest seats, making room for Jess beside him. Here, also, 
 two or three spectators had assembled ; but they were 
 mostly strangers ; for the rest, Lauchlan the shoemaker 
 had come along, in his Sunday clothes ; and from one of 
 the farthest back benches the elfin eyes of Niall G orach 
 glowered and twinkled. 
 
 At this moment the well of the court, the dock, the 
 witness-box, the jury boxes, and the raised platform on 
 which stood the Sheriff's chair of office and his desk — all 
 these were as yet empty ; the business of the day had not 
 begun. And it may be said that the appearance of this 
 provincial hall of justice did credit to Duntroone ; the pew- 
 like benches and the woodwork generally were of polished 
 and shining pitch-pine ; the walls and roof were bright and 
 clean ; there were tall and well-proportioned windows look- 
 ing both to the south and west ; and if most of these 
 windows were dimly blinded over, at least one of them gave 
 a view of the clear outer world — beyond the roofs of the 
 huddled houses was visible the distant azure sweep of 
 Ardentrive Bay, above that again were the sunny slopes of 
 Iverrara, and over these the pale-blue mountains of Mull, 
 those of them that lie about Loch Speliv and Loch Don. 
 
 But presently this one and that of the officials began to 
 come in, making for their accustomed places by the central 
 table : the Sheriff-clerk, the Procurator-Fiscal, the agents, 
 and the like ; while Peter McFadyen, after a final word with
 
 THE PLEADING DIET 3^9 
 
 Mr. Grant, slipped into the pew next the dock, taking- his 
 seat bj the side of Allan Henderson. Jess was trembling 
 a little. She seemed to know that the eyes of the people 
 behind her were directed to a certain door in front of her — 
 over by the corner of the hall ; and she also was listening 
 for footsteps. What the lawyers in the well of the conrt 
 were doing mattered nothing to her. She was half- 
 afraid to iind Barbara appear. Would there not be some 
 terrible reproach — some accusation even — in the mute 
 glance of the prisoner ? For they had received this poor 
 lass in charge, when she was left destitute out in the far 
 island ; and was this Avhab they had allowed her to 
 come to ? 
 
 Then her heart stood still. The red pine door at the 
 corner was opened. A policeman led the way. Next came 
 Barbara ; and at the first glimpse of her Jess thought she 
 looked fearfully ill ; but was it not that her eyes, grown 
 accustomed to the grey twilight of the cell, were partly 
 blinded by this unexpected glare ? She followed obediently, 
 and was directed into the dock ; and if, during these few 
 yards, she had managed to take some brief and shuddering 
 survey of the people assembled, it was done so swiftly as to 
 escape notice. Her eyes appeared to be fixed on the ground 
 as she passed in to occupy the chair awaiting her. She 
 remained with her head bent down. She seemed to pay no 
 attention — to make no effort to understand all this that 
 was going on in court : the various formalities — the 
 questions put and answered — the business-like, half-pathetic 
 conversation with the prosecution and the defence. 
 
 Bat of a sudden the strangest thing occurred. Her eyes 
 must have been wandering a little, however coweringly and 
 fearfully ; they mast have been attracted to the window 
 that gave a view of the shimmering blue sea, and the yellow 
 slopes, and the pallid azure mountains of Mull ; and to this 
 poor imprisoned creature a sight of the far hills was as the 
 sound of the Alphorn to the Swiss soldier in the Strassburg 
 trenches. She uttered a piteous little cry. Involuntarily 
 she stretched forth her hands, and she would have risen 
 from her seat and made in some wild way for that vision of 
 the shining free world without. 
 
 " Let me go ! " she exclaimed, in a panting, half-choked
 
 3SO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 voice that thrilled those who heard. " Oh, let me get out 
 — let me go ! " 
 
 Jess could not reach her ; Peter McFadyen was bewil- 
 dered, and knew not what to do ; it was Mr. Grant, her 
 agent, who stepped quickly across from the table, and put 
 his hand geutly on her shoulder. 
 
 " Be still — be still now ! " he said in a loud and persuasive 
 voice — for the Sheriff, in all the severe majesty of wig and 
 gown, had had his attention attracted by this slight disturb- 
 ance, and was now regarding the prisoner curiously. " We 
 will do our best to get you out. Indeed, indeed we will. 
 You must just sit quiet, and attend to anything that may 
 be asked of you. And when you are called on to plead, you 
 know what you have to say." 
 
 And so she withdrew her hopeless eyes from the warm 
 splendour of that outer world ; she sank into her seat 
 again ; and resigned herself to what was going on. But 
 she did not seem to comprehend, any more than hitherto, 
 what that was ; and they did not bother her very much ; 
 when she was called upon to plead ' Guilty or Not Guilty,' 
 she succeeded in uttering the two words required of her, 
 and these were forthwith recorded by the clerk. By and 
 bye the policeman at the end of the dock opened the small 
 door and intimated to her that she was now to leave ; his 
 brother officer, who had been standing just behind her 
 during the proceedings, prepared to follow ; and thus 
 escorted the prisoner moved away out of the sight of her 
 friends, disappearing down the narrow stone staircase 
 communicating with the yard and the cells. 
 
 Jess and Allan Henderson descended together into the 
 front street. 
 
 " Jessie," said he, " do you not think I might go through 
 to Glasgow now ? You see how aimless all this routine 
 is ; and there is nothing further to be done until the jury- 
 trial — when they will pronounce her innocent, and set her 
 free. I can be of no use. On the other hand, the cry of a 
 dying man rings in one's ears— an appeal from a death- 
 bed is not to be thrust aside " 
 
 " Poor Allan ! " said Jess. " I can see how you are torn 
 two ways." She hesitated for a moment. " But maybe — ■ 
 maybe it would be safer for you to ask Mr. Grant. Ho
 
 A BREAKING AND ENTERING 351 
 
 might wish to consult you. Then if there's nothing more 
 to be done about the witnesses— then you might hurry 
 through to Gksgow, and at least show to your friend that 
 you were not heartlessly neglecting him," 
 
 A stealthy step came following her : she was touched on 
 the arm. 
 
 " You need have no fear," whispered the crouching Niall 
 Gorach ; and he spoke eagerly in the Gaelic tongue. " It 
 is I that will get her out of the j^rison, this night. As sm'c 
 as the Good Being is above us, I am telling the truth. 
 And the Selma — the Selma will be leaving the North Quay 
 at eight o'clock to-morrow morning, for Tobermory and 
 the outer isles ; and will you be there to take your cousin 
 down into the cabin, so that no one will see her ? " 
 
 Jess turned to the loose-witted youth. 
 
 " What cantrip is this now, Niall ? " said she. It was no 
 time for folly ; and yet she could not bring herself to speak 
 harshly to the lad. 
 
 But already Niall had left her side : he was making 
 across the highway towards Long Lauchie — towards 
 Lauchlan the regenerate and respectable, who was walking 
 solemnly homeward in his Sunday clothes. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 A BEEAKING AND ENTERING. 
 
 But Long Lauchie was obdurate. He refused to listen to 
 these mysterious and insidious hints ; he forgot all about 
 old aUiances and adventures ; nay, from the lofty heights of 
 his new-found virtue, he sternly admonished this gangrel- 
 youth. 
 
 " What are you growing up to ? " said he. " It's the 
 gallows will be the end of you — I'm sure of that. No 
 lessons like any other lad — no apprenticeship to any decent 
 trade — hiding and jinking about the country like a 
 gipsy " 
 
 " If we could get the black-haired lass out of jail," fiaid
 
 352 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Niall, with his eyes burning eagerly, " and sent away by the 
 steamer to-morrow morning, it's Mrs. Maclean and Jessie 
 Maclean would be fine and glad of that. But it would need 
 a great deal of thick twine — a fearful lot — and rosin " 
 
 " Away now ! " said Lauchlan, scowling. " I'll have 
 nothing more to do wi' you and your tricks. I tell ye, it's 
 the gallows will end you — son of the devil that you are ! " 
 
 Well, Niall was in nowise cast down ; his discursive wits 
 were nimble, and had already contemplated many alter- 
 natives ; he would manage to get cord and twine somehow. 
 And in the meantime he drew away from these straggling 
 groups of people ; he left the town by the Soroba road ; and 
 at last, when he had got up on the summit he clambered 
 over a wire fence and entered a plantation of young larch 
 and fir. Amongst the thick undergrowth he searched for 
 and found a worn and tattered gam.e-bag that he had hidden 
 there on the previous day ; and with this in his hand he 
 crept still further into the twilight of the wood, and 
 disappeared. 
 
 It was a long while ere he returned to the fence ; and the 
 first objects that caught his sight were three children 
 returning from school — an elder girl of thirteen or so, and 
 twc younger ones. As they came up, he stepped out into 
 the roadway. 
 
 " Daftie ! — daftie ! " called one of the small imps — and 
 ran away laughing ; while the other one, half -giggling and 
 half -frightened, as quickly ran after her. This behaviour 
 on the part of her charges seemed greatly to shame and 
 annoy the elder girl, who was a quiet, wise-like little woman 
 of fair complexion and timid, large blue eyes. 
 
 " You've been at the school ? " said Niall to her. 
 
 " Yes," said she, still blushing hotly over the misconduct 
 of her companions. 
 
 " Mcbbe you can write ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " That's a strange thing now," continued Niall ; " a 
 wonderful strange thing that you can put words down on 
 paper, and tek them away, and they are as good as a 
 message to any one. Will ye show me now ? — will ye show 
 me how ye do it ? See, here's a piece of paper — and mebbo 
 you've a pencil — let me see you write what I will tell you ;
 
 A BREAKING AND ENTERING 353 
 
 and when I get to Dnntroone, I will be asking them if they 
 can read it." 
 
 Perhaps the small lass felt that she owed him some little 
 piece of civility ; at all events she brought out her pencil 
 and wrote for him the words he dictated, which were these : 
 ' If you can use the file, at the tvindow or the door, and 
 get into the yard, you ivillfind a rope hanging over the ivall.'' 
 
 " Bat that is silliness," said she. " No one will under- 
 stand that." 
 
 "Aw, it will do very well," said Niall, in an offhand 
 fashion. " I am sure I am wishing I could write myself." 
 And with that he folded up the bit of paper, and put it 
 in his pocket ; leaving the small maiden to continue on 
 her way and overtake her companions — whom she probably 
 slapped well for their impudence. 
 
 isTiall's next encounter was with Lucais fiar-shuileach — 
 that is to say, cross-eyed Luke — the keeper, who was coming 
 along with a brace of setters at his heels. 
 
 " What's in your bag, Niall ? " he called out. " After the 
 young black game, you scoundrel ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, Mr. Innes, I would not do that ; there's nothing 
 l)ut sticks ! " said Niall — and of his own accord he opened 
 the large and ragged bag. 
 
 But the keeper was not suspicious. Niall was an old 
 acquaintance and dependent of his, receiving from him 
 many an odd job in the shooting season, for among all the 
 youths and lads about there was none so indefatigable in 
 beating through the woods as Niall Gorach. And on this 
 occasion Niall had not lied ; the bag was really half-filled 
 with sticks ; the only thing was that if Lucais fiar-shuileach 
 had been a little more particular in his examination he would 
 have perceived that these pieces of wood were carefully cub 
 al)out the same length, and that each had a notch incised 
 at the middle. The squint-eyed keeper resumed his march, 
 carelessly whistling the praises of the Lass of Loch Etive ; 
 while Niall, shouldering his bag again, proceeded down the 
 hill, until he neared the swampy morass lying at the back 
 of the town. 
 
 Now all round this neighbourhood there is a wide tract 
 of laud chiefly given over to the goods department of the 
 railway — detached wooden sheds, sidings for trucks, and 
 
 2 a
 
 354 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the like occupying the loose space in a kind of promiscuous 
 manner ; while generally there are one or two of the clerks 
 or porters coming or going, because of the short-cut to the 
 next platform. Accordingly Niall Gorach made his way 
 across this outlying suburb without attracting any par- 
 ticular attention ; nor did any spying gaze follow him as 
 he drew nearer and nearer to the wall surrounding the 
 exercise-yard of the police-prison. Arrived there, his move- 
 ments were rapid ; for he at once proceeded to get the sticks 
 out of the bag, placing them in little handfuls along the 
 base of the wall, where they were effectually screened from 
 view by the rough herbage — docks, sorrels, ragwort, and so 
 forth— that grew luxuriantly about. Curiously enough, in 
 this place of coverture there was also a long row of stones 
 of considerable size that had apparently been carefully 
 secreted there ; indeed, if these stones had been sufficiently 
 dark to resemble coal, any inquisitive passer-by might very 
 warrantably have imagined that this youth was bent on 
 some daft project of setting the whole of the police-buildings 
 on fire. However, Niall, having deposited these pieces of 
 wood behind the tall weeds, slung his bag over his shoulder, 
 and, with an apparently vacuous look on his face, set out 
 for the back-street in Duntroone that afforded him a small 
 den of a lodging. He had first of all to get some scrap of 
 food ; and then to wait for the night. 
 
 But it was a long waiting, at this time of the year. The 
 evening and the sunset came together — a fiery sunset that 
 burned fierce and wild behind the Mull and Morven hills ; 
 then that was succeeded by a clear and lambent after-glow, 
 ill which the plum-hued mountains became dark and 
 ^■aporous ; ten o'clock arrived, and the heavens and the 
 sea had grown to be of a pale, ethereal lilac ; nevertheless, 
 far away on the still plain, here and there a small jet-black 
 speck of a boat showed no sign of returning. Niall was 
 down on the beach now, talking to Angus Maclsaac ; both 
 of them, with more or less of resignation, regarding one of 
 those distant dots. From the trees below the ancient 
 castle came the sharp, harsh cry of the tawny owl, and 
 along the higher woods in the east sounded a more pro- 
 tracted and softer too-hoo-lioo-lioo .'—a strange and unearthly 
 call that found an answer somewhere in the gathering 
 
 o " "^ "o
 
 A BREAKING AND ENTERING 355 
 
 twilight. The Maiden Island was of a keen and sharp- 
 cut ebony against the slow-fluctuating and visionary mists 
 lying about Lismore. A three-quarters moon had come up 
 and over the Sound of Kerrara, and underneath was a long 
 and vivid pathway of golden flame, narrrowing and 
 widening here and there, until it seemed to lose itself in 
 a sprinkled radiance among the spars and rigging of the 
 small cutters moored close by. And at last, through the 
 magical silence, came the first muffled sound of oars. 
 
 Nor yet did Niall leave his companion ; not until the 
 smooth-gliding boat had finally been brought in and hauled 
 up on the beach. Then Angus Maclsaac, his day's work 
 over, briefly said good-night and went away home to his 
 supper ; while Niall, now deeming himself secure, made 
 straight off for the wooden house in which Maclsaac kept 
 his dismantled craft and also his store of ship's-chandlery. 
 
 This long, low shanty was erected on a piece of waste 
 ground immediately behind the Great Western Hotel ; so 
 that, when Niall reached it, it was obscure and almost 
 invisible in the gloom thrown by the greater building. 
 The half-witted lad's movements had clearly been pre- 
 meditated. From a hidden corner he picked up his game- 
 bag ; by means of the fence belonging to the hotel, he 
 easily clambered on to the boat-house ; the window in the 
 roof had been left open for ventilation, and he still further 
 opened it ; he shoved his legs and body through, and 
 swung himself down inside ; from the bag he took out 
 and lit a dark lantern ; and now he found himself in this 
 place of strange forms and vague shadows, with its all- 
 pervading odour of paint and tar. Then, aided by the 
 bull's-eye of the lantern, he began his eager exploration. 
 It was cordage he was in quest of — by preference cordage 
 about the thickness of the signal-halyards of a small yacht ; 
 but it was evident that he was not very scrupulous in his 
 harryings. Cordage new or old — guy-ropes — mizzen-sheets 
 — nothing came amiss ; until, finally, he sate himself down 
 in a sheltered place behind an old boat, and there, by the 
 light of the carefully shaded lamp, he began to cut all his 
 tackle into equal lengths, firmly tying near the middle of 
 each length two of the notched pieces of stick, with about 
 a foot's width between them. 
 
 ^ A w
 
 356 ' HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 It was an arduous and tedious '■task ; but Niall was 
 resolute ; and eventually he had both of the large pockets 
 of his game-bag crammed full with those lengths of cord. 
 Thereupon he extiuguished the lamp ; he slung the bag 
 over his shoulder ; he mounted on the upturned keel of a 
 l)oat and mauaged to spring cat-like to the joists supporting 
 the roof : from thence he clambered through the window, 
 slid down, and dropped to the ground below. 
 
 But by this time there was a white moonlight filling all 
 the world ; the esplanade was startlingly distinct ; and the 
 silence was so profound that the almost glass-like sea could 
 be heard murmuring for a great distance round the smooth 
 bays and the rocks. Middle of the night as it was, Niall 
 dared not go along that exposed front, nor risk attracting 
 the attention of some stray policemen by even the most 
 stealthy of footfalls. By a circuitous route he got away to 
 the back of Duntroone ; he followed a winding valley, and 
 climbed up, and passed through the woods of Ardconnel ; 
 and then, cautiously descending again, drew near to the 
 environs of the goods-station. Here, even if he were 
 perceived, he would not be so much remarked ; he would 
 most likely be taken for some official of the line going about 
 his nocturnal duties. 
 
 Presently, in the same furtive fashion, he had crept up to 
 the lofty wall surrounding the exercise-yard of the police- 
 building ; and now he was tolerably safe, being in a black 
 shadow cast by the strong moonlight. Forthwith he set to 
 work. He got out the long lengths of cord ; and to the 
 end of each tied one of the big stones he had previously 
 concealed behind the docks and thistles. When he had a 
 number of these engines prepared, he thought he Avould try 
 one ; so, getting to his feet again, he took the stone in his 
 hand and heaved it over the high wall. There was but a 
 slight noise as it fell on the ashes on the other side. Then 
 he took the hither end of the cord, and began hitching 
 with it a little, until he had got one of the pieces of stick 
 on each side of the top of the wall, which fortunately for 
 him, was protected neither by glass, nor spikes, nor any 
 sort of chevaux de frise. His calculations had been made 
 with sufficient accuracy. The near end of the cord, hanging 
 down, just about touched the weeds.
 
 A BREAKING ANT) ENTERING 357 
 
 The paramoimt question was — how many of these stones 
 must he needs g'efc over in order (along with the friction of 
 the pieces of wood at the summit) to withstand his own 
 wx'ight, slight as that might be ? But then he had ravaged 
 Angus Maclsaac's boat-house to some purpose ; the 
 abundance of signal-halyards, guy-ropes, jib-sheets, and the 
 like, tempted him to make surer and still more sm'e ; until, 
 in the eud, standing upright, he began to plait and overlap 
 these strands into some rude resemblance of a cable. 
 Thereto he was in a measure aided by the sticks at the top ; 
 but anyhow, if the scaling-ladder was of the simplest and 
 most rough-and-ready description, it at all events promised 
 to bear his weight. 
 
 He pulled ; nothing gave. He hauled still more deter- 
 minedly ; everything seemed secure. And then he began 
 to ascend — warily — twisting his feet round the rope — ■ 
 and fending himself off with knee and elboAV. At first 
 his progress w^as easy enough ; but higher up the strain on 
 the intertwisted cords w^as rather bad for his knuckles ; 
 nevertheless the pieces of wood helped ; and at length, with 
 one hand on the smooth and conical summit of the wall, he 
 managed to raise himself so that he could peer over into 
 the yard. There was no sign of life anywhere. The open 
 square was of a pallid and silvery grey ; so was the front of 
 the one-storeyed wing, the small barred windows of which 
 revealed the whereabouts of the cells ; but the other 
 buildings were in an intense shadow, along which any 
 interloper might creep with comparative impunity. And 
 now Niall Gorach, grown bold, threw a leg over the wall ; 
 and took up his position there — with all this white and 
 spectral universe around him, with the solemn peaks of Ben 
 Cruachan, too, rising into the far and clear heavens, beyond 
 the dusky and wooded hills. Perhaps he did not notice 
 that the metallic splendour of the moonlight, touching sea, 
 and cliff, and house-front, was already beginning to yield to 
 a more ordinary grey n ess, especially up towards the east. 
 ISTiall was busy. For the sake of his own escape, or for the 
 escape of the captive whom he had come to release, he had 
 to reverse the ingenious mechanism by which he had 
 practically gained entrance. He had to unplait the 
 improvised rope ; with each strand he hauled up a stone, to
 
 358 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 be dropped on the outer side of the wiiU ; and tlicu, when 
 he had roughly reunited the cords on the inner side, and 
 made sure that the outer weight held, he quietly slipped 
 down the cable, and found himself in the yard. 
 
 But now he could mistake no longer : the new day was 
 near : the cold and penetrating light was gradually dispersing 
 those sombre shadows. And how was he to tell which of the 
 row of small, barred windows was the one that held im- 
 prisoned the black-haired girl ? How was he to communicate 
 with her ? How was he to convey to her the file, concealed 
 in the breast of his jacket, that had round it the pencilled 
 message ? He could pitch the file through one of these 
 windows easily enough ; but it might fall into an empty cell. 
 Niall looked back to the twisted cords : it might after all be 
 better to make good his own retreat — until he should have 
 acquired more accurate information. 
 
 The next moment, in the mystic hush and silence of the 
 grey dawn, there was a sudden rattle and clamour as of 
 twenty parks of artillery, simultaneously bursting forth into 
 roar and flame. Niall cowered under the doorway leading 
 to the Court-house ; and remained there, breathless and 
 motionless. Presently, after this loud and harsh unbolting 
 of locks and bars, the big, stalwart warder stepped out into 
 the open ; he was clad only in trousers, shirt, and waistcoat ; 
 he had obviously come forth to have his morning pipe in 
 the fresh air ; and he proceeded to strike a match on the 
 clay bowl. The head of the lucifer dropped off and fell at 
 his feet ; with a friendly curse he flung the stem after it ; 
 then he rummaged in his pockets — in vain ; then he turned 
 and went inside again, leaving the ponderous door open. 
 It was Niall's opportunity — come what might. He darted 
 across the yard, and entered ; he listened for the warder's 
 footsteps ; he took the opposite direction — which led him 
 right into the corridor of the cells ; and as he now heard 
 someone coming from the other end, he dodged into the 
 only corner available, which chanced to be the bath-room. 
 Here there was a vast display, not only of towels, but also 
 of coloured blankets ; and as these were arranged in shelves, 
 Niall, by throwing himself prone on the floor, and creeping 
 underneath, he found a hiding-place of admirable security. 
 Moreover, he could see what was going on without.
 
 A BREAKING AND ENTERING 359 
 
 Tile uew-coinev who had startled him now made her 
 appearance ; it was the warder's wdfe, a good-iiiitured- 
 looking woman ; and it was in a friendly voice that she 
 said, when she had lifted the flap of the small aperture in 
 the door of the nearest cell— 
 
 " Good-morning ! — and I hope you slept well. And I'm 
 sure Miss Jessie will be coming to sec you the day." 
 
 What the reply w'as Niall could not hear ; but this was 
 enough for him ; the black-haired lass was there — in the 
 cell close by ; and as soon as the woman was gone, what 
 could hinder his passing in the file, with its written 
 directions ? And if she were but quick-brained and active, 
 surely she could soon get rid of the trifling stanchions 
 across the window ? And then the plaited rope awaiting 
 her — and the busy day not yet abroad— the fair-haired 
 cousin looking for her down at the pier — and the Sehna 
 about to sail for the outer isles ? — all was going well now, 
 and he had done what he could to repay the many little 
 kindnesses and friendly looks of Jess Maclean. 
 
 Alas ! at the very moment of success and triumph he was 
 baffled and captured — and captured most ignominiously. 
 For just as he had stolen into the corridor nnd was in the 
 act of raising the leather flap so that he might drop the 
 file into the interior of the cell, the warder's wife chanced to 
 return ; and without any scream, but with astonished eyes, 
 she flew forward at this stranger and seized hold of him, at 
 first by the collar, eventually by the ear. 
 
 " You — you young sinner — is it you, Niall Gorach- — and 
 liow have you come in here ! And what was that you were 
 doing ? . . . Are you there, John — John ! " 
 
 In answer to the summons the bulky warder came 
 sedately along ; and when he saw wdio this was, he seemed 
 inclined to take a humorous view of the case, 
 
 "Well, well, you young weasel, you have got in ; but how 
 are you going to get out ? And how did you get in ? Did 
 you come through the front office ? Forif you did, it's 
 there you're going back ; and we will see what the sergeant 
 will be saying to you. Was you ever hearing of Paul and 
 Silas ? " continued the Avarder, as he inserted his knuckles 
 under the collar of Niall's jacket. " Paul and Silas, that 
 had many stripes laid on them, before they were cast into
 
 36o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 the prison, aud had their feet made fast in the stocks ? 
 AVas it that you were after ? Well, no matter, we'll go and 
 see the sergeant." 
 
 So the unhappy Niall was haled away ; and when they 
 had left the building (this time the warder took care not to 
 leave the door open behind him) he was taken across the 
 exercise-yard, and so into the police-station. There was a 
 constable walking up and down ; the sergeant sate at his 
 desk reading a newspaper ; an old charwoman was on her 
 knees at the front steps, scrubbing the red sandstone. 
 
 " What are we to do with this rascal ? " said the warder, 
 dragging his captive in with him. 
 
 The reply was unexpected. With a sudden twist and a 
 spring Niall flung himself on to the intervening counter ; 
 the impetus carried him right across the smooth surface ; 
 he lit, not on his head, but on his hands — knocking over 
 the old woman and her pail ; and the next instant he was 
 upon his feet and with the speed of a hare making away for 
 the south end of the harbour and for the crags and bushes 
 under the Gallows Hill. 
 
 " Will I run after him ? " cried the dumbfounded constable 
 to his sergeant. 
 
 But the sergeant leisurely grinned. 
 
 " Eun after Niall Gorach ? Ay. And mebbe you would 
 try to catch a squirrel by climbing a tree ? It's the devil 
 will catch him, and no other ; and I'm thinking old 
 Beelzebub will hef his hands full, when that time comes ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 ASPHODELS AND GO WANS. 
 
 When the servant-lass Sarah appeared at the door of Mr. 
 McFadyen's ofRce and announced that Miss Jessie Maclean 
 had called and had been shown into the parlour, tlic 
 councillor betrayed an instant alarm. 
 
 "Dod bless my soul!" he exclaimed — heedless of the 
 presence of his clerk. " Without the least intimation ! Is
 
 ASPHODELS AND GO IVANS 361 
 
 everything" trim, woinm ? Is everytbiuo- redd -up and 
 respectable ? " Then he remembered something — and his 
 vexation broke forth in vicious terms : " Ye stupid idjit, 
 how long is it since I was tehing ye about the curtains and 
 the sofa-cover ! — -how long is it since I bade ye take them 
 off and send them to Perth to be cleaned ? But no — no ! " 
 he continued, as he hastily passed his hands over his 
 topmost and scant locks of hair. " I^ever a thing done ! 
 All ye're fit for is to stand glowering ! And what on earth 
 are ye glowering at now ? It doesna occur to ye to whip 
 off and bring in some tea ? Ye never heard of such a thing 
 as tea, I suppose ? Ye never saw a teapot, I'll be bound ! 
 A great, glowering baggage — a great, glowering, staring, 
 open-mouthed gowk — " But while the councillor was 
 excitedly and aiigrily dusting his coat-collar with his silk 
 pocket-handkerchief, Sarah the servant-lass had with much 
 equanimity turned away and betaken herself to the kitchen. 
 In her own language she never ' fashed her heid about a 
 daft man.' If tea had to be prepared, hurry Avas the most 
 likely thing to spoil it. And the parlour was just as tidy 
 as it ordinarily Avas : if any one wanted it better, notice 
 should have been sent. 
 
 But the town-councillor was far from being waspish and 
 truculent when he passed through from his office to the 
 dwelling-house part of the premises. He welcomed his 
 unexpected visitor with quite an excess of courtesy and gay 
 gallantry ; until Jess, who was of a simple and straight- 
 forward turn of mind, rather put these unnecessary professions 
 aside. 
 
 " Mr. McFadyen," said she, regarding him with her grey 
 eyes, " I want you to tell me : are you hiding anything 
 from us ? Is the case against Barbara more serious than 
 Mr. Grant and you would have us believe ? Why has he 
 nothing for us but vague assurances that mean nothing at 
 all ? I do not object to your saying little to Allan Hender- 
 son — poor Allan ! you see he's very childish and perverse 
 in some ways ; he does not understand — and will not 
 understand ; he has but the one mood just now — a fuming 
 impatience that they should be so long in setting Barbara 
 free ; and when she is set free — well, then, I should not be 
 surprised if he took a thick stick in his hand, and marched
 
 362 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 straight down to tlic haberdasher's shop, and broke the stick 
 over McLennan 's shoulders. It would be just like Allan — ■ 
 he is that unreasoning and masterful — he thinks that justice 
 should be done somehow " 
 
 " Na, na, but not that way ! " cried the councillor, 
 anxiously. " We've had enough of cells, and charges, and 
 prosecutions ; I tell ye I never get a glimpse o' the Court- 
 house, but a shiver runs down my back. I'U be thankful 
 for the time when we can look on the whole o' this as an 
 old story — half-forgotten " 
 
 But Jess was not to be put off. 
 
 " Mr. McFadyen," said she, " what were the things that 
 the police took away when they went up with McLennan's 
 man to search through Barbara's boxes and drawers ? " 
 
 "Oh, well," said Peter, evasively, "a few articles— the 
 Procurator Fiscal has them in charge, and they are all 
 sealed and labelled. Of course Mr. Grant has the right of 
 access to them — no mistake about that — he is entitled to 
 see the productions, as they are called ; but what I maintain 
 is that, as the accused's agent, he ought to have access to 
 the precognitions as well. For I would ask ye this," 
 continued Mr. McFadyen, gaining in breath, and in im- 
 portance, "how are ye to meet a charge unless ye know 
 particularly and in every point what the charge is ? The 
 information that Her Majesty's Advocate, the Eight 
 Honourable John Blair Balfour, puts into the indictment is 
 precious little ; as a friend of the prisoner, I want to see what 
 evidence is going to be led — and I maintain that is what 
 the law should allow me. However, we can make a bit of a 
 guess here and there ; and these things ye speak of, they 
 can help too — there's the red parasol, for example " 
 
 " Yes, the red parasol ? " Jess repeated, quickly. 
 
 "Well," said Mr. McFadyen, after a moment's hesitation, 
 " they may be trying to make some idle story about that 
 too ; but your cousin declares that she paid for it — and that 
 she remembers, for you gave her the money " 
 
 " I did ? " said Jess — and for the briefest second she 
 looked utterly dismayed. But the next instant she had 
 pulled herself together. " And — and if I did — why not ? " 
 she demanded, with pale lips. " It was before she was 
 married "
 
 ASPHODELS AND GO WANS 363 
 
 "Tl 
 
 :hat's just it," returned the couucillor, whose pride of 
 knowledge was leading him into disclosures. " Mebbe they 
 will be trying to show that at that time she had no money 
 to aflford such things " 
 
 " But if I had ! — if I had ! " exclaimed Jess, who had 
 recovered from her temporary trepidation. " Barbara knew 
 well enough where to come ; she would not think of 
 hesitating ; my purse was hers ; there was the money for 
 the parasol, or for anything else she wished, always ready 
 for her " 
 
 "I'm sure of that — I'm sure of that," said McFadyen. 
 " And no doubt Mr. Grant will be giving you a hint what 
 questions he will ask of you at the trial — if the prosecution 
 should chance to take that line, and if you should be 
 wanted. And you must not worry yourself or be anxious, 
 Miss Jessie ; precognitions or no precognitions, we'll do our 
 best " 
 
 There was a tapping at the door : the large, rubicund, 
 gooseberry-eyed servant-lass appeared, and ushered in another 
 visitor — it was the schoolmaster. 
 
 " I was told you had come here," said he to Jess, forget- 
 ting to make any apology for the interruption. "And — 
 and I have but a few minutes. Will you read this ? " 
 
 He put a telegram into her hand : these were the words 
 she found before her — 
 
 ' Good-bye. Not able to write. Alec' 
 
 " You see I have no alternative," the schoolmaster con- 
 tinued, hurriedly. " I must go through to Glasgow at once ; 
 there is just time for me to catch the train. Only, I wanted 
 to say a word to you, Jessie " 
 
 " Will you let me walk to the station with you, AUan ? " 
 she responded promptly. " Then you can tell me on the 
 way what it is you want of me." 
 
 " Will you do that ? " said he. " Ay, but you were ever 
 and always the goodhearted one ! " 
 
 Jess nodded a friendly farewell to the councillor ; and 
 the next minute she and Allan were passing quickly along 
 the harbour-front, conversing in low tones, their eyes 
 occasionally glancing towards the clock at the railway- 
 station. Yet it was no elaborate request he had to make ; 
 it was merely that she should seek the earliest opportunity
 
 364 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 of gaming an interview with Barbara, and explain to her 
 why he had been thus hastily summoned away. Also, would 
 Jess do what she could to lighten the burden of this 
 inexplicable imprisonment ? But he knew she would do 
 that — she could not help it, he said to her — it was in her 
 nature. 
 
 She accompanied him along the platform, where the 
 guard was urging the last of the passengers into the 
 carriages. As Allan stepped into a third-class compartment, 
 he suddenly paused for a moment, and began to search one 
 pocket after another. 
 
 " You've forgotten your pipe ! " said she. 
 
 She saw that her surmise was true ; and in another 
 second she was off and down the platform to the tobacconist's 
 stall, where she was able — being known to the lad in charge 
 ■ — to pounce without (question or delay on a wooden pipe 
 and a packet of bird's-eye. When she returned to the 
 carriage, the train was already in motion. She handed her 
 parting gifts in at the window. 
 
 "And you'll look after Barbara ? " said he. 
 
 "That will I," she answered, "as well as I can." And 
 she waited until the slow-moving string of carriages had 
 crawled round the curve, and was hidden from sight. 
 
 This was the afternoon train for the south ; and by the 
 time it had panted, and shrieked, and thundered its way 
 inland by the shores of Loch Etive and through the Pass 
 of Brander, the wide, silver-rippling, and glancing waters of 
 Loch Awe had begun to assume a slightly golden hue, 
 rendered all the more brilliant by being visible through the 
 pendulous branches of the birch-trees. As the evening 
 drew on, there was up by Glen Dochart and Glen Ogle a yet 
 warmer light shining along the shoulders and peaks of the 
 lonely mountains ; later still, the dark Loch Lnbnaig, down 
 in its hollow, had a touch of crimson among the purples 
 and greys that crept into the trembling reeds ; and still 
 later, the brawling Leny, the widening Teith, the smooth- 
 flowing Allan Water caught here and there, from the 
 overhanging heavens, a glimmer of saffron and rose-red 
 fire. And then, as he left behind him the last of the 
 Highland hills and Stirling rock ; and as he got further 
 and further down into the Lowland plains, then ' the sun
 
 ASPHODELS AND GOWAXS 365 
 
 set, and all the ways were overshadowed ; ' and when he got 
 into Glasgow town, a pervading blue-grey mist had filled the 
 thoroughfares, and the gas-lamps were being lighted. 
 
 He did not stay to secure any lodging for himself ; he 
 made straight for the address he had brought with him ; he 
 entered the dusky 'close' and ascended the sombre stone 
 stair. He rapped at a door, and was referred to a floor 
 above. Arrived there, he rapped again ; and an old woman 
 appeared, bearing a candle — for now it Avas practically 
 night. 
 
 " I am Allan Henderson, ' he said — fearing to question. 
 
 ""Well, well, indeed," said the ancient dame, in an accent 
 that sounded friendly in his ear ; " he'll be glad to see you 
 ■ — wake as he is, poor lad. Many's was the time he was 
 speaking of you — ay, will you come in now — and not mek 
 mich noise, in case he is sleeping " 
 
 He followed her into the lobby, taking his cap into his 
 hand ; and then, after a moment or two of surveillance, he 
 entered the room she indicated. The eyes of the sick man 
 — which were singularly large, and clear, and lustrous — ■ 
 lighted up with pleasure ; a worn smile of welcome 
 appeared on the white and sunken cheeks. The old woman 
 brought forward a chair ; but Allan went to the bedside, 
 and took his friend's hand, and remained standing. 
 
 " Alec, lad, this is not right — this is not what ought to 
 be," he said. "AVhat have they been doing to you in this 
 great town ? — we'll have to get you away to Colonsay, after 
 all " 
 
 " Sit down, old chap," said the other, in a labouring and 
 husky voice. "And do not burden your soul with lies, 
 Allan ; you never were good at it ; and you never were a 
 good actor either. You must see I'm dying. What about 
 Ihat ? Sit down and let's have a bit of a friendly confab, 
 as in the old days. I sent ye a silly cry — man, ye should 
 have paid no heed to it " 
 
 " Come, come, now," Allan interrupted, as he took the 
 chair that was close by. "I'll not have ye talk in that 
 fashion. I should not wonder if your own instinct was the 
 best guide after all — that ye should be off to have a look at 
 the seas and the clouds about Colonsay " 
 
 " No, no," MacNeil said, quietly, " The long pantomime's
 
 366 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 coming to an end. The pantomime with its demons and 
 evil chances — its hopes and adventures — its sham and 
 shimmer of love-business even : all coming to an end, and 
 what one is waiting for is the transformation-scene. And 
 after ? " For a second he glanced with a curious look at 
 his friend. But in those strangely-brilliant eyes there was 
 no sort of delirium — nor any trace of agitation or appre- 
 hension : what little life was left him was burning away 
 quite clearly, peacefully, complacently. Nay, there was 
 even a frail touch of humour about the pallid lips as he 
 continued : " Mind, it may stand well with me that I have 
 always been respectful about the older deities : I remem- 
 bered Baudelaire. Heine was wise too : ' Mensch, verspotte 
 nicht den Tevfel ' — though maybe that's carrying prudence 
 to an extreme. Anyhow, I've always held the great old 
 gods in high respect ; and who knows, when I go below, 
 but they may let me wander through the twilight in a 
 harmless kind of way, looking at the famous ghosts. The 
 heavy-browed Homer for one — if he's still blind, I could 
 lead him about, man ! — and Ulysses, still thinking and 
 dreaming about Sicily — and Achilles — Achilles sure to be 
 weeping and bemoaning himself — would rather be the slave 
 of the meanest hind on earth than the lord of all the 
 phantom-dead. But Nausicaa, now — what do you say, 
 Allan — if one were to come anywhere within sight of her 
 playing with her maidens — well, I think I might have 
 cheek enough to step forward. I don't think I could help 
 it. ' Madam,' I would say to her, as humbly as she might 
 Avish, ' Madam, I am but a poor Scotch student ; and yet if 
 you will permit me, I would like well to stand by the 
 stream, and bring you back the ball, when it chances to fall 
 in.' x4.11an, lad, what colour is the asphodel ? " 
 
 The schoolmaster, startled out of a reverie, could not say : 
 he muttered something about the bog-asphodel of this 
 country being a small spiked flower, of a yellow colour. 
 
 " The asphodel down there must be purple — to suit the 
 twilight," Alec MacNeil went on — garrulous even in his 
 huskiness, and perhaps too much rejoiced over this visit of 
 his old chum. "Purple — ay— and tall, and lily-like — for 
 the huge Orion to go crashing through the meadows, after 
 the wild beasts. But Allan, tell me thi« now ; is't not
 
 ASPHODELS AND GOWANS 367 
 
 likely — supposing I were to gather a handful of the asphodels 
 — a whole handful of purple asphodels— do ye not think 1 
 would be ready enough to give the lot of them in exchange 
 for just one siugle gowan — a gowan found away up on 
 Cathkin Braes — in the white light of a May morning ? 
 Mau, do ye remember how white the mornings were — 
 Sunday mornings mostly — away out by Cathkin and 
 Kilbryde and Eaglesham ? — ay, and not to be despised 
 either, the other mornings, when we could take a turn 
 nearer at hand — out by Maryhill or that way — before 
 coming back for Kennedy and his high Oxford sing-song — 
 •up Maryhill way — do ye remember the farm-house — and 
 the glimpses of the Argyllshire hills far out in the west — 
 and the fancy that the tops of them were looking across to 
 Jura, and Colonsay, and the Atlantic waves " 
 
 The watchful old grandmother came sidling up behind 
 the schoolmaster's chair, and said in a whisper — 
 
 " Check him, sir— check him ; or he'll be bringing on the 
 cough again." 
 
 Allan held up his hand. 
 
 " Well I remember," he said ; " well I remember the 
 white mornings — and Cathkin Braes — and many a silver 
 gowan and yellow buttercup. But ye see. Alec, fine things 
 of that kind are rather exciting to think of — and you've 
 done talking enough now " 
 
 " You're not going — after a mere minute or two ! " the 
 sick man exclaimed — pantingly and piteously. 
 
 " Nay, I'll stay with ye for a while — until your grand- 
 mother puts me out maybe," Allan rejoined ; " but it's I 
 must do the talking now, and I'll tell you all about my 
 small affairs and adventures, since the time I went to 
 Duntroone." 
 
 And this he did — for a good half -horn' or more ; and in 
 a blithe and Ughtsome fashion, the better to interest and 
 amuse this friend of old days. What terrible conviction 
 may have lain lurking behind all this assumed cheerfulness 
 was for his own heart alone.
 
 368 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 ON THE EVE. 
 
 Next day lie wcut up again to Alec MacNeil's lodgiugs. 
 Distracted enough he was. On the one hand, he dared not 
 remain longer in Glasgow, for Barbara was to come before 
 the Sheriff the very next morning ; on the other hand, it 
 seemed impossible he could tear himself away from this 
 poor wretch, whose eyes, with all their affectation of mirth 
 and content, had a strange, involuntary pleading in them. 
 It was MacNeill himself who sought to set his mind at rest. 
 
 " Away home, Allan — away home now," he said. " And 
 take this comfort with ye, that you'll never see the island of 
 Colonsay — however far off on the horizon it may be — jusb 
 a gray line — a bit of thin transparency — I say you'll never 
 see Colonsay without remembering that you did the last 
 possible kindness to an old friend and a dying man. It 
 was more than I could expect. Railway fares are some- 
 thing to a School Board master — ay, and one that has a 
 young wife and a house to think of ; and if you had but 
 said good-bye in a sixpenny telegram, it would have been 
 enough " 
 
 " Be quiet now, Alec," said the other, sharply. " I tell 
 you, I'm desperate vexed I have to leave you again this 
 afternoon ; you see, the holidays are coming to an end now, 
 and I must have everything ready — for my classes as well ; 
 but then, I can come back — man, I can come back ! — and 
 we've not done yet with the project of taking ye to Colonsay, 
 and trying you with fresh milk and new potatoes — and 
 your native air around you " 
 
 The sick man shook his head, and there was some wan 
 make-believe of a smile on the wasted face. 
 
 "You forget, Allan. I've an appointment. I'm due. 
 I must be waiting in the meadows, among the half-black 
 asphodels ; and when those Phgeacian young creatures come 
 along, I'm ready, I've got my bit speech prepared for the 
 light-footed one at their head : ' Madam, I pray you to for- 
 give my accent ; but if I can make myself understood at all, 
 a poor Scotch student would take it as a favour if you
 
 ON THE EVE 369 
 
 would let him stand down by the stream and stop the ball 
 for you." 
 
 " She could not refuse ! " 
 
 " Oh, well," said he, with a sigh, and he turned away his 
 head, " there may be some strange doors unlocked for me 
 before long. I wish I could send ye word, Allan." 
 
 When, on the evening of this same day, Allan Henderson 
 returned to Duntroone, he found the ever-faithful Jess 
 awaiting him on the platform. Jessie's eyes may have been 
 somewhat concerned and apprehensive ; but outwardly she 
 was bearing herself with her accustomed quiet. 
 
 " What's the news, then, Jessie .? " said he, as he stepped 
 from the train. 
 
 '' Oh, nothing — nothing particular," she answered, " only 
 that all of us are naturally a little anxious — anxious that 
 everything should go right to-morrow. And Mr. McFadyen, 
 he has been as busy and hard at work as Mr. Grant himself 
 — about the witnesses to character ; and if the jury Avill 
 believe Barbara's story — and how can they otherwise ? — 
 how can they but believe it ? — there will be no trouble 
 at all." 
 
 " Could we go in to see her now ? " he asked. 
 
 " T am thinking it is too late now," Jess said, with some 
 embarrassment. " And, besides, they are maybe not so 
 friendly towards us since Niall G orach tried to get her 
 away " 
 
 " What nonsense ! " the schoolmaster exclaimed, impa- 
 tiently. " Are they afraid of the silliness of a crack- 
 brained creature like that 't " 
 
 " Perhaps they are not liking that any one should have 
 been able to get over the wall," Jess suggested. 
 
 " Why, then, do they not put spikes on the top ? " he 
 demanded. 
 
 But it was not Jessie's business to devise means for the 
 better security of the prison. She had already secured her 
 point. She had led him away from his proposal that 
 they should endeavour at this unasnal hour to gain access 
 to the cells ; and by the time they were leaving the railway 
 premises he had taken his place by her side with unconscious 
 submission. Stul)born and fractious as he was with most, 
 he invariably yielded to Jess — and never knew he was 
 
 i V.
 
 370 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 yielding. It seemed natural to him to do as she wished ; 
 for there was always a shrewd and kindly common-sense 
 in what she said — even when she was flouting and merciless. 
 And if Jess was now taking him along with her to press on 
 him some bit of supper, why, he obediently and unheedingly 
 went ; though supper was about the last thing in his 
 thoughts. 
 
 And yet it was no mere hospitable stratagem that had 
 made Jess solicitous to get the schoolmaster carried away 
 home with her. Earlier in the day she had seen Barbara — 
 in the pale twilight of the cool, clean, quiet, terrible cell ; 
 and when she had suggested that perhaps Allan might 
 return from G-lasgow in time to obtain admission, Barbara 
 had shrank back from that prospect with something like 
 dread. 
 
 " No, no," she had replied, in a low voice — so that if 
 possible the warder's wife might not overhear — " I am not 
 wishing to see Allan any more now, before the trial. They 
 have been asking me questions — and I have been thinking 
 — maybe — maybe something will happen to-morrow." 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! " cried Jess — with at least a profession 
 of great confidence. "What will happen to-morrow is 
 well-enough known. Your story is quite clear, Barbara — 
 they can do nothing but admit their mistake " 
 
 " But you will keep Allan away," continued Barbara, as 
 if not hearing. " You'll keep him away, Jess ! And then 
 to-morrow — if something should happen — if they say I took 
 the blouse — or any of the other things— then where is it 
 they will be sending me ? Can you tell me, Jessie ? It is 
 away from Duntroone ? Is it where I would not have to 
 meet Allan again ? Would they let me go — without having 
 to face him " 
 
 it 
 
 I hardly understand what you mean, Barbara," said 
 Jess, slowly. " Do you mean if — if — the law should say 
 the evidence — was against you ? Do you mean a con- 
 viction ? " 
 
 " Yes," was the answer, uttered in a whisper ; and she 
 was hidden and cowering, with lowered head. 
 
 " Well, then," said Jess, recovering herself — and now she 
 spoke boldly — " if the law should find you guilty — justly or 
 unjustly, if the law should find you guilty, Barbara — there
 
 ON THE ]■:¥£ 371 
 
 is but the one place for your liusbaud to be, aud that is l)y 
 your side. And that is where Allan Henderson would be, 
 in such a case — that I know well — I know the man that he 
 is — I know where he would be. And why shonld you 
 distrnst him, Barbara ? Why should you fear him ? Since 
 ever you two came together, he has had eyes for no one in 
 the world but you. He has given you everything — grudged 
 you nothing —the temper and stiff neckedness he many a 
 time shows to others he has never shown to you " 
 
 "But— 1)ut I had never ))rouglit shame on him," was the 
 response, in half-smothered accents — and her hands were 
 clinched now over her knees. " I am frightened of him, 
 Jess. Jess, Jess, I'm frightened of him ! — and you'll be 
 sure not to let him come here this afternoon ; and to- 
 morrow — well, to-morrow, if they are sending me away to 
 jail, where is it ? " 
 
 " The jail ? — in Glasgow, I suppose," said Jess, half- 
 stupefied. 
 
 " Ah, and then I can get away without seeing him ! " she 
 cried, in the same exhausted voice. " And I'll never come 
 back, Jessie, I'll never come back again to any of you ! — • 
 because of the shame." Tears gathered in the beautiful, 
 out-sweeping black lashes ; a sort of infantine piteousness 
 trembled about her mouth ; she rocked herself to and fro. 
 " Why was I ever coming to Duntroone ? Why did they 
 bring me here, if there was no more home for me at Knocka- 
 lanish ? But I'll go away now — I'm going away now — and 
 
 I'll not come back to b;ing shame on anyone " And 
 
 so she would have continued, in despair and childish self- 
 commiseration, but that Jess Maclean, was by her side, 
 hushing those wild words, and drawing towards her the 
 downcast head with all its splendour of raven hair, now so 
 sadly despoilt and dishevelled ; and strangely enough the 
 greatest comfort Jess seemed able to afford was the 
 reiterated assurance that i\.llan Henderson, whatever time he 
 might arrive from Glasgow, shonld not be allowed to come 
 near. 
 
 And even at this eleventh hour the indefatigable Peter 
 IMcFadyen had not yet done. While all the rest of the 
 world had come forth from the houses to wander hither and 
 thither by the sea-front — for gossip, and smoking, and to 
 
 2 B^2
 
 372 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 watch the jet-hulled rowing-boats move about the wide 
 golden plain — the councillor was making his way along one 
 of the smaller back-thoroughfares, until he paused at a 
 certain entrance. Then, in an apparently offhand way, he 
 glanced up and down the street — but indeed the place was 
 pvactienlly deserted ; and when at length he dived into the 
 entry and made his way up the dark staircase, he met no 
 one at all ; not only that, but on reaching the top landing 
 he found the door in front of him open, while a profound 
 silence prevailed. He hesitated. It was like as if he had 
 come on a fool's errand. But the next moment there came 
 from the adjoining room the sound of a voice— a loud, 
 raucous, monotonous voice, with the additional sound of 
 some one pacing up and down. 
 
 " Je vous scdue, Moisieur,''^ proceeded the unseen mono- 
 logist. " Comment va la sante ? Oui, je me forte a merveiUe, 
 Dieu merci — et toiijoiirs j)ret a voiis servir. Des draps ? 
 Parfaitement ! Mais, asseyez-vous — asseyez-vous done, 
 monsieur! Tai des draps d''AngMerre, d'Allemagne, et de 
 Belgique de toutes les coideurs et de lonne qualite. Void wi 
 drap siiperfin, et hien tondu. . . . Monsieur, c'est le dernier 
 prix, je vous assure. . . . Blais voyez cette autre piece, peid- 
 etre vous conviendra-t-elle davantage. . . . JSfon? . . . 
 Voulez-vons que je vous fasse voir des couleurs melan- 
 gees? " 
 
 Mr. McFadyen held back no longer : he knew this was 
 his man. He passed into the lobby, and knocked at the 
 door of the nearest apartment. The French phrases ceased ; 
 there was a half -uncertain ' Come in ! ' ; and therewithal 
 the councillor entered the room. 
 
 He found before him a young man of about two-and- 
 twenty, with a shock-head of sandy-yellow hair, high 
 cheekbones, and small, keen blue eyes. The unhappy 
 youth was blushing furiously ; his face was about as red as 
 the ' Manual of Conversation ' he had hastily shut and 
 placed on the table ; and he was now reaching over to the 
 bed to pick up his coat, for he had been marching to and 
 fro in his shirt-sleeves, on this warm summer night. 
 
 "Mr. McTaggart, I think?" the councillor said, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " Ay, that's my name," was the shy answer.
 
 ON THE EVE 373 
 
 " Mine is McFudyen — I dtire say ye know who I am," 
 Peter continued, as he took a chair, and even made bold 
 to possess himself of the small red volume lying on the 
 table. " I imagine I heard ye at the French — it's a fine 
 language — a great leeterary accomplishment " 
 
 " That is hardly what I'm thinking of," the young man 
 said. " It was rather for business purposes " 
 
 " Ah, for business purposes ? But surely there's no so 
 many French folk coming through Duutroone way ! " 
 rejoined the visitor. 
 
 " Oh, no. But — but I was thinking I might get a better 
 chance abroad than staying here — in some new settlement 
 — maybe in South Africa, or East Africa, or the like ; and 
 if I could master a little French and German, perhaps a 
 trifle of Portuguese too, it might help me to get on " 
 
 " Admirable— a dmiral:)le ! " cried the councillor, with lofty 
 approval. " That's what I like to hear. That's the true 
 spirit. 'From scenes like these auld Scotia's grandeur 
 springs ' — the humble lodging, the energetic young Scotch- 
 man laying his plaus, with an eye to the Colonies, or 
 further even than that. And what would our Colonies be, 
 but for the pushing youug Scotchman, who is up at the 
 front everywhere ? Ay, and in the race for Africa, that 
 they talk about, grant a Scotchman his own mother-wit, and 
 give him besides such implements as these — these languages 
 — and where's his equal, where's his rival ? " The 
 councillor calmed down a little from this dithyrambic 
 outburst, and began to turn over the pages of the Manual. 
 " And teaching yourself too ? " he resumed, encouragingly. 
 " That's well — that's well. But do ye not experience a little 
 difficulty with the pronunciation ? " 
 
 " I have a Pronouncing Dictionary," the young man made 
 answer — perhaps, Avith all his bashfulness, beginning to 
 think that Mr. McFadyen the coal-merchant might as well 
 state the object of his visit, 
 
 " Not so satisfactory," said Peter, with a critical air. 
 "There's nothing like hearing the folk themselves speak 
 for giving ye the turn of a language. Nothing like travel. 
 Have ye ever been across the water to France ? " 
 
 "I have never been as far south as London," said the 
 young haberdasher.
 
 274 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Dod bless me ! " exclaimed the councillor. Aud tlieu 
 he added drily : " But I wouldna have ye begin there. If 
 yc would understand what the folk in the street are saying, 
 ye must try something easier than London. Ostend, now, 
 or Calais, or Paris itself — though in Paris they are rather 
 given to that nipping and pinching of their speech, and the 
 hurry they're in is just fearful. But it would be practice 
 for ye ; it would be practice ; and I'm sure ye'd like to see 
 the way they deck out the splendid windows o' their 
 magazines, as they call them "i " 
 
 " That I would," returned the young man, quickly, with 
 his eyes lighting up. Then he added : " But it's not to be 
 thought of, as far as I am concerned : it's far away beyond 
 
 me." 
 
 All this while the town-councillor had been idly turning- 
 over leaf after leaf, and glancing at this or that phrase ; but 
 now he slowly shut the book, and placed it on the table, and 
 shoved it away from him. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. McTaggart," said he ; " I 
 should have told you ere now my chief purpose in calling 
 upon ye. As I understand it, you are one of the principal 
 witnesses, if not the principal witness, in the trial that's to 
 take place to-morrow." 
 
 The draper's young man looked uncomfortable — but did 
 not reply. 
 
 " No that I'm seeking to interfere wi' the ends of justice," 
 McFadyen continued. " God forbid. I would rather 
 promote them. But you are a young man — perhaps not 
 deeply read in human nature — perhaps not accustomed to 
 seeing a young woman in distress — or to comprehend what 
 she may say or do to save herself. Do ye understand me .? 
 It's a terrible thing to give evidence that may ruin a 
 fellow-creature, and bring disgrace on her family. Are ye 
 so sure of your own observation — of your accuracy of 
 sight and hearing ? I have learned what story it is you 
 have to tell ; most of us have an inkling ; and I suppose 
 to-morrow, when the Sheriff has bade ye take the oath, you 
 are prepared to abide by what you think did really 
 happen " 
 
 "I can but tell the truth ! " the young man blurted out 
 — perhaps with some vague sensation of alarm.
 
 ON THE EVE 375 
 
 " I admire ye for that," Peter continued, calmly. " But 
 have ye considered now ? If ye were to bear false witness 
 —however innocently, however unintentionally — I'm sure 
 it would haunt ye to your dying day : what then would 
 be your satisfaction in striving and holding your own 
 among all the fello\YS that call themselves the pioneers of 
 civilisation ? Whereas — and this is what I want particularly 
 to impress on ye, Mr. McTaggart — and I'm not interfering 
 — I would not interfere — what I want to fix in your mind 
 is that it is so easy not to say things when you're called as 
 a witness. It's so easy to be safe, for your own peace of 
 mind, for the satisfaction of your own conscience, in after 
 hours and days. That poor creature of a lass, how could 
 she know what she was doing or saying when she was 
 startled by such a charge being brought against her ? You 
 have the impression — an honest impression — yes, yes, 
 doubtless — you have the impression that she offered to pay 
 for the blouse : but are ye sure ? are ye going to hamper 
 your conscience with a possibility ? And as for the other 
 things you think she said — why, surely in such a moment 
 of desperate flurry and fright, it is all a matter of con- 
 struction : and your friendly construction — your friendly 
 word — or, better still, what ye might refuse to say — would 
 just be life or death to her, and the saving or the disgrace 
 of her family and friends." 
 
 The young man was staring ; and well he might stare. 
 For now, without a further word, Mr. McFadyen took forth 
 from his pocket-book a brand-new Bank of Scotland note 
 for £5, and placed it on the table before him. And then 
 he took out another, and spread that besides its fellow. 
 And then he went to the window, and stood there for a 
 moment or two, looking through the dim panes. 
 
 " Mr. McFadyen," said the poor lad, in an agitated 
 voice, " what do ye mean ? I'm bouiid to tell the truth — • 
 I'll have to take the oath to speak the truth " 
 
 Peter turned round — with a sharp and swift glance. The 
 two bank-notes still lay on the table. He advanced a step, 
 took them up, and restored them to his pocket-book. 
 
 " Yes," said he, with a bland magnanimity. " That is 
 undoubtedly so. But I would just remind ye — for ye are 
 a young man yet — that it is hard to tell what the truth
 
 376 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 may have been in a moment of excitement ; and, as I say, 
 a friendly witness can omit tliis or tliat, and salve his own 
 conscience as well. Do ye think I am offering a bribe ? 
 Na, na, I'm acquainted with the law ! But — but I was 
 thinking, after I heard ye busy wi' your French conversation, 
 that a young man like you would profit just beyond 
 measure by a week or two's travelling abroad — your next 
 holidays, I mean ; and I would like to help you. Ay," 
 concluded the wily councillor, as he rose to his feet, " and 
 I would add this : that whatever ye happened to see lying 
 on the table remains in my pocket-book, for the present ; 
 but — but witliout prejudice, as the lawyers say — it might 
 come out aud lie on the table again. Do ye understand mc ? 
 There's no bribery attempted or thought of — God forbid ; 
 but a friendly witness is a friendly witness ; and a friendly 
 witness is one that keeps a happy conscience thereafter in 
 his own body. Do ye understand me ?^ — and I'll just leave 
 ye to think over what I've said." 
 
 And therewith the unscrupulous McFadyen, quite pleased 
 with himself and his astuteness and diplomacy, got him 
 out of the silent and empty house ; and presently was down 
 again on the busier esplanade — where the moving groups 
 of people were almost ebony-black against the russet and 
 golden after-glow that filled both sea and sky. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 ARRAIGNE]). 
 
 " The Court ! " called out the Crier ; a sudden hush fell 
 over the scattered groups of folk in the red pine pews ; 
 from the opened door the Sheriff, in wig and gown, advanced 
 to his place on the bench ; the one or two lawyers at the 
 central table rose and bowed, and the salutation was 
 returned ; then the business of the day began. It was all 
 so commonplace, familiar, routine-like. Those people— the 
 spectators — had been idly talking to each other about their 
 ordinary affairs ; or glancing out of the tall window to wai'ds
 
 ARRAIGNED 377 
 
 the blue mountains of Mull ; or with a listless curiosity 
 scanning some new-comer. They seemed little to compre- 
 hend what issues were involved — what all this meant to the 
 solitary figure in the dock, alone with her own dreadful 
 fears, perhaps even witli her despair. 
 
 But there was at least one person present who was 
 nervously and excitedly alive to all that was going on ; and 
 that was the little widow, who was seated by her daughter's 
 side, with her hand firmly gripping Jessie's arm. She said 
 nothing while the Sheriif-clerk, in the well of the court, 
 was reading alond the charge against the accused ; she only 
 ejaculated, to herself, " Poor lass ! " when the Judge formally 
 asked Barbara if she adhered to her previously-tendered 
 plea of " Not Guilty " ; but when the Clerk proceeded to 
 impanel the jury, her agitation could hardly be kept within 
 control. 
 
 " See, see ! " she said, in a hurried undertone, to Jess. 
 " There's Johnnie Wilson — Johnnie ! — that I mind coming 
 to Duntroone a long-legged lad with scarce a pair of shoes 
 to his feet. Ay, and niany's the good turn your father was 
 doing him ; do you think Johnnie Wilson would be wishing 
 to harm us now ? And McKendrick, Jess— d'ye see 
 McKendrick the boatbuilder yonder — ah, that's a good^man 
 — just a perfect man — an elder in Queen Street Free Kirk ; 
 and it's no possible he would lift a finger against an orphan ! 
 It's just no possible ! And did you think Barbara made it 
 quite clear to them that she was pleading ' Not Guilty ? '— 
 1 could hardly hear her myself — and they're in such a huny 
 from one thing to another that a body is just driven daft- 
 like. See, Jess, there's IMcLaughlin the bookseller ! — a 
 wise, kindly lad — as kindly a lad as ever lived ! — if I had 
 known he was to be on the jury, I would have slippit round 
 one of these past evenings to see him and his mother. And 
 do ye not think ye could make a bit signal to him, and let 
 him see we are here, and looking to him for help ? There 
 could be no harm in that, lass — no harm at all " 
 
 " Sh ! mother ! " said Jess, mider her breath. 
 
 For now the Procurator Fiscal, rising from his place at 
 the table, intimated to the Judge that ho would proceed to 
 lead evidence ; and the first witness summoned by the Crier 
 was Alexander McLcnnau. Mr. McLennan the draper— a
 
 378 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 small, pale, black-a-vised, shy-looking man — stepped along 
 and entered the witness-box. The little widow was regard- 
 ing him with eyes that bnrned. 
 
 " Ah, the ape ! — ah, the serpent ! " she muttered, through 
 her clenched teeth — and she was all trembling with passion. 
 " To bring such a story against one of my girls ! If my 
 poor man was alive — if my man was alive to look after us — 
 McLennan would not be standing there with his brazen 
 face " 
 
 And yet McLennan the draper — when the oath had been 
 administered to him by the Sheriff, and when the Fiscal, 
 following the witness's precognition which he held in his 
 hand, set about eliciting his story — McLennan did not 
 appear to be actuated by any animosity. The tale he had 
 to tell was simple enough. In answer to the Fiscal's 
 (juestions, he said he had been led to suspect the accused 
 because of the disappearance of certain articles after she 
 had been visiting his shop ; and he had resolved to watch, 
 and had ordered his assistants to do the like. On the day 
 in question, the accused entering the shop, he had directed 
 the silk tartan blouse now produced — produced and lying 
 on the table for the jury to see — to be placed on the 
 counter. She had on one or two previous visits examined 
 the blouse, inquired the price, and so forth. On this last 
 occasion she had made some small and unimportant 
 purchases, and was about to leave the shop again, when 
 witness, who had been standing behind a rack used for the 
 lianging and displaying of shawls, stepped forward and 
 intercepted her. He saw that the blouse was gone ; he 
 assumed that she had taken it ; and asked her if she had 
 received a bill for it. The prisoner was greatly discon- 
 certed ; said she had not taken the blouse ; at the same 
 moment it appeared to fall from underneath her half-open 
 jacket. She then made conflicting statements ; first, that 
 she meant to pay for it on her return ; again, that it had 
 fallen on the floor by accident ; again, that she had been 
 commissioned to buy it for her cousin, and would bring the 
 money presently ; at last she said she would give them the 
 price of the blouse twice over if they would let her go. 
 Then he sent for a policeman. 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the widow, breathing liard, " but it is not
 
 ARRAIGNED 379 
 
 a policeman you would want, if God was to strike you dead 
 for your lies ! " 
 
 The Fiscal sate down, and the long, thin, sandy-haired 
 Mr. Grant got up, leisurely twisting his watch-chain between 
 finger and thumb. Addressing the witness, he said he 
 Avished to put a few questions. Had he, McLennan, on any 
 previous occasion observed the prisoner abstract any article 
 from his shop ! No ? Then how came he to fix his 
 suspicions on her out of all his customers ? Did he do so 
 just at random ? Being annoyed over these losses, was he 
 determined to secure a scapegoat, no matter whom ? And 
 being resolved to convict somebody, he was not above laying 
 a snare ? And having prepared his trap, he was fully 
 anticipating that his designed victim would fall into it ? 
 He was behind a screen of shawls, and perhaps could not 
 see very well ; but, expecting a certain thing to happen, he 
 did not need the evidence of his eyes : he jumped to the 
 conclusion that it had happened ? 
 
 " Ah, do ye hear ? — do ye hear, Allan ? " exclaimed the 
 impulsive and warm-hearted little widow, as she leaned over 
 and touched the schoolmaster on the arm — the schoolmaster, 
 whose absorbed and rapt attention seemed to be following 
 every turn and twist of the desultory narrative. 
 
 The cross-examination continued. Was he, McLennan, 
 ready to swear that he actually saw the blouse in the posses- 
 sion of the accused ? No ? It only appeared to fall from 
 her when he stepped forward ? At all events it would be 
 safe to say that, when he emerged from his hiding-place and 
 advanced to the accused, the first he saw of the blouse was 
 either that it was falling, or had fallen to the floor in front 
 of him ? But there were different ways and means by 
 which it might have come there ? He was doubtless 
 familiar with the fact that women's dress in the present day 
 was frequently adorned with prehensile tags and gewgaws 
 well calculated to sweep off any loose article lying about ? 
 As to the so-called confession of the prisoner, was he pre- 
 pared to swear that these were the exact and literal words 
 she had used ? Was his memory so prodigiously accm'ate ? 
 He had not jotted down any memorandum of these contra- 
 dictory sentences ? Was he himself somewhat perturbed by 
 this unusual incident ? As these quiet, insidious, encouraging
 
 38o HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 little questions came to him one after tlie other, the shy- 
 looking black-a-vised draper became more and more visibly 
 discomposed — and Mrs. Maclean more and more triumphant. 
 It is true, the re-examination by the Fiscal in a measure 
 restored Mr. McLennan's equanimity ; and he stepped out 
 from the box and passed along to the witnesses' room 
 happily unconscious of the vengeful and bitter regard with 
 which the widow followed him. 
 
 The next witness — young McTaggart the shopman — was 
 clearly from the very outset in a condition of abject fright. 
 He entered the box apprehensively ; his uplifted right hand, 
 when the Sheriff administered the oath, was tremulous ; his 
 replies to the questions of the Fiscal were mumbled and 
 almost inaudible. And it is to be presumed that no one in 
 all the Court-house now listened more keenly than Peter 
 McFadyen ; here was his man ; and little did the lawyers 
 biting the end of their quills know of the secret influences 
 that had been brought to bear to outwit them. At first, 
 indeed, the shock-headed youth's narrative of what had 
 happened at the counter was mainly a corroboration of his 
 employer's statements. 
 
 " Ay, ay — yes, yes," muttered the widow, in spite of all 
 her daughter's persuasive repression, "a fine story, my 
 young lad ! — and if your master is a liar, why should not 
 you be too ? But wait till Grant gets at ye ! Ay, it's some 
 combing of your besom-hair that's wanted for you, my fine 
 fellow — and Grant will give it ye directly ! " 
 
 But when Mr. Grant came to cross-examine the unhappy 
 young man, he found him an almost too easy prey. The 
 bewildered youth was ready to admit anything. His most 
 passionate hope of being able to practise French conversa- 
 tion in the streets and omnibuses of Paris could not have 
 been more effectual than his pathetic desire to propitiate 
 this ruthless questioner. He was not playing into the 
 hands of the defence through any base longing for 
 McFadyen's £10 ; he was merely frightened out of his wits 
 on finding himself in a public pillory ; and willing to assent 
 to every one of the lawyer's suggestions, so that he might 
 the sooner escape. Accordingly, he acknowledged that it 
 was with some reluctance he had consented to set a trap by 
 means of which this young woman might be tempted into
 
 ARRAIGNED 38 1 
 
 the commission of a crime. He agreed that it was 
 impossible he could have kept the snare under continuous 
 supervision ; for he was fetching down things from the 
 shelves for the accused to examine ; again and again he 
 must have turned his back. Moreover, he owned tliat he 
 had not placed any weight or other article on tlie blouse, 
 after laying it on the counter : there was nothing to hinder 
 its being swept olf by some slight accident. Again, he was 
 on the inside of the counter : how, then, conld he see in 
 what manner the blouse came to reach the floor, on the 
 outside ? As to the conflicting statements alleged to have 
 been made by the prisoner, was lie prepared to swear to 
 precise words and expressions used in a moment of extreme 
 agitation ? But at this point the shock-headed youth began 
 to develop a confusion and a grasping acquiescence that 
 were not only extremely welcome to the lawyer, but that 
 also convinced Mr. McFadyen he would sooner or later, and 
 in some cryptic fashion, have to pay over £10. The young 
 man, his complexion pale, his forehead clammy, his eyes 
 dilated and nervous — appeared to be in some kind of 
 hypnotic trance : he remembered, or did not remember, 
 just as this long, thin, sandy-haired agent thought fit to 
 suggest ; he clung desperately to the formula ' the best of 
 his belief.' Nor did re-examination restore him to himself ; 
 white-faced, protuberant-eyed, he seemed to reel away from 
 the box, as it were ; and doubtless began to breathe again 
 only when he found that the gaze of the crowd was no 
 longer upon him. 
 
 And all this while Jess Maclean, when she dared, had 
 been stealing an occasional and covert glance at the school- 
 master, fearing that he had already divined the truth. 
 Well she knew that the fencing of lawyers and the heckling 
 of witnesses would have but little concern for him ; the 
 progress of the trial would be for him no mere game of 
 skill, that one could watch and study, with a calculation of 
 the chances of acquittal ; the sole and terrible question for 
 him was whether the poor ^Yretch alone there in the dock 
 had really done this thing, bringing upon herself all its 
 tragic and illimitable consequences. And yet Jess, accus- 
 tomed as she was to read his features, was now completely 
 baffled, llis face was immobile and impassive — sombre a
 
 382 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 little, perhaps— find unmistakably oblivious of the people 
 around. Even the proceedings in court, as they went on, 
 seemed to claim from him but a forced and mechanical sort 
 of attention. There were further witnesses to be examined 
 and re-examined ; articles found in the house of the 
 accused, and alleged to have been stolen — the red suu- 
 shade conspicuous amongst them — Avere produced aud 
 identified ; there was evidence of previous good character ; 
 and the like. But throughout all this Allan Henderson 
 remained distraught and al)sent-minded. Was he already 
 convinced ? Once or twice his eyes rested on the solitary- 
 figure in the dock ; but little was to lie seen of the hapless 
 Barbara ; she was facing the Sheriff — her head downcast, 
 her figure drawn together as though she were cowering and 
 hiding lierself. 
 
 Then the Fiscal got up and addressed the Court for the 
 prosecution — insisting that this was a particularly bad case : 
 not a sudden yielding to temptation, but jiart of a planned 
 and systematic purloining, for which no excuse or palliation 
 had been offered. ISText came Grant the solicitor with his 
 reply for the defence — rather dwelling on the youth of the 
 prisoner, her position as an almost newly-marr'ied Avife, and 
 the extreme probability that she had been terrified into 
 making damaging admissions when this dreadful charge 
 had been brought against her. Finally the Sheriff summe'd- 
 up, keeping mainly to the legal aspects of the case. And 
 then fifteen good men and true filed out of the tAvo pine 
 benches, and rather sheepishly — for they were unaccustomed 
 to this prominence and publicity — crossed the hall, and 
 betook themselves to the jury-room. 
 
 "Ah, the bonny lads ! — the bonny lads ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Maclean, in an eager and tremulous Avhisper — indeed, she 
 Avas shaking like a leaf — " they will put her right ! — they 
 will quit my lass ! — after all the stories and lies ! " 
 
 Allan Henderson had not turned to say a word to any of 
 the friends or relatives near him ; and now, in this period 
 of Avaiting, his eyes were bent on the floor. Even Jess did 
 not dare to approach him Avith any little whisper of comfort 
 or hope. The jury were absent for only a few minutes — 
 not over ten. 
 
 Then they came back ; and their Chancellor remained
 
 ARRAIGNED 383 
 
 standing. The Sheriff, in a, formal kind of way, asked if 
 they had come to a decision, 
 
 " "We find the accused guilty of the charge as libelled," 
 said the Chancellor — self-conscious and red of face. 
 
 For just one second the Sheriff glanced towards them : 
 was there to be no recommendation to mercy ? There was 
 none. The Fiscal moved the Court to pronounce sentence ; 
 the Clerk at the table pulled his papers towards him ; the 
 Sheriff", after a few observations uttered in the same dis- 
 passionate tones, announced that the sentence of the Court 
 was six months' imprisonment. 
 
 " My lord ! — my lord ! she's an orphan lass ! " cried out 
 the widow, as she sank forward half -fain ting, till Jess 
 caught her in her arms ; and at this moment the prisoner 
 — her head still averted, her figure apparently lifeless — was 
 led away by the two policemen, disappearing through the 
 door leading to the exercise-yard and the cells. 
 
 And now some were for going home ; and others lingered 
 to talk ; but the schoolmaster found himself alone, at the 
 foot of the wide stairs, his face confronting the white day- 
 light. There was a phrase he had often used recurring 
 now to his brain in some wild, bewildering fashion- — ' The 
 poor Naturhiiul ! The poor Naturldnd that she has always 
 been ! ' ; and on his features there was no stern repre- 
 hension at all ; nay, as he left the building, his eyes were 
 so swimming wet that he could hardly see his way. Jess, 
 with her heart full of yearning pity, nevertheless had not 
 the courage to follow him. She looked after him — as he 
 went aimlessly along by the harbour, in the direction of the 
 Gallows Hill. 
 
 " Mother," said she, in a low voice, though he was now 
 far out of hearing, " if — if you can get Allan to stay in our 
 house to-night — I will go with Barbara wherever they are 
 taking her."
 
 384 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 DAY AND NIGHT. 
 
 But that was mad and wild counsel — uttered in a moment 
 of half-reckless despair. For Jess Maclean knew this man ; 
 not for nothing had she watched and studied him — -him 
 and all his imperfections, his perversities, his scornful 
 endurance of ills, his impatient contempt of meaner natures ; 
 and she herself had foretold where, in such a crisis as liad 
 now arrived, Allan Henderson would be found, ' There is 
 but the one place for your husband to be,' she had said to 
 Barbara, ' and that is by your side.' And when she learned 
 from the police -officials that the prisoner was to be taken 
 through to Glasgow on this same afternoon, she went along 
 at the appointed hour to the railway-station, knowing well 
 whom she should find waiting there. 
 
 He was on the platform, alone, and unnoticed among the 
 scattered crowd of folk bidding good-bye to their friends. 
 And fortunate it was that these people were so busily 
 occupied ; for at this moment Barbara — Barbara, all broken- 
 down in appearance, listless, hopeless, the beautiful eyes 
 tired and worn with excess of weeping, and now only 
 haunted with a sort of cowering and shuddering horror of 
 these groups of strangers — Barbara came along in charge of 
 a constable, the two of them attracting far less attention 
 than might have been expected. The officer opened the 
 door of a third-class compartment ; Barbara entered, and 
 sank into a seat ; while Jess Maclean and Allan instinctively 
 moved up, as if to prevent the approach of any curiou.5 
 person. For a second or two no one spoke ; but all tlie 
 same Jess made bold to put her hand into the carriage, and 
 with that hand she held Barbara's hand ; the law could not 
 ■ — or, at least, did not — forbid this form of communication. 
 And then Barbara said, with a timid look towards the 
 constable — • 
 
 "Jess, if you would — if you would ask this gentleman^ 
 maybe he would let you come in beside me " 
 
 The gentleman — who was not a gentleman at all — ■ 
 nor even an inspector— nor yet a sergeant — but just a
 
 DA V AND NIGHT 385 
 
 deccDt and simple lad from Mall, who did not quite 
 appear to relish these duties that had devolved upon 
 him — the ingenuous-looking constable took no notice of 
 this hint. And meanwhile Jess had to interpose with an 
 explanation. 
 
 " I cannot go to Glasgow with you, Barbara," said she. 
 ^' I was ready and willing — indeed, yes ; but my mother is 
 taken very ill ; and I dare not leave her for so long. But 
 Allan is going with you, Barbara, Who else ? "Who else 
 would you be wishing to have with you — who else could 
 protect you as well ? — " 
 
 A strange look of dread or doom seemed to settle on the 
 girl's face ; she did not venture a single half-frightened 
 glance towards her husband ; when she heard that Jess was 
 not going with her, she appeared to care for nothing after 
 that ; a kind of blankness of despair took possession of 
 her. And Jess could not part with her in this mood. 
 
 " Barbara," said she, with a fine affectation of confidence 
 and good-humour, though lier lips were inclined to be 
 tremulous despite all she could do, " you must be remember- 
 ing this — that when you come back to us, you will be just 
 tbe same as the rest of us. The law has decided against 
 you ; and it may be right, or it may be wrong ; but anyway, 
 when you have done what they require of you, then you are 
 free, you are quits ; you are just like every one else. And 
 yon will let me know how often I can write to you ; and 
 you will write to us as often as you can. And you will tell 
 us when we are to come for you — to bring you back " 
 
 Barbara shook her head — without a word. 
 
 " Take your seats, please," called the guard ; and as he 
 came up, Allan Henderson stepped forward, and without 
 asking permission of anyone, entered the carriage, passed to 
 the further end, and sate down by the window. Then the 
 door was shut ; the whistles sounded ; and the train began 
 to creep out of the station. Jess walked a few farewell 
 yards along the platform ; it was she who was crying and 
 sobbing now — in spite of herself ; Barbara seemed lost in a 
 misery and gloom that had arrived almost at indifference. 
 Finally, Jess, having watched the carriage-window till the 
 very last moment, turned and took her way slowly home ; 
 while the train thundered on towards the south. 
 
 2 c
 
 386 HIGHLAND COUSIXS 
 
 And now 
 
 ' Sad and silent was the niglit 
 Tliat was atween tliir twae' ; ' 
 
 for although no compact had been entered into by which 
 Allan had gained admission into this compartment, there 
 was some tacit kind of feeling that in the presence of 
 the constable these two must needs regard each other as 
 strangers. Perhaps Barbara was so far glad and relieved ; 
 perhaps she had some secret dread of indignation and 
 reproach ; though there was little of either in Allan 
 Henderson's heart. Nay, he was full of sympathy and 
 commiseration for ' the poor Naturhind ' and her downcast 
 condition ; it may be that he understood her tragic case 
 far more clearly than she did herself ; more clearly than she 
 did, without doubt, he perceived the web of circumstances 
 by which she had been surrounded and brought to ruin. 
 Resentment — reprobation — as if he had been the wronged 
 person — was indeed far away from his mind. He remained 
 silent, it is true ; but he was tremblingly sensitive to each 
 slight motion of her costume, to each laboured and weary 
 sigh, to each shifting from one shoulder to the other, as ff 
 she w^ere ill and ill at ease. He pitied her even for her 
 dress ; for Barbara had always liked something of ornament 
 and show ; but noAV it was only too evident that in the 
 abandonment of her grief and terror she had had no thought 
 for any such trivialities. Perhaps Jess might have looked 
 after her, had there been the opportunity. The splendid 
 folds of her raven-black hair had been put back in some 
 rude kind of fashion ; but now there were none of the 
 coquettish tangles and twirls she had been fond of displaying 
 about her ears. She wore no gloves, nor any dainty white 
 cuffs about her wrists, nor any slip of silk tartan ribbon 
 round her throat — this poor Naturhind, who had been so 
 severely buffeted and shipwrecked by the wild storms of 
 human chance. 
 
 As the evening wore on, and they were up among the 
 lonely mountains beyond Crainlarich, a somewhat chill wind 
 blew in and through the compartment ; and Barbara was 
 seated with her face to the engine. Allan rose, stepped 
 across, and pulled up the window, so as to afford her shelter
 
 DA Y AND NIGHT 3?7 
 
 " Thank yon," she said, in a low voice — withont raising 
 her eyes. 
 
 Again, when they got down to Stirling station, he songht 
 ont the refreshment-room, had a couple of paper bags filled 
 with sweet biscuits and the like, and when he returned he 
 mutely tendered them to her. She took them, with another 
 word of thanks ; though not even now did she dare to raise 
 her eyes to his. And thus they resumed their journey to 
 Glasgow, and to the great and sombre building that stands 
 by the river. 
 
 But in the meantime Barbara had not failed to notice 
 that when the constable happened to recognise an acquaint- 
 ance at any of the stations along the line, the few words 
 that passed between them were usually in Gaelic ; and 
 accordingly, when she at length ventured to address a 
 hesitating question or two to him, on their drawing near to 
 Glasgow, it was in that tongue she spoke, so as perhaps to 
 win a little favour and friendliness. And it was still in 
 Gaelic that she said — in a diffident undertone that Allan 
 could not Avell overhear — ■ 
 
 " My husband has come a long way. Will you be giving 
 me a moment that I can say good-bye to him ? " 
 
 " Do you mean at the station ? " responded the constable. 
 
 " It is wherever yon please, sir," said Barbara, humbly. 
 " I am not wishing for anything that is not permitted — but 
 — but my husband, he has come a long way." 
 
 " Oh, very well," said the good-natured young officer. 
 "When we get to the station, I will try to leave you by 
 yourselves for a minute, just where you are, but no more 
 than a minute, for there will be a cab to take you on to the 
 Jail." 
 
 And he was as good as his word. AVhen the train had 
 passed the ticket-platform, had slowed in to the terminus, 
 iind finally come to a standstill, the constable opened the 
 door, stepped out, and remained there with his back to the 
 carriage. At the same moment Allan rose to his feet ; and 
 Barbara rose also ; but she did not look up to see the 
 extraordinary compassion that dwelt in his eyes ; she rather 
 stood before him as a culprit and penitent, ready to receive 
 whatever scorn and chastisement of words he chose to heap 
 upon her. And yet — no matter what might be his indig- 
 
 2 c 2
 
 383 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 nation and contumely — she had so many things she longed 
 to say, and all of them struggling for utterance ! Her 
 chest heaved ; she seemed to breathe with difficulty ; her 
 hands, down by her side, were firmly clenched. She was 
 waiting. Why did he not strike ? 
 
 " Poor lass ! Poor lass ! " said he ; and the mere tone 
 of his voice, so unexpected, so unmistakable in its true ring 
 of solicitude and tenderness, caused her whole frame to 
 tremble. " I suppose I can go no further with you now " 
 
 " Allan, Allan," she burst out into a sort of wild way, " I 
 am not hoping that you will ever forgive me for what 
 I have done ! Oh, no ! — no, no ! — I do not expect it — I 
 have brought nothing but harm to you — I have been a bad 
 wife to you — I have brought nothing but harm and shame. 
 But now — now you will go away back to your home ; and 
 you will soon forget me ; and I will never seek to see 
 Duntroone any more — never, never — I have done enough 
 harm — I will never see you or any of them any more — it is 
 all that I can do now " 
 
 " Barbara ! " said he, gently and bravely. " You are 
 talking foolishness. Do you remember the last words that 
 Jessie spoke to you on the platform ? — she said that when 
 jou came back to us you would be just as one of ourselves 
 — quit and free of everything that had gone by — and all of 
 us only anxious that it should be forgotten " 
 
 "• Ah, no, no ! " she broke in ui)on him, quite in- 
 coherently. " That is all away. I will never trouble you 
 any more — I have done too much harm. And there's other 
 things I would say — but — but only a moment now ; and 
 it's my thanks to you for your goodness to me, and that you 
 have not cursed at me, as many a one would have done. 
 Indeed, indeed you have been kind to me ; and I was not 
 deserving it ; there was many things ha2;)pening that you 
 did not know about ; and there was never any hard word 
 from you. And now you will go away to your home — and 
 Jessie will look after the house for you — she was always a 
 better friend to you than I was " 
 
 The constable turned and looked into the compartment : 
 the cab was waiting at the platform. 
 
 " My poor lass," said the schoolmaster, trying to smooth 
 back her disordered hair into some semblance of its former
 
 DA V AND NIGHT 389 
 
 neatness, " you will soon begin to think of the days of your 
 coming back to us " 
 
 " Ah, never, never," she cried, in panting accents ; " it is 
 the one thing I can do, never to trouble you any more — 
 neither you nor any of them — I have brought too much 
 harm and shame " 
 
 The young constable, irresolute, anxious, a little shame- 
 faced, opened the door wide. 
 
 " Will you be coming now, mem ? " said he. 
 
 By this time most of the travellers had left the platform ; 
 when those two crossed to the vehicle that was in attendance, 
 there was hardly anyone about to witness their last and 
 mute farewell. And then Barbara was driven away ; and 
 the schoolmaster, not knowing what his next step should be, 
 found himself a solitary stranger in this great and friendless 
 town. 
 
 Yet not quite friendless either. More than once, during 
 all the recent whirl of experiences and emotions, a wandering: 
 thought or two had involuntarily fled away towards the 
 sick-chamber of Alec MacNeil ; and now% in this strange 
 succeeding calm and isolation, it was but natural he should 
 wish to look once again on the face of his old comrade. 
 Kot that he proposed to carry the tale of his own wounds 
 and sorrows to the invalid's room ; these were for his 
 private hours of reverie and renunciation ; but there would 
 be some kind of solace in merely sitting by the side of his 
 friend ; it was moreover a duty he owed — if any companion- 
 ship of his could lighten a weary half-hour. And so, in 
 a dull and mechanical fashion, he betook himself away 
 through the wet and gas-lit streets ; and eventually reached 
 the building in Garscube Road at the top of which MacNeil 
 had his poor lodging. 
 
 It was now late ; and, as he ascended to the highest 
 storey, he passed noiselessly up the staircase, lest the sick 
 man should have already got to sleep. Not a sound was 
 audible anywhere. "With the same cautious footsteps he 
 arrived at the landing, which was quite dark ; and then he 
 stealthily approached the door, and listened. No — not a 
 sound. Nevertheless, he lingered ; for MacNeil might be 
 reading ; and at any minute he might jiut down the book, 
 and call to the attendant grandmother. Nay, the longer
 
 fcl 
 
 390 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Allan Henderson tarried here in the darkness, the more did 
 lie seem to crave for a friendly word and glance, if only as 
 a reminiscence of the far-bygone, half-happy student-times. 
 He would bring with him no useless tidings of his own 
 broken and shattered life. Eather his talk would be — if 
 his old companion were still awake, and inclined to hear — • 
 his talk would be of cheerful things — of Cathkin Braes, and 
 JiTay mornings, of eager and joyous rambles by Bothwell 
 Banks, and Cadzow, and Stonebyres. They would recall 
 the early woods — the resonant ' Gaudeamns ' of the tramping 
 chorus — the breakfast in the remote little wayside public 
 house. These were the proper pictures for any poor tired 
 soul to fall asleep Avith, so that a scent of hawthorn- 
 bushes and a murmur of distant waterfalls should come 
 stealing through the vagrant dreams of the night. 
 
 Of a sudden he was startled by a low moaning ; hushed 
 and faint it was ; and yet the silence around was so intense 
 that he could not be mistaken. It was the old grand- 
 mother's voice ; it was a kind of plaintive wail she uttered ; 
 ' och-hon ! — och-hon ! — och-hon ! ' repeated in despairing 
 tones ; and then came silence again. He knew not what 
 was happening, or what had happened, within ; but he 
 dared not go away. He tapped lightly with the back of his 
 liand. There was no answer. He rapped a second time, 
 and waited. Presently the door was opened, and the old 
 grandmother peered out into the gloom. 
 
 " Ah, yes," she said, with a heavy sigh, when she had 
 discovered who her visitor was, " you were the last that he 
 was speaking of, the poor lad !■ — and the last of his friends 
 that came to see him." She retreated a little space, as if 
 inviting him to enter. " There is but a sorrowful welcome 
 in the house now ; but maybe you would like to look 
 ou all that is left of my poor boy. Yes, he was speaking 
 of you to the end — and there are some books for you 
 — and a fishing-rod — to the very end he was speaking 
 of you " 
 
 The schoolmaster removed his cap, and passed in. 
 
 '• When did it happen ? " he said — in a needless whisper. 
 
 " This morning," she made answer, " just as the day was 
 coming in at the window." 
 
 Then she led him to the small, dimly-lit room where the
 
 DAY AND NIGHT 391 
 
 dead man lay, psaecful enongli now after the long struggle 
 with his insidious and merciless enemy. 
 
 " And is there no one in the house with jou ? " he asked 
 of her, in a little while. 
 
 " None. But the neighbours have been very kind." 
 
 " Grandmother," said he, " 1 will stay a wliile with you, 
 if you will let me ; I will stay with you, until you tell me 
 to go. I am rather lonely myself to-night. And I would 
 like to hear what he was thinking of, what he was talking 
 of, when it came near to the last." 
 
 So she softly shut the door behind them, and preceded 
 him into the kitchen, where the turned-up gas was burning 
 a little more cheerfully. She took her chair near the fire- 
 place ; she put on her spectacles again ; and made as though 
 she would have resumed her sewing, but that the interest of 
 the pathetic monologue she now entered upon, interrupted 
 as it was by many a covert fit of crying, caused her to 
 desist. For these were not merely deathbed reminiscences 
 that led her garrulity to wander on through the dead hours 
 of the night. This grandson of hers had been during his 
 too brief life her best-beloved ; and she had treasured up 
 a minute recollection of all the wonderful things that 
 had happened to him — his childish exploits — his leaving 
 Colonsay — his successes at school and college — the kindness 
 of the manufacturer in Avhose warehouse he had secured a 
 situation as book-keeper. It was with pride as well as 
 affection that she rambled on ; this was a marvellous career, 
 she seemed to say, that had been so pitilessly cut short ; 
 mournful as the disconnected narrative was, it had its 
 brighter glimpses ; and perhaps for an occasional minute or 
 two Allan forgot to think of the dark and ominous building 
 away down at the other end of the city, near to the dim 
 river. Nay, it was something to have the companionship 
 of this poor old creature, even here in the silent house of 
 death. And she, too, appeared to be gratefid to him for 
 remaining with her — as she talked on, in this hushed 
 fashion, broken by many sobs and piteous ejaculations. 
 
 At last he rose to go, after having made patient inquiries 
 as to her circumstances, her plans, and her remaining 
 relatives. When he got outside, he found that the world 
 had undergone transfiguration ; the new dawn was abroad,
 
 392 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 pale over tlie moving canopy of smoke iu the east ; the grey 
 houses near him were waking out of their dream. At such 
 an hour he did not care to go in search of a lodging ; 
 moreover, the rain of the night had ceased ; soon the 
 morning would be shining fair and wide and clear. And 
 so — perhaps with some vague and restless desire to escape 
 from the black shadows that appeared to be encompassing 
 him — he struck away out into the country : everywhere the 
 white daylight was now beginning to tell. 
 
 CHAPTER XLYIII. 
 
 PAULINE. 
 
 He was returning, heart-sick and tired and hopeless, from 
 his long and fortuitous ramble, and he was coming in by 
 way of the Botanic Gardens, when he chanced to perceive, 
 leaving a house on the other side of the thoroughfare, a 
 well-known and easily-recognised figure. It was Professor 
 Menzies. And he would fain have slunk by unnoticed ; he 
 was in no humour for talking to aiiyone ; still less did he 
 wish to be cross-examined about what had recently happened 
 to him or his. But the nest minute he heard himself called 
 by name ; he became aware of overtaking strides ; and 
 presently, the Professor — a big, bulky, fresh-complexioned, 
 eupeptic-looking man — had him by the shoulder. 
 
 " AVhat — what's this ? " he exclaimed, in a hale and 
 hearty voice. " Not running away, are you ? AVhy, it was- 
 only yesterday I was tliinking of yon, and wondering how 
 you were getting on in Duntroone. And what's brought 
 yon to Glasgow ? I'm going as far as Garnet Hill — III 
 walk with you." 
 
 And so Allan — not unmindful of many kindnesses and 
 confidences — was constrained to tell his story, down even to 
 the sombre experiences of the day before. 
 
 "A terrible bad business," said the Professor, after a 
 moment or two. " Terrible — terrible. And what are your 
 plans now ? Are you going back to Duntroone ? "
 
 PAULINE 393 
 
 "As soon as I get poor MacNeil buried." 
 
 " Your return home will not be a very cheerful thing," 
 was the next vague suggestion. 
 
 " I shall have plenty to do," Allan responded, " when the 
 school opens ; and there will ))e my own classes in the 
 evening." 
 
 The two walked on for some little time in silence. 
 
 " How I came to be thinking of you yesterday was this," 
 the Professor said, at length. "I was thinking you knew 
 little of the mischief you had done by refusing the offer of 
 the Cairds — you remember ? " 
 
 " Remember ? Yes, indeed ! And many's the time I've 
 thought that I never half expressed my thanks to you." 
 
 "You appeared unwilling to give up your pupils. But I 
 could have provided you with a substitute — I imagine so ; 
 and you may be pretty certain that the Cairds of Carsehill 
 would not have let you suffer in pocket through the trans- 
 action. Well, what happens through your refusal ? The 
 lad, whimsical as he may be, was half-inclined to go ; he 
 had heard something about you ; and after all, he is amen- 
 able enough — though those tearing, hunting, horse-racing 
 uncles of his seem to look on him as a sort of changeling. 
 You refuse — and what is the result ? He returns to his 
 idling, his verse-making, his newspaper-scribljling ; spends 
 most of his time at the Xike-apteros Club — among artists, 
 journalists, and the like ; and at last- — this is the climax — 
 falls into love with an actress — some member of a strolling 
 company — and declares his intention of marrying her. 
 What do you think of that now ? " 
 
 " If he was of the mind and temperament to fall in love 
 with an actress," rejoined the schoolmaster, " he would have 
 done that as readily in any town of Austria or Italy as in 
 any city or town of Scotland." 
 
 " Well, no — not necessarily. For there is a certain barrier 
 in language. And he knows a good deal more of Greek and 
 Latin than he does of German or Itahan." 
 
 " There is another language," Allan said. 
 
 "Yes. There may be, when two combustible souls 
 happen to catch fire at once. But that doesn't occur often, 
 does it ? However, I've shown you how we stand at 
 present ; and what are the tearing, swearing, blustering
 
 394 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 iron-masters of Carsebill to make of it ? He is so sweetly- 
 reasonable through it all ! They talk of the disgrace of the 
 family ; while he is polishing pretty verses about her brown 
 ringlets." 
 
 " Is she a respectable girl ? " 
 
 " Apparently she is. At least they can't find out anything 
 to the contrary ; and if they did, or fancied they did, no 
 doubt he would only smile at them in disdain. For, as I 
 say, the scamp is not unreasonable, even in the midst of his 
 folly. He is open to argument. In fact, there has been 
 some revival of that same project that he should go abroad 
 for a considerable time — with the chance of all this blowing 
 over — with several chances indeed ; and I am told he is not 
 afraid to put the young lady's constancy, and his own, to 
 the test. If he were challenged, he would probably con- 
 sent ; but the old difficulty remains — how to secure a proper 
 companion for him. He is capricious in his fancies. The 
 ordinary young men of his own age, and all their pursuits, 
 he regards with detestation. He might have done well at 
 college, for the rascal is clever ; but he is without sufficient 
 aim — too erratic for any steady work — would rather put a 
 handful of rhymes in his pocket, walk away out into the 
 country, sit down by the wayside, and tinker at them. 
 Hardly the kind of fellow to attack a translation of the 
 Mbelungenlied, eh ? — by the bye, I should have asked how 
 you were getting on." 
 
 " I have been thinking of other things of late," said the 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 The big, stalwart, friendly Professor suddenly halted — as 
 if the better to arrest attention. 
 
 " Look here, Henderson," said he. " The Cairds have 
 come to me several times about this affair — they know I can 
 talk to the youth with some chance of being listened to, 
 whereas they belong to a different world altogether. JSTow, 
 suppose this former scheme were to be revived. I don't at 
 all like the idea of your going away back home to your 
 ordinary life, in the present circumstances. You want a 
 complete change, of scene and occupation ; you want to 
 forget a little — in order to recover your mental tone. Yery 
 well. Assuming that the uncles and young Caird could 
 come to some agreement, would you be willing to go with
 
 PA ULINE 395 
 
 him on his period of prohation — that is, if yon and he fonnd 
 that you got on well together ? It wonld mean the giving 
 np of your place in the school ; and also getting a substitute 
 to take your classes ; but the Carsehill squires would be 
 liberal in such a case ; and the young fellow, he is really 
 good-natured, he would see it was made worth your while. 
 A couple of year's absence from England ^" 
 
 " I should have to be back in this town six months from 
 now," said Allan, simply. 
 
 The Professor coloured slightly : he understood. 
 
 " But even six months," said he, as they resumed their 
 walk, " is a long time ; and many things happen in it ; six 
 Tiionths might find Caird junior restored to his sane and 
 sober senses ; and in any case six months' absence from 
 England would be a wholesome thing for you. Now I 
 don't want you to make any definite promise ; but come 
 and see this young fellow — see what you think of him. I 
 may be too busy to hunt him up to-day ; but in that case I 
 will write to him ; and to-morrow you and I could call on 
 him in the afternoon. Is it a bargain ? I might run across 
 some of his people meanwhile — who knows ? Turn it over 
 in your mind now — and don't be in a hurry ; and if you 
 think well of the scheme, send me a note saying where I 
 shall find you to-morrow afternoon at four." 
 
 Allan did not refuse — could not think of refusing : 
 clearly enough he recognised all the kindliness, the goodwill, 
 and thoughtfulness that underlay this apparently rough- 
 and-ready proposal. And accordingly, on the next after- 
 noon, Professor Menzies and his protege found themselves 
 being shown into a suite of rooms on the first floor of a 
 house in Sauchiehall Street. They were smartly-furnished 
 rooms ; but the decoration was not as the decoration of 
 many young men's apartments. There were no fencing- 
 foils, masks, or dumb-bells, with hunting and yachting 
 trophies, and coloured lithographs representing famous 
 exploits on Epsom Downs ; a gentler tone prevailed ; around 
 the walls, and in one or two small cabinets, and on the 
 mantel-shelves, Avere displayed Hispano-Moresque dishes, 
 Tanagra figures, squares of Italian sixteenth-century em- 
 broidery framed and glazed, bronze statuettes, a number of 
 landscanes chiefly of the Scotch school, and a series of
 
 396 HIGHLAND COUSIXS 
 
 jirints from the Liber Studiormn. The owner of these 
 various possessions now entered — a youno- lad of nineteen 
 or twenty, rather nnder middle height, and distinctly lame 
 in one leg ; the face and head intelligent and interesting, 
 the complexion pale, the mouth finely-formed, the eyes large, 
 clear, and amiable. His manners, too, were winning ; he 
 bade his visitors welcome with an offhand simplicity ; and 
 again and again he regarded Allan with a scrutmising glance 
 that seemed frankly to say ' So, it is you they want me to 
 go travelling with, for six months, or a year, or two years ? ' 
 On the other hand the schoolmaster — as he subsequently 
 wrote to Jess — formed from the very first a liking for this 
 lame lad. He was a trifle shy, perhaps, and yet somehow 
 defiant in his shyness. He appeared to treat his horse- 
 racing uncles with more than a suspicion of gentle ridicule. 
 He even ventured upon a little banter with regard to the 
 Professor, which was taken in good part. And he was 
 especially courteous and civil to his stranger-guest ; and 
 said some very pretty things about the West Highlands and 
 the folk living there. 
 
 But it had been the design of Professor Menzies to leave 
 these two to themselves ; and so, pleading an engagement, 
 he left ; while young Caird, having persuaded Allan to 
 remain, proceeded to talk about himself, and his circum- 
 stances, and this projected trip, w4th the most engaging, 
 and useful, candour. He was not averse from going, he 
 said, if it would pacify his relatives ; though their ideas, 
 he added with a smile, as to what would accrue from this 
 long absence, were purely chimerical. And if, on his side, 
 Mr. Henderson could be induced to join, what countries in 
 Europe would he chiefly wish to visit 1 
 
 At this Allan's eyes flashed up in eager flame. 
 
 '■ There is the one place — the one place in all the world 
 — Athens ! " 
 
 And then he shrank back upon himself, as it were, half 
 in shame. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said, quite humbly. I was 
 bewildered for a moment. The mere mention of Athens 
 shows me that it is not for me to go with you on such a 
 journey as you are thinking of. No, no. You must have 
 somebody with you far less ignorant than I am. What could
 
 PA ULINE 397 
 
 I tell you at Athens, at Nanplia, at Acro-Corinth ? Yon 
 nmst have somebody skilled and learned. They are the 
 most interesting places in the world ; and ^yhat could a 
 country schoolmaster tell you ? " 
 
 The young lad had been looking at him — not with 
 disfavour. 
 
 "I don't want anybody to tell me anything," said he. 
 " I should like to see the places, no doubt ; but I am not 
 anxious to be lectured. Not in the least. If I have to do 
 penance — or go on probation — if that is their insane idea — 
 it has got to be made easy. The peas must be boiled. Do 
 you know any modern Greek ? " 
 
 "Not to speak it, anyway." 
 
 " Well, we can be cheated in some other language," 
 continued the young man, placidly. " T want some Rhodian 
 plates ; and I am told there are a few to be picked up in 
 Athens now and again." He had limped over to the 
 mantel-shelves, apparently to have another loving look at 
 the row of splendid red-lustre dishes ; but presently he 
 returned, with a little brown paper-covered book — an 
 acting-edition— in his hand. "By the way," he said, 
 " have you ever seen ' The Lady of Lyons ' ? " 
 
 " No ; but I have read the play." 
 
 " And what did you think of it ? " 
 
 " Trash, it seemed to me," was the straight answer. 
 
 Young Caird winced a little. 
 
 " Yes — perhaps — from the point of view of literature. 
 But the language of the stage must necessarily be conven- 
 tional ; it is a condensation ; and it has to be made effective. 
 And it doesn't much matter, does it, how artificial the 
 dialogue may be, so long as you are impressed by the 
 characters " 
 
 " And find them admirable, or lovable, or even believable 
 and interesting. But look at that fellow," said the school- 
 master, regarding the harmless little brown book with 
 unnecessary scorn ; " look at that cowardly cur who howls 
 and shrieks for revenge simply because a young woman has 
 rejected his impertinent advances. Isn't that the right of 
 every young woman, whether she is rich or poor ? But 
 this mouthing fellow, Avith his turgid blank verse, when she 
 sends him back his rubbish of verses, has all his outraged
 
 398 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 vanity set on fire — lie will stop her in the open streets — he 
 will publicly insult her — he will descend to any meanness 
 and trickery in order to humiliate her — he will conspire 
 with her enemies — anything — so that his own stupendous 
 egotism and self-love may be solaced and avenged — Bah ! 
 there has been many a hero, stuffed with sawdust, stuck up 
 forthcAvorld to admire, but never anyone quite so despicable 
 as that ! " 
 
 Young Caird was still further disconcerted. 
 
 " Well — perhaps — perhaps with regard to him ; but as 
 for her now — as for Pauline, vou know " 
 
 " As for her ? " continued the ruthless schoolmaster. 
 " When she discovers how basely he has plotted to deceive 
 and betray her, when she perceives all the lying he has 
 gone through in order to fill his nutshell of a heart with 
 the glory of revenge — revenge on a woman ! — how can she 
 stoop to such a hound ? AVhat miracle is likely to change 
 his character ? His monstrous vanity — his inconceivable 
 meanness — and, worse than everything, his insufferable 
 blank verse, would remain with him to the end of the 
 chapter " 
 
 The younger man tossed the book on to the table. 
 
 " Perhaps what you ,say is right," he repeated, " from the 
 literary point of view. Perhaps. But then you have not 
 seen the piece acted : you have never seen the living human 
 beings before you. Now I happen to know where it is to 
 be played to-night." He named a small town — which need 
 not be more definitely particularised here — some seven or 
 eight miles out of G-lasgow. " Would you like to see it — if 
 you have no other engagement for this evening .^ What do 
 you say ? We could go down in a cab now to the Xick — 
 the Nike-apteros — and I could send round a message to my 
 livery-stable man to have a carriage got ready for us. Then 
 we have an hour or so at the Club for a bite of something 
 to eat — a cigarette or so in the billiard-room — and we start 
 
 off. It is by far the pleasantest way of going out to ■ 
 
 at this time of the year ; there is no catching of trains ; 
 and you can come away when you like. What do you 
 say ? " 
 
 To xiUan it may have seemed a strange kind of proposal. 
 Last night, the house of the dead : to-night, the glare of
 
 PA ULINE 
 
 399 
 
 the theatre. But, after all, this was a bizarre kind of 
 Avorld ; and he Avas getting- used to diverse experiences, and 
 perhaps becoming a little blunted ; moreover, he knew well 
 it was no mere literary discussion that was making this 
 young man so anxious he should see the divine Pauline 
 tread the stage. So he assented ; a cab was called ; and 
 they drove down to the Nike-apteros Club in West Regent 
 Street. 
 
 It was an unpretentious little establishment ; Avell ap- 
 pointed ; and with a general look of homely cheerfulness. 
 Besides this, owing to the early hour — and to the fact that 
 most of the landscapers were now away in the country — 
 they had the place almost to themselves ; the dining-room, 
 in especial, was empty. 
 
 " And why Nike-apteros ? " Allan asked, as he looked 
 around at the spacious apartment, with its brightly-laid 
 tables and its pictures. "ISTot much like the Temple of 
 iEgeus, surely ? " 
 
 " A very good name — a capital name," rejoined his host, 
 " for a lot of fellows who want to do the very best they can 
 without too much blowing of trumpets." 
 
 Nevertheless, it was not of any achievements, victorious or 
 otherwise, with either pen or pencil, that they proceeded to 
 converse, here on this pleasant summer evening, as they 
 sate at their sufRciently frugal meal. The talk was mostly 
 of Pauline — of Pauline, and the mysterious magic of stage- 
 presentation ; with a little excursus in the direction of 
 Wilhelm Meister, and De Qnincey's various judgments and 
 findings ; though Pauline managed to reappear after the 
 briefest possible absence. And there was also a good deal 
 of Pauline — and of happy anticipation — as the eager-eyed 
 young host thereafter led the way out to the open barouche 
 that was waiting for them ; and as they drove off and 
 through the wide-spreading suburbs. Allan had been im- 
 plored to cast aside prejudice ; instead of prejudice, pre- 
 possession was now taking hold of him ; he was almost 
 ready to abjure his heresies, and to range himself as a meek 
 and remote adorer of Miss IDeschappelles. 
 
 It was rather a rude and barn-like building, this Volun- 
 teer Hall ; but it had been made into a semblance of a 
 theatre ; there was an act-droiD : and there was a scant
 
 400 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 orchestra. And hardly had the two new-comers taken their 
 seats when the music came to an end, the curtain was 
 raised, and the hrst scene was disclosed — with no other than 
 Pauline herself, ' reclining on a sofa, E.' Well, as shortly 
 appeared, she was not an imposing Pauline ; she was rather 
 a diminutive little person ; and her finery was sadly tar- 
 nished ; but none the less her management of her train and 
 her peacock walk across the stage lent her an imaginary 
 height and stateliuess ; her figure was elegant and graceful ; 
 her softly-modulated English accent was attractive ; and 
 h3r delivery of blank verse — when the time came for that — 
 was distinctly admirable. Nay, there was something more. 
 fShe alone — as the play proceeded — stood out from this 
 grotesque rabble of incompetents. Beauseant and Glavis 
 were dreadful. Damas, with his efforts at Italian pronun- 
 ciation, had well-nigh drawn from the schoolmaster one of 
 his great explosive bursts of laughter. Claude Melnotte — ■ 
 the manager of this travelling company — was unmistakably 
 drunk. But all through the ramshackle performance, there 
 was something of dignity and charm imported by the 
 gentle little Pauline ; and when she came to her grander 
 passages — 
 
 'Love, sir, bath no sting. 
 AVhat was tlie sliglit of a poor powerless girl, 
 To tlic deep wrong of tliis most vile revenge V ' 
 
 or again — 
 
 ' 111 work- 
 Toil — drudge — do wliat thou wilt— but toucb me not ; 
 Let my wrongs make me sacied ! ' 
 
 — she rose to the occasion ; there was a genuine thrill in 
 her voice ; and the schoolmaster, all unused to stage 
 effects, could not help exclaiming to himself in an under- 
 t nj — ■ 
 
 " Good ! Good ! That's the real ring ! Well done !— 
 well done ! " 
 
 Meanwhile a close observer might have perceived that 
 Pauline had become conscious of the presence of a friend in 
 a not over-numerous audience ; and in the interval between 
 Acts 3 and 4 a small neatly-folded note was brought to 
 Allan's companion. 
 
 " Will you excuse me for a moment ? " said the lad,
 
 A SUMMONS 40 1 
 
 with a mantling blush ; and he rose from his seat and 
 disappeared. 
 
 The moment stretched into minutes, the minutes into 
 quarters of an hour ; and still he returned not. But when 
 the play was all over, and Allan, with the rest of the crowd, 
 had wandered out into the street, young Caird turned up 
 again, with abject apologies ; and here was the barouche 
 to carry them back to Glasgow. And then, perforce, supper 
 at the Nike Club ; and further talk ; and further talk ; 
 amidst which the musically-voiced Pauline was not for- 
 gotten. 
 
 It was not until about a fortnight after this experience — • 
 many things happening, and many arrangements having to 
 be made in the meantime — that Allan Henderson found 
 leisure to write out for Jessie's amusement an account of 
 the ' Lady of Lyons,' as he had seen it played at a provincial 
 theatre. It was rather a malicious account — Claude Mel- 
 notte's pronunciation — 
 
 * A palace liftiug to eternal s'mer,' 
 
 and his tangled feet not lending themselves to the heroic — 
 and it may have made Jess laugh a little, in her quiet 
 way. Anyhow, the voluminous letter was finished just as 
 the sunset was flaring red along the lonely cliffs of Cape 
 St. Vincent, with the solitary lighthouse sending out from 
 time to time its sudden, golden ray ; and on the earliest 
 possible occasion it was consigned to the post-office — that 
 is to say, the busy little post-office in the main street of 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIX. 
 
 A SUMMONS. 
 
 " I HOPE I am not intruding," said the councillor, in hia 
 politest manner, as he made his appearance at the parlour- 
 door. 
 
 " To think of such a thing ! " responded the little 
 
 2 D
 
 402 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ^vkIow. " Come your ways iu, Mr. McFadven, — jjxshfulness 
 is not needed, at all : I am sure there was capital good sense 
 in the saying they used to have when I was a girl — ' The 
 house that ive are not made ivelcome to, may the devil lloiv the 
 roof off it!''' 
 
 '" Mother, mother, what fearful language ! " cried Jess. 
 
 ''But good sense — capital good sense," insisted the 
 widow. " Take a chair, Mr. McFadyen, and give us your 
 news ! " 
 
 "Na, na," said Mr. McFadyen, modestly. "It's not 
 me, it's Miss Jessie that has all the news now-a-days. Such 
 long letters — and such splendid doings — I never heard the 
 like of ; and it's but right and proper of Allan to make ye 
 ■some requital of that kind, seeing the way Miss Jessie has 
 been looking after his interests ever since he went away. I 
 thought it was just real clever of her to get the house let to 
 the end of the year ; no one else would have thought of it, 
 the evening classes being such an obstacle ; but the reduced 
 rent was the temptation, no doubt ; and a fine thing for 
 Allan— he ought to be greatly obliged to ye " 
 
 " Oh, yes— oh, yes," remarked the widow. " Allan and 
 her, they get on fine when the breadth of Europe is between 
 them ; but if he were back here to-morrow, she would be 
 at him again with her scoff-scolfing — the poor, good-natured 
 lad, that has hardly a word to say for himself— " 
 
 " Allan— good-natured ! " retorted Jess, in well-feigned 
 amazement. " The temper of a mule, you mean ! Good- 
 natured ? It's not Allan Henderson you're speaking of, 
 mother, is it ? " 
 
 " For shame — for shame ! " said the widow, angrily. 
 " Snap-snapping at him behind his back ! And the poor 
 lad with not too many friends " 
 
 "Oh, as for that," continued Jess, as she took down 
 from the mantel-shelf a closely-written letter of several 
 pages, " he can have but little time to think about us or 
 iinything we may be saying of him. Look at this, Mr. 
 McFadyen ; here is the last budget ; and it's a description 
 of grandeurs enough to turn anybody's head. First of all, 
 he tells us about the Salaamlik " 
 
 "Ay, just think of that, now, Mr. McFadyen," said the 
 ^Yidow — without attempting to pronounce the word.
 
 A SUMMONS 403 
 
 " I'm not qiiite sure," the councillor put in, when Jess 
 proceeded 
 
 " That is tlie state procession of the Sultan to the mosque. 
 And it appears that the English Ambassador got cards of 
 admission for Mr. Caird and Allan — admission to a pavilion, 
 where they saw everything quite close by. Then the nest 
 day that had an invitation to visit the Imperial palaces — 
 the Beyler-Bey and the Dolma Baghcha on the Bosphorus, 
 and the Seraglio in Stamboul ; and the Aide-de-camp came 
 for them in one of His Majesty's caiques — a long, beautiful 
 boat, with ten rowers in costumes of white silk and red fez ; 
 and the two visitors were shown the wonderful display of 
 jewels in the Treasury ; and were served with rose-leaf jam 
 in cups encrusted with precious stones — — " 
 
 " Do ye hear that — do ye hear that, Mr. McFadyen ! " 
 interposed Mrs. Maclean, not without a trace of exultation. 
 
 The Golden Horn — the Sweet Waters — the Suleimanieh 
 ■ — the Seven Towers ; these were brave words ; and Allan's 
 description of Constantinople by moonlight was no doubt 
 vivid enough ; but all the same Mr. McFadyen began to 
 grow impatient and even resentful. He was losing iu ^ 
 importance. He w'as being ignored. In the face of all 
 these glories and dignities, what became of his position as a 
 member of Duntroone Town Council ? 
 
 " I would just say this," he observed, " that as a kind of 
 theatrical representation, what you have been reading. Miss 
 Jessie, is very remarkable. But I'm thinking that a man's 
 value in the world depends on Avhat he can do within his 
 own sphere. It is there he must make his influence felt — 
 it is there he becomes of consequence. I dare say, now', 
 that after such a parade of Eastern magnificence and 
 glitter, a question like the granting of spirit licences, 
 here in ])untrooue, must look a small and contemptible 
 affair " 
 
 " Indeed no — indeed no, Mr. McFadyen ! " the widow 
 protested. " What can interest us more than what is 
 happening just close around us ? " 
 
 He turned to her with alacrity. 
 
 " Ah, I see ye understand, Mrs. Maclean," he said. 
 " Ye understand what is of main consequence to us. And I 
 will say this for myself, that when we came to consider 
 
 2 D 2
 
 A04. HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 ■whether we should grant any further spirit licences, mj 
 Ijrother Councillors were all at sixes and sevens, until I 
 made the suggestion that the people themselves should be 
 asked what they wanted. ' And how are you going to do 
 that ? ' says they. ' Wliy, by a plebiscity,' says I. ' The 
 simplest thing possible.' " 
 
 " Ye're right there, ]\Ir. McFadyen," agreed the Avidow. 
 " There's nothing like publicity. I'm no for any hole-and- 
 corner business — no, no ! Ye must keep an eye on them, 
 Mr. McFadyen." 
 
 " There's one or two things," continued the councillor, in 
 a serious and thoughtful fashion, " that I would like to see 
 done while I have life and health spared me to attend to 
 these public concerns. There's the condition of the North 
 Pier — as I've said many a time before, it's a disgrace, a 
 perfect disgrace. And if we cannot acquire the property 
 for ourselves — if the Board of Trade cannot help us — then 
 at the very least we might make some arrangement about^ 
 sanitary appliances. Why, a good sloshing-down every 
 morning with a solution of carbolic acid — that of itself 
 would be something." 
 
 " Ye're right again, Mr. McFadyen," chimed in the 
 widow, nodding approval. " Carbolic acid's the thing — it's 
 just the best anti-semitic there is " 
 
 " Is it antiseptic you mean, mother ? " Jess interposed, 
 rather crossly. 
 
 "Ay, that's what I said," continued the widow, with 
 much complacency. " I'm sure the state of the Xorth Pier 
 is just crying aloud for something to be done." 
 
 " I have undertaken to give it my best attention," said 
 the councillor, grandly ; and he would probably have gone 
 on to mention one or two further and important reforms 
 but that at this moment a new-comer appeared, all eyes 
 being instantly turned towards him. 
 
 It was the shoemaker. Long Lauchlan seemed perturbed 
 and agitated ; and his excuses for this sudden intrusion 
 were somewhat incoherent. 
 
 " I had just half-a-minute," said he. " It was the only 
 shelter I could find ; and I'm sure, Mrs. Maclean, you 
 will not object to my coming in — until — until he has 
 gone by."
 
 A SUMMONS 403 
 
 " But who, Lauchlan ? " asked the widow, " What is 
 tlic matter ? " 
 
 " It's that desperate man, Red Mm'doch from Salon," 
 responded Lanchie, with another timorous glance towards 
 the front shop, " and I was hearing that he was in the town 
 and inquiring for me everywhere ; and thinks I to myself I 
 will keep out of the rod, and he will be going aweh hom by 
 the evening steamer. Ay, and would you believe it, I was 
 coming along Campbell Street, and there was he turning 
 out of the lane by the Bank of Scotland, and if I had not 
 escaped in here, he would hef got hold of me, and that's 
 the Bible's truth ■ " 
 
 " But what did he want with you ? " Jess dcjuanded — 
 though there were dark suspicions in her mind, prompting 
 her to giggle. 
 
 " Oh, he's a terrible man, that," said Long Lauchie, in 
 an awe-stricken way. " If Red Murdoch is for the drink, 
 there's no holding him back, no nor anyone he gets by the 
 arm ; and I heard he was searching for me — me that's a 
 Rechabite, and an officer of the Tent ! But maybe he's 
 gone by now — — " 
 
 "What nonsense it is you are talking, Lauchlan Mac- 
 Intyre ! " said the widow, sharply. " Are you telling me that 
 anyone can make you drink if you're not that way inclined ? 
 Where is your courage ? I would not be frightened into 
 any corner, if I were you — no, not for twenty Red 
 Murdochs ! Are you not free to walk along the streets ? 
 What kind of a country is this we're living in, then ? I 
 am ashamed to hear you, Lauchlan ! " 
 
 Long Lauchie regarded her for a second. 
 
 " You're a woman, Mrs. Maclean," said he, mysteriously. 
 " And you hef no experience of Red Murdoch when he 
 comes back from Caldcr Market, and would like a dram 
 with one of his old friends. But he must have gone by 
 now — yes, indeed — he must hef gone by ; and it's much 
 obliged I am to you, Mrs. Maclean, for giving me the 
 shelter : and [ will go out now and down to the shore, and 
 get a boat, and a lad to pull me over to Ardentrive Bay ; 
 and I will stop there until I see the Mull steamer passing 
 out. Me that's a Rechabite could not be seen going into 
 a public-house with Red Murdoch, no matter what money
 
 4o6 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 he may have got at Calder. — May the Good Beiug- preserve 
 ns ! " 
 
 This last ejaculation was in Gaelic. For there was a 
 sound as of someone entering the front shop. But this 
 was no great red-bearded drover — this was Niall G orach, 
 who came to the half -opened door, peering in with his elfin 
 eyes. 
 
 " Aw, Mr. Maclntyre," said he, " it is here you are ; and 
 Red Murdoch he was sending me to find you ; and I am to 
 tell him where you are " 
 
 " Son of the devil ! " exclaimed Lauchlan — and he made 
 a step forward, and seized the lad by the shoulder. " This 
 is what you will be telling him now — are you listening ? — 
 you will tell Eed Murdoch that my mother is dead, and the 
 funeral will be in a week or two, and I hef gone aweh to 
 Appin for the funeral, and it will be a month before I am 
 back. Do you hear me now ? Off with you, and find out 
 Red Mm-doch ; and tell him I am dead, and my mother is 
 dead ; and he is to go aweh home by the evening steamer. 
 Do you understand me now ? " 
 
 Perhaps Niall G orach did, and perhaps he did not ; at all 
 events he disappeared ; and Lauchlan turned with an air of 
 apology to the widow. 
 
 " Mebbe, Mrs. Maclean, you will not mind my staying a 
 few minutes longer. For Red Murdoch he might be in one 
 street, or another street ; but he'll be going aweh hom by 
 the evening boat whatever ; and people that does not want 
 to be drinking will be left in peace and quietness." 
 
 Alas ! at this very instant there was another sound out- 
 side — on the pavement and in the front shop — that re- 
 awakened the conscious fear in Lauchlan's eyes ; it was a 
 tread, heavy and irregular, that could not be mistaken for 
 the catlike approach of Niall G orach. Almost simul- 
 taneously a gigantic form appeared at the door ; and the 
 great, shaggy visage of Red Murdoch stared bemusedly in 
 upon the little group. At first he did not seem to recognise 
 anyone — not even the shoemaker, who had slunk into a 
 twilit corner. 
 
 " A mild woman — a mild woman," said the huge drover, 
 in Gaelic, as he regarded J\lrs. Maclean. 
 
 ' A young girl — a handsome young girl," he continued, 
 
 a
 
 A SUMMONS 407 
 
 in his occult approval, as for a moment he contemplated 
 Jess. 
 
 But now he came to Lauchie, half-hidden in that dusky 
 ro treat ; and at once a roar of delighted laughter broke 
 from him ; he strode forward and laid a vast and hairy paw 
 on the arm of the shrinking shoemaker. 
 
 " Are you there, sou of my heart ! And it is a good day, 
 this day, when I have the money in my pocket, and Long 
 Lauchlan to be coming with me for a dram. It is a fine 
 day, this day : Lauchlan, my son, the grass that is not 
 grown is suitable for the unborn calf ; but here I have the 
 money ; and my thanks to the good chance that brings me 
 a friend " 
 
 " Away— away ! " cried Lauchlan, trying to free himself 
 from that tremendous grip. " 1 am not for any drink. I 
 will not have any drink. I am not one of the drinking 
 kind " 
 
 The stupefied drover gazed and gazed ; and then he 
 shook his head savagely, as if he Avould clear his brain from 
 these encumbering and bewildering mists and fogs ; and 
 then he tried to drag the shoemaker out into the open, to- 
 see if it was possible to understand what all this meant. 
 But now it was that the councillor intervened. Mr. McFad- 
 yen was a little man, and rather fat and scant of l^reath ; 
 nevertheless he had a valiant soul — especially Avhen Jessie 
 Maclean happened to be looking on ; and without more ado 
 he seized Red Murdoch by the elljow. 
 
 "Let the man alone!" said he. "Are you not aware 
 that he has become a Rechabite ? " 
 
 " And who are you ? " said the big drover, turning to 
 glare down on this audacious interloper. 
 
 " I am a member of the town-council," replied Peter, 
 Avithout one pin's point of quailing, " and I have sufficient 
 influence with the police-authorities to see that no one is 
 allowed to come into any house and disturb and frighten 
 decent, cjuiet people." 
 
 " Oh, there is no frightening of anyone," said Jess, who 
 indeed was more inclined to laugh. " But if you are going 
 l)y the evening steamer, Mr. IMurdoch, it is about time you 
 were walking along to the cjuay ; and ]\Ir. McFadyen's 
 house is close by ; and I am sure, if you went along with
 
 <o8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Iiim, he would be glad to have a parting glass with you — ■ 
 and you could leave Mr, Maclntyre to" his own ways and 
 liabits." 
 
 But at this Red Murdoch drew himself up. 
 
 " Who goes through the thorns for me, I'll go through 
 the briers for him," he said, in a dignified manner. " And 
 I will take a parting glass with the gentleman, if he is 
 agreeable. But it is not I that am in the custom of going 
 from one house to another house and asking for a glass of 
 whisky, when I can pay for my own whisky. And as for the 
 Rechabites : well, I hope there will be plenty of Rechabites, 
 and more and more Rechabites — until the devil takes them 
 to light his fires with ! " 
 
 And thereupon the red-bearded Mull drover — still some- 
 what proud and offended — suff'ered himself to be led away 
 l»y the councillor ; while Long Lauchie, tremulously thank- 
 fid over his escape from this formidable temptation, came 
 forth from his corner, and went sadly away home. And 
 all that the little widow said, w^hen they had quitted the 
 premises, was this — 
 
 " The men are strange folk. And it's a Heaven's mercy 
 when they dinna come to blows." 
 
 But during the subsequent and grateful quiet Jess re- 
 mained for a long time silent and absent-minded ; and she 
 still held Allan Henderson's letter in her hand. 
 
 " Mother," she said, after a while, " I suppose, now, 
 Mr. ]\IcFadyen will imagine that Allan is thinking only of 
 himself and all these fine adventures. I did not care to 
 read any more of the letter to him. What would be the 
 use ? And what am I to answer to Allan himself, and to 
 all his auxious questionings — week after week — week after 
 week — very soon it will be months — and me with hardly a 
 word of news to send him ? How can I make him under- 
 stand that Barbara will not write, and that she will not see 
 any one, and that her only wish appears to be that she 
 should be forgotten, and her name never mentioned among 
 us ? And what is to come of it ? Sometimes I am dreading 
 that there will be a terrible harm." 
 
 And again she said — 
 
 " Mother, would you mind if I went through to Glasgow 
 for a few days, or maybe longer ? Mrs. Guthrie might
 
 FAREWELL! 409 
 
 give me a bed ; for I would not like to be all by myself 
 in a temperance hotel in a big town like that. I must 
 see Barljara — I cannot sleep at nights for thinking of 
 her " 
 
 "And many's the wakeful hour I have," rejoined the 
 little widow, " over the poor lass and her trouliles. And as 
 yon say, Jessie, Avhat will come of it, if she refuses every 
 permission, and will have no comfort and no hope, and 
 wishes to be as one that is dead to us ? She was brought 
 up in the fresh air and the open ; and to be shut close 
 within black walls — dear, dear me ! — Avhat is to come 
 of it ? " 
 
 " Mother," the girl said, " I will go to Glasgow — and you 
 must not hurry me back." 
 
 So next day Jess made her small preparations, and set 
 out for the great city ; and there she received a most 
 friendly welcome from Mrs. Guthrie, who kept a baker's 
 shop in the Gallowgate. At first her letters home were 
 filled merely with a vague misgiving ; a misgiving that was 
 perhaps mainly caused by her perplexity ; for she could not 
 fathom and get to comprehend this strange mood of mind 
 on the part of the hapless prisoner. But after a while 
 those letters struck a sharper note of alarm ; and at last 
 there arrived a telegram begging Mrs. Maclean to go 
 through to Glasgow at once, or, if that were impossible, to 
 send Mr. McFadyen in her stead. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 FAREWELL ! 
 
 One morning towards noon two travellers who had arrived 
 at Calais over-night were walking up and down the breezy 
 promenade of the Quai de Maree, with an occasional glance 
 now at the boats in the harbour and again at the wide 
 waters of the Channel, that Avere flashiug and rushing in 
 silver-and-yellow before a brisk east wind. 
 
 " Well, Henderson," said the younger of the two, " you've
 
 4TO HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 come a precious long- way for Avliat seems to me a mere 
 matter of couveution." 
 
 " Convention ? " repeated the schoolmaster, abruptly. 
 " What convention ? I could do nothing else. "What else 
 could I do ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," continued the younger man, with 
 quick pacilication, " perhaps I should have said a matter of 
 principle. Anyhow, all that sad business in Glasgow must 
 have been long over by now ; and I hardly understand Avhy 
 you should have thought it necessary •" 
 
 " At the very least," said his companion, " I can go on to 
 Duntroone, and thank those good friends who stood in my 
 place, when I was far enough away. Xo : my starting for 
 home, as soon as that message reached me at Moudanieb, 
 was an inevitable thing ; I could not do otherwise ; bub 
 yon — why you should have undertaken such a tedious and 
 aimless journey — only to stop here — I have not been able 
 to make that out yet " 
 
 '■ Why I came back with you ? " said young Caird, lightly. 
 " Why I came on to Calais ? Oh, for a frolic. Or for 
 company's sake. Or to practise self-denial. Self-denial, 
 most likely. You see, there can't be anything to do in this 
 dull little hole of a town ; so, until you reappear, I suppose 
 I shall spend most of my time on this promenade, strolling 
 about, and addressing polished and elegant speeches to my 
 respected relatives over the water. ' My dear friends, if you 
 were to learn that I had returned so far, and that at this 
 moment I was almost within sight of English shores, you 
 would no doubt jump to the conclusion that 1 meant to 
 cross ; and you would be delighted to think that a certain 
 compact was about to be broken. But I am not going to 
 do anything of the kind— not at all. I am playing far too 
 important a stake. There is a little matter of family 
 recognition to be added in, when the stipulated year expires, 
 and when I shall have the pleasure of presenting to you a 
 young person whose accomplishments, and refinement, and 
 grace will be quite an addition to your domestic circles— 
 and something of a novelty too.' " 
 
 But here the lame lad sent a rather wistful look away to 
 the north. 
 
 " After all, Henderson, it is a temptation," he confessed.
 
 FAREWELL! 411 
 
 " I do believe, if I were to cross with you by this next 
 boat, I could slip through to Glasgow without any chance 
 of being discovered, and meet you somewhere on the way 
 back. Let's see : you'll be in 'London between four and 
 five ; then on by the Scotch mail to-night ; Glasgow quite 
 early to-morroAv morning. Then the — the company are 
 playing at Falkirk just now — ■ — " 
 
 " How do you know that ? " said the schoolmaster, 
 turning upon him sharply. 
 
 " Oh, you_ needn't be 'afraid," responded the lad, with a 
 laugh. " Direct communication only is forbidden in the 
 bond ; and there's been nothing of that kind. But one 
 may have a friend here or there, don't you perceive ? " 
 
 "Yes," observed the schoolmaster, "you seem to have 
 borne this separation, so far, with great equanimity." 
 
 " Oh, I assure you, I have kept strictly to the terms ! " 
 the younger man exclaimed, placidly. " Not but that there 
 may have been moments — just now, for example — when 
 one's common sense rebels. Or which is the common-sense 
 — impatience over this preposterous compact, or the deter- 
 mination, now that so much has been gone through, to hold 
 on to the end ? That is a conundrum I can study while 
 you are away in the north ; and you have been setting me a 
 good many of late to puzzle over. I rememl}er a very pretty 
 one — 'Can any natural instinct or impulse be in itself 
 criminal, or is it only criminal in so far as society, for its 
 own protective purposes, chooses to declare it criminal ! ' 
 That's a very dainty suggestion — something like a cartload 
 of dynamite fit to burst up the whole moral order of the 
 universe. For example, my natural impulse at this moment, 
 if I were within reach of that fishing-smack, would be to 
 tip the skipper into the sea. Is there any such loathsome 
 sight as a fat Frenchman in a temper ? Look at his 
 clenched fists — look at him jumping and dancing with 
 rage — listen to his howls and shrieks at those jibing 
 and mocking people on the quay — and every moment he 
 knows the wind is carrying him further and further out 
 of hearing. But come away, now," he continued, "and 
 let's walk along to the steamer. And about my natural 
 impulse to tip that skipper into the sea : wasn't it perfectly 
 justifiable ? If society were to declare it criminal, it would
 
 412 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 1)6 because society had uever witnessed such a deplorable 
 exhibition.''' 
 
 " Lad, lad," said the schoolmaster, absently, " it is well 
 with you that you can make a joke of such questions. 
 Sometimes they come a little more seriously into human 
 life." 
 
 That was all ; and there was no unkiudliness in the hint ; 
 but the younger man, who had got to know a good deal of 
 his companion's story, quickly and skilfully changed the 
 subject — and easily, too, for now they were about to 
 separate, and their final arrangements had to be made. 
 
 And thus it was that Allan Henderson, journeying alone, 
 made his way northward to Glasgow, where indeed there 
 was not much for him to do beyond visiting two graves — 
 grave of wife and grave of friend ; and in his long reveries 
 he may have pondered over the strangely devious paths by 
 which those two children of the far and lonely outer isles, 
 who in life had never known each other, had at length 
 reached this last resting-place, within sight and sound of 
 the great murmuring city. As for him, Glasgow had 
 become a town of dark memories and regrets ; and ho 
 seemed to breathe more freely when on the next day he 
 found himself in the train that was bearing him away out 
 to the western seas — though nevertheless he looked back, 
 and still looked back, so long as any of the grey houses 
 and the tall chimneys were visible. 
 
 It was rather a wet and boisterous afternoon when in due 
 course he arrived at the well-known little station fronting 
 the harbour ; but delicious to his nostrils were the soft, 
 fresh, rain-laden gusts that blew in across the bay ; and he 
 forgot all about Pentelicus, and Marathon, and the basking 
 slopes of Hymettus w'hen he beheld the ancient and ivied 
 castle tall and dark against the windy skies, and when he 
 saw the wild cloud-wreaths moving and intertwisting in 
 silver and purple above the sombre Morven hills. His heart 
 swelled, and his throat was like to choke him, when he 
 heard the kindly speech from which he had so long been 
 absent ; and he was glad that neither Jessie Maclean nor 
 her mother was here to meet him ; if he had been less 
 agitated he might have guessed that it was only part of 
 Jess's thoughtfulness that had made them stay away, while
 
 FAREWELL! 413 
 
 here was the alert and indefatigable Mr. McFadyen to 
 represent them. 
 
 " I was to ask you to excuse them," said the coimcillor, 
 eagerly snatching at handbags and parcels, whether they 
 belonged to Allan or not, " and I've got a room ready for 
 you at my house, for, as ye've doubtless heard, your own 
 house has been let ; but the widow and the daughter will 
 be glad to see you later on, when you've plenty of time, and 
 when you've got more accustomed to the town " 
 
 At this Allan stopped short, and stood stock still — here 
 amongst the luggage, and the porters, and the bustling 
 passengers. 
 
 "McFadyen, what is't you mean ?" said he. "Do they 
 hold me answerable for all that has happened ? Has Mrs. 
 Maclean cast me out ? " 
 
 " Dod bless my soul and body ! " exclaimed the councillor, 
 in great confusion and fright ; was this the result of his 
 trying to obey Jess Maclean's earnest injunctions ? " You'll 
 not let a body speak ! They thought they might be in the 
 way — and — and I've got everything arranged for ye — as well 
 as I could in my poor dwelling ; and we'll go along to see the 
 Macleans as soon as ever you like, I mean as soon as you've 
 had a bite of something. And the thrashing — oh, yes, 
 Miss Jessie was sure ye'd like to hear of the fearful 
 thrashing I gave the station-master on Saturday afternoon : 
 ye see, Jamie Gilmour has been out 0' practice all through 
 the summertime because of being so busy — morning till 
 night far too busy to think of the links " 
 
 By this time Mr. McFadyen had secured a porter ; and 
 when Allan's not very cumbrous luggage had been put on 
 the barrow, the two friends set out to accompany it — for 
 the councillor's house was but a little way off. 
 
 " And then," continued Peter, with dawning merriment, 
 " I'll tell ye the truth — I'll confess the truth : I had been 
 practising pretty hard, and not letting on to Jamie. There's 
 Tolmie, the professional, hanging about the now ; and I 
 was getting a few bit lessons from him, d'ye understand — 
 on the quiet ; so that when the ball did happen to trintle 
 away down into that beast of a hollow by the dyke, I began 
 to find myself no just quite so helpless Here, you thick- 
 headed gomeril, where the mischief are ye going ? "
 
 414 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 This last execration was hurled at the porter, who, having 
 recognised the schoolmaster, and assuming that this was 
 the schoolmaster's luggage, was for leaving the harbour- 
 front to get away up to Battery Terrace, When it had 
 again been forced in on his mind that they Avere all of 
 them bound for the councillor's dwelling, Peter continued 
 his brisk conversation — as had been enjoined on him. 
 
 " It was a wonderful clever thing," said he, " of Miss 
 Jessie to get your house let to those friends o' hers from 
 Peterhead ; for it suits them just splendid — the ailing lass 
 having been ordered to try the soft west-country air ; and it 
 matters little to them to have the lower rooms occupied by 
 the Latin classes for an hour or two in the evening " 
 
 "If Mr. Fenwick would not mind," said Allan, " I would 
 like to look in for a few minutes to-night just to see the 
 lads." 
 
 " To be sure — to be sure ! Capital— a capital idea ! " 
 cried Peter, approvingly ; and now they were arrived at his 
 house ; and here was the great, gawky, good-natured, 
 gooseberry-eyed servant lass, ready to help with the luggage ; 
 and in the adjoining parlour the dinner-table was laid — 
 and laid for two only. 
 
 For this also was part of Jessie's kindly scheming ; though 
 her mother had furtively cried a littlewhen she learned that 
 Allan, on his return home, was to be received in a strange 
 house. But Jess insisted ; she would have no family 
 gathering over the way, with its painful blank only too 
 conspicuous ; and of course she found in the councillor a 
 willing ally. So it was that Peter and his guest sate down 
 at this table by themselves ; and the big, bland servant-lass 
 brought in successively cockie-leekie, boiled salmon, and 
 roast fowl and bacon ; while the loquacious host, suddenly 
 remembering that he had dropped the story of the discom- 
 fiture and dismay of the station-master, resumed the 
 narrative, and launched into a Homeric description of his 
 own exploits and his enemy's chagrin. 
 
 " Dod, man," he cried, between bursts of irrepressible 
 laughter, " ye never saw any human creature in such a state 
 of bewilderment. All the tricks that Tolmie had been 
 showing me seemed to come in handy from the very 
 beginning — but more especially at the dyke — more especially
 
 FAREWELL! 415 
 
 at the dyke — for I made a bad liasli of my first attempt, 
 and the ball did uot get over, and Jamie he sets to work 
 sniggering. 'Peter,' says he, 'away back wi' ye thirty 
 yards, and try again.' ' Jamie,' says I, ' keep a calm songh 
 for a minute.' And then I gets out my lofter ; and I 
 steadied my aim ; and click ! goes the ball into the air — 
 well and clean over and away ! * It's an infernal fluke ! ' 
 says he. ' I'll bet ye half a crown on the game ! ' says I. 
 ' Done with you, Peter,' says he, ' and you'll be whistling 
 another tune before I've finished with ye ! ' Was I .? Was 
 I ? " continued the councillor, with another hilarious roar. 
 "Man, ye should have seen Jamie get angrier and angrier 
 as we went on ; and when he grows savage, it's all up with 
 him ; he just bashes the ground. — I wonder there's an 
 ounce of land or soil left in Argyllshire ! And his aston- 
 ishment when we got to the end, and totted up the scores ! 
 ' Jamie,' says I, ' what kind of a tune would ye like to be 
 whistling now ? ' ' Oh, go to the devil ! ' says he — and ye 
 can imagine what's in a man's mind when that's all he's 
 got to say for himself. — Allan, Miss Jessie was saying 
 maybe you yourself would like to take a turn round the 
 links to-morrow." 
 
 The schoolmaster shook his head. 
 
 " I must get away again as soon as ever I can," said he. 
 *• Young Caird is waiting for me in Calais ; and very 
 friendly of him it was to come all the way across Europe 
 with me." 
 
 " And for how long are you off again ? " 
 
 " For some uine months or so — whatever will make up a 
 year from the time we first started." 
 
 The councillor hesitated for a second or so. 
 
 "Then maybe you would like to go along at once to 
 Mrs. ^laclean's ? " 
 
 "AYell, I would — though I need not hurry you." 
 
 " I was to bring you as soon as it was convenient to 
 yourself," McFadyen interposed, dexterously ; and in a few 
 minutes the two men were outside and on their way to 
 Campbell Street. 
 
 It was a sad enough meeting ; but Mr. McFadyen had 
 had his instructions ; the talk was about all manner of 
 ordinary things, with occasional references to Allan's forth-
 
 415 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 coming departure and future plans. It is true that now 
 and again the eyes of tlie little widow would fill with tears, 
 even when she was trying to join in as bravely as any of 
 them ; and Jess seemed ratlier to keep apart — she was 
 summoned away more than once to the front shop ; it was 
 on Peter McFadyen that the difficulties of the situation 
 chiefly fell, and he acquitted himself admirably. Nor was 
 there any need to wish the councillor away, that more 
 intimate questions might be asked and answered ; for Jess 
 had communicated all the news by letter ; up to the arrival 
 of the schoolmaster at Calais, he had heard from her at 
 every possible point. Perhaps it was for this reason that 
 she now held herself somewhat aloof. 
 
 At length Mr. McFadyen took out his watch and said — 
 
 " I'm thinking, Allan, you had some intention of going 
 up to the Terrace to look in on those lads. They'll be at 
 work now " 
 
 " Indeed, yes," said the schoolmaster, rising. " And yet 
 I've not said a word to you, Mrs. Maclean, nor to you, 
 Jessie, about the gratitude I owe you for all you've 
 done for me. I'm just crushed into silence — I cannot 
 speak " 
 
 " And the least said the better, x\llan," returned the 
 widow, with the tears showing again. " It would have 
 been a good thing for you if you had never seen any of 
 
 us " 
 
 " Well, come along," said McFadyen, briskly. " I'm 
 sure the lads will be glad to be remembered." And there- 
 -with — Jess somewhat lingering in the background — the 
 councillor and Allan said good-night to their friends, and 
 left the little parlour that used to be so familiar. 
 
 The youths were all busy at their tasks up there in 
 Battery Terrace ; but when Allan appeared at the door — 
 doubtful about entering, and ready to apologise for his 
 interruption — first one and then another turned and recog- 
 nised him, and presently there was a general if timid 
 rapping of knuckles on the wooden desks to give him a wel- 
 come. " Still uncertain as to whether he should go or leave, he 
 could but nod a greeting to this or that well-known face ; 
 and then, drawn by old association and remembrances, he 
 made bold to step forward ; while the young man who
 
 FAREWELL! 417 
 
 was his substitute rose from his chair and came along to 
 meet him. 
 
 " No, no," said Allan. " I must not hinder you. Go 
 on ; and I will sit down here for a minute or two." And 
 he took a seat at the end of the nearest bench, as it chanced 
 by the side of one of the youngest of the students, who had 
 been a special favourite of his. 
 
 The master in charge was equal to the occasion. He 
 announced that he would send round, written on a piece of 
 paper, a literal translation of a couple of verses from Ovid ; 
 and the students could then occupy themselves in turning 
 the English back into Latin. Nor did he leave them 
 without a little friendly guidance here and there, when he 
 had read out the English lines ; he suggested one or two 
 of the equivalents ; reminded them of the difference between 
 " capillus," " coma," and " crinis "; and so forth ; and then, 
 when he had set them all going, he returned to Allan and 
 to Mr. McFadyen, free to talk about the business of the 
 school or anything else they pleased. 
 
 It was to the councillor he had to address himself ; for 
 Allan was much too interested in the efforts of the diligent 
 youth who was seated next him. It was quite mechanical 
 work, of course, this dove-tailing of longs and shorts to 
 secure the necessary six feet and five ; but nevertheless it 
 demanded some little ingenuity ; and as the lad had 
 quickly jotted down two or three alternatives of the 
 principal nouns, Allan (who was not acquainted with the 
 original) could at least indicate with his forefinger what 
 might be tried next as a solution of the puzzle. Well, as 
 it subsequently turned out, those two together did not 
 quite arrive at the elegance of Ovid ; but they were not so 
 very far away from it ; and the master eventually pro- 
 claimed — amidst general giggling — that Mr. Henderson 
 and his companion might be said to have produced a very 
 creditable version. 
 
 " Ah, I'd like fine to be back among those boys again," 
 said Allan, as he and the councillor were strolling home- 
 wards together, for a final pipe and a chat before getting 
 to bed. 
 
 " All in good time — all in good time, Allan, lad," 
 responded Mr. McFadyen, cheerfully. " And in the mean- 
 
 2 E
 
 41 8 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 while I'm glad to hear that the numbers are not dropping 
 off — no, no — rather the reverse." 
 
 Next day Allan was to leave by the 12.40 train ; and as 
 he was to be away for so long, Mrs. Maclean herself came to 
 the platform, accompanied by Jess. Mr. McFadyen was 
 also here ; likewise, of course, the station-master ; and one 
 or two others. Long Lauchie did not put in an appear- 
 ance, for he would have had to pass the refreshment-room 
 twice, and he was avoiding such places. 
 
 " And we'll not be seeing you now, Allan, till the middle 
 of next summer," said the little widow ; " and who can tell 
 what may happen through all the long, long winter ? " 
 
 " Why, the best — we must just hope for the best ! " said 
 the councillor, gallantly. " And whether it's to be eight 
 months, or whether it's to be ten months, Allan knows 
 first-rate where there's a welcome always waiting for him." 
 
 The guard came up, and a move was made for the 
 carriages. There was much hand-shaking, and bidding of 
 good-bye ; and even Jess, who had rather hung back, had 
 now to advance, to take farewell — which she did silently. 
 
 " And you will write to us often and often," this was the 
 widow's last word, as the train began to move, " and Jessie 
 will write back to you, and tell you all that is going on — 
 will you not now, Jessie ? " 
 
 But Jess did not seem to hear — and presently the line 
 of carriages had crept away from the platform, and was 
 bending round the curve that in a moment or two would 
 completely hide it from sight. 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 "AT EACH EEMOVE." 
 
 It was during this winter that the widow began to give 
 herself airs. On some former occasions the Purser had 
 been rather inclined to impose on this little circle — or, at 
 least, to impress it — with his talk of travel ; but now that 
 Allan's budgets of news kept arriving every other week or
 
 ''ATEA CH RE MO VE " 419 
 
 so, the Parser's foreign experiences shrank into insignifi- 
 cance ; and Mrs. Maclean was proud to know that it was 
 one of her own kith and kin — one of her own family 
 almost — who had these wonderful tales to tell. At first 
 Jessie, to whom the letters were addressed, allowed her 
 mother free access to them ; and the widow would read and 
 re-read them, asking questions, and discreetly getting to 
 understand, before communicating with her neighbours. 
 
 " Dear me, Jess," she would say, for example, " what's 
 this he writes about the Americans ? — about the Americans 
 continually boasting of their manifest density ? It's not 
 possible ! Poor things, they cannot be so stupid as all 
 that ! " 
 
 " It's their manifest destiny, mother," Jess would make 
 answer, with a touch of impatience. " The Americans 
 stupid ? Don't yon see what he says further on ? — that 
 there's but the one thing left for them to invent — and 
 they'll be having it before long — and that's a mechanical 
 maidservant. He says that when the American man gets 
 to realise the misery that the American woman endures 
 through the difficulties of domestic service, he is bound to 
 come to her aid with machinery." 
 
 But in process of time Jess grew more chary of showing 
 these letters ; and at length she kept them entirely to 
 herself, merely reading out to her mother such accounts of 
 ongoings and adventures as might be expected to interest 
 her. For Allan had but the one true and safe confidante 
 in his former home ; and there were many intimate and 
 personal things he could write about to Jess that Jess alone 
 could comprehend ; and perhaps some of these things, seen 
 from afar and with clearer vision, were altering in look. 
 Anyhow, Jess no longer showed the letters ; and perhaps 
 her mother did not notice the changed condition of affairs ; 
 she was satisfied to hear that Allan was in excellent spirits 
 and quite delighted with his travelling companion. 
 
 Not that the closing months of the old year were 
 otherwise devoid of incident. Far from it. All kinds of 
 things were happening. The station-master won the great 
 golfing handicap, carrying off the silver-plated claret-jug 
 which now adorns his sideboard. Niall G orach and three 
 other lads were indicted for trespassing on the grounds of 
 
 2 E 2
 
 420 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 Aultnashellach, in pursuit of rabbits ; but the cliarge was 
 found uot proven, though the Sheriff significantly refused 
 to allow their expenses. The shoemaker had found a new 
 doctrine and principle of human life, which he preached to 
 all and sundry ; and which, interpreted from the Gaelic, 
 and reduced to a more compact formula, was to the effect 
 that " tea and religion were the two supreme comforts of 
 existence ; but that a wise man would avoid immoderate 
 indulgence in either." The councillor had been prevailed 
 upon to receive for a time a nephew of his who had fallen 
 ill in Glasgow — Mrs. Maclean observed that the doctors 
 had hinted something about " angelina pectoris " — and so 
 completely did the sea air restore the young man to his 
 ordinary health, and so frankly did he show himself 
 interested in his uncle's business, that Mr. McFadyen had 
 serious thoughts of taking him in as a junior partner, to 
 the securing, later on, of some portion of leisure for himself. 
 Then, one morning, the steamer Islesman, from the Outer 
 Hebrides, hove in sight with all her flags flying ; and as 
 she came sailing into the entrance of the bay, she fired off 
 her signal-cannon with a report that sent the jackdaws 
 about the ivied ruin squawking and yawping into the 
 breezy and silver skies. The reason soon became known. 
 Jack Ogilvie, formerly Purser of the Aros Castle, was on 
 board ; and he was bringing with him his blushing bride, 
 who hitherto had been the Widow McAlister, proprietress 
 of the Anchor Hotel, Portree. There were many people in 
 Duntroone ready and glad to greet the newly-married 
 couple ; but all the same Jack Ogilvie found time to call 
 upon the Macleans ; and his wife — a buxom, pleasant- 
 featured young woman of thirty, with coal-black hair and 
 cheeks of the colour of red pickled cabbage (for the wind 
 was gusty and cold) — received a most friendly welcome 
 from Jess and her mother. They were going south on 
 their wedding-jaunt — perhaps even as far as London ; but 
 it was intimated that on their return the fortunate bride- 
 groom was to take up his position as general manager of 
 the Anchor Hotel, which is a famous and flourishing 
 hostelry in those distant parts. 
 
 By and bye came the New Year ; and with it there 
 arrived a capacious chest that had been sent all the way
 
 " AT EACH RE MO VE " 42 1 
 
 from Yokohama. When the widow, with the eager 
 curiosity of a child, began to undo the unfamiliar and 
 convoluted packing-material, her delight soon gave way to 
 amazement. 
 
 " Preserve us ! " she cried. " Where could Allan get 
 the money to waste on all this extravagance — I never saw 
 the like " 
 
 " Mother," said Jess, " did I not tell you ? Most of the 
 things are from j\Ir. Caird." 
 
 " But how could Mr. Caird be hearing anything about 
 me or you ? " continued the widow, as with cautious fingers 
 she unwound the bandages from an extremely pretty tea-set. 
 " How was he to know anything about us ? " 
 
 Jess looked a little embarrassed. 
 
 "Well," said she, "Allan was sending me a kind of 
 explanation, that during many a long hour of travel he used 
 to talk about the people at home ; and Mr. Caird got it 
 into his head that he had become quite acquainted with us ; 
 and he is a whimsical and obstinate young gentleman — so 
 Allan says ; and when there was some mention made of the 
 possibility of sending a New-Year's-Day present, he would 
 insist on taking part. And Mr. Caird wrote a letter 
 too " 
 
 " Ay ? — and w by did ye not show it to me ? Where is 
 it ? " 
 
 Jess pretended to be busy with the cups ; and her mother 
 did not notice the slight colour that had mounted to the 
 girl's forehead. 
 
 " Mr. Caird's letter, do you mean, mother ? " she said. 
 " It is over at the house. But it is only a sort of friendly 
 apology for sending you these things ; and he writes in a 
 very nice and good-natured way. He says he is greatly 
 obliged to you ; for it is of such importance that one's 
 travelling compnnion should be contented in mind ; and 
 Allan was satisfied and at rest because you were looking 
 after all his affairs for him in his absence " 
 
 But here the mother did grow suspicious. 
 
 " Jess," said she, abruptly, " go at once and get me thao 
 letter." 
 
 " But maybe I burned it, mother," she answered. 
 
 " Then are you telling me lies about what was in it ? "
 
 422 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Why should I ? " said Jess — but with averted face. 
 
 " Because if the young man knows anything at all about 
 it," said the widow, boldly, " he must know very well that 
 it is you, and not me, that has been looking after Allan's 
 affairs. Very well he must know that ; and very well Allan 
 knows it ; and the two of them together, when they were 
 buying these presents to be sent across the sea, who was it 
 they were thinking of ? It was yoii, Jessie — and no one 
 else — that is as clear as the daylight ; and you need not 
 stand there to deny it. Would they be sending these fine 
 pieces of silk and sewing to one at my years ? " 
 
 " Mother, you are entirely mistaken," said Jess, quite as 
 bluntly. " Did you not look at the label ? — I think that 
 is the best proof of all ! They have been sent to you, and 
 they are yours ; I am not wishing for any of them ; and 
 by and bye we will see what can be made of them for 
 you. That will be your best way of thanking Allan, when 
 he comes back to his own country." 
 
 But there was many a long day and many a long month 
 to be got through before there was any prospect of that wist- 
 fully looked-for return ; though as time w^ent on those many- 
 paged communications that Jess so carefully treasured up 
 and concealed began to arrive from ever-lessening distances. 
 And at last there came an afternoon ; and the councillor 
 insisted and better insisted that Miss Jessie should go along 
 with him to the station ; and those two, when the train 
 slowed in and stopped, belield a stranger step out from one 
 of the compartments — a bronzed and bearded man, whose 
 dark eyes aflame with delight seemed to say he was not so 
 much of a stranger after all : and Jess, involuntarily 
 shrinking back, would have the councillor go forward to 
 receive him ; and this McFadyen, when he had recovered 
 his senses, instantly proceeded to do. But the next moment 
 Jess found both her hands caught and held. 
 
 " I've seen many a place since I left you last, Jessie," 
 Allan said, " but never one half as welcome as the first 
 glimpse of Duntroone Bay." 
 
 " But Where's your luggage, man ? — where the mischief 
 is your luggage ? " cried the councillor, determined on 
 asserting his importance. 
 
 Then the schoolmaster had to turn to explain, rather
 
 '' AT EA CH RE MO VE " 423 
 
 nervously, that he had not brought any higgage with him. 
 He had come straight away through as quickly as ever he 
 could. His immediate plans were not fixed yet. And so, 
 with many questions and answers, the three of them set out 
 for Campbell Street, Jess alone keeping somewhat silent. 
 
 The widow was greatly pleased with the change in Allan's 
 appearance ; she declared that his beard, his robust frame, 
 his firmer carriage, lent him an air of authority that was 
 necessary for a schoolmaster ; she was proud to hear that 
 he had nearly finished his translation of the unpronounceable 
 poem, and that already he had secured a publisher ; and she 
 had no sufficient words of praise for young Mr. Caird, who 
 had undertaken to befriend Allan Henderson in more 
 ways than one. 
 
 " And, maybe, Allan, lad," she continued, blithely, " may- 
 be Jessie was right after all, when she was telling us of 
 the great things in store for you, and when she was urging 
 you to do this and do that. Maybe it will be coming true. 
 That was a fine saying they used to have : ' The day is 
 longer than the brae : tee ivill mn to the top yet.'' And 
 surely you've had enough of wandering now ; when are you 
 going to settle down among your own folk ? " 
 
 The question seemed to disconcert him, and he evaded it 
 somehow ; for indeed, despite his obvious happiness in being 
 once more in the midst of these old friends, from time to 
 time a look of uncertainty and care would cross his face, 
 as if all were not well. However, at this moment the girl 
 Christina appeared to take charge of the shop ; and the 
 widow, rising, forthwith invited her guests to step across to 
 the house, where supper had been left in readiness for them. 
 She herself led the way, and the councillor was talking to 
 her ; Jess and Allan followed — with little speech between 
 them. 
 
 But as they were going along the twilit entrance leading- 
 to the staircase, Allan put his hand gently on her arm, and 
 in obedience to this mute prayer she lingered behind for a 
 moment, while the others passed out of sight. 
 
 " I got your letter in Glasgow, Jessie," said he, in an 
 undertone. " And is that the last word you have for me ? "■ 
 
 " Are we not better as we are ? " she made answer, with 
 her eyes downcast. " Did you not hear what motJier was
 
 424 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 saying a minute ago, of the future that seems lying before 
 you ? " 
 
 " I know nothing about that," he replied. " And what- 
 ever it might be, I should have no interest in it, I should 
 have no care in it, unless you were with me. Jessie, do 
 you think I cannot recognise how stupid and blind I have 
 been ? I never knew what you were — well, I knew you 
 were always and always my best and dearest friend and 
 ally — but I never knew what you really were until one 
 after the other those long letters came ; and then you spoke 
 so freely and so kindly ; it was like yourself talking, with 
 nobody by ; and many's the night I lay awake reading and 
 re-reading, page after page, and trying to think I could 
 hear the tides off Lismore, and smell the scent of the wind 
 blowing down from the hills. And then when I ventured in 
 writing back to you to say one or two things — wondering 
 whether our close and sure friendship might not blossom 
 into something finer and nearer — and when I found that 
 you were not so very angry — I began to dream wild dreams. 
 I suppose I was mistaken. I suppose you thought, with 
 such a distance between us, that it was hardly necessary to 
 be strict and cautious of speech. But now — if this is to be 
 your last word — this that I got at Glasgow " 
 
 " Allan," she said, piteously, " surely we are better off as 
 we are " 
 
 " Oh, I know there are plenty of reasons why you should 
 not throw yourself away on one such as I," he exclaimed. 
 " Do you think I do not know ! Plenty of reasons — do you 
 think I have not pondered over them, night after night ? 
 And I suppose it was a sort of madness of impertinence that 
 got hold of me, to think that any such possibility could 
 come into my life. But I do not wish to vex you, Jessie, or 
 harass you ; I can go — and this time for good." 
 
 " But why not let us be as we are, Allan ? " she said 
 again — and not even yet did she dare to raise her eyes. 
 
 When he spoke, it was in a grave kind of way. 
 
 " That is my decree of banishment, then," he said, slowly ; 
 *' and Duntroone will see me no more." 
 
 Nothing short of consternation prevailed at the little 
 supper-table when it became known that the schoolmaster
 
 ''AT EA CH RE MO VE " 425 
 
 wa8_ leaving the very next morning; and the councillor, 
 anxious to hide his ignorance and hewilderment, could only 
 seek refuge in the remark that if Allan went by the 8.if0 
 train he might have to change at Stirling, to get on to 
 Glasgow. For there were no explanations offered, and none 
 could well be asked ; and if there was some vague mention 
 of Allan's further movements it was half-inti mated and 
 half-understood that these were in some way connected with 
 young Caird and certain schemes of his. In truth the 
 situation was altogether too embarrassing ; this reunion, 
 that promised so much, was found to be ifull of perplexity 
 and chagrin ; and at the earliest moment the two visitors 
 withdrew — not a word having been said to solve the 
 mystery. 
 
 And perhaps that was a long night for Jess — a long and 
 wakeful night of thinking and tears ; at all events, when 
 she got up the next morning, she was in a languid and list- 
 less state ; and more than once she looked at her little 
 silver watch, that lay on the table. And then, as if moved 
 by some sudden impulse, she began to dress quickly ; and 
 again she would look at the watch ; and again she would 
 go to the mirror, to see if those clear and gentle grey eyes 
 bore less trace of the slow, immeasureable hours of pain. 
 Finally, at a few minutes after eight, she issued forth from 
 the house. It was a beautiful morning — the world all brisk 
 and busy— the sunlight lying soft and golden on the slopes 
 of Kerrara — the sea blue and shining far away out towards 
 Lismore. She hurried along by the harbour-front ; her 
 eyes were alert, but no one she knew was visible ; at length 
 her glance happened to fall on the clock above the railway- 
 station. Ancl then her heart seemed to stand still, with 
 sickness and fright. She pulled out her watch : it had 
 played her false : at this very instant the train must be 
 starting. She could not hasten her pace ; a kind of 
 paralysis of despair had come over her ; and yet she 
 struggled on, and eventually entered the station, only to be 
 confronted by the wide and empty platform. She stood 
 irresolute for a moment ; then she hid her face with her 
 hands ; and crying and sobbing helplessly she would have 
 sought some concealment by the side of the bookstall but
 
 426 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 that the station-master chanced to have perceived her. He 
 immediately came up. 
 
 " Bless me, Miss Jessie, what is the matter ? " he 
 exclaimed : for that Jess— the light-hearted, the laughing- 
 ey^d, the merry-tongued Jess— should be so completely 
 broken down was a strange thing to him. And rose-red 
 indeed was she before she would give him the remotest hint 
 of an explanation. 
 
 " Well, I'm sure I am sorry for such an unfortunate 
 mistake," said Mr. (lilmour. " I was wondering that none 
 of you were along to say good-bye to Allan— none but Mr. 
 McFadyen, and he was going on as far as Taynuilt. But if 
 you would like to send a message, I could telegraph it 
 through to Dahnally, and the guard would find him " 
 
 " Oh, could you send a message to Allan, Mr. Gilmour ? " 
 Jess cried. 
 
 " Yes indeed——" 
 
 " And ask him to come back ! — ask him to come back by 
 the next train ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I can do that," said Mr. Gilmour, in kindly 
 fashion. " But the message— it would have to be in your 
 name. Miss Jessie— or he would not understand." 
 
 Jess, uncertain, distracted, confused— and with the 
 conscious colour burning more clearly than ever in her face 
 — hesitated, and yet only for a second. 
 
 " If you think that will be better— if you think he will 
 understand, Mr. Gilmour," said she, shyly— and thereupon 
 the good-natured station-master (perhaps with his own little 
 guesses concerning this crisis) hurried away to the telegraph- 
 office.
 
 ( 4^7 ) 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 A SAIL. 
 
 One morning, some two or three weeks after these 
 transactions, the steamer Grenadier was about to set out 
 on its usual round of the western islands, when Mrs. 
 Maclean, Jess, Allan Henderson, and the councillor came 
 together along the quay, stepped in by the gangway, and 
 took their places in a modest corner of the upper deck. 
 This was a little entertainment that had been planned by 
 the widow, probably as a mark of satisfaction over her 
 daughter's betrothal ; it also coincided with the coming to 
 an end of the schoolmaster's long period of idleness ; for in 
 these few weeks he had made his final arrangements for 
 resuming work. 
 
 They had waited for a fine day and they had got it — too 
 fine, perchance, for there was promise of a blaze of heat as 
 soon as the sun had dispersed the thin network of white 
 cloud that stretched all across the heavens. At present this 
 was a dreamlike world they were about to enter, with hardly 
 any definite colour in it ; the sea, instead of showing its 
 wind-driven northern blue, lay in long swathes of opalescent 
 calm ; the hills, behind a tremulous veil of haze, were un- 
 substantial, and featureless, and remote. Xevertheless, 
 Duntroone, with its spacious bay, its ivied castle at the 
 point, its semi-circle of houses and terraced gardens, and its 
 background of wooded hills, looked quite cheerful at this 
 early hour. And soon, when the last passenger had been 
 received on board, and when the hawsers had been cast off", 
 the steamer slowly left the pier ; and by and bye, as those 
 familiar aspects of the shore were gradually receding, the 
 voyagers found themselves approaching that other and "silent 
 and mysterious phantom-universe, that seemed as yet hardly 
 to have awakened out of the sleep of the night. 
 
 Now it was the widow who had suggested and even 
 insisted on this little frolic ; but it was the councillor who 
 nuist needs take the management of it ; and not only did
 
 428 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 he do everything that was necessary for his own party, he 
 was also able to come to the assistance of more than one 
 group of English strangers, who gladly welcomed any infor- 
 mation about Craigenure, and Loch Aline, and the Manse 
 of Fiunary. Before they had got half way up the Sound of 
 Mull, Mr. McFadyen occupied quite a prominent position ; 
 he Avas asked the name of this, the name of that ; and he 
 greatly comforted two elderly maiden ladies, who had paid 
 a visit to Tangiers the previous spring, by assuring them 
 that there was no necessity for riding pickaback on going 
 ashore at Staffa. Jessie's malicious grey eyes were demurely 
 laughing, but she kept her thoughts to herself, Allan had 
 fallen into an absent way of regarding this or that stranger 
 with a gaze at once profound and abstracted ; perhaps he 
 was trying to read feature lines. The little widow was just 
 as happy and content as she could be ; she did not care to 
 talk to anybody ; the mountains, the woods and corries, and 
 the increasing bursts of sunlight went by in a pleasant 
 panoramic fashion ; and more than once she blithely 
 murmured to herself, " The day is longer than the irae ; 
 we'll win to the top yeiP And meanwhile Peter had 
 established himself as the man of position and importance 
 on this upper deck. 
 
 By the time they were nearing Tobermory, the sun had 
 effectually cleared away the fleecy veil of cloud ; and while 
 they stopped at the quay, the heat pouring down into the 
 circular little harbour almost began to equal that in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of the scarlet funnels ; but 
 presently they were off and away again ; and when they 
 had come in sight of the wider spaces — from the mighty ram- 
 part of Ardnamurchan facing the Atlantic out to the long 
 low-lying reefs of Coll and Tiree — there was an occasional 
 and grateful stirring of wind — a stirring of wind that could 
 be watched as it came creeping in silver breadths across the 
 still, shining, azure plain. And then, far away, and one by 
 one, the strange basaltic islands came into view — Carnaburg, 
 Fladda, the IJutchman, and their lonely brethren ; while 
 nearer at hand, under the lofby cliffs of western Mull, lay 
 the green-shored Ulva, and the darker Gometra, and the 
 black rocks of Inch Kenneth. Pale and spectral those 
 further isles appeared to be, and only half visible through
 
 A SAIL 429 
 
 the quivering heat ; while they kept changing their forms, 
 too, in an iiiexpKcable fashion, as the steamer clove its way 
 onward across this basking sea. 
 
 The Macleans and Allan did not care to land at StafFa 
 (the councillor, of course, did, to impart further information 
 to those artless folk) ; they remained on board the steamer ; 
 and when the captain had left the bridge, he came along to 
 Allan, with whom he was acquainted ; and for a little while 
 these two paced up and down the empty deck. 
 
 " And so you've made your choice at last, Jessie," said 
 the little widow, " and I hope you'll not repent." 
 
 " I am not likely to do that, mother," Jess replied, very 
 quietly, as her eye followed the schoolmaster's tall figure. 
 " I know what the nature of that man is. I have seen him 
 tried as few men have bsen tried ; and I know him — better 
 than I do myself, I believe." 
 
 " Very well, then," rejoined the little W'idow, boldly, " I 
 will say this now : if you are so finely satisfied, it would be 
 but wise-like of you to keep a more civil tongue in your 
 head. The poor lad ! — doing everything to please you ; 
 and any one can see he thinks there's just none in the world 
 like you ; and yet you must go scoff -scoffing at him " 
 
 " It's for his good, mother ! "Jess cried — with the grey 
 eyes beginning to laugh again. " Allan goes through his 
 life in a kind of dream, and he must be wakened up now 
 and again " 
 
 " And I will tell you this as well, Jessie," the mother 
 continued, with unusual warmth, " if you could see the 
 difference in your own appearance since all this affair was 
 settled — for happiness seems to agree with you, as it does 
 with most people when it comes to them — and alters their 
 looks too, and none for the worse — I say you would not 
 put such a light value on what has happened to you, and 
 risk it with that sharp tongue of yours. The poor lad ! — 
 he has not enough to say for himself. I think if he would 
 take a stick to you, you would be all the better for it." 
 
 " Mother," said Jess, " that comes after marriage. You 
 are in too great a hurry." 
 
 At this point Allan himself retm'ned to them. 
 
 " The captain is asking if you would like to have the gig 
 and a couple of the hands to row you into the cave."
 
 430 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 " Me ? " cried the widow. ^ " N"a, na ! More than ouce 
 I've been into that cave with' the weather as smooth and as 
 tine as this, and all the same the ground-swell was coming 
 thundering in as if it would rive the very island in pieces. 
 Na, na, Allan, lad, I am well content where I am." 
 
 " Jessie," said he, next, " would you like to try steering 
 a steamer ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed ! " she answered eagerly, jiunping to 
 her feet. 
 
 " Come along to the wheel, then." 
 
 And so Jess proceeded to try the strength of her arms on 
 those stiff-revolving mahogany spokes, watching the stem 
 of the great vessel sloAvly incline this way or the other — 
 while far in the distance the people who had landed could 
 be seen like small black ants making their way along the 
 broken basaltic columns. 
 
 They did, however, land at lona ; for the Macleans had 
 some friends on the island ; and with them they spent the 
 interval of waiting. Then they re-embarked and continued 
 their voyage ; and now the wandering breaths of wind had 
 steadied into a light breeze from the south, so that the sea 
 was of a deep sapphire as they passed between the red rocks 
 lying off the Eoss of Mull. All the southern ocean indeed 
 was of the same vivid and troubled hue ; and when at last 
 they came in sight of Colonsay the distant line of land was 
 a mere film of neutral tint beyond the solid and darkened 
 mass of water. " Colonsay, ah, Colonsay ! " — the piteous 
 cry of the dying student came back to Allan's mind. And 
 then again — " If only MacNeil had known Jess ! " 
 
 But when they had got over towards Kerrara they entered 
 once more upon a region of calms ; and as they were 
 steaming homcAvards through the Sound the water around 
 them was like glass. Thus it was that they rapidly over- 
 took a large schooner yacht that had been visible for some 
 time, waiting helpless for any favouring puff of air. Very 
 pretty she looked, with her tall spars, her breadth of cream- 
 white canvas, and her booms lying out ; and naturally she 
 was an object of interest to those on board the steamer. 
 Besides the red-capped crew there appeared to be only two 
 people on deck, a young man who, as the Grenadier 
 approached, kept his binocular glass almost constantly to
 
 A SAIL 
 
 431 
 
 his eyes, and a young lady, dressed in a smart yachting 
 costume, who now and again addressed a word to him. 
 Then, as the steamer came up, he was seen to hand the 
 binocular to his companion, while he himself took out his 
 handkerchief and waved it to some one on board the 
 passing vessel. 
 
 " Jess," said Allan, quickly and in considerable surprise, 
 " that's Mr. Caird ! He did not say he was to be here 
 so soon " 
 
 And that other — the young lady whose peaked cap of 
 blue cloth displayed to advantage a shapely head of light 
 brown and curly hair ? Well, Allan did not recognise her. 
 And yet — even in this rapid second or two of furtive 
 scrutiny — there seemed to be something familiar ? — surely 
 he had seen somewhere before that slim, graceful, not over- 
 tall figure ? — the movement of her arm as she lowered and 
 handed back the glasses had a strange suggestion in it — 
 And then he knew. 
 
 It was Pauline. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 BTAMFOBD STBEHT AND OHAEING CB0S3.
 
 NOVELS BY WILLIAM BLACK 
 
 In uniform Post 8vo. Volumes, bound ia cloth. 
 Price 6s. eacli. 
 
 ■' A DAUGHTER OF HETH. 
 
 ^ THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OP A PHAETON. 
 
 ^ A PRINCESS OP THUIiE. 
 
 IN SILK ATTIRE. 
 ' KILMENY. 
 ' MADCAP VIOLET. 
 
 THREE FEATHERS. 
 
 THE MAID OF KILLEENA. 
 
 GREEN PASTURES AND PICCADILLY. 
 . MACLEDD OF DARE. 
 
 LADY SILVERD ALE'S SWEETHEARP. 
 
 "WHITE WINGS. 
 ^ SUNRISE. 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL WRETCH. 
 
 SHANDON BELLS. 
 
 ADVENTURES IN THULE. 
 
 YOLANDE. 
 
 JUDITH SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 THE WISE WOMEN OF INVERNESS. 
 
 WHITE HEATHER. / 
 
 SABINA ZEMBRA. ly 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OP A HOUSE-BOAT. 
 
 IN PAR LOCHABER. 
 
 THE PENANCE OF JOHN LOGAN. 
 
 THE NEW PRINCE FORTUNATUS. 
 
 DONALD ROSS OF HEIMRA. 
 
 STAND PAST, CRAIG-ROYSTON ! 
 
 THE MAGIC INK. 
 
 WOLFENBERG. 
 
 THE HANDSOME HUMES. 
 
 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
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 A Photogravure Portrait of Mr. Black appears as frontispiece to 
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