She was still standing in the place when he returned, and had been studying the proud, determined face of Black John"s mother, who had not spared her only son for the good cause.
"Did you ever hear of any Carnegie, dad, who married beneath her, or . . . loved one on the other side?"
"Never," said her father. "Our women all married into loyal families of their own rank, which is best for comfort; but why do you ask? Hay is a . . ."
"Yes, I know; it was only . . . curiosity made me ask, and I suppose some of our women must have made sacrifices for their . . . cause?"
"Far more than the men ever did, for, see you, a man is just shot, and all is over, and before he falls he "s had some good fighting, but his wife suffers all her days, when he is living and when he is dead. Yet our women were the first to send their men to the field. Heavens! what women do suffer--they ought to have their reward."
"They have," said Kate, with emphasis, "if they help those whom they love. . . . Father, would you be quite satisfied with Lord Hay for a son-in-law, and . . . would you let us live with you here as much as we could?"
"Kate, if you are to marry--and I knew it must come some day--I have not seen a more honest man; but you are forgetting that Tochty Lodge will soon be out of our hands; I "ll have to get a bungalow somewhere, not too far away from Muirtown, I hope."
"If I marry Lord Hay, Tochty Lodge will not be sold, and you will never be disturbed, dad. We shall not be separated more than we can help,"
and Kate caressed the General.
"Do you mean, la.s.sie," said the General, with a sudden suspicion, lilting her face till he saw her eyes, "that you are going to accept Hay in order to keep the old home? You must not do this, for it would not . . . don"t you see that I . . . could not accept this at your hands?"
"You cannot prevent your daughter marrying Lord Hay if your daughter so decides, but as yet she is in doubt, very great doubt, and so I am going for a long walk on the big moor, and you . . . well, why not take lunch with the Padre at the manse?"
"Hay is a straight young fellow, and Kate would supply what he wants--a dash of go, you know"--so the General was summing up the situation to his old friend; "but my girl is not to marry Hay or any other man for my sake, and that is what she thinks of doing."
"Did it ever occur to you, Carnegie, that Kate had a . . . well, kindly feeling for any other man?"
"Plenty of fellows tried their luck: first subalterns, then aides-de-camp, and at last commissioners; it was no easy affair to be her father," and Carnegie gave Davidson a comic look. "I used to scold her, but upon my word I don"t know she was to blame, and I am certain she did not care for one of them; in fact, she laughed at them all till--well, in fact, I had to interfere."
"And since you came to the Lodge"--the Doctor spoke with meaning--"besides Lord Hay?"
"Why, there is just yourself"--the Doctor nodded with much appreciation--"and that Free Kirkman. . . . Davidson, do you mean that--oh, nonsense, man; she was quite angry one day when I suggested a parson. Kate has always said that was the last man she would marry."
"That is an evidence she will."
The General stared at the oracle, and went on:
"She has made his life miserable at the Lodge with her tongue; she delighted in teasing him. Your idea is quite absurd."
"Carnegie, did you ever hear the cla.s.sical couplet--
"Scarting and biting Mak Scots fouk"s "ooing;"
and although I admit the description applies in the first instance to milkmaids, yet there is a fair share of national character in the Carnegies."
"Do you really think that Kate is in . . . has, well, a, eh, tenderness to Carmichael? it would never have occurred to me."
"How would you look on Carmichael as a suitor?"
"Well, if Kate is to marry--and mind you I always prepared myself for that--I would of course prefer Hay, not because he is a lord, or rich, or any sn.o.bbery of that kind--you know me better than that, Sandie--but because he "s . . . you know . . . belongs to our own set.
"Don"t you think there is something in that?" and the General tried to explain his honest mind, in which lived no unworthy or uncharitable thought. "I have not one word to say against Carmichael; he "s good-looking, and monstrous clever, and he has always made himself very agreeable, very, and the people swear by him in the Glen; but . . . you must understand what I mean, Davidson," and the General was in despair.
"You mean that though he "s a first-rate young fellow for a clergyman, he does not belong to your world--has a different set of friends, has different habits of living, has a different way of thinking and speaking--is, in fact, an outsider."
"That"s it--just what I was "ettling" after--lucky fellows we Scots with such words," and the General was immensely delighted to be delivered of his idea in an inoffensive form.
"It is my own belief, Carnegie--and you can laugh at me afterwards if I be wrong--that this will be the end of it, however. Yes, putting it plainly, that Kate is in love with Carmichael, as he is certainly with her; and you will have to make the best of the situation."
"You don"t like the idea any more than I do, Davidson?"
"Speaking in perfect confidence and frankness, I do not. I look at the matter this way"--the Doctor stood on the hearth-rug in a judicial att.i.tude, pulling down his waistcoat with his two hands, his legs apart, and his eye-gla.s.s on his nose--"Carmichael has been brought up among . . . plain, respectable people, and theological books, and church courts, and Free Kirk society, all of which is excellent, but . . . secluded"--the Doctor liked the word, which gave his mind without offence--"secluded. Kate is a Carnegie, was educated in France, has travelled in India, and has lived in the most exciting circ.u.mstances. She loves soldiers, war, gaiety, sport, besides many other . . . eh, good things, and is a . . . lovely girl. Love laughs at rules, but if you ask me my candid opinion, the marriage would not be . . . in fact, congruous. If it is to be, it must be, and G.o.d bless them both, say I, and so will everybody say; but it will be an experiment, a distinct and . . . interesting experiment."
"Kate is not to marry any one for my sake, to save Tochty, but I do wish she had fancied Lord Hay," said the General, ruefully.
"The Free Kirk folk in the depths of their hearts consider me a worldly old clergyman, and perhaps I am, for, Jack, I would dearly like to see our Kate Viscountess Hay, and to think that one day, when we three old fellows are gone, she would be Countess of Kilspindie." That was the first conference of the day on Kate"s love affairs, and this is how it ended.
Meanwhile the young woman herself had gone up the road to the high Glen and made her way over d.y.k.es and through fields to Whinny Knowe, which she had often visited since the August Sacrament. Whinny came out from the kitchen door in corduroy trousers, much stained with soil, and grey shirt--wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after a hearty dinner--and went to the barn for his midday sleep before he went again to the sowing. Marget met her at the garden gate, dressed in her week-day clothes and fresh from a morning"s churning, but ever refined and spiritual, as one whose soul is shining through the veil of common circ.u.mstances.
"It"s a benison tae see ye on this bricht day, Miss Carnegie, an" ye "ll come tae the garden-seat, for the spring flooers are bloomin"
bonnie and sweet the noo, an" fillin" "s a" wi" hope.
"Gin there be ony sun shinin"," as she spread a plaid, "the heat fa"s here, an" save when the snow is heavy on the Glen, there "s aye some blossoms here tae mind us o" oor Father"s love an" the world that isna seen."
"Marget," began Kate, not with a blush, but rather a richening of colour, "you have been awfully good to me, and have helped me in lots of ways, far more than you could dream of. Do you know you "ve made me almost good at times, with just enough badness to keep me still myself, as when I flounced out from the Free Kirk."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "You have been awfully good to me."]
Marget only smiled deprecation and affection, for her heart went out to this motherless, undisciplined girl, whom she respected, like a true Scot, because, although Kate had made her a friend, she was still a Carnegie; whom she loved, because, although Kate might be very provoking, she was honest to the core.
"To-day," Kate resumed, after a pause, and speaking with an unusual nervousness, "I want your advice on a serious matter, which I must decide, and which . . . concerns other people as well as myself. In fact, I would like to ask a question," and she paused to frame her case.
It was a just testimony to Marget Howe that Kate never thought of pledging her to secrecy, for there are people whom to suspect of dishonour is a sin.
"Suppose that a man . . . loved a woman, and that he was honourable, brave, gentle, true, in fact . . . a gentleman, and made her a proposal of marriage."
Marget was looking before her with calm, attentive face, never once glancing at Kate to supplement what was told.
"If . . . the girl accepted him, she would have a high position, and be rich, so that she could . . . save her . . . family from ruin, and keep . . . them in the house they loved."
Marget listened with earnest intelligence.
"She respects this man, and is grateful to him. She is certain that he would be . . . kind to her, and give her everything she wanted. And she thinks that he . . . would be happy."
Marget waited for the end.
"But she does not love him--that is all."
As the tale was being told in, brief, clear, slow sentences, Marget"s eyes became luminous, and her lips opened as one ready to speak from an inner knowledge.
"Ye hev let me see a piece o" life, an" it is sacred, for naethin" on earth is sae near G.o.d as luve, an" a "ll no deny that ma woman"s heart is wi" that honest gentleman, an" a" the mair gin he dinna win his prize.