"Beauregard is said to have the best _chef_ in London; and I don"t suppose they would leave so important a person in Ireland."
"You have my grat.i.tude, Macleod--eternal, sincere, unbounded," the major said, seriously.
"But it is not I who am asking you to go and ma.s.sacre a lot of pheasants," said Macleod; and he spoke rather absently, for he was thinking of the probable mood in which he would go down to Weatherill.
One of a generous gladness and joy, the outward expression of an eager and secret happiness to be known by none? Or what if there were no red rose at all on her bosom when she advanced to meet him with sad eyes?
They went down into Ess.e.x next day. Major Stuart was surprised to find that his companion talked not so much about the price of machines for drying saturated crops as about the conjectural cost of living in the various houses they saw from afar, set amidst the leafless trees of November.
"You don"t think of coming to live in England, do you?" said he.
"No--at least, not at present," Macleod said. "Of course; one never knows what may turn up. I don"t propose to live at Dare all my life."
"Your wife might want to live in England," the major said, coolly.
Macleod started and stared.
"You have been writing a good many letters of late," said his companion.
"And is that all?" said Macleod, answering him in the Gaelic. "You know the proverb--_Tossing the head will not make the boat row_. I am not married yet."
The result of this journey was, that they agreed to purchase one of the machines for transference to the rainy regions of Mull; and then they returned to London. This was on Wednesday. Major Stuart considered they had a few days to idle by before the _battue;_ Macleod was only excitedly aware that Thursday and Friday--two short November days--came between him and that decision which he regarded with an anxious joy.
The day went by in a sort of dream. A pale fog hung over London: and as he wandered about he saw the tall houses rise faintly blue into the gray mist; and the great coffee-colored river, flushed with recent rains, rolled down between the pale embankments; and the golden-red globe of the sun, occasionally becoming visible through the mottled clouds, sent a ray of fire here and there on some window-pane or lamp.
In the course of his devious wanderings--for he mostly went about alone--he made his way, with great trouble and perplexity, to the court in which the mother of Johnny Wickes lived; and he betrayed no shame at all in confronting the poor woman--half starved, and pale, and emaciated as she was--whose child he had stolen. It was in a tone of quite gratuitous pleasantry that he described to her how the small lad was growing brown and fat; and he had the audacity to declare to her that as he proposed to pay the boy the sum of one shilling per-week at present, he might as well hand over to her the three months" pay which he had already earned. And the woman was so amused at the notion of little Johnny Wickes being able to earn anything at all, that, when she received the money and looked at it, she burst out crying; and she had so little of the spirit of the British matron, and so little regard for the laws of her country, that she invoked Heaven knows what--Heaven does know what--blessings on the head of the very man who had carried her child into slavery.
"And the first time I am going over to Oban," said he, "I will take him with me, and I will get a photograph of him made, and I will send you the photograph. And did you get the rabbits?" said he.
"Yes, indeed, sir, I got the rabbits."
"And it is a very fine poacher your son promises to be, for he got every one of the rabbits with his own snare, though I am thinking it was old Hamish was showing him how to use it. And I will say good-by to you now."
The poor woman seemed to hesitate for a second.
"If there was any sewing, sir," wiping her eyes with the corner of her ap.r.o.n, "that I could do for your good lady, sir--"
"But I am not married," said he, quickly.
"Ah, well, indeed, sir," she said with a sigh.
"But if there is any lace, or sewing, or anything like that you can send to my mother, I have no doubt she will pay you for it as well as any one else--"
"I was not thinking of paying, sir; but to show you I am not ungrateful," was the answer; and if she said _hun-grateful_, what matter? She was a woman without spirit; she had sold away her son.
From this dingy court he made his way round to Covent Garden market, and he went into a florist"s shop there.
"I want a bouquet," said he to the neat-handed maiden who looked up at him.
"Yes, sir," said she; "will you look at those in the window?"
"But I want one," said he, "with a single rose--a red rose--in the centre."
This proposition did not find favor in the eyes of the mild-mannered artist, who explained to him that something more important and ornate was necessary in the middle of a bouquet. He could have a circle of rose-buds, if he liked, outside; and a great white lily or camellia in the centre. He could have--this thing and the next; she showed him how she could combine the features of this bouquet with those of the next.
But the tall Highlander remained obdurate.
"Yes," said he, "I think you are quite right. You are quite right, I am sure. But it is this that I would rather have--only one red rose in the centre, and you can make the rest what you like, only I think if they were smaller flowers, and all white, that would be better."
"Very well," said the young lady, with a pleasing smile (she was rather good-looking herself). "I will try what I can do for you if you don"t mind waiting. Will you take a chair?"
He was quite amazed by the dexterity with which those nimble fingers took from one cl.u.s.ter and another cl.u.s.ter the very flowers he would himself have chosen; and by the rapid fashion in which they were dressed, fitted, and arranged. The work of art grew apace.
"But you must have something to break the white," said she, smiling, "or it will look too like a bride"s bouquet;" and with that--almost in the twinkling of an eye--she had put a circular line of dark purple-blue through the cream-white blossoms. It was a splendid rose that lay in the midst of all that beauty.
"What price would you like to give, sir?" the gentle Phyllis had said at the very outset. "Half a guinea--fifteen shillings?"
"Give me a beautiful rose," said he, "and I do not mind what the price is."
And at last the lace-paper was put round; and a little further tr.i.m.m.i.n.g and setting took place; and finally the bouquet was swathed in soft white wool and put into a basket.
"Shall I take the address?" said the young lady no doubt expecting that he would write it on the back of one of his cards. But no. He dictated the address, and then lay down the money. The astute young person was puzzled--perhaps disappointed.
"Is there no message, sir?" said she--"no card?"
"No; but you must be sure to have it delivered to-night."
"It shall be sent off at once," said she, probably thinking that this was a very foolish young man who did not know the ways of the world. The only persons of whom she had any experience who sent bouquets without a note or a letter were husbands, who were either making up a quarrel with their wives or going to the opera, and she had observed that on such occasions the difference between twelve-and-sixpence and fifteen shillings was regarded and considered.
He slept but little that night; and next morning he got up nervous and trembling, like a drunken man, with half the courage and confidence, that had so long sustained him, gone. Major Stuart went out early. He kept pacing about the room until the frightfully slow half-hours went by; he hated the clock on the mantelpiece. And then, by a strong effort of will, he delayed starting until he should barely have time to reach her house by twelve o"clock, so that he should have the mad delight of eagerly wishing the hansom had a still more furious speed. He had chosen his horse well. It wanted five minutes to the appointed hour when he arrived at the house.
Did this trim maid-servant know? Was there anything of welcome in the demure smile? He followed her; his face was pale, though he knew it not; in the dusk of the room he was left alone.
But what was this on the table? He almost uttered a cry as his bewildered eyes fixed themselves on it. The very bouquet he had sent the previous evening; and behold--behold!--the red rose wanting! And then, at the same moment, he turned; and there was a vision of something all in white--that came to him timidly--all in white but for the red star of love shining there. And she did not speak at all; but she buried her head in his bosom; and he held her hands tight.
And now what will Ulva say--and the lonely sh.o.r.es of Fladda--and the distant Dutchman roused from his winter sleep amidst the wild waves? Far away over the white sands of Iona--and the sunlight must be shining there now--there is many a sacred spot fit for the solemn plighting of lovers" vows; and if there is any organ wanted, what more n.o.ble than the vast Atlantic rollers booming into the Bourg and Gribun caves? Surely they must know already; for the sea-birds have caught the cry; and there is a sound all through the glad rushing of the morning seas like the sound of wedding-bells. _There is a bride coming to Castle Dare_--the islands listen; and the wild sea calls again; and the green sh.o.r.es of Ulva grow greener still in the sunlight. There is a bride coming to Castle Dare; and the bride is dressed all in white--only she wears a red rose.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ENTHUSIASMS.
She was seated alone, her arms on the table, her head bent down. There was no red rose now in the white morning-dress, for she had given it to him when he left. The frail November sunshine streamed into the room and put a shimmer of gold on the soft brown of her hair.
It was a bold step she had taken, without counsel of any one. Her dream was now to give up everything that she had hitherto cared about, and to go away into private life to play the part of Lady Bountiful. And if doubts about the strength of her own resolution occasionally crossed her mind, could she not appeal for aid and courage to him who would always be by her side? When she became a Macleod, she would have to accept the motto of the Macleods. That motto is, _Hold Fast_.
She heard her sister come into the house, and she raised her head.