"The sky is becoming very dark," Mr. White said; "we had better go back, Gerty."
But before they had gone far the first heavy drops were beginning to fall, and they were glad to run for refuge to some great gray boulders which lay in the moist moorland at the foot of the mountain-slopes. In the lee of these rocks they were in comparative safety; and they waited patiently until the gale of wind and rain should pa.s.s over. And what were these strange objects that appeared in the gray mists far along the valley? She touched her father"s arm--she did not speak; it was her first sight of a herd of red-deer; and as the deer had doubtless been startled by a shepherd or his dog, they were making across the glen at a good speed. First came the hinds, running almost in Indian file, and then, with a longer stride, came one or two stags, their antlered heads high in the air, as though they were listening for sounds behind them and sniffing the wind in front of them at the same time. But so far away were they that they were only blurred objects pa.s.sing through the rain-mists; they pa.s.sed across like swift ghosts; there was no sound heard at all. And then the rain ceased, and the air grew warm around them. They came out from the shadow of the rock--behold! a blaze of hot sun on the moist moors, with a sudden odor of bracken, and young heather, and sweet-gale all about them. And the sandy road quickly grew dry again; and the heavens opened; and there was a flood of sunlight falling on that rushing and breezy Atlantic. They walked back to Dare.
"Tuesday, then, shall we say, pappy?" she remarked, just before entering.
"Very well."
"And we are going to see some friends in Aberdeen."
"Very well."
After this Miss White became a great deal more cheerful; and she was very complaisant to them all at luncheon. And quite by accident she asked Macleod, who had returned by this time, whether they talked Scotch in Aberdeen.
"Because, you know," said she, "one should always be learning on one"s travels; and many a time I have heard people disputing about the p.r.o.nunciation of the Scotch; and one ought to be able to read Burns with a proper accent. Now, you have no Scotch at all here; you don"t say "my dawtie," and "ben the hoose," and ""twixt the gloaming and the mirk.""
"Oh no," said he, "we have none of the Scotch at all, except among those who have been for a time to Glasgow or Greenock; and our own language, the Gaelic, is unknown to strangers; and our way of speaking English--that is only made a thing to laugh at. And yet I do not laugh at all at the blunders of our poor people in a strange tongue. You may laugh at us for our way of speaking English--the accent of it; but it is not fair to laugh at the poor people when they will be making mistakes among the verbs. Did you ever hear of the poor Highlander who was asked how he had been employing himself, and, after a long time, he said, "I wa.s.s for two years a herring fish and I wa.s.s for four months or three months a broke stone on the road?" Perhaps the Highlanders are not very clever at picking up another language; but all the same that did not prevent their going to all parts of the world and fighting the battles of other people. And do you know that in Canada there are descendants of the Highlanders who went there in the last century; and they are proud of their name and their history; and they have swords that were used at Falkirk and Culloden: but these Macnabs and Mackays, and Camerons, they speak only French! But I think, if they have Highland blood in them, and if they were to hear the "_Failte Phrionsa!_" played on the pipes, they would recognize that language. And why were you asking about Aberdeen?"
"That is not a Highland but a Scotch way of answering my question," said she, smiling.
"Oh, I beg your pardon," said he, hastily; "but indeed I have never been to Aberdeen, and I do not know what it is they speak there; but I should say it was likely to be a mixture of Scotch and English, such as all the big towns have. I do not think it is a Highland place, like Inverness."
"Now I will answer your question," said she. "I asked you because papa and I propose to go there before returning to England." How quickly the light fell from his face! "The fact is, we have some friends there."
There was silence. They all felt that it was for Macleod to speak; and they may have been guessing as to what was pa.s.sing in his mind. But to their surprise he said, in almost a gay fashion,--
"Ah, well, you know they accuse us Highland folk of being rather too importunate as hosts; but we will try not to hara.s.s you; and if you have friends in Aberdeen, it would not be fair to beg of you to leave them aside this time. But surely you are not thinking of going to Aberdeen yet, when it is many a place you have yet to see about here? I was to take you in the _Umpire_ to Skye; and we had many a talk about the Lewis, too."
"Thank you very much," said she, demurely. "I am sure you have been most kind to us; but--the fact is--I think we must leave on Tuesday."
"On Tuesday!" said he; but it was only for an instant that he winced.
Again he roused himself--for he was talking in the presence of his mother and the cousin Janet--"You have not been quite fair to us," said he cheerfully; "you have not given yourself time to make our acquaintance. Are you determined to go away as you came--the Fionaghal?
But then, you know, Fionaghal came and stayed among us before she began to write her songs about the Western Isles; and the next time you come that must be for a longer time, and you will get to know us all better, and we will not frighten you any more by taking you on the sea at night or into the cathedral ruins. Ah!" said he, with a smile lighting up his face--but it was a constrained gayety altogether. "Do I know now why you are hurrying away so soon? You want to avoid that trip in the _Umpire_ to the island where I used to think I would like my grave to be--"
"Keith!" said Lady Macleod, with a frown. "How can you repeat that nonsense! Miss White will think you are mad!"
"It was only an old fancy, mother," said he, gently. "And we were thinking of going out to one of the Treshnish islands, anyway. Surely it is a harmless thing that a man should choose out the place of his own grave, so long as he does not want to be put into it too soon."
"It will be time for you to speak of such things thirty years hence,"
said Lady Macleod.
"Thirty years is a long time," said he; and then he added, lightly, "but if we do not go out to the Treshnish islands, we must go somewhere else before the Tuesday; and would you go round to Loch Sunart now? or shall we drive you to-morrow to see Glen More and Loch Buy? And you must not leave Mull without visiting our beautiful town--and capital--that is Tobermory."
Every one was quite surprised and pleased to find Macleod taking the sudden departure of his sweetheart in this fashion; it showed that he had abundant confidence in the future. And if Miss White had her own thoughts about the matter, it was at all events satisfactory to her that outwardly Macleod and she were parting on good terms.
But that evening he happened to find her alone for a few moments; and all the forced cheerfulness had left his eyes, and there was a dark look there--of hopeless anxiety and pain.
"I do not wish to force you, Gerty--to persecute you," said he. "You are our guest. But before you go away, cannot you give me one definite word of promise and hope--only one word?"
"I am quite sure you don"t want to persecute me, Keith," said she, "but you should remember there is a long time of waiting before us, and there will be plenty of opportunity for explaining and arranging everything when we have leisure to write--"
"To write!" he exclaimed. "But I am coming to see you, Gerty! Do you think I could go through another series of long months, with only those letters, and letters, and letters to break one"s heart over? I could not do it again. Gerty. And when you have visited your friends in Aberdeen, I am coming lo London."
"Why, Keith, there is the shooting!"
"I do not think I shall try the shooting this year--it is an anxiety--I cannot have patience with it. I am coming to London, Gerty."
"Oh, very well, Keith," said she, with an affectation of cheerful content; "then there is no use in our taking a solemn good-by just now--is there? You know how I hate scenes. And we shall part very good friends, shall we not? And when you come to London, we shall make up all our little differences, and have everything on a clear understanding. Is it a bargain? Here comes your cousin Janet--now show her that we are good friends, Keith! And, for goodness" sake, don"t say that you mean to give up your shooting this year, or she will wonder what I have made of you. Give up your shooting! Why, a woman would as soon give up her right of being incomprehensible and whimsical and capricious--her right of teasing people, as I very much fear I have been teasing you, Keith. But it will be all set right when you come to London."
And from that moment to the moment of her departure Miss White seemed to breathe more freely, and she took less care to avoid Keith Macleod in her daily walks and ways. There was at last quite a good understanding between them, as the people around imagined.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.
AFRAID.
But the very first thing she did on reaching home again was to write to Macleod begging him to postpone his visit to London. What was the use?
The company of which she formed a part was most probably going on an autumn tour; she was personally very busy. Surely it would not much interest him to be present at the production of a new piece in Liverpool?
And then she pointed out to him that, as she had her duties and occupations, so ought he to have. It was monstrous his thought of foregoing the shooting that year. Why, if he wanted some additional motive, what did he say to preserving as much grouse-plumage as would trim a cloak for her? It was a great pity that the skins of so beautiful a bird should be thrown away. And she desired him to present her kind regards to Lady Macleod and to Miss Macleod; and to thank them both for their great kindness.
Immediately after writing that letter Miss White seemed to grow very light-hearted indeed, and she laughed and chatted with Carry, and was exceedingly affectionate toward her sister.
"And what do you think of your own home now, Gerty?" said Miss Carry, who had been making some small experiments in arrangement.
"You mean, after my being among the savages?" said she. "Ah, it is too true, Carry. I have seen them in their war-paint; and I have shuddered at their spears; and I have made voyages in their canoes. But it is worth while going anywhere and doing anything in order to come back and experience such a sense of relief and quiet. Oh, what a delicious cushion! where did you get it, Carry?"
She sank back in the rocking-chair out on this shaded veranda. It was the slumbering noontide of a July day the foliage above and about the Regent"s Ca.n.a.l hung motionless in the still sunlight; and there was a perfume of roses in the air. Here, at last, was repose. She had said that her notion of happiness was to be let alone; and--now that she had despatched that forbidding letter--she would be able to enjoy a quiet and languor free from care.
"Aha, Gerty, don"t you know?" said the younger sister. "Well, I suppose, you poor creature, you don"t know--you have been among the tigers and crocodiles so long. That cushion is a present from Mr. Lemuel to me--to me, mind, not to you--and he brought it all the way from Damascus some years ago. Oh, Gerty, if I was only three years older, shouldn"t I like to be your rival, and have a fight with you for him!"
"I don"t know what you mean," said the elder sister, sharply.
"Oh, don"t you! Poor, innocent thing! Well, I am not going to quarrel with you this time, for at last you are showing some sense. How you ever could have thought of Mr. Howson, or Mr. Brook, or you know whom--I never could imagine; but here is some one now whom people have heard of--some one with fame like yourself--who will understand you. Oh Gerty, hasn"t he lovely eyes?"
"Like a gazelle," said the other. "You know what Mr. ---- said--that he never met the appealing look of Mr. Lemuel"s eyes without feeling in his pockets for a biscuit."
"He wouldn"t say anything like that about you, Gerty," Carry said reproachfully.
"Who wouldn"t?"
"Mr. Lemuel."
"Oh, Carry, don"t you understand that I am so glad to be allowed to talk nonsense? I have been all strung up lately--like the string of a violin.
Everything _au grand serieux_ I want to be idle, and to chat, and to talk nonsense. Where did you get that bunch of stephanotis?"