"Do you have a chance of believing in anything," said he, "on the stage?"
"I don"t understand you," she said, gently; for she was sure he would not mean the rudeness that his words literally conveyed.
"And perhaps I cannot explain," said he. "But--but your father was talking the other day about your giving yourself up altogether to your art--living the lives of other people for the time being, forgetting yourself, sacrificing yourself, having no life of your own but that.
What must the end of it be?--that you play with emotions and beliefs until you have no faith in any one--none left for yourself; it is only the material of your art. Would you not rather like to live your own life?"
He had spoken rather hesitatingly, and he was not at all sure that he had quite conveyed to her his meaning, though he had thought over the subject long enough and often enough to get his own impressions of it clear.
If she had been ten years older, and an experienced coquette, she would have said to herself, "_This man hates the stage because he is jealous of its hold on my life_," and she would have rejoiced over the inadvertent confession. But now these hesitating words of his seemed to have awakened some quick responsive thrill in her nature, for she suddenly said, with an earnestness that was not at all a.s.sumed:
"Sometimes I have thought of that--it is so strange to hear my own doubts repeated. If I could choose my own life--yes, I would rather live that out than merely imagining the experiences of others. But what is one to do? You look around, and take the world as it is. Can anything be more trivial and disappointing? When you are Juliet in the balcony, or Rosalind in the forest, then you have some better feeling with you, if it is only for an hour or so."
"Yes," said he; "and you go on indulging in those doses of fict.i.tious sentiment until--But I am afraid the night air is too cold for you.
Shall we go back?"
She could not fail to notice the trace of bitterness, and subsequent coldness, with which he spoke. She knew that he must have been thinking deeply over this matter, and that it was no ordinary thing that caused him to speak with so much feeling. But, of course, when he proposed that they should return to the marquee, she consented. He could not expect her to stand there and defend her whole manner of life. Much less could he expect her to give up her profession merely because he had exercised his wits in getting up some fantastic theory about it. And she began to think that he had no right to talk to her in this bitter fashion.
When they had got half way back to the tent, he paused for a moment.
"I am going to ask a favor of you," he said, in a low voice. "I have spent a pleasant time in England, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am to you for letting me become one of your friends. To-morrow morning I am going back home. I should like you to give me that flower--as some little token of remembrance."
The small fingers did not tremble at all as she took the flower from her dress. She presented it to him with a charming smile and without a word.
What was the giving of a flower? There was a cart-load of roses in the tent.
But this flower she had worn next her heart.
CHAPTER XII.
WHITE HEATHER.
And now behold! the red flag flying from the summit of Castle Dare--a spot of brilliant color in this world of whirling mist and flashing sunlight. For there is half a gale blowing in from the Atlantic, and gusty clouds come sweeping over the islands, so that now the Dutchman, and now Fladda, and now Ulva disappears from sight, and then emerges into the sunlight again, dripping and shining after the bath, while ever and anon the huge promontory of Ru-Treshanish shows a gloomy purple far in the north. But the wind and the weather may do what they like to-day; for has not the word just come down from the hill that the smoke of the steamer has been made out in the south? and old Hamish is flying this way and that, fairly at his wits" end with excitement; and Janet Macleod has cast a last look at the decorations of heather and juniper in the great hall; while Lady Macleod, dressed in the most stately fashion, has declared that she is as able as the youngest of them to walk down to the point to welcome home her son.
"Ay, your leddyship, it is very bad," complains the distracted Hamish, "that it will be so rough a day this day, and Sir Keith not to come ash.o.r.e in his own gig, but in a fishing-boat, and to come ash.o.r.e at the fishing quay, too; but it is his own men will go out for him, and not the fishermen at all, though I am sure they will hef a dram whatever when Sir Keith comes ash.o.r.e. And will you not tek the pony, your leddyship? for it is a long road to the quay."
"No, I will not take the pony, Hamish," said the tall, white-haired dame, "and it is not of much consequence what boat Sir Keith has, so long as he comes back to us. And now I think you had better go down to the quay yourself, and see that the cart is waiting and the boat ready."
But how could old Hamish go down to the quay? He was in his own person skipper, head keeper, steward, butler, and general major-domo, and ought on such a day as this to have been in half a dozen places at once. From the earliest morning he had been hurrying hither and thither, in his impatience making use of much voluble Gaelic. He had seen the yacht"s crew in their new jersies. He had been round the kennels. He had got out a couple of bottles of the best claret that Castle Dare could afford. He had his master"s letters arranged on the library table, and had given a final rub to the guns and rifles on the rack. He had even been down to the quay, swearing at the salmon-fishers for having so much lumber lying about the place where Sir Keith Macleod was to land. And if he was to go down to the quay now, how could he be sure that the ancient Christina, who was mistress of the kitchen as far as her husband Hamish would allow her to be, would remember all his instructions? And then the little granddaughter Christina, would she remember her part in the ceremony?
However, as Hamish could not be in six places at once, he decided to obey his mistress"s directions, and went hurriedly off to the quay, overtaking on his way Donald the piper lad, who was apparelled in all his professional finery.
"And if ever you put wind in your pipes, you will put wind in your pipes this day, Donald," said he to the red-haired lad. "And I will tell you now what you will play when you come ash.o.r.e from the steamer: it is the "Farewell to Chubraltar" you will play."
"The "Farewell to Gibraltar!"" said Donald, peevishly, for he was bound in honor to let no man interfere with his proper business. "It is a better march than that I will play, Hamish. It is the "Heights of Alma,"
that was made by Mr. Ross, the Queen"s own piper; and will you tell me that the "Heights of Alma" is not a better march than the "Farewell to Gibraltar?""
Hamish pretended to pay no heed to this impertinent boy. His eye was fixed on a distant black speck that was becoming more and more p.r.o.nounced out there amidst the grays and greens of the windy and sunlit sea. Occasionally it disappeared altogether, as a cloud of rain swept across toward the giant cliffs of Mull, and then again it would appear, sharper and blacker than ever, while the masts and funnel were now visible as well as the hull. When Donald and his companion got down to the quay, they found the men already in the big boat, getting ready to hoist the huge brown lugsail; and there was a good deal of laughing and talking going on, perhaps in antic.i.p.ation of the dram they were sure to get when their master returned to Castle Dare. Donald jumped down on the rude stone ballast, and made his way up to the bow; Hamish, who remained on sh.o.r.e, helped to shove her off; then the heavy lugsail was quickly hoisted, the sheet hauled tight; and presently the broad-beamed boat was ploughing its way through the rushing seas, with an occasional cloud of spray coming right over her from stem to stern. "Fhir a bhata," the men sung, until Donald struck in with his pipes, and the wild skirl of "The Barren Rocks of Aden" was a fitter sort of music to go with these sweeping winds and plunging seas.
And now we will board the steamer, where Keith Macleod is up on the bridge, occasionally using a gla.s.s, and again talking to the captain, who is beside him. First of all on board he had caught sight of the red flag floating over Castle Dare; and his heart had leaped up at that sign of welcome. Then he could make out the dark figures on the quay, and the hoisting of the lugsail, and the putting off of the boat. It was not a good day for observing things, for heavy clouds were quickly pa.s.sing over, followed by bewildering gleams of a sort of watery sunlight; but as it happened, one of these sudden flashes chanced to light up a small plateau on the side of the hill above the quarry, just as the gla.s.s was directed on that point. Surely--surely--these two figures?
"Why, it is the mother--and Janet!" he cried.
He hastily gave the gla.s.s to his companion.
"Look!" said he. "Don"t you think that is Lady Macleod and my cousin?
What could have tempted the old lady to come away down there on such a squally day?"
"Oh yes, I think it is the ladies," said the captain; and then he added, with a friendly smile, "and I think it is to see you all the sooner, Sir Keith, that they have come down to the sh.o.r.e."
"Then," said he, "I must go down and get my gillie, and show him his future home."
He went below the hurricane deck to a corner in which Oscar was chained up. Beside the dog, sitting on a campstool, and wrapped round with a tartan plaid, was the person whom Macleod had doubtless referred to as his gillie. He was not a distinguished-looking attendant to be travelling with a Highland chieftain.
"Johnny, my man, come on deck now, and I will show you where you are going to live. You"re all right now, aren"t you? And you will be on the solid land again in about ten minutes."
Macleod"s gillie rose--or, rather, got down--from the campstool, and showed himself to be a miserable, emaciated child of ten or eleven, with a perfectly colorless face, frightened gray eyes, and starved white hands. The contrast between the bronzed and bearded sailors--who were now hurrying about to receive the boat from Dare--and this pallid and shrunken sc.r.a.p of humanity was striking; and when Macleod took his hand, and half led and half carried him up on deck, the look of terror that he directed on the plunging waters all around showed that he had not had much experience of the sea. Involuntarily he had grasped hold of Macleod"s coat as if for protection.
"Now, Johnny, look right ahead. Do you see the big house on the cliffs over yonder?"
The child, still clinging on to his protector, looked all round with the dull, pale eyes, and at length said,--
"No."
"Can"t you see that house, poor chap? Well, do you see that boat over there? You must be able to see that."
"Yes, sir."
"That boat is to take you ash.o.r.e. You needn"t be afraid. If you don"t like to look at the sea, get down into the bottom of the boat, and take Oscar with you, and you"ll see nothing until you are ash.o.r.e. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Come along, then."
For now the wild skirl of Donald"s pipes was plainly audible; and the various packages--the new rifle, the wooden case containing the wonderful dresses for Lady Macleod and her niece, and what not--were all ranged ready; to say nothing of some loaves of white bread that the steward was sending ash.o.r.e at Hamish"s request. And then the heaving boat came close to, her sail hauled down; and a rope was thrown and caught; and then there was a hazardous scrambling down the dripping iron steps, and a notable spring on the part of Oscar, who had escaped from the hands of the sailors. As for the new gillie, he resembled nothing so much as a limp bunch of clothes, as Macleod"s men, wondering not a little, caught him up and pa.s.sed him astern. Then the rope was thrown off, the steamer steamed slowly ahead, the lugsail was run up again, and away the boat plunged for the sh.o.r.e, with Donald playing the "Heights of Alma" as though he would rend the skies.
"Hold your noise, Donald!" his master called to him. "You will have plenty of time to play the pipes in the evening."
For he was greatly delighted to be among his own people again; and he was eager in his questions of the men as to all that had happened in his absence; and it was no small thing to them that Sir Keith Macleod should remember their affairs, too, and ask after their families and friends.
Donald"s loyalty was stronger than his professional pride. He was not offended that he had been silenced; he only bottled up his musical fervor all the more; and at length, as he neared the land, and knew that Lady Macleod and Miss Macleod were within hearing, he took it that he knew better than any one else what was proper to the occasion, and once more the proud and stirring march strove with the sound of the hurrying waves. Nor was that all. The piper lad was doing his best. Never before had he put such fire into his work; but as they got close insh.o.r.e the joy in his heart got altogether the mastery of him, and away he broke into the mad delight of "Lady Mary Ramsay"s Reel." Hamish on the quay heard, and he strutted about as if he were himself playing, and that before the Queen. And then he heard another sound--that of Macleod"s voice:
"_Stand by lads!... Down with her!_"--and the flapping sail, with its swinging gaff, rattled down into the boat. At the same moment Oscar made a clear spring into the water, gained the landing-steps, and dashed upward--dripping as he was--to two ladies who were standing on the quay above. And Janet Macleod so far forgot what was due to her best gown that she caught his head in her arms, as he pawed and whined with delight.
That was a glad enough party that started off and up the hillside for Castle Dare. Janet Macleod did not care to conceal that she had been crying a little bit; and there were proud tears in the eyes of the stately old dame who walked with her; but the most excited of all was Hamish, who could by no means be got to understand that his master did not all at once want to hear about the trial of the young setters, and the price of the sheep sold the week before at Tobermory, and the stag that was chased by the Carsaig men on Tuesday.
"Confound it, Hamish!" Macleod said, laughing, "leave all those things till after dinner."