"There are not, Mrs. Ross," said he, gravely. "They were all killed by the Macdonalds, I suppose."
"I do believe," said she, "that it was a Macleod who built a stone tower on a lonely island, and imprisoned his wife there--"
"Miss White," the young man said, modestly, "will not you help me? Am I to be made responsible for all the evil doings of my ancestors?"
"It is really not fair, Mrs. Ross," said she; and the sound of this voice pleading for him went to his heart: it was not as the voice of other women.
"I only meant to punish you," said Mrs. Ross, "for having traversed the indictment--I don"t know whether that is the proper phrase, or what it means, but it sounds well. You first acknowledge that the Macleods were by far the most savage of the people living up there: and then you tried to make out that the poor creatures whom they harried were as cruel as themselves."
"What is cruel now was not cruel then," he said; "it was a way of fighting: it was what is called an ambush now--enticing your enemy, and then taking him at a disadvantage. And if you did not do that to him, he would do it to you. And when a man is mad with anger or revenge, what does he care for anything?"
"I thought we were all sheep now," said she.
"Do you know the story of the man who was flogged by Maclean of Lochbuy--that is in Mull," said he, not heeding her remark. "You do not know that old story?"
They did not; and he proceeded to tell it in a grave and simple fashion which was sufficiently impressive. For he was talking to these two friends now in the most unembarra.s.sed way; and he had, besides, the chief gift of a born narrator--an utter forgetfulness of himself. His eyes rested quite naturally on their eyes as he told his tale. But first of all, he spoke of the exceeding loyalty of the Highland folk to the head of their clan. Did they know that other story of how Maclean of Duart tried to capture the young heir of the house of Lochbuy, and how the boy was rescued and carried away by his nurse? And when, arrived at man"s estate, he returned to revenge himself on those who had betrayed him, among them was the husband of the nurse. The young chief would have spared the life of this man, for the old woman"s sake. "_Let the tail go with the hide_," said she, and he was slain with the rest. And then the narrator went on to the story of the flogging. He told them how Maclean of Lochbuy was out after the deer one day; and his wife, with her child, had come out to see the shooting. They were driving the deer; and at a particular pa.s.s a man was stationed so that, should the deer come that way, he should turn them back. The deer came to this pa.s.s; the man failed to turn them; and the chief was mad with rage. He gave orders that the man"s back should be bared, and that he should be flogged before all the people.
"Very well," continued Macleod. "It was done. But it is not safe to do anything like that to a Highlander; at least it _was_ not safe to do anything like that to a highlander in those days; for, as I told you, Mrs. Ross, we are all like sheep now. Then they went after the deer again; but at one moment the man that had been flogged seized Maclean"s child from the nurse, and ran with it across the mountain-side, till he reached a place overhanging the sea. And he held out the child over the sea; and it was no use that Maclean begged on his knees for forgiveness.
Even the pa.s.sion of loyalty was lost now in the fierceness of his revenge. This was what the man said--that unless Maclean had his back bared there and then before all the people, and flogged as he had been flogged, then the child should be dashed into the sea below. There was nothing to be done but that--no prayers, no offers, no appeals from the mother, were of any use. And so it was that Maclean of Lochbuy was flogged there before his own people, and his enemy above looking on. And then? When it was over, the man called aloud, "Revenged! revenged!" and sprang into the air with the child along with him; and neither of them was ever seen again after they had sunk into the sea. It is an old story."
An old story, doubtless, and often told; but its effect on this girl sitting beside him was strange. Her clasped hands trembled; her eyes were glazed and fascinated as if by some spell. Mrs. Ross, noticing this extreme tension of feeling, and fearing it, hastily rose.
"Come, Gertrude," she said, taking the girl by the hand, "we shall be frightened to death by these stories. Come and sing us a song--a French song, all about tears, and fountains, and bits of ribbon--or we shall be seeing the ghosts of murdered Highlanders coming in here in the daytime."
Macleod, not knowing what he had done, but conscious that something had occurred, followed then into the drawing-room, and retired to a sofa, while Miss White sat down to the open piano. He hoped he had not offended her. He would not frighten her again with any ghastly stories from the wild northern seas.
And what was this French song that she was about to sing? The pale, slender fingers were wandering over the keys; and there was a sound--faint and clear and musical--as of the rippling of summer seas.
And sometimes the sounds came nearer; and now he fancied he recognized some old familiar strain; and he thought of his cousin Janet somehow, and of summer days down by the blue waters of the Atlantic. A French song? Surely if this air, that seemed to come nearer and nearer, was blown from any earthly land, it had come from the valleys of Lochiel and Ardgour, and from the still sh.o.r.es of Arisaig and Moidart? Oh yes; it was a very pretty French song that she had chosen to please Mrs. Ross with.
"A wee bird cam" to our ha" door"--
this was what she sang; and though, to tell the truth, she had not much of a voice, it was exquisitely trained, and she sang with a tenderness and expression such as he, at least, had never heard before,--
"He warbled sweet and clearly; An" aye the o"ercome o" his sang Was "Wae"s me for Prince Charlie!"
Oh, when I heard the bonnie bonnie bird The tears cam" drappin" rarely; I took my bonnet off my head, For well I lo"ed Prince Charlie."
It could not have entered into his imagination to believe that such pathos could exist apart from the actual sorrow of the world. The instrument before her seemed to speak; and the low, joint cry was one of infinite grief, and longing, and love.
"Quoth I, "My bird, my bonnie, bonnie bird, Is that a sang ye borrow?
Are these some words ye"ve learnt by heart, Or a lilt o" dool an" sorrow?
"Oh, no, no, no," the wee bird sang; "I"ve flown sin" mornin" early; But sic a day o" wind an" rain-- Oh, wae"s me for Prince Charlie!""
Mrs. Ross glanced archly at him when she discovered what sort of French song it was that Miss White had chosen; but he paid no heed. His only thought was, "_If only the mother and Janet could hear this strange singing!_"
When she had ended, Mrs. Ross came over to him and said, "That is a great compliment to you."
And he answered, simply, "I have never heard any singing like that."
Then young Mr. Ogilvie--whose existence, by-the-way, he had entirely and most ungratefully forgotten--came up to the piano, and began to talk in a very pleasant and amusing fashion to Miss White. She was turning over the leaves of the book before her, and Macleod grew angry with this idle interference. Why should this lily-fingered jackanapes, whom a man could wind round a reel and throw out of window, disturb the rapt devotion of this beautiful Saint Cecilia?
She struck a firmer chord; the bystanders withdrew a bit; and of a sudden it seemed to him that all the spirit of all the clans was ringing in the proud fervor of this fragile girl"s voice. Whence had she got this fierce Jacobite pa.s.sion that thrilled him to the very finger-tips?
"I"ll to Lochiel, and Appin, and kneel to them, Down by Lord Murray and Roy of Kildarlie: Brave Mackintosh, he shall fly to the field with them; These are the lads I can trust wi" my Charlie!"
Could any man fail to answer? Could any man die otherwise than gladly if he died with such an appeal ringing in his ears? Macleod did not know there was scarcely any more volume in this girl"s voice now than when she was singing the plaintive wail that preceded it: it seemed to him that there was the strength of the tread of armies in it, and a challenge that could rouse a nation.
"Down through the Lowlands, down wi" the Whigamore, Loyal true Highlanders, down wi" them rarely!
Ronald and Donald, drive on wi" the broad claymore Over the neck o" the foes o" Prince Charlie!
Follow thee! follow thee! wha wadna follow thee, King o" the Highland hearts, bonnie Prince Charlie!"
She shut the book, with a light laugh, and left the piano. She came over to where Macleod sat. When he saw that she meant to speak to him, he rose and stood before her.
"I must ask your pardon," said she, smiling, "for singing two Scotch songs, for I know the p.r.o.nunciation is very difficult."
He answered with no idle compliment.
"If _Tearlach ban og_, as they used to call him, were alive now," said he--and indeed there was never any Stuart of them all, not even the Fair Young Charles himself, who looked more handsome than this same Macleod of Dare who now stood before her--"you would get him more men to follow him than any flag or standard he ever raised."
She cast her eyes down.
Mrs. Ross"s guests began to leave.
"Gertrude," said she, "will you drive with me for half an hour--the carriage is at the door? And I know the gentlemen want to have a cigar in the shade of Kensington Gardens: they might come back and have a cup of tea with us."
But Miss White had some engagement; she and her father left together; and the young men followed them almost directly, Mrs. Ross saying that she would be most pleased to see Sir Keith Macleod any Tuesday or Thursday afternoon he happened to be pa.s.sing, as she was always at home on these days.
"I don"t think we can do better than take her advice about the cigar,"
said young Ogilvie, as they crossed to Kensington Gardens. "What do you think of her?"
"Of Mrs. Ross?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I think she is a very pleasant woman."
"Yes, but," said Mr. Ogilvie, "how did she strike you? Do you think she is as fascinating as some men think her?"
"I don"t know what men think about her," said Macleod. "It never occurred to me to ask whether a married woman was fascinating or not. I thought she was a friendly woman--talkative, amusing, clever enough."
They lit their cigars in the cool shadow of the great elms: who does not know how beautiful Kensington Gardens are in June? And yet Macleod did not seem disposed to be garrulous about these new experiences of his; he was absorbed, and mostly silent.
"That is an extraordinary fancy she has taken for Gertrude White," Mr.
Ogilvie remarked.
"Why extraordinary?" the other asked, with sudden interest.
"Oh, well, it is unusual, you know. But she is a nice girl enough, and Mrs. Ross is fond of odd folks. You didn"t speak to old White?--his head is a sort of British Museum of antiquities; but he is of some use to these people--he is such a swell about old armor, and china, and such things. They say he wants to be sent out to dig for Dido"s funeral pyre at Carthage, and that he is only waiting to get the trinkets made at Birmingham."