"Yes, it makes my work easy. And I am going to be good to the lads. I am going to tell Maggie to make them nice little suppers, and let them play till midnight, while we are at Cramer Brae. That night you were at the Lindseys" and your father at Stirling, I had them to supper. There was three of them, one being a violinist in Menzie"s orchestra. He was a few years older than Donald and Matthew, but just as foolish as they were.
And after their merry meal they played the heart out of me."
"O Aunt! Aunt! I shall have to stop at home and watch you. The idea of you standing for Donald behind Father"s back in this way. I would not have believed it. You must love Donald."
"What for wouldn"t I love him? He is most entirely lovable, and when I love I like to show it--to do foolish things to show it--ordinary things are not worth as much."
"I would not have thought it. You, so proper and respectable, making a feast for three young men, who played the heart out of you with their violins!"
"Poor Donald has not a violin of his own, yet he plays better than Matthew or the orchestra lad. How it comes I cannot tell, but he does, and there"s no "ifs" or "ands" about it."
"Are violins dear things, Aunt?"
"Too dear for Donald to buy, and he dare not ask his father for money to buy a violin. Yes, Marion, violins cost a lot of money."
"You say I have some money of my own."
"What by that? You shall not ware it on a violin. Donald"s violin will come its own road, and that will not be out of your purse. There"s the clock striking twelve. Whatever are we doing here? I must have lost my senses to be keeping you."
"Don"t mind an hour or two, Aunt. This has been the most wonderful night to me. You have spoken of my mother. I have had an invitation to Lady Cramer"s. I have heard that I am, in a small way, an heiress. I have learned all about the trouble between Father and Donald. I have made out the list for a far finer wardrobe than I ever expected to own. I am sorry this wonderful day is over."
"But it is over, and it is now Tuesday. It will be Sat.u.r.day before we can be ready for Cramer Brae. You must stay here until your new frocks are fitted, and that will make us Sat.u.r.day. Now sleep well, for I shall have you called at seven sharp."
As Mrs. Caird antic.i.p.ated, it was Sat.u.r.day afternoon when they arrived at Cramer Brae. The Cramer carriage was waiting to take them to the Little House, which was more than a mile inland. It stood on the Brae at the foot of the hills, and was shielded on the east and west by large beech trees. The hills were behind, the sea in front of it, and when the wind was lulled, or from the south, the roar and the beat of its waves were distinctly heard.
It was a long, low house. The leaded, diamond-shaped windows opened like doors on their hinges, and flower boxes, drooping vines and blooms were on every sill. Gardens and lawns, with a little paddock for the ponies to run in, covered the six acres of land surrounding it. Marion was delighted. "Here we shall be so happy, Aunt," she cried in a voice full of sweet inflections, for she was thanking G.o.d in her heart for bringing her to such a beautiful spot.
Aileen and Kitty met them at the door and tea was waiting in the small dining-room. There was a low bowl of pansies in the center of the table, which was set with cream Wedgwood and silver of the date of Queen Anne.
Every necessity and every luxury for the hour were there, and a wonderful peace brooded over all things.
Marion was enchanted. "This place must be like Heaven," she said; and Mrs. Caird answered, "I hope you are right. I cannot imagine any circ.u.mstances much pleasanter. We may thank G.o.d even for this cup of young Pekoe and thick cream, and delicate bread and fresh b.u.t.ter. They are just a part of the whole blessing. I have heard of a great English writer who thought that among many higher pleasures we should not miss the homely delicacies of our earthly table. I hope we shall not. I would like a little of earth in heaven; it might be as good to us as is a little of heaven on earth. Why not? All G.o.d"s gifts are blessed, if we bless Him for them."
"I wonder if Father and Donald will have a good tea?"
"I"ll warrant you. Maggie knows all your father"s ways and likings--queer and otherwise. He would want a bit of broiled fish, or the like of it. I don"t think you or I would care for hot meat now."
"What could be nicer than this cold, tender chicken?"
"Nothing, but men are keen for something hot. They don"t feel as if they were fed, wanting the taste and smell of fresh-cooked flesh--of one kind or another."
"Donald promised me he would keep straight with Father, if possible."
"Whiles it is not possible to do that--but he made me the same promise, and he"ll keep it, if his father will let him."
"Father is not at all quarrelsome, Aunt."
"Isn"t he, dear? I"m very glad to hear it."
"You ought to know, Aunt; you have lived with him for----"
"Nearly eighteen years, and I am not settled in my mind yet on that subject."
"If people attack Father"s creed, it is right for him to be angry.
Donald ought to have kept his opinions to himself."
"That is the hardest kind of work, Marion. I know, for I"ve been trying to do it ever since you were born. Yes, Marion, I have, and it is hard work to-day."
"What makes you try it, Aunt?"
"The same reason as stirs Donald up."
"Calvinism?"
"Just Calvinism."
"But you are a Calvinist?"
"Not I! No, indeed! But when I came here to take care of Donald and yourself I promised Jessy Caird never to bring that subject to dispute.
I knew, if I did, I would have to leave you, and I thought more of you two children than of any creed in Christendom."
"What creed do you like, Aunt?"
"I was christened and confirmed in the English Church and I love it with a great love; but I"m loving Donald and you far better--_and her that"s gone_--and, if the Syrian was to be forgiven for worshiping out of his own temple for his Master"s sake, I think Mother Church will forgive me for loving two motherless children more than her liturgy."
"Did Father never ask you if you would like to go to St. Mary"s and hear your own prayers? They are very fine prayers. I have heard them, for when I was at school Miss Lamont took us sometimes on Sunday afternoons to the English Church."
"You are right, but I would not name Miss Lamont"s freedom before your father. I never talk on this subject to him; if I did, we would be pa.s.sing disagreeable words in ten minutes. For your sakes, I go cheerfully to the Calvinistic kirk every Sabbath, and n.o.body but your father and myself has known that my soul was Armenian, and hated a Calvinist even in its most charitable hours."
"What is an Armenian?"
"St. Paul was an Armenian, and St. Augustine, and Luther, and John Wesley, and all the millions that follow their teaching. I am not ashamed of my faith. I am going to heaven in the best of good company.
But what for are we talking this happy hour of Calvinism? We ought to let weary dogs lie, and there are few wearier ones than Calvinism."
"I like to talk of it, Aunt. I want to know all about it."
"Then talk to the Minister. Here are mountains and trees and flowers of every kind. Here are birds singing as if they never would grow old, and winds streaming out of the hills cool as living waters, and wafting into us scents that tell the soul they come from heaven. Oh, my dear Marion, let us enjoy G.o.d"s good gifts and be thankful."
"Are you going to unpack the trunks to-night, Aunt?"
"No. Aileen and Kitty would have a conscience ache if we did anything not necessary so near the Sabbath Day. We must respect their feelings.
Aileen is very strict in her religion. I am tired, and am going to lie down for an hour, and you can wander about and please yourself. Go into the garden. I wouldn"t wonder if you had a few pleasant surprises."
So Marion went into the garden, leaving the old house until she had a whole day to give it. She went among the rose trellises first. The roses were just budding--gold and pink and white. What a wonder of roses there would be in a week or two! The pansy beds were another marvel. Such pansies she had never before seen, for they represented all that the highest culture could do for size and coloring. Sweet old-fashioned flowers and flowering shrubs like lad"s love were everywhere, and a little green carpet of camomile was spread in the center of the place for the fairies. Not far from it was a great bed of lavender and thyme, a special gift to the honeybees, who lived in the pretty antique straw skeps near it. Heavily laden with honey, hundreds of bees were flying slowly home to them, and the misty air was full of an odor from the hives that stirred something at the very roots of her being. She stood lost in thought before the skeps and the returning bees, and as she drew great breaths of the scented air she whispered to herself, "Where and when have I seen this very picture before?"
Until the twilight deepened and a gray mist from the sea blended with it she sat thinking of many things. Life had been so vivid to her during the past week. She felt as if she had never lived before, and it was not until all was shadowy and indistinct that she remembered her aunt had warned her to come into the house before the dew fell and the sea mist rolled inland.
Turning hurriedly, she was about to obey this order when she heard footsteps on the flagged sidewalk running along the front of the house.
She stood still and listened. Perhaps it was Donald. No, the steps were not like Donald"s, they were firmer and faster, and had a military ring in them. She was standing under a large silver-leafed birch tree, and not visible from the sidewalk, yet, by stepping a little further into its shadow, she thought she could satisfy her curiosity. However, she could see nothing but a tall figure, hastening through the gathering gloom and looking neither to the right nor to the left. But for the footsteps, the figure pa.s.sed silently and swiftly as a bird through the gray mist. Its sudden appearance and disappearance impressed her powerfully, and then there came again to her that singular sense of a past familiarity. "I have stood in a garden watching that figure before.
Where was it? Who is he?"