"Oh, you must not tell anyone," he replied quickly. "No one must know or all our plans will go crash, and we"ll both be left to face the shame of the whole thing. So you must not tell."
"Mither will break her heart," she broke in again with a hint of a sob.
"She"ll wonder where I am, an" worry aboot me, wi" nae word o" me! Am I just to disappear oot o" everybody"s kennin" altogether? Oh, dear! It"ll break my mither"s heart," and she cried again at the thought of the pain and anxiety which her parents would experience.
So they sat and talked, he trying to soothe and allay her anxiety and she, at first openly skeptical, and then by and by allowing herself to be persuaded.
All this time they had been too engrossed in their own affairs to notice how the wind had risen and that a storm was already breaking over the moor. Then suddenly realizing it, they started for home.
It was nearing midnight, and the clouds being thick and low made the mossy ground very dark. The rain was coming down heavily and everything pointed to a wild night.
"I"m sorry I did not bring a coat with me," said Peter, taking the windward side of Mysie, so as to break the storm for her. "I had no idea that it was going so rain when I came away," and they plowed their way through the long rough gra.s.s, plashing through the little pools they were unable to see, while the wind raged and tore across the moor in a high gale.
He had a key in his pocket and when they arrived at Rundell House he noiselessly opened the door, and they entered, slipping along like burglars.
When Mysie reached her room, she sat down to think matters over for herself, forgetful of the fact that she was wet. She sat a long time pondering in her slow untrained way over the arrangements which had been come to, her mind trying to get accustomed to the thought that she was going to be Peter"s wife and to leave Lowwood.
But somehow the thought of being his wife did not appeal to her now, as it had done when she had pictured herself the lady of the district with her dreams of everything she desired, and fancying herself the envy of every woman who knew her.
The secrecy of the business she did not like; but she told herself it would all come right; that it was necessary under the circ.u.mstances and that afterwards when she had been taught and trained in the ways of his people she would come back and all would be well.
Then in the midst of all this looking into the future with its doubts and promises, came the thought of Robert, and her pulses thrilled and her blood quickened; but it had come too late.
Would she rather be at Rundell House as Peter"s wife or sitting in a one-roomed apartment sewing pit clothes perhaps, or washing and scrubbing in the slavery in which the women folk of her cla.s.s generally lived? Ah, yes, as Robert"s wife that would have been happiness. But it was all too late now. She had turned aside--and she must pay the penalty of it all.
Long she sat, and cried, and at last realizing that she was cold and shivering, she took off her clothes and crawled off to bed, her last thought of Robert as he had left her, the pain in his eyes and the awful agony in his voice: "Oh, Mysie, how I hae loved you! An" I thocht you cared for me!" rang in her ears as she lay and tossed in sleepless misery.
In the morning she was in a high fever and unable to rise out of her bed. She had a headache and felt wretched and ill. In her exhausted state, weakened by worry and her resistance gone, the drenching, the chill and the long sitting in her lonely room had overmastered her completely.
She raved about Robert, crying to him in her fevered excitement, and he, all unconscious, was at that time at his work, tired also and exhausted by his terrible night upon the moor.
When he stumbled and fell into the mossy pool, his mind became more collected and, scrambling out, he stood to consider where he was, trying to find his bearings in the thick darkness.
The low whinnying of a horse near by gave him a clew and he started in the direction of the cry, concluding that it was some of the horses sheltering behind a d.y.k.e which ran across the moor from the end of the village.
He crawled and scrambled along, and after going about twenty yards he came to the d.y.k.e, at the other side of which stood the cowering horses.
"Whoa, Bob," he said soothingly, and one of them whinnied back in response as if glad to know that a human being was near. He moved nearer to them, and began to stroke their manes and clap their necks, to which they responded by rubbing their faces against him and cuddling an affectionate return for the sympathy in his voice.
"Puir Bob," he said, tenderly, as he patted the neck of the animal which rubbed its soft nose against his arm. It seemed so glad of the companionship and reached nearer as Robert put out his other hand to stroke sympathetically the nose of the other horse, as he also drew near.
"Puir Rosy," he said. "Was you feart for the wind and the rain? Poor la.s.s! It"s an awfu" nicht to be oot in!" and they rubbed themselves against him and whinnied with a low pleased gurgle, grateful for his kindness and company as he patted and stroked the soft velvet skins, and they rubbed themselves against him as if each were jealous lest his attentions be not equally divided.
He stood for a short time, thus fondling and patting them, then keeping to the d.y.k.e, he made his way along it and he thus came out right at the end of the village, and knowing his way now with confidence, he was soon at the door of his home. Cautiously opening it, afraid he would awaken the inmates, whom he concluded must all be asleep, he slipped in quietly, bolting the door behind him, and reached the fire.
"Dear me, Rob," said his mother. "Where in the name o" goodness hae you been the nicht! I sat up till after midnight aye expectin" you"d be in, sae I gaed awa" to my bed to lie wauken till you should come in. You are awfu" late."
He did not answer but stooped to take off his boots, and Mrs. Sinclair was soon out of bed and upon the floor.
"Michty me, laddie! You are wringin" wet! Where have you been? Rain and glaur to the e"en holes! Get thae wet claes off you at yince, an" I"ll get dry shirts for you, an" then awa" till your bed!" she rattled on, running to the chest in the room and coming back with dry clothes in her arms. "My, I never kent you oot o" the hoose as late as this in a" your life! Have you been oot in a" that rain?"
"Ay," he answered, but venturing nothing more, as he went on changing.
"It"s been an awfu" nicht o" wind and rain," she again observed, glancing at his dripping clothes, and conveying a hint that explanations were desirable.
"I canna understand at a" what way you hae bidden oot in a" that rain, Lod"s sake? It"s enough to gie you your daeth o" cauld. You are wet to the skin, an" there"s no a dry steek on you? Hae you been oot in it a"?"
and her curiosity she felt was too crudely put to be answered.
Robert knew that she was bent on having an explanation, and that if he gave her any encouragement at all she"d soon have the whole story out of him.
"Yes," he said curtly, "but I"m no" gaun to talk ony the nicht. I"m gaun to my bed for an oor before risin" time."
"You"ll never gaun till your work the day," she said in warm concern.
"You"ll never be able. You"d better tak" a rest, my laddie. A day will no" mak" muckle difference noo. We"re no sae ill aff, an" I wadna like to hae onything gaun wrang. Gang away till your bed, an" dinna bother aboot your work. A guid rest"ll maybe keep you frae getting the cauld."
"I"m a" richt, mither," he replied as airily as he could. "Dinna worry; an" be sure an" wauken me for my work. I"m na gaun to bide in when there is naething wrang. You gang awa" to your bed," and she knowing that was the last word, did not speak further, and as he withdrew to his room, she went back to bed wondering more and more at the mystery of it all.
But he did not sleep. Torn by worry and in spite of his earlier resolution to think no more about it he lay and thought and wondered about Mysie, and the man he saw, joining her at the end of the grove; and when Nellie opened the door to call him that it was "rising time,"
Robert answered to the first cry, and his mother was more amazed than ever; for he generally took a good many cries, being a heavy sleeper.
But being sensible she kept her wonder to herself, knowing if it were anything which she had a right to know he"d tell her in his own good time.
CHAPTER XVI
A STIR IN LOWWOOD
"My! Div you ken what has happened?" asked Mrs. Johnstone, bursting in upon Mrs. Sinclair one day about two weeks later. "My, it"s awfu"!" she continued in breathless excitement, her head wagging and nodding with every word, as if to emphasize it, her eyes almost jumping out with excitement, and her whole appearance showing that she had got hold of a piece of information which was of the first importance. "My, it"s awfu"," she repeated again lifting her hands up to a level with her breast, and then letting them fall again, "Mysie Maitland has ran away frae her place, an" naebidy kens where she has gane to. An" Mrs.
Rundell, mind you, has been that guid to her too, givin" her her caps an" ap.r.o.ns, an" whiles buyin" her a bit dress length forby, an" she gi"ed her boots and slippers, an" a whole lot o" ither things to tak"
hame for the bairns--things that were owre wee for the weans at Rundell Hoose but were quite guid to wear. My, it"s awfu"! Isn"t it?"
"Mysie Maitland!" exclaimed Mrs. Sinclair in astonishment. "When did this happen? Where has she gane? Are you sure you hinna made a mistake?"
and Mrs. Sinclair was all excitement, hanging in breathless anxiety upon the tidings her neighbor brought.
"I hae made nae mistake, Nellie Sinclair," returned Leezie, "for it was her ain mother wha telt me the noo. I was at the store, an" when I was comin" hame I met Jenny hersel" gaun awa" tae Rundell Hoose. She was greetin" an" I couldna" get oot o" spierin" at her what was wrang, an"
she telt me her ain self."
"You dinna mean tae tell me that Mysie Maitland has disappeared? In the name o" a" that"s guid, what has happened to bring aboot sic news?"
"Aye, it"s true, Nellie," replied Mrs. Johnstone, feeling very important now that she knew Mrs. Sinclair had not heard the news.
"When did this happen?" asked the latter, still incredulous. "Are you sure that"s true? Dear me! I dinna ken what the world"s comin" to at a"!"
"Ay, it"s awfu"! But it"s true. You never ken what thae quate kin" o"
modest folk will dae. They look that bashfu" that b.u.t.ter wadna" melt in their mouths; an" a" the time they are just as like to gang wrang as ither folk."
"But wha said Mysie Maitland has gang wrang?" enquired Mrs. Sinclair, flaring up in Mysie"s defense. "I wadna" believe it, though you went down on your bended knees to tell me. A modester, weel-doin" la.s.sie never lived in this place!"