The deterioration of the best is the worst, and that means that when a prim, conventional, respectable man takes in his head to dress as a Bohemian, the effect will be remarkable. Byles had been anxious to show that he could be quite the gay rustic when he pleased, and he was got up in a cap, much crushed, and a grey flannel shirt, with a collar corresponding, and no tie, and a suit of brown tweeds, much stained with futile chemical experiments. He was also equipped with a large canvas bag, slung over his shoulder, and a hammock net, which he explained could be slung from a tree and serve as a resting-place if it were damp beneath. The Dowbiggins had entered into the spirit of the thing, and were in clothes reserved for their country holidays. They had each an umbrella, large and bulgy, and altogether were a pair of objects to whom no one would have lent a shilling. Cosh, whose attack on Nestie made him a social outcast, had declared himself a convert to natural science, and was sucking up to Byles, and two harmless little chaps, who thought that they would like to know something about flowers, made up the Botanical Society.
They were a lonely little group standing on the terrace, while Mr. Byles was securing a trowel and other instruments of war from his room, but a large and representative gathering of the Seminary did their best to cheer and instruct them.
Howieson insisted that the bottle of milk which bulged from the bag of the younger Dowbiggin contained spirituous liquors, and warned the two juniors to keep clear of him and to resist every temptation to drinking.
He also expressed an earnest hope that a rumour flying round the school about tobacco was not true. But the smell on Dowbiggin"s clothes was horrid. Cosh was affectionately exhorted to have a tender care of his health and personal appearance, not to bully Lord Kilspindie"s gamekeepers, nor to put his foot into a steel trap, nor to meddle with the rabbits, nor to fall into the Tay, but above all things not to tell lies.
Thomas John was beset with requests--that he would leave a lock of his hair in case he should not return, that he would mention the name of the p.a.w.n-broker from whom he got his clothes, that he would bring home a bouquet of wild flowers for Bulldog, that he would secure a supply of turnips to make lanterns for Halloween, that he would be kind to Mr.
Byles and see that he took a rest in his net, that he would be careful to gather up any "h"s" Mr. Byles might drop on the road, and that he should not use bad language under any circ.u.mstances.
"Never mind what those boys say, Thomas," said Mr. Byles, who had come out in time to catch the last exhortation: "it is far better to himprove, I mean cultivate, the mind than to fly kites like a set of children; but we all hope that you will have a nice fly, don"t we, boys?" And sarcasm from so feeble a quarter might have provoked a demonstration had not Byles and his flock been blotted out by an amazing circ.u.mstance. As the botanists started, Speug, who had maintained an unusual silence all morning, joined the body along with Nestie, and gave Mr. Byles to understand that he also was hungering for scientific research. After their friends had recovered themselves they buzzed round the two, who were following the Dowbiggins with an admirable affectation of sedateness, but received no satisfaction. Speug contented himself with warning off a dozen henchmen who had fallen in by him with the idea of forming a mock procession, and then giving them a wink of extraordinary suggestiveness. But Nestie was more communicative, and explained the situation at length----
"Peter was a b-botanist all the time, but he did not know it; he fairly loves g-geranniums, and is sorry that he wasted his time on k-kites and s...o...b..a.l.l.s. We are going to himprove our m-minds, and we don"t want you to trouble us." But this was not knowledge.
It remained a mystery, and when Jock and Bauldie tailed off at the bridge, and Speug, halfway across, turned round and winked again, it was with regret that they betook themselves to their kites, and more than once they found themselves casting longing glances to the distant woods, where Speug was now pursuing the study of botany.
"Bauldie," said Jock suddenly, as the kites hung motionless in the sky, "this is weel enough, but tak" my word for"t it"s nothing to the game they"re playin" in yon woods."
"Div ye mean howkin" geranniums? for I canna see muckle game in that: I would as soon dig potatoes." Bauldie, though a man of his hands, had a prosaic mind and had little imagination.
"Geranniums! ger---- havers, that"s no" what Speug is after, you bet.
He"s got a big splore (exploit) on hand or he never crossed Muirtown Brig in such company. Man, Bauldie, I peety Byles, I do. Peter"ill lose the lot o" them in the woods or he"ill stick them in a bog, or"--and Jock could hardly hold his kite--"what div ye say to this, man? he"ill row them over to Woody Island and leave them there till Monday, with naething but bread and milk and the net to sleep in." And the joy of Jock and Bauldie at this cheerful prospect was rather a testimony to their faith in Peter"s varied ability than a proof of sympathy with their fellow-creatures.
If Speug was playing the fox he gave no sign on the way to the woods, for he was a model of propriety and laid himself out to be agreeable. He showed an unwonted respect for the feelings of the Dowbiggins, so that these two young gentlemen relaxed the vigilant attention with which they usually regarded Speug, and he was quite affable with Cosh. As for the master, Peter simply placed himself at Mr. Byles"s service, expatiating on the extent of the woods and their richness in flowers--"just fair scatted up wi" geranniums and the rest o" them:" offering to take the expedition by the nearest way to the treasures, and especially insisting on the number and beauty and tameness of the pheasants, till Mr. Byles was charmed and was himself surprised at the humanising influence of scientific pursuits.
Nor had Peter boasted vainly of his wood lore, for he led them by so direct a way that, before they came to the place of flowers, the expedition--except the two little chaps, whom Speug sent round in Nestie"s charge, to a selected rendezvous as being next door to babies--had climbed five d.y.k.es, all with loose stones, fought through three thickets very p.r.i.c.kly indeed, crawled underneath two hedges, crossed three burns, one coming up to the knees, and mired themselves times without number. Cosh had jostled against Speug in leaping from one dry spot to another and come down rolling in the mud, which made his appearance from behind wonderful; Speug, in helping Thomas John out of a very entangling place, had been so zealous that the seat had been almost entirely detached from Thomas John"s trousers, and although Mr. Byles had done his best with pins, the result was not edifying; his brother"s straw hat had fallen in the exact spot where Speug landed as he jumped from a wall, and was of no further service, and so the younger Dowbiggin--"who is so refined in his ways," as his mother used to say--wore as his headgear a handkerchief which had been used for cleaning the mud from his clothes. Upon Mr. Byles, whom fate might have spared, misfortunes had acc.u.mulated. His trousers had been sadly mangled from the knee downwards as he crawled through a hole, and had to be wound round his legs with string, and although Speug had pulled his cap out of a branch, he had done his work so hastily as to leave the peak behind, and he was so clumsy, with the best intentions, that he allowed another branch to slip, which caught Mr. Byles on the side of the head and left a mark above his eye, which distinctly suggested a prizefight to anyone not acquainted with that gentleman"s blameless character.
Peter himself had come unscathed from the perils of land and water, save a dash of mud here and there and a suspicion of wet about his feet, which shows how bad people fare better than good. The company was so bedraggled and discouraged that their minds did not seem set on wild flowers, and in these circ.u.mstances Peter, ever obliging and thoughtful, led the botanists to a pleasant glade, away from thickets and bogs, where the pheasants made their home and swarmed by hundreds. Mr. Byles was much cheered by this change of environment, and grew eloquent on the graceful shape and varied plumage of the birds. They were so friendly that they gathered round the party, which was not wonderful, as a keeper fed them every day, but which Mr. Byles explained was due to the instinct of the beautiful creatures, "who know, my dear boys, that we love them." He enlarged on the cruelty of sport, and made the Dowbiggins promise that they would never shoot pheasants or any other game, and there is no reason to doubt that they kept their word, as they did not know one end of a gun from another, and would no sooner have dared to fire one than they would have whistled on Sunday. A happy thought occurred to Mr. Byles, and he suggested that they should now have their lunch and feed the birds with the fragments. He was wondering also whether it would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, just to hold it in the hand and let it go again.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THEY WERE SO FRIENDLY THAT THEY GATHERED ROUND THE PARTY."]
When things had come to this pa.s.s--and he never had expected anything so good--Speug withdrew un.o.btrusively behind a clump of trees, and then ran swiftly to a hollow where Nestie was waiting with the juniors.
"Noo, my wee men," said Peter to the innocents, "div ye see that path?
Cut along it as hard as ye can leg, and it "ill bring you to the Muirtown Road, and never rest till ye be in your own houses. For Byles and these Dowbiggins are carryin" on sic a game wi" Lord Kilspindie"s pheasants that I"m expectin" to see them in Muirtown jail before nicht.
Ye may be thankful," concluded Peter piously, "that I savit ye from sic company."
"Nestie," Peter continued, when the boys had disappeared, "I"ve never clypit (told tales) once since I cam to the Seminary, and it"s no" a nice job, but div ye no" think that the head keeper should know that poachers are in the preserves?"
"It"s a d-duty, Peter," as they ran to the keeper"s house, "especially when there"s a g-gang of them and such b-bad-looking fellows--v-vice just written on their faces. It"s horried to see boys so young and so w-wicked."
"What young prodigals are yon comin" skelpin" along, as if the dogs were aifter them?" and the head keeper came out from the kennels. "Oh, it"s you, Speug--and what are you doin" in the woods the day? there"s no eggs now." For sporting people are a confederacy, and there was not a coachman or groom, or keeper or ratcatcher, within twelve miles of Muirtown, who did not know Mr. McGuffie senior, and not many who did not also have the acquaintance of his hopeful son.
"Nestie and me were just out for a run to keep our wind richt, an" we cam on a man and three boys among the pheasants in the low park."
"Among the what? Meddlin" with Lord Kilspindie"s birds?"
"Well, I dinna ken if they were juist poachin", but they were feedin"
them, and we saw a net."
"Sandie," shouted the head keeper, "and you, Tom, get up out of yir beds this meenut; the poachers are after the pheasants. My word, takin" them alive, as I"m a livin" man, to sell them for stock: and broad daylight; it beats everything. He "ill be an old hand, frae Dundee maist likely.
And the impidence o"t, eleven o"clock in the forenoon an" the end o"
September. Dod: it"s a depairture in poachin"." And as the sight of Mr.
Byles burst on his view, surrounded by trustful birds, and the two Dowbiggins trying very feebly to drop the net on a specially venturesome one, the head keeper almost lost the power of speech.
"Dinna let us interrupt you," and Mr. Byles looked up to see three armed keepers commanding their helpless party, and one of them purple with rage. "I hope we don"t intrude; maybe we could give you a hand in catchin" the birds, and if a spring-cart would be of ony use ...
confound your cheek!
"Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, did ye, and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they? How is that, lads? I"ve seen two or three poachers in my time, but for brazen-faced lyin" I"ve never seen your match. Maybe you"re a Sabbath-school out for a trip, or an orphan asylum?
"a.s.sistant mathematical master at the Seminary, that"s what you are, is it, ye awfu" like blackguard, an" the laddies are the sons o" a respectable Free Kirk minister, the dirty dogs? Are ye sure ye"re no"
the princ.i.p.al o" Edinburgh University? Tak" yir time and try again. I"m enjoying it. Is"t by the hundred ye sell them, and wud it be a leeberty to ask for whose preserves? Dash the soople tongue o" ye.
"If ye dare to put yir hand in a pocket, I"ll lodge a charge o" shot in ye: we"ill hae nae pistol-work in Kilspindie Woods. Come along wi" ye, professor an" students, an" I"ll give ye a ride into Muirtown, an"
we"ill just be in time to catch the magistrate. He hasna tried a learned inst.i.tution like this since he mounted the bench. March in front, but dinna try to run, or it will be the waur for ye. Ma certes, sic a band o" waufies!"
Then those two officers of justice, Peter and Nestie, having seen all without being seen, now started for Muirtown to gather the kite-players and as many of the Seminary as could be found to see the arrival of the botanists. They were brought in a large spring-cart--Mr. Byles seated between the head keeper and the driver, in front, and the other three huddled like calves in the s.p.a.ce behind--a ma.s.s of mud, tatters, and misery, from which the solemn, owl-like face of Thomas John, whose cap was now gone also, looked out in hopeless amazement. As they were handed over to the police the Seminary, which had been at first struck dumb, recovered speech and expressed itself with much vivacity.
"Who would have thought Byles had as much spirit? Sall, he "ill be rinnin" horses at Muirtown Races yet;" "For ony sake walk backwards, Thomas--yir breeks are barely decent;" "The pheasants have been hard on yir legs, Cosh;" "Where"s the geranniums?" "Has his Lordship kept yir bonnet, Dowbiggin?" "It "ill be a year"s hard labour." For boys are only in the savage state, and the discomfiture of such immaculate propriety was very sweet to the Seminary.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THEY WERE BROUGHT IN A LARGE SPRING CART."]
So powerful was the evidence of the head keeper, who saw in Mr. Byles"s effort a new and cunning form of poaching he was not prepared for, and so weird was the appearance of the prisoners, that the Bailie on duty was for sentencing them at once, and would hardly wait for the testimony of friends. It took the sworn testimony of the Rector of the Seminary and poor Dr. Dowbiggin, summoned from their studies in hot haste and confusion of face, to clear the accused, and even then the worthy magistrate thought it proper, as Scots magistrates do, to administer a rebuke and warning so solemn that it became one of the treasures of memory for all Seminary lads.
"After what I have heard I cannot convict you, and you may go this time; but let me never see you here again in such circ.u.mstances. It"s fearsome to think that an educated man"--this to Byles--"instead of setting an example to the laddies under your charge, should be accused of a mean and cunning offence against the laws of the land, and I cannot look at your face without having grave doubts. And to think that the sons of a respected minister of the kirk should be found in such company, and with all the appearance of vagrants, must be a great trial to their father, and I am sure he has the sympathy of Muirtown. As for you, Cosh, I never expected to see the son of a brother bailie in such a position.
All I can hope is that this will be a lesson to you to keep clear of evil companions and evil ways, and that you may live to be a respectable citizen. But do not presume on your escape to-day--that is all I have to say."
Outside the court-room the head keeper caught Speug and gave him his mind.
"Ye"re a limb o" Satan, Peter McGuffie, and that English-speakin" imp is little better. My belief is that this has been a pliskie (trick) o"
yours frae beginning to end, and I just give ye one word o"
advice--don"t let me catch you in Kilspindie Woods, or it will be the worse for you."
THE COUNT
VII
If you excluded two or three Englishmen who spoke with an accent suggestive of an effeminate character, and had a fearsome habit of walking on the Sabbath, and poor "Moossy," the French master at the Seminary, who was a quant.i.ty not worth considering, the foreign element in Muirtown during the cla.s.sical days consisted of the Count. He never claimed to be a Count, and used at first to deprecate the t.i.tle, but he declined the honour of our t.i.tle with so much dignity that it seemed only to prove his right, and by and by he answered to the name with simply a slight wave of his hand which he meant for deprecation, but which came to be considered a polite acknowledgement. His real name was not known in Muirtown--not because he had not given it, but because it could not be p.r.o.nounced, being largely composed of x"s and k"s, with an irritating parsimony of vowels. We had every opportunity of learning to spell it, if we could not p.r.o.nounce it, for it was one of the Count"s foreign ways to carry a card-case in his ticket-pocket, and on being introduced to an inhabitant of Muirtown to offer his card with the right hand while he took off his hat with the left, and bowed almost to a right angle. Upon those occasions a solid man like Bailie MacFarlane would take hold of the card cautiously, not knowing whether so unholy a name might not go off and shatter his hand; and during the Count"s obeisance, which lasted for several seconds, the Bailie regarded him with grave disapproval. The mind of Muirtown, during this performance of the Count"s, used to be divided between regret that any human being should condescend to such tricks, and profound thankfulness that Muirtown was not part of a foreign country where people were brought up with the manners of poodles. Our pity for foreigners was nourished by the manner of the Count"s dress, which would have been a commonplace on a _boulevard_, but astounded Muirtown on its first appearance, and always lent an element of piquant interest to our streets. His perfectly brushed hat, broadish in the brim and curled at the sides, which he wore at the faintest possible angle, down to his patent leather boots, which it was supposed he obtained in Paris, and wore out at the rate of a pair a month--all was unique and wonderful, but it was his frock-coat which stimulated conversation. It was so tight and fitted so perfectly, revealing the outlines of his slender form, and there was such an indecent absence of waist--waist was a strong point with Muirtown men, and in the case of persons who had risen to office, like the Provost, used to run to fifty inches--that a report went round the town that the Count was a woman. This speculation was confirmed rather than refuted by the fact that the Count smoked cigarettes, which he made with Satanic ingenuity while you were looking at him, and that he gave a display of fencing with the best swordsman of a Dragoon regiment in the barracks, for it was shrewdly pointed out that those were just the very accomplishments of French "Cutties." This scandal might indeed have crystallised into an accepted fact, and the Provost been obliged to command the Count"s departure, had it not been for the shrewdness and good nature of the "Fair Maid of Muirtown." There always was a fair maid in Muirtown--and in those days she was fairest of her succession: let this flower lie on her grave. She declared to her friends that she had watched the Count closely and had never once seen him examine a woman"s dress when the woman wasn"t looking; and after that no person of discernment in Muirtown had any doubt about the Count"s s.e.x. It was, however, freely said--and that story was never contradicted--that he wore stays, and every effort was made to obtain the evidence of his landlady. Her gossips tried Mistress Jamieson with every wile of conversation, and even lawyers" wives, pretending to inquire for rooms for a friend, used to lead the talk round to the Count"s habits; but that worthy matron was loyal to her lodger, and was not quite insensible to the dignity of a mystery.
"Na, na, Mistress Lunan, I see what you"re after; but beggin" your pardon, a landlady"s a landlady, and my mouth"s closed. The Count disna ken the difference atween Sat.u.r.day and Sabbath, and the money he wastes on tobacco juist goes to ma heart; but he never had the blessin" of a Gospel ministry nor the privileges of Muirtown when he was young. As regards stays, whether he wears them or disna wear them I"m no" prepared to say, for I thank goodness that I"ve never yet opened a lodger"s boxes nor entered a lodger"s room when he was dressin". The Count pays his rent in advance every Monday morning; he wanted to pay on Sabbath, but I told him it was not a lawful day. He gives no trouble in the house, and if his doctor ordered him to wear stays to support his spine, which I"m no" sayin" he did, Mistress Lunan, it"s no concern o" mine, and the weather is inclining to snow."
His dress was a perfect fabric of art, however it may have been constructed; and it was a pleasant sight to see the Count go down our main street on a summer afternoon, approving himself with a side glance in the mirrors of the larger shops, striking an att.i.tude at our bookseller"s when a new print was exposed in the window, waving his cigarette and blowing the smoke through his nostrils, which was considered a "tempting of Providence," making his respectful salutations to every lady whom he knew, and responding with "Celestial, my friend!"
to Bailie MacFarlane"s greeting of "Fine growing weather." When he sailed past McGuffie"s stable-yard, like Solomon in all his glory, that great man, who always persisted in regarding the Count as a sporting character, would touch the rim of his hat with his forefinger--an honour he paid to few--and, after the Count had disappeared, would say "Gosh!"
with much relish. This astounding spectacle very early attracted the attention of the Seminary boys, and during his first summer in Muirtown it was agreed that he would make an excellent target for s...o...b..ll practice during next winter. The temptation was not one which could have been resisted, and it is to be feared that the Count would have been confined to the house when the snow was on the ground had it not been for an incident which showed him in a new light, and established him, stays or no stays, in the respect of the Seminary for ever. There had been a glorious fight on the first day of the war with the "Pennies,"
and when they were beaten, a dozen of them, making a brave rearguard fight, took up their position with the Count"s windows as their background. There were limits to license even in those brave old days, and it was understood that the windows of houses, especially private houses, and still more especially in the vicinity of the Seminary, should not be broken, and if they were broken the culprits were hunted down and interviewed by "Bulldog" at length. When the "Pennies" placed themselves under the protection of the Count"s gla.s.s, which was really an unconscious act of meanness on their part, the Seminary distinctly hesitated; but Speug was in command, and he knew no scruples as he knew no fear.