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 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
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 7e JiUi iMu^i ^a->r^fykcU , 
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 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 a Kobil 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK 
 
 A.UTHOR OF 
 'A PRINCESS OF THUIE," " KACLEOD OF DAEE," ETC., ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES, 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON & COMPANY 
 
 LlMI'lED, 
 
 ^t Sungtan'g l^ouse, 
 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Stkeet, E.G. 
 
 1894. 
 
 [All rights reserved.}
 
 LOKDOV: 
 
 PBINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AlTD SOKS, LIMITED, 
 
 8TAMFOUD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 Y.I 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A Convoy 
 
 PAGB 
 1 
 
 II. 
 
 A Poor Student 
 
 17 
 
 III. 
 
 Signals of Distress 
 
 ... 31 
 
 IV. 
 
 On a Kock 
 
 45 
 
 V. 
 
 The Firefly 
 
 ... 59 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Day after 
 
 76 
 
 VII. 
 
 A Ceilidh 
 
 ... 89 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Barbarossa 
 
 107 
 
 IX. 
 
 Problems and Dreams 
 
 ... 121 
 
 X. 
 
 The Sun-god ... 
 
 137 
 
 XI. 
 
 " The Wild Tears fall " ... 
 
 ... 156 
 
 XII. 
 
 In Sore Straits 
 
 173 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Out of the Deeps 
 
 ... 189 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A Visitor 
 
 206 
 
 XV. 
 
 Encounters 
 
 ... 221 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Schemes and Forecasts 
 
 237 
 
 XVII. 
 
 A Ptarmigan Brooch 
 
 ... 252 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A Lecture and thereafter 
 
 267
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/highlandcousinsn01blac
 
 HIGHLAND COUSINS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A CONVOY. 
 
 Away out at the edge of the world, facing 
 the wild Atlantic seas, a small and black 
 procession was striving hard to make head- 
 way against a blinding gale of rain and sleet. 
 First came a horse and cart, and in the cart 
 was a young woman, seated on a sack of 
 straw, and wrapped up in a thick blue-green 
 tartan shawl that in a measure protected her 
 from the driving gusts ; then followed a 
 straggling company of middle-aged men, 
 their figures pitched forward against the 
 wind, their teeth clenched, the salt spindrift 
 dripping from shaggy eyebrows and beard, 
 while now and again the tail-end of a plaid, 
 escaping from the clutch of frozen fingers, 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 Z HIGULAXD COUSINS. 
 
 would go flying aloft in the air. Occasionally 
 one of the men, from mere force of habit, 
 would stop for a moment to try to light his 
 pipe; but even if his horny palms were 
 sufficient to shelter the sulphur match, the 
 wet tobacco would not burn, and the pipe 
 was mechanically returned to its owners 
 pocket. There were two or three collies, 
 trotting by the side of their respective 
 masters; but what with the drenching showers 
 and the bewilderment of the tumultuous 
 waves, there was not a snap or a snarl left 
 amongst them. 
 
 At length, however, the road the travellers 
 were following, which hitherto had wound 
 along the shore, struck inland ; and at this 
 corner stood a solitary and dismal-looking 
 habitation. There was no sign of any kind 
 to denote that here was offered entertainment 
 for either man or beast ; but no doubt the 
 company knew the place ; for as with one 
 accord they left the highway and thronged 
 into the narrow passage, pressing and jostling 
 against each other. All of them, that is to 
 say, except one — an elderly man, of respect- 
 able appearance, who seemed to hesitate about 
 leaving the girl in the cart. 
 
 " Will you not come down, Barbara," said
 
 A CONVOY. 6 
 
 he, addressing her in the Gaelic tongue, 
 " and step into the house ? " 
 
 The young girl with the dark-blue High- 
 land eyes and raven-black hair merely shook 
 her head. 
 
 " Then will I bring you out a dram," said 
 he, " or a piece of oatcake and cheese ? " 
 
 " I am not wishing for anything," she 
 answered, also speaking in Gaelic ; and 
 thereupon the elderly shepherd, considering 
 himself relieved of present responsibility, 
 followed his companions into the inn. 
 
 Apparently it was but a cold welcome they 
 had received. There seemed to be no one 
 about; nor was there any fire in the grate 
 of this bare, damp-smelling, comfortless 
 chamber into which they had crowded them- 
 selves. But they did not appear to mind 
 much ; all the pent-up speech suppressed by 
 the storm had now broken loose ; and there 
 was a confused and hio;h-surofino^ babblement 
 about funeral expenses — arrears of rent — the 
 sale of stock — the intentions of the factor — 
 and what not ; all of them talking at once, 
 and at cross-purposes ; contradicting, asseve- 
 rating, with renewed striking of matches and 
 sucking of difficult pipes. Indeed, so vehe- 
 ment and vociferous was the hubbub that
 
 4 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 when a timid-looking young lass of about 
 fourteen came along, bearing before her a 
 shovel-full of burning peats, she could hardly 
 win attention, until one of them called 
 out — 
 
 " Make way for the lass there ! Come in, 
 Isabel. And where is your mother and the 
 whiskey ? " 
 
 " My mother is not so well to-day," the girl 
 replied, as she put the peats in the grate. 
 
 " But you can get us the whiskey ? " was 
 the instant and anxious inquiry. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed." 
 
 " Then make haste and bring it to us, for 
 there is more warmth in a glass of whiskey 
 than in all the peats in the island." 
 
 " And have you any oatcake in the house ? " 
 asked another. 
 
 " No, there is no oatcake in the house," the 
 lass made answer. " It is at this very moment 
 that my grandmother is baking." 
 
 She left the room, and shortly returned 
 with a tray on which were ranged a number 
 of thick tumblers and measures, the latter 
 filled with a dull straw-coloured fluid ; where- 
 upon each man apportioned his own and paid 
 for the same. There was no drinking of 
 healths, for they had come away from a
 
 A CONVOY. 
 
 solemn occasion ; but this additional stimu- 
 lant, following previous and liberal potations, 
 awoke a fresh enthusiasm of eager speech — 
 about pasture laud and arable, the Crofters' 
 Commission, the price of calves, and similar 
 things. And perhaps it was to rebuke them 
 that Lauchlan Maclntyre the shoemaker, a 
 tall gaunt man of melancholy mien, pushed 
 his way through and placed his fist on the 
 table, the better to steady himself. 
 
 " A shame it is," he said, in Graelic that 
 might have been fluent if it had not been 
 interrupted by apprehensions of hiccough — 
 *' A shame it is — that we should be talking 
 of such worldly matters. Ay, ay, indeed, 
 when we should be mourning with our friend 
 — mourniug — as Eachel — mourning, and re- 
 fusing to be comforted. It is this day that 
 my heart is sore for Donald Maclean — that 
 has seen the last of his family put away from 
 him into the earth. A fine lass she was — ay, 
 ay, indeed, not a liandsomer in these islands 
 — and a handy and a useful creature about 
 the croft ; but we are as the grass that 
 perisheth and the flower that withereth ; and 
 Donald — Donald will be a sorrowful man — 
 when he finds himself among the folk of 
 Duntroone — so that the saying will be fulfilled
 
 6 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 that was written : ^ Sad is — the lowing — of 
 a cow — on a strange pasture ' " 
 
 He tilted forward : but he did not fall ; 
 for a powerful pair of hands had got hold of 
 him by the shoulders, and he was dragged 
 away from the table, and thrown uncere- 
 moniously into a corner. The elderly shep- 
 herd, who had thus interfered, and who was 
 about the only one of them with any remain- 
 ing pretensions to sobriety, now addressed 
 him with bitter scorn : 
 
 *^ Yes, you are the fine man to have your 
 wits and judgment in such a state. You do 
 not know that it is Donald Maclean that we 
 have been burying ; you do not know that 
 his daughter is alive and well, and waiting 
 for us outside in the cart ; you do not know 
 it is she who is going to Duntroone. And 
 you are the fine man to have the charge of 
 her : sure I am you will be in a drunken sleep 
 as soon as you get on board the steamer '* 
 
 ** Let be — let be," said Lauchlan, fumbling 
 in his pocket for his pipe. " I am not for 
 quarrelling. I am a peaceable man. Duncan, 
 have you a match ? " 
 
 '' A match ! " exclaimed the other, with 
 disdain. " Is it nothing you can think of 
 but whiskey and tobacco ? — "
 
 A CONVOY. 7 
 
 " Whiskey ? " repeated Lauchlan, with an 
 amazing alertness. " Well, now, it is your 
 head that has the good sense in it, Duncan, 
 sometimes — and that is the Bible's truth. 
 And I say what you say ; another good glass 
 of whiskey will do us no harm, since we have 
 to walk across the island to Kilree. Oh, yes, 
 do not fear ; I will look after the young lass 
 and her father ; I will take them safely to 
 Duntroone. Have vou a match, Duncan ? " 
 
 The older man did not answer. 
 
 " It is I that must try to get a glass of 
 milk for Barbara," he said to himself, as he 
 moved away, ** if there is no oatcake in the 
 house." 
 
 But meanwhile Lauchlan — Long Lauchlan 
 the shoemaker he was called in Duntroone 
 on the mainland — Lauchie, while fumbling 
 about for his pipe, had come upon a Jew's- 
 harp ; and this was a new inspiration. With 
 heroic endeavour he struggled to his feet ; 
 he balanced himself ; he placed the instrument 
 to his lips ; and began to play, in a thin, 
 quavering strain, ^ Lord Lovat's Lament. 
 Nay, he affected to give himself something 
 of the airs of a piper ; in the limited space 
 at his command, he paced backwards and 
 forwards, with slow and solemn steps ; there
 
 8 HIGHLAND COUSIKS. 
 
 was an inward look on his face, as if he 
 was forgetful, or disdainful, of these vain 
 roysterers. Moreover, there was a kind of 
 nebulous grandeur about the tall and melan- 
 choly figure ; for since ever the peats had 
 been put in the grate, the wind had been 
 steadily blowing down the chimney, and now 
 the apartment was thick with smoke — peat- 
 smoke and tobacco-smoke combined ; so that 
 the performer, with his slow, funereal steps 
 of about three inches in length, was as the 
 dark ghost of a piper, moving to and fro 
 unheeded and apart. And he might very 
 well have been left to his harmless diversion ; 
 but that was not to be. In spite of the din, 
 the tremulous, wiry sound of the Jew's-harp 
 had caught the ear of a huge red-bearded 
 drover from Mull who was on the other side 
 of the table ; and for some reason or another 
 he became irritated. 
 
 " You there, Long Lauchlan," he called, 
 " why do you play that foolish thing ? If 
 the Free Church will not let you play the 
 pipes, a man who is a man at all would 
 refuse to play on any instrument ! It is the 
 great piper you are — with a child's toy at 
 your mouth ! " 
 
 The piper — or harper, rather— paused,
 
 A CONVOY. 9 
 
 advanced to the table, steadied himself, and 
 fixed his gaze on his enemy. 
 
 " What — is it you say — about the Free 
 Church ? " he demanded, with his small black 
 eyes beginning to glitter. 
 
 ^' This it is I am saying," responded the 
 big red-bearded giant, with his brows lower- 
 ing ominously, " that when the Free Church 
 will be for putting down the pipes through- 
 out the islands, then the man is not a man, 
 but a dog every inch of him, who will give 
 up the pipes and take in the place of the 
 pipes what is allowed him, and that is the 
 low, pitiful, vile toy-instrument you have 
 there." 
 
 " Then you are a liar," said the shoe- 
 maker, with decision. 
 
 " I am a liar ? " repeated the other, in an 
 access of fury. " But you are worse, for 
 you are a son of the devil and a liar besides 
 
 — and I will smash your d d Free Church 
 
 toy ! " 
 
 He made a sudden snatch across the table, 
 caught the Jew's-harp out of the shoemaker's 
 hand, and dashed it on the floor, dancing on 
 it with his heavy-nailed boots. Then the 
 tumult began. The shoemaker would get 
 round the table. His friends held him back.
 
 10 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 He broke away, with imprecations, and 
 howls of rage. The drover — Red Murdoch 
 — equally frantic, was desperately striving 
 to dispossess himself of those who clung to 
 him or who bravely interposed themselves 
 between the two combatants ; while random 
 blows on both sides did nothing worse, so 
 far, than beat the air. But what portended 
 evil was that the angry passions thus aroused 
 showed a tendency to become general. There 
 were excited cries and remonstrances — the 
 invariable prelude of a faction fight. And 
 then, as it chanced, by some accidental 
 swaying of the crowd, the table went over — 
 went over with a hreenge fit to wake the 
 dead : the tray, the glasses, the measures, 
 the unnecessary water-bottle hurling them- 
 selves into the little black fire-place. 
 
 It was in the midst of all this indescribable 
 uproar that a new figure suddenly appeared 
 on the scene — an old woman with unkempt 
 silver- white locks and visage of terrible 
 import. She came in quickly ; she was 
 armed with the rolling-pin she had been 
 using at the bake-board ; and with some 
 strange sort of instinct she seemed to make 
 straight for the two chief offenders. 
 
 " What is this, now," she exclaimed, in
 
 A CONVOY. 11 
 
 shrill Gaelic, '' what is this going on, and 
 my daughter lying ill ! Out with you, you 
 drunken savages ! Out of the house with 
 you, you heathen crew ! — ay, every one of 
 you ! — out of the house with you ! — out ! — 
 out! — " And these panting ejaculations 
 were accompanied by strokes so energetic 
 and unexpected that a universal bewilder- 
 ment and confusion instantly prevailed. Xo 
 man's person, nor any part of it, however 
 inferior, was safe from this merciless weapon ; 
 though it was mainly on the Mull drover 
 and on the astonished shoemaker that her 
 valiant belabouring fell. 
 
 " In the name of God, woman, have peace! " 
 cried one of them. 
 
 But there was no peace — there was war — 
 war implacable and ferocious — war that 
 ended in a decisive victory ; for in an in- 
 credibly short space of time she had driven 
 forth the whole invertebrate crowd of them, 
 and slammed-to the outer door. They found 
 themselves in the rain, they hardly knew 
 how or why. They regarded each other, as 
 if something had occurred, that they were 
 trying to recollect. Then their eyes fell 
 upon the cart. The young lass was still 
 patiently waiting there, the thick blue-green
 
 12 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 shawl not entirely confining the tags of 
 raven-black hair that had been loosened by 
 the storm. And then Duncan the shepherd 
 — choosing to ignore this wild thing that had 
 just happened — said discreetly : 
 
 " We'd better be getting on, lads. It 
 would be a great pity if we were to miss 
 the Sanda.'' 
 
 They now followed the road that cut 
 across the island ; and a dismal road it was — 
 leading through sombre wastes of swampy 
 peat-moss and half-frozen tarns ; with rarely 
 a symptom of life anywhere, except the 
 occasional clanging-by overhead of a string 
 of wild-swans on their way to the western 
 seas. But at any rate the rain had stopped ; 
 and the wind, instead of being dead ahead, 
 was now on their quarter, as a sailor might 
 say ; so that they made very good progress — 
 Lauchie the shoemaker clinging on to the 
 tail-end of the cart, and talking to himself 
 the while. 
 
 As the day waned, of a sudden they 
 encountered the strangest sound — a long- 
 protracted wail that rose and fell, as if it 
 were some spirit of the dusk in immeasur- 
 able pain. 
 
 " May the Good Being save us, but what
 
 A CONVOY. 13 
 
 is that ! " was the pious ejaculation of one of 
 the company. 
 
 Lauchie, holding on to the cart, and still 
 talking to himself, laughed and chuckled. 
 
 " Oh, you are the clever boys, and no 
 mistake ! " he said, without looking at them. 
 *' You are the clever ones, that would squeeze 
 paraffin oil out of the peat ; and you would 
 make your own sheep-dip ; and you would 
 write to the Queen complaining of the Com- 
 mission and the rents. And yet you do 
 not know the new steam- whistle — you have 
 never heard the siren steam-whistle before 
 — and the Sanda has given you a splendid 
 fright ! — " 
 
 ''' The Sanda ! " exclaimed a neighbour in 
 dismay, and inadvertently he relapsed into 
 English. '' Is she unn ? " 
 
 " Ay, she's unn," responded Lauchie, 
 giggling to himself, " and very soon she'll 
 be off again, and we'll hef to tek Barbara 
 Maclean ahl the weh back to Knocka- 
 lanish." 
 
 But this dire threat stimulated them ; they 
 pushed ahead, and urged on the ancient 
 animal in the shafts ; and ere long they 
 came in sight of the eastern shores of the 
 island — with the strip of cottages called
 
 14 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Kilree — the bay — the rude quay and landing- 
 slip — and, lying some few hundred yards 
 out, a stumpy one- funnelled steamer that 
 was again sending forth its alarming call. 
 And was not yonder the last boat already 
 left ? They waved their plaids ; they 
 whistled ; some of them ran — and one of 
 them fell, and picked himself up again. The 
 end of it was that the horse and cart were 
 stopped at the top of the beach ; the young 
 lass was helped to descend ; the foremost two 
 or three of the company, hurrying along, 
 had become possessed of a boat lying by the 
 slip ; and when Barbara Maclean and her 
 modest bundle had been deposited in the 
 stern, the promiscuous crew unloosed the 
 painter, shoved off the bow, plunged their 
 oars into the water, and proceeded to pull 
 away with a desperate resolution to overtake 
 the departing steamer. 
 
 They pulled and they pulled and they 
 pulled ; and they were men of strength and 
 sinew ; the oars creaked and groaned in the 
 thole-pins. They tugged and they strained 
 and they splashed — heads down and teeth 
 clenched ; they put their shoulders into the 
 work with a will ; they would have cheered 
 but that they dared not waste their breath ;
 
 A CONVOY. 15 
 
 and again came a long howl from the Sanda 
 to encourage them — doubtless she had per- 
 ceived them through the gathering dusk, 
 and might be disposed to grant them a few 
 moments of grace. 
 
 But at this moment an appalling thing 
 occurred. Long Lauchie the shoemaker, 
 who had roused himself from his placid 
 acquiescence of the last hour or two, and 
 was now madly and heroically pulling stroke, 
 chanced to raise his head — and behold there 
 was some phantasmal object confronting his 
 bleared eyes. 
 
 " Aw, God," he cried, terror-stricken, " we 
 have pulled the quay away with us ! " 
 
 For there, undoubtedly, was the landing- 
 slip, not a dozen yards off ! And the beach, 
 and the cottages — just above — were these 
 also phantoms in the twilight ? Surely they 
 could not have hauled the whole island after 
 them, out into the deep ? 
 
 Then came one running down to the shore, 
 gesticulating, shouting. 
 
 " There's a line astern ! The boat's tied 
 astern, man ! Throw off the line ! " 
 
 And at last it dawlied upon Lauchie's 
 dimly-rotating brain that the boat must have 
 been moored both fore and aft alongside the
 
 16 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 slip — that they had only released the painter 
 at the bow — and that all their frantic pulling 
 had gone for nothing : in point of fact they 
 had not moved a yard beyond the length of 
 this still attaching line. So blindly and 
 mechanically he undid the rope from the 
 iron ring, and cast it into the water ; then 
 he resumed his place and his strenuous work 
 — this time with considerably less weight 
 dragging behind. And in due course they 
 reached the steamer ; the young lass, Long 
 Lauchie, and Eed Murdoch from Mull got on 
 board ; the others returned with the boat 
 to the shore. And thus it was that Barbara 
 Maclean left her native island to seek a 
 home among her relatives in Duntroone.
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 
 
 The aunt of this Barbara Maclean kept a 
 tobacconist's shop in Campbell Street, which 
 is the main thoroughfare in the small sea- 
 side town of Duntroone ; and one evening 
 Mrs. Maclean and her daughter Jess were 
 seated in the parlour behind the shop, from 
 which, through a window in the intervening 
 door, they could observe when any customer 
 entered. Mrs. Maclean was a spruce and 
 trim little body, fresh-complexioned, grey- 
 haired, and bright and alert of look ; her 
 daughter Jessie, or Jess as she was called by 
 her intimates, was a young woman of about 
 twenty, flaxen-haired and freckled, of pleasant 
 features and expression, and with grey eyes, 
 ordinarily tranquil and kindly, that could 
 on occasion show themselves merry and 
 humorous enough, not to say malicious. 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 18 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 For the rest, this was quite a snug and 
 cheerful apartment on so cold a night ; a 
 brisk coal-fire was burning in the grate ; a 
 kettle simmered on the hob ; and there were 
 tea-things on the table. 
 
 " Ay," said the little Highland widow, as 
 she continued busy with her knitting-needles, 
 " it's a sad thing for a young lass to be left 
 dissolute in the world " 
 
 " Desolate, mother ! " Jess said, impa- 
 tiently, for her mother's happy carelessness of 
 speech was at times a source of consider- 
 able embarrassment when neighbours were 
 about. 
 
 '' Ay, jist that/' the widow said, con- 
 tentedly, " it's a sad thing for a young lass 
 to be left dissolute. But it's no so bad when 
 she has friends to turn to ; and I'm sure 
 when Barbara Maclean comes to us, there will 
 not be a pennyworth of grudging in her 
 welcome. No, no, my sister and me we had 
 our quarrels in the old days ; but my sister's 
 lass will not want for a shelter while I have 
 four walls round me and a fire to warm my 
 hands. And I would not wonder if she took 
 kindly to the ways of living here. She'll 
 find a difference between Knockalanish and 
 Duntroone, in the living and the housing.
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 19 
 
 For well you know, Jess, it's not me that's 
 given to the over-praising of creature com- 
 forts ; still, at the same time, I like what is 
 Christian ; and I say that having cattle and 
 human beings under the same roof is not 
 Christian. It may be very healthy ; but it 
 is not Christian. And never will I forget 
 the fortnight I spent at Knockalanish when 
 my sister was in her last illness ; the damp 
 and the cold ; the peats soaked through with 
 the snow ; the supper of mashed potatoes 
 and milk ; and the breathing of the cows in 
 the night. For of course my sister had the 
 ben * of the house ; and the rest of us we 
 had to put up with what beds and screens 
 we could get ; and night after night 1 was 
 lying awake, fearing to hear the tick of the 
 death-watch, or the howling of a dog, and it 
 was the breathing of the cows you could 
 hear, and not so far away. Ay. And 
 Donald Maclean he was never the good 
 manager, nor my poor sister either, but after 
 her death he lost heart altogether, and how 
 he was getting the rent, or whether there 
 was more and more of debt, no one could 
 tell; only this I am sure of, that when his 
 daughter Barbara comes to us, she will not 
 
 * The inner apartment.
 
 20 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 bring with her anything more than what she 
 stands up in " 
 
 At this moment some one entered the shop, 
 and Jess hurried away to attend. It was a 
 clerkly-looking youth, who wanted a brier- 
 root pipe ; and very particular he was ; but 
 at length he was satisfied ; whereupon Jess 
 returned to the parlour. 
 
 " Then there's the lad Allan," continued 
 the warm-hearted little widow, still busy 
 with her knitting. " Well, now, I am glad 
 that he sometimes looks in of an evening ; 
 and he is one the more to show to Barbara 
 that she has come among her own kith 
 and kin, though his mother married a Low- 
 lander and he has partly a Lowland name. 
 But this is it now, Jess, my lass, that when 
 he stays to supper I wish you would be 
 pressing a little more on him — yes, yes — 
 I wish you would be pressing a little more 
 on him " 
 
 Jessie Maclean's fair face flushed some- 
 what. 
 
 " Allan Henderson is very proud, mother," 
 she said. '' And if he suspected anything he 
 would never come back." 
 
 " Pride and an empty stomach," said the 
 small dame, sententiously, " are not even
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 21 
 
 cousins twenty times removed. Starvation is 
 the Voorst of training for any one, I do not 
 care who he is ; and the young man is foolish 
 who refuses when there is plenty before him 
 on the table. But I have heard of Allan 
 and his ways ; oh, yes, indeed : both his 
 father and his mother have told me ; that 
 when he was at the College at Glasgow 
 he was costing them nothing — well, next to 
 nothing beyond the fees for the classes, and 
 the books, and a lodging ; and now he is 
 paying back, and paying back, though they 
 are not asking for anything, and the post- 
 ofifus keeping them very comfortable now, 
 and I dare say he has paid them far more 
 than ever they lent him. Besides," she went 
 on, " it's a poor trade the schoolmastering. 
 It's very little the School Board give him, 
 after his hard work at the classes. And my 
 heart is sore to see a young man going about 
 at this time of the year without an overcoat 
 — when it's I myself would gladly buy him 
 one — and why should he not take it as a 
 present, from his mother's cousin " 
 
 The flush on the girl's face had deepened : 
 she turned to trim the fire by way of hiding 
 her vexation. 
 
 " You could not do that, mother ! " she
 
 22 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 exclaimed, in a low voice. " You would not 
 iusult him? — and turn him away from the 
 house ? — when he has not too many friends. 
 And as for schoolmastering," she continued, 
 raising her head — and at times speaking with 
 an involuntary tremor of pride in her tones, 
 *' he may not be always a schoolmaster, though 
 there are many schoolmasters that are great 
 and famous men, at the large schools through- 
 out the country. But if Allan is only a poor 
 schoolmaster at present, it will not be always 
 so, you may take my word for that. Of 
 course he has not told me his plans and his 
 hopes — why should he ? — I think he is too 
 shy to tell them to anyone ; but I can see 
 what he is ; 1 can see what there is in him ; 
 and I know this, mother, that many a long 
 day hence, you and I will be wondering that 
 the Allan Henderson they are all talking of 
 in London used to come into our parlour in 
 Duntroone and smoke his pipe of an evening. 
 It may be a long time yet ; but it will be 
 a great day for us — even if he has no recol- 
 lection of us ; and you'll bear me out, mother, 
 
 that I prophesied it " Some slight noise 
 
 arrested her attention, and she looked up. 
 *' Mercy on us, here's Allan himself!" she 
 ejaculated, in an undertone ; and therewith
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 23 
 
 she rose to open the door for him — the colour 
 not yet quite gone from her face. 
 
 He was a tall young man of about three or 
 four-and-twenty, his jSgure slim and spare 
 but well-knit, his head bent forward slightly, 
 his features distinctly ascetic, yet with plenty 
 of firmness about the lines of his mouth, his 
 forehead square and capable, and showing 
 a premature line or two, no doubt the result 
 of hard and perhaps injudicious study. But 
 it was his eyes that chiefly claimed attention : 
 large, soft, brown eyes, that were usually 
 contemplative and absent, but that could 
 become singularly penetrating when his atten- 
 tion was challenged. It was a concentration, 
 in obedience to any such summons, that 
 appeared to demand some brief effort ; but 
 his perceptions, once aroused, were swift ; 
 he seemed instantly to divine whether this 
 person or this utterance was worth heeding 
 or to be turned away from with indifference 
 and contempt. Jess used laughingly to say 
 of him, when she was grown spiteful — 
 
 *'Poor Allan, the matter with him is that 
 there's a cloud betwixt him and all the world 
 around him ; and when you think he is look- 
 ing over to Lismore, or to Morven, or Kin- 
 gairloch, it's the cloud he's staring at, and
 
 24 HIGHLAND COUSIKS. 
 
 the grand things he sees there — Roman 
 battles, and such like, I suppose. And some 
 day he will be staring at the fine things 
 before him, and he'll step over the end of 
 the quay, and that will be the last of poor 
 Allan ! " And she would continue her flout- 
 ing : " Going on for four-and-twenty, and 
 as big a baby as ever he was in his childhood ! 
 He has not got accustomed to anything ! 
 Everything is new to him — and everything 
 wonderful — if he comes on a fox-glove grow- 
 ing in the woods — or watches a young foal 
 following its mother — or he'll pick up a shell 
 from the shore, and that's quite enough to 
 stare at and wonder at too ! And what he 
 gets to laugh at, passes me ! — he'll burst out 
 laughing when there was no amusement 
 intended at all, and that is not pleasant to 
 people's feelings ; or again, when the young 
 folk are a little merry, and mocking at each 
 other, he will sit as glum as if he was looking 
 at his own funeral going by. Temper ? — 
 temper, indeed ! — he is the worst-tempered 
 young man in Duntroone ! " 
 
 Yet the visitor who now came in did not 
 look as if he had an evil temper ; rather he 
 seemed diffident as he took the seat that the 
 widow cheerfully offered him.
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 25 
 
 ** I was passing," said he, by way of apology, 
 *' and I thought I would step in to ask if you 
 had heard of your niece. Do you know if 
 the Sanda was able to call at Kilree ? — the 
 weather has been bad out there." 
 
 '' Well, it's little I am likely to hear," 
 responded the widow, " until Barbara and 
 Lauchlan Maclntyre walk straight into the 
 shop, or come knocking at the door of the 
 house ; though maybe some one will run up 
 from the quay to tell us when the Sanda 
 shows round the point. There's Tobermory, 
 to be sure, and they might have telegraphed 
 from Tobermory ; but dear me, what does 
 that poor lass understand about the telegraph ? 
 and Lauchlan — well, Lauchlan would be 
 amongst his friends. And yet I was caution- 
 ing him too. ' Lauchie,' I was saying to him, 
 ' this time at least it is absolutely compara- 
 tive that you keep a hold on yourself, and 
 behave yourself at the funeral, and in bring- 
 ing away the lass.' And he was saying ' Yes, 
 yes, mistress,' again and again. But I have 
 had experience of Lauchie, that is a good 
 enough man and a sensible man until the 
 whiskey gets over him ; and when he begins 
 laughing, then it's a sign you need not try 
 to talk any more to him ; and afterwards,
 
 26 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 when he comes out of it and is sober again, 
 oh, the poor, down-hearted crayture that he 
 is ! — as if he had committed every sin in the 
 Catalogue " 
 
 " You mean the Decalogue, mother ! " Jess 
 remonstrated. 
 
 " Ay : sometimes they say the one and 
 sometimes the other," the widow went on, 
 with blithe effrontery. '' But I'm thinking 
 the Sanda should be in ere long now ; and 
 there's a bit supper waiting over the way ; 
 and it would be very agreeable to us, Allan, 
 if you would step across with us, when the 
 shop is shut, and take your place at the table, 
 to show Barbara that she has come amongst 
 several friends — — " 
 
 But he seemed to shrink back from this 
 proposal. 
 
 " No, no, thanks to you all the same," he 
 said — and he had a grave, gentle, impressive 
 voice, that Jess listened to as if every word 
 were of value. " When a girl comes to a 
 new home in this way, surely she would 
 rather be with her own people, and have no 
 half-strangers to meet. Afterwards there 
 will be plenty of time for her to make 
 acquaintances." 
 
 '' And it is very ill done of you, Allan
 
 A POOR STUDENT. • 27 
 
 Henderson," said the little widow, boldly 
 and indignantly, "to speak of yourself as a 
 stranger, or half-stranger, in my house. Per- 
 haps these are the ways they have at the 
 College ; but I am not understanding such 
 ways. Jess, she must be for ever making 
 excuses ; and it's this one's pride, and that 
 one's pride ; but I am not understanding such 
 pride when there is the family-relationship 
 between us. Oh, yes, every one has heard of 
 the old saying about the Macleans and their 
 pride and their poverty ; ' Though I am poor, 
 I am well-born ; God be thanked I am a 
 Maclean ! ' But where is the place for such 
 things between cousins? And when you know 
 very well, Allan, that over the way, and 
 every night in the week, there is a place at 
 the table for you, and Jessie and me sitting 
 by ourselves, and perhaps you alone in your 
 lodgings, and maybe without a fire, too — for 
 I have heard of such things with young men 
 eager to get on in the world — well, then, it 
 may be. College manners for you to stay away, 
 but it is not good Highland manners. And 
 that is the truth I am telling you at last." 
 
 Jess ^laclean looked apprehensive and 
 troubled ; but the young man took all tins 
 in good part.
 
 28 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " One is not always one's own master," he 
 answered, quietly. " I can only give you 
 my best thanks for so kindly asking me. 
 And I am sure you know another old saying : 
 ' If a man cannot get to his own country, it 
 is a good thing to be in sight of it ' ? " 
 
 " Will you not light your pipe now, 
 Allan ? " Jess put in skilfully — to get away 
 from a ticklish subject. 
 
 But at this suggestion, Mrs. Maclean, who 
 had been regarding the young man (perhaps 
 with some little compunction, for she was 
 not accustomed to scold) quickly rose from 
 her seat and left the room, disappearing into 
 the front shop, and evidently bent on some 
 errand. 
 
 " I hope you are not vexed with my mother, 
 Allan," said Jess, at once. 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed," he made answer. " Every 
 one knows that she is the kindest of women. 
 And when your cousin comes from the 
 islands, she will soon find that she is in a 
 friendly home." 
 
 Presently Mrs. Maclean reappeared, bring- 
 ing with her an unopened tin canister. 
 
 " This is a new mixture, Allan," said she, 
 as she placed the box before the young man, 
 *' that has been sent me from Glasgow, and
 
 A POOR STUDENT. 29 
 
 I would be glad if you would take the canister 
 home with you, and try the mixture, and tell 
 me your opinion, so that I could be advising 
 my customers when they come in. Will you 
 put it in your pocket, or will I send Christina 
 along with it to you in the morning ? " 
 
 Jess looked swiftly and in alarm from one 
 to the other of them. But if his stubborn 
 Scotch independence prompted him to refuse 
 the gift, the Highland blood that also flowed 
 in his veins forbade that the refusal should 
 be in any way discourteous. He hesitated 
 for a second — to find some excuse ; and there 
 was some colour of embarrassment visible on 
 his forehead. 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you, Mrs. 
 Maclean," said he, after this involuntary 
 pause. " But — but I have been thinking of 
 giving up my pipe altogether." 
 
 And now the anxiety of the younger 
 woman gave place to an infinite distress and 
 pity : was he — simply because he had been 
 driven into a corner, and found himself un- 
 able to refuse in any other manner this 
 proffered kindness — was he going to deprive 
 himself of the chief, perhaps the only, com- 
 fort of a poor and solitary student ? 
 
 But at this moment her attention was
 
 30 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 distracted. Some one entered the shop, and 
 approached the dividing door ; and a glance 
 through the half-curtained pane told her who 
 this was — this was Mr. Peter McFadyen, 
 coal merchant and town-councillor. She 
 rose to receive the new visitor : but she did 
 so with impatient anger in her heart : for 
 she knew that now in a very few minutes 
 the proud and contemptuous Allan would be 
 on his homeward way.
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. 
 
 Yet Peter McFadyen himself was about the 
 last man in the world to imagine that he 
 could be unwelcome anywhere ; and as he 
 now, after salutations and inquiries, pro- 
 ceeded to make himself comfortable in front 
 of the fire — pulling out his pipe and tobacco- 
 pouch the while — he went on to give these 
 neighbours a vivid account of his day's 
 doings on the golf-links, nothing doubting 
 of their sympathy and keen interest. He 
 was a little man, round and chubby, with 
 eager, twinkling eyes, a clipped sandy-brown 
 beard, and hair becoming conspicuously scant 
 on the top. For the rest, the rumour in 
 Duntroone was that McFadyen, who was 
 an old bachelor, had it in view to amalga- 
 mate his fortunes with those of the widow ;
 
 32 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 but some there were who surmised that 
 Peter cherished other and more romantic 
 designs. 
 
 " Dod," he said, with a triumphant chuckle, 
 " I'm thinking the station-master and me 
 we were showing the young fellows some- 
 thing this afternoon ! Not that I would 
 call either Mr. Grilmour or myself elderly 
 folk—" 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. McFadyen," said the widow, 
 politely, " it will be many a long day before 
 you can think of such a thing." 
 
 *' A few years one way or the other is 
 nothing at all," responded Mr. McFadyen, 
 with obvious satisfaction. " Just nothing 
 at all ! It is a question of keeping yourself 
 in good fettle ; and if one of they young 
 fellows and myself were to start away from 
 Taynuilt, I wonder which of us would be 
 the first to reach the top of Cruachan Ben. 
 Ay, or throwing the hammer : that is a 
 capital test of what is in a man's shoulders ; 
 and I should not be afraid of a match with 
 some of them — not me ! I've got a practis- 
 ing-place marked out in the backyard — 
 though it's rather narrow — and if anybody 
 was a bit careless, the hammer would make 
 a fearfu' smash of the little greenhouse "
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. oo 
 
 " Did I ever thank you for the christmas- 
 anthemums, Mr. McFadyen ? " the widow- 
 interposed. " They were just beautiful — 
 though Jessie was sorry you should be 
 cutting them " 
 
 But Peter was not to be diverted from 
 vaunting his physical prowess. 
 
 " Eunning — jumping — pulling an oar," he 
 continued, with buoyant assurance (and per- 
 haps widening out his chest a little, for he 
 must have known that Jessie Maclean's 
 * grey eyes feminine ' were now regarding 
 him) " give me a week or two's training, 
 and I'm not afraid of any of they boasting- 
 young chaps. But it's the links, Mrs. 
 Maclean, it's the links I was coming to ; and 
 we did well there this afternoon, I can tell 
 you ! We did well, both Gilmour and me ; 
 but I beat him — the fact is, Gilmour is a 
 little thing stiff in the joints, though he 
 doesna like to hear it said. Well, we started 
 from the teeing- ground just behind the 
 Dunchoillie farm ; and you know Colqu- 
 houn's meadow, Mrs. Maclean, there's a burn 
 comes down through the middle, and then 
 there's a bank covered with whin-bushes : 
 it's just a desperate bunker to get into. 
 Yery well : I put the ball on the tee — a little 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 sand ; not too much sand ; too much sand's 
 a great mistake — and I let drive ! Dod, that 
 was a drive ! Away she went with a ping 
 like a rifle-bullet — sailing and sailing — sail- 
 ing and sailing — and getting smaller and 
 smaller — until my eyes were filled wi' water 
 staring against the white clouds — and Gil- 
 mour he lost sight of the ball altogether. 
 ' It's down in the whins ! ' he cries. ' Ye 
 gomeril/ I answers him, ' it's more near the 
 putting-green, if not close up to the hole ! ' — 
 for I was just certain I had got far away 
 over the burn and the whins, and was safe 
 on to the higher land. Would you believe 
 it ? — when we got up, the ball was within 
 tweuty yards of the flag ; and in three more 
 strokes I was out ; the first hole for four ! — 
 and me that never touched a golf-club until 
 last summer ! " 
 
 Peter had been growing excited : he now 
 moderated his warmth. 
 
 " I did not do so well at the second hole," 
 he observed darkly. " Maybe it was the 
 wind ; or maybe I toed the ball when I was 
 driving from the tee ; anyway it got over 
 the dyke and into the road, ay, and into 
 the cart-rut, and I thought I was never 
 going to get it over the dyke again. Bother
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTEESS. 35 
 
 the thing, I smashed mj iron niblick clean in 
 two — but — but I'm thinking there must have 
 been a flaw in the wood " 
 
 He hastened away from these deplorable 
 reminiscences. 
 
 " The Pinnacle ! " he said, lauo-hino- with 
 eager anticipation. " We had a rare game 
 at the Pinnacle ! For that's a most desperate 
 place, Mrs. Maclean, and no mistake — as 
 steep as the side of a house — and all soomin 
 with water — and unless you get clear away 
 on to the top, what happens is that your ball 
 strikes the face of the hill, and doesna lie 
 there, but just comes quietly trintle, trintle, 
 trintling down the slojoe and back to your 
 feet again. And there was I up on the top 
 — right up on the putting-green, after a fine 
 long drive — looking down on Gilmour ; and I 
 declare there never was such an angry man ! — 
 hacking away with his cleek — splashing the 
 mud — and sweerin' every time the ball would 
 come trintle, trintling back down to his feet. 
 ' Gilmour,' I cries to him, ' put the ball in 
 your pocket, man, and bring it up with ye : 
 it's the only way at the Pinnacle ! ' And he 
 would not speak, so angry he was ; and still 
 angrier was he when we started away for the 
 next hole ; for he forgot it was blowing up
 
 36 HIGULAXD COUSINS. 
 
 there on the top — blowing right across from 
 Mull and Morven and the Frith of Lorn ; 
 and he put far too much sand on the tee — 
 far too much sand, for he's an obstinate man, 
 Gilmour, and will not take a telling — and in 
 his anger he made a drive that should have 
 sent the ball over to Lisraore ! Did it ? " 
 Peter asked — and he roared with laughter, 
 and his small eyes twinkled, and he rubbed 
 his hands. '' There was just a blash of sand ! 
 — a blash of sand — that rose in the air — 
 and back it came in his face — just filling 
 his eyes, and filling his mouth, so that he 
 went about splutterin', and could not even 
 sweer ! Dod, the station-master was an 
 angry man this afternoon ! — it's a fearfu' 
 place the Pinnacle ! " 
 
 At this point the tall and grave young 
 schoolmaster rose to go, notwithstanding a 
 half-concealed deprecatory glance from Jess. 
 
 "Allan, my lad," said Mr. McFadyen, 
 familiarly, *'have you heard of the dance 
 that Mr. and Mrs. McAskill of the Argyll 
 Arms are going to give to the Gaelic 
 Choir?" 
 
 '' No," said the schoolmaster, somewhat 
 curtly. 
 
 *' Yes, indeed, then," continued Peter, with
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. 37 
 
 much importance. " In the Yolunteer Drill- 
 Hall. A great affair, for the Choir will sing 
 glees between the dances, and there'll be 
 plenty of pipers. And sure I am that every 
 one in this room at this minute will have 
 an invite ; and I have been thinking, Mrs. 
 Maclean, that if you would let me call for 
 you and Miss Jessie, I would bring a machine 
 and drive you up to the Drill-Hall, for it's a 
 bad road in the dark, and it would never do 
 for you and Miss Jessie to get your feet 
 wet " 
 
 *' Mr. McFadyen," said Jess, with some 
 touch of resentment, " I think you are 
 forgetting what has just happened in our 
 family " 
 
 " Oh, but the dance is a long way off yet ! " 
 said Peter. And then he went on, with 
 humorous shjness : "Maybe, if any one 
 should have a doubt about going, maybe 
 that one's myself: maybe they'll be saying 
 that my dancing days should be over " 
 
 " And who could be saying that ! " inter- 
 posed the widow, promptly. " That would 
 be nonsense indeed ! I should not wonder, 
 now, if you could give lessons to some of 
 those young lads and lasses." 
 
 He turned to her with sudden seriousness.
 
 38 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 '* If there's one thing surer than another, 
 Mrs. Maclean/' he said, "it's this — that a 
 well-trained step is never forgotten. Begin 
 well — that's everything in dancing ; and ye 
 acquire a grace — an elegance, I might say — 
 that becomes a kind of second nature. Not 
 that I object to a rough-and-tumble reel now 
 and again ; no, no ; I'm not more afraid of a 
 foursome reel than I am of a foursome round 
 on the links. But there's something finer. — 
 Miss Jessie, do you know the Yarsoviana ? " 
 
 " I have seen it," Jess Maclean answered, 
 coldly. 
 
 '' But it's the simplest thing — the simplest 
 thing in the world ! " he vehemently urged. 
 " Just stand up for a minute, now, and I'll 
 show ye " 
 
 He himself got up, put his toes into the 
 first position, and held out his hand to en- 
 courage her. But she decliued to move. 
 
 " If you please, I would rather not, Mr. 
 McFadyen," she said, with flushed face. 
 
 *' But look ! " said he. And therewith, 
 whistling an air with pursed lips, he pro- 
 ceeded to execute certain short, stiff, marion- 
 ette-like movements, as well as he could in 
 the circumscribed space at his disposal. 
 
 " D'you see now ? — as simple as simple ! —
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. 39 
 
 then lead off with the next foot — the other 
 foot at every turn — d'ye see how simple it 
 is ? — and the most elegant thing that ever 
 was seen, with a lot of couples in a ball- 
 room." He ceased from these valorous efforts, 
 and resumed his chair, proud, breathless, and 
 happy. *' We'll get you to have a try at 
 it some other evening. Miss Jessie," said he, 
 gaily. " I'm thinking we'll be able to show 
 them something the night of Mrs. McAskill's 
 dance ! " 
 
 Allan Henderson had been waiting 
 patiently, not wishing to interrupt. 
 
 " I will bid you good-evening now, Mrs. 
 Maclean," said he. 
 
 " Good-night, Allan," she made answer, 
 holding out her hand. 
 
 But Jess followed him into the front shop, 
 shutting the door behind her. 
 
 " I am sorry if Mr. McFadyen and his 
 blethers have driven you away, Allan : you do 
 not come to see us as much as you might." 
 
 " I must get home to my books," he 
 answered her, evasively. 
 
 " And I hope, Allan," she said, regarding 
 him with anxious and earnest eyes, "that you 
 are not working too hard at your studies." 
 
 *' Well," said he, '' when one is young one
 
 40 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 must work hard. It is the only time : there 
 is no after time. But I'll be looking in to 
 see you and your mother again one of these 
 evenings. Good-night, Jessie." 
 
 " Good-night, Allan ! " said she ; and when 
 he had gone, she lingered a while : she did 
 not care to return at once to the parlour, 
 where doubtless Mr. McFadyen was still 
 engaged in magnifying his strength, his 
 agility, and innumerable accomplishments. 
 
 On the other hand, Allan, when he left the 
 tobacconist's shop, did not immediately return 
 to his lodging and his books. He was at an 
 age, and in circumstances, that imperatively 
 demanded close and strenuous self-communion; 
 and that he was accustomed to seek in solitary 
 walks along the seashore, or up on the 
 moorland wastes, especially at night, when 
 darkness and silence were abroad. And 
 tumultuous indeed were the problems he 
 found confronting him in these lonely 
 rambles. There were deep and inscrutable 
 searchings of heart, for no matter what his 
 training and his traditions may have been, 
 he was resolute and uncompromising in his 
 search after such truth as might be discover- 
 able — about human nature, and the surround- 
 ings of human nature, and the more awful
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. 41 
 
 mysteries beyond ; there were ambitious 
 projects springing thick from an over-active 
 brain — elusive, distracting phantoms that just 
 as often as not beat wild wings against the 
 res angusta domi ; the 7'es angusta domi itself 
 came in with its sordid cares and pinchings — 
 the need of a pair of weather-proof boots — 
 the counting the cost of a holiday-trip to see 
 his father and mother, who kept the post- 
 office at Inverblair — this latest project of 
 giving up tobacco — and the like ; while 
 ever-recurrent were the vague and harassing 
 visions of youth — that troubled questioning 
 of the future, with all its tantalising hopes, 
 its looming anxieties, its hidden dangers and 
 pitfalls. But happily for him, in this 
 seething-time, in this time of storm and 
 stress, he had been spared the crowning 
 misery of all. The ' cruel madness of love ' 
 had not overtaken him : that honeyed poison- 
 cup at all events had not been placed to 
 his lips. 
 
 He passed through the now half-dormant 
 town, went round the obscure and silent 
 quays, ascended a steep incline, and eventu- 
 ally, emerging from the black shadow of 
 some larches, stepped out upon a little plateau 
 on the summit of the Gallows Hill. It was
 
 42 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 a favourite resort of his : here he could pace 
 up and down, exorcising the demons of 
 unrest and doubt and despondency, and 
 bidding the great surrounding mountains 
 lend some little measure of their invulnerable 
 calm. On this particular night, it is true, 
 the darkness was such that nothing was 
 visible of all those vast mountain-ranges ; 
 but well he knew the whereabouts of the 
 mighty peaks and shoulders, from Ben Buie 
 and Creachbeinn and Dun-da-gu, over in 
 Mull, to Glashven and Fuar Bheinn up in 
 Morven, from the far giants of Glencoe, 
 murmuring to each other across the silence 
 of the valleys, round to Ben Cruachan and 
 Ben Eunaich, above the lonely and ghostly 
 solitudes of Glen-strae. August companions, 
 to be sure, even if unseen ; they appeared 
 to lift the soul away from the trivial tasks 
 and frettings of everyday life ; these he 
 seemed for the moment to have left behind 
 him — down in yonder little town, that he 
 could now make out only by certain glow- 
 worm dots scattered here and there, indi- 
 cating the semicircular sweep of the bay. 
 
 Of a sudden his e3^es were attracted else- 
 whither. Far away at the back of Kerrara 
 island a white shaft of fire had sjorung into
 
 SIGNALS OF DISTRESS. 43 
 
 the mirk of the night — a distant, trembling, 
 curving, silent thing that glared for a second 
 or so, and then vanished, leaving the dark- 
 ness as impenetrable as before. And for a 
 moment he asked himself whether the Mull 
 people — the people down about Duart — were 
 setting off fireworks. But what occasion 
 could there be for fireworks ? The next 
 instant another slender white shaft rose silent 
 into the air ; and now, judging by the 
 position of the Lismore light — the one steady, 
 radiant star in all this wide, black picture — 
 these signals seemed to be coming from some 
 point between Lismore and Mull. But 
 signals ? — not fireworks at all ? And if 
 signals, then signals from some vessels in 
 distress ? And what vessel was now expected, 
 except the Sanda, that was bringing to the 
 household of the Macleans the young girl 
 from the outer isles ? 
 
 He sped away down the hill-side and gained 
 the dusky thoroughfares. The few people 
 about had not noticed the signals — perhaps 
 the northern end of Kerrara island had pre- 
 vented their being seen. But soon there 
 was sufficient commotion in the little town ; 
 and one old sailor, hurrying along with his 
 companions to a commanding point, to discover
 
 44 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 what had happened or was happening, was 
 heard to say to himself — 
 
 " The Sanda f But the Sanda would be 
 coming over from Craigenure ? And how 
 the duffle could she get so far down to the 
 west? "
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 ON A ROCK. 
 
 Now when the Sanda left Craigenure, Long* 
 Lauchlan the shoemaker was down in the 
 fore-cabin, snngly huddled up in a corner ; 
 and he was nursing a soda-water bottle half- 
 filled with whiskey, while he softly sang to 
 himself. It was not a lugubrious song ; but 
 lugubriously and slowly he sang it, especially 
 the refrain — 
 
 ' If yeUl icalJi', 
 If yell walk, 
 If ye'll walk with me anywhere * 
 
 the a's in which he pronounced as the a in 
 dark, dwelling on them indefinitely. Eed 
 Murdoch the Mull drover, who had been 
 having a royal time of it since these two 
 left Kilree, and who chanced to be the only 
 other occupant of the cabin, at length inter- 
 rupted angrily.
 
 46 niGHLAXD COUSINS. 
 
 " To the devil with your south-country 
 songs ! " he cried, in Graelic. 
 
 But the long, melancholy-visaged shoe- 
 maker took no offence ; he was too happy. 
 
 " It's a beautiful song — a beautiful song," 
 he said, also in Gaelic. *' And if it is a 
 south-country song, it is a song that is 
 known to every fisherman from Peterhead 
 to Buckie. There is no more favourite song." 
 He raised his forefinger, to beat the slow 
 time. " A beautiful song — 
 
 ' It's I will buy you a pennyworth of preens, 
 If ye'll walk, 
 If ye'll walk, 
 If ye'll walk with me anyivhere.' " 
 
 '' The man is a fool that would sing such a 
 song ! " said the red-bearded drover, bluntly. 
 
 Whereupon Lauchie laughed and chuckled 
 quietly to himself 
 
 "Oh, yes, I may be a fool. But I would 
 rather be a fool than a man with bad luck." 
 
 '' Who is a man with bad luck ? " demanded 
 Murdoch, his bushy eyebrows drawing to- 
 gether. 
 
 Lauchie appeared to be secretly amused. 
 
 " Then you do not know you are of the 
 same name with the man of bad luck ? " he 
 went on. " Oh, you do not know what they
 
 ON A ROCK. 47 
 
 say of the luck of Red Murdoch ? They say 
 to any one 'You have the luck of Red 
 Murdoch ; for when Red Murdoch is in the 
 north, then the herring are in the south.' " 
 
 " If I knew the man that said that of me," 
 rejoined Murdoch, with fiery eyes — and he 
 even thrust forth a massive and hairy fist, 
 clenched, to give emphasis to his threat, " I 
 would bash his head against a stone wall." 
 
 " Have a dram, Murdoch," said Lauchie, 
 tendering the bottle, which was not refused. 
 *^ It's not I that am going out of the house 
 to-night, no, not to fight anyone. I am a 
 peaceable person. Better a warm fireside 
 than a cold hill-side, that is what the wise 
 man of Ross was saying. Murdoch," he 
 continued, suddenly reverting to the blissful 
 days that were now nearing an end, " it was 
 a beautiful funeral. That is what I am 
 thinking. It was a beautiful funeral. There 
 was no parsimony. How many gallons of 
 whiskey, would you say ? — seven ? — ay, ay, 
 and maybe more like seven and a half. 
 There was two or three glasses apiece when 
 we came together ; and there was two more 
 at the house ; well, that was right and 
 proper; and although it is not easy for 
 eight men to keep in step, when they have
 
 48 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 a heavy coffin on their shoulders, there was 
 not a single man fell into the road, and each 
 time the coffin was set down, it was set down 
 as gently as if it were a cradle, not a coffin 
 at all. And two more glasses to each man 
 at the gate of the cemetery. And two more 
 coming away. After that — aw, Grod, I am 
 not remembering much — there was little use 
 in counting — ■ — but sure I am there was no 
 parsimony ; and it was the fine funeral that 
 was given to Donald Maclean of Knocka- 
 lanish. Have you a match, Murdoch ? " 
 
 " I am tired of giving matches to a fool of 
 a man that will not carry them for himself,*' 
 answered .Red Murdoch, sulkily and taunt- 
 ingly. 
 
 But Lauchie would not quarrel. He re- 
 signedly put his pipe in his pocket again ; he 
 settled himself in a corner, his head drooping 
 somewhat ; and he resumed his placid and 
 happy communing with himself. 
 
 " A beautiful song — not a fisherman from 
 Peterhead to Buckie but knows it — a beautiful 
 
 song- 
 
 ' It's I will huy you a hraw new gown, 
 With buttons so fine, and flounces to the ground, 
 If ye'll waak, 
 If ye'll waaJc, 
 If ye'll waak with me anywhere.'
 
 ON A ROCK. 49 
 
 A beautiful song. . . . And a beautiful 
 funeral ... no parsimony at all " 
 
 Then his head fell wholly : he was fast 
 asleep. Red Murdoch glanced at him with 
 angry scorn ; threw a parting oath at him ; 
 and turned to leave the cabin. And this 
 he managed, after several efforts — for the 
 steps of the companion were narrow and 
 exceedingly steep — to do : hands, knees, and 
 feet were all brought into requisition ; and 
 eventually he emerged into the upper air. 
 
 Meanwhile what had become of the young 
 lass from the outer isles whom these two 
 worthies were convoying to Duntroone ? 
 Once or twice she had been invited to go 
 down into the fore-cabin ; but she had 
 refused — for the odour of the place was 
 overpowering ; she preferred to remain on 
 deck ; and the steward had considerately 
 brought her some tea and some food. She 
 had got into a more or less sheltered place 
 well away forward ; and there she sate with 
 her tartan shawl drawn close around her, 
 silent and solitary, and half-terrified by the 
 strange things around her. P^or she had 
 never been on a steamer before ; and although 
 the monotony of the long voyage had pro- 
 duced a state of semi-stupefaction, she 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 remained nervously alive to all her surround- 
 ings — to the throbbing of the screw, the lash 
 of the waves along the vessel's side, and the 
 dusky figures moving about the deck. The 
 night was obscure and squally ; but at least 
 there was no rain ; and the high bulwarks 
 were a sort of protection to her against the 
 hurling gusts of wind. 
 
 Now there had come on board at Craigenure 
 two gentlemen who were returning home 
 to Duntroone — one of them, indeed, the 
 principal doctor there, the other a well- 
 known bailie ; and these two had wandered 
 up to the bow of the ship to look around 
 them ; and they were chatting to each other. 
 Barbara Maclean heard every word. 
 
 " Surely we're keeping a long way from 
 Lismore, Bailie," the Doctor said, regarding 
 the steady and golden ray of the lighthouse 
 that was shining boldly through the mirk of 
 the night. " I wonder how many times I 
 have crossed from Craigenure and yet I never 
 saw a course like this taken before." 
 
 " Maybe Pattison is trying to cheat the 
 tide," replied the Bailie. "There's fearful 
 tides running here at times." 
 
 " Well, Captain Pattison should know his 
 own business best," the Doctor was saying —
 
 ON A ROCK. 51 
 
 when of a sudden he gripped his companion's 
 arm. " What's that there — right ahead ! " 
 he exclaimed, staring with amazement and 
 consternation at some vague, half-invisible, 
 dark object that seemed to loom up out of 
 the water. And then again, instantly recog- 
 nising what was about to happen, he called 
 out—" It's the Lady Rock ! For God's sake, 
 man, hold on ! — hold on to something ! " — 
 while he himself caught at the nearest 
 portion of the standing rigging, and braced 
 himself as best he might to withstand the 
 coming crash. 
 
 There appeared to be no interval. Almost 
 simultaneously with his shouted warning 
 came the inevitable, the terrific shock that 
 seemed to rive the ship from stem to stern ; 
 then she lurched forward and upward, with 
 a hideous grinding sound ; then she dipped 
 somewhat ; and then she hung — hung there 
 for one dreadful second of silence, as if she 
 were some dumb animal mutely asking what 
 was next required of her — whether she 
 should carry on some half-dozen yards 
 farther, and, with smashed bows and started 
 plates, go headlong to the bottom, in fifty 
 fathoms of water. But no : she remained 
 firm : and she remained upright, though 
 
 U. Of »LL L!8.
 
 52 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 with a strong list to starboard ; and now, 
 after that one moment of paralysed silence 
 and suspense, an indescribable clamour and 
 commotion ensued — women shrieking and 
 running hither and thither for their relatives, 
 the sailors hurrying along with lanterns, the 
 captain calling his orders from the bridge. 
 And all through this bewilderment of noise 
 and confusion there ran the ominous hoarse 
 surge of the tide on the isolated rocks 
 beneath and around them ; it was as a voice 
 out of the unseen ; and it was a clamorous 
 and an angry voice — a voice that threatened 
 doom. 
 
 Barbara Maclean had been thrown violently 
 on to the deck ; but when she raised herself, 
 she had no thought of rushing about, claim- 
 ing protection and succour. Her faculties 
 had been stunned and blunted by these 
 terrors of the sea and of the night ; and 
 when she resumed her place, she only pulled 
 her shawl around her, cowering, and perhaps 
 crying a little in her helplessness. She 
 knew nothing of what was going forward. 
 She saw dark figures going quickly about 
 with lanterns ; but they did not chance to 
 come near her ; and even in that case she 
 would have been too timid to put any
 
 ox A ROCK. 53 
 
 question. It is true, she did utter a brief cry 
 of dismay when the first rocket, with a shrill 
 and sudden scream, sprung high and blind- 
 ing into the gloom ; but in time she got used 
 even to that ; while the intermittent thunder 
 of the signal-cannon only seemed to shake 
 her frame physically. She was too dazed 
 to feel further or acute alarm ; what might 
 happen would have to happen ; she was far 
 away from her own land, and from things 
 with which she was familiar. As for the two 
 men who had in a kind of fashion undertaken 
 to see her safely to Duntroone, neither was 
 of near relationship to her, and she could not 
 expect much care from them ; besides she 
 knew the ways of people who had been 
 to a Highland funeral out in the west ; and 
 she was content to remain unassisted and 
 alone. 
 
 The odd thing was that in such a crisis of 
 danger Red ^Murdoch should have thought 
 first, not of this forlorn creature, but of his 
 boon companion, with whom he was con- 
 stantly quarrelling. He stumbled along to 
 the fore-cabin ; he steadied himself at the top 
 of the companion ; he howled aloud his 
 warning ; and then, finding there was no 
 reply, he made his way — to speak plainly, he
 
 54 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 fell — down the steps ; he crossed the floor, 
 and seized Lauchie Maclntyre by the coat- 
 collar. 
 
 " Here, man, come away ! — do you not 
 understand ? — we may all of us be at the 
 bottom of the sea in a minute ! — " 
 
 Lauchie endeavoured, but in a gentle 
 manner, to repel this interference. 
 
 " No," he said, slowly, but firmly, " I will 
 not stir from the house this night. It is I 
 that am knowing when I am well off. Gro 
 away yourself, Murdoch. It's a warm house 
 I am in ; and a warm house is better than a 
 cold hill-side " 
 
 " Son of the Devil ! " roared Murdoch, 
 furiously. '' Do you not know that we are 
 on a rock ? " 
 
 " And the house that is founded on a rock 
 is a beautiful house," said Lauchie, solemnly. 
 " Have you a match, Murdoch ? " 
 
 Murdoch did not answer, but now with 
 both hands he seized the coat-collar of the 
 shoemaker, and by main force dragged him 
 to the foot of the companion. Then first he 
 tried to shove him up the steps ; next he 
 tried to drag him up ; presently they both 
 fell together ; and it is impossible to say 
 what might have happened had not a sailor,
 
 ON A KOCK. 55 
 
 hearing some noise, come to the top of the 
 companion, and called down — 
 
 " Uss there any one below there? " 
 
 "Yes, indeed," called Murdoch in reply. 
 ** Come here and give me a little assustance 
 with a friend of mine, that uss rather too 
 sleepy to go ashore by himself." 
 
 The sailor came running down the com- 
 panion ; and fortunately he was a powerfully 
 built man. 
 
 " Going ashore ? " said he, grimly, as he 
 proceeded to hoist and shoulder these two up 
 the steps. " It's miles aweh from any shore 
 you are ! And the sooner you are out of 
 this boat the better : would you like to be 
 left behind ? " 
 
 For now it appeared that the captain had 
 decided that the passengers, at least, should 
 descend from the steamer, taking such pre- 
 carious chance of safety as might be afforded 
 by the solitary reef on which they had struck. 
 The gangway was open ; a ladder affixed ; 
 and by the dusky glare of two lamps woman 
 after woman, and man after man, went down 
 the side, to seek out for some footing among 
 the wet and slippery seaweed and the hidden 
 pools of salt water. They crowded together, 
 these poor wretches, deafened by the rush
 
 56 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 and roar of the tides all around them ; and 
 perhaps wondering when those baleful forces 
 would arise out of the dark and seize and 
 engulf them. They dared hardly move, for 
 a single false step might plunge them into 
 unknown deeps ; and the lights of the 
 steamer were dim. Those indeed were best 
 off who could cling on to the massive iron 
 bars of the beacon that marks the rock — a 
 flameless skeleton of a structure that towered 
 away above them into the sombre skies. 
 And meanwhile, at intervals, from the deck 
 of the ship, the rockets went screaming into 
 the night, and the signal cannon boomed its 
 reverberations across the waste of waves. 
 But half-hour after half-hour went by, and 
 there was no response. 
 
 " They can neither see nor hear us," the 
 Doctor said to his neighbour. " We are too 
 far away for the sound to carry. And 
 Kerrara lies between us and Duntroone : they 
 will not see the rockets." 
 
 " But surely the people at Lismore light 
 must see them ! " said the Bailie. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, that is possible. But they 
 have no telegraph there." 
 
 " No telegraph at the lighthouse ? " ex- 
 claimed the Bailie, indignantly. " Then it is
 
 ox A EOCK. 0< 
 
 a monstrous and mischievous shame ! A fine 
 piece of economy ! AVho is responsible for 
 that — the Board of Trade ? " And then he 
 added : " But at least they have a boat at 
 the lighthouse ? " 
 
 " Ay, but not a boat that would be of 
 much use to us, across that driving sea." 
 
 Nevertheless the captain was about to 
 tempt those stormy waters, in hopes of 
 obtaining assistance from the mainland. In 
 the dull glow of the lamps, the shipwrecked 
 crowd could perceive the boat being lowered 
 from the side of the stranded vessel ; pre- 
 sently the mate and two of the hands had 
 got into it ; and in a few minutes it had 
 disappeared — into the mysterious surround- 
 ing chaos. There was no cheer raised as 
 the boat departed ; this small assemblage of 
 folk, hardly visible to each other, and hardly 
 to be distinguished from the blackness of the 
 reef, was too dispirited and perturbed ; Dun- 
 troone and the possibilities of help were miles 
 away ; while the dangers immediately en- 
 compassing them were pressing and near. 
 
 " When the tide rises, how many of us 
 could clamber up and hold on to the 
 beacon ? " asked the Bailie of his companion. 
 
 Barbara Maclean heard this question put,
 
 58 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 but did not divine its import. She was 
 standing alone and friendless and helpless ; 
 weeping silently ; her shawl not much of a 
 protection now against the blasts of wind 
 tearing across the exposed reef. She was 
 benumbed with cold and misery ; not know- 
 ing what might happen : conscious, too, that 
 all her little possessions — her chest, con- 
 taining everything she owned in the world 
 — had been left on board the steamer — the 
 steamer that at any moment might slip 
 forward and vanish from before their eyes, 
 into fifty fathoms of ocean.
 
 ( ^9 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE FIBEFLY. 
 
 When the young schoolmaster, alarmed by 
 those signals of distress that rose white and 
 silent into the distant night, sped away down 
 from the Gallows Hill, he made straight for 
 the house of the agent of the Steam Packet 
 Company. 
 
 " It may be the Sanda,'' said the agent, at 
 once hurrying off to get his overcoat and 
 hat. " She's hours late as it is. Anyway 
 we must run out to see what is the matter ; 
 and luckily the Firefly lighter is lying at the 
 quay : she'll not be long in getting up 
 steam." 
 
 " Would you let me go with you, Mr. 
 Stewart ? " Allan asked. 
 
 " Why not ? Why not ? You're the first 
 to bring the news "
 
 CO HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " For there's a young lass," Allan ex- 
 plained, " coming by the Sanda from Kilree : 
 she's a niece of Mrs. Maclean in Campbell 
 Street ; and the Macleans would take it as a 
 friendly thing if I went out to see if there 
 was anything to be done for her " 
 
 " Why not ? " said the good-natured agent; 
 and he took up his stick, which was his 
 symbol of authority, and opened the door for 
 himself and his companion. 
 
 " And would there be time for me to run 
 round to Mrs. Maclean's and get a few wraps 
 and things of that kind ? " continued Allan. 
 '' The night is cold." 
 
 " Well, yes, if you are quick about it ; but 
 you must not keep me waiting," said the 
 agent, as he hastened away on his own 
 errand, along the dark and wet sea-front. 
 
 It took the tall young schoolmaster but 
 a minute or two to reach Mrs. Maclean's 
 house — the shop being now shut. 
 
 " And is the Sanda coming in at last ? " 
 cried the cheerful little widow. ^' And will 
 there be time for Jessie and me to go down 
 to meet Barbara ? " 
 
 " Well, no," said Allan, with a trifle of 
 hesitation. " The Sanda is not in sight yet. 
 But there's a sliip out there in some kind of
 
 THE FIREFLY. 61 
 
 trouble ; and I'm going out with Mr. Stewart, 
 in a lighter ; and I was thinkings — if it was 
 the Sanda — well, I might take a few things 
 that might be of use to your niece, for the 
 weather has been very wet and rough lately — " 
 
 At the mere suggestion that anything had 
 happened, or might be happening, to the 
 steamer bringing her niece Barbara to Dun- 
 troone, the widow became quite unnerved 
 with fright ; and her anxious and irrelevant 
 questions, to which there was no possible 
 answer, were nothing but a stumbling-block 
 in the way. It was Jess who was the helpful 
 one — who instantly divined what was wanted. 
 In the briefest space of time she had cleverly 
 put together a serviceable bundle of shawls 
 and wraps, to say nothing of a pair of mittens, 
 a paper bag of sweet biscuits, and a flask 
 of some innocent cordial. And with these 
 things he was speeding away — indeed, he 
 had got well down the staircase — when at 
 the last moment Jess called to him again. 
 
 '' Allan !— Allan ! " 
 
 He looked up. She came running down 
 the stone steps (for the Macleans lived in 
 a small tenement of flats) and by the uncer- 
 tain Hght he saw that she held something in 
 her hand.
 
 62 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 *^ If you are going out in the steamer," 
 said she, " will you not put this muffler round 
 your neck ? It may be a coarse night outside 
 the bay." 
 
 Well, he was loth to offend this gentle 
 lialf-cousin of his ; but still — still — there was 
 something in the man's nature that drove 
 him to refuse. 
 
 " No, thank you, Jessie," he said. " No, 
 thank you — I am not afraid of the cold." 
 
 " Oh," said she, " if you will not take it 
 because you think it is one of the things 
 that women wear, then that is not very 
 friendly. If I were you, I would not be so 
 proud ! " 
 
 The light in the stairway was dim ; it was 
 the tone of her voice that told him he had 
 vexed her. 
 
 '• Oh, then, I will take it," he said, "and 
 maybe it will be of use to your cousin 
 Barbara." And therewith he hurried off 
 again, for he was anxious not to keep Mr. 
 Stewart waiting. 
 
 As he passed along, it became apparent 
 that the news had spread through the little 
 town of something having happened to the 
 Sanda- — or perhaps some other vessel — out- 
 side ; and when he reached the qimy, there
 
 THE FIREFLY. 63 
 
 was quite a group of folk, mostly superan- 
 nuated fishermen, eagerly discussing the pos- 
 sibilities. The steaui-lighter was ready to 
 start ; as soon as he got on board, the ropes 
 were thrown off, the blades of the screw 
 began to lash the water, and the high-bowed, 
 unwieldy craft was soon moving crescent- 
 wise out into the bay. And then, as she 
 gathered speed, the dull orange points that 
 told of the window-panes of Duntroone — 
 along the shore and up on the hill-side — 
 gradually receded ; and ahead of them was 
 a great black world of invisible mountain 
 and sea and sky, with ever and always the 
 solitary ray of Lismore lighthouse burning 
 steadfast and clear. 
 
 " If the Sandas engines have broken down 
 over there," said Mr. Stewart, " the mouth 
 of the Souud of Mull is a bad place. There 
 will be a strong ebb tide running, and she 
 may drift just anywhere." 
 
 " But the rockets I saw," Allan made 
 answer, " seemed all to rise from the same 
 spot ; and as far as I could make out, that 
 would be over near the Lady Rock, or some- 
 where in that direction." 
 
 "• If Pattison has got the Sanda on to the 
 Lady Hock," observed the agent, " the sooner
 
 64 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 he sends in his certificate to the Board of 
 Trade the better. But it's not believable ! — 
 he's an experienced man " 
 
 The remarkable thing, however, was that 
 though they had bj this time rounded 
 Kerrara point, there was no sign of any 
 vessel anywhere — no repetition of those swift 
 white messengers that had attracted Allan 
 Henderson's attention when he was on the 
 top of the Grallows Hill. The night, it is 
 true, was pitch-dark and squally, and there 
 were occasional gusts of rain flying about ; 
 but all the same they were now out in the 
 open, and a ship's rocket ought to have been 
 visible a great distance off. 
 
 " Allan, lad," said Mr. Stewart, " I hope 
 you have not brought us on a wild-goose- 
 chase." 
 
 And Allan himself began to think back. 
 His eyes could not have deceived him ? He 
 had never been subject to hallucinations, 
 even when he was working hardest at his 
 studies — with scant fuel for the engine. And 
 surely there could be no mistake about his 
 actually having beheld those long shafts of 
 silvery fire spring into the black heavens ? 
 
 " I think I wass seeing a light," called 
 the man who was peering over the bows.
 
 THE FIB E FLY. 65 
 
 "just about right ahead, and no so far 
 aweh." 
 
 All eyes were now eagerly turned in one 
 direction. 
 
 " Ay, there it is ! — there it is ! " called one 
 after the other — as an ineffectual glimmer 
 flickered just above the waves, and then 
 vanished. 
 
 "It's a small boat — most likely with a 
 message," said Mr. Stewart to the owner of 
 the lighter. " Slack down your speed, 
 Thomson, and let them take their own time 
 about coming near." 
 
 The next instant there was another brief 
 flare among the unseen waves ahead, but 
 only for an instant : the people in the rowing 
 boat had presumably lit a bunch of paper, to 
 warn the steamer of their whereabouts, and 
 the wind had directly blown out the flame. 
 Nevertheless they at last got within hailing 
 distance — though with great caution, for the 
 unwieldy lighter was rolling heavily. 
 
 "We're from the Saiida,'' came a hoarse 
 voice through the darkness. 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 " The mate and two of the hands." 
 
 " Where is she ? " 
 
 " On the Lady Rock." 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " Bless me, how did she get on to the Lady 
 Rock ? " 
 
 Silence. 
 
 " No harm to passengers or crew ? " 
 
 *' Not yet," was the evasive answer. 
 
 " Steamer damaged ? " 
 
 " Ay. I'm thinking her back's brokken. 
 The passengers are ahl out on the rock." 
 
 " Well, we'll go over and fetch them off." 
 
 " Is it Mr. Stewart ? " 
 
 ^'Yes." 
 
 " Are we to go on to Duntroone ? " 
 
 " No. We'll want your boat ; and we'll 
 want you too. Come on board ; and we'll 
 tow the boat astern." 
 
 It was a difficult business on so rough and 
 dark a night ; for the men in the smaller 
 boat had a wholesome fear of the lurching 
 and pitching of this great heavy brute of 
 a thing ; but at last they managed it ; and 
 the Firejiy was sent on again, with such speed 
 as she was capable of making. It turned out 
 that the mate had no story to tell. How the 
 Sanda had got on to the Lady Rock was all 
 a mystery. Or perhaps he deemed it prudent, 
 in the circumstances, to hold his peace. 
 
 Then in course of time they began to make 
 out, through the mirk and the wet, certain
 
 THE FIIiEFLY. 67 
 
 minute dots of light, dim and wavering in 
 the distance, and sometimes almost disap- 
 pearing, as a thick squall of rain would drive 
 by. But when they drew nearer they per- 
 ceived that certain of these tremulous points 
 of fire appeared to be stationary, while others 
 were moving like mysterious will-o'-the-wisps 
 over the black water ; and they guessed that 
 the sailors, furnished with lanterns, were 
 perhaps making such small provision of com- 
 fort as was possible for the people huddled 
 together on the reef. And here were two 
 other lights, one red and one green : the port 
 and starboard lights of the stranded ship. 
 
 " Well, I'm sure ! " exclaimed Mr. Stewart. 
 *' She's right on the top of the rock ! " 
 
 " Ay," said the mate, who was standing by 
 him, " she's well up and over. She's on this 
 side — and lying nearly due east and west." 
 
 " Was the man trying to steeplechase her ! " 
 the agent demanded — but the mate was dis- 
 creetly deaf. 
 
 Meanwhile the speed of the steam-lighter 
 had been slowed down until she was doing 
 little more than holding her own against the 
 wind and the fierce-running tide — the owner 
 having no kind of wish to go nearer that 
 dangerous reef than he could help.
 
 68 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " We'll try the first landing with your 
 boat," said Mr. Stewart to the mate. " Since 
 you came away, you should know the road 
 back. And do not take us too close under 
 the bows of the Sanda, for she might slip 
 forward even yet." 
 
 " If she slips forward a few yards," said 
 the mate, " she'll go straight to the bottom." 
 
 " And will you go with us, Allan, lad ? " 
 continued Mr. Stewart. " Or will you wait 
 on board the lighter ? " 
 
 " Well, I would rather go with you," the 
 schoolmaster said, " and take an oar. There'll 
 be somebody wanted up at the bow any- 
 way." 
 
 And so, after some delay, the boat was 
 hauled alongside ; and they jumped or 
 scrambled into it, and got out the oars, and 
 no doubt were glad enough to shove away 
 from the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 lumbering craft. As yet no figures were 
 discernible on the black reef ahead of them ; 
 but the dots of yellow light were there — and 
 they were kept briskly moving : this was the 
 last form of signalling left to the stranded 
 folk, after the rockets had all been expended. 
 
 And now, even though they were creeping 
 in under the lee, they could hear the appalling
 
 THE FIREFLY. 69 
 
 roar of the surf all around these rocks ; and 
 they imagined that their coming would not 
 be unwelcome to the castaways. Apparently 
 for their better guidance, those golden glow- 
 worms that had been scattered about now 
 seemed to converge ; they appeared to be 
 coming close down to the water ; and yet 
 they were kept moving, as if to indicate 
 where some creek had been discovered ; 
 while the man at the bow of the boat, as she 
 got closer and closer, from time to time called 
 aft to his companions. 
 
 "No so hard, Hughie ! Back-watter, 
 man ! Back-watter, both of you ! No — you 
 pull a stroke, Mr. Henderson ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, in here — in here ! " shouted the 
 voices from the rock — and the glowworms 
 were clustered together now, shedding a dull 
 glare on the seaweed and the dark water and 
 on a small group of phantasmal figures. 
 
 Well, they were willing hands that were 
 laid on the gunwale of the boat, when the 
 swirl of an eddying wave lifted her near 
 enough to be caught ; and up she went on 
 the slippery seaweed, until she was found to 
 be secure ; then the rescuers stepped out, 
 and Allan got hold of his bundle. It was 
 the strangest sight that met his eyes. The
 
 70 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 black reef; the massive black bull of tbe 
 steamer — chiefly indicated by the obscure 
 illumination still remaining in the ports of 
 the saloon and fore-cabin ; the black bars of 
 the beacon, that rose away up into the pitchy 
 skies ; the black figures that stood about in 
 detached groups, or stepped warily forward 
 through the seaweed to hear what the new- 
 comers proposed to do : all these were 
 surrounded by a wavering, uncertain, half- 
 impenetrable gloom, for the air was thick 
 with spray and rain, and the wind was 
 blowing hard. Presently, however, one or 
 two of the lamps were brought along, and 
 the sombre phantoms began to take more 
 recognisable shape. Here, for example, was 
 Long Lauchie Maclntyre, contentedly seated 
 in a pool of water, and fumbling about his 
 pockets in search of his pipe ; while the man 
 who stood by him (it was Red Murdoch, but 
 he was not of Allan's acquaintance) was 
 gazing out seaward, with a hand held over 
 one of his eyes, doubtless in the hope of re- 
 ducing to their real number the sailing lights 
 of the rescuing steamer. But the young girl 
 from Kilree ?— how was he to discover which 
 she was ? — for the women were cowering 
 away from the blast, their faces mostly hidden.
 
 THE FIREFLY. 71 
 
 " Is there one Barbara Maclean ? " he made 
 bold to ask. 
 
 ** I am here," said one of those dark figures, 
 in a timid and tearful voice ; and at once he 
 went up to her. 
 
 " There's a few things here that your aunt 
 and your cousin have sent out to you," said 
 he, " and I am sure you will be glad of them, 
 for the night is so wet. Yes, indeed, now," 
 he went on, " you must take off your shawl, 
 and I will put it over my arm, and here is a 
 dry one. And here is a muffler to go round 
 your neck, and a pair of mittens for your 
 hands. For you must not think they were 
 forgetting you — neither Mrs. Maclean nor 
 Jessie would be likely to do that " 
 
 '* I am far aweh from my own home," the 
 girl said, with a sob. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," said he, in a kindly fashion, 
 " but you are going to another home, and a 
 very friendly home. They could not come 
 out to you ; but they let me bring these 
 things out to you ; and I am glad to find that 
 matters are no worse. For we will soon 
 have you on board the lighter now, and you 
 will be quite safe." 
 
 In common circumstances he was inordi- 
 nately shy with women ; but this poor
 
 72 UIGHLA^'D COUSINS. 
 
 creature was quite supine and helpless ; and 
 in her eyes — those beautiful Highland eyes — 
 large, dark-blue, with raven-black lashes — 
 there were piteous tears. He treated her as 
 if she were a child. By the aid of the nearest 
 lamp, he got out these dry wraps, and sub- 
 stituted them for her clinging wet shawl ; he 
 made her put the muffler round her neck, 
 and the mittens on her hands ; and then 
 he said : 
 
 " Now maybe we will get away in the 
 next boat — or at least you will. And mind 
 your footing. Do not move on the seaweed 
 — do not move until you find that your feet 
 are on the limpets." — As if it were necessary 
 to teach a West Highland girl how to cross 
 a slippery rock ! 
 
 However, they struggled along and reached 
 the water's edge, and, by favour of Mr. 
 Stewart, Allan was allowed to accompany 
 his half-cousin or quarter-cousin in the next 
 boat returning to the Firefly. He talked to 
 her a little, to give her courage. He assisted 
 her to get into the plunging and rolling 
 lighter; and there he guided her aft, and 
 procured for her a warm and comfortable 
 seat by the boiler, himself standing by her 
 side, so as not to take up room. And then
 
 THE F1BEFL7, 73 
 
 he would have her partake of the little 
 delicacies that Jess Maclean had sent out 
 for her ; but she only shook her head ; and 
 he was not importunate. 
 
 Of a sudden she looked up, timorously. 
 
 " Have you the Gaeh'c ? " she asked. 
 
 " Indeed I have ! " said he, answering her 
 in that tongue. 
 
 Instantly a grateful light leapt to her eyes ; 
 and at the same moment, somehow or other, 
 she put out her hand, and touched his hand, 
 as if thereby she was recognising some bond 
 or current of sympathy between them. It 
 was a trifling little action, perhaps quite 
 involuntary and inadvertent, and meaning 
 nothing at all ; but it thrilled him strangely. 
 
 " It is my thanks to you," said she, now 
 speaking in Gaelic — and she had a shy and 
 softly-modulated voice. " It is not every 
 one that would be so kind to a stranger." 
 
 " But you are no stranger," said the young 
 schoolmaster, in an encouraging way. '* For 
 it is many a time I have heard the Macleans 
 speak of you ; and besides, I am myself a 
 relative of yours, though not of the same 
 name." 
 
 And thereupon, to beguile the weary time 
 of waiting, he began and gave her a few
 
 74 HIGHLAND COUSIKS. 
 
 particulars about himself, and about his 
 relations with the Macleans, and about their 
 ways and modes of life. She did not respond 
 much ; but she mutely regarded him now 
 and again. Indeed it seemed as if it was 
 not necessary for her to answer him ; her 
 eyes did all that ; they were the most 
 wonderful eyes — it was not merely that they 
 were beautiful with a mystic and pathetic 
 beauty, but they appeared capable of saying 
 anything, without a word spoken from her 
 lips. For the most part, however, her ex- 
 pression was grave and diffident, as she 
 looked at him from time to time, and 
 listened. 
 
 And at last all the passengers — the captain, 
 mate, and most of the crew were remaining 
 by the stranded steamer — had been rescued 
 from their perilous position and conveyed on 
 board the Firefly; the blades of the screw 
 began to slash into the tumbling waves ; and 
 the vessel moved slowly forward. No farther 
 adventure befell them until they were all 
 safely landed on Duntroone quay — a sorely 
 wet and bedraggled little assemblage ; and 
 although it was now about one o'clock in 
 the morning, there were plenty of anxious 
 friends and relatives waiting to receive and
 
 THE FIB E FLY. 75 
 
 welcome them. And Mrs. Maclean and Jess 
 would faiQ have had Allan Henderson come 
 into the house and sit down with them at 
 the cheerful and hospitable board that had 
 been prepared for the entertainment of their 
 cousin from the outer isles. But he refused. 
 For some time back he had been drenched 
 to the skin ; the only thing now for him was 
 to speed away home, and get to bed. As 
 for the drying of his clothes, well, they 
 would have to take their chance : there was 
 no means of making up a fire, at this hour, 
 in these poor lodgings.
 
 76 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 
 
 Next morning opened tranquil and serene ; 
 a few flakes of saffron cloud that hung high 
 in the heavens hardly moved through the 
 clear expanse. The mists were slowly rising 
 from Mull and Morven, the hill-sides reveal- 
 ing themselves in hues of ethereal rose-grey, 
 the snow-sprinkled peaks not yet visible. 
 From the eastern skies, just over the early 
 smoke of Duntroone, the golden light of the 
 dawn went level across the bay, and touched 
 the tall spars and the hulls of the vessels 
 moored at Ardentrive, and shone warm along 
 the olive-green slopes of Kerrara ; while a 
 small red-sailed boat, coming* home from the 
 cod-fishing, made its appearance at the 
 point, creeping along through the steel-blue, 
 rippling sea.
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 77 
 
 And perhaps it was to refresh his eyes 
 with these beautiful colours, after the black 
 visions of the night — or perhaps it was, more 
 practically, to see what the sun could do in 
 the way of drying his outer garments — that 
 Allan Henderson, before beginning his daily 
 round in the Board School, strolled away 
 round by the quays, and then made up for 
 his favourite plateau on the top of the 
 Gallows Hill. And truly it was a different 
 scene that now met his eyes ! Last night 
 the solitary and commanding feature in all 
 the formless gloom was the bold and steady 
 glare of Lismore lighthouse ; now Lismore 
 lighthouse was an insignificant little grey 
 object, away at the end of the long, low, 
 green island ; while the important things 
 were the ranges of the mountains, velvet-soft 
 in their dappled colours, with faint cloud- 
 shadows here and there — the wide calm 
 spaces of the sea, trembling in pale and 
 liquid azure, with one vivid red spot of a 
 painted beacon at Kerrara point — the ivied 
 castle on its picturesque rock — the wintry 
 woods of green' pine and brown larch — the 
 sunlight glinting cheerfully on this or that 
 window in the town — the broad sweep of the 
 bay, with a scarlet-funnelled steamer coming
 
 78 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 slowly through the blue, from this lofty 
 pinnacle looking a mere mite of a thing, with 
 a touch of white at its bows. A fair picture 
 — shining, reposeful, benign ; no lurid and 
 ghastly vision of the night, with black 
 phantasms huddled together on a cruel rock, 
 the sombre heavens hurling wind and rain 
 at them, the roar and whirl of the unseen 
 surge all around them. 
 
 Yet it was to that darker vision, and to 
 the incidents connected with it, that his mind 
 would return, with a singular and incompre- 
 hensible fascination. He gazed abroad upon 
 this wide-stretching and placid panorama 
 with eyes that beheld not. A new element 
 — a perturbing element — had entered into 
 his existence ; something he did not under- 
 stand ; something nevertheless powerful 
 enough to thrust into the background all his 
 ordinary hopes and ambitions and anxieties, 
 his restless speculations, his heroic or de- 
 spondent forecasts as to the future. What 
 was this new force, then, that threatened to 
 upset the whole tenor of his life — distracted 
 as that had already sufficiently been ? He 
 knew not; or he would not confess; or he 
 feared to think. Happily he could turn his 
 back on the enigma ; and was even compelled
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 79 
 
 to do SO ; for yonder in the town, over- 
 looking the squalid playground, stood the 
 dingy grey building where his day's labour 
 was shortly to begin. And so, with his 
 brows knit, and his head thrown a little 
 further forward than usual, the schoolmaster 
 strode away down from this wooded hill ; 
 and ere long, in that depressing and murmur- 
 ing room, he had once more taken up his 
 unloved toil. 
 
 It was some hours thereafter, it was about 
 mid-day, that Lauchie Maclntyre awoke to 
 find himself in a disused hayloft attached to 
 the distillery. How he had come thither on 
 the preceding night he knew not, nor was 
 there any one to tell him ; but that was a 
 minor question ; for it is to be imagined 
 that as the shoemaker now sat up and looked 
 about him, there was no more sick and 
 penitent man, bodily and mentally sick and 
 sorry, in all the three kingdoms. Where 
 had he been ? — what had he done ? — what 
 money had he spent ? — nay, what had be- 
 come of his companion, Red Murdoch ? — Eed 
 Murdoch, who ought to have gone ashore at 
 Tobermory, but would come on to Salen ; and 
 again, after Salen — well, after Salen it was 
 difficult to say anything about Eed Murdoch :
 
 80 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 "he seemed to liave vanished away in a 
 mysterious manner. Then there was the 
 young girl, Barbara Maclean — and here 
 Long Lauchie's conscience became filled with 
 a vague alarm — what had become of her ? — 
 what had he done with her ? — whither had 
 she, too, disappeared ? He had a dim 
 recollection of her at some point in the 
 Sound of Mull — for the steward had come to 
 ask about some tea for her : perhaps, indeed, 
 the steward had looked after her when the 
 Sanda arrived at Duntroone ? All the same, 
 as these remorseful pangs kept urging him, 
 it would be better for him to go along to Mrs. 
 Maclean's, just to see how the land might lie. 
 He rose to his feet with a prolonged sigh 
 that was almost a groan ; and, with his ten 
 trembling fingers acting as an ineffectual 
 brush, he tried to remove from his sodden 
 garments the too evident traces of his having 
 passed the night on an unswept floor. Then 
 he left the loft, and with shaky knees 
 descended the flight of wooden steps — fortu- 
 nately there was no one about. Finally, 
 summoning to him such air of confidence as 
 he could command, he passed along the main 
 street until he came to Mrs. Maclean's shop, 
 which he entered.
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 81 
 
 " I hope you are very well the day, Mrs. 
 Maclean," said he, rather nervously. 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," said the widow with 
 her accustomed cheerfulness. " And you 
 yourself? But you are not looking quite 
 so well. Come away in and sit down " 
 
 " No, no, thank you," said he, shrink- 
 ing back from the possibility of meeting 
 strangers. 
 
 " There's no one in," said she. " Not even 
 Jessie — Jessie has gone over to the house." 
 
 Thus assured he stepped into the little 
 parlour, and she followed him, leaving the 
 door a bit open, in case a customer should 
 appear. 
 
 " It's little wonder you should be looking 
 not quite so well," she continued, " after 
 such a night as last night. And you'll just 
 take a little drop of something." With which 
 she went to the cupboard. 
 
 Now the very soul of Lauchie was crying 
 aloud and in anguish for a glass of whisky ; 
 but sternly he held up his hand. 
 
 "No, Mrs. Maclean," said he, "I'll no 
 touch it. I wouldna touch a drop. It's a 
 terrible bad thing, whisky. It's the very 
 curse and ruin of the kintry. If I was 
 having my way, I would shut up every 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 public-house in the kingdom ; ay, and I 
 would have every distiller put into djile." 
 
 All the same, she ]3ut the decanter and the 
 glass on the table — though she did not press 
 him further. 
 
 " And have you got your things come 
 ashore from the wreck ? " she asked. 
 
 He looked up, in a dazed and yet cautiously 
 inquisitive manner. 
 
 " Ay : the wreck ? " he said. 
 
 Had there been a wreck, then ? And was 
 that the cause of Barbara Maclean's vanish- 
 ing into the unknown ? But here was her 
 aunt sitting quite sprightly and content. 
 And himself? — if there had been a wreck, 
 how was he come safely here ? 
 
 " It must have been a fearful time for you," 
 the widow continued, unheeding. " And 
 how the captain managed to put the Sanda 
 on to the Lady Rock, just passes comprehen- 
 sion : that's what every one is saying — " 
 
 " Was the Sanda on a rock ? " he demanded, 
 in a bewildered fashion. 
 
 Happily she mistook the question. 
 
 " Oh, yes, she's on the rock still — the high 
 tide has not moved her. But who knows 
 how long she'll be there, if any rough weather 
 comes ? And they're saying that if she had
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 83 
 
 struck the rock a few yards to the left, she 
 would not have held at all, but would have 
 gone straight to the bottom. I cannot make 
 it out — for there was no such dreadful bad 
 weather. It was bad weather enough," con- 
 tinued the widow, " that you had out in the 
 west, so I am hearing ; and a bad day for 
 the funeral — with such a long way from the 
 house to the seminary." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," said the shoemaker, 
 quickly, for here he was on firmer ground. 
 "Terrible bad weather; aw, terrible bad 
 weather ; and as you say, Mrs. Maclean, a 
 long way from the house to the cemetery " 
 
 A customer entered the shop, and Mrs. 
 Maclean left the parlour. The moment her 
 back was turned Long Lauchie, overcome by 
 the tragic temptation of the opportunity, 
 hastily seized the decanter, with tremulous 
 fingers poured out a glass of whisky, and 
 gulped it down. When she returned he was 
 beginning to feel a bit reassured : if only 
 now he could find out what had become of 
 the young lass Barbara ! 
 
 " Mrs. Maclean," said he, tentatively, " it 
 was a bad night for a wreck, was it not ? — 
 very wet and uncomfortable — indeed I'm 
 feeling my clothes a wee thing damp even 
 now "
 
 84 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " And will you not take a drop of the 
 whisky, then, Lauchlan ? " said the widow, 
 considerately. 
 
 " Aw, Mrs. Maclean," said the shoemaker, 
 with great solemnity, " that you could pro- 
 pose such a thing, and me just telling you 
 that whisky was the curse of the kintry ! 
 You have a bad opinion of me if you think I 
 would be touching any such thing ! As 
 sure's death, I would sooner walk bare-foot 
 to the top of Ben Cruachan than drink a 
 glass of whisky. But as I was saying : it 
 was a coarse night — and — and the wreck — 
 ay, at the wreck, now — that young lass, 
 your niece — I hope she had plenty round 
 her- " 
 
 " Oh, well, indeed," said Mrs. Maclean, 
 "the bundle that Allan Henderson, the school- 
 master, took out to her, was useful enough, 
 no doubt. And it was a friendly thing of 
 the lad to do, seeing that she was a stranger 
 to him. Oh, yes, he is a good lad, he is a 
 kind-hearted lad, is Allan, though he is very 
 stiff-necked, and proud, and ill to manage at 
 times. And when he brought her ashore 
 last night — or rather this morning — and 
 when he brought her up to the house, he 
 would not come in — no — the stubborn chiel
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 85 
 
 that he is ! — but he half-promised to look in 
 and see us this evening." 
 
 Here, indeed, was welcome news : he began 
 to feel the world more solid beneath his feet. 
 
 " Well, it's very glad I am to hear that 
 your niece has not suffered anything from 
 the shipwreck," Lauchie A^entured to say, 
 as he rose to take his departure. " I was 
 looking after her as well as I could — ay — 
 but when there is a wreck — a wreck is a bad 
 thing — a wreck is a terrible bad thing — a 
 man would forget what his own brother was 
 like when there's so many running back- 
 wards and forwards and mekkin a noise. 
 And now I must be going home, for they'll 
 be wondering at not seeing me ahl this 
 time." 
 
 It was an unfortunate admission. 
 
 " Were you not home last night, Lauch- 
 lan ? " the widow said — her eyes attracted 
 to his clothes, which still showed traces of 
 the hayloft. 
 
 He hesitated. 
 
 " Well, well — not exactly," said he. " I 
 had to pass the night with a friend. He 
 was very seeck ; and he wanted me to sit. up 
 with him. And I was sitting up with him." 
 
 She held the door open for him to pass.
 
 SG HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " You'll not take a dram ? " said she, 
 finally. 
 
 " No, no/' he made answer, shaking his 
 head. " No. It would be a bad encourage- 
 ment for ithers. There's no sich things as 
 that for me." And therewithal he said 
 good-bye, and left the shop, and got out into 
 the open day, his eyes blinking at the 
 stronger light. And perhaps he did go 
 home. 
 
 Meanwhile Jess, in her gentle and almost 
 motherly way, had taken under her charge 
 the solitary creature wlio had been confided 
 to their care ; and very glad was she to find 
 that her cousin had suffered but little from 
 her recent experiences : no doubt the island- 
 nurtured frame of the girl was pretty well 
 used to cold and wet and considerable spells 
 of fasting. Moreover Barbara Maclean did 
 not at all appear to be too grievously over- 
 whelmed by her bereavement ; she hardly 
 ever referred to her father or the funeral ; at 
 the present moment, in truth, she seemed 
 mostly concerned about the wooden chest 
 which contained all her little belongings and 
 which had been left on board the Sanda. 
 
 " But you are sure to get it to-day, Bar- 
 bara," Jess said, in her persuasive tones.
 
 THE DAY AFTER. 87 
 
 " The lighter is bringing everything ashore 
 from the wreck ; and they will send your 
 box up to you. And in the meantime here 
 are my things, and you are welcome to choose 
 just whatever you like." 
 
 The large, dark-blue, pathetic eyes of the 
 girl had been drawn to the two white strips 
 that terminated Jess's sleeves. 
 
 "Would yon lend me a pair of cuffs like 
 them ? " said she — rather slowly, for her 
 English was not fluent. " I was never 
 seeing such beautiful ironing. And do you 
 wear cuffs like that all through the week, 
 and every day in the week ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " said Jess, with a laugh. '' I 
 iron them myself But I will give you a far 
 nicer pair of cuffs than these, Barbara, yes, 
 and a set of tortoise-shell sleeve-links. For, 
 you see, Allan Henderson, that brought you 
 home last night, he is coming in this evening, 
 and perhaps Mr. McFadyen, a friend of ours, 
 as well ; and you must be looking very nice 
 and smart. And I am sure you will give 
 a word of thanks to Allan, for his kindness 
 of last night. He is rather a shy and proud 
 and sensitive lad, and not caring to say much 
 for himself before strangers ; and a word of 
 thanks would please him, I am sure of that.
 
 88 UIGHLAKD COUSINS. 
 
 Mind this. Barbara, it is not every one that 
 Mr. Stewart would have allowed to go out 
 with him in the lighter ; so you were for- 
 tunate to have some one to look after you 
 on such a night." 
 
 For a second the beautiful eyes of the 
 girl — that seemed to say so much, even when 
 they were really saying nothing at all — were 
 raised to her companion's face ; but presently 
 she had withdrawn them, inattentive. 
 
 " Will you be going out now, Jessie ? " 
 said she. " And will you walk down to the 
 quay, until I see if my box is come over 
 from the wreck ? " 
 
 Jess at once and good-naturedly assented ; 
 they made such trifling preparations as were 
 necessary ; and in a short space of time the 
 two cousins were passing along the main 
 street of Duntroone.
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 A CEILIDH. 
 
 Eventually the box was found and sent 
 along to the house ; and, on the return of 
 the two girls, it was opened ; and Jess 
 Maclean was somewhat diffidently invited to 
 look over her cousin's small stock of millinery 
 treasures. These were not sumptuous ; for 
 the most part they had been procured at 
 the solitary ' merchant's ' shop in Kilree, 
 where feminine finery had to be sought for 
 amidst a heterogeneous display of brown 
 soap, candles, figs, sweetmeats, patent starch, 
 paraffin lamps, and the like ; they had seen 
 a good deal of weather out there in the 
 west ; and now, as Barbara produced them 
 for inspection, it was with a growing sense 
 of disappointment. 
 
 " Everything you have seems so neat and
 
 90 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 clean and so stiffly-ironed," she said to her 
 cousin, almost resentfully. 
 
 '* Well, then," said Jess, with the utmost 
 good-nature, " you must just take any of my 
 things that are of use to you. And especially 
 when there are visitors coming to the 
 house " 
 
 " They will be thinking I should be in 
 mourning," said Barbara. 
 
 " And I am sure they will think nothing 
 of the kind ! " responded Jess. " They know, 
 as the rest of us know, that it is very easy 
 for rich people to buy black silks and black 
 bonnets and things of that kind ; but it is 
 not so easy for poorer people ; and where 
 could any one get mourning at Knockalanish ? 
 As for Allan Henderson, the schoolmaster," 
 Jess went on, with a demure laugh, " it is 
 of little consequence what you wear. He 
 would never see it. If you were dressed as 
 a beggar in the streets, or like the Queen on 
 her throne, he would not know the difference. 
 When he fixes those great eyes of his on you 
 — like burning coals — it isn't your dress he 
 is heeding : he is trying to understand what 
 you are thinking — that is all he cares about." 
 
 " You talk a good deal about the school- 
 master, Jessie," observed Barbara.
 
 A CEILIDH. 91 
 
 Jess Maclean flushed quickly, and turned 
 her head away ; but she betrayed no anger. 
 
 " I think that every one will be talking of 
 him," said she, quietly, " before many years 
 are over." 
 
 And thus it was with Jessie's help, and 
 with the loan of a few trifling articles of 
 adornment, that the Highland cousin was 
 got ready for the evening, and very smart 
 and trim and efi'ective she looked. She was 
 indeed a beautiful creature, quite apart from 
 those wonderful, mysterious, appealing eyes ; 
 her features were refined, and even dis- 
 tinguished ; she had the fresh, clear, healthily- 
 tinted complexion that not unfrequently in 
 the western isles is found in conjunction 
 with raven- black hair ; and when she moved, 
 her step was graceful. Her hands, it is 
 true, bore evidence of rough kitchen-work ; 
 but she did not seem conscious of this defect ; 
 nay, she appeared rather inclined to put them 
 forward a little, so that she could better 
 admire the pair of extremely pretty cuffs 
 and the tortoiseshell links that Jess had 
 given her. 
 
 Of the two visitors the first to arrive was 
 Mr. Peter McFadyen, who, for a second or 
 so, on being introduced to the stranger, was
 
 92 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 somewhat disconcerted and taken aback. For 
 this was not at all the mere crofter's lass he 
 had expected to meet — this young lady in 
 becoming attire, whose manner, if shy and 
 reserved, at least betrayed no great em- 
 barrassment. But Peter prided himself on 
 being a man of the world ; he had soon 
 recovered his self-confidence ; he would hear 
 from herself further details of the shipwreck ; 
 and, finding that she was somewhat silent — 
 the conversation being now in English — he 
 proceeded to give authoritative views on 
 tides, currents, beacons, and the proper 
 navigation of Duntroone harbour, yet with 
 a touch of jocosity now and again, to show 
 his lightness of heart. Barbara Maclean 
 listened mutely, and sometimes she looked 
 at her cuffs. 
 
 Then the blithe little widow appeared, the 
 shop having been shut ; and she was almost 
 immediately followed by the young school- 
 master, who, after having gravely greeted 
 these friends, seemed in a measure disposed 
 to keep away from this newly-found half- 
 cousin of his. He sate somewhat removed ; 
 and if by chance, or by some subtle instinct, 
 his eyes were raised to regard the face of the 
 girl, they were almost instantly withdrawn,
 
 A CEILIDH. 93 
 
 as if he were afraid. Of course this was 
 Mr. McFadjen's opportunity. With these 
 women-folk to impress, he was called upon 
 for display ; he was determined to shine ; he 
 would show them he could talk about other 
 matters than golf. And now — while Mrs. 
 Maclean was stirring up the fire to briskness, 
 and Jess was laying the snow-white table- 
 cloth — it was the marvels of modern science 
 that he had got on to ; and in particular he 
 was informing them — as if the illustration 
 were his own — of the astronomers having 
 brought within their ken stars so distant 
 that if, on the day of the battle of Waterloo, 
 news of the victory could have been dis- 
 patched to one of these suns, the telegram 
 would not even now have arrived. 
 
 " Ay, and that's not all ! " he exclaimed — 
 as a premonitory odour of minced collops 
 and onions wandered in from the kitchen. 
 *' They're saying there's no end — no end to 
 the universe — you might go on for ever and 
 ever and only come to more worlds and more 
 worlds, and more space and more space — 
 infinite space — infinite — Just think of it — 
 isn't it terrible to realise " 
 
 ** But you can't realise it," said Allan, 
 with a touch of his scornful impatience.
 
 94 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " You can't what ? " demanded the town- 
 councillor. 
 
 " It is unthinkable," said the schoolmaster, 
 briefly. " The mind cannot conceive the 
 idea of infinite space." 
 
 "Ah?" said Mr. McFadyen, with an 
 inquiring glance. " Ah ? You've got to 
 imagine a boundary ? — You can't help think- 
 ing of a boundary ? Is that it ? " 
 
 " Yes, but you're no further forward that 
 way either," said the younger man, imper- 
 turbably. " For you can't imagine a final 
 boundary : if you think of a boundary 
 you must think of something outside the 
 boundary : you build a wall, but there must 
 be something outside the wall as well as in. 
 And so it goes on ; and the mischief is that 
 you can neither think of space having an 
 end nor yet of its being endless " 
 
 Peter looked a little dazed — and also 
 suspicious ; but he solved the difficulty by 
 breaking into a loud laugh. 
 
 " Is that metapheesics ? " he cried. " Is 
 that metapheesics, Allan ? Dod, man, you're 
 a clever chiel ; and the School Board '11 
 have to be raising your salary ! An annual 
 increment of £5 is no half enough." 
 
 " I'm sure I'm not caring how many worlds
 
 A CEILIDH. 95 
 
 there are," said the contented little widow, 
 as she brought the cruet-stand and put it on 
 the table. " This is the only one that's 
 handy ; and I doubt whether a better one 
 ever was made. Draw in your chair, Barbara, 
 my lass ; and you, Allan ; and you, Mr. 
 McFadyen. It is well for us that we are 
 under a roof, and with a good fire — and not 
 out on the Lady Rock." 
 
 Minced collops and onions, a dish of 
 spinach garnished with boiled eggs, and 
 bottled stout : these were the materials of 
 the repast ; and a bountiful feast it must 
 have appeared in the eyes of the young lass 
 from the Knockalanish croft. The gay little 
 widow proved a pertinacious hostess; she 
 would take no refusals, would make no 
 concessions to shamefacedness ; ' what's good 
 for the Jura factor will do no harm to Fleecy 
 M'Phail,' she said, as she helped herself and 
 others, with here a rallying word, and there 
 a friendly remonstrance. Indeed this small 
 party that had been brought together to give 
 Barbara Maclean a welcome on her home- 
 coming performed its duty well ; surely she 
 must have perceived that it was not amongst 
 strangers she had fallen ; only the young 
 schoolmaster remained somewhat aloof and
 
 96 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 reserved, and of him she did not take much 
 notice. Then again, when Mrs. Maclean, in 
 her frank and off-hand way, came to discuss 
 the girl's position and prospects, she showed 
 a tact that she had not always at command. 
 She would not have Barbara look upon 
 herself in the light of a dependent. Not at 
 all. Serious duties would be expected of her. 
 She would have to manage this house, for 
 example — the young thing Kirsty was hardly 
 to be trusted. And there was more than 
 that. It appeared that the Macleans, mother 
 and daughter, were in the habit of contract- 
 ing with the tobacco-manufactory for con- 
 siderable quantities of Lurgan twist ; and 
 this they dispatched in lesser consignments 
 to the ' merchants ' in the outer isles. The 
 correspondence attached to this part of the 
 business was carried on by Jess ; but Jess 
 knew little Gaelic, and could write none at 
 all ; whereas, now, if Barbara would under- 
 take to translate these letters into Gaelic, it 
 would be a great advantage and recom- 
 mendation to a good many of the customers 
 with whom English was practically a foreign 
 tongue. And what had Barbara to say to 
 all this ? 
 
 " I am sure," the girl said, speaking rather
 
 A CEILIDH. 97 
 
 slowly, as was her wont, " that I am very 
 willing to do anything that I can do. But 
 I cannot write the Gaelic. I know it very 
 well — oh, yes — better than English a great 
 deal ; but I have never tried to write it. It 
 was always English they were having in the 
 school at Kilree." 
 
 And now, and almost for the first time 
 this evening, Allan Henderson addressed 
 her. 
 
 " If that is all," said he, " there is no 
 trouble. It would be a very easy thing for 
 you to learn the Gaelic spelling, when you 
 know the language well. You would not 
 find it very difficult, after you had got the 
 rules." He hesitated — for the large, beautiful 
 eyes were regarding him calmly, perhaps 
 even curiously. '' If you would like," he 
 went on, " I would come along in the evening 
 to give you some lessons. An hour each 
 evening would do. It is a pity you should 
 know Gaelic so well, and not be able to 
 write it." 
 
 She did not answer him at the moment : 
 it was Jess Maclean who looked up, startled. 
 For could this really be Allan Henderson, 
 who ordinarily was so backward, or impatient, 
 or scornfully indifferent wherever youno: 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 women were concerned, yet who now pro- 
 posed to devote an hour each evening in the 
 week to this solitary converse ? And that 
 was most assuredly what this private tuition 
 would mean. No one else wanted to learn 
 Gaelic spelling. And would the class, con- 
 sisting of teacher and pupil, be held in the 
 house here, while she and her mother would 
 be over the way in the shop ? 
 
 At this point Peter McFadyen interposed 
 in a stormily goodhumoured fashion. 
 
 " Mrs. Maclean," he cried, " I call you to 
 order. Surely there has been enough of 
 business — enough of business ; and I would 
 not have Miss Barbara bothered with threats 
 of lessons the moment she sets foot in your 
 house. It's all very well for you, Allan, my 
 lad ; every one to his trade ; but at the 
 proper time ; and the proper time is not 
 every time. No, no ; there are other things ; 
 there are amusements ; we cannot have all 
 work and no play ; I may not be very well 
 skilled in metapheesics, but I know when we 
 should have a dance and a song and a merry- 
 making, to keep the game of life going. 
 And let me see : what is there to the fore 
 now " 
 
 He appeared to be summoning up to his
 
 A CEILIDH. 99 
 
 mind the innumerable gaieties of Duntroone 
 in the winter. 
 
 " "Well, now, for example, there's the G-aelic 
 Choir to-morrow night — the practising in the 
 Drill-Hall — and we could not do better than 
 go there, to hear the practising for Mrs. 
 McAskill's soree. I'm going ; I must go ; 
 I must make my voice heard to-morrow 
 evening " 
 
 " Oh, are 3^ou going to sing, Mr. Mc- 
 Fadyen ? " said the widow, encouragingly. 
 
 " To sing ? " he repeated. " Well— well- 
 no — for I am not one of the Choir. But as 
 for a song," he proceeded, refusing to confess 
 himself abashed, " if it is a song you would 
 like, well, when we are round the fire in 
 a little while, I will try a song, just as if we 
 were at an old-fashioned ceilidh,^ There is 
 not half enough of spirit among the younger 
 men of the present day " 
 
 " And do you call yourself anything else 
 than one of the younger men ! " the widow 
 protested, in a kind fashion. 
 
 " Why, in the former days," continued Mr. 
 
 McFadyen, affecting not to have overheard 
 
 this agreeable compliment, '' when you were 
 
 at supper, and there were fowls at supper, 
 
 * Ceilidh — a friendly gathering.
 
 100 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 and if you found a particular bone, you 
 would send it to such or such a one, and he 
 would have to make verses in Gaelic there 
 and then. So I have heard. I am not good 
 at the Gaelic myself; but as for a song, I 
 would not spoil any merry party by refusing 
 — not at all ! And what I was saying was 
 this — to-morrow night, when the Gaelic Choir 
 are at the Drill-Hall, I am going to put a 
 question to them ; I am indeed. What kind 
 of songs are they going to sing at Mrs. 
 McAskill's soree — that's what I want to 
 know. Dod's bless my soul, is there any 
 use in being muzzerable ? Is there any use 
 in being muzzerable, Mrs. Maclean ? — " 
 
 " Well, I never found any myself," said 
 the little widow, suavely. "" And I'm told 
 that giving way to it is fearfu' bad for the 
 congestion " 
 
 "^ There's some truth in that anyway," 
 observed the schoolmaster, in a kind of grim 
 undertone. 
 
 '*Now what's the favourite songs all through 
 the West Highlands ? " demanded Peter, in- 
 dignantly. " I'll tell you, then. There's 
 three in particular. There's the F'eai^ a 
 Bhata — the Farewell to the Boatman ; there's 
 the Farewell to Fuinary ; there's Farewell
 
 A CEILIDH. 101 
 
 to Mackrimmon — all of them Farewells ; and 
 are we to have nothing but Farewells and 
 Farewells and Farewells, when a few friends 
 have met together, to pass a merry hour or 
 two ? And I know the Choir have plenty 
 of other songs. I can see them in their own 
 books. If I cannot make quite clear sense 
 out of tlie Graelic, at least I can read the 
 translation ; and there's plenty of sensible 
 songs, instead of Farewells and Farewells." 
 He suddenly turned to his neighbour. 
 '' Miss Barbara," said he, " do you know 
 the ' Return, my darling ' ? " 
 
 The colour came swiftly to the face of the 
 young Highland girl on her being thus un- 
 expectedly addressed. 
 
 "No I do not," she said, with downcast eyes. 
 " It is the 0, till, a leannain, Barbara," 
 said Jess — who was a member of the Choir. 
 
 " Well, now, there is a sensible song ! " 
 continued McFad3^en, with spirit. " Some 
 night I will sing it to you — at present I am 
 not sure of the air. But listen to words like 
 this — 
 
 ' If you on my dear one should gaze, should gaze, 
 If you were to hear what she says, she says, 
 If you heard nuj i^retty 
 One singing her ditty 
 Your bosom icould get in a blaze, a blaze.*
 
 102 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 That's sense. That's sensible. That doesna 
 belong to the devil's clan of Farewells ! And 
 I must make my voice heard to-morrow even- 
 ing at the Choir — oh, yes, indeed. We are 
 going to have a merry evening at Mrs. 
 McAskill's — and it is useless lamenting for 
 Mackrimmon, and Mackintosh, and Lovat, 
 and the rest of them. And sure I am that 
 if Miss Barbara here will go with us, there 
 will be an invite for her too ; yes, yes ; Mrs. 
 McAskill is an old friend of mine ; and my 
 friends are her friends. We'll make up a 
 little party, and we'll all go together; and 
 I'm thinking it might be just as well if I 
 brought a machine." 
 
 Nor did Peter, in his determination to 
 keep things going gaily, forget his promise 
 about singing them a song, when they had 
 left the table and were seated in a cosy 
 semicircle round the fire. The others had 
 forgotten, it is true ; for Allan Henderson 
 had chanced to ask of the widow the origin 
 of a saying she had accidentally used — ' Step 
 for step to thee, old woman, and the odd 
 step to Ewen ' ; and she was telling them 
 the story : how Ewen Cameron of Lochiel was 
 returning home late one night ; how he was 
 followed by a witch, who tried to overtake
 
 A CEILIDH. 103 
 
 him ; how he made use of this phrase, 
 and held on his way successfully, keeping 
 one step in advance of her, until he reached 
 the ferry ; how he had jumped into the boat, 
 while the ferryman drove the witch-hag back ; 
 how she had called to Lochiel * My heart's 
 desire to thee, dear Ewen ! ' and how he, 
 divining her purpose, had called in return 
 ' Thy heart's desire to the big rock yonder ' — 
 whereupon the big rock split into two pieces, 
 visible even unto this day at Ballachulish 
 Ferry. To all this Jess listened half-laugh- 
 ing — she was familiar with most of her 
 mother's old-world sayings and tales ; but 
 Barbara's eyes were intent and awe-stricken ; 
 and it was the expression of her face, rather 
 than the legend, that held the schoolmaster's 
 attention fascinated and enthralled. Of 
 course the town-councillor was too polite to 
 interrupt. But as soon as Mrs. Maclean had 
 finished her narrative, he put his hand over 
 his mouth and coughed significantly. 
 
 " It is not so easy," said he, " to sing with- 
 out an accompaniment ; but a j^i'oi^^ise is a 
 promise ; and I will do my best." 
 
 Whereupon he began, in a curious falsetto 
 voice that seemed to come from just behind 
 his teeth, instead of from his chest or throat :
 
 104 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 ' The sun has gane down o'er the lofty Ben Lomond ' 
 
 — this was his song ; and he was evidently 
 proud of his performance ; for he took 
 plenty of time, and introduced all manner of 
 ornate trills of execution, that could only 
 have been acquired by long practice — 
 
 ' And left the red clouds to preside o'er the scene^ 
 While lanely I stray in the calm simmer gloamin\ 
 To muse on sweet Jessie, the flower o' Dumhlane.^ 
 
 The dog! — pretending to sing the praises 
 of Jessie the Flower of Dumblane, when it 
 was as clear as noonday that it was Jessie 
 the Flower of Duntroone he had in his mind. 
 However, there was no covert look or smile ; 
 it was too serious a matter for that ; for now 
 when he came to the second half of the verse 
 he fairly outdid himself — those flourishes and 
 grace-notes were so abundant that the tune 
 got hopelessly lost amongst them — never had 
 words been so embroidered — 
 
 ' Hoio siceet is the brier, ici its saft faulding hlosscmi. 
 And sioeet is the hirh, wi' its mantle o' green; 
 
 Tet sweeter and fairer^ and dear to this bosom, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o' Dumblane. 
 Is lovely young Jessie, Is lovely young Jessie, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o' Dumblane.' 
 
 Nay, when he arrived at the final repetition 
 of the phrase ' lovely young Jessie ' — which
 
 A CEILIDH. 105 
 
 is rather liigh-pitched in the rausic, he 
 actually opened his mouth, and the conse- 
 quence was a prolonged and shrill scream : 
 indeed, so effective and overwhelming was 
 the climax of this last line that the widow, 
 carried away by her enthusiasm, called out 
 ' Well done ! — well done ! ' and clapped her 
 hands. 
 
 " Mother," said Jess, blushing furiously, 
 " there's more verses ! " 
 
 " Xo, no," said Mr. McFadyen, modestly, 
 '' I'll not sing any more the night. I got 
 into rather a high key — and — and my voice 
 is a little out of practice " 
 
 " You did well — you did just famously ! " 
 the widow maintained. But Peter had given 
 evidence of his possession of musical powers, 
 and was blandly satisfied. 
 
 Altogether it appeared to be a very happy 
 evening for every one concerned, though, to 
 be sure, the young girl from the outer isles 
 remained distant and silent. And to the 
 young schoolmaster that silence of hers was 
 far more impressive than anything else could 
 have been ; it accorded with a certain inde- 
 finable quality, a certain mysterious element 
 of remoteness that seemed to surround her. 
 And what was the origin, he asked himself
 
 106 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 as he wandered away homeward through the 
 sleeping town — but not to his books ; his 
 thoughts were too perturbed and quick- 
 changing for any application to books — what 
 was the origin of this strange influence she 
 appeared to convey, even without a single 
 spoken word ? Was it the mere sense of her 
 loneliness ? Or had it anything to do with 
 the circumstances in which he had first 
 encountered her — finding the solitary and 
 forsaken creature on that black reef, with 
 the darkness all around, and the noise of 
 hurrying waters ? And what was it that 
 her eyes said, that no mortal eyes had ever 
 said to him before ? Those beautiful blue 
 deeps under the raven lashes — so calm, so 
 still, so mystic in their very apathy — did 
 they not bring some revelation, som.e message 
 wholly ajoart from mere human emotions and 
 affections ? 
 
 " They seem to speak of the sea and of the 
 night," he said to himself, in the long and 
 sleepless hours of recalling and remembering.
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 BARBAROSSA. 
 
 The very next day, to Jess Maclean's astonish- 
 ment, Allan Henderson walked into the 
 shop : it was a most unusual hour for him to 
 make an appearance. 
 
 '' There is a half-holiday at the school," he 
 said, '" the Head-Master has had great news 
 about his son who is at Oxford. And I was 
 thinking, Jessie, if you were free for an hour 
 or so, you might like to go across to Kerrara, 
 and climb up the hill, and find out if any- 
 thing further has happened to the Sanda. I 
 have got Angus Maclsaac's boat — it's down 
 at the slip " 
 
 Jess Maclean's kindly grey eyes were lit 
 up with pleasure : in Duntroone it is a 
 special compliment and mark of favour for 
 a young man to ask a young woman to go
 
 108 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 for a row with him. And this suggestion 
 about the Sancla was obviously the merest 
 excuse : every one knew what was happening 
 to the Sancla; she was found to be irre- 
 movably jammed on to the rock, and irretriev- 
 a,bly damaged ; and the steam-lighter was 
 kept engaged in bringing ashore any of her 
 fittings that might be of value — before the 
 next gale came along to hammer her to bits. 
 
 '* Well, I am not so busy," said Jess, laying 
 down her book-keeping pen. " There is 
 little doing at this time of the year." 
 
 " And would your cousin Barbara care to 
 go too ? " the young schoolmaster added, 
 somewhat diffidently. 
 
 The light vanished from Jess Maclean's 
 face. 
 
 " I should think that Barbara had had 
 enough of boats for a while," she said, some- 
 what coldly. 
 
 Yet she was the soul of goodlmmour and 
 unselfishness. The hurt and disappointed 
 look did not last a second. Was it to be 
 wondered at that he should have conceived 
 a sudden interest in this beautiful creature 
 who had come into their little circle, and 
 who had, by fortune of accident, made especial 
 claim on his attention and pity ?
 
 BAEBAROSSA. 109 
 
 " Barbara ? " said Jess, after a moment, in 
 her -Qsiial bland way. " Ob, yes, indeed, I 
 am sure she will be glad to go ; and I will 
 run across the way and tell ber — if you will 
 step into the parlour and talk to my mother 
 for a moment or two, wbile Barbara and I 
 are getting ready." For there was no kind 
 of grudging in this woman's nature : if it 
 was really on account of Barbara that he had 
 made tbis proposal — well, Barbara was the 
 more fortunate. 
 
 Now Barbara did not respond to this 
 invitation with the gratitude that might have 
 been expected ; but Jess at last induced her 
 to go ; and when both the girls were ready, 
 they crossed over to the shop, and Allan and 
 they proceeded down to the beach, where the 
 boat was awaiting them. They took their 
 places in the stern ; he followed in, and got 
 hold of the oars ; then they shoved off, and 
 he set out to pull them across the bay. On 
 the whole it was a most auspicious start ; for 
 if the morning had been somewhat squally, 
 all the world was now a blaze of splendour ; 
 the Mull mountains, clear to the top, were of 
 an almost summer-like blue ; summer-like 
 was the blue of the lapping and flashing 
 waters around them ; while between these
 
 110 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 brilliant breadths of colour ran the long spur 
 of Kerrara, its russet and russet-yellow slopes 
 basking in the sun. It is true that Jess, 
 knowing the climate, had brought a thick 
 plaid with her ; it now lay unheeded over 
 their knees. 
 
 And for a considerable time all went well, 
 and they made good progress across to the 
 island. Allan was a capable oarsman ; the 
 tall young schoolmaster, despite his slight 
 stoop, possessed a wiry frame ; and every- 
 body along this coast can handle a boat. 
 But by-and-bye, and almost imperceptibly, 
 the aspect of things began to alter a little. 
 
 " Allan," said Jess, " I think we are going 
 to have a shower." 
 
 '' No, no — no shower," said he, confidently ; 
 for of course he was looking back to the 
 land — and there all was placid sunlight, from 
 the white houses dotted along the terraced 
 cliffs out to the ivied castle at the point. 
 
 Jess laughed. 
 
 " Allan," said she, " where is the island of 
 Mull?" 
 
 He turned his head. There was no island 
 of Mull. The mountains of tender, ethereal 
 rose-purple and azure had all disappeared ; 
 and in their place there was a far-stretching
 
 BAKBAROSSA. Ill 
 
 film of silvery-grey, entirely shutting out the 
 world beyond. 
 
 " And what's that down the Sound ? " 
 Jess demanded again. 
 
 He turned and looked in the other direction. 
 Off the mouth of Loch Feochan a broad black 
 band lay on the water — a band of almost 
 inky hue ; but even as they regarded it, it 
 began to resolve itself — it came creeping 
 stealthily along, leaving a vague indistinct- 
 ness in its wake. Then Kerrara itself ap- 
 peared to undergo gradual transformation ; 
 the low-lying hills took loftier and mystic 
 forms"; through this ever-advancing veil 
 they looked strange and remote. And was 
 there not some darkness assembling over- 
 head ? — some pervading gloom all around ? 
 The blue had gone from the sea. 
 
 " Quick ! — quick ! " cried Jess — and she 
 opened out the thick plaid and threw it 
 round Barbara and herself, the two of them 
 crouching together, their heads bent down. 
 
 Then with a cold and angry swirl of wind 
 came the first rattle of the rain — splashing 
 on thwarts and gunwale, and hissing on the 
 leaden sea ; the gloom around them increased ; 
 the island they were making for seemed to 
 recede and recede, until it appeared to be a
 
 112 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 hopeless distance away ; and then again — in 
 about another couple of minutes — they could 
 descry that same island of Kerrara shining a 
 beautiful golden-green behind the grey folds 
 of the wet ; the world lightened and still 
 further lightened ; and as they once more 
 emerged into blue water and warm sunshine, 
 behold ! the mountains of Mull had returned 
 — the velvet-hued shoulders of purple and 
 soft rose-grey showing along their summits 
 a slight sprinkling of snow, left by the 
 swift-drifting shower. 
 
 And now they were come to Ardentrive, 
 the solitary and secluded bay in which the 
 yachts of this part of the coast are laid up for 
 the winter. Very forlorn and ghostly looked 
 those silent, dismantled vessels ; yet they 
 were interesting in a way ; it was like walk- 
 ing past empty rooms, thinking of vanished 
 glories. And as they went from one to the 
 other, Allan chanced to notice that the gang- 
 way of a certain schooner had not been 
 properly fixed down. 
 
 " Would you like to go on board and have 
 a look about the deck ? " said he to his com- 
 panions. ^' It would not be difficult." 
 
 " If you're sure there's no one on the 
 yacht," said Jess, doubtfully.
 
 BAEBAEOSSA. 113 
 
 " There cannot be," lie pointed out. 
 *' There's no boat astern. And who would 
 be on board a yacht at this time of year ? " 
 
 And yet, when at length he had clambered 
 over the gunwale, and opened the gang- 
 way, and had got the two girls hauled 
 up on deck, and when they began to peer 
 about, there were some unusual symptoms 
 observable. 
 
 " I never saw a boat left like this," said 
 he — for everybody in Duntroone knows some- 
 thing about boats. " Look at the tarpaulin 
 of the skylight — it has been taken off and 
 thrown back again ; what is to prevent a 
 gust of wind from blowing it overboard ? " 
 
 He pursued his investigations. 
 
 " Look here," he called again, " the doors 
 of the companion-way have been left open. 
 Let us go down and see the saloon ! " 
 
 He shoved back the hatch of the com- 
 panion-way, and proceeded to descend the 
 steps, the two girls rather timorously follow- 
 ing. Indeed there was something uncanny 
 in finding themselves in possession of this 
 deserted ship ; moreover, beneath them was 
 a vague and mysterious gloom, for the tar- 
 paulin, loose as it might be, quite sufficiently 
 covered the deck skylight. 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 But the next moment this indefinite appre- 
 hension had given way to the most violent 
 alarm and terror. For no sooner^ had Allan 
 reached the open door of the saloon than 
 he suddenly stopped short, and instinctively 
 threw out both arms, as if to bar the further 
 progress of the women. 
 
 " What in the name of God is that ! " he 
 exclaimed, gazing with awe-stricken eyes 
 into the dim obscurity. 
 
 " It's a dead man ! " cried Barbara, with a 
 piercing shriek. ''Come away — Jess! — 
 Jess!" 
 
 But Jess was too terrified to move : she 
 could only stare into the semi-darkness at 
 the ghastly object that there presented itself. 
 And Allan, also, stood and stared — wonder- 
 ing whether they had stumbled into dream- 
 land, and broken in upon the slumbers of the 
 Emperor Barbarossa. For at the further 
 end of the sombre saloon, half-reclining 
 against the cushions, and apparently dead 
 asleep, there was an upright figure clad in 
 a white mantle ; some kind of crown sur- 
 mounted his brows ; and on the table before 
 him lay a metal instrument, brass or gold 
 it seemed to be in the prevailing dusk. The 
 red-bearded sleeper did not stir or show any
 
 BAKBAPtOSSA. 115 
 
 sign of life ; and the silence around him was 
 as tlie silence of the grave. 
 
 " Jess ! — Jess ! " said Barbara, with ashen 
 lips. " Come away — it is a work of the 
 devil ! " 
 
 But Jess, trembling though she was, 
 would not leave Allan ; she felt safer stand- 
 ing by him than in trying to flee from the 
 neighbourhood of that appalling phantasm ; 
 unknown to herself she had put her hand 
 on the young man's arm, and would have 
 dragged him back, when he advanced a step. 
 
 " Who are you ? — and what are you ? " he 
 demanded, in a loud voice. 
 
 The white figure slowly moved ; a pallid 
 face appeared to regard the intruders ; then 
 of a sudden the unknown snatched up the 
 sceptre-looking instrument that lay on the 
 table, and brandished it before him. 
 
 " Away, away ! " he called shrilly, in 
 Gaelic. " It's I that will not be satisfied till 
 the Bay of Duntroone is filled with blood — 
 with blood I — with blood ! Ten thousand 
 down from the Gallows Hill — ten thousand 
 hurled over the Minard cliffs — sweep them, 
 sweep them into the sea — till they know the 
 power of the King ! The power of the 
 King ! — that must walk on the neck of his
 
 116 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 enemies, and splash the lintels of his door 
 with their blood, till not one of them be left 
 in the land ! Hurl them over — crush them 
 — mangle them — slaves, away now, and do 
 my bidding ! — for the bloody slaughter shall 
 not cease till the going down of the 
 sun!—" 
 
 In his frantic gesticulation, the red beard, 
 which was merely a strip of cow's hide, got 
 disarranged, and fell to the floor. 
 
 " It's Niall Grorach,* " cried Jess, in amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 But the poor half-witted lad, hearing this 
 real voice, began dimly to perceive that these 
 strangers were actual human beings, not 
 the ghosts and hallucinations he had been 
 accustomed to command, in his madder 
 moments, from this throne of state. He 
 peered curiously at them, in a frightened 
 way, and now he was all trembling. 
 
 " Have you come for me ? " he said, in 
 pitiful and whimpering tones — and he 
 humbly laid down his sceptre, which was 
 none other than the brass poker belonging to 
 the stove. 
 
 " Why, how did you get here ? " demanded 
 Allan. 
 
 * Half-witted Neil.
 
 BAEBAEOSSA. 117 
 
 " I took a boat from the Corran shore," he 
 answered — looking furtively and apprehen- 
 sively from one to the other in this obscure 
 twilight. 
 
 " And where did you get the oars for her ? " 
 
 " I took a piece of wood from the Dun- 
 choillie fence — and — and I watched the 
 tides." 
 
 "And what have you done with her now?" 
 
 " I shoved her away." 
 
 " And left yourself to starve ! Why, how 
 long have you been on board this yacht ? " 
 
 " I am not knowing — a long time, I think — 
 many thousands of people were coming to see 
 
 me " But here he checked himself; his 
 
 visionary kingdom was over ; and the world 
 of fact and substance had found him. 
 
 " And have you had anything to eat and 
 drink ? " 
 
 **I brought a bag of meal and a cask of 
 water," he said ; and then he added, in an 
 appealing way : ''I will give you some if 
 you will not hurt me, or put me in jail." 
 Nay, so abject and penitent was he, that 
 he took the tinselly crown from his fore- 
 head and timidly placed it on the table: it was 
 the last sign and symbol of his abdication. 
 
 Well, they were not disposed to be too
 
 118 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 hard on the poor wretch, whose royal govern- 
 ment of spectral armies, in this solitary cabin, 
 could not have done much harm to anybody ; 
 and, indeed, as it turned out, Niall was the 
 means, the unintentional means, of doing 
 Allan Henderson an excellent good turn this 
 afternoon. For of course they had to take 
 him with them — after they had dispossessed 
 him of his blanket-robe and returned it to a 
 locker, and after they had shut up and 
 made secure everything on board the yacht 
 as well as they could, with some comments 
 on the negligence of caretakers. Then they 
 pulled ashore and landed on Kerrara, leaving 
 Niall in charge of the boat drawn up on the 
 beach. They next proceeded to climb the 
 nearest hill from which they might have a 
 view of the distant Lady Rock, this being 
 the ostensible aim of their excursion. It 
 was, in truth, very little they could see of 
 the unfortunate Sanda beyond a touch of red 
 that revealed her funnel ; however, they had 
 come to look at the steamer ; and, now that 
 they had accomplished their object, there was 
 nothing for them but to go away home again 
 — Allan could find no further excuse for pro- 
 longing this all too dehghtful lingering and 
 its secret and magnetic association.
 
 BARBAROSSA. 119 
 
 Of a sudden Jess Maclean, who was a 
 sharp-eyed lass, began to giggle, and then to 
 laugh outright. 
 
 " Do you know what has happened ? " she 
 said. '' Where is your boat, Allan ? " 
 
 The schoolmaster wheeled round. There 
 was no doubt about what had happened. 
 The young rascal Niall, seizing his oppor- 
 tunity, had shoved off, jumped into the boat, 
 and was now making for the mainland, as 
 hard as ever he could pull. 
 
 " The scoundrel ! " said Allan — not a little 
 disconcerted. " But it is no matter. Angus 
 Maclsaac will catch him when he gets ashore, 
 and Angus will bring the boat back for us." 
 
 '^ Oh, do you think so ? " said Jess, with 
 merriment in her pretty grey eyes. " Well, 
 now, do you see where the daft lad is going ? 
 For he is not so daft as to try landing at the 
 quay or any of the slips ; no, no ; he is 
 making for the little bay at Dunchoillie, and 
 as soon as he has got ashore, he will escape 
 away through the woods. Allan, how many 
 miles is it we'll have to walk to the ferry ? " 
 
 Clearly this was now what stared them in 
 the face. Other hope for them there was 
 none. They waited a long time to see if any 
 sane creature should chance to capture the
 
 120 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 runaway, and have the understanding to 
 send back the boat ; but nothing of the kind 
 occurred ; and so they set out — Allan secretly 
 rejoicing — to walk away over the rough 
 island to the ferry that crosses Kerrara 
 Sound. 
 
 He bore Niall no ill-will for having played 
 them this trick. The world was full of 
 wonder and a subtle fascination all through 
 the hours of this enchanted afternoon ; and 
 when eventually they got across to the main- 
 land there were more of magic spells ; for 
 they walked home through a lambent twi- 
 light, with a crescent moon of clear gold 
 nearly overhead ; while far away in the west, 
 high above the mystic glooms and phantom- 
 shapes of the Mull hills, there was a stormy 
 glare of rose-pink, that sent a warm flush 
 across the now approaching Duntroone, its 
 houses, and woods, and scant gardens. Yes, 
 and all his life seemed likewise to have burst 
 into flame : whether a consuming flame it 
 was for the inscrutable Fates to determine 
 and declare.
 
 ( 121 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PROBLEMS AXD DREAMS. 
 
 Xow on the Sabbatli day it was the custom 
 of the good folk of Dimtroone, excepting the 
 ultra-strict amongst them, to permit them- 
 selves a little walk along the sea-front after 
 morning service ; and this was the next 
 opportunity to which the schoolmaster could 
 look for resuming — without any appearance 
 of intrusive haste — his acquaintance with 
 the wonderful stranger from the outer isles : 
 perchance in the vague hope of inveigling 
 Jess and her to go with him for some brief 
 landward stroll. But alas ! for these fond 
 desires. On the Saturday evening there was 
 a filmy and mysterious halo round the 
 crescent moon ; an liour or two later the wind 
 began to rise — with a vague premonitory 
 howl; before midnight a full gale was raging,
 
 122 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 shaking the house to its very foundations ; 
 and through the long dark there was a 
 clattering of windows and a succession of 
 deluges of rain that told of what was hap- 
 pening outside. Then his first despairing 
 glimpse of the new day seemed to say that 
 all was over. The driven and turbulent sea 
 was of a livid green, with the white crests of 
 the chasing waves whirled aloft and scattered 
 in spindrift ; the water was surging heavily 
 along the quays and springing high in foam ; 
 the roadways were dee23 in mud ; and a 
 solitary pedestrian, a woman, with her head 
 butted down, and her ineffectual waterproof 
 blown up into a black balloon, was being 
 dragged hither and thither as she strove 
 against the gusts of the storm. A cheerless 
 prospect, truly ; for Duntroone, on a wet 
 Sunday, is the wettest-looking place in all 
 the wild and wet West Highlands. 
 
 Nevertheless, the weather was not likely 
 to imprison the young schoolmaster ; out-of- 
 doors could be no colder than this fireless 
 and miserable room of his ; besides, he was 
 restless, ill-at-ease, and longing to be away in 
 free and open solitude ; and so, making some 
 inward excuse about having a look round 
 to see if there was any chance of the day
 
 PEOBLEMS AND DEEA:\IS. 123 
 
 bettering, he set forth, and eventually found 
 himself climbing to the summit of the 
 Gallows Hill. There he made sure he would 
 have all the world to himself alone. 
 
 But it was not so. To his astonishment 
 he discovered that he had been forestalled. 
 Lauchie Maclntvre, the shoemaker, was 
 seated on the bench at the foot of the flag- 
 staff. 
 
 " Well, Lauchlan," said he, " you're early 
 astir. And what's brought you up here ? " 
 
 " My head is not so well," said Lauchlan, 
 sadly, and he took his cap off and laid it on 
 his knees. " And I thought there would be 
 a fine cold w^ind blowing on the hill." 
 
 '' Maybe you had a little drop last night, 
 then ? " Allan suggested. 
 
 The melancholy-visaged shoemaker glanced 
 reproachfully at the younger man. 
 
 " Aw, Mr. Henderson, that you would 
 tliink the likes of that of me ! — me that's a 
 Eechabite, and was at a Band of Hope 
 meeting only the night before last. There's 
 no such things as that for me — no, no. Now 
 look at this : there's many a man would have 
 tekken to drink long ago in my place. 
 There's many a man would have tekken to 
 drink when his wife run aweh from him.
 
 124 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 But not me — not me ; says I to myself 
 * Lauchie, let the duvvle go, and welcome to 
 her.' And this one and that was saying I 
 should go through to Fort William, and 
 bash the head of that little bandy-legged 
 carpenter ; but says I to myself ' No, no ; if 
 he's willing to tek up with a duvvle like 
 that, it is you, Lauchie, that is well rid of 
 them both, and be tammed to them ! ' What 
 would I be going to Fort William for? 
 It's not to Fort William I would be going, 
 when I might have to bring her back 
 again ! " 
 
 " Yes, I've heard you were a married man," 
 said Allan, absently. And he did not go on 
 his way, as he had purposed doing, to secure 
 silence and solitude for himself. He sate 
 down on the bench, beside the shoemaker. 
 For here at least was a human being, who 
 had come through, in however blind and 
 bleared a fashion, certain of the great crises 
 and experiences of life — had perhaps even, 
 unknown to himself, been face to face with 
 problems and mysteries. What, for example, 
 was the origin of this disenchantment and 
 repulsion that he had so freely confessed ? 
 And Allan had no fear of making any 
 humiliating or disturbing discoveries. It
 
 PROBLEMS AND DREAMS. 125 
 
 was the truth he wanted, seen from what- 
 ever side. He was well aware that a Sancho 
 Panza element exists in human nature, and 
 that not to its detriment : the gargoyle does 
 not detract from the majesty of the cathedral. 
 " Yet I warrant," said he to Long Lauchie, 
 " that you sang a different song when she 
 was your sweetheart — when you believed her 
 to be the finest creature in all the country — 
 when you cared for nothing, for nothing in 
 the world, so much as to see her eyes look 
 kindly at you when you came near. Isn't 
 that so ? Am I right ? " he went on, seeing 
 that the dejected shoemaker was silent. '" I'm 
 thinking there was a time when you wouldn't 
 have contentedly seen her go away with 
 another man. ISTo ; you would rather have 
 been for breaking the head of any man that 
 wanted even to be a little friendly with her. 
 There must have been a time when the 
 madness was on you. They tell me that 
 when a man sees the one woman in all the 
 world that he must have for his wife, it is 
 
 a kind of madness that comes over him " 
 
 " A madness ? " said Lauchlan, gloomily. 
 " Ay. There was ten days of it. Her father 
 he keepit a public-house in Tobermory ; and 
 when I came to myself at the end of the ten
 
 126 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 days, they were saying that I had promised 
 to marry Jean. Ay, they were saying that. 
 And mebbe I had. And mebbe I had not. 
 But it was of little matter ; for her father he 
 was a decent man ; and there was ahlways 
 a glass for a friend ; and there was a talk of 
 a fine wedding — so I said no more." 
 
 Tinkle-tankle — tinkle-tankle went the bell 
 of the Catholic chapel ; and one or two small 
 dark figures began to appear in the distant 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 '' But no doubt you hoped for the best," 
 continued Allan. " And what was't, think 
 you, made the marriage turn out ill ? " 
 
 " The drink," replied Long Lauchie, with 
 mournful resignation. " She was just like 
 the rest. Ahl the weemen are alike. They're 
 ahl alike. They're ahl at the drink, or 
 worse. There's a cousin of mine that is a 
 gamekeeper over on Loch Awe-side, and he 
 says the two classes that mek ahl the mischief 
 of the kintry are weemin and meenisters, 
 and that it's a pity there does not break out 
 a grouse-disease among them to sweep them 
 ahl aweh. Ay, indeed." 
 
 It was without anger that Lauchlan 
 delivered himself of these quite desperate 
 views of life and feminine human nature :
 
 PROBLEMS AXD DREAMS. 127 
 
 he had escaped from the toils, and was 
 merely a passive spectator now. 
 
 " And do you mean to say," Allan de- 
 manded, " that you allowed your wife to run 
 away from you without making the least 
 effort to bring her back ? " 
 
 " Well, now," said the shoemaker, with 
 greater animation, '^ I will just tell you what 
 happened that day, and I will ask you if I 
 did not do right. I was down at the North 
 Quay, with a friend of mine that was going 
 to Ballachulish, and we were waiting for the 
 Fusilier to come over from the South Quay. 
 And when the Fusilier was brought along- 
 side, then one of the lads of the steamer he 
 comes running up the gangway, and he says 
 ' Lauchie, do you know that your wife is in 
 the fore-caybin ? ' ' No,' says I, * I do not. ' 
 ' Well she is,' says he, ' and him that's along 
 with her is MacKillop, the carpenter, from 
 Fort William ; and Tm thinking it's not ahl 
 right, from the look of them.' ' And do you 
 tell me now,' says I, ' that my wife is rinning 
 aweh with MacKillop the carpenter ? ' 'It 
 is not for me to answer such a question,' says 
 he. 'It is for you to come on board and get 
 hold of your wife.' 'Is it ? ' says I. ' Then I 
 will see her tammed first. If she's rinninir
 
 128 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 aweli with the bandy-legged carpenter, let 
 the duvvle go and welcome ! ' Then says 
 Johnnie : ' They are carrying a big bundle 
 between them.' Well, at that, Mr. Henderson, 
 at that something came over me. ' Johnnie, 
 lad,' says I, ' come aweh down quick to the 
 fore-caybin, and you'll seize hold of the 
 bundle, and I'll give the carpenter a clout 
 that will mek him think it's the Day of 
 Chidgment.' That's what I was saying ; and 
 my foot was on the gangway ; but I stopped. 
 Ay, indeed, I stopped. Says I to myself : 
 * Is it not a good thing to be rid of a lot of 
 weemen's clothes ? Does any one want a lot 
 of weemen's clothes hanging about one's 
 house ? ' And back I stepped from the 
 gangway. ' Let them go to Fort William, 
 or to the duvvle, bundle and all ! ' says I — 
 and in a few minutes aweh went the Fusilier^ 
 and I've never set eyes on either of them 
 since. And there's many a man would have 
 made that excuse for tekkin to drink ; but 
 I'm not wan of that kind ; no, no ; I would 
 rather do what little I can to banish ahl that 
 sin and shame from our kintry. Ay, that's 
 jist what it is : drink is the sin and shame 
 of the kintry. Have you a fill of tobacco, 
 Mr. Henderson ? "
 
 PROBLEMS AND DREAMS. 129 
 
 But Allan had left his pouch behind him. 
 So Lauchie with a patient sigh put his pipe 
 in his pocket again, and rose to his feet. 
 
 " I am thinking I will be getting home 
 now. My head is not so well. Mebbe I 
 will try lying down on my bed for a while — 
 there is little hope of meeting in with a 
 friend on a day like this." So Long Lauchie 
 departed; and the young schoolmaster was 
 left alone with this great, wide, far-stretching 
 world of moving shapes and vaporous glooms. 
 
 Nevertheless there was still some small 
 glimmering of hope. Occasionally there 
 would come a suffused silvery look into a 
 portion of the eastern skies ; the lurid and 
 formless heavens would show symptoms of 
 banking up ; while the slopes of Kerrara, 
 catching this or that wandering gleam, would 
 burn an intense russet-yellow against the 
 blue-black of the Mull mountains. Then 
 again a gradual fading of that wild glare ; 
 a gathering darkness ; an advancing murmur 
 of wind and water ; and forthwith a white 
 smoke of rain would go tearing across the 
 bay, the squall whirling onwards with the 
 hurrying waves. There was not a dog 
 visible along all the deserted sea-front of 
 Duntroone. 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 However, storm or shine, tlie people would 
 soon be coming out of the churches now, and 
 so he slowly and watchfully made his way 
 downward from these gusty heights. As 
 the first of the worshippers began to appear, 
 he quickened his pace ; he would have to 
 intercept the two girls — yet in a casual 
 kind of way ; most likely they would make 
 straight for home, instead of attempting any 
 promenade along the wet concrete, that was 
 now all littered with seaweed. And this 
 was precisely what happened. Another 
 minute or two and he would have missed 
 them. He encountered them at the corner 
 of the street. They had had no thought of 
 going along by the sea-front on such a 
 morning. 
 
 ''Well, now, Allan," said Jess, with her 
 grey eyes smiling benignly (Barbara paid 
 little heed to him : she seemed more con- 
 cerned about keeping her waterproof-sleeves 
 well over her wristbands) " this is not a day 
 for any one to be outside. Will you come 
 home with us, and take a little bit of dinner 
 with us ? " 
 
 " It is very kind of you, Jessie," he was 
 beginning to say, with some embarrassment, 
 when she interrupted him.
 
 PROBLEMS AXD DREAMS. 131 
 
 "But you are goiug to refuse, as usual. 
 Do you think it is very friendly, Allan ? I 
 know that we cannot talk about anything 
 that would interest you, for the President 
 of the Duntroone Literary and Scientific 
 Society is such a great person ; but we would 
 make you welcome ; and cousins, cousins in 
 the Highlands especially, should not be so 
 ceremonious." 
 
 Well, the President of the Duntroone 
 Literary and Scientific Society might or 
 might not have been a great and learned 
 person ; but at least he had not the heart 
 to refuse this cunningly- worded invitation ; 
 and the next minute he was accompanying 
 the two girls on their homeward way. 
 
 " And who knows," continued Jess, in her 
 kindly fashion, " but that the afternoon may 
 clear up a bit, and Barbara and you and I 
 might go for a walk over to Ganavan ? Oh, 
 yes, it is just as likely as not to clear up a 
 little ! " 
 
 And eventually, as it turned out, her 
 cheerful optimism was rewarded ; for by 
 three o'clock the state of affairs looked suffi- 
 ciently promising to induce them to leave 
 the house ; and deep was the joy in Allan's 
 heart when they had actually set forth upon
 
 132 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 this excursion. They took an inland route to 
 begin with, but it mattered little to him 
 whither they went. Perhaps it was merely 
 chance that placed him by Barbara's side as 
 they started off; at any rate, he found 
 himself once more subject to the overmaster- 
 ing spell of her mere presence — the inexplic- 
 able, extraordinary entrancement of being 
 near her — the wonder and delight of being 
 able to regard the wind stirring the wisps 
 and tangles of her raven-black hair. And 
 indeed that was about all of her companion- 
 ship that she vouchsafed to him. She rarely 
 spoke, except to answer a question : it was 
 Jess who did all the talking, teasing him 
 and mocking him, and yet becoming sym- 
 pathetic enough when she happened to touch 
 upon anything really affecting himself or his 
 future. 
 
 They left the highway — they followed a 
 farm road — crossed some heights and knolls 
 — and came in sight of the western seas 
 again. A sombre day, perhaps, for a country 
 walk ; and yet there was plenty of colour in 
 the wintry landscape — the yellow of the 
 pastures, the dank crimson of the withered 
 breckan, the intense green of the whins, the 
 blood-red of the bramble-stems trailing across
 
 PEOBLEMS AND DREAMS. 133 
 
 the swollen brook. And when, as they were 
 descending from the heights towards the 
 shore, a sudden fire broke through the heavy 
 clouds lying over the mountains in Mull, 
 why, all the world around them grew radiant, 
 and even the leafless ash-trees caught some- 
 thing of the welcome light, a shimmering 
 touch of silver on the branches that stretched 
 away up into the leaden-hued sky. A most 
 comforting gleam ; it was full of promise ; it 
 seemed to speak of a general breaking up of 
 those louring heavens : perhaps, by the time 
 they were returning home they might have 
 for company the crescent moon. 
 
 At the foot of the hill the burn runs at 
 right angles, and as they were crossing the 
 rude little bridge Allan happened to espy, 
 under the straggling blood-red stems of the 
 brambles, a small white star. 
 
 " Why," he said, " there is the first wild- 
 flower I have seen this year ! " 
 
 He stepped down the slippery bank, 
 reached under the bushes, and brought away 
 the tiny prize. It was only a daisy — not 
 ' crimson-tipped ' at all — but pale and colour- 
 less ; none the less the first timid harbinger 
 of the spring was surely an interesting thing, 
 with its mystic message of wonder and hope.
 
 lo4 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Then it was in its way a rarity; lie was 
 bound to present it to one of his companions. 
 To which of them ? Jess rather stood aside 
 a little, looking askance. 
 
 " Would you care to have it ? " said he to 
 Barbara, and he shyly offered her this humble 
 little token. 
 
 Yes, she took it ; and she thanked him in 
 a kind of fashion — that is to say, with her 
 voice, not with any glance of her unfathom- 
 able eyes ; then they went on again. And 
 Jess had not lingered behind to wipe away 
 any sudden tears of mortification and re- 
 proach ; for she was a sensible lass ; and she 
 had but the smallest sense of her own im- 
 portance and value in the world. Only, for 
 a little time, she was silent and preoccupied. 
 
 They went down to the shore, and the 
 sands, and the rocks, round which the dark 
 green sea was monotonously washing, with 
 crisp white flashes of foam here and there. 
 A lonely place ; as the calling of the startled 
 birds bore witness — curlews, oyster-catchers, 
 sandpipers, and the like ; while everywhere 
 there was dispersal — the black and white 
 gleam of a pair of arrow-flighted mergansers, 
 the slow-flapping laboured progress of a 
 heron, the cautious retreat of a deep-
 
 PROBLEMS AXD DREAMS. 135 
 
 swimming skart that was already a mile out 
 from shore, dipping its head from time to 
 time, and paddling still further away. But 
 in a very few minutes silence prevailed 
 again ; several of the flocks of birds returned 
 to their feeding-grounds ; and when the three 
 strangers, having sought out a convenient 
 seat for themselves on the rocks, took their 
 places, there was no further cry or sign of 
 protest against the intrusion. 
 
 And of what did these young folk talk, 
 in the gathering twilight ? Allan Hender- 
 son hardly knew. The folds of her dress 
 were visible to him, that was enough ; the 
 magnetic, alarming consciousness that she 
 was almost within touch of him ; the secret 
 wistful hope that sooner or later she might 
 turn towards him more friendly, more 
 interested, eyes. It was Jess who rather 
 came to the rescue ; and so also on their way 
 back to the town ; she had heard of the great 
 German mediaeval poem that Allan was 
 endeavouring to translate ; and she wanted 
 to know how he was getting on with the 
 laborious task ; and sought to reassure him 
 about his doubts as to whether he should be 
 able to find a publisher. For she was a 
 kindly, helpful sort of creature ; and she had
 
 136 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 a resolute faith in the future of this young- 
 man. 
 
 The last of the twilight was vanishing as 
 he parted from them at the house in Camp- 
 bell-street. And it was with a heavy heart, 
 it was with a bitter sense of disappointment 
 and despondency that he turned away and 
 set out for home. For too surely he had 
 observed that the first little tentative token 
 of friendship he had offered to Barbara 
 Maclean she no longer carried in her hand. 
 Doubtless she had tossed the worthless thing 
 aside into the highway, to be trampled in the 
 mud ; or perhaps she had idly dropped it into 
 one of the brackish pools — half-rain, half sea- 
 water — out on the dark rocks where they had 
 been sitting, during an enchanted but hope- 
 less hour.
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 
 
 Then the great evening drew near on which 
 the McAskills of the Argyll Arms were to 
 entertain the members of the Gaelic Choir 
 and other friends; and Peter McFadyen had 
 been as good as his word, he had procured 
 an invitation for Barbara. At first Jess was 
 doubtful as to whether it would be quite 
 fitting for their family, in view of recent 
 events, to be present at any such festivity ; 
 but she found that Barbara was not at all 
 sensitive on the point ; and the compromise 
 finally suggested by Mrs. Maclean was to the 
 effect that the two girls should go to the 
 soiree and concert, but should either come 
 away, or remain for a little while as mere 
 spectators, when the dancing began. And 
 Jessie was indefatigably kind in looking 
 after Barbara's costume, and lending her
 
 138 HIGPILAND COUSINS. 
 
 some small trifles in the way of feminine 
 finery. 
 
 " Every one will look at Barbara," said 
 she, laughing, to her mother, " and no one 
 will look at me ; so it's but right she should 
 have the choosing of anything I have." 
 
 And again Mr. McFadyen was as good 
 as his word : on the momentous evening in 
 question, and for mere extravagance and 
 display, he brought a ' machine ' to take the 
 two girls round to the Volunteer Drill-Hall ; 
 and Barbara, stepping across the pavement, 
 found herself ushered into a vehicle the like 
 of which she had never entered before — a 
 vehicle with luxuriously-cushioned seats, and 
 windows that could be shut up against the 
 rain, and lamps that sent out a soft glow out 
 into the black night. Mr. McFadyen, fussy, 
 eager, proud of the charge that had been 
 bestowed on him — for Mrs. Maclean had 
 begged to be allowed to remain at home — 
 was in the highest of spirits ; and there were 
 more triumphs, more feats of prowess, to 
 announce : Gilmour had again been beaten 
 on the links that very afternoon. 
 
 " It's the Pinnacle," cried Peter, chuckling 
 and grinning, and he rubbed his hands in 
 delight. "It's the Pinnacle that bashes
 
 THE SUN-GOD. 139 
 
 Gilmour every time ! And the angry man 
 he is ! — smashing at the ball with the lofting- 
 iron, and then grinding his teeth as he 
 watches it come trintle, trintle down the 
 hill again, right back to his feet ! Dod, that 
 Pinnacle '11 be the death o' the station-master, 
 as sure's I'm living ! " 
 
 The way up to the Drill-Hall was along 
 an obscure back-lane ; and in the prevailing 
 darkness the ' machine ' moved cautiously ; 
 but at length it stopped at the foot of some 
 steps in front of a large, oblong building, and 
 Mr. McFadyen descended to hand out his 
 companions. And what was this sound that 
 came from the interior of the hall ? — this 
 was no feeble trembling of a Jew's-harp — 
 this was the shrill and warlike scream of the 
 pipes — it was the ' Athole Gathering ' that 
 was being played to welcome the now- 
 arriving guests. The proud McFadyen, 
 when they got up to the door, would fain 
 have entered with one of his charges on each 
 arm ; but clearly there was no room for this 
 ostentatious parade ; and so, as Jessie hung 
 back a little, in her usual fashion, it was 
 Barbara whom he found himself escorting 
 in — Barbara, whose great, beautiful eyes 
 looked with dumb wonder and astonishment
 
 140 HIGHLAND COITSTNS. 
 
 on this gay spectacle — at the brilliant illu- 
 minations, the walls and ceiling hung with 
 flags of resplendent colour, the long tables 
 sumptuously set forth and decorated. She 
 was bewildered, but not frightened. She 
 shook hands with her host and hostess with- 
 out perturbation. And then the three new- 
 comers moved on to an open space from 
 which they could the better observe the 
 subsequent arrivals. 
 
 " So you say Allan Henderson is not to 
 be here to-night," Mr. McFadyen remarked 
 to Jess. '*Why that? Maybe he thinks 
 his clothes are not quite smart enough for 
 such a fine gathering." 
 
 Jess flushed quickly — perhaps angrily, de- 
 spite the habitual gentleness of her nature. 
 
 " He has no need to think of any such 
 thing," said she. " He would look well 
 wherever he went, and in whatever clothes. 
 It's not clothes that give a man a distin- 
 guished appearance." 
 
 There was more than a touch of indigna- 
 tion in her tone. And then she went on 
 again, proudly — 
 
 " Perhaps there may be something of more 
 importance for him to be thinking about 
 than a concert and a dance in a drill-hall.
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 141 
 
 Do you know this, Mr. McFadyen — that he 
 is preparing a lecture on the Folk-Songs of 
 Germany, and he is translating the lesser- 
 known amongst them himself? Any one 
 else would take the Folk-Songs that have 
 already been translated and be content with 
 them ; but that is not Allan*s way ; he is too 
 thorough, too much in earnest for that ; and 
 suppose, now, when the lecture has been 
 delivered to the Society, it was afterwards 
 to be put into shape and sent to one of the 
 great magazines in London — and perhaps 
 with his name too — that would be something 
 for one to speak of, and him only a school- 
 master in Duntroone." 
 
 " You seem to be very familiar with Allan's 
 plans," said the town-councillor, rather spite- 
 fully. 
 
 " Then it is not from any boasting on his 
 part," Jess retorted, with a fine courage. 
 '* It is not boasting that he is given to. And 
 some day we may not be wondering quite so 
 much that he found something more im- 
 portant to do than come to a merry-making 
 of this kind." 
 
 " Ay, well, well," said Peter. " Allan is a 
 good lad. There's many a worse lad than 
 Allan, whether he has a small salary or a
 
 142 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 big one. And I'll buy the magazine, yes, 
 that I will. I would not be surprised if I 
 bought six copies of it, and gave tliem about. 
 He's a good enough lad is Allan." For he 
 would not have had this unfortunate little 
 disagreement continued on so auspicious an 
 occasion ; especially as every moment new 
 friends were arriving, and he was eager to 
 show that he had been entrusted with this 
 guardianship. Which of the younger men 
 would have been so favoured ? 
 
 Meanwhile Barbara had not overheard a 
 single word, so wholly engrossed was she 
 with the kaleidoscopic and many -coloured 
 scene before her. But amongst all the 
 guests who were now assembled there was 
 one whom her eyes followed with a curiosity 
 that at length became a species of fascination. 
 He was a young man of about five-and- 
 twenty, fair-complexioned, with close-cropped 
 curly or rather wavy hair of a light golden- 
 brown. He seemed to be acquainted with 
 every one ; as he went about he was laugh- 
 ing and talking to this one and that ; he had 
 a happy, goodnatured, confident air ; he was 
 much at his ease ; his manner seemed to 
 say that he was pretty sure of his welcome 
 wherever he went. Then what rendered
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 143 
 
 him not less conspicuous was that among all 
 the men in the room he alone wore evening 
 dress. Barbara had never seen evening 
 dress before — except, perhaps, as pictured in 
 some stray copy of a penny illustrated paper ; 
 but now here, amid these brilliant lights, 
 in this fine company, it appeared to her 
 altogether beautiful. Beautiful was the fine, 
 smooth, black cloth that seemed to show off 
 the young man's figure so elegantly ; beau- 
 tiful the shining shirt-front, with its neat 
 little single stud of gold ; necktie and collar 
 and cuffs — all were perfection, and all were 
 worn with such freedom and grace. In 
 dress, in manner, in appearance, he was so 
 wholly different from the others. Could he 
 be the son of some great laird, she asked 
 herself, with a kind of awe. And intently 
 her eyes followed him, as he moved hither 
 and thither, shaking hands with this one, 
 nodding to that — a radiant being — an ap- 
 parition : had the time come back for the 
 gods to descend and appear among men ? 
 
 And then Barbara found herself all tremb- 
 ling — and wishing to be away — and yet 
 powerless to escape. He was clearly coming 
 to this corner ; and quickly too ; he had a 
 card in his hand.
 
 144 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 '' How are you, Mr. McFadyen ? — I've got 
 you at last," said be, and his voice had a 
 cheerful ring. Then he seemed to recog- 
 nise the fact that the town-councillor had 
 companions. " Oh, how do you do. Miss 
 Maclean ! — I hope you are going to give me 
 a dance to-night " 
 
 " This is my cousin Barbara, Mr. Ogilvie," 
 said Jess, 
 
 He turned towards her with the briefest 
 glance, and bowed. The poor lass — over- 
 come by the splendour of his presence — her 
 eyes abashed and fixed on the ground — made 
 some bungling little effort at a curtsy. It 
 was all she knew ; she could do no better ; 
 and probably she was hardly aware of what 
 she did. And most likely he did not notice ; 
 for he had turned again to McFadyen. 
 
 " We've put you down for a toast, 
 Mr. McFadyen," said the young Master of 
 Ceremonies. " You have to propose the 
 ladies " 
 
 " No, no — na, na," said Peter, in sudden 
 fright. " No speech-making from me " 
 
 " But why not ? — why not ? " remonstrated 
 the young man. " You can make fine 
 speeches about water-rates and gas-lamps — I 
 read the reports in the paper every week ;
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 145 
 
 and you're the ladies' man — you're the very 
 one for this toast " 
 
 The councillor had been disconcerted only 
 for a moment. He was not going to play 
 craven, with Jess looking on. 
 
 "Well, I'll not deny," said he, pulling 
 himself up a bit, '' that I can say a few 
 words at a fitting time. I'm not an orator, 
 perhaps " 
 
 " You'll do just splendid," said the light- 
 hearted M.C., hurrying away to get his other 
 business finished — and leaving poor Barbara 
 with an overwhelmino- conviction that she 
 had been guilty of a stupidity and awkward- 
 ness too dreadful to be recalled or even 
 thought of. 
 
 And a very merry, happy, excited, loqua- 
 cious assemblage this was that eventually 
 got itself seated at the long tables ; and 
 right gallantly did the town-councillor pro- 
 ceed to look after and entertain his two com- 
 panions. It is true that at times a thought 
 of his appointed speech would suddenly 
 penetrate him ; he would collapse and sink 
 into himself — no doubt desperately hunting 
 in the dark spaces of his mind for im- 
 promptus ; but then again he would rouse 
 himself and shake off these vain anxieties, 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 and would strive to convince his neighbours 
 that for wit, and sarcasm, and apposite raillery 
 there was not one of the younger men in 
 Duntroone to come anywhere near him. And 
 Jess was willing to be pleased ; it was an 
 animated, inspiriting scene — what with the 
 radiant lights, the festooned flags, the de- 
 corated tables ; while for variety's sake the 
 general hubbub of conversation would be 
 broken in upon at intervals by the wild 
 skirl of the pipes — the three tartaned heroes 
 marching round the hall playing * The Hills 
 of Glenorchy,' or ' Hoop her and Grird her/ 
 or * Mrs. Ronald Graham's Welcome Home.' 
 As for Barbara, she sate as one isolated and 
 estranged. Her eyes followed the sun-god 
 — covertly and intently regarding every 
 smile and glance and gesture. And she 
 had ample opportunity for this secret obser- 
 vation ; for the young Master of Ceremonies 
 seemed to be looking after everybody but 
 himself; he went from table to table, joking 
 and laughing, and keeping things moving 
 generally. And Barbara's heart sank within 
 her when she saw that those women he spoke 
 to — maids and matrons alike — were all so 
 splendidly dressed, and had such fine adorn- 
 ments about their sleeves, and their necks,
 
 THE SUN-GOD. 147 
 
 and the doing-up of their hair. She became 
 conscious that her cousin Jess and herself 
 were the two most simply-attired young 
 people in the room — a simplicity that ap- 
 peared to her a distressing plainness. Had 
 the sun-god taken notice ? At least he had 
 not stayed talking to them, as he now stayed 
 talking to those others. 
 
 " Jessie," said Barbara, at length — and her 
 eyes were cast down, and she spoke in 
 tremulous hesitation, " who was the — the 
 young gentleman — ^that came up to you ? " 
 
 Jess had forgotten. 
 
 " Which one ? When ? " she asked. 
 
 "" Before we sate down," continued Barbara. 
 And she ventured to raise her eyes a little. 
 " He is standing over there by the door." 
 
 Jess glanced in the direction indicated. 
 
 " Oh, that's Johnnie Ogilvie," said she, 
 blithely. " He's the Purser of the Aros 
 Castle y 
 
 Barbara was silent for a second or two, 
 gazing furtively the while. 
 
 '' Does he live in Duntroone ?" 
 
 '• Well, he'll very soon be living in Dun- 
 troone, for they put the Aros Castle on again 
 at the beo-innino^ of next month. And I 
 suppose that is why he has come through
 
 148 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 here to-night — though he is a great friend 
 of the Mc A skills whatever." Then Jess 
 laughed. " But you must not be casting 
 your eyes that way, Barbara. He's a fearful 
 lad is Johnnie Ogilvie, for breaking young 
 girls' hearts. At least so they say. I 
 do not believe the lad is any worse than 
 others." 
 
 Here silence was called-for by a tumultuous 
 hammering on the tables that made the 
 crystal jump, for Mr. McAskill had risen to 
 say a word of welcome to his guests and to 
 ask them to drink a glass with him. And 
 this was the beginning of the speech-making ; 
 but in truth there was not much of it ; for 
 there were many things to be got through. 
 It ought to be recorded, however, that Mr. 
 McFadyen acquitted himself well ; he was 
 jocose within due moderation ; he paid a 
 manly tribute to the charms of youth and 
 beauty ; and he earned great applause by 
 saying he would not detain his audience, 
 because they were all looking forward to 
 seeing those bewitching creatures who now 
 sate expectant by their side — those divine 
 creatures who were the sweeteners of man's 
 destiny here below — they were all looking 
 forward to beholding those angelic forms to
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 149 
 
 still better advantage in the mazy intricacies 
 of the dance. 
 
 Then the members of the Gaelic Choir 
 withdrew and re-assembled on the platform ; 
 the remaining visitors also rising from the 
 tables, to allow the attendants to clear the 
 hall. And soon this large, hollow-sounding 
 place was filled with music less ear-splitting 
 than that of the pipes ; the sonorous, softened 
 part-singing of the trained choir was an 
 admirable feature of the evening's entertain- 
 ment ; the guests could not have thanked 
 their host in happier fashion. It may be 
 admitted that the majority of these concerted 
 pieces were of a mournful cast ; one of them, 
 in especial — ' The Braes of Glen-Braon ' — in 
 its heart-breaking wail seemed to give ex- 
 pression to all the sadness and loneliness of 
 the remote and sea-swept isles ; but those 
 present were familiar with the prevailing 
 character of Highland minstrelsy ; they were 
 not too much cast down by those successive 
 ' Farewells ' against which Mr. McFadyen 
 had energetically protested. ' Farewell, 
 Farewell to Fuinary ! ' sang those har- 
 moniously-modulated voices ; then came the 
 ' Lament of MacCrimmon ' — with one woman's 
 voice ringing clear and high above the
 
 150 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 low-rumbling refrain, as if it were some wild 
 note heard from the surge of tumultuous 
 waves ; they repeated the plaint of the distant 
 lover — 
 
 * could I hcj love, in form of sea-gull, 
 That sails so freely beyond the sea, 
 Td visit Islay, for there abiding 
 
 Is that sweet kind 07ie I pine to see * 
 
 — With many another favourite. Meanwhile 
 the great hall had been prepared for the 
 dancing ; and the pipers were awaiting the 
 word. 
 
 " Suas a phioh ! " called out the impatient 
 McAskill. 
 
 And presently, after a discordant tuning- 
 up of the drones, the pipes broke clear away 
 into ' The Marchioness of Tweeddale's De- 
 light ' ; and that was the signal for the Choir 
 to come hurrying down from the platform, 
 to secure partners, or to be chosen as 
 partners, for the Grand March was about 
 to take place. Then Mr. McAskill and his 
 sister-in-law led the way ; the other couples 
 fell in ; the pipers blew their bravest ; and 
 down the long hall went the joyous pro- 
 cession, every one elated with thoughts of 
 the gaiety that was about to follow. There 
 had been enough of speech-making and of
 
 TOE SUX-GOD. 151 
 
 Singing of Farewells ; in due course the reel- 
 stage would be arrived at ; and the pipers 
 would have encouragement to put fire and 
 glow into the proceedings, if an occasional 
 dram would help. 
 
 Now of all the people here gathered 
 together, only three remained apart. 
 
 "Eeallj, Mr. McFadjen," said Jess, "I 
 am quite ashamed to be keeping you away 
 from the dancing, and yon so fond of 
 
 it 
 
 " Not at all — not at all ! " protested the 
 gallant Peter. " I undertook a charge, and 
 T must fulfil it. And gladly too. I'm just 
 quite proud and pleased to stay here with 
 you. They'll be plenty of capering later on : 
 five o'clock will not see the last of them out 
 o' this place." 
 
 '^ But if we went away now, it would leave 
 you free," said Jess ; and then again, ob- 
 serving that Barbara's attention was so com- 
 pletely absorbed by the pageant taking place 
 before her that it seemed merciless to tear 
 her away, she added : " Well, maybe Barbara 
 would like to stay just a little while yet." 
 
 This, at all events, Barbara heard. She 
 turned her great, mystic, appealing eyes to 
 her companions, and said —
 
 152 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " Oh, yes — yes, I would ! A little while 
 more, Jessie ! " 
 
 For it was not only the pageant ; better 
 now than before her rapt observation could 
 dwell on the young Master of the Ceremonies, 
 who seemed to combine in himself all the 
 elegancies and graces of youthful manhood — 
 elegancies and graces of a kind she had 
 never hitherto dreamed of. Even his patent- 
 leather boots — the wonderful polish — the 
 pointed and symmetrical shape — the light- 
 ness they seemed to lend to his step : this 
 also was another marvel, an allurement, a 
 mystery of fascination. And when the Grand 
 March was over and the pipes had ceased, 
 when the band had come on to the platform, 
 and a quadrille was being formed, it appeared 
 to her as though he were the moving spirit 
 in all this brilliant throng : no wonder those 
 finely-dressed dames, and the younger women 
 with their hair done up in fashionable ways, 
 regarded him with favouring looks and 
 answered him with smiling words. 
 
 But Jack Ogilvie, Purser of the Arcs 
 Castle, would have been a very poor Master 
 of Ceremonies had he allowed those three 
 to remain neglected : he swooped down upon 
 them, with urgent remonstrances, until Mr.
 
 THE SUX-GOD, 153 
 
 McFadyen got a chance of interposing an 
 explanation as to why they were taking no 
 part in the programme. Then the young 
 man went away again, for it was a busy 
 night with him. To Barbara it was as if 
 she had been in a ' dwawm ' — a dim, half- 
 conscious swoon — while he was so near her, 
 while the sound of his voice was in her 
 ears. 
 
 At length, however, the prudent Jess 
 thought it was time for them to depart ; 
 Barbara mutely yielded — with some linger- 
 ing, backward glances ; Peter McFadyen 
 had the ' machine ' in waiting ; and the girls 
 were driven home under his escort. He left 
 them at the open door — for he was returning 
 to the Drill-Hall, where there might yet be 
 a chance for him to shine in the Yarsoviana 
 or the Guaracha ; and they entered the house 
 to find the blithe little widow awaiting them, 
 with the inevitable tea-pot on the hob. 
 
 " And who, think you," said Mrs. Maclean, 
 as the girls were taking off their things, 
 ^' who, think you, was here all the evening ? 
 Who but Allan Henderson ! Isn't he the 
 sober, quiet lad to think of coming to talk to 
 an old woman, when you young folks were 
 away gallivanting by yourselves ? Poor
 
 154 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Allan," she continued, as she put the tea-cups 
 on the table, " I'm afraid he's not very 
 happy and settled at present. He was 
 wondering whether he should not try another 
 country, where there might be a better 
 opening for him. But we cannot allow that 
 — we cannot allow that at all ! For Allan 
 to leave Duntroone would be just a public 
 calumny " 
 
 " Is it a public calamity you mean, 
 mother ? " Jess interposed. 
 
 " Ay, that's what I said," the widow went 
 on, in her complacent fashion. " And I was 
 telling him, instead of going to another 
 country, he should just start a small boarding- 
 house in Duntroone, so that some of the 
 farmers at a distance could send in their 
 children that they wanted to have regularly 
 at school. Only, Allan would need to have 
 a wife to manage for him ; and there's more 
 than one lass would be willing, that I'm sure 
 of; for he's a good lad is Allan ; and you're 
 always saying yourself, Jessie, that he's 
 astonishing clever, and will do great things 
 yet. Well well, I hope the struggle will not 
 bear too hard on him." 
 
 Barbara Maclean took no part in this 
 discussion. She was standing in front of
 
 THE SUX-GOD. 155 
 
 the fire, staring into it. It was not of the 
 schoolmaster, and of the poor outlook of his 
 life, that she was thinking — there were more 
 luminous, fascinating, wonderful pictures 
 burning in her brain.
 
 156 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 "the wild tears fall." 
 
 Barbara Maclean's houseliold duties were 
 light ; practically she had the mid-day to 
 herself; and she had got into a habit of 
 stealing out and wandering along to the 
 triple windows of the chief draper's shop in 
 the town, where she would stand gazing with 
 entranced and covetous eyes. This was 
 indeed different from the " merchant's " store 
 at Kilree ; here were beautiful kid gloves 
 with furred wrists and many buttons, silk 
 kerchiefs of every hue, ribbons and laces, 
 boas, muffs, tartan scarves, elegant black 
 hats with surmounting black feathers, and 
 a hundred things each more wonderful than 
 the other. And occasionally a waggonette 
 would drive up, bringing in some family of 
 gentlefolk from the neighbouring country ;
 
 "THE WILD TEAES FALL." 157 
 
 and as mother and daughters descended, and 
 crossed the pavement, Barbara would watch 
 them with an eager and furtive scrutiny, 
 marking every detail of their deportment 
 and dress. And then she would return to 
 the study of this resplendent finery — which 
 was all so far away from her ; for although 
 her aunt had insisted on her accepting a 
 small salary, it was merely to save the girl's 
 sense of independence, and did not bring 
 these fascinating things any nearer her. 
 
 Now by some means or other Allan the 
 schoolmaster had become aware of this trait 
 in Barbara's character, and it greatly 
 interested and pleased him. A man is 
 tolerant and lenient where a woman has 
 thrown the magic glamour of her eyes over 
 him ; this peculiarity, the young schoolmaster 
 said to himself, only proved her to be a 
 daughter of Eve ; she was human, she was 
 one of ourselves ; she was no impossible and 
 visionary maiden come out of the night and 
 the sea. And on a certain afternoon he went 
 along to Jess, whom he found at the counter. 
 
 " Jessie," said he, with even more than his 
 usual diffidence, " if your mother is in, could 
 you come with me for a few minutes to 
 McLennan's the draper's ? "
 
 158 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 *' Oh, yes, indeed 1 " said the ever-good- 
 natured Jess ; but she looked up wonder- 
 ing : what concern could the grave and 
 studious Allan have with a haberdasher's 
 shop? 
 
 " I want you to help me to choose a little 
 present — something a young girl would like 
 — something pretty and smart that she could 
 wear " 
 
 Jessie's face flushed quickly ; and she 
 seemed to draw back in confusion. 
 
 '* But why should you think of such things, 
 Allan ? " she said, in a tone of remonstrance. 
 '' Why should you wish to give finery to 
 anyone ? l know your own tastes are all 
 very simple ; and it is not right for you to 
 be spending money in this way " 
 
 '' But, Jessie," he answered her, though 
 still with a certain shyness, " I am anxious 
 that Barbara should feel she was amongst 
 people who wish her well. She is a young 
 girl — and still partly a stranger — and I was 
 thinking if I could get something that would 
 please her — a little present of that kind would 
 at least show a friendly intention — and she 
 would understand it." 
 
 He did not notice the swift change of ex- 
 pression — of alarm, almost — that had passed
 
 "THE WILD TEAES FALL." 159 
 
 over Jess Maclean's face the instant he had 
 mentioned Barbara's name. 
 
 *' Oh, yes," she said, in eager haste. " You 
 are quite right, Allan. I am sure it would 
 please Barbara. And as you say, she may 
 be feeling a little strange yet in Duntroone. 
 Oh, yes, for Barbara. It's quite different 
 with Barbara. And will you be going now ? 
 For I will get ready at once." And with 
 that she disappeared into the back-parlour, to 
 fetch her things. 
 
 He never knew what keen arrow he had 
 driven through her heart. For she was a 
 brave kind of a lass and naturally cheerful ; 
 and by the time these two were walking 
 along the pavement, on their way to the 
 draper's, she was making merry over the 
 idea of the austere and absent-minded student 
 going to buy millinery, and was teasing him, 
 and mocking him with her mischievous eyes. 
 But she was very friendly all the same ; and 
 in the shop her counsel was sage and prudent 
 — for she knew that, though his means were 
 scant and his own habits as regarded himself 
 sparing enough, there was Highland blood 
 in his veins, and there was no saying but 
 that he mii>ht do somethino' reckless. Eventu- 
 ally they decided upon a jichu of black silk,
 
 160 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 trimmed with black lace, and adorned with 
 black glass bugles. It was Jess Maclean's 
 inward surmise that the bugles would prove 
 attractive to Barbara. 
 
 Then arose the question of presentation ; 
 and here again Jess unselfishly came to his 
 aid ; she could see that he was awkward and 
 unskilled in such affairs, and perhaps also a 
 little apprehensive. 
 
 <« Why not come along in the evening ? " 
 said she, " and smoke a pipe as usual ; and I 
 will send over to the house for Barbara ; and 
 you can give her your present without any 
 great formality. Sure I am she will be very 
 proud of it." 
 
 " That's what I will do, then, Jessie," said 
 he. " And I am very much obliged to you." 
 And then, having seen her as far as the door 
 of the shop, he turned and made his way 
 home to his books — or to such wild fancies 
 and hopes and fears as would obstinately 
 thrust themselves between him and the 
 printed page. 
 
 But he need not have been at all appre- 
 hensive as to the manner in which Barbara 
 would receive his present. When, later on, 
 he was in the little parlour, and when, in 
 answer to a message, Barbara came over
 
 "THE WILD TEAES FALL." 161 
 
 from the house^ any one could have seen that 
 she knew what was going to happen : there 
 was a tinge of pretty embarrassment in her 
 face, and she shook hands with h'm in a shy 
 kind of way, and for a second — wonder of 
 wonders ! — the beautiful dark-blue eyes, from 
 under their jet-black lashes, glanced at the 
 young man with quite unusual and modest 
 friendliness. He was bewildered — his heart 
 went beating — so that he could scarce explain 
 to her his reasons for begging her to accept 
 this simple gift ; but Jess proceeded to open 
 the small packet ; and Mrs. Maclean was loud 
 in praises of the Jic/iu ; while Barbara's mystic 
 and unfathomable eyes were filled with 
 pleasure when she beheld the silk and the 
 lace and the glittering beads. Then she 
 turned to the young man. She hesitated. 
 And it was in Gaelic that she had to speak 
 her thanks to him, the English not coming 
 freely enough or not being expressive enough ; 
 and for another ineffable moment her glance 
 dwelt upon him with the kindliest regard. 
 And if he was bewildered before, he was 
 bereft of his senses now. He had it in mind 
 to sell his books and all his belongings and 
 lay out every farthing in McLennan's shop. 
 But at this point the town-councillor made 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 his appearance, and something hke sanity 
 was restored. 
 
 Peter McFadyen, as it turned out, was an 
 angry man. Nay, did not some tone of com- 
 plaint and reproach run through his tale of 
 injury — seeing that Lauchie the shoemaker 
 was an especial friend of Mrs. Maclean's ? 
 
 " I just went into the Argyll Arms " — such 
 was his indignant story — " to say to Mrs. 
 McAskill what everybody has been saying 
 ever since the dance, that it was one of the 
 greatest successes ever known in Duntroone ; 
 and I was not inside but a few minutes ; and 
 when I came out, here was this man Lauchlan 
 Maclntyre — your friend Lauchlan, Mrs. Mac- 
 lean — and he was waiting for me round the 
 corner. Confound his impudence ! ' Oh, Mr. 
 McFadyen,' says he, ' I'm sorry to see ye 
 gang that gate. You've been into the very 
 ante-room of hell. And you a man of 
 poseetion, that should be an example to all 
 of us ! But there is time — there is time for 
 you to hold back — you may escape destruc- 
 tion yet. There's a meeting of the E-echabites 
 to-morrow night, and if ye'd come with 
 me, ye might be persuaded to join us. 
 Drink is a terrible thing, but it can be 
 mastered ' "
 
 "THE WILD TEAES FALL." 163 
 
 Mr. McFadyen suddenly broke off. 
 
 " Ay, do ye think it is a laughing matter, 
 Miss Jessie ? " he demanded — for Jess had 
 been quietly giggling to herself. "" That 
 impudent drunken scoundrel ! — and me, a 
 town-councillor — and one o' the most tem- 
 perate men in Duntroone. Find me a more 
 temperate man than I am, in the whole of 
 Duntroone — and I'll eat him ! " 
 
 " Poor Lauchie ! " said the little widow, 
 with easy compassion. " Sometimes I think 
 he is going to keep on the straight road ; 
 and maybe he is that way now ; but I am 
 never very sanguinary " 
 
 " Sanguine, you mean, mother ! " 
 
 " Ay, just that. You can never be sure 
 about Lauchie. And it's a bad sign when 
 he takes to the preaching. It's a sign he is 
 likely to break out again. But he's not a 
 bad kind of man, Lauchie : there's many a 
 worse man than Lauchie." 
 
 Now the town-councillor, when he had 
 made his protest, and asserted his dignity, 
 had no mind to let Jess Maclean think that 
 he was one to bear ill-will ; he dismissed the 
 subject of Long Lauchie altogether ; and 
 very soon he was giving his audience, with 
 many chucklings of satisfaction, a description
 
 164 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 of how be had that very afternoon triumphed 
 over all his opponents at throwing the ham- 
 mer in his backyard. Nevertheless he did 
 not wholly monopolise the conversation ; and 
 the chubby and chirrupy little man was 
 sharp-sighted enough ; it was not long ere 
 he perceived that now, when the school- 
 master addressed Barbara Maclean, she turned 
 to him with a kindly and friendly attention 
 she had never hitherto paid him. And did 
 not Jess notice? Ay, and Mrs. Maclean? 
 As for Peter, he was delighted. If this was 
 the way things were going, so much the 
 better for his own daring schemes. 
 
 " Dod, man, Allan," said he, as these two 
 were walking home, through a somewhat 
 wet and blustering night, '' ye're on the track 
 at last. YeVe made your mark. You'll 
 have her. She's yours — if you've the courage 
 to go in and win. I can see it. I'm not 
 blind. The lass is well-disposed towards ye. 
 But ye'll have to speak — ye'll have to speak, 
 man ! 
 
 " I understand what ye mean, Mr. Mc- 
 Fadyen," said Henderson, in his grave and 
 deliberate fashion. " But these are hardly 
 matters to be guessed at in so light a way. 
 One must not hope for too much, merely on
 
 "THE WILD TEARS FALL." 165 
 
 account of a little friendliness. And even if 
 what you say were possible, there are many 
 perplexities around me and ahead of me. It's 
 all very well for you that have a fine position, 
 an assured position, to talk in the heroic 
 strain ; but I have to consider that I might 
 be dragging into misery, and uncertainty, 
 and wretchedness, one that's of far more 
 importance than myself " 
 
 " No, no, man ! " returned the sprightly 
 councillor. " Ye take far too serious a view 
 of life. Young folk must have courage and 
 run risks. And if you don't, why, in the 
 case of a handsome lass like that, somebody 
 else will be coming along and snapping her 
 up. Here, Allan, lad," he said, halting — for 
 they had just arrived at his dwelling-house, 
 which adjoined his office. " Ye'll just come 
 in and sit down for a few minutes, for I've 
 something to say to ye that may be of 
 importance to ye by-and-bye." 
 
 The young man did not refuse. He had 
 no great love for McFadyen — in fact he was 
 rather inclined to treat him with impatience 
 and disdain ; but there were momentous 
 issues at stake ; and perhaps some talk with 
 this older man, who had seen more of the 
 world, might make matters a little clearer.
 
 166 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 So he waited until Peter fumbled in his 
 pockets for his latch-key — both of them no 
 doubt looking forward to a quiet and con- 
 fidential chat, perhaps with some little solace 
 of tobacco. 
 
 There was to be no such thing, at this 
 time and place. McFadyen put the key in 
 the lock, turned it, and was about to enter, 
 when immediately behind the door there was 
 a low and savage growl. He sprang back in- 
 continently, dragging the door to with him. 
 
 " Lord's sake alive ! " he exclaimed, when 
 he had partly recovered himself. " It's that 
 dog ! " 
 
 " What dog ? " 
 
 " The bull-dog I bought from Jamie 
 Nicholson yesterday ; and it was to be sent 
 home this afternoon ; and that idiot of a 
 servant-lass seems to have left it free in the 
 house instead of tying it up in the backyard. 
 What's to be done ? It's a fearfu' beast. 
 Some rascals have been stealing my coals, 
 and I thought I would pay them out " 
 
 " And the dog is strange to you ? " 
 
 " I never saw it but three minutes yester- 
 day," said the distressed councillor, " and it 
 would not know me from Adam, even if the 
 house was not in darkness ! "
 
 "THE WILD TEARS FALL." 167 
 
 Here the schoolmaster broke into one of 
 those portentous guffaws that had so per- 
 plexed Jess Maclean ; he roared and laughed ; 
 he better roared and laughed ; while the 
 councillor's temper, amid all his distractions, 
 began to grow warm. 
 
 '^ A man shut out of his house by his own 
 dog ! " Allan cried, with another prodigious 
 fit of laughter. '* Well, there's but the one 
 thing for it. Maybe he'll recognise you as the 
 master of the place. Go boldly by him " 
 
 *' Go boldly by him yourself!" retorted 
 the councillor angrily. 
 
 " But you cannot stand in the street all 
 night ! Where's the maidservant ? " 
 
 " She's in her bed long ago 1 
 
 " Well, then, you must go round by the 
 back and get in that way." 
 
 " How can I ? What's the use of talking 
 nonsense ? " answered McFadyen, with savage 
 fretfulness. " Do you think I would leave 
 my coal-ree open, when I got this infernal 
 beast for the very purpose o' protecting it ? 
 And the key of the gate's in the office ; there's 
 no way round by the back at all ! " 
 
 " Well, then," said Allan, " you'll have to 
 try gentleness. Go in a little bit, and try 
 to humour him "
 
 168 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " Go in a little bit yourself, if you're so 
 clever ! " said the councillor, peevishly. 
 
 " What are you going to do ? Or will 
 you ask the policeman's advice ? — there's 
 sure to be a policeman round by the station." 
 
 " I would not allow any policeman to go 
 into that passage — it's as much as his life 
 would be worth ! '' Peter rejoined in his 
 despair. 
 
 " You'll have to send for the man who 
 sold the dog to you." 
 
 " Yes ! — -very likely ! — and him at Tay- 
 nuilt ! He went back to Taynuilt yesterday 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Very well," said Allan, more seriously, 
 " I'll tell you what we'll do. You cannot 
 stand in front of this house all night. You'll 
 just come along to my room, and you can 
 have my bed, and I'll get a shake-down, or a 
 chair's good enough for me in any case. 
 For you were kind enough, Mr. McFadyen, 
 to hint that there was something you had to 
 say to me ; and if it affects what you and I 
 were talking about, I would rather hear of it 
 before going to sleep. It's an anxious time 
 with me. There is not much hospitality I 
 can offer you ; but you are welcome/' 
 
 " Have you plenty of tobacco, Allan ? " the
 
 "THE WILD TEARS FALL." 169 
 
 councillor asked, still regarding his own 
 impossible door. 
 
 " Yes, I have that," responded the younger 
 man. " It's the one thing I can offer you." 
 
 " Well and good, then," said he ; but before 
 he turned away to follow his companion, and 
 while he was still contemplatiug the shut 
 door, he added, bitterly : " You'll see if I 
 haven't that beast chained up to-morrow, if 
 there's a blacksmith in Duntroone can fasten 
 a rivet into a stone wall." 
 
 ***** 
 
 Meanwhile the two girls and Mrs. Maclean 
 had shut the shop, and gone over the way, 
 and partaken of their frugal supper, and 
 were now enjoying a friendly chat along with 
 their needlework and knitting. Barbara 
 was evidently greatly elated over her pre- 
 sent, and was more talkative than usual ; 
 and Jess, who knew not grudging, was 
 cheerfully responsive. Then the little 
 widow kept throwing out merry and mys- 
 terious hints. 
 
 '' Ay, indeed, Barbara," said she, as she 
 was busy with her needle, " ye may well set 
 yourself up. There may be more in that 
 present than you're dreaming of yet. For 
 Allan Henderson has so far paid but little
 
 170 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 heed to the young lasses about ; and they've 
 rather been inclined to look asklant at him, 
 and toss their head, for you know the old 
 saying : ' Crone^ will you have the king ? / 
 will not, as he wont have me! And so the 
 king has thrown the handkerchief at last, 
 has he ? Well, well ! And what will they 
 say now, all them he has passed over ? Not 
 a lass in Duntroone good enough for him, 
 but the minute one comes in from the outer 
 isles, the misan — the misanthrope comes out 
 of his cell, and all the world is changed, 
 and there's a miracle for you ! Well, well, 
 indeed I " 
 
 And so she went on, and Jess listened in 
 silence. For the girl had long ago given up 
 any secret and wistful hope that Allan might 
 look her way ; nay, she had argued and 
 steeled herself into the belief that she ought 
 to set herself resolutely against any such 
 thing, even if it were possible. She had 
 formed other plans for him : she knew some- 
 thing of his ambitions. Duntroone was no 
 place for him. He was to go away ; he was 
 to win to the front ; he was to conquer 
 London ; and when he was become a great 
 man and famous, perhaps he might have a 
 single backward and friendly thought for
 
 "THE TVILD TEAES FALL." 171 
 
 that cousin Jess who had believed in him 
 and urged him on. And in the meantime, 
 and with pride and with a warm sisterly 
 affection she would watch his career. 
 
 Apparently this was a very happy evening. 
 But that same night, in the mid-watches, in 
 the darkness, Jess was lying awake. And 
 at such times the nerves are apt to get 
 unstrung and fall away from their ordinary 
 firmness ; self-control is not so easy ; and 
 certain dreams that she had been ready 
 enough to sacrifice in her auguries of his 
 great future would come back unbidden. 
 Also some lines she had read in an American 
 magazine, that had seemed to her to have 
 in them a curious suggestion of Celtic remote- 
 ness, and solitariness, and longing. Why 
 would the Irish girl's song so haunt her 
 brain ? — 
 
 " I try to knead and spin, but my life is low the while ; 
 Oh, I long to be alone, and walk abroad a mile ; 
 Yet when I walk alone, and think of naught at all, 
 Why from me that's young should the wild tears fall ? 
 
 The cabin door looks down a furze-lighted hill, 
 And far as Leighlin cross the fields are green and 
 
 still; 
 But once I hear a blackbird in Leighlin hedges call, 
 The foolishness is on me, and the wild tears fall ! "
 
 172 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Well, the ' foolishness ' was on her ; and 
 she buried her head in the pillow, that was 
 soaked with her tears ; and she made desperate 
 efforts to subdue her sobbing. For Barbara 
 was in the other bed ; and she would not 
 awaken Barbara with this unavailing grief. 
 Barbara, who was no doubt placidly dream- 
 ing of drapers' windows and black glass 
 bugles.
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IX SORE STRAITS. 
 
 The apartment into which the schoolmaster 
 ushered his guest bore evidence of a hard 
 and rigid economy, not to say downright 
 penury. There was no fire in the grate ; 
 there was but the one gas jet ; the furniture 
 was scant and bare. There were piles of 
 books, to be sure ; but they were all work- 
 like volumes ; not a gay binding amongst 
 them. 
 
 "Now this is what I like to see," said 
 McFadyen, rubbing his hands with satis- 
 faction as he took a seat and looked around. 
 "This is what I like to see. And I know 
 what it means. When I observe a young 
 man that's sober and industrious, and that 
 has got a reasonable salary, when I observe 
 him living pinched and poor, then I know 
 what it means : he's saving up to get married."
 
 174 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " It has not been like that with me, then, 
 Mr. McFadyen," the younger man said, as 
 he produced a small jar of tobacco, the only 
 luxury in the place. " I've had to pay back 
 to my folks at home what they lent me for 
 the classes — and that was the least part of 
 what I owed and owe them. And then I 
 undertook the schoolingl of my two younger 
 brothers ; but one of them has just got a 
 situation, and the other one will soon be 
 looking about too ; so that I may find myself 
 a little freer " 
 
 '^ Exactly that ! " said the councillor, cheer- 
 fully. '' Something freer to tackle the great 
 problem — the choosing yourself a mate. It's 
 what we are all bent on, though some may 
 be a little later than others " 
 
 " And it will have to be a little later, if 
 ever, with me," rejoined Allan — who was in 
 an unusually confidential mood : he did not 
 often deign to speak of his private affairs. 
 '' In my position how could I ask any young 
 ffirl to take such a risk ? " 
 
 " God bless my soul ! " cried the other, 
 '' did ye never hear of such a thing as life- 
 insurance ? " 
 
 " That is some safeguard for the future, 
 no doubt. But the question is as to the
 
 IN SOEE STRAITS. 175 
 
 meantime. And if I were to ask any girl to 
 look my way, I should have to tell her my 
 present prospects ; and what inducement 
 could I lay before her — — ? " 
 
 " Tuts, tuts, tuts, man ! " broke in the 
 happy and hopeful Peter. " That's no the 
 way to talk ! Do ye think a young lass is 
 to be won over by a parade of gilded furni- 
 ture ? It's not that she has in her mind 
 when her fancy settles on a lad. Na, na. 
 It's not that will tempt her to kilt up her 
 coats o' green satin, like Leezie Lindsay, and 
 be off with him through bush and briar. It's 
 love well won, and the world well lost— that's 
 more like the ticket, man ! Prospects ? Life- 
 insurance ? Is that what you think she has 
 in her mind ? Is that what she answers 
 when he asks her the great question ? Not 
 a bit. This is more like what her answer'll 
 be — " And here the councillor raised his 
 hand triumphantly, and sang in a brave 
 fashion, and with many trills — 
 
 ' Gang down the burn, Davie, love, 
 
 Down the burn, Davie, love, 
 Gang down the burn, Davie, love, 
 
 And I will follow thee ! ' 
 
 Then Peter moderated his enthusiasm. 
 
 " Listen to me, Allan. I will not conceal
 
 176 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 from ye that I sometimes thought ye had 
 other intentions, when ye came so much 
 about the widow's shop. And then again 
 I said to myself, No, it was only that you 
 were related to the family, and maybe you 
 had not too many friends in the town, and 
 it was but natural ye should foregather with 
 your own kith and kin. And yet again I 
 would say to myself, Yes, there's danger : 
 he's a young man, he has eyes, he cannot 
 fail to see what a fine creature Jessie 
 Maclean is — so good-humoured, and clever, 
 and bright-looking — just one in twenty 
 thousand " 
 
 ''You may say that, Mr. McFadyen," 
 observed the young schoolmaster, gravely. 
 ** Ay, or one in fifty thousand." 
 
 " But now that I see your thoughts are 
 turned in another direction," continued the 
 councillor, " it's a great relief to me ; for, to 
 tell you the truth, I'm not without hopes 
 that I might get Jessie for myself. That 
 would be a fine ploy, wouldn't it ? — the two 
 weddings on the same day ! And I'll tell 
 ye what I'll do with ye, Allan, lad, just to 
 ' mak sikker.' Mrs. Maclean says your best 
 chance is to get married, and start a boarding- 
 house for scholars sent in from the country.
 
 IX SOEE STRAITS. 177 
 
 And that would need some little capital — 
 the plenishing and what not. Yery well ; 
 I'm not a rich man ; but I have a bit of a 
 nest-egg laid by ; and I wouldna mind lend- 
 ing you £50, or even £100, to help you at 
 the start. And I'm sure if there was an 
 understanding between Jessie and me, she 
 would not grudge it either. She's a half- 
 cousin of yours ; and you've been great 
 friends together ; I'm sure she would not 
 object " 
 
 A quick flush had come over Allan's fore- 
 head. 
 
 " I thank ye, I thank ye, Mr. McFadyen," 
 he said, hastily, and with lowering brows. 
 *' But it is not to be thought of 
 
 And therewith he closed his mouth and 
 would say no further word about these poor 
 affairs of his : so that Peter, who was 
 evidently in a state of buoyant anticipation, 
 was forced to talk about his own share in 
 this great project, and to describe those 
 personal qualifications — physical strength, 
 skill, tact, knowledge of the world, and the 
 like — which, as he contended, were fairly 
 entitled to put the mere question of years 
 aside. And then, becoming still more san- 
 guine, he grew enthusiastic over the delights 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 178 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 of courtship, and the enchantments of love's 
 young dream. 
 
 Now although Allan Henderson had some- 
 what rudely and abruptly repulsed this 
 friendly offer, it was nevertheless a won- 
 derful thing for him to think of that one or 
 two onlookers had actually been considering 
 the possibility of Barbara's being favourably 
 inclined towards him. All through the un- 
 congenial toil of the next day there ran as 
 it were little flashes of roseate flame ; his 
 eyes would become blind to those monoto- 
 nous forms and their occupants ; the grey 
 hours had occasional startling moments when 
 the outside world was revealed to him as in 
 a vivid dream. And when at last it was all 
 over, when he could emerge into the clearer 
 air, instead of returning to his lodging, he 
 struck away on a solitary ramble by sea and 
 shore : there was a lifetime of contingencies 
 to be faced and resolutely examined, so long 
 as that was possible while those quivering, 
 rose-tinted flashes — those fascinating and 
 elusive will-o'-the-wisps — would break in 
 upon his sight and bewilder him. 
 
 He left the town by way of the harbour, 
 climbed the Gallows Hill, and proceeded 
 along the edge of the steep cliffs overlooking
 
 IN SOEE STRAITS. 179 
 
 the sea. The rain of the previous night and 
 morning had long ago ceased ; the clouds 
 were now banked up ; there was a brooding 
 silence ; the click of the oars of a small boat 
 crossing the bay could be distinctly heard, 
 even at this height. And in the prevailing 
 calm of sky and sea and mountain there was 
 something that seemed in a measure to allay 
 the agitation of his mind ; there was peace 
 in those great spaces of the universe ; a quiet 
 that conduced to a serener and saner con- 
 templation. Wild hopes were dazzling and 
 exciting things, no doubt ; but the destruction 
 of them could also be met and endured, by 
 a man. 
 
 As it chanced, he had been so profoundly 
 plunged in these meditations that he had 
 followed the coast-line too mechanically, and 
 now he came to the brink of a chasm that 
 struck inland for some little way. He did 
 not think it worth while going round in 
 order to continue his route ; instead he sate 
 down on the verge of this deep cavity, letting 
 his legs dangle over ; and there he gave 
 himself up to still further wrestling with the 
 problems and distractions that beset him. 
 For one thing, if he were to incur these 
 great responsibilities, he would have to give
 
 180 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 up many cherished ambitions — some snatch 
 of foreign travel — the issue of his version of 
 the Nibelungenlied — and the like : towards 
 which he had been hoarding up his savings. 
 But after all, what were such trivial con- 
 siderations when compared with the very 
 crown and joy of life, supposing that were 
 now to be put within his reach ? He could 
 hardly believe it possible. He had been be- 
 wildered out of his calmer judgment by this 
 sudden friendliness she had shown him during 
 but one evening. Was it not too much to 
 hope for that the one creature in the world 
 whom he longed to have for his life-com- 
 panion should on her part turn towards him 
 and choose him out from amongst all others ? 
 How could such a thing happen ? It was 
 incredible. It was too marvellous a coinci- 
 dence. Yet what of the marriages of the 
 people he saw around him ? In what pro- 
 portion of cases — or in every case — had the 
 man and the woman found each other in this 
 inscrutable, inexplicable way ? 
 
 And so, with his under lip firmly set, his 
 forehead drawn together, and his eyes 
 distant, he sate and pondered ; until at 
 length he appeared to make an effort to 
 throw off this weight of thinking in a
 
 IN SORE STRAITS. 181 
 
 determination to arise and get home : it was 
 long past the hour for his chief daily meal. 
 But at this moment, whether it was that his 
 foot had been resting on some loose stone, 
 or that his leg had got benumbed, as he 
 attempted to get up something seemed to 
 give way beneath him, and the next instant 
 he found himself slipping down a few inches. 
 He caught at the nearest object — it was a 
 small rowan bush — to steady himself; but 
 the bush came away in his grasp : nay, this 
 very movement appeared to make his case 
 worse, and he felt himself helplessly going. 
 Then he threw himself back, and thrust out 
 both hands in some desperate endeavour to 
 grip anything that would check his descent ; 
 he clutched and clung, but all to no purpose, 
 for the sides of this chasm were almost sheer ; 
 and the next thing he knew — or half-knew 
 — was that he was hurtling down into this 
 black hole — then came a dull crash — a sharp 
 agony of pain — then silence — and a strange, 
 not unblissful sinking out of consciousness. 
 
 When he came to himself again, stunned 
 and dazed, he slowly and gradually became 
 aware of his position. He was at the bottom 
 of one of those fissures in the conglomerate 
 rock that abound along this coast, and that
 
 182 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 mostly run down to the sea. This one also 
 trended towards the shore ; but there was 
 no escape for him that way ; for the mouth 
 of the cavern was barred by an enormous 
 mass of the same rock. However, he was 
 not much alarmed. He would be able to 
 scramble up again, somewhere or other. The 
 sides of the chasm, if they were steep, were 
 not at all bare ; there was a kind of stunted 
 vegetation — bits of rowan bushes, heather, 
 birch, and broom — between him and the strip 
 of daylight ; he would choose his upward 
 path when his head was a little clearer. 
 
 Then he essayed to rise; but to his con- 
 sternation he found himself incapable of 
 movement, or only of such movement as 
 caused him indescribable torture. The truth 
 flashed in on him. Something was broken. 
 And then for a moment a frantic resolve to 
 get out of this death-trap possessed him — 
 at any cost of agony he must win up to the 
 open again — surely he could drag the broken 
 limb from point to point, until his fingers 
 clasped the edge, and he could raise himself 
 into the blessed freedom of the outer world. 
 And again and again he tried, making super- 
 human efforts, and again and again he was 
 baffled by overmastering pain ; until he sank
 
 IN SOEE STRAITS. 183 
 
 back exhausted and half-despairing on his 
 narrow bed of withered and sodden fern. 
 
 Thus he lay for a while spent and done ; 
 but of a sudden something occurred that 
 caused his heart to leap. There was a sound 
 in the road below — the road that shirted the 
 shore ; the footfalls drew nearer ; he could 
 even in a dull kind of way hear voices — 
 apparently the voices of two men. Surely 
 this meant rescue for him. And when he 
 judged that the men were about opposite to 
 him, he called and shouted ; but even as he 
 did so he had a dreadful consciousness that 
 the shouts were muffled — that tbey did not 
 seem to travel out of tbis cavern. Never- 
 theless he continued to call as loudly as he 
 could; until the footfalls gradually ceased ; 
 and be was left once more with silence, and 
 the gathering over of the twilight. 
 
 He began to reason with himself against 
 unnecessary dismay. He was not much more 
 than two miles from the town. Some 
 children would be sure to come wandering 
 along, if not this evening then on the follow- 
 ing morning or afternoon. Or a shepherd's 
 dog would discover him, and its barking 
 would fetch its master to his aid. Or surelv, 
 when his friends missed him from his usual
 
 184 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 haunts, they would organise a search-party. 
 So long as he retained some power of calling 
 to any chance passer-by, he would not 
 abandon himself to despair : whatever might 
 happen, a stout heart could not harm. 
 
 Night came early over this deep gap ; and 
 the darkness seemed to last for ever and ever. 
 He listened to the moaning of the wind in 
 the bushes overhead, and to the long-pro- 
 tracted hiss of the waves along the shore. 
 Towards morning — he guessed it must be 
 towards morning, after those immeasurable 
 hours — a few small silver points began to 
 glimmer in the black opening above ; but 
 the starlight was of little use to him except 
 in so far as it showed the skies were clearing. 
 Further hours, as it seemed to him, passed ; 
 and then, with a great rejoicing and re- 
 awakening of hope, he perceived that the 
 dawn was really drawing near. Stealthily, 
 imperceptibly, such strip of the heavens as 
 he could see became of a pearly blue-grey. 
 A little while, and that was more opalescent 
 in tone. Again, a touch of saffron appeared 
 — soft, and distant, and luminous : some bit 
 of slowly-moving vapour looking over to the 
 opening east. Finally the new day declared 
 itself, in a splendour of mottled rose-grey
 
 IN SOKE STRAITS. 185 
 
 clouds — and he thought of the happy folk in 
 Duntroone. 
 
 No, he would not give in. Down here in 
 the cold-hued twilight, amid the livid greens 
 and the wet russet of the bracken, there were 
 thin threads of half-melted snow here and 
 there ; and some of these he could reach ; 
 and very welcome was the chill moisture to 
 his parched lips. Then again, as the morning 
 wore on, there was the distraction of listening 
 to the occasional faint sounds in the road 
 below ; but he had abandoned all hope of aid 
 from that quarter ; he knew he could not 
 make himself heard. His only chance was 
 in attracting the attention of some one 
 passing along the summit of the cliffs ; and 
 so from time to time, at random, he called 
 aloud, and paused to listen. But hour after 
 hour went by, and no one came near. At 
 times he grew faint. There was an odour 
 from some decayed herb — St. Jolm's-wort, 
 most likely — that seemed to stifle him. Xow 
 and again it appeared to him that he was 
 becoming light-headed ; the strangest fancies 
 crowded into his brain ; he was possessed 
 with a wild desire to shout songs — students' 
 songs : Gaudeamus — Vive la compagnie — 
 and even dafter ditties than these—
 
 186 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 tempora ! mores ! — Per secale obvenisset, 
 Corpus corpori. He had had no food since 
 the previous morning ; his wild efforts to 
 drag himself out of this abj^ss — the agony 
 he had endured — had left him hopelessly 
 weak ; and now, with these delirious impulses 
 and imaginations taking possession of him, 
 he could only say to himself, ''If my senses 
 go from me, that will indeed be the end." 
 
 And thus it was that when, some time 
 during the afternoon, he saw a head cautiously 
 protrude itself through the twigs and 
 withered grass at the top of the chasm, he 
 did not believe there was anything or any- 
 body there. That was but another of the 
 fantastic visions that had begun to haunt 
 him. Nevertheless, he called out as hitherto 
 he had been calling out at intervals — though 
 now not so loudly as heretofore, for he was 
 enfeebled and listless — 
 
 '' Help ! help ! " 
 
 The head was instantly withdrawn. But 
 at the very moment of its withdrawal some- 
 thing convinced him that it was a real human 
 face that had been cautiously peering down, 
 and that it was the face of Niall Gorach. 
 
 ''Niall! Niall!" he cried, with all his 
 remaining strength. " Come back ! Come
 
 IX SORE STRAITS. 187 
 
 back, man ! Or go and fetch somebody ! 
 Tell them ! Tell them I cannot move ! " 
 
 There was no reappearance of that mys- 
 terious, peering and prying face ; but he 
 comforted himself with the fancy that the 
 frightened Niall had ran away into the town, 
 and that soon succour would be at hand. 
 He waited, listening intently, minute after 
 minute, half-hour after half-hour, hour after 
 hour ; and there was no sign. And again the 
 night fell, and the dark. 
 
 But this blackness around him was no 
 longer like the blackness of the previous 
 night ; it was all filled with light and colour 
 and moving phantasms ; there were sounds 
 of music also, some mournful, some gay. 
 Jess Maclean brought him a pitcher of ice- 
 cold water, and he drank and drank, and 
 thanked her, and he did not know why she 
 was crying. Barbara Maclean hung back a 
 little ; and he tried to speak to her ; but 
 could not. McFadyen came to him with a 
 copy of a great review in his hand ; there 
 was an article in it on the new translation of 
 the Nibelungenlied ; it was a friendly writing. 
 Again there were students singing in a room 
 in Glasgow — there was a roaring chorus : 
 *' The Old Folks at Home " — then some one
 
 188 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 sang '' Lieh Vaterland, magst ruhig sein ! " — 
 and this phrase kept repeating itself more 
 and more distantly and softly — magst ruhig 
 sein — magst ruhig sein — until the lights grew 
 dim — and the apparitions vanished — and there 
 was silence — and oblivion.
 
 ( 189 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 
 
 Next day about noon Niall Grorach put his 
 head into the little crib of a shop where Long 
 Lauchie was engaged at his cobbling. 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre," said he, in a pleading 
 kind of way, '^ will ye gie me a piece of 
 leather to make a sooker ? " 
 
 Lauchie looked up only for a second. 
 
 " Away wi' ye, ye idle vagabond ! " he 
 said, sullenly. " Better ye would take to 
 some work than come asking for children's 
 playthings. Away wi' ye ! " 
 
 The half-witted lad had probably expected 
 this rebuff. But he did not go away. On 
 the contrary, with a cautious look round, he 
 advanced a step ; and then he said, in a 
 mysterious voice — 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre, if ye'll gie me the piece
 
 190 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 of leather, I'll show ye the opening into the 
 Bad Place." 
 
 "Ay, ye'll find yourself there soon enough! " 
 said the shoemaker, grimly. 
 
 " But I'll show it to ye," continued Niall, 
 with his eyes longingly fixed on the scraps 
 of leather lying about the floor. "And 
 they've got Henderson the schoolmaster 
 there : if ye go near enough, ye'll hear him 
 crying out." 
 
 " What's that ye say ? " exclaimed the 
 now startled Lauchie — for, like all the rest 
 of Duntroone, he had heard of the inex- 
 plicable disappearance of the young school- 
 master. " What's that ye say about Hender- 
 son — Allan Henderson, do you mean ? " 
 
 "Ay, just that," said Niall. "They've 
 got him in the Bad Place, and ye'll hear him 
 crying for help, away down below. And 
 I'll show ye where it is, and there's flames 
 and brimstone, and little devils running 
 about wi' their pitchforks, and the Big 
 Devil, too, and he has fire coming out of 
 his mouth " 
 
 By this time Long Lauchie was on his feet. 
 
 " I'm no sure what to believe o' your 
 haverings," he said, and he paused irreso- 
 lutely, revolving possibilities in his mind.
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 191 
 
 *' Do ye mean to tell me that you actually 
 heard Allan Henderson crying out some- 
 where ? " 
 
 " Ay, that I did ! " answered Niall eagerly 
 — he saw the ' sooker ' coming within reach. 
 
 " Where, then ? " 
 
 *'It's a black hole away down past the 
 Gallows Hill. It's the opening into the 
 Bad Place " 
 
 " Come away this minute," said the shoe- 
 maker, reaching over for his cap. 
 
 " But I'll no go near — I'll no go near ! " 
 cried Niall, shrinking back. " There's the 
 Big Devil — and the flames " 
 
 *' Ye'll take me to the very spot," said the 
 shoemaker, peremptorily. '' And if I find 
 yeVe been telling me lies, I'll give ye the 
 finest leathrin' you ever got in your life. 
 And that will be better for you than playing 
 with a sooker." 
 
 It was an unlucky threat ; for as they set 
 out it was plain that daft Niall followed with 
 the greatest unwillingness : there was a 
 curious, furtive look in his eyes as if he were 
 watching for the first opportunity of escape. 
 But in the meantime Long Lauchlan was a 
 proud man. Had it been reserved for him. 
 then, to discover the missing schoolmaster,
 
 192 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 while all tlie others had been searching about 
 and telegraphing in vain ? And if that were 
 so, was it not owing to his shrewdness in 
 perceiving that there might be some basis of 
 fact in the murky imaginings of this half- 
 witted gangrel ? Lauchie saw himself rising 
 in the esteem of Duntroone, and stepped out 
 boldly. 
 
 And then — for they had to go round by 
 the railway-station and the quay to get to 
 the Gallows Hill — his glance happened to 
 light on the red baize door of the refresh- 
 ment-room.. It was a terrible temptation ; 
 and instantly all sorts of devil's logic leapt 
 into his brain. Was not this a great occur- 
 rence? Ought he not to fortify himself 
 against whatever might befall by swallowing 
 a good, stiff dram ? It is true that his con- 
 science as a Rechabite said No. But what 
 was this conscience, after all — this unbidden 
 and unwelcome guest ? His conscience was 
 only a part of himself; whereas he was the 
 whole ; and surely the whole is greater than 
 any part? »Why should he be dictated to 
 by any mere section of himself? Besides, 
 the whisky of that refreshment-room was a 
 most superior whisky. And arduous duties 
 might be demanded of him, if the poor lad
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 193 
 
 Allan had chanced into trouble. And — 
 
 and Then of a sudden he shut his lips 
 
 firm and hard ; he kept his eyes straight 
 before him ; and walking stiffly and erect he 
 got safely past the station. 
 
 The next moment, however, he awoke to 
 the fact that his companion had vanished. 
 He looked everywhere around ; there was 
 no Niall visible. He could not at all under- 
 stand this piece of deviltry, until his wander- 
 ing gaze fell on the bridge they had crossed 
 in coming along — a bridge that here spans 
 a burn, or rather an open ditch ; and it 
 occurred to him that perhaps the young 
 rascal had slipped over the parapet, clambered 
 down, and hidden himself in that unsavoury 
 refuge. He hurried back. He searched 
 hither and thither. At length he saw two 
 elfish eyes peering from under the archway. 
 
 " Come out o' that, ye limb o' Satan ! " 
 he called angrily. " Come out o' that, will 
 ye? 
 
 Instead there was an instant disappearance. 
 And then the baffled and irate shoemaker 
 began to pick up stones from the road ; and 
 these he endeavoured to shy into that dusky 
 recess. But it was an awkward angle ; most 
 of the missiles struck the bridge ; and at last, 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 seeing there was nothing else for it, Long 
 Lauchie had himself to get over, and scramble 
 down, and make for the twilight of the arch. 
 When at last he had dragged Niall out by 
 the scruff of the neck, and had him up into 
 the open air again, he said — 
 
 " That's one leatherin' I owe ye ; and 
 maybe there'll be six more before the day's 
 done. Ye imp o' Satan, wi' your witch's 
 tricks ! But wait till I get ye home again, 
 I'll give ye something better than a sooker — 
 ay, ay, I'll give ye something better than a 
 sooker ! " 
 
 And thereafter he drove him on in front, 
 the better to keep an eye on him ; and in 
 this wise they climbed the Grallows Hill, and 
 made their way along the summit of the 
 cliffs. 
 
 In time Niall began to move more and 
 more reluctantly ; he was evidently creeping 
 forward with much apprehension. 
 
 " Whereabouts now ? " demanded the shoe- 
 maker. 
 
 The daft laddie pointed vaguely with his 
 finger. 
 
 " Well, go on — go on, man ! What are 
 you feared of?" said the gloomy and impatient 
 Lauchie.
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 195 
 
 "Maybe they'll come out," said Niall, in a 
 whisper, and his eyes were staring ahead. 
 " They hae grippit the schoolmaster, and 
 maybe they'll come out for us. They can 
 run quick, the small ones, though there's no 
 so much flame about them." 
 
 " Get on, man^ get on ! — and let me see 
 the place where ye heard Henderson crying 
 out," said Lauchie ; and then he added, in a 
 more persuasive tone, " And maybe there'll 
 no be a leatherin' for ye at all. Maybe I'll 
 make ye a fine big sooker, and when ye've 
 got the string into it, and when yeVe 
 soaked it_, it will be strong enough to lift a 
 paving stone out o' the street. Think o' 
 that, now ! " 
 
 But Niall was no longer occupied with 
 playthings. His eyes were full of dread — 
 and his brain was full of cunnino;. 
 
 " Stand still," he said, in the same cautious 
 whisper, '* stand still where ye are, and ye'll 
 hear Henderson. The black hole is just along 
 there. Stand still and listen." And as the 
 shoemaker thoughtlessly obeyed — with his 
 own eyes thrown forward — Niall seized the 
 opportunity to dart away from him, flying 
 off with remarkable swiftness. 
 
 Long Lauchie uttered an imprecation, and
 
 196 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 started in pursuit. But his cramped calling 
 had left him little of a runner ; whereas the 
 half-witted creature had the speed of a roe 
 and the agility of a wild -cat. Moreover, he 
 had no intention of making this a race in 
 the open. At a certain point he swerved 
 towards the edge of the cliffs, and suddenly 
 disappeared ; and Lauchie, arriving a few 
 moments later, found that he must have 
 boldly attacked the descent, swinging from 
 one leafless bush to another, until he reached 
 the road below. Lauchie, under his breath, 
 called down more curses, and in a morose 
 mood set out to resume his researches alone. 
 He was not quite sure now but that the imp 
 had befooled him from the beginning. 
 
 Nevertheless, to satisfy his own mind, he 
 went forward in the direction that Niall 
 Gorach had indicated, spying everywhere 
 about ; and in a very brief space he came to 
 the edge of the chasm. At first, in inspecting 
 this deep gap, he could make out hardly 
 anything ; but in time, his eyes growing 
 more accustomed, he thought there was some 
 object of unusual blackness lying away down 
 there, at the foot of the narrowing fissure. 
 And the better to examine, he laid himself 
 prone on the heather, just as Niall had done.
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 197 
 
 and pushed liis head over the brink : the 
 next moment he was convinced that the 
 huddled black mass down there was human. 
 
 " Allan — Allan Henderson — is that you ? " 
 he called aloud. 
 
 Then he was silent, and awe-stricken. For 
 there was no answer ; and it seemed to him 
 that he was in the presence of death. He 
 stealthily retreated from the edge of the 
 chasm, he regained his feet, he set out for 
 Duntroone — something frightened, no doubt, 
 but still considering rapidly in his own mind 
 what ought now to be done. 
 
 He had to go round by the railway-station, 
 and about the first person he met was Mr. 
 Gilmour, who promptly offered to send a 
 couple of his men, with a coil of rope. But 
 Lauchie deemed it advisable to go on and 
 tell his tale at the police-station, and there 
 the sergeant on duty at once ordered two 
 of the officers to get ready a stretcher and 
 coverlet. Finally, Lauchie, after a good 
 deal of tracking from house to house, suc- 
 ceeded in discovering the doctor ; and the 
 doctor, on hearing the story, immediately 
 went home to provide himself with some 
 splints, cotton wool, bandages, and the like, 
 and also a flask of brandy. Thus equipped,
 
 198 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 the little posse comitatus set out, Long 
 Laucliie being guide. And it ought to be 
 noted that in these hurryings to and fro the 
 shoemaker had to pass the red baize door 
 of the refreshment-room no fewer than four 
 times, yet not once did he succumb. With 
 clenched mouth and immovable head he went 
 resolutely by — human weakness only reveal- 
 ing itself, after each achievement, in a long, 
 sad sigh of resignation. 
 
 It turned out that one of the railway- 
 servants had been a sailor ; and w^hen they 
 arrived at the deep cleft in the rock, he 
 volunteered to descend. And a tedious and 
 difficult business it Tvas to get this limp and 
 insensible body hoisted carefully into the 
 upper air ; but at last the hapless young 
 schoolmaster lay extended on the heather ; 
 and the doctor proceeded to his examination. 
 The faintest moan now and again was the 
 only sign of life lingering in that prostrate 
 form ; there was no movement — not even a 
 twitch of agony as the doctor was passing 
 his hand over this or that limb, to ascertain 
 the whereabouts of any fracture : his eyes 
 were closed as in profoundest sleep. 
 
 And meanwhile there were two other 
 persons who had heard of this discovery and
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 199 
 
 were now hurrying out from Duntroone. 
 The one was a strongly-built elderly man, 
 whose natural freshness of complexion was 
 for the moment overmastered by a look of 
 vague and anxious alarm ; the other, also 
 with apprehension written in every line of 
 her face, was Jess Maclean. They hardly 
 spoke to each other ; their thoughts were too 
 intent on what might be awaiting them 
 ahead. And thus they hastened round by 
 the harbour ; they ascended the Gallows 
 Hill ; they got out on to the bleak and open 
 and undulating moorland. It was a picture 
 of utter desolation : for the afternoon had 
 turned out wild and wet and squally ; the 
 livid green waters of the Sound were dark 
 and driven ; the heather bent in waves before 
 the blasts of wind ; the sea-gulls were calling 
 and screaming in the gusty and lowering 
 skies. But into this picture of loneliness 
 and gloom there came something still more 
 sombre — a small black group of figures who 
 seemed to be carefully carrying some hori- 
 zontal object. It looked so like a funeral 
 procession that Jess Maclean uttered a piteous 
 little exclamation, and laid a trembling hand 
 on her companion's arm ; but this man 
 with the haggard eyes and the now almost
 
 200 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 bloodless face, did not pause ; he went forward, 
 perhaps a little more slowly ; and Jess 
 accompanied Lim, their gaze fixed upon that 
 gradually advancing train. 
 
 The doctor had lingered behind, by the 
 side of the chasm, to gather together his 
 surgical appliances, and the station-master 
 had remained with him. None the less, 
 when the men who were bringing along this 
 sad burden arrived at the spot where the 
 new-comers were now standing, they did not 
 wait for orders ; instinctively they came to 
 a halt ; they guessed that the stranger who 
 was with Jessie Maclean must be the young 
 man's father. And at the first glimpse of 
 the grey and lifeless features, and the hand 
 hanging limp and loose from under the 
 coverlet, a spasm of agony crossed the father's 
 face; he seemed paralysed; he could not step 
 forward, nor did he ask any question ; with 
 shaking fingers he reverently removed his 
 hat from his head ; and as he did so, he 
 murmured something to himself: 
 
 " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken 
 away : blessed be the name of the Lord. But 
 it will bear hard on the lad's mother." 
 
 It was Jess who came to his aid. She 
 advanced timidly ; she took the hand that
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 201 
 
 hung so limply there ; and the next moment 
 she gave a slight short cry. 
 
 '* He lives ! — Uncle, he lives ! — there is 
 hope for us ! " And at this moment the 
 doctor came up. " Doctor," she said, with 
 tears swimming in her eyes, "is there a 
 chance for him ? — is there hope for us ? " 
 
 " Indeed yes, indeed yes," the doctor made 
 answer. " Go on, lads, go on ; but gently. 
 Indeed yes/' he resumed, turning to Jess. 
 " Lying out for two days and nights in this 
 cold and wet weather is bad enough ; and 
 the poor lad has been smashed about sadly ; 
 but I know Allan — I know him well — he's 
 as hard as nails when he gives himself fair 
 treatment. And we'll see him through this, 
 or I'm mistaken. There's not so much 
 damage done — a simple fracture of the leg 
 and a sprained foot ; but there's the extreme 
 exhaustion, of course. Well, we must hope 
 for the best. Miss Maclean." 
 
 " Where are you taking him to now, sir ? " 
 Allan's father asked. 
 
 " To the poor-house hospital," was the 
 answer. '' It's not the best that could be 
 desired ; but it's the only hospital we've 
 
 " His mother will be sore grieved to hear
 
 202 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 that," the older man said. " There's never 
 been one of the family near a poor-house ; 
 and this one — this one was just the pride of 
 her life." 
 
 " It is mainly a question of attendance," 
 observed the doctor. '' If you would prefer 
 that your son should be taken to his own 
 lodgings, maybe I could make some arrange- 
 ment " 
 
 " Could I be of any use, Doctor ? " Jess 
 interposed, diffidently and yet anxiously. 
 
 " Would you be willing to help ? " he said, 
 at once turning to her. 
 
 '' Ay, that I would ! — that I would ! " said 
 she, with an involuntary tremor of the lip. 
 
 " Yery well — very well/' said he ; and he 
 stepped on to give the men altered directions. 
 
 They were now come to the top of the 
 Gallows Hill, the descent from which had to 
 be managed with the greatest caution. 
 When, at length, they arrived at the foot 
 of the steep incline, the doctor was not sur- 
 prised to discover that Jessie Maclean was 
 no longer of the company ; he thought it 
 but natural she should wish to avoid the 
 publicity of walking through the town with 
 this funeral-like cortege ; and assumed that 
 she had gone on ahead to her own home.
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 203 
 
 He was mistaken. She had gone on ahead, 
 it is true, and with great swiftness ; but it 
 was to Allan Henderson's lodging. And 
 when at last the doctor and his charge 
 arrived, it was clear how busy and alert and 
 dexterous she had been in the interval. 
 Allan's own room was all smartly tidied up ; 
 the gas lit — for the dusk had fallen now ; 
 a coal fire burning briskly in the grate ; the 
 bed carefully made and folded down. More- 
 over, she had requisitioned the adjacent 
 room, which chanced to be vacant ; and here 
 also the gas was lit ; while a wicker-work 
 easy-chair had been brought in, for the con- 
 venience of any nurse who might want to 
 sit up, and read, and listen. The doctor, 
 busy as he was, looked round, and nodded 
 approval. 
 
 ***** 
 Later on that evening Long Lauchie the 
 shoemaker and an old crony of his, Donald 
 Crane — that is to say, Donald that worked 
 the crane at the quay, his real name being 
 Donald Macdonald — were seated together 
 in a corner of a favourite howff of theirs ; 
 and Lauchlan was happy. It was the 
 stupidity of the people of Duntroone that 
 seemed to be amusing him most ; he laughed
 
 204 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 and chuckled to himself; while there were 
 glasses and a pewter measure on the table 
 before him that ought not to have been 
 there. 
 
 " Donald," said he, in Gaelic, to the crane- 
 worker — and the crane- worker was a thin 
 little hard man, with a thin hard red face 
 and steel-blue eyes — '* Donald, it is you that 
 have some knowledge in your head. But the 
 other people in Duntroone — well, I will give 
 you my opinion about the other people in 
 Duntroone ; and it is this — that they were 
 not at home when the sense was shared. 
 To go seeking away along the shore ; when 
 the schoolmaster was not a sailor, nor a 
 fisherman, and when it was known he had 
 not taken a boat anywhere : was not that the 
 work of fools ? And for a poor idiot lad 
 to get the better of them — well, I am laugh- 
 ing at that, and no mistake ! Donald," he 
 went on, suddenly pretending to be sober, 
 " are you not coming up to Fort William 
 with me to-morrow ? You will see some- 
 thing : aw, as sure as death you will see 
 something worth while ! For I am going to 
 smash the head of the carpenter. I do not 
 want my wife back ; and I will not take her 
 back ; but it is the head of the carpenter I
 
 OUT OF THE DEEPS. 205 
 
 am going to smash for him — aw, Dyea, will 
 not that be a pretty sight ! " He laughed 
 again and again, softly and quietly, in 
 humorous anticipation ; then he made a 
 grasp at the pewter measure, but found it 
 empty. " Donald, my noble hero, we will 
 now have another mutchkin — ay, by the 
 piper of Moses, we will have another mutch- 
 kin — and I will drink your health. Donald, 
 it is you that are the son of my heart ; and 
 it is you that are coming to Fort William 
 with me ; and we will see if there is not 
 a drop of Long John left somewhere about 
 in Lochaber 1 " 
 
 He reached over, and rang the bell ; and 
 a servant-lass appeared. Long Lauchie had 
 broken out with a vengeance this time.
 
 206 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A VISITOR. 
 
 So Jess was installed as nurse ; and the 
 ' foolishness ' was no longer upon her ; she 
 was brisk and active and cheerful — especially- 
 cheerful when she saw that the care she 
 bestowed on this intractable patient was 
 being rewarded by a steady convalescence. 
 For the young man had naturally a tough 
 and wiry physique, if only he had allowed it 
 a little more nourishment and a little less 
 tobacco ; and now there was no tobacco, 
 while there was as much nourishment as was 
 deemed prudent ; and the progress made was 
 in every way satisfactory. But intractable 
 he assuredly was. He fretted over the waste 
 of time ; he fretted over the expense of 
 certain little delicacies which, as a matter of 
 fact, never cost him a farthing, for they were
 
 A VISITOR. 207 
 
 sent along out of the kindly thoughtfulness 
 of Mrs. Maclean ; and he fretted over the 
 rules and regulations that Jess, under the 
 doctor's orders, had to impose. Nay, to tell 
 the truth, he was sometimes not over civil to 
 Jess herself. But she only laughed. 
 
 " A grumbling patient is a recovering 
 patient," she would say to the town-councillor, 
 who called frequently. 
 
 It was not his grumbling that hurt her 
 and opened old wounds. Oftentimes, when 
 she went in to sit with him for half-an-hour, 
 he would talk of nothing but her cousin 
 Barbara ; and the questions he asked showed 
 clearly enough what was running in his 
 mind, and what was the future towards 
 which he was looking. He had got it into 
 his head that a woman must necessarily 
 know more of the character, and disposition, 
 and views of a woman than a man possibly 
 could ; and when he was not himself talking 
 about Barbara, he would have Jess talk of 
 her ; while Jess, in framing her replies to 
 his questions, naturally could speak no word 
 of Barbara that was not hearty commen- 
 dation. 
 
 " And you say she has courage ? " he 
 proceeded, on one occasion. " You imagine
 
 208 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 she would not be afraid to face straightened 
 circumstances ? " 
 
 " As for that," Jess responded, " she has 
 faced nothing else all her life long ! " 
 
 " Yes, perhaps," he said, after a moment's 
 hesitation, " but I was thinking if she came 
 to consider the question of marrying. She 
 might very fairly look for some better 
 position — some assurance as to the future : 
 marriage is a big enough risk in any case, 
 without any added uncertainty " 
 
 " She would have to take her chance like 
 other folk," said Jess, a little tartly. 
 
 But Jess Maclean went and pondered over 
 these things ; and when in the evening she 
 took him in his bit of light supper, she 
 said — 
 
 " Now, Allan, you must not keep worrying 
 about your circumstances and 3^our future, as 
 I think you do. It is merely that this 
 accident has driven you to consider possi- 
 bilities that are never likely to happen. You 
 are none so ill off, as it is. Mr. McFadyen 
 has made it all right with the School Board, 
 and they've got a substitute, and you are to 
 put aside all anxiety to get about again, 
 until you are perfectly well and strong. 
 Then there's another thing. You must give
 
 A VISITOR. 209 
 
 up the scheme about the boarding-house. 
 It would never do. It would want a great 
 deal of capital ; and there would be a great 
 responsibility ; and if, as mother suggests, 
 you thought of taking a wife to manage it 
 for you, well, then, how could you go to a 
 girl and say ^ Will you become my house- 
 keeper ? I will marry you, so that you may 
 look after my boarders ? ' " 
 
 As she spoke thus Jessie's fair and freckled 
 face showed some colour ; but she was 
 determined to have her say out ; she had 
 more than a casual interest in this young 
 man and his designs. 
 
 " Now this is what I would advise you, 
 Allan, if you think it is not too impertinent 
 of me to offer one like you advice on any 
 matter at all. In a town like Duntroone 
 there must be plenty of clever young lads, in 
 the shops and the offices, who have never had 
 any chance of the better kind of schooling, 
 and perhaps some of them half-expecting to 
 have a winter or two at college by-and-bye. 
 Well, now, why not start a Latin class for 
 those lads — from eight till half-past nine in 
 the evening, or from lialf-past eight till ten ? 
 There would be no risk in it ; there would be 
 no expense except the rent of a big room, and 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 the gas, and the price of an advertisement in 
 the Duntroone Times and Telegraph. They 
 would buy their own grammar-books ; and 
 the fees would be all found money to you, 
 once the rent was paid. Now will you 
 consider that, if you must go planning and 
 planning about the future ? " 
 
 He was immensely grateful. And next 
 morning, when she made her appearance, 
 he said — 
 
 " Jessie, you are the wisest creature in the 
 world — and the kindest. I have been lying 
 awake half the night, considering what the 
 advertisement should be, and wondering 
 where I could get a room, and how long it 
 might be before I could begin " 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " said she. " AVell, if it's 
 going to lead to your lying awake at night, 
 I'm not for intermeddling any more in your 
 schemes — or for taking any interest in your 
 affairs. Why should I ? " she added, saucily. 
 
 " Why should you ? " he repeated, with 
 a friendly glance towards her. " Because 
 I don't deserve it. That's the way of 
 women." 
 
 And yet it was hard on Jess that she 
 should be deputed to coax and persuade 
 Barbara Maclean into paying him a visit.
 
 A YISITOE. 211 
 
 For a considerable time he had kept this 
 secret desire of his to himself; perhaps in 
 the hope that Barbara would of her own 
 accord come along to see him ; perhaps 
 through some fear that she might be un- 
 favourably impressed by the poor and mean 
 appearance of his dwelling. But the ideas 
 of an invalid are pertinacious ; they grow in 
 importance through the long hours of think- 
 ing ; and at last, with some little diffidence, 
 he revealed to Jess what he was most of all 
 longing for, and timidly asked her whether 
 she thought such a thing was possible. 
 
 For a second Jess remained silent. Then 
 she looked at him rather askance. 
 
 '' Perhaps," said she, " perhaps you would 
 like Barbara to take my place ? " 
 
 He seemed startled by the suggestion — but 
 only for a moment. 
 
 " No, no," said he, " I could not be so 
 ungrateful. There's no one like you, Jessie ; 
 there's no one could be so kind, and forgiving, 
 and good-humoured, in the face of all sorts 
 of unreasonableness, and ill-temper, and ill- 
 treatment " 
 
 " Oh, you treat me well enough, if only 
 you would treat yourself a little better," said 
 Jess, bluntly. " I declare it's most provoking
 
 212 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 to see you busying away with your books 
 and papers and pencil, when it's stories you 
 should be reading if you must read at all. 
 I wish your mother were able to come through 
 to Duntroone, to give you a talking to, for 
 my scolding is no use — you pay no heed. 
 Well, I am going along to the house now, 
 to see if the blanc-mange is ready ; and I 
 will try and get Barbara to come back with 
 me." And therewith she departed, leaving 
 him to wait and lie and listen, anxiously and 
 half-doubtingly and wonderingly, for the first 
 sound of footsteps on the stairs without. 
 
 When Jess had gone along to the house 
 and got ready the carrageen blanc-mange 
 for conveyance to her patient, she turned to 
 Barbara. 
 
 " Barbara," she said, " would you not like 
 to go back with me now, and look in on 
 Allan, and talk to him for a little while ? " 
 
 Barbara hardly raised her eyes from her 
 sewing. 
 
 " I am sure that would do no good," said 
 she, unwillingly. " It would be more of an 
 annoyance than anything else. And when 
 he has the doctor, and the landlady, and 
 you all looking after him, surely that is 
 enough."
 
 A YISITOE. 213 
 
 Jess hesitated. She would rather have 
 avoided confessing that it was at Allan's 
 express entreaty she was making this sugges- 
 tion. But she saw no other way : Barbara 
 was clearly indisposed to go. 
 
 " It would be a friendly thing on your 
 part," she said ; " for it is very dull for him 
 lying there day after day, and hardly seeing 
 any one. And — and to tell you the truth, 
 Barbara, he asked me to ask you. Come, 
 now ! — if it is only for a few minutes." 
 
 With evident reluctance the girl put her 
 sewing aside ; she got up and fetched her 
 out-of-door things ; and presently the two of 
 them had left the house. But they had not 
 gone over a hundred yards when something 
 happened that effectually aroused Barbara 
 from her apathetic acquiescence. There was 
 a distant whistle, repeated again and again — 
 the echo sounding along the shores of Ker- 
 rara ; and by-and-bye a steamer with flags 
 flying came round the point of the mainland. 
 Jessie's pretty and gentle grey eyes were 
 keen-sighted as well. 
 
 " Barbara," said she, " you have been 
 asking me sometimes when Jack Ogilvie 
 was coming back to Duntroone. Well, now, 
 if I am not mistaken, that is the Aros
 
 214 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Castle — they are going to put her on her 
 station next week, to Tobermory and Stron- 
 tian on Loch Sunart. And no doubt Ogilvie 
 is on board of her at this minute." 
 
 Barbara suddenly stood stock still. 
 
 " Will he be coming ashore ? Will he 
 be coming along through the town ? " she 
 demanded, hurriedly. 
 
 " Very likely," said Jess. " The young 
 man has plenty of friends." 
 
 " Jessie," said the other, quickly, " I have 
 forgotten something : I must go back home 
 for a few minutes. AVill you come with me, 
 or will you wait here ? " 
 
 " I will wait here, then," said Jess — for 
 she was at the window of the stationer's 
 shop, and there were plenty of photographs 
 for her to look at. 
 
 Then Barbara hastened away back and got 
 to her room ; and the first thing she did was 
 to get out from a drawer the handsome fichu 
 that Allan Henderson had given her. She 
 whipped off her cloth jacket; she draped 
 herself in that piece of finery ; she put on 
 her jacket again, leaving it partly open in 
 front, so that at least a portion of the silk 
 and the lace and the bugles remained visible. 
 Next she went to the mirror, and rapidly
 
 A VISITOR. 215 
 
 and yet carefully attended to her hair, regard- 
 ing herself from various angles, and slow to 
 be satisfied. From another drawer she took 
 out a pair of kid gloves — whereas when she 
 first set forth her hands had been bare ; she 
 provided herself with a silk parasol that she 
 had borrowed on some occasion or another 
 from Mrs. Maclean ; she had a final look into 
 the mirror at the set of her hat and its 
 feather ; and when she descended into the 
 street, &he was quite a smart young lady in 
 appearance. The Aros Castle was now lying 
 alongside the quay. 
 
 Jessie's quick eyes immediately perceived 
 the change in her cousin's attire ; and she 
 said to herself, ' Xow, that is a friendly thing 
 to do : Allan will be pleased to see her wear- 
 ing his present.' And when at length this 
 beautiful creature entered his room, and went 
 forward in rather a perfunctory way to give 
 him her hand, and then retired to a seat a 
 few yards back, the young schoolmaster was 
 not only bewildered and entranced by the 
 mere fact of her being there — by the occa- 
 sional glance of those large, mystic, deep- 
 blue eyes — he was also overjoyed to see that 
 she wore his gift. He made no doubt it was 
 a piece of kindly thoughtfulness on her part ;
 
 216 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 it was an indication of the amiability and 
 sympathy of her nature ; it was a token of 
 goodwill that was worth all the world to 
 him. He was so grateful to her for coming 
 — so thrilled and enthralled by the sight of 
 her — that he did not take particular heed of 
 her silence, nor yet of the somewhat cold 
 scrutiny with which she regarded the furniture 
 of this meagre apartment. 
 
 Indeed he was all too anxious to interest 
 and entertain her ; and for that very reason 
 he found it embarrassingly difficult. Small 
 talk was not in his way. What he really 
 longed to say was : * Do you know how 
 wonderful and beautiful you are ? Do you 
 know that your sitting in that chair — even 
 when you are silent — makes a kind of 
 splendour in this poor room ! ' But at least 
 he managed to ask her if she had been to the 
 recent practisings of the Gaelic Choir, and 
 whether they had sung the Fear a hhctta, or 
 The Brown-haired Maid, or any other of 
 the songs familiar in the outer isles ; and 
 this led him on to speak of his lecture on 
 the German Yolkslieder, which had actually 
 been announced for the 15th of the follow- 
 ing month. 
 
 " And will you be quite well and going
 
 A VISITOR. 217 
 
 about hj tliat time ? " she asked, turning her 
 great, glorious eyes upon him. 
 
 " Oh, yes, and before then, the doctor 
 says," he made answer. 
 
 " I am very glad to hear it," she said, 
 rather listlessly — But he did not notice that : 
 the sound of her voice was like music in 
 his ear. 
 
 " And I hope you will come to the lecture. 
 Miss Barbara," he went on, presently. " The 
 Committee of the Society have got the loan 
 of the Masonic Hall, that has been all newly 
 decorated — indeed they say now it is the most 
 beautiful hall in all the west country " 
 
 " Oh, then, it is to be a very grand affair ? " 
 she said, with a trifle more of attention. 
 
 ''Well, not such a gay affair as Mr. 
 McAskill's dance," said he, laughing, " that 
 I heard was a great sight for you. But we 
 are to have dignities present. The rank and 
 fashion of Duntroone have been very kind in 
 sending for tickets ; and the Committee are 
 trying to persuade the Provost to take the 
 chair. Then I want the front row of seats, 
 next the platform, kept for my own particular 
 friends ; I should feel more at home that 
 way ; and you and Jessie, if you are so kind 
 as to come, must have seats there — Mr.
 
 218 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 McFadyen will look after you — and I shall 
 feel that I am among my own folk " 
 
 " Allan, lad," said Jess, who was placing a 
 small refection on the little table by the side 
 of the ' bed, " are you trying to persuade 
 Barbara you are so shy and sensitive before 
 an audience that you need private help and 
 sympathy ? Oh, yes, indeed ! But I know 
 better. I know. I've seen you preside over 
 a meeting, more than once. And I've seen a 
 dispute arise — cross-arguments, confusion, 
 words flying; and then I've seen the chair- 
 man get up, with a face as black as thunder ; 
 and weren't the quarrelsome folk pretty soon 
 quieted down — ordered to the right about, 
 and every one of them feeling he had made 
 a fool of himself! It is not only in the 
 school that the schoolmaster must lay down 
 the law, and hector, and have everything his 
 own way " 
 
 " Jessie ! " the young man remonstrated, 
 blushing furiously. '' What's this you're 
 saying ? What will Barbara think ? " 
 
 " Keep your temper, Allan," Jess re- 
 sponded, coolly. " If ye lost it, it would be 
 a bad thing for the one that found it." 
 
 At this point Barbara rose, intimating that 
 it was now time for her to go ; she advanced
 
 A VISITOR. 219 
 
 to the bedside and bade him good-bye ; she 
 said a word or two in passing to Jessie ; and 
 with that she left. 
 
 " There, you see, you've frightened her 
 away with your nonsense ! " he exclaimed, 
 fretfully and angrily. 
 
 ** Better she should go now," Jess said, 
 in her usual placid way, " before she got 
 tired : she is all the more likely to come 
 again." 
 
 " And do you think she will come again ? " 
 he asked, with a sudden alteration in his 
 tone. 
 
 " Why not ? " answered Jess, good-na- 
 turedly. " She is not kept over busy. I 
 dare say she is away back home now to hem 
 handkerchiefs for herself" 
 
 However, Barbara Maclean had not re- 
 turned home to resume her sewing. When 
 she got outside, she lingered about the pave- 
 ment, pretending to study the shop windows, 
 but in reality glancing furtively up and 
 down the thoroughfare, with an occasional 
 look across the bay towards a certain red- 
 funnelled steamer moored at the opposite 
 quay. After a while, and with an affectation 
 of carelessness as though she hardly knew 
 whither she was going, she proceeded along
 
 220 HIGHLAND COrSINS. 
 
 the esplanade in the direction of the railway- 
 station ; and when she reached the railway- 
 station, she went to the bookstall, and seemed 
 to be wholly engrossed in contemplating the 
 periodical literature displayed there. But 
 close to the bookstall there is a large gate- 
 way opening on to the road that here skirts 
 the harbour ; and along this road any one 
 coming either to or from the South Quay 
 must necessarily pass, whether he chooses to 
 look into the railway-station or not. And it 
 was at the South Quay that the Aros Castle 
 was now lying.
 
 ( 221 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 EiS-COUNTERS. 
 
 Long Lauchlax the shoemaker did not at 
 once put into execution his threat of going 
 to Fort William to smash the head of the 
 carpenter ; but the idea remained hidden in 
 the dim recesses of his brain ; and one day, 
 having provided himself with a soda-water 
 bottle which was not filled with soda-water, 
 he walked down to the quay, and stepped 
 on board the Fusilier, There was no savage 
 purpose visible in his face ; on the contrary, 
 he wore an expression of bland content ; and 
 when he had gone forward to the bow, and 
 made himself comfortable in a corner, with 
 his back resting against the bulwarks, he 
 was laughing and talking to himself — 
 chuckling over the folly of the contemporary 
 race of mankind — smiling at his own grim
 
 222 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 little jokes — and occasionally breaking into 
 gentle song. For Lauchie had not as yet 
 returned to the fold of the Rechabites ; the 
 rescue of the schoolmaster had been a great 
 event; and ever since, with but a few intervals 
 of unwilling labour, he had devoted himself 
 to a " terrible keeping-up o' the New Year." 
 The gangway was withdrawn, the hawsers 
 cast off, the paddles struck the green water 
 into a seething white, and the steamer slowly 
 moved away from the quay. Lauchie was 
 now plaintively singing to himself — 
 
 * There's nae sorrow there, Jean, 
 There's neither cauld nor care, Jean, 
 The day's aye fair 
 In the Land o' the Leal ! ' 
 
 " It's a beautiful song — a beautiful, beauti- 
 ful song," he murmured. Then he burst out 
 laughing. " That foolish idiot of a lass ! 
 ' Mr. Maclntyre, how dare you mention 
 such a thing to me, and you a married man ! ' 
 And then says I : * But a man that has not 
 got a wife is not a married man ; and a man 
 that is not married has as much right to get 
 married as anyone else ; and if that is not 
 the law, then it is them that makes the law 
 that have no sense in their head.' " He 
 chuckled again, softly and gleefully. " ^
 
 EXCOUNTERS. 223 
 
 Mr. Maclntyre, you should not say such 
 things ! I am quite frightened to hear you 
 say such things ! ' " His merriment suddenly 
 ceased. A diligent search had revealed the 
 disastrous fact that in not one of his pockets 
 could a single, match be found. And so he 
 was forced to struggle up from that snug 
 corner, and make away for the cabin, where 
 some friendly steward might give him a 
 light for his pipe. And if — as he was in the 
 cabin in any case — and there being a refresh- 
 ment bar there — if he should take advantage 
 
 of the opportunity — why . But Lauchie 
 
 had disappeared. 
 
 When the steamer reached Fort William, 
 he was as blithe and unconcerned as ever ; 
 and though he said to himself ' Aw, Dyea, I 
 will make the bandy-legged carpenter dance 
 a little dance ! — I will make his bandy legs 
 jump ! ' — it was said with perfect good 
 humour. And in this happy mood he landed, 
 passed along the quay, and entered the little 
 town that lies at the foot of the great Ben 
 Nevis. He knew that if he were to find the 
 carpenter at all, he would find him alone ; 
 for MacKillop was in a very small way 
 of business, ordinarily working as his own 
 journeyman.
 
 224 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 At length he turned into an alley, and 
 came upon a yard filled with all sorts of 
 rubbish — old barrels, broken boats, and 
 sodden shavings — at the further end of which 
 was a shed. The shed was empty ; and 
 there was no one about. But there was also 
 a workshop ; and without a moment's hesi- 
 tation, Lauchie went over to it, and raised 
 the latch, and opened the door. The next 
 moment the two men were staring at each 
 other — the one in paralysed alarm, the other 
 with a grim sort of humour. Then Lauchie 
 began to look about him for some instrument; 
 and the little, bandy-legged, red-headed 
 carpenter, instantly divining his enemy's 
 purpose, and seeing no way of escape by the 
 door, which was blocked by Lauchie's tall 
 form, made a single spring for the window, 
 and frantically tried to raise the lower sash. 
 But he tugged and shook in vain, for in his 
 haste he had forgotten to undo the catch ; 
 and meanwhile Lauchie had got hold of a 
 portentous beam ; so that the luckless 
 carpenter, finding himself caught like a 
 trapped rat, could only throw himself under 
 the table at which he had been planing, in 
 some desperate hope of shelter from the 
 imminent blows. And these came quickly
 
 ENCOUNTERS. 225 
 
 enono-li ; and thud after thud resounded of 
 the unequal fray ; but what with his laughing, 
 and what with his somewhat unsteady gait, 
 Lauchie's aim was uncertain. 
 
 " Aw, Byea," he called aloud — but without 
 the least apparent animosity — rather with a 
 kind of hilarious enjoyment — '' come out of 
 your hole, you red-headed weasel, and I will 
 smash your brains in ! " — and therewith he 
 aimed another blow at the carpenter which 
 would undoubtedly have accomplished that 
 object had it not fortunately descended on a 
 crossbar supporting the table. " Come out 
 from your shavings, will you, till I knock 
 your head off your shoulders ! Will you 
 come out, now ! Do you hear me ? Do you 
 think I have come ahl the way to Fort 
 William for nothing ? Come away, now ! 
 You red-headed weasel, will you come out 
 from your hole ? " 
 
 And again with a tremendous crash the 
 beam descended — this time, happily, hit- 
 ting the table itself. Lauchie laughed 
 loudly. 
 
 '' Aw, Dyea, that a weasel should be afraid 
 to come out like that ! Will I get the dogs 
 and worry you out ? But no — no, no ! — you 
 red-haired son of the devil^ 1 will reach you 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 yet, if I have to keep hammering ahl the 
 day long." 
 
 Then something tumultuous, amazing, 
 inconceivable happened. Lauchie vaguely 
 knew that the carpenter had darted out from 
 his retreat and hurled himself against his 
 (Lauchie's) legs ; there was a wild scuffle 
 and scramble ; the carpenter managed to 
 regain his feet and make for the door ; and 
 when the injured husband, seeking to pursue 
 him and belabour him, would have followed, 
 he, that is to say, Lauchlan Maclntyre, 
 tripped over a plank of wood, he lurched 
 heavily forward, he came down like a log, 
 and there was a splintering crash of glass 
 that told of an appalling and irremediable 
 catastrophe. 
 
 For a time Lauchie lay motionless, while 
 the peccant carpenter was fleeing away into 
 safety. And when he slowly rose, there 
 could be no doubt as to the calamity that 
 had occurred ; his nether garments were 
 saturated ; a pocket of his coat was filled 
 with broken glass. More in sorrow than in 
 anger, he pulled out these fragments of the 
 soda-water bottle, and dropped them in the 
 yard ; then with an ever-increasing dejection 
 he made his way along the chief thoroughfare
 
 EXCOUNTERS. 227 
 
 in the direction of the quay ; and it was 
 a perfectly heart-broken man that seated 
 himself on an empty herring-barrel, to await 
 the return of the steamer from Corpach. 
 
 When Lauchlan stepped on board the 
 Fusilier, on her homeward voyage, he looked 
 neither to the right nor to the left, but went 
 away forward and sate down, his naturally 
 dismal countenance now heavy with gloom. 
 It was at this moment that a little man 
 dressed all in Sunday black, and with a tall 
 hat on his head, came up to him and said, 
 sympathetically — 
 
 '' How are ye, Mr. Maclntyre ? I'm afraid 
 ye look rather down in the mouth.'' 
 
 " I've had a sad loss, Mr. Robertson," 
 answered Lauchie — but he paid little heed 
 to the Free Kirk elder, who was returning 
 from Achnasheen, where he had been engaged 
 with others in protesting against the Declara- 
 tory Act. 
 
 " So I have heard— so I have heard," said 
 the elder, with compassion : he knew the 
 story of Lauchie's domestic misfortunes. 
 
 " The best Glenlennan," Lauchie murmured 
 to himself. 
 
 " Do ye say that now ? " rejoined the other. 
 " The best in all the glen, was she ? It's
 
 228 HIGHLAXD COUSINS. 
 
 grievous to think how time changes us poor 
 mortal creatures ! " 
 
 '^ Seven years in bond," continued the 
 doleful shoemaker. 
 
 " Indeed, indeed ! " said the elder, shaking 
 his head sadly. " Seven years in the bonds 
 of iniquity. I had little idea there were such 
 goings-on, over so long a time." 
 
 " But there was no help for it — no help," 
 Lauchie murmured again, talking to himself 
 mostly, with his eyes bent on the deck. " It 
 was bound to happen the moment I fell." 
 
 The elder started. 
 
 " You fell likewise ? " he exclaimed, in an 
 awestricken voice. " Dear, dear, that ye 
 should have to tell me that ! But the heart 
 of man is deceitful above all things, and 
 desperately wicked." 
 
 ^' Nothing left but bits o' glass — and all 
 the fine stuff gone. There was nearly a 
 whole mutchkin. I was saving it up for 
 the trip home. Seven years' old Grlen- 
 lennan ! " 
 
 The elder stared at him, partly in amaze- 
 ment, partly in anger. 
 
 " Mr. Maclntyre, are ye in your senses ? 
 In the name of mercy what are ye talking 
 about ? "
 
 ENCOUNTERS. 229 
 
 " Seven years' old Glenlennan," Laiicbie 
 repeater), mournfullv. "And when I fell 
 the bottle went all to splinters." 
 
 '* Ay, the bottle," replied the other, sharply. 
 " I'm thinking ye've been paying too much 
 attention to the bottle of late. And you that 
 
 was a Rechabite " 
 
 " And I am a Eechabite. From this 
 moment I am a Eechabite," continued Lauch- 
 lan, doggedly. '' As sure as death, Mr. 
 Robertson. I'm determined this time. From 
 this moment, not a drop. You'll see — 
 you'll see. And on the strength of it, 
 now, we'll just go down below and have a 
 
 tasting " 
 
 " Me ? " said the elder. " Me, that has an 
 
 example to set — unworthy as I am " 
 
 " Then I draw back," interposed Lauchie, 
 with decision. And he went on, assuming 
 a certain solemnity of air : '^ And who will 
 be responsible for that ? Who but yourself, 
 Mr. Robertson? It is you that have refused 
 to pluck a brand from the burning." 
 
 The argument was irresistible. Together 
 they went down to the cabin to celebrate and 
 confirm the most recent of Lauchie's many 
 conversions ; and as the story of Allan 
 Henderson's mishap and rescue had to be
 
 230 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 told all over again, they were still sitting 
 in the cabin when the Fusilier arrived at 
 Duntroone. 
 
 One day at this time, Barbara Maclean was 
 seated at the window of her room, sewing, 
 with an occasional glance into the street 
 below, when she saw Jack Ogilvie pass along 
 the other side of the thoroughfare. It was 
 a chance she had been looking forward to, 
 perhaps watching for ; immediately she rose, 
 threw aside her work, and began with great 
 rapidity to array herself in such out-of-door 
 finery as she possessed, not forgetting to lay 
 her cousin Jessie's stock under contribution. 
 For hitherto she had been unsuccessful in 
 obtaining even a few words of speech with 
 the all too handsome Purser, who had 
 bewildered her senses awav on the evening: 
 of Mrs. McAskill's dance. Once or twice she 
 had wandered round in the direction of the 
 South Quay ; and she had actually in the 
 distance seen Ogilvie — smarter than ever in 
 his uniform of navy blue and brass buttons — 
 standing by the gangway of the Aros Castle, 
 superintending the embarkation of passengers; 
 but she had not had the courage to go nearer. 
 Perhaps he had forgotten that he had ever
 
 EXCOUXTERS. 231 
 
 met her. He might not even know her 
 name. He had to encounter so many people 
 in the course of his duties. 
 
 But now that he had gone along this 
 Campbell Street alone, and would probably 
 return the same way, he might possibly 
 recognise her as he passed. Accordingly, as 
 soon as she hsidjichu, jacket, hat, gloves, and 
 parasol complete, she stole downstairs, and 
 went out on to the pavement. Of course, 
 she could not remain here ; for her aunt's 
 shop was just opposite ; and Mrs. Maclean 
 might happen to look out, and espy her, and 
 wonder what she was doing. But a short 
 way along there was a watchmaker's window 
 into which she had been in the habit of 
 staring ever since she came to Duntroone ; 
 for in it was an ingenious little clock the time 
 of which was kept or rather marked by a tiny 
 gold ball that rolled down an inclined plane, 
 the plane reversing itself at the end of every 
 quarter of a minute ; and this toy had 
 fascinated her so that she would stand un- 
 weariedly following the zig-zag course of the 
 small gold sphere. It was in front of this 
 window that she now lingered, her eyes peep- 
 ing corner-wise. And before long she became 
 conscious that someone was approaching ;
 
 232 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 a furtive glance assured her that this was 
 indeed none other than Ogilvie ; and so, 
 with apparent carelessness forsaking the toy- 
 clock, she continued on her way, as if she 
 were not expecting to meet anyone. 
 
 It was a quick, light, elate step that now 
 sounded along the pavement : she made 
 certain that in his youthful and joyous 
 audacity and unconcern he would not recollect 
 her or even look her way. As he approached, 
 her heart beat wildly ; her trembling fingers 
 grasped the handle of her parasol as if for 
 support. He drew nearer — she could not 
 raise her eyes — he would go by without a 
 word or a glance. And as a matter of fact 
 he did pass her ; then almost at the same 
 moment he seemed to pause ; she managed 
 to turn her head the least little bit; and 
 forthwith he came forward to her, in a 
 manner doubtingly, yet with a propitiatory 
 smile. 
 
 " Miss Maclean ? " said he, and he raised 
 his cap and held out his hand. " I beg your 
 pardon — I was nearly being very rude — but 
 you remained so short a time the night of 
 Mrs. McAskill's dance. And how is your 
 cousin. Miss Jessie ? " he went on — for he 
 could see that she was overwhelmingly
 
 EXCOUXTERS. 233 
 
 embarrassed and self-conscious ; and he was a 
 good-natured lad ; and the spectacle of beauty 
 in distress aroused his sympathy. " I heard 
 from her the other day — about the lecture 
 in the Masonic Hall — Allan Henderson the 
 schoolmaster is a great friend of hers and 
 her mother's, and they are anxious he should 
 have a good audience." 
 
 " And are you S'oino; to the lecture ? " said 
 Barbara, finding her voice at last, and even 
 succeeding in letting her eyes question him 
 for a moment. 
 
 " Well, I am not so sure," he made answer. 
 " It is not much in my line ; but if the boat 
 is in in good time, I may go. And I will 
 take one or two tickets whatever." 
 
 Now at this point he ought to have said 
 good-bye, and gone away. But she was a 
 remarkably pretty girl. 
 
 "I hope. Miss Maclean," said he, "that 
 the next time you come to any such gather- 
 ing, you will stay and join in the dancing. 
 It was quite a disappointment to many of us 
 that you and your cousin left so early. And 
 I suppose you are as fond of dancing as most 
 other young ladies." 
 
 " There was not much dancing in Kilree," 
 said Barbara, blushing furiously.
 
 234 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 And then at last he did say good-bye, and 
 raised his cap, and departed ; and Campbell 
 Street — though it was high noon — seemed to 
 her to grow dark. 
 
 No sooner was he gone than she hurried 
 back to her room, and there she went straight 
 to the mirror, to examine her appearance and 
 her costume from every possible point of view. 
 And then, taking off some of her things, she 
 sate down and pondered — until it was time for 
 her to see about getting ready the mid-day 
 meal. 
 
 In the afternoon she was once more alone 
 — that is to say, she was free to leave the 
 house in charge of the girl Christina ; and 
 again she wandered out, this time making by 
 a circuitous way for a certain back street. 
 Arrived there, she stopped in front of an 
 entry where a small brass plate informed the 
 public that ' Professor Sylvester, teacher of 
 dancing and calisthenics ' abode within ; she 
 hesitated for a second or so ; then, summon- 
 ing up courage, she passed into the dark 
 entry, rang a bell, and inquired if Professor 
 Sylvester were at home. The next thing- 
 was that she found herself the sole occupant 
 of a large and empty apartment, almost 
 destitute of furniture save for a bench that
 
 EXCOUXTERS. 235 
 
 went along two of the walls, and a table on 
 which were ranged a number of stone ginger- 
 beer bottles and tumblers. 
 
 The door ojDened, and the professor ap- 
 peared, violin in hand. He was an elderly, 
 spare, careworn-looking man ; his demeanour 
 was submissive and deprecatory ; he spoke 
 with a slightly foreign accent when he 
 addressed her. And his terms, when Barbara 
 timidly asked for them, were of the most 
 modest character. 
 
 '' But I must see where you will begin — I 
 must see what lessons you will need before 
 joining the class," he said. '' And I will call 
 in my daughter to be your partner." 
 
 He rang the bell. A sandy-haired and 
 rather sulky-looking girl appeared, who, 
 recognising the situation at a glance, took 
 down from a peg on the door a sailor's jacket, 
 and this she donned, no doubt intimating 
 that she had now become a male partner, and 
 was ready, in an impassive and perfunctory 
 way, to go through her share of the per- 
 formance. Barbara betrayed the greatest 
 shame and confusion. 
 
 " No," said she, " I cannot dance at all. I 
 must begin at the beginuing. And could 
 I have lessons without any one looking on ? "
 
 236 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " Certainly — certainly," said the grave and 
 worn-eyed professor. " And what time of 
 the day would it please you to come ? — for 
 there are generally some young people here 
 in the evening." 
 
 There was no difficulty about making final 
 arrangements ; and when these were com- 
 pleted, Barbara, leaving the dancing-master's 
 house, returned home by a roundabout route, 
 for she had resolved upon keeping this 
 matter a dark secret from her aunt and her 
 cousin. And so apt and assiduous did she 
 prove to be that in less than ten days' time 
 the professor said to his daughter — 
 
 " Eugenie, I do not think in all my life I 
 have known a pupil like that — so quick, so 
 clever, so graceful in every movement. It 
 all comes naturally to her — no effort — no 
 constraint — it is a pleasure to teach her. If 
 she had been trained from infancy she might 
 have had a career." 
 
 Eugenie the sulky did not respond. She 
 had formed an unreasoning dislike towards 
 the new pupil — perhaps through jealousy of 
 her elegant figure and her all-conquering and 
 pathetic eyes.
 
 ( 237 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 SCHEMES AXD FORECASTS. 
 
 That was a great occasion when the young 
 schoolmaster, though still something of a 
 cripple, made his first reappearance in Mrs. 
 Maclean's back parlour. The kind-hearted 
 little widow, with covert tears in her lashes, 
 did not know how to tend him and pet him 
 enough ; would have him sit in her own 
 armchair ; feared he was too near the fire, 
 or too far away from the fire ; and generally 
 made such a fuss over him that he had 
 shamefacedly to protest again and again, 
 for he did not like being treated as a child 
 before Jess. 
 
 " Well, indeed," said the widow, as she 
 brought out currant-bun, shortbread, and 
 other elements of festivity, " when something 
 terrible bad has happened, they proclaim a
 
 238 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 day of general mutilation throngliout the 
 country " 
 
 " Humiliation you mean, mother," Jess 
 said, impatiently — she did not mind at other 
 times, but when Allan was present these 
 harmless little mistakes vexed her. 
 
 '^ Exactly that," continued the widow, 
 with much content. " And when something 
 terrible fine happens, like Allan here getting 
 about again, there should be a general re- 
 joicing among us, if one could only manage 
 it. But in the meantime, Jessie, you'll just 
 step across the way and bid Barbara smarten 
 herself up, and come over, directly. Oh, 
 well I know what pleases young folk ! When 
 a lad and a lass are thinking of each other, 
 it's little else they think of. Give them a 
 look at each other, and that's enough — so 
 off ye go, Jess." 
 
 Despite herself, a shade of mortification 
 passed over Jess Maclean's face when she was 
 thus ordered to go and summon Barbara ; for 
 in her capacity of nurse she had established 
 a sort of proprietary right in this fractious 
 invalid ; and now that he had come to report 
 himself convalescent, she thought it hard 
 that any half-stranger should be allowed 
 to intervene. But she was a biddable lass ;
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS. 239 
 
 she whipped on her shawl and bonnet, and 
 went away to execute her mission ; the only 
 thing was that on her return she did not 
 accompany Barbara into the parlour. She 
 remained in the front shop. And at the 
 same moment — whether out of mischief or 
 out of sympathetic consideration — Mrs. 
 Maclean made some excuse and joined her 
 daughter ; so that Barbara Maclean and the 
 young schoolmaster found themselves alone 
 together in the hushed little room. 
 
 " It is I that am pleased to see you going 
 about again," she said in Gaelic, and she 
 gave him her hand for a moment, and then 
 composedly took a seat. 
 
 " And surely," said he in the same tongue, 
 '' my first visit was due to the house that has 
 been so kind to me." 
 
 He had paled slightly on her entrance ; 
 but now the joy of actually beholding her 
 had recalled something of colour and anima- 
 tion to his face ; his dark and glowing eyes 
 drank their fill of her, and yet were never 
 satisfied. How beautiful she was — so much 
 more beautiful than the phantom image of 
 her that had occupied his waking dreams ; 
 his covetous longing to secure this glorious 
 creature all to himself seemed to run riot in
 
 240 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 mad fancies ; something appeared to whisper 
 to him that, now when at last she was so 
 near him, he must seize her hands, and hold 
 them tight, and say to her ' You are mine — 
 you are mine — you cannot go away from 
 me — not any more, for ever.' Meanwhile 
 Barbara was twiddling with the lace frills 
 of her cuffs. 
 
 "And you," he continued — getting some 
 mastery over himself, and dismissing these 
 delirious imaginings, " You I am sure have 
 found the house a kind house, with a warm 
 hearth for you." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed," replied Barbara, rather 
 indifferently. 
 
 " The night of the wreck of the Sanda,'' 
 he went on — his glowing eyes still dwelling 
 on her — his nostrils sensitive to the scent 
 of her costume — " I thought you were lonely 
 and sad enough ; but I told you you were 
 going to a friendly home, and I knew that 
 a friendly home you would find it. And 
 who but I was the first one to meet you ? — 
 so that ever since I have thought of you, and 
 been anxious to know that you were well 
 looked after ; and not like one strayed into 
 a strange fold. Many is the time I would 
 like to have sent along to ask you to come
 
 SCHEMES AND FOEECASTS. 241 
 
 and see me, that you might talk about 
 yourself; but I was not so bold, to disturb 
 you. But I often heard of you ; and I was 
 sure that from your aunt and your cousin you 
 would have the kindest of treatment " 
 
 '' Indeed I have nothing to complain of," 
 Barbara said — with a glance towards the 
 glass door : perhaps she was surprised that 
 she was being left alone in this fashion. 
 
 " When a man lies sick in bed he has time 
 to think of many things/' the schoolmaster 
 proceeded — not quite knowing how to make 
 use of these invaluable moments — having so 
 much to say, and yet in a bewilderment of 
 hesitation as to how far he dared go — " and 
 above all things I was anxious you should 
 understand and be sure that you were among 
 people who wished you well. And perhaps, 
 here or there, might be one whose interest in 
 3^ou was warmer than that — if the time was 
 come to speak " 
 
 Perhaps she comprehended his meaning ; 
 perhaps not ; at all events she somewhat 
 abruptly rose, and said — 
 
 •• I am wondering what my aunt is about, 
 and Jessie : it is not usual for them to 
 neglect you in this way." 
 
 And with that she went to the windowed 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 door, and opened it, and looked into the 
 front shop. But at this moment the arrival 
 of a new visitor — a stormy visitor — absorbed 
 attention : it was the town-councillor, who 
 had come hastily along on hearing of Allan's 
 having adventured forth ; and now he was 
 all excitement and importance in his desire 
 to dominate such a situation ; he drove the 
 Macleans before him into the parlour — the 
 door being left a bit open as was customary. 
 '' Man, Allan," he cried. '' I'm just de- 
 lighted to see ye here again, among your 
 own kith and kin, and in a cosy circle too. 
 And I've news for ye, lad, I've news for ye ; 
 if ye'll not think I have been taking too 
 great a liberty ; but I hardly expected to see 
 ye about so soon, and so I have been making 
 inquiries on your behalf. Yes, indeed," 
 continued Mr. McFadyen, with great vivacity 
 — regarding himself as the hero of the hour, 
 no doubt, and conscious that Jess Maclean's 
 eyes were upon him — ''the moment Miss 
 Jessie put that idea of the Latin class into 
 my head says I to myself, ' Well, if Allan 
 is laid by the heels, and cannot look after 
 this matter, it's just me that's going to do 
 it for him.' And I've found a splendid 
 room for ye — the very ticket : the top floor
 
 SCHEMES AND FOEECASTS. 243 
 
 at Ross and Maclagan's, the lawyers ; and 
 Fm sure they'll be reasonable about it, for 
 it's empty, and not a bit of use to them. 
 And just as I was thinking it would cost ye 
 a stiff penny to put benches and desks into it, 
 then I chanced to hear of the Masonic Hall 
 folk wanting to sell off a lot of their old 
 chairs, and says I to myself, ' If we can get 
 them cheap, they'll just do fine.' Then I 
 went to the office of the Times and Telegraphy 
 and saw the manager, and he says if ye'll 
 give him the advertisement by the year, he'll 
 take it on the easiest terms ; in fact, he was 
 hinting it might not cost ye anything if you 
 would do some writing for the paper at odd 
 hours " 
 
 "No, no," said Allan, frowning, ''I will 
 not have it that way." 
 
 But Peter McFadyen was not the man to 
 be daunted. 
 
 " Just as ye like — just as ye like," he said, 
 blithely. " And that's not all the news. 
 For I've been asking a question here and 
 there, I hope in a discreet kind of way, and I 
 find there's several of my own friends would 
 like their boys to get an hour or two's Latin 
 after the office-work or the shop-work was 
 over ; and that's how it stands, Allan, my
 
 244 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 lad, that as soon as you care to start, I'll 
 guarantee ye'll have quite a respectable size 
 of a class within a fortnight ; and there's no 
 reason why such a class should not go on 
 growing bigger and bigger, for I find it is 
 greatly wanted in Duntroone." 
 
 " I am sure I am very much obliged to you, 
 Mr. McFadyen," the young schoolmaster said, 
 " and especially to Miss Jessie, for it was she 
 that first thought of it. It's a good thing to 
 have friends." 
 
 He ventured to glance towards Barbara. 
 Was she betraying any interest in these poor 
 schemes of his ? Nay, could he dare to hope 
 that she was personally concerned in them ? 
 But Barbara was staring into the fire, with 
 abstracted gaze. 
 
 The councillor, who evidently regarded 
 himself as the founder of Allan's fortunes, 
 now proceeded to prophesy great things ; and 
 he was in a humorous mood as well ; those 
 were gay pictures he drew of the future. 
 Even the little widow was constrained to 
 remark — 
 
 ** Well, Mr. McFadyen, it's you that are in 
 high spirits the night. But take care. Do 
 you remember the old saying ' You are too 
 merry ^ you II have to marry' "
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS. 245 
 
 The warning only increased the councillor s 
 jocosity. 
 
 " Faith, that's a good one ! " he cried, 
 with a prodigious laugh. '' Me marrying ? 
 Is that your advice, Mrs. Maclean ? That's 
 a fine idea, to be sure — the idea of me 
 marrying ! " 
 
 " I do not see what there is to laugh at ! " 
 the widow protested. 
 
 " Well, then, I'll tell you what stands in 
 the way," he said, with sudden gravity — but 
 it was only part of his profound facetiousness. 
 "• There's one very good reason, and one's 
 enough ; and the reason is that I'm too 
 bashful. Ay, there it is — that's the truth." 
 
 With beaming face and demurely twinkling 
 eyes he glanced from one to the other : to 
 himself the notion of his being bashful — a 
 man of the world like himself being bashful 
 — was irresistibly comic. 
 
 " I do not know about that," said the 
 downright little widow ; '' but when I was 
 young, if a man had made up his mind about 
 the girl he wanted to marry, I'm thinking 
 there was not much difficulty about his 
 finding words to ask her. Maybe it is 
 different nowadays. Nowadays it seems to 
 be money first, and your sweetheart second.
 
 246 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 Here Lave you yourself, Mr. McFadyen, 
 been planning out all that Allan is to be, and 
 the grand things he is to do ; and yet never 
 a word about his taking a wife — though 
 perhaps there would be no great need for 
 him to go far afield." 
 
 These words were spoken with smiling 
 significance — the widow being clearly proud 
 of her diplomacy ; but nothing short of 
 consternation ensued. Jessie looked par- 
 ticularly distressed ; Barbara betrayed less 
 confusion — indeed she appeared to treat this 
 open innuendo as of little import. As for 
 the young man who had thus been almost 
 invited to choose one of the cousins, he main- 
 tained a stern silence. It was the councillor 
 who came to the general relief. 
 
 " If there's one thing in the world I would 
 like," he said, " it's just this — that the five 
 of us that are here at this moment could get 
 away for a trip to London to see the sights. 
 Wouldn't that be worth while ? — just by 
 ourselves — a little party — and I've been to 
 
 London myself I know my ways about 
 
 — I could show ye all the fine things that 
 belong to the nation, and therefore they 
 belong just as much to you or to me as to 
 anybody else."
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS. 247 
 
 " Indeed there's truth in what ye say, Mr. 
 McFadyen," the schoohnaster put in. " And 
 maybe John Smith — the common man, the 
 poor man — would be a little better contented 
 with his lot if he only remembered what great 
 possessions are his, and what has been done 
 to please him. If John Smith were a philo- 
 sopher, he would begin and ask questions. 
 For whose delight, for whose use, are splendid 
 public buildings built, and bridges thrown 
 across rivers, and handsome embankments 
 made ? These belong to him — the poor man 
 — to John Smith. What Prince or Duke 
 has a collection of pictures like the National 
 Grallery ? — that is John Smith's. The gems 
 and antiquities and books of the British 
 Museum, the art treasures at South Kensing- 
 ton — what private collection has anything 
 to compare with them ? — and they all belong 
 to John Smith, who has no trouble about 
 them, no fear of being swindled, the best 
 experts of the world buying for him every- 
 where. The Queen has a fine garden behind 
 Buckingham Palace ; but it's not a third as 
 big as Hyde Park — which is John Smith's 
 domain. For I've been to London too, Mr. 
 McFadyen," continued the schoolmaster, who 
 could talk freely and spiritedly enough when
 
 248 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 his sombre fits of silence were abandoned, 
 '' and I've seen the Green Park, Regent's 
 Park, Batter sea Park, and the rest of them, 
 and their ornamental waters, and their great 
 staff of gardeners — all kept up for the public 
 use. What Duke or Marquis has a hall to 
 compare with Westminster Hall — where plain 
 John Smith can walk up and down at any 
 time of the day and eat an orange in content- 
 ment ? Royal Processions to St. Paul's — 
 Lord Mayor's Shows — pageants of that kind 
 are designed for the poor man, not the rich. 
 And if we here, Mr. Councillor, should ever 
 go to London together, and when you'll be 
 taking us to the British Museum or to South 
 Kensington, you'll just have to drop a word 
 now and again reminding us that these are 
 our own collections, and better than any 
 other in the land, and kept up for us with 
 the greatest care. I wonder now," he said, 
 turning to Mrs. Maclean, '^ I wonder, when 
 Mr. McFadyen goes with us to the National 
 Gallery, if he'll remember his position. Will 
 he take us up to the famous Raphael, and 
 say to us : ' This is my last great acquisition : 
 I had to pay a little trifle of £70,000 before 
 I could get it away from Blenheim Palace.' " 
 The practical little widow was puzzled by
 
 SCHEMES AND FOEECASTS. 249 
 
 these vagaries : her answer was more to 
 the point. 
 
 " So you would be off to London, the 
 lot of you ? " she said, cheerfully enough. 
 " Well, well, that's natural for young folk ; 
 but such gaddings about are no for an old 
 body like me. I'm tied to the premises ; 
 I'm a fixture here as much as a shelf or 
 a gasalier " 
 
 *' Not at all — we'll not stir without ye," 
 Peter insisted, gallantly. " Not one step 
 will we stir. You'll just have to get some- 
 body ye can trust to take your place in the 
 shop ; then off we go — like school-children 
 for a holiday. It's but right — it's but right, 
 Mrs. Maclean. Year after year we keep on 
 working and working : are we never to give 
 ourselves a bit treat? I'll undertake to say 
 there's not one in this room has seen the 
 Queen. But we've a right to see her ; for 
 she's a part of the Constitution that we pay 
 for. Dod, man, Allan, ye put bold ideas into 
 folks' heads ; for if everything belongs to 
 John Smith, and if I am John Smith — as ye 
 plainly intimate — then I am the richest man 
 in Europe ; and surely the richest man in 
 Europe should be able to afford a trip to 
 London. What d'ye say, Mrs. Maclean ?
 
 250 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 And you're coming with us, mind. Not a 
 foot will we stir without ye. My word, 
 we'll make things lively in the big town ! " 
 
 But it was not until Mr. McFadyen and 
 Allan had left the hospitable little parlour, 
 and started off for home, that the councillor 
 revealed the secret reason for his thus 
 insisting on a quite chimerical project. 
 
 " Did ye see how I managed it ? " he said, 
 with great exultation. *' Did ye see how 
 natural-like I led them on to look on us all 
 as forming a family-party — that's you and 
 Barbara, and me and Jessie, with the old 
 lady as general friend and adviser. For it 
 doesna do to frighten them at first. It's like 
 taming a wild animal — ye must be cautious 
 and slow and cunning. Dod, man," ex- 
 claimed the councillor, honestly, " I think I 
 showed a little skill ! Did I not, now ? — did 
 I not?" 
 
 Allan was silent : his thoughts were else- 
 where. But Mr. McFadyen was not to be 
 discouraged. 
 
 '' What care I," he continued, gleefully, 
 " whether such a trip as that to London is 
 impracticable or no ? Jessie and Barbara 
 have been led into thinking of the four of us 
 being there together, with perhaps the old
 
 SCHEMES AND FORECASTS. 251 
 
 lady left behind in Duntroone. And of 
 course that would mean two weddings — two 
 weddings, you rascal ! — and when the two 
 weddings come about, you'll just tell me if 
 I did not show a little tact and address 
 in paving the way and making everything 
 easy." 
 
 " I do not like the sound of the wind," 
 said Allan, absently staring out towards the 
 moaning and inscrutable sea. " It is going 
 to be a wild night." 
 
 " Ye're a clever chiel, Allan," continued 
 the complacent councillor, as the two men 
 paused for a second at the parting of their 
 ways, " and your head is just filled with 
 learning and knowledge. But it takes 
 experience of the world, it takes experience 
 of human nature, to manage a difficult affair 
 like this; and maybe you'll be the first to 
 acknowledge as much — maybe you'll be 
 ready to confess that much — when you and 
 Barbara and Jessie and myself find ourselves 
 in a carriage together, driving about and 
 seeing the sights of London." 
 
 The schoolmaster did not reply. With a 
 brief *' Good-night ! " he turned away — and 
 disappeared into the darkness.
 
 !52 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 
 
 It was indeed a wild night — tlie wind 
 howling in the chimneys and shaking the 
 windows, the rain falling in torrents, the 
 long swish of the waves heard all along 
 the shore ; but towards morning there came 
 a sudden and unaccountable calm ; and day- 
 break revealed a brooding stillness over land 
 and sea — revealed a slate-hued world, vague, 
 and dull, and sombre, with the mountains of 
 Mull and Morven hidden behind a dark, 
 formless, impenetrable wall of vapour. 
 Nevertheless, sullen as the outlook might 
 be, there was steady progress towards the 
 light. Up in the high j)ortals of the east, 
 a curious kind of glare began to elbow its 
 way through the heavy masses of cloud ; the 
 slopes of Kerrara answered in warm tones
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 253 
 
 of saffron and orange and golden-green ; as 
 the hours went by, the heavens became more 
 and more broken up ; by noon there were 
 shafts of sunlight here and there, and a 
 vivid and welcome blue in the far stretches 
 of water outside the bay ; while the Mull 
 and Morven hills were gradually returning 
 into the visible universe, after their sojourn 
 in unknown space. 
 
 And perhaps it was merely this unexpected 
 clearing-up of the morning that drew 
 Barbara Maclean away from her household 
 duties ; but at all events, before going out, 
 she dressed herself with unusual care, for the 
 better display of such small articles of finery 
 as she possessed. When eventually she left 
 the house, she took her way along the sea 
 front, apparently with no very set purpose. 
 She passed the railway-station. She reached 
 the South Quay, at which the Aros Castle 
 was lying ; but, as a single swift and covert 
 o:lance assured her, no officer was visible on 
 board ; it was not yet time for the steamer to 
 sail, and at present the only work going- 
 forward was the trundling-in of barrow-loads 
 of coal from the adjoining trucks. She con- 
 tinued her seemingly aimless stroll. She 
 arrived at the foot of the Gallows Hill ; and
 
 254 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 here she lingered about for some h'ttle time, 
 looking at the nets and boats and white- 
 washed cottages that are a survival from the 
 time when Duntroone was little more than a 
 fishing village. The sunlight was becoming 
 more and more general. There was a spring- 
 like mildness and sweetness in the air. The 
 waters of the bay were now a shining azure 
 as well as the further plain ; and the long 
 spur of Kerrara shooting out into them, was 
 of burning gold. 
 
 And when she turned to make her way back 
 again, she was regarding an equally cheerful 
 scene — the wooded hills, the houses dotted 
 on the slopes, the ivied castle at the point, 
 the ethereal mountains of Morven beyond 
 the blue ; and it was but natural that when 
 she came to the coal-trucks, she should go 
 outside, otherwise her view would have been 
 debarred. But passing outside the coal- 
 trucks brought her close to the Aros Castle 
 — indeed, she had to go by within touching 
 distance of the gangway ; and it was at this 
 moment that she chanced to raise her eyes — 
 and behold ! here was the Purser, talking 
 to a friend. He immediately turned from 
 his companion, and addressed her as she 
 approached.
 
 A PTAEMIGAN BROOCH. 2o5 
 
 '' Are you going a trip with us to-day, 
 Miss Maclean ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered, in pretty con- 
 fusion ; " T — I only went to have a look at 
 the old part of the town." 
 
 '* Then if you will come on board," said 
 he, politely, " we will take you across to 
 the North Quay, and it will save you the 
 walk round. We are off in a few minutes 
 now." 
 
 " Oh, thank you indeed," said she, with 
 modest and smiling eyes ; and forthwith she 
 passed along the gangway, he following ; 
 and she stepped on to the upper deck — which 
 was very different from any part of the old 
 Sanda, for here everything was trim and 
 smart, the paint and varnish fresh and clean, 
 the brass-work as brilliant as polish could 
 make it. And Ogilvie fetched a deck-chair 
 for her, though she did not care to be seated ; 
 the run across to the North Quay would not 
 be of long duration. 
 
 He chatted pleasantly to her for a little 
 while, about the ordinary topics of Dun- 
 troone ; and Barbara did her best to answer 
 with animation and accord, though at times 
 she was a little hampered for want of the 
 proper English phrase. One thing she did
 
 256 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 manage : she cured him of the habit of calHng 
 her " Miss Maclean." 
 
 " My name is Barbara," she said, almost 
 with reproach. 
 
 "I'm sure I beg your pardon, Miss 
 Barbara — I ought to have remembered " 
 
 " But how could you remember ? " said 
 she, coyly ; " I am sure now you do not 
 recollect where it was that we first met." 
 
 " Indeed, I do, then," he answered at once. 
 " And the next time we meet on such an 
 occasion, I will look to you to give me a 
 dance." 
 
 " I hope so," murmured Barbara, with 
 some touch of colour, and lowered eyes. 
 
 The train crept into the station ; and 
 presently a few passengers made their 
 appearance, coming towards the Aivs Castle. 
 Among the first of these to reach the gang- 
 way were a lady and her two daughters, the 
 latter tall, fair-haired, English-looking girls, 
 with good features and distinguished bearing. 
 As the little stout mamma stepped on deck, 
 she bestowed a brief nod of recognition upon 
 the Purser, who respectfully raised his cap ; 
 then she and her charges went below to the 
 saloon, to deposit there their wraps and rugs 
 and books.
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 257 
 
 " That is Mrs. Stewart of Innistroan," 
 said Jack Ogilvie to Barbara, in a confiden- 
 tial whisper. 
 
 Almost immediately thereafter the three 
 ladies reappeared ; and the mother, coming 
 over to where the Purser was standing, 
 said — perhaps a trifle brusquely — 
 
 " Can I speak with you for a moment, 
 Mr. Ogilvie ? " 
 
 Barbara was thus left alone ; but she could 
 all the more carefully study the dress and 
 bearing of these three new-comers, whom 
 Ogilvie seemed to regard with considerable 
 deference. Ordinarily he was rather off- 
 hand in his manner ; but now, in speaking 
 to this Mrs. Stewart — probably about some 
 business-matter — he was quite subdued and 
 attentive. And as for the two girls, about 
 whom Barbara was chiefly curious : she 
 could not but be conscious of their air of dis- 
 tinction, however simply and plainly they 
 might be dressed. Something, she knew not 
 what, told her they were of '' the gentry." 
 With intense but concealed scrutiny she 
 watched their demeanour as they listened to 
 the Purser ; she observed the half-indifferent 
 look, the occasional glance towards the 
 surrounding neighbourhood. As for their 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 costume, it seemed to be the perfection of 
 unostentatious neatness and fitness ; the 
 only ornament that each wore — so far as she 
 could see — was an insignificant little brooch 
 consisting of a ptarmigan's foot set in silver, 
 that fastened the collar of the blue serge 
 jacket. 
 
 But by this time the hawsers had been 
 thrown off, and the A7vs Castle was moving 
 across to the other quay. Ogilvie came back 
 to Barbara. 
 
 '^ This is a very short sail you have taken 
 with us," he said to her, in his easy and 
 familiar way, as they were approaching the 
 pier. " Some other time you and Miss Jessie 
 must go for a run with us to Tobermory, and 
 there we will pick you up on our way back. 
 I know that Mrs. Maclean has friends at 
 Tobermory." 
 
 The steamer was now slowing ; and it 
 turned out that Barbara was the only pas- 
 senger that meant to land. When the gang- 
 way had been shoved out, she timidly took 
 her purse from her pocket — it was probably 
 but poorly furnished. 
 
 " Will you tell me " she said, bash- 
 fully, when he interrupted her : he had 
 noticed that little movement.
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 259 
 
 " No, no ; no, no," said be, smiling, and 
 he put up his hand in a deprecatory fashion. 
 " You must not think of such a thing. We 
 shall only be too glad to take you across the 
 bay, any time you happen to be on the other 
 side. And tell Miss Jessie she must bring 
 you for a longer sail." 
 
 She said good-bye, and stepped ashore ; 
 she watched the passengers embark, and the 
 Aros Castle steam away again ; soon she lost 
 sight of Ogilvie, who had apparently gone 
 below ; and the last figures she could make 
 out were those of the two tall young ladies, 
 who had seemed to possess so strange and 
 mysterious a quality of attraction and per- 
 fection, even to the fancy of a girl. 
 
 When she went up into the town, she met 
 her cousin Jess, who had been along to buy 
 some wool ; and as they proceeded home 
 together, they encountered Lauchlan Mac- 
 Intyre. The shoemaker was of morose 
 aspect. 
 
 " You'll be coming to the lecture to- 
 morrow night, Mr. Maclntyre ? " said Jess, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " I'm not so sure," responded Long 
 Lauchie, in melancholy tones. " It seems a 
 fearfu' waste of opportunity. To think of a
 
 260 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 lecture on such things as songs, when there's 
 but the one subject that is of tremendous 
 concern to us, and that's the crying evil that 
 is ruining us as a nation. Ay, just ruining 
 us — ruining us — the curse of drink that is 
 destroying the kintry from end to end. And 
 what can we do, but wrestle with it, in Par- 
 liament and out of Parliament, in season and 
 out of season, ay, and mek every election 
 turn on it, and every candidate pledged for 
 total abolition, ay, and have a section of the 
 Rechabites in every fuUage everywhere, until 
 we put down and stamp out this terrible, 
 terrible drink. There must be no peace 
 until the whisky traffic is wholly rooted out ; 
 and until a brand is put on a man that would 
 be seen to enter a public-house — ay, a just per- 
 secution — a lawful persecution — there must 
 be no moderation — no mercy " 
 
 " But you'll drive common-sense folk into 
 rebellion," Jess said, good-humouredly. 
 " "Would you have them take to drink in 
 self-defence ? " 
 
 *' Aw, to hear you talk like that, and you 
 at your years ! " said the shoemaker, almost 
 in despair. " As sure's death it's just fearful 
 to hear one of your years talk like that. 
 And to think that you are on the side of
 
 A PTARMIGAN BROOCH. 261 
 
 the drunkards, and the licensed victuallers, 
 and Sodom and Gomorrah. But there's time 
 for ye yet. If you'll tek a warning, ye may 
 turn yet. You'll come over to us — ay — 
 you'll come over to us and be saved — as sure 
 as death, you'll be saved." 
 
 '^ Well, indeed, Mr. Maclntyre," said Jess 
 — and her pretty grey eyes, that at times 
 were rather inclined to sarcasm, were now 
 perfectly demure, " I'm not afflicted with any 
 great craving except now and again for a 
 cup of tea ; but when the hour of trial comes 
 — when I have to fight the demon — it will 
 be a great thing for me to have an example 
 to look to. And you'll give me a word of 
 encouragement — — " 
 
 " I will, I will," said the shoemaker, 
 solemnly and sadly ; and with that he con- 
 tinued on his way ; while Jess turned to her 
 cousin Barbara, who had for some time been 
 staring into the window of the jeweller's 
 shop. 
 
 It was a favourite resort of hers. For 
 here she could feast her eyes on treasures 
 that were far beyond her means — silver 
 fastening-pins set with lemon-yellow, and 
 white, and clear lilac cairngorms — scent- 
 bottles inlaid with the various clan tartans —
 
 262 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 brooches, bracelets, necklets studded with 
 lona stones — ear-rings, finger-rings, sleeve- 
 links, lockets — tray after tray of fascinating 
 nick-nacks of the very names of many of 
 which she was entirely ignorant. And at 
 this moment, when Jess said — 
 
 " Will yoTi wait a moment, Barbara, or 
 will you come into the shop ? I want Mr. 
 Boyd to see what is the matter with my 
 watch " 
 
 — Barbara accepted the invitation with a 
 secret joy ; though it was in a timorous kind 
 of fashion that she followed her cousin 
 into this magician's palace of wonders and 
 splendours. She looked all round the 
 jeweller's shop with an awe-stricken air ; 
 and then her eyes came back to the glass 
 cases on the counter, where there was an 
 endless variety of surprisingly beautiful 
 objects. Not only that, but a tray of 
 brooches, that a customer had been inspecting 
 just before they came in, remained open on 
 the top of one of the cases ; so that if she 
 chose she could take up any one of those 
 marvels for closer examination. And so 
 while Mr. Boyd — who was an old friend 
 of the Macleans, and a solicitous, kindly, 
 amiable sort of man — was inquiring into
 
 A PTAKMiaAN BROOCH. 263 
 
 the state and condition of Jessie's watch, 
 Barbara was passing in review these price- 
 less things, comparing and admiring and 
 coveting. But in especial she was attracted 
 by the brooch that occupied the place of 
 honour in the middle of the tray. It was 
 formed of a ptarmigan's foot, set in gold, 
 with a deep yellow cairngorm above and 
 another stone of the same kind and colour 
 fixed in the middle claw. Xow the ptarmigan 
 brooches worn by the two young ladies who 
 were on board the Aros Castle — and whom 
 Jack Ogilvie seemed to treat with so much 
 respect — were very plain and simple orna- 
 ments ; here was something of a similar 
 character, but more rich and resplendent, 
 and better calculated for purposes of display. 
 Alas ! she knew too well that it was far 
 away out of the reach of her small savings ; 
 such means and methods of drawing atten- 
 tion, of compelling admiration, were for 
 people whose purses were abundantly filled. 
 
 Ultimately it was decided that the recusant 
 watch should be left behind ; and then, 
 business over, Mr. Boyd proceeded to a little 
 neighbourly gossip, in the course of which 
 Barbara was introduced to him, her beautiful 
 eyes winning favour as usual. The friendly
 
 264 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 jeweller sent bis best regards to tbe widow ; 
 and finally Jessie and Barbara left the shop. 
 
 But tbey bad gone only a few yards wben 
 Mr. Boyd came after tbem — be bad not stayed 
 to put on any kind of bead-covering. 
 
 *^Miss Maclean," said be, and simul- 
 taneously botb girls turned. " I beg your 
 pardon, but did you bappen to notice a gold 
 ptarmigan-broocb — it was in a tray on tbe 
 counter " 
 
 At tbe same moment tbere was a sligbt 
 click as of something dropping on tbe pave- 
 ment. He glanced downwards. 
 
 " Ob, here it is," be said ; and be stooped 
 and picked it up. 
 
 For a second tbere was silence. Tbe 
 watchmaker looked grave and troubled ; 
 Jess appeared to be astonished and perplexed 
 rather than frightened ; Barbara, timid as a 
 fawn as she ordinarily was, alone remained 
 perfectly impassive in countenance. 
 
 " It must have caught on to some part of 
 your dress," said Mr. Boyd, slowly, and with 
 some constraint. *^ Well, I'm sorry to 
 have caused you any trouble." And there- 
 upon and with no further word be returned 
 to bis shop. 
 
 But on the evening of this same day.
 
 A PTAEMIGAX BROOCH. 265 
 
 sitting by his fireside, John Boyd seemed 
 thoughtful and depressed ; and his wife would 
 insist on knowing the reason. And at last, 
 under severe injunctions of secrecy, he re- 
 vealed to her the story. 
 
 " I cannot tell what to think," he continued, 
 as if communing with himself. " I made 
 the excuse, then and there, for the sake of 
 my old friend Mrs. Maclean. And maybe it 
 was true : maybe their dress did catch up the 
 brooch. Such things have happened. For 
 how can I believe that Jessie Maclean, or this 
 cousin of hers, that seems a nice, modest, 
 quiet sort of a girl, would knowingly lift a 
 piece of jewellery from the counter and carry 
 it away ? I cannot believe it. And then, 
 ye see, goodwife, I did not actually find it 
 in the possession of either of them. If I had, 
 it would have been my duty to have called 
 in the police " 
 
 " John ! " exclaimed his wife. " Have ye 
 taken leave of your wits ? Ay, and if it was 
 the half of your shop in question, would ye 
 bring scandal and disgrace on the remaining 
 years of an old friend ? No, no ! — not for 
 half the shop, or whole of the shop ! I'm 
 better acquainted with ye than ye are your- 
 self, man ! And no doubt it was the tassels
 
 266 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 and bugles that the young girls are so fond 
 of nowadays that catched on to the brooch — 
 no doubt at all that was it ! " 
 
 '^ Maybe so, Jean, maybe so," said the 
 watchmaker, who seemed to have been quite 
 unhinged and upset by this incident. " But 
 mind, not one word to any living creature. 
 That is my charge to ye. Not one single 
 word about it to any living creature."
 
 ( 267 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 A LECTURE AND THEREAFTER. 
 
 It wanted but an hour to the lecture, yet 
 Jess Maclean did not stir ; she sate silent and 
 absorbed — an unusual mood with her, for 
 she was naturally of a merry temperament ; 
 her head was bent over her needlework, 
 and she did not look up when she was 
 spoken to. 
 
 " Jess," said her mother, " what has ailed 
 you all the day long ? Anyone would think 
 this should be a great occasion for you — you 
 that has always been so proud of Allan 
 Henderson, and telling us what we might 
 expect of him. And now he is appearing 
 before the public — and a great many people 
 coming to see him — and who should be 
 more pleased than yourself — ay, and more to 
 the front at such a time, for Allan is never
 
 268 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 tired of saying that you are the best friend 
 and adviser he has got " 
 
 " I am not going to the lecture, mother," 
 said Jess. 
 
 " Well, well, now, and what is the meaning 
 of it all ? " the widow demanded. She 
 regarded her daughter a little more narrowly, 
 and was alarmed to see that there were tears 
 in her eyes. '' What is the matter, Jess ? " 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 " What is the matter, mother ? — what is 
 the matter ? " the girl cried, suddenly burst- 
 ing into a passionate fit of weeping and 
 sobbing. " How can I go to the lecture — 
 how can I face those people — when I am a 
 suspected thief? " 
 
 And there and then, in incoherent fashion, 
 she told the story of the incident of the 
 previous day, over which she had been 
 brooding for four-and-twenty hours and 
 more. Meanwhile the little widow's indig- 
 nation was like to have altogether overcome 
 her powers of utterance. 
 
 "And that's John Boyd— that's John Boyd! " 
 she managed to say at last — though she was 
 about breathless with anger and scorn. ** And 
 who but your own father was it that helped 
 him when he had to make a comjjosition with
 
 A LECTURE AST) THEIIEAFTER. 269 
 
 his creditors over twenty years ago, ay, 
 helped to make him the well-to-do man he is 
 this day ; and the best of friends we were 
 supposed to be ; and now it's this John 
 Boyd — it's this John Boyd that comes forward 
 and accuses one of my girls of being a thief! " 
 She rose from her chair and threw aside her 
 work. " Well," said she, with resolute lips, 
 " this very minute I am going along to have 
 a word with John Boyd. I will see what 
 he means by calling either of my girls a 
 
 thief " 
 
 " Mother," interposed Jess, piteously, '' he 
 did not say that — he did not say anything 
 of the kind. When he spoke it was to make 
 an excuse. It was Mr. Boyd himself that 
 suggested it was likely the brooch had caught 
 on to the dress of one or other of us. That's 
 what he said. But all the same I could sec 
 what he was thinking. I saw his look — 
 though I did not quite understand it till 
 afterwards. And ever since I have been 
 going over what happened ; and now — now 
 I know what he was thinking when he 
 picked up the brooch from the pavement. I 
 know it — I know it — I could see it — and — 
 and I never thought to be taken for a thief." 
 And here there was a fresh burst of crying.
 
 270 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 " It isn't for a thief," she said, between her 
 sobs, " to go to hear Allan's lecture — and 
 face all those people " 
 
 " Jess," said Mrs. Maclean, firmly, " you'll 
 do as I bid ye. You'll go across to the 
 house, and get yourself dressed and ready, 
 and you'll put out my best things, and you'll 
 send Kirsty over to help me to shut up the 
 shop. I was not going to the lecture ; but 
 now I am going ; and I do not care who the 
 people are, but I will show them, when 
 Barbara and you go in, that you can hold 
 up your heads with any. And as for John 
 Boyd " 
 
 " Mother, you must not quarrel with Mr. 
 Boyd," pleaded Jess. " It was only natural 
 he should be startled. And he is an old 
 friend " 
 
 '^ Ay, and you do not know the saying, 
 then ? " retorted the little widow, sharply, 
 '^ ' Friendship is as it's hept' The man that 
 suspects either you or Barbara of being a 
 thief is no friend of mine. But away with 
 ye, now, and get ready — if Barbara will let 
 you have five minutes of the looking-glass, 
 for she's a fearfu creature for making much 
 of herself and decking herself up. And 
 when Mr. McFadyen comes, you will tell
 
 A LECTUEE AND THEREAFTER. 271 
 
 him he must get me a ticket, and I will pay 
 him for it afterwards." 
 
 Peter McFadyen was an important and a 
 consequential man this night. The provost, 
 who had consented to preside at the meeting, 
 had been summoned away to Edinburgh on 
 business connected with the town ; and the 
 senior councillor, nothing loth, had been 
 prevailed on to take his place. And fully 
 sensible of his responsibility was Peter. 
 When the members of the Literary and 
 Scientific Association, and their friends, with 
 many of the towns-folk, and a few repre- 
 sentatives of the neighbouring gentry, were 
 at length assembled in the Masonic Hall, the 
 chairman was in nowise facetious and droll — 
 as if he were in Mrs. Maclean's back-parlour ; 
 he was dignified, and measured of speech. 
 And when, in formally introducing the 
 lecturer to the audience, he had pronounced 
 a pompous little eulogium, which caused 
 Allan to look particularly uncomfortable, 
 Mr. McFadyen thereafter glanced down to- 
 wards the Macleans, who were seated in the 
 front row, it was plain he would have said — 
 ' Do you perceive that now ? A man may 
 be sprightly and jocular enough in the 
 freedom of private society, and yet know
 
 '2(1 HIGHLAND COUSIXS. 
 
 how to perform his puhlic duties with proper 
 state and decorum.' Alas ! Jessie Maclean 
 never looked his way — paid no heed to him. 
 She was intently regarding Allan — she was 
 tremblingly anxious that he should betray no 
 nervousness — in her heart she was beseeching 
 this audience to be kind and attentive and 
 sympathetic. Barbara, who had adorned 
 herself with her most effective finery, kept 
 cevertly watching the door : the handsome 
 Purser had not yet put in an appearance — 
 perhaps the Aros Castle was late^ perhaps he 
 had forgotten the half-implied promise. 
 
 Jess need not have been concerned. When 
 the young schoolmaster rose and placed the 
 sheets of his MS. on the stand before him, 
 there was not a trace of nervousness about 
 him ; he acknowledged, and barely acknow- 
 ledged, the friendly reception accorded him ; 
 and at once, and in a business-like way, pro- 
 ceeded with his lecture — the main thesis of 
 which was to the effect that, if the German 
 people were to vanish from the face of the 
 earth, leaving only this invaluable collection 
 of Yolkslieder, the philosopher of future 
 centuries could reconstruct the nation, with 
 all its desires, aims, habits, and occupations, 
 from these various and artless utterances.
 
 A LECTURE AXD THEREAFTER. 273 
 
 But it was when he proceeded to give 
 specimens of the folk-songs — using for the 
 most part his own translations — songs of 
 fiery patriotism, songs of plaintive home- 
 yeaming, love-songs and sad farewells, songs 
 of simple family life, songs of banter and 
 merriment, more rarely of sarcasm, joyous 
 drinkino^ sono^s, sono;s and choruses of the 
 hunter's craft, legends and old-world tales — 
 then it was that he captured the interest of 
 his audience, and was rewarded by frequent 
 if timid outbursts of applause. It was the 
 non-literary ballad that he chose by pre- 
 ference — the voice of the common people ; 
 but he could not well exclude Heine's 
 ^ Pilgrimage to Kevlaar,' or Uhland's ' Land- 
 lady's Daughter,' for tliey also were of the 
 people. And when he repeated a lover's 
 passionate appeal to his sweetheart, or told 
 some pathetic story of half- forgotten times, 
 was he not really addressing, out of all this 
 audience, only one ? There was some com- 
 parison of these German folk-songs with the 
 Gaelic songs of the West Highlands, and 
 mention made of one or two well-known 
 favourites : all tbis was meant for Barbara — 
 since she had been so graciously kind as to 
 come to the lecture. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 And yet it may be doubted whether Bar- 
 bara heard anything more than an occasional 
 word or phrase, conveying next to nothing. 
 She had abandoned any hope she may have 
 entertained of seeing Jack Ogilvie appear at 
 the door of the hall ; and now her attention 
 was turned to the hall itself, the like of 
 which she had never beheld before. For 
 over the deep red walls hung a wonderful 
 ceiling of clear grey-blue ; and at the further 
 end of the ceiling a golden sun sent out 
 flashing rays, while at the other extreme 
 shone a silver moon surrounded by seven 
 stars. Then all round the room were mys- 
 terious devices ; and there were painted 
 pillars ; and an arch ; and in the keystone 
 of the arch an eye that glared at her as if 
 out of some vague immensity. Compass, 
 square, and trowel she might or might 
 not understand — they were commonplace 
 emblems ; but this immovable eye seemed 
 to have some incomprehensible and com- 
 pelling power of scrutiny ; it fascinated her ; 
 she could not get away from that relentless 
 gaze. And so, if she did listen at all, it was 
 in a mechanical fashion. ' Prinz Eugen der 
 edle Eitter,' ' Doctor Eisenbart,' ' Der Jager 
 aus Kurpfalz,' had apparently but little 
 interest for her.
 
 A LECTURE AXD THEEEAFTER. 2iD 
 
 Nevertheless, something did at last happen 
 to arouse her from her apathetic dreaming. 
 The lecturer had been giving examples of 
 the better-known of the German bacchanalian 
 songs — ' Crambambuli,' ' Im kuhlen Keller/ 
 and the like — when, to everybody's amaze- 
 ment^ a tall and gaunt form was seen to rise 
 in the very midst of the assemblage. It 
 was Long Lauchie, the shoemaker. For a 
 moment he seemed frightened at his own 
 temerity, and looked round in a helpless 
 way ; but there was an inward monitor to 
 support him ; the next second he had found 
 his speech. 
 
 " I am not wishing to interrupt," he said, 
 in Gaelic, " but every man has his duty, 
 and I will not stand by and be listening in 
 silence " 
 
 " Order, order," called the chairman, with 
 a portentous frown. 
 
 But the shoemaker, pale as he was on 
 finding himself in this novel position, with 
 all eyes turned towards him, was not to be 
 deterred. 
 
 " It is I that must make my protest, if 
 there is to be such praise for drinking, and 
 not a word of warning to the young " 
 
 '^ Order, order," the chairman called out
 
 276 IlIGHLAXD COUSINS. 
 
 again ; and then he added, with still greater 
 severity : " Maclntyre, sit down, and behave 
 yourself ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the lecturer had stopped, and 
 was calmly waiting to hear what Long 
 Lauchie had to say. It was Mrs. Maclean 
 who was most violently indignant over the 
 interruption. 
 
 " That tipsymaniac ! " she exclaimed, in an 
 undertone. " Will nobody put him out ? 
 To bring disgrace on a meeting like this, 
 and Allan going on just splendid ! " 
 
 " Such praise of the sin of drinking," con- 
 tinued the shoemaker, doggedly, " I will set 
 my face against, no matter how many there 
 may be to cry me down. I have no word 
 to say against the young man, Allan Hender- 
 son ; it is not I that have a word to say 
 against him ; but when I hear such fearful 
 things repeated, I am bound to lift up my 
 voice. Yes, indeed. Is there anyone here 
 that knows what drink is doing in this land 
 — what terrible, terrible things are happening 
 all through the whisky ? " 
 
 " Lauchlan Maclntyre," called out the 
 chairman — who was beside himself with rage 
 and shame on finding his authority thus 
 scouted, " if you do not instantly resume
 
 A LECTUEE AND THEREAFTER. 277 
 
 your seat, I will ask one or two of the young 
 men near you to remove you from this 
 assembly. Do you hear me, now ? Will 
 you sit down ? " 
 
 " Drink," the shoemaker went on, " is the 
 ruin and curse of this country — it is bringing 
 a judgment upon us " 
 
 ^' Then I do call on the young men," broke 
 in Peter, with concealed fury. " Remove 
 him ! You there near him, remove that 
 person I Put him out. I, as chairman of 
 this meeting, authorise you to put him out." 
 
 Well, there were two or three of the 
 younger lads only too glad to have a little 
 bit of fun ; and the luckless shoemaker — • 
 offering no physical resistance, it is true, but 
 still insisting on his conscientious protest 
 against anything that savoured of the praise 
 of drink — was haled away and conducted to 
 the door, and ejected into the night. There- 
 after peace and harmony were restored : and 
 the lecture was continued and ended in the 
 most satisfactory manner, a unanimous vote 
 of thanks to the schoolmaster bringing the 
 proceedings to a close. 
 
 And very lively and content was the little 
 supper-party that later on assembled at Mrs. 
 Maclean's — a supper-party limited to five, at
 
 278 HIGHLAND COUSINS. 
 
 the cunning suggestion of the councillor. 
 For, said he, they could be much merrier, 
 with less of restraint, when they were ' by 
 themselves ' ; and ' by themselves ' had come 
 to mean himself and Jess, and Allan and 
 Barbara, with the widow as hostess and 
 guardian. This, therefore, was the circle 
 now gathered round the hospitable board ; 
 and a very happy little circle it seemed to be. 
 Jess, in especial, was in great spirits ; she 
 was delighted with the way everything had 
 gone off, and at the reception accorded to her 
 hero ; though, as usual, she could not help 
 jibing and mocking at him. 
 
 " There's some that pretend to be very 
 masterful, and cool, and undisturbed," said 
 she, darkly. " But when I see a young man 
 that is impatient of every word of intro- 
 duction — though all kinds of fine things are 
 being said about him — and that is anxious 
 to plunge at once into the business before 
 him, I can tell that he is just as timorous 
 as a mouse, for all his affectation of com- 
 posure." 
 
 " If you mean me, Jessie," said the school- 
 master, laughing, " I will confess this to you, 
 that I think I must have been nervous. I 
 did not know it at the time ; but I guess that
 
 A LECTURE AXD THEEEAFTEE. 279 
 
 it must have been so, from the sensation of 
 relief I have now that it's all over." 
 
 "I hope," observed Mr. McFadyen, who 
 still preserved a certain air of state, " I hope 
 I was not too severe in rebuking that fool 
 of a man, Maclntyre " 
 
 '' Severe ! " cried the little widow, with 
 returnino; indio'uation. " He should have 
 been locked up by the police ! To interrupt 
 a meeting in that way ! I declare it made 
 me feel quite historical — I was like to 
 choke " 
 
 " And I trust there was no undue violence," 
 continued the councillor, still with something 
 of a grand air, '' on the part of the young- 
 men who removed him. It was a painful 
 duty that devolved upon me ; but I had to 
 execute it ; and I trust there was no undue 
 violence " 
 
 " Oh, you need not trouble about that, 
 Mr. McFadyen," Jess said, blithely. " The 
 young lads who carried out your orders — and 
 the shoemaker — did it as peaceably as was 
 possible." 
 
 "Ah, well, ah, well," said Peter, with a 
 sigh of satisfaction, " it was but a trifling 
 incident, after all ; and one may fairly say 
 that the whole evening was a distinct success.
 
 280 HIGHLAXD COUSINS. 
 
 And thoiigli in a measure I was responsible 
 for tlie conduct of the proceedings, still, I do 
 not think I am taking credit to myself when 
 I maintain that everything went off just 
 beautiful. And, mind you, Allan, lad, it's a 
 great thing for you to keep yourself before 
 the public — you that's starting the Latin 
 class, and having a fine career before ye, as 
 we all of us hope. It's a great thing to be 
 known and respected by your fellow-towns- 
 men ; and I was well pleased to see, when 
 ye stood up, that ye had a friendly welcome 
 
 from them " 
 
 " And what did you think of the Masonic 
 Hall, Miss Barbara ? " said the young school- 
 master, turning abruptly to his neighbour — 
 for he did not like this talk about himself. 
 
 " I was never seeing any place like that 
 before," the girl said. " And I could not 
 understand the meaning of the things on the 
 walls. There was one, in front of me, that 
 was very strange — it looked like a large eye, 
 
 single and staring " 
 
 "Oh, that is the All-seeing Eye — I suppose, 
 for I am not a mason," he said. 
 
 She regarded him for a moment doubt- 
 fully. 
 
 " All-seeing ? " she repeated ; and then she
 
 A LECTURE AXD THEREAFTER. 281 
 
 said, with some petulance : ^' But how can it 
 be All-seeing, when it is onlv painted on the 
 wall?" 
 
 " It is merely an emblem," he replied, with 
 great gentleness. " It does not pretend to be 
 anything but a symbol " 
 
 " Is it put there to frighten people ? " she 
 demanded, resentfully. 
 
 " Why, surely not ! " 
 
 "Then what is the use of it? — though 
 anyone knows that an eye painted on a wall 
 cannot be seeing anything ! " she said. And 
 this was her last word on the subject ; and 
 sufficiently enigmatic it was ; for he knew 
 nothing of what secret imaginings had been 
 passing through her mind, as she sate and 
 half-listened to the discourse about German 
 folk-songs. 
 
 Altogether, a cheerful and pleasant hour 
 or so, after the serious labours of the evening- 
 were over ; but it was growing late ; and 
 at length Mr. McFadyen and Allan rose to 
 go. Nevertheless, the councillor was still 
 loquacious ; for there was to be a great 
 match at golf between the station-master 
 and himself, on the following Monday after- 
 noon ; and he was anxious that Jessie, and 
 Barbara, and Mrs. Maclean, too, if that were
 
 282 IIIGIILAXD COUSTXS. 
 
 possible, should witness the contest ; and he 
 was discussing this project as he "went to the 
 door, both Jess and her mother accompanying 
 him. This was Allan's opportunity — Barbara 
 having remained behind : it was an oppor- 
 tunity thrust upon him, as it were chance- 
 wise — an opportunity he could not, and did 
 not care to, avoid. For he was in a perturbed 
 and reckless mood ; the events of the evening 
 had in some measure excited him ; still more 
 so the bewilderment of having once again 
 been sitting next this beautiful creature, 
 with glimpses of the raven-black tangles 
 of her hair, and an occasional glance from 
 the deep, clear, mystic eyes. And now, 
 when the others had gone on, he turned 
 to her ; she became aware of his approach ; 
 a sudden touch of apprehension appeared in 
 her face. 
 
 " Barbara," he said — and his tones were 
 low and impassioned, " is it too soon for me 
 to speak ? " 
 
 She uttered no word — she looked afraid. 
 
 " Did you hear what some of those lovers 
 said in the songs ? " he went on. '' And did 
 you not take it to yourself — as if I were 
 appealing to you ? For — for surely you 
 understand. You came to me out of the
 
 A LECTURE AND THEEE AFTER. 283 
 
 night and the dark ; and now I want you 
 to go with me through the long day — the 
 long day that I hope lies before us two 
 together. AVill you do that, Barbara ? Or 
 is it too soon to ask ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes," she said, with quick relief, " it 
 is that it is too soon yet " 
 
 '' But only too soon ? " he urged, seeking 
 in vain for some answering message from 
 those downcast eyes. " Later on, when you 
 have got used to thinking of it, you will not 
 fear to say yes — you will let me hope for 
 that?" 
 
 But again she was silent ; and here were 
 Jess and her mother returning from the 
 outer staircase ; so that for the present there 
 was no assurance for him — only the solace 
 that now she knew what lay in his mind, 
 burning there like a consuming fire. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 IX)KIK)N : FBIKTED Br WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 STAMFORD STREET AM) CHARIXG CROSS.
 
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