Inchbracken Part 27

'It's naething o' the kind, sir!' she cried; 'Mister Brown's as sound as a bell on a' p'ints o' doctrine, an' nane has ever ventured to say the contrar. It's a daftlike story o' ill livin' 'at they're wantin'

to pruive on him, an' they canna do 't, an' sae they hae come here til himsel', to gar him confess an' save mair fash. I hae heard my granny tellin' the gate they gaed to wark wi' the wutches lang syne, hoo they garred them confess whether they wad or no, an' I'm thinkin' gin they daured, they'd be for tryin' sic like on him. Drobbin' him wi' prins, an' what no. But it's a terrible daftlike haver, an I'm thinkin', sir, ye'll hae heard tell o't afore noo.'

Captain Drysdale had not heard of it, but Eppie very speedily made him acquainted with the whole story, while Mary and the baby were out looking at his horse tethered to a post hard by.

Kenneth's entrance brought composure alike to Roderick and the Laird, both from necessitating more self-control, and also from the satisfaction of seeing that not quite all the world had turned their backs on him. Roderick could not speak above a whisper, but the Laird gave a very full account of the late visitation.

'There is one point, Captain Drysdale,' he added after a lengthy narrative, 'on which you may be able to throw light. One of the points they made against him was that this story of his exploits had originally come from Inchbracken.'

'I cannot imagine how that could be. Ah!' he added after a pause, 'it must be one of my uncle's heavy jokes! I do remember, now I think of it, his telling us how he had met Roderick carrying home a baby, and the clumsy joke he made over it. You know my uncle is a very good fellow, but he can scarcely be called a wit, though he would vastly like to be thought one, and when by any chance he has struck out some little smartness he _will_ repeat it till every one for ten miles round has heard it. I remember it perfectly now, and Tibbie Tirpie's name got into the conversation about that same time somehow, and so the servants combined the two. Oh, Rod! He will be so awfully sorry.

But this poor little baby who has been the innocent cause of all the annoyance. Such a pretty little thing it is too! How did you come by it?'

Roderick was lying on the bed, calmer now, and soothed by the friendly sympathy of his two friends, but his voice was weak and the pain in his side made speaking irksome. He looked to Mary, and she repeated to Kenneth the story of the shipwreck and the finding of the baby.

'And what was the name of the ship?' asked Kenneth; 'was that ever discovered? To know it would be the first step towards finding out who the child belongs to, and after all the annoyance it has brought, you would no doubt be glad to restore it to its lawful guardians.'

'Indeed, then, we shall be very sorry to part with it. It is the dearest little thing in the world. I should cry my eyes out if it were taken from us, I do believe. The sweet little pet! And it is so wonderfully pretty. No doubt of its gentle birth, poor little waif! To think it has not a relation in the world!'

'And the name of the ship was?'

'We saw the ship's name in the _Witness_ the following week. 'The Maid of Cashmere,' was it not, Roddie?'

Roderick nodded.

'That,' said Kenneth, 'was the name of the ship in which my poor friend Jack Steele lost his wife. He is Major in the Dourgapore Light Cavalry, and they are not two years married yet. They were both to have come home in her, but a week before sailing his leave was cancelled, owing to a threatened rising in the Mahratta country. His wife was ordered home by the doctors, who said her only chance of life was the sea voyage, so she sailed alone with a child only a week or two old, I believe, and the nurse. Poor things! both were lost. After making the voyage round the Cape in safety, to be lost upon the Scotch coast, within a few hours of home! Was it not sad? The Mahratta alarm died out as fast as it arose; and six weeks after Mrs. Steele had sailed, Jack was able to set out himself. He knew nothing of the disaster till he reached his father's house in Edinburgh, and you may suppose what a shock it was to him. He arrived at home just three weeks after his wife's funeral. His, you see, had been a quick pa.s.sage, while the ship his wife sailed in was considerably overdue before the wreck occurred. Poor fellow! when he asked for his wife and child, and why they had not come to meet him, you may suppose how terrible it was; they had nothing to show him but his wife's grave, and the shock nearly killed him. He was in bed for three weeks after it, and is only able to creep about now. The old judge took to his bed after his daughter-in-law's funeral, so you may suppose the dismal house it was. Jack is an only child, and the old man had set his heart on having a grandchild, and he was cut up in a way you would not think possible, if you had ever seen the hard grim way he has of dealing out justice to offenders. It appears that the child was not born till a fortnight before Mrs. Steele sailed, and that the letter announcing that Jack and his wife were going home was posted before its birth; and so the old people did not know they had a grandchild till Jack's letters, written after his wife had sailed, reached them. They did not know of its existence, in fact, till after they were a.s.sured of its death, but the poor old lady cries and laments, I am told, over this--I must call it an imaginary bereavement (for she had never seen or even heard of the little thing till after its death) as bitterly as if it were a child of her own she had lost. The body of this child, too, has never been found; and they say it has been a great aggravation of poor Jack's grief, to think what may have become of it.

How old would you suppose your baby to be, Mary? Would it not be strange if it turned out to be Jack's little daughter?'

'We saw in the _Witness_ that Lord Briarhill and Mrs. Steele had gone to Inverlyon and claimed their daughter-in-law and took the body back with them to Edinburgh; and we advertised in the Witness that we had picked up an infant apparently washed ash.o.r.e from the wreck, but no one took any notice, and we have not had a single enquiry.'

'It might still be quite possible, nevertheless, that your little foundling is the Steeles' lost baby. The old judge was bearing the loss of his daughter-in-law, I understand, with very proper resignation. He had never seen her, so that there was no room for personal grief or deep feeling, beyond what the melancholy manner of her death must necessarily call forth, and sympathy for his son. But the next mail brought letters which mentioned the birth of the child, and its having accompanied its mother on the homeward voyage, and then they say the poor old man was completely overcome--took to his bed--and the old lady sat beside him and cried by the hour. As for Jack, he was like one out of his mind when they told him, and he has been very ill since. His oldest friends dare scarcely intrude on him yet; he is so badly cut up. By and bye he will want a change, and I have asked him to come to Inchbracken for a few weeks.'

'And do you think then that he ought to be told about our little waif!

I quite dread to tell any one about it now lest he should claim it, and I cannot bear to think of losing our pretty plaything.'

'Surely he ought to be told, if there is the smallest possibility of its being his own child; and if you like, Roderick, I will relieve you of that duty. In your present health you will probably not be sorry to avoid unnecessary letter-writing.'

Roderick nodded.

'I fear, Captain Drysdale,' interrupted the Laird, 'that is to say if a stranger can judge correctly in the matter, you will find it rather a difficult piece of news to break to this Major Steele. Do you think the probability of the child being his is sufficiently strong to justify you in subjecting him to the dreadful disappointment that would follow, if it proves not to be his after all? It appears to me scarcely warrantable to raise hopes which, if unfounded, will cause a disappointment more cruel than was the original loss. If I might suggest, I would urge very great caution.'

'I see what you mean, Mr. Sangster, but how are we to avoid it? n.o.body in this country has ever seen the child or could identify it but himself, and surely it is due both to him and the child that he should be informed of its history, if there be even the slightest possibility of his being its father.'

'Undoubtedly, but did you not say just now that you expected him to visit you at Inchbracken very shortly? Might it not be well to wait till then before saying anything to him whatever? It could then be mentioned to him carefully and gradually. Any clothing of the child that he might perhaps recognize, or even the child itself might be shown him, and then its story could be told. That would spare him the misery of suspense, and the possibility of disappointment; whereas if you write, the man will order post horses at once, and set out to investigate your story. Think of his impatience and suspense as he sits in the post chaise, thinking and thinking about it till he grows giddy. It will be twenty-four or perhaps thirty-six hours from the time he gets your letter till he can reach Glen Effick. He may fret himself into a fever in that time. You say he has been ill already, and he will be sure of a relapse if the child turns out not to be his.'

'I believe you are right, Mr. Sangster. I will merely write and urge him to come as early as possible. The season for shooting and visitors is about over, and he may be as quiet as he likes.'

'And are you really going to leave us, Mr. Roderick? asked the Laird.

'I remarked your saying so to Mr. Geddie, and was really tickled at his unwillingness to let you go away, even while he would not let you stay in the Church. That man would have made a fine grand inquisitor if he had been born in a Catholic country.'

Roderick smiled, and answered in a low voice--'He is a good man, and very zealous. But it is quite true. If he had lived two centuries ago he would have wanted to burn every one who saw things differently from himself, and he would have thought he did G.o.d service in burning them.

He thinks if he is right every body who differs from him must be wrong. He does not comprehend toleration, and he has no common sense.

As my father would have said--"he wants a wife!" if only to teach him that there is a world of daily providence and common things, as well as the world of doctrines and theologies he lives in. But he is a worthy creature!' 'Yes!' he continued, still almost in a whisper. 'We shall go south--Ventnor or Torquay--for the winter. I shall write to enquire at once; but I am not fleeing from discipline, Mr. Sangster! I shall appoint an agent to protect my interests before the Presbytery.'

'Then,' said Mary, 'might we not stop over in Edinburgh, and show Major Steele the baby?'

'I did not propose to take it with us. Supposing Major Steele is unable to recognise it, it would have to come back here and raise more talk; and I fear we should not know what to do with it during our travels if we carried it south, so I think we shall have to leave it here with Eppie for the winter.'

The tears stood in Mary's eyes. 'Oh, Roderick,' she said, 'I shall be so sorry to part with it.'

'Could you not remain too, Mary?' whispered Kenneth.

Mary coloured and shook her head, but a smile peeped from her eyes in a pa.s.sing glance, which effectually dissipated the threatening shower.

'I shall look out poor baby's chain, and the things she was picked up in, and give them to you to show Major Steele. So mind you come for them before we go.'

CHAPTER x.x.x.

_TIBBIE'S TROUBLES_.

Elspeth Macaulay sat in her doorway and basked in the autumn sun repining, and browning herself like the hazel nuts in the adjoining thicket, which, like herself, were hard of sh.e.l.l, though sweet and sound of heart when you could reach it,--and wrapped in thin wrinkled leathery husks, not far different from the withered parchment which served her aged bones for a fleshly covering. She was very old, but her eye had not grown dim, and her bodily force had not abated. She lived all alone in her shieling perched high on a steep brae looking down the glen, but she felt quite able to do for herself, and carried her eggs and b.u.t.ter to market as blythely as the youngest. The hearth within was clean swept, and the turf on it burned brightly; while the oaten cakes toasting before it diffused a nutty fragrance through the house. As Elspeth sat knitting her stocking and looking down the glen extended beneath her, she spied a white mutch on the highroad wending towards her. Presently it reached the 'slap' in the stone and divot d.y.k.e, where the footpath leading to her own residence debouched on the road. The wearer of the mutch pa.s.sed through the slap and proceeded to thread the upward path.

'Preserve us a'!' she muttered to herself, 'wha's this? It's no mony comes in as they gae by to see Elspeth noo a days! I'se fesh out the kebbock, it looks hearty. An' there's few comes to pree't noo. Na! na!

They're a' yardet maist, my cronies, by noo. An' them 'at's t'ey fore yet's ower dottle to travel that far! I'm no wantin' the young gomerals either, 'at stuffs their head i' bannets, an' thinks to be mista'en for their betters! But here's a decent auld wife 'at's no abune wearin' a mutch like her mither 'at gaed afore her.'

The huge cheese was produced from the awmry, the toasting cakes turned before the fire, and Elspeth was back in her place before the guest had mounted the brae.

'An' is that yersel', Tibbie Tirpie?' she presently exclaimed as the wearer of the mutch, slowly mounting, began to raise her head over the edge where the hill slid down out of sight. 'Hoo's wi' ye, woman? I'm blythe to get a sicht o' ye.'

'An hoo's yoursel', Elspeth! Hech sirs! But that's a stey brae for auld folk! It's braw when ye're up, but it's a sair job to clim't.'

The two old women partook of the cheer provided; after that they took snuff together, and then they settled themselves in the sunshine for their 'crack.' Elspeth's walking powers were not what they had been, and she had not been present at the ceremonies of the day before, so there was much for Tibbie to tell. Both of them would have been cla.s.sed, I fear, as 'of the world,' by the more devout. Kirks and preachings were not by any means to them the most important matters in life, still they were the news of the day, and, as such, interesting.

'An' what said our ain young minister himsel', Tibbie?' inquired Elspeth at last, after all the fine things said by the others had been duly discussed.

'Hoot, woman! He wasna there ava. Did ye no ken he was lyin'? an' rael ill. I winder Jean didna tell ye that! For it was Mistress Sangster, the folk's tellin', 'at cam near giein' him his death. Ye see they gaed stravaigin' ower the hills, an' what suld come ower my leddy but she maun coup in a burn! Up comes the minister to pu' her out, and a sair job he'd hae fand it at the best, for she's a muckle hefty wife; but the daft auld rinketer, whan ance she'd gotten a grip o' him, she gied a screech an' a fling, an' pu'ed him in ower aside her, an' baith gat a sair drookin', an' a wamefu' o' cauld water. Aweel! Stephen Boague's wife, she dried the claes o' my leddy, an' she's nae waur; but the puir minister beut to gang hame as he was--a' drouket--an'

he's gotten a sair host 'at's like to be the death o' him.'

'Puir chield! The cauld water he drank was ower strong for him. I ne'er thocht muckle o' that for a drink mysel'. It wants whusky peuten til't, to gar't lie licht on the staumick. But if a' folk says be true, it's het water he's gotten amang noo! honest man. Think ye he'll thole that better nor the cauld?' with a sidelong glance which was not observed.

'I ken there's daft-like clashes rinnin' round, but I ne'er mind them.

There's folk 'at maun aye be blatherin' some gate. But he's a gude man, I'll say! an' a worthy son o' the gude auld minister 'at gaed afore him.'

'An' ye think it's lees the folk's tellin' about him?' with a quizzical smile. Elspeth had heard all the rumours, and after a lengthened experience of her fellow-creatures, she was disposed to credit all she heard against any of them, without thinking much the worse of them for merely being found out, which she supposed to be the only difference between them and their accusers; but it was a tempting amus.e.m.e.nt to prod Tibbie on the subject of these reports, and to hover about the edge of what must not be said to a friend or a guest.

'I'll believe naething on Mester Brown till there's pruif for't! He's a gude lad, an' a free-handet as I hae cause to ken.'