Part 17 (1/2)
”Then it seems to me thou should take me to Edinburgh. I want that something, that polish, only great cities can give me.”
”Blessings on thee! All Edinburgh can give, thou shalt have! But it is my advice to thee to remain here until Mrs. Brodie goes back, then go thou with her.”
”That will be what it should be. Mrs. Brodie, I feel, will be my stepmother; and----”
”She will never step past thee. Fear not!”
”Nor will any one--man or woman--step between thee and me! Doubt me not!”
”Well, then, have thy way. I give thee my word to take thee to Edinburgh in the autumn. Thou shalt either stay with Mrs. Brodie or at the Queen's Hotel on Prince's Street, with old Adam Vedder.”
”Best of all is thy last offer. I will stay with thee. I am used to men's society. Women bore me.”
”Women bore me also.”
”Know this, there are three women who do not bore thee. Shall I speak their names?”
”I will not hinder thee.”
”Sunna Vedder?”
”I love her. She cannot bore me.”
”Rahal Ragnor?”
”I respect her. She does not bore me--often.”
”Yes, that is so; it is but seldom thou sees her. Well, then, Barbara Brodie?”
”I once loved her. She can never be indifferent to me.”
”Thou hast told me the truth and I will not follow up this catechism.”
”For that favour, I am thy debtor. I might not always have been so truthful. Now, then, be honest with me. What wilt thou do all the summer, with no lover to wait on thy whims and fancies?”
”On thee I shall rely. Where thou goes, I will go, and if thou stay at home, with thee I will stay. Thou can read to me. I have never heard any of our great Sagas and that is a shame. I complain of that neglect in my education! I heard Maximus Grant recite from 'The Banded Men and Haakon the Good,' when I was in Edinburgh, and I said to myself, 'how much finer is this, than opera songs, sung with a Scotch burr, in the Italian; or than English songs, sung by Scotch people who p.r.o.nounce English after the Scotch fas.h.i.+on!' Then I made up my mind that this coming winter I would let Edinburgh drawing-rooms hear the songs of Norse warriors; the songs in which the armour rattles and the swords s.h.i.+ne!”
”That, indeed, will befit thee! Now, then, for the summer, keep thyself well in hand. Say nothing of thy plans, for if but once the wind catches them, they will soon be for every one to talk to death.”
Adam was finis.h.i.+ng his plate of rice pudding and cream when he gave this advice; and with it, he moved his chair from the table and said: ”Come into the garden. I want to smoke. Thou knows a good dinner deserves a pipe, and a bad one demands it.”
Then they went into the garden and talked of the flowers and the young vegetables, and said not a word of Edinburgh and the Sagas that the winds could catch and carry round to human folk for clash and gossip.
And when the pipe was out, Adam said: ”Now I am going into the town.
That Burns story is on my lips, my teeth cannot keep my tongue behind them much longer.”
”A good time will be thine. I wish that I could go with thee.”
”What wilt thou do?”