Part 20 (1/2)
”Who can tell, sir, but when the English conquer any nation, they feel kindly to them and usually give them many favours?”
”Well, then, every one knows that the same is both her pleasure and her folly; and dearly she pays for it.”
”Ian,” said Mistress Ragnor, ”are the English s.h.i.+ps now in the Black Sea? And if so, do you think Boris is with them?”
”About Boris, I do not know. He told me he was carrying 'material of war.' The gentleman of whom I spoke went down to Spithead to see them off. Her Majesty, in the royal yacht, _Fairy_, suddenly appeared. Then the flags.h.i.+p hauled home every rope by the silent 'all-at-once' action of one hundred men. Immediately the rigging of the s.h.i.+ps was black with sailors, but there was not a sound heard except an occasional command--sharp, short and imperative--or the shrill order of the boatswain's whistle. The next moment, the Queen's yacht shot past the fleet and literally led it out to sea. Near the Nab, the royal yacht hove to and the whole fleet sailed past her, carried swiftly out by a fine westerly breeze. Her Majesty waved her handkerchief as they pa.s.sed and it is said she wept. If she had not wept she would have been less than a woman and a queen.”
While Vedder and Ragnor were discussing this incident, and comparing it with Cleopatra at the head of her fleet and Boadicea at the head of her British army and Queen Elizabeth at Tewksbury reviewing her army, Mrs. Ragnor and Thora left the room. Ian quickly followed. There was a bright fire in the parlour, and the piano was open. Ian naturally drifted there and then Thora's voice was wanted in the song.
When it was finished, Mrs. Ragnor had been called out and they were alone. And though Mrs. Ragnor came back at intervals, they were practically alone during the rest of the evening.
What do lovers talk about when they are alone? Ah! their conversation is not to be written down. How unwritable it is! How wise it is! How foolish when written down! How supremely satisfying to the lovers themselves! Surely it is only the ”baby-talk” of the wisdom not yet comprehensible to human hearts! We often say of certain events; ”I have no words to describe what I felt”--and who will find out or invent the heavenly syllables that can adequately describe the divine pa.s.sion of two souls, that suddenly find their real mate--find the soul that halves their soul, created for them, created with them, often lost or missed through diverse reincarnations; but sooner or later found again and known as soon as found to both. No wooing is necessary in such a case--they meet, they look, they love, and naturally and immediately take up their old, but unforgotten love patois. They do not need to learn its sweet, broken syllables, its hand clasps and sighs, its glances and kisses; they are more natural to them than was the grammared language they learned through years of painful study.
Ian and Thora hardly knew how the week went. Every one respected their position and left them very much to their own inclinations. It led them to long, solitary walks, and to the little green skiff on the moonlit bay, and to short visits to Sunna, in order, mainly, that they might afterwards tell each other how far sweeter and happier they were alone.
They never tired of each other, and every day they recounted the number of days that had to pa.s.s ere Ian could call himself free from the McLeod contract. They were to marry immediately and Ian would go into Ragnor's business as bookkeeper. Their future home was growing more beautiful every day. It was going to be the prettiest little home on the island. There was a good garden attached to it and a small greenhouse to save the potted plants in the winter. Ragnor had ordered its furniture from a famous maker in Aberdeen, and Rahal was attending with love and skill to all those incidentals of modern housekeeping, usually included in such words as silver, china, napery, ornaments, and kitchen-utensils. They were much interested in it and went every fine day to observe its progress. Yet their interest in the house was far inferior to their interest in each other, and Sunna may well be excused for saying to her grandfather:
”They are the most conceited couple in the world! In fact, the world belongs to them and all the men and women in it--the sun and the moon are made new for them, and they have the only bit of wisdom going. I hope I may be able to say 'yes' to all they claim until Sat.u.r.day comes.”
”These are the ways of love, Sunna.”
”Then I shall not walk in them.”
”Thou wilt walk in the way appointed thee.”
”Pure Calvinism is that, Grandfather.”
”So be it. I am a Calvinist about birth, death and marriage. They are the events in life about which G.o.d interferes. His will and design is generally evident.”
”And quite as evident, Grandfather, is the fact that a great many people interfere with His will and design.”
”Yes, Sunna, because our will is free. Yet if our will crosses G.o.d's will, crucifixion of some kind is sure to follow.”
”Well, then, today is Friday. The week has got itself over nearly; and tomorrow will be partly free, for Ian goes to Edinburgh at ten o'clock. Very proper is that! Such an admirable young man ought only to live in a capitol city.”
”If these are thy opinions, keep them to thyself. Very popular is the young man.”
”Grandfather, dost thou think that I am walking in ankle-tights yet? I can talk as the crowd talks, and I can talk to a sensible man like thee. Tomorrow brings release. I am glad, for Thora has forgotten me.
I feel that very much.”
”Thou art jealous.”
Vedder's a.s.sertion was near the truth, for undeniably Ian and Thora had been careless of any one but themselves. Yet their love was so vital and primitive, so unaffected and sincere, that it touched the sympathies of all. In this cold, far-northern island, it had all the glow and warmth of some rose-crowned garden of a tropical paradise.
But such special days are like days set apart; they do not fit into ordinary life and cannot be continued long under any circ.u.mstances. So the last day came and Thora said:
”Mother, dear, it is a day in a thousand for beauty, and we are going to get Aunt Brodie's carriage to ride over to Stromness and see the queer, old town, and the Stones of Stenness.”
”Go not near them. If you go into the cathedral you go expecting some good to come to you; for angels may be resting in its holy aisles, ready and glad to bless you. What will you ask of the ghosts among the Stones of Stenness? Is there any favour you would take from the Baal and Moloch wors.h.i.+pped with fire and blood among them?”
”Why, Mother,” said Thora, ”I have known many girls who went with their lovers to Stenness purposely to join their hands through the hole in Woden's Stone and thus take oath to love each other forever.”