Part 59 (2/2)
”Not very hard, my lady. Sometimes I wake up to find that I have been in an evil mood and forgetting him, and then life is hard until I get near him again. But it is not my work that makes me forget him. When I go a-fis.h.i.+ng, I go to catch G.o.d's fish; when I take Kelpie out, I am teaching one of G.o.d's wild creatures; when I read the Bible or Shakspere, I am listening to the word of G.o.d, uttered in each after its kind. When the wind blows on my face, what matter that the chymist pulls it to pieces! He cannot hurt it, for his knowledge of it cannot make my feeling of it a folly, so long as he cannot pull that to pieces with his retorts and crucibles: it is to me the wind of him who makes it blow, the sign of something in him, the fit emblem of his spirit, that breathes into my spirit the breath of life. When Mr Graham talks to me, it is a prophet come from G.o.d that teaches me, as certainly as if his fiery chariot were waiting to carry him back when he had spoken; for the word he utters at once humbles and uplifts my soul, telling it that G.o.d is all in all and my G.o.d--that the Lord Christ is the truth and the life, and the way home to the Father.”
After a little pause,
”And when you are talking to a rich, ignorant, proud lady?” said Clementina, ”--what do you feel then?”
”That I would it were my lady Clementina instead,” answered Malcolm with a smile.
She held her peace.
When he left her, Malcolm hurried to Scaurnose and arranged with Blue. Peter for his boat and crew the next night. Returning to his grandfather, he found a note waiting him from Mrs Courthope, to the effect that, as Miss Caley, her ladys.h.i.+p's maid, had preferred another room, there was no reason why, if he pleased, he should not re-occupy his own.
CHAPTER LXV: THE EVE OF THE CRISIS
It was late in the sweetest of summer mornings when the Partan's boat slipped slowly back with a light wind to the harbour of Portlossie.
Malcolm did not wait to land the fish, but having changed his clothes and taken breakfast with Duncan, who was always up early, went to look after Kelpie. When he had done with her, finding some of the household already in motion, he went through the kitchen, and up the old corkscrew stone stair to his room to have the sleep he generally had before his breakfast. Presently came a knock at his door, and there was Rose.
The girl's behaviour to Malcolm was much changed. The conviction had been strengthened in her that he was not what he seemed, and she regarded him now with a vague awe. She looked this way and that along the pa.s.sage, with fear in her eyes, then stepped timidly inside the room to tell him, in a hurried whisper, that she had seen the woman who gave her the poisonous philtre, talking to Caley the night before, at the foot of the bridge, after everybody else was in bed. She had been miserable till she could warn him. He thanked her heartily, and said he would be on his guard; he would neither eat nor drink in the house. She crept softly away. He secured the door, lay down, and trying to think fell asleep.
When he woke his brain was clear. The very next day, whether Lenorme came or not, he would declare himself. That night he would go fis.h.i.+ng with Lady Clementina, but not one day longer would he allow those people to be about his sister. Who could tell what might not be brewing, or into what abyss, with the help of her friends, the woman Catanach might not plunge Florimel?
He rose, took Kelpie out, and had a good gallop. On his way back he saw in the distance Florimel riding with Liftore. The earl was on his father's bay mare. He could not endure the sight, and dashed home at full speed.
Learning from Rose that Lady Clementina was in the flower garden, he found her at the swan basin, feeding the gold and silver fishes.
An under gardener who had been about the place for thirty years, was at work not far off. The light splash of the falling column which the marble swan spouted from its upturned beak, prevented her from hearing his approach until he was close behind her. She turned, and her fair face took the flush of a white rose.
”My lady,” he said, ”I have got everything arranged for tonight.”
”And when shall we go?” she asked eagerly.
”At the turn of the tide, about half past seven. But seven is your dinner hour.”
”It is of no consequence.--But could you not make it half an hour later, and then I should not seem rude?”
”Make it any hour you please, my lady, so long as the tide is falling.”
”Let it be eight then, and dinner will be almost over. They will not miss me after that. Mr Cairns is going to dine with them. I think, except Liftore, I never disliked a man so much. Shall I tell them where I am going?”
”Yes, my lady. It will be better.--They will look amazed--for all their breeding!”
”Whose boat is it, that I may be able to tell them if they should ask me?”
”Joseph Mair's. He and his wife will come and fetch you. Annie Mair will go with us--if I may say us: will you allow me to go in your boat, my lady?”
”I couldn't go without you, Malcolm.”
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