Part 23 (1/2)
Oh, it was all fascinating! Betty was very grave. Her high spirits deserted her that morning, and she went boldly to Mrs. Haddo--a thing which few girls dared to do.
Mrs. Haddo was seated by her fire. She was reading a new book which had just been sent to her by post. ”Betty, what do you want?” she said when the girl entered.
”May I take a very long walk all alone? Do you mind, Mrs. Haddo?”
”Anywhere you like, dear, provided you do not leave the grounds.”
”But I want to leave the grounds, Mrs. Haddo.”
”No, dear Betty--not alone.”
Betty avoided the gaze of Mrs. Haddo, who looked up at her. Betty's brilliant eyes were lowered, and the black, curling lashes lay on her cheeks.
Mrs. Haddo wanted to catch Betty's soul by means of her eyes, and so draw her into communion with herself. ”Betty, why do you want to walk outside the grounds, and all alone?”
”Restless, I suppose,” answered Betty.
”Is this club too exciting for you, my child?”
”Oh no, I love it!” said Betty. Her manner changed at the moment. ”And, please, don't take my hand. I--oh, it isn't that I don't want to hold your hand; but I--I am not worthy! Of course I will stay in the grounds to please you. Good-bye.”
CHAPTER XII
A VERY EVENTFUL DAY
Having got leave to take her walk, Betty started off with vigor. The fresh, keen air soothed her depressed spirits; and soon she was racing wildly against the gale, the late autumn leaves falling against her dress and face as she ran. She would certainly keep her word to Mrs.
Haddo, although her desire--if she had a very keen desire at that moment--was again to vault over those hideous prison-bars, and reach the farm, and receive the caresses of Dan and Beersheba. But a promise is a promise, and this could not be thought of. She determined, therefore, to tire herself out by walking.
She had managed to avoid all her companions. The Specialities were very much occupied making arrangements for the evening. The twins had found friends of their own, and were happily engaged. No one noticed Betty as she set forth. She walked as far as the deserted gardens. Then she crossed the waste land, and stood for a minute looking at that poor semblance of Scotch heather which grew in an exposed corner. She felt inclined to kick it, so great was her contempt for the flower which could not bloom out of its native soil. Then suddenly her mood changed.
She fell on her knees, found a bit of heather which still had a few nearly withered bells on it; and, raising it tenderly to her lips, kissed it. ”Poor little exile!” she said. ”Well, I am an exile too!”
She rose and skirted the waste land; at one side there was a somewhat steep incline which led through a plantation to a more cultivated part of the extensive grounds. Betty had never been right round the grounds of Haddo Court before, and was pleased at their size, and, on a day like this, at their wildness. She tried to picture herself back in Scotland.
Once she shut her eyes for a minute, and bringing her vivid imagination to her aid, seemed to see Donald Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane in their cosy kitchen; while Donald said, ”It'll be a braw day to-morrow;” or perhaps it was the other way round, and Jean remarked, ”There'll be a guid sprinklin' o' snaw before mornin', or I am much mistook.”
Betty sighed, and walked faster. By-and-by, however, she stood still.
She had come suddenly to the stump of an old tree. It was a broken and very aged stump, and hollow inside. Betty stood close to it. The next moment, prompted by an uncontrollable instinct, she thrust in her hand and pulled out a little sealed packet. She looked at it wildly for a minute, then put it back again. It was quite safe in this hiding-place, for she had placed it in a corner of the old stump where it was sheltered from the weather, and yet could never by any possibility be seen unless the stump was cut down. She had scarcely completed this action before a voice from behind caused her to jump and start.
”Whatever are you doing by that old stump of a tree, Betty?”
Betty turned swiftly. The color rushed to her face, leaving it the next instant paler than ever. She was confronted by the uninteresting and very small personality of Sibyl Ray.
”I am doing nothing,” said Betty. ”What affair is it of yours?”
”Oh, I am not interested,” said Sibyl. ”I was just taking a walk all alone, and I saw you in the distance; and I rushed up that steep path yonder as fast as I could, hoping you would let me join you and talk to you. You know I am going to be present at your Speciality party to-night. I do admire you so very much, Betty! Then, just as I was coming near, you thrust your hand down into that old stump, and you certainly did take something out. Was it a piece of wood, or what? I saw you looking at it, and then you dropped it in again. It looked like a square piece of wood, as far as I could tell from the distance. What were you doing with it? It was wood, was it not?”
”If you like to think it was wood, it was wood,” replied Betty. Here was another lie! Betty's heart sank very low. ”I wish you would go away, Sibyl,” she said, ”and not worry me.”