Kate Carnegie and Those Ministers | Page 9

minister say, and they waited till we got
down, and then each did his duty by his own for trying to break his
neck; but they were secretly proud of the exploit, for I caught my father
showing old Lord Kilspindie the spot, and next time Hay was up he
tried to reach the place, and stuck where the wall hangs over. I 'll point
out the hole this evening; you can see it from the other side of the den
quite plain."
[Illustration: "Many a ploy we had together."]
"Sandie went to the church--I wish every parson were as straight--and
Kilspindie appointed him to succeed the old gentleman, and when I saw
him in his study last month, it seemed as if his father stood before you,
except the breeches and the frill; but Sandie has a marvellous
stock--what havers I 'm deivin' you with, lassie."
"Tell me about Sandie this minute--did he remember the raiding of the
jack-daws?"
"He did," cried the General, in great spirits; "he just looked at me for an
instant--no one knew of my visit--and then he gripped my hands, and
do you know, Kit, he was . . . well, and there was a lump in my throat
too; it would be about thirty years, for one reason and another, since we
met."
"What did he say? the very words, dad," and Kate held up her finger in
command.

"'Jack, old man, is this really you?'--he held me at arm's length--'man,
div ye mind the jackdaw's nest?'"
"Did he? And he 's to be our padre. I know I 'll love him at once. Go on,
everything, for you 've never told me anything about Drumtochty."
"We had a glorious time going over old times. We fished up every trout
again, and we shot our first day on the moor again with Peter Stewart,
Kilspindie's head keeper, as fine an old Highlander as ever lived.
Stewart said in the evening, 'You 're a pair of prave boys, as becometh
your fathers' sons,' and Sandie gave him two and fourpence he had
scraped for a tip, but I had only one and elevenpence--we were both
kept bare. But he knew better than to refuse our offerings, though he
never saw less than gold or notes from the men that shot at the lodge,
and Sandie remembered how he touched his Highland bonnet and said,
'I will be much obliged to you both; and you will be coming to the
moor another day, for I hef his lordship's orders.'
"Boys are queer animals, lassie; we were prouder that Peter accepted
our poor little tip than about the muirfowl we shot, though I had three
brace and Sandie four. Highlanders are all gentlemen by birth, and be
sure of this, Kit, it's only that breed which can manage boys and
soldiers. But where am I now?"
"With Sandie--I beg his reverence's pardon--with the Rev. the padre of
Drumtochty," and Kate went over and sat down beside the General to
anticipate any rebellion, for it was a joy to see the warrior turning into a
boy before her eyes. "Well?"
"We had a royal dinner, as it seemed to me. Sandie has a couple of
servants, man and wife, who rule him with a rod of iron, but I would
forgive that for the cooking and the loyalty. After dinner he
disappeared with a look of mystery, and came back with a cobwebbed
bottle of the old shape, short and bunchy, which he carried as if it were
a baby.
"'Just two bottles of my father's port left; we 'll have one to-day to
welcome you back, and we 'll keep the other to celebrate your

daughter's marriage.' He had one sister, younger by ten years, and her
death in girlhood nearly broke his heart. It struck me from something
he said that his love is with her; at any rate, he has never married.
Sandie has just one fault--he would not touch a cheroot; but he snuffs
handsomely out of his father's box.
"Of course, I can't say anything about his preaching, but it's bound to be
sensible stuff."
"Bother the sermons; he 's an old dear himself, and I know we shall be
great friends. We 'll flirt together, and you will not have one word to
say, so make up your mind to submit."
"We shall have good days in the old place, lassie; but you know we are
poor, and must live quietly. What I have planned is a couple of handy
women or so in the house with Donald. Janet is going to live at the gate
where she was brought up, but she will look after you well, and we 'll
always have a bed and a glass of wine for a friend.