The Golden Scorpion | Page 4

kindness; and if ever I should follow your
advice----"
Mrs. M'Gregor interrupted him, pointing to his boots. "Ye're no' that daft as to sit in wet
boots?"
"Really they are perfectly dry. Except for a light shower this evening, there has been no
rain for several days. However, I may as well, since I shall not be going out again."
He began to unlace his boots as Mrs. M'Gregor pulled the white casement curtains across
the windows and then prepared to retire. Her hand upon the door knob, she turned again
to Stuart.
"The foreign lady called half an hour since, Mr. Keppel."

Stuart desisted from unlacing his boots and looked up with lively interest. "Mlle. Dorian!
Did she leave any message?"
"She obsairved that she might repeat her veesit later," replied Mrs. M'Gregor, and, after a
moment's hesitation; "she awaited ye're return with exemplary patience."
"Really, I am sorry I was detained," declared Stuart, replacing his boot. "How long has
she been gone, then?"
"Just the now. No more than two or three minutes. I trust she is no worse."
"Worse!"
"The lass seemed o'er anxious to see you."
"Well, you know, Mrs. M'Gregor, she comes a considerable distance."
"So I am given to understand, Mr. Keppel," replied the old lady; "and in a grand
luxurious car."
Stuart assumed an expression of perplexity to hide his embarrassment. "Mrs. M'Gregor,"
he said rather ruefully, "you watch over me as tenderly as my own mother would have
done. I have observed a certain restraint in your manner whenever you have had occasion
to refer to Mlle. Dorian. In what way does she differ from my other lady patients?" And
even as he spoke the words he knew in his heart that she differed from every other
woman in the world.
Mrs. M'Gregor sniffed. "Do your other lady patients wear furs that your airnings for six
months could never pay for, Mr. Keppel?" she inquired.
"No, unfortunately they pin their faith, for the most part, to gaily coloured shawls. All the
more reason why I should bless the accident which led Mlle. Dorian to my door."
Mrs. M'Gregor, betraying, in her interest, real suspicion, murmured sotto voce: "Then she
is a patient?"
"What's that?" asked Stuart, regarding her surprisedly. "A patient? Certainly. She suffers
from insomnia."
"I'm no' surprised to hear it."
"What do you mean, Mrs. M'Gregor?"
"Now, Mr. Keppel, laddie, ye're angry with me, and like enough I am a meddlesome auld
woman. But I know what a man will do for shining een and a winsome face--nane better
to my sorrow--and twa times have I heard the Warning."
Stuart stood up in real perplexity. "Pardon my density, Mrs. M'Gregor, but--er--the
Warning? To what 'warning' do you refer?"

Seating herself in the chair before the writing-table, Mrs. M'Gregor shook her head
pensively. "What would it be," she said softly, "but the Pibroch o' the M'Gregors?"
Stuart came across and leaned upon a corner of the table. "The Pibroch of the
M'Gregors?" he repeated.
"Nane other. 'Tis said to be Rob Roy's ain piper that gives warning when danger threatens
ane o' the M'Gregors or any they love."
Stuart restrained a smile, and, "A well-meaning but melancholy retainer!" he commented.
"As well as I hear you now, laddie, I heard the pibroch on the day a certain woman first
crossed my threshold, nigh thirty years ago, in Inverary. And as plainly as I heard it
wailing then, I heard it the first evening that Miss Dorian came to this house!"
Torn between good-humoured amusement and real interest, "If I remember rightly," said
Stuart, "Mlle. Dorian first called here just a week ago, and immediately before I returned
from an Infirmary case?"
"Your memory is guid, Mr. Keppel."
"And when, exactly, did you hear this Warning?"
"Twa minutes before you entered the house; and I heard it again the now."
"What! you heard it to-night?"
"I heard it again just the now and I lookit out the window."
"Did you obtain a glimpse of Rob Roy's piper?"
"Ye're laughing at an old wife, laddie. No, but I saw Miss Dorian away in her car and twa
minutes later I saw yourself coming round the corner."
"If she had only waited another two minutes," murmured Stuart. "No matter; she may
return. And are these the only occasions upon which you have heard this mysterious
sound, Mrs. M'Gregor?"
"No, Master Keppel, they are not. I assure ye something threatens. It wakened me up in
the wee sma' hours last night--the piping--an' I lay awake shaking for long eno'."
"How extraordinary. Are you sure your imagination is not playing you tricks?"
"Ah, you're no' takin' me seriously, laddie."
"Mrs. M'Gregor"--he leaned across the table and rested his hands upon her
shoulders--"you are a second mother to me,