The Lairds Luck | Page 6

All my miserable youth I've been mewed up in a school in England--a private seminary. Ugh? what a den it was, too! My mother died calling for me--I was not allowed to come: I hadn't seen her for three years. And now, when the old tyrant is dead, and I come home meaning--so help me!--to straighten things out and make friends--come home, to the poverty you pretend not to notice, though it stares you in the face from every wall--come home, only asking to make the best of of it, live on good terms with my fellows, and be happy for the first time in my life--damn them, they won't fling me a kind look! What have I _done_?--that's what I want to know. The queer thing is, they behaved more decently at first. There's that Gillespie, who brought you ashore: he came over the first week, offered me shooting, was altogether as pleasant as could be. I quite took to the fellow. Now, when we meet, he looks the other way! If he has anything against me, he might at least explain: it's all I ask. What have I done?"
Throughout this outburst I sat slicing my apple and taking now and then a glance at the speaker. It was all so hotly and honestly boyish! He only wanted justice. I know something of youngsters, and recognised the cry. Justice! It's the one thing every boy claims confidently as his right, and probably the last thing on earth he will ever get. And this boy looked so handsome, too, sitting in his father's chair, petulant, restive under a weight too heavy (as anyone could see) for his age. I couldn't help liking him.
My brother told me afterwards that I pounced like any recruiting-sergeant. This I do not believe. But what, after a long pause, I said was this: "If you are innocent or unconscious of offending, you can only wait for your neighbours to explain themselves. Meanwhile, why not leave them? Why not travel, for instance?"
"Travel!" he echoed, as much as to say, "You ought to know, without my telling, that I cannot afford it."
"Travel," I repeated; "see the world, rub against men of your age. You might by the way do some fighting."
He opened his eyes wide. I saw the sudden idea take hold of him, and again I liked what I saw.
"If I thought--" He broke off. "You don't mean--" he began, and broke off again.
"I mean the Morays," I said. "There may be difficulties; but at this moment I cannot see any real ones."
By this time he was gripping the arms of his chair. "If I thought--" he harked back, and for the third time broke off. "What a fool I am! It's the last thing they ever put in a boy's head at that infernal school. If you will believe it, they wanted to make a priest of me!"
He sprang up, pushing back his chair. We carried our wine into the great hall, and sat there talking the question over before the fire. Before we parted for the night I had engaged to use all my interest to get him a commission in the Morays; and I left him pacing the hall, his mind in a whirl, but his heart (as was plain to see) exulting in his new prospects.
And certainly, when I came to inspect the castle by the next morning's light, I could understand his longing to leave it. A gloomier, more pretentious, or worse-devised structure I never set eyes on. The Mackenzie who erected it may well have been (as the saying is) his own architect, and had either come to the end of his purse or left his heirs to decide against planting gardens, laying out approaches or even maintaining the pile in decent repair. In place of a drive a grassy cart-track, scored deep with old ruts, led through a gateless entrance into a courtyard where the slates had dropped from the roof and lay strewn like autumn leaves. On this road I encountered the young Laird returning from an early tramp with his gun; and he stood still and pointed to the castle with a grimace.
"A white elephant," said I.
"Call it rather the corpse of one," he answered. "Cannot you imagine some genie of the Oriental Tales dragging the beast across Europe and dumping it down here in a sudden fit of disgust? As a matter of fact my grandfather built it, and cursed us with poverty thereby. It soured my father's life. I believe the only soul honestly proud of it is Elspeth."
"And I suppose," said I, "you will leave her in charge of it when you join the Morays?"
"Ah!" he broke in, with a voice which betrayed his relief: "you are in earnest about that? Yes Elspeth will