PEACE.
"The last stage now, Kit; in less than two hours we'll see Tochty
woods. The very thought makes me a boy again, and it seems yesterday
that I kissed your mother on the door-step of the old lodge and went
off to the Crimean war.
"That's Muirtown Castle over there in the wood--a grand place in its
way, but nothing to our home, lassie. Kilspindie--he was Viscount Hay
then--joined me at Muirtown, and we fought through the weary winter.
He left the army after the war, with lots of honour. A good fellow was
Hay, both in the trenches and the messroom.
"I 've never seen him since, and I dare say he 's forgotten a battered
old Indian. Besides, he's the big swell in this district, and I 'm
only a poor Hielant laird, with a wood and a tumble-down house and a
couple of farms."
"You are also a shameless hypocrite and deceiver, for you believe that
the Carnegies are as old as the Hays, and you know that, though you
have only two farms, you have twelve medals and seven wounds. What
does money matter? it simply makes people vulgar."
"Nonsense, lassie; if a Carnegie runs down money, it's because he has
got none and wishes he had. If you and I had only a few hundreds a
year over the half-pay to rattle in our pockets, we should have lots of
little pleasures, and you might have lived in England, with all sorts
of variety and comfort, instead of wandering about India with a gang of
stupid old chaps who have been so busy fighting that they never had
time to read a book."
"You mean like yourself, dad, and V. C. and Colonel Kinloch? Where
could a girl have found finer company than with my Knights of King
Arthur? And do you dare to insinuate that I could have been content
away from the regiment, that made me their daughter after mother died,
and the army?
"Pleasure!" and Kate's cheek flushed. "I 've had it since I was a
little tot and could remember anything--the bugles sounding reveille in
the clear air, and the sergeants drilling the new drafts in the
morning, and the regiment coming out with the band before and you at
its head, and hearing 'God save the Queen' at a review, and seeing the
companies passing like one man before the General.
"Don't you think that's better than tea-drinking, and gossiping, and
sewing meetings, and going for walks in some stupid little hole of a
country town? Oh, you wicked, aggravating dad. Now, what more will
money do?"
"Well," said the General, with much gravity, "if you were even a
moderate heiress there is no saying but that we might pick up a
presentable husband for you among the lairds. As it is, I fancy a
country minister is all you could expect.
"Don't . . . my ears will come off some day; one was loosened by a cut
in the Mutiny. No, I 'll never do the like again. But some day you
will marry, all the same," and Kate's father rubbed his ears.
"No, I 'm not going to leave you, for nobody else could ever make a
curry to please; and if I do, it will not be a Scotch minister--horrid,
bigoted wretches, V. C. says. Am I like a minister's wife, to address
mothers' meetings and write out sermons? By the way, is there a kirk
at Drumtochty, or will you read prayers to Janet and Donald and me?"
"When I was a lad there was just one minister in Drumtochty, Mr.
Davidson, a splendid specimen of the old school, who, on great
occasions, wore gaiters and a frill with a diamond in the centre; he
carried a gold-headed stick, and took snuff out of a presentation box.
"His son Sandie was my age to a year, and many a ploy we had together;
there was the jackdaw's nest in the ivy on the old tower we harried
together," and the General could only indicate the delightful risk of
the exploit. "My father and the minister were pacing the avenue at the
time, and caught sight of us against the sky. 'It's your rascal and
mine, Laird,' we heard the 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. Then you can
have a run up to London and get your things, Kit," and the General
looked wistfully at his daughter, as one who would have given her a
kingdom.
"Do you think your girl cares so much about luxuries and dresses? Of
course I like to look well--every woman does, and if she pretends
otherwise she 's a hypocrite; but money just seems to make some women
hideous. It is enough for me to have you all to myself up in your old
home, and to see you enjoying the rest you have earned. We'll be as
happy as two lovers, dad," and Kate threw an arm round her father's
neck and kissed him.
"We have to change here," as the train began to slow; "prepare to see
the most remarkable railway in the empire, and a guard to correspond."
And then it came upon them, the first sight that made a Drumtochty
man's heart warm, and assured him that he was nearing home.
An engine on a reduced scale, that had once served in the local goods
department of a big station, and then, having grown old and asthmatic,
was transferred on half-pay, as it were, to the Kildrummie branch,
where it puffed between the junction and the terminus half a dozen
times a day, with two carriages and an occasional coal truck. Times
there were when wood was exported from Kildrummie, and then the train
was taken down in detachments, and it was a pleasant legend that, one
market day, when Drumtochty was down in force, the engine stuck, and
Drumsheugh invited the Glen to get out and push. The two carriages
were quite distinguished in construction, and had seen better days.
One consisted of a single first-class compartment in the centre, with a
bulge of an imposing appearance, supported on either side by two
seconds. As no native ever travelled second, one compartment had been
employed as a reserve to the luggage van, so that Drumtochty might have
a convenient place of deposit for calves, but the other was jealously
reserved by Peter Bruce for strangers with second-class tickets, that
his branch might not be put to confusion. The other carriage was
three-fourths third class and one-fourth luggage, and did the real
work; on its steps Peter stood and dispensed wisdom, between the
junction and Kildrummie.
But neither the carriages nor the engine could have made history
without the guard, beside whom the guards of the main line--even of the
expresses that ran to London--were as nothing--fribbles and weaklings.
For the guard of the Kildrummie branch was absolute ruler, lording it
over man and beast without appeal, and treating the Kildrummie
stationmaster as a federated power. Peter was a short man of great
breadth, like unto the cutting of an oak-tree, with a penetrating grey
eye, an immovable countenance, and bushy whiskers. It was understood
that when the line was opened, and the directors were about to fill up
the post of guard from a number of candidates qualified by long
experience on various lines, Peter, who had been simply wasting his
time driving a carrier's cart, came in, and sitting down opposite the
board--two lairds and a farmer--looked straight before him without
making any application. It was felt by all in an instant that only one
course was open, in the eternal fitness of things. Experience was well
enough, but special creation was better, and Peter was immediately
appointed, his name being asked by the chairman afterwards as a
formality. From the beginning he took up a masterful position,
receiving his human cargo at the junction and discharging it at the
station with a power that even Drumtochty did not resist, and a
knowledge of individuals that was almost comprehensive. It is true
that, boasting one Friday evening concerning the "crooded" state of the
train, he admitted with reluctance that "there 's a stranger in the
second I canna mak oot," but it is understood that he solved the
problem before the man got his luggage at Kildrummie.
Perhaps Peter's most famous achievement was his demolition of a south
country bagman, who had made himself unpleasant, and the story was much
tasted by our guard's admirers. This self-important and vivacious
gentleman, seated in the first, was watching Peter's leisurely
movements on the Kildrummie platform with much impatience, and lost all
self-control on Peter going outside to examine the road for any distant
passenger.
"Look here, guard, this train ought to have left five minutes ago, and
I give you notice that if we miss our connection I 'll hold your
company responsible."
At the sound of this foreign voice with its indecent clamour, Peter
returned and took up his position opposite the speaker, while the staff
and the whole body of passengers--four Kildrummie and three Drumtochty,
quite sufficient for the situation--waited the issue. Not one word did
Peter deign to reply, but he fixed the irate traveller with a gaze so
searching, so awful, so irresistible, that the poor man fell back into
his seat and pretended to look out at the opposite window. After a
pause of thirty seconds, Peter turned to the engine-driver.
"They 're a' here noo, an' there 's nae use waitin' langer; ca' awa',
but ye needna distress the engine."
It was noticed that the foolhardy traveller kept the full length of the
junction between himself and Peter till the Dunleith train came in,
while his very back was eloquent of humiliation, and Hillocks offered
his snuff-box ostentatiously to Peter, which that worthy accepted as a
public tribute of admiration.
"Look, Kate, there he is;" and there Peter was, standing in his
favourite attitude, his legs wide apart and his thumbs in his armholes,
superior, abstracted, motionless till the train stopped, when he came
forward.
[Illustration: Peter was standing in his favourite attitude.]
"Prood tae see ye, General, coming back at laist, an' the Miss wi' ye;
it 'll no be the blame o' the fouk up by gin ye bena happy. Drumtochty
hes an idea o' itsel', and peety the man 'at tries tae drive them, but
they 're couthy.
"This wy, an' a'll see tae yir luggage," and before Peter made for the
Dunleith van it is said that he took off his cap to Kate; but if so,
this was the only time he had ever shown such gallantry to a lady.
Certainly he must have been flustered by something, for he did not
notice that Carmichael, overcome by shyness at the sight of the
Carnegies in the first, had hid himself in the second, till he closed
the doors; then the Carnegies heard it all.
"It's I, Peter," very quietly; "your first has passengers to-day,
and . . . I 'll just sit here."
"Come oot o' that," after a moment, during which Peter had simply
looked; then the hat and the tweeds came stumbling into the first,
making some sort of a bow and muttering an apology.
"A'll tak' yir ticket, Maister Carmichael," with severity. "General,"
suddenly relaxing, "this is the Free Kirk minister of yir pairish, an'
a 'm jidgin' he 'll no try the second again."
Carmichael lifted his head and caught Kate's eye, and at the meeting of
humour they laughed aloud. Whereupon the General said, "My daughter,
Miss Carnegie," and they became so friendly before they reached
Kildrummie that Carmichael forgot his disgraceful appearance and when
the General offered him a lift up, simply clutched at the opportunity.
The trap was a four-wheeled dog-cart. Kate drove, with her father by
her side and Carmichael behind, but he found it necessary to turn round
to give information of names and places, and he so managed that he
could catch Kate's profile half the time.
When he got down at the foot of the hill by Hillocks' farm, to go up
the near road, instead thereof he scrambled along the ridge, and looked
through the trees as the carriage passed below; but he did not escape.
"What's he glowerin' at doon there?" Hillocks inquired of Jamie Soutar,
to whom he was giving some directions about a dyke, and Hillocks made a
reconnaissance. "A 'll warrant that's the General and his dochter.
She 's a weel-faured lassie an' speerity-lookin'."
"It cowes a'," said Jamie to himself; "the first day he ever saw her;
but it's aye the way, aince an' ever, or . . . never."
"What's the Free Kirk, dad?" when Carmichael had gone. "Is it the same
as the Methodists?"
"No, no, quite different. I 'm not up in those things, but I 've heard
it was a lot of fellows who would not obey the laws, and so they left
and made a kirk for themselves, where they do whatever they like. By
the way, that was the young fellow we saw giving the dogs water at
Muirtown. I rather like him; but why did he look such a fool, and try
to escape us at the junction?"
"How should I know? I suppose because he is a . . . foolish boy. And
now, dad, for the Lodge and Tochty woods."