MISS ALINE TAKES COMMAND
"Indeed, mem," said the dainty little lady, as Patsy and the Princess
were ushered into her tiny sitting-room, "but this is more than kind and
far abune my thoughts and deservings. But I wish it had been at Ladykirk
that I had been permitted to receive you, and not in this--this
pig-stye, that has not been cleansed for a hundred year, and as for
dusting--I was just tearing up an auld bit o' body-linen to show the
craiturs how a room should be dusted."
"But your maid?" said the Princess, "I know you have brought one. Why
not let her do a thing like that?"
"Eelen Young--oh, mem, it's little ye ken--and how should ye, being as
they tell me siccan a great leddy, the snares and the traps that lie
waiting for the feet of the young and the unwary here in this michty
'caravansy'! My leddy, there's not a decent lass in the place--only men
to serve ye and make the beds. 'Thank ye kindly,' says I, 'but I, Aline
Minto, shall make my ain.' So after I had let Eelen Young sleep with me
one night, I packed her aff wi' the next coach and paid David Colvill,
the guard, to look after her to Dumfries, where she has a sister in
service."
The Princess had taken an instant fancy, as Patsy knew she would, to the
little Dresden china shepherdess of a lady who would never grow older.
Everything about her was irresistible--the soft grey ripple of hair
about her brow, the shy girlish eyes, the long delicate hand with the
fingers which, in spite of their declared readiness to work, trembled a
little, and the voice which spoke the Northern speech with such
clear-cut gentility, that the words fell on the ear with a certain cool
freshness, like the splash of water in a fountain or the tinkle of a
burn flowing over pebbles of whinstone.
"You must come away with us," said the Princess, "I have a great house
in the midst of gardens not far from the town, and horses which are
greatly in need of exercise--when it pleases you to use them, you will
confer a real favour. So let Patsy here help you to make up your trunks,
and come back home with us!"
"Oh, do, Miss Aline!" pleaded Patsy, "that will be the very happiest
thing I can think of."
"Bide a wee," said the old lady, motioning Patsy to be silent. "I am
heartily obligated to your Highness for her maist kind offer, and I will
accept it on yae condeetion. Which is, that if ever ye come to Scotland
on any errand whatsoever, or have need of a bit nook where ye can forget
the warld--the like comes whiles to the greatest--ye will come straight
to me at Ladykirk--"
"I promise," said the Princess, smiling sadly. "I have great need to
profit by your offer now. But at present I am not my own. I must wait.
Still, I do promise you that if I live I shall use my first freedom by
coming to visit you at Ladykirk. Patsy here has been telling me about
it. She says it is a Paradise!"
"It's weel enough," said Miss Aline, "naething very grand about it but
the garden, and _that_ is real famous for the plums and the berries. But
I daresay ye will hae plenty goosegogs o' your ain. How far are ye on
with your preserving, mem?"
"Dear me," said the Princess, "really, I never thought of asking. But I
shall see as soon as we get home. I promise you that you shall have the
command of all the idle gardeners at Hanover Lodge if you will only come
with me."
"Is your jeely-pan good solid copper or only one of thae nesty French
things that need to be lacquered every month?"
"Indeed," said the Princess Elsa, "I ought to know, and I am ashamed not
to know, having been (for some time at least) a German _haus-frau_. But
living so long in London and away from my country, has made me
shamefully careless. You must teach me, dear Miss Aline, so that I need
not be put to shame when I come to see the perfection with which you do
everything at Ladykirk!"
"Hoot, the lass Patsy has been bletherin'," snapped Miss Aline, "things
gang nae better at Ladykirk than elsewhere, if I were not for ever at
their tails. My heart is fair broken to think o' the cook and Eelen
Young makin' a hash of the apple jeely and the damson jam. They are sure
to forget the maist needfu' thing of a'--and that's neither more nor
less than an extra under-sheet o' good writing-paper, cut to size and
weel soakit in whusky. And as for the mistakes they will make in the
labelling and dating, it's a sin and a shame to think on't. But at least
I can, and shall, go over every single pot as soon as I set foot within
the hoose. Then, if I find anything wrang, Guid peety the idle hizzies!"
In half an hour Miss Aline was speeding westward by the side of the
Princess, Patsy in great delight sitting opposite to them with her back
to the horses. The great lady was charmed with the ingenuous frankness
of Miss Aline's comments, and signed to Patsy to let her say all that
came into her mind.
In Saint James's Street they crossed the Regent driving out to the park.
"And wha's that frisky body in the frilled sark?" said Miss Aline, who,
like many of her countryfolk of the time, regularly honoured her country
by exaggerating its accent and speech in converse with the Southron.
"The Regent!" said the Princess, returning the royal bow with the very
slightest inclination of her head.
"So that's the Regent," said Miss Aline, with a critical glance over her
shoulder, "weel, to meet him you would never take him to be mickle mair
wickeder than other folk--only sleepier and a dooms deal fatter!"
Soon the town was left behind, and they had the delight of a drive out
to Kew by the riverside before them. Miss Aline was delighted and
admitted that, though not, of course, so beautiful as Ladykirk, England
had its points all the same, and that certainly neither the Abbey Burn
nor the Mays Water could be compared to the Thames _for size_--though,
she added, as she observed the patient wistful array of anglers on the
bank, that she greatly doubted if any of these fisherfolk would bring
back six dozen of trout as Stair Garland often did on a morning after a
spate.
Miss Aline declared herself charmed with Kew and craned her head to see
the old king's palace--the "rightful king," as she called the stricken
Majesty of Britain. For she was attached to George the Third with a real
affection, which dated from her childhood and her mother's teachings.
The Regent and the Regency party had no friend in her, so that, for this
reason alone, she was a welcome guest at Hanover Lodge.
To the astonished minion who opened the door she held out her hand,
saying, "Good-day to you--I kenna your first name, but hoo are the wife
and the bairns?"
The solemn footman stammered that he was an unmarried man, and the
Princess laughed heartily.
"I shall remember your lesson in politeness when I come to Ladykirk,"
she said. "Is it James or Gilbert who opens the door?"
"That just depends, my leddy," said Miss Aline, "sometimes one is more
fit to be seen than another. But either o' them would take it sore to
heart if ye did not speer for the health o' his family."
"Indeed, it is a good custom, and much used in Germany, where I come
from," said the Princess.
"I'm thinking," said Miss Aline, "that in that country they will show
more kindliness and hameliness to the folk that serve them than in this
cauldrife England."
"You are wholly right, Miss Aline," the Princess answered. "I remember
that when my father made a joke--it was always a good, old,
time-honoured favourite--he would look about to see that all the
servants were smiling at the jest. They had heard it a hundred times
before, but he always liked to see that they were enjoying it along with
the family."
So Miss Aline was installed at Hanover Lodge and, before half a day was
over, had wormed her way into the confidence of the housekeeper, had won
a right to use the kitchen, had consulted the cook on several recondite
subjects and furnished her with a new receipt for elderberry wine, and
had taken over the whole matter of the preserving for the year. She had
arrived a little late, but the gardener had orders to procure for her
from Covent Garden all that her heart desired to boil and sweeten and
stir and put up in crocks and jars, till there was a sweet smell all
about Hanover Lodge which carried out even to the wherries that went by
in mid-stream, causing the rowers to turn their heads and sniff
longingly.