A PICTISH HONEYMOON
Stair Garland slept little that night. He wandered in the cool purple
darkness here and there about the island, listening to the curious
noises of the birds, complaining vaguely, or calling one to the other
from the rocky ledges. He was conscious of the perpetual drumming of the
sea in his ears, as the tide ran, jostled in the narrow reaches, and
hammered without ceasing on the outer cliffs of the little island.
The pair of cows were company to him. He wondered whence they came and
who had placed them there. They did not waste their time, but munched
steadily at the lush grasses in the interior meadow of the isle--the
hollow palm of its hand, as it were. The problem took his mind for a
while off his own miseries.
Some one had been there. Some one had been accustomed to tend and milk
them. It could not be his sister Jean, for she could not have been long
enough spared from the farm at Glenanmays. Who, then, had provided all
that they found waiting for them? The poultry he had penned in darkness,
so that their early crowing might not awaken Patsy. She must know. She
had prepared all this. She had prepared everything. Even his own
delivery from prison, even the great muster of the Bands to override
authority and save him, were only little dove-tailings in the scheme
which Patsy had designed for her own liberation.
Well, he had nothing to complain of. He had been asked a question, and
if he had wished he might have answered "No." Was he a free man or
bound? But having said "Yes" of his own good will, what remained to him
but to take up the rôle which Patsy had reserved for him. It was not
remarkably dignified, but--if any fault there were, the fault was his
own.
Besides, he would have given the same answer then or any other moment.
He had not been taken by surprise. So long as he was Patsy's husband,
nobody else could be so also! Why, of course, he would stand by his
bargain! What else was he for--he, Diarmid Garland's second son--the
head of the Bands, the famous defier of the press and the Preventives?
Pshaw! What did all that mean to him now--apples of Sodom in the mouth,
an exceeding bitter fruit! What a fool he was with his airs! Would he
ever have such a chance again, and he to dream of complaining!
Gradually he became conscious of Whitefoot moving, silent as a shadow,
beside his master. Once, when Stair stood a long time on the craggy top
of the Fell of Rathan, gazing out at the ranged lights on the English
side of the firth, he was conscious of a cool, damp nose thrusting its
way into his palm, causing him to open his hand by little calculated
snout-pushes and burrowings. Whitefoot was sympathetic. Whitefoot felt
for the trouble of his master, though he could not understand it, and
Whitefoot would not be satisfied till his friend's hand was resting on
his head. Even then little heavings and sidelong pushes expressed a
desire to be caressed, and when at last Stair's hand ran over his head,
across the thick ruff of hair about his neck and passed down his spine,
Whitefoot shook with delight and leaped so high that his forepaws were
on Stair's shoulders.
"Down, dog, down!" said his master, and at the word Whitefoot dropped
back on all fours, obedient but content.
It now was past the hour of twelve. The central night stood still. The
little chill breeze which ruffles the waves an hour or so in early
morning had not yet begun to blow. Stair had been about the House of
Rathan half-a-dozen of times. At last he went into the barn and, only
removing his coat, he threw himself at length among the straw of which
he had made a couch earlier in the evening. Whitefoot nuzzled
comfortably up against him. He did not mean to sleep. It would soon be
morning and there were the cows out in the little meadows. He would only
close his eyes for a moment.
It will not be surprising to learn that the next sound he heard was a
happy laugh, as Patsy appeared at the open door of the barn with "Awake,
thou sluggard" upon her lips.
"I looked in half-an-hour ago," she laughed, "and you looked so sweet
and peaceful that I went and milked the cows before wakening you."
"You milked the cows?"
Patsy nodded her head with its tight cover of curls, all of densest
black, shapely and boyish.
"The milk is in the dairy!" she said. "Concerning what else does my lord
please to inquire?"
"But the two cows?" he said, hastily getting up and putting on his coat,
which he had spread over him, "they ought not to be left out all day on
the high grass. Cruising sloops of war, and even Preventive men with
spy-glasses, might easily see them from the shore."
"I had thought of that, my lord," said Patsy. "I confined them with a
good reach of rope behind the old fold which lies hidden out of sight in
the hollow of the island. No one can see them there, unless they mount
on the cliffs and look down on them from the height of the island. They
will be happy there, for the rabbits and gulls have not spoilt the
grass."
Stair stood up beside Patsy in the doorway of the barn. The gate of the
yard was open, and they walked slowly towards it, splendid widths of sea
and heights of cloudless heaven opening out before them at every step.
Instinctively Patsy caught Stair by the arm, gave it a little joyous
tug, and cried out, "Oh, Stair, was ever anything so beautiful?"
The young man glanced down at her. But her eyes were on the distant,
tender blue of the coast about Whitehaven, and the Isle of Man hovering
in a mother-of-pearl haze, like a dream-island about to alight. All his
instincts told him to clasp her to him and take the consequences. But
unfortunately Stair reasoned, which is the wrong method with a woman,
especially with such a Pictish daughter of impulse as Patsy Ferris. He
remembered what she had said to him the night before, as if that could
have any bearing on her mood of to-day.
But so the chance passed. The fine morning gold was dimmed. They had
looked too long. Patsy released his arm and they fell apart.
She remembered it was time to go indoors for breakfast. They went, their
eyes averted, lest the other should see the remains of the morning
glory. They kept silence also lest the thrill of it should tremble in
their voices. But at the sight of the spread table and the homely scents
of fried bacon and smoked mutton ham, Patsy became again very human, and
set herself down in the place of house-mistress with a ripple of glad
laughter.
"Only think, Stair!" she cooed low in her throat, "here all by
ourselves--a breakfast which I have prepared, eggs which I have found,
milk which I drew from the cow--(they are two such nice cows, Stair!),
and you and Whitefoot sitting opposite! Just ourselves two, Stair. Not a
chaperon--not a _gouvernante_, like the old horror the Princess used to
threaten me with. No felt-footed lacqueys always bringing you the wrong
thing, no Princess, no Miss Aline even! Oh, I declare I am so glad--that
I could--_take my breakfast!_"
Patsy broke off suddenly, making a wilful anti-climax to her speech,
and, as Stair knew very well, not in the least finishing as she had
meant to. But her housekeeping pride was aroused. He must eat. She would
heap his plate. She had heard him late last night moving about. Had he
not slept well? That was why she had let him sleep on this morning, but
he must not expect such indulgence every day. He would need to be out
and at the net fishing or among the flounders, for though they had
plenty for the present in their store-room, they did not know when they
might be succoured.
Then Stair put a question he had been thirsting to have answered all
night.
"Whose is this island, and who has given us the right to use all the
larder and live-stock?"
Patsy clapped her hands gleefully.
"Guess!" she cried--"three guesses!"
"_One_, wrong--no, not my father! _Two_, wrong, not Uncle Ju! THREE,
WRONG--not Miss Aline! You made me gasp that time. I thought you could
not miss it. We are here on this Island of Rathan as caretakers for Mr.
Kennedy McClure. These are his cows. His sheep are on the heuchs yonder,
and we have liberty to kill them for mutton when we weary of fish. These
are his hens I let out this morning, and he brought Jean here with
selected stores to make everything cosy for us!"
"And why does he do all this?" Stair inquired. Patsy flung up her head
and smiled dazzlingly.
"Who knows?" she said. "He was great friends with me in London. He made
the _Good Intent_ hurry up when I was ready--otherwise you might have
stayed a long time in prison. And this is better, eh, Stair?"
"And your Uncle Julian--Mr. Wemyss? Will they not be harder on him
because I have escaped?"
"You have not escaped--you have been carried off," Patsy corrected. "So
was Uncle Ju. He walked off the step of his verandah into the arms of
Captain Penman and half-a-dozen of the crew of the _Good Intent_. They
seized him and carried him on the _Billy Goat_, which sailed immediately
for parts unknown. But Joseph managed so well and the orders from
headquarters were so strict, that the garrison did not even loot the
house as they did at Cairn Ferris, that night when you disgraced us all
by drawing royal blood at the White Loch. Here are some books which he
sent for you--some from the Bothy, and some for me to read. I am not so
learned as you, and Joseph chose accordingly. If we have wet days,
Stair, we can read all day with our toes to the fire!"
"And why did not we also go on the _Good Intent_ and so get away from
all this trouble?" Stair inquired.
"If you wanted Uncle Ju all day telling us what his Princess would have
thought, said and done--I did not. I wanted to be by our own two selves.
Besides, if we were to get married, there is no country in the world
where it can be done with such willingness and alacrity as at home. Also
I have been brought up a good Presbyterian, and a parish minister and
his session clerk--well, where in foreign parts will you find the like
of Mr. Duff and honest James Fraser? The _Good Intent_, indeed! I think
you are hard to please if you are not content with your present
quarters, young man!"