Miss Stuart was sitting before an easel in the large oriel, and as her
aunt briefly announced me and withdrew in her eagerness to talk to the
wonderful Joe, she rose and greeted me warmly. 'Oh, Mr Russell,' she
said, 'I _am_ glad to see you. Somehow I can't paint to-day; the
inspiration is wanting;' and she put her brushes in the jar and laid
aside her palette.
It was a large room lit by two windows, one facing the south, the other
to the west over-looking the wooded banks of the winding Nith. The flush
of the sunset was tingeing the sky and flooding the room with a subdued
light which mellowed and softened the deep black of the Indian furniture
against the pale-gray walls and the deeper-gray carpet. A large fire,
crowned with a halo of short blue flame, glowed in the grate, and a
'megilpy' odour, mingling with the faint, indescribable perfume which
ladies carry with them, lingered around, and reminded me of a reception
afternoon in a Queen Street studio of long ago.
I was conscious of these details in my surroundings, although my eyes
had never wandered for a moment from the sweet face of my dream-lady,
and followed her greedily as she walked forward to the firelight.
I explained to her that my partner, Mr Monteith, was engaged with Mrs
Stuart on business, and that I had taken the opportunity of having a
word with her on a similar subject.
She smiled, wearily I thought, and seated herself. 'I don't like
business talks, Mr Russell,' she said. 'Neither did father. It must be a
family trait. Still, I dare say they are incumbent on us sometimes. I
trust it is pleasant business you wish to talk over.'
'Oh yes, it is pleasant enough,' I said, and her face brightened.
'Sitting here,' I continued, after a pause, 'and seeing you in such a
perfect setting, I am strongly tempted to talk to you on a subject
nearer my heart; but--well, I have already promised you to put my
feelings into the background for the time being, and, hard though it may
be, I will be true to my word. You remember I talked to you about your
interest in the Banku Oil Company? Well, the last dividend was paid to
us, one hundred pounds of which has been lodged in the local bank, and I
have here a cheque-book which you can use from time to time as you may
require.'
'You are very thoughtful for me, Mr Russell,' she said softly, 'and I
thank you very, very much. One hundred pounds is surely a lot of money.
I could do with less, you know, if'----
'Not at all, Miss Stuart. The money is yours; use it as you like, and
just let me know when you need more. You--you don't mind asking me?'
'No,' she said promptly, and as she trustfully looked me in the eyes her
mouth retained the form of that little word long after it had passed her
lips. She was sitting in profile against the firelit background, leaning
slightly forward in her chair, her elbow on her knee and her chin
resting lightly on the tips of her fingers. Her pose was so easy and
graceful, and her dear face, in its beauty of feature and earnestness of
expression, so bewitching, that I could not conceal my longing and
admiration. I would have given the world to be allowed to kneel down
beside her, and there, in the mystic glamour of the firelight, worship
silently and reverently at her shrine. My steady gaze disconcerted her,
and I cursed my temerity when I saw a blush spreading over her
half-averted face.
'Socrates has many disciples still, Mr Russell,' she said, without any
sign of displeasure in her tone; and her eyes again sought mine.
'Yes. How so, Miss Stuart?'
'He sought the truth in doing good; so do you. Since father's death, and
until--well, very lately, I haven't known what it is to have a joyous
mind. I seem to have been walking among shadows, and a dread has always
been knocking at my heart. You, by your kindly attention and your
sympathy, have lightened my burden and brought a ray of hope to me; and,
do you know, Mrs Jardine's little children every evening of their sweet
young lives ask God to bless you for being kind to their dear daddy.'
Our line of business conversation had got a twist somehow, and I didn't
very well know what to say in reply, or how best, without breaking away
at a tangent, I could get back to the subject I had in my mind. 'I am
sorry to hear you have had your troubles, Miss Stuart,' I said after
reflection; 'but I am glad to know that even to a small degree I have
made your burdens lighter. I have promised to be your friend; you'll not
find me wanting, I assure you. Doubtless your affairs have worried you,
but daylight is showing through now, and in a few weeks I trust
everything will be settled to your satisfaction. Do you know, we have
with us to-day some one who knew your father, and who was present at his
marriage ceremony.'
'Some one who knew my father, and who was present at his marriage
ceremony!' she repeated slowly, as if she couldn't at once realise what
it meant.
'Yes!' and, as I noted the colour gradually leaving her cheek, it came
to me in a flash that I had erred in mentioning the fact in conjunction
with a satisfactory settlement of her affairs. Even to an obtuse mind
the inference was obvious, and I felt I had blundered grievously. Her
agitation was unmistakable, and to relieve the situation I was about to
make a remark, when she interrupted me.
'One moment, please;' and she turned her face away from me. 'This man,
you say, was present when my father and mother were married, and you
mention it as if it had a special significance. Does this affect me--I
mean, would it make any difference to my name or prospects--my name
particularly?'
'Oh yes, it would, Miss Stuart,' I said feelingly.
'Can you rely on what this man says?'
'Most emphatically, and we shall at once take steps to prove it.'
'When did you hear about this?'
'Quite lately.'
'Was it before you spoke to me, and--and promised to be my friend?'
'I didn't know about it then. It was only the day before yesterday it
came to my knowledge.'
There was silence between us for a time, and the ormolu clock on the
marble mantelpiece ticked loudly.
Then she rose to her feet and looked toward me, smiling through
tear-dimmed eyes. 'You have made me very happy, Mr Russell. I don't want
to know anything further. I leave myself confidently in your hands.
You'll find cigarettes on the table behind you; you may smoke here;' and
she crossed the room and sat down at the piano. She struck a few chords,
deep as her own feelings; then she rose and came toward me. 'Mr Russell,
do you know I have never known the joy of a mother's caress or the
blessing of a mother's good-night kiss. Such memories of childhood are
not mine, and my past is empty--empty. My father, for reasons of which I
know nothing, never mentioned my mother's name to me. I was brought up
among strangers, kindly enough, but still strangers. I never came in
contact with other children. In a way, I was isolated from everything
heartfelt and human; it is only since I got to know your neighbours
that I have had a glimpse of what is surely the truest, sweetest, and
happiest side of life. I like your nurse, your Betty. She once put her
hand on my arm, and it had such a motherly touch that I wanted to kiss
her. Perhaps you are thinking that this has no connection with anything
that has passed between us. Well, you may be right in thinking so; but
it is on my mind and in my heart, and I just wanted to tell you now, as
I feel my future is hanging by a thread--a very slender thread--and I
may not have another opportunity of saying it.'
I understood her mood, and made no reply; but I took her hand, raised it
to my lips, and kissed it.
We were standing together in the oriel, watching the sunset splendour
through the leafless trees, when Mrs Stuart and Murray Monteith joined
us. Once or twice I caught my partner admiringly following Miss Stuart's
movements, and he looked several times at me with a mark of
interrogation in his eye. I had a feeling that he 'jaloused,' as Betty
would put it, and it set me a-thinking; only for a moment, however, and
I soon dismissed him and his monocle from my mind.
We had afternoon tea and a pleasant chat on current topics, and then our
carriage was called. Just before we started, when we were standing in
the hall, Miss Stuart asked me, in an undertone, if she could see, just
for a minute, the man who had known her father. I called Joe inside, and
Miss Stuart took him into the drawing-room. When he joined us again
there was a glad look in his eye, and I knew his heart was proud within
him, for he had shaken hands with his old Major's daughter.
I sat quiet and preoccupied in the corner of the brougham when driving
home.
Just as the first twinkling light shone out ahead from the Gillfoot
turn, Monteith turned to me. 'Russell,' he said, 'pardon my interrupting
the flow of your pleasant meditations. You're a queer fellow in many
ways; you--you don't say much till it suits you; but I can see as far
through a brick wall as any one, and it may be--I say it _may_
be--agreeable to you to know that Blackford Hall in Morningside will
shortly be in the market. I've heard you say that if you ever settled
down to married life you would like to live there.'
'Thank you, Monteith, for your information,' I said. 'It _is_ agreeable
to me to know this.'
Nothing further was said on the subject till we were seated at my cosy
fireside. Then Murray Monteith, blowing clouds of fragrant smoke above
him, and glancing round my clean, well-furnished walls, said, 'By Jove,
Russell! you're a lucky fellow; an old doting nurse there,' inclining
his head toward the kitchen, 'who loves you almost with a mother's
affection, and who wouldn't allow the wind to blow on you if she could
prevent it, and the love of a girl like--like'----and he hesitated and
looked at me.
'Go on, Monteith; you're doing all right.'
'Go on! Hang it, man, _you_ go on! Can't you speak, you--you dungeon,
and give me a tag on which to hang my congratulations?'
'You don't require a tag, Monteith. A gag would be more suitable in the
circumstances.'
'Now, look here, Russell,' he said, as he flung his cigar-stump into the
fire and fixed me through his monocle, 'you're not honest with me when
you say that, and you know you are not. You and I are not strangers to
each other, and there's no occasion for secrecy. If you have no
matrimonial news, I have. I thought, perhaps, if you had taken me into
your confidence, it would have been a good opportunity for me to
acquaint you, in a gradual, chatty way, with my plans. As you
haven't--well, all I shall say now is that I am engaged.'
'My dear Monteith, I'm delighted to hear you say so, and I heartily
congratulate you. You're the very best fellow I know, and you're
marrying a lady in every way worthy of you. Miss Playfair is a'----
'Miss Playfair!' he exclaimed, in astonishment. 'How do you know?'
'Oh, well, the last time I visited you, before leaving Edinburgh, I,
like you, was confronted with a brick wall, and I saw a little way
through it. But that's neither here nor there. What we have to do now is
to signalise the event;' and for the second time within two days I
tasted a liquid element at an unusual hour.
'And when does the great event come off, Monteith?' I asked.
'Well, Russell,' he said, 'that is a matter which in a way depends on
you. You see, I shall need to wait till you are quite recovered and back
to business again. A honeymoon would naturally follow the ceremony,' he
laughingly said, 'and it wouldn't do for both the principals of Monteith
& Russell to be away at the same time.'
* * * * *
Dr Grierson and Mr Crichton joined us later at supper. Monteith is a
keen devotee of the chess-board; and while he was trying conclusions
with the banker, Dr Grierson and I went upstairs into my own little
room. I told him all that had taken place--of my meetings with Miss
Stuart, and the turn in the tide of her affairs--and he congratulated me
and gave me much encouragement. Then I asked him when he thought I
should be sufficiently well to resume business.
'Well, William,' he said, 'you have to see Dr Balfour and get his
permission before you can go back to town. Personally, I cannot give you
even an approximate date. You are making splendid progress, and unless
there are very urgent reasons for your return, I should advise you to
keep free from worry on that score. Leave yourself in my hands, and
before long, with Dr Balfour's concurrence, I shall be able to say when
you may with safety receive marching orders.'
Murray Monteith had to leave me without being able to arrange a
particular date for his marriage. I am very sorry; but, after all, his
great day may dawn sooner than he expects.