THE LOST LETTER.
"And when they talk of him, they shake their heads,
And whisper one another in the ear:
And he that speaks doth grip the hearer's wrist,
Whilst he that hears makes fearful action,
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes."
SHAKESPEARE.
As Quentin's heart foreboded, the Master of Rohallion made the best
use of his time with Flora Warrender; but without much avail. Late
events had engendered in her breast a spirit of obstinacy and
antagonism to his proposals, together with a desire for freedom of
thought and liberty of action that proved very damaging to the cause
of Cosmo, and in a fit of spleen he departed for a week or two, to
visit Earl Hugh at Eglinton; for though by no means a marrying man,
the Honourable Cosmo, as we have stated, conceived that, in the
present state of his finances, he might get through the
world,--"battle the watch," as he phrased it,--pretty well, if he
obtained the lands of Ardgour, the accumulated rents of which had
been so long under trust, and would prove to him a very lucky
accession, even though encumbered by Flora Warrender as a wife or
appendage. But on obtaining the command of a regiment of the line,
with all the perquisites which then attended that appointment, he did
not despair of ultimately getting rid of his _bêtes noires_, the
children of Judah.
Thus his cold hauteur and nonchalance on one hand, and Lady
Rohallion's steady resolve on the other to bend her to their will,
together with sorrow for Quentin, whom she viewed as a victim,
rendered Flora Warrender inexorable in her opposition, and, as Lord
Rohallion said, their own mismanagement still continued to spoil the
whole affair.
After an absence of some days Cosmo returned, and resolved to make a
last effort with Flora, and thought to pique her by praises of the
fair daughters of Earl Hugh, the Ladies Jane, Lilias, and Mary; but
this artifice was so shallow that she merely laughed when she heard
him, while poor simple Lady Rohallion feared that his heart had
really been affected in another quarter.
"And so you really admire Lady Lilias Montgomery, our old friend's
daughter?" she asked, as they sat in the bay window of the old yellow
drawing-room.
"I always did so," replied the Master; "there is certainly an
exquisite air of refinement about the girl, and she has a splendid
seat on horseback."
"Her air is peculiar to all the Montgomerys; I remember me well of
Earl Alexander, who was shot by the villain Mungo Campbell, and he
had the air of a prince! But what do you think of Lady Lilias?"
"Think?" pondered Cosmo, dreamily, as he lay back in a satin
fauteuil, and gazed on the far-stretching landscape that was steeped
in sunny haze.
"Yes," said his mother, anxiously.
"I think she has _not_ the lands and rental of Ardgour, or their
equivalent."
"Cosmo, Cosmo," said Lady Rohallion, with asperity, "I would have you
to love Flora for herself, and herself only."
"My dear mother, you old-fashioned folks in Carrick here are sadly
behind the age; but I am booked for foreign service, and a wife would
only prove a serious encumbrance after all."
"Flora Warrender may change, or, what would be better, she may know
her own mind before, or long before, you come back."
"Perhaps," sneered Cosmo; "love of change or change of love effects
miracles in the female heart at times. Till _then_, we must content
ourselves with drawing stakes, while I march off, not exactly with
the honours of war, but with the band playing 'the girl I left behind
me'--very consoling it is no doubt, damme!"
"Do you really love that girl, Cosmo?" asked the old lady, looking up
from a mysterious piece of needlework, with which she always believed
herself to be busy, and mistaking Cosmo's wounded self-esteem for a
softer sentiment.
"Love her--yes, of course I do--that is, well enough, perhaps, to
marry her, as marriage goes now-a-days; but" (and here he spoke with
concentrated passion) "I hate the beggar's brat who has come between
her and me!"
"Oh, Cosmo, don't say so, I implore you?" said Lady Rohallion,
sighing bitterly; "after all the past, and with the doubt and mystery
that overhang his future, I cannot bear to hear our lost Quentin
spoken of thus."
"Poor chick--our lost darling!" said Cosmo; "but after seventeen
years spent in the Household Brigade, to be out-manoeuvred by a
country Dolly such as Flora and a fellow like this Quentin of yours,
is simply and decidedly absurd!" he added, with fierce grimace, while
his father, who entered at that moment and overheard him, laughed
heartily at his chagrin.
And now about this time John Legate, the tall spindle-shanked running
footman, brought, among other letters from Maybole, one for the
Master, endorsed "on His Majesty's Service," and another for Mr. John
Girvan, so worn, frayed, and covered with postage-marks, that the
good man was quite puzzled by its appearance, and thrice wiped his
spectacles to decipher all the names and dates, until the dominie,
who was seated by him, beside a friendly jug of toddy, suggested that
candles should be procured, as the twilight was deepening into night,
and the interior of the missive would resolve all their doubts and
expectations.
It was opened, and proved to be from Quentin Kennedy--from Quentin,
and dated at Poole's Military Coffeehouse, Edinburgh, more than a
month back! He had addressed it simply to the castle of Rohallion,
and it had gone by mail and stage over all Britain, until some chance
hand, endorsing "try Ayrshire," sent it to its destination.
"Awa soldiering as a volunteer! Wae is me, wae is me, but this is
pitiful, exceedingly pitiful!" exclaimed the dominie, lifting up his
hands and eyes; "think of my wasted latinity!"
"Dominie, you are a gowk! I like the lad's spirit, and respect it,"
said the quartermaster, whose eyes were so full that he could
scarcely peruse the letter; "but he's ower young, he's far ower young
for such hard work. I mind well of what I had to go through in my
time in Germany and America."
"Ower young, think ye?"
"But he is hardy and manly."
"According to Polybius, in his sixth book, the Romans could be
soldiers, indeed, _had_ to be soldiers, in their seventeenth year."
"Bother your Romans! fill your jug--a steaming brimmer, and drain it
to Quentin's health and success, and his safety too."
Then standing up erect, the quartermaster drained his jug at a
draught, a process promptly followed by the dominie; but after what
they had imbibed already, it had the effect of rapidly multiplying
the lights and other objects, and also tended to make their utterance
thick and indistinct.
"I must away to my lord wi' this braw news," said Girvan; "the puir
lad! he didna deceive me after all, but wrote when he had time. And
this Captain Warriston who befriended Quentin--(God bless him, say
I!)--befriended him, dominie, because he was a soldier's son. Ah,
dominie, dominie!--that is the _freemasonry of the service_, which
makes all in it brothers--the true spirit of camaraderie! Another
jorum to the health of this captain, whoever he be."
"Bring forth the _amphora_--the greybeard o' whisky; but John, John,"
said the dominie, shaking his old wig sententiously, "what saith
Habakkuk?"
"How the deevil should I ken? and it is but little I care," added the
irreverent quartermaster.
"He saith, 'Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that
putteth a bottle to him, and maketh him drunken,'" said the dominie,
balancing himself by turns on each leg; and opening and shutting each
eye alternately.
"Drunken, you whaislin precentor?"
"Yea, as thou, wicked quartermaster, hast made me, and when we are
close on the hour 'o' night's black arch the keystone,' as puir Burns
has it."
"Never mind, dominie, the night is dark, and naebody will see you,"
stammered Girvan; "stick your knees into the saddle--gie your powny
the reins, and he'll take you straight home, as he usually does. But
I must away to my lord with this news; and so good-night. Now,
dominie, steady--eyes front if you can!--hat cocked forward, cockade
over the left eye--queue dressed straight with the seam of the
coat--head up, little finger of each hand on the seam of the
breeches--left foot thrown well out--pike advanced--forward, march!
and hip, hip, hurrah for Quentin the volunteer!"
And arm in arm the two old topers quitted the "snuggery," the dominie
to go home in care of his pony, and his entertainer to seek Lord and
Lady Rohallion before they retired for the night.
That sure tidings had come of Quentin's safety occasioned the noble
and worthy couple sincere joy.
"So, so," said the old Lord; "it is as I feared--the poor lad has
joined the service."
"As a volunteer," added Girvan, with great empressement.
"As a poor, friendless volunteer, Winny; think of that, when one line
from me to the Duke of York would give him an ensigncy. We have
cruelly mismanaged this boy's prospects! I would that we knew the
regiment he has joined; but, strange to say, he omits to mention it."
In his joy and hurry, the quartermaster had never thought of the
omission.
"This officer, Warriston, whom he mentions, must be a right good
fellow, and his name may be a clue. We shall search the Army List
to-morrow, John; till then, good-night."
Tidings that a letter had come from Quentin at last, spread through
the castle like wild-fire, and it was the first news with which
Flora's maid greeted her, when, an hour before the usual time, she
tapped on her bedroom door, and, as the reader may imagine, the
abigail was despatched at once to the quartermaster for a sight of
the all-important letter, which she took care to read before it
reached the hands of her impatient young mistress. Flora read it
over twice or thrice, examining all the successive postmarks which
indicated its devious wanderings. In the text there was no mention
of her. She was disappointed at first, but after reflecting, she
deemed that his silence was delicate and wise.
There were great and genuine rejoicings in the servants'-hall, where
the gamekeepers, grooms, the gardeners, Mr. Spillsby the butler, John
the running-footman, the housemaids, and old Andrews, made such a
clatter and noise that they kindled the somewhat ready wrath of the
Master, who rang his bell furiously to "still the infernal hubbub,"
as he lay a-bed reading his missive, which was not quite to his
taste; and, as for the veteran Jack Andrews, he got most disreputably
tipsy by imbibing a variety of drams to Quentin's health in Mr.
Spillsby's pantry; and in short, the quartermaster's letter proved a
nine days' wonder in Rohallion.
END OF VOL. I.