On the Tuesday afternoon Graeme received a brief telegram from Charles
Pixley--"Crossing tonight." And Wednesday morning found them all on
the sea-wall awaiting the arrival of the steamer from Guernsey.
"There he is--in the front corner of the upper deck--keen to get here
as soon as possible, I should say. I know just how he feels," said
Graeme, with a laugh. "Looks a bit different from what he did the
first time he came."
"That's Mrs. Pixley on the side seat," said Margaret, and they waved
their welcomes.
There were two ladies on the side seat, and both stood up and waved
vigorously in reply.
"Why--who--?" began Margaret. And then--excitedly, "Jock--I believe
it's Lady Elspeth. I'm certain it is. It is. It is."
"Just like her! Hurrah for the Gordons!" and he sent them welcomes
which a world full of Pixleys alone could not have excited in him.
"Now this _is_ delightful," he said, as he sprang on board and rushed
at Lady Elspeth.
"All right, my boy! Don't shake my hand right off, if you can help it.
Here, you may give me a kiss, though it's contrary to the usages of my
country. We'll pretend I'm your mother again. Now say how do you do to
Mrs. Pixley. How's Margaret? I've got crows to pick with you young
people--"
"Make it seven, or it's unlucky," laughed Graeme.
"Eh? What?"
"Tell you later. We're great believers in crows here. Mrs. Pixley, I
am very glad indeed to see you here. Charles, old man, you've done
splendidly."
Charles wrung his hand in silence. His face was sober, with a latent
glow of expectation in it. When he had seen to the luggage he joined
the group on the quay, and it was Miss Penny who was the first to see
him coming.
"Welcome back to Sark!" she said cheerfully.
"I'm uncommonly glad to be here. Everybody all right? How's Mrs.
Carré?"
"Everybody's first-rate, especially Meg and Jock. Their spirits are
enough to inflate the island."
"It's good to be young," and the sober mask lifted slightly and let
the inner light shine through.
V
"Go to an hotel?" said Margaret indignantly, in reply to a suggestion
from Lady Elspeth. "Indeed you'll do nothing of the kind,"--and, as
the old lady hesitated still,--"If you do I'll never speak to you
again as long as I live."
"Oh well, I couldn't stand that--"
"Of course you couldn't. Neither could I. An hotel indeed!"--with
withering scorn--"And we with four empty bedrooms crying aloud at
night because two of their fellows are occupied and they are left out
in the cold! An hotel! I'd just like to see you!"
"My guidness! Is she often like this, Jock?"
"Oh, always! I thought you knew her. Why couldn't you warn me in
time?--No!" as Lady Elspeth attempted to speak--"It's too late now.
We're bound for life. There's no cutting the bond. The Vicar told us
so."
"You're both clean daft together," said the old lady, with dancing
eyes. "Well, I'll stop in one of your crying bedrooms--on conditions.
We'll talk about that later on. Where's the rest of the island, and
how do you get to it?"
"Old ladies and luggage ride. We youngsters walk. There's Charles
waiting for you at the carriage. There you are! Au revoir!"
As the young people breasted the steep, Pixley--forgetting entirely
his vow never to do it on foot again--unfolded to them Lady Elspeth's
idea, which simply was, that if the Red House could hold them all,--of
which she had her doubts, in spite of his assertions,--they should all
share expenses and such household duties as so large a party would
involve.
"You see--if you don't mind it, Mrs. Graeme,"--with an apologetic look
at Margaret,--"it will give the two old ladies something to do and
will leave us young folks freer to get about."
"It's a capital arrangement if the old ladies don't mind. Mrs. Carré
can get in another girl. It will keep them all busy seeing that we
have enough to eat. But they'll soon get used to looking forward two
or three days and ordering Friday's dinner on Tuesday."
"How long can you stop, old man?" asked Graeme.
"A fortnight--all being well," and there was a touch of soberness in
it as he said that. "There's really nothing doing, and Ormerod's a
good fellow and insisted on it."
"We can do heaps in a fortnight," said Miss Penny jubilantly. "However
did you manage to catch Lady Elspeth?"
"She's a grand old lady. I found her with my mother when I got there.
She'd been with her ever since--since the trouble. And when I proposed
bringing my mother she said at once that she was coming too. She had
crows to pick with you two, and so on. I expect she thought my mother
would feel things less if she was with her."
"She's an old dear," said Margaret. "They shall both have the very
best time we can give them."
"I shall take them conger-eeling," said Graeme,--"and to Venus's Bath"
"And down the Boutiques and the Gouliots"--suggested Margaret.
"And ormering in Grande Grève," laughed Miss Penny, who had spent a
day there on that alluring pursuit and had come home bruised and wet
and dirty.
"Oh, there's lots of fun in store for them," said Graeme, laughing
like a schoolboy out for a holiday. "And, as Hennie Penny says, we can
do heaps in a fortnight."