COQUETTE IS TROUBLED.
The gale blew hard all that evening; but towards midnight the sky
cleared; and the large white moon rose wild and swift into the
luminous violet vault, that was still crossed by ragged streaks of
grey cloud hurrying over from the sea. All along the dark islands
the mournful wash of the waves could be heard; and here, in the quiet
of the bay, the wind brought a fresh and salt flavour with it, as it
blew in gusts about, and swept onward to stir the birches and
brackens of the hills. The Whaup sat up on deck with Lord Earlshope,
who was smoking; and they spoke in undertones, for all was quiet
below.
"You will get to Oban to-morrow?" asked the Whaup, after some
profound meditation.
"I hope so," said Earlshope.
"I shall leave you then, and go back by coach or steamer."
"Has your adventure of this afternoon frightened you?"
"Faith, no! My only fright was when my cousin fainted; and I wished,
when I saw that, that every guillemot that ever lived was at the
bottom of the sea. But I am getting sick of idleness."
Earlshope laughed.
"You may laugh," said the Whaup; "but it is true. You have earned
the right to be idle, because you are a man. For a young fellow like
me, with all the world before him, it is miserable to be dawdling
away time, you know."
"I quite agree with you," said his companion; "but it seems to me
this discovery has come upon you rather suddenly."
"All the more reason," returned the Whaup with confidence, "that it
should be acted upon forthwith. I am going to Glasgow. I shall live
in lodgings with some fellows I know, and work up my studies for the
next session. There is a tremendous deal of work in me, although you
might not think it, and I may not see Airlie for two years."
"Why so?"
"Because then I shall be nearer twenty-one than twenty."
"And what will you do then?"
"What shall I do then? Who knows?" said the Whaup, absently.
Next morning the weather was fine, and the wind had calmed. The sea
was of a troubled, dark, and shining blue; the far hills of the
islands were of a soft and velvet-like brown, with here and there a
tinge of red or saffron. The _Caroline_ was soon got under weigh,
and began to open out the successive headlands and bays as she stood
away towards the north.
Coquette came on deck, and looked out on the sea with an involuntary
shudder. Then she turned to find the Whaup regarding her with rather
a serious and thoughtful look.
"Ah, you wicked boy, to make me so fearful yesterday evening!" she
said.
"But you are quite well this morning?" he asked, anxiously.
"Oh, yes, I am quite well," she said; and the brightness of her face
and of her soft dark eyes was sufficient evidence.
"And I got you the guillemot after all," said the Whaup, with some
pride. "One of the sailors is preparing both the breast and the
pinions for you, and you can wear either you like."
"For your sake, when you are away in Glasgow," she said with a smile.
"I did hear what you said last night to Lord Earlshope. I could not
sleep with thinking of the black water, and the wind, and the cry of
the waves. And will you go away from us now altogether?"
"I must go away sooner or later," said the Whaup.
"But it is a little time until we all go back. Your father, he
cannot remain long."
"But I have become restless," said the Whaup, with some impatience.
"And you are anxious to go away?" said Coquette. "It is no
compliment to us; but no, I will not speak like that to you. I do
think you are right to go. I will hear of you in Glasgow; I will
think of you every day; and you will work hard, just as if I could
see you and praise you for doing it. Then, you know, some day a long
way off, it may be a rainy morning at Airlie, or perhaps even a
bright day, and we shall see you come driving up in the dog-cart----"
"Just as you came driving up a few months ago. Does it not seem a
long time since then?"
"Yes, a long time," said Coquette; "but I do think this is the best
part of it."
The attention of everybody on deck was at this moment directed to the
strange currents through which the _Caroline_ had now to force
herself--long stretches and swirls in an almost smooth sea, with here
and there a boiling-up into a miniature whirlpool of the circling
waters. These powerful eddies, their outline marked by streaks of
foam, caught the bow of the yacht, and swung it this way or that with
a force which threatened to jibe the sails; while now and again she
would come to a dead stop, as though the sea were of lead. Far away
on their left, between the misty hills of Jura and Scarba, lay the
treacherous Corryvreckan, dreaded of fishermen; and they knew that
those glassy swirls around them were but the outlying posts and
pickets of the racing and channelled tides. But slowly and steadily
the _Caroline_ made head through the fierce currents, drawing away
from the still breadth of Loch Shuna, and getting further into Scarba
Sound, with the desolate island of Luing on the right. How strangely
silent lay the long, lone bays and the solitary stretches of shore in
the sunlight! There was no sign of life abroad save the hovering in
mid-air of the white gannet, or the far and rapid flight of a string
of wild ducks sinking down towards the south. But as they drew near
the mouth of Scarba Sound--with the great stretch of the Frith of
Lorn opening up and the mighty shoulders of the Mull mountains rising
faint and grey in the north-west--the solitude grew less absolute.
Here and there a boat became visible. They came in sight of the
slate-quarries of Easdale. Then a long streak of smoke beyond told
them that the great steamer from the North was coming down with her
cargo of English tourists from the hills and lochs of Inverness.
They were all on deck when the steamer passed; and doubtless the
people who crowded the larger vessel may have regarded the little
group in the stern of the yacht as sufficiently picturesque--the tall
and grey-haired lady, who had her hand inside the arm of the young
girl; the elderly Minister, looking grave and dignified; Lord
Earlshope, seated carelessly on one of the skylights; the Whaup
waving a handkerchief in reply to several signals of the same kind.
"To-morrow morning," said the Whaup to Lady Drum, "I shall be on
board that steamer, going straight down for Crinan; and you--you will
be off for Skye, I suppose, or Stornoway, or Cape Wrath?"
"What do you mean?" said his father.
"Has nobody told you? I am going back to Airlie to-morrow, and on to
Glasgow, to prepare for the classes. I have had enough idling."
"I am glad to hear it," said the Minister, in a tone which did not
betray any strong assurance that the Whaup was to be trusted in these
his new resolves.
But Coquette believed him. All the rest of that day, as the
_Caroline_ glided through the dark-blue waters--on past Ardencaple
Point and Barnacaryn, under the steep crags at the mouth of Loch
Feochan, and through the Sound of Kerrem, until she was nearing the
calm expanse of Oban Bay--the Whaup perceived that his cousin was
almost elaborately kind and attentive to him, and far more serious
and thoughtful than was her wont. He himself was a trifle depressed.
Having definitely stated his intentions, he would not show weakness
at the last moment, and draw back from his promised word; but it was
with rather a heavy heart that he went below to gather together his
books and put them in order for the last time on board.
"I think I shall sleep on shore to-night," said he, when he
reappeared.
"Why?" asked Coquette.
"Because I don't wish to have you all up by seven to-morrow morning.
The boat leaves at eight."
"And must we not see you off, and say good-bye?"
"What's the use?" said the Whaup.
Coquette put her hand on his arm, and said, rather shyly:
"I think you would rather come with us. Why not do that? It is very
sad and miserable your going all away back by yourself, and I am
sorry to think of it, far more for you than if it were for myself.
It is very hard lines."
The Whaup laughed in spite of his wretchedness.
"I told you ever so long ago not to say that," he said, "and you
promised to remember. Never mind. It's very good of you to concern
yourself about me; but I mean to go to-morrow morning. And look
there!--there is Oban."
"I do hate the place!" said Coquette, petulantly.
She would scarcely look at the semicircle of white houses stretching
round the bay, nor yet at the hills and the scattered villas, nor yet
at the brown and desolate old castle built high on the point beyond.
"It is a town," she said, "that row of bare and ugly houses, and the
hotels, and the shops. It is not fit for these Highland mountains;
it shames them to look down on it--it is so--so dirty-white and
shabby."
"What ails ye at the town?" said Lady Drum, who did not like to hear
her favourite Oban disparaged.
"A little while ago you would have found Oban quite a grand place,"
said Lord Earlshope--"quite a gay land fashionable place."
"Fashionable!" said Coquette, with that slight elevation of the
eyebrows and the almost imperceptible shrug to which they had all got
accustomed. "Fashionable! Perhaps. It is a good promenade before
the grocers' shops; and do the ladies who make the fashions live in
those dirty-white houses? What is it that they say?--_Qui n'est pas
difficile, trouve bientôt un asile_."
"You know the other French proverb?" said Lord Earlshope--"_Jeune
femme, pain tendre, et bois vert, mettent la maison en désert_."
"That is possible," said Coquette, "but it is not fashion. You
should see Biarritz, Lady Drum, with its sands, and the people, and
the music, and the Bay of Biscay, and the Spanish mountains not far.
Even I think our little Le Croisic better, where mamma and I lived at
the _Etablissement_. But as for this town here, if it is more
pleasant-looking than Ardrossan, I will blow me tight!"
The Whaup shrieked with laughter; and Coquette looked puzzled,
knowing she had made some dreadful blunder, but not very certain what
it was. Lady Drum rescued her from confusion by carrying her off to
dress for dinner, and explained to her in their common state-room
that she must be careful not to repeat colloquialisms which she had
overheard without being quite sure of their propriety. Indeed, when
the meaning of the phrase was explained to her, she laughed as much
as the Whaup had done, and entered the saloon, where the gentlemen
were waiting, with a conscious look on her face which considerably
heightened its colour.
"It was you to blame," she said to the Whaup; "I did often hear you
say that."
"_Propria quæ maribus_," said he, and they sat down to dinner.
It was felt to be a farewell celebration. The Whaup looked grave and
determined--as if he feared he would be moved from his resolution.
Coquette stole furtive glances at him; and wondered what she could
give him to take with him as a keepsake. The Minister furnished him
with directions about certain things to be done at Airlie; Lady Drum
made him promise to come and see her when she went to Glasgow; and
Lord Earlshope persuaded him to remain on board that night and go
ashore in the morning.
When they went on deck after dinner, it was a beautiful clear night,
with an almost full moon throwing a flood of silver across the bay
from over the dusky island of Kerrera. Above the town the shoulders
of the hills were touched with a pale and sombre grey; but a keener
light shone along the white fronts of the houses close by the shore;
while nearer at hand it touched the masts and rigging of the various
craft, and threw sharp black shadows on the deck of the _Caroline_.
"Where is Miss Cassilis?" said Lady Drum, when she had taken her
accustomed seat.
At the same moment they heard the first soft notes of the harmonium;
and presently there rose into the still night the clear, and sweet,
and melancholy cadence of Mendelssohn's gondola-song. The empty
silence of the bay seemed to grow full of this rich and harmonious
music; until one scarcely knew that the sounds were coming from the
open cabin skylight which gleamed an oblong patch of yellow fire in
the dusk. The night seemed to be as full of music as of moonlight;
it was in the air all around; it was a part of the splendour of the
sky, and scarcely to be distinguished from the lapping of the water
along the side of the boat. But suddenly she changed the key, and
with sharp and powerful chords struck out the proud and ringing
melody of "Drumclog." The old Scotch psalm-tune stirred the Whaup,
as a trumpet might stir the heart of a dragoon. He rose to his feet,
and drew a long breath, as if the plaintive gondola-music had been
stifling him.
"What a grand tune that Drumclog is," he said. "It means business.
I dare say the old troopers sang it with their teeth set hard, and
their hand on their musket-barrels. But did you ever hear it played
like that?"
"It is wonderful--wonderful!" said the Minister, with his sad, grey
eyes fixed upon the moonlit sea, under the shadows of the lonely
island.
You should have seen the Whaup the next morning, bustling about with
a determined air, and making, from time to time, a feeble effort to
whistle. Coquette had been up before any one on board, and now sat,
mute and pale, watching his preparations. Sometimes she turned to
look towards the quay, where the vessels lay under the yellow and
misty sunlight of the autumn morning.
Then the great steamer came round the point. The Whaup jumped into
the gig after having shaken hands with everybody and the boat was
pushed off.
"Stop a moment," said Coquette, "I do wish to go with you to the
steamer."
So she, also, got into the boat; and together they went in to the
quay, and got ashore. The steamer arrived, and the Whaup--still
trying at times to whistle--went on board. The first bell was rung.
"Good-bye," said Coquette, holding one of his hands in both of hers.
"You will write to me often, often; and when I go back to Airlie I
will write to you every week, and tell you what is going on with all
the people--even with Leesiebess also. And I will go to see you at
Glasgow, if you will not come to Airlie before you have become a
great man."
A few minutes afterwards the Whaup was waving his handkerchief to her
as the steamer steamed away down the Sound of Kerrera; and Coquette
stood on the quay, looking wistfully after the boat, even until the
clouds of smoke had become a luminous brown in the morning sunlight.