"By God, we won't!" said the Poet fervently. "Dogson, it's up to you.
You march off to Glasgow in double quick time and place the stuff in
your own name in your own bank. There's not a moment to lose. D'you
hear?"
"I will that." To his own surprise Dickson spoke without hesitation.
Partly it was because of his merchant's sense of property, which made
him hate the thought that miscreants should acquire that to which they
had no title; but mainly it was the appeal in those haggard childish
eyes. "But I'm not going to be tramping the country in the night
carrying a fortune and seeking for trains that aren't there. I'll go the
first thing in the morning."
"Where are they?" Heritage asked.
"That I do not tell. But I will fetch them."
She left the room and presently returned with three odd little parcels
wrapped in leather and tied with thongs of raw hide. She gave them to
Heritage, who held them appraisingly in his hand and then passed them to
Dickson.
"I do not ask about their contents. We take them from you as they are,
and, please God, when the moment comes they will be returned to you as
you gave them. You trust us, Mademoiselle?"
"I trust you, for you are a soldier. Oh, and I thank you from my heart,
my friends." She held out a hand to each, which caused Heritage to grow
suddenly very red.
"I will remain in the neighbourhood to await developments," he said.
"We had better leave you now. Dougal, lead on."
Before going, he took the girl's hand again, and with a sudden movement
bent and kissed it. Dickson shook it heartily. "Cheer up, Mem," he
observed. "There's a better time coming." His last recollection of her
eyes was of a soft mistiness not far from tears. His pouch and pipe had
strange company jostling them in his pocket as he followed the others
down the ladder into the night.
Dougal insisted that they must return by the road of the morning. "We
daren't go by the Laver, for that would bring us by the public-house. If
the worst comes to the worst, and we fall in wi' any of the deevils,
they must think ye've changed your mind and come back from
Auchenlochan."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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