Kenneth McAlpine: A Tale of Mountain, Moorland and SeaStables, Gordon
General
Kenneth McAlpine: A Tale of Mountain, Moorland and Sea
Stables, Gordon
Fiction
"Here are two. Do you remember them, Miss Redmond?" As he spoke he
produced old Nancy's Bible, and opened it.
The flowers were there, but sadly withered.
This is precisely the remark that Jessie made.
"I do," she said, with a blush and a sigh; "but they are sadly
withered."
"Like my hopes," replied Kenneth. "I leave my country a broken-hearted
man--"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
How handy for an author is a line of those little stars called
"asterisks!" How neatly I dropped the curtain by means of it on that
conversation between Kenneth and Jessie!
But _did_ Kenneth leave his country a broken-hearted man? No; how could
he with Jessie by his side?
They were married at Alva House by old Mr Grant. It was a quiet
wedding indoors, but out of doors--well, Harvey McGregor determined his
tenantry should all go mad together if they chose. There were balls and
bonfires, breakfasts, dinners, and suppers _galore_, and such rejoicing
and such general jollity as will never be forgotten while the heather
blooms on Alva hills, and the dark pines wave in its valleys.
The honeymoon was spent in the New Forest; and Kenneth did not forget to
visit his old friend Major Walton, whom he found happy and hearty.
Beautiful are the farms that Kenneth and Archie occupy in far-off
British Columbia. There is a thriving village near them now, and
churches and schools; but their farms lie well in the outskirts. What
though in winter wild winds wail around the dwellings, and shake the
pine trees on the mountain sides? there are warmth and light and
brightness indoors; and some laughing and fun, too, for there are
children, one, two, three; and Uncle Archie, as the latter call him,
drops in nearly every evening to spend an hour or two, so no one thinks
the time long.
Then in summer, oh! to roam in those beautiful woods, and cull the fruit
and the wild flowers. And at this sweet time of the year, the gardens
and lawns and terraces, and the verandahs of Kenneth's many-gabled
dwelling, are bathed in floral beauty. It is quite a sight to see, and
to dream about ever afterwards.
And no one, I think, would begrudge Kenneth his happiness. He worked
for it.
Good-bye, reader.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The End.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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