Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume I)Black, William
General
Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume I)
Black, William
Families -- Fiction; Grandfathers -- Fiction; Older people -- Fiction; Scotland -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
For the moment there was little of that pensive and
resigned look that had struck him in the figure standing with bowed head
at Lord Musselburgh’s table. She appeared to be pleased with the
various life around her and its little incidents; she regarded the
sailing of the miniature yachts with interest. When a brace of duck went
whirring by overhead, she followed their flight until they were lost to
view; she watched two small urchins furtively fishing for minnows, with
an eye on the distant park-keeper. There was a universal rustling of
leaves in the silence; and sometimes, when the wind blew straight
across, the music of the military band became more distinct.
How long they remained there, the young man did not know; it was a
golden morning, and all too brief. But when at last they did rise to go
he was very nearly caught; for instead of returning by the way they had
come, they struck westward; and he suddenly saw with alarm that there
was no time for him to get behind one of the elms. All he could do was
to turn aside, and lower his eyes. They passed within a few yards of
him; he could distinctly hear the old man singing, with a fine note of
bravado in his voice, "The standard on the braes o’ Mar, is up and
streaming rarely"; then, when he was sure they were some way off, he
made bold to raise his eyes again. Had she taken any notice of him? He
hoped not. He did not wish her to think him a spy; he did not wish to
be known to her at all. He should be her constant neighbour, her
companion almost, without any consciousness on her part. And again and
again he marvelled that the landlady in the little thoroughfare should
have given him those treasures of rooms—should have put such happiness
within his reach—for so trivial a sum. Seventeen shillings a week!—when
each moment would be a diamond, and each evening hour a string of
diamonds!
But nevertheless there were his studies to be thought of; so now he
walked away down to Grosvenor Place, gathered his books together, and
took them up in a hansom to his newly-acquired lodgings. That afternoon
he did loyally stick to his work—or tried to do so, though, in fact, his
ears were alert for any sound coming from the other side of the way. He
had left his window open; one of the windows of the opposite house was
also left open. Occasionally he would lay down Draper’s Civil War in
America, and get up and stretch his legs, and from a convenient shelter
send a swift glance of scrutiny across the street. There was no sign.
Perhaps they had gone out again, shopping, or visiting, or, as likely as
not, to look at the people riding and driving in the Park. He returned
to Draper, and to President Jackson’s Proclamation—but with less of
interest: his annotations became fewer. He was listening as well as
reading.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! (Volume I) — John Shaqi
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