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
"Bethune—Bethune," said the old man, who appeared to be pleased by this
question, which spoke of previous enquiries; and then he added, with a
lofty air: "The Duc de Sully, Marquis de Rosny, Sovereign Prince of
Enrichemont and Boisbel, Grand Master of the Artillery and Marshal of
France, was Maximilien de Bethune—Maximilien de Bethune."
"Oh, really," said the young man, who seemed much impressed.
"The name," continued old George Bethune, in the same oracular vein,
"was often spelt Beaton and Beton—especially in Scotland—as everybody
knows. Whether James, Archbishop of Glasgow, and his nephew David,
Archbishop of St. Andrews, had any immediate relationship with
France—beyond that David was consecrated Bishop of Mirepoix when he was
negotiating the marriage of James V. at the French Court—I cannot at the
moment precisely say; but of this there can be no doubt, that from
Bethune in the north came the original territorial designation of the
family, not from Bethon in the west. Maximilien de Bethune—Bethune in
the Department of the Straits of Calais."
"Oh really," the young man said again, quite humbly.
Now by this time it had become manifest that there was to be no
thunderstorm at all. There had been a few more of those quivering
strokes of yellow fire (that dwelt longer on the retina than in the
clouds) accompanied by some distant mutterings and rumblings; and at one
point it seemed as if the dreaded shower were coming on; but all passed
off gradually and quietly; the sky slowly brightened; a pale sunshine
began here and there to touch the greensward and the shivering elms.
This young man had no excuse for remaining here; but he seemed to
forget; he was so busy talking—and talking in a very pleased and
half-excited fashion, with an occasional glance across at the young
lady.
"Grandfather," said Maisrie Bethune, presently, handing him the umbrella
as a sort of hint.
But even when Vincent received his property back, he appeared to take no
heed. He had observed that the newspaper lying on the old man’s knee
was the _Toronto Globe_; he drew attention to the circumstance; and now
all his conversation was of Queen’s Park, Lake Ontario, of King Street,
Queen Street, Church Street, of the Exhibition Grounds, of Park Island,
and Block House Bay, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club. So he had been
there too? Oh, yes, he had been all over Canada and America. He was as
familiar with Idaho as with Brooklyn. He had fished in the Adirondacks
and shot mountain sheep in the Rockies.
"You have been to Omaha, then?" the old man asked.
"Oh, yes, of course."
"For my granddaughter here," he continued, with a smile, "is an Omaha
girl."
"Oh, indeed," said Vincent, rather breathlessly, and again he ventured
to look across to Maisrie Bethune and her downcast eyes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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