“A dark-haired Kelt, very well-mannered, and a decidedly clever fellow.
I know something of his past life, for he is going to marry my maid as
soon as they have each of them saved a little money. Dugald is steady
enough now, but he was nearly ruined by betting. We have very little
notion, I fancy, of the sort of temptation our servants are often
exposed to.”
“Will he be coming to Edinburgh? Can I see him?”
“Certainly. I expect my husband on Saturday evening. Come and call on
Sunday afternoon, and I will make some excuse to send Dugald round to
your rooms afterwards. Then you can tell him all about his home people.
But now tell me about the rest of your journey.”
Ralph told the whole tale, and there were tears in his companion’s eyes
as he described the dire struggle of the last day of his wanderings, and
his final collapse in the Pass of Leny.
“And it was there Hugh Macneillie found you?” she said tremulously.
“Yes, he is fond of going up and down that path by the river, he says
it is good practice to rehearse a part in that roar of many waters.
I dreamt I was back again in the theatre with Evereld, then I heard
footsteps, and looked up to see his face. You can’t think what a
contrast it was to the faces I had seen just before in the road, with
their cruel contemptuous stare; it was like looking up into the face of
the Christ.”
By the time they had returned from Roslin, Christine had heard all that
there was to be heard, with the exception of course of the Richmond Park
incident, and she was able fully to realise the sort of life which her
old lover was living. She did not presume to pity Hugh Macneillie. She
knew indeed that, compared with her lot, his was one to be envied; but
she felt intuitively that he would never recover from the wound she had
dealt him, and knew that she had deliberately robbed him of all that a
man most values. Her heart was very sore that night, and Ralph, now that
he knew more of her, understood with how weary an effort she laughed and
talked in the green room. He longed to be able to serve her, but there
was of course little he could do, beyond showing Charlie the sort of
kindness which a small boy best appreciates.
It was with some trepidation that, on the Sunday afternoon at the close
of her engagement, he called to take leave of her. Other visitors
were in the room. She just introduced him to Sir Roderick--a tall,
grey-haired, and decidedly good-looking man, and then left him to make
his way as usual to Charlie’s couch.
The child greeted him with delight and eagerly showed him a Kodak which
Christine had just given him, and with which he was longing to take
snap-shots at the people in Prince’s Street. “But I mustn’t do it, Sir
Roderick says, because of the fourth commandment and the Scotch being
so particular. Now do you really think that the fourth commandment was
meant to forbid Kodaks on Sunday?”
“Well no,” said Ralph smiling. “I don’t think it has much to do with
photography or with our Sunday.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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