Page images
PDF
EPUB

her dress folded up, and secured round her waist—“ kilted," as she calls itexhibiting a considerable stretch of blue woollen petticoat below; for Janet has been employed in the house, by reason of her superior strength, assisting her mother and the stout maid-servant within.

Over Katie's red lip come little gushes of song, as she bends over the daisies in her lap, and threads them. The child does not know that she is singing; but the happy little voice runs on unconsciously, with quick breaks and interruptions like breath.

"Katie, I dinna ken what ye think ye're gaun to be," said the womanly elder sister. "Ye never do a turn; and it's no as if ye got onything hard. Woman, if I had the like of thae bonnie thread stockings to work instead of thir, I would never stop till they were done!"

"But I'm no you, Bell," said Katie, running on without a pause into her song.

"Threading gowans !-they're of nae use in this world," continued the mentor. "What is't for?"

"Just they're bonnie," said little Katie.

"They're bonnie!" Isabell received the excuse with as much contempt as Lady Anne's attendant had just done.

"Eh Bell, woman!-eh Katie!" exclaimed Janet, descending from the garden paling with a great leap, "there's wee Lady Anne sitting on the burnside, and there's Nelly speaking to my faither. She's wanting something; for, look at him, how he's pointing here. Eh Bell, what will't be?

"Weel, Nelly, gang in-by, and ask the wife," said the miller; " it's no in my hands. I never meddle wi' the bairns."

"The bairns! she's wanting some of us," cried Janet.

Isabell's stocking dropped on her knee, and they watched Nelly into the house; but little Katie threaded her gowans, and sang her song, and was happily unconscious of it all.

By and by, Mrs Stewart herself appeared at the door. She was a little fair-haired woman, rather stout Row-a-days, but a beauty once; and with the pretty short-gown, held in

round her still neat waist by a clean linen apron, and her animated face, looked yet exceedingly well, and vindicated completely her claim to be the fountain-head and original of the beauty of her children.

Isabell lifted her stocking, as her mother, followed by Nelly, came briskly towards the green, and began to knit with nervous fingers, making clumsy noises with her wires. Janet stared at the approaching figures stupidly with fixed eyes; while little Katie, pausing at last, suspended her chain of gowans over her round sunburnt arm, and lifted her sunny eyes with a little wonderment, but no very great concern.

"I'm sure it's no because she's of ony use at hame, that I should scruple to let her away," said Mrs Stewart, "for she's an idle monkey, never doing a hand's turn from morning till night; but ye see she never hauds hersel in right order, and she would just be a fash at the Castle."

At the Castle! Intense grows the gaze of Janet, and there is a glow on the face of the staid Isabell; but little Katie again unconsciously sings, and looks up with her sunny, wondering, unconcerned eyes into her mother's face.

"Nae fear; if she's no content, Lady Betty will send her hame," said the nurse; "but ye see Lady Anne, she's never done crying for little Katie Stewart."

There is a slight momentary contraction of Isabell's forehead, and then the flush passes from her face, and the wires cease to strike each other spasmodically, and she, too, looks up at her mother, interested, but no longer anxious. She is not jealous of the little bright sisteronly Isabell yearns and longs for the universal love which Katie does by no means appreciate yet, and cannot well understand how it is that Katie is always the dearest-always the dearest! It is the grandest distinction in the world, the other little mind muses unconsciously, and Isabell submits to be second with a sigh.

Such a like sicht she is, trailing about the burnside a' the hours of the day," exclaimed the mother, surveying Katie's soiled frock with dismay.

"Hout! Mrs Stewart," said the patronising nurse, "what needs ye fash about it. Naebody expects to see your little ane put on like the bairns that come about the Castle."

Mrs Stewart drew herself up. "Thank ye for your guid opinion, Nelly; but I'll hae naebody make allowances for my bairn. Gang in to the house this moment, Katie, and get on a clean frock. It's Lady Anne that's wanting ye, and no a common body; and ye've forbears and kin of your ain as guid as most folk. Gang in this minute, and get yoursel sorted. Ye're to gang to the Castle with Lady Anne."

Reluctantly Katie rose. "I'm no wanting to gang to the Castle! I'm no heeding about Lady Anne!"

"Eh Katie!" exclaimed Isabell under her breath, looking up to her wistfully; but the little capricious favourite could already afford to think

lightly of the love which waited on her at every turn.

Mrs Stewart had a temper-a rather decided and unequivocal one, as the miller well knew. "Ye'll do what you're bidden, and that this moment," she said, with a slight stamp of her foot. "Gang in, and Merran will sort ye; and see ye disobey me if ye daur!"

Isabell rose and led the little pouting Katie away, with a secret sigh. No one sought or cared for her, as they did for this little petulant spoiled child; and Isabell, too, was pretty, and kind, and gentle, and had a sort of sad involuntary consciousness of those advantages which still failed to place her on the same platform with the favourite. Dull Janet, who was not pretty, envied little Katie; but Isabell did not envy her. She only sighed, with a blank feeling, that no one loved her, as every one loved her sister.

CHAPTER II.

"But Lady Betty never wears them, and what's the use o' a' thae bonnie things," asked little Katie, after the first burst of admiration was over, and she stood at leisure contemplating the jewels of the Ladies Erskine-not a very brilliant display, for the house of Kellie was anything but rich.

"If we had had a king and queen o' our ain, and no thae paughty Germans or even if it werena for that weary Union, taking away our name from us-us that never were conquered yet, and wadna be if the haill world joined to do it-Lady Betty wad wear the braw family diamonds in the queen's presence-cha'mer," said Bauby Rodger, Lady Betty's maid; "but wha's gaun to travel a lang sea-voyage for the sake of a fremd queen and a fremd court? And ye wadna hae ladies gaun glittering about the house wi' a' thae shining things on ilkadays, and naebody to see them. Na, na. Ye're but a wee bairn, Katie Stewart; ye dinna ken."

"But I think they're awfu' grand, Bauby, and I like that muckle ane the best. Do ye think the queen has as grand things as thae?"

"Weel, I'll no say for this new queen," said the candid Bauby. "She's only come of a wee German family, wi' lands no sae muckle, and naebody would daur to say half as rich and fruitful, as thir Kellie lands in Fife; but for our ain auld queensdidna they gang covered owre frae head to fit with pearls and rubies, and embroideries of gold, and diamonds in their croon as big as my twa nieves."

And Bauby placed these same clenched "nieves," articles of the most formidable size, close together, and held them up to the admiring gaze of little Katie; for Bauby was an enthusiast, and would utterly have scorned the Koh-i-noor.

"Bauby," inquired the little visitor," am I to stay at the Castle?" "Ye're up the brae, my woman," was the indirect response. "Nae doubt your faither's a very decent man, and ye're no an ill bairn yoursel, and come of creditable folk; but there's mony a wee Miss atween this and the sea would be blythe to come to Kellie, to be bred up with Lady Anne and it's to be naebody but you, Katie Stewart. My certy, ye're a favoured bairn."

It seemed that Katie was slightly inclined to dispute this proposition, for she twisted up the hem of her little blue linen apron, and held down her head and pouted-but she made no articulate reply.

"Where's little Katie?" cried Lady Anne, entering the room with a haste and eagerness which gave some colour to her small pale face. "Katie, your mother's ben in the drawing-room, and she says you're to stay."

But Katie still pouted, and still made a roll of the hem of her apron.

"You're no ill-pleased to stay with me, Katie?" whispered Lady Anne, stealing her arm round her little playmate's neck.

"But I'll never see my mother," said Katie, gradually bursting into a little petulant fit of tears-" nor Bell, nor the burn. I dinna want to stay at the Castle. I want to gang hame."

“O, Katie, will ye no stay with me?" cried poor little Lady Anne, tightening her grasp, and joining in the tears.

But Katie, stoutly rebellious, struggled out of the grasp of her affectionate friend, and again demanded to go home.

Hame, indeed! My certy, ye wad get plenty of hame if I had the guiding of ye," said Bauby Rodger. “Gang hame!-just let her, Lady Anne--to work stockings, and learn the Single Carritch, and sleep three in a bed. She was to have gotten the wee closet wi' the grand wee bed, and red curtains, and to have learned to dance and play the spinnet, and behave hersel, and see the first folk in the land. But let her gang hame. I wadna stop her. She'll never be a lady; she'll learn to milk the cow, and gather the tatties, and marry a weaver out of Arncreoch!"

[blocks in formation]

There's nae use fechting noo; for your face maun be washed, and ye maun gang in to Lady Betty's drawing-room and see your mother."

It was by no means an easy achievement, this washing of Katie's face; and the mild Lady Anne looked on in awe and wonder as her wilful playfellow struggled in those great hands of Bauby's, to which she was wont to resign herself as into the hands of a giant-for Bauby was nearly six feet high, and proportionably thick and strong, with immense red hands, and an arm nearly as thick as Katie's waist. At last, with this great arm passed round Katie's neck, securing the pretty head with unceremonious tightness, the goodhumoured Glumdalca overpowered her struggling charge, and the feat was accomplished.

Glowing from the fresh clear water, and with those soft rings of hair a little disordered on her white temples, this little face of Katie's contrasted very strangely with Lady Anne's, as they went together through the great stately gallery to Lady Betty's drawing-room. Lady Anne had the advantage of height, and promised to be tall; while Katie's little figure, plump and round as it already was, gave no indication of ever even reaching the middle stature;-but the small dark head of the Earl's daughter, with its thoughtful serious expression, looked only like the shadow beside the sunshine, in presence of the infant beauty whose hand she held. Neither of them were tastefully dressed - the science was unknown then, so far as regarded children; but the quaint little old-woman garments pleased no less than amused you, when you saw the bright child's face of Katie, while they only added to the gravity and paleness of the quiet Lady Anne.

This long, gaunt, dreary galleryhow the little footsteps echo through it! There is a door standing ajar. Who has dared to open the door of the great drawing-room ?-but as it is open, quick, little Katie, look in.

Only once before has Katie had a glimpse of this magnificent apartment. It looks very cold- sadly dreary and deathlike, especially as you know that that little black speck just appearing at the corner window

is the point of the mournful escutcheon put up there, not a very long time ago, when Lady Kellie died; and somehow the room looks, with its dismal breathless atmosphere, as if solemn assemblies took place in it every night. Look at those couches, with their corners inclined towards each other, as if even now spectral visitants bent over to whisper in each other's ears; and here, beside this great, stiff, high-backed chair, is a little low one, with embroidered covers, looking as if some fair antique lady, in rustling silk and lace, had drawn it close to a stately matron's side, and was talking low and earnestly, craving or receiving counsel. Here some one, with heavy chair drawn apart, has been looking at that portrait. Has been looking!-one feels with an involuntary thrill, that, leaning back on these velvet cushions, some presence to whom the fair Erskine, whose pictured face he contemplates upon the wall, was dear in the old times, may be looking now, though we see him not; and the fair Erskine perchance leans on his shoulder too, and smiles to see her portrait. Close the door reverently, children, and leave it to the dead.

In now through this matted passage to a room of much smaller dimensions, with windows looking over a fair green country to the far away sea; and this is a living room, cheerful to see after the awe of the great drawing-room. At the side of the great hearth, in which a bright fire is burning, Lady Betty sits in a large arm-chair. She is not much above twenty, but seems to think it necessary that she should look very grave and composed in her capacity of head of the house-feminine head of the house, for Lord Kellie still lives and rules his household. Lady Betty's dress is of dark silk, not the newest, and over it she wears a handkerchief of delicate white muslin, with a narrow embroidered border. A white muslin apron, with corresponding embroideries, covers the front of her dress, which has deep falling ruffles of lace at the elbows, and a stiff stomacher which you scarcely can see under those folds of muslin. Over her arms are drawn long black silk gloves without fingers,

and she wears a ring or two of some value. Her head is like a tower with its waves of dark hair combed up from the brow, and her stature scarcely needs that addition, for all the Erskines are tall. Little Katie is really awed now, and feels that there is something grand in sheltering under the shadow of Lady Betty's wing.

Mrs Stewart stands before Lady Betty engaged in earnest conversation with her. Not because Mrs Stewart is humble, and chooses this attitude as the most suitable, but because Mrs Stewart is earnest, and being in the habit of using the instrument of gesture a good deal, has risen to make it more forcible. One of her hands is lifted up, and she holds out the other, on which now and then she taps with her substantial fingers to emphasise her words.

"You see, my lady, we have nae occasion to be indebted to onybody for the upbringing of our bairns. My man, I am thankful to say, is a decent man, and a well-doing, and, if we're spared, we'll have something to leave to them that come after us; but I dinna dispute the advantage of being brought up at the Castle. The Castle's ae thing, the mill's anither; but I must have my conditions, or Katie Stewart must come hame."

"Well, Mrs Stewart, let me hear your conditions," said Lady Betty, graciously. "I have no doubt they are very sensible; let me hear them."

"She mustna be learned to lightlie her ain friends-they're a creditable kindred, no to be thought shame of. She's no to think hersel better than Isabell and Janet, her ain sisters. She's to come to the mill aye when she can win, to keep her from pride she has nae right to. I'll not suffer the natural band to be broken, my lady; though she is to be brought up with Lady Anne, she's still just little Katie Stewart of Kellie Mill. That's my most special condition."

"Very right; no one could possibly object to it," said Lady Betty.

"And she's to get to the kirk. Your ladyship's maid could leave her at Arncreoch, and we'll meet her there on the road to Carnbee kirk, Lady Betty. She's at no hand to gang down to Pittenweem to the

English chapel. I couldna suffer that." "I will not ask you, Mrs Stewart," said Lady Betty, gently.

"And she's to get nae questions but the right question-book. It's easy bending the minds of bairns, and I canna have her turned to the English way, my lady. I couldna do with that; but, granting a' thae conditions, and as lang as she's happy and keeps in her health, and behaves hersel, I've nae objection to her staying at the Castle."

"Eh, Mrs Stewart, I'm glad!" exclaimed Lady Anne.

"But ye dinna say a word yoursel, you monkey," said the mother. drawing Katie forward. "Are you no proud of being asked to stay wi' Lady Anne at the Castle?"

Katie made a long pause though the anxious questioning eyes of Anne were upon her, and her mother's imperative fingers were beginning to tighten on her shoulder; for Katie was wilful, and would neither be coaxed nor coerced. At last her mingled feelings gained utterance slowly.

"I would like to be a lady," said Katie, stoutly resisting her mother's endeavour to pull her a step forward; "but I like Bell, and I like the burnside-and you, mother."

Well for Katie that she added the last clause-it touched her mother's heart, and interrupted the anathema which she was about to launch at the unoffending burn.

"Bell will be better without yeye did nothing but keep her idle; and the burnside winna rin away-ye can come and see it and me, Katie. We'll miss ye at hame, for a' the little mischief ye are."

There was a slight quaver in Mrs Stewart's voice; but now Lady Betty rose, with that magnificent rustling sound which to Katie seemed so

grand and awful, to offer, with her own hand, a very little glass of wine.

In a corner near one of the windows, at an elaborately-carved escritoire, sat another young lady, so very silent that it was some time before you became aware of her presence. Materials for some of the " fancy works of the time lay on a little table beside her, but at present Lady Janet was writing, painfully copying some measured paragraphs out of one manuscript - book into another. Lady Betty, the young head and ruler of the house, was super-careful in "doing her duty" to her sisters; so Janet, now too old for writing copies, conscientiously spent an hour every day, under Lady Betty's own superintendence, in copying medicinal recipes to improve her hand.

One end of the room was filled with a great book-case of carved oak. On the other side stood a spinnet with fragile legs and ornaments of ivory. The middle of the apartment was carpeted, but round the sides you still saw the beautifully clear waxed floor, in which the light glimmered and unwary walkers slid. Great window-seats, with heavy soft cushions covered with dark velvet, lined the three windows at the other end, and an elaborate embroidered screen stood in the corner beside Lady Janet's escritoire. The walls were wainscoted, polished and glimmering like the floor, and some family portraits darkened rather than enlivened the sombre colouring of the room. But still it was a very grand room, and little Katie Stewart trembled, even when bidden, to draw that tremendous lumbering velvet footstool, which looked like a familycoach, to the fireside, and to sit down on it, with her pretty head almost touching Lady Betty's knee.

CHAPTER III.

In the west room, which opens off this long dim gallery, Lady Anne Erskine sits busied with some embroidery. This apartment, too, is wainscoted, and has a slippery waxed floor, only partially carpeted,

and the window is high up in the wall, and gives a singular prison-like aspect to the room. The light slants full on the dark head of Lady Anne, as she bends it very slightly over the embroidery frame, which has been

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »