A Scots Thistle

Chapter I

Nether Kintocher stood a little way back from the main road which ran through the village of Kintocher. A mile further on, in the direction of the town of Dunfechan, were the gates of the avenue of Kintocher proper, the "big hoose," where dwelt Mrs. Jamieson of Kintocher and her daughters. Nether Kintocher was not much more than a cottage, a square, white-washed, two storied house, with an irregular bit added on at the back, which contained the kitchen and VOL. I. I . A SCOTS THISTLE. 2 " offices." Behind lay a large, old-fashioned garden, and the "washing-green;" at the sides there Avere some little attempts at shrubbery, and, sloping down towards the road, a broad, smooth lawn. The Avhole was surrounded by high walls, coped with a neat arrangement in broken bottles. The whole, that is, with the exception of the side next the road ; here the wall was only half the height of the rest, and topped by an iron rail ing, the architect having possibly considered this a more elegant object for the public gaze to rest upon than the broken bottles.

Nether Kintocher was part of the Kintocher property, and therefore belonged to Mrs. Jamieson of Kintocher, or, more properly, to her son Dick. But Dick Jamieson had been so little at home since his boyhood, being nearly always away with his regiment, that, somehow, the country people had fallen into the way of regarding the mother, rather than the son, as the owner of Kintocher. The "big hoose " was al- AA-ays occupied by the female members of the Jamieson family, and Nether Kintocher had for nearly tA\-enty years been rented by the Miss Wardlaws. These ladies Avere the orphan daughters of an Edinburgh doctor, and Avhen they first came to Kintocher there were three of them — Grace, Elizabeth, and Izobel. Izobel AA-as much A'ouncrer than her sisters, and \%-as a pretty, delicate-looking girl.

She AA-as pretty enough to charm the fancy and AA'in the heart of a yelloAA--haired sailor, Willie Graham, the second son of Graham of Achnahiel, the great Highland laird. Willie Graham had, of course, no earthly business to fall in love AA-ith the daughter of an Edinburgh doctor. There had been Grahams at Achnahiel many a day before there Avere Campbells at Inveraray, or Came rons at Lochiel. The Grahams of Achna hiel claimed kin Avith the Great Marquis of Montrose, and — though they spelled their name with a difference — with Bonnie Dun dee. The Grahams, to a man, had been out in "The Fifteen" and "The Forty five"; and the only reason the Achnahiel estates were not confiscated, after the fatal day of Culloden put an end to the hopes of all loyal Scots, was that when that bloody fight ended, the only male representative of the Grahams left alive was a baby boy, not three months old.

Achnahiel himself, and his two broad-shouldered, yellow-haired sons, lay dead on that " waefu' muir," face to the loe. At Castle Achnahiel two sorrowful Avomen, widows both, hung over the little mite of humanity, the last hope of the Grahams, and mingled their tears for his dead sire and grandsire ; while, even as they wept, they sternly vowed, "gin they had as mony mair, they wad gie them a' to Charlie." They expected nothing more or less than that " German Geordie " would take their estates, and drive them from Achnahiel ; but, as it chanced, he did not. Possibly he may have thought Baby Angus Avould be brought up to remember his clemency, and be a loyal subject to him — and it was worth while risking something for the Graham allegiance. They did nothing by halves : if they got an idea into their heads, they stuck to it ; for the king they acknowledged they would give up wealth, estates, body, soul.

" German Geordie " was right if he thought it Avorth while trying to win a Graham over to his side. Not that he did win ; never again were the loyal Scots' claymores drawn for Bonnie Prince Charlie, but, to the last day of his life, Angus Graham drank to the King "over the water," and for his sake he would have given his blood and money as reck lessly as his forebears. Indeed, it was not till the reign of Queen Victoria that the house of Guelph could count that of Ach nahiel on its side ; and then — though not the heiress of the Stuarts — the reigning sovereign was proud to own that their blood ran in her veins. And so, to return to Willie Graham, what right had he, the offspring of heroes, he, who, by blood, was pure Highland aristocrat — what right had he to go and fall in love Avith the daughter of an Edinburgh doctor ?

That was what his stately mother wanted to know, and that was what Achnahiel himself wanted to know Avhen Willie strode into Castle Achnahiel one fine morning, and calmly announced he was going to marry Izobel Wardlaw. What right had he to think of such a thing ? Willie tossed back his yellow curls and made answer straight enough. The right every free-born man had to marry a pure, good girl whom he loved, and who loved him. In her heart his mother admired her bonnie son's fearless independence, as he stood there facing her and his father. And she knew, and his father knew it would be ill to get him to break the promise he had made to the girl he loved ; for he was a Graham, a strong-willed, pig-headed, obsti nate, leal Graham, as they all Avere ; and Avhen Graham meets Graham, the results from a similar conjunction of Greeks become insignificant.

But the father and mother Avere very Avise, very wary. They tried gentle per suasion and mild argument with this head strong younger son of theirs. They asked him to wait a little ; it would be but Avise ; he might change his mind ; she might change hers. They made every suggestion they could think of as a reason for breaking off or postponing the affair. But to every thing Willie made the same answer — he loved Izobel, he had promised to marry her, and nothing could induce him to break his promise. But he was quiet and respectful, however obstinate, till in an unlucky moment his mother lost her temper, and made a sharp reflection on the girl Avho had "entangled" him. Heaven help them then ! Willie turned on her, with his blue eyes flashing. " Mother, if you dare to say that again, by Heaven, I will never darken your door as long as I live !

" " Hold your tongue, sir," said the father ; "don't let me hear you speak to your mother in that tone ! " " Then, let her keep her tongue off Izobel," said Willie, defiantly. The tempers of all three were up now, and it was easy to foresee the end. "Once for all," said Achnahiel, sternly, " will you give up this girl and marry in your own station an honourable gentlewoman, as a Graham of Achnahiel should ?" " Once for all, sir," flashed back the son, " I will not give up Izobel Wardlaw, who is an honourable gentlewoman, and for whose love any Graham of Achnahiel might go doAvn on his knees and thank God — and Avhom I would not change for a Princess of the blood royal." " Then out of the house with you ! " shouted the enraged father. "Go back to your apothecary's wench ; and as sure as you marry her, I'll cut you off with a shilling, and never look on your face again as long as you live !

" " I take you at your word," cried Willie, choking with rage ; "I'm going straight back to Miss Wardlaw now, and I shall marry her as soon as ever she'll let me. And, as for your money, you can cut me off with a farthing if you like, and be damned to you ! " And with that he flung out of the house, catching up his portmanteau, which still stood in the hall, on his way, and that was the last time that Graham of Achnahiel or his wife ever set eyes on their bonnie, yellow haired son. I am not going to defend Willie Graham for the tone he adopted towards his parents, nor for that last incorrect expression, which, doubtless, would have been incorrect even if not addressed to the author of his being. The facts are merely set down as they occurred, and history must be Avritten im partially. Willie took the first train back to his lady-love, but Avhen he reached her bower he encountered another difficulty on which he had not reckoned.

Izobel's two elder sisters, and guardians, positively refused to allow their sister to marry a man Avhose family considered her beneath him. They might not be able to trace their pedigree back as far as the Grahams could by a few hundred years or so, but they were as proud, every bit as proud. Willie entreated, and stormed, and swore in vain. They were firm ; as firm as, if less abusive than, his own parents had been. Of course, that ought to have been the end of it. With another man it possibly might have been ; but then this man was a Graham, and love takes the Grahams very much as loyalty does — it goes to their heads, and they are neither to hold nor to bind. Willie stormed about the drawing-room of these quiet maiden ladies, making them tremble for the fate of their ornaments and furniture, and then finally swirled out of the house like a concentrated young sirocco, SAvearing he would have his way.

And have it he did. Miss Grace and Miss Lizzie had settled down to peace and quietness again, and the belief that this disturbing love-affair was over, when one morning Izobel was missing. The two sisters had scarcely time to get seriously disturbed about her before she reappeared — tucked under Willie Graham's arm, and he, audaciously triumphant, announced she was his wife, as hard and fast as holy Church could make her. What was to be said ? Miss Grace felt it her duty to read them a lecture ; but, having done that, did not see her way to anything further — unless forgiving them. The thing was done and could not be undone, and what was the use of marring the happiness of the naughty young couple by glooming at them ? Not that I ought to call Izobel naughty ; the idea of a runaway wedding had appalled her.

It was not her fault, but her gentle, clinging nature was completely dominated by the splendid audacity of his, and she might have done much worse than marry him had it been his royal will. So they were forgiven ; and then followed two months of happiness. Two little months of such perfect, blissful happiness, that poor Izobel sometimes trembled, and almost prayed HeaA-en to send her some little cross, some pinpricks of discomfort, so that it Avould leave this great beautiful love that Avrapped her round untouched. Poor little soul ; it may be she thought the great Giver of all good grudges us our happiness, and has some sort of enjoyment in dis pensing Avorries. Perhaps, she is scarcely the only Christian Avho has unconsciously nourished this heathen creed. But the end came, and Willie had to rejoin his ship.

He gaA-e his wile in charge of her sisters, and conjured them to be good to her, to take care of her, to compass her Avith all sweet observances till he came back again. As though the faithful Avomen, Avho had guarded her from her cradle, needed any such injunctions! But they liked him none the Avorse for that ; and Miss Lizzie shed sympathetic tears over the parting of this husband of twenty-two, and his wife of barely eighteen summers. Miss Grace, I have my own reasons for knowing, felt as deeply for them, but she never cried, on principle. Up to this time the sisters had lived in Edinburgh, but after Willie's departure they took the lease of Nether Kintocher, and removed there. They thought the country air would be good for Izobel, who was never very robust, and who it soon became evident was going to follow in the footsteps of all Graham matrons, and present her husband with a pledge of mutual affection at the earliest opportunity.

When this news was imparted to Willie, he wrote home his royal commands that the said pledge was to take the shape of a daughter, and to be another Izobel, made in her mother's image. Izobel had thought of a son, another Willie. But after this, she may have given her mind to the production of a daughter ; at all events, when the due time came, the squalling mite of humanity that the doctor put into the arms of the tAvo anxious, expectant sisters Avas a girl. So far, Izobel had fulfilled her lord's commands, but, for the rest, she had dismally sailed. She had given him a daughter, but not another Izobel. This small squalling personage was a Graham, not a Wardlaw ; if ever child was a faithful reproduction of its father, this Avas ; but for her sex, she was another Willie. The poor little mother was delighted.

" It's just my Willie over again," she said, "just my Willie. And it is a girl, so surely he'll not mind she's not like me. The sisters were a little dismayed at the likeness. They confided to each other they did not think it would be a bonnie bairn. It had Willie's mouth, and that was too big for a woman's, said Miss Grace and Miss Lizzie, both of whom had neat little Wardlaw mouths. And it had Willie's short upper lip, which — deary me! — meant temper. It had Willie's nose, and that was neither Grecian nor Roman. It had Willie's eyes — ah, well, that was a redeeming feature ; no one could quarrel with those great blue orbs of his, whether they looked tender or defiant. But then, alack-the-day ! it had Willie's hair, and that was the crowning point in the dismay of Miss Grace and Miss Lizzie.

All three sisters had dark, abundant, glossy hair ; and the two elder ones had always pronounced Willie's to be red. Izobel said it was yellow, with a dash of gold through it ; and his mother would have agreed with her. Which was right I do not pretend to decide ; but there could not be a shadoAv of doubt that the sisters Avere right when they pronounced the few stray hairs, which adorned the bald pate of Izobel's baby, just the colour of its father's. So Miss Grace and Miss Lizzie privately shook their heads, and feared it would not be a bonnie bairn. As to Izobel, she thought it was as an angel from Heaven for beauty. It was like Willie, just like her Willie ; and what would he say when he saw it ? He was coming back to her now soon ; soon he would be with her, and his strong arms round her again.

Alas ! poor soul ! never again in this world would she and her Willie meet. Far away in the Bay of Bengal rode a gallant ship, and from her deck there rose the cry of, "Man Overboard!" Only a common sailor, and he could not swim ; and there were sharks about. They flung him a life buoy and lowered a boat as fast as they could. But not so fast as Willie vol. 1. Graham saw a horrid white gleam in the water, not so fast as he whipped off his coat and took a header over the ship's side. To what purpose ? Was he mad ? Would all the swimming in the world save a man from a shark ? And where there was one shark were there not more ? and would one man suffice for their banquet f You may ask ; but did ever Graham stop to ask questions when there was danger and he could run his neck into it, when there was a life in the balance and he could fling his own in beside it ?

Willie Graham did not ; he was overboard in a trice. And then ? and then in a moment the water was alive with these tigers of the deep, who seized their prey, and dragging them down, fought, and tore, and struggled over their ghastly meal. And the onlookers could but see the sickening sight, and do nothing. So died Willie Graham, not the first of A SCOTS THLSTLE. 19 his gallant race Avho staked a noble life on a hopeless throw, and flung it aAvay to no purpose. And, yet, Avho shall say to no purpose ? for surely every noble, unselfish endeavour, hoAA-ever unsuccessful, must leave this poor Avorld richer than it was before. This Avas the news which came to Nether Kintocher when Izobel's baby was little more than a month old, and she her self was getting slowly better. Only very slowly, for she was a fragile little thing, and though she had never been very ill, she was a long time getting up her strength again.

The anxious sisters said to themselves, and to her, that a sight of Willie would do her more good than anything. And then the awful tidings came. Poor women, they kept it from her as long as they could, but it had to be told at last, and it was not hard to see it was her death blow. And they could do nothing for her — nothing. When she cried out for Willie they could not give him back to her. When she woke from her troubled sleep shrieking to them to save him, save him, Avhat could they do but hold her in their arms, and bid her be calm ? And when she wildly cried to them to tell her it was not true, alas and alas ! they could not tell her that. So when at last the doctor told them that his skill was of no avail, and that Izobel was fast going after her young husband, they felt — despite the wrench at their own hearts — to wish it otherwise AA-ould be cruel.

When they told Izobel, she smiled and roused herself a little, and bid them send to Dunfechan for old Mr. Seton, the writer. And when he came she made him write down that her sisters were to be the sole guardians of her baby daughter ; that all her little money was to be the child's ; and that till she came of age it was to be paid half-yearly to the sisters, so that they should have no more expense than they had had with her, for Dr. Wardlaw had left his daughters equal portions. So Mr. Seton made the poor little will, and de parted. Izobel had made her baby safe. Her sisters Avould loA-e it ; the Grahams, Avho had been cruel to her Willie, Avho had despised her, should not have it. That Avas Avhat had been on her mind, but she had made it all right now. Then she dozed off, and the sisters sat A\-atching her long and silently.

The gloaming had stolen over the skies Avhen she opened her eyes and looked at them. "Grace and Lizzie," she said, "you'll mind baby— I must go to Willie." And then she passed quietly aAA-ay into the shades, Avhere her faithful sisters might not folloAv, but Avhere, please God, she found her Willie.

Chapter II

And the poor little fatherless, motherless mite, not two months old, wept in its aunt's arms. It did not know what good cause it had for weeping, but it cried its baby cry, and Miss Lizzie wept over it — Miss Grace, I have already said, did not cry, on principle. She was a practical woman, even when her heart was at its sorest. " Doctor," she said, " will we need to get a nurse for the bairn ? or do you think that she'll do on the bottle ? " " I see no reason you should not bring her up by hand, Miss Wardlaw," returned the doctor ; " she's a fine strong baby, and you have your OAvn cow there. I think you might try it, anyhow." "Oh, I'm glad of that," said Miss Lizzie, tearfully, " for I've just a horror of a strange Avoman to nurse the bairn. For what is one to knoAV about them, and what sort of nature and disposition the child may be sucking in with her milk ?

And them as often un married as not." " Hout ! Havers ! " said Miss Grace, with good-natured contempt. " You might just as well say, Lizzie, that she'll be sucking in a coav's nature from her bottle. Not but what," she added, " I'm glad we can do without an idle tawpie, trolloping round the house." So the two maiden ladies found them selves with a baby to bring up by hand. And a fine time they would have had of it, amid all the contradictory advice of their neighbours of high and low degree, but that Miss Grace, with grim politeness, refused to accept any. Any, that is, except what she got from Dr. Beattie, and from Mrs. Mclntyre, a decent farmer's wife, who lived on the hill behind Nether Kintocher, and had successfully brought up ten strapping bairns of her own. And the child throve apace.

They christened her Izobel, after her mother ; it had been Willie's wish, so, of course, Izobel' s, and now it was their own. " But," said Miss Grace, " we'll just call her Bell, Lizzie. Not that I hold with nick-names — though there's yourself with your own name twisted out of any sense ; but to hear anyone calling Izobel through the house again is just more than I could bear." Willie Graham had had no communica tion with his parents from the day he had dashed out of Castle Achnahiel, flinging a bad word back at his father. Gentle Izobel had urged him to write and say he was sorry. And he was honestly sorry for the temper and disrespect he had shown ; though not one whit for keeping his plighted word, and wedding Izobel " in spite o' them a'," as he Avas careful to assure her ; though happy Izobel did not need the assurance.

He would have written then and there, and expressed his penitence, but for his High land pride suggesting the fear that his apology might be taken as sent with some arriere-pensee about that shilling with which he had been cut off. As though anyone who knew him would ever have suspected him of cringing for the sake of money. HoAvever, for that reason, Willie, though always meaning to write some day, made one delay after another, until that ghastly tragedy in the Bay of Bengal put an end for ever to his expressing his sorrow for his angry words in this world. But, although he had not written, the newspapers informed his parents of his marriage, and the birth of his child, and then — soon after the terrible news of his own death reached them — of the death of his poor little widow. It was in consequence of this that one morning Miss Grace received a letter from Mrs. Graham of Achnahiel, in which that lady stated she wished to have her son's child in her own care, and she would feel obliged if Miss Wardlaw would have the infant ready to travel on the next day, as she was sending her housekeeper — a woman well accustomed to children — to bring it to Achnahiel.

"Quick work," said Miss Grace, grimly, and then she bid Christina, the servant lass, run up the village, and see if she could get Duncan Davidson to walk into Dunfechan with a telegram. Miss Lizzie clasped the baby in an agonized way, and watched her sister as one seeking deliverance from danger, while the latter took pen and Avrote : — "Miss Wardlaw, Mrs. Graham, Nether Kintocher, by Dunfechan. Castle Achnahiel, by Nairn. Do not send your servant to-morrow. A letter will follow to explains Miss Grace blotted it carefully, and handed it to her sister. "But what will you explain?" asked Miss Lizzie, anxiously. " Just the simple facts," said Miss Grace, calmly, " that by the terms of her mother's will we are left the sole guardians of the bairn, and could not give her up to anyone else, if Ave wanted to."

" Oh, and will that be enough, do you think, Grace ? " said Miss Lizzie. " Hout ! yes ; more than enough," returned Miss Grace, conclusively. And so it proved ; for, to Miss Lizzie's intense relief, they heard no more from Achnahiel, and were left in undisturbed possession of their niece. They got the child safely through all her baby troubles ; she had not many of them, it is true, and she cut her teeth with an equanimity which was, I fear, disappointing to some of the neighbours whose advice had been overlooked. But in some respects she was a trying child, and she did her best to ruin her Aunt Lizzie's nerves irretrievably. She had a passion for getting out of bed headfore most ; she crawled downstairs whenever she could seize a chance, and generally rolled the last half of the way ; if there was anything that came within the scope of her climbing powers, she climbed it ; she pulled heavy objects over on the top of her small person ; she tested the con sistency of most foreign substances in her A SCOTS THLSTLE. 29 mouth ; and she had even more than the ordinary baby love for the coal-scuttle.

There is no doubt she was a trying child ; and Miss Lizzie shook her neat glossy head, and said she had nothing of a Wardlaw about her, there was no doubt she was a Graham ; and Miss Grace opined grimly, she doubted she should have been a boy. But Wardlaw or Graham, girl or boy, she got plenty of love and care, and she greAv up a healthy happy bairn enough. Then came the question of education. Miss Lizzie, as the most accomplished of the sisters — she played and sang in a SAveet little way, and had a fair knowledge of French — took her in hand, and taught her all she knew. But the child was quick and soon got beyond her aunt, and the sisters had to take serious counsel together as to the next step. A school in Dunfechan was the obvious thing ; no doubt she would be well taught there, but still — Miss Grace shook her head at the Dunfechan school.

She would be the last person to say there was not good teaching to be had in Dunfechan, but one must think of other things too. The Miss Wardlaws themselves had not been educated with tradesmen's daughters ; and Bell was a Graham — Miss Grace never lost sight of that. She loved the child as her sister's bairn, but she did her duty by her as a Graham of Achnahiel. There seemed nothing for it but that Bell should be sent to Edinburgh, and the two aunts disliked the idea of the girl being away beyond their care as much as they disliked the society in the Dunfechan school. It was at this juncture that Mrs. Jamieson came to the rescue. Agnes and Mary Jamieson were to have a French governess, and Mrs. Jamieson graciously informed the Miss WardlaAvs, that, if they liked, Bell could come up daily and share her daughters' lessons.

If Bell had been a WardlaAv, possibly the offer might not have been made, and the Miss Wardlaws AA-ere quite aware of it, although Mrs. Jamieson Avas always everything that was kind and courteous to her tenants at Nether Kintocher. Still this Avas some thing more than kind and courteous, and Miss Grace said so, Avith what was for her unaccustomed warmth, when she had taken her way up to the " big hoose " to speak to Mrs. Jamieson on the subject. Bell, as a Graham of Achnahiel, certainly had a right to a higher peg in the social scale than any Jamieson of Kintocher ; for the Jamiesons were but new people, when all Avas said and done. But then Bell was a Graham unacknowledged by Achnahiel ; and this offer of Mrs. Jamie son's had come just in the very nick of time ; so Miss Grace expressed herself with unwonted cordiality and gratitude, before she entered upon the discussion of the pecuniary part of the arrangement, which she was anxious to place upon a satisfactory basis.

She insisted on paying a far larger share of Mademoiselle's hand some salary than Mrs. Jamieson had intended, but Miss Grace was not going to be beholden to anyone — from a mone tary point of view — ■ for her niece's education. The educational advantages were not all on Bell's side. She was infinitely quicker and cleverer than Aggie and Mary Jamieson, and she spurred them on to exertions they would never otherwise have dreamed of. They were both nice pleasant girls, but of ordinary abilities, and with no idea of learning more than they could help. Bell's energy, however, in fected them to a certain extent, and they did far better than they Avould have, if left to go on at their own natural jog-trot. They were fond of Bell, and Bell was fond of them ; and she got on very well with Mademoiselle, too, although they had oc casional differences of opinion, for Made moiselle AA-as quick-tempered, and Bell had vieAvs of her own on some subjects.