Tibby's Tryst: or 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.'

Front matter

'STRAWBERRY' AND 'MARGUERITE' SERIES. Svo, Cloth Extra, Illustrated. Dunallan ; or, Know What you Judge. By Grace Kennedy. British Church Leaders. By Rev. Dr Marshall. The Noble Printer; or, The Story of the First Printed Bible. Mary Mathieson; or, Duties and Difficulties. By Mrs Scott. The Young Deserter: A Story of the ' Thirty Years' War. Katie Johnstone' s Cross: A Canadian Tale. Polly Wyatt; or, Virtue its own Reward. The Family at Heatherdale; or, The Influence of Christian Principles. Pierre and his Family : A Story of the Waldenses. The German Drummer Boy; or, The Horrors of War. Bygone Days in our Village. By J. L. W. TIBBY'S TRYST. Frontispiece. Tibby's Tryst. Page 310. (i TIBBY'S TRYST DR I WILL LIFT UP MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS." BY ROBINA F. HARDY, AUTHOR OF *\. JOCK HALLIDAY," " TOM TELFER's SHADOW," " AKCHIE," " KILGARVIE," etc., etc.

"All through this tangled web of Life, So darkly dyed, so rent and riven, There runs a golden thread, whose ends Are held in Heaven." EDINBURGH AND LONDON OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER. i 891. BOOKS BY ROBINA F. HARDY. 5s. Kilgarvie. Large Crown 8vo, with Frontispiece by Robert M'Gregor, E.S.A. 3s. 6d. Glenairlie; or, The Last ofthe Grœmes. With Sis Original Illustrations by Tom Scott. 2s. 6d. Glenairlie. Crown 8vo, Cloth. Tibby's Tryst Crown Svo, Cloth, with Frontispiece by F. Dadd. 2s. Glenairlie. Crown 8vo, Paper Boards. Tibby's Tryst. Crown Svo, Pictorial Boards. Is. 6d, Jock Halliday ; A Grassmarket Hero. Tom Telfer's Shadow ; A Story of Every-day Life. Vita Vinctis ; or, Life to those that are bound. Katie ; An Edinburgh Lassie. Fickle Fortune. Diarmid ; or, Frieiids in Kettletoun. Johnnie ; or, Only a Li/e. .— -^ A6&&xAXA\\i®§fi\ Jock Halliday.

Nut i - y An Ed i id' «r<gh Lassie. Paper C'-vi-r Trot's Message. ClotA^U«0^S^jss^Vy Hctter Glen's Holidav8\~p&^^sp^^^m. Archie. Cloth, Illustran_^p^\_3fc?#*^5^ Within a Mile o' EdinburghTdUTT. "Cloth, Illustrated. Vita Vinctis. Paper Cover. Fickle Fortune. Paper Cover. Diarmid. Paper Cover. Cloth, 6d. The Pearl Necklace. Little Goldenlocks. Nanette's New Shoes. Within a Mile o' Edinburgh Toun. Paper Cover. The Story of a Cuckoo Clock. 4d. Fanny's Old Frock. JEMnburgb ant. !£ont>on OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER. Printed by Lorimer 6c Gillies, Edinburgh. V CONTENTS. chapter PACE I. TWO TIBBYS, 7 II. BALBIRNO OF THAT ILK, 1 8 III. AT HALIEDEN MILL, 29 IV. FAMILY PLATE, 44 V. MR. JASPER'S TEA-PARTY, 53 VI. LADY GEORGINA'S MISSION, 66 VII. HUGH ELLERSLIE'S AMBITION, . . . .81 VIII. "THE LITERARY CORDON," 90 IX.

Chapter I. Two Tibbys

/^yvNLY second cousins, and once removed, into WtW'J) the bargain ! Not a drop's blood nearer vj|f^5 than that, Cousin Jasper, I assure you." C .JVr So said Mrs. Balbirno, the lady of that * Ilk (according to a good old Scottish phrase), smoothing out the folds of her black satin dress with an air of satisfaction, as one who had some little right to speak on the topic in hand. " No doubt you are right, cousin, no doubt about it at all ! I only asked as one of the unlearned." The Cousin Jasper thus addressed was a slight, withered-looking old man, who sat in the window seat of Mrs. Balbirno's parlour, bending his grey head forward to catch her words, as if he was perhaps a little deaf. His dress was rather shabby, his face had a grave, careworn look, yet there was a gleam of " pawkie " humour now and then lighting up the grey eyes and wizend features, which seemed to indicate a more cheerful state of matters.

" Oh, you may depend on me, Jasper," returned the lady, "when anything like Geenealogy is concerned, and I have the house of Balbirno at my finger ends, as is but seemly, in my place." "You said 'Jeanie — something,' I think, cousin? Now, who might she be ? " Again the pawkie gleam made its appearance, but Mrs. Balbirno was a strictly practical soul, and she suspected no banter. " Hoot, toot, Jasper, I said Geenealogy. That 's what the learned folk call counting up forbears, and a very fashionable thing they tell me it is now-a-days. So for my Isabella's sake I make a point of considering it," " Ha, ha, very good " laughed the old man, but softly as if not to run the risk of offending. " You and I had but little need of that in the old days, Cousin Betsy ! But you would pick it up from Roger, of course.

Very natural I 'm sure, and very proper too, in the circumstances. So the two lassies are only second cousins as you say." "And once removed!" This little addition was darted out from Mrs. Balbirno's pursed up lips, as if it were a fact of the last importance. Her face had grown an angry red at the allusion to old days. There were some she would rather have forgotten, if that had been possible, and this Jasper Ovenstone had a most provoking way of raking them up. Yet his face wore the innocent, dreamy look it often wore in his most amiable moods, and it was difficult to believe that he meant mischief. So Mrs. Balbirno smoothed her ruffled feathers again, and renewed her discourse. "Yes, for as I was telling you, Jasper, it was my goodman's grand-aunt, Isabella Balbirno, or ' True Tibby' as she was called, who made the low marriage that should never have been allowed, in my opinion ; marrying a farm lad for the sake of some foolish promise made when they were bairns at the school.

And so she left the family, as was but natural, and never had much intercourse with any of the House of Balbirno. But long after, when she was in her grave, her youngest son, Willie Rutherfurd, chanced to be a halfln' lad at Sheafieknowe where my Roger was learning farming, and maybe as ' bluid is thicker than water ' the two lads forgathered, for all their degrees were that different." The good lady stopped a minute here, being some what out of breath. "Ay, ay, I mind the lad very well. I know all about that end of the rope, cousin. I would rather hear more of this 'True Tibby' as you called her. What was it became of her, again ? Rather a sad fate, if I mistake not ? " " She was a ' dour deil ' of a woman, that I should say such a word!" exclaimed Mrs. Balbirno. What a trouble she brought on herself and her race by her wicked perversity !

Just take for an example the case of this poor lassie, her grandbairn ! It 's five years and more since Willie Rutherfurd died of a fever that was going about, and he had just to leave her to the care of some old shepherd on the Minchmuir, who had little enough for himself, and less to give away, I 'm thinking ! The girl's mother, you know, died at her birth, so she was a real orphan, and then nothing would serve Roger Balbirno, my husband, but little Tibby from Minchmuir must come here and be com panion, as it were, to my own Tibby, or Isabella, as I prefer her to be called now. So here she is safe enough for the present, no doubt, but, if it hadn't been for us what would have become of her ? And so I say it was all the fault of that rebellious-spirited woman long ago, for they were comfortable enough in their way, though it was in humble life, till she took to that rampagin' way about the kirk and the field preachings, and all that nonsense."

" They were put out of their farm, I 've heard ? " said Jasper Ovenstone, inquiringly. " Deed ay ! The Laird let them know that they must give up these conventicles they were so set on, or else quit. And no wonder! But do you think ' True Tibby ' would give in ? Not a bit of her ! So they were turned out of Lintlawsheil and never did well after it. Tibby herself died out on the hillside one cold winter night when she was coming from some of her meetings that she was so taken up with ! Indeed it served her right, I think." "Humph! There's an old text, I think, cousin, that says something about ' being persecuted for righteousness' sake ! ' I forget the very words." Mrs. Balbirno grew angry again. " Righteousness, indeed ! Do ye call it righteous ness, Jasper Ovenstone, to think differently from all your kith and kin ? and to insist on worshipping in a different fashion from the laird of your land ? and to harry your own family out of house and home for some bit of self-conceit ?

I 'd have none of that righteousness if I could help it, and I can tell ye I 'm none best pleased at having to do with any of this True Tibby's brood. Not that I would be other than kind to the lassie since the Laird wishes it, and I make very little difference between her and my own Isabella just now ; only you know, there must be a distinction too, because Tibby Rutherfurd has to earn her own living some day, and I must bring her up accordingly ! " "Very true, very true!" assented the old man thoughtfully. " But here they come, the two tawpies ! " continued Mrs. Balbirno, " so we '11 drop the subject, for I think Tibby has just enough of these high flown notions of her grandmother's about her, and I don 't want her to hear them made any fuss about ! " As she spoke the door opened, and two young girls of sixteen or so came in, carrying each a large basket of bright-cheeked crab apples which they had been gathering in the orchard.

They were nearly of a height, and had a slight family resemblance, particularly while both were flushed with recent exercise, and the crisp autumn air. In a few minutes, however, the daughter of the house relapsed into the pale, rather delicate and fretful-looking creature she habit ually was, while the other remained a bright, handsome girl, rosy-cheeked like the fruit she carried, and altogether a strong and healthy specimen of a country lassie. " Come here, Isabella," said Mrs. Balbirno to her daughter, "come here and shake hands with your kinsman, Mr. Jasper ; I like to see proper respect paid to both sides of the house, you know! And you, Tibby Rutherfurd, come and make a curtsey." The mistress of the house having thus ingeniously marked out the respective social positions of the parties, the girls came forward and duly made the appointed greetings.

Jasper Ovenstone received them with a certain grave, old fashioned courtesy, and keenly observed the countenance of each. " It 's a long time since you saw us all, Jasper. You must know a great difference on Isabella there ?" said Mrs Balbirno, evidently suggesting a little compli ment. " Yes, yes, a long time," he repeated, abstractedly. " Your girl has grown — grown very tall. I 'd hardly have recognised her. But the other — she has the same face. Just what I remember ! They make me an old man !" " But you never saw Tibby Rutherfurd before, Cousin Jasper ! You 're forgetting ! It's nearly five years since you were here last, and Tibby had not come then." " To be sure ! to be sure ! What am I thinking of? said Jasper, seeming to recollect himself. Tibby Rutherfurd looked up quickly at the stranger, as if a doubt had suddenly occurred to her, whether she had really never seen this queer old gentleman before.

But none ventured to ask what he had meant. Jasper's gaze rested longest and most earnestly on this Tibby, who evidently reminded him of someone, for he muttered to himself, " Her own child — and like — very — very like." This was not the way to propitiate his cousin, who now scrutinised the said Tibby with less favouring eyes. The girl's long fair tresses hung in very pretty disorder over her neck, and lightly shadowed her high, white forehead on which was stamped a thoughtfulness beyond her years. The disorder might be picturesque and even natural in the circum stances, but it was not pleasing to the lady. She was an excellent housewife, and never allowed the least trace of confusion. "Tibby, my dear," she said sharply, "you must really go and redd up your head ! What if the Lawhill ladies were to call, as is by no means unlikely !

You 're never fit to be seen ! As I 've often told ye, take an example from your cousin's hair ! It 's never in the rampagin' state that yours is in this day ! " The erring Tibby might have retorted that her cousin had by no means the same quantity to keep in order as herself, for Isabella Balbirno's locks were of the most meagre description. But no demur rose to Tibby's lips, and indeed none would have been tolerated there. She only smoothed back the offending tresses with an apologetic word and smile, and it was left for the other Tibby to rebut the charge of untidiness on her cousin's behalf. She did this gen erously enough, but with rather unfilial petulance. " I 'm sure I wish you 'd leave my hair alone, mother ! I 'm fair tired of hearing about it. And it 's no fault of Tib's that she hasn 't got some rats' tails like mine !

It was the wind that blew it about, besides — it was no blame of ours ! " " Wheesht, Isabella," said her mother in an authoritative tone, but managing to change the subject. " We are forgetting the bonnie fruit all this time ! I must have my jelly made. Tibby will go and see to the big brass pan — it '11 want a good rubbing, I '11 be bound ! And you and I will give the apples a dicht the while, Isa ! See, here is a fine old neepkin of your great-great grandmother's to wipe them with! Just think of that, Cousin Jasper ! A. B. stands for Annot Balbirno " This genealogical treat was interrupted by the old man suddenly rising and saying, " Ay, there he is, now ! I beg your pardon, cousin. You were saying something. But I see the Laird yonder in the avenue. I want to speak to him a moment, if he can spare the time, so I '11 be off, if you '11 excuse me.

Good morning to you all ! " So saying he was off with an agility one would hardly have expected from his bent and fragile figure. Mrs. Balbirno made no objection to his leaving, being indeed, rather anxious to get quit of him now that the crab apples were in her mind. She only looked out after him as he poked his way staff in hand, down the short beech avenue to where her husband daw dled about, inspecting some of his ancestral timber, and then said meditatively : — " I wonder what he 's wanting with your father, Isabella? Curious he never said a word to me about it! I just hope it isn't money he's after. As to time, I think the Laird can spare that better than I can ! " While the heiress of Balbirno sat with rather peevish countenance, dusting the fruit with the hereditary linen of her race, the other Tibby had sped on her errand, and now came flying back with some message from Mysie, the cook, concerning the afore said brass pan.

Again, her appearance gave dissatis faction to her guardian. " Bless me, Tibby Rutherfurd ! " she began, " what sort of whigmaleerie is that ye 've got on for an apron ? Go and seek out a wiselike ' brat' this moment, if ye mean to work ! In my young days girls were never allowed to wear that flummery at their work. Bits of lace and knots of ribbon indeed ! to rub up a brass pan with ! I '11 put up with nothing of the sort in my house, I can tell ye that. So away and change it as fast as ye can ! " Tibby took this second tirade as pleasantly as she had done the last, and departed to array herself more suitably. But as usual, Mrs. Balbirno found another rebel nearer hand. " I want to go and watch Tib cleaning the big pan ! " said the spoiled child. " I 'm tired of rubbing these apples — it makes my arms sore !

" "No, no, my dawtie!" pleaded the mother, "the kitchen 's not a place for you. It 's cold and draughty. You '11 bide where you are. But, bless me ! if there isn 't the Cairnbank carriage, with a lot of fine folks in it too ! I must away and make' myself fit to appear ! The drawing-room was done out this very day, as good luck would have it. The Cairnbanks come the wrong day in general ! Stay you here, Isabella, till I send for you. Then both of you girls will get dressed and come in. The jelly must just wait, for I would like to see to it myself." So commanding, the good lady hurried away to meet her visitors, and Isabella was left to her own rather discontented reflections in the parlour. B

Chapter II Balbirno Of That Ilk

ttHILE Mrs. Balbirno made herself agree- J able, as best she might, to the distinguished visitors from Cairnbank, Jasper Ovenstone had secured his interview with the Laird, in what was termed " the study," though the researches therein made seldom went beyond the Almanac and County Directory. " I want a word with you on business, Laird ! " Jasper had said, as he button-holed his man. " Tut, tut, business again ? It 's always business with you, Jasper ! " that gentleman had replied, for, though Roger Balbirno of that Ilk did as little work of any sort as a man could possibly do, he was always oppressed by a sense of the burdens laid upon him. " Can't you come into the snuggery, man, and have a glass of something cooling, and let us hear the news? " iS " Not to-day, thankee, not to-day, I 'm rather in a hurry," returned the other, " but I won't keep you long over my dry affairs, this time, I promise you !

So come, like a good soul ! " So saying, he dragged the unwilling Laird into the business den, or study, and the door closed on their conference. Roger Balbirno was a rather tall, handsome man, not much past middle life, and bearing trace of the old and honourable descent of which his wife so often boasted. And yet, one might well have hesitated to dub him " gentleman." He had long been careless of his dress even to slovenliness, and he affected a dialect much broader than that to which his youth had accustomed him, while as for manners these were more remarkable for absence than any thing else ! In truth, the Laird had always been a social problem to the district, which was that some what dreary flap of Mid-Lothian, descending from the ridge of the Moorfoot hills, and touching with its plainer skirts the romantic shires, watered by the Tweed and Teviot.

His family was said to have come originally from Fifeshire, bringing with them the quaint and unfamiliar name they owned. And it was not uncommon for the sober folks of Braidburn and its neighbourhood to ascribe Roger's eccentrici ties to " a wee bit of Fifishness still in him ! " In spite of these, however, Balbirno had long been the hope of many match-making dowagers in the county, for no objection could have been taken to him in his early days at least, but that he was a youth who cared too little for his position in society and the advantages to which it entitled him. And if he did not care for these, other people certainly did ! His faults were generally ascribed to an over-indulgent mother, who had allowed -him to lounge about as he liked at home, instead of urging him into proper society.

However that might be, young Balbirno certainly preferred a crack at the " Smiddy " or in the parlour of the village Inn, to any of the fashionable drawing-rooms that were daily yawning for him. And all this ended as was not so unlikely after all, in his espousing at the age of thirty-five, a rustic beauty, the daughter of the aforesaid Inn, " The Bourtree Bush," where he had whiled away so many idle hours. It was a severe shock to the visiting circle of Balbirno. What were they to do ? they asked each other in despair. It would have been an easy matter to cut off Roger entirely, but there was the old lady, whom every one loved, and for whom they were most of all distressed. It would be so hard to cut her off from all decent society, and in her old age too ! The gentle old mother who never had blamed Roger for anything all his life, had few words of reproach for him even now, and actually received the blushing bride as if she had been a scion of one of the best families in the land !

Perhaps on the whole, it was the best course she could have pursued. Against the character of the fair Betsy, not the most censor ious gossip had a word to say. She could brave the world well so far as that went. And when the old lady calmly announced her purpose of remain ing with the young couple, it was wonderful, how after a time, people began to forget their vow of having no more to do with Balbirno. Carriages might be seen at the door occasionally, as of yore, and well gloved fingers touched in stately courtesy the rather red hands of the umquhile barmaid ! So old Mrs. Balbirno's last days were sweetened and gladdened as they might not have been, had she consented to an open rupture with her only son, a measure which society had warmly recommended ; and she died in the belief that Roger had really done a very good thing in marrying Betsy Ovenstone !

Mrs. Roger herself managed pretty well at first in her new sphere, chiefly owing to a shrewd common sense belonging to her, which made her avoid " putting on airs " or anything that savoured of con ceit. She behaved simply and naturally enough, and took the varying receptions of her husband's friends with unvarying good humour, whether they were genial or freezing. She dressed quietly, and did not attempt to alter her dialect. She was respectful and submissive to her mother-in-law, taking her cue from her in manners and deportment as well as she could accomplish. However, when old Mrs. Balbirno slept in the family mausoleum at Braidburn Kirk, and Betsy was left to the freedom of her own will, some of the early training and habits cropped out. The signs of cultivated and refined life died out by slow degrees from the quaint old mansion house.

A gaudier and ruder style of ornamentation was observable, and the family lapsed into a much more primitive way of living. Truth to tell, Betsy Ovenstone had not been altogether happy during many hours of enforced idleness in the drawing-room. She .had secretly pined to be at work again, as of old, among the familiar objects of the kitchen, and now, on one pretence or other, she found it easy to lessen the number of servants, and substitute active labour of her own hands in several departments. This suited the Laird's notions admirably. He had grown rather grasping as time went on, and frequently repeated the axiom that " a penny saved is a penny gained." It ended at last in there being only Mysie, the old cook, in the kitchen, a halfling girl for house and table, and a solitary man outside.

This was all very well as it pleased both master and mistress, but there was no need for this economy, and the hospitality of Balbirno suffered sadly in consequence. Years passed, bringing only a solitary and rather fragile daughter to be the inheritrix of all the family pride and possessions, and when she grew to girlhood, as we have seen, the life of the Balbirno mansionhouse had crystallised and settled down into its own somewhat peculiar character. The neighbourhood, long accus tomed to its eccentricity, had ceased to wonder or even talk about it, and so Isabella Balbirno found herself in a strange, anomalous position which, indeed, she but dimly understood or realised. She could not know, for instance, that her rightful place in society was among those ladies whom her mother rather taught her to dread than otherwise, and that her education should be the same as the young ladies of Shawlands and of Lawhills were getting, instead of the meagre curriculum of Miss Mole's seminary in Braid burn.

Isabella cared for none of these things. When her father, with a kindness of heart still belonging to him, in spite of gathering miserliness, brought home the orphan cousin to be companion to her, Isabella's great desire was to be allowed to work and run errands as this other Tibbie was privileged to do, and it became a standing grievance in the young heiress' mind that fate seemed to have decreed otherwise. Whatever fate might mean, her mother certainly had ordained it so ! She had no high lineage of her own to boast of, but her Isabella had. And she was to be brought up accordingly. Whereas this Tibby Ruth erfurd, though it was all very well to be kind to her, and give her a home in her childhood till she should be able to work for herself, could never by any possibility become a lady, and it was much better to keep this always clearly before her.

So the two girls were companions in a way, yet always with a difference. If there was anything of a servile nature to be done, Tibby Rutherfurd might do it, as her aunt Balbirno would certainly never scruple to do herself! But Tibbie Balbirno must sit and look on the while ! She was to be a lady ! Curiously enough it was, as has been already remarked, the heiress herself who fretted over this treatment. To the other Tibby, fresh from a shepherd's cottage among the lowland hills, work seemed her natural lot, and she had no wish for any other. When Tibby Rutherfurd returned to the parlour that afternoon, the two girls, after amusing themselves in schoolgirl fashion with some tales of Miss Mole's establishment, remembered the admonition to dress and appear before the ladies of Cairnbank. " You '11 go, Isa !

" said Tibby, " for I must help Mysie with some things in the bleaching-green. Aunt Betsy must have forgotten them, or she would not have bidden me." " I '11 do nothing of the kind, Tibby ! " exclaimed her cousin. " I '11 not go a foot unless you come too ! Why am / always to get the tiresome things to do ? " Tibby Rutherfurd laughed. "Just hear her! Nobody but yourself would think that way, Isa ! Be a good girl and I '11 help you to tidy up. Come ! " But Isabella was obdurate. Unless her cousin also came to the drawing-room, she would remain where she was, let her mother storm as she liked afterwards. She couldn't say much before the ladies ! This would never do, Tibby thought, for she hated storms, and these sometimes happened between the mother and daughter. " I '11 run then," she said good-humouredly, " and be as quick as I can, and be you ready the moment I come, and we '11 go in together.

I '11 just smooth my hair, and that won't take a minute. The ladies will just think I 'm like my work !" Tibby was off to the bleaching-green like a shot. On her way she saw old Jasper Ovenstone who had just left the study and was making his way to the side gate which led more directly to the town of Braidburn. " I wonder if he knows there 's a broken step," Tibby wondered. " Robbie has had no time to mend it this last week." As she stood to look and wonder she saw the old man stumble and come down with some force upon the gravel. She ran up to him and was in time to help him up again, which she did with her usual kind and gentle manner. Jasper was not hurt, only shaken a little, and as he sat to recover himself he talked to the friendly maiden who had come to his help. " Ay, ay, and you are Menie Lintlaw's bairn !

" he said, stroking her flowing locks. "It's long, long, since I saw her bonnie face ! It was like a blythe spring morning then, and now — all gone ! all gone ! You don't remember your mother, child ? " " Oh no, sir," said Tibbie, sadly, " she died soon after I was born. Father often spoke to me about her though, and told me how good she was, and how everybody loved her. Did you know her too, sir?" " Yes, yes, I knew — and — liked her well, my dear. And I think I like you for her sake. Will you come and see an old man, and take a cup of tea, some afternoon ? I am a poor man you know, and have little else to offer anybody." Tibby smiled with pleasure, and said she would come if her aunt gave her leave. "Oh ay, I forgot about that," said Jasper; "well, ask her to let you some day. Or, no, leave it to me.