第27章 THE HEN-HOUSE(2)

Willing to detain her a while longer in the hen-house, I displayed my bleeding palms; at which she cried aloud.

'My dear Miss Flora, you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs,' said I; 'and it is no bagatelle to escape from Edinburgh Castle.One of us, I think, was even killed.'

'And you are as white as a rag, too,' she exclaimed, 'and can hardly stand! Here is my shawl, sit down upon it here in the corner, and I will beat your eggs.See, I have brought a fork too;

I should have been a good person to take care of Jacobites or Covenanters in old days! You shall have more to eat this evening;

Ronald is to bring it you from town.We have money enough, although no food that we can call our own.Ah, if Ronald and I kept house, you should not be lying in this shed! He admires you so much.'

'My dear friend,' said I, 'for God's sake do not embarrass me with more alms.I loved to receive them from that hand, so long as they were needed; but they are so no more, and whatever else I may lack - and I lack everything - it is not money.' I pulled out my sheaf of notes and detached the top one: it was written for ten pounds, and signed by that very famous individual, Abraham Newlands.

'Oblige me, as you would like me to oblige your brother if the parts were reversed, and take this note for the expenses.I shall need not only food, but clothes.'

'Lay it on the ground,' said she.'I must not stop my beating.'

'You are not offended?' I exclaimed.

She answered me by a look that was a reward in itself, and seemed to imply the most heavenly offers for the future.There was in it a shadow of reproach, and such warmth of communicative cordiality as left me speechless.I watched her instead till her hens' milk was ready.

'Now,' said she, 'taste that.'

I did so, and swore it was nectar.She collected her eggs and crouched in front of me to watch me eat.There was about this tall young lady at the moment an air of motherliness delicious to behold.I am like the English general, and to this day I still wonder at my moderation.

'What sort of clothes will you be wanting?' said she.

'The clothes of a gentleman,' said I.'Right or wrong, I think it is the part I am best qualified to play.Mr.St.Ives (for that's to be my name upon the journey) I conceive as rather a theatrical figure, and his make-up should be to match.'

'And yet there is a difficulty,' said she.'If you got coarse clothes the fit would hardly matter.But the clothes of a fine gentleman - O, it is absolutely necessary that these should fit!

And above all, with your' - she paused a moment - 'to our ideas somewhat noticeable manners.'

'Alas for my poor manners!' said I.'But my dear friend Flora, these little noticeabilities are just what mankind has to suffer under.Yourself, you see, you're very noticeable even when you come in a crowd to visit poor prisoners in the Castle.'

I was afraid I should frighten my good angel visitant away, and without the smallest breath of pause went on to add a few directions as to stuffs and colours.

She opened big eyes upon me.'O, Mr.St.Ives!' she cried - 'if that is to be your name - I do not say they would not be becoming;

but for a journey, do you think they would be wise? I am afraid' -

she gave a pretty break of laughter - 'I am afraid they would be daft-like!'

'Well, and am I not daft?' I asked her.

'I do begin to think you are,' said she.

'There it is, then!' said I.'I have been long enough a figure of fun.Can you not feel with me that perhaps the bitterest thing in this captivity has been the clothes? Make me a captive - bind me with chains if you like - but let me be still myself.You do not know what it is to be a walking travesty - among foes,' I added bitterly.

'O, but you are too unjust!' she cried.'You speak as though any one ever dreamed of laughing at you.But no one did.We were all pained to the heart.Even my aunt - though sometimes I do think she was not quite in good taste - you should have seen her and heard her at home! She took so much interest.Every patch in your clothes made us sorry; it should have been a sister's work.'

'That is what I never had - a sister,' said I.'But since you say that I did not make you laugh - '

'O, Mr.St.Ives! never!' she exclaimed.'Not for one moment.It was all too sad.To see a gentleman - '

'In the clothes of a harlequin, and begging?' I suggested.

'To see a gentleman in distress, and nobly supporting it,' she said.

'And do you not understand, my fair foe,' said I, 'that even if all were as you say - even if you had thought my travesty were becoming - I should be only the more anxious, for my sake, for my country's sake, and for the sake of your kindness, that you should see him whom you have helped as God meant him to be seen? that you should have something to remember him by at least more characteristic than a misfitting sulphur-yellow suit, and half a week's beard?'

'You think a great deal too much of clothes,' she said.'I am not that kind of girl.'

'And I am afraid I am that kind of man,' said I.'But do not think of me too harshly for that.I talked just now of something to remember by.I have many of them myself, of these beautiful reminders, of these keepsakes, that I cannot be parted from until I lose memory and life.Many of them are great things, many of them are high virtues - charity, mercy, faith.But some of them are trivial enough.Miss Flora, do you remember the day that I first saw you, the day of the strong east wind? Miss Flora, shall I tell you what you wore?'

We had both risen to our feet, and she had her hand already on the door to go.Perhaps this attitude emboldened me to profit by the last seconds of our interview; and it certainly rendered her escape the more easy.

'O, you are too romantic!' she said, laughing; and with that my sun was blown out, my enchantress had fled away, and I was again left alone in the twilight with the lady hens.