Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 1, 1893

20
THE CELTIC MONTHLY
other side. " Was there as much butter as last
time?"
"Yes. three-quarters more," replied Marjory,
approaching her mother and the unsavoury skin,
very daintily. " Are you almost done with that,
mother ?"
•• Yes, it will be finished by the time you have
dinnerready. Where is Robbie? I want him
to get nil' ; fcher creel from the stable-loft."
'■I haven't seen him since breakfast, mother.
I daresay he's down at tin- pier as usual. It's
time he was sent to Glasgow to earn his bread,
tiii- he won't be of much Use here.''
"Time enough," said her mother, sharply.
" Go and get the potatoes washed, Marjory, —
it's time they were on to boil."
Robbie, the only son that survived of three,
was the mother's idol. Two boys that had come
between him and Marjory were dead, and now,
Robert, the youngest, a merry, fun-loving hobble-
de-hoy of fourteen, could do no wrong at all in
his mother's eyes, and was the frequent cause of
decided differences of opinion between her and
her husband, and between herself ami her only
daughter. Marjory turned away ami caught up
a coarse splintbasket, filled it with potatoes,
and carried them to the burn, to wash them under
the spout, singing softly —
'• 'S ged tha e dubh, gur boidheach dubh,
Mo ghille dubh na treig mi ! "
An hour later, as the family sat at dinner, the
yard gate clanged again, and Marjory sprang
to the door to prevent or anticipate Sandie's
entrance
"Well," she said, with a mischievious ami most
bewitching smile, " Was Jenny awfully glad to
see you."
" Yes," he said readily, "She was just charm-
ing! I stayed so long with her that when 1
reached the Big House 1 found Mr. Clyde had
gone out, and left word that I was to keep the
package till he would call down at the pier tor it
to-morrow morning, he's going away with the
' Plover,' — and it was then I found 1 had left
the parcel with you, Marsalie."
" You left no package with me," she answered,
with a toss of her head. "Very likely Jenny
has it! Go back to Broomhill and ask her!"
A simile of anxietj Clouded Sandie's dark,
handsome face his manner changed, and lie
caught Marjory's hands in his own with fer-
vour
• I uever went near Jenny at all, aluaidh," he
whispered. " }'«» know line 1 aever would, you
saucy witch ! Come over to the pine-t ree at the
foot of the Well Brae this evening 'when the
kyecome hame, 1 and well have a walk. />.<
come, Marsalie ! "
"Well, maybe I will, - ' she said, relenting' a
little. " But what an awful story-teller you are,
Sandie ! What about the parrel i "
"Youhaveit!" he said with decision. "I
left it beside your butter-tub, 1 know. I hail
only just turned out at your gate, when 1 met
lain Ruadh returning from the ferry in Mr.
Clyde's dog carl, and he said the laird had been
called away on some sudden business to Eon-
William, and if I had received a parcel tor him 1
was to keep it carefully till to-morrow morning,
and he would come down to the pier for n then.
That's r 'ally the whole truth now, Marsalie,
darling, so ran and fetch me the parcel, and I II
take good care of it this time."
" Well — but — " she began, with a bright,
roguish smile, " I meant to have given you a
g I Fright over it first, and you deserve it,
Sandie, but — its safe enough'' — lowering her
voice to a whisper, " I Hung' it up on the top shelf
of the wall-cupboard, and 1 can't get it just now,
when lather and all of us are at dinner — I'll
bring it to the pine-tree, to-night. I will, Sandie,
at the gloamin'."
He was quite satisfied, and went away back
to his duties whistling cheerily as he thought of
the rustling, swaying pine-tree, the white, ghost-
like waterfall, the mysterious spell of the
"gloamin' gray," and — Marjory. She too, sang
blithely as she gathered up and washed her great
pile of dinner-dishes, and as she thought oi the
lonely trysting tree, and the still, witching spell
of the twilight. Robbie and her father had 'join-
out after dinner, but her mother was busily
darning' socks al the table, drawn up in front of
the lire. By-and bye the darning-wool had to be
changed IV heavier l.i steel grey, and the
mother rose and weiil "ben" to the parlour to
fetch the desired clour. Instantly Marjory
jumped up on a chair, and reached up tor the
heavy little panel, where she had thrown it, but
it was not there! "Bother !" she muttered, "and
mother will be back this minute I "
stool on the chair, mounting quickly again; from
this raised position she could see and search the
whole shell'. Impatiently she tossed receipts
and old letters aside, and rummaged for what she
sought — it was no use the square, solid, little
parcel was completely gone — vanished utterly !
Poor Marjory! How could she keep her tryst
with empty hands! What was this awful thing
that had happened to her? And how could that
heavy package have vanished as completely and
mysteriously as if the earth had swallowed it up?
She only knew it was gone! Poor Marjory !
( '/',. /., concluded in our nut )
l\ lb.' Fraser Fencibles of 17D4, there were 300 mm a
of the clan Fraser.